Ship Bottom, New Jersey
borough in New Jersey
Ship Bottom is a borough situated on the Jersey Shore, within Ocean County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,098, a decrease of 58 (−5.0%) from the 2010 census count of 1,156, which in turn had reflected a decline of 228 (−16.5%) from the 1,384 counted in the 2000 census. The borough is located on Long Beach Island and borders the Atlantic Ocean. The summer population can climb as high as 20,000.
The borough's name was derived from a March 1817 incident in which a woman was saved from a wrecked ship that had capsized as her rescuers used axes to cut through the bottom of the hull.
What is now Ship Bottom was originally incorporated as the borough of Ship Bottom-Beach Arlington by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 3, 1925, from portions of Long Beach Township, based on the results of a referendum held on May 23, 1925. The borough name was shortened to Ship Bottom in 1947.
The borough is known as the "Gateway to Long Beach Island", as Route 72 provides the sole road access from Manahawkin in Stafford Township, ending in Ship Bottom as it crosses Manahawkin Bay via the Manahawkin Bay Bridge (formally known as the Dorland J. Henderson Memorial Bridge).
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.99 square miles (2.58 km2), including 0.71 square miles (1.84 km2) of land and 0.28 square miles (0.73 km2) of water (28.48%).
Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the borough include Beach Arlington.
“Ship Bottom, New Jersey” enters the record as borough in New Jersey. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ship, Bottom and Jersey can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ship Bottom, New Jersey” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ship, Bottom and Jersey provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1088826. VIAF identifies the subject as 147903309. The Library of Congress control number is n94056898. Authority coordinates are 39.645, -74.183. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2010, 2000 and 1817.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ship Bottom, New Jersey”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ship Bottom, New Jersey primary sources, Ship Bottom, New Jersey archive and Ship research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ship Bottom, New Jersey”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ship Bottom, New Jersey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.