USEFUL PROJECTS. 



S63 



renience takes place all the winter, 

 ind has always caused the failure of 

 the different attempts w.hich have 

 Dccn made beibi-e to erect engines 

 to drain the mine and raise tlie ore. 

 At low water the rock rises a little 

 above the surfuoi" of the sea : never- 

 theless, there is not ten months of 

 any year in which it is uncovered. 



Against all these ditficulties a 

 human creature had to contend, 

 "whosc wliole property ^vas not 

 "Worth fifty crowns. This coura- 

 geous miner cmplojed three sum- 

 mers in sinking a pit, during v, hich 

 time he could only work two hours 

 a day, and every time when he went 

 to AVork found his excavation full of 

 water. This he was obliged to 

 empty out before he would touch 

 the work, MJiich occasioned still 

 fjreater difficulties when he set about 

 blasting it. 



At first he had only need of 

 strength and paticiice ; but when 

 he sunk to a greater depth he added 

 to them ingenuity. He built round 

 ihe moutli of his j^it a turret of 

 wood impervious to water, and by 

 this means was able to prolong the 

 time of working on the rock. . He 

 farther endeavoun.yd to shut out the 

 sea entirely from his jjit, by raising 

 the turret above the greatest height 

 to which the sea could reaeli. 



Jiut here he had new dilUcwItics 

 to conquer ; first to make this turret 

 iinj)crvious to water, and secondly 

 to stay it in such a manner that nei- 

 thcr the llux or rellux of the sea, or 

 the shocks of the waves could over- 

 turn it : the enteriJiising miner had 

 provided against the^e diiiiculties ; 

 by good chance the rock was a por. 

 phyry, not too hard to cut, but still 

 Tery firm. Me shaped tiie portions 

 he separated from if, and disposed 

 Jhem in a regular manner, at the 



bottom of the turret, and closed and 

 calked with oakum and fat cement 

 ail the interstices between the wood 

 and the stone, so that the whole was 

 united into one mass. The pit, like 

 all those in Cornwall, was lined with 

 planks; ail the joints were well 

 calked and payed with pitch. When 

 his I'ranie-work was thus raised, he 

 supported it with iron braces. He 

 formed then about the mouth of the 

 pit, so raised, a platform ol planks, 

 which rested on four great piles, 

 and fixed on it a windlass, worked 

 by four men. 



This work, as may be imagined, 

 took much time, and met with many 

 mishaps in the execution ; but 

 the perseverance and presence of 

 mind of the undertaker conquered 

 all obstacles. \^ hen the pit and 

 tower were finished, he then reaped 

 the fruit of his industry, and es- 

 tablished a regular work at Stok- 

 work, drew from it in a little time a 

 considerable quantity of tin, and 

 put his adventure on a very good 

 footing. 



But sometimes this undertaking 

 was not in such a good state. To 

 save expence, and diminish his la- 

 bours, he attacked the part of the 

 mine overhead ; by w hich means 

 at high water the sea ixnetrated 

 through the chinks of the rock, io 

 that he, was obliged to sustain the 

 roof, which was extensive, in some 

 pans, bv planks and thick props, 

 to prevent the great mass of water, 

 which pressed on it above, from 

 driving it in. Besides this, notwith- 

 itanding his pains and endeavours, 

 it was not possible for him to keep 

 his wood-work wafer-tiglit in the 

 winter ; and when the sea was rough 

 he could not transport the ore 

 ashore in liis boat. Jlc was forced 

 to desist from the work all the win- 

 ter. 



