As our steamer approached
the head of the Lough, a large number of labourers were
observed--with barrows, picks, and spades--scooping out and
wheeling up the slob and mud of the estuary, for the purpose of
forming what is now known as Queen's Island, on the eastern side
of the river Lagan. The work was conducted by William Dargan,
the famous Irish contractor; and its object was to make a
straight artificial outlet--the Victoria Channel--by means of
which vessels drawing twenty-three feet of water might reach the
port of Belfast. Before then, the course of the Lagan was
tortuous and difficult of navigation; but by the straight cut,
which was completed in l846, and afterwards extended further
seawards, ships of large burden were enabled to reach the quays,
which extend for about a mile below Queen's Bridge, on both sides
of the river.
It was a saying of honest William Dargan, that "when a thing is
put anyway right at all, it takes a vast deal of mismanagement to
make it go wrong." He had another curious saying about "the calf
eating the cow's belly," which, he said, was not right, "at all,
at all." Belfast illustrated his proverbial remarks. That the
cutting of the Victoria Channel was doing the "right thing" for
Belfast, was clear, from the constantly increasing traffic of the
port. In course of time, several extensive docks and tidal
basins were added; while provision was made, in laying out the
reclaimed land at the entrance of the estuary, for their future
extension and enlargement.
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