Leith] BUILDING OF THE WESTERN DOCKS. 283
I Government advanced A25,ooo to the city of
Edinburgh on security of the future dock revenues,
imd on the 14th of May, 1801, the foundation-stone
of the wet docks was laid by Robert Dundas, of
Melville, Deputy Grand Master, in absence of
Charles, Earl of Dalkeith, Grand Master of Scotland.
An immense concourse of masonic brethren
and spectators attended this ceremony, and the
procession left the Assembly Rooms, and proceeded
along the quay to the southeast corner of the first
dock, where the first stone was laid.
When the procession reached that spot, the substitute
Grand Master, after the usual formula, placed
in the cavity of the stone a large phial, containing
medals ?of the first characters of the present age,?
coated with crystal, and two plates, whereon were
engraved inscriptiohs so long that they occupy each
half a column of the ChronicZe.
A salute of twenty-one guns was fired by the
squadron in the roads, under Captain Clements,
R.N., and the militia formed the escort for the
Grand Lodge ; and the Dumfries-shire militia and
other corps stationed in Edinburgh and its vicinity
contributed largely by their manual labour, being
employed by companies, and even battalions, in the
excavation and general formation of these docks,
the first of which, called now the old dock, was
opened to the shipping in 1806 ; and in the preceding
year a further sum of A;25,000 had been
advanced by Government on the dock property.
The Western, or Queen?s Dock, begun in 1810,
was finished in 1817, the suite being at a cost of
about Az85,ooo.
These two are each 250 yards long, and IOO wide,
with three graving docks on their north side, and
all protected from the sea by a retaining wall of
enormous strength, composed of vast blocks of
stone. The third, or largest dock of all, designed
to reach nearly,to Newhaven, was then projected;
but this and all kindred matters which accorded
hith the magnificence of Mr. Rennie?s design, and
the intentions of his employers, the magistrates of
Edinburgh, were thrown into abeyance during his
We by a total failure of funds.
On the occasion of the jubilee of the 25th of
October, 1809-the anniversary of the accession of
George 111. to the throne-the foundation-stone of
what was named ? King George?s Bastion ?? was
laid by the Earl of Moira, in the north-west angle
of the western dock, amid a magnificent assemblage,
and followed by a procession, including all the
tnagnates of Edinburgh, escorted by the troops and
volunteers, under a grand salute of heavy guns,
fired by the crew of H.M.S. Egeria, on the west
side of the basin, followed by a general salute of
fifty rounds from all the shipping in the roads, and,
as the Sots Magazine has it, ?the acclamations
of twenty thousand people ;? and a grand banquet
was given in the Assembly Rooms, George Street.
The gates of the old dock were renewed, and
the sill deepened in 1844.
The Western, or Queen?s Dock, when the George
Bastion had been built, was for some years mostly
used by the naval service for repairing and fitting
out
In 1S25 the city of Edinburgh borrowed from
Government A240,ooo more on security of the
dock dues (after there had been a proposal to sell
the whole property to a joint-stock company, a
proposal successfully opposed by the inhabitants of
Leith) j and after Mr. W. Chapman, of Newcastle,
hadmade surveys and plans for further improve
ments, as the result of his report and of subsequent
voluminous correspondence with Govemment
on the subject of a naval yard and store
yard, it was decided to extend the eastern pier
about 1,500 feet, so as to have an entire length
there of 2,550 feet, or more than half a mile.
The ceremony of driving the first pile took place
on the 15th of August, 1826, the fourth anniversary
of the landing of George IV. at Leith, and was
made the occasion, as usual, of an imposing
demonstration. All the vessels in port were gdy
decorated, and the various public bodies, accompanied
by three regimental bands and escorted by
Hussars, proceeded from the Assembly Rooms to
the end of the old pier, where the Dock Commissioners
and Lord Provost occupied a platform.
The Provost having cut a rope, and allowed a
heavy weight to fall upon the upright pile, wine,
oil, and corn, were placed upon it, and the company
then embarked in a tug and crossed to the other
pier, where the same ceremony was repeated, and
a banquet followedl
A western pier and breakwater were next erected,
to the extent of r,Soo feet, terminating within 200
feet of the other.
The insolvency of the city of Edinburgh in 1833
led to important re-arrangements in connection with
the management of their now valuable docks ; and
by virtue of an Act of Parliament passed in 1838,
the care of the docks and harbour was vested in
eleven Commissioners-five appointed by the Lords?
of the Treasury, three by the city of Edinburgh,
and three by the town of Leith.
In the winter of 1838-9, Messrs. Walker and
Cubbitt, two eminent engineers of London, were
sent down by the Lords of the Treasury to undertake
jointly the duty of providing their lordships
?with such a plan as will secure to the Port of
Leith the additional accommodation required by
its shipping and commercial interests, including the
provision of a low-water pier.?
These engineers, after a careful survey, failed to
agree in opinion, and recommended three different
plans-Mr. Walker two, and Mr. Cubbitt one. The
details of only that to which the Lords of the
Treasury gave preference, and which was one of
Mr. Walker?s, need not be stated, as they were
never fully carried out, and in 1847 a Government
THE EDINBURGH DOCK, LEITH.
The Victoria Dock was formally opened by the
steamer RoyaZ Yiciorid (which traded between
Leith and London), which carried the royal standard
of Scotland at her mainmast head, but there
was no public demonstration,
In 1860 the Harbour and Docks Bill passed the
House of Lords on the 19th of July. This Act
cancelled the debt of about ~230,000 due to the
Treasury for a present payment of ~50,000, The
passing of this measure, and its commercial imgrant
of L135,ooo was obtained for a new dock
by the new Commissioners, under whose care the
entire property continued to prosper, while trade
continued to increase steadily; thus the accommodation
for shipping was further enlarged by the
opening in 185 2 of the Victoria Dock (parallel with
the old dock), having an area of about five acres,
with an average depth of twenty-two feet of water.
Here berthage has constantly been provided for
the London and Edinburgh Shipping Company?s
fleet,-.and for most of Currie and Co.?s Contineatal
trading steamers. It was contracted for
by Mr. 3 9 , of Scarborough, who finished the
piers about the same time as the dock; but the
Victoria Jetty was not constructed till 1855.
portance to Leith, was celebrated there by displays
of fireworks and the ringing of the church bells.
In the lapse of a few years after the opening of
the Victoria Dock, the trade of the port had
increased to such an extent that the construction
of a still larger and better dock than any it yet
possessed became necessary. Thus the Commissioners
feIt justified in making the necessary
arrangements with that view.
Consequently, in 1862, Mr. Rendell, C.E,
London, and Mr. Robertson, C.E., Leith, in
accordance with instructions given to them, submitted
a plan, by which it was proposed to reclaim
no less than eighty-four acres of the East Sands
(the site of the races of old) by means of a gxeaf
