Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 231 



other by its disappearance under the water and the formation 

 of a navigable body over it, and the reason for the rule allowing 

 the owner of the land to claim all that is acquired by alluvion 

 or dereliction is to make up for the possible losses he may sus- 

 tain by the sea encroaching upon his holdings. In one case 

 brought to the attention of the Commission a grant of 2,000 

 acres of land under a patent issued in 1867 was found by a 

 recent survey to contain only 1,850 acres, the waters on the 

 shore of this property having by imperceptible degrees en- 

 croached on the owners during that long period until one 

 hundred and fifty acres of land was apparently under the navi- 

 gable waters of the State, and it was held that the owners' 

 rights could not extend below high-water mark as it now exists. 



