The Crisfield waterfront is largely built up with bulkhead wharves and timber piers, most of which are privately owned, but open to the public on equal terms. Some of the terminals have mechanical freight-handling equipment, but most of the freight is transferred by hand. Depths at the wharves and piers range from 5 to 12 feet, the deepest being at the outer end of the railroad pier.
Supplies, gasoline, and diesel fuel are available at Crisfield. The largest marine railway can haul out vessels up to 70 feet in length for repairs; mobile lifts to 50 tons are also available.
A state-owned full service marina is on the north side of Somers Cove. A Coast Guard station is on the south side of the cove.
Small freight and passenger boats operate daily to Tangier and Smith Islands.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
The Little Annemessex River (37°58.0’N., 75°53.8’W.), the approach to the town of Crisfield, empties into Tangier Sound 10 miles north of Tangier Sound Light. The entrance to the river is 0.8 mile wide between Great Point on the south and Island Point, the southwest end of Janes Island, on the north.
The main entrance to Crisfield is through the well-marked dredged channel of Little Annemessex River. In 1990, the controlling depth was 8.5 feet (10 feet at midchannel) from Daybeacon 8 to a point about 0.2 mile below the junction with the spur channel to Hop Point; thence in 1991, 6.5 feet in the west half and 4.5 feet in the east half of the channel from Hop Point Channel to Daugherty Creek Canal. The spur channel to the wharves at Hop Point had a controlling depth of 8 feet in 1991 to just below the northwest corner of Hop Point, thence shoaling to 3.5 feet at the upper end. Depths of 4 to 7 feet were available off the faces of the wharves at Hop Point. Brick Kiln Channel, the L-shaped channel and mooring basin 0.5 mile to the northward, had controlling depths of 4.6 feet (5.8 feet at midchannel) in the channel and 6 feet in the basin in 2007.
The southerly approach to Crisfield from Pocomoke Sound, used extensively by oyster boats, is through crooked Broad Creek. The northerly approach from Big Annemessex River is through marked Daugherty Creek and through Daugherty Creek Canal. The tidal current floods northward in the canal and ebbs southward; the velocity is reported to be about 1.3 knots.
Crisfield, on the east side of Little Annemessex River 2 miles above the mouth, is a fish and seafood processing and tourist center. Waterborne commerce consists chiefly of seafood and petroleum products. The harbor is used by many oyster, fish, and crab boats with drafts of 2 to 6 feet.
Somers Cove is a well protected basin on the south side of Crisfield. In 2011, the entrance to the basin had a controlling depth of 8 feet with depths of 8 to 10 feet available in the basin.
