New York Harbor is not only one of the largest and busiest natural ports in the world, but also the most complex. State law requires any foreign ship, or American ship with foreign cargo, to be escorted into the harbor with one of their pilots.
The entrance to the harbor from the Atlantic is protected by two thin pieces of land that jut out into the water: Sandy Hook from New Jersey and Rockaway from Long Island. These narrow outreaches have shallow shores that make entering the bay tricky.
Henry Hudson ran into the Sandy Hook Bar, a barrier of sand built up on the seafloor by downstream currents, when he tried to come into the harbor in 1609. It took him three days to successfully get in and explore his namesake river. Hudson enlisted the help of men who held long, straight poles off the sides of ships to test the water’s depth. The men who were experts with these pijls, as they were called in the Dutch shipping days, were called pijl loads, a title that eventually became “pilot.” (via)
on a related note, i watched the finest hours last night. it was not great but i liked it anyway.
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