The Gulf Before

Features

Cashes Ledge offers a rare glimpse of what the Gulf of Maine looked like 400 years ago

At 5:02 a.m., we pass the Isle of Shoals—it’s the last land we’ll see until sunset. We motor east for about 100 miles on the Gulf Challenger, the University of New Hampshire’s research vessel, to Cashes Ledge deep in the Gulf of Maine.