THE PORT OF SAN DIEGO, CALIF. PORT AND HARBOR CONDITIONS LOCATION AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION The Port of San Diego, Calif., is situated on San Diego Bay, about 96 and 506 nautical miles southeast of Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively. The commercial center of the harbor and its attendant waterfront facilities are located along the east and northeast shores of the bay, about 6 nautical miles from the bay entrance. Coronado city is on North Island, directly across the bay from San Diego. Between the two cities, the bay contracts to a width of about one-half mile, and it is on this narrower section that the principal terminal developments have taken place. National City and Chula Vista are on the southeast side of San Diego, and Roseville is on the west side of the city. San Diego harbor is the first port of call for incoming vessels and the last port of call for outgoing vessels plying between the Pacific coast of the United States and Mexico, Central America, Panama, South America, the U. S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and Europe. San Diego Bay is a crescent-shaped basin varying in width from one-fourth of a mile at its entrance to about two and a half miles at the center. The Bay, 14 miles in length and covering a total area of about 22 square miles, is located at the extreme southern end of the California coast, 10 miles north of the Mexican boundary. It is separated from the Pacific 0cean by a low, narrow sand spit, which extends in a westerly direction from the mainland and expands at its western end into a peninsula (North Island), about 1 1/2 miles wide. The entrance to the bay, on the east side of Point Loma, lies in latitude 32° 42' north and in longitude 1170 10' west between Ballast Point on Point Loma and Zuniga Point on North Island. Outside the bay entrance, as well as within the bay proper, there are extensive shoals through which the navigable channels extend. The depth of water over the bar at mean lower low water is 40 feet. The main channel inside the harbor averages 1,500 to 2,000 feet in width and is from 36 to 45 feet deep at mean lower low water. HARBOR AND CHANNEL IMPROVEMENTS BY THE UNITED STATES Before the United States commenced the improvement of the harbor, the channel through the outer bar was 500 feet wide and 22.5 feet deep at mean lower low water. The middle-ground channel was also 22.5 feet deep, but it was too crooked for safe navigation. The main channel, lying to the west of the middle ground, was of ample depth but was difficult to navigate. The channel inside the harbor was about one-third mile wide and not less than 30 feet deep up to San Diego and narrower and shallower up to National City, about 11 miles from the outer bar. The original project for improving San Diego harbor was adopted by the River and Harbor Act of August 30, 1852, and supplemented by the acts of March 3, 1875; September 19, 1890; and June 25, 1910. The existing project was authorized by the following River and Harbor Acts: March 3, 1875; September 19, 1890; July 27, 1916; August 8, 1917; September 22, 1922; March 3, 1925; July 3, 1930; August 30, 1935; August 26, 1937; October 17, 1940; and March 2, 1945. The existing project for San Diego Harbor provides for the following: A rubble-mound jetty 7,500 feet long on Zuniga Shoal; for an entrance channel 40 feet deep, 800 feet wide; for removal of Middle Ground shoal and widening the entrance channel to the eastward in that vicinity to a depth of 36 feet; for a bay channel 35 feet deep and 2,200 feet wide from the vicinity of Whalers Bight to the naval air station; for an anchorage area north of the bay channel 1,200 feet wide, 12,000 feet long, and 35 and 26 feet deep in the eastern and western halves, respectively; for an approach to the 35-foot anchorage, triangular in shape, 900 feet wide and 35 feet deep; for an approach to the 26-foot anchorage, triangular in shape, 800 feet wide and 26 feet deep; for a seaplane basin 1,500 feet wide, 12,000 feet long, and 8 feet deep, landward of the anchorage area; for a turning basin 35 feet deep, opposite the municipal piers; for a channel approximately 20,000 feet long, 1,500 to 2,500 feet wide, and 30 feet deep in the southern part of the bay; for a channel to National City and Chula Vista 20 feet deep and 200 feet wide; for a seaplane basin in the southern part of the bay, 5,000 to 8,500 feet wide, 21,000 feet long, and 10 feet deep, using a part of the dredged material to fill an area of approximately 110 acres adjacent to the southern end of the basin; and for an earthen dike 7,735 feet long to divert the San Diego River from San Diego Bay to Mission Bay. The plane of reference is mean lower low water. The active portion of the existing project was about 91 percent complete as of 30 June 1955. The San Diego River dike was completed in 1876; the Zuniga Shoal jetty, in 1904; the entrance channel, to a width of 800 feet and a depth of 40 feet, in 1934; the bay channel, to a width of 2,200 feet and a depth of 35 feet, in 1936; the dredging for the Navy at mooring No. 49, in 1941; the dredging of the western anchorage area and seaplane basin in area M, to depths of 26 and 8 feet, respectively, and in areas N and O, to a depth of 30 feet, in 1942; and the dredging in area S, to the extent desired by the Navy, in 1946. Extensive operations by the City of San Diego to improve the harbor include the dredging of approximately 16,500,000 cubic yards of material from the turning basin, channels, anchorages, and other water areas. The dredged material was used to reclaim tidelands and to provide suitable land for industrial, municipal, and recreational activities. of the survey, the city had a project for dredging 1,800,000 cubic yards of material from the channel for the construction of the 10th Avenue Terminal. In addition to the preceding amounts dredged, the City of Coronado has dredged approximately 1,800,000 cubic yards of material from Glorietta Bay for developing additional tidelands at the Golf Course. In recent years private interests have dredged to improve water areas adjoining existing facilities and to provide additional areas for the construction of new facilities. Under the act of the State legislature of May 1, 1911, establishing the Harbor Department of the City of San Diego, the State ceded to the City the tide lands in that section of San Diego Bay which lies inside the City limits. The State has likewise given in trust the tidelands falling within the respective city limits to the other municipalities facing on San Diego harbor. The Act affecting National City was approved April 27, 1923, the act affecting Coronado was approved August 17, 1923, and the act affecting Chula was approved May 11, 1925. TIDES AND TIDAL CURRENTS Vista The mean range of tide at San Diego is 4.7 feet. The range between mean lower low water and mean higher high water is 5.6 feet. Extreme range is about 10.5 feet. The currents set generally in the direction of the channels. In the vicinity of the entrance the usual velocity at strength varies from 1/2 to 3 knots, depending upon the stage of the tide. Westward of Middle Ground, north of Ballast Point, is an inshore eddy of 0.1 to 0.3 knot on both flood and ebb. On the flood the current sets northwestward over Middle Ground and on the ebb in the opposite direction. Southward of the end of the jetty there is a slight set toward Zuniga Shoal on the ebb. The average central surface velocity in the channel east of Ballast Point at the time of strength is about 1 1/2 knots. Great care should be taken while passing this point as a vessel may take a sudden shear because of a cross current deflected from Ballast Point. The eddy usually encountered along the ends of the municipal piers makes docking difficult. The velocity and direction of the eddy are irregular and the greatest care must be exercised by even the most experienced. ANCHORAGES AND ANCHORAGE REGULATIONS The anchorage grounds for vessels are established as follows, and the rules and regulations in relation thereto have been adopted, pursuant to authority contained in Section 7 of the River and Harbor Act approved March 4, 1915, and Section 7 of the River and Harbor Act approved Aug. 8, 1917. San Diego Harbor, Calif. (a) The anchorage grounds. - The anchorage grounds for general use shall include all the navigable waters of the harbor except cable and pipe-line areas, the special anchorages, and seaplane restricted area described in this report. (1) Special anchorage for U.S. Government vessels.- Shoreward of a line extending from Ballast Point Light approximately |