Copenhagen

THE FREE PORT AND THE HARBOUR OF COPENHAGEN.

TH E PORT OF CO PEN ­ HAGEN

and the English Royal yacht the "O sbo rn e", which last often lies here, d u ring the visit of the Princess of Wales. — This inner road-stead makes a g o o d starting po in t for o u r survey of the new Free P o rt and the old H arbou r of C openhagen. The spacious, deep docks of which we just caugh t a glim pse when passing "T rekroner", tog e th er w ith the eno rm ou s block of bu ild ing s rising above the p rom enade of "Langelinie", from the Free P o rt of Copenhagen. It extends over an area of 150 acres, 89 of which are land; and where it is now situated the wawes of the Sound w ashed the old shore only seven years ago. In the sp ring of 1891 the Danish R igsdag (Parliament) pas­ sed "The Free P o rt Bill", and som e few m onths later the g reat undertak ing was comm enced. The area on w hich the new po rt was to be constructed was reclaim ed from the sea — ex­ tensive dam s were built, the w ater was p um p ed out, and the bed which the .waves had w ashed over for centuries, was laid bare. Steam excavators w ere used in o rd er to obtain the n e ­ cessary depth for the docks (1.094.000 cubic metres of earth were removed). This m aster-w ork of eng ineering was pu shed on w ith such energy that it was com pleted in the course of a year. On N ovem ber 1st, 1893, prince V aldem ar of Denmark, by simply pressing an electric button, opened the dam s which separated the drained area from the sea, and the w ater rushed in and filled the docks, which are from 24 to 30 feet deep, w ith abou t 12.000 feet of quay frontage. O ne year later, on N ovem ber 8th, 1894, the bu ild ing s were finished, the railways constructed, etc.; and the Free P o rt of C openhagen , one of the best in the world, was opened to traffic. The cost of this g reat work was £ 1.200.000.

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