The Port of London

In the opening chapter to the book 'The criminal prisons of London and scenes of prison life' by Henry Mayhew and John Binny, the authors provide a description of London, including "the far-famed Port of London". From a vantage point in the Custom House they describe a view of the Port: "The broad highway of the river - which at this part is near upon 300 yards in width - was almost blocked with the tiers of shipping; for there was merely a narrow pathway of grey, glittering water left open in the middle; an, on either side, the river was black with the dense mass of hulls collected alongside the quays; while the masts of the craft were as thick as the pine stems in their native forests".