Fil:Heliesund Harbour (JW Edy, plate 02).jpg

This harbour is capacious and safe; bottomed with good holding ground, and capable of containing two hundred ships of the largest burthen. It is environed with rocky islands sufficiently elevated for affording them shelter, and has two entrances ; by one or the other of which ships can get in and out, from whatever point the wind may blow. The principal islands are decorated with pines and firs; whereas those of inferior magnitude are generally nothing more than barren desolate rocks, frequented only by a vast variety of sea fowl. The waters also abound in divers kinds of fish; and seals are frequently taken on the shores.

The principal or west entrance from the Skager Rack, has a dangerous rock in the mid-passage, which must be cautiously avoided.

The Norway shore is in very few places level, or of a gradual ascent ; but ge nerally steep, angular and impendent: so that close to the rocks, the sea is a hundred, two hundred, nay, three hundred fathoms deep. On the long and uneven sand banks, which are generally termed storeg, or by others hauhroe, the bottom is much more sloping. These protuberances run north and south along the coast of Norway, like the sheers, though not within them. In some places they are not more than four or six leagues, in others twelve or sixteen from the main land ; whence it may be inferred that the bays are formed by them.