Disembarkation- by Nicky Rossiter (fiction novels to read .txt) 📕

 Thompson’s had 50 constructing hay sheds

 Dockyard still with a workforce of 60.

 Cousins Mineral Water Company employing 50

In 1906 also, the structure of the Ballast Bank was

giving cause for concern and the Harbour

Commissioner engaged a diver to report on the

condition of the north end of it. His opinion was that

the current of the river was seriously undermining

that part of the bank and it needed to be underpinned

with all possible dispatch. The Commissioners set

about this repair at once.

A meeting on April 7th of 1906, granted bonuses of

1/ = to the men and 1/6 to the captain and engineer

while engaged in dredging at Spring tides, starting

work at 5 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.

The census of 1911 shows clearly that the port had already gone into decline.

On the date of the census, there were only 9 vessels recorded in the harbour, 2 in government service and 7 in the coasting trade. Despite these figure however, the sea was still very much a part of Wexford life as the following breakdown of occupations from the same census shows.

Navy officers, active and retired - 5;

Ship Stewards - 1;

Seamen, Royal Navy - 56;

Boatmen - 12;

Royal Marines - 5;

Harbour, dock, wharf and lighthouse men - 78;

Navy pensioners - 21;

Ship, boat, barge builders - 2;

Barge and Lightermen - 11;

Shipwrights, carpenters - 23;

Seamen, Merchant Service - 351;

Ship riggers, chandlers - 2;

Pilots - 15;

Sailmakers - 4.

An indication of just how much Wexford was a cosmopolitan port is the list of foreign birthplaces of people in the town at census taking time in 1911. There were people from France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Arabia, China, Sarawak, Syria, West Africa, Argentina and The United States of America.

As well as all of these people of foreign birth living here, persons of Wexford origin were also scattered throughout the world.

On a more localised travel note, there were direct sailings every second Tuesday from Wexford to Tenby in South Wales in the summer months; the trip took 7 hours each way.

On the labour front, 1911 was a traumatic year for Wexford. In June of that year the National Union of Seamen and Firemen called a simultaneous strike in all ports of the British Isles.

On July 15th., 1911, the "People" newspaper, published in Wexford announced;

"The strike fever has at last gripped Wexford and the action of the seamen and dock labourers which has for some time paralysed the trade of many of our largest ports was brought into effect on Wexford quays on Saturday morning. About half past nine the strike started on a steamer discharging coal for the Dublin and South Eastern Railway at the upper jetty. The men claimed 3d. per ton for wheeling, which was Id.

extra, and Id. between four men for filling. "

The strike spread rapidly throughout the port and soon affected the steam colliers "Delorian" and

"Mayflower" as well as sailing coasters "Mary Agnes", "Glynn", "Margaret and Mary", "Esperenza”

and "Perseverance".

Negotiations between the men and the Railway company superintendent, Mr. Cross, went well and the increase was agreed but talks broke down on the matter of back payment. At a meeting held in the Bullring, it was stated that much of the cargo being unloaded at Wexford was being transhipped to Dublin by rail to thwart the efforts of striking dockworkers in that port. Mr. P. O'Connor of the ITGWU

who were supporting the NSFU also stated that many captains and seamen of the Wexford fleet had that day agreed to join the ITGWU. The Dock labourers demands were: 1. An increase in wages.

2. An end to nighttime working.

3. The working day to be shortened to 10 hours.

Meanwhile the newly organised sailors also put their demands to the ship owners, while also pledging support for the dockworkers. The ship owners of the coastal sailors conceded to an advance of 5/ = per month but not on the issue of extra food money. By July 22 compromise had however been reached.

Most of the schooners were back at work and the steam colliers were being discharged. It was principally the shipowners and merchants who had paid the extra rates. Then the ball fell into the court of the Harbour Commissioners, their labourers demanded an increase of 1 ½ d per ton for loading or unloading ballast. The first ship to become involved was the "Wave". The Commissioners stood firm and eventually it is thought that the ships captain paid the extra cost. No further details were found on this particular episode and it is unclear what the overall result of the action was.

Some weeks of relative calm followed but elsewhere in the town workers were organising. In the foundries particularly, the men saw the advantages of being a member of a union and many joined the ITGWU. This led to dismissal in Pierces, a company that had built up international trade through

Wexford Port since the early 1800s and now employed 400 men. On December 9th the schooner "Alice T" arrived at the quay with a cargo of coke for Pierces. The dock labourers refused to unload the coke until all of those locked out of the Wexford foundries were re-instated. Scab labour was eventually used to discharge the ship and also to take coal to the foundry at Mill Road from Stafford yard. Such action led to dockers stopping work on Staffords ships in support of their locked out colleagues. The lockout was to last for many months at the foundries and bring police re-enforcements onto Wexford streets to protect the scab labour, with sometimes tragic consequences.

Despite enormous hardships, the men held out. In the end both sides claimed victory with a new union being formed in compromise, but within a few years most of the foundry men had joined the union of their original choice.

In 1913 a proposal was made at a