ABSTRACT
The introduction of the steamship did not initially pose any great problem to dock engineers or marine surveyors, because paddle steamers were not significantly deeper-draughted than sailing ships. As they got cleverer in design they got bigger and caused problems in dock systems by virtue of their large and increasing width, resulting in a need for very wide entrances like that completed at Canada Dock in 1859 which was 100 feet wide. But a paddle steamer has a very definite optimum immersion, above or below which efficiency falls off quite sharply, so that although they got longer and wider, there was no great benefit in building them much deeper.
