LONDON. 195 



The commerce which London carries on with foreign countries has increased 

 twenty-fold since the beginning of the eighteenth century, and continues to increase 

 "with every decade. The Port of Loudon is a world of which we can form no 

 notion unless we enter it. In fact, legally no less than virtually, the whole 

 estuary of the Thames belongs to it.* It is bounded on the east by an ideal line 

 drawn from the North Foreland, near Margate, through the Gunfleet lightship to 

 Harwich Naze. A few of the small ports embraced within these limits enjoy some 

 local importance, but are nevertheless mere enclaves of the great port of London, 

 They are outports established for the convenience of fishermen and traders, and 

 may fairly be described as maritime suburbs of London. As we leave the Nore 

 Light behind us and journey up to London, the number of vessels increases rapidly. 

 Not a group of houses on the bank but a cluster of vessels may be seen at anchor 

 in front of it, nor a jetty but its head is surrounded by shipping engaged in dis- 

 charging or receiving cargo. Above Sheerness the banks approach each other, and 

 higher up we find ourselves upon a river lined for miles by quays, where cranes are 

 steadily at work hoisting grain from the holds of ships into granaries. At times 

 we are hardly able to distinguish the houses along the banks, so closely packed is 

 the shif)ping, and at frequent intervals long rows of masts may be seen stretch- 

 ing away inland until lost to sight in the distance. These rows mark the sites of 

 docks. 



Towards the close of last century the quay at which it was legally permitted 

 to discharge certain kinds of merchandise only extended from the Tower to 

 Billingsgate, a distance of 1,450 feet. There were "tolerated" quays beyond 

 these narrow limits ; but the conveniences for landing merchandise were of so 

 insufiicient a nature as to constantly interfere with the conduct of commerce. 

 It was difiicult, moreover, to bring order into piles of merchandise deposited upon 

 the quay, and the losses sustained by pillage were estimated to amount annually 

 to nearly half a million sterling. Most of the vessels were detained in the port 

 for weeks and months, and were able only to discharge cargo by means of lighters 

 communicating with the shore. 



Such a state of afiairs could be permitted to exist no longer, more especially since 

 the wars of the French Revolution and the Empire had enabled London to become 

 the intermediary of nearly all the trade which was carried on between continental 

 Europe and the New World. The merchants of London resolved upon following 

 the example set by Liverpool, which already had docks surrounded by ware- 

 houses, and able to accommodate not only ships, but also their cargoes. After 

 a tedious discussion in Parliament, a Joint-Stock Company was founded for the 

 purpose of providing London with its first docks. The site selected lay at the 

 neck of the peninsula known as the Isle of Dogs, half-way between London 

 and Blackwall. Pitt, in 1800, laid the foundation stone. The site was well 

 chosen, for vessels drawing 24 feet of water were able to enter the new docks, 

 without first being obliged to make the circuit of the peninsula. The great 

 success of these docks demonstrated the necessity of constructing others. These 



* "De jure maritimo et navali," 1677. 



