Before the breakwater was built the sea used to come rolling right up the Sound, and vessels have even been wrecked close under Plymouth, and the town itself often suffered.  Even as it was, we could not get across to Drake's Island, on which a fort is situated guarding the entrance to the Tamar.  In the afternoon of the next day the weather became bright and beautiful, and we walked through Plymouth to Devonport, which contains the dockyard, and is surrounded by fortifications.  We visited the dockyard, which is very similar to that of Portsmouth.  We were much interested in going into the rope manufactories, where ropes and hempen cables are spun in rooms twelve hundred feet long.  Several ships were building on the slips, and saw-mills and forges were busily at work.  We afterwards went to Stonehouse, where the Royal William Victualling Establishment is situated.  It covers fourteen acres; and here beer is brewed, wheat is ground, biscuits baked, and cattle and pigs are turned into beef and pickled pork.