192 Descriplion of the Mooring Blocks 



of that description, together with the HabiHtv of the mooring 

 anchors, from their construction, to be hooked by the transports' 

 anchors, much inconvenience, labour and risk have been expe- 

 rienced, and many instances have occurred when it has been 

 necessary to take up a mooring from end to end, in consequence 

 of ships having hooked the mooring anchor, and, regardless 

 of every thing but the recovery of their own anchors, have hove 

 down unobserved in the night-time at low-water, and by the rise 

 of tide forced the mooring anchor out of the ground ; nor did 

 I ever find one so displaced, when taken up, entire; but, on the 

 contrary, one anchor has been lying across the other, the stock 

 broken or gone, or the chain foul of the flooks, and I have seen 

 instances when the mooring anchors have been completeiv upset 

 and found vvith the flooks uppermost. Having described the 

 swinging moorings, and also what I humbly consider objections 

 to the anchors, and the principal inconveniences arising there- 

 from (I say principal, because there are others, particularly where 

 the anchors lie in slinal \vater, the frequency of their being in- 

 jured by bhips grounding on them, &c.), I have now to state that 

 all the head and stern moorings in the different lakes are secured 

 by claws only, the chain being laid from shore to shore, and each 

 end shackled to a claw : this method of securing the chain is not 

 however, in my opinion, without -objections, and to which I 

 humbly call the attention of the Board. 



Notwithstanding the claws are perfectly buried when laid 

 down, yet in the course of twelve months they appear above 

 ground, and frequently require a supply of shingle ballast to be 

 thrown on them, particularly in the lakes where the stream is 

 narrow ; and as the disappearance of this ballast can only be 

 accounted for, by its being washed down by the tide into the 

 bed of the harbour and lakes, I cannot divest myself of the opi- 

 nion that the same must prove detrimental to the harbour. 



These considerations induced me to search for a substitute, 

 free from such objections, to answer the purpose either of the 

 claw or t!ie anchor; and after making various trials I submitted 

 for the inspection of the Committee of your Honourable Board, 

 who visited Portsmouth in .September IS 13, the model of a cast- 

 iron block ; when they were pleased to give directions for two 

 being jjrovidcd ; and your Honourable Board have also directed, 

 by warrant of the 6th July last, the two blocks to be received 

 and tried : they have accordingly been received, and trials made 

 v.ith every possible power, applied to ascertain their stability ; 

 Hud as every one who has witnessed the c.\pcriments is fully con- 

 vinced of the su|)eriority of the blocks, I trust I shall not be con- 

 sidered too presuming in recommending their adoption for claws 

 as well as anchors, as I am given to understand the cost will not 



much 



