The First Lines
During 1756 and 1757 defensive lines were constructed on the Portsea Island side of the creek under the supervision of John Peter Desmaretz. They consisted of a 15–20-foot-wide (4.6–6.1 m) and 6-foot-deep (1.8 m) ditch backed by a 7–8-foot (2.1–2.4 m) rampart. Water could be allowed to flow into the ditch from sluices at either end.
Read more about this topic: Hilsea Lines
Famous quotes containing the word lines:
“Was seiz’d by the spirit that trails in the lines underfoot,
The rim, the sediment that stands for all the water and all the land
of the globe.
Fascinated, my eyes reverting from the south, dropt, to follow those slender windrows,
Chaff, straw, splinters of wood, weeds, and the sea-gluten,
Scum, scales from shining rocks, leaves of salt-lettuce, left by the tide,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)