A resolution of the House of Representatives, transmitting reports in relation to a harbor of refuge at Ludington, Mich.

MARCH 27, 1882.-Referred to the Committee on Commerce and ordered to be

printed.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, March 24, 1882. The Secretary of War has the honor to transmit to the House of Representatives, in compliance with the resolution of that body of January 24, 1882, calling for the information, a letter from the Chief of Engineers of yesterday's date, and the accompanying copy of report from Maj. F. Harwood, Corps of Engineers, relative to the necessity for a harbor of refuge at Ludington, Mich., with plans and estimates therefor.

The SPEAKER

of the House of Representatives.

ROBERT T. LINCOLN,
Secretary of War.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,

UNITED STATES ARMY, Washington, D. C., March 23, 1882.

SIR: I have the honor to return herewith the resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States, dated January 24, 1882, requesting the Secretary of War "to report to the House as to the necessity for a harbor of refuge at Ludington, Mich., and that he submit plans and estimates therefor;" and in obedience to its requirements to submit the accompanying copy of the report thereon by Major F. Harwood, Corps of Engineers, to whom it was referred, which it is hoped will afford the desired information so far as the questions of plans and estimates are concerned.

Major Harwood's views as to the necessity for the proposed harbor

of refuge are entitled to consideration. I concur in them so far as they relate to the desirability of an additional harbor of refuge at the most available point between Grand Haven and Portage Lake, but in my judgment it is important that the selection of that point should not be made till after a special investigation shall have been had of the coast between the places named, and the relative advantages of various localities determined. For this purpose the authority of Congress will be necessary and a small appropriation required.

The policy of making appropriation for a new harbor of refuge in this vicinity before those at Grand Haven and Portage Lake, already authorized and in course of execution, shall be further advanced towards completion, may well be doubted, and is worthy the consideration of Congress.

Should Congress, however, deem it proper to authorize at this time the construction of a harbor of refuge at Ludington, it is suggested that the plan, location, and estimate now submitted be referred to a Board of Engineer Officers for revision before the work is undertaken. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. G. WRIGHT,

Chief of Engineers, Brig. and Bvt. Maj. Gen.

Hon. ROBERT T. LINCOLN,

Secretary of War.

PLANS AND ESTIMATES FOR A HARBOR OF REFUGE AT LUDINGTON,

MICHIGAN.

UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE,

Detroit, Mich., March 7, 1882.

GENERAL: Under resolution of the House of Representatives of January 24 ultimo, transmitted to me by the Chief of Engineer's letter of the 27th, I am required to report upon the necessity for a harbor of refuge at Ludington, Mich., and to submit plans and estimates therefor.

There is at present no harbor of refuge on the east coast of Lake Michigan, and the necessity for at least one readily accessible to vessels of all characters in any stress of weather is obvious, and has been repeatedly presented to the notice of the War Department and Congress by officers in charge of the improvements on this coast in reports hav ing a bearing upon this subject.

As a result of the demands of commerce and the official representa tions above referred to, there are at present two harbors of refuge in process of construction, one at Grand Haven and one at Portage Lake, Manistee County. Both of these harbors are admirably situated for the purposes for which they are designed, but are not at present in a condition of safe access in a gale of wind.

Portage Lake Harbor of Refuge is in an incipient condition, being at present entirely inaccessible. It could be completed by aid of liberal appropriations within two or three years, but at the rate of appropria tion heretofore afforded would be at least twenty years in process of construction. Grand Haven Harbor is approaching completion under the existing approved project, and at the present rate of appropriation will be finished in four or five years. These two harbors when com pleted will afford, in a great measure, much needed relief to the commerce of the coast, but will not fully secure it against disaster in stormy weather. Grand Haven will be available for vessels caught in

a storm toward the head of the lake, and Portage Lake for those similarly unfortunate, while upon the course from the Straits of Mackinac to the west coast, which course bears well away from the east coast abreast of Point Aux Becs Scies, which is only 23 miles below Portage

Lake.

But between Portage Lake and Grand Haven there is a long stretch of about 100 miles of dangerous coast, totally unprovided with any harbor which a vessel could safely attempt to enter in stormy weather.

As regards danger to navigation the portion of the east coast of Lake Michigan under my charge may properly be divided into three bights, in either of which if a vessel is caught in stormy weather on a lee shore she must make a harbor of refuge within the bight or expect to go upon the beach. Reckoning from south northward there is first to be noticed the long reach of a little over 100 miles coast line between Saint Joseph and Little Point Sable, which will be provided for by the barbor of refuge at Grand Haven; and passing to Big Point Sable the coast northward from that point will be provided for by the harbor of refuge at Portage Lake, but the short and most dangerous, because most concave, bight between the two Points Sable remains at present unprovided for; and no matter how generally accessible in the future the harbors of Grand Haven and Portage Lake may become, any vessel unfortunate enough to get caught on a lee shore between the two Points Sable could reap no benefit from either of the harbors just mentioned, but being unable to round either point would be in imminent danger of stranding. In this connection I respectfully submit the appended table of statistics of wrecks which have occurred between the two Points Sable since 1848, kindly furnished me by the deputy collector of customs at Ludington. This table does not by any means state all the cases of vessels stranded between the points, but is full as far as definite information could be obtained. It omits many cases where information afforded is too vague to entitle the instance to definite record.

From the foregoing course of reasoning and these statistics of wrecks, it will be seen that a harbor of refuge at some site between the two points Sable is at least desirable, if not a general necessity. That it is a necessity as regards local commerce of that region I think I have demonstrated. Either Ludington or Pentwater, both of which harbors are situated within the bight above specified, would be suitable for a site for a harbor of refuge, each being partially under cover of one or the other of the. points Sable, but Ludington, being one of the termini of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, a trunk line crossing the lower peninsula of Michigan and having direct communication with all points east, in a commercial point of view, would seem to offer the greater advantages. It is probable that the assurance of safe access in any weather to the port of Ludington would induce capitalists to place on one or more lines of steamers connecting the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad with roads on the opposite side of the lake having termini at west coast ports, in which event the commerce of Ludington would be greatly stimulated and the revenues of the United States at this point correspondingly increased.

The most important characteristic of a harbor of refuge for general lake commerce at this location, intermediate as to the head and foot of the lake, should be its perfect accessibility in the stormiest weather and under most adverse circumstances. This characteristic, in my opinion, can only be secured by building the harbor exterior to the coast line.

I maintain that no system of parallel piers of entrance to an interior basin can ever afford perfect security, for either the piers have to be

placed so far apart that the channel cannot be certainly secured from shoaling, or else, if placed nearer together, form too narrow an entrance for a vessel to attempt with perfect security in stormy weather, particularly in the dark or in fog or thick mist. The interval of 300 feet fixed upon for the harbor of refuge at Portage Lake appears to have been adopted as a judicious medium, the result of practicable experience in the construction of harbors of this character. But at the harbor of Grand Haven, where the pier interval is nearly 400 feet, even when there is good water in advance of the piers, vessels occasionally miss the entrance; nor do I think this difficulty will be entirely remedied even when the piers have been carried into deep water and all fears of shoals at the entrance have disappeared.

It is no easy matter in thick weather when a heavy sea is rolling to hit an entrance of even 400 feet width, and when a vessel in such weather misses the entrance to leeward she is invariably stranded. Νο hawsers will hold her in such a sea as rolls behind the piers of the east shore of Lake Michigan in a heavy gale of wind. If she is fortunate enough to make the error to weather, which is the exceptional case, she may possibly escape, although the tendency is to set her ashore. The reflex wave in this case assists her efforts to keep off the pier, and by hard hauling she may get clear, but always in a more or less damaged condition.

With exterior works, however, the case is entirely different, and the maximum amount of security is afforded to the distressed vessel. The heavier and the more direct the sea dashing against the breakwater, the more pronounced is the reflex wave, acting as a water-cushion, fending her off from collision, and unless the vessel is so small or the waves so heavy as to swamp her, by good maneuvering she may be worked along the breakwater to the end, where, if she is at all in a navigable condition, she has plenty of searoom to work up and let go her anchor under cover of the work. With a work having 8 feet height of superstructure and finished with substantial snubbing posts, she could do this by aid of hawsers in any ordinary gale without great difficulty. A vessel approaching a harbor of refuge of this character does so with her greatest confidence, no matter how thick and heavy the weather may be, for the master knows that even if he is unfortunate enough to miss the entrance to the exterior harbor, he has every opportunity of extricating himself, and plenty of sea room to remedy his misfortune by casting anchor under the lee of the work before being thrown on the beach. In the case of interior harbors, however, the master of the unfortunate vessel is morally certain that if he misses the entrance there are nine chances out of ten that he will lose his vessel.

The piers at Ludington have only 200 feet interval, and Pere Marquette Lake, at the town front, is fully monopolized by the local commerce. The harbor, therefore, in its present condition is unsuitable for refuge, nor from conditions just advanced do I think it can be modified for such a purpose to advantage. I therefore propose for a harbor of refuge at Ludington, if Congress should so provide, the trace indicated on the map hereto appended.

The project contemplates the extension of the present south pier of entrance for 1,000 feet, to end in 28 feet soundings. This extension is necessary to head off a sand spit, which the littoral current flowing from the southward is gradually pushing northward, thus threatening the present channel of entrance at a point about 350 feet in advance of the present pierhead. As this extension is a necessity for the preservation of the channel, as long as it is in hand it may as well be pushed still further, converting the south pier of entrance into a south breakwater.

Unfortunately at the Ludington front the water deepens so suddenly that from motives of enconmy only a minimum area for anchorage can be projected without making the project cost enormously, and altogether out of proportion to the benefit sought to be obtained. The degree of pier extension, 1,000 feet, is determined by the position of the detached breakwater, the most important feature of the project.

The main arm of this breakwater, which is 2,000 feet long, I have located in an average depth of 30 feet soundings, which is as deep as it can be built in with any degree of economy, and at a distance of 2,200 feet from the shore, which is little enough to give good sea room. From

the main arm at the northerly end I set off a return of 1,000 feet in an oblique direction shoreward, to shut off what little northwesterly sea may occasionally arise, and thus make the lee of the breakwater a snug harbor in all weathers.

Northwesterly gales are the least frequent at Ludington, and less felt on account of the lay of the land to the northward; the partial interposition of Big Point Sable interfering to break the full force of the sea. Vessels seeking shelter from such a gale, even if abnormal in severity, would find easy access to the harbor of refuge by rounding the north end of the breakwater, which is situated at a distance of 1,600 feet from the shore line, affording ample room for the maneuver, and giving the vessel the option of letting go her anchor under the lee of the short arm or seeking the entrance to the inner harbor, where there would be comparatively still water.

The most violent gales at Ludington are from the southwest, veering to due west. I have established the width of entrance between the south breakwater head and the south end of the detached breakwater at 350 feet, which I consider ample for works with the relative situations of those I project. There is a vast difference between the force and character of the wave in open lake driving through a clear entrance in deep water into a large area of roadstead, and the same wave striking an entrance even of the same width between parallel piers. In the first case the wave enters naturally, with no excessive combing, and is dissipated in the covered area beyond; in the second case, confined between parallel walls, its mass accumulates in a towering crest, which gives the vessel entering all she can do to keep her course and avoid being flung upon the end of the long line of work abreast of her; which end in the other case she has passed in an instant, and finds in the main line a shelter rather than a dangerous lee wall, as in the instance of parallel piers. For a vessel, then, to enter the projected harbor under stress of a southwest gale, the entrance at the head of the south breakwater should be sought; and this passed, as it could be in the heaviest weather, instantaneously and with perfect safety, the vessel could then either pursue her course in still water, under cover of the south breakwater, into the inner harbor, or keep away to anchor under the lee of the detached work until the storm blew over. It will be noticed that in all cases but one there will be perfectly still water at the entrance to the inner harbor, which, in the case of parallel piers, is the most dangerous point of all, no matter from what direction the gale may come.

At Ludington the wind sometimes veers and blows heavily from due west. In this case the south breakwater would be of little service, and a heavy sea would roll as at present directly toward the inner harbor. This sea might in this instance make entrance to the inner harbor inconvenient, but in this case the whole 3,000 feet of detached breakwater would make the area of sixty acres anchorage a snug harbor throughout