marsh was subsequently overwashed, and dunes had formed on washovers covering 

 the ship. Finally, storm waves eroded the dune line, exhuming the Sparrow- 

 Hawk. North Beach had receded landward by the width of the barrier, plus the 

 distance from the bayward edge of the marsh to the stranded ship. Therefore, 

 the time frame for barrier rollover in this region was less than 237 years. 



If the interpretation of Champlain's map of Port Fortune is correct and 

 the spit east of Chatham did join the mainland at Allen Point, and if inlets 

 recorded by Gosnold (and others) and the sinking of the Sparrow-Hawk are 

 correct, It appears that North Beach was highly dissected between 1600 and 

 1620. It seems likely, from more recent data, that the spit was breached in 

 a single location some years earlier (perhaps between 1550 and 1580) and that 

 sections of the barrier south of the principal inlet, deprived of adequate 

 sand, were migrating rapidly toward the mainland. Nickerson's composite nap 

 (Fig. 94) does not differ significantly from maps of North Beach 30 years 

 after the 1846 breach through the continuous barrier spit. The problems early 

 explorers had landing in Chatham (Gosnold, Champlain, the Sparrow-Hawk) , or 

 even passing by the area (Gosnold, Champlain, the May f tower) , were undoubtedly 

 caused by many poorly maintained inlets through North Beach — p situation sim- 

 ilar to the "ruined" harbor mentioned by Mitchell in the 1870' s. 



The next available map of the North Beach area was made by Southack in 

 1717 (Fig. 101). Although the scale of this map is badly distorted, a water- 

 way between Nauset Marsh and Pleasant Bay is clearly evident. Surprisingly, 

 Champlain (and others) did not record this channel, possibly because it was 

 not navigable and therefore of little importance. Southack's map also shows 

 that North Beach was again a continuous spit extending along the mainland well 

 to the south of Chatham. 



Ites Barre's 17b4 map. which shows the same details as the Southack map, 

 positions the end of North Beach approximately east of Tern Island (Figs. 

 3 and 97). The spit extended 3.2 kilometers to the south in 30 years 

 ( Des Barre, 17o4). Several other accounts of the same period document the 

 rate at which the spit built to the south. Two accounts state that between 

 1742 and 1772 the spit extended at a rate of 1.6 kilometers per 12 years and 

 1.6 kilometers per 8 years (Hitchcock, 1835). 



If North Ueach had extended from a point 3.2 to 8 kilometers southward 

 by 1780, the inlet in 1742 must have been just south of the 1626 inlet site, 

 located by the stranding of the Sparrow-Hawk. This inlet marks the beginning 

 of the second cycle since the late 1500' s at a point south of the 1626 inlet. 



During the early part of the 19th century, North Beach continued to extend 

 southward. In 1817 North Beach began at Nauset Harbor and extended 12.8 to 

 14.4 kilometers to the south (approximately 9.6 to 11.2 kilometers south of 

 the glacial headlands at Orleans) (Blunt, 1817). Between 1765 and 1835 the 

 spit had extended 4.8 kilometers in length (Hitchcock, 1835). Another account 

 stated that between 1829 and 1849, 3.2 kilometers was added to the Spit 

 (Davis, 1849). 



By 1851 North Beach extended beyond Morris Island (Mitchell, 1873). The 

 Minot Gale in 1851 breached the spit across from Allen Point (U.S. Coast 

 Survey Annual Report, 1851). Major erosion of North Beach did not, however, 



162 



