{"id":"01KG8AKS80AD42MK34THGESCP2","cid":"bafkreiaygfzg5qnryavzevz27ys5stakcfphxati3ct2bwn4vywpcz3oe4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6343,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":6286,"text":"CHAPTER XXXII.\r\nTHE DOCKS\r\n\r\n\r\nFor more than six weeks, the ship Highlander lay in Prince’s Dock; and\r\nduring that time, besides making observations upon things immediately\r\naround me, I made sundry excursions to the neighboring docks, for I\r\nnever tired of admiring them.\r\n\r\nPrevious to this, having only seen the miserable wooden wharves, and\r\nslip-shod, shambling piers of New York, the sight of these mighty docks\r\nfilled my young mind with wonder and delight. In New York, to be sure,\r\nI could not but be struck with the long line of shipping, and tangled\r\nthicket of masts along the East River; yet, my admiration had been much\r\nabated by those irregular, unsightly wharves, which, I am sure, are a\r\nreproach and disgrace to the city that tolerates them.\r\n\r\nWhereas, in Liverpool, I beheld long China walls of masonry; vast piers\r\nof stone; and a succession of granite-rimmed docks, completely\r\ninclosed, and many of them communicating, which almost recalled to mind\r\nthe great American chain of lakes: Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron,\r\nMichigan, and Superior. The extent and solidity of these structures,\r\nseemed equal to what I had read of the old Pyramids of Egypt.\r\n\r\nLiverpool may justly claim to have originated the model of the “Wet\r\nDock,”[1] so called, of the present day; and every thing that is\r\nconnected with its design, construction, regulation, and improvement.\r\nEven London was induced to copy after Liverpool, and Havre followed her\r\nexample. In magnitude, cost, and durability, the docks of Liverpool,\r\neven at the present day surpass all others in the world.\r\n\r\n [1] This term—_Wet Dock_—did not originate, (as has been erroneously\r\n opined by the otherwise learned Bardoldi); from the fact, that persons\r\n falling into one, never escaped without a soaking; but it is simply\r\n used, in order to distinguish these docks from the _Dry-Dock_, where\r\n the bottoms of ships are repaired.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe first dock built by the town was the _“Old Dock,”_ alluded to in my\r\nSunday stroll with my guide-book. This was erected in 1710, since which\r\nperiod has gradually arisen that long line of dock-masonry, now\r\nflanking the Liverpool side of the Mersey.\r\n\r\nFor miles you may walk along that river-side, passing dock after dock,\r\nlike a chain of immense fortresses:—Prince’s, George’s, Salt-House,\r\nClarence, Brunswick, Trafalgar, King’s, Queen’s, and many more.\r\n\r\nIn a spirit of patriotic gratitude to those naval heroes, who by their\r\nvalor did so much to protect the commerce of Britain, in which\r\nLiverpool held so large a stake; the town, long since, bestowed upon\r\nits more modern streets, certain illustrious names, that Broadway might\r\nbe proud of:—Duncan, Nelson, Rodney, St. Vincent, Nile.\r\n\r\nBut it is a pity, I think, that they had not bestowed these noble names\r\nupon their noble docks; so that they might have been as a rank and file\r\nof most fit monuments to perpetuate the names of the heroes, in\r\nconnection with the commerce they defended.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRKN0AFHV4QZYJCEBMVJ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKS808DGBPSZZF0XCQD1M","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.616Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.181Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}