The Underground World: A mirror of life below the surface

by Thomas Wallace Knox

XLV.

THE TUNNELS, AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN LONDON.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LONDON HARBORS—THE CATHARINE DOCK—ENORMOUS STORE-HOUSES—HOW THE TUNNEL WAS BUILT—PLAN OF THE FRENCH ENGINEER, ISAMBERT BRUNEL—HOW THE WORK WAS CHECKED BY A BREAK IN THE BED OF THE THAMES—SIX LIVES LOST—REMARKABLE RESCUE OF THE SON OF MR. BRUNEL—ENORMOUS LABOR AND STRUGGLE AGAINST THE ELEMENTS—TRIUMPH AT LAST—THE MOST REMARKABLE RAILROAD IN THE WORLD—LONDON CROSSED UNDERGROUND BY A SERIES OF TUNNELS—HOW LIGHT AND AIR IS PRODUCED—THE NEWEST IMPROVEMENTS OF THE ROAD—THE CARS PASSING UNDER THE DWELLING OF THE DEAD.

THE DOCKS OF LONDON.

The London harbor belongs to the grandest and most interesting ones in the world. Here in vivid writing the history of the English commerce is recorded; from this point, a gigantic net of navigation is spread all over the globe. Voices from all parts of the world, of animals and men; all human races, of every color, from the deepest black to the palest white of the inhabitants on the shores of the White Sea, are met with. Merchandise is taken in here, which has undergone an uninterrupted travel of three-quarters of a year, until at last it found here a preliminary object, and the statistics alone can give an idea of the immense amount of products of all lands, which are unloaded in this harbor, and stored in the enormous magazines. The harbor-basins, where those store-houses are situated, are crowded with boats for unloading the wares, give a refuge to colossi of ships; here the steam-whistles resound; columns of smoke rise to the sky; chains are rattling and cranes are creaking. In those long, extended buildings, which are almost as large as a country town, the merchandise is stored, free of duty until it is put in the market. Oil, wine, tobacco, silk, wood, flour, etc., etc., are stored in innumerable vaults, in the six stories of the monstrous buildings. Steam is in operation to unload the ships, and small railroads allow the wares to be easily transported. The principal of these store-houses are the Catharine-docks, which are easily to be reached from the Tower. It is only separated from this gloomy witness of the reign of tyranny of the Middle Ages, by a street, and here one is astonished at the hubbub which is going on. These docks were opened to the traffic in 1828; in former times, one thousand two hundred and fifty houses, with eleven thousand three hundred inhabitants were found there. The flood-gates which lead to the basin are so deep that, at the time of tide, ships of seven hundred tons (one ton equals forty-two cubic feet) can easily enter and leave. The store-houses have a capacity of one hundred and ten thousand tons. The Catharine steamboat-wharf is especially used as pier for the steamers which come from the continent. A whole series of docks is connected with the Catharine-docks. Among them are the London-docks, with room for two hundred and twenty thousand tons of goods, and a cellar with a capacity of eight million two hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons. The tunnel of the Thames leads from that part of the city which is south of the London-docks, two miles below London Bridge, to Rotherhithe, which lies on the right shore of the Thames.

HOW THE EXCAVATIONS WERE MADE.

The Thames flows through the city of London, and divides it into two parts. Many bridges span the river, but they are insufficient in number for the great traffic, and the idea was entertained of constructing a new bridge. It must be so constructed, however, that the largest vessels could pass under it. In order to avoid this, Vesey commenced, at the beginning of this century, to build a tunnel under the Thames, which plan, although it was nearly executed, had to be relinquished in 1809, on account of too many obstacles. In the year 1823, the idea was revived. The French engineer, Isambert Brunel, looking at the keel of a ship, saw how the worms hollowed out their single passages into the ship, by corridors closely adjoining each other, and conceived the idea that a great tunnel might be constructed by proceeding in the same way. He had twelve boxes made without bottom, such as are used for a foundation for water-works. These frames he placed perpendicularly, the one next to the other, and divided each in three parts, by means of traverses, so that he had, in all, thirty-six divisions, which served as points of commencement for the excavations of so many single shafts.

Each one of these divisions was designed for one laborer; it was open in the back and in front, supported by many planks, which were movable. All the frames together were called the shield. This shield was placed before the portions of ground to be excavated; the laborer removed one of the planks, and commenced digging, placed the plank, afterwards, against the sides of the shaft, which had been digged, and supported it in this position by heavy poles; the work was continued in the same way. As soon as the laborer had advanced to the same length in all the three divisions of a frame, it was pushed forward by two dummies, one of which worked at the top, the other at the bottom, into the excavated space.

As soon as the frame had advanced, masons commenced vaulting immediately behind the laborers; the shield, however, protected the earth until the vaults were ready, and the rolls, which now had been built, in their turn served as support for the dummies, by which the single frames were pushed forward. To this so simple means of excavating, London owes her underground railroad, which had long been considered as a work impossible of achievement.