Chapter 28

"--What care these roarers for the name of king?"

Tempest.

The Manhattanese will readily comprehend the situation of the two vessels;
but those of our countrymen who live in distant parts of the Union, may be
glad to have the localities explained.

Though the vast estuary, which receives the Hudson and so many minor
streams, is chiefly made by an indentation of the continent, that portion
of it which forms the port of New-York is separated from the ocean by the
happy position of its islands. Of the latter, there are two, which give
the general character to the basin, and even to a long line of coast;
while several, that are smaller, serve as useful and beautiful accessories
to the haven and to the landscape. Between the bay of Raritan and that of
New-York there are two communications, one between the islands of Staten
and Nassau, called the Narrows, which is the ordinary ship-channel of the
port, and the other between Staten and the main, which is known by the
name of the Kilns. It is by means of the latter, that vessels pass into
the neighboring waters of New-Jersey, and have access to so many of the
rivers of that state. But while the island of Staten does so much for the
security and facilities of the port, that of Nassau produces an effect on
a great extent of coast. After sheltering one-half of the harbor from the
ocean, the latter approaches so near the continent as to narrow the
passage between them to the length of two cables, and then stretching away
eastward for the distance of a hundred miles, it forms a wide and
beautiful sound. After passing a cluster of islands, at a point which lies
forty leagues from the city, by another passage, vessels can gain the
open sea.

The seaman will at once understand, that the tide of flood must
necessarily flow into these vast estuaries from different directions. The
current which enters by Sandy-Hook (the scene of so much of this tale)
flows westward into the Jersey rivers, northward into the Hudson, and
eastward along the arm of the sea that lies between Nassau and the Main.
The current, that comes by the way of Montauk, or the eastern extremity of
Nassau, raises the vast basin of the Sound, fills the streams of
Connecticut, and meets the western tide at a place called Throgmorton, and
within twenty miles of the city.

As the size of the estuaries is so great, it is scarcely necessary to
explain that the pressure of so wide sheets of water causes the currents,
at all the narrow passes, to be exceedingly rapid; since that equal
diffusion of the element, which depends on a natural law, must, wherever
there is a deficiency of space, be obtained by its velocity. There is,
consequently, a quick tide throughout the whole distance between