The evening times., 1896-04-18
Changes 11a; Have Occurred in
the Chesapeake.
NEW SURVEY NECESSARY
Dangers Face the NavigatOrs of i::e
Great Maryland and Virginia W ater-
way-The Experience of Smiths
Islund-Disa ppearance of a Light
house-Chunnels Filling Up

/ more, Richmond and Norfolk.
| The basis of maps issued by the United
| States Coast and Geodetic Survey showing
| this great waterway of 200 miles is the
survey begun in 1918, and completed twen-
ty years later. Isolated surveys have since
been made in different sections, and the
| recently issued maps contain corrections
| as authoritative as possible.
| Butthese corrections do not meet the
full requirements of mariners, and the
necessity for a complete resurvey is in
tensilied by every violent storm that
sweeps up the coast, while it steadily
| grows with the flow and ebb Of every
| tide. In framing one of the general ap-
| preparations in this Congress an attempt
| was made to include in it an appTopria-
| ton OF $4,000 for this work, in addition
| to $4,000 for similar opera tons elsewhere.
VALUE OF THE CARGOEs.
The section relating to the Chesapeake
was cut out In committee. When the bill
| came before the committee OF the whole
| in the House, Representatives Miles of the
| First district of Maryland made an earn
| est speech in favor of its restoration, and
| largely through his efforts an appropria-
| tion of 1000 was secured in the bill,
which has passed the House of Representa-
tives. 1t is thought that there will be no
| trouble over the matter in the Senate,
| and the amount is large enough TO enable
| Gen. W. w. Dufficlt, superintendent of the
| survey, TO begin the work as soon as the
appropriation becomes available and he
| is inclined to adopt the plan of feeling
| along the shores and dealing with the
most dangerous localities first.
When il is remembered that the foreign
movement alone of vessels to and from Bal
timore, Norfolk, Richmond, and Newport
. liz.
600, 900 in cargoes, ana when in connection
with this is considered the large number
OF bay and coastwise steamers and other
vessels that wend their way through the
capes and up the James, the Rappahan-
mock, the Potomac, and the Patapsco rivers
an idea of the Importance OF up-to-date
soundings may readily he had, even by
laymar.
COMPARISON OF SURVEYS.
when the survey is completed and a com
parisun oft with that ended in s6s is had,
the marvellous changes that have taken
place along the shores will be thoroughly
appreciated. Stretching beneath the At
lantiC, along the whole coast. with a vary
ing from 20 miles to 100 miles, Is an area
sloping regularly from the coast to a depth
of 600 feet. At that point there is n rapid
drop TO 5000 feet. biologists argue that
the hundred-fathom line was formerly the
and that the erosion OF wind and wave
has caused il to recede from its present
position. THIS same process is still in prog
Ercss, and on a smaller scale IL is visible
in the Chesapeake. The history OF Port To-
bacco, In Charles county. is an illustration
of the process of coast decay.
But the changes wrought by time upon
the shores of the bay do not affect the pros
perity of Old ports and landings as much
as they have q decided influence upon the
prospects of existing ones.
With such large bodies Of water as the
Susquehanna, the Potomac and the James
emptying into the bay. it is not surprising
that constant change in the bottom is
taking place at the mouths OF the big
tributaries and OF the bay itself, or that
the ebb tide at the capes is quite violent
at times. For two hundred miles out OF
New York the old channel of the Hudson,
in the shape of what may be called mud
canal, can easily be felt by the pilots, and
can be easily distinguished from the shall
lower sands of its sides. The existence OF
this submarine channel makes IL amazing
that any vessel properly ploted could ever
stray on the route to New York or from it.
EATING AWAY THE SHORE.
But in the Chesapeake it is a different
matter. The upper shores are generally
clayey or contain deposits of mari. Into
these substances the waters eat their way,
gradually undermining the banks and
changing the whole contour OF the shore.
Further down the low shores are sandy,
and are subject to similar transforma-
tons, while the detriius is washed off to
add to existing bars and treachcrous
shoals, or to form new ones.
Lighthouses are built here and there.
buoys are anchored in different localities
as occasion may require, and the mariner
has at his disposal the information of the
Hydrograp phic Office and the coast pilot
publications issued by the survey. But it
is believed that some of the pilots alone
are aware of the fun extent of the many
changes that have occurred. For buoys 20
adrift sometimes, and wind, weather and
waves have Ill more than one place Oh
liberated the former sites of lighthouses.
One of the best examples of the effects
OF this erosion is had in Smiths Island, in
the Atlantic, off the coast of Northamp
ton county, Va, and on the outer side OF
Cape Charles. The Cape Charles light is
stationed on the southwest end of the
island, and about five hundred feet inland
from the west shore. The island is a mar
row, lrrcgularly shaped bit of lowland,
extending nOrtheasterly and southweStcrly
for eight miles, and at the lower end ter
inmates in a broad bea ch of sand.
SMITHS ISLAND LIGHT
To the east of the present light and
qmte near Il llfe-SaylDS station, is the
Old tower, just on the edge OF the water.
This was built to take the place of the
original light, but the waters have over
whclmed the original and have caught up
with its successor. The remains OF the
first light are now several feet beneath
the water, and perhaps one hundred and
fifty feet from the shore, for in 1858 they
were more than one hundred feet beyond
the high water line. A few years ago
station for triangulation was placed on
the south end of Smiths Island six hundred
feet inside the shore line. BY 1883 1t was
inside the shore three hundred and fifty
feet, showing an eating away of nearly
a thousand feet in n rcma arkably short time.
The retreat OF Smiths Island has been
al the rate OF forty feet a year.
In the same period a bluff near Cane
Charles City on the mainland, from ten to
fifty feet high and several miles long,
has disappeared, and the ocean has cut
in bay 10 depth of four hundred feet.
Entering the capes and moving up the
bay, ii is found that the shores of the Rap
pahannock are being rapidly transformed,
particularly on the north side Not many
years ago at the end of the pc ninsuIa of
Northumberland county. between the
Rappahannock and the Potomac Rivers,
stood lighthouse. This has gone to the
bottom, with nearby farmhouse and an
orchard. At the mouth of the Patuxent
similar decay is taking place. Cedar Point,
on the south side is a remarkable excep-
ton to the general rule. The point is a
hard gravel beach, surrounding brackish
lake twenty feet deep. No change has
taken place there for many years. On Hog
Island. farther in the river, though, the
bluff is washing away.