A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



4. King's Dock, opened 1788 ; closed 1906, the 



name being preserved for two new branches of 

 the Wapping Dock. 



5. Queen's Dock, opened 1796; enlarged 1816 ; 



deepened and half-tide dock added 1856, and 

 closed 1905 ; enlarged 1901 ; branches added 

 1 90 1, 1905 ; altered 1906. 



6. Union Dock, opened 1816; thrown into Coburg 



Dock 1858. 



7. Prince's Dock, opened l8zl ; half-tide dock 



added 1868. 



The total area of wet docks in 1825 amounted 

 to 4.6 acres 3,179 sq. yds. ; the lineal quayage to a 

 little over 2 miles. The dock dues paid in the 

 same year amounted to ^^ 1 30,911. It may be 

 noted that the first London Dock was not opened 

 until 1802. 



II. Between 1825 and 1857, when the docks were 

 under the control of the Dock Committee, the Old 

 Dock was closed (1826), and the following new docks 

 were opened : — 



1. Canning Dock, opened 1829 ; previously a basin 



known as the Dry Dock, opened 1753 ; en- 

 larged 1 842. 



2. Clarence Docks, &c., opened 1830 ; enlarged 



1853- 



3. Brunswick Docks, opened 1832 ; enlarged 1848, 



1858, 1889; branch dock added 1878; 

 altered 1 900. 



4. Waterloo Dock, opened 1834; reconstructed as 



E. and W. Waterloo Docks, 1868. 



5. Victoria Dock, opened 1836 ; altered 1 848. 



6. Trafalgar Dock, opened 1836. 



7. Coburg Dock, opened 1840; altered from 



Brunswick Basin ; enlarged 1858 ; altered 

 1900. 



8. Toxteth Dock, opened 1842 ; closed to make 



way for new works, 1884. 



9. Canning Half-tide Dock, opened 1844. 



10. Harrington Dock (bought), opened 1844 ; closed 



to make way for new works 1879. 



11. Albert Dock, opened 1845. 



12. Salisbury Dock, opened 1848. 



13. CoUingwood Dock, opened 1848. 



14. Stanley Dock, opened 1848 ; partly filled in 



1897. 



15. Nelson Dock, opened 1848. 



16. Bramley Moore Dock, opened 1848. 



17. Wellington Docks, opened 1850 ; half-tide dock 



closed 1 90 1. 



18. Sandon Dock, opened 1 85 1; half-tide dock 



added 1901 ; altered 1906. 



19. Manchester Dock (bought), opened 1 851. 



20. Huskisson Dock, opened 1852 ; branch docks 



added 1861,' 1872, 1902 ; altered 1896, 1897; 

 enlarged 1900. 



21. Wapping Dock and Basin, opened 1855 ; two 



King's Dock branches added 1906. 



The water area in 1857 amounted to 192 acres 

 129 sq. yds., or an increase of over 82 acres in twenty- 

 five years ; the lineal quayage was about i 5 miles ; 

 and the river-wall, when the Dock Board came into 

 existence, already extended for just over 5 miles. At 



the same time the Dock Committee and the Corpora- 

 tion had acquired the Birkenhead Docks, which do 

 not fall within the purview of this work. It is clear 

 that the old Dock Committee did not lack energy. 

 For the ten years preceding the establishment of the 

 Dock Board the dock dues averaged nearly ^250,000. 

 It was on the security of these that the capital for the 

 construction of the docks was raised ; and no profits 

 were used for purposes other than the service of the 

 port. 



III. During the fifty years of the Mersey Docks 

 and Harbour Board more time and money have been 

 spent on the enlargement and reconstruction of the 

 existing system than on the creation of new docks. 

 The new docks of this period are : — 



1. Canada Dock, opened 1858; enlarged 1896; 



altered 1903 ; branches opened 1896, 1903, 

 1906. 



2. Brocklebank Dock, opened 1862 ; known until 



1879 as Canada Half- tide Dock; enlarged 

 1871. 



3. Herculaneum Dock, opened 1866 ; enlarged and 



branch dock added 1 881. 



4. Langton Docks, opened 1879. 



5. Alexandra Dock (and three branches), opened 



1880. 



6. Harrington Dock, opened 1883."' 



7. Hornby Dock (and branch), opened 1884. 



8. Toxteth Dock, opened 1888."'' 



9. Union Dock, opened 1889.™ 



During the last thirty years, however, the board 

 has been mainly occupied in reconstructing large sec- 

 tions of the dock system, so as to accord with that re- 

 markable change in the size of vessels resorting to the 

 port which has brought it about that while the ton- 

 nage of the port has since 1 880 increased 66 per cent, 

 the number of vessels has in the same period actually 

 declined from 10,000 to little over 6,000."*^ The 

 new type of gigantic steamships demanded a wholesale 

 reconstruction of the docks to which they resorted. 

 The docks have accordingly been grouped in systems, 

 each adapted to the needs of different kinds of trade, 

 and each equipped with its appropriate warehouses, 

 sheds, cranes, graving-docks, &c. The southern sys- 

 tem, including the Herculaneum, Toxteth, and Har- 

 rington docks, was vastly enlarged between 1 88 1 and 

 1888 ; the Canada-Huskisson system, at the north 

 end, was radically reconstructed between 1890 and 

 1 906, with the result that the largest American liners 

 now use it in place of the Alexandra-Hornby system, 

 which at the time of its construction represented 

 the last word in dock engineering ; the Brunswick- 

 Wapping system, in the south-central region, which 

 includes some of the oldest of the docks, was com- 

 pletely rearranged, enlarged, and deepened so as to 

 admit the biggest vessels, between 1900 and 1906. 

 The accommodation, however, being still inade- 

 quate, a large new system of docks is now (1908) 

 under construction at the extreme north end of 

 the line. 



In 1900 the George's Dock, one of the oldest of 

 the series, which lay between the city and the pier- 

 head, was closed by arrangement between the Dock 

 Board and the Corporation. Part of its site was 



'" These are names of old docks, given to new docks in the same region. 



42 



78aa See table of entrances and clearances, p. 37 above. 



Digitized by IVIicrosoft® 



