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BABY TOWER

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 12th Year

Issue

Issue No.
8
Date Released
Apr 1959
Stories in this Issue:
  1. 1PROGRESS REPORT: TRANSPORT
  2. 2SACKED
  3. 3RETIREMENT
  4. 4BABY TOWER

Story

Story No. within this Issue
4 / 4
Summary
NoS synopsis: A made-on-the-spot, do-it-yourself sea-boring tower helps in plotting the coal seams underwater in the Firth of Forth.
NCB Commentary - The big Kinneal Colliery on the banks of the Firth of Forth is now in full production. Under water the seams dip from the shore and on the opposite bank is Valleyfield, with big coking and coal reserves. To tap these reserves new shafts are being sunk, but information is needed which can only be got by drilling under water.
With the Forth Bridge as a barrier, one of the big boring towers could not be used. So at Valleyfield, they dreamed up a do-it-yourself substitute, a 60 foot drilling rig mounted on an old hopper barge. The trip to the tower is made by ex-army duks - another economy measure that paid off, for the building of a jetty on the Valleyfield site was impossible and sailing from St. David’s or Grangemouth would waste time and money.
On a good day it’s a nice trip out for the boys. The past is remembered in the island ruins of Culross Abbey and close by the floating island where men plot the coal reserves of the future.
Unlike the Coal Board’s bigger sea towers there is no accommodation aboard, so the men travel out daily. The do-it-yourself rig has proved well worth while and a depth of over 3,000 feet was reached in about eight months.
When in full production, Valleyfield will produce about 3,600 tons a day and provide employment for over 2,000 men.
The drilling is a monotonous, routine business. At regular intervals the boring barrel is drawn up, and the core which is inside, removed and stored carefully for the geologists to study at their leisure.
Leisure time for the men is spent in the caravan colony on shore away from the noise of their daily work.
When the time came to start a new bore hole, surveyors plotted the exact position. Aboard the duk the men stand ready to drop the marker bouy. Over it goes and another job in the work of finding coal will soon begin for the do-it-yourself boring tower.
Researcher Comments
Commentary recorded 2nd March 1959.
Keywords
Ships and boats; Mining; Exploration and explorers; Energy resources
Locations
Scotland; Firth of Forth
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases
Film User   Vol.13 No.157 November 1959, p585.
The National Archives COAL 32   /12 Scripts for Mining Review, 1956-1960
Credits:
Production Co.
Documentary Technicians Alliance
Sponsor
National Coal Board

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