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Document 66 p17

147 (17)
Bridge, was three feet, Nine Inches; and which according to the Computa
-tion of this Deponent, would necessarily produce a Velocity of the
Current Water at the rate of above Nine Hundred feet in a Minute;
and which, as the said J: Pickernell then reported, to this Deponent;
was so far from producing any derangement in the Bridge; that
on the contrary such Changes as had been made thereby in the Bed
of the River were for the better, as it had acquired a more equal
depth from Side to Side; and furthermore, that after the said J:
Pickernell was for his good Services in this Undertaking recommended
by the said Deponent to the Commissioners of the Piers of Whitby
Harbour (in which Department he has ever since acted as the
Deponent verily believes to the entire Satisfaction of the said
Commissioners) and that Robert Thompson who had through this
Business acted as foreman Mason under the said J. Pickernell,
had (for also his good Services in the Erection of the Bridge, as
this Deponent verily believes) been chosen by the Magistrates to
be Surveyor of the County Bridges, the Report of the said Robert
Thompson, as was communicated to this Deponent and which he
verily believes to be true was to this purport; that every great
Flood that happened from the time of his Appointment; to the day
of the destruction of the Bridge; had in their several Effects
rendered the Bridge more safe; because thereby the shallow parts
of the Bed of the River were made deeper, and the deep parts,
by the deposition of Gravel brought down had become shallower.
17 5th

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Note: Mr Smeaton's Replies to Interrogatories p17

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Transcribed by CTW and RMS