252 PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. PART VII. 



CHAPTEK X, 



PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER. 



THE harbour of Plymouth being situated at the entrance 

 of the English Channel, nearly opposite two of the 

 principal French coast arsenals, has always been re- 

 garded as a naval station of national importance. The 

 great area of the Sound, its depth of water, and its con- 

 nection with the two spacious and secure inner harbours 

 of Hamoaze and Catwater, admirably fit it for such a 

 purpose. The Sound is more than three miles wide in 

 all directions, and includes an area of about four thou- 

 sand acres, with a depth of 'water varying from four to 

 twenty fathoms at low water of spring tides. Its shores 

 are bold and picturesque, rising in some places in almost 

 perpendicular cliffs ; in others, as at Mount Edgcumbe, 

 the land, clothed with the richest verdure, slopes gently 

 down to the high-water line. 



The only natural defect of the haven and it was felt 

 to be a serious one was that the Sound lay open to 

 the south, and was consequently exposed to the fury 

 of the gales blowing from that quarter during the 

 equinoxes. The advantages presented by its excellent 

 anchorage and great depth of water were thus in a con- 

 siderable degree neutralized, and the cases were not 

 unfrequent of large vessels being forced from their 

 moorings during storms, and driven on shore. 



From an early period, therefore, the better protection 

 of the outer harbour of Plymouth was deemed to be 

 a matter of much importance, and various plans were 

 proposed with that object. One of these was, to carry 

 out a pier from near Penlee Point, at the south-western 



