3C6 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[NOTEMBEB, 



paner.and cut out so that they could he applied tn test the r,hs of the model. 

 In this «av thev would be ahle tn judge of the etlVct of the groin tlui, 

 constructed, and', at the same time, to he satisfied as to the mode of strikini; 



the arclies. , . , , 



Mr liarher repeated that he thought the beauty must depend upon taste 

 and not upon rule, lie would say to the students, " Cultivate your taste. 



Mr Laker, in rcplv, slated that it was admitted in all works on archi- 

 tecture that rules were required, hut that no rule had yet been laid down 

 for the striking the arches in (juesiion. He suggested his method as meet- 

 ing all the requisitions. If any other could be found he would be very glad 

 to see it. 



INTERRUPTION TO THE RIVER CLYDE NAVI- 

 GATION. 



TllE steamship City of Glasgow started out on her final voyage for 

 America from ibe Cljde on Saturday the I2'b inst., leaving the Bioomie- 

 Uw al half past eleven o'clock, p.m. On semnR the lensth of Lrskine she 

 grounded, and on floatiD? again, during the mshl, only got the length of 

 Bowling Wharf, where she remained till next forenoon, for reasons which 

 we will presently explain. . 



We must preface that the bank she first rested upon is an accumulation 

 of sand, that regularly, every two years and a-lialf, |gaihers at a we I- 

 known spot, near Krskine l-errv, where the dyke of the river C yde, on the 

 south side, is not continued for a length of about three miles. It is in con- 

 sequence of the non conlmuanceoflhisdjke tba the bank arises, andwiU 

 continue to arise, till the gap in the dyke be filled up, and the scouring 

 properties of the tide made available for the deepening of the channel, same 

 as at other parts of the river. The removal of this bank costs the Cl>de 

 Trustees about 30U0/. every two years and a half, or at the rate of about 

 1200/. per annum, not to speak of ibe loss to the shipping trade by the 

 detention and damage done to their vessels by it. 



We now come to the reasons for the City of Glasgow being a second 

 timedelained, and they are ihese:— Atlhe end of the gap in the river 

 dike or a little below it, there is another bank, which is likewise formed 

 every two years and a-half exactly upon the principles as that of the upper 

 one wiih this difference, that whereas the gap at the upper end precipi- 

 tates the sand on the ebbing of the tide, that at the lower end acts vvith 

 a similar re»ult on the flowing of the tide ; the expense for the removal of 

 said obstacle to the Trustees being likewise about 3000/., or, together, the 

 two incumbrances cost the public about 2400/. per annum, exclusive of 

 other disadvantages already alluded to. Bol it so happens, that when a 

 vessel grounds during the (iay on the upper bank, and lies till ihe flowing 

 of next tide, though she should have sufficiency of water, on lloatiug, to get 

 her over the lower one, .-he has uol daylight to do so, particularly in winter, 

 and hence if the night be stormy or da.k, or otherwise unpropilious— and 

 ten chances to one but it is so at this season of the year-she is uecessi- 

 tatert, under the pilot's orders, to remain another tide, whatever be the 

 views of ihe master, or the urgency of the voyage. 



Now who is to blame for this? Not the River Trusiees ; for, time 

 after time, they have endeavoured to get power by their several Acts to 

 continue the n'ver dyke for the three miles alluded to. Not the engineers 

 of the irusi, for they have as often borne testimony to the necessity ot such 

 a dyke ; but simply the Lords of the Imperial parliament, who, for the mere 

 gratification of one of their number owning the property that bounds the 

 river at that quarter, and whose eyesight would be disturbed by the 

 appearance of said dyke, were it formed, resolutely refuse powers to the 

 ClydeTrustees to construct such a work, and thus entail upon the public 

 all the expense alluded to ; upon the shipping trade all the detention and 

 difiicullies pointed out ; and upon the merchunl and passengers, all the 

 disadvantages and drawbacks tliai may be conceived, but which to enu- 

 merate would be a Herculean undertaking. 



Talk of the improvements of the Clyde ! Let us rather be silent, while 

 contemplating ihe ease with which a sandbank can be removed compared 

 with a I'cer's prejudice.— G/asyoui Advertiser. 



alone, and which has been greatly exaggerated, will be under 4000/. The 

 diving bell got up is uninjured. 



We have received the following from a correspondent at Uover. in 

 addition to the details before given The late gale has done much damage 

 to the works in progres, for the Harbour of Kefuge here ; au.l although 

 the masonry is not injured on the new pier, neverlheless the piles are s< 

 broken, and the framework u,ed for the diving bells and placing iheblocks 

 of stone and concrete are so broken and disarranged, that it will cause 

 great delay in Ihe completion of the western pier ; and the loss will be 

 very great to the coutractors-not less than 10,000/. The beach on the 

 eastern side of the old ,.ier was literally covered with the fragmen.s of piles 

 and timber; and nobody could pass the wreck without contemplating on 

 tlie awful power of the wind and waves. The sea seems to have torn 

 asunder the large timbers firmly bolted together, as if they were a baby s 

 toy; and judging from the Cob at Lyme Kegis, it is pretty clear that it 

 the masonry had been completed a greater distance out in deeper w^ater 

 than It was, that ii would have given way and made a break through the 

 30-feet in width structure. The pier, as far as it has gone, has had a v_ery 

 good effect on the harbour, as it keeps the entrance free of shingle, and it 

 calms the heavy sea that would otherwise make it diflicnlt for a vessel to 

 enter in such a gale. On the other hand, it seems to have a bad effect 

 upon the eastern side of the old pier, as the sea lol s in heavier, and the 

 water has become more shallow, so much so that pilot boats cannot anchor 

 close in as formerly. Much as this grand project of a harbour of refuge 

 at Dover is to be admired, it is still very doubtful how far 'he plan is 

 good. The anchorage is not good; it is a flat rocky ground; H'e new 

 work may cause the whole to fill up. Would it not have been a better 

 plan to have selected a place where there was deep water close to, and 

 have excavated a harbour out of fifty acres of the solid earth by means 

 of locomotive engines and machinery ? 



DOVER HARBOUR OF REFUGE. 



Divers succeeded on Thursday, the I7ih of October, in fishing up out 

 of eighteen feet of water one of the valuable diving bells out of the three 

 that were sunk and employed in the coujlruclion of the great packet pier, 

 which, after three years' labour, has been carried out G.iu feet into the 

 «ea It is eventually to be carried out 800 feet. None ol the masonry ot 

 the'pier has been injured, but all the travelling cranes and the huge piling 

 were drifted out to sea. Deane, the diver, who was employe.l on the 

 wreck of the Royal George, is to be here to raise the other diving bells, 

 which weigh about five tons each. Mr. Burges, the represeutative of 

 Mr. Walker, the government engineer, was down to superintend the 

 operations. There are 200 men employed by Messrs. Lee, the contractors 

 on the works, and it is expected that on all ihe apparatus being recovered 

 they will resume work in a fortnight. About 700 acres of sea room are 

 to be taken in to make the harbour, and this will occupy another three 

 years. It is now understood, that should most of the machinery and 

 apparatus be recovered uninjured, the damage, which was confined to it 



VICTORIA DOCKS. 

 The Victoria Docks will occupy a vast tract of land, extending across the 

 marshes in front of the town of Woolwich. One entrance will be in the 

 Gallions, the other in that reach of the river, known by the expresMve but 

 not very euphonious title of Bugsley Hole. The main water cnannel there- 

 fore will extend entirely across the marshes, ( forming what is now called 

 North Woolwich into an inland.) and being nearly three miles in length 

 The only point at which it wUl intersect the North Woolwich KaiU a , will 

 be at apoint near Bhickwall, where the upper lock will be crossed jy tl^ 

 railway, on an incline varying from 1 in 100 to 1 in 200. The "eadth of 

 the do;k will average about a quarter of a mile, but the limit of deviation 

 extends to double this distance. To afford some idea of the enormous mag- 

 nitude of this undertaking, it will be sutficent to adduce the comparison used 

 by the projectors of the company. The entire water ^^^--^ °'^'--"l'»='* ^y '^e 

 vkrious docks on the northern and southern banks of he Thames amounts 

 to 211 acres; the water area of the Victoria docks will extend to 2/0, being 

 considerably more than the area of all th.^ other docks put together The 

 number of ships which entered the existing docks, m 184S, «as ^J ^ » h 

 an aggregate of 1,172,707 tons. The Victoria Docks alone will .fifo d 

 accommodation for nearly six thousand vessels, witli an aggregate of nearly 

 one million four hundred thousand tons. , ■ .. ,„j .!,„ 



The plans of the Victoria Docks are exceedingly comprehensive, and the 

 detail of the arrangements is as perfect as can be conceived. It is the hr>t 

 example of the application of a scientific and well-methodi ed plan to a 

 gre "' ommercial'e'iterprise. The extended plans show three large docksfor 

 tie accomodation of shipping, as well as a half-t.de dock, w. h one canal, 

 runniuK through the entire line and connecting the four docks together. It 

 s a fir'st proposed to excavate only one dock and the grand .--','-''"8 

 the remaining docks to be excavated as necessity shall arue. The fit 

 cu larity to which our attention is directed, is the formation of a don, e 

 entraice lock, the one of smaller dimensions, adapted for barges, and other 

 alTcra t ; the other much larger and fitted for vessels of the greatest size 

 T is arrangement, which exists in no other docks, has advantages too 

 manifest to he descanted upon. It admits of the exit and entrance of smal 

 "a t a al times, with the smallest possible loss of water, and the smalles 

 exertion of force Another grand provision is. the construction throughout 

 all "docks of landing stages, projecting into the water, »"^ f- ''-^ » 

 much larger number of vessels to be accommdoated than could he provided 

 r wilh^rdinary quays. On these landing stages lines of -';;;"-" 

 tables are laid down, so that merchandise can be landed »' "»^!, fj '" ^/^ 

 vessel on to the truck that is to convey it to the u.etropo Us. These hne 

 comn uTicate directly with a line of rails traversing the docks, which in th ► 

 lu n un at once inti the mam line of the North Woolwich Ka'hv.y. The 

 crines and other machinery will be woiked by steam power, and attached to 

 reach "the principal docks will be graving docks for the repair of v^es e s. 

 It is almost impossible to conceive of plans more unique more comprehensue, 

 or moT perfect than those which Mr. Bidder has put forth for t icse dock^ 

 Up to he present moment, the progress made in the c<>"f '"^ ;»" »' » « 

 docks has been confined to the operation of borin., to ascertain the ai^ount 

 of wat r made bv the land springs, in order to provide the engines necessary 

 for keeping the ground dear during the progress of the excavations rbe 

 elite has^lreadv been purchased, and early in the spring the work o co„- 

 ru tlon will be commenced with great vigour and prosecuted to completion. 



