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Cape Cod Canal II?

Is the present Canal the second canal that Cape Cod has had? In one sense, yes. For, back in 1717, and doubtless before then, there was a narrow passage of clear water that found its way through “Jeremy’s Dream” (so-called by some), or “Jeremiah’s Gutter,” between Orleans and Eastham.

Captain Cyprian Southack, a most colorful personality, who had already made a map of Boston’s shoreline, was sent by the Governor to the Cape to take possession of a wrecked pirate ship. Captain Southack sailed or rowed, in the whaleboat from his sloop, right through Jeremiah’s Gutter, with room to spare. Jeremiah’s Gutter filled up with sand long ago and ceased to exist, but undeniably it was the first canal through the Cape, and it might have been the only thruway, had modern means existed in those days to scoop it out and buttress it against the onslaughts of the sea.

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