THE COAST DEFENCES OF NORTHERN 
TUNIS. 
BY 
MAJOR H.»€..C. D. SIMPSON, R.A. 
A visit to Northern Tunis in December last enabled me to obtain some 
interesting information on the coast defences of the towns of Tunis and 
Bizerta, the two principal military and naval ports of Northern Tunis. 
The coast defences of Northern Tunis comprise, firstly, the forts and 
mobile naval defence guarding the approaches to the Tunis Canal; 
and, secondly, those defending the entrance to the Bizerta Canal. 
Both these canals themselves have been so fully described in various 
periodicals that it is unnecessary to go into any detail concerning them 
here. In connection with the Bizerta Canal, the following points may 
be noted :— 
It was constructed by a French company, who, in return for the 
fishing in the lakes, valued at £4,000 per annum and a certain per- 
centage of the canal dues, guaranteed construction and “ up-keep ” of 
the same. ‘The port has, however, been open for some time, but has 
proved up to the present a commercial failure. 
The amount of coal which the French authorities have deemed 
necessary to be stored at Bizerta is fixed at 2000 tons, of which the 
supply is mainly British. Owing to the silting up of the sand during 
the prevalence of the N.W. winds, and to give greater protection in 
that weather to ships anchored inside the breakwater, it has been 
found necessary, even bearing in mind the increased difficulty of 
entering the outer harbour in bad weather, to incline inwards the 
northern arm of the breakwater (see sketch d) for some 150 metres of 
its length from the head. This work has not been carried out yet. 
‘he passage of the canal during a N.W. fresh wind would, it is 
fcared, be of some risk to a ship of war of any size, whether entering 
or leaving the canal, owing to the strong current running through it. 
ihe inner harbour would thus act as an excellent trap, and no better 
luck could happen to a hostile fleet than for the French squadron to 
enter the Bizerta harbours under the above-mentioned conditions in 
war. The coast line is sandy, but it would be impossible to land a 
hostile body of troops, except in surf boats, in any weather but the 
calmest. 
Tums Town.—The defences of Tunis town as well as Bizerta are 
planned only with the intention of resisting raid or insult, and not with 
11. You, XXIII, 
