3-039-212 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Somerset naval dry dock at Malta, 1871. 'One of the most important works of its kind executed for the British Government has recently been completed and opened with great success at Malta...where the largest class of men-of-war might be docked and repaired. The application of the screw-propeller to men-of-war of every description renders such accommodation most necessary. The new dock...is the largest naval dry dock in the world, being 7 ft. deeper than the largest at Portsmouth...The ground was full of faults and fissures, through which the sea-water rushed in torrents...but eight powerful pumping-engines, working day and night, at last brought the water down...The cost appears large (about £180,000); but it is not really so, considering the very large outlay that was necessary to clear the ground...At the entrance of the dock a crane is fixed, calculated to lift forty tons. The engine-house contains two engines, of 60-horse power each, working three of Gwynne's centrifugal pumps. These discharge three jets, each of which is 36 in. in diameter. It also contains a drainage-engine of about 30-horse power, to keep the dock dry by means of a powerful hydraulic pump, which also lifts the penstock and sluices'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.