UNITED STATES COAST PILOT.

ATLANTIC COAST-PART IV.

FROM POINT JUDITH TO NEW YORK.*

LONG ISLAND SOUND, WITH APPROACHES AND ADJACENT WATERS.+

GENERAL REMARKS.

The waters included between Point Judith and the East River have comparatively few dangers which menace vessels standing through Block Island Sound and Long Island Sound, though the approaches to some of the harbors are much obstructed. The chief obstacles to navigation on this coast are the fogs and the tidal currents, the former being particularly prevalent in the vicinity of Point Judith- a locality known to coasters as the "fog hole." The tidal currents have considerable strength in Block Island Sound, Fishers Island Sound, and Long Island Sound, though not forming any great hindrance to navigation; but in The Race, in Plum Gut, and through Hell Gate in the East River, the tidal currents have great velocity, and in the latter place are dangerous on account of the narrow channel and the number of vessels encountered. Sailing vessels approaching The Race with the current against them are frequently unable to get through until the tide turns; sailing vessels are generally towed through the East River.

Block Island Sound has but few dangers; its shores are bold-to as a rule. Gardiners Bay is one of the best natural harbors in the world. Fishers Island Sound has a number of dangers, and the currents have considerable velocity; strangers should not pass through it when the buoys can not be seen readily. The Race, except for its strong current, is practically free from dangers for most of the vessels using it-Valiant Rock, in the middle of The Race, having 19 feet over it at mean low water. Long Island Sound has some shoals lying alongshore, but in mid-sound there are very few dangers, and these are well marked or are easily avoided. In the East River strangers in sailing vessels should have a pilot or a towboat.

The prevailing winds are north westerly and northerly in winter, and southwesterly and southerly in summer, subject to many variations at all seasons.

Fogs are liable to occur at any season, but are more prevalent from April to October than during the rest of the year. They come most frequently with easterly and southeasterly winds, often with southerly winds, and occasionally with the wind to the westward of south. Off Montauk Point and Point Judith winds between south and southwest are nearly as apt to bring fog as those from the southeastward. Westerly and northerly winds clear away fog, this holding good for all parts of the Atlantic coast.

In Block Island Sound and in the eastern part of Long Island Sound fogs are generally heaviest with southeast winds. In these waters the usual duration of a fog is from 4 to 12 hours, but periods of from 4 to 6 days have been known, with very short clear intervals. As already stated, the vicinity of Point Judith is known to coasters as the "fog hole." In the autumn "land fogs," as they are termed locally, sometimes occur with northerly breezes, but they are generally "burnt off" before midday.

In Long Island Sound the north and south shores are equally subject to fog, except that on spring and summer mornings, when there is little or no wind, fog will often hang along the Connecticut shore when it is clear off shore and to the southward.

In the western end of Long Island Sound, although fogs are liable to occur at any season, they are not encountered so often, nor do they generally last so long as is the case to the eastward.

* In this volume Long Island Sound with approaches and adjacent waters is first treated, then the south coast of Long Island, New York Bay and Harbor, and the approaches thereto.

1 price of each $0.50; south shore of Long Island in three sheets, charts 117, 118, 119, scale of each 80,000 Portions of the coast are shown more in detail on harbor charts, as noted under the several headings.

These waters fall within the limits of the following Coast and Geodetic Survey charts: A, Sailing chart, Atlantic coast, scale price 1,200,000 $0.50; 8, Approaches to New York, Gay Head to Cape Henlopen, scale_ price $0.50; and are also shown in part on the following charts: -52, Montauk Point to New York and Long Island Sound, Mercator projection, price $0.50; and Long Island Sound in three sheets, charts 114, 115, 116, 1 scale of each

1

1 400,000

price of each $0.50.

80,000

Coast and Geodetic Survey charts can be obtained from the agents named in the list given on pages 7-8. Between pages 5 and 7 are index maps, showing the location and limits of charts covering that part of the coast included in this volume. The catalogue of charts and other publications of the Survey also contain similar index maps; copies of this catalogue can be obtained, free of charge, on personal application at any of the sale agencies or by letter addressed to the Coast and Geodetic Survey Office, Washington, D. C.

Number.

TABLE OF LIGHTS.

Lighthouse District, Etc.-The coast and the waters covered by this volume lie within the Third Lighthouse District of the United States. This district extends from Gooseberry Point, Massachusetts, to the westward and southward as far as Squan Inlet, New Jersey. The Light list for the seacoasts of the United States and the Buoy list for the Third District give full descriptions of the aids to navigation at the date of publication.

POINT JUDITH TO NEW YORK.

These pamphlets, which are corrected and reprinted annually, are sent free of charge to any shipmaster on application to the Office of the Lighthouse Board, Washington, D. C., or to the inspector of the district, Tompkinsville, New York. They can also be had on application at the U. S. Branch Hydrographic Office, Maritime Exchange, Produce Exchange Building, New York City.