now that our men brian & gregg are probably well on their way north to men
men meaning here the northernmost point of maine
& on their way east also to mee easternmost maine
& eventually also south to mes southernmost maine
it may be appropriate to point out that these 3 imminent visits will
actually complete their cardinal extremities of maine ensemble try
& to that extent our & all dogdoms try as well
because their recent visit to ibc mon 475 at caus2menhqc
aka the maine newhampshire quebec international trijunction
was in fact
tho they havent barked about it
a simultaneous visit also to mew
the westernmost point of maine
so they have already rounded first base
& possibly second by now as well
on their down east home run trot
& if completely successful this 4 bagger will constitute the first perfect
cardinal meld or news tour of any state in the union
& they are out there right now with flotation & gps
can you dig it
so for this & other reasons
my thoughts & wishes are especially with them on this journey
& i would like to add about mee & mes
gregg & brian
for i hope you will be reading this on the road
that brians new magic carpet topo toy allows us to look at some refinements
that may well enhance the chase
since both of the following maps actually show the limits of state &
federal maritime territory
yes i am pretty sure that the red lines at lower right in
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=44.8056&lon=-66.9865&s=100&size=m
are at least a pretty good attempt to show the legal limits of maine
necessarily diverging landward just there from the international boundary
as the latter proceeds seaward beyond 3 nautical miles from land
this red line junction incidentally also marks the international
trijunction cameus or canada maine unitedstates
aka crmeus if crown waters are considered as the relevant canadian
territory here
& these lines all together confirm that the wet or absolute mee point
suggested yesterday is indeed correctly shown there at the easternmost turn
of the international boundary
the second map is a bit enigmatic at first
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=42.9775&lon=-70.6153&size=s&s=200
here again the limits of state territorial waters are shown by red lines
but they are even more clearly discernible in this case as arcs of circles
3 nautical miles distant from the nearest land
indeed careful measurement bears this out everywhere except at lower right
where there is a strange bulge averaging about 4500 extra feet seaward
indicating the probable existence of some undepicted rocks or islets at
about that distance southeast of your flagged points brian
& sure enough the larger scale map
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=42.9775&lon=-70.6153&s=25&size=m
as you may have already realized
reveals cedar island ledge as a probable dry mes
& reveals anderson ledge as a probable dry nhe
& suggests but doesnt actually indicate a probable continuation of the menh
state line in between these islets
this map also clearly shows that the state line generally follows a line of
equidistance between islands
but it is not at all clear why the boundary stops so abruptly where it does
indeed the menh line has been legally described since 1740 as simply
parting the isles of shoals
& since we find these 2 extra islets just here we probably can safely
assume that the line is or was supposed to continue in between them as well
several other online maps including a 1920 usgs topo
http://docs.unh.edu/NH/PortsmouthSE.jpg
do show the menh state line continuing southeast between these islets
& in some cases beyond them
so the signs are clear
& an equidistant projection of menh could easily be made all the way to the
arc line
& should probably just be presumed considering all the evidence
indeed if you guys are trying for absolute or wet nhe & mes
then it may come as no surprise to you that these 2 seemingly unrelated
extremities must actually be a single point situated upon this very arc line
rather than 2 distinct points
& that this single point must also function at the same time in a third
capacity as well namely as menhus
or the trijunction of the territorial waters of maine & of new hampshire &
of the united states
with all the 3 points in 1 a triple point twice over situated precisely
at the tangent point of the pair of nearly coincident but actually distinct
arc segments projected from the 2 shoals
it ought to be & might even become possible to calculate the position of
this theoretical multiple point upon the arc line from the shoal positions
alone
but unless you have the data & means to do this
for which a copy of the paper topo alone might suffice
i think the only sure way to bag the point is to follow the arc line as
well as you can in the vicinity of its apparent median point
& tho in doing this you would probably only be cruising past a probability
rather than bagging an actuality
that would still seem to be the greatest available truth & beauty at this point
so wild a goose chase tho should be well worth your effort additionally
because in legal reality the menhus point just like the 17 similar
trijunctions of federal maritime territory & pairs of state maritime
territories is quite significant
& no less authentic than dcmdvan or dcmdvas for example
the well recognized district of columbia tripoint twins
& your approach to this point could well become our first known visit to
any of the 18 points in this special offshore class
which all together augment the already illustrious set of 65 american
allstar multipoints into an enlarged totality of 83 major leaguers of all
stripes
anyway i hope this cheers & stimulates your outing as much as it has my inning
m