10 ALLAN HANCOCK ATLANTIC EXPEDITION REPORT 



Cartagena 



Cartagena Harbor opens to the sea 12 miles north of Pta. Baru via 

 the Boca Chica, a channel only Y^ mile wide but recently dredged to 40 

 feet. The forts of San Jose and San Fernando flank the entrance on the 

 south and north sides, respectively. The bay itself is 9 miles long with a 

 greatest width of 4 miles. Its western side is formed by Isla Tierra 

 Bomba, elevation 273 feet. North of the island is Boca Grande, over a 

 mile wide but no longer navigable to any except small boats because of 

 natural filling and a rock barrier wall. Northeast of Boca Grande is a 

 small bay forming an inner harbor. Depths in the bay are 15-16 fathoms, 

 with 10 fathoms within the inner harbor. Anchorage with protection from 

 all winds may be had in any part of the bay. 



The city of Cartagena is located on the north shore of the bay due 

 west of Colina de la Popa, a 511-foot hill. It is a compact settlement, 

 composed largely of ruins, and is enclosed by heavy walls of stone masonry. 

 The present population is about 73,190. The city is connected by rail and 

 canal with the Magdalena River at Calamar and is a regular port of call 

 for steamers plying between New York or New Orleans and Cristobal. 

 An oil-loading terminal is situated at Mamonal on the east side of the 

 bay. The United States is represented by a vice-consul and the Colombian 

 government by customs, quarantine, and immigration authorities. Carta- 

 gena seems to offer many advantages over Barranquilla, a river port, par- 

 ticularly in the servicing of ocean-going vessels. 



From Cartagena to Cape Augusta, a distance of 58 miles, but one 

 significant landmark occurs. It is Pta. Galera, 30 miles southwest of Cape 

 Augusta, useful to vessels coming from the west in making a landfall 

 preliminary to ascending the Magdalena River. A single dredge haul was 

 made from the Velero III 5 miles northwest of Pta. Galera light in 12 

 fathoms, sand. (See Chart no. 1, A48.) 



Puerto Colombia 



Puerto Colombia is formed by the mainland of Colombia on the south 

 and east, and by a shoal to the north which developed first into two islands 

 and recently into a peninsula. The islands were Isla Verde and Isla 

 Sabanilla; the peninsula which now joins them to each other and to the 

 mainland is called the Peninsula de Sabanilla; and the bay which it en- 

 closes, the Bahia de Sabanilla. The bay is 3 miles wide between Pta. 

 Hermosa on the south and Pta. Velilla on the north, and 3 miles deep 

 between Pta. Velilla and Pta. Nisperal on the mainland. Two shoals, 

 Banco Culebra and Banco Arena, limit the anchorage in the north part 



