BLYTH SPIRIT

Series

Series Name: Mining Review 10th Year

Issue

Issue No.

Date Released

Dec 1956

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: Shipping coal in Blythe on the Northumberland coast
NCB Commentary - Blyth, the important coaling port on the Northumbrian coast just north of Newcastle, shipped out 6,000,000 tons of coal last year. That’s a lot of coal whichever way you say it, and there’s a lot more to be won by the 30 odd collieries in the area which make up the Northumbrian coalfields back of Blyth.
Chief among them are the important Ashington and Lynemouth group of collieries which help to feed the port.
At low water the wooden skeletons of the old keel boats stand revealed like ghosts of the past. But they are in fact forerunners of a tradition which flourishes today - modern ships are still loaded by traditional methods by the coal trimmers. In the lattice pattern shadows of the old wooden staiths, the rhythm of work quickens as they top off the coal ready for the hatches to go down.
These aristocrats of the dockside labourers normally work in teams of eight men on colliers which are not self trimming in which the cargo has to be levelled off by hand.
Many of them have ancestors who used to man the keel boats which loaded the trading ships with coal at the mouth of the Tyne and Blyth rivers.
It’s always been tough thirsty work; it is today.
Another activity on the Blyth River is shipbuilding and repairing - the new power station being built is a pointer to future industries to come.
Alongside the Cowpen South wharf operated by the Coal Board is the other side of the coal loading picture.
One trimmer alone can operate the automatic coal spouts as they are electrically controlled from up above.
Industrial coal pours down into a modern self trimming collier.
At this wharf new methods speed up the job and cut out the necessity for men to scrabble in the holds.
Coal from Bates Colliery lying behind is loaded into hoppers at ground level and transferred to the ship by belt conveyors.
Today, Blyth is certainly a busy port. Quick turn arounds are the order of the day to keep our coastal coal shipments moving.
Bridging the gap between the old and the new, Blyth has never lost the go ahead spirit which made it great.

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