490 Sir FredericJc BramiceU [Feb. 22, 



very systematically and quite comfortably, but this was by no means 

 the case in practice. The first 550 feet of the tunnel, it is true, 

 were driven without much difficulty, and were finished in about sixteen 

 and a half months from its commencement on January 1st, 1826, giving 

 an average rate of progress of from 7 to 8 feet per week, and for many 

 weeks as much as 11 or even 12 feet of advance were made; but on 

 the 18th of May, 1827, the material through which the tunnel was 

 passing being little better than semi-liquid slush, and the then shield 

 not being of the same excellent construction as the second one (the 

 one I have described), the water broke in and compelled the stoppage 

 of the works. Clay was lowered in bags, from above through the 

 water, into the hole formed in the bed of the river, and by 

 September 28th of the same year, forward work was resumed. On 

 January 12th, 1828, the water again broke in. By May 6th the 

 workmen once more mastered the water, but shortly after, the funds 

 failing, the ends were temporarily walled up, a length of 740 feet 

 having been driven, and this condition of aftairs remained until 1835, 

 when, the Government having agreed to advance money, a new shield 

 was made, and the work was resumed. 



The Wapping shaft was prepared and sunk, in readiness for a 

 junction with the advancing tunnel, and in 1843, on the 25th of 

 March, the tunnel was opened for foot passengers. The whole length, 

 from the side of the Eotherhithe shaft to the side of the Wapping 

 shaft, is 1208 feet, of which 1014 feet are under the river at high water. 

 It was stated by Mr. Brunei, that while the total weight of material 

 excavated was 63,000 tons, that of the brickwork put in its place was 

 only 26,000 tons, thus showing, that so far from an extra strain having 

 been imposed upon the soil, it had been relieved of 37,000 tons of 

 load. The Wapping shaft was got down the whole way by the 

 sinking process, and no underpinning was needed. I saw this shaft 

 in course of execution, and Mr. Brunei took me into the shield when 

 it was about 130 feet from the Wapping shore ; and I remember that 

 the blows of the pile-engines, which were driving piles, for the tunnel 

 wharf, were distinctly audible, although some 200 feet of earth inter- 

 vened at that time. 



The large shafts for the vehicular traffic were never sunk, and the 

 tunnel, as you all know, is now part of the East London Railway, 

 affording a communication from the Liverpool Street Station in the 

 City, to Xew Cross, and from thence to Brighton, and to other places. 



I cannot quit the subject of the Thames Tunnel, without alluding 

 to an important invention, to which it gave rise. In 1830, you will 

 remember, the ends of the tunnel were walled up, and no work was 

 being carried on. In that year the celebrated Lord Cochrane (whose 

 locomotive I helped to make when I was an apprentice) had a grant 

 of a patent, No. 6018, for a method which he said was applicable to 

 the making of such a tunnel " as that now executing beneath the River 

 Thames at Rotherhithe," and to the sinking of cylinders for bridge 

 foundations. This invention consisted in the application of air, com- 



