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| Mr Rose (Dad) |
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 The lighters Samson, Fox
and Edinburgh |
Mr Rose, Dad, gets up today at five o’clock
in the morning
His lighter
is moored
at Greenwich. The tide carries the lighters up and down the river. When
the tide
comes in, it carries them west up the river. When the tide goes out, it
carries them east, down the river. Today Dad must take his lighter all
the way to Putney in West London.
‘Time and tide wait for no man,’ says
Dad.
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| Sculling |
He has his dinner ready. It is a loaf of bread, a
raw onion and a piece of cheese. He puts the food in a steel tin. He puts
the tin in a canvas bag. He puts a bottle of beer and a bottle of cold
tea in the bag.
Dad carries a heavy coat. ‘A long day ahead
and plenty of time for rain,’ he says to himself. Then he slips
out of the house before anyone else is awake.
He walks through the dark streets to Garden Stairs.
At the foot of the stairs Fred Smith, an apprentice
lighterman, is sitting in a skiff.
Fred will row the lightermen out to their moorings
in the middle of the river. Dad gets into the boat, with William Booker,
Harry Livett, and Fred’s father, William. They are all lightermen
and they all live in Little Thames Street.
‘Was that your Henry I saw, swimming in the
river yesterday, George?’ asks William Smith. ‘It better not
have been,’ says Dad.
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| Two watermen |
Fred rows the skiff to the lighters. Mr Rose and
young Fred climb aboard the old wooden lighter Louise. It first
belonged to Granny Rose’s father, when it was built in 1848. Two
long sweeps
are tied to the deck with a rope.
While Fred unties the lighter from the mooring, Dad
starts to row with one sweep. When he has coiled up the mooring rope,
Fred rows with the other sweep. The lighter is very heavy, but the two
men guide it carefully.
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| A lighter |
The tide is low. It has just turned. It is starting
to flood gently from the sea. The tide will flow faster later on. It will
flood into London for most of the morning. The tide will take the lighters
all the way up the river to Putney. The lightermen must steer a course
where the river is deep and the tide is flowing. They must avoid water
where the tide does not flow well. They must choose the best course through
the bridges, and through the busy river traffic. They must not bump into
ships, tugs, barges or ferries. They must not get stuck on the mud.
Today, Dad’s lighter is full of paving
stones and kerb stones. A ship brought the cargo
to Greenwich. At Greenwich the stones were taken from the ship and loaded
into the lighters. When the lighter Louise has carried the stones
to Putney, they will be used to make a new road.
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