Royal Docks — Shadows of Contraband

London welcomes you at St Katharine Docks, historic Crown property since 1299 until its privatization in 1828. Thomas Telford, one of Britain's greatest civil engineers, built between 1828 and 1831 a 23-acre port complex comprising 3 main basins. Destroyed by the Blitz in 1940, this commercial port was rebuilt in the 1970s to become your starting point toward London's smuggling secrets. Here begins your investigation into the pirate networks that thrived in the shadow of British naval power.

Tower Bridge rises before you, built between 1886 and 1894 by Horace Jones and John Wolfe Barry. Its 65-meter height and 61-meter main span testify to the peak of Victorian engineering. Opened 10,000 times since 1894 to let ships pass, this drawbridge with 1,000-ton bascules lifted by 750-horsepower hydraulic motors has seen the last great sailing ships loaded with contraband goods pass beneath. Under its arches passed the barges of traffickers who supplied Wapping's taverns.

Wapping Old Stairs lead you to historic steps dating from the 14th century, connecting Thames quay to Wapping High Street. Samuel Pepys mentions them in his logbooks in 1660 as sailors' preferred access point to taverns since the 17th century. These stone steps also served as theater for executions of pirates and smugglers in the 18th century under maritime law. Each cobblestone tells the story of men who defied royal authority to enrich themselves on the seas.

Tobacco Dock unfolds before you its 24 acres of covered area, London's largest covered warehouse built in 1876. Its storage capacity of 80,000 tons of tobacco imported from the colonies made it an eldorado for 19th-century smugglers. Transformed into a military hospital during World War II in 1940, this red brick giant hides in its walls the secrets of trafficking networks that enriched London's East End. Execution Dock completes your route at the public execution site for pirates in Wapping from the 17th to 18th centuries, where William Kidd was hanged twice in 1701 due to rope breakage.

Your investigation concludes at the Prospect of Whitby, pub founded in 1520 and London's oldest riverside tavern still in operation. Formerly named Devil's Tavern, this den of smugglers and pirates from the 18th century preserves a commemorative plaque for Captain Kidd and an authentic 18th-century ship beam embedded in the wall. The Museum of London Docklands, installed since 2003 in the former West India Dock warehouse of 1802, reveals the complete history of the docks from 1800 to their closure in 1980. You leave with intimate understanding of this maritime London where fortune and ruin coexisted on every quay.