A Treatise On The Principles And Practice Of Harbour Engineering

HARBOUR ENGINEERING. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Harbour Engineering and Navigation—Natural and Artificial Harbours—Ancient Sea Koutes Phœnician, Egyptian, Grecian, Carthaginian, and Roman Harbours—Mediæval nC"T ^ Cln^ue Ports-The Hanseatic League—National Interest in Harbours —btate Subvention. Harbour Engineering - and Navigation.—The history of harbour engineering runs concurrently, through corresponding stages from origin to development, with the history of navigation. Nor is the fact at all surprising. brom the very nature of the case little else could be expected, since the two sciences stand to one another in the closest inter-relationship of cause and effect. With the appearance on the seas of the first craft calling for the exercise of expert seamanship, there arose a need of havens in which it might not only find shelter during stress of weather, but also take in and discharge its cargoes under suitable conditions. And as vessels gradually increased in number, size, and importance, so the need for more spacious accommodation became the more pressing, and the demand for larger and better harbours the more imperative. Natural Harbours. Of natural creeks and basins, possessing intrinsi- cally all the advantages which a haven of safe anchorage requires, there are in the world not a few, and, no doubt, at the outsét they abundantly sufficed for the rudimentary necessities of the early mariner. But the accommodation afforded was in many cases limited, and, as time elapsed, it became less and less compatible with the exigencies of rapidly expanding navies, whether engaged in commerce or war. Neither did the situation of these inlets always prove convenient, more especially to trading vessels. Some of the most commodious of them are to be found far out of the track of well-estab- lished lines of communication, and away from the principal routes of over-sea trade. And of those which are conveniently accessible, few, if any, have realised the ideal of a completely sheltered haven. There has been almost invariably some inherent defect to be remedied, some deficiency to be made good. Accordingly, even the best of natural harbours have called for 1