Dock

The word dock (from

"Dock" may also refer to a dockyard (also known as a shipyard) where the loading, unloading, building, or repairing of ships occurs.

History

The earliest known docks were those discovered in Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor, of Pharaoh Khufu, dating from c.2500 BC located on the Red Sea coast.^[1][2] Archaeologists also discovered anchors and storage jars near the site.^[3]

A dock from

In British English, a dock is an enclosed area of water used for loading, unloading, building or repairing ships. Such a dock may be created by building enclosing harbour walls into an existing natural water space, or by excavation within what would otherwise be dry land.

There are specific types of dock structures where the water level is controlled:

• A wet dock or
  lock, thus allowing ships to remain afloat at low tide in places with high tidal ranges. The level of water in the dock is maintained despite the rising and falling of the tide. This makes transfer of cargo easier. It works like a lock which controls the water level and allows passage of ships. The world's first enclosed wet dock with lock gates to maintain a constant water level irrespective of tidal conditions was the Howland Great Dock on the River Thames, built in 1703. The dock was merely a haven surrounded by trees, with no unloading facilities. The world's first commercial enclosed wet dock, with quays and unloading warehouses, was the Old Dock at Liverpool
  , built in 1715 and held up to 100 ships. The dock reduced ship waiting giving quick turnarounds, greatly improving the throughput of cargo.
• A
  drydock
  is another variant, also with dock gates, which can be emptied of water to allow investigation and maintenance of the underwater parts of ships.
• A floating dry dock (sometimes just floating dock) is a submersible structure which lifts ships out of the water to allow dry docking where no land-based facilities are available.

Where the water level is not controlled berths may be:

• Floating, where there is always sufficient water to float the ship.
• NAABSA (Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground) where ships settle on the bottom at
  low tide. Ships using NAABSA facilities have to be designed for them.^[8]

In American English, the term for the water area between piers is slip.

In parts of both the US and Canada

In the cottage country of Canada and the United States, a dock is a wooden platform built over water, with one end secured to the shore. The platform is used for the boarding and offloading of small boats.

• 
  A boat dock on Lake Michigan in Chicago.
• 
  Docks along San Francisco Bay in Tiburon, California
• 
  Floating dock at Mohonk Mountain House

See also

• Dry dock: a narrow basin that can be flooded and drained to allow a load to come to rest on a dry platform
• Ferry slip: a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat
• Floating dock (impounded)
• Floating dock (jetty): a walkway over water, made buoyant with pontoons
• Harbor
• Jetty: a landing stage or small pier at which boats can dock or be moored.
• Marina: a boat basin offering dockage and other service for small craft
• Mole (architecture)
• Ore dock
• Pier: a raised walkway over water, supported by widely spread pilings or pillars
• Pontoon (boat)
  : a buoyant device, used to support docks or floating bridges
• Quay
  : a concrete, stone, or metal platform lying alongside or projecting into water for loading and unloading ships.
• Slipway: a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water
• Wharf: a fixed platform, commonly on pilings, where ships are loaded and unloaded

References

Bibliography

• Rao, S. R. (1985). Lothal, a Harappan Port Town (1955–62). New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India.
  OCLC 60370124
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Docks.

Look up dock in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Encyclopædia Britannica, "dry-dock"