Amsterdam Wooden Drydock II was the second floating dry dock of Amsterdam, and was moored in the Westerdok.
Context
A floating Dry dock in the Amsterdam Wet Docks
In November 1842 Amsterdam Wooden Drydock I, the first dry dock of Amsterdam had opened. It was a wooden floating dry dock, and was an immediate success, servicing 64 ships in just under a year. At the time Amsterdam had two large wet docks: Westerdok and Oosterdok. Drydock I was situated in the more important Oosterdok.
Rederij der Drijvende Droogdokken
The Rederij der Drijvende Droogdokken held a license to the patent to operate dry docks in Amsterdam for 5 years, i.e. till December 1846. In order to protect its investments, it would be logical to want to try to prolong this right, and to keep out the competition. Both required the Rederij der Drijvende Droogdokken to realize a second dry dock before the extinction of the patent. Primarily because an attempt to prolong the patent was not likely to be successful if authorities thought that the market was not well serviced. Second, because potential competitors would be attracted by a market that was not well served. Later on, numbers showed that the demand for dry dock capacity was even bigger than that serviced by the first two dry docks.
Another reason to build a second dry dock, was that the company also had to service demand in the Westerdok. Of course ships in the Westerdok could be towed to the Oosterdok to use the dry dock(s) there, but such a move cost so much money, that any competitor setting up shop in the Westerdok would have a good proposition.
Design, Construction and Characteristics
Ordering and Construction
By August 1844 it became known that shipping line Rederij der Drijvende Droogdokken had decided to build a second dry dock, and to moor it in the Westerdok. Because the dry dock was wider than the Westerdok lock, it would have been built by a shipyard in the Westerdok.
Characteristics
Amsterdam Wooden Drydock I had been based on an American dry dock that started to operate in New York in 1839-1840. The New York dry dock had been constructed by John S. Gilbert (1801-1891), inventor of the balance dry dock. In turn, Amsterdam Wooden Drydock II was an almost exact copy of Amsterdam Wooden Drydock I. Even the dimensions were about the same.
Drydock II was 49.50 m long, 18.70 m wide, and had a depth of hold of 6.50 m. Draft was 1.20 m with 240 last ballast. So, only the length and the draft differed from Drydock I, but the 20 cm more draft, might be explained by the 240 last ballast instead of 160 last (A Dutch last measured about 2,000 kg).
When it was taken into use there was a particular note that Amsterdam Wooden Drydock II was a good 14 m longer than the dry dock in the Oosterdok. This remark about the extra length might have been caused by confusing this dry dock with the Le Havre dock. Van Oordt clearly has the first three dry docks of about even length, and the Le Havre Dock about 15 m longer. An even more likely explanation is that someone made a typo: 14 m longer, instead of the 1.4 m that Van Oordt has. Also note that as long as Willem I Lock was not lengthened, a longer dry dock would only be inefficient.
Service
Opening of the dry dock
On 30 September 1844 Amsterdam Wooden Drydock II was opened by receiving the large three mast ship Africa. Africa was owned by Boelen en Co. and regularly sailed to West Africa (Guinee). She left the dock again on 1 October.
Afrika was built by shipyard De Haan on Bikkerstraat by shipbuilders J.R. Boelen en Zonen. She was launched on 20 April 1841, and measured 200 lasts.
A visit to the Westerdok by the Koninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs in 1858 showed just how much the dry dock was part of modern technology in 1858. On 14 September the members of the institute visited: The Amsterdam Gas Factory; The Rope Walk of Messrs. Holst and Kooi; Machine factory De Atlas; Amsterdam Wooden Drydock II; and the Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij.