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with their number at the period of the capitulation, 378, proves, beyond all doubt, that a large number of inhabitants, particularly the young, have been driven away by the increasing difficulty of obtaining the means of subsistence; and I incline to conclude that, but for the attraction which Heligoland offers for bathing, the island would have become compara- tively depopulated.
The Heligolanders have not now above forty-nine fishing-boats. They are large, stout, open craft, sailed by three or four men, and cost as much as 1801., being built of wainscoat (?) which is procured from Baden. The ambition of every seafaring youth is to become eventually the owner of such a boat, as ensuring to himself and family a certainty of the means of subsistence. To obtain it by ready pay- ment is out of the question; but he generally finds a ship-carpenter, or a wealthy man, who will make the outlay, and this is repaid by instalments. The parties who consent to make this outlay, however, incur considerable risk: for, not to speak of the chances of the open sea, Heligoland has no port, and the boats lie exposed on the small beach to the certain violence of the most terrific storms.
It is by these boats, however, that the island itself is not only supplied with fish (which, with potatoes, constitutes the food of the people), but that fisher- meh obtain for their families the necessaries of life from the neighbouring ports, in exchange for their fish.
Public Works.
It is sufficiently evident, as I think, that if the industry of the inhabitants were limited to fishery, Heligoland would become gradually reduced to the condition of a village, to which it was fast tending when, in the year 1826, it suddenly came into repute as a bathing-place, for which it is singularly well adapted by the purity of its invigorating air, by the large quantity of salt which is contained in the seawater (280 grains to the pound), and, above all, by the peculiarly convenient retirement of Sundy Island, with its gradually sloping beach of the finest sand.
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Sandy Island is now truly the vache à lait of Heligoland; for it attracts during the warm seasop, large numbers of the respectable classes of society from Saxony, Prussia, Hanover, and Hamburgh, to the extent now of 2,500 persons, who spend there considerable sums of money.
But Sandy Island is being gradually washed away by the ruthless action of the sea, which is not only separating it more and more from the mainland, but is seriously threatening its north-western point, where it is now proposed to lay down works for warding off the devastating shocks of the periodical storms which come raging on in that direction.
The progress of this gradual diminution of the surface of Sandy Island is demonstrated by the following facts:
1. It appears, by measurements which have been made by competent persons, during a long series of years, after every great storm, that in the year 1793 the length of the little island was 3,568 feet, and its breadth 2,150 feet; and that in the present year its length has been reduced to 1,650 feet, and its breadth to 270 feet.
2. It has been stated to me, by one of the Town Councillors, as having been told to bim by his great- grandmother, that, in the year 1720, she had, at low water, walked across from Heligoland to Sandy Island, where there is now permanent deep sea.
Now, I am not going to entangle myself in á discussion about the proposed works on the north- west point of Sandy Island: I will only observe, by way of gossip, that, supposing a good foundation can be laid, and that sufficient money can be obtained for the works, it seems to be the general opinion that the north-west point may be saved for a time.
But I must say that I am entirely at a loss to imagine how the mere protection of the north-west point can in any way arrest the progressive action of the great body of sea which now separates Sandy Island from Heligoland Proper, and is gradually tending to absorb that island altogether.
The preservation of Sandy Island is of such pressing interest to the maintenance of Heligoland as a bathing-place, that few persons seem inclined to trouble themselves much about the bulwark
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
mmmmt C.O. 885
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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- ·
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON