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Gloucester Docks |
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The Changing Scene |
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What the Docks Did |
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How the Work was Done |
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Tales from the Docks |
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The Future |
How the Work was Done |
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Steam engines powered tugs that pulled up to a dozen boats at once, and a steam pump kept the water from draining away, but almost everything else in the Docks was done by muscle power. |
Moving thousands of tons by hand, horse and sometimes steam
Dock labourers had to work long hours and very fast because their pay depended on how much they carried, and they were only employed when new cargoes arrived. It was a skilled job. Often they had to run with heavy loads along flexible wooden planks. If they got the timed their steps wrongly, they were bounced into the water!
Since 1811 cargoes were taken in and out by railway wagons pulled by horses. But even when locomotives were used on the outside, only horses were used inside the Docks.
Gloucester Histories > Gloucester Docks > How the Work was Done