HAULOVER BREAK 513 



spit from Coskata island shifted many times during the year. In July, 

 1903, it pointed well into the head of the harbor, leaving the southeast 

 corner of Coskata island exposed to the erosion of the ocean waves. 

 During the past year this portion of Coskata island was cut back very 

 rapidly, great masses of the peat from the oldland swamps being hurled 

 up by the waves and torn to pieces and washed out into the ocean and 

 along the shore (plate 49, figure 2). 



The three-fathom lines shown on this drawing for 1903 were drawn 

 by the writer from soundings given by Captain Gillette. They show a 

 much broader mass of sand between the two-fathom line on the ocean 

 side and the two-fathom line on the harbor side than in any previous 

 year since the break. This shows that the ocean is bringing, mainly 

 from the southeast, a large amount of sand to fill up this opening. It 

 is on account of this increased distance across that portion of the tom- 

 bolo under water that sailboats have found it more and more difficult 

 to sail through the opening during the last two years. It is undoubt- 

 edly only a question of time, and probably only a short time, before the 

 sea will have completely closed up this opening. The next few years 

 are a very critical period for accurate observation in order to see just 

 how the sea goes to work to form a completed tombolo, joining an island 

 to the mainland. From the work done by the army engineers it appears 

 that the breaking through of the tombolo at the Haulover has not 

 caused any perceptible change in the depth of water at the entrance to 

 the harbor of Nantucket.* The sand brought in through the break has 

 all been deposited immediately inside the two spits, and the great mass 

 of the tombolo under water is preventing any marked change in the 

 currents in the harbor. The sand bars and shoals in the harbor between 

 Coatue and the northern shore of Nantucket have remained practically 

 unchanged since 1896. 



Surfside 



On the south shore of Nantucket the sea is steadily eating its way into 

 the land, and the sand worn away from the outside is carried around and 

 built into the bar on the north, forming the tombolo, which extends from 

 Wauwinet past Coskata island out to Great point, and is also carried to 

 the northwest, forming the extension of Smith point, Muskeget island, 

 Muskeget, Tuckernuck, and other shoals. The smooth outline of the 

 shoreline on the east and south of Nantucket, as shown on the Coast Sur- 

 vey charts of 1846, would indicate that this shoreline was mature and 

 that the sea would cut it back as rapidly as possible. During the last 



*Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1903, p. 90. 



