Dock in pictures 2

The only way they could afford to build the new dock was to enter into an arrangement with the London & South Western Railway Company to raise a loan of £250,000 (worth over £16 million today). Construction started immediately and in a rare public appearance, Queen Victoria opened the new Empress Dock on 26 July 1890. It is rumoured that the Southampton Corporation sent Queen Victoria a bill for the red carped laid down for her at the ceremony. Perhaps that is why she never returned to Southampton again!