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Dundee Harbour
Dundee has enjoyed, from the
remotest period of our national history, many facilities for
the encouragement of trade. But it is only in more recent
times that she has risen to that eminence which now places
her among the first-rate commercial towns of the empire. That
laudable spirit of enterprise which has encircled the whole
island with new or improved ports and harbours, has operated
most beneficially for those of Dundee; where, within the last
twenty or thirty years, almost every improvement which either
science could suggest or wealth accomplish has been carried
into effect. On the return of peace in 1815, the first great
impulse was given to the manufactures and commerce of Dundee,
by the renovation and extension of the harbour. Prior to that
epoch, the accommodation provided for shipping was adapted
to the most limited commerce only. One small pier and two
or three clumsy erections in a state of dilapidation, and
which it required a boat to reach, constituted the sole protection
afforded to the shipping, and the only convenience for discharging
or loading. Although the spirit of enlightened enterprise
had been at work for several years, it was only at this late
period that application was made to Parliament, and a bill
obtained for separating the harbour from the other branches
of the common good, and for Investing the management of it
for a term of years in district commissioners, who were selected
partly from the magistrates, and partly from the public bodies
of the town. Great pains were taken to procure the best plans;
and after all preliminaries had been settled, the work was
begun and carried on with such extraordinary activity, that,
although everything was finished in the most substantial manner,
all was accomplished within the time specified.
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