The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-22 00:00:00

PROVISIONALLY REGISTERED.

•
p LYMOUTH GREAT WESTERN DOCK
COMPANY.
Capital, 250,500/. ; in 12,500 Shares of 20/. each.
Deposit, 2/. per Share.
Liability limited to the amount of subscription.
PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE.

Charles Russell, Esq. M.P. chairman of the Great Western Railway
Company
Frederick Pratt Barlow. Esq. a director of the Great Western Rail-
way Company
James Gibbs, Esq. chairman of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
Company
William Morgan, Esq. 3 Directors of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
Christopher Harris, Esq. Naval Bank, Plymouth
Thomas Gill, Esq. M.P. chairman of the South Devon Railway
Company
Patrick Miller, Esq. M.D./ Directors of the South Devon Railway
John Rundle, Esq. Company
David Derry, Esq. Devon and Cornwall Bank, Plymouth
Robert M'Calmont, Esq. London
Robert Frederic Gower, Esq. London
•
Alexander Beattie, Esq. London
William Dougal Christie, Esq. M.P.
ENGINEER—I. K. Brunel, Esq.
BANKERS.

Plymouth—Messrs. Harris, Mudge and Co., Naval Bank; Devon and
Cornwall Bank ; The National Provincial Bank
Devonport—Messrs. Hodge and Norman
Tavistock—Messrs. Gill and Rundle
London—Messrs. Glyn, Hallifax and Co.
SOLICITORS.
Messrs. Whiteford, Bennett, and Tucker, Plymouth
Messsrs. W. 0. and W. Hunt, 10, Whitehall, London.
The position of the port of Plymouth, its facility of access in an
conditions ofweather, and at all hours of day and night, the extent of
its anch wage, and the security of the harbour, which have long main-
tained its pre-eminence as a naval station, promise to obtain for it, in
the improved state of its land communications, the same distinction
as a commercial port.
Plymouth, as the terminus of the South Devon Railway, is essen-
tially the great western port In the British Channel, and by the com-
pletion of the South Devon line, will, in the course of a few months,
be brought within six hours' journey of the metropolis. The distance
of the port from Birmingham is somewhat less than from London ;
and the Bristol and Exeter Railway, and its extensions eastward and
northward, afford a ready communication with the manufacturing
districts of the north ; whilst, locally, the projected Tavistock, Laun-
ceston, and North Devon Railways, will effect an immediate con-
nexion with the whole of the North and Central Devon and the
ports in the Bristol Channel.
The advantage to passengers of embarking at a port from which
they can proceed directly to sea in almost any state of wind, and of
being landed almost at the entrance of the Channel, can scarcely be
over-estimated, and the saving of expense to the shipowner in both
cases is at once apparent.
A reference to the records at Lloyd's will show the numerous
casualties which annually occur to shipping between Plymouth and
the Thames, all which would be avoided by adopting Plymouth as
the port of loading or discharging.
The efforts now being made, and the amount of capital directed, to
effect an accelerated communication between the manufacturing dis-
tricts of the north and their shipping ports, attest the importance
which the manufacturer and the merchant attach to the saving of
even a few hours, and of a few miles of distance, in the transit of
goods; and In adopting Plymouth, with its unequalled commercial
and maritime facilities, the entire navigation of the English and
Irish Channels, with their well-known detentions and casualties, win
be avoided.
These considerations are peculiarly important as respects those
branches of trade in which the utmost acceleration of the voyage is
often essential to the preservation of the cargo, or its advantageous
sale. From communications which have been had with commercial
houses in London engage 1 in the fruit and the Levant and Mediter-
ranean trades, it appears certain that a large proportion of their im-
ports will, on the completion of the South Devon lines, be landed at
Plymouth, and conveyed by railway to all parts of England.
The military defences of the harbour are now being strengthened
by additional fortifications ; and in the event of war, Plymouth
would obviously receive an immense influx of shipping of all descrip-
tions.
There are no port charges, and the rates of pilotage and lights are
very low, the latter being only 2d. per ton. The port possesses every
facility for the most extensive repairs which may be required by
shipping. Provisions of every description are cheap, and the mar-
keta abundantly supplied.
From It very advanced position in the Channel, and the extent
to which Plymouth possesses all the requirements of a public mail-
pticket station, its large Government establishments, its dockyard
and arsenal, and as the station of naval and military commanders-in-
chief, it can hardly be doubted that this port will, when the railway
communication with Bristol and London is complete, become the
resort of the vessels of the great Steam-Packet Companies, conveying
the Peninsular, Mediterranean, East and West India, and other
colonial mails.
The internal growth and development of the population and trade
of the port are indicative of a high degree of prosperity. The popu-
lation of Plymouth has nearly doubled within the last twenty years ;
and the increase in the assessable value of property subject to the
local rates has exceeded that ratio. Newastreets and buidings are
rapidly extending in every direction ; and numerous joint-stock and
private trading and manufacturing companies have been recently
formed, and are In successful operation. The trade of the port for the
year 1844 is given by an official return as follows :—lnwards, 3,339
vessels ; goods, 450,626 tons ; outwards, 2,124 vessels ; goods,
327,815 tons.
The shipping belonging to the port Is increasing in numbers and
tonnage ; and communication is almost daily going on between Ply-
mouth and London, Southampton, Portsmouth, Torquay, Dartmouth,
Falmouth, the Channel Islands, and France, Cork, Dublin, and Bel-
fast, by different steam-packet companies.
To meet the requirements of a trade and commerce thus advancing,
and to secure all the advantages which the port of Plymouth so pecu-
liarly presents, it is proposed to provide a capacious wet dock, with
extensive ranges of wharfage, warehouses, &c., fur which Millbay, by
its position, peculiar formation, and general circumstances, presents
extraordinary advantages.
Millbay occupies a position perfectly central to the three towns of
Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse, andis la innnediate proximity
to the terminus of the South Devon Railway. Sheltered from the
prevailing southerly winds by the Millbay Pier, the Breakwater, and
Drake's Island, it incloses an area of upwards of eighty acres, half of
which is excellent anchorage in from one to ten fathoms' water, at
largest
tt to tate,
t helo lowest
positionstate o
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thet i tide.
bay,. From
l constitutestl e peculiar
a fsoarfme
daonedk singularlyalmosti shel-
teredn
lits
natural state, and is capable, with works of very moderate extent, of
being converted into an extensive floating basin, with every suitable
e evens sr ya .t
low
wh
watere ntr entrance c
the
el oscpkr
in,
drawing sixteen feet of water; and the depth of water within the
basin will be upwards of twenty-two feet.
The basin is designed to be upwards of twenty acres ill extent ;
angimtlidtseso,fvbeesisneglsthortehde 15:r
and outside the basin, but within the shelter of the existing pier, a
considerable space will be appropriated to the reception of steamers
and other vessels touching at the port, and not requiring to enter the
deck

The Millbay branch of the South Devon Railway is designed to ex-
tend along the sides of the dock, so that the embarkation and landing
and removal of goods, can be conducted without the expense of cart-
age, and with the greatest facility.
The property on the shores of the bay is in the hands of a very
limited number of proprietors, and the interference with buildings or
other valuable property, which is ordinarily a source of heavy ex-
pense in undertakings of this nature, will be very inconsiderable.
The considerations already adverted to are sufficient to establish
the remunerative character of the undertaking, and these views will
derive additional force from considering the identity of interests
between a committee formed for the purpose of this undertaking,
and the powerful combination of railway interests which have been
so successfully engaged in promoting the South Devon line, and to
whom the increase of traffic with the port is manifestly of the
greatest importance.
An Act of Incorporation will be applied for in the ensuing session
of Parliament, for which every arrangement is in progress. Powers
will be sought by this Act to allow interest at 41. per cent. on the
deposit and all paid-up calls until the opening of the dock, and no
subscriber will incur liability beyond the amount of his subscription.
Applications for shares, in the form inclosed (accompanied by a
satisfactory reference where the parties are not personally known to
members of the Provisional Committee), may be addressed to the
solicitor, or to the following sharebrokers :—Messrs. Wells, West-
ropp, and Prinsep, 75, Old Broad-street, Messrs. Sutton, Gribble,
and Sutton, Royal Exchange, London; Messrs. Hopwood and
Palmer, or Messrs. Tyeth and Luscombe, Plymouth, of whom
copies of the prospectus may be obtained.