Evening journal., 1896-06-06
WRECKS IN CHRISTIANA.
Eight Old Hulks to Be Re-
moved BY the Government.
THEY oBsTRUcT NAVIGATION
Some of the Old Hulks Have Been Lying
IN the sChanneI, a Constant Menace To
Vessels For Nearly Twenty-Five Years
Others are OF More Rscent Occurrence


Vessels For Nearly Twenty-Five Years
Others are OF More Recent Occurrence
The old wrecks, some Of which have
obstructed navigation ia the upper
ChrlstIana for many years. are at last to
be removed. General w f. Smith, In
charge of the United States engineers
| office in Wilmington, Is receiving bids
for the work
Nest of the wrecks are Of unlmport
/ ant craft which have been sunk In
years gone by. AS the traffic 10 the
! Christiana above Newport is small In
quantity and composed almost entirely
of light draft vessels. bat few complaints
have been received. Nevertheless some
of the wrecks are constant menace to
even the liRhtes6 draft vessels and their
removal has become q work or necessity.
The repor5 of Engineer Miller, who
made the survey OF the vessels, states
that there are eight o. them which
should be removed and he makes
moderate estimate OF the amount neess-
sary for the work
All Of the wrecks are located between
Newport aud Smally's awbrIdge The
first one inspected Is O barge which lies
directly across the channel. about 2 400
feet above the Newport drawbrdge The
barge was engaged in carrying pig
iron from Wilmington to Newport
a great many years ago She WAS about
80 feet long and 16 feet breadth Of
beam She sunk about twenty years
ago, having struck broken submerged
pile on the Newport bridge, ripping
open her hull. The cargo
was removed, but ths old wreck
has been permitted to lie there, terror
to the barge and sloop owners which use
that waterway. She is almost covered
by water. though one end is.visib le at
low water.
Wreck No. 2 lies on the south side of
the channel opposite the mouth Of White
Clay Creek 1t Is barge which is badly
broken aft, but the forward part is
intact and is likely to cause the sinking
Of vessel ab any time. She had s cargo
of coal aboard when she sunk, but that
has been removed.
The third of the series Of vessels lies In
what Is locally known as He'll Gate, a
long. narrow bend Of the river about
400 feet above ChrIstiana The vessel
is barge as feet long and 10 feet beam
which sunk about seven years ago while
engaged In carrying clsy from the banks
channel in about Eve feet of water.
Another obstacle to navigation Is com
posed OF two sections Of q hinge boat
which lies ab3ut 5 100 feet below the
bridge at CnristIana 1t has been Ia the
river for many years and was originally q
clay boat. 80 feet long and 16 feet breadth
Of beam.
Another, q deck scoW, a comparatively
new boat, which was wrecked about two
| years ago, is solid and intact and is a
dangerous obstruction. To lies at the
south end Of the chsnnel at the upper
end Of what 10 locally termed the canal
about 1900 feet below the village Of
Chrstisna.
4 The three vessels last referred TO were
owned by Ball s. Butler of Chrlstiana.
The last they had intended to raise but
as the clay trade wss dull they after
wards decided TO let it say.
Oae obstruction of the river is caused
by the skeleton of q sloop, the stern,
| ribs and stem Of which remain. 1t lies
about 600 feet bslow Chrlstiana. The
bow points nearly to the oensra OF the
channel This has been there nearly 10
years The vessel was originally 80 feet
long and Is feet breadth of beam, and
was owned by the estate Of Abraham
Shannon Of Chiistiana,
The hulk OF q stiff keel barge, origi
nally S5 feet long and II feet breadth Of
beam lies about 500 feet above Christians
bridge. II has bsen there about twenty
five years and the stern aud stem may
be seen az half tide.
The eighth wreck was one that was
discovered by Engineer Miller while hs
was making g survey OF the others. IL
was originally barge used In the
transportation Of lime ard was burned to
the waters edge number OF years ago.
Although Il lies in the channel, vessels
usually pass over It without trouble as
It is almost buried In tho mud.