Named after a dock where ships were lifted on pontoons for repair.
It was originally called the Victoria Graving Dock, built in the late 1850s on the south side of what became the Royal Victoria Dock. Using an innovative system of hydraulic jacks, vessels were raised out of the water on pontoons and shunted into a finger dock for repair. By the end of the 19th century ships had become too big for the equipment to lift.