Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE CONSTRUCTION OF FISHGUARD HARBOUR. 175 the South Wales Railway, caused it to be stopped west of Swansea, and it was finally diverted to Milford instead of to Fishguard. Almost exactly fifty years after the incep- tion of Brunel’s scheme there was a revival of interest in Fishguard. In 1893 the Fishguard Bay Railway and Pier Com- pany obtained Parliamentary powers to provide a harbour and run a service of steamers to Rosslare on the Irish coast. Other pro- A Modern Scheme. sary to slice away the rock to form a terrace for the harbour station and railway ; while to render anchorage safe at all times a break- water had to be thrown out from the shore for a length of 2,000 feet. The start was difficult, as cliffs from one hundred to two hundred feet high represented the ground to be worked upon. Moreover, as these cliffs were Excavating Rock of an intensely hard, vitreous rock, excavation could be effected by explo- posals were made subse- quently, but u 1 timately the scheme was taken over by the Fish guard and Ross- lare Rail- ways and Harbours Company—a combination of the Great Western sives only, the boring of holes to ad- mit of the insertion of charges be- ing done entirely by hand. In many cases the men had to be slung by ropes from the top of the cliff. To add to Railway A typical explosion. (England) and the Great Southern and Western Railway (Ireland) Companies, the former of which became responsible for the works at Fishguard. Fishguard Bay is a grand expanse of water opening to the north. The distance from east to west is about 3 miles, and from north to south 1| miles. Its general depth of water varies from 30 to 70 feet, and it is sheltered on three sides by hills rising of some 300 feet. The point selected for tlic harbour was on the western side of the bay. There the sea washed against the base of precipitous cliffs, and it was neces- Observe that a huge mass of rock on the right has been lifted bodily several feet. Work to be done. to a the difficul- ties, the nearest rail- way station was at Letterston, seven miles away, whence all machinery, cranes, etc., had to be conveyed. Even the first locomotives reached the works in this way, traversing a steep road en route. When sufficient rock had been removed to form a convenient ledge, an installation of pneumatic drilling plant was put down, and blasting oper- ations were pushed on rapidly. Two methods were adopted for dislodging the rock. The first was to bore holes up to 20 feet deep and 2| inches in diameter, charge them with from 20 to 50 lbs. of gelignite, and fire the charges by electricity. The second method, employed where the cliffs were high, was the explosion