852 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



traordinary loudness ; the Atlantic 

 ocean havin;!: here many hundred 

 leagues breadth. In the mine the 

 rolling of the stones and rocks over- 

 head, which the sea moves along i(s 

 bed, is plainly heard ^ the noise of 

 •which, mixed -nith the roaring of 

 the waves, sounds like reiterated 

 claps of thunder, and causes both 

 admiration and terror to those Mho 

 have the curiosity to go down. 



In one place, where the vein v,as 

 very rich, they searched it with im- 

 prudence, and left but four feet of 

 rock between the excavation and 

 the bed of the sea. At high wator 

 the howling of the waves is heard in 

 this place in so dreadful a manner, 

 that the miners who work near it 

 have often taken to flight, suppo- 

 sing that the sea was going to break 

 through the weak roof, and pene- 

 trate into the mine. 



Dr. Stukelcy relates, that a coal- 

 mine at Whitehaven is advanced 

 so far under the sea, at a depth of 

 150 fathoms, (a depth greater than 

 that of any part of the cliannel be- 

 tween England and Ireland,) that 

 vessels pass over the heads of the 

 miners. Between the mine and the 

 sea there is a considerable mass of 

 piattcr. 



A very wonderful circumstance 

 at Huel-Cok is, that in seme places, 

 under the bed of the sea, where 

 there is only a sma'l thickness of 

 rock between the mine and the sea, 

 in one place not more than four 

 feet, there does not enter into the 

 mine but a very small quantity of 

 T^ater by leakage : when the miners 

 perceive any chinks, which iiiight 

 give it a passage, they stop them up 

 ■with clay, or with oakum. The 

 like method is used in the lead-mines 

 of Para Zabulon, Avhich also run 

 under the bed of the sea. 



The mine of Huel-Cok has beea 

 abandoned for about fifteen years 

 past, on account of the danger 

 which continually became more 

 menacing. 



But a work much more enter- 

 prising thiu any related, was one 

 executed in the midst of the sea it- 

 self, near the port of Penzance, in 

 Cornwall, about a century ago. 

 At low water in this place, .t 

 gravelly bottom was left bare, in 

 which was discovered a multitude of 

 small veins of tin ore, which crossed 

 each other in every direction. The 

 adjacent rock also contained this 

 mineral in considerable quantities : 

 they worked this rock whenever the 

 sea, the time, and the season would 

 permit, until the depth became too 

 great. 



There is nothing known more of 

 this nvine to any certainly till about 

 fifteen years since, when a poor 

 miner in the neighbourhood under- 

 took the work anew, and conti- 

 nued it'with a degree of intelligence 

 and perseverance which cannot be 

 sufTiciently admired. Before rela- 

 ting the plans which he formed, and 

 the success with which he followed 

 them, I will endeavour to give some 

 idea of the difficulties he had to con- 

 quer, and of the obstacles which 

 nature seemed to oppose to him. 



The place where the tin ore is 

 found is in the midst of the sea, 

 about 2fX) yards from the shore ; 

 and as the bank of the sea in this 

 place is very steep and high, this 

 distance is not less considerable at 

 low water. This place is coiejcd 

 by the sea at high water six yards 

 deep ; and as the bottom is very 

 gravelly and full of rocks, the waves 

 become much agitated, and rise to a 

 great height, when the wind blows 

 from particular points. Thisincon- 



venieucu 

 3 :( 



