"Munitions of War" by Arthur Machen

It appears there is no such place as Westpool in England, at least not at the present day. It is entirely possible there could have been a name change, or it could have been subsumed into some other jurisdiction, or just straight up dissolved, but it seems most likely to be fictional. It is said to be a great city, and a great city of 20th century England isn't going to just vanish without any trace or record.

Interestingly enough, there was a ship named Westpool, but it was a US ship (and just a cargo ship at that), and not launched until 1918 in any event. Then sold to the UK during WW2 and sunk in 1941 by a u-boat. Boo!

The picture used is "The Port of London" by Anders Castus Svarstad done in 1912.

To follow along: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0607681h.html#13