ON STEAM NAVIGATION' IN HULL. 45 



opposite Hull before now ; and I maititain that no particle of it either does 

 or can remain in the channels of the Humber. But if, as persons affirm, it 

 must settle somewhere, and the deposit does take place on tlie foreshores, it 

 will do good instead of harm, for it would thereby tend to contract the capa- 

 city of the navigable space, and deepen the channels. The Humber is now 

 too wide for the volume of water passing down it ; but contract its width, 

 and just in proportion as that is done, the depth will be increased. Some 

 time ago I had an opportunity of closely examining the foreshore in front of 

 the Pottery at Hull, where the Hull Dock Company had been in the habit 

 for many years of depositing the mud from the docks ; but instead of any 

 accumulation, I found the hard blue clay, and in some places extensive beds 

 of peat, but not the least deposit of mud, for at this part of the Humber we 

 have a strong current which at once sweeps away such light matter. 



This noble arm of the sea is no longer to be left to its own uncontrolled 

 sway, but is now and will henceforth be under the vigilant eye of a con- 

 servator, whose chief business will be to see that no damage is done to it. 

 It would have been more satisfactory had the powers of Captain Cator (who 

 has the honour of being the first conservator) extended over its two great 

 fingers also, the Trent and the Ouse, and that authority were given to exe- 

 cute extensive works for their improvement. 



It is with great pleasure that I would refer to the admirable manner in 

 which the beacons and buoys are arranged and managed by the Corporation 

 of the Hull Trinity House ; and I have heard it remarked by a Captain in 

 the Royal Navy, that nothing can be more beautiful than the way in which 

 the lights and buoys of the Humber are disposed for its safe navigation, even 

 by perfect strangers. 



The Map on Plate II. is constructed to include on a smaller scale the 

 information preserved by a chart of the Humber from the sea to Barton, 

 by Captain Greenvile Collins, Hydrographer to the King, surveyed about 

 1687, showing the site of Sunk Island as it then existed, and the Ordnance 

 map of the Humber, with portions of the Ouse and Trent. On this are 

 shown the accretions of Sunk Island, &c., the loss on the sea coast, the mud 

 and sand banks in the channel, and the dock works of Hull, Grimsby, and 



New Holland. , . t^ i a 



To this is added a section of a boring at Sunk Island, by Easton and Amos, 



184.6. 



Hull, September 7, 1853. 



On the Rise, Progress, and present Position of Steam Navigation in 

 Hull. By James Oldham, Esq., Civil Engineer, Hull, M.I.C.E. 



[A communication ordered to be printed among the Reports.] 



In every new discovery, whether of Science or Art, it is seldom that the 

 thought or idea is confined to one individual and to one place ; but the all- 

 wise Creator has caused the same thoughts and feelings to be at work, and to 

 become developed in different minds, and it may be in widely separated places 

 at the same time, so that it is often difficult to determine by whom and where 

 the first discovery originated. It would appear as if some of those rich 

 treasures were too precious to be entrusted to one single individual, a con- 

 trary arrangement securing to the world the benefits contemplated. 



