River Ouse Bargeman by David Lewis

Author:David Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2016-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

Leaving aside those requirements, every now and then a big cloud of sulphurous smoke came out of the tug’s funnel as the stoker chucked some more coal on the fire to keep a full head of steam.

Then, of course, there was the weather. On a pleasant summer’s day, it could easily be an enjoyable cruise. But the barge traffic was a year-round operation, and the Humber often experienced poor conditions. In cold weather, the spray from the river froze on the tow rope.

‘If the cold brought snow, on a winter’s day going upstream into the teeth of a gale or a howling blizzard there was no protection for the man at the tiller. We did about one-hour spells on the tiller wrapped in our big top coats and balaclava helmets to keep our ears warm. Under these conditions, after that hour you could end up looking like a snowman! A tot of rum from the cabin store helped you to warm back up. What a lovely feeling it was when your mate came to spell you and you could go down to the lovely warm cabin with a nice open coal fire glowing and the brass paraffin lamp glowing. I don’t think lads these days would put up with such conditions.’

Then again, there was the opposite to wind and snow; fog, in many ways the most dangerous of all. You had to have total trust in the tug skipper and his crew keeping a keen look out. You had to have the confidence that the tug was pulling you along the correct channel, and that a string of barges was not coming downstream towards you. As Sam’s log shows, there were plenty of places where you could moor up and wait for conditions to improve, but time was money. You didn’t get paid until your load had been delivered. Should you moor up and be safe, but miss the tide and be delayed by twelve hours? Or should you be brave and push on and get paid a day earlier?

Having mastered the skills of steering the barges, and being prepared for the vagaries of the weather, there were yet more skills to learn. The convoy had to navigate across and around shallows, through the turbulence created by bridge pillars and finally the complex unloading arrangements at Selby.

Laurie started his barge career in 1937, and in the normal run of things would have been expected to serve out an ‘apprenticeship’ learning those skills over the course of the next few years. Unfortunately, that process was interrupted by another situation where a bargeman’s skill and strength was needed; the Second World War.

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