Ceremony of admitting water to Victoria Dock by Lady Reay [Victoria Dock construction, Bombay].---Photographer: Taurines, E. Medium: Photographic print Date: 1888

On 21 February 1888, after work was completed on Victoria Dock, water was allowed for the first time through the sluices communicating with the Prince’s Dock. Lady Reay, in the presence of the Governor of Bombay Richard Temple, the Trustees of the Bombay Port and a few others opened the first sluice, and the dock was filled with water by the end of that month. The intention of the Trustees was to formally open the dock with some ceremony early in April when the direct entrance from the sea would be available, but the demand for dock accommodation became so urgent that in the early part of March of the same year, the first steamer, the St. Regulus, was accordingly admitted through the communications passage. Entrance via the sea-gates was made available on 3 April..