A close up of the wall with the side shores extended. There were eight shores the purpose of which was to support the ship especially at the slightly unpredictable moment when the buoyancy of the ship was transferred as a static load to the deck of the pontoon as the water was pumped from the buoyancy tanks. The handwheels above the walkway were turned manually to extend the shores and they were then locked in position. These shores were progressively adjusted during the lifting operation until equilibrium was achieved; this being the moment when the pontoon crew could breath easily again!

The inventors of the one-sided floating dock were Clark & Standfield. Their "L" shaped configuration of dock permitted ships with a greater width, or beam, than that of the pontoon to be docked provided the keel blocks were adjusted accordingly to support the ship. [062] [020]