Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland and Virginia, and dividing the former state into two parts, is the largest inlet on the Atlantic coast of the United States, being 200 miles long, and from 4 to 40 broad. Its entrance, 12 miles wide, has on the north Cape Charles, and on the south Cape Henry, both promontories being in Virginia. The bay has numerous arms, which receive many navigable rivers, such as the Susquehanna on the north, the Potomac, Rappahannock, and York on the west, and the James on the south-west. Unlike the shallow sounds towards the south, this network of gulfs and estuaries, with its noble feeders, affords depth of water for ships of any burden, virtually carrying the ocean up to the wharves of Baltimore and the arsenals of Washington.—For the Chesapeake and Shannon sea-fight, see BROKE.