William Hewitt

“ These arbitrary laws, enacted in the earlier period of England’s history, when ignorance prevailed, and barbarism allowed the honoured and the wealthy to impose exactions cruel and oppressive, on those beneath them, may possibly have in many instances, from humanity, been omitted. At all events, as knowledge advanced, we find that not only have those which pressed so heavily upon the poor industrious fishermen been cancelled, but that others have been reduced to an extent compatible with the necessary protection to property exposed to the pilferer, from lamentable accidents on the coast. ”

“ To combat successfully with so restless and powerful an agent as the ocean, requires great consideration and attention; for the obstacles presented on this coast are of no ordinary character. Among them may be enumerated powerful tides and currents, a confined space for a large body of water upon extraordinary occasions, cliffs of a soft yielding nature, a limited and irregular shore, with cavities and projections, either a dead flat or hollow descent from low water mark towards the cliffs, constitute a beach of the worst character. ”

“ As the moon travels, this vast body of waters rears upward, as if to watch its motions, and pursues the same constant rotation. However, in this great work of raising the tides, the sun has no small share, it produces its own tide constantly every day, just as the moon does, but in a much less degree, because the sun is at an immensely greater distance. ”

“ The shoals of sand in the offing, in certain localities, are numerous and irregular, their dimensions and situation variable, and while they afford a partial protection to the coast, are decidedly injurious to vessels liable to be stranded.
To make the sea subservient to our wishes, and agreeable to our design, in other words, to make it perform the duty of bringing its contents from the bottom of its waters towards the cliffs, to protect them, if possible, for ages, let us consider its auxiliary, the wind, the effects, whether beneficial or injurious. ”

“ Evaporation by solar heat is another cause of oceanic currents, of which the great current setting through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean, is a remarkable example. A stream of colder water always flows from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean. It must happen in many other parts of the world that large quantities of water, raised from one tract of the ocean by solar heat, are carried to some other, where the vapour is condensed, and falls in the shape of rain, and this, in flowing back again to restore equilibrium, will cause sensible currents. ”

“ The height to which tides rise, and the violence and velocity of the currents, depend in a great measure on the actual configuration of the land, the contour of a long line of continental or insular coast, the depth and breadth of channels, the peculiar form at the bottom of the seas—in a word, on a combination of circumstances which are made to vary continually by many igneous and aqueous causes, and among the rest, by the tides and currents themselves. ”

“ The rotation of the earth on its axis is another cause which can only come into play when the waters have been already set in motion by some one or all of the forces above described, and when the direction of the current so raised happens to be from south to north, or from north to south, the principle on which this operates has been long recognized in the case of trade winds; thus, when a current flows from the Cape of Good Hope towards the Gulph of Guinea, it consists of a mass of water, which, on doubling the Cape, in latitude 35°, has a rotatory velocity of about 800 miles an hour ”

“ The workings of Nature itself, under the control of an Allwise and Omnipotent Being, ever exhibit a restorative as well as a destructive power. Its laws and constitution being no where directly revealed to us, are only to be inferred from the inspection of particular facts, obtained from observation and experiment, the only trust-worthy guides to the knowledge of Nature. ”

“ The spring tides are highest and the neap tides lowest about the beginning of the year; for the earth being nearest the sun about the first of January, must be more strongly attracted by that body than at any other time of the year: hence the spring tides which happen about that time, will be greater than at any other time, and should the moon be new or full in that part of her orbit, which is nearest to the earth at the same time, the tides will be considerably higher than at any other time of the year. ”

“ There is still another way in which heat and cold must occasion great movements in the ocean; a cause to which, perhaps, currents are principally due. It is now ascertained that there is in sea water no point, as in fresh water, at which an increase of cold causes the fluid to begin again to expand. In the ocean, therefore, whenever the temperature of the surface is lowered, condensation takes place, and the superficial water having its specific gravity increased, falls to the bottom, upon which lighter water rises immediately, and occupies its place. ”

“ A single row of piles driven into the beach at right angles to the shore, wherever a shallow exists, will be sufficient, with plank fastened to them, to encourage the materials, brought by the tidal wave and current, to be retained and lodged against them. The length of the piles necessary, must depend upon the supposed elevation required, taking into consideration, not only the depth of the sand lying at the bottom of the shallow, but also the strata beneath. ”

“ If the latitude of the place and the declination of the moon are of contrary names, the inferior tides will be the highest. But the highest tide at any particular place is when the moon’s declination is equal to the latitude of the place, and of the same name, and the height of the tide diminishes as the differences between the latitude and declination increases, therefore the nearer any place is to that parallel whose latitude is equal to the moon’s declination and of the same name, the higher will be the tide at that place. ”

“ After his great discovery of the law of gravitation, he found it an easy matter to account for the whole phenomena of the tides. The moon, like all the rest of the planets, has been found to attract and to be attracted by the earth. This attraction prevails throughout our whole planetary system; the more matter there is contained in any body, the more it attracts, and its influence decreases in proportion as the distance, when squared, increases. This being premised, let us see what must ensue upon supposing the moon in the meridian of any tract of the sea. ”

“ The failure of groins, erected with pile and plank, appear to arise from their being placed in a wrong situation, from their not extending far enough into the sea, from the piles not being driven sufficiently into the beach, and from their sudden elevation, present an abrupt surface for the tidal wave to play upon, which during heavy gales of wind upon spring tides, cannot withstand its powerful effect, should the materials lying adjacent to or between them be removed. ”

“ The island continued under water some centuries, till at last the sea, by the same caprice which had prompted its invasion, began to abandon the earth in like manner. It has continued for some ages to relinquish its former conquests; and although the inhabitants can neither boast the longevity nor the luxuries of the original possessors, yet they find ample means of subsistence, and if they happen to survive the first years of residence there, they are often known to arrive at a good old age. ”

“ Upon these shores the sea seldom beats with any great violence, as a large wave has not depth sufficient to float it onwards, so that here only are to be seen gentle surges making towards the land, and lessening as they approach. ”

“ This gloomy picture may appear over-drawn; but, alas! it is too true and melancholy to think of, where such accidents are frequent, and likely to continue till time shall be no more. But there is a ray of hope, that the object which appears so difficult to accomplish, may eventually be attained by the industry of man, with the means given and transmitted from the acquisition of knowledge, through an Allwise and Merciful Creator. ”

“ The ebb and flow of the ocean is very slight in islands remote from any continent, as for example, at St. Helena, where it seldom exceeds three feet. Tides are remarkably high on the coasts of Malay, in the Straits of Sunda, on the open coast of Patagonia, along the coasts of China and Japan, at Panama, in the Gulph of Bengal, and at the mouth of the Indus, where the water rises thirty feet in height. Tides are greatest in any given line of coast, in narrow bays and estuaries ”

“ To facilitate this object, let a long tined harrow be fastened to the stern of a boat, which being urged by men, will loosen the materials on the surface of a shoal; and the flowing of the water will carry them, if the wind is in a favourable quarter, towards the shore, and thus will the beach become a consolidated body, with superabundant materials deposited at high water mark: these of course must be removed towards the cliffs. If the materials consist principally of sand, a plough might be employed with considerable advantage, turning the furrows inward towards the cliffs ”

“ Winterton is an ancient village, annexed to Horsey on the south, and within eight miles north by west of Yarmouth. It is sheltered on the north-east by a bold promontory called Winterton-Ness, and well known to the mariner as the most fatal headland between Scotland and London. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity and All Saints, possesses a fine tower, 118 feet in height, which commands an extensive view of the ocean. ”

“ Nature indeed, appears to have bestowed her favours with no sparing hand to render it a delightful retreat for the invalid—or those who require a relaxation from the noise and bustle of a city life—and for those who are desirous to prosecute their studies with ease and comfort, almost amounting to enchantment. ”

“ This, therefore, being conceived, it is plain that those waters which are farthest from the moon will have less weight than those of any other part on the same side of the globe, because the moon’s attraction, which conspires with the earth’s attraction, is there least. ”

“ The flat shores at Wells [48b] are considerably elevated above the depths of the ocean, into which they probably terminate in a gradual descent. The stranding of three large vessels off Winterton [48c] and Horsey, [48d] years ago, have possibly prevented its encroachments in these places.
When a vessel is stranded in shallow water, it usually becomes the nucleus of a sand-bank, as has been exemplified in several of our harbours, and this circumstance tends greatly to its preservation. ”

“ The kingdom of Holland seems to be a conquest upon the sea, and in a manner rescued from its bosom. The surface of the earth, in this country, is below the level of the bed of the ocean; and I remember, observes Buffon, upon approaching the coast, to have looked down upon it from the sea, as into a valley: however, it is every day p. 38rising higher by the depositions made upon it by the sea, the Rhine and the Meuse, and those parts which formerly admitted large men of war, are now known to be too shallow to receive ships of very moderate burden. ”

“ A lover of the picturesque would be amply repaid for the trouble taken to reach the platform, which, as before observed, describes a circle, the one half presenting, on a clear day, a beautiful marine view, the other a splendid landscape. ”

“ From local circumstances the tides are subject to great irregularities, such as meeting with islands, headlands, passing through straits, &c. In order that they may have their full motion, the ocean in which they are produced ought to extend 90° from east to west, because that is the distance between the greatest elevation and the greatest depression produced in the waters by the moon. ”