Ambrose Channel is the main shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey

Port of New York and New Jersey

The Port of New York and New Jersey comprises the waterways in the estuary of the New York-Newark metropolitan area with a port district encompassing an approximate area within a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument...

. The channel is considered to be part of Lower New York Bay

Lower New York Bay

Lower New York Bay is that section of New York Bay south of the Narrows, the relatively narrow strait between the shores of Staten Island and Brooklyn. The southern end of the bay opens directly to the Atlantic Ocean between two spits of land, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Rockaway, Queens, on Long...

 and is located several miles off the coasts of Sandy Hook in New Jersey and Breezy Point, Queens

Breezy Point, Queens

Breezy Point is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, between Rockaway Inlet and Jamaica Bay on the landward side, and the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood is governed by Queens Community Board 14...

 in New York. Ambrose Channel terminates at Ambrose Anchorage, just south of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the gateway to New York Harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

.

The entrance to the channel was marked by Ambrose Light

Ambrose Light

Ambrose Light, often called Ambrose Tower, was a light station at the convergence of several major shipping lanes in Lower New York Bay, including Ambrose Channel, the primary passage for ships entering and departing the Port of New York and New Jersey....

 which doubled as a staging area for pilot boat

Pilot boat

A Pilot Boat is a type of boat used to transport pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting.-History:The origins of the word pilot probably disseminates from the Latin word pilota, a variation of pedota, the plural of pēdón which translates as oar...

s, most notably the Sandy Hook Pilots. Prior to the construction of the light tower in 1967 the channel was marked by the Ambrose Lightship, one of a class of lightships

Lightvessel

A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship which acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction...

 operated and maintained by the United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

for the express purpose of marking main shipping channels for major ports. After several collisions, the light tower was redesigned and relocated in 1999, and finally decommissioned and removed in 2008.

External links

• Sandy Hook Pilots
• South Street Seaport Museum - Current location of the Ambrose Lightship