CHAP. IX. 



SHBERNESS DOCKS. 



247 



to carrying out his instructions in the best possible 

 manner. 



The plan finally decided upon was that of a river- 

 front, extending from the Garrison Point to near the 

 Old Town Pier of Sheerness, 

 of the length of 3150 feet, in- 

 cluding the entrances, and en- 

 closing within it three basins : 

 one to the north, 480 

 long and from 90 to 

 feet wide, containing a 

 face of about two acres, 

 4 feet below low water 

 of spring tides, with 

 two frigate- 

 docks and a 

 building- 

 slip and 

 boat-slips; a 



central tidal 

 basin 220 

 feet square, 

 of the depth 



of 2 feet below low water, with storehouses around it 

 for the reception and delivery of victualling and other 

 stores; and on the west end of the dockyard a basin 

 520 feet long and 300 feet wide, covering a surface of 

 nearly four acres, provided with dry docks for ships 

 of the line on the south side, with their cills and the 

 bottom of the basin laid 9 feet below low water of 

 spring tides, westward of which were the mast-ponds, 

 mast-locks, and workshops. In the rear, on the south 

 of these works, were placed sawpits, timber-berths, and 

 the officers' houses. The total surface of the dockyard 

 was 64J acres. The foundation-stone of the docks was 

 laid by the late Lord Viscount Melville in 1815, and 

 the works then commenced and continued without 



SHEERNESS DOCKS. 



