THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



.27 



When there is a deeply indented coast- 

 line, the ocean currents paralleling the 

 shores refuse to follow the indentation 

 and cut straight across. Striking deeper 

 water, they slow up and deliver from 

 bondage the captive grains of sand which 

 momentum has enabled them to carry 

 along. 



Eventually these grains grow into a 

 high submarine ridge, which holds up the 

 onrushing waves and forces them to give 

 up a sand toll as they pass. Having 

 gained courage in its size, the ridge 

 makes a sally from the surf and becomes 

 a full-fledged spit, or hook. 



Sandy Hook is a splendid example of 

 this method of the land in invading the 

 dominions of the sea. It very frequently 

 happens that the spit marches/ on until 

 it reaches across the bay area and cap- 

 tures the entire water army within the 

 salient. Then science decorates it with a 

 croix de guerre and gives it a new name — 

 it becomes a bar. 



The captured waters of Tisburg, Oys- 

 ter, and Herring ponds, on the southern 

 shore of Marthas Vineyard, afford an 

 excellent example of the conquest of the 

 sea by a spit. But the fortunes of war 

 often change, and the Marthas Vineyard 

 Bar, once forcing a retreat of the open 

 sea, is now in turn being driven steadily 

 back. It is believed that the coastal edge 

 at this point is a thousand feet from 

 where it was when first seen by a white 

 man. 



WHEN THE SANDS ARE LED CAPTIVE 



The Jersey coast is full of classic ex- 

 amples of the war between the land and 

 the sea. Here are no towering ramparts, 

 with frowning walls, that seem to defy 

 all the armies with which General Nep- 

 tune can attack them. Nay, rather, here 

 the land forces have camouflaged their 

 strength, and have entrenched themselves 

 behind barriers of sand. 



At Long Branch one may watch the 

 shifting fortunes of the battle. Here, in 

 spite of the most elaborate system of 

 breakwaters man has erected, the shore- 

 line is being led captive inch by inch. 

 But the prisoner sand does not remain in 

 captivity. As it is being escorted back of 

 the lines it makes a successful dash for 

 liberty and rejoins other land units north 



and south of Long Branch and aids in a 

 counter-attack in those neighborhoods. 



It is hard to visualize the full meaning 

 of the conflict's swing until one views the 

 battle-field from the observation tower 

 of history. A few feet won or a few feet 

 lost in a year seem insignificant. But 

 generations are merely short-lived sec- 

 onds ticked off on the clock of geologic 

 time, and one needs the sweeping view of 

 centuries to appreciate it all. On the 

 New Jersey coast we get a little of that. 



Prior to the War of 1812, Old Cran- 

 berry Inlet was one of the best havens of 

 refuge on the eastern coast. It was a 

 safe harbor for American privateers 

 lying in wait for enemy commerce. But 

 one night the sea made a heavy concen- 

 tration of forces and staged a night at- 

 tack of particular fury, broke down the 

 defenses, and shifted the whole channel 

 a mile to the northward. 



SHIFTING OF LAND RESERVES AT ATLANTIC 

 CITY 



In the vicinity of Atlantic City the sea 

 is ever striving to gain a foothold ; but at 

 present the best it can do is to force a 

 shifting of land reserves from one side 

 of a salient to another. In a few years 

 it took off some 76 acres of ground from 

 the neighborhood of Maine Avenue and 

 forced most of it around to the lee of the 

 point at Ohio and New Jersey avenues. 



The pounding power of the waves 

 when the sea is staging one of its major 

 attacks is hard to picture by those who 

 have visited the front-line trenches in 

 bathing suits and have seen only a quiet 

 sector. But when the breakers rush for- 

 ward at a height of 10 feet or more, in 

 serried ranks, striking from four to six 

 majestic blows a minute, one does not 

 wonder more at the vastness of the sea's 

 reserves than he does at the land's powers 

 of resistance. 



SUBMARINES EMPLOYED BY THE SEA 



The sea is thoroughly modern in its 

 methods of warfare, even employing the 

 submarine. As the waves sweep inward 

 and break upon the shore, their waters 

 must have some egress back to the deep. 

 If they tried to go back as they came they 

 would create confusion in the onsweep- 

 ing forces behind them. To obviate this, 



