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Mobile Bay
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Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the bay, making it an estuary.
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Encyclopedia
Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the bay, making it an estuary. Several smaller rivers also empty into the bay: Dog River, Deer River, and Fowl River on the western side of the bay, and Fish River on the eastern side. Mobile Bay is the fourth largest estuary in the United States with a discharge of of water per second.
Mobile Bay is in area. It is long by a maximum width of . The deepest areas of the bay are located within the shipping channel, sometimes in excess of deep, but the average depth of the bay is ..
History
Spanish explorers were sailing into the area of Mobile Bay as early as 1500, with the bay being marked on early maps as the Bahía del Espíritu Santo (Bay of the Holy Spirit). The area was explored in more detail in 1516 by Diego de Miruelo and in 1519 by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda. In 1528, Pánfilo de Narváez travelled through what was likely the Mobile Bay area, encountering Native Americans who fled and burned their towns at the approach of the expedition. This response was a prelude to the journeys of Hernando de Soto, more than eleven years later.
Hernando de Soto explored the area of Mobile Bay and beyond in 1540, finding the area inhabited by a Muskhogean Native American people. During this expedition his forces destroyed the fortified town of Mauvila, also spelled Maubila, from which the name Mobile was later derived. This battle with Chief Tuscaloosa and his warriors took place somewhere in inland Alabama, well to the north of the current site of Mobile. The next large expedition was that of Tristán de Luna y Arellano, in his unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent colony for Spain nearby at Pensacola in 1559.
Although Spain's presence in the area had been sporadic, the French created a deep-sea port at Dauphin Island and founded French Louisiana's capital at Mobile, a few miles north of Mobile Bay on the Mobile River in 1702. The original settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile was relocated in 1711 to the head of Mobile Bay following a series of floods.
On August 5, 1864, during the American Civil War, Admiral David Farragut led a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and sealed one of the last major Southern ports of the bay in the Battle of Mobile Bay.
Mobile's role as a seaport has continued to the present day, though the commodities have changed through time. Cotton was the chief commodity in the nineteenth century. During the Second World War, Mobile's shipbuilding industry expanded and the city's population surged. Growth has been rapid since then.
The city has endured several devastating hurricanes in its history, the most recent being Hurricane Frederic in 1979 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Areas of low elevation, including the downtown business district, have been flooded repeatedly in hurricanes. However, much of the city is at an elevation exceeding above sea level, which is unusually high for the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts.
On September 13, 1979, Hurricane Frederic entered the bay with winds reaching , destroying the bridge to Dauphin Island. On August 28-29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina pushed a massive storm surge into Mobile Bay, measuring high at Bayou La Batre (Alabama), with higher waves on top, and high at Mobile, at the far northern end of Mobile Bay. Thousands of boats, piers, and beach houses were damaged by waves exceeding high, and the battleship USS Alabama was pushed off its mooring, listing to port (tilted to the left). Downtown Mobile was flooded several feet, and the south-end towns of Bayou La Batre and Bon Secour were severely damaged, with ships and dozens of shrimp boats floated onto the land.
Shoreline towns
The city of Mobile is situated at the head of the bay on the western shore. On the Eastern Shore of the bay are found several small communities, including Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope, Point Clear, and Bon Secour. The town of Gulf Shores lies just outside of the bay, on the Fort Morgan peninsula. The Middle Bay Lighthouse has been located in the center of the bay since 1885.
The head of the bay is crossed by two major thoroughfares, the Jubilee Parkway, better known as the "Bayway", and the Battleship Parkway, better known as the "Causeway". These two bridges serve as the primary connections between the city of Mobile and the Eastern Shore. On warm summer nights, the residents living around Mobile Bay sometimes enjoy the fruits of a mysterious natural phenomenon called a Jubilee, when fish and crabs swarm toward shore and can be easily harvested by people wading in the shallows.
Historical sign
?On June 14, 2008 a sign by the Alabama Historical Commission was dedicated to commemorate the "Bay of the Holy Spirit". The sign is located in Daphne where Battleship Parkway is crossed by Interstate 10. The dedication of this sign was accompanied by official proclamations and commendations by the Governor of Alabama Bob Riley, and surrounding mayors of Mobile, Fairhope, Daphne and Spanish Fort.
In November 1991 Jerry Tomecek local pastor of Fairhope Alabama first envisioned the idea of restoring the name of Mobile Bay to the Bay of the Holy Spirit (Bahía del Espítitu Santo as it was named on the '”First New Map of the World'” dated 1507 by the world famous Cartographer whose genius was recognized by the great Patron of Arts, Rene II (Duke of Lorraine). Waldseemuller was appointed as part of the special work by the Duke in 1505 to assemble a clear and concise map of the New Worlds undergoing discovery at that time. Strasbourg was the home of this handpicked group of scholars as they worked and lived in the peaceful walls of Saint Die des Voges Monastery.
Tomecek finally saw his dream become reality June 14, 2008 when he and a gathering of interested friends, historians, Messianic Jews and Christian believers dedicated the historical sign with prayer and the sounding of shofars. The complete story of Tomecek’s quest to restore the original name can be found at
Text of dedication speech:
By Sanctuary West Director Jerry J. Tomecek
6/14/08
"Thank you all for participating in this dedication of the
sign commemorating the Bay of the Holy Spirit
Reading the sign;
BAY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The earliest outline of a recognizable bay on the
northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico was shown on a
1507 map by German cartographer Martin
Waldeseemuller – the same map to first apply the name
"America" to the New World. Alonso Álvarez de
Pineda, during a 1519 Spanish expedition seeking a
water passage to the Orient through the Gulf, described
this harbor and gave it the name Bahía del Espíritu
Santo.
"Successive Spanish explorers sought this "Holy Grail"
along the Gulf Coast, failing until a 1693 expedition
concluded that what is now called Mobile Bay was the
fabled Bay of the Holy Spirit.
ALABAMA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 2008
I would like to thank those who assisted in the purchase,
permitting, approval and erection and those who have
long prayed for this dedication to God’s purpose.
Thank you Spanish Explorers who were diligent to give
God the Glory by this authentication of naming the Bay
of The Holy Spirit.
"With this landmark, commemorating a Godly
acknowledgment, we will continue to give God the
Glory by Honoring His name and purpose.
Obedience effort is needed to get world wide inclusion
on geographical maps for restoring and acceptance of
the name, restoring the ordained purpose of God.
The Spanish explorers followed their desire to honor
God by naming the “Bahia del Espíritu Santo”, being
Bay of the Holy Spirit. The Jewish name of “Ruach
Hakkodesh” is fitting for this Honoring.
Since the water of the Bay of the Holy Spirit is owned by no one, it is a “first fruit” set aside for God
Jehovah. In fact even the international Law of the Sea by the United Nations conference of 1958 says its rules
do not apply to “historic bays”, again preparing the way for the freedom from mans’ influence of God’s
purpose.
"This date of June 14,2008 on the Hebrew calendar is “11 Sivan, 5768" which means “When you kindle”.
So now we have freely committed a restoration of His name to Jehovah to kindle the last revival ( restoration)
in this area, which has been foretold for many years.
"A few years ago, three of us went down to the Bay, anointed with oil a small wooden cross and held it in the
waves of the bay while praying
This was shown to me to be the initial planting of the last revival, which would affect the Bay of the Holy Spirit
first, then spread into the Gulf and eventually affecting the whole world.
This time and season is ordained by God’s favor for the final revival (in-gathering).
I thank God that His mercy endures forever. Praying in 2Ch 7:14 “ If my people, who are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
“
By God being restored in peoples hearts and minds we will see the preparation for the return of Christ.
Thank you Yahweh God for your presence, purpose and perfection and for sending the perfect atonement lamb Yeshua
Hamashiach who made the path back to you.
Bless our pure obedience and we pray believing for your Son’s return.
Selah.
Amen"
Proclamations of dedication from Mayors of surrounding towns of Fairhope, Daphne, Spanish Fort and Mobile acknowledging the restoration of the name of the Bay of the Holy Spirit ere also read during the ceremony.
See also
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