Falmouth Docks - Cranes, Diggers and Locos

MOVEMENT IN THE DOCKS

How do we describe "Movement" ? A dictionary may say it is an "Act of Moving". It can be anything from stillness to excessive speed. It can even be human based or mechanical. Movement is so very important as that is how the final job is finished - efficiently. Let us commence with stillness in the dockyard.

The first photo (circa 1954) is a shot of two ships taken at night. The silence in this particular picture jumps out at the observer. That in itself is a form of movement. But we have various objects lying around, namely some redundant ships propellers, a lifeboat and in the background a crane. This could very well be a false type of picture because the docks never sleeps and if we had sound we would be aware of noises in the yard associated with work. Movement was and is now always around us.

Now we come to the human element. A photo taken at the time of the extension of No 2 dry-dock (circa 1957). Human movement can be seen in the shape of a gentleman walking up the incline carrying a can. This was a very important exercise. He was off to make the morning tea. Where would the British worker be without his morning "cuppa"? Of course, naturally, he did have permission to leave the job to accomplish his task.

Steam cranes, diggers and locos were so important to everyday working life. These have gone now, but never let us underestimate the importance of the equipment and the personnel who worked them. All these were the main movers in the case of construction, mostly associated with the building of the dry-docks themselves.

This photo takes us back a few years, to 1937 and the improvements to No 1 Dock. With other equipment, a loco would be positioned at the bottom of the dock on specially fitted rails. It would pull the wagons full of rock and then push them up an incline to where they would be parked up. Then a second loco would arrive from the surface via another incline and pull the wagons to the dumping area. With empty wagons, the second loco would return them to their parking area in the dock and thence the loco from the bottom would arrive to take them back to the dock bottom. It was a very simple but efficient way of removing thousands of tons of rock.

It wasn't until 1928 and the finishing of No 4 dry-dock that the first electric crane was installed. Until then, each day was a proper "Steam Up". The workforce involved, whether drivers or their assisting firemen would "Flash Up" their respective machines for the day as soon as the arrived for work. This would entail the igniting of boilers to produce steam. In some cases they would arrive before the official starting period to allow themselves time to start their fires. It would be the fireman's job to search for wood to start things rolling and then it would be a consistent shovelling of coal. In time the fireman, hopefully, would attain driver status, whether it was on a crane or loco. In the following years as cranes with electric drives started to take over a lot of the duties, the driver would still come in early as in previous years but this time his job would be to grease various points on the crane.

The following 3 photos are of the construction of No 4 dock circa 1926/28

Just notice the amount of steam equipment that is associated with the task in hand. Extra tracks had to be laid to accommodate all these "Beasts of Labour". Thousands of cubic feet of rock had to be blasted and removed. The "Removal Van" was of course the steam loco. As the dock grew deeper, with the help of a predetermined incline, so the rock would come to the surface in relays.

This shows the steam digger or navvy emptying rock into the wagons below surface level.

A general picture of the steam cranes. There is Federal Company steamship in the adjacent dry-dock and Trefusis headland is in the background.

A wonderful photo of Mr Cyril Thomas driving his No.3 loco. A very honest man who loves steam. He started off with Falmouth Dock Company as a fireman, eventually becoming a driver on many types of equipment. If management were unsure of anything in the way of the machinery, they went to see "Cyril" always with favourable results.

Behind the loco that Cyril is driving is a ship called the "Rangiterra". Originally she was a ferry which ran between the North Island and South Island of New Zealand. She led a chequered life that culminated in arriving at Falmouth for lay-up, going up to Scotland as accommodation for Offshore oil workers and eventually getting the "call-up" for the Falklands conflict in 1982. Some of her conversions were made at the Docks.

Cranes themselves are an integral part of the yard. As previously stated, up until 1928 all the cranes were steam powered but after the installation of the new No 4 dock crane (30 ton lift) it was decided to go further and whenever a crane had to be installed it would be electric. The yard turned to one of the great crane makers Stothart and Pitt of Bath. They designed and helped to install the cranes and considering the fact that the first one, the 30 ton crane is still in use, shows the excellence of the product, the crane designers and of course the Maintenance Dept. in the Docks.

The photo on the right is of No. 21 crane in the process of being installed in1958/59. A mobile crane is shown in attendance helping with the construction. It is situated on the East side of No 2 dry-dock. In 2001/ 2002, the crane went through extensive repairs which included the removal of it's jib. It is back in working order now. It was a very costly job but necessary if it is to maintain it's ability to lift 50 tons. Click here for a more up to date photo- 2002, of the crane after a major refurbishment.

After the 2nd World War the Acavus, a Shell Company ship which had been used as an escort aircraft carrier was put back to it's original role as an oil tanker. The photo shows one of the firm's cranes removing a large part of her superstructure which was not required in her new role.

The cranes themselves, apart from having a driver also had a helper known as a "Ropy". He was responsible for looking after the trailing electric cable which supplied the crane especially if the crane came to it's full length of travel either on the wharf or dockside. Then the cable plug would have to be removed and plugged into another socket. Yes, it was just like plugging in an electric kettle- except the plug was heavier and much bigger!

This could cause some concern as far as safety. In later years, after the County and Duchy wharves were constructed, it was not unusual for some of the plug fittings to be damaged. Although the sockets were below the surface of the wharf, the plugs would be visible. However, they were not seen by many Taxi drivers bringing ship's personnel back late at night, and many times in reversing their taxis, the plug would be hit. Sometimes a massive amount of sparks would be seen.. This caused a lot of excitement, especially the effort carried out to find out who caused the damage

For many years one of land marks in Falmouth harbour was the 200ft high Floating Crane. Here is a photo of the "Titania" and it could lift 50 tons. The crane, which incidentally had it's own diesel engine for supplying power, could be towed anywhere in the harbour or dockyard to perform heavy lifting work.

Falmouth Docks became a very important Oil Tanker repair port especially after the 2nd World War and it was not unusual to find the yard overloaded with shipping. This "Double Berthing" was not unusual and so to do some jobs, it was a call-out for the floating crane. It could get to areas where the Wharf Cranes could not reach. A very important acquisition to the Docks it was eventually sold. The practice of "double berthing" does not happen now and the requirement of this type of lifting device is no longer needed. However, older people in Falmouth still remember this "Goliath" with affection and the hole it left in the harbour skyline when it was towed away was noticeable for many years.

Tugs play a very important part in Docks operations. There are not so many as there were but they still have an important roll to play. The photo (2002) shows a conventional tug, the St Piran, named after the patron Saint of Cornwall. Next to her are two tugs bought and sailed home from Slovenia. Built in 1968 in Germany, they were originally called the Komet and the Kipklop. They were allowed to change names and flags to the Percuil (Narrow Creek in Cornish) and the Ankorva (Safe Anchorage in Cornish/Welsh). These are known as Tractor Tugs and use a different type of propulsion known as a Voth Schneider unit. Whereas the conventional tug would have an engine driving a propeller at the stern of the vessel with a rudder, the newer types have her propulsion provided by a set of protected blades directly below the hull and with no rudder.

Below is a fine photograph of the St Mawes, up the River Fal after taking a vessel for lay-up. This sort of operation was seen on a number of occasions in the past and is still taking place. In many cases, as in the Banana trade, some ships are laid up due to the season, or perhaps the different types of charters that ships are involved in. In past years there have been as many as 40 ships laid up at one time This tug is no longer with the Falmouth Towage Company and was sold in 2001.