Floating Dock (1914)

Floating dock (1866-c1914)

Port of Building: Albany
Year built: 1866
Rig Type: Floating dock
Hull: Wood
Length: 129.5 ft (39.47 m)
Breadth: 30.0 ft (9.14 m)
Depth: 9.33 ft (2.84 m)
Tonnage: 401 at 5 ft draught, 120.75 displacement
Date lost: c1914
Location: Princess Royal Harbour
Chart Number: WA 1083, AUS 109, AUS 118 & BA 2619
Protection: The site when found will be protected under the general provisions of the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976
Significance criteria: 4 & 7

THE VESSEL
In 1862 the P&O Company at Albany received four iron lighters, each of 140 tons, 76 feet long (23.2 m) with a beam of 18 feet (5.5 m). These arrived in sections and were assembled on the foreshore, the first being launched in early May 1863 and the last in April the following year. The company’s agent at Albany, William Carmalt Clifton, recommended the construction of either a patent slip or a floating dock so that the lighters and the company’s hulk Kingfisher could be cleaned and repaired when necessary. The small tidal range in Princess Royal Harbour made a slip impractical, so a decision was made to build a floating dock. Plans were drawn by Captain Charles Louis van Zuilecom, previously in command of the Hindoo, who also supervised the construction. On 14 April 1864 tenders were called for the supply of suitable timber, and building commenced in July.

Constructed mainly of jarrah (an estimated 100 tons) with iron fastenings, the dock was strongly built with a double bottom. It was enclosed on two sides and one end, and at the other end were gates that could be made water tight. Three valves, opened and shut by operating rods from the deck which ran around two sides and the enclosed end, were fitted to each side to enable water to be let in. This was let in until the dock sank. The vessel to be serviced was floated in and shored up, the gates were then closed and sealed and the water pumped out. Initially the pumping was done manually, but this was later replaced by a windmill, and then by a centrifugal steam pump. The steam for this pump was provided through a flexible copper hose either by the vessel being docked, or by a steam tender moored alongside. However, the windmill was retained to keep the dock dry when it was not being used, as the gates were not completely water tight.

The dock was constructed by Mr Daniels (P&O’s shipwright) broadside to the sea, and successfully launched that way on 14 April 1866 (much to the surprise of sceptics in the watching crowd).

When the P&O Company ceased operations in Albany the floating dock was taken over by Armstrong and Waters, and used for local vessels. Although originally guaranteed to last four years, the dock was still being used forty years later when it was used to dock a vessel of 130 tons during April 1906.

THE LOSS
Although still afloat at least until 1910, the dock had become worm eaten and began to leak badly. However, with no other dock available in which it could be repaired, during WW I it eventually sank. To prevent the dock being a hindrance to shipping, explosives were used to blow the sides and end so that the remains lay flat on the sea bed.

INITIAL SALVAGE
The pump was removed at an unknown date, and that gear which was easily salvaged after it sank was collected before the sunken dock was dynamited.

SITE LOCATION
The dock sank 100 m from the Town Jetty, towards and level with the Coal Jetty. The bottom and keel survived, and were visible up until the 1940s. There appears to have been no attempts made to remove the remains, which were subsequently buried under port developments during the 1950s.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL (4)
The buried remains of the floating dock have the potential to provide information on the construction of this rare vessel.

RARE (7)
This floating dock is the oldest of only three known wooden floating docks built in Australia. Only one is still in existence, at Mannum in South Australia. Launched in September 1873 to service the Murray River paddle steamers it proved unsuccessful and was later set into the bank of the Murray River for use as a berth for paddle steamers. The other was a barque converted at Melbourne in 1894-95 as a floating dock, and in the early 1960s burnt on the shore at Hobson Bay.

REFERENCES
Albany Advertiser, 28 April 1906: 4c.

Erickson, R., 1979, Dictionary of Western Australians: Free: 1850-1968, Volume 3. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands.

Garden, D.S., 1977, Albany: A Panorama of the Sound from 1827. Thomas Nelson (Australia) Limited, Melbourne.

Green, J. (ed.), 2008, Albany Foreshore project Stage Two Interim Maritime Archaeology Survey Report for Landcorp. Report – Western Australian Museum, Department of Maritime Archaeology, No. 232.

Johnson, L., 1997, Albany, Port with a Past and Future: A History of the Port of Albany, King George Sound, Western Australia. Albany Port Authority, Albany.

Marshall, G., 2001, Maritime Albany Remembered. Tangee Pty Ltd, Kalamunda.

The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times, 4 May 1866: 2f.

Western Australian Museum, Department of Maritime Archaeology, File No. 195/72

Wolfe, A., 1994, The Albany Maritime Heritage Survey 1627-1994. Unpublished manuscript Albany Town Library.