Hydraulic Architecture, Volume Two, Part One

PREFACE.

As it is only by following the conditions prescribed by well-conceived specifications original: "devis." These are the detailed technical descriptions and cost estimates that guide construction. that works can be built solidly in accordance with their purpose, we provide models applied to sluices and other types of structures. The management of such projects requires guidance in every circumstance regarding the quality of materials and their workmanship. We have further accompanied these with instructions on the manner of drawing up their surveys original: "toiſé." This refers to the measurement and calculation of the dimensions of a completed work to determine its volume and cost, based on the toise, a historical French unit of length roughly equal to 1.95 meters..

Dunkirk having been the most famous school in Europe for the works suited to maritime ports—owing to the great quantity of every kind built there from the time the city came into French possession until the time of its demolition—we have dedicated ourselves to reporting all the marvelous things executed there to improve the harbor and defend its access. These include jetties, forts of timber and masonry, risbans original: "risbans." In coastal engineering and fortification, a risban is a fortified battery or wall built upon a sandbank or at the mouth of a harbor to protect the entrance., cofferdams original: "batardeaux." Temporary watertight enclosures built to exclude water from a site so that construction can take place on the dry bed. with their sluices to direct the water from the ditches, and the placement and operation of those sluices intended to scour the harbor. In a word, we include everything that might serve as an example and instruct posterity on the ancient splendor of this city. We recount its birth and growth in a historical discourse that opens this first volume, showing the events that necessitated these great works and the steps by which they were led toward perfection. It was indeed while studying them during their demolition, and by following the work then being done at the Canal of Mardick, that we conceived the design for the work we present today, having judged the difficulties one would face in becoming well-informed...