Wet Docks

Specially constructed basins for facilitating the loading and discharging of vessels. At high tide vessels are admitted into wet docks through a gate, which is closed again before the tide falls much, and by these means the water in these basins is kept at a uniform depth, and the vessels moored therein are not exposed to the dangers of open roadsteads, tides, etc. The finest and most extensive system of wet docks in the world is to be seen in England.