I beg to acquaint you that the "Thames City" sailed from
Deptford
1
on Saturday last, for Gravesend; 10 Lay Days having been consumed by her
at the former place, in the shipment of the Stores.
Deptford, one of the first naval dockyards in England, was situated on
the south bank of the Thames, immediately above Greenwich. The first
dock was constructed there about 1542, and it was here that Sir
Francis Drake returned in 1581 after circumnavigating the world. In the
late seventeenth century, Deptford became headquarters of the Victualling
Board of the Royal Navy. It declined in importance after 1869, when the
Navy transferred many of its facilities to the dockyards at Chatham and
Sheerness. The dockyard at Deptford finally closed in 1965.