The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-02 00:00:00

AQUATICS.

DOGGETT'S COAT AND BADGE.
This wager, nearly 150 years old, was rowed for yester-
day. The competitors on this occasion were :
Wm. James Hemmings
Wm. Riley ................
Thomas Goggan
Alfred Waller Blaekwall.
Samuel Short .....•
Edward James Wm. Wright Bankside.
The Ant prize ie a livery and badge given by Mr. Thu.

Doggett, deceased, to which the Fishmongers' Company add
a guinea. The second and third prizes aro respectively five-
eighths and three-eighths of the interest on £260 17s. 3d.,
formerly £2OO. South Sea Stock, left in the will of Sir Wm.
Jolliffe, the amounts respectively being £1 17s. 9d. and
£2 18s. 9d. The prize for the fourth man is £1 Ils. 6d., and
for the fifth and sixth men each Is., the last three given
by the company. I hese are the usual prizes, but this year
Mr. Frank Towers, of the Victoria Theatre, announced
that he should give the winner three guineas, and the second
and third men a guinea each, which were accordingly pre-
sented at the theatre last night. Mr. Dards, the bargetnaster
of the Fishmonger's Company, was, as usual, the umpire,
and got the men to their stations at London-bridge, whence
they had to row against tide to the Old Swan, at Chelsea.
Each had his cut ter with him, and three steamers crammed
with spectators accompanied. Hemmings was nearest the
Middlesex shore, and Wright nearest Surrey. There were
several false starts, but at length all but Short got away
well. For 200 yards Hemmings, Goggan, Waller, and
.and Riley had trifling leads, but then, as they settled down
more, Waller drew out and was 'well clear at Southwark-
bridge, Goggan and Riley being together, Hemmings
fourth, Wright and Short astern. At Blackfriars Hem-
mings had become third, and shortly afterwards Wright was
passed by Riley. At Waterloo another change had occurred,
Short, till now last, passed Riley, and drew up to Wright,
who was making desperate efforts to pass Hemmings. A
splendid race ensued among the whole lot to near Hung&
ford, when Wright went into the third place, and left Short
and Hemmings hard at work till the latter had to succumb,
and presently little Riley again passed him. Now they came
to Westminster-bridge, Waller and Goggan_ were still first
and second,
Goggan fast drawing on his opponent, when
being fouled seriously under the bridge, Waller went well
a-head, Goggan still remaining second, and Short rowing
up third. At this point Hemmings fouled the bridge
seriously, and Wright having done the same at llungerford
both fell dead astern. Waller now, as we have said, led
well, with Goggan second, and presently Riley passed
Short by reason of the latter hugging the Surrey shore.
At Lambeth, however, he rowed across the bight with a
splendid spurt into the third place, and Waller and Goggan
seeing him cutting down one man after another, began to
put the steam on more. By the Penitentiary, however,
Short gradually approached Goggan. He fouled two barges
in succession very heavily, and met with other mishaps, but
still he gained, and at Vauxhall-bridge was within a length
of his man. A. fine close race now followed to about Nine-
elms Pier, when after being level for 100 yards, Short rowed
into second place in a splendid manner. He now seemed
somewhat fatigued, but thergwas a long way to go yet, and
as they rowed along Thames Bank he slowly but surely ap-
proached the leading man, who was now rowing at his very
best, and at Messrs. Smith's distillery Short was over his
stern. A splendid race followed, Waller ever and anon
spurting away and then crossing his man when he found
him too close, but at length, when they had passed the Sus -
pension-bridge, and were within a quarter of a mile of
home, Short drew level, and amid deafening shouts, at last
went in front, and won by three lengths in three-quarters of
an hour from starting, against a very strong tide. Waller
was second, G oggan third, and Riley fourth, all close toge-
ther.

THE INTENDED NEW BRIDGE AT

BLACKFRIARS.

It is just about a century since Blackfriars-
bridge was first built, and very nearly a quarter of

a century since it began to show chronic symp-
toms of failure and decay. Its history is very much
the same as that of all our old metropolitan bridges

•viz., a cheap structure at first, but costing im-
.

mense sums afterwards to keep it in repair. Now,
however, further repairs are quite out of the ques-
tion. The safety of the public renders a new
bridge absolutely necessary, and we are glad of it,

Eor the new structure it has been decided to erect

in its place will be the finest and handsomest
of its kind in England, if not in Europe.

The plan for the erection of a bridge at Black-
friars began in 1753, while the never-ending im-
provements and repairs of old London-bridge had
almost completely stopped that venerable, but im-
portant thoroughfare. There were, of course, the
usual disputes and clashing interests in the Court
of Common Council of that day fitgrano 'whether

a bridge was wanted at all, and next, if wanted,
where it ought to be. Eventually, however, after
the usual delays, Blackfriars was chosen as the
site, and in consequence of a petition from the cor-
poration to Parliament in 1756 an act was passed
authorising the erection. The act further stipulated
that it should be so constructed as to allow a clear
water way of 750 feet, "and that no buildings ex-
cept the proper gates and toll-houses" should be
erected on the bridge. It also provided for " the
watching and lighting," and regulated the amount
of tolls to be levied upon the credit of which the

corporation were empowered to raise £30,000 per
annum till the whole estimated cost of the struc-
ture, amounting to £160,000, was cleared off. The
same act also empowered them to fill up the chan-
nel of old Bridewell dock, to arch over Fleet-ditch,
" and make sufficient drains and sewers into the
river." The Bridge Committee from a variety of

plans chose that of Mr. Mylne, a Scotch architect,
who had just returned from Rome, and under his
auspices the bridge was begun on piles, the first of
which was driven in the centre of the river on the
7th June, 1760. On the last day of October, in the
same year, the first stone was formally laid with
much state by the Lord Mayor, Sir Thos. Chitty.
Under the stone were deposited money in gold,
silver, and copper coins of the reign of George 11.,
together with the silver medal given to the archi-
tect by the Roman Academy. With these were
also placed a plate containing a Latin inscription
eulogising the political merits and social virtues of
the " great commoner," -William Pitt," after whom
it was originally intended the bridge should be
called. But long before it could be formally chris-
tened it was so well and widely known as Black-
friars that all attempts to alter its designation
afterwards were wisely abandoned. No less than 10
—ears and three-quarters were consumed in build-
ing.,
it, and it cost from first to last £152,840. The
bridge thus built is one of nine arches, and is 995
feet from end to end, with a carriage way of 28 feet,
and two foot-paths of seven feet each. The arches
are all nearly eliptical, the centre one having a span
of 100 feet, those on each side decreasing gradually
towards the shores, being respectively 98, 93, 83,
and 70, leaving a clear water way of 788 feet. The
curve of the bridge is a segment of a largo circle,
and the incline to and from it when first opened was
as steep as 1 in 16, though this impracticable hill
was subsequently reduced to the present slope of 1
in 24.

This structure would doubtless have stood well
enough to the present day, had not the corporation
been' again compelled to take to bridge building and
replace old London-bridge with the present superb
structure, which, by giving an immensely increased
water way, so added to the scour of tt, e Thames
that all the bridges soon began to suffer, and the
two oldest (Westminster and Blackfriars) to an in-
curable degree. The money spent in repairs on
each of these has probably quite amounted to the '
cost of a new bridge, but now, as we have said, re-
pairs to Blackfriars are quite impracticable, if not
impossible. The scour has deepened the bed of the
river under the arches in some places more than 10
feet, generally about seven feet. As the earth was
swept away from the piling the foundations of the
bridge began to sink. All the care and skill of Mr.
Walker have been unable to check this settlement,
which has now almost done its worst, for if any
fur-
ther subsidencb took place the whole structure would
o werful
go
int
btrhoekreinv,earn.d
is
Thoenelyenkterpetaurcphby the is almostp com-
pletelyt
imber centering built under it. It vibrates danger-
ously under the passage of ordinary traffic, and is
altogether in an insecure condition. It is- quite true
that it might stand for 10 years, but it might also
come in ti single week if any further settlement
was to happen. The Bridge Committee, under
Mr. Valiance, have very properly decided that this
is not a satisfactory state for one of the main
avenues to the city, and have therefore determined,
instead of wasting time and money in tinkering at
the old structure, to build a new and splendid one
at once. They, therefore, called on the principal
engineers in England for designs, and twelve com-
petitors entered the lists—Mr. Barlow, Mr. Brere-
ton, Mr. Goodchild, Mr. Brunlees, Mr. Joseph
k COI% Messrs. E. Bidder and E. Clarke, Mr. R. W.

67/
andson of the architect e
bridg der, Mr. Hawitahaw,
nie, Sir John Rennie, and Mr.Oage.
14 On Saturday last the committee decided non. con.a
to accept Mr. Page's design, and that gentleman
was appointed engineer for its construction. We
think the general public will cordially ratify the
decision thus arrived at ; for, judging from the
design as it now appears on paper, the new bridge
will be a structure of which all London may well
be proud. The whole design is one of impressive
boldness and magnificence. It will be built of
mixed granite and iron, but so arranged in its
architectural features as to be most graceful in out-
line, though enormously massive in all its details.
Never were such colossal proportions attempted in
any bridge before, though the slight curve and enor-
mous span of the arches give to the whole a lighter
and even more graceful effect than we find in the
lines of the bridge at Westminster. The design is,
in fact, as much superior in simple grandeur and
beauty to new Westminster as new Westminster is
superior to the ruinous old obstruction it has super-
bwe-
being
will coofn
the
bi set
goi
aonnt
cy
stpl e ean o f a2is• coh es
feet,,
sc
ee
(the
n 1 et
ia• onl et
40 feet wider than the centre arch of the grim and
funereal-looking structure at Southwark. The two
side arches will be 220 feet span each, but none
will have the high-shouldered look which is gene-
rally given to arches of this great width by making
their rise a high one. From the springing of the
arch to the crown will only be a rise of 20 feet,
which in a span of such extent only amounts to the
most gentle curve, and, in fact, when seen from the
river the outline will appear to be almost straight.
The spandrils of the outer rib on each side will be
closed, but filled up
with figures in bas-relief and
rich ornamental scrollwork. The cornice beneath
the parapet is of exceedingly boldeand handsome
design, with a parapet above of solid granite. The
piers, however, form the most massive and noble
looking features of the whole. These will be four
in number, all of granite, and of immense size,
width, and depth. Each on its extremity will be
surmounted with a column of polished red granite,
for which in size and massiveness we must look for
parallels among the rock-hewn temples of Egypt.
They will be Doric columns, 40 feet in height, 23
feet in diameter at base and capital, and no less than
18 feet diameter in• the column. Each of these,
though built hollow, will weigh upwards of 500
tons. Their capitals will reach to the summit of the
bridge, and it is intended hereafter to surmount
them with colossal groups of statuary. The whole
structure will only be a few feet longer than the
present bridge, but its width will be nearly double
—namely, 76 feet against 42. There will be two
foot-ways of 14 feet wide, instead of as now two
of 7. There will be two tramways of 8-1 feet each.
These will be in the centre of the bridge, leaving
two roadways of 16 feet each for the light traffic,
and omnibuses going and coming. The whole area
of road and footway will be nearly 78,000 feet, in-
stead of 41,000, the area of the present bsidge, which
cost per square foot of surface X 3 15s. 6d. The cost
of the new bridge is estimated at from £245,000 to
X 250,000, which is at the rate of rather less than
X 3 Os. a-foot, or, size for size, nearly half the price
of the old one.

The following table shows the length, area, and
!ost of each of the metropolitan bridges :

Bridges. Length) Width. Area. Cost. Cost per
square Ft.
Feet. Ft. In. Feet. £ s. d.
London 904 53 6 47,912 542,150 11 6 0
Southwark 800 42 6 34,030 391,000 11 510
Blackfriars 995 42 0 41, 90 157,840 315 6
Waterloo 1,380 41 6 57,270 579,915 10 0 0
Ifungerford 1,536 13 4 20,480 98,760 416 6
Westminster (()) 1,160 43 0 49,880 38'1,500 716 0
Vauxhall B4O 36 2 30,34 e 360,000 916 0
Chelsea
Westminster (N) 990 85 0 80,000 estimated 3 5 0
Blaekfriars (N) 9BO 76 0 77,000 245,000 35 0

Mr. Page expresses himself confidently as to being
able to do without a temporary bridge for traffic
while the new one is constructing. But, while we
do not venture to doubt that be will be able to do
this, we cannot help thinking that the old bridge
will require the most watchful care to keep it up at
all while the works around it are going forward.
The immense mass of scaffolding now round and
under New Westminster-bridge so impedes the ebb
and flow of the tide that the water, when flowing
up or down, is 12 or 13 inches higher on one side
of the bridge than on the other. When all these
obstacles are removed, as they will be by March
next, the flux and reflux of the tide will be so much
greater, and with this the scour of the river will be
increased in proportion. The condition of the sink-
ing piers of Blaekfriars-bridge, with works going
on all around them, will then demand the most
anxious care and attention.

The piers for the new bridge will be no less than
28 feet wide by 120 feet long. There will be two of
these built upon Mr. Page's plan for avoiding the
use of coffer dams, in the following manner :—Over
the whole area will be driven bearing piles of elm,
deep into the clay, at intervals of 3 feet apart.
Round this will be driven cast-iron piles to the
greatest depth to which they can be forced. These
iron piles are of a peculiar shape, and cast with a
groove in their side capable of containing the edge
of a slab of granite 21 feet thick. Between these
iron piles these immense slabs of granite will be slid.
to a depth of nearly twelve feet below the bed of the
river, and rising to low water mark. All the area of
the pier thus enclosed will then be carefully dredged
out between the bearing piles, and the slabs of gra-
nite, iron piles, and elm all firmly bolted together by
a series of iron do rods. The space will then be filled
in with concrete up to a little below low water
mark, where the courses of solid granite commence.
The whole pressure on the foundations will not
exceed three tons per foot, very much less than
half of what most of the metropolitan bridges
exert on their bases. The arches are to be formed
ce
ao
snit b
iron
rnoend .
up Atso i ion.
ell; etsht
e-
mofinwsrtoeurg, hthteaynwdicllasbteiroorn
crown of the arch, and the rest of wrought iron
ribs. Thus, of the 280 feet span of the centre
arch, about 100 feet will be of wrought iron. The
two smaller arches, (..f 220 feet, will have about
70 feet of wrought metal. In all, abou'. 5,000 tons
of cast iron, and 1,000 tons of wrought will be re-
quired. On the crown of the centre arch the city
arms, with its supporters, will be emblazoned ;
over the side arches the city shield. The ap-
proaches to the bridge will be wider and at a much
less steep incline than at present, the gradient being
reduced from one in 24 to one in 4.0, while the
highest part of the structure will be a little more
than 9 feet lower than the present. The
surface of the foot and roadways will be formed, as_
at Westminster, by buckle plates of iron fastened
layer of
between the ribs. Over this will be a
the layer
blocks of wood and asphalte, and overall
and
of granite pitching. Every rib .
girder will be
it gill be required
tested to about double the strain
to bear.
near proximity of d
his suspension bridges
whole
a fate to have some of his
the
c ihuexl
Chelsea
seems to be Mr.Patghhee:
best designs spoilt by .
rail-
way bridges, as Telford.
Meanlasio mwairthredmbry.
vtahgee Closet '
lion of the tubular bridges of Stephenson at
i position f
both places. Thus, I
at Conway and
Suspension-bridge has, since its completion, been
almost hidden by Mr. Fowler's railway viaduct,
and the still grander architectural design of Black-
friars will, in like manner, be hemmed in by
Cubitt's bridge,
which is said to come as near it as
100 feet or no. The latter is a real grievance, and we
weuld venture to suggest that, before the plans of
each have been carried too far to admit of remedy,
some arrangement should be come to to prevent the
fine structra e intended being utterly marred and
hidden. -Yio day has yet been fixed for the
ge
commen e,e.ment of the works, but as they will occupy
at least t2areeyears,no time should be lost in setting
about tb em. How the old bridge will bear the dis-
turb a.nee that must take place at its foundations in
sinning the piers for the new one, it is hard to say.
`;vetting the foundations for the railway bridge must
also, we should think, affect them materially, and.
ithis is another reason why there should be as little
delay as possible in commencing. In any case addi-
tional measures of precaution must be ta.ken with
the old bridge before next March, when the seal-
fc, 'Ming will be removed from Westminster, and the
so our of the river increased. It will, therefore, be
so much expense saved if this is done by means of
tbi e works of the new structure.

THE SUN.

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 2,18 M.

Immediately before the close of the session the
Officers of Reserve (Royal Navy) Bill has been
read a third time and passed through the House
of Commons. To ourselves this is certainly a
subject for profound satisfaction. If productive of
good in nothing else, the session of 1861 has cer-
tainly been productive of great and lasting good to
the'country at large, for inasmuch as it has wit-
nessed the passage of a bill of this kind trium-
phantly, and—unlike some other Government
measures that we all wot of (say, for example, the
Bankruptcy Bill)—unmutilated and unmarred
through both houses of the Imperial Legislature.
Through the medium of this bold and compre-
hensive arrangement, our maritime defences
have been enhanced, as directly as our land de-
fences have been enhanced, simultaneously, by
the permanent organisation of our self-supporting
National Guard, now from 100,000 to 200,000
strong, yclept the Rifle Volunteers. The en-
hancement of the maritime defences of the nation,
in truth, by means of the establishment of the
Naval Reserve at length secured to us, through
the medium of this sagacious enactment, is
in one sense more conspicuous and remarkable
than the enhancement of our military defences
through the enrolment of our already well-
disciplined Rifle Volunteers. For who, in
point of fact, are the men secured as a Re-
serve to the Royal Navy of England? Who
are they but the very pick of the finest body of
seamen in the whole world ? The flower and
glory and pride of the British merchant service—
that, and nothing less than that, may be said to
constitute the Naval Reserve secured to the country
henceforth through the admirable arrangement
recently adventured upon by the Legislature at the
ingegestion of her Majesty's Government.
Apropos to the final passing of this measure, in
the Rouse of Commons yesterday Lord PALMER-
STON expressed his opinion very sententiously,
and as we cannot but think also very conclu-
sively, upon a certain specious proposition recently
put forward by one or two persons of the most
opposite character well imaginable among the
ranks of our national representatives. The propo-
sition referred to being no other, in fact, than that,
in the first instance, extremely alluring one,
Rieht
sug-
gested only a night or two since, by the
Hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition—a
proposition, i n point of fact, that some negotiation
should be set on foot between the Governments of
France and England, with a view to the amicable
termination, as speedily as possible, of the present
gigantic rivalry between the two countries in
the augmentation of their maritime arma-
ments, Yesterday the hint which had been
incidentally thrown out a few sittings previously
in a brief and .impressive and (in the tone of it)
eminently conciliatory and statesman-like speech
by the right hon. Member for Bucks, had the rather
dubious advantage accorded to it of being reduced
to a definite and explicit 'query addressed to the
First Minister of the Crown by the Radical Mem-
ber for Brighton. Mr. WHITE observing at the
close of his remarks last evening, that " he would
ask when was the rivalry to cease, and could not
some understanding be come to between the two
countries to put an end to a state of things which
sooner or later must lead to a collision ?" In re-
sponding, upon the moment, to this direct inquiry,
Lord PALMERSTON admitted at once that the ques-
tion put to him by the hon. gentleman was "one
of great importance—namely, whether the British
Government could not enter into communication
with any foreign Government—for," said the noble
Viscount, " it must not be confined to France—but
with any foreign Government, with a view i o impose
a limit upon the respective forces of the two coun-
tries." -While, however, thus admitting it to' be an
important question—a question, indeed, of the ve,"3"
first importance—the PREMIER added that it wao
also one of great difficulty
may a" open to much criti-
C ourtesy, wepresume, alone pre-
venting the noble lord from designating it at the
same tiara utterly Quixotic, and at any rate at the
present juncture, cnatirely impracticable. think,"
"
the noble lord cei•tainly did acknowledge, that
although at the l irst blush it appears to, be a
practicable' thinb think that any Britixh

cism.