Show DOCKYARDS OF OLD ENGLAND those at portsmouth woolwich dept ford and chatham are venerable ports probably portsmouth Is our oldest dockyard as we e understand the term today for with the exception of dover the old cinque ports have long lost their importance london answers observes it is said that king john was the originator of 0 our prein premier ler yard as in 1212 the sheriff of southampton N was as directed to that part of the blore at portsmouth off which aich tile alie royal fleet lay the first dry dock was not completed until 1496 M when hen a primitive one of stone and wood was constructed at portsmouth the two entrance walls almost overlapped and when a ship safely negotiated the difficult entrance ali the space between the walls was filled with earth and rubble and the pumped out woolwich and depthford deptford Dept tord ford were two ol 01 0 our earliest earliest dockyards dock yards though they have long ceased to exist but the recent discovery of what Is said to be the remains of the great harry has aroused interest in them both these thesa yards were closed in 1869 chatham was founded in the stifling times of elizabeth and was for long the headquarters of the navy in I 1 1588 the queen with drake and how haw hins started the chatham chest for the relief of mounded and decayed seamen which was transferred to woolwich in 1803 sheerness became a naval port after the dutch sailed up the thames in As plymouth was the rendezvous tor for the fleet which fought the armada it is often thought a dockyard was in existence then but its history does not begin until igsa while it was only in 1821 1824 that tile the samo same plymouth dock save gave way to devonport |