| Show 1 I W X M 4 tho thames at the tower bridge from the air prepared bv the th national geographic society washington D 0 ONDON tile city Is aiji mecca for L try travelers elers and Is known knon from books and stories throughout the world orld london the port la Is comparatively little known yet et in world economics it Is even more important than london tile the city the story of tills this great port involves the ships that crowd the thames from the seven seon selig the varied ailed piles of products from fill all corners of the world that are set down on london quays and docks and the facilities for handling this mighty business of providing necessities and luxuries lii urles for a great mock block of the worlds consumers the port of london lins has developed as her ships have hae developed de eloped in her 2000 henrs of history she lins has known the long rakish viking boats the little littie wind driven ships of the continent smacks frigates fil gates clippers find and since the advent adent of steam and tile gas en gine great bleat mechanical grey greyhounds ere hounds of the sea of ever increasing size the smaller ships of the past centuries found it possible to anchor in the thames or to tie alo up to her ter w wharves banes mid and quays but as ships became larger anti and more numerous num pious the great tidal range of the river was found to be more and more mole trouble some it was ft as then that london began the construction of the great closed dock system which glies gives her tile the most extensive ceten she area of artificial ship basins in the world A quay or ft hart Is merely a wall or platform alon along the shore shoie of a rIv eror inlet A true dock Is constructed by digging into the bank to construct a basin into which the harbor water flows clotts A lock and water gates usually connect the basin with the outer water when ships are aie floated into the dock at high tide the gates can be closed shutting in enough water to float the slaps ships evan een when the avater has dropped far below the necessary essaiy ry level leel outside in some modern docks the water level lee inn can be maintained or even eien raised above aboe the high tide level by gigantic pumping plants growth of the dock system londona Lon dons system of docks now so extensive extensile and elaborate grew hi by very er slow degrees the first little wet dock dug at Blac blackball kwall about igge was vas used merely to outfit ships samuel mentions it in its his diary next about 1700 came H u larger dock used as a protected anchorage for ships that were to be long lit in port poh tills this basin came to be frequented by whaling blimps in the greenland trade anti and was long known as the greenland dock the whalers chalers soon that unloading and the taking inking on of supplies could be better accomplished in 16 the dock than in the river liver blubber factories storage facilities and all the III smelling accessories of whaling grow grew up around the basin which thus thu was first to take on what ft hat are aie the elementary docking activities of today these be beginnings innings of the dock tein were constructed within a few miles of london birl dge front from them the system hns has developed principally down the river into deeper deep or er water the alie west and enst india docks were built about 1800 the they now embrace 1 17 2 17 acres of writer ba sins millI millions of squire square feet of warehouse space and more moie than he five miles lulles of quays the so called london londin docks the lie nearest to tire are relatively small covering 85 35 acres of water and on 65 acres of land the surrey Com commercial al docks built the original greenland dak consist of acres of water acres of land and 5 miles of quays royal docks the largest the royal koyal docks six or eight miles below london bridge fire tile the heart of londona Lon dons dock system and the most extensive docks dock s in the world they consist of at the royal victoria dock built in 1st ast the royal albert dock completed in and the king george V dock opened in 1921 together they embrace acres of water and extend along the river for three nilles miles more than half it a million tons of shipping has been berthed in these connected locks docks at one time twenty six miles below london bridge la Is the most remote of londona Lon dons shipping the tilbury locks docks these wore were opened in 1930 to accommodate m oda te the largest of the vessels onoda entering the port and those of the deepest draft its new entrance lock Is approximately of the dimensions of tile great locks of tile panama canal with a depth of 45 feet 0 indies inches helow below high water it Is in the tilbury docks that tho greG lest of the trans ocean passenger steamships berth ships of close to tons london Is not dependent alone on docks along the 69 miles ot of river which supply the city with potential port facilities are many miles of open whar wharves yes and quays to these comes a constant p procession ro cession of barges coasting boats and even sizable steamers for the past 19 years the great dock system of london has been under public ownership managed by tile the port fort of london authority a corporate body whose members are in part appointed by the admiralty the london county council and other public organizations organization and in par are elected by taxpayers and groups particularly interested in the port business the port authority also controls some open but the greater portion of this Is under private ownership vast streams of trade with its river its scores of miles of wharves and docks and its vast warehouses and vaults the port of london Is a gateway and a treasure house hous through which and into which pours pour a stream of goods ranging from the barest necessities and the crudest raw 1111 materials serials to the most costly products of f loom and factory artist tind and craftsman in part the value and volume of londona Lon dons seaborne sea borne trade are owing to I 1 its ts geographic situation between continental europe and the americas Amerl cas in part to the cites status as head and nd heart of the worldwide world wide british a empire many of the docks and warehouses devote themselves to certain specialties the old greenland dock and its neighbors are concerned largely with the baltic white sea and canada trade for the most part made up of timber and grain to tile the west india docks come thousands of tons of sugar scores of thousands of gallons of rum and hard woods sugar Is also unloaded by the thousands of tons I 1 at the vast east india docks along with the spices silks rugs and dozens of other commodities from the east the quantities of goods that pass over londona Lon dons docks and wharves Is stupendous the leading import in quantity Is grain and meals close to bushels are brought in year ly their value reaching such dissimilar articles as tea and fresh and frozen meats lead all imports in value more than worth of each arrives annual lyThe greater part of the tea is for consumption the balance for re export the meat Is practically all for consumption and it Is supplemented by a considerable sid erable quantity of home g grown r own meat on to the docks pour each year tons aon a mid d tons of butter valued at more than worth of choose cheese and more than eggs there Is a steady stream of wines find and spirits lit in hogsheads hog pipes barrels and bottles most of these find their way to the under gr around amid vaults of the port of lo 10 london adon A authority where the there re Js la complete equipment for blending bottling storing staring and aging there are more than it a dozen buge vats each with a capacity in excess of gallons fortunes in warehouses tills this Is but a suggestion of the vast stream of goods that passes over oer the locks docks and into the warehouses of london enough tobacco Is in storage to make a smoke screen for or the navies nailes of the world the best tobacco that Is afford afforded etl by the americas Amerl cae greece I 1 turkey bunna china sumatra bo nor r neo cyprus and africa other warehouses contain fortunes in rubber rubb or ivory metals rare earths drugs perfumes porcelains ains fine fabrics and laces faces feathers furs and hundreds ot of other commodities that minister to the wants of a complex civilization in 1028 the total net ship tonnage in and out of london wn was although the london water front Is called upon to care for ships and goods from all the worlds continents and seas it has fins not wholly a con commercial flavor atie most important buildings in the empire the houses of parliament li front on the river and for miles along the banks extend me beautifully laid out embankments blikh will it furnish stately drives along alio tl le winding win ding course of the river the most famous of these Is the victoria em eat ban Kment which extends westminster bridge near the houses of parliament and bridge down the river near st rauls fouls cathedral |
