16
OBSERVATIONS ON THE BAY OF SENDAI.
A short account of a few days spent in Sendai Bay,
in quest of an Anchorage or Harbour.
BY
Captain St. JOHN, H. M. S. Sylvia.
Read before the Astatic Society of Japan, on the
14th October, 1874.
———o———
On the 15th of July, after feeling the way slowly into the north west corner of Sendai Bay, I found a partially sheltered anchorage in 3 fathoms behind the northern Island of this numerous group, which are clustered together, according to the Japanese numbering 808.
The coast line of the main Bay is here deeply indented, and the group of Islands spreading across the mouth of this bight, forms inside an inner Bay, 8 miles long, by 4 broad, named Matsu Sima, after a village on the main shore. Unfortunately this fine space of protected water is merely a lagoon. At high tide is has about 6 feet of water, pretty uniformly throughout, but at low tide a few boat passages leading through masses of ribbon seaweed, and crossings from the Islands to the mainland are the only open water. The Eastern shores of these Islands (i.e. facing Sendai Bay) are thickly studded with reefs, and rocks, making the approach very troublesome. Probably there are as many reefs under water as there are above.
The highest of these Islands, is about 300 feet, the lowest about 30, generally speaking 60 to 80 feet is their mean height. They are cut up in a wonderful manner by narrow creeks and tiny inlets which frequently almost
