Navigating Sandy Hook Waters
Aids to Navigation
The broad expanse of New York Harbor is misleading. Shoals and sandbars pose underwater threats to navigation and ships must stay in channels for safe passage.
Until the Ambrose Channel was created, all ships entered the harbor through a natural channel around the tip of Sandy Hook. Currents here are treacherous and coming “round the Hook” was a challenge to seamen.
Lighthouses, lightships, floating buoys, fog bells, and horns have all served as sentinels to guide ships through the harbor.
Courtesy hmdb.org
