Hell Gate - Literature

Literature

The Hell Gate serves as the scene for an exciting pursuit of the brigantine "Water Witch" by the HMS Coquette in James Fenimore Cooper's novel of historical fiction, The Water Witch, or, The Skimmer of the Seas. The Water Witch is captained by Thomas Tiller, an adventurous sailor with a romantic flair, and the HMS Coquette by a principled young officer in the Royal Navy and native New Yorker, Captain Cornelius van Cuyler Ludlow. Here is a passage descriptive of the Hell Gate from the beginning of Chapter XXVIII:

The Manhattanese will readily comprehend the situation of the two vessels; but those of our countrymen, who live in distant parts of the Union, may be glad to have the localities explained.

Though the vast estuary, which receives the Hudson and so many minor streams, is chiefly made by an indentation of the continent, that portion of it, which forms the port of New York, is separated from the ocean by the happy position of its islands. Of the latter there are two, which give the general character to the basin, and even to a long line of coast, while several that are smaller, serve as useful and beautiful accessories to the haven and to the landscape. Between the bay of Rariton and that of New York there are two communications, one between the islands of Staten and Nassau, called the Narrows, which is the ordinary ship-channel of the port, and the other between Staten and the main, which is known by the name of the Kilns. It is by means of the latter, that vessels pass into the neighbouring waters of New Jersey, and have access to so many of the rivers of that state. But while the island of Staten does so much for the security and facilities of the port, that of Nassau produces an effect on a great extent of coast. After sheltering one half of the harbour from the ocean, the latter approaches so near the continent as to narrow the passage between them to the length of two cables, and then stretching away eastward for the distance of a hundred miles, it forms a wide and beautiful sound. After passing a cluster of islands, at a point which lies forty leagues from the city, by another passage, vessels can gain the open sea.

The seaman will, at once, understand, that the tide of flood must necessarily flow into these vast estuaries, from different directions. The current which enters by Sandy Hook (the scene of so much of this tale) flows westward into the Jersey rivers, northward into the Hudson, and eastward along the arm of the sea that lies between Nassau and the Main. The current, that comes by the way of Montauk, or the eastern extremity of Nassau, raises the vast basin of the Sound, fills the streams of Connecticut, and meets the western tide, at a place, called Throgmorton, and within twenty miles of the city.

As the size of the estuaries is so great, it is scarcely necessary to explain that the pressure, of so wide sheets of water, causes the currents, at all the narrow passes, to be exceedingly rapid; since that equal diffusion of the element, which depends on a natural law, must, wherever there is a deficiency of space, be obtained by its velocity. There is, consequently, a quick tide, throughout the whole distance, between the harbour and Throgmorton; while, it is permitted to poetic licence to say, that at the narrowest part of the channel, the water darts by the land, like an arrow parting from its bow. Owing to a sudden bend in the course of the stream, which makes two right angles within a short distance, the dangerous position of many rocks that are visible and more that are not, and the confusion produced by currents, counter-currents and eddies, this critical pass has received the name of "Hell Gate." It is memorable for causing many a gentle bosom to palpitate, with a terror that is a little exaggerated by the boding name, though it is constantly the cause of pecuniary losses, and has, in many instances, been the source of much personal danger. It was here, that a British frigate was lost, during the war of the Revolution, in consequence of having struck a rock called 'the Pot', the blow causing the ship to fill and to founder, so suddenly, that even some of her people are said to have been drowned. A similar, but a greatly lessened effect, is produced in the passage among the islands, by which vessels gain the ocean at the eastern extremity of the sound; though the magnitude of the latter sheet of water is so much greater than that of Rariton bay, and the harbor of New York, that the force of its pressure is diminished by a corresponding width in the outlets. With these explanations we shall return to the thread of the narrative.