Blacksmiths at Swansea Docks
Prior to the 1960’s there were very few mechanical aids available to the docks engineering staff so every tradesman worked with a ‘mate’, and blacksmiths’ mates were called ‘strikers’. This is because they wielded the heavy hammers when the hot metal was being forged. In the Blacksmiths’ Workshop each blacksmith worked at his own anvil and forge, and it was the responsibility of the striker to maintain the forge and to keep the fire at the intense temperature required.
By either hot forging (by hand or with a steam hammer) or by arc welding, the blacksmiths would fabricate a wide range of items using round bar, tubular steel or flat bar up to 10” wide. Anything wider than 10” was considered “plate” and was deemed to be boilermakers’ work. Also, as many of the dock appliances such as coal hoists, swing-bridges, capstans, lock gates and, in the earlier days, quayside cranes, were operated by hydraulic power, there were always hydraulic steel pipes to bend or fabricate, and these would be anything up to 8” bore.
Other aspects of a blacksmith’s work included the making and tempering of lathe tools and hand tool for the Fitters; making, fitting, and repairing ladders on quayside cranes & coal loading appliances; manufacturing all chain items, and assisting in any repairs where heating or cutting with oxygen/acetylene equipment was required. Also, on major jobs such as changing of a lock gate or renewing a big item on a coal hoist where many trades were involved, the blacksmiths would be on hand to assist as required.
It was not until the late 1950s that the Mechanical Engineering Dept. (which included the blacksmiths) acquired a mobile crane and a lorry for its own use. Prior to that there was only one lorry available for the maintenance of the whole of the dock, and that was allocated to the General Stores, so had to be “borrowed” as required whenever it was available. Otherwise a handcart, shear-legs and floating stages were the norm.
Over the years, as coal shipments and general cargo traffic through the port declined, and as more modern cargo-handling equipment such as forklift trucks were introduced, the amount of heavy mechanical engineering work required on the dock became less and less. Eventually, as with most ports, specialist trades such as that of the blacksmith disappeared from the dockside at Swansea and any such work was handed over to contractors.