THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

AND

JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Vol. CVII.

FRIDAY, JUNE 2G, 1914.

No. 2791.

The New Joint

Their Majesties the King and Queen will visit Hull
to-day (Friday, June 26), and perform the opening cere-
mony at the new deep water dock, which has been con-
structed at a cost of two and three-quarter millions
sterling by the North-Eastern Railway Company and
the Hull and Barnsley Railway and Dock Company, act-
ing jointly. The provision of this handsome modern
dock has been rendered imperatively necessary by the
increasing volume of the general trade, and more par-
ticularly by the enormous expansion in recent years
of the Humber coal trade. To show the extent of the
influence the development of the South Yorkshire coal-
field has had upon at least one of the Humber ports, it
only needs to be recorded that the quantity of coal
received at Hull from the collieries has considerably
more than doubled in the last eight years. Whereas the
“ entry ” by rail and river in 1903 was but 3,831,024
tons, it had increased by 1913 to the record total of
7,945,965 tons, and this notwithstanding the largely
increased shipments at the new King’s Dock at Imming-
ham, and at the Humber ports of Grimsby and Goole.
In 1903 the total was 3,431,455 tons. What is more,
the quantity, which has shown most steady and consis-
tent progress, has more than quadrupled in the past
quarter of a century. Of last year’s total, just over
four-and-a-half million tons (exclusive of bunker) was
exported abroad to the order of foreign buyers, and
nearly a million tons shipped London and coastwise, the
remainder of the “arrivals ” from collieries being used
for the purposes of shipping and for home consumption.
Existing facilities at the docks of the two companies
have been constantly added to, these including four
large “conveyors,” which have been of great service in
giving quick despatch. Nevertheless, the new dock has
arrived not a day too soon, and acting on the principle
that “facilities beget trade,” and probably having also
in mind the new competition that has recently been
introduced on the opposite bank of the Humber, the
railway companies who own the new dock at Hull are
evidently determined to be ready and fittingly equipped
to meet with any further expansion of the coal export.

The new dock claims to be not only the largest deep
water dock on the North-East Coast, but, when the
equipment is complete, to be also the most efficient and
up-to-date. At present it has a water area of 52| acres,
consisting of a main basin 1,000 ft. by 1,050 ft., and
two “arms” 1,356 ft. by 325 ft. and 1,350 ft. by 450 ft.
respectively; with provision for extension to between 85
and 90 acres. The length of quays already constructed
is 8,162 ft., and the entrance lock is 750 ft. long and
85 ft. wide. At high water of ordinary spring tides
there is a depth on the sill of 42 ft. 3 in., and at low
water 19 ft. 6 in. The largest vessels engaged in the
oversea trade will thus be able to enter, and in the main
basin will be able to manoeuvre with the greatest ease.
Two graving, or dry, docks have also been built, one
550 ft. long and the other 450 ft. The area of the whole
estate is 210 acres, nine-tenths of which has been
reclaimed from the River Humber by the construction of
a reclamation wall nearly a mile and a-half long. This
large area, of course, has permitted of the most liberal
provision being made for coal sidings, timber storage,
grain silo, cold storage, warehouses, etc., and other con-
veniences for the handling of a large volume of both
imports and exports.

Over eight years have been occupied in the building
of the dock, for which Sir John Wolfe Barry was the
consulting engineer, Mr. T. M. Newell (now engineer to
the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board), and Mr. R.
Pawley, acting as engineers for the North-Eastern and
Hull and Barnsley railway companies respectively.
The contract for construction was let to Messrs. S.
Pearson and Son Limited, a director of that firm, Mr.

Dock at Hull.

T. F. Hopkinson, acting as resident engineer. At first
there were many engineering difficulties owing to the
silty and glacial character of the subsoil, but with
patience and perseverance these were ultimately over-
come. The lock, in particular, was the subject of grave

H U MBER

w e T s

I NORTH-EAST ARM
.*>- 1536 ------

Fig. 1.—Plan of the New Joint Dock, Hull.

■ ■

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Photo by]

Fig. 2.—Coaling Berths showing Echelon Arrangement.

[Photochrom Co.



concern, owing to the difficulty with the foundations.
A suitable bed of hard boulder clay was required at the
foundation level, but below this there occurred a
stratum of gravel and sand charged with water at a con-
siderable pressure, and in such quantities that it would

have been impossible to reduce the head by pumping. It
was evident that any attempt to excavate down to the
clay level would be followed by the blowing up of the
whole clay bed and the destruction of the adjacent dam.
It was, therefore, decided entirely to enclose the site of
the lock by interlocked steel piling, which was driven
well into the lower bed of clay, so that the surround-
ing water was completely shut out. This method proved
altogether successful, and although the construction of

the lock was delayed for a lengthy period, no further
difficulties presented themselves, and when the steel
piling was done the building of the lock walls and invert
proceeded uninterruptedly. This, however, was only
typical of what the excavators had to encounter. The