We shall next describe certain features connected with traffic on, under, and over the Thames.

The River and its Shipping.—The Thames stream rises in the interior of the country, at the distance of 138 miles above London, and enters the sea on the east coast about sixty miles below it. It comes flowing between low, fertile, and village-clad banks, out of a richly ornamented country on the west; and, arriving at the outmost suburbs of the metropolis, it pursues a winding course, between banks thickly lined with dwelling-houses, warehouses, manufactories, and wharfs, for a space of several miles, its breadth being here from an eighth to a-third of a mile. The tides affect it for fifteen or sixteen miles above the city; but the salt water comes no farther than Gravesend, or perhaps Greenhithe. However, such is the volume and depth of water, that vessels of great magnitude can sail or steam up to London. Most unfortunately, the beauty of this noble stream is much hidden from the spectator, there being very few quays or promenades along its banks. With the exception of the summit of St. Paul’s or the Monument, and the Custom House quay, the only good points for viewing the river are the bridges, which cross it at convenient distances, and by their length convey an accurate idea of the breadth of the channel. Formerly there were many light and fanciful boats for hire on the Thames; but these are now greatly superseded by small steamers, which convey crowds of passengers up and down the river.

The part of the river between London Bridge and Blackwall, an interval of several miles, constitutes the Port; and here are constantly seen lying at anchor great numbers of vessels. The portion immediately below the bridge is called the Pool, where coal-ships are usually ranged in great number. It is curious to watch, while passing up and down the river, the way in which coals are transferred, by labourers called coal-whippers, from the ships into barges, in which they are conveyed to the wharfs of the several coal-merchants. At wharfs between the Custom House and the bridge lie numerous steam-vessels which ply to Greenwich, Woolwich, Gravesend, Margate, and other places of resort down the Thames; also steamers for continental ports. London, as has already been observed, possesses no line of quays on the river. The trade with the ships is carried on at wharfs jutting upon the water. The Thames is placed under strict police regulations with respect to trade; certain places being assigned to different classes of vessels, including those which arrive from the Tyne, Wear, and Tees with coal, and all coasters. The trade connected with the Port is mostly carried on in the closely built part of the metropolis adjacent to the Thames. Almost the whole of this district consists of narrow streets, environed by warehouses and offices, making no external show, but in which an incalculable amount of trade is transacted.

Entrance West India Docks

The Docks.—As a relief to the river, and for other reasons, there are several very large Docks. The lowest or most eastern are the Victoria Docks, in Essex, just beyond the river Lea. They cover an area of 200 acres, and have been the means of introducing many improvements in the accommodation of shipping. The hydraulic lift at these docks, for raising and supporting ships during repair, is well worth looking at. Next are the East India Docks, constructed in 1806; they consist of two docks and a basin, covering 32 acres. Near these are the West India Docks, the entrances to which are at Blackwall and Limehouse; in these large depÔts of shipping connected with the West India and other trade may at all times be seen some hundreds of vessels, loading or unloading in connection with the warehouses around. The largest of these docks is 24 feet deep, 510 feet long, and 498 wide; and, with a basin, they cover nearly 300 acres. Farther up the river, and near the Tower, in the district called Wapping, are the London Docks and St. Katharine’s Docks. The London Docks consist of one enclosure to the extent of 20 acres, another of smaller dimensions, a basin, and three entrances from the river. These are surrounded by warehouses for the reception of bonded goods, and beneath the warehouses are vaults for bonded liquors. The principal warehouse for the storing of tobacco in bond till it is purchased and the duties paid, is situated close beside a special dock called the Tobacco Dock. The Tobacco Warehouse occupies no less than five acres of ground, and has accommodation for 24,000 hogsheads of tobacco. The sight of this extraordinary warehouse, and of the Wine-Vaults, is not soon to be forgotten. The vaults are arched with brick, and extend east and west to a great distance, with diverging lines also of great length, the whole being like the streets of an underground town. Along the sides are ranged casks of wine to an amount apparently without limit. There is accommodation for 65,000 pipes. These cellars being dark, all who enter and go through them carry lights. Admission may be had by procuring an order from a wine-merchant to taste and examine any pipes he may have in bond: a cooper accompanies the visitor to pierce the casks. Besides this large vault, which principally contains port and sherry, there are other vaults for French wines, &c. St. Katharine’s Docks, between the Tower and the London Docks, were formed in 1828, on a site which required the removal of more than 1,200 houses and 13,000 inhabitants; the earth obtained by the excavation was employed in raising the site for some of the new streets and squares of Pimlico. There are twelve acres of water area, and about as much of quays and warehouses. On the south of the Thames are the Commercial and the Grand Surrey Docks, the great centre of the timber trade. The various docks are the property of joint-stock companies, who receive rents and dues of various kinds for their use.

Thames Tunnel.—With the view of effecting a ready communication for wagons and other carriages, and foot-passengers, between the Surrey and Middlesex sides of the river, at a point where, from the constant passage of shipping, it would be inconvenient to rear a bridge, a tunnel or sub-river passage was designed by a joint-stock company. The idea of tunnelling under the river, by the way, was not a novel one. In 1802 a company was got up with a similar notion, Trevethick, the inventor of the high-pressure engine, being its engineer. It came to nought; and in 1825 Mr. (afterwards Sir) Marc Isambard Brunel began his tunnel, at a point about two miles below London Bridge, entering on the southern shore at Rotherhithe, and issuing at Wapping on the other. The water broke in in 1827, and again in 1828, when six men perished. After all the funds were exhausted, and the Government had advanced no less than £246,000 by way of loan, the work, after many delays, was opened in 1843. The total, cost was £468,000. The tunnel consisted of two archways, 1,300 feet long, the thickness of the earth being about 15 feet between the crown of the tunnel and the river’s bed. As a speculation—toll 1d.—it never paid. The descent was by a deep, dirty staircase; and only one arch was open for foot-passengers. But now that the East London Railway Company have purchased it, a wholesome change has come. Some 40 trains are now running backwards and forwards through it, from Wapping to Rotherhithe, and thence to Deptford and New Cross, and vice versÂ. And so, at last, the once well-nigh useless scheme, which wore out Brunel’s heart, has been, some twenty-two years after his death, made of great service to that part of London.

The Tower Subway.—In the neighbourhood of the Tunnel a subway has been formed, consisting of an iron tube, 7 feet in diameter, laid below the bed of the Thames. It belongs to a Limited Liability Company. It was commenced in February, 1869, and opened for tramway traffic on 12th April, 1870. Being a losing speculation, the tramway cars ceased to run on 7th December, 1870; but it was opened for foot-passengers on the 24th of that month, and it is the intention of the Company to continue it only as such. It is reached at each end by a spiral staircase of 96 steps. Its whole length is 1225 feet. A charge of ½d. is made for each person passing through this Tunnel. The Tunnel is well lighted up with gas, and the average heat by the thermometer is 65 degrees.

Albert Bridge, Chelsea

Bridges.—The communication between the northern and southern sections of the metropolis is maintained by means of various bridges. Excluding Albert Suspension Bridge, (between Cadogan Pier, Chelsea, and Albert Road, leading into Battersea Park,) commenced in 1865, and not yet open, the number is 14—as follow: 1. London Bridge, built by Rennie, and opened in 1831; it is 928 feet long, and 54 wide; it has 5 arches, of which the centre is 152 feet span, and cost, with the approaches, £2,000,000. This is regarded as one of the finest granite bridges in the world. 2. South-Eastern Railway Bridge, to connect the London Bridge Station with a new terminus in Cannon Street; this bridge, having five lines of railway, is midway between London Bridge and the one next to be named. 3. Southwark Bridge, by Rennie, was opened in 1819; it is of iron, 708 feet long, with three magnificent arches, the centre one of 402 feet span; it was a toll bridge, and cost £800,000. In 1865, it was made free, and remains so, by arrangement between the Company and the Corporation. 4. Blackfriars Railway Bridge, with four lines of rail, connects the Metropolitan Railway north of the Thames with the Chatham and Dover Railway on the south. Blackfriars Bridge 5. Old Blackfriars Bridge, by Mylne, was opened in 1769; it consisted of 19 arches, and was 995 feet long. The foundations, however, having become decayed, the bridge was pulled down, and a magnificent new one, by Mr. Cubitt, built its place. A wooden bridge of remarkable construction, with a foot-way over the carriage-way, did duty for traffic till the opening of Mr. Cubitt’s present structure. This was formally done by the Queen in person, November 6, 1869. The entire width of the new bridge is 75 feet, the foot-paths being 15 feet each, with a fine road between them, 45 feet in breadth from kerb to kerb. The entire length of the bridge, including approaches, is 1,272 feet, and its centre arch has a span of 185 feet in the clear. It has four piers. All its iron (except the ornamental portion, which is of cast metal) is hammered. With its handsome polished red granite piers, Portland stone capitals, and florid Venetian Gothic ornamentation, light-looking yet massive iron arches, spandrils, and parapets, and its general tout ensemble, new Blackfriars is, bearing all things in mind, one of the cheapest permanent bridges thrown across the Thames. Its total cost is under £400,000. 6. Waterloo Bridge, one of the most magnificent in the world, was built by Rennie, and was opened in 1817; it is flat from end to end, 1,380 feet long, or 2,456 with the approaches; it consists of nine beautiful arches of 120 feet span, and cost £1,000,000; a toll of one halfpenny per passenger yields a very poor return on this outlay. 7. Hungerford Suspension Bridge has been replaced by a fine new bridge, partly for foot-passengers, and partly for the Charing Cross extension of the South-Eastern Railway. 8. Old Westminster Bridge, opened in 1750, is now all removed, to make way for a beautiful new bridge of iron, with granite piers, built by Mr. Page, opened for traffic in 1862. It is about 1,160 feet long by 85 feet wide. 9. Lambeth Bridge, a wire-rope suspension bridge of economical construction, from Westminster to near Lambeth Church, was opened in 1862. 10. Vauxhall Bridge, built by Walker, was opened in 1816; it is of iron, 798 feet long, and consists of nine equal arches. 11. Pimlico Railway Bridge, from Pimlico to the commencement of Battersea Park, connects the Victoria Station with the Brighton and other railways. 12. Chelsea Suspension Bridge, very near the bridge last named, gives easy access from Chelsea to Battersea, and is a light and elegant structure. 13. Battersea Bridge is an old wooden structure, unsightly in appearance, inconvenient to passengers over it, and still more so to steamboats under it. 14. West London Extension Railway Bridge, opened in 1863, crosses the Thames from a point a little above Cremorne Gardens to Battersea town; it is a link to connect various railways on the north of the river with others on the south. Putney Bridge, Hammersmith Suspension Bridge, Barnes Railway Bridge, and Kew Bridge, may or may not be included in this series, according to the acceptation of the indefinite word ‘Metropolis.’

Steam-boat Piers.—If you wish to go eastward of London Bridge, on the north side of the river, you will find steam-boats at London Bridge to take you to Thames Tunnel Pier, Limehouse, Blackwall, and North Woolwich. On the south side, at the Surrey end of London Bridge, you can take boat for Rotherhithe, Commercial Docks, Greenwich, Charlton, and Woolwich. If you wish to go westward from London Bridge, on the north side, you can take boat thence for the following piers:—Bridge, Paul’s Wharf, Temple Stairs, Waterloo Bridge, Hungerford Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Millbank, Pimlico, Thames Bank, Chelsea, and Battersea; and on the south side, at Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Stairs, Vauxhall, Battersea Park, Wandsworth, Putney, Hammersmith Bridge, and Kew. The steamers make an amazing number of trips each way daily, between these several piers, at intervals varying with the season, and at fares ranging from one penny to fourpence. For example, the fare by the Citizen boats from London Bridge to Westminster is 1d.; to Pimlico, 2d.; Chelsea and Battersea, 3d. If you wish to go quickly from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge, you will avoid delays at piers by getting one of the penny boats which run every ten minutes from Westminster to London Bridge, only calling at Hungerford. Steamers for Kew, in the summer, run about every half-hour from London Bridge, calling at intermediate up-river piers—return ticket, 1s. From Cadogan Pier, Chelsea, you can go to Kew for 4d. And on Sundays and Mondays you can go up as far as Richmond, if the tide allow, at half-past 10 a.m. from Hungerford—return ticket, about 1s. 6d. For more distant journeys, such as to Erith, Gravesend, Sheerness, Southend, &c., by excursion steam-boats. To Gravesend and back, the fare is 1s. 6d.; Sheerness and Southend and back, 2s. 6d. Boats generally leave Hungerford Bridge for Gravesend and Erith every half-hour up to 12, and leave London Bridge at 2 and half-past 4 p.m.; they leave Hungerford Bridge for Southend and Sheerness at various times from half-past 8, calling at London Bridge, returning in the afternoon or early evening.

The Thames Embankment

The Thames Embankment is one of the noblest works in the metropolis. As long ago as 1666 Sir Christopher Wren advocated such a scheme. Till Mr. Bazalgette, the engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works, (who, by the way, planned the main drainage,) came forward with his plans, there had been scores of others, all over-costly and few practicable. The work was virtually begun in 1862. Both south and north embankments are now open. The former (or Albert Embankment) was opened the entire length, from Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall, on the 1st September, 1869; the latter, (or Victoria Embankment,) from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars, in the middle of July, 1870. What the ultimate cost will be of both these gigantic works it is for us here impossible to tell. Already the metropolitan public hare paid for their new Thames boulevard £1,650,000.

And now—in the case of the northern embankment, for example—let us consider what vast difficulties have had to be surmounted. The words of an excellent authority put the matter very concisely as follows:—“The river had to be dammed out for some thirty-eight acres—the mud had to be dredged out down to the London clay—the granite walls had to be built below low-water mark; behind these the low-level sewer had to be constructed. Over this, again, had to come the subway, and behind all the District Railway, which runs at an average of about eighteen feet below the surface. It is not known what materials were required for the railway; but what was used for the Embankment is known. It was:—Granite, 650,000 cubic feet; brickwork, 80,000 cubic yards; concrete, 140,000 cubic yards; timber, (for cofferdam, &c.,) 500,000 cubic feet; caissons, (for ditto,) 2,500 tons; earth filling, 900,000 cubic feet; excavation, 144,000 cubic feet; York paving, 90,000 superficial feet; broken granite, 50,000 yards superficial. The railway works would make these totals still more formidable. London is now the metropolis of engineering works, but there is no part of it in which so many and such varied and difficult kinds centre as in the Thames Embankment. A section of it would be a study for engineers for all time.”

The public foot-way had been open since July, 1868. It was for the formal opening of the carriage-way that the Prince of Wales, on 13th July, 1870, drove from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars along the Northern Embankment’s carriage-way. This is sixty-four feet wide, and the foot-way on the land-side is sixteen feet wide, and that on the river-side is twenty feet wide. Along the river-side are planted rows of trees, which in a few years will afford an unbroken line of shade, doubtless. As the railway works were completed sufficiently to admit of it, this main roadway has been extended to the Mansion-House, by means of a new street—Queen Victoria Street—referred to in a former page. There is thus one broad, airy thoroughfare between the Houses of Parliament, and the West End, and the heart of the city.It will be obvious that though so much has been done, much yet remains to be accomplished ere the Thames Northern Embankment is regularly completed. The carriage-way, for the present, has only been gravelled and macadamized. The reason is, that in newly-made rotten earth its sinking down must be allowed for, for some time, ere it can all be paved, like London Bridge, with “granite pitching.” Four regular approaches into the Strand—by way of Villiers, Norfolk, Surrey, and Arundel Streets—have been made; and there are three other ways which go from Westminster, Whitehall, and Blackfriars; another is in progress from Charing Cross.

Starting from the western end, the Metropolitan District Railway has already open, along this embankment, five stations, called Westminster, Charing Cross, Temple, Blackfriars, and Mansion House.

The wall of the Thames Northern Embankment just alluded to is, to quote once more, “constructed generally of brickwork faced with granite, and is carried down to a depth of 32½ feet below Trinity high-water mark, the foundation being of Portland cement concrete. The level of the roadway generally is four feet above Trinity high-water mark, except at the two extremities, where it rises to Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges to an extreme height of about 20 feet above high-water. The rising ground for both these approaches is retained by a granite faced wall, similar in character to the general Embankment wall.

“The face of the Embankment forms a graceful curve, having a plane face to about mean high-water level, and being ornamented above that level with mouldings, which are stopped at intervals of about seventy feet with plain blocks of granite, intended to carry lamp standards of cast-iron, and relieved on the river face by bronze lions’ heads carrying mooring rings. The uniform line of the Embankment is broken at intervals by massive piers of granite, flanking recesses for pontoons or landing stages for steamboats, and at other places by stairs projecting into the river, and intended as landing-piers for small craft. The steamboat piers occur at Westminster, Charing Cross, and Waterloo Bridges; and those for boats midway between Westminster and Charing Cross, and between Charing Cross and Waterloo Bridge; and both are combined opposite Essex Street. It is intended eventually to surmount the several blocks and pedestals with groups of statuary.”