The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 2 — John Shaqi
The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 2Finden, W. (William)
History
The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 2
Finden, W. (William)
Coasts -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works; Great Britain -- Pictorial works
The view of the Lighthouse, at the head of Berwick Pier (which forms the
vignette to our Second Volume), is taken from the entrance to the
harbour, about half a mile below the bridge. This Pier, the building of
which was commenced in 1810, stands on the north side of the river, and
is chiefly erected on the foundations of an old one, which is said to
have been built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. From the lighthouse,
which was finished in 1826, two lights are exhibited at night, the one
above the other. The upper one, which is of a pale, white colour, is
lighted from sunset to sunrise; the lower one, which is of a bright red,
is a tide-light, and is only displayed during the time that there is ten
feet water on the bar.
Berwick Harbour is not well adapted for vessels of large burthen, for
the greater part of the shore, in front of the quay, is dry at low
water. On the Tweedmouth side, near the Car Rock, is the best water
within the bar; and a vessel drawing from sixteen to eighteen feet water
may lie there at all hours of the tide without touching the ground. The
entrance to the harbour is narrow, as a bank of sand stretches out to
the eastward, from the Spittal shore, to the extent of nearly half a
mile, and approaches to within a cable's length of the rocks on the
north. When the wind is from the eastward, there is always a swell on
the bar; and the ebb-tide--more especially when there is a _fresh_ in
the river, in consequence of rain--runs out with such velocity that it
is impossible for a vessel to make head against it. Vessels bound for
Berwick, which cannot take the harbour in bad weather, usually seek
shelter in Leith Roads.
The salmon fishery forms a most important branch of the trade of
Berwick. About the middle of the last century, the fish used chiefly to
be conveyed to London by small vessels of about forty tons burthen,
belonging to Harwich and Gravesend, engaged by the London dealers; the
fresh-caught salmon and gilse were conveyed in wells in the hold, but a
large portion was sent pickled in kits. About 1787, the practice of
packing salmon in pounded ice was suggested by George Dempster, Esq., of
Dunnichen, then M.P. for Cupar, to Mr. John Richardson, a salmon-dealer,
of Perth, who immediately adopted it; and the next year the
salmon-dealers of Berwick followed his example.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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