NOTE

The courses and bearings given in degrees are true, reading clockwise from 0° at north to 359°, and are followed by the corresponding magnetic course in points in parentheses. General directions, such as northeastward, west-southwestward, etc., are magnetic.

Distances are in nautical miles and may be converted approximately to statute miles by adding 15 per cent to the distances given. Currents are expressed in knots, which are nautical miles per hour. Except where otherwise stated, all depths are at mean low water. In accordance with the desire of the International Hydrographic Conference, each depth is followed, in parentheses, by its equivalent in meters.

Heights are given in feet with metric equivalent in parentheses. Changes and other corrections affecting all coast-pilot volumes are included in the Notice to Mariners published weekly by the United States Department of Commerce. About one year after a Coast Pilot is published, and at approximately yearly intervals thereafter until a new edition is brought out, a supplement, giving the more important corrections and additions to its text since the date of its publication, is issued. The date of the latest supplement to each Coast Pilot, for which a supplement has been issued, is shown in the list of Coast Pilots as published in the Notice to Mariners. Any supplement may be obtained, free of charge, upon application to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D. C., or any of its field stations. Each supplement is complete in itself and cancels all previous supplements.

Do not use this Coast Pilot except with reference to the latest supplement that may have been published and Notices to Mariners issued after the date of the supplement.

VI

UNITED STATES COAST PILOT

ATLANTIC COAST-SECTION B-CAPE COD TO SANDY HOOK

GENERAL INFORMATION

The information contained in this volume relates to the coast and inland waters from Race Point, Cape Cod, to Sandy Hook, and includes Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, Long Island Sound and tributaries, New York Harbor and tributaries, and embraces part of the coasts of Massachusetts and New Jersey and all of the coasts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.

Character of the bottom.-THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN SHORES OF CAPE COD AND NANTUCKET ISLAND are generally sandy, with extensive sand shoals extending well from the shore in many places; this is notably the case eastward and southeastward of Monomoy Point and Nantucket Island, where the shoals are shifting in character, being subject to changes in position and depth. IN NANTUCKET AND VINEYARD SOUNDS rocky ledges and bowlders occur along the north shore from Bishop and Clerks Lighthouse to Elizabeth Islands; elsewhere the shores and shoals in Nantucket sound are generally sandy and more stable than those eastward.

THE COAST OF MARTHAS VINEYARD is generally sandy, with bowlders scattered along the shore in many places. The shores of the ELIZABETH ISLANDS, BUZZARDS BAY, AND THE COAST FROM BUZZARDS BAY TO POINT JUDITH, INCLUDING NARRAGANSETT BAY, are bold and generally rocky, with stretches of sand beach, but off the shore numerous rocky ledges and bowlders are found; there is little natural change in the shore or shoals.

LONG ISLAND SOUND, BLOCK ISLAND SOUND, AND FISHERS ISLAND SOUND are regions of bowlders, and all broken ground is liable to be of this character; in these waters there is little or no natural change in the shore, shoals, or other features. THE OUTSIDE COAST OF LONG ISLAND is a sand beach, without bowlders, and large changes occur in a few years in the vicinity of the inlets.

Wire drag surveys. In all areas mentioned above as rocky or regions of bowlders, the ordinary survey with the lead line can not be relied upon to locate all dangers. In such areas a wire drag survey, in which a horizontal wire is suspended at a known depth below the surface and dragged across the area, is the only means of locating all dangers. Until such surveys are made and the dangers thus located have been charted, vessels should proceed with caution when crossing such areas where the charted depth does not considerably exceed the draft.

1

At the end of 1982 the areas examined by means of a wire drag were as follows: The main part of Buzzards Bay to the entrance of Cape Cod Canal, excluding tributaries; the broken ground in the approaches to Buzzards and Narragansett Bays outside of the inshore dangers; the eastern passage of Narragansett Bay between the Dumplings and the south end of Prudence Island, including Newport Outer and Inner Harbor; parts of the western passage of Narragansett Bay; an area about 5 miles wide between Endeavor Shoal and Block Island, including the western part of Southwest Ledge; an area between Constellation Rock and Cerebus Shoal; an area about 3 miles wide northward and westward of Shagwong Reef nearly to Gardiners Island; the main part of Gardiners Bay, including Plum Gut; the western approach to the Race; the western approach and the greater part of Fishers Island Sound; the approach to Port Jefferson Harbor, outside of Mount Misery Shoal; the approaches to Duck Islands Roads; parts of Sixmile Reef; the western end of Long Island Sound, west of South Norwalk; and the East River between Whitestone and Lawrence Points, northward of Riker Island. These limits are general, and are given more in detail under the descriptions of the various bodies of water. The dangers bordering the shores are not ordinarily dragged.

Harbors and ports.-The more important places, either commercially or as harbors of refuge, are Vineyard Haven, New Bedford, Newport, Dutch Island Harbor, Fall River, Providence, Point Judith Harbor, Great Salt Pond, Gardiners Bay, New London, New Haven, Bridgeport, and New York.

Anchorages in Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, and Long Island Sound and tributaries are given under the general information for these regions. Anchorage areas in New York Harbor are given in the appendix.

System of buoyage.-In conformity with section 4678 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the following order is observed in coloring and numbering buoys in United States waters, viz:

In approaching the channel, etc., from seaward, red buoys, with even numbers, will be found on the starboard side.

In approaching the channel, etc., from seaward, black buoys, with odd numbers, will be found on the port side.

Buoys painted with red and black horizontal stripes will be found on obstructions with channel ways on either side of them and may be left on either hand in passing in.

Buoys painted with white and black perpendicular stripes will be found in midchannel and must be passed close to to avoid danger.

All other distinguishing marks to buoys will be in addition to the foregoing and may be employed to mark particular spots.

Perches, with balls, cages, etc., will, when placed on buoys, be at turning points, the color and number indicating on what side they shall be passed. Nun buoys, properly colored and numbered, are usually placed on the starboard side and can buoys on the port side of channels.

Day beacons (except such as are on the sides of channels, which will be colored like buoys) are constructed and distinguished with special reference to each locality, and particularly in regard to the background upon which they are projected.

Buoys maintained by the United States Army Engineers for dredging purposes will hereafter be painted white, with the top for a distance of 2 feet painted dark green.