" Nothing of the kind approaching its size existed elsewhere in
Europe, for it extended from here to Portland, a distance of sixteen
miles, and we could see it forming an almost straight line until it
reached Portland, from which point it had been described as a rope of
pebbles holding Portland to the mainland. The Bank was composed of white
flint pebbles, and for half its distance from the Portland end, an inlet
from the sea resembling a canal, and called "the Fleet," passed between
the land and the Bank, which was here only 170 to 200 yards wide: raised
in the centre and sloping down to the water on either side. The pebbles
at the Bridport end of the Bank were very small, but at the Portland end
they were about three inches in diameter, increasing in size so
gradually that in the dark the fishermen could tell where they had
landed by the size of the pebbles. The presence of these stones had long
puzzled both British and foreign savants, for there were no rocks of
that nature near them on the sea-coast, and the trawlers said there
were no pebbles like them in the sea. Another mystery was why they
varied in size in such a remarkable manner. One thing was certain: they
had been washed up there by the gigantic waves that rolled in at times
with terrific force from the Atlantic; and after the great storms had
swept over the Bank many curious things had been found, including a
large number of Roman coins of the time of Constantine, mediaeval coins
and antique rings, seals, plates, and ingots of silver and
gold--possibly some of them from the treasure-ships of the Spanish
Armada, which were said to have been sunk in the Bay.
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