Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries
År: 1902
Forlag: Cassell and Company, Limited
Sted: London, Paris, New York & Melbourne
Sider: 384
UDK: 338(42) Bri
Illustrated from photographes, etc.
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1
268
THE MOULD LOFT, MESSRS. DOXFORD AND SON’S YARD, SUNDERLAND.
THE BUILDING OF SHIPS.
THE building of steel steamships is one
of the most important of the industries
in which Britons engage. A greater
number of hands may be employed in the
getting of coal or the spinning and weaving
of cotton, and the gross value of the product
in each of these trades may be annually
greater; but viewed in the light of the fact
that the manufacture of a ship really begins
with the ores and the undressed logs, ship-
building seems to be absolutely the greatest
of our industries.
Just how many millions sterling are invested
in shipbuilding and marine engineering plant
it is difficult to say. The writer tried to form
an estimate with the assistance of some well-
known shipbuilders, and had to abandon
the task as hopeless. In any case, the total
would have been so vast as to be meaningless,
and a better impression is conveyed by other
easily accessible figures.
Great Britain, for instance, builds in a year
about double the tonnage produced by the
rest of the world. One British river—the
Clyde—excels the output, including war-
ships, of the United States, and almost
equals the total production of both Germany
and France. We continue to be the world’s
shipbuilders in the face even of subsidised
opposition.
The value of the shipping launched in
this country in a fairly prosperous year is,
roughly, £27,000,000, and no less than
£9,000,000 of that sum is expended in wages.
Machinery is included in the estimate of the
value, and engine-shop pay-rolls in the wages
bill. 7 he figures refer to the finished ship.
1 he number of men employed in ship-
yards and engine-shops is, off and on, about
130,000, and nearly a score of trades go to
make the muster. A familiar division of
them is into “ black squad ” and “ white
squad,” but to the man in the street it is a
little misleading. There are frame-benders,
platers, riveters, caulkers, and drillers ; ship-
wrights, joiners, and cabinet-makers; plumbers,
blacksmiths, tinsmiths, brass- and copper-
workers, and painters; pattern-makers, and
steam, electrical, and hydraulic engineers.
The rigger is almost extinct, but the army