Dock in pictures 3

The largest of the four basins in the docks, Empress Dock provided eight berths for the largest ships of the day. It meant that Southampton was the only port in the country at which vessels of the deepest draught could enter or leave, whatever the state of the tide. In the 1930s, the dock was mainly used by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's services to Brazil and by Elders & Fyffes ships discharging bananas from South America. Berth 20 was the departure point for troopships leaving the port. The dock was also used as a centre for distributing meat, butter, grain and fruit across the south of England. Soon after the opening of the Empress Dock, work started on a new dry-dock, the fifth in the port. Located near the entrance of Empress Dock, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) opened the dry-dock in 1895. The dry-dock was named after him.