Bridgeport Harbor has three anchorage areas inside the breakwaters. An anchorage is on the east side of the main channel northwestward of Pleasure Beach. A second is on the west side of the channel south of Tongue Point and a third runs parallel to the west side of the main channel from Tongue Point to Steel Point. The rest of the harbor area consists of broad and shallow sand flats.
The control of the port is vested in the harbormaster, who maintains an office at the Bridgeport City Hall and can also be contacted through the Bridgeport Police Department.
Bridgeport has facilities for making above- and below-the-waterline repairs to fishing boats, tugs, and recreational craft, and hull and engine repair facilities for small craft. The largest marine railway in the area can handle vessels to 120 feet and 400 tons. A 10-ton crane is available.
Black Rock Harbor: Anchorage in depths of 18 to 22 feet and exposed to southeasterly and northeasterly winds can be found off the entrance, northeast of the bar that makes out from Shoal Point to Black Rock. Small craft drawing less than 6 feet can select anchorage on either side of the dredged channel as far as the yacht club on the east side of Grover Hill. Several small-craft facilities are in Black Rock Harbor.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
Bridgeport Harbor consists of two widely separated units. The main harbor and its branches serve the east and central portions of the city of Bridgeport, and Black Rock Harbor and its tributaries serve the western part.
The large red and white horizontally banded stack of a powerplant on Tongue Point is the most prominent landmark in this area. Other prominent landmarks include several church spires, the radio towers at Pleasure Beach, and Bridgeport Harbor Light 13A. An aerolight about 1.3 miles northwestward of Stratford Point can be seen from offshore.
Bridgeport Harbor Channel Approach Lighted Whistle Buoy BH (41°06’14″N., 73°11’44″W.), is 3.3 miles south-southwest of Bridgeport Harbor Light 13A and marks the entrance to the channel.
Bridgeport Harbor Light 13A (41°09’24″N., 73°10’47″W.), 50 feet above the water, is shown from a black skeleton tower with small white house, on a black base, on the west side of the entrance channel near the end of the west breakwater.
From deep water in Long Island Sound the dredged channel extends north-northeastward between two converging breakwaters into the main harbor, and thence into the three tributaries, Johnsons Creek, Yellow Mill Channel, and Pequonnock River.
Johnsons Creek, northward of Pleasure Beach, is entered eastward of Tongue Point through a marked dredged channel leading to anchorage basins; two on the west side, and one at the head of the creek. The highway bridge 0.2 mile above the entrance has a swing span with a clearance of 7 feet. Private yacht clubs and two oil-receiving piers are on the creek.
Yellow Mill Channel is entered through a dredged channel that leads for about 0.8 mile north-northeastward from just above the first bend in the main channel to the head of the creek. Flats, largely bare at low water, are on both sides of the channel. The Stratford Avenue highway bridge about 0.3 mile above the entrance has a bascule span with a clearance of 11 feet. About 0.1 mile above the bascule bridge is a fixed turnpike bridge with a clearance of 39 feet. Depths at the wharves are 8 to 15 feet.
The Pequonnock River, the most westerly of the tributaries, is easily followed by small craft, but larger vessels may need the assistance of a tug to get around the sharp bends. The river is entered through a dredged channel that leads northward from the main channel just below Connecticut Turnpike bridge to the head of navigation just below the Berkshire Avenue Dam, about 1.1 miles above the entrance. Depths at some of the wharves are 10 to 15 feet.
Bridges
Type, distance above Steel Point, and clearance of the bridges over Pequonnock River follow: Connecticut Turnpike, fixed, 300 yards, 60 feet; Stratford Avenue, vertical-lift, 500 yards, 8 feet down and 68 feet up, Peck Railroad bridge, bascule, 0.5 mile, 26 feet; highway bridge, bascule, 0.7 mile, 4 feet. The bridgetender at the railroad bridge monitors VHF-FM channel 13; call sign KU-6033.
Black Rock Harbor, part of Bridgeport Harbor, although not connected with it other than by Long Island Sound, is entered through a dredged channel about 2 miles westward of the main harbor entrance to Bridgeport. The channel leads northward through Black Rock Harbor, and thence to the head of Cedar Creek where it divides into East Branch and West Branch. Black Rock Harbor and Cedar Creek are the approach by water to the large factories of the western part of the city of Bridgeport. The Federal project depth in the dredged channel is 18 feet from the entrance to the head of the project. The channel is marked by buoys and lights for about 1.7 miles above the entrance.
