The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides, and warehouses built to import goods from, and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies. Located on the Isle of Dogs in London, the first dock opened in 1802. Following their commercial closure in 1980, the Canary Wharf development was built around the wet docks by narrowing some of their broadest tracts.
History
thumb|left|The Henry Addington chosen as the first ship to enter the Grand dock, 27 August 1802, followed by the Echo, the second ship to enter
thumb|left|West India Docks by [[Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson (figures) from Rudolph Ackermann's Microcosm of London, or, London in Miniature (1808–11).]]
thumb|right|250px|Map of the Isle of Dogs showing the docks from The Pocket Atlas and Guide to London, 1899
19th century
Robert Milligan (–1809) of a Scottish family, was largely responsible for the construction of the West India Docks. He was a wealthy West Indies merchant, slave trader and ship owner, who returned to London having managed his family's Jamaica sugar plantations. Outraged at losses due to theft and delay at the extensive (continuously along the Thames for ) riverside wharves comprising the Port of London, Milligan headed a group of powerful businessmen (including George Hibbert, the chairman of the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants who was a merchant, politician, and ship-owner) who promoted the creation of a wet dock circled by a high wall. The group planned and built West India Docks, lobbying Parliament to allow the creation of a West India Dock Company. Milligan served as both deputy chairman and chairman of the West India Dock Company. The docks were authorised by the (39 Geo. 3. c. lxix). and were the first commercial wet docks in London. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and Lord Chancellor Lord Loughborough were assisted in the foundation stone ceremony on 12 July 1800 by Milligan and Hibbert. The docks were formally opened on 27 August 1802 when the unladen was hauled in by ropes. Echo, a ship laden with cargo from the West Indies, followed. For the following 21 years all vessels in the West India trade using the Port of London were compelled to use the West India docks by a clause in the act of Parliament that had enabled their construction. The (1 & 2 Will. 4. c. lii) consolidated acts related to the docks.
The southern dock, the South West India Dock, later known as South Dock, was constructed in the 1860s, replacing the unprofitable City Canal, built in 1805.
20th century
In 1909 the Port of London Authority (PLA) took over the West India Docks, along with the other enclosed docks from St Katharines to Tilbury. From 1960 to 1980, trade in the docks declined to almost nothing, for two main reasons. First, the development of the shipping container made this type of relatively small dock inefficient, and the dock-owners were slow to embrace change. Second, the manufacturing exports which had maintained the trade through the docks dwindled and moved away from the local area. The docks were closed in 1981.
After the closure of the upstream enclosed docks, the area was regenerated as part of the Docklands scheme, and is now home to the developments of Canary Wharf. The early phase one buildings of Canary Wharf were built out over the water, reducing the width of the north dock and middle dock. Canary Wharf tube station was constructed within the middle dock in the 1990s.
21st century
Part of the original dock building was converted for use as the Museum of London Docklands in 2003. The Crossrail Place development was completed in May 2015 and the Canary Wharf Crossrail station below it was completed in September 2015.
thumb|left|250px|The Spanish air defence frigate [[Spanish frigate Méndez Núñez|Méndez Núñez moored at South Dock in 2015]]
thumb|right|upright=1.5|Panorama view of vessels moored in the south dock of the West India Docks during the [[2012 Summer Olympics, viewed from the southeastern corner of the Canary Wharf estate.]]
Seizure of superyacht PHI
In March 2022, the superyacht PHI, a 58.5-metre vessel valued at £38 million, was seized by UK authorities while moored at South Dock in the West India & Millwall Docks complex. The detention was ordered by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The yacht's owner, Russian property developer Sergei Naumenko, was not himself subject to sanctions by the UK, EU, or United States, but the vessel was detained as an asset "connected to Russia". PHI remains moored at the docks as of 2026, a visible symbol of sanctions against Russian-connected assets. occurred at West India Docks and the adjacent Millwall Dock. Between 30 and 51 dead mute swans were recovered from the waterways over a one-week period.
The Docks' design allowed a ship arriving from the West Indies to unload in the northern dock, sail round to the southern dock and load up with export cargo in a fraction of the time it had previously taken in the heavily congested and dangerous upper reaches of the Thames. Around the Import Dock a continuous line of five-storey warehouses was constructed, designed by architect George Gwilt and his son, also named George. The Export Dock needed fewer buildings as cargo was loaded upon arrival. To protect against theft, the whole complex was surrounded by a brick wall high.
The three docks were initially separate, with the two northern docks interconnected only via the basin at each end, and South Dock connected via a series of three basins at the eastern end. Railway access was very difficult. Under PLA control, cuts were made to connect the three docks into a single system, and the connections to the Thames at the western end were filled, along with the Limehouse basin and with it the western connection between the two northern docks. This allowed improved road and rail access from the north and west. South Dock was also connected to the north end of Millwall Dock, its enlarged eastern lock becoming the only entrance from the Thames to the whole West India and Millwall system.
Gallery: West India Dock (North Dock)
<gallery>
File:West India Dock - geograph.org.uk - 2210703.jpg|West India Docks, October 1998
File:West India dock - SS Robin - geograph.org.uk - 2210716.jpg|West India Docks, October 1998
File:West India Dock North footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 2130453.jpg|West India Dock North footbridge
File:West India Dock - geograph.org.uk - 2574753.jpg|West India Docks, August 2011
File:Cannon Workshops near West India Dock - geograph.org.uk - 2570555.jpg| Cannon Workshops near West India Dock, August 2011
File:West India Dock North - geograph.org.uk - 2636676.jpg|West India Dock North, October 2011
File:West India Dock North Quay - geograph.org.uk - 2636707.jpg|West India Dock North Quay, October 2011
File:North Quay, West India Dock.jpg|North Quay, West India Dock, March 2014
File:West India Dock (North Dock) - geograph.org.uk - 3998790.jpg|West India Dock (North Dock), April 2014
File:North Dock, West India Docks - geograph.org.uk - 3987419.jpg|West India Dock (North Dock), April 2014
File:West India Dock footbridge - geograph.org.uk - 5267333.jpg|West India Dock footbridge, January 2017
</gallery>
Gallery: West India Dock (South Dock)
<gallery>
File:Canary Wharf, London (Ank Kumar, Infosys) 03.jpg|View of the West India Docks, July 2012
File:HMS Northumberland (F238) at West India South Dock 01.jpg|HMS Northumberland (F238) docked at West India South Dock, September 2013
File:HMS Northumberland (F238) at West India South Dock 05.JPG|HMS Northumberland (F238) docked at West India South Dock, September 2013
File:HMS Northumberland (F238) at West India South Dock 10.JPG|HMS Northumberland (F238) docked at West India South Dock, September 2013
File:Londres West India Docks.jpg|West view from South Quay Walk, March 2017.
File:West India Docks-South Dock 7136.JPG|West India Docks, South Dock by South Quays, September 2017
File:West India Docks-South Dock 7138.JPG|West India Docks, South Dock by South Quays, September 2017
File:West India Docks-South Dock 7139.JPG|West India Docks, South Dock by South Quays, September 2017
File:West India Docks-South Dock 7157.JPG|West India Docks, South Dock by South Quays, September 2017
File:West India Docks-South Dock 7159.JPG|West India Docks, South Dock by South Quays, September 2017
File:West India Docks-South Dock 7083.JPG|West India Docks, South Dock by South Quays, September 2017
</gallery>
See also
- British West Indies
- London Museum Docklands