Courses and Distances-Delaware Bay Entrance to Philadelphia-Continued 13. Junction of Deepwater Point and Cherry Passing about 300 yards east- There is marked local magnetic attrac- Direct (Cherry Island Range Reverse (Cherry Island Range 14. Cherry Island Range Lighted Buoy 9C Range). Reverse (Rounding to Cherry Island 207 SW. S 0.5 Courses and Distances—Delaware Bay Entrance to Philadelphia—Continued For reverse direction, read upward Course (Reverse course in Italics) Distance True Magnetic 15. Cherry Island Front Range Light bearing 0° true, distant 0.3 mile: Direct (Bellevue Range astern)_ Direct (Marcus Hook Range Reverse (Marcus Hook Range ahead). 17. Junction of Marcus Hook and Chester Ranges, Schooner Ledge Rock Lighted Bell Buoy bearing 290° true. Direct (Chester Range ahead) Reverse (Chester Range astern) 18. Chester Range Lighted Buoy 6C bearing 145° true, distant 200 yards. Direct Reverse.. 20. Tinicum Island Range Lighted Buoy 5T bearing 0° true, distant 175 yards. Direct_ Reverse.. 250 W. by S.. 1. 1 19. Tinicum Island Range Lighted Buoy 2T bearing 180° true, distant 200 yards. Direct (Tinicum Range ahead). Reverse (Tinicum Range astern). 234 94 274 64 244 25 205 Courses and Distances-Delaware Bay Entrance to Philadelphia-Continued The western shore of Delaware Bay is low and marshy, with few prominent marks northward of Delaware Breakwater. The principal marks visible from the western channel are as follows: A small group of houses at Waterloo, just above Broadkill River entrance; a group of houses at Slaughter Beach, just below Cedar Beach; the lighthouse and fish factory in the mouth of Mispillion River; a large group of houses at Bowers; a small group at Kitts Hummock; the lighthouse and a few houses at Mahon River; and the ranges at Leipsic River. The rivers on the western side of Delaware Bay are very narrow and crooked, and vessels have considerable difficulty in making some of the turns. They are frequented by freight and passenger steamers and schooners carrying produce, fertilizer, and canned goods to or from the towns at their heads and the farm landings below, the usual draft of boats engaged in this trade being 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m). Oyster and fishing boats also seek anchorage in the mouths of many of them. Towboats are not often used, and strangers seldom enter. Most of the business from the rivers is northward to Chester and Philadelphia. Local vessels usually take advantage of the tide up and down the Delaware River, leaving the mouths of the creeks bound northward at a little after low water, and leaving Philadelphia bound southward at high water or a little before. In entering or leaving the creeks allowance should be made for the current in the bay, which sets across the dredged channels and has considerable velocity at times. There are many detached shoal spots with depths of 2 to 6 feet (0.6 to 1.8 m) along the western side of Delaware Bay from Delaware Breakwater northward to Bombay Hook Point. They are generally unmarked, except in the vicinity of the main ship channel, and are subject to some change, both in depth and position. Strangers using any of the channels westward of the main ship channel should proceed with caution. There is a channel along the western side of Delaware Bay which is marked by a line of perpendicularly striped buoys from off the mouth of St. Jones River southward to below Old Bare Shoal. It is used by most of the vessels frequenting the tributaries on the western side of the bay. It is said to lead clear of dangers if the buoys are followed closely but leads close to the shoals in places. Vessels entering this channel from northward usually leave the main channel of Delaware River at lighted bell buoy 21, 21⁄2 miles southward of Ship John Shoal Lighthouse, pass close eastward of buoy 3, at the north end of Blake Channel, and steer 181° true (S% W. mag.) to 1/4 mile east of the lighted bell buoy off the entrance of St. Jones and Murderkill Rivers. The northerly sector of Mahon River Lighthouse covers the entrance to the channel at night. The least depth crossed on this course is 7 or 8 feet (2.1 or 2.4 m) but passes about 1⁄4 mile east of a 4-foot (1.2 m) spot off Little River. Cape Henlopen, on the southwest side of the entrance to Delaware Bay, is a high white sand hill, bare of vegetation. The point of the cape, from a comparison of the surveys, is moving northward at a slow but uniform rate. Vessels should keep in the white sector of Delaware Breakwater light when passing north of the cape. A shoal with little depth as shown on the chart, extends nearly 3% mile eastward from the end of Cape Henlopen, and is marked at its easterly end by a black bell buoy. Delaware Breakwater (chart 379) is the name generally applied to the entire anchorage in the vicinity of Cape Henlopen, including the inner anchorage (Breakwater Harbor) and the outer anchorage (Harbor of Refuge). Breakwater Harbor, on the west side of Cape Henlopen, southward of the inner breakwater, is easy of access both day and night and is a safe harbor for light-draft vessels in all but heavy northwesterly gales, and affords considerable protection even in such weather. Under the most favorable conditions a vessel of as much as 15 feet (4.6 m) draft can select anchorage with sufficient swinging room in the easterly part of the harbor, but the harbor is generally crowded in heavy weather, and vessels of a greater draft than about 10 feet (3.0 m) should preferably anchor westward or northwestward of the inner breakwater or in Harbor of Refuge. Breakwater Harbor has depths of 10 to about 30 feet (3.0 m to 9.1 m) in its easterly part, eastward of the line joining the reporting station on the breakwater and the easternmost fish-oil works. The angle in the westerly part of the breakwater is shoal, depths of 9 to 10 feet (2.7 to 3.0 m) extend nearly 3 mile south-southwestward from the westerly half of the breakwater, and depths of 12 to 13 feet (3.7 to 4.0 m) extend to shore southwestward. Tides. The mean range of tides is 4.2 feet. Daily tide predictions are given in the tide tables published annually by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Currents. The tidal currents have considerable velocity behind the breakwater in the inner harbor especially near its eastern end. |