Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S., Past President of the Institute of Civil Engineers / Comprising the history of his professional life, together with reminiscences dating from the commencement of the century to the present time.

by Sir John Rennie

There still exist the remains of many fine convents and churches; of some the building had never been finished. When monastic institutions were abolished these buildings became the property of the State, and have since been sold to the public and converted to different purposes; some to manufactories, others to barracks, others to domestic residences. The inmates have been dismissed, with moderate pensions, and thrown out upon the world. The property brought little to the State; and as they were in a great measure founded by the charity of private individuals, to which the State had no right, it would have been better to have allowed them to die a natural death. Religion has gained nothing, the State little or nothing, while gross superstition has degenerated into scepticism and infidelity. All violent changes have an opposite result to that desired. The roots of old institutions once torn up, it is difficult to substitute a new plant to succeed them. It would be better if such important changes could be made gradually, but, unfortunately, the old generation, strong in possession, and forgetful of the times in which they live, will listen to no alteration, and cling firmly to the past, as if it must endure for ever. The new generation, born under different circumstances, have no respect for old institutions, and regardless of what is good in them, will listen to no compromise, and are never satisfied until they have rooted them out altogether.

There can be no doubt that the institution of convents and monasteries was of great service to the world in the middle ages—in preserving the learning of past times, in teaching the ignorant, in distributing alms amongst the poor, and in healing the sick. They curbed the ambition, and controlled the violent passions of the barbarous feudal lords, who considered that the world was made for them alone, and gratified their lusts at the expense of the unfortunate people over whom they ruled. No power but that of religion could have controlled them. They felt its wondrous influence, and were told in stern, unmistakable language that there was a hereafter, and that the great God who governed the world would surely visit their sins with condign punishment, unless they sincerely repented of their wickedness, and prayed for His forgiveness. We must therefore be grateful for the services which religion, under its peculiar forms and ceremonies, rendered in those days; and although abuses by degrees crept in, yet these might have been remedied by much milder measures. The monasteries and convents, however, served their purpose; but now they are gone, and it is to be hoped that as the world becomes wiser and more enlightened the great Creator will be worshipped in a purer and simpler manner.

Having heard so much of the filthiness of Lisbon, I was most agreeably disappointed to find it so much the reverse. With the exception of the old part of the town, to the westward of Blackhorse Square, and which was filthy enough, few cities, certainly not London, were cleaner than Lisbon at the time of my first visit in 1855. The streets were broad and straight, well lighted and watered, and the buildings regular and handsome. The police certainly was not the most effective, but still the town was safe.

I left Lisbon about four o’clock in the afternoon, in a fast steamer, full of passengers, and after a fine passage of sixteen hours, with only a moderate swell ahead—which, however, made most of the passengers sick—we arrived off the bar of the Douro at six the following morning, when a pilot came on board, and we crossed the bar and proceeded up to the town quay, about two miles from the entrance of the river; I was recommended to the Peninsular Hotel, situated in the higher part of the town. This was entirely a Portuguese establishment and extremely rough, where you boarded and lodged at so much per day. At the table d’hôte I made acquaintance with a fine old Peninsular veteran, Colonel Owen, formerly attached to the Duke of Wellington’s army, where he was constantly employed on outpost duty, and he necessarily saw a great deal of hard service. He was a fine-looking man, six feet high, and seventy years of age, with a determined countenance, and full of fire and energy even at that advanced age. He possessed a good deal of talent, had studied much, spoke the Portuguese like a native, and was an excellent writer both in that language and his own. I found him a very agreeable, intelligent companion, and we soon became well acquainted with each other, which was the more agreeable as he knew well and had frequently served with Colonel Somers Cocks, a distant connection of mine, who was a distinguished officer and favourite of the Duke of Wellington. Colonel Cocks, much to the regret of the Duke, was killed at the siege of Burgos Castle. Owen knew his whole history, and at my particular request wrote a complete and very interesting memoir of him, which I privately printed. Owen was almost my constant companion, and having long resided at Oporto, knew all the principal merchants in the place, both English and native, and was much liked and respected. He introduced me to several, but being upon public business, namely, the improvement of the port, which all desired, I had no need of introductions, for the principal inhabitants called upon me and invited me to their houses; amongst others may be mentioned Messrs. Lambert, Sandeman, Herries, and others, the principal wine merchants of the place, who paid me the greatest attention and hospitality.

I lost no time after my arrival in proceeding to examine the port, and to consider what was best to be done. I soon discovered its defects, which were the exposed and dangerous nature of the bar at the entrance of the Douro, the depth of water over it being scarcely 10 feet at low water of spring tides, the tides rising only from 6 to 7 feet; the conformed and circuitous channel both within and without the bar, in which there were several rocks; and the prevalence during three-fourths of the year of strong westerly winds from south-west to north-west. Moreover, during heavy floods the outgoing current was so strong that it carried all before it, frequently tearing vessels from their anchors, driving them to sea, or wrecking them in the harbour. From these different causes the bar could only be attempted during the flood or ebb for entering or departing during the most moderate weather, and then only by vessels drawing 12 to 14 feet at spring tides. From all these combined causes the harbour of Oporto might be said to be hermetically sealed for three-fourths of the year, and frequent instances have occurred of vessels having made the passage to the Brazils and back again, whilst others have been beating about the offing waiting for a favourable opportunity to cross the bar; and equal time was lost by those vessels that were waiting, laden in the port, to go to sea. And the mails for Oporto, the second city in the kingdom, frequently had to be delivered at Vigo, 60 miles farther north, and to be transported thence by land, which occasioned the loss of one or two days. In consequence of these serious disadvantages the trade naturally suffered materially.

In order to remedy these defects, I drew up a plan by which I proposed to carry out two piers—one on the ridge of rocks on the south side, and another on the north—in such a direction that the entrance between them, which was to be 500 feet wide, should be least exposed to the prevailing storms; and the space between the piers on the inside of the entrance should be wider than the entrance itself, so that any swell which might enter would diminish as it proceeded up the harbour. I also proposed to remove the rocks both inside and outside, and to strengthen the channel. By this means I expected that the bar would be lowered about 5 feet; so that at high water of spring tides there would be about 20 feet, and a vessel drawing 18 feet could enter at springs, and 16 feet at neaps. The expense of these works was estimated at about 400,000l. This no doubt would have been a very great improvement, and worth the money, although at times even with this expenditure the bar would not be approachable either way.

Under these circumstances, I explored the adjacent coast in order to ascertain whether another and better place for a harbour could not be found, and at Mattozenhas, about three miles farther, I found that there was a detached reef of rocks, 2000 feet long, lying about a quarter of a mile distant from the shore, and between it and the shore there was a depth of from 25 to 50 feet at low water. This reef had been observed by others before me, and it had struck them that an excellent harbour might be made. As this also lay within my instructions, I made a design for a harbour; but upon maturely considering the subject, I thought it would be scarcely safe to make a close harbour at this point, as, from the great quantity of sand which lay along the coast, there was a chance of its filling up. I therefore proposed to make it open: that is to say, to construct a breakwater along the line of the rocks as far as they reached, and as much farther each way as might be considered advisable. In fact, this breakwater might be extended so as to make a magnificent asylum harbour for the largest vessels of any class; and by making an open landing pier within the breakwater, vessels could take in and deliver their cargoes, and send them to Oporto by rail, when vessels could not pass over the bar of the Douro.

As there was plenty of fine granite on the spot, and labour could be obtained comparatively cheap, I considered that for the sum of 500,000l. an excellent harbour might be made here with a double entrance, and as there would be a free passage for the current both ways, no sand would lodge within the breakwater. In fact, the current, being confined, would force out the sand and make the harbour deeper, so that at low water (spring tides) there would never be less than from 25 to 30 feet in the shallowest part of the northern entrance, and above 50 feet at the southern. This place appeared, and, in fact, was so much better and more advantageous in every respect than Oporto, that, considering the increased cost would not exceed 100,000l., I strongly recommended it in preference to expending 400,000l. on the old entrance. Still, if the Government thought it advisable to improve the entrance of the Douro, to some extent this might be done advantageously by the expenditure of about 150,000l. Both the King and the Government approved of my plan for the breakwater and landing pier at the Secars Rocks, near Mattozenhas, and the Finance Minister—Fontes—gave me an order in writing to provide the necessary apparatus, and to commence the work immediately. But soon after, the Government being changed, the whole was stopped, and nothing material has been done since, although, I believe, some attempts have been made by the Portuguese Board of Works to blow up the rocks at the entrance of the Douro, with very little effect; and as funds are very scarce, it is probable that nothing of consequence will be effected for a long time, which is the more to be regretted, as meanwhile the trade of Oporto suffers most materially.

Having completed my investigation of Oporto harbour, I prepared to return direct to Lisbon, and report to the Government the results of my examination, when I received a telegraphic message saying that the Government wished me to examine the harbour of Viana, some thirty miles farther north, also that of Aveiro, twenty miles farther south, and that of Figuera, the mouth of the Mondego, about twenty miles south of Aveiro; and that they would send a small vessel of war to take me to those places. I therefore determined to await the arrival of the war-steamer, which came two days afterwards. It was not above 200 tons, mounting three or four small guns, and commanded by a lieutenant of the Portuguese navy, having with him about thirty men. I embarked and proceeded at once to Viana, which we reached about three o’clock in the afternoon. There being a heavy swell, we could not enter the port, and a pilot boat with six rowers was therefore sent out to take us ashore, where we were received by the authorities. As our time was limited, I immediately proceeded to examine the harbour, which was formed by the river Scina, the entrance to which was at times very dangerous, from the same causes as those already described as existing at the bar of the river Douro, namely, a shallow, much-exposed bar, little tide, tortuous channel, and exposure to a heavy swell during the prevailing westerly winds. I observed, however, that there was a long reef of rocks running parallel to the channel nearly as far as the bar, and that by erecting a breakwater upon the reef, for which there was plenty of stone adjacent, the current, instead of spreading over the rocks and losing its force, might be confined, and thus act more effectively upon the bar and deepen it several feet; and, further, by this means the entrance channel would be protected, and very little swell could get in. Thus the principal defects of the entrance would be remedied; and the small depth of water at the quays could be increased by dredging. I consulted the pilots and the practical men of the place, as I always do (for from experience they generally have a knowledge of the subject), and it was satisfactory to know that their opinions entirely coincided with mine. I accordingly made my notes, and returned on board the vessel in the evening about eight o’clock.