SHEERNESS  , a

garrison town and naval seaport in the Faversham parliamentary division of Kent, England, in the Isle of Sheppey, on the right bank of the Medway estuary at its junction with the Thames, 51 M . E. of London by the South-Eastern & Chatham railway . Pop. of urban district (19o1) 18,179 . Blue Town, the older part of the town, with the dock-yard, is defended by strong modern-built fortifications, especially the forts of Garrison Point and Barton's Point, commanding the entrance of both the Thames and the Medway . The dockyard, chiefly used for naval repairs, covers about 6o acres, and consists of three basins and large docks, the depth of water in the basins ranging down to 26 ft . Within the yard there are extensive naval stores and barracks . Outside the dockyard are the residences of the admiral of the home fleet and other officers, and barracks . The harbour is spacious, sheltered, and deepeven at low water . Sheerness has some trade in corn and seed, and there is steamboat connexion with Port Victoria, on the opposite side of the Medway; with Southend, on the opposite side of the Thames; and with Chatham and London, and the town is in some favour as a seaside resort . A small fort was built at Sheerness by Charles II., which, on the loth of July 1667, was taken by the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter .