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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 35, 10 March 1863, Page 2

Feencii Engineering. — Among the works going on for the improvements of the ports of France, the new pier in progress of construction at Havre is one of the most remarkable. Engineers are now employed in removing the foundations of tbe tower of Francis 1., and they take advantage of the high tides to spring (be mine, then covered with a great body of wator. A new system has been introduced for the explosion of submarine mines. Engineers no longer mnke cavities in the rocks to contain tho powder ; they merely" place a large glass bottle enclosed in a basket at the bottom of the sea where they mean to act, and this bottle is filled with gundpowder in proportion to tlie effect to be produced. The pressure of a column of water of some feet is suflicient to compress the gass so powerfully as to cause great ravages on the soil on which the basket is placed, even were it of the hardest granite. The gunpowder is ignited by electricity by means of two wires, which communicate the fire to the powder in the bottle. The of her morning ono of these submarine mines was sprung by the engineers of the roads and bridges, in presence ot a multitude of spectators. The charge ot gunpowder in the bottle was thirty pounds. When tho explosion took placo the water rose and formed an artificial waterspout, which fell on the surface of the water after producing a considerable undulation. Tho shock resembled an earthquake, and was felt even in the town. The spectators assembled on the breakwater felt it tremble under them as if it had beon shaken by a submarine convulsion.