Hell Gate
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Wpdms_terra_hell_gate.jpg
Hell Gate is a narrow tidal channel in the East River in New York City in the United States. It separates Ward's Island and Astoria, Queens.
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 straits, during his 1614 voyage aboard the Onrust.
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 navigation was hazzardous in this 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. In 1876, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blasted the dangerous rocks, which was followed by further blasting work. 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, it 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.
See also
External links
- East River NYC (http://eastrivernyc.org/enatural/ehellgt.shtm)