DELAWARE BAY BREAKWATERS
It was early known that
the Delaware Bay and River had deeper water on it's Delaware side
than that of New Jersey
shore. At Cape May there were many extensive sand shoals which
prevented sailing vessels
to navigate.
This situation helped
Lewes to become the pilot town who had experienced ship captains
who knew the deep water
channels of the bay and river to Philadelphia. Cape Henlopen
also had the second new
world lighthouse built in 1745.
Lewes also became a port
city since the narrow deep water channel did not allow a ship
to tack northward during
adverse winds. Ships bound to the northern city had anchor
and wait for favorable
winds and the Cape Henlopen area of the bay was the best place for
this anchorage. The Lewes
Cape Henlopen anchorage also worked in reverse as ship going
to sea would wait here for
favorable weather on the Atlantic and could also take on the
provisions need for the
voyage, such as water.
Into the 19th
century the increase in shipping on the Delaware limited the
available anchorage space that caused a need for a protected
safe harbor against adverse wind storms and
winter ice. In 1828 the
War Department and Congress appointed William Strickland
as the engineer to
construct an breakwater inside the Cape Henlopen anchorage 3600
feet
long on a WNW by ESE line
and 1350 to the west a icebreaker was to be built 1500 feet
long WSW by ENE axis.
This began in 1829 spring by contractor Halsey Roger who
brought stone from his
quarry in the Palisades of the Hudson River in New York.
The 1 ton to 6 ton stones
caused difficulties, the labor of handling with simple levers,
skids,
ropes and pulleys for
loading and weighing and then the weighing and placement
underwater from sailing vessels at the breakwater. Delivery was
unreliable due to the open sea shipping
distance led to the
cancellation of the Rogers contract . 1830 saw a new contractor
, The
Canvass White Company
also of New York calling for stone of less that one ton in size.
Also in 1830 it was found
the breakwater stones already placed underwater had dropped
between six and fifteen
feet because of the currents and the stone sinking in the
bottomless
sands of the anchorage at
Cape Henlopen. This meant larger stone was needed and in 1831
the size of stone was upped
to 2-1/2 to 6 tons. In order to better handle the larger stone,
the
engineer, William
Strickland, designed a 'derrick' for the job. Four derricks were
used , all
of the winches were
manually operated.
March 1831 the War
Department appointed Lt. William Bell as an assistant for on site
supervision and
performance improved however, political influences continued
to affect
the projects progress.
In 1832 fifteen contracts
were let to deliver 120,000 tons of stone so to give smaller
contractors an opportunity
to participate in the project. This political interference
proved
to be cumbersome that
the next year only one contract was let for 100,000 tons of
stone
from a closer source,
the Brandywine River near Wilmington.
More political problems
in 1832, House Ways and Means voted against the project, holding
up $270,0000 and the
firing of Strickland, however, the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
soon had that reversed and
the project got back Strickland and the $270,000, and the stone
kept coming , the
Breakwater continued.
Late I he 1834 work season
a survey found a general shoaling in the harbor behind the
breakwater of three to ten feet and 1835 work season was
suspended for 'study' .
Mariners offered criticism
about the 'gap' between the icebreaker and breakwater, the strong
tidal currents were
hazardous to vessels in anchorage and reduced the available space
and
became the reason for the
shoaling.
1836 work resumed through
to 1839 season. Larger stone was set on the seaward side of
the breakwater . Work
stopped at the end of 1839 work season. The breakwater was only
2586 feet, short of 3600
feet intended. The ice breaker was 99 feet short and everything
was below the intended
height and required 10,500 tons of more stone to attain that
height.
Mr. Strckland was quoted
in 1840 “the work may now be considered to be so finished as
to have accomplished
materially the purpose for which it was projected”.
Additional work was done in
the 1840's and 1850's and after the Civil War and in 1869 work
was considered finished.
The 'gap' was still there and much criticized. Between 1882 and
June 1898 a 1350 foot wall was built to connect the icebreaker
and breakwater. The end
cost was $2,653,000.
Now, the placement of
these structures and their heavy use by shipping created a
need
for lights to aid nighttime
navigation. Strickland had designed a lighthouse at the west end
which was built and in
service 1838 to 1903, the Strickland Light. East of this
lighthouse
was the report station of
the Maritime Exchange and in 1876 Western Union had a telegraph
station in the lighthouse. The Maritime station was destroyed by a
storm and moved to the Strickland light until 1942. A steel
lighthouse sits at the east end of the inner breakwater
since 1885.
Records between 1833 and
1839 kept by Lt. Bell, the one site engineer, show 27,612
vessels , 15,006 of them
schooners others brigs, sloops, and pilot boats used
Breakwater
Harbor.
Another use of Breakwater
Harbor was made by ships during storms. On 4th October
1877, 225vvessels crowded behind the breakwater stones, but the
'gap was still open and there was
insufficient space and
ten schooners with coal cargoes broke up offering Lewes with free
fuel that winter. A March
1888 storm cost 70 seamen their lives as ships were floundered
and broke up. The 1889
September storm 32 vessels were driven ashore. Even after the 'gap'
was closed Breakwater Harbor was found to be inadequate because
of the continual shoaling.
June 3, 1896 Congress
authorized construction of a new breakwater which was designated
to be The National Harbor
of Refuge of Delaware Bay. Work began 4 May 1897 and finished
11 December 1901. Another breakwater was to provide deeper and
safer anchorage
for more vessels and the
Harbor of Refuge fulfilled those needs. This new breakwater was
not built in a straight
line, it is bent at the center and runs north and south but the
ends are still east and west. The outer breakwater is 8040 feet
and the upper end has icebreakers. The cost
of this breakwater was $2,
091,000 and built in five seasons. It has lighthouses also.
The purpose of the
breakwaters ended when sailing ships were replaced by steamers and
is
a fishing ground and
shelter for private sea craft.
The Breakwaters and
icebreakers hold a historic interest and are listed in the
National Historic Register . The first breakwater when built was
it was the first such structure in
the Western Hemisphere.
Only two other such structures existed, one at Plymouth in
England and a large one
at the harbor in Cherbourg, France.
Abstract: Journal of the
Lewes Historical Society, Volume III , November 2000, Maritime
and Coastal History of
Lewes issue, article written by Herbert Archdeacon , retired
civil
engineer who moved to
Lewes in 1995.
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