New-York tribune., 1897-08-22
DANGERS AROUND THE BATTERY.
WHY NAVIGATION IN THE LOWER EAST
RIVER is MARKED BY FREQUENT

ACCIDENTS.
That portion Of the East River extending from
the Brooklyn Bridge down around the Battery
may be called the Broadway of New-York
waters The harbors Of the world can in no
other instance produce waterway so crowded
al all hours OF the day and night as this, and
one 50 fraught with difficulties and dangers
In traversing. 1t would perhaps be carrying the
analogy too far to compare the semi-circle
around the Battery to Dead Mans Curve but
there has been a sufciency Of accidents there
to suggest it. That which makes this crowded
waterway unusually dangerous is the great
velocity with which the tides sweep up and
down the East River and swirl around the Bat
terry 1t is tide so strong that a man cannot
row against it, and even a steamer or ferryboat
once caught by it to disadvantage experiences
The greatest difficulty in holding its course. Fer
ryboats leaving Brooklyn slips below the Bridge
have to run some distance out into the stream on
a hawser tied to the slip, to prevent the cur
rent from carrying them either up or down
stream Sound steamers and the Maine Steam
ship Companys boats, which have their piers in
the neishborhood of the Bridge. have the great
est difficulty in docking and in starting out
With such indications Of the extreme speed or
the currents as these it is little wonder that
with the hundreds Of steamers, ferryboats, tugs,
barges. lighters and vessels that are to be found
at all times passing around the Battery ana up
and down the East River the course Is one or
the most dangerous known to harbor navigators.
There have been more collisions there, some
slight. some serious, than in any other Ike area
Of water elsewhere in the world
The curvature of the Battery is also an eie-
ment of danger Vessels rounding it have
clear view of each other only for snort diS-
tance which puts them in danger OF d coh-
fusion of signals Especially is this true IN the
case Of the numerous tows taat make almost Il
continuous string around there Some OF theSe
tows Of canaboats that come down the HUDSON
are a quarter of mile in length, and as 'hey
move at a snail's pace, are not easily infAh"u-
yred With a tow like one Of these going IN one
direction and perhaps half a dozen sinaI ones
going in the other. and ferryboats and tusboats
IunuInerable scudding about the nelghpo:hood
of the Battery with an occasional sailing ves-
sci added the wonder is that more accidents
do not occur.
Ferryboats suffer the most often from the
swiftness OF the current and the tansle Of boats.
There are six lines running from the South
Ferry slips, and there is scarcely minute III the
dav when the boats OF these lines are npt elthcr
entering or leaving their slips AS ferryboatS
are not the most easily managed Their every ac-
ton being suggestive Of a crab it is evident that
they also add greatly to the danger Of naViSa-
ton about the Battery Two boats have become
celebrated for the frequency with which they
ran foul of others in the short trips they made
between the Battery and Ellis Is and The
Shackamaxon established a record for that
course which made her famed tn country
through Her successor. the John q. Carlisle.
did her best to equal the ShackanaXon's tri-
uniphs i'm the way Of collisions, but fell far snort
Of them.
one remarkable feature of the accidents mat
occur about the Battery and in tn East River
below the Bridge is the extreme rarity of
case Of drowning. The very element th.t makes
for dancer. the great number If beats IS also an
element of individual safety. irasmuch as a man
cannot go overheard but there VIII he several
boats. usually tugs. Fastening To- his as 'stance
the instant.