San Jose Island or San José Island (also known as Saint Joseph Island) is a barrier island

Barrier island

Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...

 on the Gulf Coast

Gulf Coast of the United States

The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...

 of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The island is about 21 miles (34 km) long and 5 miles (8 km) wide. The island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 on the east and south, Aransas Bay

Aransas Bay

Aransas Bay is a bay on the Texas gulf coast, approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, and south of San Antonio. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by San José Island . Aransas Pass is the most direct navigable outlet into the Gulf of Mexico from the bay...

 on the west, and Mesquite Bay on the north. At the southern end of the island is Aransas Pass

Aransas Pass

The second lighthouse in Texas was built at Aransas Pass by the United States government to protect shipping in Aransas Bay.Aransas Pass was originally pictured as becoming a major Texas hub of commerce and travel with rail links to the harbor and harbor links by ships to Mexico, New York and other...

 (not to be confused with the City of Aransas Pass

Aransas Pass, Texas

Aransas Pass is a city in Aransas, Nueces, and San Patricio counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 8,138 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Aransas Pass is located at ....

 which is on the mainland), beyond which is Mustang Island

Mustang Island

Mustang Island is a barrier island on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States. The island is 18 miles long, stretching from Corpus Christi to Port Aransas. The island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, and Corpus Christi Bay on the north...

 and the town of Port Aransas. Aransas Pass is protected by jetties

Jetty

A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...

 extending into the Gulf from both Mustang Island and San José Island. The island's northern end used to be separated from Matagorda Island

Matagorda Island

Matagorda Island, Spanish for "thick brush," is a 38 mile long barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast, about seven miles south of Port O'Connor, in the southernmost part of Calhoun County. The island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, and...

 by Cedar Bayou

Cedar Bayou

Cedar Bayou is a salt water channel on the Texas coast that separates San Jose Island from Matagorda Island. The pass serves as a water exchange between the Gulf of Mexico and the San Antonio, Matagorda and Aransas Bay systems.-History:...

. Cedar Bayou

Cedar Bayou

Cedar Bayou is a salt water channel on the Texas coast that separates San Jose Island from Matagorda Island. The pass serves as a water exchange between the Gulf of Mexico and the San Antonio, Matagorda and Aransas Bay systems.-History:...

does not run freely through the two islands any longer.

Although the island has been the site of military forts and towns in the past, it is largely uninhabited today.

History

• July 26th, 1845 - Lt. Chandler of the USS Alabama waded ashore and planted the first American flag to fly over Texas territory on a sand dune on San Jose Island, Units of the Third Infantry established temporary quarters on the island.
• October 28th, 2009 - United States Navy pilot Lt. John Joseph Houston and Lt Bret Travis Miller lost communication with Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and were believed to have crash landed in the ocean near the St Jose Island coast, the body search ended November 7th, 2009 with only plane debris found along the coast.

Shipwrecks

• Buried on St. Joseph Island across from Rockport are ornaments and gold that were designed for a Vera Cruz cathedral.
• Another treasure on St. Joseph Islands near the southern end is payroll that was intended for Spanish soldiers.