3-047-084 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The hydraulic lift graving dock, Bombay Harbour, 1872. 'The new floating dock on Hog Island, at the head of Bombay harbour, was opened on Sept. 16...It stands in a depth of about 50 ft. to 60 ft., at low water, with a rise and fall of 15 ft. Two rows of cast-iron pillars, numbering thirty-six in all, eighteen on each side, have been put up, sufficient in extent longitudinally, to take in a ship of 400 ft. in length, and sufficiently wide apart, transversely, to admit one of a corresponding breadth of beam. The pillars are connected at the top longitudinally, but not transversely, with girders, which tie them together and give them stability. Each pillar or column some of which are 109 ft. long, towering up 36 ft'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.