CHAP. IX. ROYAL DOCKYARDS. 241 



14 feet, whilst the works generally were in a condition 

 of great decay. The docks were also, in his opinion, 

 quite inadequate to the accommodation of ships requiring 

 repairs, whilst the storehouses, workshops, and building 

 slips w r ere ill laid out, having been run up in haste after 

 no well-digested plan, involving bad work and waste 

 both of money and of time. 1 Deptford Royal Dockyard, 

 the oldest on the Thames, was objectionable because of 

 the decreasing depth of water, which rendered it less and 

 less available for ships of large burden ; and hence it was 

 gradually being abandoned for ship-building purposes ; 

 Mr. Eennie recommending that it should for the future 

 be exclusively used as a victualling yard. Woolwich 

 also he considered ill adapted for the purposes of a royal 

 harbour and arsenal : it was situated too high up the river r 

 where the water was shallow, and the place was incapable 

 of enlargement to the required extent, except at an 

 enormous cost. He held that large ships, even if built 

 there, must go down the stream into deeper water before 

 they could take in their guns, stores, and provisions, 

 thus involving the risk of damage and the certainty of 

 delay and increased expense. With reference to the 

 naval arsenals on the Medway, although considerable im- 

 provements had been made in the dry and wet docks of 

 Chatham, yet he held that the place was, from its situation, 

 incapable of being adapted to the important purposes of 

 a naval establishment of an extent and accommodation 

 commensurate with the national requirements. Besides, 

 the navigation of the Medway from the Nore was very 



1 By way of illustrating his views, j place to nothing else than to a pack of 

 Mr. Rennie used to say : " Let any cards, with the names of different 

 stranger visit Portsmouth Dockyard, buildings, docks, &c., marked upon 



them, and then tossed up into the 



the head establishment of the British 

 navy, he will be astonished at the 

 fastness and number of buildings, 

 and perhaps say, ' What a wonderful 

 place it is ! ' knowing nothing about 



air, so that each, in falling, might find 

 its place by chance, so completely 

 are they devoid of all arrangement 

 and order." 



the subject. But I can compare the 



VOL. II. R 



