A Treatise On The Principles And Practice Of Harbour Engineering

INTRODUCTORY 3 Phœnician Harbours.—Artificial works were indubitably in existence at both Tyre and Sidon. The former town stood on a peninsula flanked on each side by a harbour formed of moles of loose or random rubble. Sidon possessed similar works of perhaps a little less extensive character. On the testimony of ancient historians, Tyre was a magnificent city and a flourishing port, with properly constructed quays, equipped with substantial warehouses, dating back between two and three thousand years prior to the commence- ment of the Christian era. The town underwent several vicissitudes in the course of its history, even to the extent of being destroyed by the princes of Assyria, and afterwards rebuilt. It fell finally at the hands of Alexander the Great, B.o. 332, and although the town of Sur still marks the site at the present day, scarcely a vestige of the glory of the ancient city remains, and the world-renowned harbours have sunk through successive stages of disrepair and decay to ruin. The Harbour of Alexandria. —Remarkable as were the harbour works of Phœnicia, they were far outshone by the more elaborate undertakings at Alexandria, originated by the Conqueror of Tyre and brought to a successful conclusion under the first two Ptolemies about 200 b.c. In this case there was the customary mole inclosing a floating basin, and in addition thereto, the celebrated tower, or lighthouse, Pharos,1 built on the island of that name.’ It passed for one of the seven wonders of the world, being constructed of white marble and visible at a distance of a hundred miles. The cost of it has been variously estimated at £165,000, and at double that amount. Pires were kept constantly alight on the summit as an aid to the navigation of the bay. Grecian Harbours.—The Greeks and cognate races were notable harbour engineers, and their handiwork was made manifest at Rhodes, Salamis Corinth, Syracuse, and many other places. Perhaps the most noteworthy instance was Piræus, the harbour of Athens, situated at the mouth of the Cephisus, about three miles distant from the capital city. It was a most capacious harbour, inclosing three large basins called Cantharos, Aphrodisium and Zea, and sufficiently commodious for the reception of a fleet of 400 ships. Harbour at Carthage. —The Carthaginians, as might be expected from their blood relationship to the parent stock of the Phænicians, also developed a talent for harbour construction, and they made Carthage a model port. It comprised two compartments inclosed by breakwaters and connected by a channel 70 feet in width. Around the inner basin, which afforded space for over 200 ships of war, were located the arsenals and stores. When Scipio blockaded the place in B.c. 146, cutting off communication with the sea by means of a dam across the entrance to the outer harbour, it is recorded that the Carthaginians, with characteristic energy, excavated for themselves a new outlet. Their exertions and strenuous defence were, however, without avail and the downfall of the city took place shortly afterwards. .1 The title P,larol°9v> applied to the science of lighthouse construction, is derived from the name of this tower.