Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-23
A Trip Arranged for the New Tor
pedo Boat Ericsson.
A MOST INTERESTING EXPERIMENT
From the Mouth of the Mississippi
to New York Harbor.
HOW 1T WILL BE DONE

sen, constructed at Dubuque Iowa, and
now receiving its finishing touches at st.
Louis, Mo. Tho experiment is to demon
strate the practicabIlity of the finland
| route" for boats Of light draught from the
mouth Of the Mississippi to New York har-
Dor. The distance between the two points
by the combined outside and inside pas
sages is 3,6l3 miles, of which $50 miles Is
fully protected. The greatest exposed dis
lance is along the Florida peninsula. Al
though portions of the route have been ira
versed by government boats, a continuous
trip over the entire distance has never yet
been made. Tho strategic value of such a
passage is very great.
The Ericsson will go down the Mississippi
from New Orleans without the least diff
Guilty. From the South Pass to Pensacola
| the outside passage is about 100 miles but
there is an inland passage between islands
and the mainland, 1919 miles in length of
which. however, fifty miles is unprotected.
The protected part of the route is from
Chandelier and Mississippi sounds and
Grant Pass, In all Of which bodies the depth
OF water Is eight feet with a rise of tide OF
one and a halls feet. From Mobile Bay to
Pensacola navy yard there Is an outside
passage Of fifty miles
A FOrty-TwO-Milc Stretch
Then follows a forty-two-mile stretch to
East Pass Of Choctawhatchee Bay through
Santa Rosa sound and the bay, where the
depth Is never less than five feet, and
where the tide rises more than a foot.
From the East Pass of Choctawhatchee
Bay to the West Pass of Appalachicola Bay
there is an outside passage of ninety miles.
From the latter point to st. Marks there
is an inside and an outside route of twenty
fhirfV-SaVan f.-.a1ar
The boat goes through Appalachicola Bay
and st. George sound and the East Pass of
the latter. Nowhere in these bodies is there
| depth of less than seven feet Then
comes the longest stretch of outside steam
| ing In the gulf. The charts divide the por-
! ton of the Journey from ST. Marks to
Tampa Bay into two sections, the distance
| from st. Marks to Cedar Keys making
| ninety miles. and thence TO Tampa Bay, l23
miles.
The route from Tampa Bay to Punta
! RassaA is mainly an outside one In the ITO
| miles which il covers, although twenty-five
miles can be included in the ESc- Grande
| Charlotte harbor, Pine Island sound and
| san Carlos Bay between the two main
| points. The depth OF water is at least seven
| feet. The run from Punta Rassa TO Key
| West via the northwest passage 3 an out
| side one Of lis miles.
From Key West to Cape Canaveral.
There is long run of 3l3 miles from Key
West to Cape Canaveral, half way up the
eastern side of the FLORIDA peninsula, but
this trip In the Atlantic may be reduced by
| avoiding the passage to Key West and going
| inside the Florida keys and reafs. The run
| from Punta Rassa TO Cape Florida inlet is
about 10 miles. with not less than five feet
| Of water and a rife of tide of from one and
one-half to three and one-half feet. Theme
10 Cape Canavarel the trip must be outside
for 1I5 miles.
From the cape TO Mosquito inlet the boat
must go outside for forty-one miles. II Is
possible for boat drawing less than the
Ericsson to take the inside passages from!
Indian river 10 the mouth OF Mosquito inlet,
but the torpedo boat cannot make use OF
this route.
There is an outside passage Of fifty-four
miles from Mosquito inlet 10 St Augustine
and thence to Fernandina the route is out
side for fifty niles Jacksonville can be
visited by an outside TIP of thiTty-one
miles AMI an inside one of twenty-three
miles. Back to Fernandind the route includes
twenty-three miles inside and the same dis
lance outside. There is also an all inside
route of forty-three miles between jackson
Vile and fernandina via Nassau sound,
South Amelia river and kingsley's creek
and Amelia river. The least depth is four
feet, but the navigator can watch his op-
portunity and take advantage of the one
foot rise in the tide.
From Fe-nanGina the torpedo boat can
enter well-Anown and lCng inland pass
age, which, after many convolutions, en-
aples her TO emerge at Winyah bay. South
Carolina.
From Fcrnnndina to 81. Andrews
Sound.
The passage from Fernandina to ST. An
drew's sound is through the Amelia river.
Cumberland sound and Cumberland river
The distance is twonty-three miles ana the
depth of water is six feet. amply aided b.
the rise Of tide of more than six feet. Jeckyl
creek, eleven and half miles I'm extent
brings the boat TO st. Simon's sound. In
the creek the navigator must wait for ,he
tide. Frederick river and Butterniik sound
lead into Altahama sound, nineteen miles
from SimOns sound Doboy sound Is reached
after an eight-ani-a-half- mile run through
Little Mud and Sack rivers. The next run
is OF ten and th-ee-Guarters miles-New
Teaketue creek and Mud river TO Sapeio
sound. st. Catharinc's sound is twelve and
a half miles further along, and is gained by
passage through Johnson's creek and North
Newport river. Bear river, eleven and a
half miles in length, gives access to Florida
passage, and SIX miles further, through
Ogeecnee river, is Vernon river whence
through Acam's creek. is reached Romerly
Marsh creek. Leaving this point IL Is
eighteen miles VIA Wilmington river and
81. Augustin's creek. when Savannah. Ga,
is reached.
1t is III miles of tortuous navigation.
through marrow and shallow creeks ana
winding rivers before Charleston rs reached
The list OF trips the boat must take in
making this portion OF the inland passage
is as follows:
Savannah 10 Tybce Roads.
Savannah TO Tybee Roads 10 miles. II
fee. of water; Catalogue sound TO Skull
creek, 10 miles, > IL feet of water: Whale
branch TO St Helena sound, - IL miles, q
feet OF water; Ashepoo river and Mosquito
creek, South Eisto river, the Dawho Il
Martins Point, North Edisto river "a -
miles, and u feet of water; Wa1melaw
sound, New Cut, Church Flats, Stone river,
and Wappoo creek to Charleston, - miles.
to ieyt
This part Of the trip will call for great
watchfulnes5. In several places the depth
is only feet, and the tide will Increase II
TO >. In Church Flats, however this depth
is only ~ be found in \ very narrow chan
ne
Leaving Rebellion Roads, in Charleston
harbor, the trip To Bulls harbor includes
the passage OF some bodies of water where
the depth is but half foot, while the mean
ri:e IL tide Is l.. feet, barely sufficient 10
accomia odate the Ericsson. The tributaries
used in this section arc Sullivan Island
Cove, Breech Inlet, Long Island Narrows
Devices Inlet Bullyard Sound, Caper's In
| let. Santee Pass and Bull Narrows to Bulls
! Earbor. The dist-nc Is 2l mics An equal
difficult ff l.