Alexander Forrow

“ If the tremendous evils to which I have called attention as existing less than a hundred years ago, when the business of the port was not one-seventh of its present magnitude, were the result of overcrowding, it stands to reason that, in the absence of dock accommodation, the increased business must have gone to the out-ports, and, failing the necessary accommodation there, have located itself on the Continent. ”

“ Of course, a sketch of the Thames and its docks would be incomplete without a statement of the Legal Quays, Sufferance Wharves, and Private Warehouses now in existence. Few people are aware of their enormous extent, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the important part which they have played in the history of the port. There cannot be a doubt that the proprietors of these places have availed themselves to the fullest extent of the advantage which they enjoy, under the present state of the law, of being allowed free use of the dock-waters. ”

“ Could the good people of Bristol be induced to dockise that very erratic stream within a respectable distance of its mouth, I am inclined to believe that many a shipowner who now sends his vessels to London would think it worth his while to escape the dangerous Channel passage by ordering them into Bristol, more especially with an equalization of railway rates. ”

“ The conquests of Clive in the East Indies resulted in an immense augmentation of the shipping of the East India Company, and the acquisition of many of the West India Islands about the same time led to a vast increase in the importations of sugar and rum, which, from their value and the high duties to which they were subject, offered tempting baits to the organised bands of river thieves which the crowded state of the port and the unprotected condition of the shipping and merchandise gradually called into existence. ”

“ But our real masters in the arts of commerce were the Easterlings, a fraternity of German merchants, who, in the eighth century, established themselves on the shores of the Baltic for the protection of their commerce against the Normans and Scandinavian nations. Some of the vessels of this confederacy, which was afterwards connected with the Hanseatic League, appeared in the Thames at Billingsgate in 979, during the reign of Ethelred II. Here I should observe that Billingsgate was the first place appointed for payment of king’s dues, Queenhithe being the next. ”

“ This is a view of the Limehouse Dock as it appeared shortly after it was opened, and before the Blackwall Railway was constructed. This dock was built in connection with the Regent’s Canal for the accommodation of lighters, and the Act for its construction was passed so early as the year 1812. Although never, like the other docks, recognised as Legal Quays, this dock has rendered admirable service to the river by relieving it of a large portion of the coasting trade. Everybody who has travelled by the Blackwall Railway must have observed the crowded condition of this dock. ”

“ The Wine Vaults alone may be described almost as one of the wonders of the modern world. One of them is nearly twelve acres in extent, and if you wish [Pg 58] to fancy yourself in the Catacombs, without the trouble of a visit to Rome, you cannot do better than see the Wine Vaults at this or the St. Katharine’s Dock. Altogether there is storage accommodation for 80,000 pipes of wine and brandy. In fact as the West India Dock is the great depôt for rum and sugar, so this dock is the great depôt for wine and brandy. The Queen’s Pipe is also a most interesting feature of this establishment. ”

“ These places were known as Sufferance Wharves, as distinguished from the Legal Quays, because for every particular article landed at them it was necessary to obtain from the Customs a special sufferance or permission for such landing, which might at any time be withdrawn; whereas at the Legal Quays any goods might be landed free from any limitation of privilege. As the commerce of the port increased the Sufferance Wharves multiplied with marvellous rapidity, and extended so far down the river as Blackwall. ”

“ In the West India Docks alone there have been 500 barges at one time occupying the water space when most urgently needed for the working of ships. The delays caused in the docking and undocking of vessels in consequence of the glut of craft waiting at tide time to enter or leave the docks are sometimes attended with considerable danger. In fact, this view represents the normal condition of the dock entrances whenever there is an influx of shipping. ”

“ In fact, you will see that the Dock Companies are pretty much in the position of a man who, having been induced to build a house on a particular spot on the understanding that a tenant would always be found for it, not only loses his tenant but finds himself compelled to maintain his house in a high state of efficiency, and to keep a large staff of servants to wait upon anybody who may take a fancy to anything in it, without so much as feeing the porters. ”

“ The proprietors of the Legal Quays protested that the withdrawal of the West India trade alone would lower their property to one-third of its value. It was even said that so many men would be thrown out of employment that a vast increase would take place in the poor rates. ”

“ To increase the confusion it would sometimes happen that as many as 300 colliers would come up the river at one time, and although a regulation existed that a fair way of 300 feet should always be preserved for vessels passing up and down the stream, the crowd of shipping has been so great that one might walk from the Middlesex to the Surrey shore over the decks of vessels. ”

“ Instances are recorded of lighters with double bottoms being employed; and by dexterously loosening two or three hoops of casks and turning them bung downward, hundreds of gallons of rum, wine, or oil—as the case might be—were deposited in the false bottom during transit from the ship to the wharf. The greatest sufferers were the West India merchants. Mr. Hibbert, one of the most eminent of our West India merchants, speaking in 1822 of this condition of things, gives a graphic description of the grievances of the trade. Both rum and sugar samples were drawn on board ship. ”

“ You will observe the accumulation of barges just inside the dock waiting to go out, and you will be able to form some idea of the terrible inconvenience which the presence of these craft must cause in the dock, crowded as it constantly is with shipping; and it so happens that the accumulation [Pg 66] of these barges is greatest when there is the least room for them. I must ask you to imagine that behind these barges there are several ships waiting to leave the dock, and that outside the dock there is a similar accumulation of lighters and large vessels waiting to come in. ”

“ With Legal Quay accommodation for only 32,000 hogsheads of sugar, the annual importations had reached upwards of 140,000 hogsheads. During war time, the West India fleets only could more than trebly fill the warehouses. One fleet from the Leeward Islands brought 35,000 hogsheads; another from Jamaica brought 40,000: on the arrival of the latter fleet only 7,000 hogsheads could be warehoused at the Legal Quays; the rest had to remain in barges in the river at the mercy of the river thieves, or be left on board the importing [Pg 24] vessels until it could be landed elsewhere. ”

“ Accidents and loss of life were matters of everyday occurrence: over 500 persons lost their life from drowning annually, three-fifths of these cases occurring in the Pool. But by far the most serious of the many evils arising out of this condition of things was the immorality which it generated amongst all classes of labour employed on the river. East Indiamen seldom came higher up the river than Blackwall, where they discharged their cargoes into decked lighters, or hoys, of from 50 to 100 tons ”

“ In the time of King Edward IV. a considerable impetus was given to commercial transactions of all kinds, and the trade of the port rapidly increased. Troubles on the Continent brought large numbers of skilled artisans to this country, and the result was that, in course of time, the English manufacturers found themselves, as regards the actual cost of production, able to compete with their opponents. Conscious of their growing wealth and influence, the citizens began to raise outcries against their grievances. ”

“ Now the liabilities of the Dock Companies of London represent a total of upwards of £15,000,000. More than one-half of this has been spent in providing the water accommodation of the several docks, and the interest on it of course [Pg 70] represents a vast permanent tax upon the revenues of the Dock Companies, towards which, although enjoying full use of the docks, the wharves do not contribute anything. The dock waters are supposed to be paid for by the dues on shipping. ”

“ Thousands of persons were employed simply to watch goods until landed. Of 37,000 persons employed on the river, 11,000 were either professional thieves or receivers of stolen property. Over 1,600 Customs officers were employed on the river in the interest of the Revenue. To an East Indiaman of 400 or 500 tons thirty officers were attached, and to a West Indiaman from seven to ten. ”

“ The Corporation proposed to excavate one dock in the Isle of Dogs of 102 acres, and another at Rotherhithe of the same extent, with a canal to Vauxhall. They further proposed to extend the frontage of the Legal Quays by the acquisition of Billingsgate, and to provide for the construction of slips for the accommodation of lighters. They also intended largely to increase the warehouse space, by arching over the quays and constructing warehouses on them. ”

“ There cannot be a doubt that, had the principle here indicated of localising the warehousing of the various classes of merchandise been more fully carried out, the working of goods would have been more efficient, more economical, and more satisfactory in every way to both merchant and Dock Company. In the monopolies granted to the earlier Dock Companies, the Government seem to have made an attempt in this direction ”

“ This gave rise to the existing landing and wharfage dues. Ten years afterwards, the Corporation purchased Queenhithe, which, it should be remembered, besides Billingsgate, was the only place in the river at that time suitable for the landing of goods. Meanwhile, the enormous influence which the Easterlings had acquired in London, by means of the charters granted them by successive monarchs, was beginning to excite a spirit of competition and jealousy amongst the citizens. ”

“ Before the establishment of these docks neither the Commercial, nor the East India, Road had any existence. The distance of these docks from the City rendered good roads an absolute necessity, especially in those days. Here I may observe that when the Duke of Bridgewater began his canal—forty years previously—the cost of the land carriage of goods was 40s. a ton. The carriage of goods on the river was not less than 12s. a ton. From Wapping, eastward, fields, nursery-grounds, [Pg 50] rope walks, gardens, &c., &c., stretched right away to Barking. ”

“ 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 out of which from one-sixth to one-fourth of the contents had been stolen the night preceding. ”

“ But this is not the only hardship experienced by the Companies. The expense and inconvenience in working the docks owing to the number [Pg 71] of these barges in them cannot be measured by money loss. ”