CHAPTER IX.

THE WATERWAYS OF BELGIUM. The little kingdom of Belgium enjoys the advantage of having both a complete railway system and an excellent system of canal transport. There is, indeed, no country in Europe where the conditions of economical transportation have been more closely and more effectually studied. To this fact is largely to be attributed the unique position which Belgium holds among the industrial nations of the world. With limited coal resources, which are much behind those of some other European countries, alike as regards their quality and the economical conditions under which they can be mined; with iron ore supplies that are almost exhausted, and which only meet her own consumption to a very limited extent; with hardly any other mineral resources worth speaking of, excepting only certain deposits of zinc ores, Belgium has relatively a larger industrial population than any other country in Europe, and enjoys a degree of prosperity that is rare even in countries more liberally endowed with Nature’s gifts. Belgium possesses twenty-nine different canals or canalised waterways, of which three—the Escaut, the Lys, and the Meuse—are each over 100 kilometres in length. The total length of the waterways of Belgium in 1885 was 1634 kilometres, or 1013 miles. The total number of tons of traffic carried on the Belgian waterways was 31,362,000, and the total number of tons transported one kilometre was 726,359,000, so that the average length of transport per ton was 23·2 kilometres.[79] There are, however, cases in which the average length of lead is much under this figure, as for example that of the “Raccordement à Gand,” where it is only 1·8 kilometre. For a number of years past the canal traffic has been tolerably steady, but between 1879 and 1884 there was a decrease of absolute quantity, although not of the kilometric tonnage. _The Belgian Ship Canals._—Belgium has two excellent ship canals—one from Terneuzen to Ghent, and the other from Ostend to Bruges. The improvement of the ship canal from Ghent to Terneuzen was begun in 1874, and concluded in 1879. Originally the canal had many bends, which rendered navigation difficult, and it was also of too limited dimensions to admit the large size of craft that was desired. The depth of the canal up to 1873 was 14 feet 4 inches, and its width was 98 feet 6 inches at the water-level. The improvement works then undertaken were designed to increase the depth to 21 feet 3 inches, and the width to 103 feet 9 inches on the water-level. There is much traffic in the Upper Scheldt from Antwerp to Ghent, the water being tidal to the latter town, with a depth of 6 to 8 feet, working the river with the tide. The Terneuzen Canal is 35 kilometres in length, and is used by some twenty steamers from England weekly, taking coals, pig iron, and other articles, and loading manufactured iron and other goods from all parts of Belgium. The inland harbour at Ghent has been much enlarged of late, and the lock has been removed, thus rendering access more easy. It is now a waterway of ample depth and great width, with locks at Terneuzen on the Scheldt, and at Sas van Gent, near the Belgian frontier. There is a pilot station at Terneuzen, the men taking their turns to and from Ghent. English coal may be bought for 15 to 18 francs a ton at Ghent, being carried at a very low freight for want of cargo on the outward voyage. Vessels of the following dimensions can use this canal:—Length, 110 metres; breadth, 11·50 metres; and draught, 5·85 metres. Their speed _en route_ when exceeding 2·75 metres draught, is 145 metres a minute; when under 1·50 metres draught, 250 metres a minute. The enormous difference that results to the prosperity of a city from the possession of facilities for the navigation of vessels is well illustrated in the case of the old town of Bruges in Belgium, as compared with that of her rival Antwerp. Nay, the point is forcibly brought home by the history of Bruges herself. This “Venice of the North” lay formerly near the sea, on a gulf of large extent and considerable depth; she was easily accessible, not only to the ordinary run of vessels, but even to the largest of ships. That her port of Damme was large is evident from the fact that in 1213 Philip Augustus, at the head of 1700 sail, closed in it with the allied English and Flemish fleets. This fact alone will give an idea of the importance of Bruges harbour, then one of the largest in Europe. As long as these means of communication with the sea remained open, Bruges maintained her commercial power. The successive accumulations of clay in the Zwyn and in the havens of Damme and Sluys, the outer ports of Bruges, were the causes of the lamentable state of things which followed. About the beginning of the 13th century, vessels sailed into Damme, the port of Bruges, from all quarters of the world, and poured into her markets the trade and wealth of the South and East. Less than a century later the inhabitants of Bruges were compelled to lengthen their maritime channel to Sluys, a small town situated on the Zwyn, about eight miles beyond Damme. The new canal was so constructed as to give access to vessels of from 400 to 500 tons, the largest then built; it passed by Dudzeele and Westcapelle. Hardly had it been opened when the commercial movement of Bruges took a fresh start; from 1420 to 1470 Bruges was the mart of the world, and her fortune had reached its climax. By the Sluys Harbour, into which entered in 1468 with one tide as many as 250 vessels, Bruges was in communication with the North and South of Europe; she was also the only market city for the Netherlands and the Hanseatic League. But from 1470 onwards, i. e. twenty-two years before the discovery of America, the accumulation of clay in the Zwyn again made its disastrous effects felt. Caracks, galleys, and other large vessels could no longer enter the channel. Charles the Bold, in order to deepen it, had the _polder_[80] of the Zwartegat opened, but without avail. Twelve years later, in 1482, matters stood in a much worse condition, and vessels of large draught had completely ceased to appear. No work such as cleansing was carried out, no artificial sluices for such a purpose constructed; and the Sluys Canal, that bold work which during one whole century had maintained the marvellous prosperity of Bruges, now wellnigh useless, became entirely choked up, and like the harbour of Sluys itself, disappeared in the depths of the vast gulf, under the clayey mud and deposits of its alluvia-bearing waves. Bruges was thenceforth condemned to a long decline. In 1622, during the reign of Albert and Isabella, the opening of a canal from Bruges to Ostend, _viâ_ Plasschendacle was for the first time determined upon. Twenty years later was dug the canal from Bruges to Nieuport and from Nieuport to Dunkerque. In 1646 Dunkerque was given up to France, and consequently the Flemings were obliged, in 1664, to direct their attention towards Ostend. The dimensions of this canal were now largely increased, and the sluices of Plasschendacle replaced by those of Slykens, much nearer the sea. In 1717, a powerful society, known as the _Compagnie des Indes_, was organised at Ostend. The undertaking met with wonderful success at its very beginning, and would probably have given back to Bruges some of its former movement and life, had not the Treaty of Paris of 1727, inspired by the jealousy of Holland and England, suspended for seven years the grant of the company, and later on forbidden all commercial intercourse between the Austrian Netherlands and the Indies. Four years later the Treaty of Vienna of 1731, stipulated expressly—Sec. 4 of the Act, dated from the Hague, 20th February, 1732—“That all commerce and navigation from the Austrian Netherlands to the East Indies, as also that all commerce and navigation from the East Indies to the Austrian Netherlands, shall cease for ever.” In 1783, Joseph II., wishing to end the state of subjection that his provinces were labouring under, conceived the idea of linking the waters of Flanders with those of the sea, by means of canals to be dug exclusively in Flemish ground. He failed in the attempt, and it was only after the Netherlands had been joined to the French Empire that the work which the inhabitants of Bruges had been in vain seeking for centuries was again attempted. At their urgent request, Napoleon ordered a canal to be dug from Bruges to Sluys _viâ_ Damme; this it was intended to lengthen later on, as far as the Scheldt, somewhere near Breskens. The works unfortunately were carried on with extreme slowness, and the fall of the empire prevented their completion. In 1818 the canal was opened. In 1829, King William found out the inefficiency of the issues of the Zwyn; he resumed the scheme of Napoleon I., and decided to push the new canal on to Breskens. The works were on the point of being ordered, when, in 1830, the Revolution broke out, and Bruges saw the realisation of her hopes again deferred. Since 1470, then, three principal efforts have been made to bring Bruges into communication with the sea; first, in 1622, _viâ_ Ostend; second, in 1640, _viâ_ Dunkerque; third, in 1810, _viâ_ Breskens. The two last failed through political events, which took away from Belgium the two principal points: Dunkerque scarcely five years after the canal was completed; Breskens before the works were even begun. One disadvantage to be noticed with regard to these two towns is the considerable distances at which they lie from Bruges—Dunkerque at over forty, Breskens at more than twenty miles. Moreover the works, comparatively speaking, were on a very small scale. As for the Ostend scheme, the canal necessarily encountered the same fate as the harbour itself—one continual struggle against alluvia. The case seemed hopeless, and Bruges in despair had resigned herself to her melancholy fate, when in 1877 M. A. de Maere Limnander started and publicly advocated a scheme which was intended to open for Bruges, once more a seaport town, a fresh era of prosperity. The work which he published on the subject, the result of long inquiry, has met with general approbation. In the construction of the ship canal from Ostend to Bruges, the spot chosen for the outer port lay in the neighbourhood of Heijst, to the south-west of the mouth of the Sebzate and Schipdonek canals, at about 1250 metres (4114 feet) from the Heijst sluices. The motives for selecting this place are twofold—Firstly, the minimum of clearing to be executed in opening the downs, the depth of which is here of not more than from 50 to 60 metres (164 feet to 197 feet); secondly, the minimum of length to be given to the piers, the depth of seven metres (23 feet) at ebb tide being here very near the shore. This part of the coast, moreover, is also one which has stood in constant danger of irruption on the part of the sea, and has only recently needed strengthening. To maintain the depth at the entrance to the harbour the westerly pier is made the longer of the two, and slightly bent in towards the end; its length is fixed at 1100 metres (3620 feet), viz., 840 metres (2769 feet) from the base to the bend, and 260 metres (855 feet) from the bend to the end; that of the easterly one at 800 metres (2633 feet); the width at the entrance to the port at 300 metres (987 feet), and that at the base of the same at 1000 metres (3291 feet); the surface of the harbour thus amounts to 60 hectares (6000 acres, or 29,040,000 square yards). The masonry consists of artificial blocks of the largest possible dimensions, never weighing less than from 40,000 to 90,000 kilogs.—from about 85,000 lb. to about 180,000 lb. M. de Maere also advocates the construction along the outer side of the westerly pier of a breakwater, made of a single row of stakes. One or two lighthouses are to light the entrance to the harbour. The cost of this section of the works was estimated at 9,000,000f. = 360,000_l._ The canal runs in a straight line from the sea to the docks at Bruges. Its length is 12 kilometers.—about 7½ miles; its floor width is 20 metres—65 feet; its width, measuring at the water-line, of 62 metres—204 feet; its depth from the water-line of 7 metres—23 feet. The slopes have a slant of 1 metre—3 feet 3½ inches—for every 3 metres—9 feet, 10½ inches. This lessens the expense of keeping in repair, and, where the necessity is felt, makes the widening of the bottom possible. The canal is exclusively fed with sea-water, and is so constructed as to allow of the Ghent-Heijst Canal being easily joined to it later on below the future sluice. The amount of earth dug out of the canal was about 8,887,000 cubic feet, and the cost of clearing it some 2,500,000f.—100,000_l._ 2,700,000 cubic metres of earth were employed in the construction of banks or dykes along the canal. This necessitated the expropriation of 170 hectares—17,000 acres, or 82,280,000 square yards—of land, at the rate of 10,000f.—400_l._—per hectare, or 1,700,000f.—68,000_l._—for the 170 hectares. Other features of the canal include a sea-sluice, constructed below the downs, with a double bridge, one-half of which will be devoted to the Blankenberghe-Heijst Railway; the other half to general use. The bridge is 8 metres—about 26 feet—wide, and the opening at the sluice, as also at the bridge, is 20 metres (about 65 feet), thus enabling several ships to enter at a time. Another sluice-gate is fixed some 200 metres (about 7900 feet) lower, and the part of the canal between will be made quite secure by means of a flood-gate. The cost of these works amounted to about 2,000,000f. (80,000_l._). The plans also provided for two bridges, one on the Lisseweghe-Dudgeele, the other on the Lisseweghe-Heijst high roads, and four syphons for the draining of the low waters of the country, to run under the canal at a depth of eight metres (about 26 feet) below the water-line.[81] The river Rupel, which is about 12 miles above Antwerp, leads from the Scheldt to Willebrock, opposite the town of Boom. From here a canal with five large locks leads to Brussels. This canal, which had its origin in the year 1415, but which was only completed in 1561, is of considerable importance. The traffic on it is heavy, and it is worked by the Corporation of Brussels, the result usually leaving a profit. The tolls on this canal are—First class, ·06 franc; second class, ·04½ francs; third class, ·02 franc per ton. In all cases a cubic metre is reckoned as 1000 kilogrammes, or one metrical ton. In the first class is reckoned merchandise, &c.; in the second class, bricks, firewood, stone (wrought or unwrought), salt, &c.; and the third class, unladen vessels. There is a depth of from somewhat over 10 feet of water, but this is limited to an effective depth of 3·10 metres where it passes over a small stream by a brick aqueduct. A line of steamers belonging to Messrs. Thomas & Co., of London, runs to Brussels regularly, and several Dutch lines of steam barges use this route. Sailing vessels and lighters are worked on the canal by means of the chain system, with _remorqueurs_, twenty to thirty being thus easily towed. The locks are large, and as many vessels pass at the same time, the trains are made up accordingly. When two meet, the ascending tug drops the chain, the train keeps on its right side, and the chain is again picked up by a grapple when the descending train has passed. With this system the vessels are easily steered by the men at the helm. When approaching a lock, the chain is thrown off in proper time, and the vessels’ way being checked, they gradually settle side by side in the lock. Great skill and care is used by the men, damage by collision rarely occurring. One great advantage attending this system of towage is that the tugs make no wash, which so much destroys the banks of canals. The tolls are light, and the rates for towage very low. Empty vessels only pay 20 c. for a _laissez passer vide_; this ticket, as in France, can be taken from any _bureau de navigation_ to any other place in the kingdom or in the Republic. Belgium has made a substantial contribution to the more important engineering features of canals by the construction of the La Louviére Canal lift on the Terneuzen Canal, which is illustrated on the opposite page. [Illustration: LA LOUVIÉRE CANAL LIFT.] This canal lift was constructed for the Belgian Government by the Société Cockerill, of Seraing, from the designs and under the superintendence of Messrs. Clark, Stanfield, and Clark, of Westminster, consulting engineers to the Government, and the patentees of the system. The difference between the levels of the upper and lower canals—that is, the height the boats are raised—is 50 feet 6¼ inches. The lift consists of two pontoons, or troughs, each 141 feet long by 19 feet broad, with 8 feet draught of water, and are capable of holding the largest size of barge that navigates on the Belgian broad-gauge canal system. Such barges are capable of taking 400 tons of coal or other cargo, so that the total weight of the trough, water, and barge is not much under 1000 tons. This immense weight is supported on the top of a single colossal hydraulic ram of 6 feet 6¾ inches diameter and 63 feet 9½ inches long, working in a press of cast iron, hooped continuously, for greater security, with weldless steel coils. The working pressure in this press is about 470 lbs. to the square inch. The time actually occupied in lifting or lowering is only two and a half minutes. The La Louviére lift is said to be the largest in the world. _The Scheldt Navigation._—In the recent history of the shipping industry, the city of Antwerp has played a prominent part, thanks partly to the facilities afforded by the river Scheldt, partly to the easy means of access to other parts of Belgium and Holland by sea and canal, and partly to the very low rates charged for transport by both systems of navigation. Up to the year 1863, the Dutch Government levied a tax upon all vessels using the Scheldt. This tax was found to be so onerous, that treaties were entered into in that year by which, in consideration of certain specific payments made by the various countries concerned in the navigation of the river, the King of Holland renounced his right to levy such duties.[82] Since then the trade of Antwerp has advanced by “leaps and bounds.” Between 1862, the year previous to the abolition of the taxes on shipping, and 1887, the importations into Antwerp had increased by 335 per cent., and the exportations from Antwerp had increased by more than 500 per cent. In the general transit trade the increase was equally striking, amounting to about 400 per cent. The tonnage of vessels entering the port of Antwerp within the same period advanced by about 600 per cent.[83] _Economical Conditions of Water Transport in Belgium._—The abolition of the taxes levied previous to 1863 has had the effect, coupled with a judicious development of the shipping facilities of the port, of placing Antwerp at the head of the maritime ports of Continental Europe, as regards both the volume of its trade and the low rate of freights that may be obtained thence for nearly all the other ports of the world. There is no country that enjoys the advantages of such cheap railroad transportation, excepting some instances in the United States, as Belgium, and yet, as we have seen, there is no country that makes a more extensive use of its canal communications. The cost of transport on the canals from the Belgian coalfields to Paris amounted to 0·29_d._ in the spring, and 0·34_d._ in the autumn of 1883, not including interest.[84] The lowest rate of transport on English railways for the same description of traffic is ·49_d._ per ton per mile. The canal transport of Belgium, therefore, averaging the summer and winter rates, is ·18_d._, or 58 per cent. cheaper[85] than that of the London coal traffic, which is pointed to in this country as a remarkable example of economical transport, and which certain authorities declare to be carried at a loss to the companies.[86] _Extent and Income of Belgian Canals._—We have seen that the total length of the canals of Belgium is over 1634 kilometres, of which the principal were the Communal Canal from Brussels to Rufel (28 kilometres), the canal from Brussels to Charleroi (24 kilometres), the Haut-Escaut Canal (115 kilometres), the Bas Escaut Canal, from Gand to the Dutch frontier (118 kilometres), the Ghent and Ostend Canal (70 kilometres), the Ghent and Terneuzen Canal (17 kilometres), the Meuse and Escaut Canal (86½ kilometres), the Lys Canal (113 kilometres), the canalised Meuse from Givet to Liége (113½ kilometres), the Mons and Condé Canal (20 kilometres). Altogether there are forty-five canals in Belgium, which in 1886 carried 763,108,000 kilometric tons—equal to about 480 million ton miles. The total tonnage carried on the canals, as a whole, is returned at about 33½ millions, including the Meuse, and the average distance over which each ton was carried was 22·8 kilometres. The principal elements of the canal traffic are shown in the appended statement of tons carried one kilometre:— Kilometric Tons. Coal and coke 167,221,000 Iron, iron ore, building materials, &c. 210,600,000 Agricultural produce 117,217,000 Industrial products, &c. 268,400,000 The annual income of the Belgian canals, notwithstanding that the facilities for canal navigation have been considerably extended and improved, has not increased during recent years. On the contrary, while the annual income between 1841 and 1850 was 2,885,000 francs, and from 1851 to 1860, 2,974,000 francs, the average of 1871 to 1880 had fallen to 1,676,000 francs, and in 1887 it was only 1,266,000 francs. The latter fall, however, must be due to a decrease in rates, as the amount of traffic carried between 1881 and 1886 increased from 30,562,000 tons to 33,419,000 tons. The ordinary expenses of maintaining the canals of Belgium have been reduced from 2,600,000 francs in 1881 to 2,100,000 francs in 1886. For a number of years past there has been a considerable extraordinary expenditure on the canals, the special credits for this purpose having been as much as 12½ million francs in 1883. FOOTNOTES: [79] The chief elements of this traffic were:— Tons transported one kilometre. Coal and coke 147,402,000 Other minerals and metals 200,606,000 Agricultural products, wood, &c. 130,571,000 Industrial products, and others 247,780,000 [80] This was an extensive plain in the Netherlands, protected by dykes, which was formerly covered by the sea. [81] These particulars are mainly abstracted from the _Engineer_, January 3rd, 1879. [82] The sum total of these amounts was 17,141,640 francs, or 685,666_l._, of which more than one-half was paid by Great Britain, and fully one-sixth by the United States. [83] The figures are so remarkable that it will probably be interesting to put them on record in a tabulated form:— ────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┬────────────────── Year. │ Importations │ Exportations │ Tonnage of Ships │ by Sea. │ by Sea. │ entering Antwerp. ────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┼────────────────── │ tons │ tons │ tons 1862 │ 568,871 │ 177,702 │ 599,899 1886 │ 2,438,178 │ 821,753 │ 3,658,900 ────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┴────────────────── [84] Minutes of Proc. Inst. C. E., vol. 68, p. 484. [85] Subject, of course, to the charge for interest, which, however, will be very trifling. [86] Mr. F. R. Conder maintains that the London coal traffic is carried at a loss to the railways of 822,000_l._ per annum, or 40 per cent. on the traffic.