386 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
I have now described the port of Plymouth, I hope sufficiently 
for the purpose of considering the trade that is carried on within 
it; but in order that the character of the harbour in its relation 
to shipping may be more fully understood, I give the draught of 
water of the various sorts of ships now afloat. The draught of 
water of ships is always given in feet; the depth of the water is 
always given in fathoms, a curious incongruity which pervades 
the calculations of the English nation. We must have different 
weights and measures for everything that differs—nautical miles 
and imperial miles; pounds avoirdupois and pounds troy, &. I 
have ventured to turn the fathoms into feet, that the draught of 
the ship may be more easily compared with the depth of the water 
in which she is required to float. | 
DRAUGHT OF WATER OF SHIPS. 
The Great Eastern, the largest ship afloat, greatest Feet. 
draught . ; 2 35 
H.M.S. Nelson and Northampton . ; ‘ 25 
ay Urton : : : : 23 
» Belleisle : ° : : 19 
Australian steamers : : : . 22 to 25 
French mail steamers. : ; . 22 to 24 
Royal mail steamers . : : - 19 to 24 
Hamburg American steamers : : » 20 to 21 
North German Lloyd steamers. : . 19 to 22 
Cape mail (Union) steamers : ; . 18 to 20 
Emigrant ships : 2 : . 18 to 20 
Ordinary traders : , : . 8to019 
I have said that the facilities of communication between Ply- 
mouth and the rest of the world by sea are beyond all question 
great, and that the facilities of communication between Plymouth 
and the rest of the world by land are much the reverse. 
It was late in the day of the railway system before a railway 
was extended to Plymouth; and when a railway was at last pro- 
jected, the importance of Plymouth as a harbour, with a population 
much larger than any city or town south of London and Bristol, was 
completely overlooked, and instead of carrying their line straight 
to the largest population, the railway company went coquetting 
round the coast with every little township they could find. 
The difficulties of the approach to Plymouth were naturally 
great. It so happens that the access from Plymouth to the rest of 
