Coal for factories along the Thames shore could be delivered direct from ships or barges. Coal for the rest of London was unloaded at yards like Huntley’s Yard. From here the coal was taken by horse and cart through the streets. Small orders for shops and houses were put into sacks to make delivery easier. A sack of coal weighed 9 stone (56 kilos), about the most a man could carry on his back time and again. Every building had its own coal store, usually in the basement or the backyard. This picture shows the coal yard owned by T. R. Huntley, coal and coke merchant. The sailing collier Sarah Amy has delivered a load of coal and lies on the mud, awaiting the tide.
There are two groups standing on the deck of the Sarah Amy. The group on the right (four men and a boy) is the ship’s crew. Note the man standing on a platform on the wharf. He is there to work the steam crane which lifted trucks of coal on to an elevated rail track which carried them into the coal store. Huntley’s was a modern, automated business.

Unique ID: H2863
Creator: T L Brooker
Date: c.1900
Copyright: Out of Copyright