378
DANUBE
In the ninth edition of the EncyclojKBdia Britannica it was stated, as regards the work effected by the European Commission of the Danube, that between 1858 aud 1871 the depth Improve- of water at the entrance of the Sulina Port had been meats. increased from 9 to 19 feet. In 1876 the south jetty was prolonged, so as to bring its end exactly opposite the lighthouse on the north pier. This resulted in an increase of the depth to 20i feet, and for fifteen years, from 1879 to 1895, this depth remained constant without the aid of dredging. In 1894, owing to the constantly increasing size of vessels frequenting the Danube, it was found necessary to deepen the entrance still farther, ’and to construct two parallel piers between the main jetties, reducing the breadth of the river to 500 feet, and thereby increasing the scour. There is now a continuous channel 5200 feet in length and 24 feet in depth, 300 feet in width between the piers and 600 feet in width outside the extremities of the piers, until deep water is reached in the open sea. In addition to the successful treatment of the main Danube 11 miles below Isakcha, the engineers of the Commission have been equally successful in dealing with the Sulina branch of the river. Its original length of 45 miles from St George’s Chatal to the sea was impeded at the commencement of the improvement works by eleven bends, each with a radius of less than 1000 feet, besides numerous others of somewhat larger radius, and its bed was encumbered by ten shifting shoals, varying from 8 to 13 feet in depth at low water. By means of a series of training walls, by groynes thrown out from the banks, by revetments of the banks, and by dredging, all done with the view of narrowing and limiting the breadth of the river, a minimum depth of 11 feet was attained in 1865, and 13 feet in 1871. In 1880 the needs of commerce and the increased size of steamers frequenting the river necessitated the construction of a new entrance from the St George’s branch. This work, designed in 1857, but unexecuted during a quarter of a century, owing to insufficiency of funds, was completed in 1882 ; and in 1886, after other comparatively short cuttings had been made to get rid of difficult bends and further to deepen the channel without having to resort to dredgers, the desired minimum depth of 15 feet was attained. Since that date a series of new cuttings have been made, the last commenced in 1898, and estimated to be completed in 1902. These new cuttings, when the last is completed, will have shortened the length of the Sulina canal by 11 nautical miles, eliminated all the difficult bends and shoals, and provided an almost straight waterway 34 miles in length from Sulina to the St George’s Chatal, with a minimum depth of 18 feet when the river is at its lowest. Two names are indissolubly connected with the eminently satisfactory results obtained both in the river and at its mouth. The English engineer Sir Charles Hartley designed all the works and improvements referred to, and personally superintended their execution from 1856 until 1872, after which time he occupied the post of consulting engineer, while the execution of the works after 1872 devolved on the Danish engineer, Mr Charles Kiihl. The Commission has an average annual income of about £80,000, derived from taxes paid by ships when leaving the river. The _. normal annual expenditure amounts to about £56,000, hinance. wp^e £24^00 is generally allotted to extraordinary works, such as new cuttings, &c. This large expenditure has, however, been attended with a more than corresponding benefit to commerce. The depth of water over the bar of the Sulina mouth has been increased from 9 feet (in 1856) to the minimum of 24 feet (in 1900). The minimum depth of water in the Sulina branch with the river at its lowest has been increased during the same period from 8 feet to 17 feet. Freights from Galatz and Braila to North Sea ports have fallen from 50s. to about 12s. 6d. per ton. Sailing ships of a maximum of 200 tons register have given way to steamers up to 2600 tons register carrying a dead weight of 5500 tons ; and last, but not least, good order has succeeded chaos. As illustrating the great value, especially to British maritime trade, of the improvements that have been effected by the Danube Commission in the navigable channel of the river from Braila to the sea, it may be mentioned that whilst from 1857 to 1867 the average annual registered tonnage entered was but 450,000 tons, of which only one-third was British, the total tonnage in 1896 had increased to 1,800,000, of which three-fifths was British. Thus in thirty years the whole annual Danubian trade of all European nations increased fourfold, while the tonnage of British ships increased eightfold. In 1861 the average size of the 3084 vessels visiting the river was 146 tons register only, whereas in 1899-1900 the average size exceeded one thousand tons register. Many of the treaties previously alluded to also dealt with the question of the regularization of that part of the Danube lying between i Old Moldowa (in Hungary) and Turn-Severin Iron °a^es'(j{ Article VI. of the Treaty of London (Uman a). (1871) authorizes the Powers which possess the shores of that part of the Danube where the cataracts and the Iron Gates offer
impediments to navigation, to come to an understanding with the view of removing these impediments, and to have the right of levying a provisional tax on vessels of every flag which may henceforth benefit thereby until the extinction of the debt contracted for the execution of the works. As the riverain Powers could not come to an agreement on the subject, the Great Powers at the Congress of Berlin (1878) intrusted to AustriaHungary the execution of the works in question. AustriaHungary subsequently conferred its rights on Hungary, by whom the works were carried out at the cost of about l£ millions sterling. For the construction of the works and the formation of a sinking fund by which the capital expenditure will be repaid in ninetynine years, the Hungarian Government raised a loan of 22^ millions of florins, the interest on this sum, together with the annual expenditure in repairs, maintenance, pilotage, &c., is estimated to amount to 900,000 florins, and the Hungarians claim that the difference between this sum and the estimated revenue, i.e., 500,000 florins, is a generous contribution paid by Hungary for the benefit of navigation in general. The engineering works in the neighbourhood of the Iron Gates are of great interest. The principal obstructions between Old Moldova and Turn-Severin are the Stenka Rapids, the Kozla Dojke Rapids, the Greben section, and the Iron Gates. At the first named there was a bank of rocks, some of them dry at low water, extending almost across the river (985 yards wide). The fall of the river-bed is small, but the length of the rapid 1100 yards. The Kozla Dojke, 9 miles below the Stenka Rapids, extend also for 1100 yards, with a fall 1 in 1000, and are caused by the two banks of rocks which cause a sudden alteration in the direction of the current. The river is here only 170 to 330 yards in width ; 6 miles below them is the Greben section, the most difficult part of the works of improvement. A spur of the Greben mountains runs out below two shoals into the river, which suddenly narrows to about 300 yards at low water, although it shortly widens to 1£ miles. Seven miles lower down are the Juez Rapids, where the river-bed has a fall of 1 in 433. At the so-called Iron Gates, between Orsova and TurnSeverin, and 34 miles below the Greben, the Prigrada rocky bank nearly blocked the river at the point where it widens out after leaving the stupendous Kazan defile. During the 19th century many schemes were worked out for the improvement of this portion of the river, but it was not till 1883 that a practical start was made, and the Hungarian engineers, Messrs Vasarhalyi and Wallandt, prepared the designs which have since been executed. The general objeat of these works was to give a navigable depth of water at all seasons of 2 metres (6J feet) on that portion of the river above Orsova, and a depth of 3 metres below that town. To effect this at Stenka, Kozla Dokje, Izlas, and Gachtalia, channels 66 yards wide had to be cut in the solid rock to a depth of 6 feet 6 inches below low water. The point of the Greben spur had to be entirely removed for a distance of 167 yards back from its original face (in the execution of which work in 1894 no less than 2,100,000 cubic feet of rock were thrown down by a single charge of 12 tons of dynamite). Below the Greben point a training wall 7 to 9 feet high, 10 feet at top, and nearly 4 miles in length, has been built along the Servian shore in order to confine the river in a narrow channel. At Juez another similar channel had to be cut and a training wall built. At the Iron Gates a channel 80 yards wide and nearly 2000 yards in length (1720 metres) had to be cut on the Servian side of the river, traversing the Prigrada Bank to a depth of 9 feet 9 inches below high-water level. Training walls have been built on either side of the channel to confine the water so as to raise its level ; that on the right bank having a width of 19 feet 6 inches at top, and serving as a tow-path ; that on the left being 13 feet in width. These training walls are built of stone with flat revetments to protect them against ice. These formidable and expensive works have not altogether realized the expectations that had been formed of them. One most important result, however, has been attained, i.e., vessels can now navigate the Iron Gates at all seasons of the year when the river is not closed by ice, whereas formerly at extreme low water, lasting generally for about three months in the late summer and autumn, through navigation was always at a standstill, and goods had to be landed and transported considerable distances by land. The canal was opened for traffic on the 1st October 1898, and during the last three months of that year 180,000 tons of merchandise was carried through the canal out of a total traffic during the year of 500,000 tons. On the other hand, the canal was designed of sufficient width, as was supposed, for the simultaneous passage of boats in opposite directions ; but on account of the great velocity of the current, this Geaerai has been found to be dangerous and impracticable. resuits. The slope of the stream at the upper entrance of the canal is from 1 in 200 to 1 in 300, according to the height of the water, producing a velocity varying from 16 to 19^ feet per second, and so lowering the surface of the water that when the river is at its lowest the depth of water in the canal
