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Page 47
Our friends will remember (as has been before said,) that we leave
the history of many curious rocks and caverns to be given by the
local watermen; for personal examination will invest a scene or
object with a degree of interest which cannot be felt by the
reader, who may have no expectation of ever seeing them.
Passing the OLD PEPPER-ROCK, a picturesque detached mass at the foot of
the chalk--we find ourselves under the noble promontory of MAIN-BENCH,
where the precipices again rise to upwards, of six hundred feet in
height: and being nearly perpendicular, present a truly sublime aspect,
viewed either from above or below: while the constant washing of the
waves at the lower part, by removing the looser particles of chalk,
gives it much the appearance of having been built with vast blocks of
masonry. As the water is deep even close to the cliff, and beautifully
transparent in calm weather, the reflection on its surface of the crags
above, and the sunken rocks and marine plants which appear beneath, must
add considerably to the interest of our aquatic excursion. Main-bench
terminates in a bold bluff or projecting angle called SUN CORNER;
rounding which, we enter ...
SCRATCHELL'S BAY, universally considered by visitors as the most
memorable spot on the island coast, alike for the grandeur, beauty, and
variety of its scenery. The dazzling whiteness of the chalk is here
relieved by thin curving beds of dark flint, which regularly divide it
into parallel strata of eight or ten feet thickness; the towering
precipices are of the most picturesque shapes; and the Needle Rocks form
an inimitable termination to the scene. Just within the bay is the
NEEDLES CAVE, the deepest along the whole range, as it penetrates the
chalk 300 feet: but the _unique_ feature which above all the rest claims
attention is the niche-like recess in the face of the cliff,
appropriately designated ...
THE GRAND ARCH;
It indicates little that is remarkable at a distance; but a truly
sublime effect is produced when the stranger is placed under its awful
roof with his back against the concave chalk: for he then sees above him
a magnificent Arch two hundred feet in height and overhanging the beach
at least one hundred and eighty!--yet so true, nay, even elegant is the
sweep, that it rather resembles the stupendous work of Art, than the
casual production of Nature. To form an idea of the sublimity of the
scene, the reader should task his memory with the dimensions of some of
the proudest architectural monuments in Great Britain: and the
comparison would immediately remove all doubt, that a sight of the Arch
itself would amply repay the trouble of a visit to Freshwater.
[Illustration: SCRATCHELL'S BAY, _And the NEEDLE ROCKS, as viewed from a
bold Bluff called Sun Corner, being the termination of the Freshwater
Cliffs.--Isle if Wight._]
Scratchell's Bay is about half-a-mile in breadth; being formed by Sun
Corner and the Grand Arch on the eastern side, and on the west by the
NEEDLE ROCKS,
Which stretch out into the sea a considerable distance: they are remains
of the original cliff, and forcibly illustrate the destructive power of
the ocean's stormy winds and waves, which in successive ages have
removed so vast a quantity of the adjacent chalk. Nor are their ravages
at all diminished at the present time: for it is only within the last
few years that the smallest rock has been completely insulated; while
another immense mass of the cliff is evidently separating by degrees,
and will probably become ere long entirely detached, forming a
magnificent pyramid two or three hundred feet high. It is impossible to
convey by verbal description a correct idea of these celebrated rocks:
for in passing round or through them, they assume a different shape
almost every dozen yards; sometimes appearing like a continuation of the
main promontory,--sometimes as one or more lofty acuminated
pyramids,--or again we see the different masses extending in nearly a
straight line, between which we catch a distant view of Christchurch and
other objects on the opposite coast. The name (inappropriate to their
present form,) was derived from a spiry rock, 120 feet high and very
slender, which fell in the year 1764, having been nearly worn through by
the incessant action of the tides: its base however is still visible at
low water.
The _Pomone_, a fifty-gun frigate, was wrecked on the most western
of these rocks, on June 11th, 1811, when returning home after an
absence of three years; but owing to the fineness of the weather,
the crew and passengers, including some Persian princes, reached
the shore in safety; and most of her guns and stores were removed
before she went to pieces. "The vessel," says Mr. Webster,
"afforded me a scale by which to judge of the size of the Needles,
and I was surprized to find that the hull of the frigate did not
reach one-fourth of their height." The entrance to the Solent
Channel "through the Needles" was always considered hazardous for
ships of great burthen, not only on account of those rocks, but
also of the immense banks of pebbles or "Shingles" that lie to the
westward: recent surveys have however ascertained that the channel
has sufficient width and depth for the safe passage of the largest
ships of war.
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