DOCK, in the manège, is used for a large case of leather, as long as the dock of a horse's tail, which serves it for a cover. The French call the dock trousse-queue. It is made fast by straps to the crupper, and has leather thongs which pass between the thighs, and along the flanks of the animal, to the saddle straps, in order to keep the tail tight, and to prevent it from whisking about.
An enclosed space for the reception of ships, either for their security or for the convenience of building or giving them repairs. This word has been derived by some, absurdly enough, from the Greek δοξα, to receive. That we had it, along with almost the whole of our sea-terms, from the northern continental nations, is sufficiently obvious. Thus in Flemish it is dok; Teutonic, dock; Swedish, docka; Suio-Gothic, docka; perhaps originally from dekkhen, to cover, protect, secure, inclose. The dock for inclosing the prisoner in a court of justice is evidently from the same origin.
Docks for the reception of ships are of two kinds, wet and dry.
A wet dock may either have gates to retain the water in it, so that ships shall constantly remain afloat, or be left open for the tide to flow into and ebb out of it at pleasure, either leaving it dry at low water, or with a certain depth of water remaining in it, according to its construction and situation with regard to the low-water mark, and to the ebbing of the sea at spring or neap tides. A wet dock, without gates, is generally distinguished by the name of a basin, which, however, is sometimes indiscriminately applied to a wet dock, whether with or without gates.
A dry dock either becomes dry by the ebbing of the tide when the gates are left open, or by shutting the gates at low water, and pumping out whatever water may remain in it at that time, by the power of men, horses, wind, or, which is now most commonly performed in the king's dock-yards, by the steam-engine.
A wet dock, therefore, may be defined to be "a basin of water, in which ships may be kept afloat at all times of the tide;" a dry dock, a "receptacle in which every part of a ship can be examined, and its defects repaired." Ships may also be conveniently built in dry docks, and floated out by opening the gates; though, in all dock-yards, there are places set apart for this purpose, under the name of slips. A wet dock is called by the French un bassin; a dry dock, une forme; and a slip, un calle.
The digging out the earth, and building the surrounding walls of masonry to prevent the sides falling in, and the preparation of the mortar and puzzolana, in the construction of a wet dock, are attended with great labour and expense. The two wet docks or basins of Cherbourg (see BREAKWATER), which are probably the finest specimens that exist in the world, are estimated to have cost three millions sterling. The labour of excavation may sometimes be spared, and a series of wet docks or basins conveniently made by turning the course of a tide-river through an isthmus, and placing a pair of gates at each end of the old channel. In this way were the new docks of Bristol constructed out of the bed of the Avon.
Wet docks. Wet docks are an improvement in navigation and commerce of the utmost importance, but of very modern date in this country; indeed, they owe their introduction entirely to a spirit of individual enterprise in commercial speculation. Liverpool might still have remained a poor fishing village but for its convenient docks, which not only produce to the town and corporation a large revenue, but ensure to the merchant every possible facility in refitting, loading, and discharging his ships, whatever their burden or their cargo may be, without being exposed to the risk of losing both ship and cargo in a rapid tide-river; and, at all events, to an unavoidable delay, occasioned by distance, the weather, or the state of the tides.
Hull is also greatly indebted for the extension of its
commerce to its docks. Its old wet dock contains an area of ten acres nearly, and has accommodated at one time 130 sail of such vessels as frequent that port.
London, though unquestionably the first city in the world for its opulence, its commerce, and public spirit, and possessing within itself the powerful internal means of supporting docks, and all other conveniences that trade and shipping may require on the most extensive plans; London has been the last to try the experiment of docks, except in the case of two spirited individuals, Mr Perry at Blackwall, and Mr Wells at Greenland Dock, both private ship-builders. Notwithstanding the total inadequacy of legal quays, which subjected the merchants to incalculable losses and delays, and in many cases proved absolutely ruinous; notwithstanding the effect of the heavy, expensive, and fatal embarrassments experienced regularly on the arrival of the West India fleets, and the annual losses, by plunder in the river, on West India produce, which alone were calculated to amount to £150,000 to the proprietor, and £50,000 to the revenue, and more than the double of those sums, including other branches of commerce; it was not till the year 1799 that prejudices and private interests were so far removed as to enable the merchants concerned in the West India trade to obtain an act of parliament to carry into execution a plan of docks, quays, and warehouses, for the convenience of that trade on the Isle of Dogs. Since that time the London Docks, St Katharine Docks, and various others, have been completed, to the incalculable benefit of the shipping interest and the commerce of the metropolis.
The docks of Liverpool were the first of the kind that were constructed in this kingdom, by virtue of an act of parliament passed in 1708; and from that period the town of Liverpool has rapidly raised itself from a poor fishing village, and a port for coasting vessels, to be the second commercial town and port in the empire; and the plan of improvements now carrying into execution for the enlargement and better arrangement of the docks will, when completed, render it, for convenience and appearance, in this respect the very first, not London even excepted.
It appears from a statement, apparently authentic, that in the ten years ending with 1808, the number of ships which entered these docks was 48,497, tonnage 4,954,204; and the dock duties received £329,566; and that, in the following ten years ending in 1818, the number of ships was 60,200, the tonnage 6,375,560, and the amount of duties £666,438. It may also be observed, that this extraordinary increase has taken place since the abolition of the slave trade, which, it was asserted, would be the ruin of Liverpool.
The docks of Hull have also been advantageous, though in a less degree, to the wealth and prosperity of this trading town. The docks at Leith afford security and convenience to the increased commerce of the capital of Scotland.
The West India Docks on the river Thames commenced in February 1800, and were opened in August 1802. They consist of an outward and a homeward-bound dock, and communicate by means of locks with a basin of five or six acres on the end next to Blackwall, and with another of more than two acres at the end next to Limehouse, both of which basins communicate with the Thames. The outward-bound dock is about 870 yards in length, by 135 in width, containing consequently an area of more than twenty-four acres; the homeward-bound dock is of the