Surveys at Odessa and Vienna—Harbour at Ponta Delgada—Ramsgate—Dagenham.
During the latter part of the year I had some correspondence with the municipality of Odessa about paving their streets and making a complete system of sewers for the city; and in the spring of the following year I was requested by the municipality to come to Odessa, and to confer with them as to the best means of carrying these works into effect, and the cost of doing so.
I accordingly started for that city; but when I arrived at Vienna I could get no idea as to when the steamer would leave for Odessa. So to pass away the time I determined to visit the Sömmering Mountain, over which the Imperial Elisabeth Railway passes on the great line from Vienna to Trieste. As that part of the line which crosses the Sömmering Mountain was said to be a great feat of engineering, we determined to visit it, and certainly it was a very creditable performance. The inclines were very steep, and the curves very sharp and very numerous. Galleries were cut through the rock, high embankments made, and bridges thrown across the ravines, and the railway, having to wind round the sides of the mountain, was very tortuous. The works, however, upon the whole were not badly designed or executed, though I will not say whether a better line might not have been found. The engines used were of the most powerful kind.
Having returned to Vienna we descended the Danube and reached the Sulina mouth. This mouth of the Danube was selected as the most capable of improvement, and considerable sums of money have been expended upon it, under the direction of Sir Charles Hartley, an English engineer of considerable reputation. The works designed by him consisted of two embankments or moles carried out from the shore, one on each side, and nearly parallel to each other, in an E.S.E. direction, for a considerable distance seaward, having a good opening between them for the entrance. These moles, by keeping the current of the river to one course, enable it to act more effectually in deepening the channel and lowering the bar. The operations of the current are assisted by dredging. The works, I understand, have been very successful so far, although by no means completed. An increased depth over the bar and in the channel has already been obtained, which is a very great improvement, for on account of the continual shifting of the channel, and its shallow and tortuous course, it was at all times uncertain and frequently very dangerous. When we passed, the new channel had not been completed; the captain of our steamer therefore thought it advisable to come to anchor for the night and wait until the following morning. There is a wretched place called the town of Sulina, on the right bank of the river, near the commencement of the moles; it consists of wooden houses, stores, shops, and cafés, scarcely two feet above the level of the water, and surrounded by marshes, that send forth the most pestiferous malaria. I was told that fevers constantly prevail there, and I am not surprised at it, for a more abominable, uninviting place I have seldom seen. Next morning we started for Odessa soon after daybreak, and after a tolerably smooth passage reached the western harbour at about four o’clock in the afternoon.
The view of Odessa, at about two or three miles’ distance, as you approach it from the sea, is rather pretty and imposing. It is situated upon a calcareous sandstone cliff, about 40 feet above the sea, with a very fine row of majestic stone buildings running the whole length from north to south, having a spacious road, terrace, and garden between them and the edge of the cliff. The town behind is for the most part well and regularly laid out, with wide, spacious streets, at right angles to each other, and some handsome shops and buildings, the residences of tradesmen and merchants. A great number of wealthy nobles and landowners reside here in winter, and houses worthy of the name of palaces, such as those of the elegant and high-born Countess of Urrenzoff, the Governor-General Prince Manukebè, Count Tolstoy, Mr. Maas the great banker, and numerous others. The surrounding country, although the soil is rich, is open, with very few trees, and has therefore a bleak, uncomfortable appearance. The custom-house officers were very civil, to my surprise, and gave us very little trouble, so we soon got permission to land, and immediately went to the Hôtel de Londres, a very fine extensive building, situated in the grand row of buildings already mentioned facing the sea. Here we obtained handsome, spacious, well-furnished rooms, and lived very comfortably at a moderate charge.
The next day I called upon the Governor, Count Strogonoff; the Mayor, Count Tolstoy; the English Consul, Mr. Grenville Murray, and several members of the municipality. Having paid these formal visits of ceremony, at which I was courteously received, I immediately began to inquire into the best mode of paving and draining the city, where the best materials were to be obtained and their prices; in fact, everything connected with them.
Before proceeding further it may be proper to describe the state of the place as regards paving and sewers, which may be summed up in a few words. There was neither one nor the other; and it is difficult to conceive how such a fine and wealthy city could have been built, or could have existed so long without them. First, with regard to the streets. The soil is composed chiefly of sand mixed with clay, which during fine dry weather makes a tolerably good road, but the moment it becomes saturated with water, which is the case for a considerable portion of the year, it is converted into one vast puddle, and the large and constant traffic cuts it up into deep holes and gullies, so that in a comparatively short time the road is a sea of mud, and almost impassable. During my stay there were only a few days’ rain, but even this gave me a tolerable idea of it, so that I could easily believe the account given to me by the authorities and other inhabitants was by no means exaggerated. During the worst state of the streets, the obstruction of bullocks and horses trying to drag the loaded waggons and carriages was something dreadful, and many a waggon was left irrevocably fixed in the mud with numerous carcasses of horses and bullocks lying beside it. It was a singular thing that nearly all the corn warehouses were in the upper parts of the town, about a mile from the harbour where the corn was to be shipped, instead of being close by. During the wet season it costs as much to get the corn from the granaries to the harbour as to take it from Odessa to London. The butchers’ shops were at the upper end of the town, from half to three quarters of a mile from the eastern part, where all the principal people live, and when provisions were required for the family they were obliged to hire a carriage with three or four horses to get them; and unless a family kept a regular store of provisions they ran a great risk of being starved. The roads in the country round are not a bit better than those in Odessa; during wet weather they are almost impassable. About twenty-eight miles from Odessa, at a place on the River Dneister, is a kind of depôt for the vast quantities of corn brought down from the interior. Immense heaps or hills of corn were lying there when I visited it. In wet weather these cannot be removed, and I was informed that a great deal was burnt or allowed to rot because it could not be taken away, either on account of the badness of the roads or the dangerous state of the bar at the entrance of the river.
The sewers were very simple. Gullies had been made along each side of the streets, into which all the filth was thrown, so that in dry seasons it accumulated there, creating the most offensive effluvia, and in wet weather it would not run off, on account of the gullies being blocked up with mud. It was impossible to find a city in a worse state, and it was astonishing that such a great, wealthy, and luxurious city could have so long existed in such a condition. As there was no stone in the neighbourhood fit for paving the streets, granite or a similar hard stone being the only kind fit for the purpose, the next question was where it was to be found, how to get it, and the cost of doing so. Upon inquiry, I heard that excellent granite might be obtained in any quantity from a quarry situated on the river Bug, and on proceeding there I found that very good stone might be got with great ease, and at a comparatively trifling cost. Having made my report, I returned to England.
In 1862 I was appointed chairman of the Civil Engineering Department of the International Exhibition, assisted by the Marquis of Salisbury, M. Bommart, M. Koch, of Berlin; M. Lelere, Belgium; M. Loehr, Austria; Cesare Valerio, Italy; the Baron Baude, M. Mille, Mr. C. Manby, Mr. Kelk, and Mr. Page.
Our report, I believe, was entirely satisfactory.