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Engineering. 541 



harbour, but it was not until the year 1868 that the construction of the Manora 

 Breakwater was sanctioned. This breakwater is 1500 feet in length, running 

 out into the sea in a direct line from Manora Point. It is constructed of huge 

 blocks of concrete resting upon a rubble base. These blocks are all formed of 

 a uniform size and shape, and are held in position merely by their own weight, 

 no cement of any kind being employed to join them to one another. The last 

 block was set, and the Kurrachee Harbour Works thus far completed, on the 

 22nd of February last. By the aid of dredging over the bar, which runs 

 across the mouth of the harbour, the result of these works is an increase of 

 the depth of channel to 20 feet, and a considerably increased water-space 

 within the harbour available for vessels to moor in. 



International Communication. — M. Dupuy de Lome has recently contributed 

 to the Academy of Sciences a paper upon the scheme he has elaborated, in 

 connection with Mr. J. Scott Russell, for improving the means of communi- 

 cation between England and France. According to the author of the paper, 

 it is by the improvements in ships and ports that the desired end can be 

 achieved rapidly, and without financial assistance from the State. The pro- 

 posed solution to the problem involves the employment of very large vessels, 

 suitable for carrying passenger and goods trains on board, as long since pro- 

 posed by Mr. Fowler. The dimensions of these ships would be — Length, 

 442 feet ; breadth, 3575 feet; load draught, 11-48 feet; displacement, 2700 

 tons. They would be driven by side wheels 32*8 feet in diameter, actuated by 

 engines of about 3600 horse-power. Each vessel would be able to carry a 

 train, either for passengers or goods, 380 feet in length, and weighing 300 tons 

 for the goods or 180 tons for the passenger train. The train would be run 

 upon the after part of the ship, upon rails laid on the lower deck, and at a 

 level of about 6 feet 6 inches above the sea. It would thus be covered by the 

 upper deck, and be securely sheltered from the action of the sea. On either 

 side of the line of rails suitable saloons and state-rooms would be provided 

 for the accommodation of passengers. According to M. Dupuy de Lome the 

 steadiness of the boats would be greater than it is possible to obtain with 

 ordinary ocean steamers : the mean intervals of the channel waves being from 

 7 to 8 seconds, the vessel should have a period of oscillation of from 12 to 13 

 seconds, so that one wave would counteract the rolling produced by the pre- 

 vious one. On the English coast Dover Harbour has been selected as a 

 terminus ; but as on the French side there exists no harbour like that of 

 Dover, suitable for the entry of large vessels at all stages of the tide, it is 

 proposed to create a port appropriate to the service of the train ferries, and 

 the site selected by M. Dupuy de Lome and Mr. Scott Russell is in the locality 

 of Calais, the port being so laid out as not to produce any silting up around 

 the entrances. 



Dover Harbour. — The importance of improving Dover Harbour has at last 

 become so urgent, both in consequence of requirements for improved ac- 

 commodation for the Continental service, and of the necessities of the port 

 for naval and military purposes, that the Government recently requested Mr. 

 Hawkshaw to place himself in communication with Colonel Sir Andrew 

 Clarke, with the view of considering whether a plan could be prepared which 

 would combine the naval and military requirements of Dover with the objects 

 desired to be effected by the Dover Harbour Board, and what the works would 

 cost. The result has been a joint report from those gentlemen which, for the 

 packet service, proposes the construction of a steam-packet pier about 

 1250 feet long by 125 feet wide, starting from a point close to the Admiralty 

 Pier, and running in a south-easterly direction. Besides this a breakwater is 

 proposed, which commences about 400 feet to the east of the Castle Jetty, 

 and is continued seawards in a slightly south-westerly direction for about 

 3800 feet. At that point it turns and runs west for about 2200 feet, when it 

 ends. Then comes an opening of 600 feet for vessels to enter, at the other 

 side of which will be the end .of the proposed extension of the present 

 Admiralty pier, which is a length of 500 feet, and meets the end of the work 

 now in progress at the present head of the pier. An opening of goo feet is 



vol. in. (n.s.) 4 A 



