Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

380
DUNDEE.
sel employed on this ferry is of peculiar construc-
tion, substantially and handsomely built, and per-
forms the trip across in 20 minutes, allowing 10
minutes at each side for disembarkation and embark-
ation. The length on the deck is 92 feet, and the
breadth about 34. One end, for 32 feet, is 2 feet
lower than the rest of the deck, and railed in for
carriages and cattle, and has its side-doors fitted
with a drawbridge, by which an easy egress is af-
forded to the quay. The vessel consists of 2 hulls,
with a canal between, and is worked by 2 engines
of 15 horse power each, placed in the 2 hulls, and
driving a paddle adjusted in the intervening canal.
So smoothly do they work, as to occasion scarcely
any noise or tremour. Two helms, one placed at each
end of the vessel, are worked by a wheel and pin-
ion, and when jointly employed, turn the vessel
round in very short compass. The machinery is so
constructed that either end may be the stern ; allow-
ing the vessel to land and start again without losing
the time and labour of turning. During a breeze,
or across the swell, the motion is much more gentle
than that of ordinary steam-boats. The vessel,
while peculiar to Dundee, is altogether, though no
specimen of beauty or neatness in naval architecture,
a fine contrivance for utility, and the very beau-ideal
of a ferry-boat. About 100,000 persons are annually
conveyed across the estuary by it, besides carriages,
horses, and vast numbers of cattle. Steam-boat
communication, in a style combining speed with ele-
gance, is maintained daily with Newburgh and Perth,
and in summer this communication is extended to
Broughty-ferry, and Ferry-Port-on-Craig. An ex-
cellent steam navigation is maintained between Dun-
dee and Leith. A powerful steam-vessel, the ill-
fated ' Forfarshire,' plied to Hull, till she sank in the
fearful catastrophe, which will long live in the re-
collection of thousands, associated with commenda-
tion of the philanthropic heroism of Grace Darling.
Three splendid steam-ships, the latest built at an
estimated cost of .£23,000, maintain communication
with London. The first and second, appropriately
called 'the Dundee' and 'the Perth,' hegan to ply
in 1834. They are of nearly the same size, measur-
ing 152 feet along the keel, 164 feet along the keel
and fore-rake, 28 feet 4 inches between the paddles,
and 18 feet from the deck to the floor of the hold.
The actual and comparative prosperity of the port,
from the commencement of the improvements on the
harbour in 1815, till May, 1828, will be shown by
the following table of the nett amount of harbour-
revenue derived from the shore-dues: —
From July, 1815, to July, 1810,
From July, 1816, ti> July, 1817,
From July, 1817, to May, 1818,
From May, 1818, to May, 1810,
From May, 181!), to May, 1820,
From Mav, 1820, to May, 1821,
From May, 1821, to May, 1822,
From May, 1822, to May, 1823,
From May, 1823, to May, 1824,
From May, 1821, to May, 1825,
From May, 1825, to May, 1820,
From May, 1825, to Mny, 1827,
From May, 1827, to May, 1828,
£-t,0!)(>
5,558
5,021
5,61)5
5,(105
5,910
5,011)
0,(183
7,881
7,975
8,055
7,402
8,236
Dundee, long active and somewhat noted for ship-
building, appears to be starting a successful career of
constructing iron ships. Great progress has recently
been made there in this novel but promising species
of naval architecture. Mr. Borrie of the Tay foun-
dry, in particular, has lately entered into a contract
for constructing iron steam-vessels of about 1,500
tons. One which — early in 1840 — he undertook to
build, was to be 330 feet in length when fully rigged,
300 feet along the keel, and propelled by 2 engines,
each of 250 horse power. As no piece of ground
sufficiently capacious for his purpose could be ob-
tained at Dundee, Mr. Borrie feued ground to be
fitted up as a building-yard at Broughty-ferry. Mr.
Thomas Adamson also has taken premises for a simi-
lar purpose.
Three railways leading from Dundee have been
constructed respectively to Newtyle, to Arbroath,
and to Forfar. The Newtyle railway opens a com-
munication with Strathmore, and was projected
under the influence of apprehension on the part of
the merchants of Dundee, that the commerce of that
far-extending and populous and fertile valley, as well
as that of Perth, might be diverted to Arbroath.
The railroad is 11 miles in length, and cost upwards
of £50,000. Starting from the north side of Dun-
dee, it ascends an inclined plane over a distance of
800 yards, rising 1 yard in 10; it then passes
through a shoulder of Dundee Law, in a tunnel of
340 yards in length ; and it afterwards passes along
two other inclined planes before reaching Newtyle.
This railway has literally perforated the obstruction
which the heights behind the town placed in the
way of communication with Strathmore, and has
already prodigiously increased the traffic between
that district and the town. The Arbroath railway
was opened, along the whole line, only on the 2d of
April, 1840; but was opened over part of the line
17 months earlier. Though completed at a period
of unprecedented commercial depression both in
Dundee and in Arbroath, it proved, at even the
first balancing of accounts, which was made on the
1st of May, 1840, to be a promising speculation.
Though at that date the whole line had been open
during only one month, and though extraordinary
costs were incurred, and curtailed profits realized
during the period of its being partially open, a gross
revenue had been received of .£10,620 Is. 3£d., sub-
ject to current expenses of £6,060 5s. 9^d., leaving
asurplus revenue of £4,559 15s. 9d. ; which allowed
of a dividend of 4 per cent. The revenue of the 2d
year amounted to £12,874, and a dividend of 5 per
cent, was declared. The discontinuance of all Sun-
day traffic on this railway was determined by a vote
of 277 to 273 shareholders, on June 3d, 1841. The
Forfar line of railway was opened early in 1839;
and, during 15 months succeeding its opening, yield-
ed £9,740 of gross revenue, subject to £6,672 current
expenses, leaving a nett profit of £3,068, fully equal
to i\ per cent, on the paid up capital of the company.
The number of passengers who had, at that date,
travelled along this line, was 117,852; and the
weight of goods carried was 53,956 tons.
Dundee is excellently accommodated with flesh
and fish markets. Its fuel consists of coal, brought
chiefly from England. A somewhat scanty supply of
water is furnished by pipes. The town, in its streets,
in its shops, in its public buildings, and in some of
its private houses, is cheerfully lighted up with gas.
Altogether, Dundee is behind no town of Scotland
in the race of social and civic improvement; and,
for a considerable series of years, it has outstripped
most in the careerings of commercial enterprise. " In
population," says the writer in the New Statistical
Account of Scotland, under date December 1833, —
" In population, manufactures, and trade, in the
luxury and comfort which prevail, Dundee has per-
haps advanced faster than any similar town in the
kingdom. There are men alive in it who remember
when its population was only one-fifth of what it is
now, when its harbour was a crooked wall, often
enclosing but a few fishing or smuggling craft,—
when its "spinning-mills were unknown and unthought
of, and its trade hardly worthy of the name. And
curious would it be could we anticipate the future,
and tell what will be its state when another genera-
tion shall have passed away, and other hands shall