Star.
London, England, 1829-04-28 00:00:00

ARRIVALS.

The Bishop of Chichester, in Park-square, hobs Windsor Castle
the Duke of Norfolk, from his seat, Fornhant, Suffolk ; the Duke
of Manchester, front Kimbolton Castle; the Utak. and Duchess
of Richmond, in Upper Brook-street, from Newmarket ; the ?Jar-
gon and Marchioness of Lanulown, from their vMa at Richmond t
the Bari and Couture, of Lansdale and family, from their seat.
Cottesmore, Rutiandshire; the Earl and Countess of Sewn and
the Ladies Moiyneus. from Newmarket; the Esri and Countess
of Dartmouth, in Cavendish square, from their seat. S.ndwells
Staffordshire ; Lord Stow.:ll, in Graltou-street, from his seat in
Berkshire; the Earl of Ileshoroush, in St- James's-square, from
Susses; Lord anal Lady Anson. in St. James's aquas., from New-
market ; Lord Lilford, in Berkeley-street, from Northampton;

ON SEA WALLS. PIERS, •$D BREAK WATLag.

- - .
TO THE EDITOR.
•
8, Oaremont.equare, Latino, April U. 1 829,
Sim—With reference to my communicetkin to you or the yeth
of December last, containing a Meter to the Nate of Wg‘Livcivi.
which I sent for palication at hie Glace!, recommendation, L pew
transmit to you a very abort description of the midi l!prop Ise rer
constructing St* WALLS, Ptans,iond ilasauwaveat. The
grossing subject which bas fur some months occupied the putgit
mind, and the extreme difficulty of compressing into a tolerably
small compass, a subject upon which my antes are voluminous an
my mind full, hive remitted me hoes sending it sooner.
Hitherto, in the constroction. of Sea Walls, Piers and Bleak.
waters, espeelJny the two kw, great care has been taken to bbtain,
or, at great expense, to lay a good foundation,' to hew the moues
smooth, to make close joints, and to um the best cement.
humbly but confidently subatit,lbat where the foundation is to he
considerably under low water of spring tides, tt Is. in Almon every
instance, superfluous to be at any expense to Ity the 81.1:1,11eiee.
and that hewing the stones, making cl,nte joints, and tr.ing
Is, in every Instance, where the building is intended to relit watt,
violently agitated, incurring an enormous exp.use, to 4.1 who Is
incalculably injurious. It is in tact aiding the water to delttey the
structure.

The late justly celebrated Mr. Rennie, In the immense works at
Plymouth, Dublin, Port Patrick, &c. adopted the mode of threw.
ing in loose stones, and letting them find their own has:, for die
purpose of forming a breakwater ; burg u» fortunately, even his
splendid genius seems not to have adverted to the circamxaoc•,
r that if an impetuous billow can move a stone the millionth part oi
an inch, that atone, sooner or later, must become a toiling stone;
and therefore all those noble structures abovememioned most, is
process of time, become heaps of rolling stones, unless the outside
shall be secured for some distance under low water of sprits.; tide.
If throwing in stones promiscuously could form a permanent break.
'water, there would have been many in the world, because misty
prom ,musses and cliffs have been thrown into the sea. and yet no
where does there ezist a natural breakwater of loose stones.

When a large body of water, vi 'lenity impelled, passes or recedes
.from a solidboty, a v•. oum 14 formed if the depth of the water as
muskier:Ole, or if it acts near the miriade, a hallow filled with air
Y formed. In either case the power of suction, as it is popularly
Salted, is great, caused by the total or partial rem iv4i 4f the at.
mospheric or hydrostatic pressure. hi the first case it may be called
tremendous, being no less than d.ltie pounds on stay superficial
toot. What an immense torte, therefore. must the•susiden recoils(
a large wave exert ou the dotter strata of a deep sold Sea Wall,
Pier, or Breakwater. Tisk eaplains the reason why these stroc-
tures almost always give way at or Deli the tuundetina ; am, are
pilled down towards the stormy Sea, unless the Sea makes a breach
over the Wall, in which ease the projectile force and the power u(
auction are both tutted in the same direstioo, and then the drogue.
dim becomes very rapid.

When a large wave la viaLmtly impelled against a solid boinits
projectile force acts in two ways. Pier. by noinigessinl a V ►;else
or plate of air. and pressing Ibis elastic and expunge.: Bad against
the resisting body ; and secondly. by the blow which a large tonna
body of water gives %bon violently impelled.

To prevent the injurious effects of suction, it is only necessary to
construct the SU wail, pier, or breakwater, with as Maly Witt.
slices as possible, communicating freely with the Open air above
high water, so that the recoil of the wave may always•be Colima
by the air, and thaw preierve the atmospheric egoilibriem.
The first abovernendoned injurious effect of the projectile power
of water, by forcing against a lei wall, pier, or breakwater, a com-
pressed volume or plate of air, is completely prevented by forming .
the interstices already mentioned ; and to prevent the ',mid inju-
rious effect, it is proper to present as Irregular and pointed a sur-
face as possible—hocasse it is only when water is kept Is a large

body that it is to very powerful—the instant that it b separate.'
into small particles, and mixed with air, which is a compressible
substance, Its great porter is destroyed. It is well bums so tile
poor flaberseen on the coast of Scotland and Irallesd. that a whin
boat bald over the gunwale of a boat, is' sabre penverbd to guard
off a threatening wave than any other bulwark.

Having in thine preceding observations shortly stated my ideas
how violently agitated water acts, and the precautions necessary to
guard against its injurious effects. I will still mote shortly state
how I propose to carry the latter into effect, which is merely to
construct the sea wall, pier, or breakwater, or at least those sides
which have to rook the sea, with large irregular, pointed, bard
stones, built up like a pile of cannon balls. 'By these simple means
all the benefits I have mentioned will be obtained, and nothing but
the decay of the stones, human agency, or a convulsion of nature
can injure the structure. It will be as permanent as the buildings
In Egypt, and the sea, instead of rising to an immense height when
it strikes, will be found only to ascend a few feet in a solid body;
all that rises higher will be mere innocuous froth and spray;
By such structures every condderablis harbour in the kingdom
could be easily made acces,ibk at all times of the tide, every part
of the coast protected from encroachment, and immense tracks of
rich land gained, which would both add to the wealth of the nation,
and give employment for many years to hundreds of thousands of
the labouring poor, as is mote particularly pointed out in my for-
mer communication.

Mould these übwrvations eidte public attention, f strap betted
to furnish a more detailed account of my plans for any periodical
work, the &Moro( which may be desirous to give it insertion.
I am, your most obedient humble servant,
DAVID GORDON.

LIVERPOOL, APRIL 23.

Monday and • last evening the concluding Concerts of oar
present season took place here. Madame CA KAMM, whose
voice, retaining all hi; original sweetness and Sexibility, has
acquired great additional power due her last visit to this place,
delighted' the audience by her execution of " II bractio nob,"
" Ab the foist," " Una yaw poco fa," the French and Italia.
duets, with • Batiass, .1 0 Seto monsente," " Ala se paid;
some English songs, and a French romance Several of these pieces
VIM encored. Mr. Mtwara, of the Royal Academy of blade,
led the Concert, and played several concertos extremely Wen.—
Several mince performers. vocal and in.truntental, exerted their
talents very creditably, and in fact these Concerts, especially the
last, which was fully attended, seems to have afforded great aid
general satidaction. .

The sum of 89,4701. has been voted by Parliament
for the payment of Conseb-General and Consols, and for the psalms
of those retired. for the present year.
At the Leeds " Spring Meeting" nn Monday, there
were four races announced : for the Ant there were en bones—
for the seated an spett—for the third no competkisoT-sed kw the
fourth as entry.--Lute ifereary.
Lord NennunT, on hearing of the proposed &sore
to the Doha at Wisanknett, le canariee's* of his Grass's has
midget to the Catholics. obsorved—•• fair—the Ake
will get a ski enciet a slegule."
We ate informed that the Sheriffs have su.psnded
their titers, Levy and Nathan, who were toyed " racy" so
Thursday last. at Westralostar. of a gross assault esillinittsil ss
Mr. Beam.

The weight of materials annually employed by die
manufacturers of crown glass in Great Bei.ain appear,'
from the mile returns, to amount to ab0ut22.1300 COM

Mr. WILKIE Still continua at Windsor Castle, and
is honoured with a sit*. by his MaIIIVIT daily. The piton
of the Use now pi*. by this celebrated artist is a ?Wmdih
portrait, is the td cestonse, ths flame as worn by his Sammy
when at Holy Home, where kis destined to be tamed, as"
copy of sheaths, will decorate the corridor of Windsor Cask.
There is now in London a gentleman, who. at the
Cope 01 Good Hope, shoot 15 months ago, rode a match of 110
miles in wen Mars, apes sh hock bongo: • Taking the rood. air
mate, &c. into topside:mien, dais match woe Sally u arduous Is
esdatakiness it would be to ride from Loudon to York (a dismal*
of 197 miles) lo um boors, span an unlimited samba albinos.