In the middle of the last century a breach was made on the left bank of the Thames, near the village of Dagenham, and many thousand acres of the adjacent lowlands were inundated. The most skilful engineers of the day tried long and in vain to close the breach, but at last it was effected by Captain Perie, at a cost of 20,000l.; but although the breach was closed, and nearly the whole submerged lands relieved from the water, still a space amounting to about 100 acres, where the breach took place, has ever since remained covered, and is called Dagenham Lake at the present day.
The position of this fine sheet of water being on the London side of the Thames, its depth varying from 4 to 20 feet below low water of spring tides, the great depth and width of the river in front of it and its proximity to London render it admirably adapted for wet or floating docks. For a long time it passed unnoticed, until, the trade of London increasing, other docks were established on both sides of the Thames at and close to London; the enormous cost of these and the high rates which they were necessarily obliged to charge in order to get anything like a remunerating dividend for the capital expended, induced enterprising people to look out for some situation lower down the river where docks could be established upon more moderate terms, and where consequently the rates would be much lower. Amongst other places Dagenham Lake attracted their notice, and very naturally so, for it possessed all the requisites for making a complete establishment of the kind at a most moderate cost, far below that which had been expended upon any of the great dock establishments in London. Who were the first persons who originated the idea of converting Dagenham Lake into a great dock establishment I do not know, but amongst others, I am told, was Mr. George Burge, the well-known contractor, about 1845. Subsequently Mr. Crampton took up the idea, and proposed to convert Dagenham Lake into a great dock establishment nearly twenty years ago, but the project never came to maturity. At last Mr. George Remington, a well-known projector, entered into it in 1854, and asked me to join him. On investigating the subject I was satisfied of its intrinsic merits, and agreed to co-operate in the undertaking. A Bill was therefore obtained in the year 1855 for this purpose. It was simply proposed in the first instance to connect the Dagenham Lake with the Thames by means of a lock, together with some small warehouses, landing wharves, and a railway to connect it with the London and Tilbury line; the whole estimate of what it was proposed to do there being confined to 120,000l., that is to say, 90,000l. subscriptions, and borrowing power of 30,000l. This, it must be observed, was merely to commence the undertaking upon a moderate scale; and it was intended to extend the quays and warehouse room in proportion as the increased trade required it, for the floating basin accommodation was equal to that of the largest docks in London, and the depth of water in the river and in the dock was greater. The dock, if it could be commenced upon this moderate scale, could not, it is true, have been considered as a powerful rival to the other dock establishments, but it would have relieved them from the greatest part of the lumber trade, which they could not accommodate without great inconvenience and even loss, such as the timber, guano, hemp, flax, coal trades, &c.; moreover, it would give accommodation for laying up in ordinary the great number of vessels which are always more or less unemployed in the port of London. It is computed that of unemployed vessels there are generally about 150,000 tons; now these vessels, at a penny per ton per week, would alone return 7000l. per annum, and as they require no superintendence except from their owners, they alone would have paid 5 per cent. upon the total capital of the Company, and all the other trade would have added so much more to their income. It was quite clear that it would be to the interest of all the unemployed vessels to lay up there, because they could do so at half the expense compared with the other docks; for even if they were to lie at their moorings in the river, although they would be charged nothing, still their expenses would be a great deal more. There was, besides, another trade open to these docks, that could not be accommodated in any of the others, namely, the foreign cattle trade, which is every day increasing, and which must continue to increase with the population of the metropolis.
The first Act, as I have already said, passed in 1855, and although several attempts were made to form a company to carry it into effect, they all failed. In 1862 another Act of Parliament was obtained, as the original one had nearly expired. In the new Act the powers were enlarged, and the works were extended to 300,000l., with power to borrow 100,000l. more; and it was again attempted to form a company to carry it into effect, but failed. In 1865 a third attempt was made to form a company, and by the aid of Messrs. Rigby, the well-known contractors of the great Admiralty harbour at Holyhead, a company was at length formed. Those gentlemen contracted for the works at a certain price, and agreed to take a large number of the shares as well in payment. The works commenced under my direction, in the month of May 1865, and proceeded very well until the end of March 1866, when the Messrs. Rigby got into difficulties, and were unable to complete their contract, and the consequence was that the whole of the works were stopped. The state of the money market ever since has been so depressed that it has hitherto been impossible to find the money to carry them on, and thus this really valuable concern remains still in abeyance.
In 1866 another Act of Parliament was procured, enabling the Company to obtain more land and to increase the works, so that ultimately, when times become favourable, it is very probable that this great undertaking will be carried out, and will form one of the largest and most important dock establishments on the banks of the Thames.
During the year 1866 it was attempted to obtain an Act of Parliament for making a railway between Romford and the docks. It passed the House of Commons, but when it got into the House of Lords its supporters drew back and the Bill was abandoned.
CHAPTER X.
Retrospect—London Bridge—Sheerness Dockyard—Plymouth Breakwater and Victualling Yard—Steam Vessels for the Navy—Harbours—Railways—Broad and Narrow Gauge—Atmospheric Railway—Water Supply and Sewage.
I have thus endeavoured to give, in the foregoing narrative, an account of my professional and private life as near as my memory would serve. I have not had a single date, or note-book, or journal to refer to; so that many inaccuracies may have occurred, particularly with regard to the dates, although the facts and circumstances are, I believe, pretty fairly narrated.