Brest, a strongly-fortified naval station in the extreme NW. of France; one of the chief naval stations in France, with a magnificent harbour, and one of the safest, first made a marine arsenal by Richelieu; has large shipbuilding yards and arsenal; its industries are chiefly related to naval equipment, with leather, waxcloth, and paper manufactures.
Population (circa 1900) given as 76,000.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Bressay * Bréton, Jules Adolphe