The City of Bridgeport would have you believe Bridgeport Harbor is theirs alone as the City surrounds it almost entirely, has a Harbor Master who is in charge of its regulation and two different boards who claim to be doing what's best for the Harbor, The Harbor Commission and the Port Authority. Well lets just put aside for a moment the fact that the Port Authority is a collection of unqualified bureaucrats politically appointed and the Harbor Commission is a collection of Finch cronies who fancy themselves wanna-be politicians but otherwise act more like bus monitors on a power binge. And then there is the Harbor Master, a job so political that it has had three occupants in the last 7 years including what I would call one of the most sincere and capable sailors in Bridgeport who was given the shaft because of Finch Politics in favor of far less qualified individual.
So if they are "owners" of Bridgeport Harbor, I would suggest they need to go back to school to learn about the water.
But then again, they are public servants, so Hmmm- you can't really call them an owner can you?
Then there is the DEEP who in the letter they sent to us in March claimed jurisdiction from the High Tide Line to pretty much anywhere water-ward of the "Coastal Jurisdiction Line (CJD) to...(any an)other area of Long Island Sound. That means they claim ownership of Long Island Sound from Hell's Gate in NYC to the The Race at Long Island and Rhode Island, from The dunes of Port Jeff to the Mouth of the Housatonic and everywhere in between. WOW that's pretty cool- Connecticut just took over the waters of New York and Rhode Island- I wonder if they know that?
Oh sure DEEP and the City have the right to protect it, but do they have the right to own it? Case law states that Long Island Sound is federal having been decided by the Courts to be a Tidal estuary that crosses State borders and interacts with the Atlantic Ocean. And when you go to pull a permit, the DEEP, The City and everyone else in the State must defer to the judgement of the Army Corp of Engineers. And who enforces laws on the Sound? When you bring a boat in from Sea, its the USCG who has the ultimate right to board and inspect vessels, they issue licenses for legal operation on Long Island Sound and when you call May Day, May Day, May Day, who is legally obligated to come find you? You got it, the US Coast Guard.
Well good thing for us, the USCG are usually pretty decent folks- that is of course unless your drunk, with a half dozen people in a two man inflatable and drugs aboard- then they aren't so nice. But otherwise, I like the USCG and all the other Feds on Long Island Sound a lot and am thankful they are there.
But do the Fed's own it? Again I am sorry to say, no.
The general rule is Long Island Sound's bottom lands have been deeded to include three miles off shore or to the nearest exposed shoreline of the State. So if you want to dig, sink, or attach to the land in anyway in that jurisdiction, you have to talk to the owners, (IE Connecticut, New York or Rhode Island), Not Bridgeport and Not the Feds. That was proven when Fairfield tried to steal the land under Penfield Reef to kick out Beacon Preservation, only to find they had no legal standing so they Quit Claimed land they did not own back to the State and killed one of the latest attempts to save a Light House that is rotting away under the mismanagement of our State waters.
But if you want to access, navigate or otherwise float on the surface, well then there is no specific law on that higher than the highest law of the land, air and sea and that my friends, is a whole other enchilada.
When you talk about floating, navigating or otherwise making way across the water, under the water or through the water, you are talking admiralty law. That is as Wikipedia puts it, "a distinct body of law which governs maritime questions and offenses. It is a body of both domestic law governing maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between private entities which operate vessels on the oceans. It deals with matters including marine commerce, marine navigation, marine salvaging, shipping, sailors, and the transportation of passengers and goods by sea. Admiralty law also covers many commercial activities, although land based or occurring wholly on land, that are maritime in character."
What that means is Connecticut has no more right to govern the waters than does the City or the Feds- We all have equal standing under the body of Admiralty law. When two vessels meet, they have to work together to negotiate passage- there are some set down rules, but there is no law that one has to back down in a head to head meeting- BOTH must turn right or BOTH must take action to avoid accidents and BOTH are liable under the law equally. That is why I love the water so much- it is truly the one field of action where all things are equal no mater who or what you are.
Davy Jones doesn't care if you're rich or poor, doesn't care if you're smart or dumb, doesn't care if you're fit or fat. We're all the same under the eyes of Poseidon. And to my knowledge there is one owner of the water, and that comes from on high, whomever you worship, or whomever you don't worship. It's all the same under His law.
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| Illustration of Davy Jones sitting on his locker while viewing a 1789 chart of Ferrol Harbor, Spain, belonging to HMS Howe. The ship had run aground at the mouth of the harbor on 2 November 1892, allegedly after using a poorly prepared naval chart to navigate its waters. A Royal Navy court-martial opened an inquiry into the conduct of Vice Admiral Henry Fairfax, who was charged with negligence for ordering a hazardous course when the ship entered harbor. On 7 January 1893 the court found that the charge against Fairfax was not proven.
"Davy Jones' Locker" is an idiom for the bottom of the sea: the state of death among drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea (to be "sent to Davy Jones's Locker"), whereas the name Davy Jones is a nickname for what would be the devil, saint, or god of the seas. The origins of the name are unclear and many theories have been put forth, including incompetent sailors, a pub owner who kidnapped sailors, or that Davy Jones is another name for the devil—as in "Devil Jonah". This nautical superstition was popularized in the 19th century. Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
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But there are some rules, that date back to before time began. They've been codified into written laws too but the rules supersede the laws, because when there is a conflict between the law and the rules, the rules state, the ultimate law is be safe, avoid collisions and practice good seamanship.
NO sailor will ever be found at fault for doing the right thing and acting on the side of caution. Ever. It wont happen. Because when you violate that law, there is one ultimate deciding force that will judge you, convict you and call you to answer for your offense. And the fine will always be the same, your life.
So I guess that is why there is no owner of the water. No one ultimate authority can tell you what to do or not to do, they can only, albeit strongly, advise you not to do something or to do something. And that is why our Boat House is 100% legal. If the rules about building boats are met, then Jumbo, is legal all day long and twice on Sunday and there ain't nothing the State, the City or the Feds can do about it. The problem is we can't decide what rules apply for that to take place, but at the end of the day, we do not have to remove ourselves from the water, but rather head to sea to receive satisfaction. Now if we are forced to put to sea when we are not seaworthy, and we are called to answer for that offense, well then, the forcing party will be held liable under the laws of man and we will be called before the Court of Poseidon.
That is something the Feds around here know quite well and act accordingly. Someone needs to send a memo to the State and City and let them know, and I would be most honored to be the guy to do it.
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