COALING

 

At Aden all coaling had to be done using lighters as it was impossible for ships to come alongside coaling wharves. As can be seen in the first photograph a lighter was really quite capacious. Getting the coal on board was the difficult part: the two obvious methods were to put the coal in baskets or in sacks.

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The other photograph of coaling at Port Said needs much more organisation and highlights the difficulty of loading onto a high-decked liner. Both gangways are being used for carrying baskets up onto the ship. Perhaps there was a third ‘down’ gangway to the right of the picture?

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This photograph is also a good illustration of coaling being a dirty business. Note the sacking that has been put up to try to stop coal dust spreading; one can also make out what appears to be a cloud of coal dust at the far end of the bridge as the baskets are tipped into the bunkers. 

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The third photograph shows a warship being coaled at Aden. The procedure is completely different. To provide extra stability two lighters have been moored alongside the ship and a ramp of sacks of coal erected to reduce the height to the deck. In fact two ramps as two coolie gangs are at work, one at each end of the lighter. Sacks are being passed from the outer lighter to the inside one, before being loaded one sack at a time by two coolies up to the next two, and so on by a chain onto the deck, where more coolies must be waiting to either continue the chain or carry the sacks to the bunkers. There appear to be eight links in the chain between the outer lighter and the deck. A coolie gang usually consisted of 60 men. Bearing in mind the coolies on the deck of the warship and those in both the lighters, there appears to be one complete gang hard at work.

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In 1896 the operating procedures of the coaling station were as follows: As soon as a ship was sighted the signal station on the concession (near the ETC offices and at about 100 feet above sea level) signalled by semaphore or ball the direction the ship was sailing in. This was essential as down in the harbour itself steamers could not be seen until they were close to.

 

When a signal was hoisted at the signal station every man on the concession kept a close eye on it and by the time it was changed to denote a calling steamer, a pilot boat, a doctor’s boat, the coolies and launches were all ready to attend to the wants of the steamer, which were signalled by the pilot who had boarded her outside the harbour, by a series of blasts on her whistle.

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At night the signal station kept a night watch to look out for the blue light on a steamer to show it was calling. The replying blue light of the signal station warned the watch at the pilot house. Launches then whistled the alarm so that everybody required was on the alert when the steamer came in.