Mersey Docks and Harbour board -History of the Docks - Gladstone Graving Dock - The Quays - Overhead Railway - Birkenhead Docks - Birkenhead Shipbuilding yards
Main source: Ward Lock's Liverpool 1949.
This page is dedicated to my ancestors who worked on the Docks on both sides of the
The extensive dock system on both sides of the Mersey at Liverpool and Birkenhead is probably the finest in the world, and accounts in a year for exports and imports to the amount of over 11,000,000 tons. Upon the docks and their working the prosperity of Liverpool and indeed of Lancashire and a great part of the kingdom, to an extent depends
The present great dock system is chiefly the outcome of the enterprise and forethought of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and the skills of the officials who have served under that great trust which was constituted in 1858 to replace a committee in Liverpool Town Council.
Of the board of twenty-eight which controls the trade of the great seaport, twenty-four members are elected by the dock rate-payers – i.e. those who pay rates and dues on the ships and goods- and the other four are appointed by the Ministry of Transpor, in which are vested the powers originally granted to the Mersey Conservancy Commissioners to make such appointments. Members of the Dock Board receive no remuneration for their services, their work is considered an honour, to be attained only by the ablest commercial men in the city. The handsome offices of the Board at the Pierhead are described in the Walk around
The total lineal quayage of the Liverpool Docks is over 38 miles, and their water area is 653 acres. The total number of docks and basins (exclusive of the Graving Docks) now amounts to 87
The origin and development of this great system is an interesting chapter in the history of
During the following century spasmodic efforts were made to deepen the pool and remove obstructions, and in 1635 a new quay was constructed. Still the state of the anchorage was so bad that a writer in 1699 declared that “the ships lie aground before the town of
Not until 1709 do the Corporation appear to have seriously turned their attention to the necessity for making better and safer provision for merchant vessels which by this time frequented the port in, for those days, considerable numbers.
They consulted an engineer named Thomas STEERS and he suggested the idea of using floodgates to dam the water in the docks and render vessels in them independent of the tide, while they would also be well protected from storms.
Floodgates had been used from the time of the ancient Egyptians for various purposes, but they had never been turned to account in the way proposed by STEERS, to him, therefore belongs the honour of originating the system of enclosed docks which has been of such value to commerce in every part of the world
The first dock, later known as the Old Dock, was opened in 1715, though not fully completed until 1720; its total water area was 3 acres 1,890 square yards, and its entrance “cut” and the octagonal basin into which it opened afforded an additional acre and a half of water space. A small graving dock, adjoining the octagonal basin, was also opened in 1715. Nothing more however, was attempted for many years.
By 1837 the development of trade had rendered the solitary dock incapable of accommodating all the vessels sailing into and out of the
The construction of this occupied sixteen years, and when it was opened in 1753
Further docks were constructed at further intervals: The Georges Dock opened 1771, The King’s Dock 1788 and The Queen’s Dock 1796. By the end of the eighteenth century
Lighthouses for the safety of ships entering the port were first provided about 1761 and their management also was placed in the hands of the docks trustees
The introduction of steam as the motive power of vessels about 1815 gave a great impetus to trade and by 1823 the dock space had been raised to 48 acres, 4155 square yards with a total quayage of 1,001 yards. The Queen’s Dock and the Georges dock were enlarged, and the dry basin connected with the Salthouse dock was converted into a wet dock, named the Cannin Dock, and opened in 1829. In the same year, in consequence of the growth of local trade, it was thought advisable to fill up the Old Dock, which from the influx of town sewage had become a nuisance and a danger to health.
The number of docks continued to increase. The Clarence,
Extensive docks were added on both the north and south ends of the system (in 1873 an Act was passed allowing the expenditure of £4,1000,000) The George’s Dock was filled in and its space used for offices and for the Liverpool works of the Mersey road tunnel, the site of the Clarence dock is now occupied by a mammoth electricity generating station to supply the city and neighbouring areas. The Herculaneaum Dock, southernmost of the series , has been practically taken over for discharging oil cargoes and the loading of coal. While the
In 1898 an Act was passed for the purpose of enabling the Dock Board to improve the docks already made. These improvements and the construction of the Canada Graving Dock were made at a cost of £3,500,000. Scarecly had this work been completed when other great plans were made and in 1906 the scheme for the Gladstone Docks was approved
Opened in 1913, is the largest of its kind in
The entire system of the Gladstone Docks was finally completed in 1927. These extensive and impressive docks are capable of accommodating the largest ships which have yet to be constructed
The completion in March 1949 of a new deep-water entrance from the river into
Work has now commenced on a£10,000,000 reconstruction scheme which will completely transform the Langton, Brocklebank and
Surrounding these various water ares are most capacious so that there is no need for delay in the shipment and unshipment of cargo. To facilitate the trade of the port, machinery of the most modern description has been erected, including enormous cranes for coaling, for the removal from sea-going steamers of engines needing repairs and so forth. The sheds and quays at nearly al the docks have roof or other cranes - electric hydraulic and steam - which deal with cargo at an almost incredible speed; while loads of a tonnage too heavy for these cranes are provided for by the Mersey Boards floating cranes, which can deal with heavy loads up to 200 tons in weight. Altogether there exist over 300 cranes of various types
The two hydraulic coaling cranes and the hydraulic coaling hoist at the Herculaneum Dock can ship wagons from 20 tons to 22 tons - about 300 tons per hour each - which is also the cpacity of the hoist and Crane at the Canada Docks, while at the Bramley More and Wellington Docks there are five cranes capable of putting coal on board at the rate of nearly 1,100 tons per hour. The Board has built two jetties to the south of the Herculaneum Docks soley for the use of ships carrying fuel oil and petroleum spirit, which is pumped direct through pipe lines to and from the ships. On the shore here are storage tanks capable of accommodating 220,000 tons of fuel.
A feature of the quay system is the number of railway sidings, which are connected direct with the principal lines of the dock railway, these in turn being connected to the various railway goods stations. There are over 130 miles of dock railway lines
The river frontage of the docks on the Liverpool south side extends for over six miles, north to south, and the river wall along the entire distance is faced with massive granite blocks, apparently capable of resisting for ages the action of sea and atmosphere
These magnificent docks are not only the pride of Liverpool, but the admiration of engineers and mercantile and seafaring men from every part of the globe.
The enormous warehouses and grain elevators adjacent to the docks are among the objects which impress themselves on the visitor who views the neighbourhood from the Overhead Railway
The warehouse system at Liverpool docks is one of the most extensive and well developed in the world. Perhaps the most striking building is the Tobacco Warehouse at the Stanley Dock. It is 725 feet long and 165 feet broad, and about 125 feet high from the street level, and has a basement, a quay floor, and twelve upper floors. The block is divided into six compartments, each of which is served with quick running lifts, and is of first class fireproof character. The warehouse has accommodation for about 70,000 casks, and the floor area is about 36 acres. It has been said that if St George's Hall could be lifted bodily and dropped through the roof it would disappear from sight altogether. The total accommodation at all the Board's Tobacco Warehouses, including those at Bootle, amounts to over 180,000 casks, and some 100,000 bales and cases
There are capacious warehouses belonging to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board for the storage of cotton, wool, timber, runner, wines and spirits, grain and oil, as well as for general produce. The Liverpool warehouses alone have accommodation for approximately 2,5000,000 tons of goods. The cold stores have a capacity sufficient for 80,000 tons of meat
Numerous corn mills and granaries have been erected on the dock-side at both Liverpool and Birkenhead - the Mersey port being the largest flour milling centre in Britain and the second largest in the world. By far the best way to gain a first hand yet easy and quick idea of the dock system is to tavel by :-
which traverses the whole length of the docks from Dingle to Seaforth and Litherland, a distance of about seven miles
Designed by Sir Douglas FOX and J H GREATHEAD, the railway was opened in 1893, the first overhead line in Europe
The railway is at a height of 16 feet above the railway beneath it, along which runs a line of the dock railway, and at four places opening bridges have been constructed, that at the Stanley Dock being a double-deck structure with the overhead railway line on the upper deck and the dock line at the lower.
The stations nearer the city are Pierhead, James Street, and Canning. The stations to the south are, Wapping Dock, Brunswick Dock, Toxteth Dock, Herculaneum Dock and Dingle (Park road), the terminus, which is near Sefton Park and those to the north are Princes Dock, Clarence Dock, Nelson Dock, Huskisson Dock, Canada Dock, Brocklebank Dock, Alexandra Dock, Gladstone Dock, Seaforth Sands, and Seaforth and Litherland, the terminus which is also a junction for the electric line from Liverpool (Exchange) to Southport.
Tickets can be obtained from any station for the round trip (first class 1s 5d; third class 1s 1d) together with a map (1d) indicating the docks and the various shipping companies. Trains run approximately every five minutes and the journey from one end to the other takes slightly less than half an hour.
From the railway one obtains an excellent impression of the magnitude and variety of riverside activities that have made the port of Liverpool one of the great shipping centres
Birkenhead is separated from Wallasey, its northern neighbour by a pool whose advantage as a harbour, secluded from the swift currents of the Mersey, must have been evident from the earliest times. But it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that any plns for utilising this water space were broached, among them a proposal to cut a ship canal from the Mersey to the Dee. This scheme and others fell through: but between 1818 and 1824 William LAIRD and others bought expensive tracts on the margin of the pool and announced their intention of building docks. The Town council of Liverpool took alarm, and in 1828 expended upwards of £180,000 buying up these lands. There for some time the matter rested. In 1843 a fresh effort was made, a company being formed under John LAIRD, to construct docks at Birkenhead on a large scale. The Liverpool Corporation in the hopes of saving part of the frutiless expenditure, sold them on favourable terms, only to find that they had given footing to a powerful rival to their own prosperity. The first dock was completed in 1847 and for more than ten years a contest between the rival corporations was waged with extraordinary bitterness nd a remarkable indifference to cost, but in 1858 the Mersey Docs and Harbour Board was established and the docks on both sides of the river vested in that authority.
The docks now enclose a water area of over 150 acres and extend along the river and south side of the pool from Woodside Ferry to Waterloo Bridge - a distance of well over two miles. The docks are capable of admitting the largest steamers, and ships of the heaviest tonnage discharge their cargoes at the quays, the water being deeper on this side of the river than the Liverpool side. There are numerous graving docks capable of berthing vessels of any size
The latest addition to the system is the Bidston Dock, 1,000 feet long and 450 feet wide, and entered by a 100 feet passage from the inner end of the Great Float. The Dock Warehouses are near the entrance of the Great float, the first were erected in 1847. Birkenhead is also one of the great flour milling centres of Britain and the machinery for the discharge and warehousing of the corn is a marvel of engineering skill
are intimately connected with the history of the borough. It was with a view to establishing them that William Laird, a Scotsman settled in Birkenhead. To the Clyde belongs the honour of having built the first iron vessel to be launched. but the first built in England was the work of John Laird at Birkenhead in 1829. From that time to the present, the works, Messrs Cammell Laird have been in uninterrupted operation. They are among the largest and most complete in the world., comprising not only a shipbuilding yard - from which ships of every kind are launched, from battleships to steam dredgers- but an engineering establishment in which machinery of the largest size and the most complicated description can be made and erected.
The premises now cover an area of over 100 acres, with a long frontage to the River Mersey, south of Woodside Ferry. They consist of wet docks for repairing purposes, seven graving docks, including one of 860 feet, ten launching slipways ranging in length from 700 feet to 1,000 feet. with ample depth of water and space for launching ships of the greatest size: engine erecting shops, machine shops, and every other appliance necessary in sich gigantic operations as are carried out. Close to the slipways is a large shallow basin, specially designed for building the largest floating docks. In this basin a floating dock over 700 feet in length and 145 feet wide, capable of lifting about 40,000 tons has been built for the British Admiralty
It was from the Laird Yard that the famous Confederate Cruiser Alabama was launched in 1862, afterwards to prey upon the shipping of America to such an extent that when the American Civil War ended, Britain had to pay damages to the extent of three million pounds
Many thousands find employment at these and other shipbuilding and ship repairing yards in the borough
To be continued
Caryl Williams www.old-liverpool.co.uk Old Liverpool 1998-2008