A man has collated 50 years' worth of dockside memories into a series of books.

Geoff Watson, from Gravesend, has taken more than 45,000 photos capturing his time working for the Port of London.

Since he retired, the Cumberland Avenue resident has scanned hundreds of the snaps into digital files.

After receiving a lot of interest in his work from friends and family, he decided to depict his career in a photographic journey across four books.

They include Port of London Over the Last 50 Years parts one and two, A Day in the Docks and Ferry Good, which is yet to be published.

The 67-year-old said: "I spent some 50 years working in and around the Port of London involved in stevedoring (cargo loading) ,warehousing, port agency, crewing and cargo surveying.

"I have always been an avid photographer and built up a massive collection since 1966, which took some 18 months to scan from slides into jpeg images.

"It was difficult deciding what to include and what to omit from the book to provide the best selection of ships and maritime scenes.

"The preparation of this volume has brought back many happy memories of a bygone era, and I trust it will be received in a similar manner.

"I witnessed it all, from handling general cargo ships right through to full containerisation. All recorded for posterity.

"I would say my fondest memory is the almost 20 years I worked at Tower Wharf, Northfleet; the friends I made both on shore, and on the ships, the fact that I am still friends with them, even after all this time.

"Of course, there have been many changes I witnessed with regard to health and safety - our PPE consisted of a flat cap and a fag."

Some of the photos included in the books were taken from the bottom of Burch Road, in Gravesend, St Andrew's Gardens and the promenade.

He continued: "Naturally, as you travel around you see ships that you remember in London now in different guises, colour schemes, names and where this has been possible, photos from my personal collection have been added as a pictorial history. Some converted beyond recognition.

"Larger vessels berth at London International Cruise Terminal, which is in Gravesend Reach just outside of Tilbury Dock.

"Often visits are made by ships being used for humanitarian causes such as mission ships and peace boats.

"Some of the ships have had long and varied careers and, where possible, photographs have been added showing the different guises for comparison, some completely changed beyond recognition."

Earlier this year, Geoff was honoured with the Freedom of the City of London and is a member of the World Shipping Society.

His published works are available here.

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