Video

Who needs PPE

Any one remember the holland anerica line boats that used to dock in the Royals. Went out with a great Dutch purser from one. All my family worked in the royals

People didn't start to see in color until the 90s. Before that people never heard the term colorblind because nobody saw color. After color was invented and everyone could start seeing it then the revolution began.

My grandfather had a tug in Holland the Germans borrowed it in 1942 in 1945 he walked to Germany and retrieved it ...I had a tug this morning but as I've aged I tug less than when I was a boy..🚣‍♂️😁⚓🚢👀🛑

Excellent,many thanks for posting.

Thank-you!

Cracking film , 75 myself and still flat out sept 2024

The Clearance st 2.56 not much

Stupid music

And .... Mr Muddle. (Couldn't make it up)

It's absolutely incredible to see how men like these would wear a tie to work; real pride in the job. Now it's all sloppy track pants and hoodies. I was born in 1961, and brought up not far from Greenwich. I recognise some of the old skyline; the chimneys, power station, etc. I remember all the lighterage going up and down the Thames, the closure of the docks, and the decline. Back in the day, if you stood by General Wolfe's Statue by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, the Isle of Dogs was a thick forest of dockside cranes, hundreds of them. The words "Canary Islands Depot" were clearly visible on the roof of one of the huge sheds a mile and a half away. One day, as a young teenager, I cycled through the foot tunnel (avoiding being seen by the lift-man, who'd make you carry your bike up the stairs if he saw you riding), and had one of my mooches around the old Millwall and West India docks, but the place was deserted. It was like a ghost town, as though everyone had gone home on Friday, and never come back on Monday (which is exactly what had happened, I suppose). I remember looking through a canteen window and seeing all the condiments on the tables (remember those tomato-shaped ketchup squeezies?), but nobody there. In one area I saw around 100 forklift trucks being broken up for spares or refurbishment. Gradually it was all trashed by vandals and colonised by weeds, and most of the cranes removed for scrap. The sadness was palpable. Eventually, there was the LDDC, the Red Brick Road (anyone remember that?), and the first few stations on the DLR. Since then, the development has been staggering. It's completely unrecognisable now. My post is slightly off-topic, but this wonderful film brings back strong memories from years ago.

Proper English lads . Salt of the earth . Now a dying breed despised by politicians.

A shame, another interesting profession replaced by soulless machinery while the docks themselves are millionaire apartments or financial "services" tower blocks! and not an ounce of "DEI" among them!

Where do the large tugboats and petroleum barges dock near London ? That sort of demand is endless. I work out of New York on a 4,000hp tug and a 60,000 barrel barge. Where would we find a berth in the Greater London area?

even in 2013 the PLA would do you for not wearing regulation lifejacket

I’m sold. Where do I sign up?

Looks to me like one big break time

A whole way of life now disappeared.

Guess Lightermen are excused Health and Safety these days no life-vests and so on yard looks a health risk as well and crane out of history

Hard, honest men doing a tough job. All good mates watching out for each other.

I still remember my first time walking down Vic Dock, looking for my first ship. A Donaldson Ship; The Cortona. South American run.

Those are the CLEANEST marine ropes I've ever seen in my life!

Tar for vid....truly fascinating

Great video of some beautiful ships, thank you. Does anybody out there remember a man called Jimmy Tomlinson? He was a radio officer for the Ellerman Wilson line, sailing between Britain and S Africa. He married a S. African girl and went to live Durban. I doubt he will be still alive now , if he is he will be late 90’s.

So the Mayor of London employed a French outfit to do the fireworks. What a deviuos little man.

Really saddened that all these highly skilled jobs no longer exists and people thrown on the scrap heap 😢

Brilliant video, thank you. Is Peter still working in 2024 (13 years later)? It will be so sad when all the lighter men are gone, they have been such a part of the Thames life for decades.

That aint no tug engine dubbed over

I remember my uncle and me going to east India dock to load lamb from the ship to his lorry W Wards and Son. Their yard was was in Burnham road Hornsey. I went with him in the school holidays. Happy days.

My great Granddad was a waterman back in the 1850s when he would row his boat out to the ship and load the cargo into it then row it back to the dock. Story was handed down through the generations.

I like the way they all wore ties.

Is just for the program, or is the custom for Englishmen to drink tea all day, the young man is supposed to be an Apprentice, is that for making tea?

Narrated by Christopher Trace of Blue Peter fame.

Top 'em and drop 'em ! ⚓

Merle!!Love you Miguel!!❤😘🍀🇧🇷

me Dad was a Lighterman, worked for Uinion Lighterage until the work dried up an ended up in Essex still on the River. he died last year God rest His Soul

One must be really sadistic to organize this race upstream :)

Watched my uncle and cousin competing in this many times

that was an experiance i will never forget

Remember my dad doing this in the 70's & 80's

Great To See you all ! 60 Years ago In London"s Docks Ex MN / R,N 😊

😅ted hunt was agood guy ,l was at lighterage school when he was teacher, I'm a freemen of the river Thames and met other young lightmen , it was a good time, the best job in the world for me .

I believe that my father ROY GRANT, was Chief Engineer on this vessel sometime in the mid 60's. My sister and I would occasionally be allowed to accompanying him (Chief's privilege) on some of his trips up and down the Thames. We were only youngsters then so it was all the more impressive to see huge ships towering above us, although we were strictly instructed to avoid the stern area whilst towing was taking place in case the cable snapped.

Absolutely superb. Loved seeing so much detail of the actual manual work, the banter, the lack of H&S! I'm from New Zealand and was in and around London last Summer - walked the Thames Path, including Thamesmead to Purfleet/Dartford Creek. Ugly industrial fly-tipping wasteland? Not on your life - history, graft, Estuary, birdlife, the out of sight stuff a city needs, like building waste sorting. God bless em all. Madness, the Jam, The Smiths...would've been on the radio on them lighters

Seen them all in 1961

Great...times..

Lost, lost! The old working class, salt of the earth, backbone of the nation.

Makes me feel all melancholic 😢 joined 1976 ... & all over by 1983

Sehr schön zu sehen!!!

My dad was a lighterman working on a tug also called the General, They moored up and worked out of Charlton.