Swansea Docks
Do you have any ancestors who worked at the Swansea Docks?
Were they coal backers (a person who unloaded coal from a ship,
and carried it on their back to wharf or wagon), dockers (a person
employed to load or unload a ship), gravers (a person who cleaned ship
bottoms by burning or tarring) or lumpers (a person who discharged cargo
of timber)?
In this month’s article I am going to write about the history of the Swansea Docks, the collective name of several docks. Also, what information is available regarding
the personnel who worked on the docks? Did you know
that two of the docks are named after the same
person, at different periods of their life?
Today, the docks under the ownership of
the Associated British Ports, are a shadow of what they were in their heyday.
One of the few ships, still docking here sails under the Norwegian flag of the
Wilson Line. It unloads fertilizer, and comes from Germany – they are still
trying their luck! During the mid-19th century Swansea was exporting 60%
of the world’s copper from the River Tawe Copper Industries, making
Swansea known as Copperopolis.
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| River Tawe Copper Industries - known as Copperopolis |
During the 1760s, Swansea Harbour was being developed.
Consideration at the time was given to how the coal and material resources from
the Tawe Valley could be moved to the coast, for export. The construction for a
canal had had a shaky start when the plans were opposed by the Henry Charles Somerset,
6th Duke of Beaufort. Interestingly enough the present Duke, David Somerset,
the 11th, was criticised in 2009, when he charged Swansea City
Council £280,000 for permission to build a 70ft long bridge over his section of
the River Tawe next to the Liberty Stadium. He is following his predecessor in
his actions. The first section of the canal opened in 1796, being completed in
1798.
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| Left - Henry Charles Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort Right - David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort |
Construction costs were kept to a budget of £51,600, unlike today. The
course of the canal is 16.5 miles incorporating 36 locks and 5 aqueducts,
rising 373 feet.
The canal started at Abercaf, Breconshire and ran to Swansea Docks. The development of the canal led to the
establishment of towns and villages, including Pontardawe and Ystradgynlais in
the Swansea Valley.
The decline of the canal was during the 1860s, when the steel industry
replaced the ironworks. The Great Western Railway used the canal, in
moving materials for the creation of the railways. The last commercial cargo
was in 1931. Soon after, the canal was filled in – although there are 5 miles
still in use under the care of the Swansea Canal Society. The National
Archives, Kew, has records of the Swansea Canal Navigation Company
dating from 1790 -1918. There are miscellaneous records, although there seems
to be no record of actual employees.
With trade booming and a rapid expansion of the industries along the
Tawe, there was a need to provide more permanent harbour facilities. The Swansea
Harbour Trust took over the responsibility in 1791. By 1852, the Town
Float, later known as the North Dock had been completed; the dock was to
provide more efficient port facilities. During the same year another private
company, Swansea Dock Company, started to construct the South Dock – on
the west bank and foreshore of the River Tawe, eventually Swansea Harbour Trust
bought them out and the Docks were completed
in 1859.
Swansea Harbour Trust completed in 1881 a third dock, Prince
of Wales Dock, named after Edward, Prince of Wales that is situated on the
east side of the Tawe. The dock was extended in 1898.
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| King Edward VII |
The port of Swansea continued to prosper during the nineteenth century,
with the volume of industry and materials being exported worldwide increasing.
Work started in 1904, when King Edward VII dug the first sod of earth in the
creation of the Kings Dock – a larger dock on the seaward side of the Prince of
Wales Dock, which was completed in 1909 and officially opened by King Edward
VII, the second dock named after him. Finally, a long breakwater which encloses
the large water, was to be named as the Queens Dock, officially open-ed in
1920, by Queen Mary, alongside her husband King George V.
At first, St Thomas was a small community with houses close to the docks – now demolished. With the expansion of
the docks more houses were being built to accommodate
the dockers and their families.
The houses were Victorian terraced-housing. The streets were named to
commemorate battles from the Crimean War.
Mobs of men worked on a casual labour system, where, following the sound
of a bell, which denoted the arrival of a ship, they had to present themselves
each day at the dock gates. The Charge Hand would pick the men required for the
day’s work; those who were picked were family, friends or even his
favourites among the crowd. Neither the Swansea Canal Navigation
Company, nor the West Glamorgan Archives Service hold records regarding
employees.
The docks also provided a harbour
for arrivals and departures. One of the notorious routes was around the Cape
Horn, South Africa. The sailors were to be known as the Swansea Cape Horner’s.
Journeys would last over a year stopping off at Santiago de Cuba, South
America. It was a regular port to load copper ore. It was also a very unhealthy
place. Sailors who lost their lives from the effects of yellow fever were
either buried at sea, or in Santiago. It took months or even years for a
relative to hear of a death at sea. The majority of these sailors came from
Mumbles. One of the infamous sailors was David ‘Potato’ Jones, who earned his
nickname whilst running guns during the Spanish Civil War under the guise of
trading in potatoes. There is a memorial, erected in 2011 at the civic centre
to the eleven men from Swansea, who served during this conflict. For those of
you who are interested in the accounts of the ships, West Glamorgan Archive
Service has Official Log Books and Account of Voyages and Crews of ships that
were registered at Swansea. The information includes the name of the ship,
official number, port of registry, tonnage; unfortunately they don’t have a
list of crews.
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PHOTOS Clockwise from top left:
It was a tight squeeze as the
Liverpool registered tug, Crosby, eased the MV World Reliance into the Kings
Dock lock, 1971. / Trawlers at Swansea fish market, Prince of Wales Dock.
Tied up in the foreground is the restored steam tug, Thomas, 1979. Both pics
reproduced with kind permission from David Roberts, Bryngold Books. / Map of Swansea Docks, 1969, showing South Dock,
Prince of Wales Dock, King Dock & Queen Dock. / Colour engraving of Swansea Docks from Illustrated London
News, dated 22nd October 1881.
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Copyright – The Bay Magazine – March
2016
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