Hell Gate, explosion removing Flood Rock, ca. 1880.

Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River between Astoria, Queens and Randall's and Wards Islands. The waterway had a long history as a dangerous passage; large rocks and whirlpools caused by the convergence of converging tide-driven currents made the strait treacherous and resulted in hundreds of wrecks. Beginning in the 1850s and continuing intermittently for decades, the Army Corps of Engineers used explosions in an attempt to clear the channel and make it more safely passable. The largest of these explosion efforts came in 1885 when 300,000 pounds of munitions were set off to destroy the small island called Flood Rock. Flood Rock had been considered the most dangerous feature of the strait. The explosions, likely pictured here, created a geyser 250 feet tall and were felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey.

Despite these efforts, disasters in the Hell Gate would not completely end. In 1904 the steamship General Slocum caught fire while heading though the strait on its way to picnic grounds on Long Island. Scared and desperate passengers jumped into the river to escape the flames. The ship eventually beached on North Brother Island, just above the straight. The total loss of life was more than 1000 members of the German community of the Lower East Side, mostly women and children.