226 



HARBOUR CONSTRUCTION. 



actual breakwater below the surface, the flow of the tide would 

 be uninterrupted, and all risk of silting within the harbour 

 be avoided. 



The screen was described as consisting of a number of parallel 

 plates of iron, inclined towards the sea at an angle of about 55 

 or 60 degrees with the horizon, these being framed together in 



Cross-section. 



FIG. 58. Wrought-iron louvered breakwater or wave screen, as proposed by Mr. Hays. 



lengths of 30, 40, or 50 feet, and supported by piers formed of 

 wrought-iron screw-piles, strongly braced together. The plates 

 were to be placed at such an angle that the waves would be 

 reflected from one to the other until all their energy was 

 exhausted. The water would also (so it was claimed), through 

 being thus reflected from plate to plate, tend to push the several 



