The importance of this matter can only be fairly appreciated by giving an idea of the magnitude of the trade that is now carried on between the Thames and other ports. The largest amount of tonnage that entered and cleared from the Thames in any recent year was as under:—
| Entered. | Cleared. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign | 6,591,225 | 4,127,045 | 10,718,270 |
| Coastwise | 5,025,724 | 1,756,565 | 6,782,189 |
| Totals | 11,616,949 | 5,883,610 | 17,500,559 |
This represents nearly one-fifth of the total shipping trade of England in the same year, and an average of about 48,000 tons of shipping per day. The total value of our imports from, and exports to, foreign countries and British possessions has in some recent years amounted, for the port of London alone, to upwards of 200 millions sterling. The value of our coastwise trade is not recorded, but it will probably be sixty or seventy millions more, which would bring up the total annual value of the shipping trade of the Thames to close on 300 millions. The extent to which this trade has increased within the last twenty-five years has been quite phenomenal. In 1860 the total entrances and clearances of the port of London amounted to only 9,506,000 tons, so that the trade has nearly doubled within twenty-seven years. The tonnage entered and cleared over the last few years represents an average of over four tons per head of the population of the metropolis—taking the latter at, say, 4 millions over the four years ending 1887.
For a considerable period, the population of London has been increasing at the rate of about half a million in each decade. If the same rate of increase is continued, the shipping entering and clearing from the port of London in twenty years should amount to five millions additional, which would bring the annual total up to about 22½ millions of tons. Will the river Thames be equal to carrying on this enormous traffic without serious inconvenience and danger? This is at least doubtful, and that being so, the duty is cast upon us of considering what steps should be taken, in order to meet the requirements of a possible congestion of traffic, and to minimise the dangers of river navigation. This is all the more important and urgent that the tendency now is to provide much larger vessels than formerly, both for the foreign and the coasting trades. A few years ago, the average size of the vessels that entered the port of London did not exceed 300 tons. In 1860, the average was not over 210 tons. But in 1886, the average was not less than 620 tons. In about twenty-five years, therefore, the average size of the vessels using the Thames has been increased by about 200 per cent. There is little doubt that this movement will continue. It has been established as the result of the experience gained in the navigation of ships of large size that, all other things being equal, the larger vessels are the more economical. The average size of the ships now entering the port of Liverpool has risen to over 1000 tons, where a few years ago it was not over one-half of that tonnage. Probably the average size of the ships frequenting the Thames would be materially increased if larger vessels could be admitted with safety at all states of the tide. But the condition of the tide, except at high water, does not admit of ships of very large size coming far up the river. There have been cases of the tide ebbing so low that it has been possible to walk across at London Bridge. This occurred in 1114, 1158, and 1717. Since the removal of Old London Bridge, there has been a much greater scour, and the systematic dredging of the river has permitted of a moderately good depth of water from the bridge downwards in ordinary times. But the depth is not uniform, it is liable to fluctuation, and it would be difficult to adapt the river for the entrance of vessels of the largest size at any state of the tide. The consequence has been that Liverpool has been leaving London somewhat behind in the competition that has for many years been carried on between the two towns. In 1825 the aggregate foreign tonnage of Liverpool was only one-half to five-eighths that of London. In 1850 the two ports were nearly abreast, and in 1870 Liverpool exceeded London. From that date the two ports have been running a nearly equal race, London having had the start for some two or three years past. But when the enormous distributive facilities of London are considered, it seems remarkable, and almost unnatural, that Liverpool, with only about one-sixth the population, should be in the running at all, and it is extremely probable that London would have a much greater start if the Thames navigation were only made equal to the requirements of the trade.
The question of how far it would be expedient to construct a ship canal that would relieve the congested traffic of the river, and permit of vessels entering the docks at all times, has been mooted, but has never been very seriously entertained. It is not, however, improbable that this may, after all, be the true solution of the problem. Ship canals are now the order of the day. They are being either projected, as we have already seen, or constructed for the purpose of aiding navigation to an extent that is quite remarkable, not in this country only, but in most continental countries as well. A ship canal has been proposed to connect Birmingham with the river Trent; another to connect Bristol with the English Channel; a third to connect Sheffield and Goole; and a fourth to connect the Thames and New Haven. The Manchester Maritime Canal will soon be an accomplished fact. On the Continent canals are actually under construction across the Isthmus of Corinth, to connect the Adriatic with the Archipelago; and in Schleswig-Holstein, to connect the North Sea and the Baltic, not to speak of the great enterprises of Panama and Nicaragua, designed to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific. In Russia, a canal has recently been constructed between Cronstadt and St. Petersburg, whereby the latter city has been converted into a seaport, and a canal is now being talked of to connect the Volga and the Don. In the United States ship canals are being promoted to connect Lakes Michigan and Erie, and the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean, through the Florida Peninsula. In India, it is proposed to connect the Gulf of Manaar with the Palk Straits, by a maritime canal, and in other countries the same movement has been apparent. In most of these cases the object has been to save distance and time. In others it has been to facilitate navigation generally. Both ends would be served by a canal to connect London with the English Channel. It is more than a hundred years since a similar project was recommended by Brindley to the Corporation of London, who employed the great engineer to make a survey of the Thames above Battersea, with the object of having it improved for purposes of navigation. Brindley’s recommendation was not adopted, although he declared that a canal would cost less than the improvement of the river, that it would give the command of cheaper transport, and that it would reduce distance and economise time.[216] Probably Brindley’s scheme would have been adopted long before now, but for the construction of the Grand Junction Canal.
It is likely to be objected to the suggested Thames canal that the necessity for it has recently been obviated by the construction of the docks at Tilbury, opposite to Gravesend, and within a few miles of the estuary of the river. The Tilbury Docks have no doubt been a great relief to the congested condition of the traffic, and they are entitled to every consideration. But they do not by any means meet the case, any more than the port of Cronstadt met the requirements of St. Petersburg previous to the construction of the Poutiloff Canal, or the docks at Havre or Rouen now meet the requirements of Paris, which it has been proposed to convert into a seaport. The Tilbury Docks are about 20 miles from the centre of the metropolis. They are 30 miles from the western and southern limits of the city, being, indeed, almost exactly the same distance as that which separates Cronstadt from St. Petersburg. In the latter case, it was found that the cost of transporting goods over this distance was often as great as the cost of carrying them to or from England, not to speak of the inconvenience and delay which were involved.
It may not, possibly, be quite so bad as this in the case of the Tilbury Docks, but it is obvious that the traffic unloaded there must, to a very large extent, go through two subsequent breakages of bulk—the first, from the ship to the railway truck, and the second from the truck to the wagon or van that is to deliver the goods at their ultimate destination. It would be difficult to fix an average sum that would fairly represent what this process adds to the ultimate cost of the traffic, but if it is put at 10s. per ton all round it is not likely to be much under the mark; and 10s. per ton, as we know, represents the full amount that is frequently charged for the conveyance of a ton of goods from Antwerp or Liverpool to New York.
There is no good reason why the people of London should continue to pay as much for the carriage of their food and fuel from the ship’s side at Tilbury to their own doors as they would pay for its transport across the Atlantic. It may now be unavoidable, but the necessity is not imperative.
If a canal were carried alongside the Thames, into the heart of the city, the west end and the southern suburbs, a great deal of this outlay might be avoided. The vessel carrying the traffic could be stopped at any one of twenty places on the route of the canal, in order that she might be enabled to unload, and the relatively short distance for which the traffic would thus require to be transported from the ship’s side to the ultimate destination of the traffic would not add much to the cost of its water transport.
The question that those interested in this question would be likely first to ask themselves would be—At what cost could such a canal be constructed? The next question would be—Could it be made to pay? On both points there is much that is reassuring.