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

On reaching Vigo, after passing through Viana, I found that I had to wait two days for the steamer. I could not help remarking the superior beauty of the Spanish as compared with the Portuguese women, a thing I could not well understand, as the personal appearance of the men is about the same in both countries, although the Spanish peasants are apparently more robust than those of Portugal.

Immediately on my return I set to work to carry out the instructions of the Marquis de Loulé, and endeavoured to obtain powerful contractors and wealthy and influential capitalists who would form a company to undertake the railways in Portugal. I frequently had communications with Messrs. Peto and Betts, who with their friends were perfectly ready to come forward to form a company, provided that Messrs. Shaw, Waring, and Co. were satisfactorily settled with. In these negotiations M. de Soveral was indefatigable, and of immense service, as he was perfectly acquainted with the views of his Government, and knew what would be acceptable to them, and what they would not agree to. At last, towards the latter end of December, certain conditions stating the terms upon which they would form a company and find the capital were drawn up and signed by Messrs. Peto and Betts, and seven other well-known capitalists, and were submitted to the Portuguese Embassy, to be transmitted to the Government for their approval. Towards the end of January, 1857, they answered that they generally approved of the conditions proposed, with one or two exceptions, which Peto, Betts, and Co. agreed to alter. The Government then sent an official letter to Count Lavradio, Ambassador in London, requesting that Sir Moreton Peto and myself would come out to Lisbon immediately, to finally conclude the arrangements, in order that a Bill might be prepared without delay to be laid before the Portuguese parliament. In March, 1857, I accordingly proceeded to Lisbon.

It is not my intention to enter into the unfortunate disputes between Peto and Co. and the Portuguese Government—disputes which terminated in the abandonment of what would have been for Portugal a great national work. Doubtless, as in all these cases, there were faults on both sides; and I believe that one of the main causes of the failure, on behalf of Messrs. Peto and Betts, to carry out the works, was that their resources were swallowed up by a great variety of speculations, some of which, as we have seen, did not in the long run turn out very profitable, and they were really unable to undertake them. I will proceed to relate briefly the only other occasion on which I was connected with that firm.

But first I may mention that I completed my work on ‘British and Foreign Harbours’ (which had occupied what little leisure I could command during some years) in 1854, having previously, in 1847, published a monograph on Plymouth Breakwater. I may also add, that conjunction with the late Mr. John Plews, I constructed a considerable extension of the Cardiff Docks for the trustees of the Marquis of Bute; as it is fully described in the above work, I need not here further refer to it.

In the early part of 1859 I was asked to proceed to Tunis, in company with one of Messrs. Peto and Betts’ agents, to examine into the feasibility of constructing a railway from the Goletta to the city. I accordingly started in March, and having embarked on board a French steam-packet, reached Tunis after a four or five days’ passage, including a stoppage, for some unexplained reason, of two days at Philippeville.

The view of the Bay of Tunis cannot be compared in picturesque effect with that of Bona, which we had just left; still there is something wild and striking about it. On the east the bay is bounded by a lofty ridge of bare irregular hills, with a narrow strip of level marshy land bordering the bay. On the west it is bounded by the celebrated peninsula of Carthage. In front, to the south, there is the Goletta, or channel to the Lagoon, surrounded by the custom house and a small town, and beyond is the Lagoon, extending about six miles, at the farther end of which is the city of Tunis, seated upon a gentle eminence, bristling with minarets, and a lofty chain of hills in the background, the whole having a wild, uncultivated appearance, so that at first sight you were puzzled to conceive whence supplies could be obtained for feeding the metropolis of the kingdom. We got clear of the Turkish customs after a good deal of delay, not from any fastidiousness of the officials, for they were easy and good-natured enough to let anything pass, but from the confused and blundering manner in which all business is transacted. Everything was then bundled into a large boat, which was also laden with merchandise of all kinds, as much as it would hold. We then entered, along with a Colonel West, who had come out upon a shooting excursion, and set sail for the capital across the Lagoon, which was about six miles long and four or five miles wide. The channel was nearly in the centre, and had five or six feet of water. We passed numerous flocks of wild geese, ducks, cranes, and flamingoes, disporting themselves in the water. We reached the landing quay of Tunis, outside the walls, about two or three in the afternoon, and immediately proceeded to the only hotel in the place, kept by a Frenchman, and, upon the whole, it was very clean and comfortable; but before we could get to it we had to wade through a sea of filthy mud in a narrow lane that was scarcely 12 feet wide, bounded by the city wall on the one side, and a row of miserable buildings on the other, showing little more than bare walls, the windows looking into small courts on the inside, which were approached by solid well-barred gateways. It was nearly dark before we got installed in our new domicile, and then we dined at not a bad table d’hôte in the French fashion, passed the evening agreeably, and went to bed early, rather tired after the kind of knocking about we had had during the day. Fortunately the weather was fine after the great quantity of rain which had lately fallen. The next day was fine also, and after an early breakfast we got a carriage with a couple of horses, and drove along the west side of the Lagoon to the Goletta in order to select the line for the railway; nothing could be more favourable, the country being—to use a homely phrase—as flat as a pancake, and therefore required no particular exercise of the engineer’s art.

Having so far completed our investigation we adjourned to the examination of the ruins of Carthage, of which scarcely anything remains, except the cisterns for supplying the city with water, which are of massive masonry, the walls being lined on the inside with a thick coat of stucco, which was glazed, and presented an excellent, smooth surface. These cisterns were covered with arches, so that the water was preserved from the action of the sun, and was thus always kept cool and in the best state for use. The water was brought, by means of an aqueduct, from a fine and plentiful spring close by the mountain of Kegouan, about 40 miles distant, and was carried with the requisite inclination by means of tunnels pierced through the hills, and extensive lines of arched aqueducts across the intervening valleys, some of these aqueducts being above 60 feet high, and the total length of the tunnels several miles; in fact, the whole aqueduct was a series of tunnels and bridges about 40 miles long, and is certainly a most extraordinary work, not to be surpassed by anything of the kind in existence at the present day. The conduit for the water was about 2 feet 6 inches wide and 3 feet deep. In this single example we have nearly all the improvements of modern times, namely, excellent water, an ample supply, and covered storing reservoirs. The water required no filtering, but it has not been ascertained whether it was distributed to each house; probably not; most likely it was delivered to the fountains, where the natives sent for it. As baths are known to have existed at Carthage, it is probable that the water was supplied direct to them as well as to the houses of the more wealthy citizens and to the palaces. Iron pipes were not then known, and consequently they were obliged to carry the water on aqueducts, otherwise they had no mean of resisting the hydraulic pressure.

Besides these cisterns, one cannot make out distinctly any other remarkable buildings; but there are plenty of remains of foundations of walls, some of them of masonry and some of them of brickwork, showing great solidity; there are also great quantities of pottery and fragments of marble sculpture lying about. As to the celebrated arsenals and docks, it is still more difficult to point out satisfactorily their extent, form, and position; but from the accounts we find in ancient writers, and from the well-known recorded fact that the Carthaginians were a great commercial as well as warlike nation, it is evident that they must have possessed the means of building, sheltering, and repairing both classes of vessels, those for commerce and those for war. These docks and arsenals must have been on the sea-shore; the peninsula is composed of comparatively high land, and they could not have built them anywhere else, for the low lands which border the peninsula on the south side were not, so far as we can learn, included within the walls of the city, and it was not likely that they would have left such important establishments as these, upon which in a great measure their power depended, unprotected. I repeat, therefore, and I believe it is confirmed by most authorities, ancient as well as modern, that these docks and arsenals were on the sea-shore; and as they would not have built them on the northern side of the peninsula, which is so much exposed to the strong northerly gales, they must have placed them on the eastern shore, which is tolerably well protected by the opposite sides of the bay. Indeed, I walked round the northern shores of the peninsula and carefully examined them, and could find no traces of any works having been executed there; but upon the eastern shore I could discover traces of considerable works. The ships of those days were comparatively small and drew but little water, and by running out moles or breakwaters of loose stone into the sea, a sufficient space might have been enclosed to answer the required purposes. We know that the ancestors of the Carthaginians did this to a great extent at Tyre, and we can have no reason to doubt that they adopted the same system at Carthage. This is a question still open to discussion; but I think, after what has been stated, that the arguments are in favour of the eastern shore; and until more decisive remains have been found elsewhere, I must adhere to my conclusion, for we must not forget that this is the weather shore, where all such works should be carried out, so as to afford the greatest facility for egress and ingress.

As the Bey was not then in Tunis, I determined to make use of the interval by going to see the remains of the ancient city of Utica, about twenty miles distant, west-north-west. My two companions were not very well, and therefore thought that they had better remain at Tunis, in case anything connected with our business should occur; so I determined to go alone, as I was told that I should meet with no difficulty, for the country was perfectly safe. I accordingly hired a carriage with three excellent horses, and engaged a clever Frank servant, an Italian, half Jew, half Mohammedan, who had lived many years in Tunis, and besides English, French, and Italian, spoke the Arabic very well also. He was a clean fellow, and was well recommended by our vice-consul. Being told that I should find nothing on the way, I took a good provision basket and plenty of cloaks. We started soon after noon over a wretched road, or rather open track made by the peasants’ carts, and as the weather had been very wet the wheels of the carriage were frequently half-way up to the axles in mud. The country through which we passed was wild and lonely in the extreme, not a creature to be seen. After having driven about eight or ten miles we came to a kind of village, or cluster of about half-a-dozen mud huts whitewashed, where there was a sort of café of the roughest kind, and close by it there was a sort of château belonging to some aga or district chief, surrounded by trees and a rude wall, the whole having a most solitary and gloomy appearance. There we halted about half an hour to refresh the horses, which were tired enough, and at length we reached the caravanserai, a solitary building two stories high, surrounded by a high mud wall.