CITY ISLAND HARBOR

233

The usual anchorage for deep-draft vessels is southeastward of City Island, southward of a line joining the south ends of Hart and City Islands. When anchoring, avoid Deep Reef, which is a small rocky patch, with about 42 fathoms (8.2 m) over it and 9 to 13 fathoms (16 to 24 m) around it, lying 450 yards eastward of the end of the wharf at the south end of City Island. The marks for this spot are the northern wharf on the east side of City Island in range with the little hut on High Island, and the sea wall at the south end of City Island in range with a dark church spire in Westchester. (See also the anchorage chart for the port of New York in the appendix.) Vessels of less than 14 feet (4.3 m) draft anchor anywhere southward of a line drawn from the north end of Hart Island to Town Dock on City Island. Town Dock is the large wharf 5% mile above the south end of City Island. Submarine water pipes and cables cross from just above Town Dock, City Island, to the wharf on Hart Island, a little over 3 mile above its south end; vessels should be careful not to anchor in that locality. The western shore of Hart Island and the wharves on City Island should be given a berth of about 150 yards.

City Island is 114 miles long, and at its northern end is connected with the mainland by a drawbridge. There are several shipyards, engaged principally in building and repairing yachts, and storage facilities for laying them up for the winter.

Pilots.-City Island is one of the headquarters for East River (Hell Gate) and Sound pilots.

Towboats will generally be found at City Island, near the Town Dock or at the southern end of the island.

A reporting station is located near the south end of City Island, from which passing vessels are reported at the Maritime Exchange, New York City, and to the Associated Press.

Measured mile.-Markers for a measured statute mile (5,280 feet) course, established by the New York Sun, are located just west of Belden Point wharf. The other end of the course is on Hart Island, near the light.

Supplies.-Coal, gasoline, and supplies of all kinds can be had at City Island. Water is piped to some of the wharves, and can also be had from towboats and water boats.

Repairs to vessels and the machinery of steamers can be made at City Island. The largest railway is 165 feet long, draft 12 feet forward and 21 feet aft, and has a capacity of about 1,000 tons.

Communication.-Access can be had to the subway system of New York City by taking a bus at City Island. A municipal ferry operates to Hart Island throughout the year.

Ice. In the winter drift ice sometimes interferes with navigation to the extent that sailing vessels are obliged to take a towboat. Tides. The mean rise and fall of the tides is about 74 feet.

EAST CHESTER BAY (CHART 223)

lies between City Island and Throgs Neck and has general depths of 7 to 10 feet (2.1 to 3 m). The shores of the bay are fringed with bowlders, and, together with all shoals, should be approached with caution. In addition, there are indications of scattered bowlders in the bay, and it is advisable to proceed with caution, especially

where the depth is not more than 3 feet (0.9 m) greater than the draft. At the head of the bay there is a buoyed channel, with a least depth of about 5 feet (1.5 m), which follows the eastern shore to the mouth of East Chester Creek. There are several landings, used by motor boats, on the western shore of the bay and on the northwest side of City Island.

A yacht club is located on the northwest shore of the bight into which Weir Creek discharges. A ledge of rocks 300 yards northeast of the clubhouse is marked (from May 1 to December 1) by a white spar buoy. Boats should not anchor too close to this buoy.

The club displays night signals (red, white and red lights) from the clubhouse during the season. There is a marine railway capable of hauling boats up to 60 feet in length and 7-foot draft. Gasoline and some supplies are obtainable. Gasoline and oil can also be obtained from a barge anchored on the east side of the bay between Cuban Ledge and Belden Point, during the summer.

Big Tom, bare at low water and marked by a horizontally striped buoy on its south side, lies 600 yards 247° true (WSW. % W. mag.) from the south end of City Island. Other rocks show around it at extreme low tides, and the rock should be given a berth of over 200 yards. Bowlders with a least depth of 2 feet (0.6 m) lie 130 yards, 85° true (E. 2 S. mag.), from Big Tom. A black buoy marks the easterly extension of this reef.

Cuban Ledge is covered at half tide and is marked by a horizontally striped buoy on its southeast side. Broken ground, with depths of 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 m), extends 1/4 mile southeastward and northwestward from Cuban Ledge, as shown on the chart.

East Chester Creek. The project for this creek provides for a channel 8 feet (2.4 m) deep and generally 150 feet wide from Long Island Sound to 700 feet below Boston Post Road; 70 feet wide to 300 feet above Fulton Avenue, the head of the project, and for a passing basin below the Boston Post Road. In January, 1931, there was a controlling depth of 5 feet (1.5 m) from deep water in East Chester Bay to the head of the improvement, with varying widths, and 6 feet (1.8 m) in the passing basin.

East Chester has some trade in building material, coal, fuel oil, and petroleum products, carried in vessels of 5 to 10 foot (1.5 to 3 m) draft.

Bridges. The following bascule bridges cross East Chester Creek; Pelham Bridge, at the entrance, has an opening 60 feet wide. and 1912 feet (5.9 m) above high water; the railroad bridge, 700 feet above Pelham Bridge, has an opening 6812 feet wide and 15 feet (4.6 m) above high water; Post Road Bridge, 1.8 miles above Pelham Bridge, has an opening 100 feet wide and 13 feet (4 m) above high water; Fulton Avenue Bridge, 2.2 miles above Pelham Bridge, has an opening 70 feet wide and 13 feet (4 m) above high water. The vertical clearances are for the bridges when closed.

Tides. The mean rise and fall of tide is about 7 feet.

MATTITUCK INLET

NORTH COAST OF LONG ISLAND

ORIENT POINT TO PORT JEFFERSON (CHART 1212)

235

From Orient Point to Horton Point the shore is generally bluff and rocky. The 10-fathom (18 m) curve lies from 14 to 34 mile from shore, and the shoaling is generally abrupt. The outlying dangers are Orient Shoal and the rocky patch northward of Horton Point. The prominent features are Browns Hills, the white church spire at Orient, the Coast Guard station at Rocky Point, a prominent standpipe in the northwest part of Greenport, and Horton Point Lighthouse.

Several rocky shoals, including Orient Shoal, with a least depth of 7 feet (2.1 m), lie off the short in the vicinity of Rocky Point; the chart is the guide for avoiding them. The north end of Orient Shoal is marked by a black buoy.

Horton Point Lighthouse, on the summit of the bluff at Horton Point, is a white, square tower, with attached dwelling. The light is fixed white, 103 feet (31 m) high, and visible 16 miles.

A rocky shoal, with a least found depth of 28 feet (8.5 m), lies 15% miles north-northeastward of Horton Point. The shoal is a ridge having an east-northeast and west-southwest direction, and the shoaling is abrupt on its northwest and southeast sides.

From Horton Point to Old Field Point the shore is a line of high bluffs, especially westward of Mattituck. The shore is fringed with shoals, which extend off a greatest distance of 111⁄2 miles and rise abruptly from the deep water of the sound. There are generally bowlders near the shore on the shoals, which extend off 1/2 mile in places.

Goldsmith Inlet, 24 miles southwestward of Horton Point Lighthouse, is dry at low water, and generally has a depth of about 3 feet (0.9 m) at high water. It is closed at times by northwest winds, but is dug out by clam diggers every spring. There are rocks bare at low water and with about 212 feet (0.7 m) over them at high water in the entrance at the old mill. The tidal currents are strong in the entrance. The depths inside the entrance are 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 m) at low water.

A shoal with little depth in places fills the bight between Horton Point and Duck Pond Point, and extends off a greatest distance of nearly 1 mile abreast Goldsmith Inlet. The bluffs begin about 1 mile westward of Goldsmith Inlet and reach their greatest elevation just eastward of Duck Pond Point; there is a grassy valley, forming a break in the bluffs, just westward of the point. There are bowlders, bare at low water, on the shoals which fringe the shore between Duck Pond Point and Mattituck Inlet.

Mattituck Inlet (chart 299) lies 634 miles west-southwestward of Horton Point Lighthouse. The entrance is between two short jetties, and is also marked by a long break in the bluffs at the inlet. The outer end of the west jetty is marked by a light. The inlet has been improved by dredging a channel 7 feet (2.1 m) deep, with a width of 100 feet at the entrance and 80 feet to the drawbridge, mile above the entrance, and thence a channel 80 feet wide and 212 feet (0.7 m) deep a further distance of about 1 mile to Mattituck. The sides of the channel are sand and gravel. Shoaling is liable

161875°-33- -16

to occur at the entrance, and the inlet should not be used by strangers. In 1931 the controlling depth at the entrance was 112 feet (0.4 m), thence to the drawbridge 6 feet (1.8 m) and thence to the head of the project 1 foot (0.3 m).

The tidal currents have an estimated velocity of about 5 knots at strength in the narrow parts of the entrance of Mattituck Inlet and at the site of the old dam at the drawbridge; slack water occurs possibly one hour after the time of high and low water. There is a bad sea in the entrance, with northerly and westerly winds. The mean rise and fall of the tides is about 434 feet at the entrance, about 4 feet at the drawbridge, and about 311⁄2 feet at Mattituck. The inlet is rarely closed by ice.

The drawbridge is about 6 feet above high water and has an opening about 57 feet wide on the west side of the center pier; the east opening is blocked. There is a private landing on the west bank just below the drawbridge; fresh water and a small quantity of gasoline can be obtained.

Mattituck is a village on the railroad. Repairs can be had for motors. Provisions, ice, gasoline, and hard coal can be obtained. The commerce consists chiefly of shellfish carried in vessels of about 4 foot (1.2 m) draft.

Between Mattituck Inlet and Port Jefferson the shore is fringed with rocks and shoals extending in places 12 miles from shore. The outer ends of the shoals are marked by black buoys.

Horse in Bank are white patches in the brush-covered bluff at Friars Head, which resemble a horse's head, facing eastward. There are a few houses on the beach at the nose. This feature is at the western end of Roanoke Point Shoal, and 14 miles westward of Horton Point Lighthouse.

At Fresh Pond Landing, 214 miles westward of Friars Head, there is a considerable break in the bluffs. There are a few houses and a prominent water tank in the valley.

Wading River, at the western end of Herod Point Shoal, has a reported depth of about 5 feet (1.5 m) at high water. The valley of the river forms a broad break in the high bluffs.

Tuttles White Bank is a high, white bluff, 5% mile westward of Wading River.

Mount Sinai Harbor is marked by a low break, nearly 1 mile long in the beach, and is a prominent feature. The entrance is marked by two jetties about 310 feet long and 180 yards apart. A clear channel 64 yards wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) clear depth has been dredged into the harbor. Sand and gravel companies are dredging in the harbor. The harbor, except where dredging operations have been going on, bares at low water. There is a flashing red light on the north end of the east breakwater.

Mount Misery is a hill 180 feet (55 m) high lying between Mount Sinai Harbor and Port Jefferson. It slopes off gradually toward the Sound, where there are bluffs about 60 feet (18 m) high.

PORT JEFFERSON HARBOR (CHART 361)

is on the south shore of Long Island Sound, eastward of Old Field Point. The entrance is between two converging jetties and the harbor is under improvement to secure a channel through the entrance

PORT JEFFERSON HARBOR

237

300 feet wide and 16 feet (4.9 m) deep. The controlling depth in the entrance in January, 1932, was 1212 feet (3.8 m). There is a light and fog signal on the east jetty and another light on the point on the west side at the inner end of the entrance. There are shoals with little depth on both sides of the channel from the entrance to lighted bell buoy No. 1, inside the entrance. The harbor is easily entered by powered vessels. The deepest draft of vessels entering is about 18 feet (5.5 m) at high water.

Dredges are usually working in the entrance channel. These dredges are required to keep the channel clear for the passage of vessels.

Sand and gravel dredges are also working into the high bare bank southward of Mount Misery Point.

The harbor is 111⁄2 miles long, and has a clear width of about 1/2 mile in its widest part; the depths are 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.7 m) for a distance of 11⁄2 mile from the head, and thence 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) nearly to the lighted bell buoy inside the entrance. There are depths of 10 feet (3 m) at the outer end of Bayles's Wharf and the wharf of the Standard Oil Co., the latter being in poor condition. At the outer part of the steamboat wharf there are depths of 7 to 16 feet (2.1 to 4.9 m), the 7 foot (2.1 m) depth being over a rock just off the center of the wharf. Another rock, with 112 feet (0.4 m) over it, lies about 80 yards westward of the outer end of the steamboat wharf.

Port Jefferson is a town at the southern end of the harbor. The prominent objects are the standpipe on the hill and the oil tanks at the southeastern end of the harbor. The principal industry is shipbuilding and repairing. There are also good facilities for laying up yachts during the winter. The commerce consists chiefly of sand and gravel, building material and shellfish carried in vessels of 6 to 18 feet (1.8 to 5.5 m) draft.

Range for swinging ship.-The light on the east breakwater and the black standpipe back of Port Jefferson afford an excellent range for swinging ship. The true bearing is 142° 45'.3.

Conscience Bay is entered through a long, narrow channel at the northwest end of the harbor. The bay and entrance have a depth of 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 m) at low water.

Setauket Harbor, on the western side of Port Jefferson Harbor, has a narrow, crooked channel, with a least depth of about 2 feet. The entrance from Port Jefferson is buoyed and usually stakes mark the best water in the harbor, leading to the village of Setauket, on the south shore of Setauket Harbor, about 1 mile above the entrance. Supplies.-Coal, gasoline, and supplies of all kinds can be obtained. Water can be had at the principal wharves.

Repairs.-There is one large marine railway and two small ones; the large one is 210 feet long, draft 12 feet forward and 21 feet aft, and has a capacity of about 1,200 tons. There is a machine shop where ordinary repairs can be made.

Communication.-Port Jefferson has railroad communication, and steamers make regular trips from Bridgeport throughout the year. A bus line affords communication across the island to Patchogue, Riverhead, and Greenport.

Ice forms over the entire harbor and interrupts navigation in very cold weather, but does not endanger the shipping in the harbor.