The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Dutch phraseHellegat, which could mean either "bright strait" or "clear opening", and it was originally applied to the entirety of the East River. Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, the first European known to have navigated the strait, described it in his journals during his 1614 voyage aboard the Onrust. Hellegat is a fairly common name for waterways in the Low Countries, with at least 20 examples. Because explorers found navigation hazardous in this New World place of rocks and converging tide-driven currents, the Anglicization stuck.
History
In October 1776, Admiral Howe sailed some of the British fleet through the strait, an action which was considered reckless at the time. In 1851, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began to clear obstacles from the strait with explosives; the process would last 70 years. On September 24, 1876, the Corps used of explosives to blast the dangerous rocks, which was followed by further blasting work. On October 10, 1885, the Corps carried out the largest explosion in this process, annihilating Flood Rock with of explosives. The blast was felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey and sent a geyser of water in the air. A 2006 article described the blast as "the largest planned explosion before testing began for the atomic bomb", although the detonation at the Battle of Messines in 1917 was several times larger. Rubble from the detonation was used in 1890 to fill the gap between Great Mill Rock and Little Mill Rock, merging the two islands into a single island, Mill Rock. The incident inspired the climactic conclusion of Bram Stoker's novel The Lair of the White Worm. By the late 19th century, hundreds of ships, including HMS Hussar, had sunk in the strait. It was spanned in 1917 by the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge, which connects Wards Island and Queens. The bridge provides a direct rail link between New England and New York City. In 1936, it was spanned by the Triborough Bridge, allowing vehicular traffic to pass among Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens.
Hell Gate: The Watery Grave, is a 50-minute documentary film, narrated by Alexander Scourby, which covers many aspects of the waterway's history, including the clearing of the channel, the building of Hell Gate Bridge, and the PS General Slocum steamship disaster.
Under Hellgate Bridge, directed by Michael Sergio, is a crime drama/thriller film, set in Queens, that features the bridge.
In James Fenimore Cooper's historical fiction novelThe Water-Witch, or, The Skimmer of the Seas, Hell Gate serves as the scene for an exciting pursuit of the brigantineWater Witch by HMS Coquette. The Water Witch is captained by Thomas Tiller, an adventurous sailor with a romantic flair, and HMS Coquette by Captain Cornelius van Cuyler Ludlow, a principled young officer in the Royal Navy and a native of New York.
