155 
Captain Hall's Account of ' the Dundee Ferry . 
sure communication that barrier, which, in less enlightened times, 
it might have been said, Nature had interposed in order to keep 
them separate. 
Such is a very general account of the greatest ferry probably 
in the kingdom, if the number of passengers and the amount of 
traffic of all kinds be a just measure of its importance. A more 
minute statement of the details might easily have been given ; 
but it is questionable whether they would interest the general 
reader, who is chiefly concerned only about the efficiency of the 
Anal practical result. At the same time it is right to state, that any 
one desirous of procuringmore detailed information, respectingthe 
internal management of the ferry, with a view to the improve- 
ment of other ferries, or from motives of mere curosity, will find, 
upon the slightest wish to that effect being expressed to the 
Trustees, every channel of information unreservedly thrown open 
to him. 
The successful establishment of twin-boats at Dundee, the 
consequent great increase of passengers, and the facility, in parti- 
cular, which they have given to the transport of cattle and car- 
riages, have naturally given rise to two questions ; first, the pos- 
sibility, and, next, the feasibility, of placing similar boats at the 
passage between Newhaven and Fife. My attention having been 
accidentally called to these points, I was led to pay considerable 
attention to the subject, as a matter of pure curiosity ; and, as it 
has been thought by some persons, that the result of observa- 
tions and inquiries made in this spirit, may, perhaps, be useful, 
I give them freely. But, I am well aware, that the au- 
thority of a seaman in a question of steam-navigation, ought 
to be received with caution. The inbred habits of his na- 
val education, it must be admitted, are all against his be- 
ing an impartial witness ; and even supposing him to have 
risen above the natural prejudices of his profession, and that 
he freely acknowledge the vast superiority of this new power 
over ordinary navigation ; still the principles which apply to 
navigation by sails, and to that by steam, are so essential^ 
different, that his former knowledge, even the theoretical part 
