Hell Gate

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Hell Gate Bridge from west looking northeast

Hell Gate, shown in red, in a satellite photo of New York Harbor. It separates Ward's Island (to the west) and Astoria, Queens (to the east)

Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City in the United States. It separates Astoria, Queens from Randall's Island / Ward's Island (formerly two separate islands that are now joined by landfill).^[1]

It was spanned in 1917 by the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge (now called the Hell Gate Bridge), which connects the Bronx and Queens. The bridge provides a direct rail link between New England and New York City. In 1936 it was spanned by the Triborough Bridge, allowing vehicular traffic to pass between Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens.

The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Dutch phrase Hellegat, meaning "bright passage," which was originally applied to the entirety of the East River. The strait was described in the journals of Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, who is the first European known to have navigated the strait, during his 1614 voyage aboard the Onrust.

The first Hellegat is a branch of the Scheldt River estuary in East Flanders, which is still today an idyllic camping spot popular with European tourists. But because explorers found navigation hazardous in this New World place of rocks and converging tide-driven currents (from the Long Island Sound, Harlem River strait, Upper Bay of New York Harbor and lesser channels, some of which have been filled), the Anglicization stuck.

Some theorize, however, that Block might have named the strait with both meanings in mind, sliding a pun into place to evade the censorship of his strict Lutheran paymasters.

By the late 19th century, hundreds of ships had sunk in the strait. On September 24, 1876, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used 50,000 pounds of explosives to blast the dangerous rocks, which was followed by further blasting work.^[2] One explosion in Hell Gate was the largest man-made blast in history up until the Atomic Age.

Though Hell Gate is still considered difficult to navigate due to strong tidal flows, its reputation is based on myth more than fact. At certain points in the tidal cycle, its waters briefly go slack, making it as placid as a lake. Even at peak current, competent kayakers and canoeists pass through without trouble. The greatest danger is the artificial one posed by heavy commercial vessel traffic through the tight channel.

[edit] See also

"Hell Gate: The Watery Grave" (1977), a 50-minute documentary film, narrated by Alexander Scourby, covered many aspects of the waterway's history, including the clearing of the channel, the building of Hell Gate Bridge, and the Gen'l Slocum steamship disaster.

Little Hell Gate

[edit] References

^ Kenneth T. Jackson: The Encyclopedia of New York City: The New York Historical Society; Yale University Press; 1995. P. 538.
^ "RENDING HELL-GATE ROCKS; THE SUBMARINE MINE EXPLODED. A COMPLETE SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS. THE TERRIFIC RENDING FORCE LIBERATED BY THE FINGER OF A CHILD--A JARRING TREMOR OF THE EARTH, AND ASHARP, BUT NOT LOUD REPORT--IMMENSE GEYSERS OF WATER THROWNUP--THE FORCE EXPENDED MAINLYIN THE WORK OF BURSTING THE REEF--CONFIRMATION OF GEN. NEWTON'STHEORY OF THE EFFECTS OF THE DISCHARGE--THE RUSH OF THE CURIOUSCROWDS--INCIDENTS OF THE DAYTHROUGHOUT THE CITY. BEFORE THE EXPLOSION. THE EXPLOSION. AFTER THE EXPLOSION.", The New York Times. September 25, 1876. p. 1