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When 300,000 Pounds Blew an Island Off New York Harbor
When 300,000 Pounds Blew an Island Off New York Harbor
Danger stalked New York Harbor in plain sight: a submerged reef called Flood Rock was blamed for hundreds of shipwrecks and, on October 10, 1885, 300,000 pounds of explosives detonated beneath the water and sent a 250-foot geyser skyward - but who stood at the telegraph key that triggered it, and why did a twelve-year-old girl press the button? Discover how a single blast ended a seventy-year battle with a strait named Hell Gate and what it cost to silence it.
In this episode, we tell the story of Hell Gate from its Dutch naming to…
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