THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



9 



classical simplicity, afforded no room for grotesqueness and eccen- 

 tricity, I'oi- heaviness and exaggeration. The women had laid aside 

 their formal stomachers and long ruffles, and put themselves in the 

 array, "arm-pit waists," and clear muslin a hi Adam Buck: in like 

 manner did Wyatt strip arcliitecture of much of its cumbrous old- 

 fashioned finery, till he almost cut of!' the very hem of its robe. 



With tlie exception of one or two designs for Gothic buildings, all 

 the rest appear to have been put together upon the "save-tro\ible '' 

 principle. Tliey exhibit no study, no con amorc feeling, no attempt at 

 character; nor do I know of any epithet which would describe tiiem 

 30 appropriately as that of " lack-a-daisical." As buildings, indeed, 

 they may be perfectly unexceptionable, but as productions of art they 

 are absolutely nought ; nor can I call to recollection one that deserves 

 to be rsscued from this sweeping censure. Of the exterior of the 

 Pantheon an adequate idea may be formed from what it was previously 

 to the late alterations, for when the edifice was rebuilt after the tire, 

 the front was restored, with only some trifling alterations from tlie first 

 design ; consequently, it could never have possessed much architec- 

 tural pretension externally. Whether tlie porch was erected in strict 

 conformity vvith the original, I am unable to say; but it certainly 

 was a most contemptible specimen of arcliitecture, with its ugly sham 

 pediment, like a triangular board stuck upon it ; and mean iron rails, 

 tliat seem intended for no other pr.rpose than to atiord a stay to the 

 pediment, and prevent its being blown away. This bit of trumpery 

 has been removed by Mr. Sydney Smirke, who has further improved 

 the general appearance by adding four more coUunns in front to the 

 porch, fluting them, putting them in pairs, and thereby reducing the 

 excessive width of the intercolumns. Even those who are decidedly 

 opposed to the practice of coupling columns nuist admit, that in this 

 case, there was hardly any other alternative ; because, to have reduced 

 the width of the intercolumns by merely dividing them, by inserting a 

 column in each, would not only have rendered them as much too nar- 

 row as they were originally too wide, but would have occasioned one 

 of the columns to be in the centre; while the addition of only two 

 columns, so as to convert the tetrastyle into an hexastyle, would not 

 have sufiiciently remedied the defect. One defect, to wliich no remedy 

 has been a|)plied — probably because the architect was not allowed to 

 devise any — consists in the great disparity between the front and lateral 

 elevations of this porch.* The Venetian window above the porch 

 remains as before, and certainly conveys no very favourable idea of 

 the great ^^'yatt's taste. 



As rebuilt by Mr. S. Smirke, the interior of the Pantheon displays 

 much invention, and several good points of design, not onlv in the 

 large hall or bazaar, but in otlier parts of it, and not least of all in 

 the conservatory or in-door garden, which fornix the approacli from 

 Great Marlborougb-street. Much more, indeed, might have been made 

 of it, but we ought to be thankful for the practical example of a highly 

 pleasing novelty, instead of objecting to it, that tlie idea is capable of 

 being greatly improved upon. The idea itself was probably derived from 

 the conservatories at the Colosseum ; but that circumstance in no degree 

 detracts from this particular application of it, as Mr. Smirke has pro- 

 duced a design of quite a difl'erenl character, and in a situation where 

 a garden of this description is most desirable, and where such a one 

 would add materially to the agretnens of a house in town : because, 

 while it would present a highly agreeable scene in itself, and might, if 

 lit up, be enjoyed of an evening as well as by day — if not otherwise, 

 at least from the ground-floor windows looking out upon it — it would 

 also serve to exclude the sight of dull brick walls, and other disagree- 

 able objects. 



THE ORIGIN AND USE OF THE STEAM DREDGING 



MACHINE. 



COMMLMCATED BY THOMAS HUGHES, ESQ., CIVIL ENGlNlitK. 



The honour of having first applied steam power to the purposes of 

 dredging has been assigned to various engineers at different times, but 

 it will be found on examination that the greater part of those who have 

 hitherto laid claim to be considered the contrivers of this great addition 

 to the resources of the engineer, have no other foundation for their 

 claims than that of having at periods not long subsequent to the erec- 

 tion of the first steam dredging machine, constructed engines on the 

 same principle. 



From the evidence of living witnesses, who arc no other than the 

 very men who first worked tlie dredging machine by steam power, as 



■* The same fault displays itself still more ofl'erisively in the portico of tbe Haymarket 

 Theatre. In that of Dover, ci-dev(tnt Melbourne House, Whitehall, the portico (throuyh 

 which foot passengers pass, as in the one just mentioned, and that uf ttie Panthoon) 

 is mucli better managed, although it loses much of its eflfect in consequence of being on 

 a diminutive scale, compared with some of the buildings around it. The facade of Dover 

 House is one of the most tasteful and classical pieces of design in the metropoliu. The 

 view of It, ill M«lton's " Picture«que Tour," shows it to great advaoiase. 



well as from documents in my possession, I can prove beyond the pos- 

 sibility of doubt, tliat the first steam dredging machine ever used was 

 constructed by my own fiitlier, the lute .John Huglies, in the execution 

 of several contracts which he undertook tor the Corporation of the 

 Trinity House. 



The following extract?, from a report by my late father, details the 

 necessity which gave rise to the introduction of this new power, and 

 goes on to show the difficulties he met with in the practical application, 

 and how at length they were all overcome by tlie production of a 

 dredging engine, wliich may almost be denominated perfect, when we 

 consider the trifling value and importance which can be attached to 

 any improvements made up to the present time. 



When the docks at Blackwall were being formed for the East India Dock 

 Company, it was found necessary to deepen the bed of the river Thames at 

 the moorings opposite the dock gates. With this view the Corporation of the 

 Trinity House were employed lor nearly two years, at the expense of tlie Port 

 of London Committee ; but at the end of that period they abandoned their 

 pursuit, as being impracticable, after incurring an expense of fi-om sixty to eighty 

 thousand pounds, because their ballast spoons and other implements were not 

 suflicienlly powerful nor properly constructed to penetrate the strata, which, 

 at this part of the river, consist of strong blue clunchy clay, intermixed with 

 layers of rock. Well Inowing that these strata were impenetrable to all the 

 ballast. lifting implements of that day, and that the Corporation of the Trinity 

 House had, at the suggestion of the House of Commons, advertised for en- 

 gineers and others to furnish plans for raising ballast upon an improved prin. 

 ciple, t immediately, in the absence of my well-known and respectable part- 

 ner, Mr. William Bough, then attending to a large contract we had at the 

 Dartmoor prison, « rote and suggested to him a mode or principle of a floating 

 steam engine, to work a dredging machine, that I thought would fully answer 

 the intended purpose ; to this ho readily agreed. I immediately set about 

 preparing it, which I was able to do in about three months ; and as soon as it was 

 ready, I proposed to the Port of London Committee to deepen and finish the 

 East India moorings. They accepted iny proposals, and I became the con- 

 tractor. When I was ready to commence operations, the Port Coiimittco 

 came down to see the working of the engine, and were exceedingly sanguino 

 about the success of this (iit that time) novel and singular contrivance. Several 

 trials were made in their presence, and I had the mortification to see many 

 parts of the engine, which had cost me much expense and intense thought, 

 torn to atoms, and links of chain, one and a half inch square, broken and 

 snapped off, just as easy as the stalks of so many tobacco pipes, by the expan- 

 sive power of the steam; finally, the machine was almost torn to pieces, and 

 rendered useless, which was a great disappointment to me as well as to the 

 Port Committee. Having, however, been bound under a penalty to execute 

 the work, it was of no use to reflect on the disasters of this day's trial, which, 

 after all, gave me an opportunity of seeing- that the engine had sutTicient power 

 to penetrate the strata ; but at the same time many improvements were wanting 

 to make the machine equal to its task, it was therefore laid up in .Mr. Perry's 

 Dock at Blackwall, and in the course of a few weeks I had many additional 

 friction blocks fixed to prevent breakage, and several other improvements 

 made, which, on the next trial, proved successful, to the greatest degree of per- 

 fection, and enabled me effectually to accomplish and complete my contract, to 

 the entire satisfaction of my employers. 



About this time .Messrs. Millie, Huddart, and Rennie. civil engineers, 

 were employed by the Navy Board to inquire into the cause and nature of the 

 accumulation and deposit of mud, vegetable, and marine substances, at his Ma- 

 jesty's moorings at \V'oolvvich. They were engaged a long time in making 

 the necessary observations, .ind o'btaining the desired informa' ion ; and subse- 

 quently made a Ion;; report thereon, which stated that the deposit of mud, &c. , 

 in the river at Woolwich, had so increased of late years, as to render the 

 Dockyard useless, and unlit for Government ; and where there was a depth of 

 1j or 20 feet of water, \'l or 14 years ago, there was now no more than six or 

 eight feet. This report ended by submitting to the Navy Board the pro- 

 priety of allowing them more time to make an actual survey and soundings 

 of the river, which was granted. Messrs. Giles, then eminent land surveyors, 

 were actively employed for nearly twelve months on this tedious and expensive 

 survey. I had by this time constructed, at an expense of eight thousand 

 pounds, a large and powerful floating steam dredging engine exactly on the 

 same principle as the first, on board the Plymouth bomb vessel, which was 

 purchased from GovernmcHt for this purpose. It was far superior in power to 

 the first, that being only a six horse power, and this one a thirty horse power. 

 I therefore made a proposal to the Board to remove all the deposit at the 

 King's moorings, off Woolwich, and offered not only to reinstate them, but to 

 deepen the river several feet below the original channel. At the request of 

 Charles Cunningham, Esq., the Commissioner at Woolwich, 1 brought my 

 new dredging machine from Mr. Perry's Dock, where she had been 

 erected, to make trial of the strata and deposit at Woolwich ; the trials 

 were continued nearly a fortnight, during which time it was clearly proved, to 

 the satisfaction of the officers of the Dockyard, that the engine was not only 

 capable of removing gravel and sediment, but was actually competent to ])cnc- 

 tiate several feet into the original bed of the river, which in this situation is 

 an accumulation of mud, gravel. Hint, and chalk. In one day wo actually 

 excavated and lifted the incredible and astonishing quantity of two thousand 

 tons from an average depth of :50 feet of water, which can be proved by the 

 Government accounts kept by the master attendant and other officers at Wool- 

 wich Dockyard. Having so far succeeded we tried no other experiments, but 

 made further proposals tQ reinstate the depth of the mgoringi, &c., which 



