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| Albert |
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 Royal
Naval College |
There is a clatter in Little Thames Street. A little
bulldog chases a rat across the yard. A metal bucket and a zinc
bath crash together.
Albert wakes up. The day has begun, and it is raining.
Albert puts on his lighterman's boots. They have
leather straps and buckles, and are heavily polished. They will keep
his feet dry in the rain. On his way out of the house, he picks up an
old bowler hat. He puts a crease down the middle of the crown, and puts
the hat on his head. The rain water runs down the crease and off the
back of a hat. Underneath his bowler, Albert stays dry.
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| Pub |
Albert walks down Church Street, and turns sharp
right at Garden
Stairs. He walks past the Ship Tavern, and Greenwich Pier,
along the river front by the Naval College. He checks the time and the
wind direction on the dials at the Naval College. It is nearly half
past seven, and the light wind is in the north-east. The tide is flooding
into London. The water is halfway up the river steps in front of the
Naval College. Albert walks on behind the Trafalgar Tavern, and along
the alley called Crane Street.
He comes to a gateway on his left. He goes through
the gateway and down an old cobbled causeway.
He walks down to the water's edge, and waits. Soon he sees a small ship
rounding the bend into Blackwall Reach. Thick smoke pours from the ship's
funnel, as it steam-engine chugs away. It is the John Bowes,
the collier
from Northumberland, with a cargo of coal. Albert waves to the little
ship, and a rowing boat comes from the ship to fetch Albert from the
shore.
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| Off
Appleby's Wharf |
Albert climbs on board the ship. On board the ship
are the skipper, the mate, the engineer, four hands and three stokers.
Some are eating breakfast. ‘Have a kipper with us,’ says
skipper Gibson.
Albert’s job is to guide the ship as it turns
around and get it to the wharf just at the right time. Albert knows
the tides, the depth of the river, the traffic, and how this ship moves
in shallow water. The ship is full, and low in the water. The river
traffic is busy and the tide is strong and fast. The job will take two
hours. Skipper Gibson has brought ships into the Thames from the sea
many times before, but he still needs Albert’s help.
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| The
Sarah Amy |
Albert takes the ship up to Rotherhithe, and into
the middle of the river. Opposite the Mayflower Tavern they meet the
steam tug Victor. They pass a line to it from their bow.
The ship’s whistle gives four short hoots and one long one, and
the tug pulls the ship around to the right. The tide pushes the stern
to the left. The ship has turned right round, and heads slowly back
down the river to Millwall.
The Greenwich vehicle ferry pauses to let them
pass. Albert waves to the waterman in the ferry.
The John Bowes has brought half its cargo
of coal for the forges and the foundry at the horse shoe factory. The
rest of the cargo will be loaded into lighters and taken up the river
to London. The ship passes the antimony works and the boiler works on
the Millwall shore. At the horse shoe factory, the crew throw ropes
to the shore. The ship’s winch
pulls the ship in to the shore, first the bow, then the stern. Albert
has taken the ship in at exactly the right time. The tide has risen
just enough to give the ship 12 feet of water to float in.
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