Bar, jetty, and harbor. 25 



Bar, Jetty, and Harbor. 



The bar proper (there being two, outer and inner) 

 is a narrow, sandy shoal which stretches for miles 

 across the entrance to the harbor, averaging about one 

 mile from its mouth. It has been since the settlement 

 of the island the greatest drawback to its prosperity. 



Taking into consideration this serious obstruction to 

 navigation, the people of to-day look with amazement 

 at this town, which at one time contained over 9,000 

 inhabitants, and sent into every clime more than three 

 hundred sailing vessels. 



The writer sincerely hopes that the time is not far 

 distant when this bar or shoal will be so far removed 

 or modified that vessels of large tonnage will not only 

 be able to unload at the wharves, but can in case of 

 sudden storm find a safe refuge and good anchorage. 



It is a very singular fact that during the time of the 

 island's greatest prosperity, when she was of such im- 

 portance as a commercial port, and hundreds of ships 

 were constantly arriving and departing loaded to the 

 waters edge, involving the expenditure of thousands 

 upon thousands of dollars in the towing and the lighter- 

 ing of them, so little interest was taken in the town by 

 the general government. What they did undertake was 

 of little practical value, and resulted in no permanent 

 benefit to the place. 



Frederick C. Sanford, Esq., has kindly furnished the 

 compiler with facts which are of great interest in this 

 connection. He says: — 



u Early in this century our people conceived the idea 



