History of White Marlin Marina

White Marlin Marina is located in the heart of historic downtown Ocean City, Maryland, just minutes from the Ocean City Inlet and the open waters of the Atlantic.

A Waterfront Transformed

Ocean City’s maritime history changed forever in August 1933, when a powerful storm cut a new inlet between the Atlantic Ocean and Sinepuxent Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers later stabilized the inlet, creating permanent and protected access between the bay and the ocean. What began as a natural disaster became one of the most important events in Ocean City’s history, allowing larger fishing vessels to reach the Atlantic directly and return to safe harbor.

Within only a few years, offshore fishermen began discovering extraordinary numbers of white marlin near Ocean City. By the late 1930s, the town was developing an international reputation for sportfishing. On July 29, 1939, Ocean City captains and anglers reportedly caught 171 white marlin in a single day—an event that helped establish the town’s lasting identity as the White Marlin Capital of the World.

The Route 50 Bridge: Connecting Ocean City to the Mainland

Existing before the Route 50 bridge was constructed, Ocean City’s first automobile bridge crossed Sinepuxent Bay into downtown at Worcester Street. It was formally opened on July 4, 1919, giving motorists a direct alternative to the railroad and earlier ferry transportation. On the mainland, the crossing followed the route now remembered as Old Bridge Road in West Ocean City. The bridge was damaged during the powerful August 1933 storm that created the Ocean City Inlet, but it continued serving the resort until a more modern crossing was built.

The present U.S. Route 50 bridge opened in 1942, on a new alignment slightly north of the earlier Worcester Street crossing. Officially named the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge, it carries travelers across Sinepuxent Bay and into downtown Ocean City at North Division Street, only a short distance from White Marlin Marina. Its opening gave Ocean City a stronger and more dependable highway connection to Berlin, Salisbury, and communities farther west.

More than eight decades later, the same bridge remains the primary entrance into downtown Ocean City. Its movable draw span opens to allow charter boats, commercial vessels, yachts, and other marine traffic to pass between the bay and the Ocean City Inlet. The bridge continues to serve two important parts of Ocean City life—welcoming generations of visitors by road while preserving access to the working waterfront and the open Atlantic beyond.

The Magee Yacht Basin

Historical records identify the early area of the marina at Somerset Street as the Magee Yacht Basin. The Maryland State Archives preserves a photograph specifically cataloged under that name, documenting the importance of the yacht basin to Ocean City’s developing waterfront.

A historical reconstruction of Ocean City’s bayside waterfront around 1950 places Magee Yacht Basin at Somerset Street, alongside the other marinas, piers, restaurants, charter boats, and headboats that lined the downtown harbor. Historical sources place the basin on the same Somerset Street waterfront now associated with White Marlin Marina. Although a complete public chain of ownership and name changes has not yet been located, the surviving records show a strong continuity of boating and marina activity at this location. Please get in touch with us if you have more historical information.

The yacht basin was more than a place to tie up a boat. It served as a gathering point for local captains, visiting fishermen, vacationers, and families who came downtown to experience Ocean City from the water.

The Miss Ocean City

One of the earliest vessels specifically associated with Magee Yacht Basin was the Miss Ocean City, a sightseeing speedboat operating around 1941.

The Miss Ocean City carried vacationers from the bayside yacht basin, through the recently created inlet, and into the Atlantic Ocean. From there, passengers could cruise along the shoreline and see Ocean City from the water—an exciting experience during the years before high-rise hotels and modern sightseeing attractions reshaped the resort.

The vessel represents an important part of the basin’s early history. Magee Yacht Basin supported not only fishermen and private boats, but also the growing recreational boating industry that attracted visitors to downtown Ocean City.

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