Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Mr Martin's Recollections of Penarth Dock . . .

A number of the Penarth gentry made a great deal of money out of the coal trade by the supply of coal, shipping or simply by acting as agents. Every town and village in the valleys had a colliery and there were about 240 of them. Harry names a number of the famous including Great Western, Powell Dyffryn, Dixons Navigation, Ocean Coal Company (Tredegar), Insoles (Dowlais), Cardiff Colliery Company, Lewis-Methyr, Fernhill, Welsh Navigation, Hills (Plymouth), United National and Bernie-Brown. Then there were the colliery companies such as Cambrian, Glamorgan, Naval, Brittanic, Norse, Pyeman-Watson and over in Monmouthshire we had names like Ebbw Vale, Lancaster Steel, Russels amongst others.

Harry goes on the mention some of shipping lines that used Penarth Dock. The French PLM (Paris, Lyons & Marseille), the SNA from France, the Delmas fleet (Henry Delmas) and the Spanish Mendie's were all regular traders.

The Greek line, Embericos, according to his recollection, had a very low standard of cleanliness in common with other Greek ships. One ship with a peculiar hooter was recognised by even the women and children, Harry recalls that she was well known. The 'Saint Addressi' took on board 4,000 tons of the best Welsh coal and he remembers writing out the cargo manifests for her.

'Tintern Abbey' built for the Abbey Line of Cardiff [370]

The best known local shipping lines from Cardiff and the Bristol Channel included the Abbey Line, with ships such as the 'Melrose Abbey' and 'Tintern Abbey'.