"So long as the defence of the land is in a large number of hands and every 

 landowner is practically free to do as Uttle or as much as he pleases toward 

 preventing the sea from gaining access to his property, many must suffer from the 

 failure of a few to take proper precautions against marine erosion. As soon as the 

 sea finds a point of weakness in the defences, it rapidly widens the breach and 

 attacks adjoining property on either side. In some places where the bulkheads in 

 front of one man's property resisted the direct attack, the property was badly 

 damaged by erosion from one or both sides after the sea had entered neighboring 

 lots. Some method of government supervision of marine defences would seem to 

 be the only satisfactory solution of this serious problem. "^^ 



Individual landowners, as well as local shore communities, were expending, in the 

 aggregate, millions of dollars for uncoordinated and often totally inappropriate structures in 

 an attempt to combat erosion. Furthermore, the effects of these structures were often either 

 negligible at best or, as in many cases, even exacerbated the problem. 



The New Jersey State Board of Commerce and Navigation was very much aware of the 

 situation. For several years before 1922 this agency had stressed, in its annual reports to thr 

 State legislature, "the importance of the protection of the New Jersey beaches, realizing 

 their tremendous value to the State and to the nation at large. "^* In that year, the New 

 Jersey Legislature appropriated money for a formal investigation of the changes taking place 

 along the Jersey shore. It also called for a determination, "if possible, (of) the best means of 

 preventing further encroachment. . . ."^^ This investigation marked one of the first 

 organized and concerted efforts in this country to study coastal erosion on a regional basis.* 

 It also included participation of the Federal Government including, to a minor degree, the 

 U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers. 



The Board of Commerce and Navigation delegated this task to a specially appointed 

 group— the Engineering Advisory Board on Coast Erosion mentioned previously. The State 

 of New Jersey sought and received the cooperation in this study of both the 

 U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. War Department. The Department of 

 Commerce permitted Comdr. Raymond S. Patton, then Chief of the Division of Charts of 

 the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, to both prepare maps of the New Jersey coastUne and 

 to be a member of this Engineering Advisory Board. The War Department provided records 

 of coastal changes. It also permitted two U.S. Army, Corps of Engineer officers to meet 

 with the Board in an advisory capacity.^ '^ These officers were Col. Earl I. Brown and Col. E. 

 Eveleth Winslow; then upon Winslow's retirement. Col. H.C. Newcomer. 



The other members of the New Jersey Engineering Advisory Board, in addition to 

 Comdr. Patton, were Charles W. Staniford, former Chief Engineer of the New York City 

 Dock Department; B. F. Cresson, Jr., Consulting Engineer for the New Jersey Board of 



*The New Jersey Harbor Commission, predecessor to the New Jersey State Board of Commerce and Navigation, had 

 also investigated beach problems along that State's coast, and in 1915, urged that some form of comprehensive 

 plan be adopted to better deal with the situation.26 



