70 The Evolution of Floating and Other Dry Dochs. 



and supplied by power from a central generating station on 

 shore ; outside the pumping machinery there is little steam 

 power required in a graving dock. The gates, or caissons, are 

 usually worked either by steam, gas, or hydraulic engines. 

 Sometimes warping capstans and cranes are provided to 

 expedite the berthing of vessels and facilitate repairs. 



With floating docks, mechanical contrivances are far more 

 numerous and the saving of labour has been much more studied 

 than in graving docks, and it has always struck me as a curious 

 fact that so little attention^has been given to mechanical aids 

 in the case of graving docks. 



I have noticed side by side a new graving dock and a pontoon 

 dock, where every facility was provided in the latter and totally 

 absent in the former. Perhaps some gentleman present might 

 suggest a reason for this. The only one that occurs to me is 

 that the graving dock is usually the property of a public body 

 who has a monopoly, and who finds it perhaps more difficult to 

 advance in the direction of progress than the private firm who 

 must cater for business in an age of severe competition. And 

 I would most earnestly appeal to Harbour Boards and Trusts to 

 study the desires, conveniences, and economies of shipowners in 

 a liberal spirit, and to bear in mind that competition exists not 

 only between private firms but between large shipping centres. 



Take as an illustration the process of securing the use of a 

 dry dock. The vessel has to be " entered " and deposit fee 

 paid (sometimes this is a heavy item), then the process of 

 regulating all at a specific hour and place and other routine 

 preliminaries, and if by some unforeseen circumstance the 

 vessel misses her turn and has to leave the port the deposit fee 

 is forfeited. I have no doubt large public bodies have to insist 

 upon very rigid methods of procedure, but private firms have 

 been compelled to dispense with these, and with them there are 

 no deposit fees, and " entering " can be done at all hours, and 

 perhaps best of all, the firm's representative with persuasive 

 smiles and saponaceous manner solicits the shipowner's custom 

 and makes many concessions here and there, all tending to 



