CASCO PASSAGE AND YORK NARROWS

(CHART 227)

Northward of Swans Island, between it and Black Island and Johns Island, there is a narrow passage which separates into two branches in its western part. The eastern end and northern branch 5 is known as Casco Passage, the southern branch as York Narrows. They form a part of the different inland passages from Mount Desert to Whitehead (see tabulated courses on p. 60). Casco Passage and York Narrows are well marked by buoys, and at the eastern entrance, on the north end of Orono Island, there is a large black tripod. Off 10 the western entrance is Egg Rock marked by a tripod with a bell buoy just south of it. The islands are generally low and wooded, and have no prominent marks. At the eastern end of the passage The Triangles is a bare ledge from which a reef covered at half tide extends 400 yards northward.

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Casco Passage is the straighter and better channel, and has a depth of 18 feet and a width of 150 yards; there are rocks with little depth on each side. Vessels of 16-foot draft have been taken through. Directions for the passage are given on page 60. The Current through Casco Passage and York Narrows sets eastward on the flood and 20 westward on the ebb. The velocity is influenced greatly by strong winds. There is a rock, bare at low water, 125 yards off the south side of Black Island.

York Narrows has a width of but little over 100 yards, and has dangerous ledges on both sides. It is not recommended for vessels 25 of a greater draft than 9 feet at low water, except with local knowledge. The following directions will lead through the Narrows: Pass about 50 yards northwestward of the black buoy northward of Orono Island tripod, and steer 222° true for the western edge of the trees on Buckle Island. On this course, pass southward of the two red buoys 30 and when the second one is abeam, change to 267° true and pass between Hawley Ledge and Long Ledge and about 50 yards south of the red buoy located southwest of Long Ledge. If of very light draft, instead of the 267° course steer 249° true and pass just north of the two black buoys on the south side of the channel. This course leads 35 over a 10-foot spot about midway between the two black buoys.

BLUE HILL BAY

(CHART 307)

Blue Hill Bay lies west of Mount Desert Island. It is about 14 miles long and contains several large and some small islands, between 40 which are good channels with deep water. The dangers are comparatively few, and the most prominent are marked by buoys. There are numerous coves on both sides of the bay, and its head is divided into several large arms, the most important of which is Union River Bay. Blue Hill Bay forms the approach to the villages of McKinley, 45 South Blue Hill, Blue Hill Falls, Blue Hill, and Surry, and the city of Ellsworth. It is frequented by a few coasting vessels, fishing vessels, and yachts.

Supplies. Gasoline and provisions are best obtainable at McKinley or Ellsworth, although they are kept at all of the villages. Coal 50 can be obtained at Ellsworth and there is water on the wharves.

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Repairs. There are repair yards for small vessels at Ellsworth and Webber Cove.

Tides.-The mean rise and fall of tides is about 10 feet.
Directions for Blue Hill Bay are given on page 134.

BLUE HILL BAY, EAST SIDE

(CHART 307)

Placentia, Little Gott, and Great Gott Islands are described on page 122.

Bass Harbor Bar, connecting Great Gott Island with Mount 10 Desert Island at Bass Harbor Head, has been improved by dredging a channel across it. In 1940 an effective channel depth of 12 feet at mean low water was reported. Caution should be used in navigating this channel. The channel lies 350 yards southward of Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse (white tower connected with dwelling, the fog 15 signal is a bell), and is marked by a vertically striped buoy, which may be left close to on either side. The channel is on the through route used by most vessels of 12 feet or less draft, and it is sometimes used by vessels of 18 feet draft at high water and with a smooth sea. In heavy weather breakers sometimes form entirely across it.

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Bass Harbor, in the south end of Mount Desert Island, just westward of Bass Harbor Bar, is an important fishing port, and is sometimes used as an anchorage by vessels bound through the inside passage, but the outer harbor is exposed southward. The outer harbor is clear with the exception of Weaver Ledge, in the middle, bare about 25 2 feet at low water and marked by a black buoy on the southeast side and a red buoy on the northwest side. Vessels can enter on either side and anchor between Weaver Ledge and the entrance to the inner harbor, in 5 to 72 fathoms, bottom soft in places.

The inner harbor is a crooked channel, 100 yards wide, with depths 30 of 2 to 4 fathoms, and forms a secure anchorage for small craft. The entrance is marked by two buoys on the western side. The channel inside is unmarked and there are shoals close to it on either side,

McKinley is a village on the east side of Bass Harbor. It has fish factories and is the headquarters of many fishing vessels. The 35 wharf of the fish plant has a depth of 9 feet alongside. Gasoline and provisions are available but there are no special facilities for taking fresh water. A stack and water tank are prominent from southward.

Bernard is a village on the west side of the harbor. These are 40 fish wharves and sheds.

Mitchell Cove and Duck Cove, northward of Bass Harbor, are shoal and foul and have no landings.

Goose Cove, on the eastern side of Blue Hill Bay, 2 miles northward of Bass Harbor, is frequented by fishing boats. A red buoy marks a 45 shoal in mid-harbor. West Tremont is a village at the head of the A church spire at West Tremont is prominent from seaward. Goose Cove Rock and Rumell are rocky islets with grass on top. The former has a small wooden lookout on its summit.

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cove.

Latty Cove has a pier and float landing.

There are fish weirs between Rumell Island and the mainland.

Seal Cove, 4 miles northward of Lopaus Point,* is a sheltered anchorage for small vessels except with westerly winds. A rock awash at high water lies 300 yards off the north side just inside the entrance, and a ledge partly showing at high water lies off the shoal bight on the south side. Entering midway between the rock and 5 ledge, anchor near the middle of the cove, in 3 to 6 fathoms. There are no wharves.

Moose Island, north of the entrance to Seal Cove, is covered with grass. The point eastward of the island has a few buildings, a wharf and a prominent flagpole with cross arm. The bar con- 10 necting the island and the point is bare at low water. Small craft anchor northward of the bar.

Hardwood Island is wooded at the north end and grassy, with scattered trees, southward. The bar extending 0.3 mile southwestward from it is marked at its end by a red buoy.

Sawyer Cove, on the eastern shore of Blue Hill Bay eastward from the north end of Hardwood Island, is an anchorage for small craft. On the northeast side at the entrance is a ledge awash at high water. There are several float landings.

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Pretty Marsh Harbor makes into the eastern shore of the bay 20 northeastward from Hardwood Island. There is good anchorage for vessels 300 to 500 yards from the eastern shore eastward of Folly Island in 5 to 6 fathoms. The northern and western sides of the cove inside West Point are shoal, and a shoal extends 350 yards southeastward from the point. Folly Island is grassy, with a few trees. A 25 shoal extends 150 yards southeastward from Folly Island, and a ledge with 3 feet over it lies 200 to 300 yards eastward from the island; otherwise there are no dangers away from the shores. There are several float landings on the east side of the harbor.

John Island is a grassy islet, and there is a lower grassy islet 400 30 yards northwestward.

Birch Island is wooded.

Bartlett Narrows leads between Mount Desert Island and Bartlett Island. The channel is narrow, but has deep water, with few dangers, and is not difficult. The mid-channel westward of Folly 35 and John Islands is clear. If passing eastward of Folly Island give it a berth of about 400 yards, and give the south end of John Island a berth of 200 yards. The eastern shore of the Narrows from West Point to its northern end is bold and should be favored. In the narrowest part keep the eastern shore aboard distant 100 yards to 40 avoid a ledge which extends 200 yards southward from a group of bare rocks.

A ledge with 2 to 3 feet over it lies 400 to 600 yards from the eastern shore 0.4 mile northward of Bartlett Narrows. It will be avoided by keeping westward of a range marked by the northwest 45 tangents of Black and Alley Islands.

Bartlett Island is generally wooded and has a few houses. There is a pier and float landing on the east side, and several on the west side. There is a grass covered islet close to the northeast end of the island.

*Lat. 44°13'.6, Long. 68°21'.9: Charts 307, 308, 1202.

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Western Bay is northeastward of Bartlett Island, and is a part of the waters which separate Mount Desert Island from the mainland. Mount Desert Narrows, described on page 113, is at the head of Western Bay. Vessels of any size can select anchorage in the bay 5 southwestward of Alley Island, in 10 to 12 fathoms, but the broken ground with 512 to 6 fathoms extending 0.4 mile off the southeast side of Oak Point should be avoided. With the aid of the chart, good anchorage can also be selected in 31⁄2 to 6 fathoms southeastward and eastward of Alley Island. The range of the summit of Bartlett Island 10 over the middle of Black Island (thickly wooded) clears the shoal which extends 500 yards southeastward from Alley Island.

Foul ground extends about 500 yards from the south shore between Green Island and Indian Point. Northwest Cove, eastward of Indian Point, has an anchorage in 12 to 18 feet, but a ledge with 15 little water over it extends 500 yards from its southeast shore 600. yards eastward from Indian Point.

Goose Cove is a large shallow bight on the north side of Western Bay above Alley Island, and at its head is the village of Trenton. The head of the cove is dry at low water for a distance of 0.5 mile, and 20 thence it deepens gradually to 7 feet 0.5 mile farther down. There are no wharves.

BLUE HILL BAY, WEST SIDE

(CHART 307)

Mahoney Island, just eastward of the entrance to Eggemoggin 25 Reach, has scattered trees. Smutty Nose Island, 0.5 mile northwestward of Mahoney Island, is grass covered. Mahoney Ledge, westward of Mahoney Island, is partly bare at low water.

Passage north of Pond Island. This passage is used by vessels entering Blue Hill Bay from westward and sometimes by vessels 30 following the inside passage eastward or westward. It has a least depth of about 19 feet in the buoyed channel, but there are dangers close to the sailing lines. The buoys are colored for vessels bound westward, that is, red buoys will be found on starboard hand.

Pond Island is wooded on its eastern side. The western side is 35 grassy and is marked by a house on the summit. Lamp Islet is a grassy islet 0.2 mile northward of Pond Island.

The islands between Pond Island and Casco Passage are: Opechee Island (wooded), Johns Island, Black Island (wooded), Sheep Island (grassy), and Eagle Island (wooded). A reef bare at low 40 water is located 500 yards eastward of Eagle Island. The passages between these islands are obstructed by reefs.

Channel Rock with a whitish top is about 5 feet above high water. A submerged ledge extends 0.4 mile east-southeastward of it.

Green Island is grassy and marked by an abandoned lighthouse 45 tower (white with dwelling) and Blue Hill Bay Light* on a black skeleton tower. The shoal of which it is a part is bare at low water from the island to the shore 1.1 miles northward and for a distance of nearly 0.3 mile southward of the island. It is marked by a black

*Lat. 44°14'.9, Long. 68°29'.9: Charts 307, 308, 1202, 1106.

buoy off the south end. Sand Islet (bare), 0.3 mile northeastward of the lighthouse, is nearly covered at high water.

Flye Island Ledge, having rocks with depths of 7 to 13 feet, not closely examined, extends to a point 1 mile south-southwestward of Blue Hill Bay Light.

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Herrick Bay is a shallow and unimportant bight on the western side of Blue Hill Bay northwestward of Blue Hill Bay Light. It is dry at low water for a distance of nearly 1 mile from its head. There is good anchorage in the approach to the bay 0.5 mile from the western shore northward of Naskeag Point, in 4 to 7 fathoms. The range 10 of the western ends of Flye and Long Islands leads westward of Flye Island Ledge.

Ship and Barges Ledge, 0.6 mile south-southeastward of Ship Island, is 350 yards long and bare at half tide. It is marked by a tripod beacon on the south end, a spindle on the north end, and a 15 black bell buoy 250 yards eastward.

West Barge is a flat grass-topped rock 600 yards westward of Ship Island. East Barge is a round grassy islet on the end of the shoal extending 200 yards southward from Ship Island.

Ship, Trumpet, Bar, and Tinker Islands are a chain 4 miles 20 long in the middle of Blue Hill Bay. The islands are joined by shoals bare at low water, except for a channel between Trumpet and Bar Islands, which has a depth of 17 feet and is marked by a vertically striped buoy. Ship and Bar Islands are high and grassy, and Bar Island is marked by a shack at the north end. Trumpet 25 Island is low and grassy. Tinker Island is partly wooded and has a shack at its southeast end.

Cow and Calf Ledge, extending 0.4 mile westward and northward from the north end of Tinker Island, has several rocks with little water, and one rock bare at half tide. It is marked by two red 30 buoys.

Allen Cove, on the west side of Herriman Point, 3.5 miles northward of Blue Hill Bay Light, is used as an anchorage. The shores are foul. The anchorage is in the middle in 2 to 5 fathoms and is open northward.

Long Island is generally wooded, with many clear sections.

Long Island Hub off the south end of Long Island is conspicuous because it is covered with high trees.

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South Blue Hill, a village on the western side of Blue Hill Bay just south of Sand Point, has a wharf with about 50-foot face and 40 5 feet alongside at mean low water.

Salt Pond, just south of the entrance to Blue Hill Harbor, has falls at the entrance, is crossed by a fixed bridge with a horizontal clearance of 100 feet and a vertical clearance of 7.6 feet at mean high water. Salt Pond is entered by local motorboats except for about 3 hours before, and 3 hours after, low tide.

Blue Hill Harbor is in the northwestern part of blue Hill Bay, northwestward of Long Island. It consists of a large bight, called the outer harbor, and a small area extending northwestward to the village of Blue Hill, called the inner harbor. Ledges extend 200 to 700 yards from the western shore of the outer harbor, and at a point 1 mile southward of the entrance of the inner harbor they extend

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