THE WARFARE ON OUR EASTERN COAST 



201 



In 1849 Fishing- Point, on the eastern 

 shore of Maryland, was but a bend in the 

 coastline. By 1887 we find that it had 

 reached out two miles in a southerly di- 

 rection, and since then it has gone more 

 than a mile further, sharply curving to 

 the westward. 



Near the mouth of the Choptank 

 River, on the eastern shore of Maryland, 

 is located what is left of Sharps Island, 

 at one time the home of a summer colony, 

 where many national celebrities hunted 

 and fished in bygone years. The island 

 is washing away so fast each season that 

 it is now estimated that in 27 years the 

 last acre of it will lie submerged under 

 the waters of Chesapeake Bay. In the 

 earlier days the north end of Sharps 

 Island was well wooded and a favorite 

 spot for hunting duck and other small 

 game. Today life on the island is but a 

 memory, save for an artesian well which, 

 having been transgressed by the sea, now 

 presents the unique feature of a well in 

 the midst of the salt waters of the bay. 

 The trees have vanished and the houses 

 have been washed away, and only the 

 crumbling ruins of what was once a spa- 

 cious hotel remain to tell the story of the 

 one-time prosperous island, which has 

 for years been slowly yet surely sinking 

 beneath the waters. In 1848 the island 

 covered an area of 438 acres, while in 

 1910 only 53 acres remained. 



A REEENTEESS TAX COEEECTOR 



Tilghmans Island, which lies about 50 

 miles south of Baltimore, is three and 

 one-half miles long and provides homes 

 for many farmers and fishermen. At the 

 north end are the towns of Tilghman and 

 Avalon. The island is separated from 

 the mainland by Knapp Narrows. Since 

 1848 the owners of the lands of the 

 island have had to pay a very heavy tax 

 to the sea. In that year the area of their 

 joint holdings amounted to 2,015 acres; 

 in 1900 the tax collector of the winds and 

 waves had cut these holdings down to 

 1,686 acres, and since 1900 the work of 

 erosion has been going on at the rate of 

 29 feet a year. 



Not only have the islands of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay suffered, but the mainland as 



well. Cooks Point has been losing about 

 two acres a year. Ragged Point has been 

 cut away at the rate. of about 14 feet a 

 year. Nelson Point has had to surrender 

 a quarter of a mile of its territory in a 

 single generation. 



Nor is the work of erosion confined to 

 the bay; it also spreads up the mouths of 

 the rivers and creeks. Willeys Island, at 

 the mouth of Broad and San Juan creeks, 

 has lost 40 acres, or half its area, in 50 

 years. 



A very careful study in matters of ero- 

 sion is being made in the region around 

 the mouth of the Choptank River by the 

 State and the United States Coast and 

 Geodetic surveys, with the hope of mas- 

 tering the details of erosion by evolving 

 better methods for combating the en- 

 croachments of the water enemy. 



war's record in the sand 



Rockaway Beach, Long Island, grows 

 westward at the rate of nearly a mile 

 every 20 years (see chart on page 206). 

 At Nag Head, North Carolina, the land 

 has extended into the sea at the rate of 

 35 feet a year. In 1804 Dr. Nathaniel 

 Bowditch prepared a chart of Salem and 

 Marblehead harbors, giving the sound- 

 ings over various ledges of rock. Ninety 

 years later similar soundings were taken, 

 and in all cases the water was found to 

 be considerably deeper, once again telling 

 the tale of endless warring. 



On the shore of Cape Cod, near Chat- 

 ham, the land is retreating at the rate of 

 a foot a year, and on the southern shore 

 of Martha's Vineyard it is giving up the 

 fight to the enemy at the rate of three 

 feet every 12 months, while on the south- 

 ern face of Nantucket the retreat has 

 been as much as six feet a year, the rec- 

 ords tell us. 



Unfortunately, in the United States we 

 have no definite records by which to as- 

 certain the aggregate gain or loss of area 

 that is taking place on our seaboard as a 

 result of this warfare between the land 

 and the sea. In England, however, where 

 more attention is given to the matter, the 

 total has been figured out, and it is rea- 

 sonable to suppose that the figures offer 

 a fair average of the yearly change. One 



