blue bricks, or, when constructed of concrete, with a facing of stronger concrete, to enable these altars to withstand the wear and shocks to which they are subjected. Steps and slides are provided at convenient places at the sides to give access for men and materials to the bottom of the dock; and culverts and drains lead the water to pumps for removing the water from the dock when the entrance has been closed, and to keep it dry whilst a vessel is under repair. Culverts in the side walls of the entrance enable water to be admitted for filling the dock to let the vessel out. Graving docks are generally closed by ship caissons; but where they open direct on to a tidal river, and there is some exposure, gates are adopted, or sometimes sliding caissons.
The dimensions of graving docks vary considerably with the nature of the trade and the date of construction; and sometimes an intermediate entrance is provided to accommodate two smaller vessels. The sizes of some of the largest graving docks are as follows: Liverpool, Canada dock, 92512 ft. long, 94 ft. width of entrance, and 29 ft. depth at the ordinary water-level in the dock; Southampton, 85134 ft. by 90 ft., and 2912 ft. depth at high-water neaps (figs. 26 and 27); Tilbury, 875 ft. by 70 ft. by 3112 ft.; and Glasgow, 880 ft. by 80 ft. by 2612 ft.
Floating Dry Docks.—Where there is no site available for a graving dock, or the ground is very treacherous, floating dry docks, built originally of wood, but more recently of iron or steel, have occasionally been resorted to. The first Bermuda dock towed across the Atlantic in 1869, and the new dock launched in 1902, 545 ft. by 100 ft., are notable examples. Water is admitted into the pontoon at the bottom to sink the dock sufficiently to admit a vessel at its open end; and then the water is pumped out of compartments in the pontoon till the vessel is raised out of water. It is only necessary to find a sheltered site, with a sufficient depth of water, for conducting the operations. (L. F. V.-H.)
DOCKET (perhaps from “dock,” to curtail or cut short, with the diminutive suffix et, but the origin of the word is obscure; it has come into use since the 15th century), in law, a brief summary or digest of a case, or a memorandum of legal decisions; also the alphabetical list of cases down for trial, or of suits pending. Such cases are said to be “on the docket.” In commercial use, a docket is a warrant from the custom-house, stating that the duty on goods entered has been paid, or the label fastened to goods, showing their destination, value, contents, &c., and, generally, any indorsement on the back of a document, briefly setting out its contents.
DOCK WARRANT, in law, a document by which the owner of a marine or river dock certifies that the holder is entitled to goods imported and warehoused in the docks. In the Factors Act 1889 it is included in the phrase “document of title” and is defined as any document or writing, being evidence of the title of any person therein named . . . to the property in any goods or merchandise lying in any warehouse or wharf and signed or certified by the person having the custody of the goods. It passes by indorsement and delivery and transfers the absolute right to the goods described in it. A dock warrant is liable to a stamp duty of threepence, which may be denoted by an adhesive stamp, to be cancelled by the person by whom the instrument is executed or issued.
DOCKYARDS. In the fullest meaning of the word, a “dock-yard” (or “navy yard” in America) is a government establishment where warships of every kind are built and repaired, and supplied with the men and stores required to maintain them in a state of efficiency for war. Thus a dockyard in this extended sense would include slips for building ships, workshops for manufacturing their machinery, dry docks for repairing them, stores of arms, ammunition, coal, provisions, &c., with basins in which they may lie while being supplied with such things, and an establishment for providing the personnel necessary for manning them. But in practice few, if any, existing dockyards are of so complete a nature; many of them, for instance, do not undertake the building of ships at all, while others are little more than harbours where a ship may replenish her stores of coal, water and provisions and carry out minor repairs. Private firms are relied upon for the construction of many ships down to an advanced stage, the government dockyards completing and equipping them for commission.
Great Britain.—Previous to the reign of Henry VIII., the kings of England had neither naval arsenals nor dockyards, nor any regular establishment of civil or naval officers to provide ships of war, or to man them. There are, however, strong evidences of the existence of dockyards, or of something answering thereto, at very early dates, at Rye, Shoreham and Winchelsea. In November 1243 the sheriff of Sussex was ordered to enlarge the house at Rye in which the king’s galleys were kept, so that it might contain seven galleys. In 1238 the keepers of some of the king’s galleys were directed to cause those vessels to be breamed, and a house to be built at Winchelsea for their safe custody. In 1254 the bailiffs of Winchelsea and Rye were ordered to repair the buildings in which the king’s galleys were kept at Rye. At Portsmouth and at Southampton there seem to have been at all times depôts for both ships and stores, though there was no regular dockyard at Portsmouth till the middle of the 16th century. It would appear, from a curious poem in Hakluyt’s Collection called “The Policie of Keeping the Sea,” that Littlehampton, unfit as it now is, was the port at which Henry VIII. built
“his great Dromions |
The “dromion,” “dromon,” or “dromedary” was a large warship, the prototype of which was furnished by the Saracens. Roger de Hoveden, Richard of Devizes and Peter de Longtoft celebrate the struggle which Richard I., in the “Trench the Mer,” on his way to Palestine, had with a huge dromon,—“a marvellous ship! a ship than which, except Noah’s ship, none greater was ever read of.” This vessel had three masts, was very high out of the water, and is said to have had 1500 men on board. It required the united force of the king’s galleys, and an obstinate fight, to capture the dromon.
The foundation of a regular British navy, by the establishment of dockyards, and the formation of a board, consisting of certain commissioners for the management of its affairs, was first laid by Henry VIII., and the first dockyard erected during his reign was that of Woolwich. Those of Portsmouth, Deptford, Chatham and Sheerness followed in succession. Plymouth was founded by William III. Pembroke was established in 1814, a small yard having previously existed at Milford.
The most important additions yet made at any one period to the dockyard and harbour works required to meet the necessities of the British fleet were those sanctioned by the Naval Works Acts of 1895 and subsequent years, the total estimated cost, as stated in the act of 1899, being over 2312 millions sterling. The works proposed under these acts were classified under three heads, viz. (a) the enclosure and defence of harbours against torpedo attacks; (b) adapting naval ports to the present needs of the fleet; (c) naval barracks and hospitals. Under the first heading were included the defensive harbours at Portland, Dover and Gibraltar. Under heading (b) were included the deepening of harbours and approaches, the dockyard extensions at Gibraltar, Keyham (Devonport), Simons Bay, and Hong-Kong, with sundry other items. Under heading (c) were included the naval barracks at Chatham, Portsmouth and Keyham; the naval hospitals at Chatham, Haslar and Haulbowline; the colleges at Keyham and Dartmouth; and other items.
Great Britain possesses dockyards at Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham, Malta and Gibraltar, each in charge of an admiral-superintendent, and at Sheerness and Pembroke in charge of a captain-superintendent, together with establishments at Ascension, Bermuda, Simons Town (Cape of Good Hope), Queenstown (Haulbowline); Hong-Kong, Portland, Sydney and Weihaiwei. The Indian Government has dockyards at Bombay and Calcutta. The medical establishments include Ascension, Bermuda, Cape of Good Hope, Chatham, Dartmouth, Deal, Gibraltar, Haslar, Haulbowline, Hong-Kong, Malta, Osborne, Plymouth, Portland, Portsmouth, Sheerness, Sydney, Yarmouth, Yokohama and Weihaiwei.
The arrangements for the administrative control of the dockyards have varied with those adopted for the regulation of the navy as a whole. (See Admiralty Administration; and Navy: History.) At the present time, whether at home or abroad, they lie within the province of the controller of the navy (the third lord of the board of admiralty); and the director of dockyards, whose office, replacing that of surveyor of dockyards was created in
