CHAT. XI. 



SHORT CONTINENTAL TOUR. 



275 



of thirty years ; yet it was not a mere holiday trip, but 

 partly one of business, for it was his object to inspect with 

 his own eyes the great dock and harbour works executed 

 by Napoleon during the Continental war, of which he 

 had heard so much, and to gather from the inspection 

 such experience as might be of use to him in the improve- 

 ment of the English dockyards on which he was then 

 engaged. The two set out in September, 1816, passing 

 by Dover to Calais and thence to Dunkirk, where Mr. 

 Bennie carefully examined the jetties, arsenal, docks, and 

 building-slips at that port. From thence they proceeded 

 to Osteiid, and afterwards to Antwerp, where our engineer 

 admired the great skill and judgment with which the dock 

 works there, still incomplete, had been laid out. From 

 Antwerp they went to Paris, where they stayed only 

 two days, and then to L' Orient and Brest, accompanied 

 by Mr. Joliffe, the contractor. At both these ports 

 Mr. Rennie took careful note of the depths, dimensions, 

 and arrangements of the harbours in detail, receiving 

 every attention from the authorities. At Cherbourg, in 

 like manner, he examined the building-yards and docks, 

 as well as the progress made with the famous Digue 1 



1 The Digue is of considerably 

 greater extent than the breakwater 

 at Plymouth, being above 2f Eng- 

 lish miles long. Up to the time 

 of Mr. Rennie's visit, the work had 

 been a series of attempts and fail- 

 ures, which, however, eventually pro- 

 duced experience, and led to suc- 

 Wooden cones filled with small 

 stones were first tried; they were 

 sunk so as to form a sea-rampart ; but 

 the cones were shattered to pieces by 

 the force of the waves, and the stones 

 were scattered about in the bottom of 

 the sea. Then loose rubble-stones were 

 tried ; but the blocks were too small, 

 and these, too, were driven asunder. 

 Larger blocks were then used ; but, 

 for a time, the smaller stones beneath 

 acted as rollers to the larger ones. 

 At length, however, these found their 



bearing, and when Mr. Rennie visited 

 the place, the slope formed by the 

 saa-ridge of rubble was as much as 

 11 to 1. This greatly increased the 

 contents of the breakwater, while its 

 stability was not much to be de- 

 pended on. Many accidents occurred 

 to the work, and several extensive 

 breaches were made through it by 

 the force of the sea. At low water the 

 height of the Digue was at some parts 

 only three feet ; at others, considerably 

 more ; whereas, in some places, the top 

 of the work was from seven to eight feet 

 below low water of spring tides. At 

 length, after many years' labour and 

 vast expense, the work has been 

 brought to completion ; and it now 

 forms a very excellent defence for the 

 fine war roadstead and arsenal of 

 greatly exceeding the 



T 2 



