Ninety-one years ago this week a powerful storm that left much of Ocean City in shambles and proved deadly elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic had a silver lining for the fishing and resort town by creating the inlet between Sinepuxent Bay and the Atlantic Ocean that the area had long been clamoring for.
Before the inlet, fishermen dragged boats to the ocean using horses and ropes
The drawing above simulates an aerial perspective of Ocean City of the late 19th century, when a railroad linked it to the mainland. The present-day inlet would cut through the bottom left of the frame. In between the time represented in the image and the 1933 storm, another naturally made inlet accommodated small fishing boats for much of the 1920s before nature filled it back in, a process that often repeated. The area long lobbied the state and federal governments for a permanent inlet to allow a safe port for fishing as well as a distribution point for crabs, oysters and clams, and, by the time of 1933 storm, had state funding lined up. Without an inlet, fishermen used horses, ropes and pulleys to drag their boats across the beach and reach the open ocean and rode waves back to shore when they returned with their catch.
Even amid destruction, locals celebrated ‘Act of God Inlet’
The Aug. 22-23, 1933, storm known as the Chesapeake-Potomac hurricane was one of the most destructive storms to hit the Mid-Atlantic. Ocean City received heavy rainfall and rough surf for four days before the full brunt of storm hit. Buildings, vehicles and a railroad bridge were washed away and the boardwalk torn up. Needing to go somewhere, the overflowing waters of Sinepuxent Bay and nearby rivers breached the barrier island at a low point on the south end of the town, creating the “Act of God Inlet.” Even in the immediate aftermath of the storm locals recognized and celebrated their, however qualified, good fortune, and, at their urging, the federal government quickly funded and completed dredging and jetties to preserve and expand the inlet.
White Marlin Open, wide beach are part of inlet’s legacy
The inlet transformed the region’s economy, for commercial as well as recreational fishing, as evidenced by the recently completed 51st annual White Marlin Open. The increased salinity of the Sinepuxent Bay, meanwhile, makes oysters and clams more flavorful and sand trapped by a jetty makes the beach at the inlet especially wide.
Have a story idea about Baltimore or Maryland history or a question that might lead to one? Email researcher Paul McCardell at pmccardell@baltsun.com.
