AFTER THE STORM. THE WATER FAMINE IN PLYMOUTH.
As soon as the gale of Monday night and Tuesday had spent its force,
and it became possible for the work of clearing up to be proceeded
with, movements in this direction were rapidly organized in the Three
Towns, as well as in all other parts of the west where men were
obtainable, or traffic was at all possible. In Plymouth, Stonehouse
and Devonport, the earliest opportunities had been seized of clearing
the snow away from the door-ways; to free the pavements as a whole was
the next important step; and finally, in the temporarily fine weather
of Wednesday, the congealed masses in the roadways were attacked,
and that to such good purpose, that by the following Sunday, while
traces of the recent fall were frequent enough, in the majority of
the streets pedestrians could walk about with comfort, and vehicular
traffic was fully resumed. George Street, Plymouth, assumed before
long a very different appearance from that which it bore on Tuesday
morning, when Mr. Heath took the photograph from which our illustration
is reproduced, and the marvellous wintry mantles that enwrapped the
other portions of the town were removed with equal despatch. Hundreds
of men were employed shovelling the snow into carts, from which it
was subsequently tipped into the sea at Sutton Harbour and the Great
Western Docks.
[Illustration: CLOCK TOWER AND THEATRE ROYAL, PLYMOUTH.]
The railways by the end of the week had commenced to run with something
like regularity, although there were one or two temporary hitches at
first; and the postal telegraph services had already been partially
restored. To effect the latter object, large numbers of engineers had
been at work, and in the course of their labours, as may be supposed,
they met with a great deal of discomfort, and some very startling
adventures. Bricklayers, plumbers and plasterers plied a busy trade
for weeks after the storm, their services being required to some extent
in every house.
[Illustration: DEVONPORT PARK.]
At Stonehouse, the main streets were soon freed from snow, and the
usual busy throngs of people began once more to pass along this highway
between Plymouth and Devonport.
At Devonport, by Friday, in many parts of the town the snow had quite
disappeared, though in several of the streets heaps of slush remained,
and at the railway station business went on much as usual. In Devonport
Park great quantities of snow remained for a considerable time, though
the paths were cleared, and traffic for foot-passengers was made easy.
Mr. Rowe, of Devonport, has supplied a photograph of a very familiar
scene in the Park, which is here presented. The view of the Water
Steps, Milehouse Road, is also from a photograph by the same gentleman.
All over the storm-swept district, farmers were busy looking for cattle
and sheep, and some marvellous instances have been told of sheep being
recovered alive after being entombed for various lengthy periods, one
term of snow imprisonment lasting as long as sixteen days.
As early as the Tuesday morning following the storm of Monday night,
Mr. Bellamy, the Plymouth Borough Surveyor, notified to the inhabitants
of that town the imminent danger of a cessation of the water supply, in
consequence of the blocking by snow of the leat through which the water
is brought into the town. That these warnings were needed was evident
from the fact that since the Monday night the only water obtainable
had been from the Hartley reservoir, which, when full, contains only
two million gallons, or two days' supply. On Wednesday the whole of
the available staff of the Corporation, including the men whose usual
task is the repairing of the leat, were set to work, under the personal
supervision of Mr. Bellamy, to clear away the frozen snow which
completely filled the leat at the Head Weir, and prevented the passage
through it of any water from the river. The whole leat from the Head
Weir to Roborough was found to be one mass of frozen snow. On the same
day, the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. J. T. Bond, accompanied by Mr. R. Monk
and Mr. G. R. Barrett, set out to walk up to Roborough, to ascertain
if possible how the work was progressing. The Mayor and his companions
arrived safely at Roborough, and were enabled to have communication
by telephone with the borough surveyor who was at the weir head. They
ascertained from him the condition of the leat, and received an urgent
appeal for at least two hundred more workmen to be sent up immediately.
The party then set out on their return journey, and again on foot.
[Illustration: WATER STEPS, MILEHOUSE ROAD, DEVONPORT.]
Arrived in Plymouth, a meeting of the Water Committee was hastily
convened, and it was ascertained that four Plymouth contractors would
be able to supply about one hundred men to proceed to Roborough.
This force was inadequate, and consequently the Mayor proceeded to
Devonport, and having stated the case to General Sir Richard Harrison,
K.C.B., commanding the district, at once received a promise of the
services of a military force of two hundred--one hundred of the Welsh
Regiment from the North Raglan Barracks, and another hundred of the
Royal Marines, the latter by permission of Colonel Colwell, second
colonel commandant.
On Wednesday the efforts of Mr. Bellamy, ably supplemented by those of
Mr. Duke and Mr. Shadwell, to make rapid progress with clearing the
leat near the well-known Rock Hotel at Head Weir, had been somewhat
retarded. Many of the labourers employed were ill-clad, and showed
signs of weakness, and when it was found that no sufficient provision
had been made to supply them with food, they threw down their shovels
and returned to Plymouth. Others, however, worked gallantly on through
the night. On Thursday morning, things looked more promising. At an
early hour the new contingent of workmen engaged on the previous day,
and the two detachments of the military--the men of the Welsh Regiment
under Lieutenants de la Chapelle and Ready, and the Marines commanded
by Captain Kelly and Lieutenants Mullins and Drake-Brockman--were on
the spot, and these, being divided into gangs, set vigorously to work
on the leat at various points. During the morning large commissariat
supplies were received from Plymouth, and the men, besides having a
plentiful supply of food, were served at intervals with hot coffee.
Some serious difficulties were encountered, and heavy labour on the
part of the civilian labourers and the soldiers was entailed. There
were nearly ten miles of leat to be cleared, and much of the snow was
frozen into hard solid masses, against which but slow headway could be
made. In some places the leat was completely buried under frozen snow
of great depth, and for hundreds of yards snow rose in drifts from
ten to twelve feet in height, burying the rails guarding the leat,
and rendering it difficult to trace its course accurately. The young
Welsh soldiers worked well, and the services of the Marines were found
invaluable.
By nightfall, when work ceased, it was found that the leat had been
cleared for a mile and a half from the Head Weir towards Yennadon.
On Yennadon Down Lieutenant de la Chapelle's men had cleared the way
nearly as far as Dousland, and near the Roborough Reservoir a clearance
of three miles had been made. At about six o'clock the troops and
civilian labourers, numbering about 450, returned to Yelverton Station,
and ultimately, after a vexatious, but, fortunately, not serious
mishap, reached Plymouth.
Fears were expressed during Thursday night that there would be another
snowstorm on Dartmoor, and this proved to be the case. A violent gale
raged on the moor, and three feet of snow fell, undoing much of what
the heavy toil of the previous day had accomplished. Much of the snow
that had been removed from the leat had drifted back, and part of the
work had to be done over again.
On Friday morning, a special train left Millbay with 200 general
labourers. There were also 100 Marines under Lieutenants Sousbie and
Garrett; 150 men of the Dorset Regiment, under Captain Lushington and
Lieutenants Mangles and Household; and 50 men of the Welsh Regiment,
under Lieutenant Woodville. The civilians were under the direction
of Mr. S. Roberts, and the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. G. R. Barrett
(deputy-chairman of the Water Committee), Mr. W. H. Mayne, Mr. R. Monk,
and Mr. G. Bellamy, junior, accompanied the party. The train had a
rough time, on account of the heavy gale that was blowing, and just
before Bickleigh Station was reached it was brought to a standstill by
a snow-drift. About fifty of the labourers had to cut a way through the
snow, enabling the party, after nearly an hour's delay, to proceed on
their journey.
On arriving at Yelverton the weather was found to be so bad that, after
some consultation, it was considered advisable to send the military
back to Plymouth, and, after clearing the rails for the return of their
own train, they, with about fifty civilian labourers, started on the
return journey. Mr. Roberts, however, with his men proceeded along the
leat to a point near Clearbrook, but so fierce was the storm that work
could not be commenced, and an adjacent barn was used as a temporary
refuge. In less than two hours work was begun, and by four o'clock in
the afternoon a clear way of four feet in width was made from Yelverton
Bridge to Roborough Reservoir, a distance of six miles. A contingent
under the direction of Messrs. T. and W. Shaddock, and another directed
by Mr. Duke had been progressing most satisfactorily, and, when night
approached and success was within view, all the men expressed their
readiness to work all night if needful, so that the leat might be all
clear before the morning. This, however, was not necessary, and before
seven o'clock a clear passage for the water had been made along the
whole ten miles of leat. The water had still to be brought on, and a
hundred men volunteered to remain, under Mr. Bellamy, and work on until
a good stream was running. Their services were accepted, and the other
two hundred men, with the Mayor and Messrs. Roberts and Duke returned
to Plymouth by a special train at nine o'clock. The great piece of
work thus happily accomplished had been ably assisted by the Mayor
of Plymouth, Councillors G. R. Barrett, and R. A. Monk, and Messrs.
A. R. Debnam, S. Roberts, Duke and Shaddock, contractors under the
Corporation. Mr. Bellamy, with his staff, Messrs. Prigg, A. G. Davey,
S. Chapman, and G. A. Picken, worked without intermission, and had an
arduous and an anxious time. Messrs. Barrett, Monk, and Mayne, managed
the commissariat department, which was no light task, with admirable
efficiency. Before the party of workers broke up the Mayor thanked, in
the name of the town of Plymouth, all those who had assisted in the
labour of averting a great calamity. Thanks were also offered to the
railway officials for the efficiency of the train service. It was not
until Sunday morning that a full supply of water began to flow into the
cisterns, but after Saturday night all apprehension had ceased, and
within a few hours the discomforts of the previous few days, as far as
want of water was concerned, were removed.
Although great and growing inconvenience was caused towards the latter
end of the week to all the inhabitants of Plymouth by the partial
deprivation of water, things never reached the same pass as they did
in the famine of 1881. Stonehouse had plenty of water, and was able to
assist in supplying the western end of Plymouth. By order of the Local
Board standpipes were on the Saturday erected at the Malt House, and in
Millbay Road, Union Place and Eldad Hill, and all day long residents of
Plymouth were supplied from these. In some parts of Plymouth families
were in great difficulty, and water borrowing, where practicable, went
forward on a large scale. Messrs. Polkinghorne, at their brewery in
Bedford Street, Messrs. Denniford & Son, mineral water manufacturers of
Russel Street, and Mr. Lewis, aërated water manufacturer of Athenæum
Street, supplied hundreds of the inhabitants, free of charge, from
their artesian wells.
At a meeting of the Plymouth Borough Council subsequently held, formal
votes of thanks were passed to a number of citizens, as well as the
military authorities, for the services they had rendered, and a rate of
remuneration to the soldiers for their valuable service was fixed upon.
As soon as the Plymouth water difficulty was satisfactorily overcome,
it was discovered that the Devonport leat, also on Dartmoor, was
blocked. Mr. Francis, C. E., manager to the Devonport Waterworks
Company, set out for Princetown to inspect the place, and as speedily
as possible gangs of men were put on to work on the different parts
of the leat. Some serious difficulties were encountered, most of the
snow being frozen quite hard, and forming barriers fifteen feet deep,
while in one spot, near Lowery Lane, a tree, fourteen feet in girth,
had, fallen right across the leat. This tree was removed by means
of lifting jacks, after having been cut in two. After many trials of
patience, extending over several days, the toilers were rewarded with
well-deserved success, and the water once more flowed freely. This
was a fortunate result, for, besides the inhabitants of Devonport and
Stonehouse, the regiments in garrison, the Naval Barracks, the Engineer
Students, and the Royal Marine Barracks, are dependent on the Devonport
Water Company for their supply of water.