The transition from the artisan to the labourer is curious in many
respects. In passing from the skilled operative of the west-end to
the unskilled workman of the eastern quarter of London, the moral and
intellectual change is so great, that it seems as if we were in a new
land, and among another race. The artisans are almost to a man red-hot
politicians. They are sufficiently educated and thoughtful to have a
sense of their importance in the State. It is true they may entertain
exaggerated notions of their natural rank and position in the social
scale, but at least they have read, and reflected, and argued upon
the subject, and their opinions are entitled to consideration. The
political character and sentiments of the working classes appear to
me to be a distinctive feature of the age, and they are a necessary
consequence of the dawning intelligence of the mass. As their minds
expand, they are naturally led to take a more enlarged view of their
calling, and to contemplate their labours in relation to the whole
framework of society. They begin to view their class, not as a mere
isolated body of workmen, but as an integral portion of the nation,
contributing their quota to the general welfare. If property has its
duties as well as its rights; labour, on the other hand, they say, has
its rights as well as its duties. The artisans of London seem to be
generally well-informed upon these subjects. That they express their
opinions violently, and often savagely, it is my duty to acknowledge;
but that they are the unenlightened and unthinking body of people that
they are generally considered by those who never go among them, and who
see them only as “the dangerous classes,” it is my duty also to deny.
So far as my experience has gone, I am bound to confess, that I have
found the skilled labourers of the metropolis the very reverse, both
morally and intellectually, of what the popular prejudice imagines them.
The unskilled labourers are a different class of people. As yet they
are as unpolitical as footmen, and instead of entertaining violent
democratic opinions, they appear to have no political opinions
whatever; or, if they do possess any, they rather lead towards the
maintenance of “things as they are,” than towards the ascendancy of
the working people. I have lately been investigating the state of the
coalwhippers, and these reflections are forced upon me by the marked
difference in the character and sentiments of these people from those
of the operative tailors. Among the latter class there appeared to be
a general bias towards the six points of the Charter; but the former
were extremely proud of their having turned out to a man on the 10th of
April, 1848, and become special constables for the maintenance of law
and order on the day of the great Chartist demonstration. As to which
of these classes are the better members of the state, it is not for me
to offer an opinion; I merely assert a social fact. The artisans of
the metropolis are intelligent, and dissatisfied with their political
position: the labourers of London appear to be the reverse; and in
passing from one class to the other, the change is so curious and
striking, that the phenomenon deserves at least to be recorded in this
place.
The labourers, in point of numbers, rank second on the occupation-list
of the metropolis. The domestic servants, as a body of people, have the
first numerical position, being as many 168,000, while the labourers
are less than one-third that number, or 50,000 strong. They, however,
are nearly twice as many as the boot and shoemakers, who stand next
upon the list, and muster 28,000 individuals among them; and they are
more than twice as many as the tailors and breeches-makers, who are
fourth in regard to their number, and count 23,500 persons. After these
come the milliners and dressmakers, who are 20,000 in number.
According to the Criminal Returns of the metropolis (for a copy of
which I am indebted to the courtesy of a gentleman who expresses
himself most anxious to do all in his power to aid the inquiry), the
labourers occupy a most unenviable pre-eminence in police history. One
in every twenty-eight labourers, according to these returns, has a
predisposition for simple larceny: the average for the whole population
of London is one in every 266 individuals; so that the labourers may
be said to be more than nine times as dishonest as the generality of
people resident in the metropolis. In drunkenness they occupy the
same prominent position. One in every twenty-two individuals of the
labouring class was charged with being intoxicated in the year 1848;
whereas the average number of drunkards in the whole population of
London is one in every 113 individuals. Nor are they less pugnaciously
inclined; one in every twenty-six having been charged with a common
assault, of a more or less aggravated form. The labourers of London
are, therefore, nine times as dishonest, five times as drunken, and
nine times as savage as the rest of the community. Of the state of
their education as a body of people I have no similar means of judging
at present; nor am I in a position to test their improvidence or their
poverty in the same conclusive manner. Taking, however, the Government
returns of the number of labourers located in the different unions
throughout the country at the time of taking the last census, I find
that one in every 140 of the class were paupers; while the average for
all England and Wales was one in every 159 persons: so that, while the
Government returns show the labourers generally to be extraordinarily
dishonest, drunken, and pugnacious, their vices cannot be ascribed to
the poverty of their calling; for, compared with other occupations,
their avocation appears to produce fewer paupers than the generality of
employments.
Of the moral and prudential qualities of the coalwhippers and
coalporters, as a special portion of the labouring population, the
crude, undigested, and essentially unscientific character of all the
Government returns will not allow me to judge. Even the Census affords
us little or no opportunity of estimating the numbers of the class. The
only information to be obtained from that document--whose insufficiency
is a national disgrace to us, for there the trading and working classes
are all jumbled together in the most perplexing confusion, and the
occupations classified in a manner that would shame the merest tyro in
logic--is the following:--
Of coal and colliery agents and factors
there are in London 16
Ditto dealers and merchants 1541
Ditto labourers, heavers, and porters 1700
Ditto meters 136
----
Total in the coal trade in London 3393
Deduct from this the number of merchants
from the London Post Office Directory 565
----
Hence the coal labourers in the
metropolis amount to 2828
But this is far from being an accurate result. There are at present
in London upwards of 1900 (say 2000) registered coalwhippers, and
as many more coalbackers or porters. These altogether would give as
many as 4000 coal-labourers. Besides, there are 150 meters; so that,
altogether, it may be safely said that the number engaged in the
whipping and porterage of coals in London is 4000 and odd.
The following statistics, carefully collected from official returns,
will furnish our readers with some idea of the amazing increase in the
importation of coal:--
“About 300 years ago (say about 1550) one or two ships were sufficient
for the demand and supply of London. In 1615, about 200 were equal
to its demand; in 1705, about 600 ships were engaged in the London
coal-trade; in 1805, 4856 cargoes, containing about 1,350,000 tons; in
1820, 5884 cargoes, containing 1,692,992 tons; in 1830, 7108 cargoes,
containing 2,079,275 tons; in 1840, 9132 cargoes, containing 2,566,899
tons; in 1845, 2695 ships were employed in carrying 11,987 cargoes,
containing 3,403,320 tons; and during the year 1848, 2717 ships,
making 12,267 voyages, and containing 3,418,340 tons. The increase
in the importation from the year 1838 to 1848, when the respective
importations were 2,518,085 tons and 3,418,340 tons, is upwards of
90 per cent. Now, by taking 2700 vessels as the actual number now
employed, and by calculating such vessels to average 300 tons burden
per ship, and giving to a vessel of that size a crew of eight men, it
will appear that at the present time 21,600 seamen are employed in the
carrying department of the London coal-trade.”
Before visiting the district of Wapping, where the greater part of the
coal labour is carried on, I applied to the Clerk and Registrar of the
Coal Exchange for the statistics connected with the body of which he is
an officer. Such statistics--as to the extent of their great traffic,
the weekly returns of sales, in short, the ramifications of an inquiry
embracing maritime, mercantile, mining, and labouring interests, are
surely the weekly routine of the business of the Registrar’s office.
I was promised a series of returns by the gentleman in question, but
I did not receive and could not obtain them. Another officer, the
Secretary of the Meters’ Office, when applied to, with the sanction of
his co-officer, the Clerk and Registrar, required a written application
which should be attended to! I do not allude to these gentlemen with
the slightest inclination unduly to censure them. The truth is, with
questions affecting labour and the poor they have little sympathy. The
labourer, in their eyes, is but a machine; so many labourers are as so
many horse-power. To deny, or withhold, or delay information required
for the purposes of the present inquiry is, however, unavailing. The
matter I have given in fulness and in precision, without any aid from
the gentlemen referred to shows that it was more through courtesy than
through necessity that I applied to them in the first instance.
Finding my time, therefore, only wasted in dancing attendance upon city
coal officials, I made the best of my way down to the Coalwhippers’
Office, to glean my information among the men themselves. The following
is the result of my inquiries:--
The coal-vessels are principally moored in that part of the river
called the Pool.
The Pool, rightly so called, extends from Ratcliffe-cross, near the
Regent’s-canal, to Execution-dock, and is about a mile long, but the
jurisdiction of the Coal Commissioners reaches from the Arsenal at
Woolwich to London-bridge. The Pool is divided into the Upper and Lower
Pool; it is more commonly called the North and South side, because
the colliers are arranged on the Ratcliffe and Shadwell side, in the
Lower Pool, and on the Redriff and Rotherhithe side, in the Upper. The
Lower Pool consists of seven tiers, which generally contain each from
fourteen to twenty ships; these are moored stern to stern, and lie from
seven to ten abreast. The Upper Pool contains about ten tiers. The four
tiers at Mill-hole are equally large with the tiers of the Lower Pool.
Those of Church-hole, which are three in number, are somewhat smaller;
and those of the fast tiers, which are also three in number, are
single, and not double tiers like the rest. The fleet often consists
of from 200 to 300 ships. In the winter it is the largest, many of the
colliers in the summer season going foreign voyages. An easterly wind
prevents the vessels making their way to London; and, if continuing
for any length of time, will throw the whole of the coalwhippers out
of work. In the winter, the coalwhipper is occupied about five days
out of eight, and about three days out of eight in the summer; so
that, taking it all the year round, he is only about half of his time
employed. As soon as a collier arrives at Gravesend, the captain sends
the ship’s papers up to the factor at the Coal Exchange, informing him
of the quality and quantity of coal in the ship. The captain then falls
into some tier near Gravesend, and remains there until he is ordered
nearer London by the harbour-master. When the coal is sold and the
ship supplied with the coal-meter, the captain receives orders from
the harbour-master to come up into the Pool, and take his berth in a
particular tier. The captain, when he has moored his ship into the Pool
as directed, applies at the Coalwhippers’ Office, and “the gang” next
in rotation is sent to him.
There are upwards of 200 gangs of coalwhippers. The class,
supernumeraries included, numbers about 2000 individuals. The number
of meters is 150; the consequence is, that more than one-fourth of
the gangs are unprovided with meters to work with them. Hence there
are upwards of fifty gangs (of nine men each) of coalwhippers, or
altogether 450 men more than there is any real occasion for. The
consequence is, that each coalwhipper is necessarily thrown out of
employ one-quarter of his time by the excess of hands. The cause of
this extra number of hands being kept on the books is, that when
there is a glut of vessels in the river, the coal-merchants may not
be delayed in having their cargoes delivered from want of whippers.
When such a glut occurs, the merchant has it in his power to employ a
private meter; so that the 450 to 500 men are kept on the year through,
merely to meet the particular exigency, and to promote the merchant’s
convenience. Did any good arise from this system to the public, the
evil might be overlooked; but since, owing to the combination of the
coalfactors, no more coals can come into the market than are sufficient
to meet the demand _without lowering the price_, it is clear that
the extra 450 or 500 men are kept on and allowed to deprive their
fellow-labourers of one-quarter of their regular work as whippers,
without any advantage to the public.
The coalwhippers, previous to the passing of the Act of Parliament in
1843, were employed and paid by the publicans in the neighbourhood
of the river, from Tower-hill to Limehouse. Under this system, none
but the most dissolute and intemperate obtained employment; in fact,
the more intemperate they were the more readily they found work. The
publicans were the relatives of the northern shipowners; they mostly
had come to London penniless, and being placed in a tavern by their
relatives, soon became shipowners themselves. There were at that
time seventy taverns on the north side of the Thames, below bridge,
employing coalwhippers, and all of the landlords making fortunes out
of the earnings of the people. When a ship came to be “made up,”
that is, for the hands to be hired, the men assembled round the bar
in crowds and began calling for drink, and out-bidding each other in
the extent of their orders, so as to induce the landlord to give them
employment. If one called for beer, the next would be sure to give
an order for rum; for he who spent most at the public-house had the
greatest chance of employment. After being “taken on,” their first
care was to put up a score at the public-house, so as to please their
employer, the publican. In the morning before going to their work,
they would invariably call at the house for a quartern of gin or rum;
and they were obliged to take off with them to the ship “a bottle,”
holding nine pots of beer, and that of the worst description, for
it was the invariable practice among the publicans to supply the
coalwhippers with the very worst articles at the highest prices. When
the men returned from their work they went back to the public-house,
and there remained drinking the greater part of the night. He must have
been a very steady man indeed, I am told, who could manage to return
home sober to his wife and family. The consequence of this was, the
men used to pass their days, and chief part of their nights, drinking
in the public-house; and I am credibly informed that frequently, on
the publican settling with them after leaving the ship, instead of
having anything to receive they were brought in several shillings in
debt; this remained as a score for the next ship: in fact, it was only
those who were in debt to the publican who were sure of employment on
the next occasion. One publican had as many as fifteen ships; another
had even more; and there was scarcely one of them without his two or
three colliers. The children of the coalwhippers were almost reared in
the tap-room, and a person who has had great experience in the trade,
tells me he knew as many as 500 youths who were transported, and as
many more who met with an untimely death. At one house there were forty
young robust men employed, about seventeen years ago, and of these
there are only two living at present. My informant tells me that he
has frequently seen as many as 100 men at one time fighting pell-mell
at King James’s-stairs, and the publican standing by to see fair play.
The average money spent in drink by each man was about 12_s._ to
each ship. There were about 10,000 ships entered the Pool each year,
and nine men were required to clear each ship. This made the annual
expenditure of the coalwhippers in drink, 54,000_l._, or 27_l._ a-year
per man. This is considered an extremely low average. The wives and
families of the men at this time were in the greatest destitution, the
daughters invariably became prostitutes, and the mothers ultimately
went to swell the number of paupers at the union. This state of things
continued till 1843, when, by the efforts of three of the coalwhippers,
the Legislature was induced to pass an Act forbidding the system,
and appointing Commissioners for the registration and regulation of
coalwhippers in the port of London, and so establishing an office
where the men were in future employed and paid. Under this Act, every
man then following the calling of a coalwhipper was to be registered.
For this registration 4_d._ was to be paid; and every man desirous of
entering upon the same business had to pay the same sum, and to have
his name registered. The employment is open to any labouring man; but
every new hand, after registering himself, must work for twenty-one
days on half-pay before he is considered to be “broken in,” and
entitled to take rank and receive pay as a regular coalwhipper.
All the coalwhippers are arranged in gangs of eight whippers, with
a basket-man or foreman. These gangs are numbered from 1 up to 218,
which is the highest number at the present time. The basket-men, or
foremen, enter their names in a rotation-book kept in the office, and
as their names stand in that book so do they take their turn to clear
the ship that is offered. On a ship being offered, a printed form of
application, kept in the office, is filled up by the captain, in which
he states the number of tons, the price, and time in which she is to
be delivered. If the gang whose turn of work it is refuse the ship at
the price offered, then it is offered to all the gangs, and if accepted
by any other gang, the next in rotation may claim it as their right,
before all others. In connexion with the office there is a long hall,
extending from the street to the water-side, where the men wait to
take their turn. There is also a room called the basket-men’s room,
where the foremen of the gang remain in attendance. There is likewise
a floating pier called a dépôt, which is used as a receptacle for the
tackle with which the colliers are unloaded. This floating pier is
fitted up with seats, where the men wait in the summer. The usual price
at present for delivering the colliers is 8_d._ per ton; but in case
of a less price being offered, and the gangs all refusing it, then the
captain is at liberty to employ any hands he pleases. According to
the Act, however, the owner or purchaser of the coals is at liberty
to employ his own servants, provided they have been in his service
fourteen clear days previous, and so have become what the Act terms
_bonâ fide_ servants. This is very often taken advantage of, for the
purpose of obtaining labourers at a less price. One lighterman, who is
employed by the gas companies to “lighter” their coals to their various
destinations, makes a practice of employing parties whom he calls the
_bonâ fide_ servants of the gas companies, to deliver the coals at a
penny per ton less than the regular price. Besides this, he takes one
man’s pay to himself, and so stops one-tenth of the whole proceeds,
thereby realizing, as he boasts, the sum of 300_l._ per annum. Added
to this, a relative of his keeps a beer-shop, where the “_bonâ fide_
servants” spend the chief part of their earnings, thereby bringing back
the old system, which was the cause of so much misery and destitution
to the work-people.
According to the custom of the trade, the rate at which a ship is to
be delivered is forty-nine tons per day, and if the ship cannot be
delivered at that rate, owing to the merchant failing to send craft to
receive the coals, then the coalwhippers are entitled to receive pay
at the rate of forty-nine tons per day, for each day they are kept in
the ship over and above the time allowed by the custom of the trade
for the delivery of the coals. The merchants, however, if they should
have failed to send craft, and so keep the men idle on the first days
of the contract, can, by the by-laws of the Commissioners, compel the
coalwhippers to deliver the ship at the rate of ninety-eight tons per
day: the merchants surely should be made to pay for the loss of time to
the men at the same rate. The wrong done by this practice is rendered
more apparent by the conduct of the merchants during the brisk and
slack periods. When there is a slack, the merchants are all anxious
to get their vessels delivered as fast as they can, because coals are
wanting, and are consequently at a high price; then the men are taxed
beyond their power, and are frequently made to deliver 150 to 200 tons
per day, or to do four days’ work in one. On the contrary, when there
is a glut of ships, and the merchants are not particularly anxious
about the delivery of the coals, the men are left to idle away their
time upon the decks for the first two or three days of the contract,
and then forced to the same extra exertion for the last two or three
days, in order to make up for the lost time of the merchant, and so
save him from being put to extra expense by his own neglect. The cause
of the injustice of these by-laws may be fairly traced to the fact of
there being several coal-merchants among the Commissioners, who are
entrusted with the formation of bye-laws and regulations of the trade.
The coalfactors are generally ship-owners, and occasionally pit-owners;
and when a glut of ships come in they combine together to keep up the
prices, especially in the winter time, for they keep back the cargoes,
and only offer such a number of ships as will not influence the market.
Since the passing of the Act, establishing the Coalwhippers’ Office,
and thus taking the employment and pay of the men out of the hands
of the publicans, so visible has been the improvement in the whole
character of the labourers, that they have raised themselves in the
respect of all who know them.
Within the last few years they have established a Benefit Society, and
they expended in the year 1847, according to the last account, 646_l._
odd, in the relief of the sick and the burial of the dead. They have
also established a superannuation fund, out of which they allow 5_s._
per week to each member who is incapacitated from old age or accident.
They are, at the present time, paying such pensions to twenty members.
At the time of the celebrated Chartist demonstration, on the 10th of
April, the coalwhippers were, I believe, the first class of persons who
spontaneously offered their services as special constables.
Further than this they have established a school, with accommodation
for six hundred scholars, out of their small earnings. On one occasion
as much as 80_l._ was collected among the men for the erection of this
institution.
The men are liable to many accidents; some fall off the plank into the
hold of the vessel, and are killed; others are injured by large lumps
of coal falling on them; and, indeed, so frequent are these disasters,
that the Commissioners have directed that the indivisible fraction
which remains, after dividing the earnings of the men into nine equal
parts, should be applied to the relief of the injured; and although
the fund raised by these insignificant means amounts in the course of
the year to 30_l._ or 40_l._, the whole is absorbed by the calamities.
Furnished with this information as to the general character and
regulations of the calling, I then proceeded to visit one of the
vessels in the river, so that I might see the nature of the labour
performed. No one on board the vessel (the ----, of Newcastle) was
previously aware of my visit or its object. I need not describe the
vessel, as my business is with the London labourers in the coal trade.
It is necessary, however, in order to show the nature of the labour of
coal-whipping, that I should state that the average depth of coal in
the hold of a collier, from ceiling to combing, is sixteen feet, while
there is an additional seven feet to be reckoned for the basketman’s
“boom,” which makes the height that the coals have to be raised by the
whippers from twenty-three to thirty feet. The complement of a gang of
coalwhippers is about nine. In the hold are four men, who relieve each
other in filling a basket--only one basket being in use with coal. The
labour of these four men is arduous: so exhausting is it in hot weather
that their usual attire is found to be cumbrous, and they have often
to work merely in their trousers or drawers. As fast as these four men
in the hold fill the basket, which holds 1-1/4 cwt., four whippers draw
it up. This is effected in a peculiar and, to a person unused to the
contemplation of the process, really an impressive manner. The four
whippers stand on the deck, at the foot of what is called “a way.”
This way resembles a short rude ladder: it is formed of four broken
oars lashed lengthways, from four to five feet in height (giving a
step from oar to oar of more than a foot), while the upright spars to
which they are attached are called “a derrick.” At the top of this
“derrick” is a “gin,” which is a revolving wheel, to which the ropes
holding the basket, “filled” and “whipped,” are attached. The process
is thus one of manual labour with mechanical aid. The basket having
been filled in the hold, the whippers correctly guessing the time for
the filling--for they never look down into the hold--skip up the “way,”
holding the ropes attached to the basket and the gin, and pulling the
ropes at two skips, simultaneously, as they ascend. They thus hoist
the loaded basket some height out of the hold, and, when hoisted so
far, jump down, keeping exact time in their jump, from the topmost
beam of the way on to the deck, so giving the momentum of their bodily
weight to the motion communicated to the basket. While the basket is
influenced by this motion and momentum, the basketman, who is stationed
on a plank flung across the hold, seizes the basket, runs on with it
(the gin revolving) to “the boom,” and shoots the contents into the
weighing-machine. The boom is formed of two upright poles, with a
cross-pole attached by way of step, on to which the basket-man vaults,
and rapidly reversing the basket, empties it. This process is very
quickly effected, for if the basket-man did not avail himself of the
swing of the basket, the feat would be almost beyond a man’s strength,
or, at least, he would soon be exhausted by it.
The machine is a large coal-scuttle or wooden box, attached to a scale
connected with 2-1/2 cwt. When the weight is raised by two deposits
in the machine, which hangs over the side of the ship, it discharges
it, by pulling a rope connected with it down a sliding wooden plane
into the barge below. The machine holds 2-1/2 cwt., and so the meter
registers the weight of coal unladen. This process is not only
remarkable for its celerity but for another characteristic. Sailors,
when they have to “pull away” together, generally time their pulling to
some rude chant; their “Yo, heave, yo,” is thought not only to regulate
but to mitigate the weight of their labour. The coalwhippers do their
work in perfect silence: they do it indeed like work, and hard work,
too. The basket-man and the meter are equally silent, so that nothing
is heard but the friction of the ropes, the discharge of the coal from
the basket into the machine, and from the machine into the barge. The
usual amount of work done by the whippers in a day (but not as an
average, one day with another) is to unload, or whip, ninety-eight
tons! To whip one ton, sixteen basketfuls are required; so that to whip
a single ton these men jump up and down 144 feet: for a day’s work of
ninety-eight tons, they jump up and down 13,088 feet, more in some
instances; for in the largest ship the way has five steps, and ten men
are employed. The coalwhippers, therefore, raise 1-1/4 cwt. very nearly
four miles high, or twice as high as a balloon ordinarily mounts in the
air: and, in addition to this, the coalwhippers themselves ascend very
nearly 1-1/2 mile perpendicularly in the course of the day. On some
days they whip upwards of 150 tons--200 have been whipped, when double
this labour must be gone through. The ninety-eight tons take about
seven hours. The basket-man’s work is the most critical, and accidents,
from his falling into the hold, are not very unfrequent. The complement
of men for the unlading of a vessel is, as I have said, nine: four
in the hold, four whippers, and the basket-man--the meter forms a
tenth, but he acts independently of the others. They seldom work by
candlelight, and, whenever possible, avoid working in very bad weather;
but the merchant, as I have shown, has great power in regulating their
labour for his own convenience. The following statement was given to me
by a coalwhipper on board this vessel:--
“We should like better wages, but then we have enemies. Now suppose
you, sir, are a coal-merchant, and this gentleman here freights a ship
of the captain--you understand me? The man who freights the ships that
way is paid, by the captain, ninepence a-ton, for a gang of nine
men, such as you’ve seen--nine coalwhippers--but these nine men, you
understand me, are paid by the merchant (or buyer) only eightpence a
ton; so that by every ton he clears a penny, without any labour or
trouble whatsomever. I and my fellows is dissatisfied, but can’t help
ourselves. This merchant, too, you understand me, finds there’s rather
an opening in the Act of Parliament about whippers. By employing a man
as his servant on his premises for fourteen days, he’s entitled to
work as a coalwhipper. We call such made whipper ‘boneyfides.’ There’s
lots of them, and plenty more would be made if we was to turn rusty.
I’ve heard, you understand me, of driving a coach through an Act of
Parliament, but here they drive a whole fleet through it.”
The coal whippers all present the same aspect--they are all black. In
summer, when the men strip more to their work, perspiration causes the
coal-dust to adhere to the skin, and blackness is more than ever the
rule. All about the ship partakes of the grimness of the prevailing
hue. The sails are black; the gilding on the figure-head of the vessel
becomes blackened, and the very visitor feels his complexion soon grow
sable. The dress of the whippers is of every description; some have
fustian jackets, some have sailors’ jackets, some loose great coats,
some Guernsey frocks. Many of them work in strong shirts, which once
were white with a blue stripe: loose cotton neckerchiefs are generally
worn by the whippers. All have black hair and black whiskers--no matter
what the original hue; to the more stubbly beards and moustachios the
coal-dust adheres freely between the bristles, and may even be seen,
now and then, to glitter in the light amidst the hair. The barber, one
of these men told me, charged nothing extra for shaving him, although
the coal-dust must be a formidable thing to the best-tempered razor. In
approaching a coal-ship in the river, the side has to be gained over
barges lying alongside--the coal crackling under the visitor’s feet.
He must cross them to reach a ladder of very primitive construction,
up which the deck is to be reached. It is a jest among the Yorkshire
seamen that every thing is black in a collier, especially the soup.
When the men are at work in whipping or filling, the only spot of white
discernible on their hands is a portion of the nails.
There are no specific hours for the payment of these men: they are
entitled to their money as soon as their work is reported to be
completed. Nothing can be better than the way in which the whippers
are now paid. The basket-man enters the office of the pay-clerk of
the coal commission at one door, and hands over an adjoining counter
an amount of money he has received from the captain. The pay-clerk
ascertains that the amount is correct. He then divides the sum into
nine portions, and, touching a spring to open a door, he cries out
for “Gang such a number.” The nine men, who, with many others, are
in attendance in rooms provided for them adjacent to the pay-office,
appear immediately, and are paid off. I was present when nine whippers
were paid for the discharge of 363-1/2 tons. The following was the work
done and the remuneration received:--
Day. Tons.
Dec. 14th 1st 35
„ 15th 2nd 56
Sunday intervenes.
„ 17th 3rd 84
„ 18th 4th 98
„ 19th 5th 90-1/2
-------
363-1/2
These 363-1/2 tons, at 8_d._ per ton, realized to each man, for five
days’ work, 1_l._ 6_s._ 4-1/4_d._; 10_s._ of which had been paid to
each as subsistence money during the progress of the work. In addition
to the work so paid to each, there was deducted a farthing in every
shilling as office fees, to defray the expenses of the office. From
this farthing reduction, moreover, the basket-man is paid 1-1/2_d._
in the pound, as commission for bringing the money from the captain.
Out of the sum to be divided on the occasion I specify there was
an indivisible fraction of 1-1/4_d._ This, as it cannot be shared
among nine men, goes to what is called “The Fraction Fund,” which is
established for the relief of persons suffering from accidents on board
coal-ships. These indivisible fractions realize between 30_l._ and
40_l._ yearly.
Connected with the calling of the whippers I may mention the existence
of the Purlmen. These are men who carry kegs of malt liquor in boats,
and retail it afloat, having a license from the Waterman’s Company to
do so. In each boat is a small iron grating, containing a fire, so that
any customer can have the chill off, should he require that luxury. The
purlman rings a bell to announce his visit to the men on board. There
are several purlmen, who keep rowing all day about the coal fleet; they
are not allowed to sell spirits. In a fog the glaring of the fire in
the purlmen’s boats, discernible on the river, has a curious effect,
nothing but the fire being visible.
I was now desirous of obtaining some information from the men
collectively. Accordingly I entered the basket-men’s waiting-room,
where a large number of them were “biding their turn;” and no sooner
had I made my appearance in the hall, and my object became known to the
men, than a rush was made from without, and the door was obliged to be
bolted to prevent the over-crowding of the room. As it was, the place
was crammed so full, that the light was completely blocked by the men
piled up on the seats and lockers, and standing before the windows.
The room was thus rendered so dark that I was obliged to have the gas
lighted, in order to see to take my notes; I myself was obliged to
mount the opposite locker to take the statistics of the meeting.
There were eighty-six present. To show how many had no employment
whatever last week, forty-five hands were held up. One had had no
employment for a fortnight; twenty-four no work for eight days. Of
those who had worked during the previous week, eight had received
20_s._; sixteen between 15_s._ and seventeen between 10_s._ and 15_s._;
ten between 5_s._ and 10_s._; one had received under 5_s._; twelve had
received nothing. The average of employment as to time is this:--None
are employed for thirty weeks during the year; all for twenty-five
weeks or upwards, realizing 12_s._ perhaps, yearly, per week--so many
of the men said; but the office returns show 1_s._ 1-1/2_d._ per day
as the average for the last nine months. “Waterage” costs the whipper
an average of 6_d._ a-week the year through. “Waterage” means the
conveyance from the vessels to the shore. Fourteen of the men had wives
or daughters who work at slop needlework, the husbands being unable
to maintain the family by their own labour. A coalwhipper stated that
there were more of the wives of the coalwhippers idle, because they
couldn’t get work, than were at work. All the wives and daughters would
have worked if they could have got it. “Why, your honour,” one man
said, “we are better off in this office than under the old system. We
were then compulsory drunkards, and often in debt to a publican after
clearing the ship.” The men employed generally spent 12_s._ to 15_s._
a-week. Those unemployed had abundant credit at the publican’s. One
man said, “I worked for a publican who was also a butcher; one week I
had to pay 9_s._ for drink, and 11_s._ for meat, and he said I hadn’t
spent sufficient. I was one of his constant men.” At the time a ship
was cleared, the whipper had often nothing to take home. “Nothing
but sorrow,” said one. The publican swept all; and some publicans
would advance 2_s._ 6_d._ towards the next job, to allow a man to
live. Many of the whippers now do not drink at all. The average of
the drinking among the men, when at hard work, does not exceed three
half-pints a-day. The grievances that once afflicted the coalwhipper,
are still felt by the ballast-men. The men all stated the fact as to
the 9_d._ allowed, and the 8_d._ per ton paid for whipping. They all
represented that a lighterman, engaged by the gas companies, was doing
them great injury, by employing a number of ‘bonafides,’ and taking
the best ships away from the regular office, and giving them to the
‘bonafides’ who “whip” the vessel at a lower rate of wages--about 6_d._
a-ton. He is connected with a beer-shop, and the men are expected to
buy his beer. If this man gets on with his system, (all this the men
concurred in stating,) the bad state of things prevailing under the
publican’s management might be brought back. Sixteen years ago each
whipper received 11-1/4_d._ per ton, prices steady, and the men in
union. “If it wasn’t for this office,” one man said, “not one man who
worked sixteen years ago would be alive now.” The Union was broken up
about twelve years ago, and prices fell and fluctuated down as low
as 6_d._, and even 5-1/2_d._, sometimes rising and falling 1-1/4_d._
a-week. The prices continued fluctuating until the present office was
established, in 1844. The ship-owners and merchants agreed, at the
commencement of the office, to give the whippers 9_d._ a-ton, and
in three months reduced it to 8_d._ The publicans, it was stated,
formed themselves into a compact body for the purpose of breaking down
the present system, and they introduced hundreds of fresh hands to
undersell the regular workers. In 1847 wages rose again to 9_d._; the
whippers appealing to the trade, urging the high price of provisions,
and their appeal being allowed. This 9_d._ a-ton continued until
the 1st of June last. At that time the ‘bonafides’ were generally
introduced, and greatly increased, and getting three times the work
the regular men did, they (the regular men) consented again to lower
the prices. The ‘bonafides’ are no better off than the regular hands;
for though they have much more work they have less per ton, and have
to spend more in drink. The coalwhippers represented themselves as
benefited by the cheapness of provisions. With dear provisions they
couldn’t, at their present earnings, live at all. The removal of the
backing system had greatly benefited the whippers. On being asked
how many had things in pawn, there was a general laugh, and a cry of
“All of us.” It is common to pawn a coat on Monday and take it out on
Saturday night, paying a month’s interest. One man said, “I have now
in pawn seven articles, all wearing apparel, my wife’s or my own, from
15_s._ down to 9_d._” Four had in pawn goods to the amount of 5_l._ and
upwards; five to 4_l._; six to 3_l._; thirteen to 2_l._; thirteen to
1_l._; under 1_l._ nineteen; five had nothing in pawn. When asked if
all made a practice of pawning their coats during the week, there was
a general assent. Some could not redeem them in time to attend church
or chapel on a Sunday. One man said, that if all his effects were burnt
in his absence, he would lose no wearing apparel. “Our children, under
the old system, were totally neglected,” they said; “the public-house
absorbed everything.” Under that system as many as 500 of the children
of coalwhippers were transported; now that has entirely ceased;
those charged with crime now were reared under the old system. “The
legislature never did a better thing than to emancipate us,” said the
man; “they have the blessing and prayers of ourselves, our wives, and
children.”
After the meeting I was furnished with the following accounts of a
basket-man, of which I have calculated the averages:--
_First Quarter.--January 2, 1849, to March 28._
Employed 50 days
Delivered 2570-1/4 tons
Amount earned at 9_d._ per ton £10 15 2-1/2
Deduct expenses of office 4_s._ 6_d._ } 0 12 10
Ditto waterage 8_s._ 4_d._ }
-------------
£10 2 4-1/2
-------------
Average weekly earnings about 0 16 6
_Second Quarter.--April 7 to June 30._
Employed 44 days
Delivered 2609 tons
Amount earned at 9_d._ per ton £10 10 8
Deduct waterage 7_s._ 4_d._ } 0 11 8
Office expenses 4_s._ 4_d._ }
-------------
£9 19 0
-------------
Average weekly earnings 0 15 3-1/2
_Third Quarter--July 4 to September 24._
Employed 42 days
Delivered 2485 tons
Amount earned at 8_d._ per ton £ 9 4 4-3/4
Deduct waterage 7_s._ 0_d._ } £ 0 10 10-1/4
Office expenses 3_s._ 10-1/4_d._ }
-------------
£8 13 6-1/2
-------------
Average weekly earnings 0 14 2
_Fourth Quarter--Oct. 4 to Dec. 20._
Employed 49 days
Delivered 2858-1/2 tons
Amount earned at 8_d._ per ton £ 9 16 4-3/4
Deduct waterage 8_s._ 2_d._ } 0 12 3-3/4
Office expenses 4_s._ 1-3/4_d._ }
-------------
£9 4 1
-------------
Average weekly earnings 0 14 1-3/4
First Quarter £10 2 4-1/4
Second Quarter 9 19 0
Third Quarter 8 13 6-1/2
Fourth Quarter 9 4 1
-------------
£37 19 0
-------------
Average weekly earnings 0 14 6
Employed--First Quarter 50 days.
Second Quarter 44 „
Third Quarter 42 „
Fourth Quarter 49 „
--------
185 days.
--------
Idle 180 days.