East India Docks, Blackwall

The East India Docks were constructed between 1803-1806 and were the third set of wet docks built on the River Thames, in the early 19th century. By the end of the 18th century East Indiamen ships had been sailing from Blackwall for almost 200 years.

The East India Company, founded in 1600, shipped valuable goods from the East to the River Thames. It was a rich, powerful and well organised body using the largest two ships that frequented the Port of London. The valuable cargoes were moved by barge to the city, then carried to the company's spacious warehouses on Billiter Street and Cutler Street.

In January 1804 the lock was widened to 48 ft across to allow the largest East Indiamen, of up to 1,500 tonnes, to enter the docks.

The Export Dock

In September 1804 Hugh McIntosh used a horse operated bucket dredger to excavate 8,000 tonnes of mud from the former ship repair yard, Brunswick Dock, to give a uniform depth of 22 ft. The south wall was built in brick, but the original timber walls of the Brunswick Dock were retained on the other three sides.

The Export Dock was also home to the emigrant's ships. In the 19th century companies including Green's, Wigram's and Dunbar's all used the docks as their embarkation point. By 1905 the Export Dock was principally used by sailing ships and steamers.

After suffering from bomb damage, during World War II, the Export Dock was sold in 1946 and filled in to make way for Brunswick Wharf Power Station. The power station was closed down in the 1980s and demolished. Now the site is home to Virginia Quay.

The Import Dock

The most important element of the East India Docks was the Import Dock. Covering almost 60 acres it provided room to unload the precious goods from the East Indiamen returning from their voyages.

Excavations began in 1803 using pumps, buckets, rods, pipes, and valves impounding 18 acres of water.

The work included a labour force of up to 400 men and 100 horses. Dredging 625,000 cubic yards of earth. Making nine million bricks from the excavated topsoil to form the dock walls and using 50 tonnes of old iron hoops to strengthen the walls.

The walls of the Import Dock were constructed with a curved profile which was ideally suited to the shape of the hulls of the East Indiamen.

During World War II the Import Dock played an important role in the construction of the Mulberry floating harbours for the D-Day landings in Normandy, in 1944. After World War II the Import Dock was filled in and a number of new developments, including the Financial Times Print Works (1987-88) and Telehouse Europe (1988-90), were built.

The Lock

The Entrance Lock, with a width of 48 ft, was the largest lock in the Port of London. It had a curved or rounded bottom, unlike the shallow inverts of the locks constructed at West India Docks.

In 1874 the East and West India Dock Company proposed a new eastern river Entrance Lock to the dock basin, to allow larger vessels into the dock. It was opened on August 2 1879. The total thickness of the wall was 20 ft at the bottom and 8 ft at the top. The new lock was 65 ft wide and was fitted with two pairs of wrought-iron double-skinned gates and had a depth of 31 ft of water, 4 ft deeper than any other on the River Thames. The new lock gates were supplied by the Thames Iron Works Company and the gate machinery by Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company.

These docks were for the exclusive use of vessels engaged in the East Indies trade. Their trade was in goods of high value but little bulk, compared to the West India Docks. The times of sailing were regulated by weather conditions in the Indian Ocean, meaning that ships could sail at certain times of the year.

The first departures of the year to Bombay and China left the River Thames between December and April, some left in June and the last ships of the year were dispatched to the Indian Ocean in mid-September.

In 1833 the Government ended the East India Company's monopoly which led to their amalgamation with the West India Docks, in 1839. Once the East India Docks became part of a larger dock system, on the River Thames, their role inevitably changed. The larger docks and deeper entrance basin of the East India Docks were better able to accommodate larger ships than the West India Docks and by the mid-19th century there was a change in their use, with a growing emphasis and reliance on the export trade.

The increasing export trade at the East India Docks encouraged the idea of a railway link from the north quay. The railway was built in 1860 as a branch line from Poplar station. By 1883 the chief imports of East India Docks were from Australia, the Colonies and America and included gold, rice, seed, tallow, wheat and wool.

Dock Workers

As well as the Dock Master, his deputy and an assistant, there were six officers and another six subordinates to supervise the workers. There were 30 labourers including watchmen, employed on yearly contracts, while another 100 people were engaged on a casual basis as 'lumpers' to load and unload the ships for eight months of the year. Work in the dock didn't start until 10:00. At 15:00 in the winter, or 16:00 in the summer, a bell was rung which announced that the gate was to close.

East India Docks Basin

Today, the East India Docks Basin is a salt marsh, which is very rare in south east England.

Many of the plants on the shore along the northern edge of the basin are salt marsh species that have evolved to cope with the high levels of salt and regular inundation by water on the highest tides.

The parts of the basin that are under water most of the time do not support any flowering plants, but they do support slimy algae. The algae help to bind particles in the water together, causing the mud to build up. This increases the length of time that the mud will be above the water.

If the mud remains exposed at high tide, even for only a couple of days a year, the first flowering plants can colonise. At East India Docks the first plant to colonise is Buttonweed. Buttonweed is not native, but was brought to England from South Africa and has been growing in the wild since 1869.

The roots and dead Buttonweed plants speed up the rate at which the mud builds up, enabling other species to grow. These species are very tolerant of the salt in the mud, but cannot tolerate being submerged as often as Buttonweed can.

Eventually, the mud builds up so high that it is only covered by salt water, during the highest tides, which is when you can find various grasses. Above this even trees such as birch and willow can grow.