2-979-566 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Western Docks, Plymouth: the Floating Dock, 1857. '..., the plans...were prepared by Mr. I. K. Brunel, and carried out under the superintendence of Mr. Power, resident engineer, at a cost little short of a quarter of a million sterling...The works include a floating dock, with an area of 13 acres; length of quay-wall, 3490 feet; entrance-gates, 80 feet wide..There is also a graving dock, 367 feet in length, having gates 80 feet wide, and width of chamber 92 feet. The area of the wharfs around the floating dock exceeds 15 acres. There is a pier...[and] a pontoon...with a depth of water alongside of from 12 to 24 feet under low water spring tides, and capable of containing 4000 tons of coals'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.