Having finished with the different classes of coal-labourers
in London--the whippers, backers, pull-backs, trimmers, and
waggoners--I purpose now dealing with the ballast-men, including the
ballast-getters, the ballast-lightermen, and the ballast-heavers
of the metropolis. My reason for passing from the coal to the
ballast-labourers is, because the latter class of the work-people are
suffering under the same iniquitous and pernicious system of employment
as that from which the coal-labourers have recently been emancipated,
and the transition will serve to show not only the present condition of
the one class of men, but the past state of the other.
After treating of the ballast-labourers, I purpose inquiring into the
condition and income of the stevedores, or men engaged in the stowing
or unstowing of vessels; and of the lumpers and riggers, or those
engaged in the rigging and unrigging of them. It is then my intention
to pass to the corn-labourers, such as the corn-porters, corn-runners,
and turners, touching incidentally upon the corn-meters. After this,
I mean to devote my attention to the timber-labourers engaged at
the different timber-docks--as, for instance, the Commercial, the
Grand Surrey, and the East Country Docks. Then, in due course, I
shall come to the wharf-labourers and porters, or men engaged at the
different wharfs in London; thence I shall digress to the bargemen and
lightermen, or men engaged in the transit of the different cargoes
from the ships to their several points of destination up or down the
river; and finally, I shall treat of the watermen, the steamboat-men,
and pier-men, or those engaged in the transit of passengers along the
Thames. These, with the dock-labourers, of whom I have before treated,
will, I believe, exhaust the subject of the long-shore labourers; and
the whole will, I trust, form, when completed, such a body of facts
and information, in connexion with this particular branch of labour,
as has never before been collected. I am happy to say, that, with some
few exceptions, I have received from the different official gentlemen
not only every courtesy and consideration, but all the assistance and
co-operation that it lay in their power to afford me. Every class seems
to look upon the present inquiry as an important undertaking, and all,
save the Clerk of the Coal Exchange and the Deputy-Superintendent of
the London Docks, have shown themselves not only willing, but anxious,
to lend a hand towards expediting the result.
Before quitting the subject of the coal-market, let me endeavour to
arrive at an estimate as to the amount of wealth annually brought
into the port of London by means of the colliers, and to set forth,
as far as possible, the proportion in which it is distributed. I have
already given some statistics, which, notwithstanding the objections
of a coal-merchant, who, in a letter to a journal, stated that I had
reckoned the number of ships at twice the real quantity, were obtained
from such sources, and, I may add, with so much care and caution, as to
render them the most accurate information capable of being procured at
present on the subject. The statistics of the number of tons of coals
brought into the port of London in the year 1848, the number of vessels
employed, of the voyages made by those vessels collectively, and of
the seamen engaged in the traffic, were furnished by the Clerk of the
Coal Exchange at the time of the opening of the new building. Had the
coal-merchant, therefore, made it his duty to devote the same time and
care to the investigation of the truth of my statements that I have to
the collection of them, he would not only have avoided committing the
very errors he condemns, but would have displayed a more comprehensive
knowledge of his business.
In 1848 there were imported into the London coal market 3,418,340 tons
of coal. These were sold to the public at an average rate all the year
round of 22_s._ 6_d._ a ton. Hence the sum expended in the metropolis
for coal in that year was 3,845,632_l._ 10_s._
There are 21,600 seamen engaged in the coal trade, and getting on
an average 3_l._ 10_s._ per man per voyage. Each of these men makes
between 4 and 5 voyages in the course of the year. Hence the average
earnings of each man per year will be 15_l._ 18_s._, exclusive of his
keep; calculating that at 5_s._ per week, or 13_l._ per year, we have
28_l._ 18_s._ for the expense of each of the seamen employed. Hence,
as there are 21,600 sailors in the coal trade, the total yearly cost
would be
£624,240 0 0
There are 170 coal-meters, earning, on an average, 2_l._ per week, or
104_l._ per year each man. This would make the total sum paid in the
year to the coal-meters
17,680 0 0
There are 2000 coal-whippers, earning 15_s._ 1-1/2_d._ each per week,
or 39_l._ 6_s._ 6_d._ per man. Hence the total sum paid in the course
of last year to the coal-whippers was
78,650 0 0
There are 3000 coal-porters earning, on an average, 1_l._ per week, or
52_l._ per year per man, so that they receive annually
156,000 0 0
------------
Hence the total amount paid per year to the working-men engaged in
bringing and delivering coals in the London market is
£876,570 0 0
The area of all the coal-fields of Great Britain has been roughly
estimated at 9000 square miles. The produce is supposed to be about
32,000,000 tons annually, of which 10,000,000 tons are consumed in the
iron-works, 8,500,000 tons are shipped coastwise, 2,500,000 tons are
exported to foreign countries, and 11,000,000 tons distributed inland
for miscellaneous purposes. Near upon 4,000,000 tons were brought to
London by ships and otherwise in the year 1848, and it is computed that
about one-eighth part of this, or 500,000 tons, were consumed by the
gas-works.
The price of coals as quoted in the London market is the price up to
the time when the coals are whipped from the ships to the merchants’
barges. It includes, 1st. the value of the coals; 2d. the expense
of transit from the pit to the ship; 3d. the freight of the ship to
London; 4th. the Thames’ dues; and 5th. the whipping. The difference
between the market price and that paid by the consumer is made up of
the expense incurred by the coal-merchant for barges, wharfs, waggons,
horses, wages, coal-porters, &c., to his profit and risk. In 1836 the
expenses incurred by the merchant from the time he bought a ship-load
of coals to the deposition of them in the cellars of his customers
amounted, on an average, it was said, to 7_s._ a ton. These expenses
comprise commission, lighterage, porterage, cartage, shooting, metage,
market-dues, land-metage, and other items. At the present time the
expenses must be considerably lower, the wages of the labourers and the
meters having been lowered full 50 per cent, though the demand for and
consumption of coal has increased at nearly the same rate; indeed the
law of the coal-market appears to be, that in proportion as the demand
for the article rises, so do the wages of the men engaged in the supply
of it fall.
As the ballast-heavers are under the thraldom of the same demoralising
and oppressive system as that which the coal-whippers recently suffered
under, it may be as well, before going further, to lay before the
reader the following concise account of the terms on which the latter
were engaged before the Coal-whippers’ Office was established.
Until the last few years the coal-whippers suffered themselves to
be duped in an extraordinary way by publicans and petty shopkeepers
on shore. The custom was, for the captain of a coal-ship, when he
required a cargo to be whipped, to apply to one of these publicans
for a gang; and a gang was accordingly sent from the public-house.
There was no professed or pre-arranged deduction from the price paid
for the work; the captain paid the publican, and the publican paid
the coal-whippers; but the middleman had his profit another way. The
coal-whipper was expected to come to the public-house in the morning;
to drink while waiting for work, to take drink with him to the ship,
to drink again when the day’s work was over, and to linger about and
in the public-house until almost bed-time before his day’s wages were
paid. The consequence was, that an enormous ratio of his earnings went
every week to the publican. The publicans were wont to divide their
dependants into two classes--the constant men and the stragglers, of
whom the former were first served whenever a cargo was to be whipped;
in return for this they were expected to spend almost the whole of
their spare time in the public-house, and even to take up their
lodgings there.
The captains preferred applying to the publicans to engaging the
men themselves, because it saved them trouble; and because (as was
pretty well understood) the publicans curried favour with them by
indirect means; grocers and small shopkeepers did the same, and the
coal-whippers had then to buy bad and dear groceries instead of bad
and dear beer and gin. The Legislature tried by various means to
protect the coal-whippers, but the publicans contrived means to evade
the law. At length, in 1843, an Act was passed, which has placed the
coal-whippers in a far more advantageous position.
The transition from coal-labour to ballast-labour is gradual and easy,
and would be even if the labourers were not kindred in suffering.
The coal-ships, when discharged by the whippers, must get back to the
north; and as there are not cargoes enough from London to freight them,
they must take in ballast to make the ships heavy enough to sail in
safety. This ballast is chiefly ballast or sand, dredged up from the
bed of the Thames at and near Woolwich Reach. The Trinity House takes
upon itself this duty. The captain, when he requires to sail, applies
to the Ballast Office, and the required weight of ballast is sent to
the ship in lighters belonging to the Trinity House, the captain paying
so much a ton for it. About 80 tons on an average are required for each
vessel, and the quantity thus supplied by the Trinity House is about
10,000 tons per week. Some of the ships are ballasted with chalk taken
from Purfleet; all ballast taken from higher up the river than that
point must be supplied by the Trinity House. When the ship reaches the
Tyne, the ballast is of no further use, but it must not be emptied into
that river; it has, therefore, to be deposited on the banks, where huge
mounds are now collected two or three hundred feet high.
New places on the banks of the river have to be discovered for
this deposit as the ballast mounds keep increasing, for it must be
recollected that the vessels leave these ports--no matter for what
destination--with coal, and may return in ballast. Indeed a railway
has been formed from the vicinity of South Shields to a waste place
on the sea-shore, hard by the mouth of the Tyne, where the ballast
may be conveyed at small cost, its further accumulation on the river
bank being found an incumbrance. “It is really something more than
a metaphor,” it has been said, “to designate this a transfer of the
bed of the Thames to the banks of the Tyne.” We may add as another
characteristic, that some of the older ballast mounds are overgrown
with herbage. As the vessels from foreign ports returning to the
coal-ports in ballast, have not unfrequently to take soil on board for
ballast, in which roots and seeds are contained, some of there struggle
into vegetation, so that Italian flowers not unfrequently attempt to
bloom in Durham, Yorkshire, or Northumberland, while some have survived
the climate and have spread around; and thus it is that botanists trace
the history of plants which are called indigenous to the ballast-hills.
Before treating of the ballast labourers themselves I shall give a
brief history of the ballast laws.
Ships are technically said to be in ballast when they sail without a
cargo, having on board only the stores and other articles requisite
for the use of the vessel and crew, as well as of any passengers who
may be proceeding with her upon the voyage. In favour of vessels thus
circumstanced it is usual to dispense with many formalities at the
custom-houses of the ports, and to remit the payment of the dues and
charges levied upon ships having cargoes on board. A foreign vessel
proceeding from a British port may take chalk on board as ballast.
Regulations have at various times been made in different ports and
countries, determining the modes in which ships may be supplied
with ballast, and in what manner they may discharge the same, such
regulations being necessary to prevent injury to harbours. Charles
I. published a proclamation in 1636, ordering that none shall buy any
ballast out of the river Thames but a person appointed by him for that
purpose. And this appointment was sold for the king’s profit. Since
then the soil of the river Thames has been vested in the corporation
of the Trinity House, and a fine of 10_l._ may be recovered for every
ton of ballast taken out of the river without the authority of the
corporation. Ships may take on board land-ballast from any quarries or
pits east of Woolwich by paying 1_d._ per ton to the Trinity House. For
river-ballast the corporation are authorised by Act of Parliament to
make other charges. The receipts of the Trinity House from this source
were 33,591_l._ in the year 1840, and their expenses were 31,622_l._,
leaving a clear profit of 1969_l._ The ballast of all ships or vessels
coming into the Thames must be unladen into a lighter, and if any
ballast be thrown into the river the master of the vessel whence it is
thrown is liable to a fine of 20_l._ Some such regulation is usually
enforced at every port.
Before proceeding further with my present subject, it is proper that I
should express my acknowledgments of the ready courtesy with which the
official information necessary for the full elucidation of my subject
was supplied to me by the Secretary of the principal Ballast Office at
Trinity House, Tower Hill. I have always observed, that when the heads
of a department willingly supply information to go before the public,
I find in the further course of my investigations that under such
departments the claims of the labourer are not only acknowledged but
practically allowed. On the other hand, if official gentlemen neglect
(which is to refuse) to supply the returns and other information, it
is because the inquiry is unpalatable to them, as the public may find
that in their departments the fair claims of the labourers are _not_
allowed. Were the poor ballast-heavers taken under the protection of
the corporation of the Trinity House (something in the same way that
Parliament has placed the coal-whippers under the guardianship of a
board of commissioners) the good done would be great indeed, and the
injury would be none: for it cannot be called an injury to prevent a
publican forcing a man to buy and swallow bad drink.
By charter of Queen Elizabeth in the 36th year of her reign, the
lastage and ballastage, and office of lastage and ballastage, of all
ships and other vessels betwixt the bridge of the city of London and
the main sea, I am informed by the Secretary of the Trinity Company,
was granted to the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Trinity House
of Deptford Strond. This was renewed, and the gravel, sand, and soil
of the river Thames granted to the said master wardens, &c. for the
ballasting of ships and vessels in the 15th year of Charles II., and
again in the 17th year of the reign of that monarch. This last-named
charter remains in force, and has been confirmed by Acts of Parliament
at different times; by which Acts also various regulations in relation
to the conduct of the ballast service, the control of the persons
employed therein, and the prices of the ballast supplied, have been
established. The Act now in force is the 6th and 7th Vict. cap. 57.
The number of men employed in lighters as ballast-getters, or in barges
conveying it from the dredgers, is 245, who are paid by the ton raised.
The number of vessels entered for ballast in the year 1848 was:
Colliers 6,480
British merchant vessels 3,690
Aliens 1,054
------
Total vessels 11,224
The total quantity of ballast supplied to shipping in the year 1848 was
615,619 tons, or thereabouts; such ballast being gravel raised from
the bed of the river Thames and delivered alongside of vessels, either
lying in the different docks or being afloat in the stream between
London-bridge and Woolwich.