South Dock

South Dock in London is a former commercial basin that serves as the furthest point upstream on the River Thames where medium-sized military vessels can turn around. Originally opened in 1805 as the financial failure City Canal, it was reconstructed between 1866 and 1870 by engineer Sir John Hawkshaw. Surrounded by a 20-foot-high theft-prevention brick wall, the commercial docks closed in 1980 and now regularly host visiting international warships.

London Β· from the walk β€œDocks, Deals & Dollars” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

South Dock, Marsh Wall, London E14 9SH

Why do visiting naval warships turn around at South Dock in London?

Take a look at the water stretching out before you. This dock... is built on a spectacular failure.......... In eighteen oh five, the City of London Corporation opened the City Canal right here, cutting straight across the Isle of Dogs. The idea was simple... give sailing ships a shortcut from Limehouse Reach to Blackwall Reach, sparing them the long, wind-cursed loop around the peninsula. The canal was three thousand seven hundred feet long, a hundred and seventy six feet wide, and twenty three feet deep. Ships were towed through by horses... three horses dragging two vessels of four hundred tons each, at just two miles per hour.......... And how did this grand public investment work out? The City Canal lost money from its Very first day. It cost a hundred and sixty eight thousand pounds and was a complete financial disaster. The problem was absurdly simple... despite being a shortcut, the tides on the Thames often meant it was actually Quicker to just sail the long way round! The canal couldn't even attract enough ships to pay for its own maintenance, so in eighteen twenty nine, the West India Dock Company bought it... largely to stop competitors from getting their hands on it.......... Then, between eighteen sixty six and eighteen seventy, the old canal was completely reconstructed and enlarged into what became South Dock. The eminent railway engineer Sir John Hawkshaw directed the rebuilding. And remember... the entire dock complex was surrounded by a brick wall Twenty feet high, to stop theft. This was serious business.......... By the nineteen sixties, trade began its long decline. Shipping containers made these relatively small docks inefficient, and the manufacturing exports that had sustained them simply moved away. In nineteen eighty, the docks closed.......... But here's what makes South Dock extraordinary today. It regularly plays host to medium sized military vessels visiting London, because it is the furthest point upstream on the Thames where they can be turned around! Nato ships are common visitors... Belgian, French, German minesweepers have all docked here. Even an Indian Navy guided missile frigate, the I N S Tarkash, once sailed right into this dock, surrounded by the glass towers of Canary Wharf. And in twenty twenty four, two magnificent tall ships... the Colombian Arc Gloria and the Spanish Juan Sebastian de Elcano... were moored side by side right where you're standing.......... So look around. Sugar, rum, and empire built this place. A failed canal became a mighty dock. And now, warships and tall ships glide in beneath the banking towers... a place where maritime history never actually ended. It just changed its uniform.

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