[Illustration: FIG. 3.--FROIDEVILLE'S FLOATING BREAKWATER.--END VIEW.]
Mr. Bert, a merchant, would protect the Little Roadstead by means of two jetties, 1,000 and 1,600 meters in length, built, one of them upon the Eclat and the other upon the eminences of the roadstead. These would be constructed by forming a foundation of loose rocks, and using earth and brick above the level of the water. Mr. Vial has likewise proposed a rockwork of 2,000 meters in length, to form a dike 10 meters in height and width, whose platform would be on a level with the highest tides.
Next comes the more recent project of Mr. Coulon. Seeing that it is the deposits of the ocean and not those of the Seine that accumulate upon the estuary, Mr. Coulon advises the construction of a dike about 2,000 meters in length, starting from the Havre jetty, and ending at the southwest extremity of the shoals at the roadstead heights, and a second one returning toward the northwest, of from 500 to 1,000 meters. A third and very long one of not less than 8 kilometers would be built from Honfleur to the Ratier shoals.
This latter one, in contracting the bay, would contribute to increase the force of the current, which, throwing back at the ocean its mud and pebbles, would give us the depths of 15 and 20 meters indicated on the map of Beautemps-Beaupre.
This year, again, two projects have arisen; one of them due to Mr. Thuillard-Froideville, and the other to Mr. Hersent.
According to Mr. Hersent, it would be necessary to surround the Little Roadstead with an insubmersible dike built upon the rocky shoals, which would begin at Cape Heve (which it would consolidate) and end opposite the entrance to the port at 1,600 meters from the jetties. Through it there would be five passages. Afterward another dike would be constructed, starting from the shore and running to meet the jetty designed to inclose the Little Roadstead. On turning the angle at which it met the jetty it would be continued as far as to Berville. Finally, a third dike, running from Honfleur to Berville, would complete the system.
Mr. Hersent's project, which is one of the most remarkable of those that have been proposed, has one fault, and that is that it would require twelve years of work, and cost 158 million francs.