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mc_english_london01_a

Recording date1985
Speaker age61
Speaker sexm
Text genrepersonal narrative
Extended corpusyes
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**** Was born in Poplar, **** and I was born in my parents' house in Lochnagar **** Uh, there was no nurse **** came, **** at that time there was still old women **** who followed doctors, **** uh, and the one **** who attended mi mother **** was old Mrs **** Porridge, who lived near my grandmother, a few streets **** And, uh, what they'd do, **** the doctor would recommend **** they followed certain doctors **** and then the person **** who was being nursed, attended to, **** would pay the woman **** who followed. **** Now, my father came from a family of lightermen **** -- he himself was a **** And his father was drowned along with two other men at King and Queen Road, over at **** Rotherhithe by Bellamy's Wharf, when my father and his two **** I don't know the age **** they were. **** And the three children, mi brother, uh, mi father and his two sisters were put into an orphanage. **** And, uh, my grandmother went, **** I think **** it was to Clacton, **** and she was in some place with nuns, **** although she wasn't a catholic, **** but, uh, it was a sorta charity **** place, she didn't like **** it, and then she came **** home **** and got the children out of the **** And, uh, **** set up home in Cloden Street in **** Ehm, my mother's family were stevedores **** and, ehm, like a lot of the stevedores, the, uh, their roots were in Ireland, **** and the family came over -- the Orwells -- in the famine in **** the **** eighteen fourties, and **** And, ehm, they had three rooms, **** it was the upstairs house in Lochnagar **** Street, which cost, uh, seven shillings a week at the **** And, ehm, m--, my brother Terry was born two **** years after I **** was, almost to the **** And, ehm, shortly afterwards, my father had an accident, **** when eh one of the wharves, **** m-- mother **** thinks it was up **** Wapping Way, he was laying the gratings in the **** barge, ready to **** receive cargo, and he was laying outside **** a **** barge that was **** And the crane driver made a **** mistake and he **** went **** and landed the set of cargo on top of my **** father laying the **** barge, and his back was, was **** And, uh, I 'member as a child **** -- after he's, he'd got **** better -- seeing this fibre, compressed fibre jacket like a tailor's dummy **** in the cupboard, which Mother used to **** strap him in; and so, she had **** two young children **** to look after **** and mi **** **** And he was out of work for about eighteen months. **** For thirteen weeks he was in the London **** hospital, and Mother was telling **** me that she paid a pound a week to the **** hospital, because **** otherwise, when and if he got **** compensation, they would come after her for more **** money, so, that was sort of a bit of the **** folklore that's passed **** So, she was advised **** to do that, **** which she did do. **** And the hospital asked her **** how much she was coming in, **** and she said, Thirty shillings a week. **** It's fifteen shillings from the industrial injury benefit and the remainder **** Uh, so, they asked Mother **** how she could manage, **** and so, she said, **** she was getting help from the family **** -- which she **** And whether she got any m-- more **** money, whether she did **** outdoor work, I **** don't know, because she was **** That was it. **** But the father was out of work for eighteen months, **** and **** when he went back, ehm, **** I think **** he went to court, **** and they said **** that, uh, he had suffered neural damage, **** he had neurasthenia. **** So, he got compensation from loss of wages, six-hundred-and-seventy-two pounds, and the injury itself, seventy-eight pounds. **** So, he got a total of seven-hundred-and-fifty pounds. **** And, ehm, he, he started work again. **** And, he kept work, **** he g--, from work he got, ehm, money from **** sick clubs, as **** I said, and then the men would put on the benefit **** Mm, not necessarily officially from the union, but there'd be people from the branch, branch's official group. **** Father was branch secretary of number two branch in **** the Watermen and Lightermen, Tugmen, and Bargemen's Uzh--, **** And, ehm, **** after he went back to work, **** I remember **** he's, he's quite proud **** -- and I won't **** say immediately he went back to **** work -- he **** heard someone criticising **** the foreman, because they weren't sending mi **** Now, the lightermen made up one in the barge loading **** when they loaded grain, with the c--, the **** And **** when they went to a railway **** wharf, the, uh, lightermen, two lightermen went in the **** barge **** and stowed the **** cargo and the railway worker just unhooked **** the slings belonging to **** And, ehm, packing, uh, uh, in grain, it was **** packing quartern sacks of wheat, **** which is about two hundredweight. **** And so, mi father just went back into the packing, **** and they got sixpence a day extra on top of their pay **** when they backed, the lightermen, **** and that was that. **** And, ehm, he -- like a lot of, ehm, people in the **** docks, were a lot of **** working-class -- uh, did not want **** his children to **** Uh, because it was a hard life. **** I mean, I can remember of just two incidents, one **** when he'd been working on copra, **** and they got the copra **** And, uh, he's very particular, you know, **** taking his clothes off **** and **** looking for the copra **** That's the one thing **** that **** was itchy. And, ehm... [INTERVIEWER] **** What sort of a bug **** was this bug? **** It's a, it's a bug, **** i--, it's bigger than a **** Uh, and, I think **** it's darker than a house **** bug, but the house bug **** was brown. This **** I never saw one miself, **** just had it **** described. **** But, uh, it used to get in the copra **** and, 'course, the s-- dockers and **** stevedores working **** that from shovelling would get **** it, and 'course the **** lightermen covering up the **** craft would get it as **** And, uh, another time I remember it-- **** was very young. **** I never saw my father, **** though he saw me, **** for about three weeks, **** because **** when they were bus--, they, they **** worked and, **** ehm, if you wanted time **** off and the foreman asks **** you, What's wrong with **** you? You **** say you was **** tired, he'd **** say, **** Well, Come have a sleep for two **** weeks, and things like **** So, men just worked **** literally until they dropped. **** And, ehm, in some of the lighterage firms, ehm, they would put a **** chap **** that they've newly picked **** up on the **** driving craft, **** that is rowing'em under oars. Uh, job **** And, and the men and the, after a few days their, their, their hands were bleeding, **** to sort of prove **** that they were good. **** And **** if they stuck it, **** that's fair enough. **** So, but that's the sort of things **** that, uh, **** the men had in mind **** and they didn't want their children **** to follow. **** **** And yet, but **** when you did, **** they were still proud of the fact **** that you were following the family, **** but they'd rather **** you became something else. **** So, that was that. **** Anyhow, following that vein, **** when, ehm, I won a scholarship to, **** first of all it was the central **** The, the school in that time, you had the elementary school, then the central school, **** And I won the scholarship, a place, Saint Bernard's Central **** School at Stepney **** -- tramped to work and there **** I won another scholarship and I went **** to Saint Ignatius College **** And I was there until the third year, **** I went in nineteen **** thirty-seven, and in nineteen thirty-nine, of course the war **** And, ehm, schools were evacuated, **** and I wouldn't be evacuated **** and **** -- 'cause I **** wouldn't, neither wouldn't my other two **** By that time, ehm, there's mi second brother Terry, as I mentioned, and the third brother, Fredrick, **** who's six years younger than I. **** And then the daughter -- my, my sister Iris was born in more or less the **** week the war broke **** out, **** And, ehm, I don't think **** Fred and Iris were planned, **** because in families, you, you pass things on. **** Y-, cots were passed **** on, and, uh, my father used-- grandfather now, mi mother's father used to pass his trousers **** down, mi mother'd cut'em **** up, being a **** seamstress, **** and make trousers for **** And so they'd passing left to Mother's sister. **** But when Fred was born and Fr-- and, and **** Iris -- now, **** I forget which **** was which **** -- I remember one **** had an egg box and the other one an **** orange box as a **** crib, but by the **** time Dad had sandpapered **** it **** and **** Mother had **** padded out and lined it, you couldn't tell the **** B-, but that **** was what they did at the **** And, ehm, **** because I wouldn't become evacuated, **** nor would the other two, **** and the sort of thing **** that **** turned me in a sense **** was **** that, there was a recruiting film with ARP, in, in, in the **** cinema **** and when we saw **** this and you could see, uh, the rooftops of s-- **** And the planes coming **** and th--, the spurts coming up and **** that, and, and I'd also seen H. G. Wells, ehm, War of the **** Worlds and Things to Come, film **** like that; and, ehm, I **** was **** sitting there listening to Mother **** and Father talking, -- **** they had a little general shop [UNCLEAR] which mi **** mother ran, which **** they'd bought from Dad's compensation, **** So, Mother ran the little general **** shop, and there **** was what they called a **** back parlour, which fronted onto **** the shop, and it was just **** wooden **** partition, that **** was wallpapered, with **** a window, so you could see into **** the shop, **** see anybody **** coming in. And **** Then the other side of the counter was the, the shop window **** again, so it was just **** And they were talking about **** putting sandbags up, **** and I can visualise **** this coming in with a bomb **** and then **** being killed. **** So, it was really, I mean, nothing courageous on my part, **** but **** frightened **** of **** being f--, f--, separated from **** your parents, so, **** I said, I'm not **** being evacuated and they didn't need **** They said, Oh, Okay, **** That's it. **** So, we, we, we, we stayed, **** and uh, 'course, all the schools shut down **** and that was it. **** So, my father said to me, **** ehm, We'll do so, **** I said, **** Well, I want **** to become a lighterman. **** And, uh, he, he, in the end he come home on a Saturday afternoon a little bit **** winey, 'cause they finished early **** Saturday -- Saturday, by the t-- way, was a normal day **** If they finished half day, **** fair enough, they got a day's pay, **** but otherwise **** worked till five and that. **** So, if they finished early, **** they'd have a drink in the pub **** and, ehm, he came home, **** he said, **** Right, **** Wanna **** be apprenticed, **** I'll apprentice you. **** So, in December of thirty-nine, he apprenticed me to lighterage **** and I started, **** uh, work had got busy, **** 'cause, you remember, they were coming out of depression. **** And, V-, I started for **** Volkins -- they had a motor **** tug, the Vaneck, and my father at that time was mate **** And they brought the Vigilant back into commission, **** she'd be laid up in the East **** India Dock because there's no work **** for her. She was **** And I went boy... [GAP IN RECORDING] ...was the mate, **** And, uh, the engineer had a rather biblical name, Garney **** And the fireman or stoker was Ike **** Couple of charac-- -- Garney Bruiss was a very **** much a character, **** And, ehm, the firemen would get there early, **** we'd get an hour's overtime **** to raise steam, **** so it then get away. **** And it was a, a day-boat, **** which meant **** that you worked an eight-hour day, **** but the commencement could be between six a.m. and twelve noon, according to the tide. **** So, the tide started, **** you started at six o'clock, next morning perhaps seven o'clock, next morning eight o'clock, right through to midday, **** and then you went back to six o'clock again. **** And the first day **** I started work **** was a Saturday; **** I was fifteen then, I mean, **** and so, I was apprenticed for six years; **** you s--, if you started at **** fourteen, it was a seven-year **** apprenticeship, six years fifteen, and five **** years if you were **** Then after that was **** what they called a dog **** licence, which originated in the **** An adult could come **** and **** be apprenticed for two years, **** and **** automatically become a freeman afterwards. **** They worked on boys' pays after six-year apprentice. **** And, uh, the first day was a Saturday. **** And, it was a three o'clock start, **** we was up half past four. **** Mi father was on the shift boat, a sixteen-hour **** boat, we walked down to **** Blackwall Pier, which was about fifteen **** Uh, and **** started work at six o'clock. **** And the first day's work was fourteen hours, **** eight o'clock at night, I did. **** And I's so proud, **** I wouldn't wash mi face, **** wanted mi mother **** see me **** dirty the water then. **** And, uh, 'course she was about, **** because the shops were open till late Saturday, **** because living was hard. **** Ehm, we never had any bulb in a room -- electric light bulb more than **** sixty **** watts, so if you went from one room to **** the other you turned the **** Ehm, **** if milk was going off in the summer, **** was not be sold, **** Mother'd boil it **** -- we had **** that -- no, I **** don't mean **** to say we had it all **** the time, only it **** Ehm, **** if cake was going stale, **** we had that, and things like that **** to, to make it **** pay, **** 'cause it was, was a hard living. **** Uh, and, for instance, you'd get knocks **** after you'd closed eight o'clock at night, **** people at the door, **** and you couldn't turn them away. **** And you'd get some improvident families, **** you get one child **** come **** and **** knock for a, a penny candle, or ha'penny candle, **** and then about five minutes later another one'd come for a penny box of matches **** to light the candle. **** This is the sort of thing, **** and still at that time, uh, there was penny packets of tea, **** ehm, there was, ehm, cigarettes five for the f--, for two **** pence, and there was one **** brand you could get two for one p. Uh, one pence, **** Ehm, the salt came in large blocks, **** and we **** had to be s-- sawn **** Sugar in two-hundredweight sacks, had to be banged up. **** Biscuits in tins, and the sweets, of course, in jars. **** And, uh, I can vaguely remember, **** 'cause I was a child in the thirties there, **** [UNCLEAR] it was the **** Young chaps out of work, coming, **** and Mum would th-- send them, sell'em a cigarette for a **** And five of'em would be passing from one to another. **** And, uh, children not being able to go to school, **** because their one pair of boots was at the snobs. **** Ah, so, that was the sort of clientele **** that, **** the, the shop was on. **** And, uh, so, that's **** what I remember of the childhood in the shop there. And, ehm... [INTERVIEWER] **** Tell me about your first day, as a, as an apprentice. **** First day as apprentice? **** On, on, on the boat, ehm, as I was young George's boy, **** wi--, my, my father was young **** George **** Adams, and when I started **** with him he became **** old George and I became **** Now, Jim Chew, I **** called **** Uncle Jim, because his wife was my mother's best **** So, Jim Chew was the **** skipper, and he lived a few streets away from **** And my duties, uh, the first day was, consisted **** of **** making tea mainly **** and **** warming up their food **** -- they used to fetch pre-cooked **** food to warm **** **** Uh, not only for the crew, but for the lightermen **** who towed behind the tug, **** they would come borrowing of you a cup of tea for a penny. **** And, then, you should help on the deck, **** but **** only let me **** help from the first week on the deck in the hours of daylight, **** because it was dark by about five o'clock, **** being December. **** But, ehm, they would've never forgiven themself **** for **** allowing me out on the deck in the dark as a newie, **** uh, uh, w-- knowing my **** So that, uh, **** as soon as it became dark, **** I sat down below, **** and I can remember **** sitting down in the forward **** cabin, because in the tugs, there are two **** There was one forward, **** that was for the mate and the skipper **** -- and no lightermen were allowed down **** there -- and aft was the general duty cabin **** with the galley, uh, which gave access **** to the engine room, and, 'course, they would come **** in, by their feet, and then the lightermen'd come **** down for their **** So, they sent me down the forecabin, **** and the Vigilant had a wooden forepost, **** which, uh, w--, we would **** use, if they was dragging craft out from the shore, with a long **** line, and it -- I could hear **** this creaking; I **** didn't know what **** was happening, 'cause I'd not **** I just, eh, **** imagine all this creaking and bumping and banging along the side, **** and, th--, I was sitting there, say, from about **** five till we finished at eight **** But, ehm, once I was up on deck, **** and in the hours of daylight, and afterwards, **** when it got dark, **** when, after the first week, ehm, you would, eh, assist the mate, **** and your main duty would be **** putting the fend off, the fender in, **** when you came alongside. **** And, ehm, **** pass the towropes up to the lighterman, **** make the tea, **** scrub the cabin, **** and quite often that'd take a long time, **** because, **** being the day-work **** boats, we tended to do the short **** runs, where the **** shift boat, what mi father **** was on, did the long runs to Brentford and down **** Only we did the London run, say, down to the Royal Docks, up through the bridges, perhaps to the wharves, up as far as about, ehm, **** Only occasionally we'd go further. **** And, uh, so you get the bucket with soda and soft soap **** and **** make your sugie **** moodie, and they called **** it, and a **** scrubbing brush, and the floor of the cabin was a-lined with battleship lino. Brown, very **** But of course, the engineers'd coming in and the stoker with their feet with oil on it and that, **** so you'd, used to get old sacks **** and **** put'em down. **** But as I say, you, you start **** scrubbing the cabin **** and you'd be what they called jazzing, **** that was East India Dock **** to West India Dock -- was **** And then you, soon as you heard the telegraph **** go to the engine **** room, then you'd just put the bucket on the **** stove to keep it **** hot, and you went **** up **** and helped the **** mate and then, down you **** went **** and did a bit more **** scrubbing; it might take you sometime two or three **** hours to, to scrub a cabin **** But, of course, **** if you didn't, **** they were very particular of their cleanliness then. **** And, uh, they weren't bad, **** but the generation before the war, you'd get a cuff 'round the ear, **** if you didn't behave yourself. **** But they was a bit more civilised by then. **** So, scrubbing or cleaning the brass. **** And **** although Brasso had been in existence for some years, **** the skipper insisted **** that, uh, it was done the old way, **** and **** what I had to do **** was **** go to MacWhirters, **** who were the ship chandlers in **** East India Dock Road, and you get a, **** a block of brick dust, and you **** come back to the boat, and, by **** this time, you'd have it; you'd punch the lid of **** a, **** say, a paint **** You'd grate your brick **** dust **** and mix it up, with a bit of paraffin and a bit of **** And they get the coyar rope from a **** fender, which was **** beginning to **** disintegrate, and you'd go **** up **** and clean your steam whistle and the brass with this, uh, form **** of Brasso, where on the other boat, on the other shift there the boy just went **** to MacWhirters and he drew **** But not our skipper, **** said, **** I don't want that. **** So, you assisted the mate, **** cleaning, **** washing the deck down, **** you'd wash the cabin yourself, **** heated their food, **** made the tea, **** made yourself generally useful. **** And then, **** as it was getting dark, **** you would prepare your navigation lamps, port, starboard and your two, uh, You, one **** if you was running lights, **** and two, **** if you was towing, **** one above the other. **** And **** what they call the chase **** lamp, which the lighterman would take over on the barge, or the sternmost barge after **** So, you cleaned the glasses with newspaper, **** uh, and **** trimmed your wicks, **** filled the lamps up **** and **** got'em **** lit ready, **** when it was dark, **** and then you put them, put them up. **** Then **** going up through the bridges, **** you would stand by the funnel, **** and **** as you got near the bridge, **** if the funnel was hitting, **** you'd pull it down. **** Your foremast would be hinged; **** the mate would have pulled that down **** and **** tied that down ready. **** And, ehm, you wouldn't be stuck on the long run, on the funnel all the time, **** the mate would give you a blow, **** but it was generally the boy's job **** to do this. **** So, that was the function of the, the deck **** And then, it's -- yeah, just before the fall of **** France, we got a new **** boat, the Vista came 'round from Dunstan's in **** Yorkshire, and, uh, we went on the motorboat then, the **** And, ehm, the tank, the, the tea, there used to be some taste in it; **** we, we didn't tumble it, **** but the engineer, he was a Scotch engineer this, **** 'course **** being a diesel **** boat, it was a different type of **** engineer -- Garney Bruiss stayed **** with the Vigilant; he **** And you had a greaser boy with the, ehm, **** And the Scotsman brought his son, **** and, uh, his son started **** breaking out in boils, **** and in the end we took the inspection lid off our **** fresh water tank, and someone had left a lot of red **** It was lead **** we was drinking. **** Of course, we cleaned it out **** and it was alright, **** but for weeks it was like that. **** The other thing... **** The thing **** I remember about th--, the **** greaser boy, apart from **** the fact that this particular one broken out in boils because of **** the water, uh, grea--, the, the greaser boys in general -- the, the sort of assistant engineer -- it was it, **** it was a dead-end **** job really, unless you went on as, uh, **** this young Scots lad would've done; I mean, **** his father just brought **** But other lads, local lads, went greaser **** boys, they'll **** say it was a dead-end **** Hhhm, **** when they about eighteen, **** there's no more promotion; **** they would, they would go. **** But they were, were staff, **** and this thing stuck in my mind. **** I, **** although I was regularly employed, **** I was casual. **** So, at that time, there's no paid holiday. **** You know, I could take a week's holiday, **** but I'd got no pay for it. **** But the greaser boy, the same age, on the same boat, he was **** staff and he got a week's paid **** This was the system. **** And of course, the lightermen, **** being casual, **** didn't get a paid holiday, **** but the skipper, mate and the engineer, they, of course, were staff, **** they got a week's paid holiday. **** But that was a distinction there. **** But, ehm, **** not long after we got the Vista, **** ehm, the, ehm, France fell. **** 'Cause I remember, **** w--, it was a glorious summer's **** day and it seemed very **** We rounded at the Victoria **** Dock entrance, and Jimmy Smith, one **** of the lightermen who **** worked for **** us, come out, and **** he come **** out, he said, **** And, ehm, oh they, they was ablaze! **** I mean, they was gonna fight with broomsticks; **** there was no **** turning it in; **** they was, they was really, uh, keen **** to have a go. **** Fro--, I remember Fred Smith **** and them, having **** But, eh, I remember **** that he just sort of appeared over the top of the, the brow of the wharf and, uh, of the Victoria **** Dock **** and **** said France had **** And that was it. **** And, ehm, then we saw them **** take the lifeboats, **** but we didn't know anything about it; **** the lifeboats being town down, in strings from the ship **** -- robbed all the ships in the docks for their **** lifeboats **** and took them down **** below, and the small boats **** But, uh, they never asked for us, **** though I think, **** some barges were towed across, **** but we didn't go across with them to the evacuation of, of Dunkirk. **** And then of course, the next notable event was the blitz. **** And we, **** being the motorboat then, **** uh, **** being more powerful, **** we, we'd done a run up to Brentford. **** We was coming down on the Saturday **** afternoon, we were just come down into the upper **** pool, we'd cleared **** London Bridge **** coming down and, and we saw these planes up in **** the air, and then we s--, **** saw, uh, something which w--, **** puzzled us at **** first, and we **** realised **** And then, **** as we're under Tower **** Bridge, it **** seemed as though the German planes was t--, turning, at the edge of **** the **** City and going back over **** And, ehm, we ran downriver, **** and, ehm, the Surrey Docks was afire **** then, and there's barges **** ablaze, and, uh, I was, I **** remember I was quite **** shocked because the skipper wouldn't **** go **** and take these **** barges that were, that, **** uh, were **** You know, it seemed, **** he wasn't taking good care of property, because... **** With lighterage, **** if you found a barge adrift from another firm -- not from your own **** firm -- ehm, **** that was what they **** called hovel, you **** If, ehm, a waterman **** who didn't work for a lighterage **** firm got **** it, he would get **** salvage money, he'd get **** But there was agreement with the Master's **** Association to pay **** hovel money, which was a **** lesser sum, to **** the **** crew that picked up **** And, uh, it shook me, not 'cause of the money, but the fact **** that it's property, **** it's stuff ablazing, **** he wouldn't go around to it. **** And then, **** as we ran down, **** we, we, we were, we're going from side to side, **** 'cause the bombs were dropping close, **** and we could hear this shrapnel **** frapping on the side of the boat, **** as we was going over. **** And the skipper was up there in the wheelbox, **** and he didn't come down, **** he just sat, **** and we were, we was a lightboat, **** that's **** we had no craft; **** we was running down light to Blackwall **** And **** as we went by the Commercial **** Dock, a, a petrol tanker ran up -- **** the small ones -- and they **** And they went, **** What happened to us? **** And we've got this acrid smell and that on, **** Jesus Christ, it was **** gas! Uh, I always brought mi **** gas mask, so did **** the skipper, so did **** the mate, but the **** Scotsman didn't, or **** So, I said to his son, **** You'd better water on your handkerchief, **** Put it over your mouth. **** And the two of them down below **** crying. **** The Scotsman had been in the trenches in the First **** World War, so, I can understand **** And, uh, when we got down to about Convoy's Wharf, **** Deptford Wharf, before **** we realised that it **** wasn't gas, it was ammonia or something from **** something ablaze, and we took our **** And we went into the entrance of West **** India Dock, and we pulled the lock gates **** to, for them, 'cause it was top **** and the hydraulic power had been cut off **** 'cause the bombing had cut the pipes, **** and **** if they hadn't've closed the gates, **** the water'd just gushed out, **** and the dock walls would **** collapse, because they take note f-- -- when **** they build them, they allow for **** the water pressure behind, counterbalanced by the **** water **** pressure in the **** dock, and if one goes, which the main one is **** the water pressure in the dock, and **** then, the, the dock **** So, we pulled them to for them, **** and we went to our base at Blackwall **** Pier, which we shared with other **** There was Knights, **** who, **** what they called Sea **** King Tugs; they don't did **** no barges; they just towed other **** And, uh, Thames Steam Tugs, some of their London boats used to tie up, **** And, 'course, they was all getting ready **** to go home, **** the all-clear had gone by then, **** the smoke and everything else, and dust was drawing in.
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