Concrete incorporating portland cement was used in England as 
early as 1928 for plugging a break in the wall of the Thames River 
tunnel that was under construction. One of the early instances of 
portland cement concrete exposed continually to seawater was the con- 
struction of a coral concrete base for the Daedalus lighthouse which 
was erected in 1862 on a coral reef in the Red Sea (Parkes, 1863). When 
the Daedalus lighthouse was replaced in 1930, the coral concrete base 
(actually a plain concrete layer or slab over the reef) was replaced 
with ordinary sand and gravel concrete (Fatim, 1954). 
From the middle to the end of the 19th century, docks and wharves 
built of concrete were invariably of plain concrete. Most of these 
proved durable and are still in use. 
The first maritime reinforced concrete structure in Great Britain 
was built in 1899 at Southampton; it consisted of a reinforced concrete 
deck, 100 by 40 feet, resting on reinforced concrete piles. The struc- 
ure, which was still in service and in excellent condition in 1955, was 
made with a "very dry'' concrete (i. e., concrete of a low water/cement 
ratio). In 1902, also at Southampton, another reinforced concrete pier 
was erected; its deck was 360 feet by 20 feet and about 34 feet high. 
This second facility was made with "rather wet'' concrete as it was 
considered that the resultant workability would assure better passage 
through the maze of reinforcement than would be possible with a concrete 
of stiff consistency. In a few years the latter pier exhibited deterio- 
ration which was partly due to the fact that the wet mixture tended to 
shrink away from the reinforcement while undergoing set (the excessive 
air voids accompanying a high water/cement ratio tending toward a weak 
and permeable concrete), and partly due to electrolytic action resulting 
from the electric cranes being grounded to the pier (Wentworth-Shields, 
1956). 
In Japan early in the 20th century, immense precast concrete blocks 
were used (Hiroi, 1904) in constructing jetties, and, as far as known, 
are in service today. During the period 1909 to 1918, the USN graving 
dock at Pearl Harbor was constructed of reinforced concrete (Stanford, 
1916). It is over 1000 feet long and is still in serviceable condition 
today. 
For the past 60 years the Port of Los Angeles has successfully used 
reinforced portland cement concrete for wharf construction (Wakeman, et. 
al., 1958). Two exceptions have detracted from an extraordinary record 
of performance in sea water (Lorman, 1965). Berths 57 through 60 were 
built in 1914, but 10 years later the longitudinal reinforcing steel 
had become exposed by the cracks in the concrete cover; shotcrete was 
used for restoration and 40 years later the structures were still intact. 
The second exception to outstanding performance occurred in 1960 at 
Berths 135 and 187, which were built in 1920, although necessary pre- 
cautions had been taken relative to mix proportions, placement, curing, 
and structural design; the difficulty was traced to contaiminated 
cement; the cracks were sealed in 1960 by grouting with pressurized 
epoxy. The admirable performance of waterfront structures at the Port 
