Hundreds of ships had sunk in this treacherous tidal strait on the East River separating Astoria, Queens from the area from Randall's Island and Wards Island - a section of land made up of two separate islands that are how joined by a landfill.

Many New Yorkers refer to Hell Gate as Hell's Gate and believed it was so named because of the extremely choppy water that results from the collision of the tide coming in the and flow going out on the East River and the Harlem River. Actually though, the name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Dutch phrase Hellegat, which could mean either "hell's hole" or "bright gate/passage". The name was originally applied to the entirety of the East River.

The strait was described in the journals of Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, who is the first European known to have navigated the strait, during his 1614 voyage aboard the Onrust.

In this video, you can also see the Hell Gate Bridge in the distance. It's the brownish, crescent shaped structure located just beyond the RFK Bridge (formerly the Triboro Bridge). The Hell Gate Bridge was completed in 1917, and it connects Wards Island and Queens. The bridge provides a direct rail link between New England and New York City.

Navigation in this area of the East River was extremely hazardous at one time because of rocks and converging tide-driven currents (see the video) from the Long Island Sound, the Harlem River strait, Upper Bay of New York Harbor and lesser channels. By the late 19th century, hundreds of ships had gone down in the Hell Gate area.

In 1851 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began clearing obstacles from the strait with explosives, which took decades. A notable event occurred on On September 24, 1876, when the Corps ignited 50,000 pounds of explosives to smash the dangerous rocks. More blasting continued in subsequent years, and on October 10, 1885, the Corps exploded 300,000 pounds in a blast that was felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey.

While Hell Gate, or Hell's Gate, is now much smoother to sail than it used to be, you can see from this video I shot from the shore that it can still generate huge waves that toss small boats around violently.