Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands in Manhattan.

Venue: Hell Gate
Town: New York City, US

Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River in New York City. It separates Astoria, Queens, from Randall's and Wards Islands in Manhattan. The name "Hell Gate" is a corruption of the Low German or Dutch phrase Hellegat, which means "bright gate". It first appeared on a Dutch map as Helle Gadt. The name was originally applied to the entirety of the East River, by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, the first European known to have navigated the strait, who bestowed the name sometime during his 1614-1616 voyage aboard the Onrust circumnavigating Long Island, from its namesake Hellegat on (the mouth of) the Scheldt, in Zeeland back in the Netherlands. This name Hellegat was taken from the Greek Hellespont (Dardanelles) which also has a dangerous reputation, in the opinion of historian Edward Manning Ruttenber. Alternatively, the name could be construed to mean "bright strait" or "clear opening", according to geographer Henry Gannett. Because explorers found navigation hazardous in this New World place of rocks and converging tide-driven currents (from the Long Island Sound, Harlem River strait, Upper Bay of New York Harbor, and lesser channels, some of which have been filled), the Anglicization stuck. The strait was also known as Hurl Gate (or Hurlgate), and so labeled on 18th and 19th century maps and annals, this name probably consisting of Dutch warrel "whirl" and gat "hole, gap, mouth", in effect denoting "whirlpool". For the whirlpool that develops in Hell Gate, the name Monatun was applied by Dr. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft; the name is said to mean "violent, forcible, dangerous". In October 1776, Admiral Howe sailed some of the British fleet through the strait, an action which was considered reckless at the time. Hell Gate was spanned in 1917 by the New York Connecting Railroad Bridge, now called the Hell Gate Bridge, which connects Wards Island and Queens. The bridge provides a direct rail link between New England and New York City. In 1936, it was spanned by the