Chapter 28 - Page 2

the
harbor and Throgmorton; while it is permitted to poetic license to say,
that at the narrowest part of the channel, the water darts by the land
like an arrow parting from its bow. Owing to a sudden bend in the course
of the stream, which makes two right-angles within a short distance, the
dangerous position of many rocks that are visible and more that are not,
and the confusion produced by currents, counter-currents, and eddies, this
critical pass has received the name of "Hell-Gate." It is memorable for
causing many a gentle bosom to palpitate with a terror that is a little
exaggerated by the boding name, though it is constantly the cause of
pecuniary losses, and has in many instances been the source of much
personal danger. It was here, that a British frigate was lost, during the
war of the Revolution, in consequence of having struck a rock called
'the Pot,' the blow causing the ship to fill and to founder so suddenly,
that even some of her people are said to have been drowned. A similar but
a greatly lessened effect is produced in the passage among the islands, by
which vessels gain the ocean at the eastern extremity of the sound; though
the magnitude of the latter sheet of water is so much greater than that of
Raritan-bay and the harbor of New-York, that the force of its pressure is
diminished by a corresponding width in the outlets. With these
explanations, we shall return to the thread of the narrative.

When the person, who has so long been known in our pages by the nom de
guerre of Tiller, gained the open street, he had a better opportunity of
understanding the nature of the danger which so imminently pressed upon
the brigantine. With a single glance at the symmetrical spars and broad
yards of the ship that was sweeping past the town, he knew her to be the
Coquette. The little flag at her fore-top-gallant mast sufficiently
explained the meaning of the gun; for the two, in conjunction with the
direction the ship was steering, told him, in language that any seaman
could comprehend, that she demanded a Hell-Gate pilot. By the time the
Skimmer reached the end of a lone wharf, where a light and swift-rowing
boat awaited his return, the second report bespoke the impatience of his
pursuers to be furnished with the necessary guide.

Though the navigation in this Republic, coastwise, now employs a tonnage
equalling that used in all the commerce of any other nation of
Christendom, England alone excepted, it was of no great amount at the
commencement of the eighteenth century. A single ship, lying at the
wharves, and two or three brigs and schooners at anchor in the rivers,
composed the whole show of sea vessels then in port. To these were to be
added some twenty smaller coasters and river-craft,