NORFOLK HARBOR, VA., AND VICINITY. COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., January 20, 1914. The committee reconvened at 2.30 o'clock p. m., Hon. Stephen M. Sparkman (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Holland desires to be heard on a recent report from the War Department on Norfolk Harbor and vicinity. STATEMENT OF HON. E. E. HOLLAND, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA. Mr. HOLLAND. Mr. Chairman, the last rivers and harbors bill carried a provision for a survey and examination of the Norfolk Harbor with a view to widening the channel and providing an additional anchorage space. That survey has been completed, and the report of Col. Winslow, the resident engineer, approved by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors and by the department, was sent here last Friday or Saturday and referred to your committee. In order to make myself just as brief as possible, I have prepared just a few figures that I want to read to the committee with reference to this improvement. I regret that Col. Winslow's report has not yet been printed, or if it has been printed I have been unable to secure a copy of it. The CHAIRMAN. There is a proof copy of it here. I have it before me. Mr. HOLLAND. I would be very glad to read that report in full, but I am sure you gentlemen will do it, and I hope you will read it. I believe that a careful reading of that report will convince you that the improvements recommended by Col. Winslow ought to be made. The water commerce of the port of Norfolk has increased very rap-. idly during the past few years. In his report to the War Department, covering the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, Col. Winslow made the following statement: For the calendar year 1912 the water-borne shipments handled at this port aggregate 17.520,175 short tons, having an estimated value exceeding $525,000.000. The chief products handled are coal, cotton, fertilizer, forest and agricultural products, and general merchandise. In addition to the traffic just stated, a large quantity of freight is brought into the port of Norfolk and carried out in vessels calling there for "bunker" coal, and, as this freight is not handled in Norfolk, it is not included in the above statement; but as this freight passes at least twice over the Norfolk Harbor channel, an attempt has been made to obtain statistics as to its quantity and value. For two-thirds of the calendar year 1912 no statistics could be obtained, but for the six months 32256-14 3 from September 1, 1912, to February 28, 1913, the statistics kept at the customs house would indicate that the cargoes of such "bunker" ships consisted of about 2,375,822 short tons, valued at about $133,000,000. And judging from these six months' statistics, it would appear that for the year such freight would probably have amounted to 4,700,000 short tons, valued at about $250,000,000. Including this, the total commercial movement over the Norfolk Harbor channel appears to have exceeded 22,000,000 short tons, valued at more than $750,000,000. The figures given in the preceding paragraph show a very great increase over the figures for the calendar year 1911. Of this increase about 3,000,000 short tons is the actual increase in the commerce handled at Norfolk, while the remaining increase is due to the fact that in preceding reports the cargoes carried in "bunker" ships were not included. Mr. DONOHOE. What do you mean by "bunker ships"? Mr. HOLLAND. What we mean by "bunker" ships are those ships that call there for coal. As stated by the engineer in his report all those bunker ships have to call at the harbor for coal. Mr. BOOHER. Do they unload cargoes or take on cargoes? Mr. HOLLAND. Not all of them. Mr. BOOHER. But is it a custom? Mr. HOLLAND. Frequently. Mr. BOOHER. They just call for fuel coal? Mr. HOLLAND. Most of them call for fuel coal. They go over the harbor coming in and going out. The CHAIRMAN. That is a duplication embracing the tonnage both ways. Mr. HUMPHREYS. That is not included in the 22,000,000 tons? The CHAIRMAN. It would not make any difference about that, because every time it goes into or out of a harbor it is in a sense entitled to be counted. Mr. BOOHER. How long do these bunker ships that you speak of dock there to receive coal? How long do they stay there? Mr. HOLLAND. That depends on conditions. Mr. DONOHOE. On an average of a week. Mr. HOLLAND. When those bunker ships come in they find the docks full. I mean that the other ships are waiting for coal. Sometimes they have to wait outside the harbor for three or four days or a week. Mr. BоOHER. But I mean how long do they have to wait after they dock to get their coal? Mr. HOLLAND. Oh, from 12 to 24 hours; that is, after they once get to the pier. Mr. BOOHER. Then it is not necessary to increase the harbor for that purpose. Mr. HOLLAND. Well, the difficulty is that the channel is so narrow and the anchorage space is so limited that when those ships are anchored there on the edge of the channel, when the tide changes they swing into the channel, and that has caused one or two collisions right there in the harbor. Frequently you will find as many as 50 to 75 of those ships there. Mr. BOOHER. How wide is that channel? Mr. HOLLAND. Four hundred feet. The CHAIRMAN. It is to be 500 feet. The existing projects were adopted in the rivers and harbors act approved June 25, 1910. Mr. HOLLAND. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. They say that the Thimble Shoal Channel will have a depth of 35 feet in mean low water. Mr. HOLLAND. That is true, sir. That is not in this, though. The CHAIRMAN. They say that it will be nowhere less than 500 feet wide. Mr. HOLLAND. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. The district officer is of the opinion that that width of channel will be sufficient. Mr. HOLLAND. That only refers to the outer channel. The CHAIRMAN. They say: At the close of the fiscal year a navigable channel exists from deep water in Hampton Roads to deep water in James River nowhere less than 35 feet deep in mean low water. That is in regard to the channel at Newport News. The amount allotted from the appropriation made by the river and harbor act approved March 4, 1913, is $15,000 per annum. Mr. HOLLAND. That is one of the channels that I am asking to have widened. The CHAIRMAN. Now, they recommend the widening of that channel, to cost $840,000, less the amount on hand; in other words, $720,000. Mr. HOLLAND. That will make it 600 feet wide altogether. We are asking that the width be increased from 400 feet to 600 feet. Our project is the Norfolk Channel. In this report is also included a project for improving the entrance to the harbor of Newport News. Mr. BоOHER. Now, there has been some talk of locating a navy yard down there. Do you know just about where that navy yard is proposed to be located? Mr. HOLLAND. That is at Norfolk. Mr. BOOHER. How much larger would that harbor have to be to locate a navy yard there? Mr. HOLLAND. Well, there are some recommendations in this report, as I understand it, Mr. Booher, in regard to some improvements in connection with the channel in front of the navy yard. That will appear upon a reading of Col. Winslow's report. The channel in front of the harbor is now 400 feet wide. Mr. BOOHER. And you are contemplating extending that to 600 feet? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. Mr. BOOHER. But will that be wide enough to accommodate a navy yard? Mr. HOLLAND. A little lower down there will be what is known as a basin; not such a basin as you have at Philadelphia, Mr. Donohoe, but a basin of 800 feet. Mr. BOOHER. A space wide enough for a ship to turn around? Mr. BOOHER. That part of it will be largely for the benefit of the Navy? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Exclusively for the benefit of the Navy? Mr. HOLLAND. Yes, sir; that part of it. Mr. BOOHER. That will not have any effect upon the merchant marine? |