Queens Dock Basin, Scotch derrick Crane

**Tassadar** · 28th November 2010, 17:21

Quick jaunt , visited solo, crossed whats left of the "Old Dock Bridge" not fun it started to crumble so had to hang ont to the railings , fun.

I guess this crane interested me from seeing atop of Rank Hovis

Hull's commerce was growing and the existing waterways were becoming congested. It was well placed to take advantage of the growth of the inland waterway network and the growing industrialisation of Yorkshire.

The construction of the new dock began on the 19th October 1775 with the first stone being laid by Joseph Outram Esq., the Mayor at this time and opened officially on Tuesday 22nd September 1778, and at this time was the largest dock in the Kingdom. It was simply named 'The Dock' and the original entrance was from the River Hull (Queens dock Basin)
. When the next dock was built it was then called 'The Old Dock' until 1854 it was finally named 'Queens Dock' in honour of the Royal visit (the first since 1642) by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who sailed along the length of all the existing docks of the time.

This dock was in use for over 150 years and when it finally closed in 1930 it was purchased by the Hull Corporation for £100,000. Over the next 4 years it was filled in and landscaped to become a Pleasure Garden now called Queens Gardens.

Originally the basin to Queens Dock with a Scotch Derrick crane
increase in shipping these offices moved, in 1871, to those at Queens Gardens. Behind and to the right of the Dock Offices building is the dry dock that belonged to the Blaydes and where the 400 ton Bethia (Bounty) was built in 1782. The large dry dock to the north of the Dock Offices was originally the basin to the Queens Dock lock, the Queens Dock being the other side of the Hull College, the large building to the west. The lock basin was turned into a dry dock in 1957 and was in operation into the 1990s. A plaque in the pavement and bricked lines in the road show the position of the old entrance to Queens dock. The lock gates are no longer water tight and the dock fills and empties with the tide.

The 'Scotch Derrick' was common in quarries, often seen in scrap yards and frequently used in the pre World War Two construction industry. They might be hand cranked or steam powered with a vertical boilered steam engine mounted on the turn-table at the foot of the mast. The heavy example shown below would typically have wooden strips nailed to one of the supporting struts to allow a man to climb to the top and grease the iron or steel pivot on top of the pillar. On some heavier examples the jib or boom could not be luffed and on these there would also be wooden strips added to allow access to the lifting pulley block.

The Scotch Derrick Crane is defined as :
A crane with a LUFFing and SLEWing jib pivoting at the base of a mast, the top of which supports jib cables, and which is supported by two rigid guys connected to each other and to the mast, with counterbalanced bases .