Hudson River Fort Washington Point to Yonkers Anchorage Chart “K” Sheet 2

Testing the waters for anchoring ships in the Hudson River.

This fascinating sheet, marked RESTRICTED, presents a portion of the Hudson River between the George Washington Bridge in New York City to the nearby suburb of Yonkers. The base map was published by the United States Geological Survey in April 1939, with the overprinting added by the Hydrographic Office of the U.S. Navy shortly thereafter. Noted as the 8th edition (the 7th was issued in January), updates were apparently made quite regularly.

Red circles identify numbered spots ‘for the temporary anchorage of naval vessels’, according to the text in the lower right. Ferry routes and navigational beacons are also brightly identified. Depth soundings are provided in feet and various locations of interest and geographic features are labeled. The Hudson was apparently quite suitable for a large ship anchorage. After World War II, Congress established the Hudson River National Defense Fleet as one of eight different locations to store unused vessels. Popularly known as the Mothball Fleet, the number of parked ships peaked at nearly 190 in 1965.

Source: Naval Marine Archive