London
had been a major port since the arrival of the Romans but by the 18th
century it was unable to cope with the rapidly increasing traffic.
Between 1720 and 1800 trade tripled and there were times when 1,800
vessels were competing for 500 mooring spaces. West India Docks was
authorized by Parliament in 1800 and took two years to complete. Built
by William Jessop and John
Rennie, the dock is situated on the Isle of Dogs, a peninsula
in the East End of London. Other docks soon followed including London
Docks at Wapping (1805), East India Docks at Blackwell (1806) and
Surrey Docks at Rotherhithe (1807).
Rudolf
Ackermann, West India Docks, from Microcosm of London
(1808)
(1)
William Pyne, The
Microcosm of London (1808)
There
is a range of spacious warehouses around the docks, for storing the
West India produce, each of which is capable of containing eighty
thousand hogsheads of sugar. All the West India ships must load and
unload here. The loading and unloading is accomplished with the greatest
ease and expedition. The cranes are of iron and constructed on a new
principle: they occupy a very small space; and a single man, by the
aid of one of them, moves one ton weight in and out of a ship, without
any difficulty.
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