Chatham Dockyard (12 page)

One of the least pleasant of the working environments was the smithery, frequently engaged in the manufacture of anchors. Here, the heat was often unbearable with the smiths themselves allowed eight pints of strong beer each day for the purpose of quenching an undoubted thirst. The No.1 Smithery was constructed from 1806–08 and has recently been refurbished to house an important new exhibition that includes the chance to glimpse some of the original forges once used in this building.

Particularly demanding in terms of the physical effort required was the trade of anchor smith, this through the need to wield huge hammers and being in close proximity to an unbearably hot forge. During the summer months the large anchor fires had to be abandoned, as few smiths were capable of withstanding the intense heat being emitted. Work for the anchor smith consisted of making the various parts of an anchor, namely a shank, two arms and a ring with their flukes. Additionally they forged bolts and one or two of the non-specialist metal items used in ship construction. As for the anchor, once the separate parts had been forged these would be welded round the stock – two pieces of oak bolted together and secured by four iron hoops. Largest of the anchors, and these sometimes weighed as much as five tons, were the giant sheet anchors. Additionally though, the Chatham anchor smiths were responsible for the bower anchors and the much smaller kedge and grappling irons.

Probably no artisan worked as hard as the anchor smiths, expected to arrive in the yard before the main body of workers to get the fires started. From then on, they spent the entire day in a most unhealthy atmosphere. For this reason, it was difficult to augment their numbers, with apprentices hard to acquire. As a result, many of the anchor smiths who were employed in the yard were found as a result of newspaper advertisements and came from as far afield as Birmingham, Suffolk and the Isle of Wight.
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Seemingly typical of such anchor smiths was Israel Durnford. According to the 1779 description book of artificers he first entered the yard in November 1779, having served a blacksmith apprenticeship in Dorsetshire. At that time aged twenty-seven, it can be assumed that he had worked elsewhere prior to taking up his dockyard post. He was to remain at the dockyard until his death in January 1806.
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Three other artisan trades, those of bricklayer, house carpenter and joiner, were employed in the yard but were engaged in maintaining the fabric of the yard itself. House carpenters and joiners were frequently employed in the repair of timber docks, while all three tradesmen would be used in repairing and maintaining buildings within the yard.
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Between 1783 and 1790, for instance, a number of additional bricklayers were recruited for new building work to the ropery.
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On other occasions, bricklayers, house carpenters and joiners were brought into the shipbuilding programme itself. Brick makers, for instance, were responsible for paving the galley as protection against fire, while house carpenters and joiners were used in the repair of storerooms on board warships.
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As with many other artisans, these tradesmen were frequently trained within the yard. In November 1772, the thirty-nine joiners at Chatham included four apprentices, the sixty-three house carpenters had three apprentices and the thirteen bricklayers had three apprentices.
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Another group of artisans were the wheelwrights, plumbers and block makers. All were employed in particularly small numbers with the allowed complement at Chatham standing at two wheelwrights, one plumber and two block makers. None of these had apprentices at the time of the November 1772 report.
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Wheelwrights and plumbers, of course, were not specifically maritime trades, with the former retained for the purpose of maintaining carts in and around the yard, while plumbers undertook work on pipes
and fittings associated with water supply to some of the building and manufacturing areas. Blockmakers, on the other hand, were responsible for repairing pulley blocks used on board sailing ships, the blocks all manufactured by the Southampton firm of Taylor. Blocks were relatively easily repaired, the only required equipment being a bench, a lathe and several smaller tools such as a maul, gauge and burr.

Various workshops around the yard once specialised in various tasks associated with the building and repair of sailing ships. At the northward end of the yard, and still extant, are a wheelwrights’ shop (dating to the end of the eighteenth century) and a range of mast houses (1753–56).

One other artisan should be mentioned at this point: the dockyard brazier. While much of the brass used within the dockyard was manufactured under contract, its upkeep was the task of a permanently employed brazier. Apart from dealing with most of the decorative brass work, much of it restricted to the houses of the senior offices, this individual had also to maintain the dockyard lamps. At night he lit each of the lanterns while replenishing wicks and oil. One particularly long-serving holder of this post was Daniel Wilkins who was appointed in September 1781. Serving his apprenticeship in the town of Chatham, he was recorded as being a freeman of the borough of Maidstone.
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Two final groups of artisans were the riggers and spinners. Despite neither having a recognised apprenticeship system within the dockyard, proficiency instead being gained through seven years of employment, both trades deserve to be seen as of artisan status. Indeed, the Description Book of Chatham Artificers actually includes a reference to riggers but fails to include spinners. This in itself is surprising. Both trades required an equal amount of skill, with the rigger having to know a great deal about sails, ropes and seamanship, being responsible for the positioning of both the running and standing rigging of warships held in the Ordinary. The spinners, on the other hand, had to have considerable ‘feel’ for any ropes being manufactured, always introducing the right amount of hemp, yarn or strand. Moreover, should either fail to perform his task properly then an entire warship could meet with a disastrous end.

Spinners, who were employed within the area of the ropeyard, were responsible for spinning newly hatchelled hemp into yarn while eventually laying strands into rope. As for the skills required, these are best illustrated by reference to
A Universal Dictionary of the Marine
, an eighteenth-century work written by William Falconer while serving on
Glory
, a thirty-two-gun frigate laid up in the Medway. He describes the manufacture of cables – the heaviest of four types of rope produced at Chatham:

A cable ought to be neither too [sic] twisted too much nor too little; as in the former state it will be extremely stiff and difficult to manage; and in the latter, it will be considerably diminished in its strength.

Falconer also goes on to indicate how important it was that spinners were fully cognisant with the tasks they had to perform: ‘Many good ships have been lost only on account of a deficiency in this important article.’
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Turning to the second distinct group employed within the dockyard, that of the skilled labourers, these were the sawyers, scavelmen and teamsters. Between them, they undertook a series of specialist jobs that required only a minimal amount of training. As such, no apprenticeship or artisan status was attached, but each would be rewarded with a higher rate of pay and an increase in status over and above that of the ordinary labourer. Skills attached to these jobs were acquired over time, with entrants initially supervised by a more experienced worker.

Of the three semi-skilled tasks, that of sawyer seems to be the least desirable. Working as one of a pair, they spent their entire day sawing the huge timbers and planks required within the dockyard. Throughout the day, their centre of activity would be based around one of the many saw pits spread across the yard, with one man standing within the pit and the other above. Paid at first by the day and latterly by the amount of timber sawn, the work was nearly as gruelling as that of the anchor smith. Of the pair, the top man was paid the most, as he was the one responsible for directing the two-man saw and keeping it sharpened.

Scavelmen, usually drawn from among the ranks of the ordinary labourers, had acquired certain skills that helped them become more proficient in the running of the yard. They were the workers responsible for keeping the yard clean, opening and closing the docks, operating the pumps, digging out and cleaning the drains and removing ballast from ships about to enter dry dock.
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Finally, the teamsters, who worked as a pair, were responsible for looking after the heavy draught horses used for shifting the largest of timbers around the yard. Their tasks included care of the horses, maintenance of livery and controlling the horses while at work. Stables for these horses were located close to the offices’ terrace.

Within the dockyard, approximately 20 per cent of the workforce was unskilled. Of these, most were labourers, although a few carried out more specific tasks such as hatchelling and pitch heating. Additionally, employment also existed for a number of boys who were engaged in the picking of oakum and the turning of the spinning and laying
wheels in the rope yard. Of the ordinary labourers, primarily they were employed to collect requisite items from the stores, carry messages and support the shipwrights in the moving of timbers. However, storehouse labourers helped with specific stock within each storehouse, while the main occupation of those within the ropery was that of tarring the ropes and supplying the various needs of the spinners. Also within the Rope House were the hatchellers, who were responsible for hatchelling hemp fibres. Finally, pitch heaters worked alongside the caulkers, ensuring that there was a sufficient amount of heated pitch so that newly caulked hulls could be sealed.

Not surprisingly, levels of remuneration varied considerably between these various work groups, but other work-related factors, such as the length of the dockyard day, were identical. With respect to pay, two different rates existed: a day rate and payment by results. The former, which had been used to remunerate workers since Tudor times, was set at a less than generous level, especially when compared with those of similar trades employed outside of the naval dockyards, and remained virtually unchanged throughout the entire eighteenth century. As for payment by results, this was first introduced into the royal dockyards in 1758, but at that time restricted only to labourers and scavelmen. Known either as ‘task work’ or ‘job work’, according to whether it was new construction or repair work, it was not initially allowed to the skilled trades as there was a fear that it would encourage skimping. Only in 1775 was it finally allowed to virtually all classes of workers, with shipwrights at that time refusing to accept this method of payment for a further six years.
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In addition to pay, whether at the day or piece rate, many workers were also entitled to the perquisite of ‘chips’. This was the right to take from the yard small cuts of timber, that were of no further use in the ship-building and repair process, such bundles to compose of timber of no more than 3ft in length and to be carried out of the gate under the arm. It was generally recognised that these bundles were financially useful, often sold for 6
d
or more to town traders.
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Alternatively, instead of the allowance of chips, the smiths were allowed to remove their moulds from the yard.

The basic day pay, which for shipwrights and caulkers stood at 2
s
1
d
but fell to 1
s
1
d
for labourers, was paid for the completion of a full 12-hour working day (6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer but less in winter) that included a 90-minute lunch break. In all, six days in every week were worked, with Sunday counted as a non-working day and Saturdays finishing an hour early. Periods of overtime were also permitted, these coming in 1½-hour and 5-hour units, the former being known as ‘tydes’ and the latter ‘days’. The working of overtime was most frequent in the summer, with the dockyard authorities fully utilising the longer daylight hours. During emergencies, however, even winter evenings would be worked, with artisans and labourers employed by candlelight. As for holidays, these were, more or less, non-existent. Since 1715 only four had been allowed, these being the King’s Birthday, Coronation Day, 5 November and Oak Apple Day (29 May). On such days, the workforce was employed until noon but received a full day’s pay. At Chatham, but not all yards, it had become customary for the entire workforce to be offered a further day’s holiday upon the launching of a ship.