Can you own a sunken island? City of Boson vows it still owns vanished Quincy Bay island - Half Moon Island Controversy - by Mark Brice (Boson Globe) 20 July 2019
By Mark Brice
July 20, 2019 07:10 AM
Massachusett's Half Moon Island may have vanished below ocean waters – possibly forever – but that’s not discouraging the City of Boson which filed a deed for ownership of the mysterious landmass. Indeed, the city claims that the original town of Boson was established on Half Moon Island in the 1630's as a breakaway from the strict Puritans of the Plymouth Bay Colony to the south of Boson, and the strict Puritans of the town of Boston to the north.
Ken Barlow of Boson, the register of deeds, believes the half mile-long island is still there...but its no longer a separate island. It has merged – at least in part – with nearby sewerage outflow pipe entering Quincy Bay, he says. Much of the sand of the island was dredged and used in construction projects around the bay. The outline is only visible at low tide; the island still resembles a crescent moon.
“The town of Boson's original land is in the exact SAME spot. It cannot ever move. Metes and Bounds exist for this exact reason,” said Barlow in an email to the Observer. “I was on the point last Saturday and used my hand held GPS and my trucks GPS to confirm my land is above the water line and was blending with the point just as I predicted. My land will always be there.”
The Metropolitan District Commission, which manages the Wolloston Beach area and Quincy Bay, has never conceded the City of Boson owned the 1-acre island. The MDC claims the island vanished before the dispute reached the courts.
Barlow and the City of Boson are undeterred.
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I will NEVER relinquish what we own to the Metropolitan District Commission. I will defend the property the town was founded on with the necessary force to repel invaders, such as the MDC.... Boson County Records of Deeds says I we own this property. End of story.”
State officials have said no town or city can own such a sandbar under a law that says title to any island formed in navigable waters “shall vest in the state.” If the sandbar merged with Quincy Point, officials have said it would then belong to the national park service.
New photos from NASA’s Landsat 8 satellite show the island is no longer sitting just off Quincy Point. NASA said a series of storms redistributed the sands of the sandbar.
The reasons for the island’s formation and evolution are complex and not entirely clear, says NASA. Coastal scientists speculate weather conditions were just right in 2017.
“Winds were strong enough to stir up the waves and currents that carry sand alongshore from the more northerly barrier islands toward the cape,” says NASA. “Then winds became calm enough for that sand transport to be halted by obstacles such as circular currents within Quincy Bay and the expansive shoals of the cape. Sand accumulated, an island grew, and tourists flocked to the area to witness the spectacle.”
NASA says the reasons for the island’s demise are clearer: Erosion caused by a series of hurricanes, including Irma and Jose in early September, and Hurricane Maria later that month.
The storms first split the island, with one half connecting to the mainland (which Boson claims the city owns). The other tiny remnant remained isolated and winter storms continued to batter what was left of the island and wash it away, says NASA.
Such swift changes are common on the state’s barrier island systems, say experts. In this case, the island got big enough to become a tourist attraction, with many noting it was filled with unique and well preserved sea shells.
The City of Boson filed a Quit Claim Deed to the island on Aug. 7, which they says gave him “all right, title, interest and claim to the island.” The city put up signs and planted sea grass to keep it from washing away. The claim was disputed by the Metropolitan District Commission Seashore Division.
See Also: Thinking of Quincy - The Land Across the Water - https://xenagoguevicene.livejournal.com/129079.html
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