The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-13 00:00:00

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a small solid circular granite fort. It mounts eight
68-pounders, which command every wave that
pours through the opening, and would be able to
fire almost down into the decks of any vessel try-
ing to break through into the Harbour. It is cre-
nellated for musketry, too, on all sides, and would
be a formidable defence against anything but an iron
frigate, which would have to be dealt with by the
heavy lines of earthwork batteries called the " east
wEir," which are cut in the slopes of the _Portland
bill overlooking the whole Breakwater. The
northern portion of the Breakwater has none of its
superstructure yet begun. It is a mere rugged
and very unsightly reef, formed of immmense blocks
of stone, tumbled about in confusion just as they
were " tipped in." The ridge of scaffolding by
which the whole was constructed is still in its place,
taking daily its long traies of hundreds of tons of
granite to the great North Fort we have already
mentioned, at the extreme end of the work. When
the fort is completed it is said nothing further is to
be done, and the northern portion of the Breakwater
is to be left in its present condition. We hope that
this has not been officially decided on. The cost of
building a sea wall along its whole extent, which
would not only give beauty to the structure, but
even strength, by binding like a backbone the top_
moat, and therefore the loosest stories, would only
amount to £50,000. For the sake of this trifling
outlay it is surely not wise to leave so important a
work in such an unfinished condition. At the extreme
end of this portion, which is more than 6,000 ft long,
is the great North Fort. It is needless to say that
this gigantic work is not undertaken with a view
of protecting the Breakwater. A Breakwater once
built is indestructible alike to friend or foe, and
whatever ruins the celebrated New Zealander may
stand on when he visits England, we may be sure
they will not be those of Breakwaters. The great
North Fort is the vanguard of the defences which
are rising here to protect what is evidently intended
to be made one of the most valuable of our great
naval stations.

The whole conception and manner of execution of
this singular work make it one of the meat wonder-
ful defences ever constructed. It is built in a depth
of from 60 to 70 feet of rather rough sea water, and
from base to summit will be more than 100 ft. high,
400 ft. diameter at its base, and 200 ft at its summit,
all of solid stone. The foundations for the great
columns of granite which are to rest upon them are
just finished, and these consist of 140,000 tons of atone
poured in so regularly that they now form a great
circular mound, under water, 46ft high and 260 ft wide
at its summit. The wonderful web of scaffolding
and mechanical appliances by which this has been
accomplished are worth describing, inasmuch as they
show the manner in which the whole Breakwater
has been built. At the first glance nothing seems
easier than to build a Breakwater, though in reality
nothing is more tediously difficult or requires more
care. The tramway, which has to do everything,
is a railway of the most massive kind, but built
entirely of wood, and running out into the sea like
a pier. It is a scaffolding that must be built under
water, strong enough not only to carry its ponderous
loads of stone at an elevation of 90ft., but to resist
the action of the sea as well. Every timber must
be made waterproof, and many must be bolted to-
gether to be strong enough for one pile, and the
tramway, Breakwater, and fortification must ad-
vance simultaneously yard for yard. When all this
has to be done in 60ft. of rough, tumbling waves, a
mile and a half from the shore, it will easily be
seen that the work presents difficulties which do
not at first appear. One night's rough weather
often sweeps away the timber that has cost thou-
sands of pounds and months of labour to fix in the
se k. The timbers used are always rendered weather.
proof and wormproof—for a very destructive worm
exists in the waters of Weymouth—by creasoting.
This is done as follows :—On the works at Portland
is erected a boiler of immense strength, 100 ft. long
and 7ft. in diameter. This is filled with the largest
timbers that can be procured, and the mouth closed
airtight. A powerful steam pump then exhausts the
air, not only from the boiler, but the very pores of
the t imber itself. When the vacuum is almost com-
plete the creasote is let in from tanks at the bottom,
and then forced in by hydraulic power till the pres-
sure is at nearly 3001 b. to the inch. In this the
logs are suffered to remain for two or three days,
till the creasote has been forced into their inmost
fibres. When the logs have been thus prepared
they are built into tremendous beams by bolting
many together, till one huge spar is formed
weighing eight or nine tons, and some two or
three feet square. On the end of this which is
to go into the ground is fixed a powerful screw
of iron. The whole is then lowered into its
place in the sea till it rests on the ground, when
it is worked round by a capstan till the screw
has bitten firmly some eight feet into the earth.
Directly it is thus placed upright it is moored
still more firmly by many wrought-iron tieroads,
which are taken down by divers from the head
of the pile, and secured at the bottom to a number
of screws forced as deep as they can be into the
clay. One pile, however, is never set alone; three
or four are nearly always set at same time, so that
the moment the moorings are complete the group is
bound together by powerful cross timbers,which are
increased and added to, and bound with iron ties,
and under-trussed again, till the mass is strong
enough, not only to carry its loads of tons of stone
for " tipping in," but to resist the heavy onslaughts
of the waves. In the construction of the great North
Fort, at the end of the Breakwater, these piles have
been lowered in two tremendous double circles, the
inner one having a diameter of 112ft.,eorresponding
to the dimensions of the courtyard of the circular fort,
the outer one having a diameter of 224 ft. for build-
ing its outside walls. On the inner circle is a small
steam " traveller" and crane, and from the inner to
the outer circle comes an immense wrought-iron
radial " traveller," which, worked by steam,travels
rapidly, like a minute-band, round the immense
circle, and gives to the whole work the appearance
of being a wood-and-iron clock of
yet the most colossal
full work.
proportions, laid horizontally, but
Oat to this monstrous dial the
feedingwith their 60 or 80 trains run
rapidly along the tramway,each
tons of stone in tow. As they approach the dial,the
hungry steam " traveller" hurries round its great
circumference to meet them, and takes two or three
waggons into its
round
t ion
scteo, asn
overd th e n
thei s
capacious
away again,
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, till t y
precise spot where more " tipping is required,
when the waggons, as if by magic, rise on end, and
pour their blocks into the waves. From morn till
hera-
e
night all are buksiyndonfotrhitshegrmeaatssdeisald,ewalotrwkiinthg m
eahreinteoso reofuegehmaend ponderous to be influenced by the
mere direct labour of man.
In contrast with this busy dial above arc one or
two quiet boats beneath, the occupants of which
seem fishing, with such eager quietness do they
watch the lines they bold in the water. These are
the men looking after the divers beneath, for the
divers are now down every tide, carefully levelling
the masses tipped in, reporting where a little more
is wanted here and there, and making everything
ready for the massive courses of masonry which are
to compose the fort. These divers remain down at
their cold, dark work, sometimes in a depth of
70ft., for a whole tide, even when the sea is rough,
and tumbling heavily, and they can see by the
fluctuations in the gloomy twilight how the waves
are rolling above their heads. Only one accident
has occurred among these men during the progress
of the works, but that, like all accidents to divers
at such depths, was of course fatal. They report
that the foundations are now ready for the great
superstructure of the fort. This is to consist of a
solid column of stone, first of three slabs of" York-
shire landing," very large and thick, then of blocks
of Portland stone, and then of granite up to low-
water mark. On this the various departments of a
great fort will be built. The walls at the base will
have thickness of 41-ft. of granite and Bft. of

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