Ambrose Channel

Only shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Ambrose Channel is the only shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The channel is considered to be part of Lower New York Bay and is located several miles off the coasts of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Breezy Point, New York. Ambrose Channel terminates at Ambrose Anchorage, just south of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, the gateway to New York Harbor, where it becomes known as the Anchorage Channel.^[1] It is named for John Wolfe Ambrose, an engineer from New York.

The entrance to the channel was marked by Ambrose Light which doubled as a staging area for pilot boats, most notably the Sandy Hook Pilots. Prior to the construction of the light tower in 1967 the channel was marked by the Ambrose Lightship, one of a class of lightships operated and maintained by the United States Coast Guard for the express purpose of marking main shipping channels for major ports. After being struck by small boats on a number of occasions, the light tower was redesigned and relocated in 1999, and finally decommissioned and removed in 2008.

Once inside the Narrows, Ambrose becomes the Anchorage Channel which splits into channels to marine terminals.^[2] Connecting channels are the Bay Ridge, the Red Hook, the Buttermilk, the Claremont, the Port Jersey, the Kill Van Kull, the Newark Bay, the Port Newark, the Elizabeth, and the Arthur Kill. Anchorages are known as Stapleton, Bay Ridge and Gravesend.^[3]

References

Notes

^ USACE
^ "Ambrose Federal Navigation Channel". US Army Corps of Engineers.
^ "Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study: Feasibility Phase". Federal Register Volume 63. Government Printing Office. March 24, 1998. Retrieved 2014-08-31.

Further reading

"Historic Light Station Information and Photography: New York". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01.
National Data Buoy Center - Station ALSN6 - Ambrose Light, NY
New York Harbor Approaches^{[permanent dead link]}, NOAA Chart 12326 online.

External links

Sandy Hook Pilots
South Street Seaport Museum - Current location of the Ambrose Lightship

Waterways of New York City

Tidal straits

New York Harbor	Buttermilk Channel The Narrows Ambrose Channel New York Bight
Other interstate	Arthur Kill Kill Van Kull Long Island Sound
Intra-city	Bronx Kill East River Hell Gate Harlem River Rockaway Inlet Spuyten Duyvil Creek

Bays and coves

New York Bay

Upper New York Bay	Gowanus Bay
Lower New York Bay	Gravesend Bay Great Kills Jamaica Bay Bergen Basin East Rockaway Inlet Mill Basin Paerdegat Basin Newark Bay Prince's Bay Raritan Bay Rockaway Inlet Dead Horse Bay Sheepshead Bay

East River

Long Island Sound

Rivers, creeks,
canals

Hudson River
- North River

Long Island	Alley Pond Bushwick Inlet Coney Island Creek Flushing River Gerritsen Creek Gowanus Canal Hawtree Creek Horse Brook Kissena Creek Newtown Creek Spring Creek Sunswick Creek
The Bronx	Bronx River Hutchinson River Pugsley's Creek Rattlesnake Creek Tibbetts Brook Westchester Creek
Manhattan	Broad Street Canal Street Minetta Creek Sawkill Creek Sherman Creek
Staten Island	Fresh Kills Richmond Creek Lemon Creek New Creek

Lakes, ponds,
reservoirs

Long Island	Baisley Pond Beaver Pond Bowne Lake Golden Pond Goose Pond Kissena Lake Meadow and Willow Lakes Potamogeton Pond Prospect Park Lake Ridgewood Reservoir Roy Wilkins Park Pond Strack Pond
The Bronx	Crotona Park Reservoir Jerome Park Reservoir Van Cortlandt Lake Williamsbridge Reservoir
Manhattan	Collect Pond Central Park Conservatory Water Harlem Meer Lake Onassis Reservoir Pond Pool and Loch Turtle Pond Croton Distributing Reservoir Highbridge Reservoir
Staten Island	Clove Lakes Long Pond Sharrotts Pond Silver Lake Wolfe's Pond