continue on approximately the same course, and using the 10-fathom (18 m) curve as a guide, invariably pick up Trinity Shoal buoy. As the run from the latter to the Sabine Bank East End buoy or Sabine Pass Approach Lighted Bell Buoy 6 is comparatively short, there is little chance of missing them. There is a 7-fathom (12.8 m) spot, 45 miles northwestward of Ship Shoal Lighted Whistle Buoy; it is 32 miles outside the 10-fathom (18.2 m) curve and 1 mile outside the course between the two lighted whistle buoys.

This approach is superior for deep-draft vessels to that of setting the course direct from Dry Tortugas to Sabine Bank Lighthouse. By the latter method the land fall must be made in the vicinity of several dangerous shoals and in a locality where the bottom is more or less uneven and where soundings taken do not assist materially in fixing a position.

After passing Sabine Bank East End Lighted Whistle Buoy 1, vessels should haul to northward to avoid a shoal with a least depth of 18 feet (5.5 m) over it, lying 8 miles 296° true from the buoy Then set course for Sabine Pass Lighted Whistle Buoy 1.

Courses and Distances for approaching Sabine Pass Lighted Whistle Buoy 1 are given on page 61, and also under Coastwise Courses (Position No. 24).

The following Courses and Distances are from the entrance buoy. Inland Rules are to be followed northward of Sabine Pass Lighted Whistle Buoy 1, in Sabine Pass and all tributary waters.

Heading between the jetties and passing
to the westward of Sabine Pass Lighted
Bell Buoy 2. There is a bell buoy on
the east side of the channel 400 yards
south of the East Jetty Light.

2. Sabine Pass East Jetty Light bearing 72°
true, distant 230 yards:

Direct (Sabine Pass Jetty Channel
Reverse Lighted Range ahead or
astern).

Passing between the jetties.

3. Sabine Pass Channel Lighted Buoy 5:

Direct (Inner Lighted Range ahead) Reverse (Inner Lighted Range astern)_. Passing 0.4 mile westward of Sabine Pass Lighthouse. There are oyster bars close along east side of channel in the vicinity of Sabine Pass Channel Light 2. 57738-36-19

Nautical

Points

miles

336

NNW.7%

W.

2.0

156

SSE. % E__

2.0

Light-draft vessels coming from eastward can also follow along the coast, giving it a berth of about 2 miles, or keeping in 3 fathoms (5.5 m) until the lighted whistling buoy off the entrance is sighted. Approaching from southwestward, deep-draft vessels make the land at Galveston entrance, taking care to pass northward of Heald Bank, and then set a course for a position 1 to 2 miles outside the lighted whistle buoy off Sabine Pass. The bottom is fairly regular, and there are no known dangers within 15 miles of the coast.

Light-draft vessels when eastward of Galveston entrance can follow the coast at a distance of 1 to 2 miles, increasing that distance to 5 miles as Sabine Pass is approached, and when the entrance buoy is sighted it may be approached, keeping it on the port bow.

In entering the pass strangers of deep draft should take a pilot. For vessels of moderate draft, chart 517 and the buoys are sufficient guides, if followed carefully.

The shoalest water in the entrance channel will generally be found about three-fourths mile outside the end of the jetties.

30. COAST, SABINE PASS TO GALVESTON

High Island, about 2312 miles eastward of Bolivar Point Lighthouse, is a mound about 1 mile in diameter and 40 feet (12.2 m) high. This is the highest land on the coast between Sabine Pass and Galveston and is a landmark for vessels making, or standing along, the coast. There are numerous oil derricks on the mound and about 112 miles to the northward, there are two 132-foot (40 m) towers for a transmission line crossing the Intracoastal Waterway.

Heald Bank, lying 34 miles eastward of Galveston, is nearly 5 miles long in a northeast and southwest direction, and has depths of 25 to 35 feet (7.6 to 10.7 m) over it, while depths of 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 m) are found as close as 12 to 2 miles to the southeastward.

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285

In a heavy sea Heald Bank should be avoided by all vessels, including those of moderate draft, which could pass over it in smooth water. The currents at Heald Bank are due largely to the winds. In calm weather or with light breezes little current is experienced. Wind velocities of 25 to 40 miles produce currents of about 0.5 to 1 knot, setting in a direction approximately fair with the wind. From observations made during the first 6 months of the year 1915 the greatest velocity of the current was 1.1 knots. From this series of observations, the average drift was one-fourth knot, setting in a southwestward direction.

Heald Bank Lightship (Lat. 29°05′.0; Long. 94°13'.8) is moored in 7 fathoms (12.8 m) of water off the southwestern end of the bank. The vessel has a red hull with "HEALD" on each side, and two masts with red circular gratings at each masthead. The light is occulting white, 50 feet above the water and visible 12 miles. There is a small riding light on the forestay. The fog signal is a steam diaphragm horn; if the horn is disabled, a bell is struck by hand. A radiobeacon is operated; it has been synchronized with the diaphragm horn fog signal for distance finding: see Light List or H. O. publication No. 205. When the lightship is withdrawn for repairs, from about July 15 to October 15, the station is marked by a lighted whistle buoy.

The code flag signals and radio call for the station are WSU. Radio messages of importance in the maintenance of aids to navigation or on other urgent matters will be received during the first 15 minutes of each hour from 8 a. m. to 8:15 p. m. standard time. Storm warnings are displayed at the lightship.

Bolivar Point Unused Lighthouse is a white and black, horizontally banded, conical tower, on the point at the northerly side of the entrance to Galveston Bay, about 5 miles westward of the entrance to the channel between the jetties.

A wreck awash at high tide is one-half mile off the Gulf Coast of Bolivar Peninsula, 7 miles north-northeastward from Galveston North Jetty Light, in 13 feet of water. It is reported that several fishing vessels have been wrecked by this obstruction. The area about three-fourths mile wide extending northward from Galveston North Jetty and along the beach is strewn with wreckage.

31. INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY, PORT ARTHUR TO

CORPUS CHRISTI

Information regarding other sections of the Intracoastal Waterway is given on the following pages:

Pensacola Bay to Mobile Bay, page 181
Mobile Bay to New Orleans, page 211.
New Orleans to Port Arthur, page 258.

A River and Harbor project has been adopted which provides for a channel 9 feet (2.7 m) deep at mean low water and 100 feet wide from Port Arthur to Corpus Christi. The project also provides for the construction of locks on each side of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers.

A great portion of the projected waterway is through land cuts. The first section, from the Port Arthur Canal at Port Arthur to

Port Bolivar on Galveston Bay is practically all a land cut. To the south of Galveston, land cuts pass inland of the chain of shallow bays and lagoons which lie behind the succession of long narrow islands and peninsulas extending along the Gulf Coast. Natural depths will be utilized across the central deeper portion of Matagorda Bay and also across Aransas Bay to Port Aransas and there will be a dredged channel across San Antonio Bay. Existing ship channels of greater depth are utilized from Port Bolivar to the west end of the Galveston Channel and also from Port Aransas to Corpus Christi.

In 1935, the section of the Intracoastal Waterway between Port Arthur and Galveston had been completed to project dimensions and the section between Galveston and Freeport had also been completed to project dimensions to a point 141/2 miles west of Galveston, ending in a land cut north of West Bay. No construction work had been done to the westward of this point.

There was previously an inland waterway from Galveston to Corpus Christi with controlling dimensions of 5 feet (1.5 m) deep by 40 feet wide. This waterway is to be replaced by the new Intracoastal Waterway and is no longer being maintained. In 1935, this previous route was closed between Freeport and Matagorda Bay but a depth of 3 feet (0.9 m) could be carried from Galveston to Freeport and the same depth from Matagorda Bay to Corpus Christi. The present (1935) condition of this route is given on the following pages:

Galveston to Brazos River, page 38.

Galveston and Brazos River Canal, page 309.

Directions, Galveston to Freeport, page 310.
Brazos River to Matagorda Bay, page 314.
Matagorda Bay, page 315.

Matagorda Bay to Aransas Pass, page 319.

Pamphlets giving the current status of the above inside waterways are prepared periodically by the United States Engineer Office, Trust Company Building, Galveston, Tex.

PORT ARTHUR TO GALVESTON

From the junction of the Sabine-Neches Canal and the Port Arthur Canal at the mouth of Taylor Bayou, the Intracoastal Waterway follows a land cut for about 5211⁄2 miles to Galveston Bay. This cut approaches within about 3 miles of the coast, passes about 12 miles north of High Island and continues southwestward along the north side of Bolivar Peninsula. The project dimensions are 9 feet (2.7 m) deep by 100 feet bottom width.

The entrance from the Port Arthur Canal is marked by beacons and the Sabine Galveston Waterway Light marks the entrance from Galveston Bay on the northeast side of Bolivar Point. Seventeen miles east of the Galveston Bay entrance, the canal passes across the head of East Bay. The north side of the channel across the open water is marked by a light at either end and by two intermediate beacons. There is a spoil bank along the south side.

The waterway is crossed by three bridges, viz, one bascule highway bridge just west of the Port Arthur Canal entrance and railway and highway swing bridges just north of High Island. All

(31) PORT ARTHUR TO CORPUS CHRISTI

287

have a horizontal, clearance of 100 feet and a vertical clearance of 12 feet (3.7 m) above mean low water when closed.

Just west of the High Island bridges, a transmission line crosses the canal. The towers are 132 feet (40 m) high and the vertical clearance is 110 feet (33.5 m).

Directions. No directions, other than the above, are necessary as far as the Sabine Galveston Waterway Light north of Point Bolivar where the waterway enters the deep water of Galveston Bay. From this light, pass west of the Port Bolivar Range Lights and follow the Port Bolivar Channel to Bolivar Roads Buoy 4, and thence across Bolivar Roads to Pelican Spit Shoal Lighted Buoy, passing south of Bolivar Roads Lighted Buoy 2. From the Pelican Spit buoy, follow the Galveston Channel south to Galveston.

The 9-foot channel branches west from the Port Arthur Ship Canal about 3 miles below Port Arthur. The distance through the land out to deep water in Galveston Bay is about 52 miles and from this point to Galveston is about an additional 5 miles.

High Island is a small town and oil producing center on the hill by that name about a mile north of the coast and 26 miles east of GaÏveston Bay. It is the only settlement near the Intracoastal Waterway between the Port Arthur Canal and Galveston Bay. The railroad between Beaumont and Galveston and the highway between Port Arthur and Galveston pass through High Island, both crossing the Intracoastal Waterway about 11⁄2 miles to the northward.

GALVESTON TO FREEPORT

Westward from Galveston, the new Intracoastal Waterway has been completed for 141/2 miles to the Galveston-Brazoris County line, 11 miles beyond the drawbridge of the Galveston Causeway. From the drawbridge, the new channel leads across to the north shore of West Bay for 412 miles and thence follows a land cut along the north shore of the bay for 61⁄2 miles to the present (1935) dead end. This section has been completed to the project dimensions of 9 feet (2.7 m) deep by 100 feet wide.

Westward of the Galveston Channel, this new channel is marked along the north side by beacons spaced about 1,000 feet apart and also by several red lights. There are three red lights between the Galveston Channel and the causeway, one between the bridge and the land cut north of West Bay and one just east of the entrance into the land cut. Just west of the causeway bridge, GalvestonFreeport Waterway Light 5 marks the south side of the channel near the point where the former 5 feet (1.5 m) by 40 feet inside route leads southwestward through West Bay. This junction point is marked by a beacon just eastward of the light. The beacon is on the west side of the old route which continues a short distance to the southward to the old Beacon 1.

The total distance from Galveston to Freeport by this route will be about 38 miles.

The drawbridge of the Galveston Causeway has a horizontal clearance of 100 feet and a vertical clearance of 12 feet (3.6 m) above low water when closed. There is an overhead wire crossing with 100 feet (31.0 m) vertical clearance.