Abstract of proposals for improving Flushing Bay, New York, opened at Engineer Officer. U. S. Army, New York City, April 18, 1889.

The principal articles of commerce are manufactured goods, coal, grain, building materials, and general merchandise.

D 21.

REMOVING SUNKEN VESSELS OR CRAFT OBSTRUCTING OR ENDANGERING NAVIGATION.

WRECK IN HEMPSTEAD BAY, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK.

About midnight, August 10-11, 1888, the Bay Ridge, a side-wheel passenger steamer, 205 feet long and 32 feet beam, caught fire while lying at her dock at Glenwood, Long Island, N. Y., and parting her lines, drifted out with the ebb current and sank in about 20 feet depth of water in the channel on the west side of Hempstead Bay, after burning to the water's edge. The wreck was reported as an obstruction in September, 1888, but no action was then taken, because her owner made a private contract for her removal, which the contractor reported completed in December, 1888, so that no part was left projecting more than 2 feet above the bottom.

In April, 1889, complaint was made that the wreck had been struck by passing vessels, and an examination showed that some timbers were standing at not over 9 feet depth at low tide. The cost of complete removal was estimated at $2,500, which was allotted, and the removal authorized. The wreck is now marked by a buoy placed by the LightHouse Department June 5, 1889, the notice to owners or parties interested, as required by law, was published, and it is expected to advertise proposals for removal early in the current fiscal year.

D 22.

NEW

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF FORT POND HARBOR, MONTAUK, NEW

YORK.

ENGINEER OFFICE, U. S. ARMY,

New York, December 10, 1888.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report on a preliminary examination of Fort Pond Harbor, Montauk, N. Y., made in pursuance of the river and harbor act of August 11, 1888, and directed by letter from the Chief of Engineers, dated August 28, 1888.

Fort Pond Bay lies on the north side of Long Island, about 6 miles west of Montauk Point. The following description is given in the United States Atlantic Coast Pilot:

From Shagwong Point the trend of the shore is W. S. for 24 miles to Culloden Point, and is composed for the most part of low sandy lands and many sand hillocks, covered with grass, and at long intervals a few trees. Culloden Point is somewhat higher than the land to the eastward of it, but is also sandy, bare of trees, and covered only with a sparse growth of grass. At this point the shore turns abruptly and runs S. E. for 14 iniles, then sweeps with a regular curve around to the westward and northwestward, thus forming a large semicircular indentation called Fort Pond Bay. From Culloden Point the eastern shore of this bay is composed of hills of moderate height, separated by small valleys intersected by ravines, which give the land an undulating appearance. The country appears barren and desolate, there being no settlements, and the only growth a thin grass. At the head of the bay the shore is low and flat, but its western shore is higher, and shows thick groves of trees here and there. Fort Pond Bay is 14 miles wide, has a depth of from 4 to 8 fathoms, and affords excellent shelter in southerly and easterly weather. The holding ground is good, and the harbor perfectly unobstructed, it being only necessary to keep about a quarter of a mile from either shore,