Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Measuring 604 square miles (1,560 km2) below a line drawn from Brant Rock in Marshfield to Race Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west. To the north of Cape Cod Bay lie Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.[1] Cape Cod Bay is the southernmost extremity of the Gulf of Maine. Cape Cod Bay is one of the bays adjacent to Massachusetts that give it the name Bay State. The others are Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay, and Massachusetts Bay.
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In 1524 the great Italian navigator, Giovanni da Verrazzano aka John Verrazano, was the first European to discover Cape Cod Bay, his claim proved by the famous James Verrazano map of 1529 which clearly outlined Cape Cod.[2] In 1620, the Pilgrims first sheltered in Provincetown Harbor where they signed the Mayflower Compact, the first democratic document signed in the New World.[1]
Most of Cape Cod is composed of glacially derived rocks, sands, and gravels. The last glaciation ended about 10,000 years BC. During the end of the last glaciation, Cape Cod Bay was probably a large freshwater lake with drainages across Cape Cod in places like Bass River and Orleans Harbor. The Provincetown Spit, i.e., the land north of High Head in North Truro, was formed by marine deposits over the last 5,000-8,000 years. These deposits created Provincetown Harbor, a large, bowl-shaped section of Cape Cod Bay. Generally, currents in the Bay move in a counter-clockwise fashion, moving south from Boston, to Plymouth then east and then north to Provincetown.
Since 1914, Cape Cod Bay has been connected to Buzzards Bay by the Cape Cod Canal, which divides the upper cape towns of Bourne and Sandwich.
There are many sea creatures upon this bay such as blue-finned flounder and some different colored catfish. Also there are many different species of starfish, dolphins, and some whales.
American whaling had its start in Cape Cod Bay.[3] The Pilgrims shot at a whale unsuccessfully while they were anchored in Provincetown Harbor in 1620. Ichabod Paddock of Yarmouth introduced shore whaling to Nantucketers in 1680.[3] The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) was considered by New England whalers to be the "right" ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of shore, leading rapidly to their near extinction.