Kitabı oku: «The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1», sayfa 10

PORT GLASGOW

 
Here, safely moored, our vessels ride,
Here plies the busy oar;
And every ship that stems the tide
Brings treasures to our shore:
Here trade and industry command
The trusty heart and steady hand.
 

The ground on which this town has been erected belonged originally to the estate of Newark, and was purchased by the magistrates of Glasgow, in 1668, in order to provide a convenient harbour for the merchant-vessels belonging to that city – hence the name of Port Glasgow. In 1775, a charter was obtained from parliament, conferring on the town the privilege of a burgh of barony, and granting a constitution, which vested the management of its municipal affairs in a council of thirteen, including two baillies. By the Burgh-Reform Act, the number was reduced to nine, consisting of a provost, two baillies, and six councillors. The Reform Bill elevated it to the rank of a parliamentary burgh; and, in connexion with Kilmarnock, Rutherglen, Dumbarton, and Renfrew, it sends one member to parliament.

In its general appearance, Port Glasgow presents an air of much neatness and regularity. The streets are straight, and for the most part cross each other at right angles; while the houses, nearly uniform in size, and generally whitewashed, give to the whole a light and regular appearance. Among the modern buildings the town-house, and parish-church are chiefly deserving of notice. The town-hall, of plain but substantial workmanship, is ornamented in front with a portico, resting on four massy fluted pillars, and surmounted with a handsome spire, which rises from the centre. Of this edifice, the ground-floor has been laid out chiefly in shops; but the upper story, in addition to the chambers of the council and town-clerk, contains a large and commodious reading-room, with several apartments occupied as mercantile counting-rooms. The church was finished seventeen years ago, and affords accommodation for about twelve hundred persons. It is square in form, and plain in its exterior; but is much and deservedly admired for the simplicity and elegance of its internal arrangement. The wealthy inhabitants of the place did themselves great honor, and at the same time set a valuable example to others, by gratuitously contributing a sum of fifteen hundred pounds to assist in the expenses of its erection.

Attached to this Port are two capacious harbours, substantially built, and so completely sheltered from storms, that the vessels moored within them have rarely been found to suffer injury even in the severest weather. These harbours are furnished with ample quay and shed-room, and also with a commodious graving-dock – the oldest in Scotland. The largest vessels that trade to the Clyde are found at this port; such is the facility of access to this harbour, that vessels which draw twenty-one feet of water are towed up and down the channel with the greatest ease and safety.

A very important addition to the harbour accommodations of Port Glasgow was obtained a few years back in the erection of wet-docks. The then existing harbours having been found much too small for the increasing number of ships belonging to the port, the inhabitants of the town resolved to avail themselves of their local advantages, by converting the Bay of Newark, naturally adapted to the purpose, into a spacious dock, where vessels of the largest class might lie securely afloat in every state of the tide. The trustees of the harbours obtained an act of parliament, investing them with the necessary powers for carrying this desirable object into effect; and funds having been secured, they were enabled to commence the work, which was soon in rapid progress, and completed about twelve years ago. This dock, having spacious quays, with a twenty-five feet depth of water alongside, holds out special advantages to the trade, both in point of safety and convenience.

The charges levied at this port are on the most moderate scale, and considerably below the rates imposed at the neighbouring ports. To merchants engaged in trade with the Clyde, Port Glasgow thus presents the double advantage of low charges and very superior accommodation; while, at the same time, the privileges of the warehousing system are on a footing equal to those of any other port in the kingdom. Warehouse-room is provided on a very extensive scale, and is open for the general accommodation of the trade, on very moderate terms. In addition to the regular bonded warehouses, there is a large area for receiving wood into bond, and an excellent warehouse for crushing refined sugars, in which large quantities of that article are prepared for exportation to the Mediterranean markets.

Shipbuilding is also carried on at this port to a considerable extent: of late years the builders have been chiefly employed in the construction of steamboats, of which they have produced a great number, some of them of the largest class, and all of very superior workmanship. From the nature of the trade, the rope-work and canvas factory are here in a state of constant activity, and give employment to a great number of hands. The vast improvements effected within the last few years, by deepening the river, and extending the harbours and docks as already mentioned, give Port Glasgow just cause to anticipate all the advantages arising from a prosperous and extending commerce.

GREENOCK

"The Clyde, always spacious, and always covered with its shipping, offers a scene of life and brilliancy unparalleled on any of our sea-shores; and enhanced by a majestic screen of mountains to the north, for ever varying under the change of a restless atmosphere, but under all these changes, for ever magnificent!"

Among the principal sea-ports of the United Empire, Greenock is justly entitled to a distinguished place. Although of comparatively modern date, it has left many of its ancient predecessors and modern rivals in the background, and at this moment continues to advance rapidly in commercial enterprise and prosperity.

The recent formation of quays and docks of corresponding dimensions, affords to this harbour every facility for vessels of heavy burthen. The town possesses several handsome buildings, the principal of which are the church, the Tontine, or great hotel, and the Custom-house. Of the latter, with the immediate scene of commercial activity and forest of masts by which it is surrounded, the engraving opposite presents a vivid and faithful representation. It is a structure of great elegance, and, as an illustration of the chastest style of Grecian architecture, it would be difficult to point out a finer specimen either at home or abroad. The quality of the materials too is every way worthy of so fine a monument of national prosperity; and a fair estimate may be formed of the superiority of the workmanship, when we state that a sum of not less than twenty thousand pounds was expended in its erection; a fact which evinces at the same time the high importance attached to Greenock as a depot of the national revenue. The river Clyde is here about three miles broad; but, as also at Port-Glasgow, the navigable channel is little more than three hundred yards across. The bay is formed by an expansion of the Clyde, into which several bold points of land project from the northern bank, over which the mountains of Argyll, gradually receding till their summits are lost in the sky, present a landscape of almost Alpine beauty and magnificence.

In conjunction with the native grandeur of the scenery, the spirit of commercial enterprise, which is everywhere visible on the banks, as well as on the bosom of the water – transforming the one into a garden, and the other into a "high road" to prosperity, – impresses every spectator with the strongest evidence of its magical influence. Industry and activity pervade and animate everything around, and extend their influence into the remotest parts of the country. For several years past, Greenock has been the principal port in immediate connexion with America, to which the annual tide of emigration from the Highlands still flows, though with abated force, and a divided stream, since the golden hills of Australia have offered to thousands the vision of wealth to be acquired in a few months, and an independence to be realized in a single year. Here, grouped on the quay, sauntering along the streets, or viewing the distant mountains to which they are soon to bid adieu, the voice and features of the Gaël awaken a lively interest and attention on the part of every stranger. They have left their humble dwellings in those mountains, which still look invitingly in the distance, and which through innumerable generations had afforded shelter and sustenance to their ancestors, but whence they are driven at last, not by choice, but imperious necessity.

When tired or satisfied with the tumultuous scene on the quays, the traveller may ascend in half an hour the heights above the port, and there behold one of the finest views in Scotland. The gigantic screen of Argyllshire mountains, rising peak over peak till they vanish in the sky, forms a magnificent distance to the picture; while the middle ground is occupied by the broad expanse of the Clyde, gay and studded with shipping in every direction. Still nearer, the port of Greenock itself, crowded with masts and sails, and steam chimneys and buildings, forms an appropriate foreground to a panorama as variegated as it is picturesque.

That generous spirit of enterprise which characterises the merchants of Greenock has given birth to one of the most remarkable efforts of science and art which have been accomplished in modern times. This is the admiration of every stranger, and well known to the public under the name of Shaw's Water-works. By a singular combination of ingenuity and skill, a small stream of water is made to travel along the faces of mountains, and across ravines, for the space of six miles and a half, till it reaches the brow of a hill about a mile above Greenock, at an elevation of more than five hundred feet above the level of the sea. Here it is received into a small reservoir, and managed in such a manner as to produce, by this stupendous fall, a two-thousand-horse power, greater, says Mr. Brown, than that produced by all the united steam-engines in Glasgow. This splendid scheme was designed and completed under the personal superintendence of Mr. Thom, of Rothesay, to whose scientific and inventive genius it is a noble and lasting monument. The immense power thus provided is rendered more secure and certain than that of steam, because there exists no doubt whatever that a full supply of water commensurate with the power, can be had at all times and seasons.

THE BROOMIELAW, GLASGOW

The river Clyde, in a commercial point of view, is of the greatest importance, not only to the city of Glasgow, but to the whole western district of Scotland. Till the beginning of the sixteenth century, however, the channel of this noble river was so incommoded by fords and shoals, as to be hardly navigable even for the small craft of that day. Sensible of this great evil, and aware that it admitted of a remedy, the inhabitants of Glasgow, Renfrew, and Dumbarton entered into an agreement to excavate the channel of the river, and, by working six weeks alternately, succeeded in their enterprise. The principal ford and several others of less importance were removed, so that by the middle of the sixteenth century, flat-bottomed lighters could be floated with ease and safety to the landing-shore at the Broomielaw, which, in the process of time and events, has become the great commercial port of Glasgow.

A few years ago, the harbour of Broomielaw was only seven hundred and thirty feet long on one side; it is now 3340 feet long on the north side of the river, and 1260 on the south. Till of late years there were only a few punts and ploughs for dredging the river; there are now four dredging-machines, with powerful steam-apparatus and two diving-bells. The shed accommodation on both sides of the river is most ample; and one of the cranes made by Messrs. Claud, Girdwood, and Co., for shipping steam-boat boilers, is capable of sustaining a weight of thirty tons, and may, for the union of power with elegance of construction, challenge all the ports in the kingdom. For the space of seven miles below the city the river is confined within narrow bounds, and the sloping banks, formed of whinstone, in imitation of ashlar, are unequalled as a work of beauty and utility.

From the Broomielaw, till it begins to expand into an estuary, the Clyde is everywhere overlooked, at short intervals, by the rising hulls and finished decks of steam-boats and other craft preparing for the launch. Compared with the bulk of its waters, and the breadth of its stream, this river is unequalled for the amount and stir of its navigation. Here it is seen bearing along ships of heavy burden and deep draught of water; there plentifully dotted with yawls and wherries, and kept in a constant state of foaming agitation by large steam-ships, freighted with heavy cargoes from the shores of England and Ireland – by numerous coasting steam-vessels, careering over its surface with thousands of human beings, and by steam tug-boats, dragging behind them trains of sailing craft, too unwieldy to pilot their own way within its narrow channel. First in the practical working of steam-ship architecture, the Clyde may be safely said to maintain its pre-eminence over every other river in the world.

The Broomielaw Bridge, which forms so prominent a feature in the engraving, was begun after a design by Mr. Telford, the late celebrated engineer, and built by Messrs. Gibb and Son. It is faced with Aberdeen granite, and has a very gentle acclivity. It is 560 feet in length over the newals, and sixty feet in width over the parapets: it has seven arches, and is wider than any river-bridge in the kingdom.

Tides.– The tide at Greenock is two hours earlier than at Glasgow. At places situated near the ocean, the tide flows nearly as long as it ebbs. At Greenock it flows generally about six hours, but at Glasgow it flows only for five hours and ebbs in about seven; this, however, is modified by the winds. High winds in the Clyde affect the time and elevation of high-water; and by considering the form and course of the Frith of Clyde, it is obvious that a gale from a northerly quarter, by opposing the flow of the tide, will cause the time of high-water to be earlier, and the height of the water to be less, than would otherwise be the case; while a gale from an opposite direction, acting in concert with the flowing tide, will produce a contrary effect.

The merchants and citizens of Glasgow have ever been characterised as a loyal, patriotic, and generous people. When the country was suffering under civil war, they raised an armed force in defence of their civil and religious liberties, and when menaced by the enemies of their country they stood nobly forward in its defence. In times of local distress their liberality knows no bounds; and their support of religious and benevolent institutions has never been surpassed in any community. That the citizens of Glasgow have done honour to departed worth is abundantly proved by the monuments and statues erected in the city; and that their gratitude is not confined to the dead is daily evinced by their respect and admiration of living merit. Such is the testimony borne to them by one of their fellow-citizens. Such they are known to be in their intercourse with strangers; and none, we will venture to say, have ever spent a week in the precincts of the Broomielaw, and shared in its hospitalities, without a cordial assent to the city motto —Let Glasgow flourish!

THE SOLWAY FRITH, FROM HARRINGTON PIER

 
"The sun sets with a rosy smile
On Criffel's peak and Mona's isle;
The wave assumes a deeper blue,
The mountain wears a brighter hue,
And many a seaman on the mast
Unfurls his canvas to the blast."
 

Harrington is a small maritime village, about two miles from Workington, with a commodious harbour opening on St. George's Channel, which is a prolific source of industry to this portion of the coast. The outward trade consists chiefly of coal and lime, in both of which the immediate district abounds. The limekilns of Dissington, and the coal-mines of Workington are the sources from which these exports are obtained in excellent quality, and which employ a great number of hands in the several departments of mining, burning, carting, and exportation to the opposite coasts of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, where the cargoes are readily disposed of, and such articles selected for importation as the season, or the peculiar state of the markets at home, appear to recommend. In this manner a degree of local prosperity is insured, and another efficient nursery of seamen kept up by the spirited ship-owners in their regular intercourse with the neighbouring coasts. It is by the combined influence of such nurseries that the maritime power of England first acquired, and still maintains, her supremacy at sea; and to the thousand harbours by which she is encircled she is indebted for those naval victories which, under Providence, have preserved her integrity and independence amidst the shock of surrounding nations. The humblest fisherman on the waters of the Solway, if thoroughly skilled in the management of his trim-built craft, is not without his importance in the scale of national utility; for the same qualifications which give him superiority among the comrades of his hardy calling, would procure him distinction on the deck of a seventy-four. No effort should be spared to encourage nautical science wherever men and ships are to be found on our coasts. "Britannia rules the waves" only by those "hearts of oak" which have been so long and devotedly at her command, and her real strength and security consist, not in the number of her ships or their weight of metal, but in the education and discipline of her native seamen, whose uncompromising gallantry has long passed into a proverb. But from this digression we return to the subject more particularly under notice.

Harrington, it appears, was the hereditary domain of the ancient and baronial family of that name, the title of which became extinct in 1457. It was proposed to carry the railway, alluded to in our notice of Maryport, across the upper part of Harrington, by means of a bridge or viaduct; but the objections to such a measure, so far as it would affect the maritime interests of this place are insurmountable. The report of the committee appointed by the Lords of the Treasury to examine this subject on the spot is as follows: "The whole extent of this harbour is only seven hundred and sixty-two feet in length, and two hundred and twenty in breadth, and as it is used as well for a port of refuge as for lading, and there is an insufficiency of space for vessels to anchor and swing in, an artificial beach has been formed at the eastern or upper end, on which they are enabled to bring up. The proposed viaduct would cut off about a third of the harbour. This would not only be objectionable on account of its diminishing the capacity of the port, but also by its depriving the shipping of the artificial beach to which we have just alluded. The objection to curtailing the size of the harbour will be apparent, when we state that the harbour-master supplied us with a return, verified by the Custom-house officer, by which we find that in the course of the year, 1839, no fewer than five hundred and ten vessels used this port; and that during the gales of wind it was frequently so full that they were in actual contact from side to side. After well considering this part of the subject, we are of opinion that, whatever expense or other inconvenience it might cause, it would be necessary to adopt some other mode of carrying the railway past Harrington than that proposed."

The population of this port is gradually increasing. The number of shipping is also increased; and altogether Harrington may be pronounced as in a flourishing condition. The light now at the pier-head was first used in 1797, and is always exhibited when there is a depth of eight feet water in the harbour. It is a fixed light, hoisted upon a mast forty-four feet above high water, and in clear weather may be seen at the distance of ten miles at sea.