Interesting old photos of the port and docks of London
- Thread starter LittleSister
- Start date
MADRIGAL
Active member
…and not a container in sight. How times change.
penfold
Well-known member
Yes; containerisation all but eliminated theft, minimised damage to goods through handling, gave a massive increase in efficiency and speed, reduced spoilage of chilled and frozen goods due to them being containerised door to door. A leap forward comparable to the development of powered flight or the internal combustion engine. Handballing mixed freight out of the tweendeck of a freighter is no way to conduct trade. The pictures are very evocative though.
Poignard
Well-known member
Excellent! Thanks for that.
In the winter The Old Guvnor and I like to have a day out in London on saturdays; exploring or going to see exhibitions and events, and having a pub lunch.
That exhibition is now top of the must see list.
Daydream believer
Well-known member
I wonder if the exhibition will show Jack Dash leading 60,000 dockers along the highway on strike.
Or if it will show dockers standing in a group waiting to be selected for work that day, or going home penniless if they did not get picked.
Kind of takes the romance out of it somehow.
Or if it will show dockers standing in a group waiting to be selected for work that day, or going home penniless if they did not get picked.
Kind of takes the romance out of it somehow.
westernman
Well-known member
It looks pretty smoggy in every single shot!
Poignard
Well-known member
Whenever I see a fine old cathedral I think of people being tortured and burnt at the stake. That takes the romance (if any) out of it!I wonder if the exhibition will show Jack Dash leading 60,000 dockers along the highway on strike.
Or if it will show dockers standing in a group waiting to be selected for work that day, or going home penniless if they did not get picked.
Kind of takes the romance out of it somehow.
Daydream believer
Well-known member
My wife says a similar thing happens when she sees the housework that i have left her for her return home after a couple of days away
LittleSister
Well-known member
Speaking of, er, which, I was reading this just a few minutes ago -
Why the witch-hunt victims of early modern Britain have come back to haunt us
Poignard
Well-known member
I had better drop this topic before I stray into condemning religion; which I guess is a banning offence.
LittleSister
Well-known member
At least the Mods restrict themselves to only a mild roasting, or a metaphorical live burial, of Forum miscreants!
Stemar
Well-known member
If only giving the innocent victims of past injustice acknowledgement that they were wronged (much they care) could extend to doing the same to current victims. Of course, it's easy to say "Our ancestors were wrong" than to admit we were wrong, because if we do that, we might have to get off our collective arses and produce something more than hot air to put things right.
dom
Well-known member
Thanks for posting LittleSister and isn't this picture simply marvelous!!
Poignard
Well-known member
You're right, but at least it's a start in the right direction.
Stemar
Well-known member
True, but I'm not holding my breath for our "leaders" to take the next one
Daydream believer
Well-known member
NO. We do NOT "put things right" they were what they were & people should learn to live with it & celebrate all of our history. "Putting things right" is not the way. It just ends up with idiots throwing statues in the water daubing graffiti on memorials & trying to re write history. I suspect that just breeds contempt in the silent majority. Therefore, it is totally wrong in my view.
Of course we can change the way we act in the future, but that is for next generations to decide. But it is not for generations to start " putting things right" where thay cannot be.
laika
Well-known member
Visitors who venture south of the river may be interested in climbing stave hill in the woodland created on the filled in Russia dock which has at the top a cast map /model of the old docks on the rotherhithe peninsular.
Interesting to look around from that vantage point and compare what was there 50 years ago to what’s there now
Interesting to look around from that vantage point and compare what was there 50 years ago to what’s there now
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cherod
N/A
how to romanticise what was a dirty , dangerous and badly paid industry
LittleSister
Well-known member
It certainly had its warts, but it was also central to the character of the area, and to the lives and culture of the people there and around (including those I grew up with).
The images are also highly relevant to the memories - both good and bad - of many on this forum, and to our understanding of what we have gained and what we have lost in the culture and technology of today.
If you are not capable or willing to see both the bad and the good (not to mention the interesting), you do not have to look at this thread.
Biggles Wader
Well-known member
As someone who spent a few years swanning round the world in traditional "tramp" cargo ships in the 1970s I can certainly say there was definitely an up side to the old ways. Hard work, dirty and sometimes dangerous but also a huge opportunity for a young man to visit every continent bar Antarctica and often spend several days or even weeks in some very interesting places. How does nearly two months in Uruguay and Argentina sound? Add on a visit to the Argentine Grand Prix and Xmas/ New Year somewhere miles up the Parana River and getting paid for it! If that doesnt float your boat how about a month round the Aussie coast including a week in Sydney and another in Melbourne, nicely moored in the old city centre docks a few minutes from all the action? Another Xmas in New Orleans moored just next to the riverboat jetty in the French quarter. Visiting the Whitbread Round the World race boats in Auckland and loads more.
Yes, progress overtook all that but its a shame ordinary young people without much money struggle for opportunities like that today.
how about a month round the Aussie coast including a week in Sydney and another in Melbourne, nicely moored in the old city centre docks a few minutes from all the action? Another Xmas in New Orleans moored just next to the riverboat jetty in the French quarter. Visiting the Whitbread Round the World race boats in Auckland and loads more.Yes, progress overtook all that but its a shame ordinary young people without much money struggle for opportunities like that today.