was put, for a weight of upwards of 5000 tons
falling even a few inches must be admitted to be a very serious matter.
That it stood so well was extraordinary. Clark immediately wrote me an
account of the circumstance, in which he said, 'Thank God, you have been
so obstinate. For if this accident had occurred without a bed for the
end of the tube to fall on, the whole would now have been lying across
the bottom of the Straits.' Five thousand pounds extra expense was
caused by this accident, slight though it might seem. But careful
provision was made against future failure; a new and improved cylinder
was provided: and the work was very soon advancing satisfactorily towards
completion."

When the Queen first visited the Britannia Bridge, on her return from the
North in 1852, Robert Stephenson accompanied Her Majesty and Prince
Albert over the works, explaining the principles on which the bridge had
been built, and the difficulties which had attended its erection. He
conducted the Royal party to near the margin of the sea, and, after
describing to them the incident of the fall of the tube, and the reason
of its preservation, he pointed with pardonable pride to a pile of stones
which the workmen had there raised to commemorate the event. While
nearly all the other marks of the work during its progress had been
obliterated, that cairn had been left standing in commemoration of the
caution and foresight of their chief.

The floating and raising of the remaining tubes need not be described in
detail. The second was floated on the 3rd December, and set in its
permanent place on the 7th January, 1850. The others were floated and
raised in due course. On the 5th March, Mr. Stephenson put the last
rivet in the last tube, and passed through the completed bridge,
accompanied by about a thousand persons, drawn by three locomotives. The
bridge was opened for public traffic on the 18th March. The cost of the
whole work was 234,450 pounds.

[Picture: The Britannia Bridge. (By Percival Skelton)]

The Britannia Bridge is one of the most remarkable monuments of the
enterprise and skill of the present century. Robert Stephenson was the
master spirit of the undertaking. To him belongs the merit of first
seizing the ideal conception of the structure best adapted to meet the
necessities of the case; and of selecting the best men to work out his
idea, himself watching, controlling, and testing every result, by
indepen