Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/440

 and labourers employed in warehouses was then computed at thirty-six thousand three hundred and forty-four, of whom no fewer than nine thousand six hundred were pronounced by Mr. Colquhoun as delinquents and participators in the rascality then prevailing. In addition to these, there were one hundred river-pirates, two hundred night-plunderers, two hundred "light-horsemen," five hundred and fifty receivers of a dozen different classes, besides two hundred mudlarks, most of whom had no other calling, forming together a formidable band of ten thousand eight hundred and fifty marauders, who constituted the component parts of this great machine of organized crime, to the loss of the revenue and the infinite detriment of the best interests of commerce and navigation.

Towards the close of the last century the harbour accommodation for the greatly increasing amount of merchant shipping frequenting London was, with the exception of that part where small vessels discharged their cargoes between Blackfriars and London Bridge, limited to that portion of the river extending from London Bridge to Deptford, being in length about four miles, with an average width of four hundred and fifty yards. This harbour comprised—1st. The Upper Pool, from London Bridge to Union Hole, for ships of two hundred and fifty tons and under, being in length sixteen hundred yards, and capable of holding three hundred and twenty-nine vessels, coasters and other small craft. 2nd. The Middle Pool, from Union Hole to Wapping New Stairs for ships of three hundred and fifty tons, being seven hundred and fifty yards,