148 Mr, Benjamin Baker [May 20, 



times has been at the rate of three lifts, or 48 ft. in height, in a 

 week. 



The system of erection by overhanging offers great advantages 

 as regards safety, as each successive part of the suj)erstructure is 

 riveted up and completed before a further portion is added. In the 

 case of an ordinary bridge the whole superstructure must first be 

 temporarily bolted up on scaffolding, and in that condition is liable 

 to be swept away by flood or hurricane at any moment. 



There is nothing new under the sun, and therefore you will not 

 be surprised to hear that in 1810, a certain Mr. Pope proposed to 

 construct a cantilever bridge, of 1800 ft. span, across the East River, 

 in New York, and, indeed, exhibited a 60 ft. model at the same time. 



I have described the process of erecting the Forth Bridge in 

 sober prose, if I had thought of doing it in verse I should have 

 approjjriated bodily Mr. Pope's lyrical version of his intended opera- 

 tions at the East River, of which the following is a sample : — 



" Each semi-arc is built from oflf the top, 

 Without the aid of scaffold, pier, or prop ; 

 By skids and cranes each part is lowered down, 

 And on the timber's end grain rests so sound. 

 Sure all the bridges that were ever built. 

 Reposed their weight on centre, pier, or stilt ; 

 Not so the bridge the author has to boast, 

 His plan is sure to save such needless cost ; 

 A ladder on each side is lowered down, 

 And shifted from the fulcrum to the crown." 



To carry out the work at the Forth Bridge there is an army of 

 3500 workmen officered by a proportionate number of engineers. 

 Everything except the rolling of the steel plates is done on the spot, 

 and consequently there are literally hundreds of steam and hydraulic 

 engines and other machines and appliances too numerous to mention, 

 many of them being of an entirely original character. 



It is, of course, impossible to carry out a gigantic work of the 

 kind I have had the honour of bringing before the Institution without 

 paying for it, not merely in money, but in men's lives. I shall 

 have failed in my task if you do not, to some extent, realise the risks 

 to which zealous and plucky workmen will be sure to expose them- 

 selves in pushing on with the work of erecting the Forth Bridge. 

 Speaking on behalf of the engineers, I may say that we never ask a 

 workman to do a thing w^hich we are not prepared to do ourselves, 

 but of course men will, on their own initiative, occasionally do rash 

 things. Thus, not long ago a man trusted himself at a great height 

 to the simple grasp of a rope, and his hand getting numbed with cold 

 he unconsciously relaxed his hold and fell backwards a descent of 

 120 ft., happily into the water, from which he was fished out little 

 the worse after sinking twice. Another man, going up in a hoist the 

 other day, having that familiarity with danger which breeds contempt, 

 did not trouble to close the rail, and stumbling backward, fell a 



Li 



