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Empress Dock
Empress Dock
View this story in pictures
Aerial View Of The Docks
The opening of Southampton's Inner and Outer Docks brought much
trade to the town. Towards the end of the 19th century, the size of
ocean-going steamers continued to increase and a deeper dock was
required in the port. The rapid expansion of the previous forty
years had dented the Dock Company's finances, so construction was
put off for a number of years. A depression in the 1880s reduced
the company's income considerably.
Empress Dock
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!
Prince Of Wales Dock (No. 5 Dry Dock)
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.
Fyffes Banana Terminal: Empress Docks
The loan from the railway company did not improve the finances of
the Dock Company. Empress Dock was to be their last dock
construction; the Southampton Dock Company was taken over by the
London & South Western Railway on 1st November 1892.
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