Harbours, quays and locks
Build a canal with stone quays and a row of warehouses with hoist beams, a lock with two pairs of gates and a lock-keeper’s house, or a harbour basin with pier heads and a beacon. Add bollards, steps to the water, lanterns, a stone bridge or drawbridge and a wooden harbour crane. Below you can see how everything is calculated.
Point at a block for the explanation. Click a block to mark it as placed. The side view shows the section at the chosen column, Layer shows the chosen layer from above.
Build plan
Per layer
| Layer | Parts | Blocks |
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A number is the count of blocks of that part in that layer, in the colour of the part. Click a layer to see it from above.
Build tips
- In a port town everything happened by the water: ships were unloaded, goods went up into the warehouses with the hoist beam.
- Glass in windows is always 1 block thick. In a thick wall the rest of the opening stays air.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the harbour as a schematic file and paste it with WorldEdit, or build it with a hologram in Litematica. The water, chains, bollards and lanterns come along.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
Canals and quays
In the 17th century the canal ring was laid out in Amsterdam: three large canals with stone quays and rows of canal houses and warehouses. Since 2010 it has been on the World Heritage List.
Warehouses got a hoist beam at the top of the front. Many fronts lean forward a little, so the goods did not bump into the front while being hoisted.
Lifting with a crane
For heavy loads people in the Middle Ages used wooden harbour cranes with a treadwheel: men walked inside a large wheel and so wound up the rope. The crane of Lüneburg is already mentioned in 1346. In Gdańsk stands a large gate crane from the 15th century.
Locks
A lock lets ships sail from one water level to another. The lock of Vreeswijk from 1373 is seen as one of the first locks of this kind in the Netherlands. Around 1500 Leonardo da Vinci drew mitre gates in Milan: two gates that close in a point against the water, as almost all locks still have today.
Hanseatic harbours
From the 13th to the 17th century trading towns around the Baltic Sea and the North Sea worked together in the Hanseatic League. Lübeck was the most important Hanseatic town. Along the harbours stood tall brick warehouses with stepped gables, where grain, salt, furs and fish were stored.
Pier heads and beacons
A pier head is a dam in the sea that protects the harbour mouth against waves and sand. At its end stood a beacon: first a fire, later a lantern, so ships found the entrance at night.
The inner harbour of Hoorn was protected by the Hoofdtoren in 1532. In the 17th century ships of the Dutch East India Company sailed from here to Asia.
Did you know?
- A bollard is a post on the quay to which a ship is tied with a rope.
- In a lock the water moves by itself: it flows from high to low. No pump is needed.
- Many warehouses in Amsterdam have a name of their own on the front.
- Warehouses had no large windows but shutters: that kept grain and spices cool and dark.
About this tool
With this Minecraft harbour generator you build a canal with stone quays and warehouses, a lock with two pairs of gates and a lock-keeper's house, or a harbour basin with pier heads and a beacon. The quay gets bollards, steps to the water and lanterns, with a stone bridge or a Dutch drawbridge.
The warehouses have loading doors stacked above each other and a hoist beam with a chain, with a stepped, neck, bell or plain gable. A wooden harbour crane finishes the harbour. Seven examples help you start, such as an Amsterdam canal, the Graslei in Ghent, the Hanseatic harbour of Lübeck, the old crane of Lüneburg and the inner harbour of Hoorn.
The tool counts all blocks and the water, with a build plan per layer, a 3D preview and a .schem download. This way you build a harbour in Minecraft where your ships can moor. For the ships themselves there is Ships, for bridges Bridges.
Frequently asked questions
How do I fill the canal with water?
Dig out the canal down to the bed and build the quay walls first. Then pour a bucket of water every two blocks: in Minecraft two water sources side by side fill the rest by themselves. The download already puts the water in.
Can the lock gates open?
In the download they are fixed walls of dark oak. If you want them to move, replace them with blocks that pistons move with redstone.
How wide should a canal be for a boat?
A Minecraft boat is about 1.5 blocks wide. A canal 5 wide is enough to sail, one 9 to 13 wide lets two boats pass and leaves room to moor a ship at the quay.
Can I build this in Bedrock?
Yes. The front view and the build plan per layer work in every version. The .schem file is for Java Edition with WorldEdit or Litematica.