Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore
Encyclopedia
Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, consists of seaport facilities for cargo, especially roll-on/roll-off ships, and passengers operated by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA), a unit of the Maryland Department of Transportation
Maryland Department of Transportation
The Maryland Department of Transportation is a government agency in the U.S. state of Maryland. MDOT is overseen by Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, who replaced John Porcari in 2009 upon the latter's appointment as Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of...

.

History

In 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 170 miles from Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

 to the upper Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River
Patapsco River
The Patapsco River is a river in central Maryland which flows into Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore...

, named after the native Algonquians
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...

 who fished shellfish and hunted.

English land grants 1661 were combined 1702 by James Carroll who named it Whetstone Point (now known as Locust Point
Locust Point, Baltimore
Locust Point is a peninsular neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland. Located in South Baltimore, the neighborhood is entirely surrounded by the Locust Point Industrial Area; the traditional boundaries are Lawrence street to the west and the Patapsco River to the north, south, and east...

). The port was founded on this site in 1706 by the Maryland Colonial Assembly as a Port of Entry for the tobacco trade with England. In 1729 the point was incorporated into Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

.
Starting in 1776 local citizenry erected earthworks
Earthworks (engineering)
Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...

 named Fort Whetstone for port defense during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, which was replaced in 1798 by Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay...

.

Fells Point, first named Long Island Point in 1670,
the deepest point in the natural harbor, soon became the colony's main ship building center, with many shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...

s, famed for the construction of Baltimore clipper
Baltimore Clipper
Baltimore Clipper is the colloquial name for fast sailing ships built on the south-eastern seaboard of the United States of America, especially at the port of Baltimore, Maryland...

s. These were notorious as raiders and privateers, which led to the British attack in 1814 in the Battle of Baltimore
Battle of Baltimore
The Battle of Baltimore was a combined sea/land battle fought between British and American forces in the War of 1812. It was one of the turning points of the war as American forces repulsed sea and land invasions of the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland, and killed the commander of the invading...

, with the famous bombardment of Fort McHenry.
Fells Point was incorporated into Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 in 1773.
The Continental Navy
Continental Navy
The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War, and was formed in 1775. Through the efforts of the Continental Navy's patron, John Adams and vigorous Congressional support in the face of stiff opposition, the fleet cumulatively became relatively...

 ordered their first frigate, USS Virginia
USS Virginia (1776)
The first USS Virginia was a 28-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy, a ship with a short and unfortunate career.She was one of 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress on 13 December 1775, laid down in 1776 at Fells Point, Maryland, by George Wells, launched that August, and...

, from George Wells in Fells Point in 1775. The first ship named the USS Constellation
USS Constellation (1797)
USS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate, one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage and defeat an enemy vessel...

 were produced at Harris Creek Shipyard here, and the third USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise (1799)
The third USS Enterprise, a schooner, was built by Henry Spencer at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1799, and placed under the command of Lieutenant John Shaw...

 at Henry Spencer's shipyard. Over 800 ships were commissioned from Fells Point shipyards from 1784 to 1821.
The California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

 lead to many orders for fast vessels; many overland pioneers also relied upon can goods from Baltimore.
After the founding of Baltimore the waterfront developed drydocks, warehouses, ship chandler
Ship chandler
A ship chandler is a retail dealer in special supplies or equipment for ships.For traditional sailing ships items that could be found in a chandler might include: rosin, turpentine, tar, pitch , linseed oil, whale oil, tallow, lard, varnish, twine, rope and cordage, hemp, oakum, tools A ship...

s, as well as industry including mills were built behind the wharves.
In what is now Canton, John O'Donnell's plantation was developed for worker housing and industry, including the Canton Iron Works owned by Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States...

 and others.
In 1828 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 (B&O) began track laying eventually extending into Locust Point in 1845. The arrival of the Baltimore and Ohio and other railroads made the port a major transshipment point between inland points and the rest of the world. By the 1840s, the Baltimore Steam Packet Company
Baltimore Steam Packet Company
The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, which was also known as the , was an American steamship line from 1840 to 1962, providing overnight steamboat service on the Chesapeake Bay, primarily between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia...

 (Old Bay Line) was providing overnight steamship service on the Chesapeake Bay. After the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, coffee ships were designed here for trade with Brazil.
Other industrial activities in Canton included Baltimore Copper Smelting Company and small oil refineries, later purchased by Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

.
At the end of the nineteenth century, European ship lines had terminals for emigrants from Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Poland, for example.

Harbor channels and approaches

Maintenance of harbor channels and navigation aids began early. Dredging in the harbor can be traced back as far as 1783, when the Ellicott brothers (of Ellicott Dredges
Ellicott Dredges
First established as the Ellicott Machine Company in 1885, Ellicott Dredges is one of the oldest manufactures in the world that specializes in the design and building of dredges and dredge machinery...

) excavated the bottom at their wharf in the Inner Harbor. In 1790 the state government began systematic dredging using a "mud machine", which used a horse-drawn drag bucket, later upgraded with steam power. In 1825 Sen. Sam Smith
Samuel Smith (Maryland)
Samuel Smith was a United States Senator and Representative from Maryland, a mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, and a general in the Maryland militia. He was the brother of cabinet secretary Robert Smith.-Biography:...

 of Maryland petitioned Congress for federal funding for this work.

At this time Congress was smarting from the incursions of the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

 and had determined to expand naval defenses. In Baltimore it led to the misconceived construction of Fort Carroll
Fort Carroll
Fort Carroll is a 3.4 acre artificial island and abandoned fort in the middle of the Patapsco River, just south of Baltimore, Maryland...

, but federal dredging appropriations preceded that project, beginning in 1830. This first project was completed in 1838. In the 1850s a second dredging project was undertaken, this time under Capt. Henry Brewerton
Henry Brewerton
Henry Brewerton was a career engineering officer in the United States Army, serving as the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy and then as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War....

, who was also in charge of the Fort Carroll project. He excavated a straight channel from Sparrows Point
Sparrows Point
Sparrows Point is an unincorporated area in Baltimore County, Maryland, adjacent to Dundalk, Maryland. Named for Thomas Sparrow, landowner, it was the site of a very large industrial complex owned by Bethlehem Steel, known for steelmaking and shipbuilding....

 out to the mouth of the Patapsco near Seven Foot Knoll Light
Seven Foot Knoll Light
The Seven Foot Knoll Light was built in 1855 and is the oldest screw-pile lighthouse in Maryland. It was initially installed on a shallow shoal, Seven Foot Knoll, at the mouth of the Patapsco River...

, which was erected in 1855; this channel, known today as the Brewerton Channel, continues to be the central link in the path into the harbor.

In 1865 Maj. William P. Craighill
William Price Craighill
William Price Craighill was born in Charles Town, Virginia . He was an author, Union Army engineer in the American Civil War, and later served as Chief of Engineers....

 took over as Baltimore District Engineer of the Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

. His initial survey of the Brewerton Channel disclosed severe shoaling at the mouth of the river, and he excavated a new channel starting from the older channel at a point just northwest of Seven Foot Knoll and running south to the mouth of the Magothy River
Magothy River
The Magothy River runs through Anne Arundel County in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is located south of the Patapsco River and north of the Severn River...

, where it turned to the southsoutheast and continued to Sandy Point, just north of the present location of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Chesapeake Bay Bridge
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and, at the time, with a length of , it was the world's longest...

. In the 1870s a cut-off channel was dug to ameliorate the turn between the old and new channels; the Brewerton Channel was also extended to provide a connection to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is a 14-mile long, 450-foot wide and 40-foot deep ship canal that cuts across the states of Maryland and Delaware, in the United States. It connects the waters of the Delaware River with those of the Chesapeake Bay and the Port of Baltimore...

. Enlarged and extended to access various facilities within the port, the Brewerton and Craighill Channels continue in use to the present, essentially unaltered in configuration.

Federal lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 construction in the bay began in the 1820s, and one early project was the erecting of range lights to guide ships into the Patapsco. These lights, the North Point Range Lights
North Point Range Lights
The North Point Range Lights were some of the earliest lights in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Intended to guide ships headed for Baltimore harbor into the Patapsco River, they were superseded by channel construction in the 1870s and '80s, and were replaced by the Craighill Channel...

, were lit in 1822, marking a path roughly the same as that of the current Craighill Cutoff Channel. Subsequent channel construction was followed shortly by light projects. Brewerton's channel was marked by the Hawkins Point
Hawkins Point Light
The Hawkins Point Light was an unusual screw-pile lighthouse which displayed the front light to the Brewerton Channel Range. It was eventually superseded by an iron tower on the same foundation.-History:...

 and Leading Point
Leading Point Light
The Leading Point Light was an unusual lighthouse which displayed the rear light to the Brewerton Channel Range. It was eventually superseded by an iron tower on the same foundation.-History:...

 lights, constructed in 1868 and converted to skeleton towers in 1924. The original (lower) Craighill Channel was marked with range lights in 1875, following two years of temporary lightship
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...

s; the cutoff was marked with the upper range lights in 1886, replacing the North Point range, which had been discontinued in 1873. In later years a pair of skeleton towers were erected on Locust Point to mark the Fort McHenry Channel, the final leg from the end of the Brewerton Channel to Curtis Point and the Inner Harbor. All of these lights remain in use, though of course all have been automated. The Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light
Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light
The Craighill Channel Lower Range Rear Light is one of a pair of range lights that marks the first section of the shipping channel into Baltimore harbor. It is the tallest lighthouse in Maryland.-History:...

 enjoys the distinction of being the tallest lighthouse in Maryland.

Current operations

Currently the port has major roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) facilities, as well as bulk facilities, especially steel handling. Most Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

 cars that are imported into the U.S are handled here as well.

During 2008, 33 million tons in foreign commerce (imports and exports), valued at $45.3 billion were handled by the port. This was a 7.3% increase in tonnage over 2007, when 30.8 million tons of foreign commerce, valued at $41.9 billion, flowed through the port. The Port of Baltimore ranked 14th of 30 USA ports, handling 2.2% of the 1.5 billion tons in foreign tonnage managed by USA ports during 2008. (broken link)

Water taxis also operate in the Inner Harbor.
Governor Ehrlich participated in naming the port after Helen Delich Bentley
Helen Delich Bentley
Helen Delich Bentley is an American politician and a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Maryland .-Life and career:...

 during the 300th anniversary of the port.

In popular culture

In the 1996 action film, Eraser
Eraser (film)
Eraser is a 1996 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan and Vanessa L. Williams. It was directed by Chuck Russell. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing in 1996.-Plot:...

, the film's finale and ending battle take place on and around a Russian
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 cargo ship in the Port of Baltimore, referred to in the movie as the "Baltimore Docks".

The second season of the HBO series The Wire
The WIRE
the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...

 takes place primarily in and around in the Port of Baltimore.

External links

  • NOAA maps
  • Baltimore Harbor # 12281
  • Chesapeake Bay Approaches to Baltimore Harbor # 12278
  • Chapter 15 Baltimore to Head of Chesapeake Bay, Coast Pilot 3, 40th Edition, 2007, Office of Coastal Survey, NOAA.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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