3-008-627 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Flood in the Fens: making the cofferdam, 1862. 'The hopes, mingled largely with fears, of the Marshland farmers are centred upon the gigantic cofferdam which Mr. Leather, the contractor, has pushed across the Middle-Level Drain, about half a mile above the blown-up sluice. The framework of this dam consists of a great number of piles...which are driven to a depth of twenty feet in the earth. All these piles are girded together by iron bolts fixed into the bed of the river by expert divers...The banks were lined with sacks of clay to the number of many thousands, and bodies of men were engaged in digging up mere earth and filling in new sacks...it became painfully apparent to all that the dam had burst, from the boiling, seething waters on the upper side of the dam...It was found to be necessary to take up the portions of panels, otherwise it was feared that the whole dam would be carried away...some divers were sent down to ascertain the extent of the damage. They found that one of the panels had been completely shattered...Two or three of the principal piles were also broken...It appears, however, that the engineers are still confident that they will be able to construct works sufficiently strong to keep out the heaviest tides'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.