In the spring of 1782, however, a violent spate swept down the river, and in the course of a few hours the beautiful Hexham Bridge lay in ruin at the bottom of the Tyne. Writing to his engineer, he said:--"All our honours are now in the dust! It cannot now be said that in the course of thirty years' practice, and [after being] engaged in some of the most difficult enterprises, not one of Smeaton's works has failed! Hexham Bridge is a melancholy instance to the contrary...... The news came to me like a thunderbolt, as it was a stroke I least expected, and even yet can scarcely form a practical belief as to its reality. There is, however, one consolation that attends this great misfortune; and that is, that I cannot see that anybody is really to blame, or that anybody is blamed, as we all did our best, according to what appeared; and all the experience I have gained is, not to attempt to build a bridge upon a gravel bottom in a river subject to such violent rapidity." [Sidenote: Harbour-building.] Among his various engineering enterprises, Smeaton was employed in the improvement and construction of various harbours. His first work of this kind was at St. Ives, in Cornwall. Here he received much help from nature, which had provided a well-sheltered bay enclosed between two elevated headlands, known as the Island and Penower Point, respectively. Thus it was protected from the winds of the north, west, and south, and from the prevalent storms from the south-west, which beat with so much violence on the iron-bound Cornish coast. All that Smeaton, therefore, had to do, was to afford security for shipping from gales rising in the east and north-east; and this he effected by constructing a pier running nearly south from the southern angle of the Island. The port thus formed has proved of great advantage to the town, which is now one of the principal seats of the pilchard fishery, and the emporium of a busy mining district. Smeaton's skill was also called into requisition for many other harbours: Whitehaven, Workington, and Bristol, on the west coast; ye, Christchurch, and Dover, on the south; and Yarmouth, Lynn, Scarborough, and Sunderland, on the east. [Sidenote: A harbour of refuge.] His principal work in harbour-construction, however, was that which he accomplished at Ramsgate.