1840.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



147 



to construct eligible Harbours, or of improving the existing Harbours, 

 and further experience has strengthened this opinion. 



The petition was merely laid on the table, and my earnest desire 

 to engage the attention of Parharaent and of the public to a subject so 

 deeply important, was on that occasion disappointed. 



I am, however, not discouraged in my hope of ultimate success in 

 the promulgation of ray opinions, in which I have now the gratification 

 to find myself countenanced by scientific, practical, and nautical men; 

 snd I shall continue to use myzealous exertions in pressing upon the 

 public attention the necessity of full discussion to ascertain, and when 

 ascertained to adopt and pursue, what may prove to be the correct 

 principle of constructing and maintaining Harbours of Refuge, with 

 regard to which I repeat my firm conviction of the great error, which 

 cannot be too generally exposed, of the application of sluicing waters 

 /or the purpose of improving the entrance to Harbours, at best but a 

 temporary expedient, and which has never proved ai permanent remedy. 



To the investigation of this subject I would especially, and most 

 earnestly, invite those eminent and humane individuals who are be- 

 stowino- their wealth, and influence in promoting charities, for the re- 

 lief of the widow and orphans of shipwrecked mariners, and remind 

 them of the old adage, "that prevention is better than cure ; " that it 

 is better to sare the lives of sailors, than to stand by and see them 

 perish, and then provide fur their families who may be left destitute, 

 and that Harbours of Refuge would be the means of preventing many 

 of those calamities, no one can entertain a doubt; and that such Har- 

 bours can be successfully constructed in various places on our coast, 

 where they are so much required, I will venture with confidence to 

 alfirm. (See Fig. 4.) 



Fig. 4.— Plan for a Ilarljour of Refuge. 



ii\XW// 



A Committee ol the House of Commons was appointed in the ses- 

 sion of 1836, for inquiring into the causes of shipwrecks, and they 

 reported, 



"That three millions of property, and one thousand human lives, are 

 annually lost by shipwrecks on our coasts; and that the want of efficient 

 Harbours of Refuge was one of the principal causes of these calami- 

 ties. 



The Committee of the General Ship Owners' Society, in their 

 report, May, 1S37, referring to the above report, stated that there is 

 no Harbour of Refuge (that can be so called) from the Firth of Forth 

 to the Thames,* and that the numerous casualties, unfortunately occur- 

 ring in the navigation of the seas surrounding the British coast, natu- 

 rally awaken the feelings of humanity ; and that the loss of property 

 from the River Tyne (only), amounted annually to £151,222, and of 

 human lives in the same time, 170. 



In 1836 there were 110 vessels stranded and wrecked on the Lowe- 

 stoft and Yarmouth coast, and 197 vessels lost anchors and cables, 

 many others sustained much damage. These losses (alone) may be 

 estimated at £120,000, all of which falls on the ship owner or under- 

 writer ; but the incidental expences of a voyage. Harbour dues, &c., 

 together with the ship-owners' profits, are paid by the consumers of 

 ths cargoes in the shape of freight. 



The above sum would be sutiicient to construct an eligible Harbour 

 of Refuge on that coast ; and the £:? ,000,000 annually lost by ship- 

 wreck, is adequate to construct Harbours on various parts of the coast, 

 where they are so much required. 



* Nor is there fio u the Thames to the Isle of Wight. 



Under the impression, therefore, that Harbours of Refuge can be 

 constructed, and ought to be constructed, I would invite the active 

 assistance of all who can lend a hand in so good a work, for the attain- 

 ment of which, I shall continue to devote my best exertions, myself an 

 old sailor, I would, on behalf of sailors and their dependents, and for 

 their safety, invite in so sacred a cause, the co-operation of the bene- 

 volent, the patriot, and the Christian. 



H. Barrett. 



London, 8th April, 1840. 



TABLE OF ARCHITECTS. 



[k NOTE TO THE EDITOR.] 



Sir — I am quite horrified at finding that you have made me commit 

 homicide — I might say infanticide, sending Schinkel out of the world, 

 as soon as he had come into it. I don't say your printer's devil, but 

 your devil of a printer, has diabolically and with malice prepense 

 omitted the word " fcora" attached to the name, consequently it now 

 appears that I fancy Schinkel died in the year 1781, whereas he is not 

 only alive and well, but doing well as may be seen by your " Literary 

 Intelligence" at page 130; and I hope he will not appear in any 

 obituary or necrology for many years to come — not until 1881, at which 

 time he will be only one year older than Clerisseau was at the time of 

 his death ; the latter architect having attained a degree of longevity far 

 exceeding that of any other whose name occurs in the table. 



In a paragraph of page 132, some computations are made from the 

 table relative to length of life among architects, but it is not stated how 

 many lived to upwards of 80. Among the latter was Gondouin, who, 

 though he did not attain to a very remarkable longevity, is remarkable 

 for having ventured to commit matrimony with a girl of seventeen, 

 at the venerable age of seventy-seven! 



I have not yet done, for I must protest against the appearance of a 

 gentleman called Jean Radolphe, whom I never invited to mytaft/e, and 

 who must therefore be turned out as an intruder. Perhaps he maybe 

 an acquaintance of your diabolical ; and that worthy may be able to give 

 some account of him. The first Jean appears, in fact, to be a mere 

 nobody, — and so also does Gerstenburgh of whom it should have been 

 recorded that he was professor of Civil Architecture at Jeva, and author 

 of several publications, but principally on surveying", and, therefore, has 

 but little right to make his appearance among the company he does. 



And now feel relieved : you may, therefore, present my hearty, if 

 not good wishes to your dial, and believe me, &c. 



^ W.H.L. 



P.S. — I have just seen by a foreign journal that AlbertoUi, whose 

 name stands at the end ot the table died last November, in his 9Sth year, 

 consequently may be quoted as an instance of longevity. I also now 

 perceive that Jean Radolphe, should have been attached to the name of 

 Perronet, in the next line. 



Sir — Among the Architects of the 18th century, a list of eleven was 

 given in your last number ; the Signor AlbertoUi was mentioned, the 

 author not being sure whether he still existed. I received, a few weeks 

 since, a letter dated 27th January last from his nephew and son-in-law 

 the Signor Ferdinando AlbertoUi, professor of architectural ornament in 

 the academy of Breva, and honorary and corresponding member of the 

 Royal Institute of British Architects. In this letter is the following 

 paragraph ; — "To our great grief we lost, on the 15th November last, 

 our venerable parent at the age of 97 years, three months and 21 days, 

 from a cold in the chest. His best work is the Villa Melzi on the lake 

 of Como, and he was the author of several publications on ornament. 

 Our academy are now raising a subscription in order to erect a 

 handsome monument to his memory." 



I regret that the author of the list, to which I allude, did not givetlie 

 authorities, upon which it is founded; an indispensable accoinpainiment, 

 to any document upon which reliance is to be placed, and a loss to 

 those who wish to study the matter beyond the bare enumeration of 

 names. 



I am. Sir, very faithfully yours, 



jipril, 1840. Thos. L. Donaldson. 



SiR_In your number of April, you have favoured your readers with 

 a list of the Architects who have died in the 18th and 19th centuries, 

 in which you have omitted the name of Charles Beadey, who died 

 January 6th, 1829. He was a pupil of Sir Robert Taylor, and conse- 

 quently the fellow student of Nash, Craig, Pilkiiigton, Byfield, and 

 Cockerill (the last of whom, as well as Craig and Byfield, are likewise 

 omitted). Mr. Charles Beazley was the aichitect of the Goldsmiths' 

 company, and a district surveyor nearly 50 years ago. He built a great 

 number of gentlemen's seats, besides many buildings in London and its 

 vicii.ity, and was likewise the architect of Faversham Church in Kent, 

 which has been so generally admired. 



