VOL. LXXIV.]; PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 46 1 



IV. Descriptions of the King's Wells at Sheerness, Landguard Fort, and Har ■ 

 wich. By Sir Thomas Hyde Page, Knt., F. R. S. p. 6. 



Sir T. H. Page was the commanding military engineer, employed in the sink- 

 ing of these wells. He engaged, he says, a very ingenious man, Mr. Cole, 

 engine-maker, of Lambeth, as a chief person in this business, and received 

 every assistance in mechanics ; and it is but justice to him to express, that the 

 success of the work greatly depended on his attention and the able assistants he 

 procured from distant parts of the kingdom. 



The work, on the'King's Well at Sheerness, was begun the 4th of June, 1 78 ] , 

 and finished the 4th of July, 178'2. A circle of 22 feet diameter was first 

 marked out on the ground, and the space evacuated to the depth of 5 feet ; 

 after which, pieces of wood, called ribs, on the curve of a diameter, 21 feet 4 

 inches, and about 9 inches scantling, were placed, to form a complete circle 

 within the excavated part at the bottom-, above which other circles of the same 

 nature were placed, and supported by upright pieces of scantlings, having short 

 boards introduced by the intervals, which afterwards pressed on the circles or 

 ribs, between them and the exterior parts. These, when united, formed one 

 frame of wood from the bottom to the top, or rather higher than the excavated 

 space, and prevented the mud of the upper surface, which was very soft, from 

 falling in on the workmen. In proceeding deeper, care was taken to prevent the 

 sinking of the beforementioned frame by its own weight, in excavating parts 

 only under it till another circle of pieces like the first, called ribs, was formed, 

 and uprights, with boards behind, introduced. The distance between these 

 circles was in the first, or upper part of the work, about 3 feet ; but as difficul- 

 ties increased they were placed nearer, and in many parts joined each other 

 without any boards or uprights, and continued through the whole of the wooden 

 frame, against the weight of the mud, quick-sand, and sea-beach, to the depth 

 of 36 feet. At that depth the wood-work was finished, and 6 feet deeper a firm 

 foundation of hard blue clay discovered. The several parts of the frame were 

 then strengthened wherever it appeared necessary, to prevent separation, and to 

 resist the immense pressure of soft mud, quick-sand, and loose sea-beach, which 

 were supported by it. The salt-water, after proceeding thus far, came in very 

 fast through all the joints of the frame, and holes were left on purpose in certain 

 parts to let it run into the well, that it might not be confined entirely to the 

 bottom of the work, which, from the weight on one part only, might have 

 blown, which is ever to be guarded against with the utmost caution. 



The frame being found of sufficient strength, and the workmen able, by con- 

 stant drawing with four 36-gallon buckets, to keep the bottom of the well dry 

 enough to proceed farther, the greatest difficulty seemed to be overcome. The 

 next process was to cut off or stop out the salt water entirely : to effect which, a 



