New Bedford longshoreman Ray Houtman talks about the work of longshoremen who load and unload cargo from large vessels.
A large vessel would be about 50 ft deep, and therefore have HUGE cargo holding area, which would be filled with the seafood. It would be palleted, and moved on a truck for transport. However the workers had to work in perfect unison, because the crane operator getting the goods out of the hold usually wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing inside such a deep hold. However because the machinery was so loud, the other men wouldn’t be able to vocally communicate what needed to be done. Therefore they improvised by using signals.
The group needed to unload loose cargo consists of two wenchmen, one sign-man, one relief sign-man (just to give the other sign-man like an hour break), two fork lift operators (on the dock), two landers on the dock to help load the cargo, and ten laborers in the hold.
Click here to listen to Ray Houtman’s commentary.
See also: Working Waterfront Series – Immigration and Ethnicity,
and Working Waterfront Series – Lumpers,