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- 2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z
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- Dock is protected by a long pier of masonry, surmounted by a massive
wall; and on the side next the town, it is bounded by similar walls,
one of which runs along a thoroughfare. The whole space thus inclosed
forms an oblong, and may, at a guess, be presumed to comprise about
fifteen or twenty acres; but as I had not the rod of a surveyor when I
took it in, I will not be certain.
The area of the dock itself, exclusive of the inclosed quays
surrounding it, may be estimated at, say, ten acres. Access to the
interior from the streets is had through several gateways; so that,
upon their being closed, the whole dock is shut up like a house. From
the river, the entrance is through a water-gate, and ingress to ships
is only to be had, when the level of the dock coincides with that of
the river; that is, about the time of high tide, as the level of the
dock is always at that mark. So that when it is low tide in the river,
the keels of the ships inclosed by the quays are elevated more than
twenty feet above those of the vessels in the stream. This, of course,
produces a striking effect to a stranger, to see hundreds of immense
ships floating high aloft in the heart of a mass of masonry.
Prince’s Dock is generally so filled with shipping, that the entrance
of a new-comer is apt to occasion a universal stir among all the older
occupants. The dock-masters, whose authority is declared by tin signs
worn conspicuously over their hats, mount the poops and forecastles of
the various vessels, and hail the surrounding strangers in all
directions:— _“Highlander ahoy! Cast off your bowline, and sheer
alongside the Neptune!”—“Neptune ahoy! get out a stern-line, and sheer
alongside the Trident!”—“Trident ahoy! get out a bowline, and drop
astern of the Undaunted!”_ And so it runs round like a shock of
electricity; touch one, and you touch all. This kind of work irritates
and exasperates the sailors to the last degree; but it is only one of
the unavoidable inconveniences of inclosed docks, which are outweighed
by innumerable advantages.
Just without the water-gate, is a basin, always connecting with the
open river, through a narrow entrance between pierheads. This basin
forms a sort of ante-chamber to the dock itself, where vessels lie
waiting their turn to enter. During a storm, the necessity of this
basin is obvious; for it would be impossible to _“dock”_ a ship under
full headway from a voyage across the ocean. From the turbulent waves,
she first glides into the ante-chamber between the pier-heads and from
thence into the docks.
Concerning the cost of the docks, I can only state, that the _King’s
Dock,_ comprehending but a comparatively small area, was completed at
an expense of some £20,000.
Our old ship-keeper, a Liverpool man by birth, who had long followed
the seas, related a curious story concerning this dock. One of the
ships which carried over troops from England to Ireland in King
William’s war, in 1688, entered the King’s Dock on the first day of its
being opened in 1788, after an interval of just one century. She was a
dark little brig, called the _Port-a-Ferry._ And probably, as her
timbers must have been frequently renewed in the course of a hundred
years, the name alone could have been all that was left of her at the
time. A paved area, very wide, is included within the walls; and along
the edge of the quays are ranges of iron sheds, intended as a temporary
shelter for the goods unladed from the shipping. Nothing can exceed the
bustle and activity displayed along these quays during the day; bales,
crates, boxes, and cases are being tumbled about by thousands of
laborers; trucks are coming and going; dock-masters are shouting;
sailors of all nations are singing out at their ropes; and all this
commotion is greatly increased by the resoundings from the lofty walls
that hem in the din.
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