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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[October, 



BO years since, the navigation of this river, as well as the flow of the tide, 

 was so much obstructed by land-banks, that barges drawing 3 feet water 

 could alone be employed in the trade of the city of Glasgow; that its 

 manufactures were necessarily carried down to Port Glasgow or Greenock 

 for exportation ; and that its imports were transhipped into barges to be 

 brought to the city. At this time the rise of spring tides at IIir»t Sand, a 

 little below Glasgow, was only 1 foot 9 inches, and the total depth at high- 

 water spring tides was but 3 feet 3 inches. So hopeless did the case seem, 

 that in 17dJ Smeaton proposed a lock across the river at Marling Ford, 

 about four miles below the city, so as to form the upper part of the river 

 into a canal. For this an Act of Parliament was actually obtained. Hap- 

 pily, however, for the commercial interest of Glasgow, Golborne, in 186S, 

 took a different view of the capabilities of the river, and recommended the 

 contraction of the channel and the free use of the dredge. These means 

 having been adopted and employed by subsequent engineers, the result is 

 that at this moment there is a depth of 1 7 feet at high-water at Glasgow 

 Quay, and that large ships now embark and unload their cargoes where 

 formerly a laden barge could barely swim. 



Vessels. Tons. 



In 1844 the number of arrivals was . . 13,919 of 1,101,949 

 And there are now CO steam-vessels belonging to the port ; as well as 940 

 arrivals and sailings annually of traders, not one of which, at the former 

 period, could have approached nearer than Dumbuck Ford, 12 miles below 

 the city. 



In 1770 the gross harbour dues for the year were . £147 



In 1841 „ „ . J0,292 



And the total receipts since the year 1770 exceed . 830,000 



The Hirer Tay. 



The river Tay is the largest of all the Scottish streams ; its extreme 

 length being about 183 miles, draining an area of 2300 square miles, and 

 pouring more water into the ocean than any other river of Great Britain. 



Down to the 1834, the upper portion of the Tay, as far as navigation was 

 concerned, seems to have been entirely neglected. Landed property on each 

 side of the stream, and the right of salmon fishing seem to have been para- 

 mount to every other interest : jetties or dikes, in order to form new ground, 

 were run out at pleasure; and large heaps of stone, called fishing cairns, 

 were erected at will in the bed of the stream ; while, below, only a single 

 fairway buoy was placed to mark the entrance between two dangerous sands 

 at the mouth of the river. The Perth Commissioners at length became 

 alive to the mischief of neglect; and, in 1834, a bill was obtained to em. 

 power them to raise money for the improvement of the river. During tha 

 next five years, the process of deepening the bed, and straightening the 

 channel was steadily continued, and by thus afi'ording a free passage to the 

 tidal waters, a depth of l.i feet at high water of spring tides has been ob- 

 tained near the city, and the flood tide now begins to flow three-quarters 

 of an hour earlier than formerly at Perth bridge. 



The value of such unrestrained action to the tidal waters seems not to be 

 confined alone to the upper channel of the river, for according to the report 

 of the Admiralty surveyor, it has caused an increase of depth at the Tay 

 Bar, and dispersed a large quantity of the sand which had there accumu- 

 lated. 



Nor have the trustees of Dundee Harbour shewn less energy iu keeping 

 pace with the extension of manufactures in their town ; by the establish- 

 ment of suitable docks and basins they have raised it to a first-class com- 

 mercial port ; and by their judicious enterprise during the last 30 years they 

 have more than quadrupled the number of its shipping, as well as the amount 

 of its revenue. 



In June, 1815, the total revenue of the port was £4,096 



In June, 1844 23,895 



while the number of vessels had increased to 3791, having a burthen of 

 272,239 tons. 



ilontrom. 



At Montrose there is a similar instance of encroachment on the banks of 

 the South Esk, where the proprietor of the adjoining land even questions the 

 authority of the Admiralty to oblige him to restore to the harbour a part of 

 the tidal water of which it appears it has been deprived by his embankments. 

 The Montrose Trustees having, with much public spirit, recently expended 

 the large sum of 42,000/. in constructing a wet dock and in improving their 

 harbour, have not the means of contesting with a wealthy proprietor, the 

 point at issue, and therefore naturally look to the Admiralty for protection. 

 But as this case is now in course of legal process by the Lord Advocate of 

 Scotland, we abstain from further comment. 

 Arhroath. 



Arbroath, a port on the east coast of Scotland, about half-way between 

 Jtlontrose and the river Tay, and the seat of extensive manufactures, falls 

 under a difterent head of inquiry from the harbours we have hitherto exa- 

 mined into. 



The evidence laid before the Commission evinces an extent of public spirit 

 on the part of the inhabitants and trustees of tliis burgh in the highest degree 

 «leserving encouragement. Seven years ago the harbour was the property of 

 the Corporation, and its revenues were applied in lighting, paving, and cleans- 

 ing the streets. The harbour was insufiicient for the shipping belonging to 

 the place, and unfit for tlie reception of vessels of any considerable size. But 

 in the year 1838 the inhabitants voluntarily came forward and taxed them- 



selves in order to pay those municipal expenses ; and an .\ct of Parliament, 

 in 1839, having empowered the trustees to raise money, a sum of not less 

 than 58,000/. has been since tliat time expended in works for enlarging and 

 improving the port, whereby the accommodation for shipping is more than 

 doubled. 



& 



In 1740 the shore dues amounted to ... 21 



In 1823 „ ., ... 616 



In 1843 „ „ ... 3050 



showing, since the internal improvements of the poit, a rapid increase iu the 



amount of traffic. 



But the estimated expense of executing those works, as in nearly all similar 

 cases, has proved too small. As far as they have been carried out they are 

 of a substantial and staple character. But the deepening of the harbour, 

 with its entrance and approaches, is still unfinished; and having exhausted 

 all their resources, the trustees have memorialized the Government for a 

 small grant, to enable them to complete the projected works ; withoutwhich, 

 what has been done will be in a great measure unavailable. 



The works proposed would give a mean depth of 16 feet at high-water of 

 ordinary spring-tides, — they would render Arbroath a tidal harbour of refuge, 

 for 12 hours out of the 24, for all vessels ef the size which usually frequent 

 that coast ; and they would thus be as great a benefit to the public as to 

 tneir owners ; for the greater part of that rocky coast, when it becomes a lee- 

 shore, is extremely dangerous, and was too fatally proved in the gale of Ja- 

 nuary, 1800, when 40 vessels were wrecked, and 13 of them within a few 

 miles of Arbroath. 



Taking these circumstances into consideration, it appears to the Commis- 

 sion that this case seems deserving of the encouragement of the Govern- 

 ment. 



The River Blyth and Harbour of Southwold. 



It appears that the whole area formerly covered by the spring-tide waters 

 of the river Blyth was about 2,000 acres, and that by means of several em- 

 bankments, than area has been reduced to 450 acres. It likewise appears 

 that over more than half the original area the depth at high water ordinary 

 springs would be two feet ; that in the event of high springs it would be 

 four feet, and in north-west gales or equinoctial springs, fully six feet- From 

 this it appears that the quantity of water excluded by these embankments is, 

 (taking the lowest estimate, that of a common spring tide) in round num- 

 l)ers 150 millions of cubic feet, or 4 J millions of tons on every tide, and as 

 there are 78 such tides iu a year, some notion may be formed of the enormous 

 loss of scouring power sustained in consequence of these embankments. 



The merchants of Halesworth (the great corn mart of this part of the 

 county of Suflolk) bad repeatedly urged the propriety of deepening the bed 

 of the Blyth ; yet nothing was done till an Act of Parliament was obtained 

 In 1830, and though under direction of the present harbour surveyor, the 

 lower part of the harbour has been somewhat improved ; yet as the Act did 

 not touch the embankments, the bar has been at times since that period dry 

 at high water, so that no vessel could get in or out. 



llarwicft Harbour. 



The ancient and well-known port of Harwich is an estuary formed by the 

 junction of the rivers Stour and Orwell , and contains about 700 acres of good 

 anchorage. The value of this port was well understosd during the last war, 

 and will he so again when we have occasion for another North Sea fleet. 

 Here not less tiian 00 ships of war have been built, 15 of which were two- 

 deckers ; and the fishing vessels belonging to the port some years since were 

 estimated at 3,000 tons, and employed 500 of our most hardy seamen. 



Its general depth of water, its wide extent, its perfect shelter, its easy 

 access by night or by day, in all weathers, and in all states of the tide, render 

 Harwich the only harbour of refuge, properly so called, between the Thames 

 and the Huniber. 



Yet it will be seen from the evidence taken before the Harbour of Refuge 

 Commission of 1814, that this harbour, which in easterly gales has given 

 shelter to 500 sail of shipping at once, has been suffering a rapid deterioration 

 during the last 30 years from the removal of the cement stone at the foot of 

 Beacon Clift' and Felixstow Ledge. The consequence is, while the sea has 

 gained considerably upon the Essex shore, threatening to break through the 

 isthmus, that Landguard Point, on the opposite side, has advanced 500 yards 

 upon the sea during the same period, thereby blocking up the chief entrance 

 into the harbour ; and so much so, that where, in the year 1804, there was a 

 channel seven fathoms deep at low water, there is now a shingle beach as 

 many feet above high-water mark. 



But the attention of the Government having at length been called to this 

 state of neglect by the Report of that Commission, it appears that immediate 

 measures are to be taken to restore this port to its former value as a Harbour 

 of Refuge. 



i?//e Harbour. 



This harbour is in the lower part of the channel of the river Rother, and 

 just below the junction of the Tillingham and the Brede, two small streams 

 flowing from the north-west. A rubble-stone pier, which does not reach 

 within 1200 yards of low-water mark, is in the course of construction on the 

 eastern side of the harbour, and an embankment of earth has been throwu 

 up on the western side, leaving an entrance between of 290 feet in width. 



The average rise of spring-tides at the town of Rye is 14 feet, at the pier- 



