The Harbour Project
Col. Williams had not even then relaxed his efforts for a Hastings harbour for although the inhabitants had given up the project as too expensive, a very long letter was written by Williams to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which he contended that the Report of the Commissioners appointed to survey the harbours of the South-eastern coast did not convey to the public all the information that was desirable. He referred to pages 6 and 8 of the Report in which he was named as having been engaged a considerable time in preparing plans for a harbour at Hastings, and as having made suggestions for improving the harbour of Dover. He reminded the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the Commissioners were desired to report on what situations were best calculated as places of shelter for vessels passing through the Channel and as places of refuge for merchant vessels from an enemy's cruisers during war, as well as for stations of armed steam vessels employed in the protection of our trade during war. The Colonel pointed out that the Report was imperfect, inasmuch as it dwelt mainly on perfect harbours of refuge capable of receiving any class of vessel under all circumstances of wind and tide, costing probably millions of money, instead of smaller harbours with a moderate depth of water, &c. The result of his enquiries, he said, had led him to state to the Commissioners that, taking all things into consideration, Hastings was the best site between Dover and Portsmouth for the construction of a sufficient harbour to give security to the trade and for receiving armed steamers; also that if accessibility at all times of the tide were not a sine qua non, the cost would not much exceed that of enlarging Dover harbour. # As the cost however, was the chief obtacle (sic) to the adoption of Col. Williams's scheme when the harbours of Dover, Ramsgate, Rye and Newhaven were advowedly (sic) inefficient, it remains to be seen whether Col. Williams's opinion still holds good now that a Hastings harbour is in progress of construction after tens of thousands of pounds have been spent on enlarging or otherwise improving the harbours above named. As regards the harbour at Rye Col. Williams purposely or accidentally overlooked the fact that the surveying Commissioners had reported favourably for improving that harbour as more desirable for coasting traffic and small craft in general than the construction of one at Hastings. The Dover Chronicle had also an article thereon, of which the following is an extract.
In an article, some months back, on the harbour project at Hastings, we suggested the desirability of a Landing Pier at that place, a thing of easy accomplishment in point of expense, compared with a harbour, and which would answer many of the purposes of a harbour under an improved connexion with Rye. Let the capabilities of Rye harbour be made the most of (for that harbour has never yet had a fair chance), and a tram-way or at least a direct road under the cliff be formed between Hastings and Rye. Hastings will then be in the same situation as Brighton; her steamers and craft will then lie in the Rye harbour, as the Brighton (sic) now do at Shoreham and Newhaven. Under favourable management Rye harbour might be made equal to any harbour on the South Eastern Coast. Let the course of the river be straightened and the channel where necessary be widened and deepened, so that there may be a good ebb and flow of the tide, and the present shifting bar which makes the mouth of that harbour at present an awkward approach, would in a great measure disappear. We congratulate the inhabitants of Rye that the report of the Admiralty Commission strengthens the our (sic) view of the subject. The improvement of Rye harbour, the formation of a direct road from Hastings and the erection of a pier at the latter is not only practicable, but will ensure the future prosperity of both these important towns.
