Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE CONSTRUCTION OF FISHGUARD HARBOUR. 173 THE SITE OF THE HARBOUR AS IT APPEARED A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. Its Suitability for a Harbour. were a proper Whether this story be historically correct or not, it is certainly the case that towards the end of the eighteenth century the Lords of the Admiralty regarded Fish- guard as a highly suitable place for the construction of a secure harbour. A report ob- tained by them set out that, pier made at Fishguard, all ships in the south part of the Irish Channel, when forced by southerly or westerly gales to bear away to a harbour, might safely run for Fishguard Road, if they could not fetch Milford ; while packets from Waterford would have the advantage of the choice of two ports, for if the wind were so strong from the south as to make it difficult to reach Milford, they could easily put into Fishguard, which afforded shelter from south and south-east winds. “ Should the wind suddenly shift to the north-east while they were in Fishguard Bay, they would have only to run to the proposed pier at Fishguard, where they would be safe from all winds and weather.” The proposed “ pier ” would seem to have been of the character of the breakwater since con- Brunel’s s true ted; Scheme, but nothing came of the scheme, nor of a further one put forward in the year 1845, when a railway was planned to run through South Wales. The engineer of that line was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and by him the advantages of Fish- guard Bay were recognized, the western ter- minus of the proposed railway being located at Fishguard, whence a line of steamers was to run to southern Irish ports. The line was sanctioned by Parliament, and its construc- tion commenced ; but the depression following the “ railway mania ” of the ’forties, and the financial difficulties that subsequently beset THE SITE AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY.