History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 2 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

London Docks.

Before the West India Docks were opened another company had applied for and obtained an Act of Parliament for constructing docks on a much more extensive scale in the parishes of St. George’s in the East, Wapping, and Shadwell, which were principally intended for the reception of tobacco, rice, wine, and brandy. These, the London Docks, were opened for business in 1805, and all vessels laden with the articles we have just named were bound for a period of twenty-one years to discharge in them, except such as arrived from the East or West Indies. The premises of this Company, which are surrounded with high walls, cover an area of about one hundred acres, and the stock of the Company amounts[348] to upwards of five millions sterling, a very considerable portion of it having been appropriated to the purchase of the land and the houses which occupied the site of the Docks.

The western dock has a water area of more than twenty acres; that of the eastern covers about seven acres, and the tobacco dock, confined exclusively to the reception of vessels laden with that article, occupies one acre of water space, while the warehouse for the reception and storage of tobacco, perhaps still the largest in the world, is capable of containing twenty-four thousand hogsheads, and covers no less than five acres of land. The other warehouses are upon an almost equally extensive scale, and, though in separate blocks, cover an area of nearly nineteen acres. Below them and the tobacco warehouses are vast arched vaults which can contain, exclusive of the gangways, sixty-six thousand pipes of wine and spirits. Hydraulic machinery is now in use in all parts of the docks for the purpose of discharging the cargoes of vessels and landing them on the quays or delivering them into the warehouses, and it is no uncommon thing to discharge from one ship a thousand tons of cargo in the course of twelve or fifteen hours. There are besides large basins for the reception of vessels at the Wapping and Shadwell entrances, the latter covering six acres of water space, with an entrance-lock of three hundred and fifty feet in length, and sixty feet in width, having at spring-tide a depth of twenty-eight feet of water over the sill of the dock-gates.

St. Katharine’s Docks.

Victoria and Millwall Docks.

The St. Katharine’s Docks, situated still farther up the river, incorporated by the Act of 6 George IV., cap. 105, were partially opened for traffic in October 1828. They lie immediately below the Tower of London, and though only occupying one-fourth of the space of the London Docks, cost upwards of two and a half million sterling in their construction, arising in a great measure from the increased cost of the land and the houses which had to be removed, and from the more expensive character of their warehouses. Here vessels of upwards of a thousand tons register are docked and undocked without difficulty, by night as well as by day, an advantage peculiar to this establishment. The more recent docks, such as the Victoria and Millwall, also on the north side of the Thames, but below the others, occupy a much larger space, though the amount of business as yet carried on in them is comparatively limited, especially as regards the value of the goods imported. The Victoria, situated immediately below the East and West India Docks, extends from Bow Creek to Galleon Reach, a distance of nearly three miles, and embraces an area of about six hundred acres of what was known as the Plaistow Marshes, although only sixteen acres are as yet occupied as a half-tide basin, seventy-four acres as the inner or main wet-dock, and about twelve acres of canal, intended to intersect the eastern lands of the Company. These docks were formed in 1850 at a cost of about 1,600,000l., increased by various additions and improvements, and notably by amalgamation, a few years ago, with the London and St. Katharine’s Docks, all of which now form one company. The only entrance to the Victoria Docks from the Thames is at present from Bow Creek, by means of a lock three hundred and twenty feet in length, eighty feet in width, and twenty-eight feet in depth. In the main dock there are six jetties, five of which have warehouses erected upon them, and on the north side there is an enormous shed capable of containing no less than one hundred thousand tons of guano, the entire London trade in that article being now confined to the Victoria Docks. There is also a warehouse covering an area of four acres, appropriated to the stowage of tobacco. A branch railway runs through the whole of the premises, conveying goods from alongside the ships to all parts of the kingdom.

The Millwall Docks, situated in the Isle of Dogs, and contiguous to those of the West India Dock Company, were incorporated by Act of Parliament on the 25th of July, 1864, and opened for traffic about four years afterwards. The property of this Company comprises an area of more than two hundred acres, thirty-five and one-third of which have been converted into a wet-dock capable of receiving merchant vessels of the largest class, with a quay wall frontage of eight thousand two hundred feet, and entrance-locks eighty feet in width. Its capital, comprising ordinary and preference shares and debenture stock, amounts to about 1,130,000l. A graving-dock capable of receiving vessels of from fifteen hundred to two thousand tons has been formed in connection with the wet-dock, thus affording to shipowners the advantage of examining and repairing their vessels without requiring them to be ballasted and sent out into the river. The gates, bridges, warping capstans, and other machinery are worked by hydraulic power. The Millwall Docks, like the Victoria, and all the other docks, except the London and St. Katharine’s, are in direct railway communication with the City of London and the various railways of the Northern and Midland districts. Possessing many natural advantages, and affording increased facilities for the more rapid conduct of business, these docks will no doubt soon secure a larger proportion of the trade of London than now falls to their lot.[349]

Charges levied by the Dock Companies.

Although the dues vary in the several establishments, except where there is combination, the leading rules and regulations by which their business is conducted are similar. They are all vast stores, where goods and produce subject to duty can be deposited either for home consumption or re-exportation, as well as wet-docks where ships can, at all times, lie afloat, alike free from the risks to which they were formerly subjected on the river by the dangers of its navigation, and the plunder of the combined rogues by whom the Thames was so long infested.

Docks in provincial ports, and bonded warehouses.