Much unsaid but what a complete gem of a film about Mr Duggan and his life by David Kew....deeply evocative...melancholy....that life-style now long-gone on the Thames. (Particularly moving as we have just purchased a Dutch Barge....)
I worked in London as a young man in the 1960's and I have to say there is another wonderful breed of men who have disappeared along with the Lightermen. Where I lived in the East End I was surrounded by dockers, they must have been employed in vast numbers in those days. They were colourful characters but had a dangerous job and seemingly intermittent employment. These men were part of the scenery and sadly they are now all gone. The east end is certainly not the place it used to be either from what I can see now. Love the old black and white newsreels of life back then, show us the way things used to be .
Very sad, it seems that even the Cockney accent is also under threat ?? Technically you can’t have any more Cockneys because Bo Bells are no more and seems with all the influx of other entities … the accents are being whittled away… very sad… there needs to be some sort of way of preserving the culture … I can’t imagine London without all the different accents … I’m from the Wirral and I just couldn’t imagine the Scouse accent being threatened … hopefully I’ve heard wrong??
Hi This brings back memouries I used to work on the River for Clements Knowling at Brentford on the Tugs It was a good life but Cold and sometimes dangerous in the winter with Ice on the Deck , Thanks for the Vlog.
Brilliant video, thank you. Is Peter still working in 2024 (13 years later)? It will be so sad when all the lighter men are gone, they have been such a part of the Thames life for decades.
Excellent great vlog.... indeed those days are well gone but it was great to see that a little of the past is still needed for modern life. Enjoy your retirement Peter, all though you would have liked to continue to work.
It is so sad that the rivermen are a dying breed I remember when working in the merchant navy 60s-70s coming up the Thames to the docks which was full of shipping and now sadly all gone
My great Granddad was a waterman back in the 1850s when he would row his boat out to the ship and load the cargo into it then row it back to the dock. Story was handed down through the generations.
We would never have let the french get that close to the Palace of Westminster with that much explosives in the past. Can’t help thinking we missed an opportunity there!😉. When it absolutely has to be done by tomorrow then you need middle age men and old diesel powered equipment! Lovely.
Fxxing Gold, as a 61 yr old Sth Londoner & perm resident of Canada for over 8 yrs now ,the scenery the accents & the banter is like a warm bath for me 😅 My Grandad fought for money on those Barges before they sent him off to War
Great to watch men just getting on with a job they know like the back of their hands...I’m not sure how the MCA would think about their working practices nowadays. More and more H&S shit coming in which makes the jobs harder and definitely puts companies like this under more and more pressure
Where do the large tugboats and petroleum barges dock near London ? That sort of demand is endless. I work out of New York on a 4,000hp tug and a 60,000 barrel barge. Where would we find a berth in the Greater London area?
Most of that takes place outside of london now on the Thames estuary and in the medway river. It is still possible to dock in the 'royal Albert dock' and 'king George v dock' which are both in Greater London.
I remember reading a history book, it may have been "The London crowd", which mention how Watermen refused to step aside for anyone. There were no policemen, and if an aristocrat refused to step onto the muddy road his footmen and the aristocrat would have to exchange blows with the recalcitrant waterman. The Watermen/Lightermen were also politically powerful. In 1799 the forced the Free water clause on the government. Which reduced dock owners profits by allowing ships to unload at buoys in the river.
I'm gunna go out on a limb, an hesitate a guess, the git that said, "I assume" is paper boy, an just because a university said you can do a job, hasn't got enough experience to ask whats what. been there, run into half a dozen of those types, then when something goes wrong, its somebody else fault. nice goin m8, keep up the good work. even in this new age,
There'll always be need of floating Plant on the river of some sort. But yeah it's changed.... but the Thames sailing barges went their way didn't they? St Cats Limehouse south dock all cleaner and more well to do. The river will always be the same. Ever changing.
@liquidhighway pleased to hear that Peter is still marching on, Proper old school, bermondsey boy. I remember John doing the fireworks around 2000 had some good times over the years with him, The good old days long gone but lovely memories 😊
As much as I like a cello ,,,, why was it used to convey a creepy or scary tone to this ??? It gives the feel of a cheap sci fi/horror movie ,,,, why ??? I don't understand TGE choice of music and it made it distracting !!!
I think the music pulls the thing together. It reminds me of the penetrating dampness that comes with early morning on the boat. Everything is saturated, your outside in the elements for what seems like hours at a time waiting for the maneuver your job entails to start. Once your into it, you warm up a bit, but in the meantime your thinking about what a miserable job you have until your away from it. Then you miss it! On small day tugs like you see here, there’s not much in creature comforts, so out on deck, and not hanging about getting on each other’s goat cause it’s a long day. It’s definitely not Hi Ho, a sailors life for me, unless it’s at the boozer. Nice work on the doc. I can smell the exhaust smoke, and diesel, the whine of the turbocharger, the splashing of the murky water against the hull. When your in a city environment you look to shore at people going about their daily routine. They on the other hand look at you, and think, well it’s a good thing that brute of a man is out on that boat, or he’d probably be in jail. I’m 71 and have always been in transportation related work, marine, and road. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Jobs like these, you’ve got to have each others back. ….then you go home and the Mrs gives ya a good kickin. 😂
Utterly engrossing, superb film - great work
Much unsaid but what a complete gem of a film about Mr Duggan and his life by David Kew....deeply evocative...melancholy....that life-style now long-gone on the Thames. (Particularly moving as we have just purchased a Dutch Barge....)
Cracking film , 75 myself and still flat out sept 2024
All the breast.
50 years on the Thames, I enjoyed every minute of it 👍
Hope you are keeping well steve
Great thanks, keep up the good work, hope to see you all at TC soon 👍
Brilliant film. Proper hardworking people who know what they're doing and get on with it, a lost breed. Thanks for sharing it.
Fantastic documentary. Many thanks for sharing .
I worked in London as a young man in the 1960's and I have to say there is another wonderful breed of men who have disappeared along with the Lightermen. Where I lived in the East End I was surrounded by dockers, they must have been employed in vast numbers in those days. They were colourful characters but had a dangerous job and seemingly intermittent employment. These men were part of the scenery and sadly they are now all gone. The east end is certainly not the place it used to be either from what I can see now. Love the old black and white newsreels of life back then, show us the way things used to be .
Thanks for sharing.
Very sad, it seems that even the Cockney accent is also under threat ?? Technically you can’t have any more Cockneys because Bo Bells are no more and seems with all the influx of other entities … the accents are being whittled away… very sad… there needs to be some sort of way of preserving the culture … I can’t imagine London without all the different accents … I’m from the Wirral and I just couldn’t imagine the Scouse accent being threatened … hopefully I’ve heard wrong??
Why is that? People lived in colour.
Hi This brings back memouries I used to work on the River for Clements Knowling at Brentford on the Tugs It was a good life but Cold and sometimes dangerous in the winter with Ice on the Deck , Thanks for the Vlog.
Brilliant documentary what a character loved him proper geezer !!
So the Mayor of London employed a French outfit to do the fireworks. What a deviuos little man.
Those are the CLEANEST marine ropes I've ever seen in my life!
The soundtrack is brilliant. Perfect substitute for a narrator - and says more than anyone could put into words.
No narration and nobody acting up for the cameras makes for a wonderful film.
Wonderful doco, great men and women of yesteryear
Brilliant video, thank you. Is Peter still working in 2024 (13 years later)? It will be so sad when all the lighter men are gone, they have been such a part of the Thames life for decades.
Peter retired a couple of years ago and his yard is now part of the new silvertown tunnel. 😞😞
never to be repeated, those days sadly have gone.
I used to fuel Peters craft sometimes he's a legend I hope he's well not seen him for years, God bless you pete hope you enjoy your retirement.
Superb documentary of a wonderful, colourful character and his dying trade and way of life. It's a thumbs-up and a sub fro me.
Excellent great vlog.... indeed those days are well gone but it was great to see that a little of the past is still needed for modern life.
Enjoy your retirement Peter, all though you would have liked to continue to work.
It is so sad that the rivermen are a dying breed I remember when working in the merchant navy 60s-70s coming up the Thames to the docks which was full of shipping and now sadly all gone
My great Granddad was a waterman back in the 1850s when he would row his boat out to the ship and load the cargo into it then row it back to the dock. Story was handed down through the generations.
I live in Perth WAust and we don’t see this thank you for sharing
We would never have let the french get that close to the Palace of Westminster with that much explosives in the past. Can’t help thinking we missed an opportunity there!😉.
When it absolutely has to be done by tomorrow then you need middle age men and old diesel powered equipment! Lovely.
Brilliant thanks 😁👍👏👏👏
Fxxing Gold, as a 61 yr old Sth Londoner & perm resident of Canada for over 8 yrs now ,the scenery the accents & the banter is like a warm bath for me 😅
My Grandad fought for money on those Barges before they sent him off to War
Great to watch men just getting on with a job they know like the back of their hands...I’m not sure how the MCA would think about their working practices nowadays. More and more H&S shit coming in which makes the jobs harder and definitely puts companies like this under more and more pressure
Did they buy that new rope especially for the video!……
Where do the large tugboats and petroleum barges dock near London ? That sort of demand is endless. I work out of New York on a 4,000hp tug and a 60,000 barrel barge. Where would we find a berth in the Greater London area?
Most of that takes place outside of london now on the Thames estuary and in the medway river. It is still possible to dock in the 'royal Albert dock' and 'king George v dock' which are both in Greater London.
Old lion running on 3bless her❤❤❤❤
Very nice boys....
I remember reading a history book, it may have been "The London crowd",
which mention how Watermen refused to step aside for anyone.
There were no policemen, and if an aristocrat refused to step onto the muddy road
his footmen and the aristocrat would have to exchange blows with the recalcitrant waterman.
The Watermen/Lightermen were also politically powerful.
In 1799 the forced the Free water clause on the government.
Which reduced dock owners profits by allowing ships to unload at buoys in the river.
I'm gunna go out on a limb, an hesitate a guess, the git that said, "I assume" is paper boy, an just because a university said you can do a job, hasn't got enough experience to ask whats what. been there, run into half a dozen of those types, then when something goes wrong, its somebody else fault. nice goin m8, keep up the good work. even in this new age,
There'll always be need of floating Plant on the river of some sort. But yeah it's changed.... but the Thames sailing barges went their way didn't they? St Cats Limehouse south dock all cleaner and more well to do. The river will always be the same. Ever changing.
I wonder if I ever annoyed him with my inflatable canoe. East London is a great place for canoeing.
I thought these guys would be Lightermen?
I knew a great man by the name of Johnny read who worked for peter off and on over the years
Thats right Alfie. I worked with John a few times when he worked with peter on new years fireworks tows. Sadly he passed away this year.
@liquidhighway yeah sad news nice we go way back to when he was in Southend, Is Peter still about, Never met the guy but what a character he is.
@alfieturnbull yes peter is still doing well . Now retired in his 80s and more frail than in the video but what a character😃
@liquidhighway pleased to hear that Peter is still marching on, Proper old school, bermondsey boy. I remember John doing the fireworks around 2000 had some good times over the years with him, The good old days long gone but lovely memories 😊
@liquidhighway did you ever come across Brain banks he was at battersea for awhile
As much as I like a cello ,,,, why was it used to convey a creepy or scary tone to this ???
It gives the feel of a cheap sci fi/horror movie ,,,, why ???
I don't understand TGE choice of music and it made it distracting !!!
I agree. Im not much of a fan of the music choice
Gives it quite a sad, desolate feel I think.
I think the music pulls the thing together. It reminds me of the penetrating dampness that comes with early morning on the boat. Everything is
saturated, your outside in the elements for what seems like hours at a time waiting for the maneuver your job entails to start. Once your into it,
you warm up a bit, but in the meantime your thinking about what a miserable job you have until your away from it. Then you miss it! On small day
tugs like you see here, there’s not much in creature comforts, so out on deck, and not hanging about getting on each other’s goat cause it’s a
long day. It’s definitely not Hi Ho, a sailors life for me, unless it’s at the boozer. Nice work on the doc. I can smell the exhaust smoke, and diesel,
the whine of the turbocharger, the splashing of the murky water against the hull. When your in a city environment you look to shore at people
going about their daily routine. They on the other hand look at you, and think, well it’s a good thing that brute of a man is out on that boat, or
he’d probably be in jail. I’m 71 and have always been in transportation related work, marine, and road. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Jobs
like these, you’ve got to have each others back. ….then you go home and the Mrs gives ya a good kickin. 😂
even in 2013 the PLA would do you for not wearing regulation lifejacket
I think it was filmed in 2006.
Guess Lightermen are excused Health and Safety these days no life-vests and so on yard looks a health risk as well and crane out of history
It was filmed in 2006
BM18:16:00