Commercial statistics of the port of Perth Amboy, N. J., from July 1, 1891, to June 1, 1832.

Statement of the number and tonnage of all vessels belonging to the port of Perth Amboy,

Steam vessels..

Sailing vessels..

Barges...

Canal boats....

N. J., June 1, 1892.

REMOVING SUNKEN VESSELS OR CRAFT OBSTRUCTING OR ENDANGER

ING NAVIGATION.

(1) Canal boat in Gravesend Bay, New York. This wreck was an old canal boat that had drifted into Gravesend Bay, Lower New York Harbor, and stranded on the beach in about 12 feet of water. It was a dangerous menace to the many small boats which navigate the lower harbor. The wreck was successfully removed on August 12, 1891, by Mr. John F. Baxter, the lowest bidder, on proposal approved by the Chief of Engineers, July 30, 1891.

The cost of the removal was $144.

(2) Canal boats in Raritan Bay, New Jersey, and in Staten Island Sound at Tottenville, New York.-The wreck of a canal boat in Raritan Bay near South Amboy, N. J., was complained of by the New Jersey Board of Commissioners of Pilotage, January 14, 1892, as being dangerous to navigation, and the wreck of a canal boat in Staten Island Sound near Tottenville, N. Y., was reported by the New York Board of Commissioners of Pilots, January 27, 1892.

These wrecks were old and valueless coal barges, which, drifting back and forth through the narrow channels leading from Raritan River to Staten Island Sound, seriously interfered with local and coastwise navigation.

Under sealed proposals, open 1 January 30, 1892, approved by the Chief of Engineers February 6, 1892, the Chapman Derrick and Wrecking Company, the lowest bidder, removed successfully the wreck in Raritan Bay.

The other boat, which had been reported sunken in 40 feet off the dock at Tottenville, N. Y., could not be found, although the contractor diligently sought for it.

The cost of the removal of the wreck in Raritan Bay, near South Amboy, was $199.

Abstract of proposals for the removal of wreck of canal boat in Gravesend Bay, New York, received in response to circular letter dated July 20, 1891, and opened July 24, 1891, by Lieut. Col. G. L. Gillespie, Corps of Engineers.

1 Merritt's Wrecking Organization.. 49 Wall street, New York City... 2 Chapman Derrick and Wrecking 70 South street, New York City .. Co.

Abstract of proposals for removal of wreck of canal-boat at Tottenville, Staten Island Sound, New York, and of canal-boat at South Amboy, Raritan Bay, New Jersey, received in response to circular letter dated January 28, 1892, and opened January 30, 1892, by Lieut. Col. G. L. Gillespie, Corps of Engineers.

E 13.

[Printed in House Ex. Doc. No. 29, Fifty-second Congress, first session.]

PRELIMINARY EXÁMINATION FROM MAIN CHANNEL FROM JAMAICA BAY EASTERLY TO LONG BEACH INLET, NEW YORK, FOR CANAL.

ENGINEER OFFICE, U. S. ARMY,

New York, N. Y., December 16, 1890. GENERAL: In obedience to letter of the Chief of Engineers dated September 20, 1890, I have the honor to submit the following report upon the preliminary examination "From Main Channel from Jamaica Bay, New York, easterly to Long Beach Inlet, for canal," for which provision is contained in the river and harbor act approved September 19, 1890.

I made a personal examination of the locality October 22, 1890, accompanied by Mr. J. L. B. Norton and other prominent citizens residing in the vicinity, and was fully informed by them of the purposes of the

survey.

The lands along the southern shore of Long Island are being rapidly converted into sites for private residences, some of which are used the year round by the owners, and also for large summer hotels surrounded by cottages which furnish accommodations during the summer season for numbers of persons from New York City and neighboring cities, as well as from a distance.

These improvements are accompanied by large material interests of a permanent character, resulting in the formation of numerous small towns which draw their supplies from New York City, Brooklyn, and elsewhere, and which are principally dependent upon the Long Island Railway for transportation.

The advocates of the survey claim that the railway rates of transportation are excessive, and that a great relief would be given to them from these exactions if the waterways through Jamaica Bay, Rockaway

Inlet, and the Great South Bay were improved so that supplies could be delivered at Arverne, Far Rockaway, Lawrence, and other small towns adjacent, independently of the railroad.

The subject of inland navigation along the south shore of Long Island was discussed by Lieut. Col. Walter McFarland, Corps of Engineers, in a report submitted to the Chief of Engineers, December 31, 1886 (Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1887, p. 754), in compliance with river and harbor act of August 5, 1886, which provided for a survey for a "channel between Jamaica Bay and Rockaway Inlet." Colonel McFarland states in his report that the survey of 1886 had for its object the determination of "the cost of opening an inner line of water communication for boats of light draft from the Great South Bay on the south side of Long Island to Jamaica Bay west of it by means of a cut through the narrow neck of land (Far Rockaway) which separates these bays," and shows that if the project contemplated by the survey were carried out, it would not provide for a navigable passage through Jamaica and South bays for the reason that those bays had many other shoals east and west of the termini of the proposed cut, "between which the channels are so shallow, narrow, and tortuous that they may be considered practically unnavigable," and that a navigable waterway which would meet the alleged commercial necessities of South Bay and Jamaica Bay could not be estimated for except on a survey extending from Patchogue to Jamaica Bay, a distance of 45 miles.

The water conditions to-day are practically the same as in 1886. The entrance to Jamaica Bay is through Rockaway Inlet, between Coney Island and Rockaway Beach.

The depth of water on the bar is 123 to 13 feet mean low water, but inside the bar there is good anchorage for vessels drawing 25 feet of water as far eastward as the western entrance to Beach Channel, which leads to the new town of Arverne, on Rockaway Beach,1 mile to the eastward of the Old Rockaway Hotel. Thence the water shoals to 5 feet, mean low water, at the western entrance to Conch Hole on the approach to the Citizens Cut at Far Rockaway, which leads into Far Rockaway Bay. From the eastern entrance to Conch Hole to the western entrance to the Far Rockaway Cut, a distance of one-half mile approximately, the bed of the bay is bare at low tide. The mean range of tides in Jamaica Bay is 44 feet, approximately.

The Long Beach Inlet is a small and unimportant water way between Shelter Island and Long Beach, connecting Broad Channel at the western end of Hempstead Bay with the ocean, and is known upon the charts as East Rockaway Inlet or Hog Inlet (Coast Survey Chart No. 119). The depth on the bar at mean low water is about 5 feet.

Passing to the eastward around the network of islands of varying size which largely compose Hempstead Bay, and which at low tide are separated by small drains or threads of water impracticable of improvement at reasonable cost for any except very small boats, no continuous channel for 5 feet depth at mean low water is found until Great South Bay is reached, opposite Babylon, a distance of 20 miles in an air line. As the act of September 19, 1890, fixes the eastern terminus of the examination at Long Beach Inlet, no improvement through Hempstead Bay, which has reference to a larger and more important inland naviga tion through the Great South Bay, seems contemplated.

The two principal bodies of water at the western end of the south shore of Long Island, separated from the ocean by beaches, which can be profitably used for commercial purposes, are Jamaica Bay and Great South Bay; the entrance to the former, at Rockaway Inlet, is 18 miles,

and to the latter, at Fire Island Inlet, is 50 miles from New York, by way of the Narrows. They have no direct navigable intercommunica tion, as I have shown, and if one were made artificially it would be over 30 miles long and would be of uncertain maintenance and utility. Any canal of shorter length than 30 miles would be of no practical value, and it is not believed that an ultimate improvement so extensive and costly was contemplated by the act under which this report is made.

The examination desired has, therefore, only a local bearing. Rocka way Beach and its eastern continuation, Far Rockaway Beach, is part of the mainland, which has only lately been made an island by the small artificial cut at Far Rockaway, and the bay of Far Rockaway is but a shoal lagoon, which is filled and emptied by tides passing through Little Inlet and East Rockaway Inlet, with a slight increment coming through the cut.

Little Inlet, which opens into Far Rockaway Bay, is hardly more than a low depression in the beach, and its tendency is to shoal up the lagoon of which it is a partial outlet.

The personal examination which I have made on the ground and a careful study of the latest charts lead me to think that it will be impracticable to open or to maintain, if opened, a fairly good navigable channel, if such were needed, through Far Rockaway Bay, except at a cost disproportionate to the benefit to be derived from it, owing to its great exposure to inroads from the sea. The covering beach is low and narrow and shows evidence of old breaches through it other than those which now exist, and it is not at all certain that the western end has not been seriously damaged by tidal currents propagated through the artificial cut at Far Rockaway. For this reason I shall discard any consideration of this part of the subject. It alone remains to consider the connection between Jamaica Bay and Far Rockaway.

The persons whom I have seen in relation to it or who have sent written statements for my information and study all unite in testifying that the improvement most urgently needed, and to which reference was mainly intended to be made by the act, is the excavation of a small canal less than one-half mile long, 50 feet wide and 5 feet deep, mean low water, extending from the eastern end of Conch Hole, Jamaica Bay, to the artificial cut at Far Rockaway, to the end that supplies of coal, lumber, cement, brick, hardware, feed, and general articles of merchandise may be delivered to the growing communities accessible to Far Rockaway free from the excessive taxation for transportation now imposed by the Long Island Railroad.

It is estimated (inclosures herewith) that the tonnage of such a canal would exceed 500,000 tons annually and that the saving on freight to the citizens would be $500,000 annually. These figures seem high and I give them as they have been furnished to me with the remark that if the tonnage equals one-fourth the estimate the cost of opening the desired water way will be justifiable.

If this improvement be made it will be as practicable to reach Far Rockaway at high tide with vessels drawing 9 feet of water as it now is to reach Canarsie and Sheepshead Bay, whose channels have been im. proved by Government aid.

For the foregoing reasons I am of the opinion that the water way "from main channel from Jamaica Bay, New York, easterly to Long Beach Inlet for canal," is not "worthy of improvement."

The eastern part of Jamaica Bay from the main ship channel easterly through Conch Hole to the Citizens Cut at Far Rockaway, which forms the western part of the water way mentioned in the act, is "worthy of improvement" to the extent of opening a canal 60 feet wide, affording 5