Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia, W., Wet-dock.

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19th-Century American

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Wet-dock.

In contradistinction to dry-dock, in which a vessel is placed for repairs, the water being pumped out.

A tidal or shipping-dock.

In the basin the water is maintained at such a hight as to float the vessels therein at all times. The dock is connected by a lock with the navigable waters, and the gates maintain the level of water in the basin irrespective of the hight or fluctuations of the water outside. The operation of locking a vessel in or out, except at flood-tide, when the outside and inside levels may be the same, is similar to the process of locking canal-boats. See lock-canal, page 1341.

The docks of Liverpool are the most extensive in the world. The wet-docks are 37 in number, having an area of 167.517 acres. The dry basins are 7 in number, with an area of 20.185 acres. The whole dock-water space is 235 acres, on the Liverpool side of the river. The graving docks are numerous, and the lineal yards of quay space amount to 19.195 yards.

Most of the docks have their own entrances to the Mersey, and the whole chain of docks are connected independently of the river. They also have inland canal and railway connections.

The dock-water space of Birkenhead, on the opposite side of the Mersey, is 153 acres.

The docks of London cover an area of 227 acres; 154 acres being on the Middlesex side, and the remainder on the Surrey side.

The tonnage of London is three times that of Liverpool, but the Thames has spacious and convenient moorings, while the shipping of the Mersey is necessarily accommodated in docks.

The moorings of the Thames afford berths for 461 vessels.

The number of vessels passing in and out of Liverpool in 1860 was 48,317; equal to 132 per day.

The docks of Liverpool are inclosed spaces taken from the river Mersey, the area afterward dug out.

The London docks are excavated in the land on both sides of the river.

The Bristol docks are made by walls and locks, which arrest the water of the river Avon, a new cut being made for the river, and for the passage of vessels up and down.

See list under dock.

1877.

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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia
Knight, Ed.

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Wet-dock.

Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia Knight, Ed.

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Wet-dock.

Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia
Knight, Ed.