856 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
the north (Mitchell, 1881; Harris, 1907, pi. 7). This is also the case along the west 
coast of Nova Scotia on the one side of the gulf and along Cape Cod on the other; 
but the flood runs westward into Massachusetts Bay, as might be expected from the 
trend of the coast line, drawing southward around the tip of Cape Cod into Cape 
Cod Bay. There is also a flood current from the westward into the latter, resulting 
from a division of the tidal wave as it strikes the shore line at Manomet Head just 
east of Plymouth. * 
The promontory of Cape Ann also marks a division in the tidal streams; for to 
the northward of it the flood, setting westward in toward the land, veers to the north, 
paralleling the coast as far as Cape Elizabeth; to the eastward of Casco Bay the 
general direction of the flood at its strength is NNE. toward and through the Grand 
Manan Channel, complicated, however, by the flood currents setting into the bays 
and rivers. At the mouth of Casco Bay, for example, the tides flood to the north. 
In the Bay of Fundy the flood sets generally toward the northeast (i.e., inward). 
In a general way the ebb, at its strength, is the reverse of the flood, setting out 
of the Bay of Fundy in a generally SW. to SSW. direction and around the coast of 
Nova Scotia to the south and southeast. Along the coast of Maine, from the 
Grand Manan Channel to Penobscot Bay, the tide ebbs southwesterly; southerly 
off Casco Bay. In Massachusetts Bay the ebb is generally eastward; southerly 
along Cape Cod. 
Generally speaking, the velocity of the tidal currents is least along the sector 
of coast bounded by Cape Cod on the south and Casco Bay on the north, where 
velocities lower than 1 knot have been recorded at most of the observing stations 
for the flood at its strength. But the tide flows much more strongly (up to 1.8 
knot) around the tip of Cape Cod and at the entrance to Boston Harbor. The 
Bay of Fundy stands at the other extreme, with velocities rising to 2.5 to 3 knots 
in the Grand Manan Channel; considerably higher even than this near the head of 
Minas Basin and elsewhere near the head of the bay. The velocity of the tides 
at strength is about 1 to 1.6 knots along the southern rim of the gulf; 1.5 to 2 knots 
along the west coast of Nova Scotia and out to the neighboring side of the basin. 
The rise and fall of the tide is greater in the Bay of Fundy than anywhere else 
in the world; on the other hand, the tidal amplitude is certainly small over the 
offshore banks, though the rise and fall has not been measured there as yet. 
The following summary of the rise and fall at representative stations, taken 
from the tide tables of the Atlantic coast (United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
1926), will illustrate the transition from the mouth of the gulf inward along its two 
sides for ordinary tides: 
Locality 
Rise and 
fall of tide, 
in feet 
Locality 
Rise and 
fall of tide, 
in feet 
WESTERN SIDE 
Outer shores of Cape Cod 
4. 3- 7. 1 
7. 5-11. 1 
7. 2-10. 8 
7.9-11.3 
9. 2-12. 6 
12.9-16.3 
EASTERN SIDE 
Shelburne, Nova Scotia. 
6. 5- 7. 9 
16. 3-17. 7 
23. 7-25. 1 
27. 2-28. 6 
48.7-50.1 
Gloucester 
BAY OF FUNDY 
St. John ... 
Portland 
Bar Harbor, Mount Desert. 
Digby ... 
Cutler (at western end of Grand Manan Channel). 
Head of Minas Basin . 
