396 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION, 
RECENT DREDGING IN CATTEWATER. 
BY ROBERT BURNARD. 
(Read March 3rd, 1887.) 
When I was invited by the officers of this Society to read a 
paper, and thus initiate some useful discussion, I was most willing 
to comply with such an honourable request ; but the difficulty of 
selecting a subject worthy of the traditions of the Plymouth 
Institution appeared to me to be very great. At the time the 
invitation was given I was actively superintending extensive 
dredging operations in the Cattewater, and this, on account of 
what appeared to be some interesting peculiarities of the silt, and 
the find which was unexpectedly made of the remains of an old 
ship, deeply embedded in the bottom of the harbour, determined 
me to select the dredging operations as the topic for this 
evening's paper. 
It is not my intention to attempt to describe the commercial 
aspect of the subject. It will suffice if I state that the plant 
employed consisted of a powerful two-ladder dredger, driven by an 
engine of forty horse-power, nominal, and five hopper barges, with 
a carrying capacity of over one thousand tons. The time occupied 
in the work was six months, and the quantity of silt, rubble, and 
rock removed and discharged beyond the Admiralty limit outside 
the Breakwater was nearly one hundred and fourteen thousand 
tons. The area dredged in front of and contiguous to the Catte- 
down wharves amounted to about seven acres, and the greatest 
depth obtained was twenty-four feet at low- water ordinary spring 
tides. 
It is necessary, in order to thoroughly understand what the 
Cattewater was- really like in early times, to study some of the 
historical facts so carefully collected by Mr. Worth and others. 
The area of the harbour was formerly more extensive than it now 
is. In the Middle Ages it is said to have extended &s far a> 
