CHAP. VII. 



LONDON DOCKS. 



199 



long and 40 feet wide, with the cill laid five feet below 

 low water of spring tides. The entrance lock com- 

 municated with a capacious entrance basin, called the 

 Wapping Basin, covering a space of three acres, and this 

 again with the great basin called the Western Dock, 

 1260 feet long and 960 feet wide, covering a surface of 

 20 acres. The bottom of the dock was laid 20 feet 

 below the level of high water of an 18 feet tide. The 

 quays next to the river were five feet above high water, 

 increasing to nine feet at the Great Dock. From the 

 east side of the latter, it was ultimately proposed to make 

 two or more docks, communicating with each other 

 and with a larger and deeper entrance lower down the 

 river at Shadwell ; all of which works have since been 

 carried out. 



PLAN OF LONDON DOCKS. 



As the site of the Docks was previously in a great 

 measure occupied by houses, considerable time neces- 

 sarily elapsed before these could be purchased and 

 cleared away ; so that the works were not commenced 

 until the spring of 1801, when two steam-engines were 

 erected, of 50 horse power each, for pumping the water, 



