The port of Portsmouth extends eastwards 9 miles to Emsworth, and westwards 5 miles to Hill Head at the entrance to Southampton Water. About 3 miles to the south of the harbour is the well-known anchorage of Spithead, protected by the Isle of Wight. The harbour, one of the best in the kingdom, stretches 4 miles inwards to the north-west of the town, with an entrance 220 yards in breadth, permitting access to vessels of the largest tonnage at low tide. There is an anchorage within the basin at low tide of 380 acres, and a portion of the harbour is permanently occupied by dismantled vessels and the reserved fleet of the navy. There is a graving-dock built by the corporation, with 18 feet of water on the blocks, and a patent slip. Extending along the eastern shore are the ordnance gun wharf between Portsmouth and Portsea and to the north of it the great naval Government dockyard, which has lately been much enlarged (see Dockyard, vol. vii. 313). At Gosport (7.v.)are the royal Clarence victualling yard and the Haslar hospital. Portsmouth has a considerable trade in coal, timber, fruits, and agricultural produce. In 1883 the total number of vessels that entered the port from British and foreign possessions and coastwise was 2094 of 210,210 tons burden, the number that cleared 2079 of 216,926 tons. The borough of Portsmouth is governed by a mayor, fourteen aidermen, and forty-two councillors. The area of the borough is 4320 acres, with a population in 1871 of 113,569, and in 1881 of 127,989. Of the latter number 120,022 were included in Portsea.

To the north of Portsmouth harbour is Porchester Castle, a ruined Norman fortress occupying the site of the Portus Magnus of the Romans. The Saxon Chronicle mentions the arrival of Port and his two sons on the coast in 501, but the derivation of the name Portsmouth is too evident to require a mythical invention to explain it. Portsmouth, though a small town soon after the Norman invasion, did not possess a church till 1140. It received its first charter from Richard I. In the beginning of the 13th century it had grown to be a naval station of some importance, and for the accommodation of the king’s galleys the docks were enclosed by a strong wall. A large portion of the town was burned by the French in 1372. Great additions were made to the fortifications by Edward IV., and the works were continued by later sovereigns, especially Elizabeth and James II. Its importance as a naval dockyard commences about 1544. The English fleet assembled at Portsmouth in 1545 before the naval engagement with the French off Spithead. In 1628 Villiers, duke of Buckingham, when on the point of embarking at Portsmouth with the army for the relief of Rochelle, was killed by Felton. The town was taken by the Parliamentary forces in 1642. In 1662 the nuptials of Charles II. with Catherine of Braganza were celebrated at Portsmouth in the chapel of the garrison. In 1782 the “Royal George,” with Admiral Kem-penfeldt on board, having been careened to stop a leak, went down in the harbour. About 1792 Portsea began to be built on the common to the north of the town. Among eminent persons connected with the town mention may be made of Charles Dickens, Jonas Hanway, Sir Isambard Brunel, Sir F. Malden.

Allen, History of Portsmouth, 1817; Saunders, Annals of Portsmouth, 1878.

PORTSMOUTH, a city and port of entry of the United States, one of the two shire-towns of Rockingham county, New Hampshire, and alternately with Concord the seat of the sessions of the United States courts for the district of New Hampshire, lies on a peninsula on the right bank of the Piscataqua, 3 miles from its mouth, in 43° 4' N. lat. and 70° 45' W. long. By rail it is 57 miles northnorth-east of Boston. Quiet and old-fashioned beyond most of the New England cities, with shaded streets and many quaint antique houses, survivals from colonial times, Portsmouth is a favourite summer resort. Notwithstanding the excellence of its harbour—which is from 35 to 75 feet deep, safe, free from ice at all seasons, and capable of containing 2000 vessels—it has very little foreign trade. There are cotton-mills (Kearsarge), breweries, boot and shoe factories, and some other industrial establishments in the city; and shipbuilding, which is the principal industry, has long been extensively prosecuted. The United States navy yard, though situated on Continental or Navy Island, on the north side of the river, in the township of Kittery (Maine), is generally known as Portsmouth yard. It contains a fine balance dry dock, 350 feet by 105. Among the more conspicuous buildings in Portsmouth are the old church of St John, the athenaeum (15,000 volumes), and the custom-house. There is a public library of 8000 volumes. At Little Harbour, 2 miles distant, is Governor Wentworth’s mansion, dating from 1750. The entrance to the harbour is defended by earthworks at Jaffrey’s Point and Gerrish’s Island. The population was 9738 in 1850, 9211 in 1870, and 9690 in 1880.

Settled in 1623 under the Laconia Company, Strawberry Bank (as it was first called) was named Portsmouth in 1653, and incorporated as a city in 1849. It was the capital of the colony and State of New Hampshire till 1807, when that rank was bestowed on Concord. The “Ranger,” afterwards commanded by Paul Jones, and the first ship to carry the stars and stripes, was built at Portsmouth for the American Congress in 1777. The New Hampshire Gazette, started at Portsmouth in 1756, is the oldest of all the existing newspapers of the United States, and the Portsmouth Journal, established in 1793, is also still published. T. B. Aldrich, J. T. Fields, Eliza B. Lee, and B. P. Shillaber (“Mrs Partington ”) are natives of the city.

PORTSMOUTH, a city of the United States, capital of Scioto county, Ohio, lies at the confluence of the Scioto with the Ohio, and is the southern terminus of the Ohio and Erie Canal, and of a branch line of the Cincinnati, Washington, and Baltimore Railroad (Hamden to Portsmouth, 56 miles), as well as an important station on the Scioto Valley Railway. As the entrepot for the rich mineral regions of southern Ohio and north-eastern Kentucky, and for the productive valley of the Scioto, Portsmouth has a large and growing trade both by rail and river; and it also contains iron-furnaces, rolling-mills, foundries, saw-mills, planing-mills, breweries, flour-mills, shoe-factories, hub and spoke factories, &c. Among the public buildings are an opera-house and a masonic temple. The charitable institutions include a hospital, a children’s home, and a home for destitute aged women. The city has also two libraries, water-works, and tramways. The population was 6268 in 1860, 10,592 in 1870, and 11,321 in 1880. Portsmouth was laid out in 1803, and the charter of the city dates from 1814.

PORTSMOUTH, a city of the United States, capital of Norfolk county, Virginia, lies on the west bank of Elizabeth river, opposite Norfolk. It is the eastern terminus of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad (part of a great passenger route between Boston and New Orleans), has one of the best harbours on the Atlantic coast, is the seat of the United States Gosport navy yard (with a dry dock built of granite at a cost of $974,536, and a large naval hospital), and exports cotton, lumber, pig-iron, and early vegetables. The population was 9496 in 1860, 11,390 in 1880, and 14,870 in 1884. Portsmouth was founded in 1752. On 20th April 1861 the navy yard—then employing 1000 men—was destroyed by fire, the loss being estimated at several million dollars.