The wharf is a quayside that is a level zone where ships can be moored to facilitate the loading or unloading.
It is a projector built within a harbor in order to offer berthing spaces for ships, to facilitate the passengers’ boarding and disembarkation as well as transportation of goods.
According to Collins Dictionary explains, the term can be used in two different plural meanings: wharfs or wharves.
It is a structure constructed in the ocean or along the shores of a river. It offers a place where ships are able to safely dock. Certain are complex, with a variety of types of berths that cover vast areas, and accessible channels.
Also called a quay staith, or staithe, a wharf can also comprise warehouses, piers and other facilities needed to handle vessels.
It is used to mean to moor at a wharf, such as for instance: “The ship is wharfed.”
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The difference between wharf and Pier
A pier is an object that extends into the sea. It is a human-made walkway that extends out from the earth, above the water’s level. Piers are like an elevated bridge that crosses the water, but it doesn’t move; it stops abruptly.
Piers are places that people gather in order to have fun. At the at the end of a pier, there could be a spot for fishing, and where amateur anglers can fish in more waters.
A wharf is an object that is built along the shoreline perpendicular to the shoreline while a pier extends into the ocean. It lies perpendicularly to the shoreline.
Piers are made mostly out of timber, wharfs are constructed from stone or concrete. Piers are elevated platforms that are above the water’s level Wharfs are slightly elevated structures that are built along the shoreline.
It is said that the Canary Wharf group says the group has: “Already achieved one of the greatest ever feats of civic engineering, turning a once derelict Docklands into 97 acres of London’s, and the world’s, most sought after office and retail space.”
Etymology of ‘wharf’
Based on the Online **Etymology Dictionary the Old English word Hwearf meaning “shore, bank where ships can tie up,” was a reference to the older Proto-Germanic words Hwarfaz and Hwarfaz which was a reference to “embankment, dam”.
* The study is about the genesis of words and their meanings and how they have changed over time..
Wikipedia suggests that one reason is that the term was derived out of the Old Saxon word Warft or the Old Dutch word Werf – both of these words were later used to refer to “yard” or a place outside where work can be done such as the lumberyard (Dutch: houwerf) as well as a shipyard (Duch: Scheepswerf).
The word “Wharf Rat refers to “a type of rat common on ships and docks” It is believed that the word originated in the English language in 1812. In 1836 the term’s meaning was expanded into “person who hangs around docks”.
Canary Wharf and Fisherman’s Wharf
Old wharfs have turned into popular tourist destinations or business locations.
Canary Wharf is an important business area within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. Alongside the more traditional City of London, it is one of Britain’s two primary financial hubs. It boasts some of the highest buildings in Europe.
Between 1802 and 1939, the area around Canary Wharf is located – the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs – was one of the most crowded docks around the globe. By the year 1980 the docks were shut down following a steady decrease in East London’s port business.
In the 1980s in the 1980s, the British government adopted policies that encouraged the development of the area, which included the establishment in 1981 of the London Docklands Development Corporation.
What is now Canary Wharf we know today began when the director of Credit Suisse First Boston had the idea of turning the space into a back office.
*A “back office’ is a component of a business whose staff seldom meets with customers or non-staff members. The term is typically used in the fields of finance and banking.
Fisherman’s Wharf Fisherman’s Wharf is an attraction for tourists located on the waterfront of San Francisco. The 19th century was when Italian immigrants settled in the area to fish. The majority of restaurants and fishing vessels in the area are the descendants of the immigrants.
It is renowned in the world of seafood particularly the Dungeness crab and Chowder of Clams. It also serves as the site for Pier 39, the Cannery Shopping Center as well as the Wax Museum as well as The Musee Mecanique, and the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
