Lighterman
- Thread starter Wansworth
- Start date
Biggles Wader
Well-known member
Maybe stick this and the coasters post in Scuttlebutt. Few visit this bit.
oldgit
Well-known member
Love the "Bib and Tucker" and probably its their Sunday best......... but a few years later ! the world has changed
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LittleSister
Well-known member
My next door neighbour when I was around 10 to 13 years old worked on a tug around London docks area. I'm not sure that I ever spoke to him, despite being very much drawn to the water, ships and boats, but having no actual involvement with them at that time. I wish now that I had been able to hear from him about his work, etc.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Belonging to a guild and serving an apprenticeship must have been satisfying,part of history learning the skills and being accepted in to your community.
LittleSister
Well-known member
They were jobs (along with printing and numerous others) that, it was said back then, that you could only have any chance of getting into if your family was already in it.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Yes the Guilds looked after themselves whether it’s still true today,probably like the watermen and probably the pilots
oldgit
Well-known member
Some guilds are still there and still have a discrete hand on the shoulders of power.
Similar under the radar organisations such Rochester Bridge Trust have been in existence since time immemorial, well quite al long time anyway, they allocate considerable Bursaries to various causes all funded by ownership large amounts of land and property in Kent.
Home - The Rochester Bridge Trust
Can recall when a government of the day attempted to overide the juristiction of and to limit the powers of one organisation unware of a Royal Charter granted to them by Henry VI and legislation by George II.
Similar under the radar organisations such Rochester Bridge Trust have been in existence since time immemorial, well quite al long time anyway, they allocate considerable Bursaries to various causes all funded by ownership large amounts of land and property in Kent.
Home - The Rochester Bridge Trust
Can recall when a government of the day attempted to overide the juristiction of and to limit the powers of one organisation unware of a Royal Charter granted to them by Henry VI and legislation by George II.
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veshengro
Well-known member
I paid off a Royal Mail ship in the Royal Albert Dock in the Spring of 1966, home from the West Indies run, and just in time for the start of the National Seaman's strike of that year. I had no home ashore at that time but through a friend of a friend I ended up in a small 2 room bedsit type place in Erith on the London River.
Wandering around the waterfront I got to know someone who worked for the London Tug Company who operated the fleet of Sun Tugs, and I learned there of the (Then) zero possibility of getting a job on the London river during the strike or indeed any other time. Family connections seemed paramount as well as membership of a Guild or Company and an apprenticeship was the usual starting point. The same family names always cropped up when talking about the various Tug Skippers and Mates and not surprisingly the Clan type tradition also applied to the women of the families too.
Wandering around the waterfront I got to know someone who worked for the London Tug Company who operated the fleet of Sun Tugs, and I learned there of the (Then) zero possibility of getting a job on the London river during the strike or indeed any other time. Family connections seemed paramount as well as membership of a Guild or Company and an apprenticeship was the usual starting point. The same family names always cropped up when talking about the various Tug Skippers and Mates and not surprisingly the Clan type tradition also applied to the women of the families too.
