398 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
cussed early in the century, with the formation of dry docks 
throughout the course of the canal. 
It is highly probable that in ancient times this communication 
was utilized for the conveyance of merchandise, and was a water- 
way to and from the upper waters of the Laira to the convenient 
shipping port now known as Sutton Pool. It was a more secret, 
secure, and shallow passage than the open and more boisterous 
Cattewater, which at times might have been unsafe; for in the 
ninth century the open estuaries of the West were haunted by the 
piratical Vikings in their " snakes " or long ships ; they knew, as 
did other adventurers long before their time, the metallic riches 
which Dartmoor streams yielded to the ancient miners. 
The fundus of the large area below Laira Bridge has never been 
seriously disturbed, although attempts have been made from time 
to time to remove rubble, &c. ; for it was ordered early in the 
seventeenth century that every Plymouth lighter and sand-barge 
should each year take away a load of rubble, &c, from Cattewater, 
and deposit it on the southern part of the fretted neck of land 
called Haw Stert; i.e. the Batten Isthmus. This had a double 
effect ; namely, the deepening of the Cattewater, as well as the 
better defence of the Batten Isthmus against the ravages of the 
sea* 
Before the Breakwater was built this was a most serious matter, 
and the danger to Cattewater was undoubtedly appreciated by our 
ancestors, who, in addition to the above precaution, built a wall on 
the isthmus facing the Sound ; but, as recorded in Burt's Review 
of the Commerce of Plymouth, published in 1816, " time and heavy 
seas and gales of wind have made great inroads into the field, and 
the writer is convinced that, if it be not soon repaired, a com- 
munication will be made in the course of time with Catwater to 
the ruin of the harbour." The final and subsequent completion 
of the Breakwater in 1841 has apparently removed all anxieties 
in this quarter. 
In the reign of Queen Anne, a statute for the preservation of 
the haven of Plymouth became law. The principal object of this 
Act was the removal of the Middle Bank, situated close to the 
entrance of the Cattewater. 
At the commencement of the recent dredging the silt raised 
appeared to be ordinary black mud, which slipped from the buckets 
