Page 28 - Minutes of Proceedings of Civil Engineers Vol CXCV 1913-14 Part 3 Correspondence

l'r,rrrxlings,l TIID "WHITE STAR" DocK AT souTIraMPToN. I4?t l"rvo been sav€d; a,nd as the work would all have been of the same Mr. scotl lurr:rctcr, namely, wall in trench, less plaut would havo been ' ,,rrrployerl, and considerable time snved. 'Wrr,Drrc, Mr'. Hr:rvnv of Southampton, considered that one of the lrr. l\'ildins tlntnt, advantages of the White Star dock was that, owin6; to the ,l,,sign adopted, the absenco of gates at its ontrance, and its width, t.lris dock would not be out of date even if the present extreme ,izo of stefl.mers rvere doubled. He wished to emphasize the rrrrpoltnnce of engineers exercising large foresight in the construc- I i,rr of docks nnd lrnrbours rvhenever they rvero rvorks looked upon rrs lning of a permnnent character. Ilorvever, to anticiprto futuro rrrlrrirements in tlre matter of depth, as had boen done in regarrl to l,,rrgth and breldth, the dock should have been so constmctod as l, pcrmit of deepening to 45 feet belorv L.'W.O.S.T., seeing that, lr:lving no gltes, it could not impound water, and that extremo l,rrv rvnter rvns sometimes 2 to 3 feet below L.W.O.S.T, Notwith- sl,:rnrling the great incren^se in the size of steamers, it still remained l,r'ne that most passengers were not good sailors. fncrease in the sizo .l' vessels diminished the discomfort of this large proporbion of the l,r'nvelling public. ft rvas also true that where i]0,000 tons of cnrgo lrrr,rl to be cnrried, if tho harbonr and dock fmilities rt botlr ends of l,lre journey 'lvould admit, the load coukl be carrierl mrtch more ,.lreaply in one bottorn tlran in three. Perhaps the most exlraustite irrtluiry during recenb years on the snbjeot of the probablo size of slrips was that undertnlien by the United Strrtes for the purpose of r.rrrrying out the plovisions of the Spooner tsill for buihling the I'rlnama Cand. One result of this inquiry hr