The Joseph and Mary, 84 feet by &i feet, 10 oars.

THE port of Poole is situated on the N.E. shore of the picturesque bay of that name. When the tide is in, and the extensive mud flats covered, the scenery is striking and pretty, the estuary being studded with islands of different sizes and broken outlines, and surrounded by a shore of very diver- sified character, in some places ending in bluff headlands and in others sloping gradually down to meet the water, both islands and ahore being richly and profusely wooded.

The approaches to the harbour are to a certain extent intricate, as the channel runs for some dis- tance between sand-banks which, although well buoyed, are not to be used by strangers without considerable risk. The channel is constantly moving to the westward, and there has been, at times, an alarm that the depth of water in it was decreasing; but it seems incredible that this can occur so long as the vast volume of water rushing in and out every tide is not lessened by the recla- mation of any of the enormous flats that lie so temptingly on its shores. The entrance to the bay lies between two low sandy points about half a mile apart, guarded at a short distance by Brownsea Island with its old castle, now a peaceful and picturesque marine residence, but which in the middle ages was a fortress of considerable im- portance to the peace and safety of the port and harbour. It appears then to have been kept well garrisoned, and during the civil wars, together with Poole, was held by the parliamentary forces.

The early history of the port is wrapt in ob- scurity, but there is no doubt the bay was visited by the Romans, as shown by the Roman road from the harbour that has heen traced near Upton House, and the coins that have from time to time been dug up in the vicinity. An important dis- covery of these took place so lately as 1832, when a vase of fine pottery containing several hundreds, bearing dates from A,D. 253 to 274, was dug up about a quarter of a mile from the town. In the year 998 the Danes entered the harbour and sta- tioned their fleet at the mouth of the Frome. In 1015 Canute made the bay the headquarters of his fleet until the following year, when he moved it to Greenwich.

The rise of Poole, in commercial and municipal importance, began in the 12th century, when it profited much in those respects through the troubles brought upon Wareham by the wars between Stephen and Queen Maud. In 1142 the latter place was taken by Stephen and the town burnt, being retaken again by the Earl of Glou- cester in the same year: and four 5 ears afterwards it was again taken by the king after a bloody siege. Such a course of events would naturally drive away the more peaceable inhabitants, espe- cially those engaged in trade, who all removed to Poole, where trade seems to have flourished.

In 1224 Poole is included in a list of the principal ports of England to which Henry III. sent orders to detain all French vessels that might arrive.' In 1295, it furnished three ships and fifty-nine mariners for the war with France.

In 1340 it earned the unenviable notoriety of being one of the first places at which the plague broke out that so fearfully devastated England as well as the rest of Europe.

Richard III. favoured Poole considerably, com- mencing and taking a considerable share in the erection of the town wall, besides promising to do great things for the town, the hopes of which the loss of the battle of Bosworth dashed to the ground; but, after a short period of decline, it continued steadily to rise in importance as a commercial port, until its prosperity culminated in its connection with the North American colonies, which lasted until their separation, after the War of Independence, and with the fisheries of New- foundland, then carried on from this country. In this Fortune again behaved to the ancient borough with her proverbial fickleness, the march of events almost entirely changing the channels of this trade.

It still, however, has a very considerable com- merce both in general merchandise and plaster clay, of which very large quantities are snipped from here for the Staffordshire and other pot- teries.

It is easy to conceive that many a distressing wreck, accompanied by loss of life, has occurred off this port in the days when the cry of the seaman in distress awoke little sympathy in the country, especially if we bear in mind that since the BOYAD NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION first established a station here in 1864, its boats have rescued 63 lives.

The station is situated on the north point of the entrance to the harbour, where a good and appro- priate Boat-house was built, and the Life-boat, the gift of a lady, placed there in 1865..