.jpg)
Fort Pond Bay is abay offLong Island Sound atMontauk, New York that was site of the first port on the end ofLong Island. The bay has a long naval and civilian history.
Fort Pond Bay was first listed by name in a 1655 map published in 1680 by John Scott which makes note of aMontaukett Native-American fort on its banks.
Early settlers in the area raised cattle and sheep on the bluffs above the bay. During theAmerican Revolutionary War during theSiege of Boston British warships sailed into the bay in 1775. Local militia under Captain John Dayton, feigned they had more men than they had, turning their coats inside out as they marched back and forth on top of a high hill to the south. The tactic is calledDayton's Ruse.[1]
Long Island was occupied throughout the war and the bay was used by the British for their blockade of Connecticut. In 1781HMS Culloden ran aground while pursuing a French frigate during a January storm. The ship, which survived the initial ground hit a rock and had to be scuttled in the bay atCulloden Point and burned with its canons thrown overboard. Its debris field and wreck site is now the onlyunderwater park on Long Island.
In the late 18th century, the small fishing village of Montauk was established at the southeast corner of the bay.
_restored.jpg)
In 1839 theslave shipAmistad anchored in bay (also at Culloden Point) when the surviving crew tried to convince their revolted slave captors that they had returned to Africa as they went for provisions in the village of Montauk. The ship was seized by theUSS Washington in the bay.
In the 1890s,Austin Corbin extended theLong Island Rail Road fromBridgehampton, New York to the Montauk fishing village (the line extension was called the Fort Pond Railway). His friend Arthur Bensen purchased 10,000 acres (40 km2) of Montaukett land around the village and the LIRR began advertising that it could cut a day off ship travel by docking in Montauk and taking the train rather than going to New York. Corbin built a steel pier into pond for the overseas ships (even as the Corps of Engineers continued to caution against using the bay because of rocks.
The dream was never to materialize and the U.S. Army bought the land forCamp Wikoff.Theodore Roosevelt and hisRough Riders were to come by transport into the bay following theSpanish–American War at the camp to be quarantined over concerns aboutyellow fever.
The fishing village was obliterated in the storm of theGreat Hurricane of 1938. The Navy took over the area for a seaplane and dirigible base duringWorld War II (the dock is still in use). The Montauk fishing village was moved a mile south closer to theAtlantic Ocean.
During the years after World War II, the bay ceased to be used by most boats because of flooding and rocks. Boats now dock in the dredgedLake Montauk. In the 1960s the bluffs above the bay were used to buildLeisurama homes as inexpensive second homes that had been inspired by theKitchen Debate betweenRichard Nixon andNikita Khrushchev.
41°03′03″N71°58′10″W / 41.050748°N 71.969547°W /41.050748; -71.969547
