Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders

David Logan and later engineers continued the practice of dredging and by 1871, under the direction of Clyde Navigation Engineer James Deas, a minimum depth of 22 ft at high water was available between Greenock and the Broomielaw quays, a distance of some 22 miles.

Major developments included the building of the immense Cessnock Dock to the south [later renamed Pronce's Dock]. The now-disused graving docks near the entrance of 551 by 72 by 22 ft 10 in. deep (1875), 575 by 67 by 22 ft 10 in. deep (1886) and 880 by 83 by 2612ft deep, 130 ft longer than the Prince of Wales Dock, Southampton (1897), were built under the direction of Deas and exemplify the heyday of Glasgow as a mercantile port and, in terms of population, Britain’s second largest city.

R Paxton and J Shipway

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.