Lighterman
The term is particularly associated with the highly skilled men who operated the unpowered lighters moved by oar and water currents in the Port of London.
This stated that there was to be no charge for "lighters or craft entering into the docks ... to convey, deliver, discharge or receive ballast or goods to or from on board any ship ... or vessel."
Ships anchored in the middle of the Thames or near bridge arches transferred their goods aboard or in respect of a few exports from lighters.
It also demanded a lot of muscle power, as the lighters were unpowered; they relied on the current for motive force and on long oars, or "paddles",[1] for steering.
Few written accounts of the process of becoming an apprentice now exist, though the best-known is Men of the Tideway by Dick Fagan and Eric Burgess.
In the book, Fagan mentions the exploitative nature of lighterage and expresses his disdain for what he called a "free-for-all capitalist system".
[2] The term lighterman is still used for the workers who operate motorised lighters to access a vessel which is too large or due to conditions unable to moor at a dock and the phrase to alight goods is used in the goods trade widely compared to the phrase 'alighting of passengers' which has become archaic across most of the English-speaking world except in formal contexts and on some railways, having been generally replaced with the terms 'exit', 'leave', or 'depart'.
A sub-category consisted of ballast lightermen, specialising in transferring rubble, bricks, and cobbles to and from the lower holds of vessels to keep them upright even in severe storms.
These lightermen, by enabling Singapore’s smooth functioning as a port, were essential figures that, while lesser known, have contributed greatly to the city’s success.
[8] Consisting mainly of Chulias, Muslims who hailed from the Coromandel Coast at the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent in the 1800s, many of the earlier lightermen were also recruited through the East India Company’s port at Madras.
Numerous reasons for this decline included the transference of the Straits Settlements to the Colonial Office, which resulted in the loss of the close connection and link with the administration that operated in India.
[9] The movement of European merchants’ operations from the Singapore River to New Harbour also affected the livelihoods of Indian lightermen as lighters were not needed to move goods there.
Between the early twentieth century up to 1983 when the Singapore government proceeded to remove the lighters from the river, the lighterage industry came to be dominated by Chinese boatmen.
[11] This was in response to a cumulation of push and pull factors such as political and social turmoil in China, as well as the rising status of Singapore as an important trading entrepot.
Two main Chinese dialect groups dominated the lighterage industry, namely the Hokkiens from the Fujian province and the Teochews from the Guangdong area.
[5] In the years during the initial phase of Chinese domination leading to World War II, the Teochews essentially controlled the lighterage industry along the Singapore River.
[8] The vessel stemmed from Chinese influence and had a wide hull and nearly flat bottom, features that made it well-suited for carrying heavy cargo in shallow waters.
[14] Another key factor leading to the decline of lightermen was the Singapore government’s effort towards urban-environmental renewal through the Clean Rivers Campaign in the 1980s.
[14] By September 1983, lighterage activities which included approximately 800 lighters were relocated to facilities of the Port of Singapore Authority at Pasir Panjang.
Demanding tremendous physical strength, some of the heaviest goods lightermen were tasked with included cases of dried fish that often exceeded 200 kilograms.
Putrid and poisonous smells, coupled with the swaying and lurching unpredictably due to waves made the work as challenging as it was hazardous.
[4] Yet, in light of the skill and effort involved, lightermen were often held in higher regard and paid more than their peers in other manual labouring occupations.
[4] Lightermen’s main concerns in forming a union were to primarily ensure that they received fair payment and compensation for long hours and injuries incurred on the job.
The Lightermen's Union was subsequently reorganised their administration post-war and registered as the Transport Vessel Workers Association (TVWA).
This unity was so strong that it surpassed previous clan rivalries and even reduced the frequency of clashes between the Hokkien and Teochew lightermen.
