The principal works were those connected with the harbours situated upon the line of coast extending from the harbour of Peterhead, in the county of Aberdeen, round to the head of the Murray Frith. The shores there are exposed to the full force of the seas rolling in from the Northern Ocean; and safe harbours were especially needed for the protection of the shipping passing from north to south. Wrecks had become increasingly frequent, and harbours of refuge were loudly called for. At one part of the coast, as many as thirty wrecks had occurred within a very short time, chiefly for want of shelter. The situation of Peterhead peculiarly well adapted it for a haven of refuge, and the improvement of the port was early regarded as a matter of national importance. Not far from it, on the south, are the famous Bullars or Boilers of Buchan--bold rugged rocks, some 200 feet high, against which the sea beats with great fury, boiling and churning in the deep caves and recesses with which they are perforated. Peterhead stands on the most easterly part of the mainland of Scotland, occupying the north-east side of the bay, and being connected with the country on the northwest by an isthmus only 800 yards broad. In Cromwell's time, the port possessed only twenty tons of boat tonnage, and its only harbour was a small basin dug out of the rock. Even down to the close of the sixteenth century the place was but an insignificant fishing village. It is now a town bustling with trade, having long been the principal seat of the whale fishery, 1500 men of the port being engaged in that pursuit alone; and it sends out ships of its own building to all parts of the world, its handsome and commodious harbours being accessible at all winds to vessels of almost the largest burden. [Image] Peterhead It may be mentioned that about sixty years since, the port was formed by the island called Keith Island, situated a small distance eastward from the shore, between which and the mainland an arm of the sea formerly passed. A causeway had, however, been formed across this channel, thus dividing it into two small bays; after which the southern one had been converted in to a harbour by means of two rude piers erected along either side of it. The north inlet remained without any pier, and being very inconvenient and exposed to the north-easterly winds, it was little used. [Image] Peterhead Harbour.