The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-17 00:00:00

HARBOUR OF _REFUGE AT WICK.

• (Prom the Morning Advertiser.)
We have already called attention to the great
necessitythere is for establishing a harbour of refuge
at Wick, not only for the protection of the fishing
trade, but also for the benefit of the vessels, British
and foreign, continually passing by the Pentland
Skerries, to which such a harbour would prove in-
valuable, while in case of a threatened descent on
our northern coasts, it would be indispensable for
our national defence. There would be but one opi-
nion as to this necessity, were it not for a project
that looks very much like a job in favour of Peter-
head, whose rival claims are patronised by the
authorities of Edinburgh, and have the benefit of
more industrious and skilful tactics than fall to the
share of Wick. It is of the utmost importance
to the nation that the harbour of re-

foga in the north should be placed where
it is really wanted, and will confer the greatest
amount of benefits and we therefore again call at-
tention to the subject, as the question which must
soon be decided, ought to be so settled as to occasion
no disappointment, and no vexatious discovery of a
mere job, instead of a great and useful national

work.
The whole question, in its present aspect, is dis-
cussed in a very able manner in a communication
from the pen of Mr. John George Sinclair, son of
Sir George Sinclair,.directed. to the Editor of the
John o'Groat Journal. Mr. Sinclair deserves the
thanks of his countrymen and of the nation for the
pains he has taken to sift the evidence taken before
the Harbours of Refuge Committee. He shows
how clearly, not withstanding the bias of some of the
witnesses in favour of Peterhead, the evidence
points to Wick as the only proper place for the pro-
jected harbour of refuge. Any one who had for him-
self to ascertain the merits of this case would be
obliged to wade through heavy blue books and
bulky pamphlets, as well as to collect many impor-
tant facts that have not been brought forward, and
c uld be obtained only by the expenditure of much
time and money. We are glad to find that Mr. J.
G. Sinclair has gone fully into these investigations,
and reduced the whole question to moderate di-
mensions ; added to which, he has demonstrated
the fallacy of those claims which have been ad-
vanced in favour of the Peterhead job. Wick re-

quired such an advocate as Mr. Sinclair, as, no
withstanding its unquestionable and exclusive
fitness to be the spot selected, it seems, as he
states, to have been supposed " that its peculiar
necessities and advantages were so self-evident,
that they spoke for themselves more eloquently
than the ablest advocate could do." Mr.
Sinclair has, in his luminous resume of the
whole question, furnished us with the means
of placing it in its true light ; and we hasten
to do so, in the hope that the public in this
part of the world will see where the truth lies, and
give to it their undivided support, as we are quite
satisfied that the subject is of sufficient importance
to ocoupy a large share of public attention
The clever tacticians who are fighting in favour
of Peterhead, seeing the undeniable claims of Wick,
have, wisely for themselves, proposed that a har-
bour should be constructed at each place. We
hope that this scheme will be seen through and ex-
ploded. There is no necessity for two harbours of
refuge on the north or eastern coast of Scotland.
Mr. Sinclair, alluding to this proposal, very justly
says, " I think we may make up our minds that
such an opinion will not be adopted by Govern-
ment ; that if Peterhead is selected, it is most un-
likely that we shall ever obtain a sufficient grant
for Wick, and at any rate not until we have ex-
haus'ecl in useless and, perhaps, injurious con-
structions the funds which we would more effec-
tually employ in utilising the benefits of the break-
water, nor until the general interests of the country
and our own local.ty have suffered irreparable
losses from the dangerous and unprotected charac-
ter of our coast." We earnestly protest, therefore,
against the attempt to settle these rival claims by
admitting them both. The decision must be in
favour of one or other of those places, not of both,
and it will be very easy to settle the matter wisely
and. for the benefit of the nation, if the facts ad-
duced by Mr. Sinclair are properly weighed.
Mr. Sinclair takes the evidence of Mr. Stephen-
son, the most important witness whose object is to
bolster up the claims of Peterhead, in favour of
which he has a sort of hereditary prejudice. This
gentleman, however, has too much professional
skill, and too much candour, not to admit that
" the claim of Wick to the protection of the
fishing boats is more urgent and important
than those of Peterhead." He also admits that
" the breakwater at Peterhead should be con-
structed concurrently with sufficient protection for
the fishing interest of Caithness" in which Wick is
situated), and says, " If not more than 100,0001.
should be appropriated to the construction of a har-
bour, Mr. Stephenson admits that it should all go
to Wick."
Let us notice more particularly what can be said
in favour of the Peterhead scheme by its most
earnest supporters. It is urged that the number
of vessels passing Buchanness outnumber those
passing by the Pentland Skerries by about five to
two • the number seen by day from the respective
lighthouses being 7,763 against 3,113 ; and that,
consequently, a harbour of refuge would be more
frequented, and would be of more benefit there
than Wick.
Now, it so happens, that these statements are
wanting in the element of truth and accuracy, and
that Mr. Sinclair has detected the deficiency of
these essential qualities. As the statement of this
gentleman is of such vital importance, we deem it
well to quote his own language ;—" Considering
the return of the vessels when passing Buchanness
by day to be fallacious, I obtained from the Light-
house Commissioners a statistical statement of the
numbers paying tolls fur Buchanness and Noss
Head respectively, and that, though even those
amended statistics are not absolutely to be relied
on, the proportions are materially altered in favour
of Wick—the number of vessels paying for Noss
Head being 5,157 against 9,975 paying for Buchan-
ness. whilst by comparing the tonnage, which is ob-
viously a safer guide, we have 713,609 tons paying
for Noss Head, against 1,112,631 paying for
Buchanness ; the proportion against Wick being
thus reduced from 5 to 2 to about 3 to 2 ; and I
may add that, whilst nearly all the tonnage attri-
buted to Noss Head passes close to Wick, not one
in fine of the Baltic vessels which are placed to the
credit of Buchanness, ever sights that point. This
I have ascertained by inquiring from the leading
Baltic merchants at Leith."
To this correction in the statistics drawn up
in favour of Peterhead, Mr. Sinclair adds other
considerations, by which their assumed importance
is considerably reduced. He shows that vessels
passing Buchanness need not be compelled to sail
in unpromising weather, as it would be easy to
foresee the sort of weather they might have before
arriving off Peterhead ; and that even when off
that point, in A storm, the vessel has the advantage
of an open sea or shelter, either iu the North-East
or South-East bay. It is not so with a vessel in a
gale off Wick, kbound for the Pentland Frith,
which, to avoid a lee shore, must run out of her
course to the Orkneys, or the Baltic, or backwards
to Cromarty or the Forth. Mr. Sinclair ob-
serves that " the map will show any one that a
vessel off Peterhead has nearly twice as much cir-
cumference of open sea as a vessel off Wick, going
north, which is hemmed in on all the west as by
a wall of beetling cliffs, by the Caithness coast
and the Orkney Isles." Our readers who will
take the trouble to glance at the map will see the
correctness of this statement, and will discover
that Peterhead is a pl tee where a harbour of refuge
is not wanted, and that Wick, with its northern
aspect and dangerous surroundings, is the spot
where it is essential for the salvation of human life.
As the question is now pressing for a decision,
and of the most vital importance, we shall imme-
d ately return to Mr. Sinclair's important state-
ment.

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