The port of Ostend. [Illustration: +The Maritime Station.+ (Ph. Nels).] The port of Ostend dates back to the 15th century. In 1445, Philippe-le-Bon authorised the inhabitants of the town to make an opening in the dike, in order to construct a fishing harbour. The latter was situated opposite the present port, i.e. to the west, near Mariakerke. At the end of the following century it was moved eastwards, the sea having opened up a passage on that side, in consequence of the levelling of the dunes for the construction of the fortifications. However, the maritime installations which, until the end of the last century, formed the port of Ostend, dated from the time of the Emperor Joseph II. They were completely transformed and considerably extended in 1898-1914, the work being almost complete when the war broke out. [Illustration: +Ostend. Place d'Armes and Hôtel-de-Ville+, _(Photo Nels.)_] The new vast outer-harbour communicates with the sea by means of a wide channel enclosed between two open-work piers. The channel is also connected by a powerful lock to an immense modern impounding-dock, over 200 acres in extent. The tide supplies the water necessary for flushing the channel clear of sand. The landing-stage of the Maritime Station borders on the outer harbour where the boats plying daily between Ostend and Dover were moored. Words cannot describe the scenes which took place here during the first half of October 1914, after the fall of Antwerp. At the approach of the German armies, panic-stricken crowds of refugees filled the stations and their approaches to overflowing, in frantic endeavours to get on board the ships that were to take them to Britain. _Quai de l'Empereur is prolonged, beyond Place du Commerce, by Quai des Pêcheurs which skirts the =Minque= (or +Fish Market+) and the =Bassin des Pêcheurs=._ The Bassin des Pêcheurs (Fishing Dock) is connected with the outer-harbour, which precedes the channel. Near by is the "=Minque=" (Fish-Market),--a circular building in which the fish is sold by auction daily, the proceedings being announced by the ringing of a bell. During the fine season the natives fish mainly along the English and Dutch shores, but go as far as the entrance to the Channel in the winter. Their boats are of the trawler type, fitted with conical drag-nets, the mouths of which, thirty to forty feet wide, are kept open by cross-stays. The nets are dragged along the bottom of the sea. _Keeping along the dock-sides, the tourist next reaches the old lighthouse at the end of the dike. Take Boulevard Van Iseghem on the left, then Rue de Flandre on the left, in front of the theatre, leading to the Place d'Armes, in which stands the =Hôtel-de-Ville= (see plan, p. 60.)_ The Hôtel-de-Ville, built in 1711, and restored later, after mutilation, occupies the whole of one side of the Place d'Armes, in the centre of the old city. The long façade was flanked at either end by high towers, only one of which remains.