48 IMPROVED FISHERY HARBOUR ACCOMMODATION 



land-locked as to afford complete shelter in the worst 

 weather." 



" In some situations the foreshore is steep, affording suffi- 

 cient depth for heavy waves not only to reach the beach, 

 but to tear up rocks at levels far above the high water-line ; 

 while in others it is so flat and shallow as to form a natural 

 breakwater for the protection of the coast. In some districts 

 there are tides rising forty or fifty feet, in others not as many 

 inches ; and lastly, we have differences in geological forma- 

 tion and in the tendency to deposit. Now, it it quite as bad 

 engineering to adopt the cowardly and unjustifiable policy 

 of erecting in sheltered seas works that are heavy enough 

 for the open ocean, as, through ignorance or foolhardiness, 

 to fall into the opposite error of designing works that are 

 deficient in strength and efficiency. The very first step to 

 be taken, therefore, is to select from the different classes of 

 designs which have been enumerated the one which is best 

 adapted to the features of any given locality. The engineer, 

 in order to make this selection judiciously, must consider 

 the following queries, keeping ever in view the essential 

 elements of stability, expense, and convenience : " 



" First. Is the place so well sheltered naturally as to require 

 no artificial protection of any kind, so that a quay without 

 a parapet, or an open framework of timber, will be sufficient 

 for vessels to lie alongside without risk of damage in all 

 ordinary states of the weather ? Examples of such quays 

 may be found in rivers and creeks, even where there is a 

 considerable expanse of water, such as Greenock, London- 

 derry, and the like." 



" Second. Is the place situated in a sound or estuary where 

 the cross waves or those which come on to the end of the 

 pier are small, owing to the estuary being narrow, and 

 where the heaviest waves are those which assail the work 



