20 



THE CIVIL KNCINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[January, 



INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. 



March 12. — The President in the Chair. 



Town and Harbour of Piu.teney-Town'. 



"Account of the Town and Harbour of Piilteney-Toivn (Wicli, Caithness), 



from ttieir origin in 1803 to t lie year 1844."— By James Bremneb, M. 



Inst. C. E. 



Pultenev-Town and Haihour, situated in N. latitude 58^ 20' 45" and W. 

 lonf'ilude 3° 3' 56", are the property of the British Fisheries Society, which 

 was°established under Acts of Parliament, for the purposes of extending the 

 fislieries, and improving; tlie sea-coasts of Nortii Britain. They were under 

 these Acts, empowered to construct this harbour, which, with the town, was 

 planned by Mr. Telford in 1803 ; both are located npon the property of Sir 

 George Dtnihar of Ilempriggs, and are separated from the bnrgli of Wick by 

 the river, which is spanned by a stone bridge of three arches, with a clear 

 water-wav of 156 feet : it was built in 1S05 by Mr. G. Burn, also from the 



designs of Mr. Telford. In the same year, the old or north harbour (Fig. 1), 

 was commenced. With the exception of the pier heads, which were founded 

 by the author, for the contractor, at a depth of 4 feel below low-water mark, 

 the outer walls were all constructed above that level, on a bed of bine clay 

 mixed with stones. The works were of ordinary construction, having behind 

 the face-walls clay puddle, within which, sand was used as hearting. A mass 

 of boulders, whose tops reached the level of half tide, lay outside the pier 

 heads, and protected them from the action of the sea. This harbour was 

 finished in 1811 at an expense of .£10,400. 



The bed of Wick Bay is sand to a considerable depth ; this sand, when 

 disturbed by storms, is driven in great quantities to tiie head of the bay, 

 where the river empties itself into the sea; with freshes, in easy weather, 

 the river carries the sand, thus lodged near its course, towards the harbour 

 entrance. The north harbour thus soon became nearly fdled with sand, from 

 the nature of its situation and the position of its entrance, and owing to this, 

 and the very small rise of tide at this place, the depth of water iu the inte- 

 rior, with ordinary spring tides, did not exceed 8 feet 6 inches. 



Plan of Pulteney-Towii :, 



Harbour, witli improved f / 



improvements. By J. ^C 

 Bremner, M. Inst. C. E. 



The rise of tide at Pulteney-Town, as shown in the accompanying sections i 

 (Figs. 2, 3, and 4), is, with neap tides^ 5 feet ; with ordinary springs 9 feet 



Fig. 2. 



Cross ^'etlion nt Norlli Piei 

 Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



Cross Section of Proposed Pier. 



6 inches ; and, with extraordinary springs, from the point of the lowest ebb, 

 to that of the highest How, is 13 feet. From this some idea may he formed 

 of the ditlieulty of making a harbour, sufficient for the ingress ami egress of 

 the ordinary size of vessels, even with spring tides ; 5o that (o obtain a sufti- 

 cient depth of water, it was requisite that the piers should be forujed under 

 low-water mark. To account for this limited rise of tide is not ditiicult. 

 The Bay of Wick is only 1 7 miles from the east entrance of the Pentlaud 

 Frith, which separates the Orkney Islands from the mainland. Thisfrilh.or 

 strait, being only 7 miles wide, is quite inadequate to communicate each tide 

 to the Moray Frith, the rise and fall of the North Atlantic ocean on its 

 western side. From this source, the tide in it flows for 7i hours at the rate o 



I Cross Section ol rionlli I'u] 



