THE DOCKS.
One day Mr. George told Rollo that before leaving London he wished very
much to go and see the London docks and the shipping in them.
"Well," said Rollo, "I'll go. But what are the docks?"
It may seem surprising that Rollo should be so ready to go and see the
docks before he knew at all what they were. The truth is, what attracted
him was the word _shipping_. Like other boys of his age, he was always
ready to go, no matter where, to see ships, or any thing connected with
shipping.
So he first said he was ready to go and see the docks, and then he asked
what they were.
"They are immense basins," said Mr. George, "excavated in the heart of
the city, for ships to go into when they are loading or unloading."
"I thought the ships staid in the river," said Rollo.
"Part of them," said Mr. George; "but not all. There is not room for all
of them in the river; at least there is not room for them at the
wharves, along the banks of the river, to load and reload. Accordingly,
about fifty years ago, the merchants of London began to form companies
for the purpose of excavating docks for them. The place that they chose
for the docks was at a little distance from the river, below the city.
Their plan was to build sheds and warehouses around the docks, so as to
have conveniences for loading and unloading their ships close at hand.
"And I want to go and see some of these docks," added he, in conclusion.
"So do I," said Rollo. "Let us go this very day."
Although Rollo was thus ready, and even eager, to go with his uncle to
see the docks, the interest which he felt in them was entirely different
from that which his uncle experienced. Mr. George knew something about
the construction of the works and the history of them, and he had a far
more distinct idea of the immense commerce which centred in them, and of
the influence of this commerce on the general welfare of mankind and on
the wealth and prosperity of London, than Rollo could be expected to
have. He accordingly wished to see them, in order to enjoy the emotions
of grandeur and sublimity which would be awakened in his mind by the
thought of their prodigious magnitude as works of artificial
construction, and of the widely-extended relation they sustained to the
human race, by continually sending out ships to the remote regions of
the globe, and receiving cargoes in return from every nation and every
clime.
Rollo, on the other hand, thought little of these grand ideas. All that
he was interested in was the expectation of seeing the ships and the
sailors, and of amusing himself with the scenes and incidents which he
hoped to witness in walking along the platforms, and watching the
processes of loading and unloading the ships, or of moving them from one
place to another in the crowded basins.
Rollo was not disappointed, when he came to visit the docks, in respect
to the interesting and amusing incidents that he expected to see there.
He saw a great many such incidents, and one which occurred was quite an
uncommon one. A little girl fell from the pier head into the water. The
people all ran to the spot, expecting that she would be drowned; but,
fortunately, the place where she fell in was near a flight of stone
steps, which led down to the water. The people crowded down in great
numbers to the steps, to help the child out. The occurrence took place
just as the men from the docks were going home to dinner; and so it
happened that there was an unusually large number of people near at the
time of the accident.
[Illustration: SAVED.]
The place from which the child fell was the corner of the pier head, in
the foreground of the picture, where you see the post, just beyond the
stone steps.
There is a boat pulling off from the vessel to the rescue of the little
girl in the foreground, to the left; but its assistance will not be
required.
Now, Rollo's chief interest in going to see the docks was the
anticipation of witnessing scenes and incidents of this and other kinds;
but Mr. George expected to be most interested in the docks themselves.
The construction of the docks was indeed a work of immense magnitude,
and the contrivers of the plan found that there were very great
difficulties to be surmounted before it could be carried into effect. It
was necessary, of course, that the place to be selected should be pretty
low land, and near the river; for if the land was high, the work of
excavating the basins would have been so much increased as to render the
undertaking impracticable. It was found on examination that all the land
that was near the river, and also near the city, and that was in other
respects suitable for the purpose, was already occupied with streets and
houses. These houses, of course, had all to be bought and demolished,
and the materials of them removed entirely from the ground, before the
excavations could be begun.
Then, too, some very solid and substantial barrier was required to be
constructed between the excavated basins made and the bank of the
river, to prevent the water of the river from bursting in upon the
workmen while they were digging. In such a case as this they make what
is called a coffer dam, which is a sort of dam, or dike, made by driving
piles close together into the ground, in two rows, at a little distance
apart, and then filling up the space between them with earth and gravel.
By this means the water of the river can be kept out until the digging
of the basins is completed.
The first set of docks that was made was called the West India Docks.
They were made about the year 1800. Very soon afterwards several others
were commenced; and now there are five. The following table gives the
names of them, with the number of acres enclosed within the walls of
each:--
NAMES. ACRES.
West India Docks, 295
East India Docks, 32
St. Catharine's Docks, 24
London Docks, 90
Commercial Docks, 49
If you wish to form a definite idea of the size of these docks, you must
fix your mind upon some pretty large field near where you live, if you
live in the country, and ask your father, or some other man that knows,
how many acres there are in it. Then you can compare the field with some
one or other of the docks according to the number of acres assigned to
it in the above table.
If you live in the city, you must ask the number of acres in some public
square. Boston Common contains forty-eight acres.
St. Catharine's Docks contain only twenty-four acres; and yet more than
a thousand houses were pulled down to clear away a place for them, and
about eleven thousand persons were compelled to remove.
Most of the docks are now entirely surrounded by the streets and houses
of the city; so that there is nothing to indicate your approach to them
except that you sometimes get glimpses of the masts of the ships rising
above the buildings at the end of a street. The docks themselves, and
all the platforms and warehouses that pertain to them, are surrounded by
a very thick and high wall; so that there is no way of getting in except
by passing through great gateways which are made for the purpose on the
different sides. These gateways are closed at night.
Mr. George and Rollo, when the time arrived for visiting the docks, held
a consultation together in respect to the mode of going to them from
their lodgings at the West End.
Of course the docks, being below the city, were in exactly the opposite
direction from where they lived--Northumberland Court. The distance was
three or four miles.
"We can go by water," said Mr. George, "on the river, or we can take a
cab."
"Or we can go in an omnibus," said Rollo. "Yes, uncle George," he added
eagerly, "let us go on the top of an omnibus."
Mr. George was at first a little disinclined to adopt this plan; but
Rollo seemed very earnest about it, and finally he consented.
"We can get up very easily," said he; "and when we are up there we can
see every thing."
"I am not concerned about our getting up," said Mr. George. "The
difficulty is in getting down."
However, Mr. George finally consented to Rollo's proposal; and so, going
out into the Strand, they both mounted on the top of an omnibus, and in
this way they rode down the Strand and through the heart of London. They
were obliged to proceed slowly, so great was the throng of carts,
wagons, drays, cabs, coaches, and carriages that encumbered the streets.
In about an hour, however, they were set down a little beyond the
Tower.
"Now," said Mr. George, "the question is, whether I can find the way to
the dock gates."
"Have you got a ticket?" asked Rollo.
"No," said Mr. George; "I presume a ticket is not necessary."
"I presume it _is_ necessary," said Rollo. "You never can go any where,
or get into any thing, in London, without a ticket."
"Well," said Mr. George, "we will see. At any rate, if tickets are
required, there must be some way of getting them at the gate."
Mr. George very soon found his way to the entrance of the docks. It was
at the end of a short street, the name and position of which he had
studied out on the map before leaving home. He took care to be set down
by the omnibus near this street; and by this means he found his way very
easily to his place of destination.
The entrance was by a great gateway. The gateway was wide open, and
trains of carts, and crowds of men,--mechanics, laborers, merchants,
clerks, and seamen,--were going and coming through it.
"We need not have concerned ourselves about a ticket," said Mr. George.
"No," said Rollo. "I see."
"The entrance is as public as any street in London," said Mr. George.
So saying, our two travellers walked on and passed within the
enclosures.
As soon as they were fairly in, they stopped at the corner of a sort of
sidewalk and looked around. The view which was presented to their eyes
formed a most extraordinary spectacle. Forests of masts extended in
every direction. Near them rose the hulls of great ships, with men going
up and down the long plank stairways which led to the decks of them.
Here and there were extended long platforms bordering the docks, with
immense piles of boxes, barrels, bales, cotton and coffee bags, bars of
iron, pigs of lead, and every other species of merchandise heaped up
upon them. Carts and drays were going and coming, loaded with goods
taken from these piles; while on the other hand the piles themselves
were receiving continual additions from the ships, through the new
supplies which the seamen and laborers were hoisting out from the
hatchways.
Here and there, too, the smoke and the puffing vapor of a steamer were
seen, and the clangor of ponderous machinery was heard, giving dignity,
as it were, to the bustle.
"So, then, these are the famous London Docks," said Mr. George.
"What a place!" said Rollo.
"I had no idea of the vast extent and magnitude of the works," said Mr.
George.
"How many different kinds of flags there are at the masts of the
vessels, uncle George!" said Rollo. "Look!"
"What a monstrous work it must have been," said Mr. George, "the digging
out by hand of all these immense basins!"
"What did they do with the mud?" asked Rollo.
"They loaded it into scows," said Mr. George, "and floated it off, up or
down the river, wherever there were any low places that required to be
filled up.
"When, at length, the excavations were finished," continued Mr. George,
"they began at the bottom, and laid foundations deep and strong, and
then built up very thick and solid walls all along the sides of the
basins, up to the level of the top of the ground, and then made streets
and quays along the margin, and built the sheds and warehouses, and the
work was done."
"But then, how could they get the ships in?" asked Rollo.
"Ah, yes," said Mr. George; "I forgot about that. It was necessary to
have passage ways leading in from the river, with walls and gates, and
with drawbridges over them."
"What do they want the drawbridges for?" asked Rollo.
"So that the people that are at work there can go across," said Mr.
George. "The people who live along the bank of the river, between the
basin and the bank, would of course have occasion to pass to and fro,
and they must have a bridge across the outlet of the docks. But then,
this bridge, if it were permanent, would be in the way of the ships in
passing in and out; and so it must be made a drawbridge.
"Then, besides," continued Mr. George, "they need drawbridges across the
passage ways within the docks; for the workmen have to go back and forth
continually, in prosecuting the work of loading and unloading the ships
and in warping them in and out."
"Yes," said Rollo. "There is a vessel that they are warping in now."
Rollo understood very well what was meant by _warping_; but as many of
the readers of this book may live far from the sea, or may, from other
causes, have not had opportunities to learn much about the manoeuvring
of ships, I ought to explain that this term denotes a mode of moving
vessels for short distances by means of a line, either rope or cable,
which is fastened at one end outside the ship, and then is drawn in at
the other by the sailors on board. When this operation is performed in a
dock, for example, one end of the line is carried forward some little
distance towards the direction in which they wish the vessel to go, and
is made fast there to a pile, or ring, or post, or some other suitable
fixture on the quay, or on board another vessel. The other end of the
line, which has remained all the time on board the ship, is now attached
to the capstan or the windlass, and the line is drawn in. By this means
the vessel is pulled ahead.
Vessels are sometimes warped for short distances up a river, when the
wind and current are both against her, so that she cannot proceed in any
other way. In this case the outer end of the line is often fastened to a
tree.
In the arctic seas a ship is often warped through loose ice, or along
narrow and crooked channels of open water, by means of posts set in the
larger and more solid floes. When she is drawn up pretty near to one of
these posts, the line is taken off and carried forward to another post,
which the sailors have, in the mean time, been getting ready upon
another floe farther ahead.
Warping is, of course, a very slow way of getting along, and is only
practicable for short distances, and is most frequently employed in
confined situations, where it would be unsafe to go fast. You would
think, too, that this process could only be resorted to near a shore, or
a quay, or a great field of ice, where posts could be set to attach the
lines to; but this, as will appear presently, is a mistake.
The warping which had attracted Rollo's attention was for the purpose of
bringing a ship up alongside of the quay at the place where she was to
be unloaded. The ship had just come into the dock.
"She has just come in," said Rollo, "I verily believe. I wish we had
been here a little sooner, so as to have seen her come through the
drawbridges."
Just at this instant the rope leading from the ship, which had been
drawn very tense, was suddenly slacked on board the ship, and the middle
of it fell into the water.
"What does that mean?" asked Rollo.
"They are going to fasten it in a new place, I suppose," said Mr.
George. "Yes, there's the boat."
There was a boat, with two men in it, just then coming up to the part of
the quay where the end of the line had been fastened. A man on the quay
cast off the line, and threw the end down on board the boat. The
boatmen, after taking it in, rowed forward to another place, and there
fastened it again. As soon as they had fastened it, they called out to
the men on board the ship, "HAUL AWAY!" and then a moment afterwards the
middle of the rope could be seen gradually rising out of the water until
it was drawn straight and tense as before; and then the ship began to
move on, though very slowly, towards the place where they wished to
bring her.
"That's a good way to get her to her place," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "I don't know how seamen could manage their
vessels in docks and harbors without this process of warping."
"I suppose they can't warp any where but in docks and harbors," said
Rollo.
"Why not?" asked Mr. George.
"Because," replied Rollo, "unless there was a quay or a shore close by,
they would not have any thing to fasten the line to."
Mr. George then explained to Rollo that they could warp a vessel among
the ice in the arctic regions by fastening the line to posts set for the
purpose in the great floes.
"O, of course they can do that," said Rollo. "The ice, in that case, is
just the same as a shore; I mean where there is not any shore at all."
"Well," said Mr. George, "they can warp where there is not any shore at
all, provided that the water is not too deep. In that case they take a
small anchor in a boat, and row forward to the length of the line, and
then drop the anchor, and so warp to that."
"Yes," said Rollo; "I see. I did not think of that plan. But when they
have brought the vessel up to where the anchor is, what do they do
then?"
"Why, in the mean time," said Mr. George, "the sailors in the boat have
taken another anchor, and have gone forward with it to a new station;
and so, when the ship has come up near enough to the first anchor, they
shift the line and then proceed to warp to the second."
Rollo was much interested in these explanations; though, as most other
boys would have been in his situation, he was a little disappointed to
find himself mistaken in the opinion which he had advanced so
confidently, that warping would be impracticable except in the immediate
vicinity of the shore. Indeed, it often happens with boys, when they
begin to reach what may be called the reasoning age, that, in the
conversations which they hold with those older and better informed than
themselves, you can see very plainly that their curiosity and their
appetite for knowledge are mingled in a very singular way with the
pleasure of maintaining an argument with their interlocutor, and of
conquering him in it. It was strikingly so with Rollo on this occasion.
"Yes," said he, after reflecting a moment on what his uncle had said,
"yes; I see how they can warp by means of anchors, where there is a
bottom which they can take hold of by them; but that is just the same as
a shore. It makes no difference whether the line is fastened to an
anchor on the bottom, or to a post or a tree on the land. One thing I am
sure of, at any rate; and that is, that it would not be possible for
them to warp a ship when it is out in the open sea."
"It would certainly seem at first view that they could not," replied Mr.
George, quietly; "and yet they can."
"How do they do it?" asked Rollo, much surprised.
"It is not very often that they wish to do it," said Mr. George; "but
they _can_ do it, in this way: They have a sort of float, which is made
in some respects on the principle of an umbrella. The sailors take one
or two of these floats in a boat, with lines from the ship attached to
them, and after rowing forward a considerable distance, they throw them
over into the water. The men at the capstan then, on board the ship,
heave away, and the lines, in pulling upon the floats, pull them open,
and cause them to take hold of the water in such a manner that the ship
can be drawn up towards them. Of course the floats do not take hold of
the water enough to make them entirely immovable. They are drawn in, in
some degree, towards the ship; but the ship is drawn forward much more
towards them."
"Yes," said Rollo; "I see that they might do it in that way. But I don't
understand why they should have any occasion to warp a ship out in the
open sea."
"They do not have occasion to do so often," replied Mr. George. "I have
been told, however, that they resort to this method sometimes, in time
of war, to get a ship away from an enemy in a calm. Perhaps, too, they
might sometimes have occasion to do it in order to get away from an
iceberg."