The Sun.
London, England, 1807-10-09 00:00:00

;the outward blOtks or extremities of each line of
bloCks, with a strong boom or chain which can
here be used with great effect, as it will ride paral-
el with the tide and not across it. ..It will then
be evident that, a ship coming to New-York must
. change, her course,, and stand directly for the fort,
-and it is almost *certain, that her ,crossing •the, tide
so much impede her way,. that the chain
would critirely.arrest.her progress,. when .she would,
be swepLby.the current directly on the blocks, and
left lat the mercy Of the fort.
• vTf•iteshottlit..be-rhought
.necessary, and admitting
that this chain might possibly be forced, a like
range of `Necks
,might he made (our hundred yards
to.-tbe north of the last mentioned line, to'extend
into the channel two hundred yards, and be can-
neCled in the same manner as the first, with a boom
and chain • . tys would again oblige a vessel to alter
i~r.4?Lirs, and stand dirq,tly from the fort ;- jeer`l.l)e.adc:c:ay by thiVarue would be sci .impeded tat
ti second' clsaiu would certainly Stand.
It May be said that:a Fleet of Ships would 'take
" the P,ort, and
.then remove the obstruCtiOns. This, is
p.dolitted tole possible : but if the fort be well de
... fended, and 'of suitable Strength, with the aid of
gun-boats, which can here be used with great ef-
fee.t, it is reasonable to believe the Fleet would
15ealso eripplect, and 'some of them destroyed,.._
Wbat then. would be' their situation ? they Can-
fild the' Fort; for •it entirely CoMmanded
'by4th'elVvorks on
.Bedlow's Bland, and it cannot be
.supposed they'WbUld'ittempt to• cotne to town in
their disabled state, 'to enconnter other and more
•cmilfertatts Mid.powerfulfohifications.
The plan of defending. the City of New• York
by sob-marine obstruCtions, has been objeaed to
on sere) al grounds.' First, it ,has been doubted by
whether 'blocks can he sunk where the wa-
ter:is Sixty feet deep, ,and if they can be'sunk,
Wllether they will stand the force of 'the current
and :the storats. Second, that by placing obstruc-
tions, in the channel to such an extent, it will have
injurious efrea upon* the current, and probably
the ebb and.fln* of the tide. Third, that if
they..could be sunk 'and made to stand, and would
HhaVe on .bad erect upon the • tide, the worms in a
:feW..yearivwould destroy the timber, and the Stones
!!.reoilld fall.outy when it would require the. same ex-
;: pence to renew them' again.: And •fourth, that
Providence .has given us one of the best har-
rinurs 'in.. the world, 'and these obstructions would
:exceedingly injure the passage of Ships going
out., and coming in, and they Would occasionally
„get. on ti)ese blocks, by which they might be injured,
_.car

,
As to the first objeaion, it is answered, that up-
, on ;inquiry from the most 'experienced dock builders,
they assure us there is no difficulty in sinking blocks
y4;.iere the water does not exceed 60 feet in depth,
and they have no doubt of their resisting.. the force
of current: See almost daily blocks of only
thirty feet-square stink in the 'East and North Ri-
ovrs opposite the city, where the water is thirty-
:: Ave :orlorty feet deep, .and .the current .opposite to
-Alie::town is much stronger than it' is in • the bay,
;he obstrutitions are. contemplated to be
• made. Old mariners .assert, that the agitation of
water, in a, storm is- principally on the surface, and
Alio hat= of the sea is not disturbed in,• any pro-
:Portion 'to the surfave ; this. being the case, there
.cart; nu danger arise from storms, as the blocks will
.not-bu within ten feet of the surface of the water at
low tide. '

The soeond objeolion has more weight, as this
is a .new thing, ;and we. Itave. no experiene. to
us. it should have the injurious .effea
upon the tide to 'the extent that some suppose, the
_pbstrtidionsrought cert.linly tb. be abandoned ; as
.we have no' guide to dirett us, every one: must
,ex.,TLI,;,: his own judgment. Vow-- Committee
hotyover; Vitri.o4lS liws, that the
I).u)lLl'mttld may Itave some data to torn .an
opi-
litPa.

It will he .observed, that, the extent of the bar-
hear from fled Hook on Long lslan t, .to Cowan's
,roint, on
.the Jersey shore, is near four miles , that
the distance of the obstruaions contemplated to be
,ma!le, is about- of and an half miles ; that the
tale np only
,half the space as fat as they go,
*nd that they de not, come within ,ten., feet of the
.surface at low water 5, and the whole column of we-
ter, flowing between Long Island- and the Jers4
shore, at low water, amounts, to 00;050 square
feet, and the proposed obseralious amount to
77,00 e square feet ; not one-quarter of the whole.
column of the water will be °Whaled, and if the
, number of square feet be taken at half tide, the
ahstralions will only be one-sixth part of the whole
Aimee. ,would appear, from these calculations,
that the obstructions could have no injurious et-
re& upon the ...ebb and flow of, the tide; the
kroun't and the wharfs made on. the East side of
e,ty have contracted the Rivermore than one-
quarter of its origilial. breadth, and our Piers now
Lit in the deepest part of .the River. It has not
been . observed, that the tide flaws less at this time.
at Hell Gate. than it ,did re century past. The cure.
no doubt, is stronger opposite the town thin
it, was formerly ; bat it is believed that she same
qteintity of water passes in the rover now that
did nefore the river Wfit4 contracted. ,
The third onjeCtiopis against the durability of the
bleAiee Your Committee hate taken pains to exa-
Mine some of the eldest wharfs in this city.
The Crane Wharf, whieh'has been built about 16
lears, has been. searched under water at low tide ;
the timber appears to be perfectly sound, and net
the 'least decayed. We have examined 'another
iiiharf, which was said to have been built previous
to the revolutiop, the' timber of which appeared to
e soutid. There is no doubt there are worms in the
u tuber ; they make •small holes into the logs where
they enter, but do not entirely destroy the wood,—
terurn the infortnation of dock-builders who have
broken op old docks that have been built fifty years,
the timber sorne distance below low-water mark
liLis been little worm eaten, but such parts as the
stenes have covered, have'nut been touched by the
worM3, and wore as sound when put into the
yrharf. '
'the fourth and last objection, that it will injure
the ,navigation, it is answered, that
..there will be,
water sufficient' Ibr tiine7tenihs of our vessels to sail
the oWtrations, and'such as'require a larger
drA' of worer, at• times when the wind. is fair,
can pass: t re`e; 1 the space of, eOQ yards intendea
be left' unotistructed; Wt it may sometimes happen,
*I:le:a the wind is a-head, the ship will lose a few