Building Mending Ships
Life in a shipyard
Shipbuilding was once a major industry in Britain. However, we
are now a very small player, with most ships built in Japan and
China. In the few remaining British yards, working practices have
been greatly modernised. However, lives of shipyard workers have
changed considerably, even over the last thirty years. Conditions
in a shipyard help to explain why shipbuilding once had such a bad
reputation for industrial relations. 
 Lady launching a ship |
A tough, hazardous jobWorking in a shipyard is not an easy option. Much of the work of
hull building is done outdoors, all year round, in all weathers.
The yard is near a river or the sea and is unprotected from the
wind. The job involves climbing and working on scaffolding, high
off the ground. Then there are the physical hazards, for instance
of huge plates being craned into position. Protective clothing is a
relatively modern innovation. When riveting was the only way to join pieces of metal, there
was a practice which now seems unbelievably dangerous. The rivets
were heated in small coal-fired furnaces, usually at ground level.
They needed to be used when hot, so red-hot rivets were thrown to
the men working on the scaffolding surrounding the hull, to be
caught in buckets! Boom and slumpShipping and hence shipbuilding have always been subject toups
and downs in the economy. When freight rates are high, shipowners
want new ships quickly. Shipbuilders can then be frantically busy,
and get high prices. In a few years, more ships will have been
built than are needed, and most owners stop building. The shipyard
then has to offer low prices to get work. If it can`t, it must lay
off its workers to save money. So, the experience of many who work
in shipbuilding has been of busy years with good pay alternating
with lean periods with often no job at all.
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