244 



RENNTE'S WAR DOCKS. 



PART VII. 



devised and most elaborate plan, 1 which unhappily was 

 never carried out. 



1 The site of the proposed arsenal 

 was the flat portion of land near 

 Northfleet, about eight hundred acres 

 in extent, lying in the angular space 

 formed by Fidlers' and Northfleet 

 Reaches. Its depth close to the shore 

 was about seven fathoms at low 

 water, or sufficient for vessels of the 

 largest burden. The main entrance- 

 lock was to be at the Nortlifleet end 

 of the docks, within which was to be 

 an entrance-basin 1815 feet long and 

 600 feet wide, covering about twenty- 

 five acres. Dry docks were to be placed 

 conveniently near, from which the 

 water was to be pumped by powerful 

 steam-engines, so that vessels might 

 be docked directly from the basin, 

 and have their bottoms examined 

 with the least loss of time. Part of 

 the entrance-basin was to be appro- 

 priated for an anchor-wharf, another 

 for a gun- wharf ; next the stores and 

 victualling wharves, with their ap- 

 propriate buildings; the whole ar- 

 ranged on a system, so that the mate- 

 rials required on shipboard might be 

 passed forward to their respective 

 wharves from one stage of preparation 

 to another, with the greatest despatch 

 and economy. At the north end of 

 the basin were to be the mast and 

 boat pounds, with their adjoining 



workshops, connected also with the 

 Thames and the main western basin 

 by separate entrances. The main 

 western basin was to be at right angles 

 to the entrance-basin, 4000 feet long 

 and 950 feet wide, covering a surface 

 of about eighty acres. Alongside were 

 to be six dry docks and eight building 

 slips, all fitted in the most complete 

 manner with the requisite saw-pits, 

 seasoning-sheds, mould-lofts, timber- 

 stores, and smitheries, conveniently 

 situated in their rear. The whole of 

 the heavy work, such as bellows- 

 blowing, tilt-hammering, forging of 

 anchors, and iron-rolling, was to be 

 performed by the aid of steam-engines 

 and machinery of the most perfect 

 kind. Seventy sail of the line, with 

 a proportionate number of smaller 

 vessels, might conveniently lie in this 

 basin, and yet afford abundant space 

 for the launching of new vessels. An- 

 other basin, 980 feet long and 500 

 feet wide, was proposed for timber 

 ships, on the south-west extremity of 

 the great basin, with a separate en- 

 trance into the Thames a little below 

 Greenhithe. The whole of the arsenal 

 was to be connected together by a 

 system of railways extending to every 

 part and all round the wharves. 

 The plan was most complete, some 



PROPOSED DOCKS AT NOKTHFLEET. 



