690 EEPOET— 1880. 



In the year 1826 the Trustees consulted Mr. Telford, and he reported on Feb- 

 ruary 5 of the following year. At that period what was termed the harbour was 

 simply the bed of the river Tawe ; the shipping lying within it were endangered 

 by exposure to the action of heavy floods, and he recommended that the present 

 new cut should be made as a channel for the river — no doubt an important and 

 necessary work; but he again revived the old engineering heresy of recommending 

 the conversion of this new cut and of the old harbour into floats with a river 

 overflow and draw sluices. He further recommended the direction of the ebbing 

 current seaward by slag banks, in order to act upon the bar. These propositions of 

 Mr. Telford were generally approved of by Mr. H. R. Palmer in a report addressed 

 to the Trustees iu January 1831, and he further recommended the prolongation of 

 the Western Pier. 



Similar propositions were recommended by other engineers, among them the 

 late Mr. Jesse Hartley ; but fortunately for the future of the port of Swansea, none 

 of the works for the conversion of the river into a float were executed. The new 

 cut, or channel, for the river was commenced in 1840, and finished in 1844, the 

 eflect being to materially lessen the risk to shipping lying within the harbour or 

 original bed of the river during floods, and iu giving a better direction to the ebbing 

 current. 



In 1845, what is termed the Pottery Entrance was constructed under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. Rendel, with a double cill, as a provision for the canalising of the river 

 or the new cut at a future period. The masonry of this entrance I found completed 

 at the period of my first visit to Swansea in the month of February 1849, and the 

 project was still entertained of converting the river and new cut into a float, rela- 

 tive to which I reported iu the following words : — ' Any interference with the 

 channel of the river or new cut which would prevent the free influx and reflux of 

 the tide, would, I am of opinion, be most prejudicial to the harbom- entrance. In 

 times of flood, the river current is no doubt an active agent in deepening and 

 removing obstruction from the entrance channel ; but, under ordinary circumstances, 

 its volume is too small to have any material effect. On reference to sections taken 

 by the late Mr. Price, I find that 40,000,000 cubic feet or thereabouts of tidal water 

 ebbs each tide from the river channel alone, independent of the backwater from 

 Fabian's Bay, and I am of opinion that, although the land-floods are active agents 

 in deepening and removing obstructions from the entrance channel, the tidal water 

 is the main agent in maintaining and keeping it clear, and that every facility should 

 be given by deepening the bed of the river to aid its upward flow, and that in pro- 

 portion as the bed of the river is lowered the entrance channel will be deepened.' 

 To that opinion, expressed upwards of thirty years ago, I still adhere. The system 

 of discharging a volume of water at the period of low tide from reservoirs, and 

 thereby creatuig a shallow stream as a means of preserving a navigable channel 

 and a sandy foreshore, is, in my opinion, entirely futile, and in the case of several 

 important Continental harbours threatens seriously to interrupt the regular postal 

 .service between tliis country and the Continent. 



Upon my visit in 1849, with the exception of the masonry of what is termed the 

 Pottery Entrance and the various wharves on each side of the old river-bed and of 

 the New Cut, no works had been executed of any magnitude ; the harbour still con- 

 sisted of the original river-bed composed of hard gravel worn uito irregularities by 

 the occasional action of floods, and the superior class of shipping engaged in the 

 copper ore trade was constantly strained in taking the uneven ground. As regards 

 communication with the harbour, no railways were in existence, and I used to make 

 the journey from Aberdeen, in Scotland, to Swansea, entirely by coach. The gross 

 revenue of the hai-bour Avas about 7000/. per annum at that time ; during the present 

 year it is estimated at about 60,000/. 



After considerable discussion, the Trustees determined in November 1849 to 

 convert the tidal harbour, or old bed of the river, into a floating dock with an outer 

 half-tide basin, of the respective areas of 11 and 2| acres, the half-tide basin entrance 

 being 60 feet in width, with a depth over the cill of 25 feet 6 inches, at high water 

 spring tides. Between the half-tide basin and dock, a lock was constructed, 160 feet 

 in length and 60 feet wide, with a depth over the cill of 22 feet 6 inches ; these 



