CHAPTER XII.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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]

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 60,591,000l. (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 232,000l. The plunder of the East India trade he sets down at 25,000l., and of the cargoes of the vessels in that of the United States of America at 30,000l. The entire aggregate amount of plunder, including 20,000l. in the coal trade, and the like sum in the coasting trade, he estimates at 461,500l. from merchant vessels, while the loss in tackle, apparel, and stores of thirteen thousand four hundred and forty-four vessels he computes at 45,000l., 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 506,500l. 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 500,000l., with power to augment it to 600,000l. 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.

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]

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 2,000,000l., 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.

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 10l. 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.

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.

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 1,600,000l., 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 1,130,000l. 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]

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.

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.

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.

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 45,000l., it had in 1871 reached 562,953l., 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 592,258l.

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.

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.

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.

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 4,834,051l., 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.

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]

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.

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.

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.