subsequent
entrances at Liverpool were given widths of 80 and 65 ft.; whereas none
of the locks in the port of London has been made wider than 80 ft.,
which has been the standard maximum width since the completion of the
Victoria dock in 1866. The widest locks at Cardiff are 80 ft., and the
entrance to the Barry docks is the same; but the lock of the Alexandra
dock, Hull, opened in 1885, was made 85 ft. wide. At Liverpool, where
the access to the docks is mainly through entrances, on account of the
small width between the river and the high ground rising at the back,
and where ample provision has to be made for the largest Atlantic
liners, though the entrances to the Langton dock, completed in 1881,
leading to the latest docks at the northern end were made 65 ft. wide,
with their sills 3 ft. below low water of spring tides and 20-1/2 ft.
below high water of the lowest neap tides, the two new entrances to the
deepened Brunswick dock near the southern end, giving access to the
adjacent reconstructed docks, completed in 1906, were made 80 and 100
ft. wide, with sills 28 ft. below high water of the lowest neap tides.
Moreover, the three new entrances to the new Sandon half-tide dock,
completed in 1906, communicating with the reconstructed line of docks to
the south of the Canada basin, and with the latest northern extensions
of the Liverpool docks, were made 40 ft. wide with a depth over the sill
of 24-1/2 ft., and 80 and 100 ft. wide on each end of the central
entrance, with sills 29 ft. below high water of the lowest neap tides,
each entrance being provided with two pairs of gates, in case of any
accident occurring to one pair, according to the regular custom at
Liverpool. Powers were also obtained in 1906 for the construction of a
half-tide dock and two branch docks to the north of the Hornby dock,
which are to be reached from the river by two entrances designed to be
130 ft. wide, with sills 38-1/2 ft. below high water of the lowest neap
tides, so as to meet fully the assumed future increase in the beam and
draught of the largest vessels; whilst the authorized extension of the
river wall northwards will enable additional docks to be constructed in
communication with these entrances when required.

Though, with the exception of Southampton and Dover, other British ports
do not aim, like Liverpool, at accommodating the largest Atlantic liners
at all times, the depths of the sills at the principal ports have been
increased