Condition of West Breakwater.

The Western breakwater has now reached the length indicated on the original design of Sir John Coode. Here the normal depth of water is about 25 feet at l.w., but the sea breaking against the stonework makes and maintains a pit or trench all round the end of the work, the depth of which is about 44 feet below l.w. s.t. This phenomenon has accompanied the breakwater almost from the commencement, with the result that the foundations of the structure are placed at a great depth below the river channel or the ordinary sea bottom, and a great extra quantity of stone has been swallowed up in this pit. The breakwater was carried on for a length of about 2700 feet, as a tip bank, and was then carried on from staging to its present end.