⚫ vessels, including those of moderate draft, which could pass over it in smooth water. The currents at Heald Bank are due almost entirely to the winds. In calm weather or with light breezes little or no current is experienced. Wind velocities of 25 to 40 miles produce currents of about 0.5 to 1 knot, setting in a direction approximately fair with the wind. From observations made during the first six months of the year 1915 the greatest velocity of the current was 1.1 knots. Heald Bank Light Vessel is moored in 7 fathoms of water off the southwestern end of the bank. The vessel has a red hull with "HEALD" on each side, and two masts with a lantern at the head of each. The lights are fixed white, 50 feet above the water, and visible 11 miles. The fog signal is a steam whistle, giving a group of two blasts of two seconds duration every 30 seconds. If the whistle is disabled, a bell is struck by hand. The submarine bell strikes "22" every 24 seconds. When the light vessel is withdrawn for repairs the station is marked by a gas buoy. The light vessel radio station receives and transmits messages. The call letters are WWBJ. Storm warnings are displayed at the light vessel. Bolivar Point Lighthouse is a white and black, horizontally banded, conical tower, on the point at the northerly side of the entrance to Galveston Bay, about 5 miles westward of the entrance to the channel between the jetties. The light is flashing white (flash) 2.3 seconds, eclipse 12.7 seconds), 117 feet (36 m.) above the water, and visible 17 miles. GALVESTON BAY AND TRIBUTARIES Galveston Bay is a large, irregularly shaped, shallow body of water in the coast of Texas about 285 miles westward from Southwest Pass, Mississippi River, and 755 miles westward from Key West, Fla. The bay is about 30 miles long in a general north-northeast and south-southwest direction, about 17 miles wide at its widest part, and has general depths of 7 to 9 feet (2.1 to 2.7 m.). It is nearly separated into two parts about midway of its length by a chain of small islets and shoals known as Redfish Bar, through which a channel 30 feet (9.1 m.) in depth has been dredged near its western end. That part of the .bay northward of Redfish Bar is generally designated as the "Upper Bay," the part southward as Lower Bay." The northeastern end of the upper bay is known as Trinity Bay. Galveston Bay is the approach to East and West Bays, Houston Ship Channel, and the cities of Galveston, Texas City, and Houston, as well as to numerous smaller towns and bayous. Galveston Bay and tributaries form one of the most important ports commercially in the United States, having an extensive foreign and coastwise trade in crude petroleum and its refined products, cotton and cottonseed products, wool, grain, rice, fruits, ore, lumber products, and miscellaneous merchandise. Galveston Entrance, the approach to Galveston Bay, lies between two converging jetties about 4 miles long and 114 miles apart at the outer end. The entrance is obstructed by two bars, known as the outer and inner bars, through which a channel has been dredged. The project depth over the outer bar is 34 feet (10.4 m.) for a width of 800 feet, and over the inner bar 32 feet (9.8 m.) for a width of 800 feet. On June 30, 1925, the controlling depth over the outer bar was 33 feet (10.1 m.) for a width of 500 feet, and over the inner bar the project dimensions were obtained. The entrance channel is marked by buoys, some of which are lighted. There is a light at the outer end of each jetty. Galveston Jetty Light, at the outer end of the south jetty, is a flashing alternately red and white light, flash 1 second, eclipse 1 second, shown from a cylindrical, concrete tower, on a black, square, skeleton structure 91 feet (27.7 m.) high and visible 15 miles. The fog signal is an air diaphone, blast 2 seconds, silent 28 seconds. Galveston Harbor extends from the Gulf through the pass between the jetties to and including Bolivar Roads, where it connects with the ship channels to Galveston, Texas City, Houston, and Port Bolivar. The harbor lies between Galveston Island, Pelican Island, and Bolivar Peninsula, and has an anchorage area of 744 acres with over 30 feet (9.1 m.) depth. It affords good anchorage for large vessels at all seasons except during hurricanes, when refuge is taken at Houston. Galveston Channel extends from a point in Galveston Harbor between Bolivar Peninsula and Fort Point to and along the wharf front at Galveston, and has a length of about 4 miles and width of 1,200 feet. The project provides for a channel 30 feet (9.1 m.) deep and 1,200 feet wide from the entrance to Fifty-first Street; and for its extension when the interests of navigation and commerce require it, with a width of 1,000 feet and depth of 30 feet (9.1 m.) to Fiftyseventh Street. On October 31, 1925, the controlling depth was 30 feet for a width of 600 feet. ers. Pelican Spit prevents a sea in Galveston Channel during north The entrance to the channel is marked by a gas buoy on the north side and by a gas buoy and a bell buoy on the south side. Galveston, on the eastern end of Galveston Island, covers the entire width of the island southwestward to the city limits and has a total area of 15 square miles. The wharves are built on the north side of the city and abut on Galveston Channel. The south side of the city fronts upon the Gulf of Mexico and is protected by a concrete sea wall 17 feet (5.2 m.) high. Galveston has a large foreign and domestic trade in petroleum products, cotton, cottonseed products, grain, and livestock, and a coastwise trade in cotton, ore, and general merchandise. It has direct communication by six lines of railroad with all parts of the United States and with Mexico, and regular steamship service to all important European, Asiatic, Latin-American, Cuban, and American ports. Galveston is connected with the mainland by Galveston Cause- • way, a concrete and earth viaduct 134 miles long crossing the northerly end of West Bay. On the causeway are carried the tracks of three steam and one electric railway and a roadway for vehicles and pedestrians. The draw span, about midway of the length of the causeway, has a lift opening of 100 feet width. Terminal facilities.-The terminal facilities at Galveston are the most extensive on the Texas coast. There are 31 piers at the port which have depths of water ranging from 12 to 30 feet (3.7 to 9.1 m.) at mean low water. Of these, 9 are used for overseas freight, such as cotton, flour, oil cake, meal, etc.; 2 for rough overseas freight, consisting of sulphur, scrap iron, steel billets, copper, etc.; and 4 for general overseas freight. There are 4 wharves used for handling fuel oil, 1 for import fruit, 1 for handling fish, 1 for handling coal, gravel, and shell, 4 for export grain, with 4 elevators of capacity of 52 million bushels, 1 for railroad-car transfer, while the remainder are used for miscellaneous and private purposes. The principal piers at Galveston are located on the south side of the channel and extend from Ninth Street to Forty-seventh Street, a distance of 211⁄2 miles. A few facilities devoted to ship-repair purposes are located on Pelican Spit, on the north side of the channel where there is an additional mile of frontage. The terminals of the Galveston Wharf Co. extend from Tenth Street west to Forty-first Street, and occupy a total channel frontage of 12,400 linear feet, with a berth capacity of 31,152 linear feet. Extending west of the Galveston Wharf Co. is the property of the Southern Pacific Terminal Co., consisting of a channel frontage of 4,290 feet, of which 1,350 feet is developed. There are 3 piers and 2 slips, having a berthing capacity for 7 average-size ships. The terminal facilities are all privately owned. Those of the Galveston Wharf Co. are open to all carriers on equal terms. The Southern Pacific wharves are used principally by the Atlantic Steamship lines, but one pier is also used to some extent by other ocean carriers for export trade, and is open to all such carriers on equal terms. Port charges.-Dockage charges as given below are made for the use of the piers, wharves, and sheds of the Galveston Wharf Co. No dockage charges are made at the railroad piers except when vessels occupy berths while being fitted for loading grain. One cent per gross ton per day for first to sixth day. No charge for the seventh to sixteenth day. One cent per gross ton per day for seventeenth to twenty-first day. All vessels making use of the shedded piers beyond this period of time shall be assessed on the same basis applied under the above schedule: Sheddage charges are given in the schedule below. Additional charges for shed hire are made on cotton and cottonseed products: (a) Where shedded piers or wharves are occupied, vessels using same for export cargo shall pay a shed hire as follows: Vessels over 5,000 net registered tons_. Vessels 3,000 to 5,000 net registered tons. Vessels 2,000 to 3,000 net registered tons $175 150 125 100 75 50 Vessels 1,000 to 2,000 net registered tons- (b) Where shedded piers or wharves are occupied, vessels using same for import cargo shall pay a shed hire of 20 cents per net ton on all cargo unloaded, with a maximum of $100 per vessel. Wharfage charges vary with the commodity. Lighters are not used at this port. There is only one car float in Galveston Harbor, and this is used as part of the through transportation facilities of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. No separate charge is assessed. Harbor master.-The harbor master at Galveston enforces the rules and regulations prescribed by city ordinances for the control of the harbor and docks. The following are extracts: No vessel or steamer coming into the harbor of Galveston shall be allowed to lay in the stream in front of the wharves, north, for a longer time than 24 hours preparatory to hauling into a berth at the wharves, and no vessel preparing to go to sea shall be allowed to lay in the stream in front of the wharves for a longer time than 24 hours after leaving her berth at the wharf. All vessels of 75 tons and upward on arriving in the stream of the port of Galveston shall, before hauling into berth and within 24 hours after such arrival; report at the harbor master's office and book for berth. No vessel shall be allowed to moor within a cable length of any wharf, and no vessel whatever between the wharves of said city and outer bar shall throw overboard any stone or other ballast below high-water mark. Regulations governing the use of Galveston Channel are prescribed by the Secretary of War as follows: 1. The speed of all vessels of over a net tonnage of 100 tons or of greater draft than 6 feet moving in Galveston Channel bounded by Pelican Island dike, the city of Galveston wharf front, the Second Turn Beacon (red), and the western limits of the excavated area, shall be reduced to and shall not exceed a rate of 4 miles per hour through the water when within 300 feet of the wharves or Pelican Island dike, and elsewhere in said channel the speed shall not exceed a rate of 6 miles per hour through the water. 2. All vessels are forbidden to drop anchor, weights, or other ground tackle within 200 feet of the water main and electric cables crossing Galveston Channel from pier 14, Galveston, to Pelican Island. Port Bolivar Channel connects Galveston Harbor with a turning basin at the wharves of Port Bolivar. The project provides for a channel 30 feet (9.1 m.) deep and 200 feet wide from deep water in Galveston Harbor to a turning basin 1,600 feet long, with an average width of about 750 feet and 30 feet (9.1 m.) deep in front of the wharves. On October 31, 1925, the controlling depth in the channel was 22 feet (6.7 m.) for a width of 200 feet, and in the basin 20 feet (6.1 m.) for a width of 400 feet. The channel is marked by a lighted range and by buoys. Port Bolivar, at the southwestern extremity of Bolivar Peninsula and 32 miles north of Galveston, is the terminus of a line of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway from Beaumont and the interior of the State. It has good terminal facilities and car-ferry service to Galveston. The terminals are open to all carriers on equal terms, but it is understood that the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co., which owns the terminals, has cancelled all its tariffs and closed the port. The only commerce, therefore, at present is the car-ferry traffic between Port Bolivar and Galveston. Texas City Channel extends from deep water in Galveston harbor through the lower end of Galveston Bay to the wharves at Texas City. The project provides for a channel 30 feet (9.1 m.) deep and 300 feet wide from Galveston Harbor to Texas City, a distance of about 61⁄2 miles. This channel was completed in 1916, but shoaling has occurred, and on October 31, 1925, the controlling depth was 29 feet (8.3 m.) for a width of 150 feet. There is a depth of 30 feet (9.1 m.) along the faces of the wharves and in the slips. The channel is protected on its northerly side for about 4 miles out from the mainland by a timber and earth dike, 1,150 feet from the axis of the channel at the easterly end and 2,500 feet from the axis at the turn leading to the docks. The channel is marked by lighted ranges. beacons, and buoys. Texas City, on the west side of lower Galveston Bay, about 7 miles northwestward from Galveston, is a port of considerable commercial importance, having an extensive foreign and coastwise trade in petroleum products, cotton, grain, hardware, and general merchandise. The facilities for handling cargoes are very good. There are five railroad lines entering the city and there are three steamship lines operating on regular schedule, one to Cuban ports and two to Mexico. Lines operating to the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Orient call at the port as required. Terminal facilities.-The terminal facilities are all located on the mainland at the inner end of the channel. They consist of 1 pier 1,200 feet long by 1,000 feet wide and another 900 feet long by 500 feet wide, with 2 slips 1,200 feet long by 210 feet wide and another 900 feet long by 200 feet wide; 5 steel or concrete-steel warehouses and 1 wooden warehouse on these piers; 1 open pier (oil dock) 900 feet long 34 feet wide; 1 concrete-steel grain elevator of 500,000 bushels capacity; 4 steel and 1 wooden warehouses and 2 cotton compresses on land between piers; and 38.05 miles of railroad siding, storage yards, etc., with a railroad 6 miles in length connecting the wharves with the trunk line entering Galveston. All these terminal facilities are owned by the Texas City Transportation Co., but are open to all carriers on equal terms. In addition to the above facilities is the Texas Sugar Refining Co. plant located on the water front with privately owned and operating pier warehouse 400 feet long and 104 feet wide, and bulkhead pier, 900 feet long and 600 feet wide. Port charges.-Dockage charges as given below apply on all steamers, sailing vessels, or other craft: For each vessel over 1,000 gross registered tons, per trip-- Wharfage varies with the commodity. Lighters or car floats are not operated at Texas City. $50 25 The following are extracts from the revised ordinances of the city of Texas City, as ordained by the board of commissioners: Vessels hauling into wharves to top yards, etc.-It shall be unlawful for any ship or vessel to haul into wharves of Texas City without their yards being topped, anchor flukes taken inboard or stoppered at the hawse pipes, cables bent and clear with 10 fathoms range of chain overhauled, jib and flying. jibboom rigged in, stern and quarter davits and bumpkins turned in or unshipped. Speed of vessels.-It shall be unlawful for any ship or vessel passing in the channel in the harbor of Texas City in front of the wharves to exceed 3 miles an hour with the current, and 5 miles an hour against the current. Vessels to have ship keepers on board. It shall be unlawful for any ship or vessel, steamer or barge, not to have a good and proper ship keeper at all times on board while in the harbor of Texas City. East Bay is a large shallow bay making eastward about 16 miles from the southern end of Galveston Bay and lying northwestward of Bolivar Peninsula. It is partially separated from Galveston Bay by a chain of low sand islands and shoals, known as Hanna Reef. The depths in the bay range from 2 to 7 feet (0.6 to 2.1 m.), with a |