In my next Regency release, Turbulent Beginnings, the heroine Kate Bancroft is abducted and taken to the London dockyard. The villains plan to steal Kate away to America and gain hold of her sizable inheritance. The London dockyard was revolutionized beginning in the 1800’s due to the influx of ships sailing into the Thames. The overcrowding made traversing the river difficult and angered many merchants and shop owners. It was said that unloading a large ship could take up to a month, which led to perishable stock becoming spoiled and cargo being looted by river pirates and mudlarks before reaching the shore. The docks moorings had been appointed by Elizabeth I in 1558 and contained only 20 wharves. The area could handle 542 ships, but regularly there were nearly 2,000 vessels in the area. By 1770, the gridlocking problem had come to a head.
The East India Company had a fleet of 1,000 ships that brought teas, spices, textiles, furnishings, and bullion from Bengal and China to England, while ships from the West Indies brought tobacco, sugar, rum, cotton, and mahogany. Ships carrying wine came from the Mediterranean, while furs, timber, and hemp came from Russia and the Baltic. Ships from America brought in tobacco. By 1792, London’s share of imports and exports accounted for 65% of supplies brought to England. It was considered the busiest port in the world. In 1796, The London Dock Company was established by a group of merchants, shippers, and bankers. They negotiated a 21-year monopoly to manage all vessels carrying rice, tobacco, brandy, and wine, except for those ships coming from the East or West Indies.
Laborers found in a dockyard included a large number of lightermen. Those who unloaded cargo from the moored ships onto smaller vessels, they also had their own guild. Quayside workers dealt with the goods once they were on land. Deal porters carried timber and were known for their acrobatic skills. Crewmen, shipbuilders, and day laborers could also be found on the wharves, many were skilled, but most were unskilled workers. The laborers met at a pub in the morning and a foreman would select the workers needed for the day, like a type of lottery.
Each dock section was used for specific purposes. At the wet dock, ships could drop anchor and unload their cargo, a dry dock was used for smaller ships in need of repair, and the dockyards were used for shipbuilding. Various docks handled various cargo; the Surrey docks were known for timber, while the Millwall dock took in grain. There was also a dock master and superintendent to oversee the laborers which could number as many as 3000. The new docks eased the congestion on the river.
The new, redesigned docks began with the West India dock in 1802, the London dock at Wapping in 1805, East India dock at Blackwell in 1806, and the Surrey docks in 1807. The residential homes near the area were demolished to make room for large storage warehouses and fortification walls for the new ports. A new police force was also established to protect the traffic on the Thames and the cargo. The Port of London Authority took over in 1909. The docks were transformed and industry began to blossom as sub-industries sprang up around the docks. These included pubs, lodging houses, laundresses, brothels, and dolly-shops, which were unlicensed pawnbrokers. Of course there were also food vendors selling everything from oysters to hot cross buns.
My heroine is taken to the dock of London located at Wapping. This site covered 90 acres of land, including 35 acres of water. The dock system had two main basins, the Western and the Eastern docks with the small basin that linked them referred to as the Tobacco dock. The western dock was connected to the Thames by the Hermitage and Wapping basins. There were 2.5 miles of quays and jetties, allowing 500 sailing vessels to berth and 200,000 tons of goods to be stored. The demand for tobacco was so large that it had a separate warehouse that covered five acres. There were 50 acres of warehouse space that housed 20 warehouses, 18 sheds, and 17 vaults to keep the cargo safe and protected. The vaults were built with a ventilation system. The docks of London transformed the small riverside village into a bustling hub of commerce.
The docks were closed to shipping in 1969 and mostly filled in with sand. Unfortunately, the area was derelict by the 1980’s. The Tobacco dock in Wapping warehouse was once used for skins and furs, but was converted into a shopping center in the 1990’s; it is currently used for conferences and events.
A special thank you to: https://www.bl.uk/picturing-places/articles/the-new-london-docks-1800-to-1830 , http://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/the-new-london-docks-of-the-early-19th-century/, https://www.berkeleygroup.co.uk/media/pdf/6/o/London-Dock-History-Guide.pdf
