Port Clarence Bay

Last updated May 02, 2019

Port Clarence Bay is a waterway in the U.S. state of Alaska. It has the only harbor and safe anchorage for large vessels in Seward Peninsula. The bay is located 25 miles southeast of York. It is a large body of comparatively deep water, nearly circular in outline, and cut off from the sea by a long, low sand spit, which terminates in Point Spencer at the entrance to the bay. Along the north side of Port Clarence Bay, there is a shallow lagoon, separated from the bay by a narrow sand spit. This lagoon extends several miles west of the entrance to Port Clarence.^[1] The hamlet of Port Clarence, Alaska is situated on the bay.

A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary between maritime shipping routes and waterways used by inland water craft. Maritime shipping routes cross oceans and seas, and some lakes, where navigability is assumed, and no engineering is required, except to provide the draft for deep-sea shipping to approach seaports (channels), or to provide a short cut across an isthmus; this is the function of ship canals. Dredged channels in the sea are not usually described as waterways. There is an exception to this initial distinction, essentially for legal purposes, see under international waters.

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

Alaska is a U.S. state in the northwest extremity of North America, just across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Canadian province of British Columbia and territory of Yukon border the state to the east and southeast. Its most extreme western part is Attu Island, and it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas—southern parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest U.S. state by area and the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the 3rd least populous and the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States; nevertheless, it is by far the most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel in North America: its population—estimated at 738,432 by the United States Census Bureau in 2015— is more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Approximately half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, and oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. Military bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy.

Geography

The harbor at Port Clarence Bay, close to the strait, is free from ocean swell, and was the rendezvous for the Arctic whaling fleet. The bay itself is clear of ice about June 25 to 30. There were three native settlements on the northeast side of the bay, and the dwellers assembled on Point Spencer in the early part of July for trade with the whaling vessels.

The bay is formed by a sand spit which extends from the mainland west and then north, terminating in Point Spencer. The end of the point is quite bold-to and can be approached as close as 1 mile, with depth of 7 fathoms. The channel between Point Spencer and Point Jackson, on the north shore, is about 4 miles wide, clear of danger, and carries from 7 to 9 fathoms. One and one-half miles south of Point Spencer a shoal makes into the bay from the sand spit, having depths of 2.5 fathoms 1 mile off. The northern half of the bay has a general depth of 7 fathoms as close as 1 mile from the shore; the southern half of the bay shoals gradually from this depth toward the shore, and the extreme southern part is very shoal. The north shore is clear of danger, and can be approached as close as i mile, the soundings decreasing regularly to the beach.

Port Clarence connects at its northeast end with Grantley Harbor, which is 3 to 4 miles wide, about 12 miles long, and connects at its eastern end by a narrow, difficult channel with a large lake farther inland. The mouth of the harbor is formed by two sand spits which slightly overlap. The water westward of the sand spits is shoal, but there is a channel close to the north one which can be used by vessels drawing 12 feet or less, but which should be sounded out before attempting to enter. Inside the harbor, the depths range from 2£ to 3 fathoms, and it is probable that a draft of 12 feet can be taken through the channel to the lake. Vessels have gone into Grantley Harbor to heave down and repair on the north sand spit.

Grantley Harbor is a waterway located at the bay of Port Clarence, Alaska, on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. The inner harbor at the entrance to the northeast corner of the bay was named after Lord Grantley.

Fresh water can be obtained in several places in Port Clarence, the best being from a stream on the east side south of Cape Riley and bearing east-southeast from Point Spencer.

The anchorage used by the whaling fleet is in 5 fathoms, just inside Point Spencer.

In this vicinity, fog is quite prevalent and very dense in summer.

Southwesterly winds increase and northeasterly winds decrease the height of tide.

Outside of Point Spencer the current sets northwestward with a velocity of 1 to 2 knots.

A shoal having a least reported depth of 1.5 fathoms lies nearly 5 miles offshore and about halfway between Cape Douglass and Point Spencer, and vessels should keep well outside of it. Extending about west-northwest from this shoal toward Cape York is a ridge having hard bottom and depths ranging from 4 fathoms near its southeastern end to 5 fathoms in about the latitude of Point Spencer. This ridge extends nearly to the north shore.^[2]

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References

↑ Collier, Arthur James (1904). The Tin Deposits of the York Region, Alaska (Public domain ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 38–.
↑ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; Jarvis, D. H. (1900). Alaska: Coast Pilot Notes on the Fox Islands Passes, Unalaska Bay, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean as Far as Point Barrow (Public domain ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 48–.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : A. J. Collier's "The Tin Deposits of the York Region, Alaska" (1904)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey and D. H. Jarvis' "Alaska: Coast Pilot Notes on the Fox Islands Passes, Unalaska Bay, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean as Far as Point Barrow" (1900)

The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

Coordinates: 05°16′40″N166°4′50″W / 5.27778°N 166.08056°W / 5.27778; -166.08056

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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[Collier1904-1] Collier, Arthur James (1904). The Tin Deposits of the York Region, Alaska (Public domain ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 38–.

[SurveyJarvis1900-2] U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; Jarvis, D. H. (1900). Alaska: Coast Pilot Notes on the Fox Islands Passes, Unalaska Bay, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean as Far as Point Barrow (Public domain ed.). U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 48–.