CHAP. XVIII. THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE DESCRIBED. 



411 



passing traveller the like of which is perhaps nowhere 

 else to be seen. Far below are the queer chares and 

 closes, the wynds and lanes of old Newcastle ; the water 

 is crowded with pudgy, black, coal keels; and, when 

 there is a lull in the great smoke volcanos which usually 

 obscure the sky, the funnels of steamers and the masts 

 of the shipping may be seen far down the river. The 

 old bridge lies so far beneath that the passengers 

 crossing it seem like so many bees passing to and fro. 



The first difficulty encountered in building the bridge 

 was in securing a solid foundation for the piers. The 

 dimensions of the piles to be driven were so huge, that 

 the engineer found it necessary to employ some extra- 

 ordinary means for the purpose. He called Nasmyth's 

 Titanic steam-hammer to his aid the first occasion, we 

 believe, on which this prodigious power was employed 

 in bridge pile-driving. 1 A temporary staging was 

 erected for the steam-engine and hammer apparatus, 

 which rested on two keels, and, notwithstanding the 

 newness and stiffness of the machinery, the first pile 

 was driven on the 6th of October, 1846, to a depth of 

 32 feet, in four minutes. Two hammers of 30 cwt. 

 each were kept in regular use, making from 60 to 70 

 strokes per minute ; and the results were astounding to 

 those who had been accustomed to the old style of 

 pile-driving by means of the ordinary pile-frame, 

 consisting of slide, ram, and monkey. By the old 



swinging to and fro, gazing at the 

 river a hundred feet beneath him. 

 The man's comrades ran to his assist- 

 ance, and placing a ladder from the 

 lower bridge, they with difficulty res- 

 cued him from his perilous position. 

 Being a devout Methodist, the ship- 

 wright attributed his preservation to 

 the" direct interposition of Providence 

 in his behalf. In the course of about 

 a week, however, a tailor's advertise- 

 ment appeared in the local papers, 

 containing a letter from the rescued 

 workman himself, in which he gave 



the sole credit to the trowsers by which 

 he had been suspended. On another 

 tailor publishing his claim to the merit 

 of having made them, a controversy 

 between the tailors ensued, which may 

 possibly remain unsettled to this day. 

 1 This work was not executed with- 

 out dismal forebodings on the part of 

 some of the Gateshead people ; one of 

 whom, on hearing the pile-driving ma- 

 chine at work on the foundations, was 

 wont to ejaculate, " There goes another 

 nail in the coffin of Gateshead ! " 



