Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884

The harbor of Antwerp, which, excepting those of London and Liverpool, is the largest in Europe, has been improved wonderfully during the last decade. Before 1870 it was inferior to the harbor at Havre, but now it far surpasses the same. The river Scheldt, which is about 1,500 ft. wide, was badgered out up to the vertical walls of the basin, so that the largest ships can land at the docks. The river was deepened by the use of caissons, in the lower parts of which the workmen operated in compressed air. The annexed cut shows that part of one of the caissons which projects above the surface of the water. The depth of the river at low tide is about 26 ft., and at high tide about 39 ft. Some of the old sluices, channels, basins, etc., which were rendered useless by the improvements made in the river Scheldt have been filled up, and thereby the city has been enriched by several handsome and elegant squares.-- Illustrirte Zeitung .

Antwerp is now the chief port on the Continent. Since 1873 the progress has continued, and made very rapid advances. In 1883 the tonnage of the port reached 3,734,428 registered tons. This marvelous development is partly due to the position of Antwerp as the embarking point from the Continent of Europe to America, and partly also to the recent additions and changes which have been carried out there, and which, now nearly completed, have made this cosmopolitan port one of the best organized in the world. This is so well known that vessels bound for Switzerland with a cargo of corn from Russia pass Marseilles and go two thousand miles out of their way for the purpose of unloading at Antwerp. No other port, in fact, offers the same facilities. There is not another place in the world where fifty vessels of 3,000 tons can come alongside as easily as the penny boats on the Thames run into the landing.
CAISSONS FOR DEEPENING THE RIVER AT ANTWERP.
Since the opening of the St. Gothard Tunnel nearly all the alimentary provisions that Italy sends to the British Isles pass through Antwerp. In 1882 82,000,000 eggs and 30,000 pounds of fruit were shipped there for England. The greater part of these came from Italy. Antwerp has become also an important port for emigrants; 35,125 embarked in 1882, out of which number 3,055 were bound for New York. The city was always destined, from its topographical position, to be at the head of a very considerable traffic; political reasons alone for many years prevented this being the case. These have happily now disappeared, and, since 1863, when the Scheldt was liberated, the progress of commerce has been more rapid than even the most ardent Antwerp patriot dared hope. At that date the toll of 1s. 11d. on all vessels going up the river, and of 7½d. on vessels going down, was abolished, and reforms were introduced among the taxes on the general navigation; the tax on tonnage in the port itself was abolished, and the pilot tax was lowered. The results of these measures became immediately apparent. Traffic increased with such rapidity that in 1876 the crowding on the quays was such that the relation of the tonnage to the length of the quay was about 270 tons per yard, which is four times as great as at Liverpool.