Malta Dockyard
1909 Description of construction of new graving docks at Malta Dockyard. An interesting feature was that the East Dock, total length 790 ft., could be divided by an intermediate sliding caisson into two compartments. The ends were also closed by sliding caissons, all made by the Greenock and Grangemouth Dockyard Co. The sliding caisson runs on sliding-ways built of granite. The Caisson has two bottom keels of flat plates under each side, to bear upon the granite ways, while along the outer vertical walls are greenheart timbers, secured by angle-irons. The whole of the machinery required for pumping out and draining the docks, and for working the penstocks both within the pumping-house and around the basins, together with the steam-generating plant and auxiliaries, was erected, tested, and set to work by Richard Moreland and Son of London. The specifications required that the pumps should he capable of discharging from the unoccupied docks 90,000 tons of water within five hours, the maximum height of lift of water from the bottom of the dock to the average water-level of the creek being 41 ft. [2] [3]. Hydraulic pumping equipment and accumulators by Armstrong, Whitworth and Co.[4]