Americans, mostly militiamen, under General William Moultrie. At the beginning of the Civil War the Confederates erected Fort Walker on Hilton Head, and Fort Beauregard on Bay Point. Captain (afterwards Admiral) Samuel F. Du Pont and General Thomas W. Sherman organized an expedition against these fortifications, which were reduced by a naval bombardment and were evacuated by the Confederates under General Thomas F. Drayton (d. 1891) on the 7th of November 1861. During the remainder of the war Port Royal Harbour was used as a coaling, repair and supply station by the Federal blockading squadron. Early in 1862 Port Royal Island and the neighbouring region became the scene of the so-called “Port Royal Experiment”—the successful effort of a group of northern people, chiefly from Boston, New York and Philadelphia, among whom Edward S. Philbrick (d. 1889) of Massachusetts was conspicuous, to take charge of the cotton plantations, deserted upon the occupation of the island by Union troops, and to employ the negroes under a system of paid labour. The volunteers organized as the Educational Commission for Freedmen (afterward the New England Freedmen's Aid Society), and the government granted them transportation, subsistence and quarters, and paid them small salaries.
See Edward McCrady's History of South Carolina (New York, 1897-1901); and, for an account of the Port Royal Experiment, Letters from Port Royal (Boston, 1906), edited by Elizabeth W. Pearson.
PORTRUSH, a seaport and the most popular seaside resort of Co. Antrim, Ireland; the terminus of a branch of the Northern Counties (Midland) railway. Pop. (1901), 1941. It is very picturesquely situated on the basaltic peninsula of Ramore Head, with a deep bay on either side, and a harbour protected by the natural breakwater known as the Skerries. A fine hotel, owned by the railway company, and an excellent golf course are the chief features, together with a town-hall with public reading room, and the place is much frequented for golf and sea-bathing. It is also the centre for visitors to the Giants' Causeway, with which it is connected by an electric railway. Dunluce Castle, between Portrush and Bushmills, stands on a rock separated from the mainland by a chasm which is spanned by a bridge. The ruins, which are extensive, are of unknown date. Portrush has a thriving trade in salmon. It is governed by an urban district council.
PORT SAID, a seaport of Egypt, at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal, in 31° 15' 35" N., 32° 19' 20" E., and 145 m. by rail N.E. of Cairo. Pop. (1907), 49,884. It lies on the western side of the canal on the low, narrow, treeless and desolate strip of land which separates the Mediterranean from Lake Menzala, the land at this point being raised and its area increased by the draining of part of the lake and by the excavation of the inner harbour. The outer harbour is formed by two breakwaters which protect the entrance to the canal; altogether the harbour covers about 570 acres and accommodates ships drawing 28 ft. Originally besides the central basin of the inner harbour there were three docks; between 1903 and 1909 the harbour accommodation was doubled by the construction of new docks on the eastern side of the canal and by enlarging the western docks. The port possesses a floating dock 295 ft. long, 85 ft. broad and 18 ft. deep, capable of lifting 3500 tons, and a patent slip taking 300 tons and ships drawing 9 ft. 9 in. of water. On the western breakwater is a colossal statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps by E. Fremiet, unveiled in 1899, and a lighthouse 174 ft. high. Among the few buildings of note in the town are the offices of the Suez Canal Company and the British barracks, the last named having been built by Prince Henry of the Netherlands (d. 1879) as a dépôt for Dutch trade.
Port Said dates from 1859 and its situation was determined by the desire of the engineers of the Suez Canal to start the canal at the point on the Mediterranean coast of the isthmus of Suez nearest to deep water, and off the spot where Port Said now stands there was found a depth of 26 ft. at about 2 m. from the shore. For many years after its foundation it depended entirely upon the traffic of the canal, being the chief coaling station of all ships passing through and becoming the largest coaling station in the world. The population was of a very heterogeneous character, but mainly of an undesirable class of Levantines; this with the damp heat and the dirt and noise of the incessant coaling operations gave the town an unenviable reputation. In 1902, however, a new industry was added in the export of cotton from the eastern provinces of the Delta, the cotton being brought from Mataria by boat across Lake Menzala. In 1904 the opening of a standard gauge railway to Cairo placed Port Said in a position to compete with Alexandria for the external trade of Egypt generally, besides making it a tourist route to the capital from Europe. The result was to attract to the town a considerable commercial community and to raise its social status. A new suburb was created by reclaiming land on the north foreshore, and another suburb was created on the eastern side of the canal. The average annual value of the trade of the port for the five years 1902-1906 was £2,410,000. This figure includes the value of the coal used by vessels passing through the Suez Canal.
PORTSMOUTH, EARLS OF. In 1743 John Wallop (1690-1762) of Farley Wallop in Hampshire was created earl of Portsmouth. He belonged to an old Hampshire family and had been a lord of the treasury from 1717 to 1720, when he was created Baron Wallop. The earldom has since been held by his descendants, one of whom, Newton Wallop (b. 1856), became the 6th earl in 1891. This earl was a member of parliament from 1880 to 1891 and was under secretary of state for war from 1905 to 1908.
PORTSMOUTH, LOUISE DE KÉROUALLE, Duchess of (1649-1734), mistress of the English king Charles II., was the daughter of Guillaume de Penancourt and his wife Marie de Plaeuc de Timeur. The name of Kéroualle was derived from an heiress whom her ancestor François de Penhoët had married in 1330. The family were nobles in Brittany, and their name was so spelt by themselves. But the form Querouailles was commonly used in England, where it was corrupted into Carwell or Carewell, perhaps with an ironic reference to the care which the duchess took to fill her pocket. In France it was variously spelt Queroul, Kéroual and Kéroël. The exact date of her birth is apparently unknown. Louise was placed early in life in the household of Henriette, duchess of Orleans, sister of Charles II. Saint-Simon asserts that her family threw her in the way of Louis XIV. in the hope that she would be promoted to the place of royal mistress. In 1670 she accompanied the duchess of Orleans on a visit to Charles II. at Dover. The sudden death of the duchess, attributed on dubious evidence to poison, left her unprovided for, but the king placed her among the ladies in waiting of his own queen. It was said in after times that she had been selected by the French court to fascinate the king of England, but for this there seems to be no evidence. Yet when there appeared a prospect that the king would show her favour, the intrigue was vigorously pushed by the French ambassador, Colbert de Croissy, aided by the secretary of state, Lord Arlington, and his wife. Louise, who concealed great cleverness and a strong will under an appearance of languor and a rather childish beauty (Evelyn the diarist speaks of her “baby face”), yielded only when she had already established a strong hold on the king's affections and character. Her son, ancestor of the dukes of Richmond, was born in 1672.
The support she received from the French envoy was given on the understanding that she should serve the interests of her native sovereign. The bargain was confirmed by gifts and honours from Louis XIV. and was loyally carried out by Louise. The hatred openly avowed for her in England was due as much to her own activity in the interest of France as to her notorious rapacity. The titles of Baroness Petersheld, Countess of Fareham and c iii chess of Portsmouth were granted her for life on the 19th of August 1673. Her pensions and money allowances of various kinds were enormous. In 1677 alone she received £27,300. The French court gave her frequent presents, and in December 1673 conferred upon her the ducal fief of Aubigny at the request of Charles II. Her thorough understanding of the king's character enabled her to retain her hold on him to the end. She contrived to escape uninjured during the crisis of the Popish Plot in 1678. She was strong enough to maintain her position during a long illness in 1677, and a visit to France in 1682. In February 1685 she took measures to see that the king, who was secretly a Roman Catholic, did not die without confession and absolution. Soon after the king's death she retired to France, where, except for one short visit to England during the reign of James II., she remained. Her pensions and an outrageous grant on the Irish revenue given her by
