The bottom of the dock is below mean sea level. Due to the nature of the strata under the dock there was no need to puddle the bottom of the dock to prevent water from seeping out and damaging the surrounding lands. The No.2 dock, (often referred to as the "New dock") to the east of No.1 dock, was open and in use by 1898. The first ship to enter No.2 dock was SS "Solent" when it opened without ceremony on 10 October 1898. John Jackson, a veteran of several major dock and harbour projects including the piers and foundation for Tower Bridge, London, the new Dover Harbour and part of the Manchester Ship Canal, was the contractor for the expansion. No.2 Dock is long and wide, connected to No.1 Dock via a narrowing channel from west to east, was latterly bridged by a hydraulically-operated road/rail swingbridge but that had been removed after 1999. Dock walls high were built of large limestone blocks at the loading points. The tall hydraulic hoists have since been demolished. The initial plans allowed for loading coal onto vessels from eleven high-level coal tips and four cranes on the north side of the dock, from five low-level tips on the Mole and from one tip at the west end of the dock. There was space for additional tips on the Mole, the south side of the dock and the basin. Hydraulic pressure was used to operate all the machinery, supplied by engine houses of which there were three [Barry, at the south-west side of No.1 dock, Battery Hill, (Barry Island) and Bendricks]. An engineers' report of 1901 contained the following extract: "The tips have lifts of 37, 42, and 45 feet, and are each capable of lifting 20 tons. All tips are provided with two weigh-bridges, one on the full and the other on the empty roads. The machinery at the docks is worked by hydraulic power obtained at three engine-houses, which contain nine pairs of compound, horizontal, surface-condensing engines, with cylinders of 16 inches and 28 inches diameter and 24 inches stroke, indicating 250 H.P. per pair. Steam is supplied at 80 lbs. per square inch by twenty-five Lancashire boilers, 28 feet long by 7 feet diameter. The pressure-pumps are of the differential-ram principle, and maintain a pressure in the mains of 750 lbs. per square inch. The whole of the docks, coal-tips, sidings, etc., are lighted by electricity.