File:The gate of the Pacific (1863) (14762860802).jpg

Identifier: gateofpacific00pimb (find matches)
Title: The gate of the Pacific
Year: 1863 (1860s)
Authors: Pim, Bedford, 1826-1886
Subjects:
Publisher: London : L. Reeve & co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ort of the buccaneers,but at present a man-of-wars launch cannot cross thebar at all seasons; while Greytown, in 1860, onlycarried a depth of eleven feet over the entrance.The immense amount of mud and earth brought downby the rivers readily accounts for this gradual fillingup; but the regular action in the case of Greytownhas been hastened by an ill-judged interference withthe natural causes. Obstructions have been placedin certain positions near the mouth of the river, with * Tke currents are governed almost entirely by the winds, which, beingprevalent from the north-east, (trade wind,) almost invariably cause asouth-going set of the water, often running as much as three miles anhour. An easterly wind has been known to cause a northerly flow, but asoutherly wind is sure to turn the tide in the opposite, direction almost im-mediately after it springs up. The above rule holds good to the extent ofthirty miles off shore, where a westerly current is met with the greaterpart of the year.
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SILTING UP OF GREYTOWN HARBOUR. 67 a view to widen and deepen a favourite channel, butthe wishes of the ignorant designers have not been real-ized; indeed, quite the contrary has been the result.The rapid accumulation of deposit has been startling,and hastened materially the choking up of the harbour.It is very doubtful if any engineering efforts could saveit from shortly following the example of its northernneighbours, and becoming a shallow lagoon. In April,1860, I made a survey of the port, and, after reducingmy work to the same scale as the Admiralty chart con-structed in 1853, I placed my own plan upon it in redink; the effect was to show at a glance the encroach-ments of the land and the difference in the depth ofwater. The sand-spit, which forms the outer enclosureof the harbour, had grown towards the mainland, andtherefore narrowed the entrance two hundred yards;whilst the deepest water I could obtain between thepoints was only twelve feet, and that not continuousacross. This

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