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Great South Bay

Babylon (town), New YorkBays of Suffolk County, New YorkBrookhaven, New YorkIslip (town), New YorkLagoons of New York (state)
Oyster Bay (town), New YorkSouthampton (town), New York
Setting sun over Great South Bay
Setting sun over Great South Bay

The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about 45 miles (72 km) long and has an average depth of 4 feet 3 inches (1.3 m) and is 20 feet (6.1 m) at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island. Robert Moses Causeway adjoins the Great South Bay Bridge, which leads to Robert Moses State Park. The bay is accessible from the ocean through Fire Island Inlet, which lies between the western tip of Fire Island and the eastern tip of Jones Beach Island. The bay adjoins South Oyster Bay on its western end, and Patchogue and Moriches bays at the east end.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Great South Bay (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.690277777778 ° E -73.101944444444 °
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Address

Town of Brookhaven



New York, United States
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Setting sun over Great South Bay
Setting sun over Great South Bay
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Nearby Places

Modesty (sloop)
Modesty (sloop)

Modesty was an oyster sloop built in 1923 by The Wood and Chute Shipyard of Greenport, Long Island. Modeled after the catboat Honest, which was built in 1892 by Jelle Dykstra on the west bank of Greens Creek, West Sayville, Modesty was built as a gaff-rigged sloop, but retained the extreme beam of a catboat. For auxiliary power, a two-cylinder Gafka gasoline engine was installed. Modesty was described by oystermen as a true "southsider". She is believed to be the last sailing scallop dredger built on Long Island. A beautiful vessel, a fine sailer and typical of the old oyster sloops, her lines show graceful proportions in hull and rig. She has a wide beam and sits low in the water. Her shallow draft permitted her to operate commercially in the oyster and scallop flats of Long Island's bays and the river estuaries of Connecticut. The fact that she was even built at the end of the age of sail is due to a law enacted before World War I, which stipulated that only sail power could be used while dredging for scallops. By this time, many boats in the fleet had their centerboards plugged. After working as a scallop dredger in the Peconic Bay until 1936, Modesty moved to Connecticut to finish her working career as an oyster dredger. From the 1948 until 1974 she served as a pleasure yacht for various owners. When Modesty was acquired by the Long Island Maritime Museum, formerly the Suffolk Marine Museum, in 1976, Theodore Haupt, her first owner was present to receive her colors. After restoration, Modesty was relaunched in 1980 by the Museum. She was christened with a bottle of champagne mixed with water from the Great Peconic Bay and the Great South Bay. A new 1880 penny was placed under the mast along with several pre-1923 coins discovered when the mast was removed during her restoration. Modesty was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001. Modesty is berthed next to the 1888 oyster dredging sloop Priscilla and near the 1908 Rudolph Oyster House, both of which are also National Historic Landmarks.