Cultureshock

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Video transcript

Bartram’s South Dock Ship Builders was Sunderland’s only ship yard that launched straight into the sea. The only yard in the country that could launch a ship directly into the North Sea. I worked in the ship building industry all of my life, apart from my National Service. I worked at Bartram’s and other yards from 1947 to1985. In that time somewhere in the region of 120 ships were launched into the North Sea. Working as a shipwright the launch of a ship was a very important part of my job. Seeing the launch was the fulfillment of months of work and it was very satisfying to see the ship slide into the water down the ways.    It was a shipwrights job to make sure the launch went smoothly. Ensuring that thousands of tones of steel moved into the water. A launch was a big day. Two hundred to three hundred people would come and watch, and cheer as the ship slipped gracefully down the ways.    Because Bartram’s launched into the sea the tide was a very important factor during the launch. We would calculate the launch for about 30 minutes before the tide was at its highest for a successful launch. People would be checking the water levels as the tide came in, making sure the tide would not be slack or slow.    In the winter months launches could be problematic. In the very cold weather the ship would stick during the launch. Water that had seeped into the wooden ways that the ship sides down. when the water freezes in the wood it makes the ship stick. The ship would be launched and it would maybe move about 4 feet then stop. If this happened a calamity of action would follow. It was part of the shipwright’s jobs to get the ship moving again. It could take days to make the ship safe and prepare to re-launch at the next available tide. It was a big trauma if a ship was a sticker.