For the security of the shipping in the port, and for the greater facility of loading and unloading merchandize, an immense range of docks and warehouses, extending nearly two miles along the eastern bank of the river (the Mersey), has been constructed on a scale of unparalleled magnificence, and forming one of those characteristics of commercial greatness in which this town is unrivalled. The docks are of three kinds, the wet docks, the dry docks, and the graving docks; the wet docks are chiefly for ships of great burden employed in the foreign trade, and which float in them at all states of the tide, the water being retained by gates; the dry docks, so called because they are left dry when the tide is out, are chiefly appropriated to coasting vessels; and the graving docks, which admit or exclude the water at pleasure, are adapted to the repair of ships, during which they are kept dry, and when completed are floated out by admitting the tide. The Old Dock, which was the first of the kind constructed in England, and for making which, an act of parliament was obtained in 1708, is not now in use, its site having been appropriated to the erection of a new custom-house, and other offices connected with the trade of the port. The Dry Dock, which is about to be converted into a wet dock, was constructed under the authority of an act passed in the 11th of George II., and is chiefly occupied by sloops from the north coast, which import corn, provisions, and slate, and convey back the produce of the West Indies, the Mediterranean, Portugal, and Baltic: it has a quay five hundred yards in length, and has communication with three graving docks; it has been considerably enlarged, and many of the buildings surrounding it have been taken down with the view of obtaining more quay room. The Salthouse Dock, so named from some salt-works formerly contiguous to it, was constructed about the same time as the Dry Dock; the upper part of it is chiefly for ships that are laid up, and the lower part for vessels in the Levant, Irish, and coasting trades; the quay is seven hundred and fifty-nine yards in extent, and is provided with convenient warehouses, with arcades for foot-passengers on the east side, and extensive sheds on the west side; between this dock and the river are some ship-builders’ yards, which the corporation intend to convert into docks for the craft employed in the inland trade. George’s Dock was constructed in the 2d of George III., at an expense of 21,000_l._; it was originally two hundred and forty-six yards in length, and one hundred yards in breadth, with a quay of seven hundred yards in extent; but it has been enlarged, and the quay is now one thousand and one yards in length: on the east side is a range of extensive warehouses, in front of which is an arcade for foot-passengers: and on the west side are sheds for protecting the merchandize from the weather: at the north and