Library of Universal Knowledge, Vol. 3 of 15: A Reprint of the Last (1880) Edinburgh and London Edition of Chambers''s Encyclopaedia (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Library of Universal Knowledge, Vol. 3 of 15: A Reprint of the Last (1880) Edinburgh and London Edition of Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Many su stitutes have been proposed for solid breakwaters, such as floating break waters constructed of timber framework, open iron screens, etc., but none of them have been shown to be suitable for actual practice. Close timber-work, filled in with stones, is found to be quite efficacious; but on most of our coasts the timber is liable to be eaten by the marine worm, which is an almost insuperable objection to its being used under water.

Breakwater (ante). In the United States the only important work of the kind is at Lewes, Del, at the entrance of Delaware bay. A breakwater was resolved upon in 1828, and the next year the site was fixed at cape Henlopen. In 1870, the engineer reported the completion of the harbor according to the original project devised more than 40 years ago. In the year after the completion, more than vessels visited the harbor, and since its first use in 1833, about vessels of all sorts have sought shelter or trade behind the Delaware breakwater. A recent report says: Let a threat ening sky foretell the approaching storm, and a few hours will sufiice to fill a previously vacant harbor. Let a north-easterly storm continue a day or two with severity, and the harbor becomes crowded entirely beyond its capacity. Its present capacity is deter mined by the space that is shelters by the B. Proper. This is a strai ht line nearly half a mile long, and may be taken as the diameter of a half circle behin it, the area of which will represent approximately the sheltered harbor. North-east of the B. Is the ice breaker structure, a quarter of a mile in length, with an o ning of about the same extent, through which the sea rolls without hindrance. Wit in the past five or six years this im ottant work has been much extended and improved. It is altogether of stone, in tubb e-wall and more finished work. There are finished or in construction several B. 's in the northern lakes, for the most part made of timber cribs filled with stone.

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