The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-10 00:00:00

1.-ACCESS

We have already briefly touched upon the respective facili-
ties of ingress and egress of the two parts, and have now to
adduce an analysis of the evidence on that point, together
with our own " experiences."
Southampton,—The passage of " the Needles," in making
a direct course, must be encountered both in running to, and
in sailing from Southampton. " When I go to Southamp-
ton, I always take the Needles inside, but I could not ven-
ture to run through them in foggy weather," says Captain
Moppett, of the steamer City of Limerick.—" I have known
cases in which the weather was so thick that I could not with
safety carry a large steamer from the Needles up to South-
ampton. I have myself been obliged to anchor inside the
Needles, and unable to rue on through the bad fogs, which
prevail a good deal on the south coast of Hampshire ; the
land is low and swampy, and thire is the New Forest covered
with trees • and where trees exist, there fogs hang and rains
prevail. If I was approaching Southampton in thick wea-
ther I should certainly not attempt the Needles at all; there
is very great danger in it ; • I should go round St. Catherine's
Point, keeping a depth of twenty-two or twenty-four fathoms,
stearing eastward, and by that means fall in with Dunnrose,
or 'perhaps very near it; then I must go round to Spithead,
and round the shoal there, and proceed to Southampton
within the island. Even a Cowes' pilot would not attempt
the Needles in foggy weather."—Mr. W. Walker, Queen's
Harbour-master at Plymouth. " One great disadvantage to
Southampton is that the Needles are generally capped, and
not to be seen in thick weather."— W. Long, Esq., mer-
chant of.Portsinouth. " I would not venture to run for the
Needles in thick weather, unless my position was clearly as-
certained. I have been obliged to go round the Isle of
Wight instead of making for the Needles.—Lieut. Hosken,
R.N., commander of the Great Western. " Vessels cannot
go through the Needles at all times."—Lieut. C. Claxton,
R.N. " The passage of the Needles is in many cases objec-
tionable, on account of the fogs that prevail, the very narrow-
ness of the channel itself, and, above all, the circumstance of
the tide not running parallel to the Needles passage. It sets
at angles with the channel: With an ebb tide there is great risk.
We lost a man-of-war in the middle of the day in going in-
there ; she sheered. went on the bank , and was lost. The preva-
lent fogs on the coast of Hants are more dangerous on account
of the character of the coast."— W. Walker. " I have seen
the Needles in such weather that I would not take a ship
through. In crossing the bridge at the Needles, the strength
of the tide is immense, and there would not be room for a ship
after breaking her sheer to come to again. The mail ships
cannot sail at all times of the tide from Southampton. The
Great Liverpool grounds at her moorings in Southampton
water, at the last quarter ebb, and the first quarter flood.
On one occasion she dragged the mud for a length of time in
the centre of the harbour." Lieutenant Slaughter, in
charge of the mails in the Great Liverpool, from Falmouth
to Alexandria. [The grounding of the Great Liverpool is
contradicted by a pilot's certificate offered by Captain Wood,
but it is scarcely to be supposed that Lieutenant Slaughter
could have been mistaken, as he was himself on board the
vessel at the time.] " There are fogs in every port of the
English channel after the rainy season, and they always last
a long time."—Captain Moppett. Several of the witnesses
concur in opinion that the ingress to Southampton is not
sufficiently buoyed and lighted. Captains Maill, R.N.,
Claxton, and others, say :—A floating light placed on the
westermost or " mist buoy." on the shingles, is required, to
make the Needles a pretty certain passage ; and the light at
Needle Point is too high, and frequently invisible. It ap-
pears also that there is considerable danger of collision in the
English channel. There might be times of the weather when
the steamers could not proceed to sea with the mails from
Southampton, Dartmouth, Devonpbrt, or Plymouth.—Capt.
Russell.

Liverpool.—As regards the capabilities of the port for na-
vigation, Liverpool would be a good station for the West
India packets. The Halifax steamers run from thence.
Except at dead low water, in very low spring tides, (on 30
days only in the year) there is depth of water at all times for
the Halifax steamers to come in and go out. The British
Queen and President, which are much larger, have sailed
from it, (drawing from 18 to 19 feet when loaded.) There is
not an instance du►ing the past year of any of the Irish
packets being prevented from leaving the port for want of
water, or from the weather. Vessels are never kept from en-
tering the harbour from bad or foggy weather, and consider-
ing the number of vessels, there are fewer accidents than at
any other port. Steam-boats can depart at all times, and in
all weathers. Vessels from sea may run in at all times with-
out delay. There is a new channel to the entrance of the
Mersey, opened on the 10th of October, 1839. The Victoria
Channel is very easy, and extremely well buoyed and lighted.
It has rather improved of late without being dredged. There
is depth for large steamers. The number of vessels that
passed through it in 18-10, was from 14,000 to 15,000, and no
accident happened to any of them. At the dock gates there
is 32 to 33 feet rise of the tide. The mail packets have fre-
quently arrived in thick weather at all times.—Lieut. Lord,
Marine Surveyor to the Dock Trustees.—l like the new
channel to Liverpool very well ; it is very easy of naviga-
tion, and well buoyed and lighted : they do the thing as they
ought to (1o; it is buoyed and lighted well. There is depth
for large steamers,—Captain Drew, one of the Elderßrethren
of the Trinity House, and one of the Admiralty Committee.
The same witness states, " Having made Cape Clear, there
is no difficulty in running up the Bristol Channel ;" and we
may add still less in running up to Liverpool, the prevailing
winds being from the westward. The writer of this has
come in from Dublin on a dark and hazy night, with perfect
safety, and on one occasion, while on board the Duchess of
Kent steamer, Captain Jones of that vessel, in proof of the
admirable disposition of the lights, piloted her so correctly
in the channel from the outer light ship, that we successively
passed every buoy on the starboard side, within a few feet of the
paddle house ! The whole channel is equally well lighted all
the way to Holyhead, as is also (with reference to a West In-
dia voyage), the south coact of Ireland from the Tuskar rock
to Cape Clear, the point of departure. Compare this with
the acknowledged fact that even a Cowe's pilot will not ven-
ture to take a ship into Southampton harbour in thick wea-
ther, and we establish a decided advantage over that port in
accessibility and safety. As regards access to the port we
need but add, as stated by Mr. James Aikin. merchant—" It
is perfectly sufficient for the purposes of navigation ;" and by
Mr. G. H. Lawrence, merchant—" The insurance at Liver-
pool does not indicate any peril coming in or going out."
In our next article on this subject, we shall adduce the
superiority which Liverpool possesses for landing and em-
barking passett►,;ers, &c., &c.