No.
Ships 2,177
Seamen 21,600
Tons of coal entering the Port of London each year 3,418,140
Coalmeters 170
Coalwhippers 2,000
Coalporters 3,000
Coalfactors 25
Coalmerchants 502
Coaldealers 295
Coal waggons 1,600
Horses for ditto 5,200
Waggoners 1,600
Trimmers 800
I continue my inquiry into the state of the coal-labourers of the
metropolis.
The coalheavers, properly so called, are now no longer known in the
trade. The class of coalheavers, according to the vulgar acceptation of
the word, is divided into coalwhippers, or those who whip up or lift
the coals rapidly from the hold, and the coalbackers, or those who
carry them on their backs to the wharf, either from the hold of the
ship moored alongside the wharf, or from the lighter into which the
coals have been whipped from the collier moored in the middle of the
river, or “Pool.” Formerly the coals were delivered from the holds of
the ships by the labourers shovelling them on to a series of stages,
raised one above the other till they ultimately reached the deck. One
or two men were on each stage, and hove the coals up to the stage
immediately above them. The labourers engaged in this process were
termed “coalheavers.” But now the coals are delivered at once from the
hold by means of a sudden jerk, which “whips” them on deck. This is the
process of coalwhipping, and it is performed chiefly in the middle of
the river, to fill the “rooms” of the barges that carry the coals from
the ship to the wharf. Coals are occasionally delivered immediately
from the ship on to the wharf by means of the process of “coalbacking,”
as it is called. This consists in the sacks being filled in the hold,
and then carried on the men’s backs up a ladder from the hold, along
planks from the ship to the wharf. By this means, it will be easily
understood that the ordinary processes of whipping and lightering are
avoided. By the process of coalwhipping, the ship is delivered in the
middle of the river, or the “Pool” as it is called, and the coals are
lightered, or carried to the wharf, by means of barges, whence they are
transported to the wharf by the process of backing. But when the coals
are backed out of the ship itself on to the wharf, the two preliminary
processes are done away with. The ship is moored alongside, and the
coals are delivered directly from the ships to the premises of the
wharfinger. By this means the wharfingers, or coalmerchants, below
bridge, are enabled to have their coals delivered at a cheaper price
than those above bridge, who must receive the cargoes by means of the
barges. I am assured that the colliers, in being moored alongside the
wharfs, receive considerable damage, and strain their timbers severely
from the swell of the steamboats passing to and fro. Again, the process
of coalbacking appears to be of so extremely laborious a nature that
the health, and indeed the lives, of the men are both greatly injured
by it. Moreover, the benefit remains solely with the merchant, and not
with the consumer, for the price of the coals delivered below bridge
is the same as those delivered above. The expense of delivering the
ship is always borne by the shipowner. This is, at present, 8_d._ per
ton, and was originally intended to be given to the whippers. But
the merchant, by the process of backing, has discovered the means of
avoiding this process; and so he puts the money which was originally
paid by the shipowner for whipping the coals into his own pocket, for
the consumer is not a commensurate gainer. Since the merchant below
bridge charges the same price to the public for his coals as the
merchant above, it is clear that he alone is benefited at the expense
of the public, the coalwhippers, and even the coalbackers themselves;
for on inquiry among this latter class, I find that they object as
much as the whippers to the delivery of a ship from the hold, the
mounting of the ladders from the hold being of a most laborious and
injurious nature. I have been supplied by a gentleman who is intimately
acquainted with the expenses of the two processes with the following
comparative account:--
_Expenses of delivering a Ship of 360 tons by the process of
Coalwhipping._
£ _s._ _d._
For whipping 360 tons at 8_d._ per ton 12 0 0
Lighterman’s wages for 1 week engaged
in lightering the said 360 tons
from ship to wharf 1 10 0
Expenses of backing the said coals
from craft to wharf at 11-1/4_d._ per ton 16 17 6
-------------
£30 7 6
_Expense of delivering a Ship of 360 tons by the process of
Coalbacking._
For backing a ship of 360 tons
directly from the ship to the wharf £16 17 6
By the above account it will be seen, that if a collier of 360 tons
is delivered in the Pool, the expense is 30_l._ 7_s._ 6_d._, but if
delivered at the wharf-side the expense is 16_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._, the
difference between the two processes being 13_l._ 10_s._ Hence, if the
consumer were the gainer, the coals should be delivered below bridge
9_d._ a ton cheaper than they are above bridge. The nine coalwhippers
ordinarily engaged in the whipping of the coals would have gained 1_l._
6_s._ 8_d._ each man if they had not been “backed” out of the ship; but
as the coals delivered by backing below bridge are not cheaper, and
the whippers have not received any money, it follows that the 12_l._
which has been paid by the shipowner to the merchant for the expense
of whipping has been pocketed by the merchant, and the expense of
lightering, 1_l._ 10_s._, saved by him; making a total profit of 13_l._
10_s._, not to mention the cost of wear and tear, and interest of
capital sunk in barges. This sum of money is made at the expense of the
coalbackers themselves, who are seldom able to continue the labour (so
extreme is it) for more than twenty years at the outside, the average
duration of the labourers being only twelve years. After this period,
the men, from having been overstrained by their violent exertion, are
unable to pursue any other calling; and yet the merchants, I am sorry
to say, have not even encouraged them to form either a benefit society,
a superannuation fund, or a school for their children.
Wishing to perfect the inquiry, I thought it better to see one of the
seamen engaged in the trade. Accordingly, I went off to some of the
colliers lying in Mill Hole, and found an intelligent man, ready to
give me the information I sought. His statement was, that he had been
to sea between twenty-six and twenty-seven years altogether. “Out of
that time,” he said, “I’ve had nine or ten years’ experience at the
coal-trade. I’ve been to the East Indies and West Indies, and served
my apprenticeship in a whaler. I have been to the Mediterranean, and
to several parts of France. I think that, take the general run, the
living and treatment of the men in the coal-trade is better than in
any other going. It’s difficult to tell how many ships I’ve been in,
and how many owners I’ve served under. I have been in the same ship
for three or four years, and I have been only one voyage in one ship.
You see, we are obliged to study our own interest as much as we can.
Of course the masters won’t do it for us. Speaking generally, of the
different ships and different owners I’ve served under, I think the
men are generally well served. I have been in some that have been very
badly victualled: the small stores in particular, such as tea, sugar,
and coffee, have been very bad. They, in general, nip us very short.
There is a regular allowance fixed by Act of Parliament; but it’s too
little for a man to go by. Some owners go strictly by the Act, and some
give more; but I don’t know one that gives under. Indeed, as a general
rule, I think the men in the trade have nothing to complain of. The
only thing is, the wages are generally small; and the ships are badly
manned. In bad weather there is not enough hands to take the sail off
her, or else there wouldn’t be so many accidents as there are. The
average tonnage of a coal-ship is from 60 up to about 250 tons. There
are sometimes large ships; but they come seldom, and when they do, they
carry but part coal cargo. They only load a portion with coals that
they may be able to come across the bar-harbours in the north. If they
were loaded altogether with coals, they couldn’t get over the bar:
they would draw too much water. For a ship of about from 100 to 130
tons, the usual complement is generally from five to six hands, boys,
captain, and men all included together. There might be two men before
the mast--a master, a mate, and a boy. This is sadly too little. A ship
of this sort shouldn’t, to my mind, have less than seven hands: that
is the least to be safe. In rough weather, you see, perhaps the ship
is letting water: the master takes the ‘hellum,’ one hand, in general,
stops on deck to work the pumps, and three goes aloft. Most likely one
of the boys has only been to sea one or two voyages; and if there’s
six hands to such a ship, two of them is sure to be ‘green-boys,’ just
fresh from the shore, and of little or no use to us. We haven’t help
enough to get the sail off the yards in time,--there’s no one on deck
looking out,--it may be thick weather,--and, of course, it’s properly
dangerous. About half the accidents at sea occur from the ships being
badly manned. The ships generally, throughout the coal-trade, have
one hand in six too little. The colliers, mostly, carry double their
registered tonnage. A ship of 250 tons carrying 500, will have ten
hands, when she ought to have twelve or thirteen; and out of the ten
that she does have, perhaps four of them is boys. All sailors in the
coal-trade are paid by the voyage. They vary from 3_l._ 10_s._ up to
4_l._ for able-bodied seamen. The ships from the same port in the north
give all alike for a London journey. In the height of summer, the wages
is from 3_l._ 5_s._ to 3_l._ 15_s._; and in the winter they are 4_l._
Them’s the highest wages given this winter. The wages are increased in
the winter, because the work’s harder and the weather’s colder. Some
of the ships lay up, and there’s a greater demand for those that are
in the trade. It’s true that the seamen of those that are laying up
are out of employ; but I can’t say why it is that the wages don’t come
down in consequence. All I know is they go up in the winter. This is
sadly too little pay, this 4_l._ a journey. Probably, in the winter, a
man may make only two journeys in four months; and if he’s got a wife
and family, his expenses is going on at home all the while. The voyage
I consider to last from the time of sailing from the north port, to
the time of entering the north port again. The average time of coming
from the north port to London is from ten to eleven days. Sometimes
the passage has been done in six: but I’m speaking of the average. We
are generally about twenty-two days at sea, making the voyage from the
north and back. The rest of the time we are discharging cargo, or lying
idle in the Pool. On making the port of London, we have to remain in
‘the Section’ till the cargo is sold. ‘The Section’ is between Woolwich
and Gravesend. I have remained there as much as five weeks. I have
been there, too, only one market-day--that is, three days. It is very
seldom this occurs. The average time that we remain in ‘the Section’
is from two to three weeks. The cause of this delay arises from the
factors not disposing of the coals, in order to keep up the prices. If
a large fleet comes, the factors will not sell immediately, because
the prices would go down; so we are kept in ‘the Section,’ for their
convenience, without no more wages. When the cargo is sold we drop
down into the Pool; and there we remain about two days more than we
ought, for want of a meter. We are often kept, also, a day over the
day of delivery. This we call a ‘balk day.’ The owners of the ship
receive a certain compensation for every one of these balk days. This
is expressed in the charter-party, or ship’s contract. The whippers
and meters, too, receive a certain sum for these balk days, the same
as if they were working; but the seamen of the colliers are the only
parties who receive nothing. The delay arises entirely through the
merchant, and he ought to pay us for it. The coal-trade is the only
trade that pays by the voyage; all others paying by the month: and the
seamen feel it as a great grievance, this detention not being paid
for. Very often, while I have been laying in ‘the Section,’ because
the coalfactor would not sell, other seamen that entered the port of
London with me have made another voyage and been back again, whilst
I was stopping idle; and been 3_l._ 10_s._, or 4_l._, the better for
it. Four or five years since the voyage was 1_l._ or 2_l._ better paid
for. I have had, myself, as much as 6_l._ the voyage, and been detained
much less. Within the last three years our wages have decreased 30
per cent, whilst the demand for coals and for colliers has increased
considerably. I never heard of such a thing as supply and demand; but
it does seem to me a very queer thing that, whilst there’s a greater
quantity of coals sold, and more colliers employed, we poor seamen
should be paid worse. In all the ships that I have been in, I’ve
generally been pretty well fed; but I have been aboard some ships, and
heard of a great many more, where the food is very bad, and the men
are very badly used. On the passage, the general rule is to feed the
men upon salt meat. The pork they in general use is Kentucky, Russian,
Irish, and, indeed, a mixture of all nations. Any kind of offal goes
aboard some ships; but the one I’m on now there’s as good meat as ever
went aboard; aye, and plenty of it--no stint.”
A basketman, who was present whilst I was taking the above statement,
told me that the foreman of the coalwhippers had more chances of
judging of the state of the provisions supplied to the colliers than
the men had themselves; for the basketmen delivered many different
ships, and it was the general rule for them to get their dinner aboard,
among the sailors. The basketman here referred to told me that he had
been a butcher, and was consequently well able to judge of the quality
of the meat. “I have no hesitation,” said he, “in stating, that one
half the meat supplied to the seamen is unfit for human consumption. I
speak of the pork in particular. Frequently the men throw it overboard
to get it out of the way. Many a time when I’ve been dining with the
men I wouldn’t touch it. It fairly and regularly stinks as they takes
it out of the coppers.”