Barrier Islands of the Delamarva Peninsula

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Dune Grass

The Barrier Islands protect the mainland — dune grass protects the Barrier Islands.

It is hard to imagine that planting a simple species of grass is more effective in the continuing fight to protect the Barrier Island dunes than piling up sand using bulldozers or offshore dredging equipment. Because of its unique ability to survive in the dune environment and its ability to capture and hold wind blown sand, the dune grass, Ammophila breviligulata, provides the dunes with this protection.

The dune environment is very harsh. Constant wind on the dune carries with it sand and salt sea spray. The wind blown sand acts like an abrasive, the salt air is corrosive. The blazing hot summer sun, which in the shelter of a dune hollow can reach temperatures of up to 150 degrees, will often dry the sand to a depth of several feet. Rain washes the accumulated salt deposits through the porous sand along with most of the nutrients needed for plant growth.

Yet dune grass survives in this harsh environment and plays a major role in stabilizing the dunes. Dune grass forms a dense mat of roots called rhizomes directly below the surface of the sand. The rhizomes trap the sand around them preventing it from being blown away. The blades of grass grow in clumps which form barriers against the blowing wind. The shelter they form allows more of the sand carried by the wind to be deposited around the plant. At times the grass can be completely buried beneath the blowing sand. Research suggests that this is actually good for the grass causing it to grow taller and stronger.

Dune grass has adapted several special traits that allow it to live in the harsh environment of the dune. During periods of very hot dry weather the plant can fold its leaf blades in half. By reducing the amount of surface area the plant can reduce the amount of water lost through the process of transpiration. Dune grass has also developed a waxy coating on its blades. The waxy coating seals the blades helping the plant to conserve water. Finally, even if buried beneath several feet of sand, dune grass has developed the ability to quickly grow to reach the surface. This allows it to survive the constantly changing face of the dune.

A healthy stand of dune grass helps to stabilize the dune. It moderates the force of the wind and through the process of transpiration helps to cool the surface of the dune. This allows other dune dwelling animals and plants to survive in the harsh environment of the dune. More importantly, by stabilizing and building the dune, dune grass protects the dune from the waves during storms. By holding the dune in place, the grass helps to hold the Barrier Island in place. Ultimately, it is this small grass that preserves the Barrier Island and helps to protect the mainland from hurricanes and coastal storms.

Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger

If you look out across the ocean or bay you might see a very slim black and white bird flying just above the waves. The Black Skimmer, Rynchops niger, is one of the most distinctive nesting birds of Delmarva’s Barrier Islands. It has bold black and white plumage and a long red bill with a black tip. The lower portion of its bill is longer than the upper portion.

As it flies, the skimmer opens its bill and drops the lower portion into the water. When it finds a small fish swimming along the surface it quickly closes its bill to capture and eat the fish. To allow it to pass through the water easily, the lower bill is as thin as a knife.

Black Skimmers nest in colonies on sandy beaches and sometimes in salt marshes. Young skimmers tend to be pale in color. This helps them blend into the sand to avoid predators. Another trick used by the skimmer chick is to scratch a hole in the sand where it can crouch down and hide from predators.

While the low lying Barrier Islands do not seem like the ideal place for nesting, they do have several advantages over the inland bays and inlets of the mainland. Because they are periodically flooded and offer such a harsh environment, the low lying Barrier Islands do not have as many predators such as foxes and raccoons living on them. This makes for a safer place for the skimmer and other shorebirds to lay eggs and raise a family.

Even with the reduced number of predators, life for the skimmers is not easy. Hurricanes or coastal storms will often flood the Barrier Island and the nesting areas. This can wipe out an entire nesting colony. In addition, other birds like fish crows and gulls will attack both the eggs and young. Black Skimmer colonies are also frequently disturbed or destroyed by human activity. Eggs can be crushed by vehicles on the beach, birds are disturbed by humans and dogs, and wild dogs and cats prey on chicks. In some areas skimmers cannot find enough fish to feed their young.

The number of Black Skimmers on the Delmarva Peninsula has declined greatly over the last several decades. Maryland, Virginia and Delaware all consider this species to be either endangered or threatened. Efforts are under way to protect nesting colonies from predators and human disturbance.

The Lyle Gun — A Life Saving Cannon

The Lyle Gun was an important piece of life saving equipment used by the Surfmen of the Life Saving Service Stations. The Lyle Gun, or line gun, was a small cannon designed to shoot a projectile with a line attached to it to a ship that had run aground. In an emergency, the Surfmen would fire the line over the ship then pull the line to within reach of the crew. The waiting crew would catch the line and use it to haul a larger rope and series of pulleys to the foundering vessel. Once the larger rope was attached to the beach and the ship, a surf cart or breaches buoy was attached to the rope. Passengers and crew could be removed from the sinking vessel by hauling them along the rope, over the waves, to the safety of the beach.

Line guns are known to have been used in life saving as early as 1850. But, David A. Lyle (1845 – 1937) a West Point and an M.I.T. graduate, perfected the concept when he began research on an efficient, lightweight line gun for use in saving lives. Based on Lyle’s research, the line gun became known as a Lyle Gun.

By the late 1800’s there were about 30 companies making various styles of Lyle Guns. Typically, they were small cannons with a barrel length of 24 inches or less and a bore of two to three inches. A larger Lyle gun could shoot a projectile of up to 15 pounds, carrying its line over 1,000 feet.

Lyle guns had a significant recoil. They had to be mounted on heavy wooden boards and lashed down. Many surfmen were injured as a result of the recoil of the gun as it was fired.

By 1952 most of the Lyle Guns had been replaced by more modern rocket fired line launching systems.

The Roosevelt Inlet Shipwreck
“The Severn”
By: Daniel R. Griffith, Director Lewes Maritime Archaeology Project

Excerpts from a paper delivered to:
Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference

Archaeological and historical evidence that the Roosevelt Inlet shipwreck is the British commercial ship Severn, though indirect, is convincing. Underwater archaeological investigations of the shipwreck site by the Delaware Department of State and Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc., recovered a wide range of cargo that can generally be characterized as representing the second and third quarters of the 18th Century.

Green and yellow earthenware cooking pots, known as Frankfurter Ware, have been recovered from the wreck. This ware was produced in Germany starting in 1760.

Also recovered from the shipwreck site was an abundance of British creamware, first produced in 1762. More specifically, several creamware sherds were enameled with blue underglaze designs. Correspondence with British archaeologists indicates that enameled creamware was produced after 1970. Corroborating evidence comes from retail advertisements in Philadelphia newspapers of the early 1770’s.

Thousands of tobacco pipes and fragments were recovered from the site. Many of the complete and partial pipe bowls and stems contained maker’s marks. One Dutch maker’s mark in particular was informative. Garrett Maarling, GLM, did not register his mark with the Dutch pipe-making guild until 1769.

Pearlware, a British ceramic type widely popular in early America was first produced in 1779. NO Pearlware was found at the site.

The convergence of artifact evidence alone suggests the shipwreck was lost no earlier than 1772 but before 1779.

Historical documentation points to the Severn as well. The ship Severn, is the only reported commercial ship loss recorded in the Delaware Bay or nearshore Atlantic between 1772 and 1783.

There were no human remains found at the wreck site, even though preservation was sufficient in some areas of the site to preserve organics, like wood, leather shoes and scraps of cloth. This observation is consistent with the observation that the crew was saved.