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Some account of the
PORT OF LONDON

and of the rise and progress of the
commercial Navy of Great Britain. 1834

SOURCE: The Saturday Magazine, No. 117. Supplement, April, 1834

An estimate of the vast extent of the SHIPPING AND COMMERCE of the Port of London, may be formed from the following particulars.

The average number of British ships and vessels, of all classes, in the river and docks, has been calculated at 13,444; of which the craft and lighters engaged in lading and unlading, amount to nearly 4000. About 3000 wherries are employed in the conveyance of passengers; and nearly 3000 barges and lighters are engaged in the inland trade. About 12,000 watermen (two-thirds of whom are free of the city,) are occupied in navigating the small boats and craft; 4000 labourers in lading and unlading ships; and 12,000 revenue officers are always on duty on the river. The annual value of the exports and imports, from and into the port, is computed to amount to between sixty and seventy millions sterling:—in 1806, they were little more than half that amount; and in 1825, they were nearly ninety-seven millions!

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