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The Port Board Between 1868 and 1870 resources to
keep up the standard of works undertaken beforehand were becoming scarce and under
the protection of the new public works legislation, Sevilian traders applied to
the Ministry of Development for the creation of the Board to take care of the
management and maintenance of executed works.
By Decree on November 25th,
1870, authorisation was granted for the creation of Port Works Boards that would
be responsible for carrying out works and have the power of decision and special
resources to carry out their mission successfully. From 1853 up to that time,
the amounts invested in works to improve navigation reached almost eight million
pesetas and almost six million to improve the Port.
Half of this considerable
amount was defrayed by the State by way of agreements and the other half by the
Provincial Council, the City Hall and Sevillian traders although, in truth, only
the latter and the State fulfilled their commitment to deliver three million pesetas,
a larger figure than the amount initially agreed.
Between 1871 and 1879,
when Jaime Font was in charge of the works, political disorder and a difficult
economic situation curbed the actions that had been undertaken. Actions were limited
to simply keeping the state of the Estuary as it was, installing a 40 ton crane
purchased from Firbain in Manchester to build the three sheds planned by the latter
and paving most of the service area.
Luis Gracián y Reboul took over
as head of works and, under his management, apart from the installation of several
rails on the docks and six mobile steam cranes ranging between 5 and 10 tons,
bought from the Belgian company John Cockerill, he completed the Jerónimos cutoff,
the largest hydraulic job undertaken up to that time. This cutoff was started
in 1860 by opening up a channel 1.694 metres long; in 1879 the widening of the
original channel was finalised with a width of 45 metres and a depth of 3 metres.
Once again, in 1881, operations began to provide an average width of
104 metres and a depth of 5.6 metres. This was completed seven years later. This
work was particularly important as it meant avoiding three major sand banks, the
Ermita, the Mora and the Abundancia banks, apart from shortening the distance
by 13 kilometres by eliminating the bends in the river at the Ermita and Marmol.
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