Searching for Water

In June 1608, John Smith and his crew explored the Chesapeake’s Lower Eastern Shore while desperately searching for fresh water. They sailed up the Pocomoke River, recorded on Smith’s map as the Wighcocomoco, but found only muddy water and turned back near what is now Pocomoke City, not realizing that fresh water lay a short distance farther upriver. Smith also described seeing many low islands along the eastern shore of the Bay, some of which have since disappeared or shrunk because of rising sea levels. After heading back into the Bay, the crew was caught in a squall that nearly sank their boat, and after bailing for their lives they came ashore at Bloodsworth Island, which they named Limbo, where they stayed for two days repairing storm damage.

Maryland · United States