Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - Cefn-y-Wrâch . . .

With a view of enabling them to understand the circumstances of the case more clearly, the Board of Trade would be glad to be informed in what way the Cardiff pilots are enabled to keep the Cefn-y-Wrach channel with certainty, since the Board have been led to believe that it is very narrow, and somewhat crooked, and is not defined by buoys or other marks. If is the case there would appear to be great risk of any vessel coming in contact with the shallow heads at the side of this narrow pass, should there not be sufficient depth of water to enable her to pass over them, and the Board presume that it was on account of this danger that the Bute Dock Trustees have ordered the removal of these obstructions. The Board of Trade would be glad to hear further from the Pilotage Board upon this point before forming a final opinion on the representation of the pilots."

CARDIFF PILOTAGE BOARD TO BOARD OF TRADE. - Not receiving an immediate reply, the Board of Trade again wrote requesting one, when the following letter, dated 21st of May, signed by Dr. Taylor, was forwarded : - "In reply to your letters of the 1st and 14th of May, in reference to the suspension of Pilots Howe and Samuel for refusing to take vessels out of the Bute Docks, the Cardiff Pilotage Commissioners beg to state that the passage through the Cefn-y-Wrach channel is not tortuous or crooked, but, as will be seen by a reference to the plan and sections of the channel sent herewith, 'that there is a sufficient depth of water to enable pilots to navigate any vessel with safety out to sea.' To place a vessel on the highest part of the 'Cefn-y-Wrach,' it would be necessary to take her three points out of her direct course. If required, some members of the Pilotage Board, with a couple of the oldest pilots of the port, would attend at the Board of Trade to explain further any point now touched upon ; or supply any further information in writing, if required.

Captain Calver, R.N., has very recently been here, and has been upon the 'Cefn-y-Wrach,' and also examined the sections sent herewith, and, if necessary, could be referred to by the Board of Trade. The latest survey of the Bristol Channel by Captain E. J. Bedford, R.N., and the approaches to the docks, show the channel through the 'Wrach' as originally dredged by the Bute Trustees in 1859.

BOARD OF TRADE TO CARDIFF PILOTAGE BOARD. - On the 5th of June this letter was acknowledged by the Board of Trade, as follows : - "I am directed by the Board of Trade to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 21st ult. (In reply to my letters of the 1st and 14th ult., on the subject of the suspension of Pilots Howe and Samuel for refusing to take vessels out of the Bute Docks),