Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/353

This page needs to be proofread.
341
HOR — HOR
341

HULL 341 hospital for sick children, opened in 1873; the homoeopathic dispensary; the blind institute; the borough lunatic asylum, erected in 1849, with accommodation for 160 patients; the Hull workhouse, the Sculcoates union wotkhouse , the seamen s and general orphan asylum ; the sailors home, opened in 1860 ; the sailors orphan home and school, erected in 1863 ; Gregg s hospital, founded in 1416, Lister s in 1641, and Crowle s in 1661. Hull ranks as the third port of the United Kingdom, being surpassed in the value of its exports and imports by London and Liverpool only. The original harbour occu pied that part of the river Hull which faced the old town, but in 1774 an Act was passed for forming a dock on the site of the old fortifications, having its entrance at the upper end of the old harbour. This dock, known for some time as the Old dock, is 1703 feet long and 254 feet broad, and its area is 10 acres. In 1809 the Humber dock at the south end of the town was opened ; it is 914 feet long and 342 feet broad, and its area is 7 acres. These two docks were connected by a third, opened in 1829, at first named the Junction dock, its length being 645 feet and a breadth of 238 feet ; its area is 6 acres. After a visit paid to Hull by the Queen and Prince Albert in 1854, the name of the Old dock was changed to the Queen s dock, and that of the Junction dock to the Prince s dock. The Railway dock, opened in 1846, extends to 3 acres. In 1850 the Victoria dock was opened, on the east side of the river Hull, with entrances from it and the Plan of Hull. Humber, and occupied an area of about 12 J acres. In 1863 this dock was extended * acres eastward. In connexion with this dock was a timber pond of 9| acres, subsequently enlarged to 14 acres, and a new one of 11 acres was about the same date constructed near it. The Albert dock, opened by the prince of Wales in July 1869, occupies an area of 24| acres, and has a length of 3370 feet, with a breadth at the eastern end of 480 feet, and at the western end of 200 feet. To the west of it an additional dock of 6 acres was opened in May 1880. A capacious graving dock, 460 feet long, which is entered from the last-mentioned dock is now (1880) in course of construction. Another dock of 24 acres, to the west of the new West dock, has been commenced. Rails in connexion with the North-Eastern Railway are laid along the quays of the docks. In 1880 an Act was ob tained for a railway from Hull to Barnsley, and a dock in connexion with it. The shipping trade of Hull is chiefly with the Baltic ports, Denmark, Norway, Ger many, and Holland; but it has also regular steam com munication with the other principal ports of Europe, as well as with the United States, the Black Sea, Egypt, &c. In 1878 the number of ships that entered was 4996, with a tonnage of 1,750,977, and the number that cleared 4802, with a tonnage of 1,788,214. For the five years ending 1878 the average number of ships that entered was 4987, with a tonnage of 1,742,120, while 4857 cleared, with a tonnage of 1,726,151. The value of imports of foreign and colonial merchandise in 1878 was 17,849,197. and the average value for the five years 1874-78 was 18,038,263. The value of exports of produce of the United Kingdom in 1878 was 19,109,797, and the average value for the five years was 21,267,391. Hull is one of the principal shipping ports for the manu factures of Yorkshire and Lancashire, and imports large quantities of grain from Russia, Prussia, America, and the British colonies, and of timber from Norway and Sweden. The import of cattle is very large, and a commodious

cattle depot has been constructed. The deep-sea fishing is