Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Working the Ely Tidal Harbour . . .

The foregoing report fails to mention that tipping operations at the Ely tips "kept ship and crew almost permanently enveloped in a dense cloud of choking black dust." This is the experience of a deck hand named Michael Winter who worked the ships of the Bristol firm of Osborn & Wallis from 1955 from the age of 15 and subsequently wrote about his experiences, the history of the company and the coal trade in his extremely interesting and descriptive book "The Portishead Coal Boats." [162] A highly recommended read if you are interested in more detail on the subject.

He describes the difficulties of loading coal at Ely. In particular timing the arrival and loading coal was dependant upon the tide; tide tables were closely scrutinised. Since the river was no more than a trickle at low tide, the ship would be left high and dry on the mud, so the plan was to arrive and commence loading the forward hatch since the stern was lower in the water than the bow. The ship could then be floated so that the aft hatch was under the chute. If aground the loading could not be completed because it was difficult to be sure that the ship would be on an even keel and at the Plimsoll line when she finally re-floated on the next tide.

There were no trimmers employed at Ely at this time so it was up to the crew to manually move the piles of coal and ensure the trim of the ship and thus "there was a lot of shoveling to be done!"

Arriving at Ely harbour, the ship had first to be turned around to face downstream and toward the sea. There were no lights at the tips so this turn was often accomplished in the dark and in high wind with driving rain! To make this turn in the narrow river with a loaded ship was unthinkable, since, should the ship be grounded there was the possibility of the ship being held fast on the mud. On an outgoing tide and the water level dropping fast, there was a potential for breaking the ship's back. The bed of the river was hollow and the keel of the ship would be unsupported amidships.

Another possibility, alluded too and graphically illustrated in the opening newspaper article in this section, was that the ship could become held by the suction of the mud on the hull with a rising tide. In this case, the workboat, the little boat that accompanied the ship, was hoisted up on the ship's derrick and hastily moved from side to side in the hope that the rocking motion would break the suction and the ship would bob up like a rubber duck held under the bathwater!