Earliest formation of wet-docks and bonded warehouses—System
of levying duties—Opposition to any change—Excise Bill
proposed, 1733—but not passed till 1803—Necessity of docks
for London—Depredations from ships in London—The extent of
the plunder—Instances of robberies—Scuffle hunters—“Game”
ships—Ratcatchers—River-pirates—Their audacity—Light
horsemen—Their organisation—“Drum hogsheads”—Long-shore
men—Harbour accommodation—Not adequate for the merchant
shipping—East and West India ships—Docks at length planned—West
India Docks—Regulations—East India Docks—Mode of conducting
business at the Docks—London Docks—St. Katharine’s Docks—Victoria
and Millwall Docks—Charges levied by the Dock Companies—Docks
in provincial ports, and bonded warehouses—Liverpool and
Birkenhead Docks—Port of Liverpool, its commerce, and its
revenue from the Docks—Extent of accommodation—Extension of
Docks to the north—Hydraulic lifts and repairing basins—Cost
of new works—Bye-laws of the Mersey Board—The pilots of the
Mersey—Duties of the superintendent—Conditions of admission to the
service—Pilot-boats and rates of pilotage.
[Sidenote: The earliest formation of wet-docks and bonded warehouses.]
Although the wars in which Great Britain had been so long engaged
tended very materially to retard her maritime and commercial progress,
they gave her, on the other hand, a position among the nations which
at that period of her history could perhaps only have been achieved by
force of arms; nor, though a sad stumbling-block in her path, did they
prevent the development of those inventions which have done so much in
our own time to make her the first of maritime nations. The steamship,
to which we shall have occasion frequently, and at considerable length,
to refer, had its birth, for all practical purposes, in the midst of
war; while the dock, bonding, and warehousing systems, without which
England never could have become the chief market of the world, were
then, for the first time, successfully introduced. The power of steam,
it is true, had been known, and the advantages which docks and bonding
warehouses were likely to confer had been discussed long before the
commencement of the present century, but it was only then that they
were brought into useful and remunerative operation.
So early as 1660 the Commercial wet-dock on the Surrey side of the
River Thames was opened to shipping, and, in 1662, the magistrates of
Glasgow purchased the land on which Port Glasgow is now erected, and
constructed there a harbour and a graving dock; but these were the
only works of the kind in any way worthy of note until an Act, passed
in 1709,[340] authorized the construction of a wet-dock at Liverpool.
Close upon another century, however, elapsed ere the Act was passed
which led to the construction and opening of the West India Docks of
London. Nor had anything been done before that period to carry into
effect the recommendations of Sir Robert Walpole, who, so far back as
1733, had strongly urged the desirability of some sort of warehousing
system, whereby the duties levied upon imported goods might be
collected so as to meet the convenience of their owners or consignees,
and to protect the revenue.
[Sidenote: System of levying duties.]
Previously to 1802, if the duties were not paid on the arrival of
the goods at the port of discharge, their owners or consignees were
required to enter into bonds with the Customs to provide security for
the amount due to the Crown. “It was often,” remarks McCulloch,[341]
“very difficult to find sureties, and the merchant, in order to raise
funds to pay the duty, was frequently reduced to the ruinous necessity
of selling his goods immediately on their arrival, when perhaps the
market was already glutted. Neither was this the only inconvenience
that grew out of this system, for the duties having to be paid all at
once, and not by degrees as the goods were sold for consumption, their
price was raised by the amount of the profit on the capital advanced in
payment of the duties; competition, too, was diminished in consequence
of the greater command of funds required to carry on trade under such
disadvantages, and a few rich individuals were enabled to monopolize
the importation of those commodities on which heavy duties were
payable. The system had besides an obvious tendency to discourage the
carrying trade. It prevented this country from becoming the _entrepôt_
for foreign products by hindering the importation of such as were not
immediately wanted for home consumption, and thus tended to lessen
the resort of foreigners to our markets, inasmuch as it rendered it
difficult, or rather impossible, for them to complete an assorted
cargo. And in addition to all these circumstances, the difficulty
of granting a really equivalent drawback to the exporters of such
commodities as had paid duty opened a door for the commission of every
species of fraud.”
[Sidenote: Opposition to any change.]
[Sidenote: Excise Bill proposed, 1733,]
Nevertheless, when Sir Robert Walpole, in 1733, first introduced his
famous Excise Scheme, requiring all importations of tobacco and wine to
be deposited in public warehouses until the duty had been paid, there
were the loudest clamours against a measure meant, not merely for the
security of the revenue, but for the benefit and convenience of the
merchants, who, however, scouted his proposal. Indeed, those of them
who had availed themselves of the facilities afforded by the existing
system for defrauding the revenue resisted the measure by every means
in their power, exasperating the people to a state of the wildest fury
against it.
[Sidenote: but not passed until 1803.]
[Sidenote: Necessity of docks for London.]
No valid or ostensible reasons were then assigned for their determined
opposition, nor were any arguments worthy of record brought forward
against the proposed Bill. “We shall be ruined,” alike exclaimed the
merchant and the shipowner; while the parliamentary opponents of
the government, taking up the cry, ultimately obliged Sir Robert,
who “narrowly escaped falling a sacrifice to the ungovernable rage
of the mob which beset the avenues to the House of Commons,”[342]
to abandon the Bill. So endurable were the impressions made by the
violent opposition to Walpole’s scheme, and so strong the force of
prejudice, that this most valuable measure lay dormant for more than
sixty years, and even then might not have become law had the necessity
of establishing docks with bonding warehouses attached to them not been
brought prominently under public notice by Mr. Patrick Colquhoun, in
his remarkable treatise on the commerce and police of the River Thames.
Increased accommodation for the number of ships frequenting the river
had now become equally necessary, the trade of London with distant
nations requiring in 1796 no less than three thousand five hundred and
three small craft of different sorts to discharge or load the merchant
vessels which lay in the stream.
[Sidenote: Depredations from ships in London.]
London, therefore, from the extent of its trade, and the
disproportionate space allotted on the surface of the water for
the accommodation of vessels frequenting the port, and on land for
the collection and stowage of their cargoes, at that time afforded
numerous and greatly increased facilities for the secret disposal of
merchandise and property of every kind. A wide and lucrative field
was thus opened for the depredations of a host of plunderers of every
sort, trained in their nefarious arts with all the regularity and
system of a disciplined body. Their numbers and stratagems of course
increased with the augmentation of the commerce of the river; and
especially with the practice of sending cargoes in lighters to wharves
at the distance of several miles from the discharging vessels, or from
the wharves on board the loading vessels, the necessary result of
the overcrowded state of the harbour. The great numbers of lumpers,
watermen, lightermen, coopers, and labourers employed upon the wharves,
as well as the seamen and petty officers of too many vessels, in league
with the lower classes of revenue officers, now formed a large and
dangerous band of conspirators against the property of the merchants
and the revenues of the Crown. Mates of merchantmen then claimed by
custom as their perquisites the sweepings of the hold, consisting of
such parts of the cargo as might from any cause have dropped out of
their packages; and numerous charges were made against the inferior
members of this class, whose duty it was to take care of the cargo
under their charge, that they had been tempted to injure the packages
with a view to increase their perquisites. Mr. Colquhoun’s treatise
furnishes an account of the vessels employed in the trade of London,
and of the value of their cargoes, with an estimate of the number of
packages plundered in each branch of trade during the year ending the
5th of January, 1798.[343]
[Sidenote: The extent of the plunder.]
From this statement it would appear that in that year there were
eighteen hundred and forty-three foreign, and eleven thousand six
hundred and one British vessels, embracing those employed in the coal
and coasting trades, of a tonnage, including their repeated voyages, of
one million seven hundred and seventy-six thousand three hundred and
twenty-six tons, entering and clearing to and from the port of London.
The value of the imports and exports he computed at 60,591,000_l._ (a
very large estimate, but no doubt he includes the repeated transfers
by ship or barge), in, perhaps, three million packages. He estimates
the amount of plunder of the West India packages alone at no less a
sum than of 232,000_l._ The plunder of the East India trade he sets
down at 25,000_l._, and of the cargoes of the vessels in that of the
United States of America at 30,000_l._ The entire aggregate amount of
plunder, including 20,000_l._ in the coal trade, and the like sum in
the coasting trade, he estimates at 461,500_l._ from merchant vessels,
while the loss in tackle, apparel, and stores of thirteen thousand four
hundred and forty-four vessels he computes at 45,000_l._, making the
total depredations during one year in the River Thames, prior to the
construction of docks and the establishment of the warehousing system,
as not less than 506,500_l._ To this amount must be added a large sum
for the depredations on stores belonging to ships of war, which were by
no means exempt from plunder.
As regards the depredations at that time committed upon merchant
shipping and goods, Mr. Colquhoun mentions one remarkable case, of the
enormous quantity of fifty tons of sugar,[344] three whole puncheons
of rum, besides three hundred gallons pumped out of different casks,
and a large quantity of coffee, which were proved to have been
plundered from one vessel.
[Sidenote: Instances of robberies.]
In another case, in August 1794, a small vessel arrived in the river
from Antigua, with seventy hogsheads of sugar, five of which were
actually stolen by three tidesmen in collusion with the mate and a
well-known receiver. In this case the master of the vessel, happening
to be a stranger, had expressed so much apprehension with regard to
the dishonesty of the lumpers, that the revenue officers proposed,
with a view of allaying his fears, to discharge the cargo. The result
being that, while he remained on shore in fancied security, he lost
one-fourteenth part of the whole!
[Sidenote: Scuffle-hunters.]
[Sidenote: “Game” ships.]
One gigantic system of plunder seems to have prevailed throughout.
There were “scuffle-hunters,” who offered their services in long
aprons, well adapted to wrap up and conceal whatever they could pilfer,
and who were “longshore” thieves of the worst class. The lightermen
committed the most nefarious robberies. The bumboatmen who were
licensed to hawk goods among the shipping, and the “Peter-boatmen”
employed in fishing, swelled the number of delinquents. There was also
a numerous class denominated “mudlarks,” who stole whatever, above or
below the water, they could lay hands upon. Whenever a “game-ship,”
that is, a ship whose officers were corrupted for the purposes of
plunder, was discharging her cargo close to the shore, these mudlarks
were accustomed to prowl about, grubbing in the mud under her bow and
quarters, for the purpose of receiving from the lumpers and others
employed in the delivery, bags and handkerchiefs of sugar, coffee,
and other articles, which they conveyed to the houses and shops of
the receivers, according to the plan which had been preconcerted by
the confederates in this general conspiracy. Rum, pillaged in large
quantities, was obtained by means of a regular system applicable to the
nature of the article. Skins and prepared bladders with wooden nozzles
were secretly conveyed on board, a bribe being given, as in the case
of sugar and coffee, to the mate and revenue officers for a licence to
draw off a certain quantity from each cask, for which a pump called a
_jigger_ had been previously provided, and also tin tubes, adapted to
render the booty accessible in every situation. By these and similar
devices the skins and bladders were filled, and handed over to the
mudlarks and other hangers-on who infested the neighbourhood of the
ship.
[Sidenote: Rat-catchers.]
The ingenuity of men devoid of the principles of moral rectitude
is ever fertile in devising the means of subsistence by criminal
expedients. Among the various classes of delinquents who contributed
to the removal of plunder from ships and vessels in the river were a
set of rascals who pretended to follow the occupation of rat-catchers.
These itinerants, who professed to know how to destroy the vermin,
being permitted to go on board in the night to set their traps, and
afterwards to visit them at such hours as they chose to prescribe for
themselves, became dangerous auxiliaries to lumpers and others who
had previously concealed plunder in the hold, until a convenient
opportunity should occur to get it removed without exciting suspicion.
In some instances these ingenious thieves not only committed the
depredations described, but, for the purpose of obtaining access to
different ships, and increasing the demand for their professional
labours, had no scruple in conveying the rats alive from one vessel to
another, as a means of receiving payment for catching the same animals
three or four times over, and of thus extending the field for plunder.
[Sidenote: River-pirates.]
But the “river-pirates” were the most desperate and depraved of the
fraternity of nautical vagabonds, as their exploits were invariably
covered by receivers who kept old iron and junk shops in places
adjacent to the Thames, and who were ever ready to receive and conceal
the nocturnal plunder of these hostile marauders, many of whom were
armed, and all provided with boats, perhaps stolen, for the particular
object in view.
The practice of the “river-pirates” seems to have been to select the
darkest nights for committing their depredations, having previously
reconnoitred the river, during the day, for the purpose of marking the
particular vessels and craft most likely to afford a rich booty, either
from the nature of the merchandise, stores, or other materials which
were accessible, or from the circumstances of their being without the
protection of a nightly watch.
[Sidenote: Their audacity.]
In the port of London, where so many vessels were constantly lading
and discharging valuable merchandise in the stream, and where from two
hundred to five hundred open barges and other small craft in which this
merchandise was deposited in its transit to and from the shore offered
so many temptations for plunder, it is easy to conceive how audacious
these marauders would become, unrestrained by police or any hazard of
apprehension, and emboldened by the strength of their own desperate
and organized gangs. Well-authenticated instances have been adduced of
river-pirates cutting bags of cotton and other merchandise from the
quarters of ships on their first arrival, and even of their weighing
anchors, and getting clear off with these heavy articles, together
with the cables and everything portable upon the deck. One instance
in particular is recorded, where an American and a Guernsey ship
were plundered in this manner by the actual removal both of anchors
and cables, the robbery being, in fact, completed in the view of the
masters of the vessels, who were only alarmed in time to reach the
deck and ascertain the fact from the pirates themselves; who, as they
rowed from the vessels with their cumbrous booty, wished the astonished
masters a very “good morning.”
[Sidenote: Light horsemen.]
The night-plunderers were sometimes denominated “light horsemen;” and
they generally carried on their depredations through the connivance
of the revenue officers. For a licence to commit plunder, by opening
packages of sugar, coffee, and other produce during several hours in
the night, no less than from twenty to thirty guineas were usually paid
to the mate and the revenue officers, who almost invariably went to bed
while the robbery was perpetrated, affecting ignorance of the whole
transaction.
[Sidenote: Their organisation.]
[Sidenote: Drum hogsheads.]
Most of these infamous proceedings were carried on according to a
regular system, and in gangs, frequently composed of one or more
receivers, together with coopers, watermen, and lumpers, who were
all necessary, in their different occupations, to the accomplishment
of the general design of wholesale plunder. They went on board the
merchant vessel completely prepared with iron crows, adzes, and other
implements to open and again head up the casks; with shovels to take
out the sugar, and a number of bags made to contain a hundred pounds
each. These bags went by the name of “black strap,” having been
previously dyed black, to prevent their being conspicuous in the night,
when stowed in the bottom of a river boat or wherry. In the course of
judicial proceedings it has been shown that in the progress of the
delivery of a large ship’s cargo, about ten to fifteen tons of sugar
were on an average removed in these nocturnal expeditions, exclusive
of what had been obtained by the lumpers during the day, which was
frequently excessive and almost uncontrolled, whenever night plunder
had taken place. This indulgence was generally insisted on and granted
to lumpers, to prevent their making discoveries of what they called the
“drum hogsheads” found in the hold on going to work in the morning, by
which were understood hogsheads where from one-sixth to one-fourth of
their contents had been stolen the night preceding. In this manner one
gang of plunderers was compelled to purchase the connivance of another,
to the ruinous loss of the merchant.
[Sidenote: Long-shore men.]
The total number of the mates and crews of vessels, revenue officers,
lumpers, coal-heavers, coopers, watermen, lightermen, night-watchmen,
scuffle-hunters, and labourers employed in warehouses was then
computed at thirty-six thousand three hundred and forty-four, of
whom no fewer than nine thousand six hundred were pronounced by Mr.
Colquhoun as delinquents and participators in the rascality then
prevailing. In addition to these, there were one hundred river-pirates,
two hundred night-plunderers, two hundred “light-horsemen,” five
hundred and fifty receivers of a dozen different classes, besides two
hundred mudlarks, most of whom had no other calling, forming together
a formidable band of ten thousand eight hundred and fifty marauders,
who constituted the component parts of this great machine of organized
crime, to the loss of the revenue and the infinite detriment of the
best interests of commerce and navigation.
[Sidenote: Harbour accommodation.]
Towards the close of the last century the harbour accommodation for
the greatly increasing amount of merchant shipping frequenting London
was, with the exception of that part where small vessels discharged
their cargoes between Blackfriars and London Bridge, limited to that
portion of the river extending from London Bridge to Deptford, being
in length about four miles, with an average width of four hundred and
fifty yards. This harbour comprised—1st. The Upper Pool, from London
Bridge to Union Hole, for ships of two hundred and fifty tons and
under, being in length sixteen hundred yards, and capable of holding
three hundred and twenty-nine vessels, coasters and other small
craft. 2nd. The Middle Pool, from Union Hole to Wapping New Stairs
for ships of three hundred and fifty tons, being seven hundred and
fifty yards, and capable of accommodating one hundred and twenty-six
middle-sized vessels. 3rd. The Lower Pool, from Wapping New Stairs to
Horseferry-tier, near Limehouse, for ships of four hundred tons, being
eighteen hundred yards. 4th. From Horseferry to the mooring chains at
Deptford, for ships of four hundred and fifty to five hundred tons,
drawing seventeen to eighteen feet water, extending two thousand seven
hundred yards in length, capable of holding three hundred and twenty
large ships, and these two bring Limehouse, affording accommodation
besides for fifty-four ships, and Deptford about a similar number.
At that time the large East Indiamen, drawing from twenty-two to
twenty-four feet water, could not discharge higher up the river than
Blackwall.
[Sidenote: Not adequate for the merchant shipping.]
From the foregoing account it would seem that there was not convenient
space for more than eight hundred and eighty vessels in the harbour;
yet it frequently happened, when the fleets arrived together, that from
thirteen to fourteen hundred vessels, including coasters, were in port
at the same time. As many as three hundred colliers have been seen at
one time in the Pool, where there were besides usually from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred sail of other coasting craft.
[Sidenote: East and West India ships.]
The East India Company discharged the cargoes of their ships into their
own decked hoys, and transferred them to warehouses, which were then
deemed “splendid and commodious in the highest degree.” Their goods
were carted to these warehouses from their own quays, where they were
deposited under the care of revenue officers specially appointed, as
the duties were never paid until the goods were delivered after a sale
had been effected.[345] But, with the exception of a few small vessels,
which landed their goods at wharves, and the timber-laden vessels,
which made rafts of their cargoes on the river, the West India and all
other traders discharged their cargoes into lighters, creating a state
of confusion which, combined with the enormous amount of depredations,
at length stimulated the parties most largely interested to devise
means for protecting themselves, and suppressing the existing evils.
[Sidenote: Docks at length planned.]
[Sidenote: West India Docks.]
The West India merchants, being the greatest sufferers, took the lead,
and through their exertions an Act of Parliament, which met with
much opposition,[346] was obtained for the construction of the West
India Docks, on the Isle of Dogs, with powers to the Lord Mayor and
Corporation of the City of London to excavate a canal sufficiently
large and deep to be navigated by ships, extending across the head of
that peninsula between Blackwall and Limehouse Hole. The stock of the
Company at the commencement of this important undertaking amounted to
only 500,000_l._, with power to augment it to 600,000_l._ if necessary.
They were restricted from raising their dividends above ten per cent.
They were required to inclose the docks, wharves, and warehouses
connected therewith with a wall of brick or stone, not less than thirty
feet in height, with strong gates, and to carry round them a ditch
of at least twelve feet in width constantly filled with water to the
depth of six feet. They were expressly forbidden to allow any slips for
building or repairing vessels on their premises; nor were they allowed
to be concerned in the building or repairing of vessels.
[Sidenote: Regulations.]
All vessels engaged in the West Indies were required to load and
deliver their cargoes in the Company’s docks, or in the river below
Blackwall, except in the case of embarking naval stores for the royal
service at Deptford. Schedules of rates and other particulars were
annexed to the Act. The construction of these works constituted the
first great step to the improvement of the river, and led to the
formation of the other spacious and commodious docks which now adorn
the metropolis, affording the incalculable advantages of an almost
entire security to property. The success of the scheme of wet docks
prepared the way for the eventual establishment of the warehousing
system on a more complete and comprehensive scale than that which had
been proposed by Sir Robert Walpole. Though violently opposed when
first introduced, it has perhaps done more than any other measure to
develop the maritime resources and trade of Great Britain with foreign
nations, and has proved of immense advantage in the protection of the
revenue.[347]
[Sidenote: East India Docks.]
The West India Docks originally consisted of about twelve acres of
water space appropriated in two equal parts for the use of vessels
inward and outward bound, known as the Import and Export Docks; these
communicate with each other by means of locks, having a basin of more
than five acres at the lower entrance, and another of about half
that size contiguous to Limehouse. In 1829 the South Dock, formerly
the City Canal, was added, and further important additions were made
to the works in 1869-70. Between the docks are ranges of handsome
and commodious warehouses for the purpose of receiving in bond all
descriptions of produce subject to duty, especially rum, brandy, and
other spirituous liquors. These docks are now amalgamated with the
East India Docks Company, formed some years afterwards, and have a
united capital of upwards of 2,000,000_l._, their management being
vested in a board of thirty-eight directors, who are elected by the
shareholders. Their business is no longer limited to that of the East
and West Indies, and ships to and from all parts of the world receive
and discharge their cargoes there, though they naturally retain a
very considerable proportion of those descriptions of produce for the
reception of which they were originally constructed.
[Sidenote: Mode of conducting business at the Docks.]
Under the conditions of the Acts of Parliament whereby the Docks
were established, the directors have power to levy rates and frame
regulations and bye-laws for the proper conduct of business. For
instance, certain rules require to be observed by vessels entering or
leaving the docks, and by the crews while they remain there. For the
protection of the revenue, no ship is allowed to break bulk until her
cargo is duly entered, nor any baggage to be taken away until it has
been examined by an officer of the Customs. Bills of lading must be
specially endorsed so as to clearly designate the party to whose order
the contents are to be delivered; and no orders for goods are received
until the manifest (particulars) of the cargo, certified by the
captain of the vessel in which they were imported, has been deposited
in the Dock Company’s office. Every description of merchandise is
deliverable by warrant, with the exception of goods imported in bulk,
and a few specially excepted articles which are deliverable by cheques
or sub-orders, unless their owners otherwise desire and are agreeable
to pay the extra expense of sorting them into separate and distinct
parcels. To facilitate passing orders and paying the cheques due upon
goods, the Company open deposit accounts upon a request from their
owner or consignee, with such deposit as he may think proper to make,
provided it is not less than 10_l._ By opening these accounts the
business of the consignee with the Dock Company is greatly facilitated,
especially when goods are subject to the warehouse rent charge. Landing
rates are charged upon the gross weight, and include delivering or
receiving by land, wharfage and housing, piling on the quay or loading
from the landing scale, weighing or gauging, and furnishing landing
weights, and tales or gauge accounts of the strength of spirits as
ascertained by the Customs.
[Sidenote: London Docks.]
Before the West India Docks were opened another company had applied for
and obtained an Act of Parliament for constructing docks on a much more
extensive scale in the parishes of St. George’s in the East, Wapping,
and Shadwell, which were principally intended for the reception of
tobacco, rice, wine, and brandy. These, the London Docks, were opened
for business in 1805, and all vessels laden with the articles we have
just named were bound for a period of twenty-one years to discharge in
them, except such as arrived from the East or West Indies. The premises
of this Company, which are surrounded with high walls, cover an area
of about one hundred acres, and the stock of the Company amounts[348]
to upwards of five millions sterling, a very considerable portion of
it having been appropriated to the purchase of the land and the houses
which occupied the site of the Docks.
The western dock has a water area of more than twenty acres; that of
the eastern covers about seven acres, and the tobacco dock, confined
exclusively to the reception of vessels laden with that article,
occupies one acre of water space, while the warehouse for the reception
and storage of tobacco, perhaps still the largest in the world, is
capable of containing twenty-four thousand hogsheads, and covers no
less than five acres of land. The other warehouses are upon an almost
equally extensive scale, and, though in separate blocks, cover an
area of nearly nineteen acres. Below them and the tobacco warehouses
are vast arched vaults which can contain, exclusive of the gangways,
sixty-six thousand pipes of wine and spirits. Hydraulic machinery is
now in use in all parts of the docks for the purpose of discharging the
cargoes of vessels and landing them on the quays or delivering them
into the warehouses, and it is no uncommon thing to discharge from one
ship a thousand tons of cargo in the course of twelve or fifteen hours.
There are besides large basins for the reception of vessels at the
Wapping and Shadwell entrances, the latter covering six acres of water
space, with an entrance-lock of three hundred and fifty feet in length,
and sixty feet in width, having at spring-tide a depth of twenty-eight
feet of water over the sill of the dock-gates.
[Sidenote: St. Katharine’s Docks.]
[Sidenote: Victoria and Millwall Docks.]
The St. Katharine’s Docks, situated still farther up the river,
incorporated by the Act of 6 George IV., cap. 105, were partially
opened for traffic in October 1828. They lie immediately below the
Tower of London, and though only occupying one-fourth of the space of
the London Docks, cost upwards of two and a half million sterling in
their construction, arising in a great measure from the increased cost
of the land and the houses which had to be removed, and from the more
expensive character of their warehouses. Here vessels of upwards of a
thousand tons register are docked and undocked without difficulty, by
night as well as by day, an advantage peculiar to this establishment.
The more recent docks, such as the Victoria and Millwall, also on the
north side of the Thames, but below the others, occupy a much larger
space, though the amount of business as yet carried on in them is
comparatively limited, especially as regards the value of the goods
imported. The Victoria, situated immediately below the East and West
India Docks, extends from Bow Creek to Galleon Reach, a distance of
nearly three miles, and embraces an area of about six hundred acres of
what was known as the Plaistow Marshes, although only sixteen acres
are as yet occupied as a half-tide basin, seventy-four acres as the
inner or main wet-dock, and about twelve acres of canal, intended to
intersect the eastern lands of the Company. These docks were formed in
1850 at a cost of about 1,600,000_l._, increased by various additions
and improvements, and notably by amalgamation, a few years ago, with
the London and St. Katharine’s Docks, all of which now form one
company. The only entrance to the Victoria Docks from the Thames is at
present from Bow Creek, by means of a lock three hundred and twenty
feet in length, eighty feet in width, and twenty-eight feet in depth.
In the main dock there are six jetties, five of which have warehouses
erected upon them, and on the north side there is an enormous shed
capable of containing no less than one hundred thousand tons of guano,
the entire London trade in that article being now confined to the
Victoria Docks. There is also a warehouse covering an area of four
acres, appropriated to the stowage of tobacco. A branch railway runs
through the whole of the premises, conveying goods from alongside the
ships to all parts of the kingdom.
The Millwall Docks, situated in the Isle of Dogs, and contiguous to
those of the West India Dock Company, were incorporated by Act of
Parliament on the 25th of July, 1864, and opened for traffic about four
years afterwards. The property of this Company comprises an area of
more than two hundred acres, thirty-five and one-third of which have
been converted into a wet-dock capable of receiving merchant vessels
of the largest class, with a quay wall frontage of eight thousand two
hundred feet, and entrance-locks eighty feet in width. Its capital,
comprising ordinary and preference shares and debenture stock, amounts
to about 1,130,000_l._ A graving-dock capable of receiving vessels of
from fifteen hundred to two thousand tons has been formed in connection
with the wet-dock, thus affording to shipowners the advantage of
examining and repairing their vessels without requiring them to be
ballasted and sent out into the river. The gates, bridges, warping
capstans, and other machinery are worked by hydraulic power. The
Millwall Docks, like the Victoria, and all the other docks, except the
London and St. Katharine’s, are in direct railway communication with
the City of London and the various railways of the Northern and Midland
districts. Possessing many natural advantages, and affording increased
facilities for the more rapid conduct of business, these docks will no
doubt soon secure a larger proportion of the trade of London than now
falls to their lot.[349]
[Sidenote: Charges levied by the Dock Companies.]
Although the dues vary in the several establishments, except where
there is combination, the leading rules and regulations by which their
business is conducted are similar. They are all vast stores, where
goods and produce subject to duty can be deposited either for home
consumption or re-exportation, as well as wet-docks where ships can,
at all times, lie afloat, alike free from the risks to which they were
formerly subjected on the river by the dangers of its navigation, and
the plunder of the combined rogues by whom the Thames was so long
infested.
[Sidenote: Docks in provincial ports, and bonded warehouses.]
Besides the old Commercial Dock on the south side of the Thames,
and the Grand Surrey Canal, both devoted almost exclusively to the
reception of ships with cargoes not subject to duty, such as deals
and timber, there are now wet-docks in most of the important ports of
the kingdom, varying in size according to the trade of the place or
district, but, with the exceptions we have named, they are all the
creation of the present century. Bristol, Southampton, Hull, Great
Grimsby, Cardiff, Newport, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leith, Sunderland,
Dundee, Cork, and the Tyne have each their wet-docks, of greater
or less capacity, with warehouses where goods subject to duty can
be bonded. Besides these there are now forty-eight towns or ports
in England, nineteen in Scotland, and eighteen in Ireland, where
the privileges of bonding are allowed, and from which goods can be
obtained for home consumption, or for re-exportation.
[Sidenote: Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks.]
But Liverpool, including Birkenhead, has a far larger amount of dock
accommodation than any other port in Great Britain, or, indeed, in the
world and no works of a similar character, of either ancient or modern
times, can be compared with them. Gibbon has described the port of
Ostia, to which we have already referred,[350] with its docks, as the
boldest and most stupendous works of Roman magnificence; but, so far
as we can now trace, they were in the extent of their accommodation
altogether insignificant when compared with the docks which at present
line the banks of the river Mersey. These extend on its eastern shore
upwards of five miles in length, and the works now contemplated or in
course of construction will add at least another mile in length to
these already gigantic undertakings.
[Sidenote: Port of Liverpool, its commerce, and its revenue from the
docks.]
Though the entrance to the estuary of the Mersey is encumbered by
sand-banks, there is at low-water spring-tides a depth over the bar
of eleven feet, and as the water rises twenty-one feet in neap and
thirty-one feet in spring-tides, there is ample depth for vessels of
the largest size over its shallowest and most dangerous part. The
channel is also well defined by numerous buoys, beacons, lightships,
and lighthouses, and vessels entering the harbour have the advantage
of the services of the most daring and experienced pilots to be found
in this or in any other country, who are constantly cruising about,
in their well-equipped cutters, in search of inward-bound vessels
long before they reach that part of the navigation which is in any
way dangerous. To this noble river and the facilities which its docks
afford for the expedition and safe conduct of maritime commerce may
be attributed, combined with its position as the readiest outlet for
the vast manufactures of the surrounding district, the rapid rise
of Liverpool. As an indication of its extraordinary prosperity, it
is sufficient to state that while in 1812[351] the revenue of the
Trustees, levied upon four hundred and forty-seven thousand tons of
shipping and their cargoes, did not exceed 45,000_l._, it had in 1871
reached 562,953_l._, upon no less than six million one hundred and
thirty-one thousand seven hundred and forty-five tons of shipping; and
in the year ending 1st July, 1872, the shipping frequenting the port
had increased to six million five hundred and thirty thousand three
hundred and eighty-six tons, and the annual revenue to 592,258_l._
[Sidenote: Extent of accommodation.]
But the docks themselves are the marvel of the place. Along the whole
of the eastern bank of the river (the site of Liverpool) there will
shortly be, for upwards of six miles in length, the finest range of
wet-docks in the world, protected by a sea-wall of an average thickness
of eleven feet, and forty feet in height from its foundations,
faced with massive blocks of granite, perhaps in itself one of the
greatest works of the kind of modern times. Through the courtesy of
the Secretary, we ascertain that the existing docks with their basins
cover a water area of two hundred and sixty acres, and have a quayage
of upwards of eighteen lineal miles: and to these must be added the
Birkenhead Docks, on the opposite bank of the Mersey, comprising about
one hundred and sixteen acres of water space, and embracing more than
nine lineal miles of quays. So that out of the whole area of the
Dock Estate, comprising one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight
acres, upwards of one hundred docks[352] of one sort and another, have
already been formed, covering an area of upwards of four hundred and
twenty-four acres of water-space, and having more than twenty-eight
miles of quay walls. These figures furnish an idea of the vast extent
and character of the works under the control of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Board, and show what unaided private enterprise can accomplish.
The wet, as well as the graving-docks, are capable of receiving the
largest description of vessels. The graving-docks, with two exceptions,
are from forty-five to one hundred feet in width, and from four hundred
and fifty to seven hundred and fifty-eight feet in length, containing
no less than twelve thousand one hundred square feet of flooring.
Nor do the facilities afforded to maritime commerce at this great
sea-port end here. There are wooden landing-stages on both sides of
the river, resembling floating islands, connected with the shore
by bridges which rise and fall with the tide. One of these stages
measures one thousand and forty feet in length, with a width of from
thirty-five to fifty feet, and another is one thousand and two feet
long, and eighty feet wide. There are also wet docks belonging to the
Corporation of Liverpool and other persons, comprising water-space of
upwards of eleven acres. The warehouses, though perhaps affording less
convenience and accommodation than those of London, are likewise upon
a large scale. Only three docks, the Albert, Stanley, and Wapping, are
surrounded with bonding warehouses: the other docks have warehouses
contiguous to them, but as a large portion of the produce, both free
and subject to duty, is conveyed by railway or barge to Manchester and
other inland towns, accommodation storage is not required to the same
extent as in London. The tobacco warehouse, however, is six hundred
and thirty feet in length, with a width throughout of three hundred
and fifty feet; while there are warehouses for the reception of corn
capable of receiving four hundred thousand quarters of wheat or other
descriptions of grain. Nearly all the docks are surrounded with open
sheds on the quays for the reception and temporary stowage of goods
and produce. Many of these are handsome structures, and all of them
substantial and very commodious. There are besides in the Nelson,
Princes, and in one or two other docks, “transit sheds,” one storey
in height and substantially built, where ships can be discharged with
extraordinary rapidity, and their cargoes safely stored until it
suits the convenience of the owners or consignees to remove them to
the warehouses. Steam dredging-machines are ready whenever required
to remove accumulations of mud in the docks, basins, and approaches,
and these at all times maintain the full depth of water, while strict
rules are enforced, and a large and efficient body of police[353] are
permanently employed.
[Sidenote: Extension of docks to the north.]
Notwithstanding the vast accommodation at present afforded to shipping,
the growing wants of Liverpool are so rapid that it has been found
necessary to materially increase the existing accommodation, besides
widening the entrances to some of the existing docks, and increasing
the area of their water-space. Three more large docks are to be
constructed to the north, one to contain an area of twenty acres of
water space, and three thousand and seventy lineal feet of quayage;
another to embrace forty-three and three-quarters acres of water space,
surrounded by ten thousand eight hundred and seventy lineal feet of
quay walls; and the third to contain eighteen acres of water-space,
with a gross quayage of three thousand eight hundred and sixty-five
lineal feet.[354] At least one of these docks is to be capable of
receiving ships of the largest size, with quay walls suited for vessels
“ranging up to six hundred feet in length, should such a type come into
use.” It is proposed to surround them with sheds ninety-five feet wide,
“flanked by roadways ranging from eighty to one hundred feet in width,”
except at the ends of the branch docks, where the erection of stores or
warehouses are contemplated, which are to be fitted with “elevators,”
on the American principle, for the purpose of unloading grain in bulk
from the hold of the ships to the different floors.
[Sidenote: Hydraulic lifts and repairing basins.]
But besides these wet-docks and warehouses, it is proposed to construct
hydraulic lifts, each with a framework five hundred feet in length
and sixty feet in width, capable of receiving and raising the largest
class of vessels, and “admitting ordinary repairs and overhauling to
be effected with safety, economy, and expedition.” On the eastern
side of the basin of these wet-docks there are to be constructed two
graving-docks, with sixty feet width of entrance, each eight hundred
and fifty feet in length, and having adjoining “_lye-bye_” berths of
sufficient capacity to accommodate and facilitate the working and free
entry of the largest description of ships. Between the graving-docks
it is proposed to make another dock eight hundred and twenty feet
long and one hundred and forty feet wide, to be specially adapted for
repairing purposes, with quays one hundred and thirty feet in width,
provided with the largest and most convenient class of cranes. These
various new docks, with separate entrances from the river, are to be in
direct communication with the existing docks, so as to form one almost
unbroken line of the finest dock accommodation in this or any other
country.
On the southern side of the Dock Estate, that is to the south of the
existing docks, there is to be a half-tide basin to the east, in
connection with the Brunswick basin, of one thousand one hundred
and thirty feet in length and seventy feet in width, surrounded by
convenient quays and sheds in direct communication with the railway.
Opening from the existing basin, and extending in a north-eastern
direction, with a passage of sixty feet in width, another wet dock is
contemplated, one thousand three hundred and thirty feet in length,
by three hundred feet in width, comprising a water area of eight and
three-quarter acres, and a total quayage of two thousand eight hundred
and forty lineal feet.
[Sidenote: Cost of new works.]
Eastward, and in connection with the dock now described, by means of
a sixty-feet passage, there is to be an “import dock,” one thousand
four hundred and fifty feet in length, with eleven acres and a half of
water-space, and a quayage of three thousand two hundred and eighty
lineal feet; while at the extremity of the whole, the half-tide basin
at present in use is to be more than doubled in size, and another
graving-dock constructed seven hundred and forty-five feet in length,
with “repairing berths,” which will be applicable for other trade
purposes, and if thus used, furnished with forty and twenty-ton
hydraulic cranes. When these new works are completed the water area
of the Liverpool Docks will be increased by more than one hundred and
thirty-three acres, and upwards of thirty thousand lineal feet added
to the present vast extent of quayage. Their estimated cost[355] is
4,834,051_l._, which will raise the borrowed capital of the Mersey
Docks and Harbour Board to close upon twenty millions sterling.
While the docks are in the nature of a private undertaking, receiving
no aid whatever from government, and happily allowing no government
interference beyond the right to appoint three members of the board,
they are at the same time a public trust; the surplus revenue, after
providing for current expenses and the interest of money borrowed,
being in all cases applied to the reduction of the rates.[356] The
regulations of the Board are very complete, and the dock-charges, as
well as the cost of delivering cargoes, moderate.
[Sidenote: Bye-laws of the Mersey Board.]
The laws framed pursuant to the Acts of Parliament for the government
of these vast undertakings are embraced in one hundred and fifty-nine
clauses. They state who shall be stevedores or porters employed to
discharge or load vessels in the docks, and their duties; they regulate
the conduct of masters and pilots, and the conditions alone on which
ships will be allowed to enter the docks, inflicting penalties for
violation of the rules;[357] they fix the charges for the use of the
graving-docks; stipulate the condition of the railway-trucks, and the
length of the trains to be used within their docks, requiring great
attention on the part of those persons who are in charge of them. No
craft of any kind is allowed to ply for hire on the river without being
registered at the Dock Office unless a steam or a ferry-boat; and these
are, in some respects, under the control of the Board. Certain places
are specially appropriated for the discharge and stowage of timber;
and all cotton and other merchandise (not being wooden goods) must be
removed from the quays of most of the docks within forty-eight hours
from the time of discharge. The bye-laws further embrace the conditions
on which fires, exclusively confined to the consumption of coal or
coke, may be used on board vessels in the docks, and all lights must
consist of “oil lamps or candles contained in glass lanterns or globes.”
The pilots, who still maintain an exclusive monopoly, are under
the control of a Pilotage Committee elected from the members of
the Mersey Board. Subject to the orders of this committee there
is a superintendent of pilots, whose duties are of an arduous and
responsible character. He has to see that full reports of all
occurrences affecting this important service are furnished to him; that
the Acts of Parliament and bye-laws are duly observed at the respective
stations; and it is his especial duty to arrange that the pilot-boats
at these stations are effectively occupied by day and night. He is
required to visit occasionally, as time and circumstances admit, the
whole of the stations, and record the particulars of his inspection.
He is also required to make a strict and careful survey of every
pilot-boat at least once every year, reporting upon her condition and
equipment, as required by the bye-laws. It is further his duty every
five years to visit and survey all the ports and anchorages, lights
and lighthouses, buoys, beacons, and seamarks, a thorough knowledge of
which is required from pilots on passing their examination; and he is
required to carefully note for the good of the service all changes in
the buoys, channel, lights, etc., which may have been made since the
date of his last survey, and report upon any matters which may appear
to him desirable in the interests of navigation. Nor do his duties here
end, for it is required of him “to attend promptly to the complaints
of shipowners, shipmasters, or other interested persons, in reference
to pilots or pilotage, and generally to do all that lies in his power
to maintain and increase the discipline and efficiency of the pilot
service:” this service, therefore, though exclusive, is no doubt on all
occasions most effectively performed.[358]
[Sidenote: Conditions of admission to the service.]
No candidate for the pilotage service is admitted for examination if he
is under fifteen or over eighteen years of age, or unless he is able
to read and write well, and possesses a fair knowledge of arithmetic.
He must also present a medical certificate of sound health, and be
physically competent for the labour he has to undergo. When these
requirements are met to the satisfaction of the Board, he is, after a
month’s probation, apprenticed for seven years, the Board reserving to
itself the power of cancelling his indentures should he fail to give
satisfaction or prove incompetent for his duties. At the expiration of
his third year of apprenticeship he becomes eligible for examination
for a third-class licence; at the end of five years he may be promoted
to the second class; and after a third examination he may be admitted,
at the expiration of his apprenticeship, to a full licence.
[Sidenote: Pilot-boats.]
Every pilot-boat must be of at least forty tons, painted in a
particular manner, and have on board, besides a complete equipment of
spars, sails, and the ordinary stores and provisions, “two punts for
boarding vessels, a good telescope, two lanterns, a swivel or other
small gun, and a supply of rockets and bluelights for making signals;
also a sufficient number of life-buoys and life-belts,” as well as an
approved chart of the Bay of Liverpool, and charts of the latest survey
of the various places under the jurisdiction of the Board, or which its
pilots are required to frequent. Each pilot-boat has a master, second
master, and third master, and ten apprentices, who, with the other
pilots on board, are to take charge of vessels in rotation, according
to their respective grades and qualifications, so that every man has
a fair proportion of labour, the master in command always having a
discretionary power to set the turn aside in peculiar cases, the
circumstances of every such case being duly entered in the log-book,
and reported to the Pilotage Committee when required. The earnings
of each of the pilot-boats, which, by the way, are private property,
licensed by the Board, are divided into shares and distributed in
fixed proportions among the owners, masters, and crew, according to
their class. Seven separate stations are allotted to the boats on the
look-out for inward-bound vessels, which must be strictly kept, so that
it is hardly possible, even in the thickest or most stormy weather, for
any ship approaching the banks to miss a pilot-boat, if the captain
adopts the most ordinary precautions, and the means readily available
to find one. The duty of the seventh and last of these boats is to
take the pilots out of vessels outward bound, and when she has her
complement of pilots and apprentices on board, to return with them to
Liverpool.
[Sidenote: and rates of pilotage.]
The pilotage rates, limited by Act of Parliament, are levied by scale
according to the draught of water. An extra charge, regulated by the
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, is allowed for piloting ships beyond
the Liverpool pilotage limits, as also for transporting vessels from
certain prescribed places, or transferring them from one dock to
another.
FOOTNOTES:
[340] 8 Anne, chap. xii.
[341] ‘Commercial Dictionary,’ p. 1504.
[342] ‘Commercial Dictionary,’ p. 1505.
[343]
----------------------+-----------------+---------+----------+---------+---------
| VESSELS. | Tonnage,| Value of |Estimate |Estimate
SPECIFICATION |-----------------|including| Imports | of the | of the
OF THE TRADES. |Foreign.|British.| their | and |Amount of|Amount of
| | |repeated | Exports. |Packages |Plunder.
| | |Voyages. | | Out and |
| | | | | Home. |
----------------------+--------+--------+---------+----------+---------+---------
| | | | £ | | £
East Indies | 3 | 50 | 41,466|10,502,000| 300,000 | 25,000
West Indies | 11 | 335 | 101,484|11,013,000| 400,000 | 232,000
British American | | | | | |
Colonies | 0 | 68 | 13,986| 1,638,000| 65,000 | 10,000
Africa and Cape of | | | | | |
Good Hope | 0 | 17 | 4,336| 531,000| 20,000 | 2,500
Whale Fisheries, | | | | | |
North and South | 0 | 45 | 12,230| 314,000| 20,000 | 2,000
United States of | | | | | |
America | 140 | 0 | 32,213| 5,416,000| 260,000 | 30,000
Mediterranean and | | | | | |
Turkey | 29 | 43 | 14,757| 509,000| 70,000 | 7,000
Spain and the | | | | | |
Canaries | 119 | 2 | 16,509| 947,000| 60,000 | 10,000
France and Austrian | | | | | |
Netherlands | 121 | 1 | 10,677| 1,015,000| 20,000 | 10,000
Portugal and | | | | | |
Madeira | 55 | 125 | 27,670| 853,000| 50,000 | 8,000
Holland | 329 | 0 | 19,166| 2,211,000| 60,000 | 10,000
Germany | 172 | 63 | 37,647|10,672,000| 240,000 | 25,000
Prussia | 527 | 81 | 56,955| 432,000| 60,000 | 10,000
Poland | 31 | 38 | 17,210| 242,000| 70,000 | 5,000
Sweden | 100 | 9 | 14,252| 322,000| 50,000 | 3,000
Denmark | 194 | 8 | 48,469| 806,000| 60,000 | 5,000
Russia | 5 | 225 | 56,131| 2,017,000| 150,000 | 20,000
Jersey, Guernsey, | | | | | |
Alderney, and Man | 4 | 42 | 5,344| 302,000| 15,000 | 2,000
Ireland | 3 | 273 | 32,824| 2,539,000| 160,000 | 5,000
Coasting Trade | 0 | 6,500 | 560,000| 6,600,000| 900,000 | 20,000
Coal Trade | 0 | 3,676 | 656,000| 1,710,000| ... | 20,000
|--------+--------+---------+----------+---------+--------
| 1,843 | 11,601 |1,776,326|60,591,000|3,030 000| 461,500
Annual loss in tackle, apparel, and stores, of 13,444 vessels | 45,000
|--------
Total depredations, estimated at | 506,500
[344] _Vide_ Mr. Colquhoun’s work, p. 109. Five revenue officers
received 150_l._ each, independently of the money received by the mate
and agents in this iniquitous business.
[345] Rival traders looked enviously on this privilege, “which could
not fail to give an inconceivable spring to commercial pursuits if
extended to all the other great branches of trade.” And yet the
warehousing system, when proposed, met, as we have seen, with fierce
opposition.
[346] Local Acts, 59 Geo. III., cap. 79.
[347] The opposition to the construction of docks in London was so
great that the watermen and barge-owners frequenting the Thames
not merely claimed, but obtained a large sum of money by way of
compensation, nominally on the ground of being deprived of their
vested rights to the use of the foreshore of the river; but beyond
this pecuniary compensation, a clause was inserted in the Dock Acts,
granting to all watermen for ever the right of entering the docks,
and delivering or receiving whatever amount of cargo they pleased,
_free of any charge_. These privileges, granted no doubt originally to
stifle opposition, they still retain to their own gain and that of the
wharfingers, but to the loss of the companies. Surely when the monopoly
of the companies expired, a monopoly to which they were for the time
fully entitled, considering the service they had rendered to the Crown
in the protection of the revenue, these privileges to the barge-owners
should also have been withdrawn.
[348] The capital of this dock company, since amalgamated with the St.
Katharine’s and Victoria Docks, amounted on the 1st January, 1873, to
8,809,872_l._ The report of the Company states that “the number of
loaded ships from foreign ports which entered the docks during the six
months ending the 31st of December last, was 746, measuring 519,359
tons, and for the corresponding period in 1871, 759 ships, measuring
526,931 tons The quantity of goods landed in the docks during the past
six months was 294,462 tons, and for the corresponding period in 1871,
285,854 tons. The stock of goods in the warehouses of the docks on the
31st of December last was 347,696 tons, and at the same period in 1871,
338,436 tons.”
[349] Papers supplied by the Secretary to the Company.
[350] Gibbon, c. xxxi.; and vol. i. p. 189.
[351] Accounts, Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, for the year ending
July 1, 1872.
[352] This number includes wet and dry, or graving-docks, half-tide
docks, basins, locks, and floats. The number of wet docks, exclusive
of basins and locks, is somewhere between forty and fifty, but in
some instances it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. The
details will be found in Appendix No. 7.
[353] The expense of the dock police force alone amounted in 1872 to
25,636_l._ 4_s._ (see Accounts, Mersey Docks and Harbour Board).
[354] Reports of G. F. Lyster, Esq., Engineer of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Board, 1872.
[355] Engineer’s Reports, p. 14.
[356] The frontispiece to this volume contains a plan on a reduced
scale of the whole of the existing and contemplated dock-accommodation,
which has been courteously supplied by the Secretary.
[357] Bye-laws of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, 1866.
[358] Bye-laws, Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, p. 36.