184.9.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



285 



72/. 15s. \0d. per sbare, but it sensibly diminished afterwards. Hull New 

 Docks were built in 1807. The area is about 7J acres. 



Up to the beginning of the present century, tlie city of London had no 

 docks at all. In fact, several interests were in the way — the proprietors of 

 the various wharfs above and below the bridge were against any scheme of 

 dock building, and various projects for the improvement both of the legal 

 quays and the sufferance wharfs were proposed in opposition. The legal 

 quays were, however, only 1464 feet long altogether, and occupied precisely 

 tJie same positions that they did at the time of the great fire of London, 

 while the imports from the port had, from the year 1700 to 1792, increased 

 from 4,785,538/. to 12,072,674/., and the exports from 5,387,787/. to 

 14,742,516/. 



In the year 1793, apian was first projected of making wet docks at 

 Wapping, the Isle of Dogs, or Rotherhithe, the preference being given in the 

 first instance to Wapping, on account of its proximity to the city. This first 

 plan contains the germ of almost all that has been carried out since. In 

 1794, a general meeting of merchants took place, when a committee was 

 appointed to examine the matter, and a report was drawn up, recommending 

 the construction of docks at Wapping. In conseqence, a well-known 

 engineer, Mr. Daniel Alexander, who had been previously employed about 

 the river, was directed to make a survey, and to prepare plans and estimates 

 for constructing the proposed Wapping docks, with a cut and canal leading 

 to them along the site of the present East and West India Docks. The 

 plans and estimates were prepared accordingly and laid before another general 

 meeting of merchants on December 22, 1795, when a subscription of 

 800,000/. was filled in a few hours, for the purpose of carrying the plan into 

 execution. In fact, projects of this kind were at this time eagerly hstened 

 to. It was the great year for canal schemes. A petition was presented 

 to the House of Commons, who appointed a select committee " to inquire 

 into the best mode of providing sufficient accommodation for the increased 

 trade and shipping of the port of London." In this committee a variety of 

 objections were raised, and plans proposed for constructing docks in all sorts 

 of places. It took two or three years to overcome these difBculties, and the 

 final petition to the House was not presented till December, 1798. A few 

 days afterwards a petition was presented by the Corporation with similar ob- 

 jects, and with the additional plan of cutting a navigable canal from Black- 

 wall to Limehouse, and constructing wet docks in the Isle of Dogs, for the 

 West India Shipping. The West India merchants had, however, apart from 

 the Corporation, already projected a competing plan to that of the last pro- 

 position. The Corporation and the companies united at last, and all diffi- 

 culties were overcome. The Act for the West India Docks was passed in 

 1779— that for the London Docks in the next year — and the Act for the 

 East India Docks in 1803. All these projects arose out of the original 

 scheme for the London Docks, which scheme was carried out simultaneously 

 in all its fulness, though under the management of three separate companies, 

 and appearing as three distinct undertakings. 



The London Docks were constructed under Rennie's superintendence. 

 The Act allowed seven years for its completion ; it was opened in five, but 

 was not completely finished for some time afterwards. A capital of 300,000/. 

 was authorised, five per cent, interest guaranteed, and ten per cent, fixed as 

 a maximum. Proprietors of 500/. to 1000/. have one note ; of 1000/. to 

 5000/., two votes ; of 5000/. to 10,000/., three votes, and proprietors of 

 more than 10,000/. have four votes, which is the maximum. The dock-rates 

 were fixed by the Act at per ton : — For vessels trading between the ports of 

 Great Britain (including the Scottish isles) Is. For traders to Ireland, the 

 Channel islands, France, from Ushant to Dunkirk, Flanders, Germany, and 

 Denmark, to Elsineur, Is. 3d. North of Elsineur and the Baltic, Is 6rf. 

 South of Europe to Cape St. Vincent, Africa, America, South Seas, 2s. 

 Eastern Asia, 2s. 6d. All vessels arriving with more than 20 pipes of wine 

 or brandy are obliged to enter the docks. Six weeks are allowed for un- 

 lading, beyond which a charge of id. per ton is made for the first two 

 weeks, and ^d. per ton afterwards. All vessels, except those devoted to 

 the East and West India trades, are allowed to enter the docks, without dis- 

 tinction of nation. Wine, spirits, and tobacco, form the principal cargoes de- 

 livered at the docks. Ranges of warehouses have been erected for the re- 

 ception of these articles — those for tobacco are of very fine construction. 

 The superficies occupied by the warehouses in general amounts to 120,000 

 square yards. The dock itself is 420 yards long, 276 broad, and 29 feet 

 deep. It occupies a surface of 25 acres, and the basin 2i acres. The whole 

 premises, including warehouses and quays, contain a superficies of 110 acres. 

 It is estimated to hold about 230 ships of 300 tons. The tobacco warehouse, 

 underneath which are wine cellars, covers five acres — the greatest exteot of 

 any one roof in the world, unless we except the Great Pyramid. 



The West India Docks, the most magnificent in the world, were begun in 

 July 1800, and opened for the reception of vessels in September 1802, in 

 the short space of 27 months. Mr. William Jessop was the engineer. The 

 prosperity of these docks in former days was prodigious. The original 

 capital was 500,000/., afterwards raised to 1,200,000/. The revenues of the 

 company in 1809 amounted to 330,623/., and in 1813 they reached their 

 climax, amounting to 449,421/. Since that time the depreciation of the 

 West India trade has caused a sad decline in this magnificent income. Up 

 to 1818, the company, besides paying the maximum dividend of 10 per cent., 

 had accumulated 800,000/. as a reserve fund, but they were obliged to de- 

 vote a part of this sum to dividend very soon afterwards. The annual ex- 

 penses alone of the establishment amounted in 1819, to 151,644/., of nhich 

 above 50,000/. went to workmen, above 40,000/. to, building and improve- 



ments, and 13,320/ to taxes, an enormous impost. The cooperage materials 

 are set down at 16,766/. in addition. The management of the company is 

 in the hands of 21 directors, eight of whom must belong to the City Cor- 

 poration. Four directors go out in each year, except the fifth, when five go 

 out of office. Only shareholders holding above 500/. are entitled to vote. 

 The nature of West Indian produce has rendered necessary the construction 

 of the sheds and warehouses on the most careful principle. The pillars of 

 the whole, and the framework of the roof of some of the sheds, are of cast 

 iron, most ingeniously constructed. The great difliculty is to guard against 

 contraction or dilatation by cold or heat. To remedy this, the iron beams 

 which run from one pillar to another, are not actually in contact, and a longi- 

 tudinal play is thus allowed to the structure, which prevents any mischief 

 from the alteration of temperature. The pavement is partly of iron and 

 partly of granite, and the mechanical contrivances are of the most excellent 

 kind. The docks are in two divisions, the export and the import. The im- 

 port dock is 2600 feet long, and 500 feet broad, and estimated to hold 204 

 vessels of 300 tons each. The export dock is of the same length, and 400 

 feet broad ; it holds 195 vessels. There have been deposited in the sheds 

 and warehouses at the same time 148,563 casks of sugar, 70,875 barrels and 

 433.048 bags of coffee, 35,158 pipes of rum and Madeira, 14,021 logs of 

 mahogany, and 21,350 tons of logwood. The reader may conceive the 

 economy of room necessary for the reception of such a mass. 



The City Canal enables vessels to enter the docks without making the cir- 

 cuit of the Isle of Dogs, but in most instances the captains save the charge 

 and go round the bend. The canal seives asa receptacle for ships laid up in 

 ordinary ; its long range of a mile presents a magnificent spectacle of masts 

 and shipping, when viewed from the river. The depth of water in the docks 

 at high tide is 24 feet. The area of the import dock is above 30 acres ; that 

 of the export about 25 acres. The docks, basins, and locks, altogether, in- 

 clude an area of 68 acres, and the total superficies, if we include quays and 

 warehouses, amounts to 140 acres. The 68 acres of excavation form a work 

 in its way unrivalled by any in existence. 



The East India Docks were not commenced until 1805, though their Act 

 passed in 1803. The first ship entered them in August, 1806, 17 months 

 after their commencement. Their capital, originally 200,000/., was subse- 

 quently doubled. The number of directors is 13, who must each hold 20 

 shares in the stock of the company, and four of them must be directors of 

 the East India Company. This forms almost the only connectionwhich the 

 East India Company has with the docks. The possession of five shares gives 

 a right of voting. The immense value of East Indian produce, and of ihe 

 cargoes of the vessels engaged in the trade, causes a different arrangement 

 in these docks from either the London or West Indian. The docks, in the 

 first place, are much smaller ; as fewer vessels are engaged in the oriental 

 commerce, and as they are much longer on the voyage, they will be in dock 

 a proportionately shorter time to the period they spend at sea. Then, the 

 value of the property prevents its being allowed to remain on the spot. 

 The warehouses are four miles off, and the cargoes are immediately de- 

 livered to the merchants. The company subscribed 10,000/. to the Com- 

 mercialroad, which was originally constructed as a thoroughfare from the 

 docks to the city. There is, Ukewise, niuih greater restriction in the admis- 

 sion of visitors to these docks than to any of the others. Business com- 

 mences later in the day, and tlie doors are punctually closed at three in the 

 winter, and four in the summer months. The depth of the East India 

 Docks is greater than that of the rest, on account of the size of the vessels 

 in the trade, which draw more water than any merchant vessels. The depth 

 accordingly, is never less than 23 feet, or, as measured from the surface of 

 the quays,'is 27 feet. The superficies of the export dock is 10 acres, of the 

 import dock 19 acres, which, with 3 acres for the basin, makes a total sur. 

 face of 32 acres. The carriages used to convey the merchandise from the 

 docks are of a peculiar construction. They look something like a gipsy 

 caravan ; the door is behind, and secured, besides its lock, by bats of iron. 

 Long before the construction of the East India Docks, an old dock, called 

 Perry's Dock, stood on the site ; it was a private affair, but of gre.it use to 

 merchants. Greenland Dock, on the other side, was likewise an old private 

 dock. 



It was estimated that, before the construction of the great docks just de- 

 scribed, the loss by robberies alone exceeded the hundredth part of the whole 

 importation of wines, tea, indigo, cocoa, &c. ; the fiftieth of the sugar, and 

 the fortieth of the rum. The value of the loss during the years 1799, 1800. 

 and 1801, was estimated to amount to 1,214,500/. The estimate of the 

 saving to the present increased commerce of the country would be quite 

 enormous. — Daily News. 



Irish Boffs.—A letter in the Times, from Mr. H. J. Baylee, county Clare, 

 states that "bog" land can be reclaimed, and brought into hearing at a cost 

 of 7/. an acre; some which he had himself reclaimed yielded for the first 

 crop 10/. an acre, the second for potatoes 40/. per acre (although, in ordinary 

 years, only 20/.), the third 6/., and it appears there is now growing on the 

 bog a crop of potatoes worth 20/. per acre — thus, for an outlay of it., all 

 expended in labour, a return of ten times the amount has been made in the 

 short space of four years. This instance should afford sufficient encourage- 

 ment to the landholder and capitalist, as well as to the government, to adopt 

 the system so successfully carried out, and nhich must be so conducive to 

 the benefit of the sister country. 



