Besides the old Commercial Dock on the south side of the Thames, and the Grand Surrey Canal, both devoted almost exclusively to the reception of ships with cargoes not subject to duty, such as deals and timber, there are now wet-docks in most of the important ports of the kingdom, varying in size according to the trade of the place or district, but, with the exceptions we have named, they are all the creation of the present century. Bristol, Southampton, Hull, Great Grimsby, Cardiff, Newport, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leith, Sunderland, Dundee, Cork, and the Tyne have each their wet-docks, of greater or less capacity, with warehouses where goods subject to duty can be bonded. Besides these there are now forty-eight towns or ports in England, nineteen in Scotland, and eighteen in Ireland, where the privileges of bonding are allowed, and from which goods can be obtained for home consumption, or for re-exportation.
Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks.
But Liverpool, including Birkenhead, has a far larger amount of dock accommodation than any other port in Great Britain, or, indeed, in the world and no works of a similar character, of either ancient or modern times, can be compared with them. Gibbon has described the port of Ostia, to which we have already referred,[350] with its docks, as the boldest and most stupendous works of Roman magnificence; but, so far as we can now trace, they were in the extent of their accommodation altogether insignificant when compared with the docks which at present line the banks of the river Mersey. These extend on its eastern shore upwards of five miles in length, and the works now contemplated or in course of construction will add at least another mile in length to these already gigantic undertakings.
Port of Liverpool, its commerce, and its revenue from the docks.
Though the entrance to the estuary of the Mersey is encumbered by sand-banks, there is at low-water spring-tides a depth over the bar of eleven feet, and as the water rises twenty-one feet in neap and thirty-one feet in spring-tides, there is ample depth for vessels of the largest size over its shallowest and most dangerous part. The channel is also well defined by numerous buoys, beacons, lightships, and lighthouses, and vessels entering the harbour have the advantage of the services of the most daring and experienced pilots to be found in this or in any other country, who are constantly cruising about, in their well-equipped cutters, in search of inward-bound vessels long before they reach that part of the navigation which is in any way dangerous. To this noble river and the facilities which its docks afford for the expedition and safe conduct of maritime commerce may be attributed, combined with its position as the readiest outlet for the vast manufactures of the surrounding district, the rapid rise of Liverpool. As an indication of its extraordinary prosperity, it is sufficient to state that while in 1812[351] the revenue of the Trustees, levied upon four hundred and forty-seven thousand tons of shipping and their cargoes, did not exceed 45,000l., it had in 1871 reached 562,953l., upon no less than six million one hundred and thirty-one thousand seven hundred and forty-five tons of shipping; and in the year ending 1st July, 1872, the shipping frequenting the port had increased to six million five hundred and thirty thousand three hundred and eighty-six tons, and the annual revenue to 592,258l.
Extent of accommodation.
But the docks themselves are the marvel of the place. Along the whole of the eastern bank of the river (the site of Liverpool) there will shortly be, for upwards of six miles in length, the finest range of wet-docks in the world, protected by a sea-wall of an average thickness of eleven feet, and forty feet in height from its foundations, faced with massive blocks of granite, perhaps in itself one of the greatest works of the kind of modern times. Through the courtesy of the Secretary, we ascertain that the existing docks with their basins cover a water area of two hundred and sixty acres, and have a quayage of upwards of eighteen lineal miles: and to these must be added the Birkenhead Docks, on the opposite bank of the Mersey, comprising about one hundred and sixteen acres of water space, and embracing more than nine lineal miles of quays. So that out of the whole area of the Dock Estate, comprising one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight acres, upwards of one hundred docks[352] of one sort and another, have already been formed, covering an area of upwards of four hundred and twenty-four acres of water-space, and having more than twenty-eight miles of quay walls. These figures furnish an idea of the vast extent and character of the works under the control of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and show what unaided private enterprise can accomplish. The wet, as well as the graving-docks, are capable of receiving the largest description of vessels. The graving-docks, with two exceptions, are from forty-five to one hundred feet in width, and from four hundred and fifty to seven hundred and fifty-eight feet in length, containing no less than twelve thousand one hundred square feet of flooring.
Nor do the facilities afforded to maritime commerce at this great sea-port end here. There are wooden landing-stages on both sides of the river, resembling floating islands, connected with the shore by bridges which rise and fall with the tide. One of these stages measures one thousand and forty feet in length, with a width of from thirty-five to fifty feet, and another is one thousand and two feet long, and eighty feet wide. There are also wet docks belonging to the Corporation of Liverpool and other persons, comprising water-space of upwards of eleven acres. The warehouses, though perhaps affording less convenience and accommodation than those of London, are likewise upon a large scale. Only three docks, the Albert, Stanley, and Wapping, are surrounded with bonding warehouses: the other docks have warehouses contiguous to them, but as a large portion of the produce, both free and subject to duty, is conveyed by railway or barge to Manchester and other inland towns, accommodation storage is not required to the same extent as in London. The tobacco warehouse, however, is six hundred and thirty feet in length, with a width throughout of three hundred and fifty feet; while there are warehouses for the reception of corn capable of receiving four hundred thousand quarters of wheat or other descriptions of grain. Nearly all the docks are surrounded with open sheds on the quays for the reception and temporary stowage of goods and produce. Many of these are handsome structures, and all of them substantial and very commodious. There are besides in the Nelson, Princes, and in one or two other docks, “transit sheds,” one storey in height and substantially built, where ships can be discharged with extraordinary rapidity, and their cargoes safely stored until it suits the convenience of the owners or consignees to remove them to the warehouses. Steam dredging-machines are ready whenever required to remove accumulations of mud in the docks, basins, and approaches, and these at all times maintain the full depth of water, while strict rules are enforced, and a large and efficient body of police[353] are permanently employed.
Extension of docks to the north.
Notwithstanding the vast accommodation at present afforded to shipping, the growing wants of Liverpool are so rapid that it has been found necessary to materially increase the existing accommodation, besides widening the entrances to some of the existing docks, and increasing the area of their water-space. Three more large docks are to be constructed to the north, one to contain an area of twenty acres of water space, and three thousand and seventy lineal feet of quayage; another to embrace forty-three and three-quarters acres of water space, surrounded by ten thousand eight hundred and seventy lineal feet of quay walls; and the third to contain eighteen acres of water-space, with a gross quayage of three thousand eight hundred and sixty-five lineal feet.[354] At least one of these docks is to be capable of receiving ships of the largest size, with quay walls suited for vessels “ranging up to six hundred feet in length, should such a type come into use.” It is proposed to surround them with sheds ninety-five feet wide, “flanked by roadways ranging from eighty to one hundred feet in width,” except at the ends of the branch docks, where the erection of stores or warehouses are contemplated, which are to be fitted with “elevators,” on the American principle, for the purpose of unloading grain in bulk from the hold of the ships to the different floors.