Engineering the docks : the construction and operation of the principal South Wales coal ports, c.1830-1914

The South Wales ports developed between 1830 and 1914 in response primarily to the demands of the steam-coal export trade. By the 1880s, the ports of South Wales had overtaken those of the North East to become the UK's principal coal-exporting region. The demand for steam coal was generated by the development of transport systems in the industrializing European and North American economies and, in particular, the expansion in steam-powered shipping fleets with the concomitant establishment of a network of bunkering stations to serve the long-distance trade routes. The construction of deep, modern dock complexes enabled a remarkable increase in coal exports; the resultant growth of the South Wales steam-coal export trade was an outstanding feature of Britain's late nineteenth-century economy. The South Wales colliery proprietors sought to meet this increasing export demand for high quality steam coal in an efficient and cost effective manner. A necessary condition for this was the development of sufficient capacity and capability at the South Wales docks which, in turn, required a concerted response from the engineering community and the dock operating authorities. The innovative techniques and solutions they developed to construct and operate the leading coal ports of Newport, Cardiff and Barry, constitute the central problematic that runs through this thesis. The engineers who were responsible for the construction and operation of Newport, Cardiff and Bany Docks included leading members of the civil engineering profession as well as lesser known engineers; most were members of the new engineering institutions. This thesis demonstrates that their contribution (and that of the dock authorities) was crucial in meeting the growing demands of foreign steam-coal markets. It also shows how the practices and attitudes of the professional engineering community were informed by both formal and informal means of knowledge transfer.