1865 - No 27 - Pitching outside sea entrance in progress. - Pitching is the process of lining the shoreline with stone to reduce or prevent long-shore drift or erosion by tide and wave action. The angle of the face of the pitching is critical to its success and in this example is defined by the timber guide. The steam crane lifts the large pieces of quarried stone into place in the distance ; everybody is still while Mr. Collings works his magic and records a moment in time of our heritage. The enlargements below have been colourised.

An earlier page in this chapter also shows this photograph. I suggested then that the gentleman posing had borrowed Mr. I. K. Brunel's stove-pipe hat, and perhaps was his eldest son, Henry Mark Brunel; the apprentice! I have enlarged this gentleman and revised my guess and consider that it is likely to be Mr. Samuel Dobson, the senior engineer supervising the works. [599] [archive ref : DXPD-6-27] [20170904]