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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: cunners on Friday 17 January 14 14:59 GMT (UK)
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I know it is something barge, but other than that I can't be sure.
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/624154/barge.jpg)
Cheers
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Keilman?
Keeler / Keelman
Bargeman / Keelman: Someone who works on a keel or a barge
Carol
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Helmsman Barge???
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Could it be this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keelmen
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It is Keelman and the census clerk categorising occupations has annotated "Barge"
Stan
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Well that was quick! ;D Thanks everyone, never heard of a keelsman before, very interesting.
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You dont say where and what census it is but in the 1881 census the Instructions to the clerks employed in classifying the occupations of the people is to put Keelman, Keeler in Order 6 Sub-order 1 BARGEMAN &c.
Stan
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Hi, this is from an 1891 census from South Bank, Middlesbrough. The person involved was from the Newcastle area though so the earlier link about Tyne keelsman is probably relevant. Not sure he was doing the same thing on the Tees though, probably something to do with the steel industry.
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Could be cunners, but also it appears several old Middlesborough pubs reflected the trades of those that drank in them and one was named The Keelmen.
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Keel: The name is or has been in local use in the east of England from the Tyne to the Norfolk Broads; it has also been used in U.S. locally both for a river and a coasting vessel. The old keel which brought coal from the upper Tyne to ships in the harbour at Tynemouth was carvel-built and had a square sail, as well as a heavy oar worked by three keel-bullies. The existing keel is clinker-built and used only for riverside traffic. See R. Oliver Heslop in N. & Q. 9th Ser. VII. 65–6.
Stan
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'The keels were built of wood and were approximately forty feet long and twenty feet wide. They had a single mast and two large oars, but no rudder. A large sweep was used for steering. The keels were loaded from a riverside chute, with the coal being piled high and boards placed in it to stop the pile from sliding down. Using the ebb tide, and if the wind was up their sails, the keels would head downstream to the waiting colliers. The keelmen, usually a skipper, a two man crew and a boy, would then shovel the coal, in excess of twenty tons of it, into the collier. This would have been extremely hard work, not helped by the fact that they were shovelling upwards onto the larger collier'
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Although there were coal keelmen until the 1850s their importance gradually deminished as more and more coal was brough directly to the colliers by the waggonways and railways. In 1891 they would not be transporting coal, and would be used only for riverside traffic. There are 23 Keelmen listed in Middlesbrough in the 1891 census, only 17 on the Wear, and 37 on the Tyne.
Stan
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There were three distinct periods of transition in the use of keels. The first or early period when all coals had to be cast from the keel to the collier. The second was when tubs were put into keels, and the tubs were lifted out of the keels at the drops and the coal discharged into the ship, and the tub replaced in the keel. The third was when shipping of coals from keels entirely ceased except to supply the glass and lime works on the banks of the river.
See http://www.sunnisidelocalhistorysociety.co.uk/keelboats.html
Stan