Parting Thoughts

OFFICIAL MARINE PARTS EXPRESS BLOG

 
  • About Marine Parts Express
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • About Marine Parts Express
  • Contact Us
  • Up Your Bridges

    By Margaret Graham Neeson, 91 years young,  Marine Parts Express

    A cartoon was published several years ago that remains a favorite with the yachting world. It showed a fat family of three in a very small sailboat, looking pleased and proud as they sailed gloriously along a river, through an open drawbridge, while a long line of automobiles and their discomfited passengers waited, perforce, on the blocked-off highway.

    This lovely scene (lovely to boat-owners only, of course) is not so frequent as it once was due mainly to the general revamping of highways and railroads. Bridges, nowadays, are built to clear even large rivers at one jump, going ever higher to do so. To take New York bridges alone, as an example, back in 1883, Brooklyn Bridge set a new standard in clearance by crossing the East River 135 feet above the water. In 1931, George Washington Bridge made a vertical clearance record of 260 feet. The spectacular new Verrazano-Narrows center span has close to 325 feet of clearance.

    These bridges are all of the high-flying suspension type, but what is true of them is, to a lesser extent, true also of other fixed bridges, whether they be cantilever, beam, or arch.

    But there are still lots of movable bridges around. And although they are the lowest of the low (in design as well as in fact, say the bridge builders) they have a noble purpose. Whether built on difficult terrain, or as part of a less-traveled highway or railway, or for temporary use, they perform an important extra function: they not only cross the river, they keep it open to navigation as well.

    They have to. That is the law. Under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3, of the Constitution, Congress has the right to regulate interstate commerce, and one way it exercises that right is to state that “It shall not be lawful to construct . . . any bridge, dam, dike, or causeway over or in any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, canal, navigable river, or other navigable water of the United States” without the consent of Congress. As a practical matter, Congress leaves it up to the Secretary of the Army (formerly the Secretary of War) and the Corps of Engineers to decide where bridges may be built.

    Generally speaking, and despite some bitter legal contests, the authorities have decided in favor of the ships and boats, at least to the extent of making the bridges either high or with movable spans. As one judge put it, a navigable river “is a stream such as will permit and bear the passage of ordinary boats of commerce upon the bosom of its waters.” Another judge was more succinct. He said, “It is a fact that a river is more than an amenity; it is a treasure.”

    Congress has also given to the Secretary of the Army the authority to make rules and regulations governing the opening of drawbridges. By far the majority of these are attended, but particularly in secluded areas, there are great numbers of unattended bridges, requiring advance notice.

    The rules governing attended bridges differ and change from locality to locality, so that every wise yachtsman consults his Coast Pilot to check on the regulations in his area.

    A summary of the most used standards would include:

    Three blasts of whistle or horn (or three calls through a megaphone or three strokes of a bell) from the boat wanting to pass through when a “reasonable distance” from the bridge.

    An answering three blasts from the draw tender when all is well and he can open the bridge.

    Four (sometimes two) blasts from the tender when he cannot.

    In stormy weather, when sound will not carry, flag signals shall be used by day, lights or lantern by night. The boat shall signal by swinging flag or light in circles; the tender shall signal by raising and lowering his flag or light in a vertical plane if he can open the draw, horizontally if he cannot.

    Every boatman has a recurrent nightmare in which the draw is not opened in time and his craft goes smash, and many have horror stories to tell of delinquent tenders.

    Most bridge tenders feel about their bridges the way boatmen feel about their boats. They are as anxious as the captain for the boat’s passage through the draw to be accomplished safely.


    Comments? Questions? Suggestions for topics for our blog or newsletter? Send them to
    info@marinepartsexpress.com.

    Marine Parts Express is a division of Water Resources, Inc., a privately held Maine Corporation.

    For all your marine engine parts needs, call us toll free at 877.621.2628, or outside the U.S. at 207.882.6165.

    Share this:

    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

    Related

    September 16, 2010 / mpartsexpress / 0

    Categories: JD Neeson, Musings

    Tags: Brooklyn bridge, drawbridge, George Washington Bridge, Margaret Graham Neeson, Marine Parts Express, Verrazano-Narrows

    A Short Primer on Marine Gas Engine Control Computers Changed Oil Quality Recommendation for S-Drives

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • Things I Found While Looking For Something Else – Part VI
  • Re-Introducing the OneList
  • Winterization Guide
  • Labor Day Sale 2016
  • Memorial Day Sale 2016
  • Turbocharger Damage Prevention Bulletin
  • The Art of Quilling
  • Winter – Maine Style
  • XDP Upgrade Promotion – Extended!!! (through 12/31/14
  • Lubricants, Oils, Sealants, and Adhesives – Discussion and Cross-Reference

Pages

  • About Marine Parts Express
  • Contact Us

Tag Cloud

    american goldfinch bird feet configuration Birds blue jay brown creeper cardinals China debt Downy Woodpecker Economy ethanol flame arrester flame arrestor gear ratios hermit thrush hummingbirds low flow lubricants Lytro magnetic alignment magnifying glass magnolia Maine maine authors maine golf maine hunting camp maine winter manufacturing Margaret Graham Neeeson Margaret Graham Neeson Marine Parts Express mercruiser oriole osprey overheating propeller prop sizes Ruby-Throated Hummingbird sail drive service bulletin The Skipper volvo volvo penta wild turkey Winter

Categories

  • Boating and Fishing
  • Books
  • Economy
  • Musings
  • Nature
    • Birds
  • Technology
  • The Express
  • The MPE Crew
    • JD Neeson
    • Noreen O'Brien
    • Stacy Lash
  • Uncategorized
  • Volvo Penta Service Bulletins
 

Recent Posts

  • Things I Found While Looking For Something Else – Part VI
  • Re-Introducing the OneList
  • Winterization Guide
  • Labor Day Sale 2016
  • Memorial Day Sale 2016
  • Turbocharger Damage Prevention Bulletin
  • The Art of Quilling
  • Winter – Maine Style
  • XDP Upgrade Promotion – Extended!!! (through 12/31/14
  • Lubricants, Oils, Sealants, and Adhesives – Discussion and Cross-Reference

Tag Cloud

    american goldfinch bird feet configuration Birds blue jay brown creeper cardinals China debt Downy Woodpecker Economy ethanol flame arrester flame arrestor gear ratios hermit thrush hummingbirds low flow lubricants Lytro magnetic alignment magnifying glass magnolia Maine maine authors maine golf maine hunting camp maine winter manufacturing Margaret Graham Neeeson Margaret Graham Neeson Marine Parts Express mercruiser oriole osprey overheating propeller prop sizes Ruby-Throated Hummingbird sail drive service bulletin The Skipper volvo volvo penta wild turkey Winter

Pages

  • About Marine Parts Express
  • Contact Us

Categories

  • Boating and Fishing
  • Books
  • Economy
  • Musings
  • Nature
    • Birds
  • Technology
  • The Express
  • The MPE Crew
    • JD Neeson
    • Noreen O'Brien
    • Stacy Lash
  • Uncategorized
  • Volvo Penta Service Bulletins

Copyright © 2016 Parting ThoughtsTheme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org