Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S 49

Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S 49

As soon as I got on board the vessel weighed anchor. The night was fine,

so that we reached the offing of Figuera, at the mouth of the Mondego,

about noon the next day. I was met on landing by the captain of the port,

who had received intelligence of our coming, and on account of the heat

we were obliged to take refuge in his house, where he exhibited all his

plans, and the measures which had been taken to improve the bar at the

entrance, which, upon the whole, as far as they went, were satisfactory.

After a couple of hours’ rest we took a boat and sounded the bar, upon

which the water was very shallow. There was a very extensive reservoir

for tidal and fresh water within, which, under proper management I

considered might be rendered very valuable in deepening and scouring

out the entrance, and in lowering the bar; but at low water there was

a narrow channel, which was constantly changing, so that there was

no good entrance, and consequently neither the fresh nor tidal waters

could be either admitted or properly discharged; thus the quantity of

water was reduced, and the effect upon the bar considerably diminished.

I therefore saw at once that it was necessary to confine the low water

channel to some extent by slight works, composed of osiers and faggots,

extending from two to three feet above the low water level, so that it

should be confined always to the same course; thus the low water line

would be lowered, more tidal water would be admitted and discharged, the

surrounding lowlands, which were frequently flooded, would be better

drained, and the bar improved. I observed also that the channel at the

entrance was too wide, and that consequently it was much exposed to the

swell during westerly gales. I therefore proposed to reduce the width of

the entrance to a certain extent; by this means a greater quantity of

water would be admitted and discharged, the bar would be reduced, the

drainage improved, and a less quantity of swell would be admitted; when I

explained my views to the captain of the port, who was a very intelligent

person, he quite agreed with me.

 

Having finished my examination here, we embarked at sunset and proceeded

to Lisbon, which we reached on the following morning, when I took my

leave of the commander of the vessel and his officers, who had treated me

most kindly, for which I felt very grateful; I wanted to make a present

of some champagne, but this was most politely declined. I therefore

renewed my thanks, and went on then to the Braganza hotel. I next day

called upon the Finance Minister, Fontes, and Vicomte de Luz, the chief

officer of the Board of Works, reported generally what I had done,

and said that I would proceed to England at once, and send my plans,

estimates, and reports as early as possible. I accordingly left two days

afterwards, and reached England in the middle of June, after an absence

of between six and seven weeks.

 

When I was in Portugal I had a good deal of conversation with M. Fontes

about their railways. He said that they had already given a concession

for them to an English company, Messrs. Shaw, Waring, and Co., of whom

the Government was now desirous if possible of getting quit. M. Fontes

also talked to me about their financial affairs, and said that they had

had a good deal of trouble with our Stock Exchange. I did not know the

precise cause of this at the time, but it was afterwards explained to me

that the English Stock Exchange would not allow their funds to be quoted

in the English money market in consequence of the Portuguese Government

having reduced the interest of the last Portuguese loan without the

consent of the subscribers, so that unless this was remedied, it would

not be possible to raise another loan in England. I saw the full force of

this, and told the minister frankly my opinion, which he appeared to take

very well, for he then said that he wished me to lay out a line between

Coimbra and Oporto, and gave me instructions accordingly.

 

In the month of August, Dom Pedro, the heir apparent to the throne, and

his brother, Dom Louis, paid a visit to our Queen at Osborne House,

Isle of Wight, and Count Lavradio, the Portuguese minister in London,

recommended me to go there to pay my respects to his future majesty. I

therefore went, and was honoured with an audience on board Her Majesty’s

yacht, which was lying off Osborne, and in which Dom Pedro and his

brother were living at the time, as the Queen did not wish them to be on

shore, on account of the prevalence of the smallpox in the vicinity. Dom

Pedro and his brother received me very courteously, and we had a great

deal of conversation about Portuguese affairs, particularly concerning

the various engineering works that he wished to see carried into effect,

such as railways, harbours, docks, &c., and he said that until these were

done Portugal could not be on a par with other nations. He also very

kindly invited me over to Portugal again. I took my leave and returned

to Southampton, where I dined with Count Lavradio at Radley’s hotel, and

then returned to London. It should be added that Dom Pedro attained his

majority on the 15th of September, when he was crowned.

 

As soon as I got my harbour plans and reports ready, I determined to

go over and present them in person after the coronation. As I had been

commissioned by the Government to make the surveys and estimates for

the proposed railway between Coimbra and Oporto, and consult two other

English contractors about making railways in Portugal, I went to Messrs.

Peto and Betts, who said that they would be happy to undertake them,

provided that they could make proper arrangements with the Government,

and that they did not interfere with any other contractors or companies

who were then employed; and that in order to ascertain the Government

views, they would send over their agent, Mr. Giles, with me. As I had

previously agreed with Mr. Cheffins to make the survey of the line

between Coimbra and Oporto, he preceded me with his staff, while Mr.

Giles went to Lisbon with me in the Royal Mail Company’s vessel the

‘Trent,’ leaving Southampton on the 9th September, 1855.

 

After a fine passage we reached Lisbon on the morning of the 14th of

September. I immediately presented myself to M. Fontes, the Finance

Minister, and the Duke de Saldanha, President of the Cabinet, and

delivered my plans, which were well received, and tickets were sent to us

to visit the various ceremonies of the coronation.

 

It happened just before our arrival that the Government and the English

contractors of the Great Eastern Railway from Lisbon to Santarem, who

had been quarrelling for some time past, came to an open rupture, and

the Government took possession of the whole of the works and all the

materials, machinery, and plant, with an armed force, turned the Company

adrift, and would have nothing further to do with them. The contractors

complained to the British representative, Mr. Ward, Chargé d’Affaires,

who was very indignant at this summary mode of treating his countrymen;

and M. Fontes was equally indignant at the way in which the Company had

behaved; but more of this hereafter. In the meantime the coronation took

place, and a very pretty sight it was. We had the usual demonstrations

of fêtes, reviews, illuminations, salvos of artillery, &c. To heighten

the spectacle a British fleet of five line-of-battle ships was sent over

to do honour to the occasion. These fêtes lasted for three days, and

no business was done; but in the mean time I had the honour of being

presented to the king at the great palace of the Ajude; and when M.

Fontes returned to his office again, I called upon him and presented Mr.

Giles, Messrs. Peto and Betts’s agent. Afterwards, when Mr. Giles had

left, M. Fontes commenced talking to me about their dispute with Shaw,

Waring, and Co. He spoke very temperately on the subject, and said that

justice should be done to them. I said that I did not wish for a moment

to defend them; in fact, I did not know the merits of the case on either

one side or the other. At the same time, I said that it would be far

better to arrange with them amicably; and if they could not agree, they

should settle accounts and dissolve the agreement; as until this matter

was satisfactorily concluded, it would be impossible to get any fresh

English contractors of respectability to finish the works, or form a

new English company, or indeed to raise any money in England, which the

Government at that time wanted to do. Moreover, it was desirable above

all things to arrange matters with the English Stock Exchange, and until

the affair of Shaw, Waring, and Co. had been settled this could not be

done. These arguments appeared to have much weight with the minister, who

replied, that he would think them over; that he was desirous of coming

to an amicable settlement; that he had very little doubt but it would be

ultimately arranged properly; and that when Mr. Griles and I returned

from our examination of the country, he would be glad to see us again.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

 

Surveys in Portugal and Tunis.

 

 

After visiting, with a great deal of pleasure, Batalha, by far the finest

ecclesiastical edifice in Portugal, we reached Coimbra, than which, with

its environs, it is difficult to conceive a more beautiful prospect. The

town, with its numerous churches and academical buildings rising from

the opposite shore of the Mondego, and situated in a rich fertile plain,

backed by the lofty and picturesque hills of Busaco, clothed with wood

to their summits, with a fine old bridge in the foreground, while the

Mondego is seen winding through the valley until it is lost in the sea,

which forms the distant horizon, altogether made a picture which, for

loveliness, was unsurpassed by anything I have seen in Portugal. We found

here, a rare thing at that time in Portugal, a clean, comfortable little

hotel, near the Rocio, where Mr. Cheffins and his assistant had arrived

before us. We accordingly made preparations to start next morning at six

o’clock, on horseback, to explore a line along the coast to Oporto.

 

We started punctually at six, and crossed the valley of the Mondego,

which is here about three miles wide, and is quite flat. It has a rich

and fertile alluvial soil, but is frequently inundated by the floods of

the Mondego, so that the roads, such as they were, viz. extremely bad,

were formed by rough causeways raised 3 or 4 feet above the level of

the adjacent land. In fact, at the time of my visit there were no roads

worthy of the name in Portugal, except the road above mentioned, from

Cairegado to Coimbra; and upon this, what was still more extraordinary,

a regular four-horse mail-coach, like those of England, had been just

established for the first time to run from Lisbon to Coimbra, at the rate

of about seven miles an hour. Another similar road had been commenced

from Oporto to Braga, and had been carried only a few miles. In fact,

unless you had seen and visited Portugal you could hardly have conceived

such a state of things possible. All the other roads were nothing but

mere horse-tracks, in the most wretched state imaginable, full of holes

and great stones, so that you could seldom go faster than a walking pace

without danger of breaking your neck at every step, except in those

parts where the track lay through forests and open plains. Over these

the rude bullock carts jolted up and down at about the rate of half a

mile an hour, and the creaking of the axles might be heard two or three

miles off. As for inns, for the most part there were none, and the

wearied traveller had to carry everything with him, and take refuge in

some miserable cottage full of filth, which he was obliged to clear away

before he could establish himself with anything approaching to comfort.