Star.
London, England, 1824-12-29 00:00:00

PRoPosEi)

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.
Silt—Although laid up along shore unfit for sea see)
vice, I yet keep a pretty sharp look out on all that
passes, and have not overlooked the-great Canal which
is projected for ships to pass through between the Eng-
lish and the Bristol Channels, without going round the
Land's End. Of lice, indeed, I have hardly done
anything else but think of it;. for as my bed-room
faces to the West, a situation I chose that I might bet-
ter hear the whistling of the and Mowing as it does
for five days out of the seven from that quarter,) and
which, when laying snug in a warm berth, is a com-
fort that no landsman can thoroughly feel or under-
stand—of late, I say, the westerly gales, which have
almost incessantly prevailed for these last three months,
have kept me awake many an hour, thinking of the
livid this great Ship Canal, when it is made, will do
to all persons engaged in shipping affairs,to merchants,
owners, and sailors ; the many hundreds of lives that
will be preserved by it; the shipwrecks that will be
'avoided; and the property that will be saved.—l do
believe, Mr. Editor, that there is hardly a master or
sailor, in any of our coasters that base to go round
the Laud's End, who would not cheerfully give up
a part of his' wages to promote the great undertaking.
I have mid the Reports of Mr. Telford, and of Cap-
tain Nicholls, at least such parts of them as have been
published in the newspapers. With the Engineer I
have nothing to do, not understanding anything about
his business; although, if he will make a good harbour
at Beer, he shall have my best thanks ; but to the Cap-
tain I have something tkaay. He seems to have made
his statements fair enough on the whole, a!though he
does not speak of this great Canal in the high: ter ms of
praise and commendation that every sailor ought to use
in speaking of it. Had he spent as many weary days
and anxious dismal nights as 1 have done, in beating
about off the Lizard and down Channel against wes-
terly gales, he would have expressed himself in a differ-
ent manner of the dangers and delays which vessels en-
counter in passing the Cornish Coast.
Perhaps. however, Captain Nicholls was right in
wording his Report so cautiously, considering the use
for which it was intended, and the importance of the
subject: yet I think he ought not to have overlooked
:ogle circumstances calculated to place the advantages
which the Canal holds out in a clearer point of view.
One of these circumstances so omitted by him, and a
most material one too, is the detention of vessels in the
ports on the English Channel by westerly winds.
For the last three months, there have been almost
uninterrupted gales from the Westward, many of them
very fatal in their effects ; and during all this time our
Western Ports, from Puttsmouth downwards, have
been crowded by vessels waiting for a change of wind
to get round the land. Now, if this great Ship Canal was
made, all the vessels bound for Ireland, the West coast
of England, and the Bristol Channel, would pass through
it to the Northward, free horn delays or danger, and
vessels would also come along it to the Southward, in
their passages from thence. Captain Nicholls might
have fairly stated that the detention in these ports is to
the lull as great as what he has estimated to be, at the
ports in the Bristol Channel, where vessels are some-
times wind-bound for thirteen weeks together, whilst
'the danger to life and property is greater; and the Ship
Canal will alike remedy the evils of each.
Having had a long experience in sea matters, I have
thought it right to give this explanation to the Public
in aid of Captain Nicholls' statements, lest it should be
supposed, by people unacquainted with the facts,
that he had reported more favourably of this great un-
dertaking than the truth would warrant; whereas the
fault I find with the Captain is, that he has been too
cautious or too backward in his statements, and has
net set forth all the advantages which will be occa-
sioned by the Canal.
Pray excuse the trouble I have given you, Mr. Editor,
and place it to account of the solicitude for the safety
and welfare of his country and profession, which must
always be fel; by