PART 1
SCENE 1
/ refers to time-code location in dialogue
Wharf-side Chatham Dockyard, 18th century night scene,
exterior of large warehouse, the throw of the watchman’s
lantern illuminates details of a large warehouse, where a
stores-man stands in an open doorway several floors up.
10:00:00:03 music
10:00:12:17 watchman walks to warehouse
SYNC DIALOGUE (soft under music)
10:00:24:06 NIGHT WATCHMAN HOW DO YOUNG MAN
STORES-MAN ALL RIGHT THERE BOB
NIGHT WATCHMAN EVERYTHING ALRIGHT
STORES-MAN FINE
NIGHT WATCHMAN GOOD NIGHT THEN
10:00:33:22 STORES-MAN GOOD NIGHT
graffiti on the wall visible by lantern light, peoples’
names, regimental insignia and the date 1788 are
carved there
10:00:53:12 TITLES
Man in 19th century working dress walks down the empty
top floor of the Ropery. He recalls the start of his career
and first impressions of the Ropery.
Sequence of work on the ropewalk, forming and coiling.
ADCOCK
10:01:24:16 /MY CHARGEMAN, WHEN I WAS
WORKING ONBOARD SHIP
CAME UP TO ME ONE DAY AND SAID
‘THERE’S SOME CRAFT VACANCIES COMING
UP SHORTLY, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO
10:01:36:07 PUT YOU IN FOR AN INTERVIEW ?’/
c/u moving rope and coiling
10:01:38:05 /‘OH YES PLEASE’…..YOU KNOW CAME OUT
OF THE BLUE, AND SHORTLY AFTER THAT
YOU WAS CALLED OVER AND SAID
‘YES YOU’D BEEN ACCEPTED FOR TRAINING’,
10:01:49:06 /AND AT THAT TIME THERE WAS THREE
OR FOUR JOBS YOU KNOW THAT THEY
10:01:53:21 WANTED APPRENTICESHIPS FOR/,
10:01:57:16 UM /THERE WAS THE
SAILMAKERS, BOILERMAKERS,
ROPEMAKERS, FOUNDRY AND UM I KNOW I
WENT HOME AND LUCKILY MI
10:02:10:08 FATHER WAS ON LEAVE,/
‘YOU TAKE ROPEMAKING’ HE SAID, I’LL
NEVER FORGET IT ‘YOU TAKE
ROPEMAKING THEY’LL
ALWAYS WANT ROPE’. HE SAID ‘THEY’LL
NEVER TAKE A SHIP OUT OF PORT WITHOUT
CORDAGE ON’, HE SAID ‘YOU’VE GOT A JOB
10:02:23:18 THERE FOR LIFE’./
10:02:25:07 b/w archive film of naval ship in heavy seas
10:02:43:02 two men on ropewalk gesticulate as they talk
b/w track of empty ropewalk with capstan turning,
and moving running ropes. Other shots show people at
work.
The resemblance between a ship and the Ropery is
apparent.
ADCOCK
10:02:59:15 /A VERY LONG, DAUNTING, DARK BUILDING,
LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A DICKENSIAN
NOVEL, LIKE A WORKHOUSE, THAT’S JUST
10:03:11:03 WHAT IT STRUCK ME LIKE./
10:03:14:04 /IN THOSE DAYS YOU HAD NO WINDOWS IN
THE BUILDING AS SUCH, YOU HAD
10:03:19:21 SHUTTERS,/
10:03:20:21 /YOU WAS WORKING ON DARK CORDAGE,
10:03:26:16 TECTAL OR TAR AND IT WAS LIKE /LOOKING
DOWN A TUNNEL OF DARKNESS, TRYING TO
SEE THAT THE ROPES WEREN’T CATCHING
10:03:33:20 TOGETHER./
10:03:41:21 /THEY RECKON IF YOU CAN LAST
YOUR APPRENTICESHIP AND STILL BE
THERE A COUPLE OF YEARS AFTERWARDS,
THEN YOU’LL BE THERE WHEN YOU
10:03:47:23 RETIRE./
10:03:49:17 /ONCE YOU’RE SETTLED YOU WAS THERE
FOR LIFE BUT IF YOU COULDN’T SETTLE
10:03:55:11 THEN YOU WAS OUT./
10:04:05:04 profile of a man looking out to the river from the Ropery
track down upper floor, the empty ropewalk stretches
into the distance
COCKERILL
10:04:05:07 /BEING THE FARTHEST AWAY FROM THE
CENTRE OF OPERATIONS WITHIN THE
NAVAL BASE, IT’S VERY VERY SELDOM THAT
WE VISITED THE FAR END OF THE YARD,
10:04:14:07 WE WERE THAT FAR /AWAY, WE WERE VERY
10:04:16:20 INSULAR IN THAT RESPECT./
10:04:19:11 /QUITE A FEW OF THE PEOPLE HARDLY EVER
10:04:22:21 SAW A NAVY WARSHIP./
10:04:29:04 Dockyard workshop scenes
ADCOCK
10:04:32:03 /SOME PEOPLE WORKED IN THE DOCKYARD
ALL OF THEIR LIFE AND NEVER EVEN
REALISED THAT THERE WAS A ROPERY UP
HERE,
10:04:40:20 interior of Ropery door, it slams shut
10:04:41:24 /YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED TO ROAM
10:04:43:19 AROUND./
10:04:47:20 /IF YOU WAS WORKING DOWN THE YARD
10:04:50:14 THAT’S WHERE YOU STOPPED,/
10:04:51:22 ship repair scenes
vast Dockyard buildings in the mist
10:04:52:13 /YOU JUST DIDN’T LEAVE YOUR JOB AND
WANDER OFF AND GO SCOUTING
AROUND THE YARD, IT WASN’T ALLOWED.
10:04:58:07 IT WAS A /MASSIVE PLACE, IT WAS A
MASSIVE PLACE, IT WAS LIKE A SMALL
10:05:01:20 TOWN./
colour sequence
10:05:05:15 c/u of man in the moving strings of overhead bobbins
music indicates a change of scene
10:05:18:03 water ripples in the darkness as something is thrown in
SCENE II
Late 18th century night scene. Track down river along
wharfside, we see a watchman making his rounds and
glimpses of a large ship
music fades, fx of river and ship
10:05:33:13 watchman with lantern walking along quayside, past
ships and a vast warehouse
DEFOE
10:05:34:04 /THE BUILDINGS HERE ARE INDEED LIKE THE
SHIPS THEMSELVES, SUPRISINGLY LARGE
AND IN THEIR SEVERAL KINDS BEAUTIFUL.
THE WAREHOUSES FOR LAYING UP THE
NAVAL TREASURE ARE THE LARGEST IN
DIMENSION AND THE MOST IN NUMBER
THAT ARE ANYWHERE TO BE SEEN IN THE
WORLD; THE ROPEWALK, THE FORGES, ALL
LIKE THE WHOLE MONSTRUOSLY GREAT
10:05:58:16 AND EXTENSIVE./
soundtrack becomes slightly more sinister
rapid shots of dark ship and warehouse
COAD
10:06:07:05 /WHAT YOU SEE IN DEFOE IS THE
AMAZEMENT OF A MAN AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SEEING JUST
WHAT AN EXTRAORDINARY INDUSTRIAL
ENTERPRISE IT WAS, BECAUSE TO MOST
PEOPLE, IN THIS COUNTRY,
10:06:19:20 PREDOMINENTLY RURAL /ENVIRONMENT,
THE DOCKYARDS WERE A COMPLETELY
10:06:23:04 ALIEN WORLD./
continue track down river following watchman
10:06:20:06 he walks through a tunnel his lantern casting big
shadows
interior track warehouse past dimly lit cordage,
a warehouseman rolls a coil to a doorway
10:06:29:22 /WHAT IMPRESSED DEFOE PARTICULARLY
WERE THE ENORMOUS QUANTITIES OF
WAREHOUSES HERE. YOU HAD TO
KEEP A VAST ARRAY OF RESERVE STORES IN
STOCK INCASE THE FLEET WAS CALLED OUT
AT SHORT NOTICE, UNTIL PRETTY
10:06:41:07 RECENTLY./
the voice of Defoe is soft and rhythmical, like an effect:
DEFOE
10:06:42:24 /THERE ARE STOREHOUSES FOR LAYING UP
THE FURNITURE AND STORES FOR SHIPS BUT
WHICH ARE NOT APPROPRIATED, BUT LIE
READY TO BE DELIVERED UP FOR
FURNISHING THE SHIPS TO BE BUILT, OR FOR
REPAIRING AND SUPPLYING THE SHIPS
ALREADY THERE, FOR THIS PURPOSE
10:07:06:07 watchman continues along tunnel and emerges from it
pan over hull of a large ship.
THERE ARE SEPARATE AND RESPECTIVE
MAGAZINES OF PITCH, TAR, HEMP, CABLES,
10:07:06:11 STANDING/ AND RUNNING RIGGING, READY
FITTED AND CORDAGE NOT FITTED, AND ALL
KINDS OF SHIP CHANDELRY NECESSARIES,
SUCH AS BLOCKS, TACKLES, RUNNERS
ETCETERA, ALSO BOATS, SPARE MASTS AND
10:07:21:22 YARDS./
SCENE III
A black and white scene set in late 19th century/early 20th
century, it introduces some of the main characteristics of
the Dockyard. A tracking shot down the river Medway
towards Chatham, (a misty atmospheric industrial scene)
is inter-cut with scenes of work in the Dockyard.
Music cross-fades to a tense track with a mechanical
flavour and effects of crane engines and riveting.
10:07:21:13 track down river Medway
NARRATOR
10:07:32:07 /THE DOCKYARD WAS THE FOCUS OF THE
LOCAL COMMUNITY FOR OVER FOUR
10:07:36:06 CENTURIES./
10:07:44:10 /LIKE PORTSMOUTH, PLYMOUTH AND
ROSYTH, CHATHAM WAS A STATE-RUN
DOCKYARD WITH THE WHOLE RANGE OF
10:07:50:21 SHIPBUILDING TRADES./
10:07:58:16 /BUILT ALONG THE RIVER MEDWAY, THE
DOCKYARD HAD A CIVILIAN LABOURFORCE
10:08:03:05 OF THOUSANDS./
two men climb the standing rigging of a large ship
building slip with rivet-fire and men working
river track continues
MALE NARRATOR
10:08:03:17 /PLUMBERS, COPPERSMITHS, SHIPWRIGHTS,
10:08:06:21 /BOILERMAKERS, SMITHS, /PAINTERS,
10:08:09:01
JOINERS, SAILMAKERS, ROPEMAKERS,
10:08:15:20 RIGGERS, WELDERS, /CAULKERS,
10:08:17:08 IRON-RIVETERS./
EDWARDS
10:08:17:23 /IT USED TO BE THAT YOU COULD NOT WORK
IN THE DOCKYARD OUTSIDE A THREE MILE
10:08:23:04 RADIUS,/ SO EVERYBODY TENDED TO LIVE IN
THE LOWER PART OF GILLINGHAM AND
CHATHAM; IF THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT
WITHIN THE YARD, THERE WAS A MISHAP,
EVERYBODY WOULD HEAR THE BELL AND
THEY WERE EXPECTED TO COME IN AND
ASSIST, THAT WAS UP UNTIL THE
10:08:40:18 EARLY 1900S./
Sequence of people going to work
dockyard bell rings to summon people to work
10:08:42:12 dockyardmen walk down narrow, walled ‘Khyber Pass’
to Dockyard gate
10:08:49:05 sequence of work in Dockyard -walk along quayside
NARRATOR
10:08:49:19 /THE WORK THAT WENT ON IN THE
10:08:52:14 DOCKYARD WAS TOP SECRET,/
10:08:53:03 /SHIPBUILDING AND REPAIR FOR THE NAVY/
10:08:55:06
animated still -ship in construction, lifting a section into
place
10:08:59:16 /A HIGH WALL SURROUNDED THE YARD AND
10:09:02:23 SECURITY WAS STRICT/
ADCOCK
10:09:04:15 /WE ALWAYS USED TO SAY IT WAS TO KEEP
US IN BUT NO TECHNICALLY IT WAS TO
10:09:09:07 KEEP PEOPLE AWAY FROM /SEEING FROM
10:09:10:15 WHAT WAS GOING ON./
men walk increasingly fast as bell rings faster and faster
until start time
10:09:15:03 still - crowds arrive for work
10:09:21:09 rope-walk scene
10:09:21:17 /LUCKILY THE ROPERY HAD NOTHING TO
HIDE, THERE WAS NO TOP SECRET THINGS
GOING ON TO A CERTAIN EXTENT,
ALTHOUGH THERE’S ONE AND TWO
THINGS THAT HAPPENED DURING THE
10:09:29:19 WAR;/
10:09:30:06 /NOT LIKE WORKING SAY AFLOAT ON A
10:09:32:24 NUCLEAR SHIP./
10:09:34:02 /YOU HAD TO SIGN THE OFFICIAL SECRETS
ACT, YOU KNOW WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED
IN THE YARD, YOU WERE A BIT CLOSE I
10:09:40:02 SUPPOSE WHAT YOU WAS DOING./
10:09:43:14 animated still – people arrive at the muster office
10:09:49:06 they take tallies from board and go to the workshops
where they drop their tallies in a box to register their
presence
industrial, tense music with resonating bass
stills & archive film of ship-building & workshops in
early mid 20th century
10:10:06:23 still of large ship (Arethusa) on stocks
NARRATOR
10:10:17:07 /THERE WAS CONTINUITY IN THE WORK
OF THE DOCKYARD AND IN THE
ATTITUDE TO WORK OVER A VERY LONG
10:10:22:13 PERIOD./
GRIMMER
10:10:24:07 /YEH I MEAN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WARSHIP IN PARTICULAR IS CONSTRUCTED,
TO BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE WORST
POSSIBLE WEATHERS YOU COULD GET AT
10:10:32:00 SEA/ AND ALSO, TO BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND
EXPLOSIONS, ERM THROUGH BEING IN A
10:10:41:00 WAR - BATTLE, /UNDERWATER EXPLOSIONS,
YOU KNOW EXPLOSIONS BY BOMBS AND
10:10:45:20 SHELLS,/SO SHE’S A PRETTY STRONG PIECE
OF FURNITURE, Y’KNOW EVEN BEFORE IT’S
10:10:51:18 GONE INTO BATTLE./
colour sequence with modern ship repair and
workshop scenes showing profiling, use of a big bore (to
bore out an engine part) and a heavy press.
Some of the equipment is very up to date while
some goes back to the mid-19th century and is still in use.
The music is more expansive, undertone of ship repair
sounds.
10:10:46:18 destroyer in refit in dry dock
HUNTER
10:10:56:13 /THERE WAS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT THE
STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP IN THE
10:11:00:05 DOCKYARD WAS EXTREMELY HIGH./
10:11:01:15 /THE DOCKYARDS WERE WERE NOT REALLY
ORIENTATED TO COUNTING COSTS AS LONG
AS THE JOB WAS DONE AND IT WAS DONE
10:11:08:16 PROPERLY./
10:11:13:02 /IF YOU HAD A ROUTINE OR A METHOD OF
WORK THAT WORKED THEY WOULDN’T
ALTER IT. IN INDUSTRY GENERALLY PEOPLE
WERE LOOKING AT NEW WAYS OF GETTING
WORK DONE AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES,
10:11:25:00 /BUT IN THE DOCKYARD IF YOU COULD
BATTER A PLATE INTO THE RIGHT SHAPE
10:11:29:23 YOU WANTED BY /HEATING IT AND
DROPPING GREAT BIG WEIGHTS ON IT THAT
IS THE WAY THAT YOU WOULD CARRY ON
10:11:33:21 DOING IT./
10:11:36:13 Ropery- two men walk past with the ‘topcart’ laying
rope, other strands move in foreground.
NARRATOR
10:11:42:03 /TRADITIONAL ROPEMAKING SURVIVED,
ALONGSIDE THE LATEST ELECTRONIC AND
10:11:47:18 NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES./
SCENE IV
Spinning Room of the Ropery, where women carried out
the first processes of ropemaking, in a segregated
environment. The room is full of loud, heavy machinery.
Coarse bundles of fibre are combed into sliver, then
spun into yarn. Visually we move from the start of the
process to the end during this scene. The focus of the
scene is the social and work atmosphere in the Spinning
Room.
10:11:54:13 scudger (one of first combing machines)
HAYES
10:12:00:15 /IN THE ROPERY, YOU’VE GOT THE WOMEN
ON THE COMBING MACHINES, N’THAT’S THE
BEGINNING PROCESS AND THE MEN DOING
THE END PROCESS BECAUSE YOU’VE GOT
ALL THE HEAVY WEIGHT AT THE END N’
THE TWISTING OF THE ROPES AND THINGS
10:12:12:12 LIKE THAT./
women at work on various machines
girl in 19th century dress walks through room of disused
machinery
10:12:19:06 she drags a heavy bundle of sliver across the floor
ADCOCK
10:12:19:09 /WHEN THEY STARTED BRINGING
MACHINERY INTO THE ROPERY
BUILDINGS AROUND THE 1800S, WHEN THEY
STARTED STEAM POWER, THAT’S WHEN
WOMEN WERE FIRST INVOLVED, BECAUSE,
THE WORK DID NOT INVOLVE MANUAL
10:12:33:10 LABOUR./
animated still, of women in late 19th century Spinning
Room
A woman working at spreader cutting armfuls of fibre
reaches for her knife,
track down room over heavy machinery passing women
chatting and laughing
JOYCE HAYES
10:12:38:07 /ORIGINALLY THE ROPERY WAS STARTED
10:12:41:14 FOR, /WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF SERVICE
10:12:44:24 AND NAVY PEOPLE/ /AND WE WERE SOME OF
10:12:48:04
THE FIRST MARRIED WOMAN TO GO IN
THERE AND THEY DIDN’T LIKE IT-
10:12:54:10 /’WE’VE GOT TO WORK HERE BECAUSE
10:12:56:24 WE NEED THE JOB’3./
10:12:57:13 track over heavy machinery continues
10:12:58:41 /THEY WERE VERY CLANNISH THE WOMEN
THAT WERE IN THERE WHEN I WENT IN
10:13:02:13 THERE./
a woman in skeins of white fibres at back of machine
looking perplexed, details of machines which seem to
mock her
10:13:06:23 /I’VE SEEN WOMEN STAND THERE AND CRY
BECAUSE IF YOU WERE WORKING WITH A
PERSON THAT HADN’T BEEN ASKED TO
SHOW YOU WHAT TO DO, SHE WOULDN’T
10:13:15:01 TELL YOU./ laughs
10:13:18:18 track past heavy machinery
still- of 19th century women and chargemen
track continues, a man jokes with women between
machines
ADCOCK
10:13:22:21 /THE WOMEN’S DOMAIN WAS A SEPARATE
EMPIRE AND THAT WAS RULED WITH A ROD
OF IRON BY THE CHARGEMAN OF THE
10:13:28:23 SPINNING ROOM./
10:13:30:07 /BEFORE YOU COULD EVEN GO INTO THE
WOMENS’ SPINNING ROOMS, YOU HAD TO
REPORT TO THE CHARGEMAN AND HE
WANTED TO KNOW, IF HE SAW YOU UP
10:13:38:06 THERE, /WHAT THE HECK YOU WAS UP TO./
10:13:39:10
10:13:40:03 girl, 19th century dress, walks up outer steps to Spinning
Room, a sign over the door says ‘Women Only’
womens’ dining room, women busily moving about
10:13:40:14 /I MEAN THE WOMEN HAD THEIR OWN
ENTRANCE INTO THE BUILDING, THEIR OWN
DINING ROOMS YOU KNOW THAT SORT OF
10:13:45:05 THING./
10:13:47:11 /THAT WAS THE ‘HOLY OF HOLIES’, A MAN
10:13:50:09 WASN’T ALLOWED OUT THERE AT ALL./
10:14:01:12 dusty conditions- sweeping up and dust flying about
noisy machinery with harsh looking pins
view of vast expanse of black large machinery
details of swirling sliver snaking into a pile on a plinth
and women working
ANNE MCALINDEN
10:13:58:10 /MY MOTHER USED TO WORK, SHE WAS IN
THERE DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR.
10:14:01:16 /THE DUST IN THERE WAS TERRIBLE
10:14:03:17 IN HER DAY./
10:14:04:18 /COS THEYUSED TO
10:14:06:18 COME HOME CHOKED WITH IT./
10:14:11:03 /COS SOMETIMES YOU
10:14:13:00 COULDN’T SEE ACROSS THE ROOM/
10:14:13:23 /AND THEM ROOMS ARE HIGH PITCHED
10:14:16:11 THAT SISAL ROOM/
10:14:16:24 /SO THAT I MEAN IT WAS REALLY A
10:14:21:02 TERRIBLE PLACE TO WORK IN NOW./
10:14:23:06 /SO, WHEN I SAID I WAS GOING IN THERE,
10:14:28:15 SHE WAS REALLY - ASTOUNDED! /
10:14:29:04 /SO I SAID ‘YEH BUT THE DUST ‘N THAT IT’LL
10:14:32:09 KILL YER!’/
10:14:32:19 /SO I SAID ‘NO IT AIN’T KILLED YOU!’/ laughs
10:14:34:20
a woman stands on top of a heavy machine (bellframe)
trying to unblock jammed fibres with long metal hook
10:14:42:00 /MANILA IF YOU GOT IT A BIT THICK USED
TO STICK ON THE PINS AND THAT STOPPED
10:14:46:04 THE MACHINE SEE;/ /SO THEN YOU HAD TO
10:14:46:19
GET UP AND LEVER IT OFF THE PINS TO PULL
10:14:51:02 IT OFF THE PINS/
10:14:54:12 oil running over fibres in machine (scudger)
women laughing outside
10:14:57:16 /YOU COULD ALWAYS SMELL WHEN YOU’D
BIN IN THE ROPERY - BECAUSE YOU HAVE
10:15:02:07 ALL THAT OIL RUN ON THE WORK./ /WHEN
10:15:02:22
YOU GOT ON THE BUS PEOPLE SMELLED
10:15:05:01 YER!/ laughs
10:15:08:14 /PEOPLE UP ABOVE NEVER THOUGHT
ABOUT ANYTHING LIKE THAT, IT WOULDN’T
HAVE HURT TO HAVE HAD A SHOWER -
10:15:13:16 REALLY./
woman drags large bundle across floor with a hook
c/u track over machine (bellframe) showing hammers,
sliver cascading into a pile on turning plinth
archive film, ship plunging in high seas
JOYCE HAYES
10:15:18:06 /ALRIGHT SO IT WAS HEAVY, DUSTY, DIRTY,
10:15:22:21 OILY, GREASY, WHICHEVER,/ /BUT I DIDN’T
10:15:24:14
10:15:25:05 MIND THAT,/ /YOU KNEW YOU COULD SEE AN
10:15:27:19
END PRODUCT, YOU COULD SEE WHAT
YOU’D DONE AND TAKE A PRIDE IN DOING
10:15:33:22 SOMETHING PROPERLY./
10:15:40:04 /WE WERE ALWAYS TAUGHT THAT THERE
WAS A ‘MAN’S LIFE’ ON THE END OF
10:15:43:16 THOSE ROPES./
10:15:53:01 profile of girl silhouette of (19th century) dress looking
from Spinning Room doorway down alleyway between
the Spinning Room and the Ropery
graffiti, saucy postcards on peoples’ locker doors
sounds of Ropery people horsing around
ADCOCK
10:15:54:14 /IT’S SUPRISING THE NUMBER OF ROMANCES
AND MARRIAGES BETWEEN THE
10:16:02:08 ROPEMAKERS AND THE MACHINISTS,/ /WE
10:16:03:04
OFTEN WONDERED HOW IT HAPPENED
BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED IN THE
SPINNING ROOM BUT THERE WAS WAYS AND
10:16:07:05 MEANS Y’KNOW./
ANNE MACALINDEN
10:16:14:18 /NORMA MARRIED WHILE SHE WAS IN
THERE, JEANMARRIED WHEN SHE WAS IN
THERE; THE MEN USED TO COLLECT THE
BOBBINS AT ONE TIME SEE, YOU HAD TO
WAIT FOR THE SET TO COME OUT Y’SEE AND
THEY GOT TALKING.
SOME OF THEM LIKED TO GET
DOWN WITH THE MEN, Y’SEE YOU KNOW
WHAT WOMEN ARE, I KNOW THEY
10:16:34:09 DID ANY RATE!/
man and woman loading bobbins full of yarn from the
spinner to a barrow (close-up)
10:16:35:07 b/w sequence of a bobbin boy pushing a barrow of
bobbins over the bridge leading from the Spinning Room
to the Ropery building and down the upper ropewalk to
the lift.
SCENE V
The ropewalk where men carry out the second part of the
process, making the yarn into rope: we follow the
process visually (seeing forming and laying) and hear
what it was like to work there.
Several forming gangs are in competition on the floor,
working in parallel to each other; the shots are
impersonal, close and intense, emphasising the continual
pace of work.
10:16:52:08 The bobbin boy pushes the barrow of bobbins out of lift
and onto the ground floor of ropewalk.
.
COCKERILL
10:16:55:15 /YOU HAD 30 OR 40 WHAT THEY CALLED
‘YARD BOYS’, THEY WERE BOYS THAT’D
JUST LEFT SCHOOL AND CAME IN AND
THEY DONE THE MENIAL JOBS. BECAUSE
YOU HAD A LOT OF TRANSPORTING JOBS
BETWEEN THE SPINNING ROOM AND THE
10:17:07:05 MAIN ROPERY BUILDING.//THE WAY
10:17:08:20
INTO THE DOCKYARD GENERALLY FOR
LABOUR BOYS WAS VIA THE ROPERY FIRST
10:17:14:19 FUNNILY ENOUGH./
10:17:15:12 Close-up of reeving: feeding yarn through a nipper die
and pulling it through the reeving plate to the other side
and hooking up the forming machine
the forming machine sets off, another working beside it
10:17:17:17 /FOR EVERY TON OF PRODUCTION YOU
NEEDED A ROPEMAKER AND YOU’D HAVE
ABOUT THREE QUARTERS OF THAT NUMBER
10:17:24:13 LABOURERS;/ /SO IF YOU WAS PRODUCING
10:17:30:10
THRTY TON A WEEK THEN YOU SHOULD
10:17:34:23 HAVE THIRTY ROPEMAKERS./
ADCOCK
10:17:39:23 /WE USED TO TAKE A PRIDE IN TRYING TO
BEAT THE GANG NEXT TO US UP THE FLOOR,
TO GET BACK DOWN THE FLOOR AND GET
UP, AND YOU TELL THE PEOPLE THIS AND
THEY SAY ‘OH AH YOU’RE DAFT, WHAT THE
H…. DO YOU WANT TO RUN AROUND FOR’
10:17:53:03 /BUT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT YOU KNOW
10:17:56:11 WAS INGRAINED INTO YOU./
a knife plunges into wooden wall just missing a man,
his machine comes to a halt
PRICE
10:18:07:07 /THE ER FELLOWS WHO WERE IN CHARGE
WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO COMPETE
AGAINST ONE OTHER, THEY EVEN GOT A
10:18:13:20 KNIFE THROWING /COMPETITION GOING,
CROUCH
10:18:14:00 /OH OH WE USED TO GET UP TO ALL SORTS
10:18:16:10 OF THINGS/ (talking together)
PRICE
10:18:15:15 /OLD LEN, LEN BAKER, HE STARTED
10:18:19:07 THROWING KNIVES AND /YOU’D BE
10:18:22:09 WALKING ALONG ONE DAY /TOPPING THE
ROPE UP AND SUDDENLY A KNIFE WOULD GO
10:18:24:06 /SCHOOM….
10:18:25:10 AND STICK IN THE /WALL BESIDE YOU…
CROUCH
EITHER THAT OR IF YOU WAS INFRONT IF
10:18:28:12 YOU WERE /INFRONT OF THEM GETTING A
BIT TOO FAR IN ADVANCE
A L’LE PIECE OF JUTE USED TO COME ALONG
AND GO ACROSS ALL THE THREADS AND
THAT WAS IT, IT USED TO JAM THEM UP….
PRICE
IT WAS ALL COMPETITION, THEY SORT OF
ENCOURAGED IT A BIT BECAUSE THEY KNEW
10:18:42:10 THAT YOU’D WORK BETTER./
10:18:43:12 /THEY DIDN’T WORRY LONG AS YOU GOT
10:18:45:11 THE WORK DONE./
10:18:49:24 pan - ropemaker standing on the ‘topcart’ as it is
drawn down the floor by the momentum of machinery at
either end (laying a rope), we follow him as he passes
details of the mooring rope of a ship and a man rigging
COCKERILL
10:18:55:19 /YOU COULD HAVE THE WHOLE OF THE
FLEET IN FOR REPAIR ‘N THIS COULD MEAN
10:19:02:03 THAT YOU’D NEED LESS CORDAGE./
10:19:04:20 /PEOPLE USED TO VERY CONVENIENTLY
10:19:06:01 /FORGET THE ROPERY./
10:19:06:23
10:19:10:17 /ER THE HOME DOCKYARDS AND FOREIGN
DOCKYARDS WOULD PLACE THEIR
10:19:15:04 REQUIREMENTS FOR CORDAGE,/ /THE
10:19:16:10
ROPERY PEOPLE USED TO SAY ‘WELL LOOK,
WE GOT ALL THIS WORK ON HAND, WE
CAN’T GET OVERTIME, AND YET WE KNOW
A sequence ‘afloat’, showing ship repair
music – faltering piano conveys irony
in the Ropery the topcart arrives at end of the floor
10:19:22:20 3 shipwrights chatting waiting for work on deck of
destroyer
10:19:22:16 /JACK AND JIM DOWN THE OTHER END OF
THE YARD ARE SITTING ON THEIR PAD ALL
DAY AND YET THEY’RE WORKING
10:19:29:01 /SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS… ER Y’ KNOW
HOW COME’? THE MANAGEMENT’S
ANSWER ALWAYS WAS THAT ER ‘OH
THEY’RE ON SHIP REPAIR AND IT’S JUST A
VAGARY OF THE JOB THAT THE WORK
BECAME AVAILABLE ON THE WEEKEND -
I MEAN YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT OR
10:19:44:11 BELIEVE IT NOT/ /AND THIS USED TO CAUSE
10:19:45:10
QUITE A LITTLE BIT OF FRICTION BETWEEN
10:19:50:00 ON SECTION OF THE YARD AND ANOTHER./
10:19:52:17 /WE ALWAYS THOUGHT WE WAS THE POOR
10:19:54:04 RELATIONS./
SCENE VI
Colour sequence of ship repair in the Dockyard with a
discussion about the pace and quality of ship repair.
This is very different from the regular production of the
Ropery; it involves many trades, each bound by
strict demarcation rules, and affected by the irregular
supply of work; they had to wait for ships to come in.
Various shots of ship repair and refit set the scene
including welding, burning, grinding, slinging, fitting &
caulking.
10:19:59:04 w/s ship in refit
HUNTER
10:20:01:05 /THE DOCKYARD WAS NOT A PRODUCTION
LINE. THE DOCKYARD WAS A BIG
WORKSHOP TO BE USED AS AND WHEN
10:20:08:18 REQUIRED./ /THE WORK NEVER DID COME
10:20:10:03
10:20:13:13 INTO THE DOCKYARDS REGULARLY./ /IT’S
10:20:15:10
ONLY A CASE OF BRINGING THE WORK IN IN
THE FIRST PLACE AND THE MEN WOULD
10:20:20:16 RISE TO IT./
10:20:28:22 a boy smokes watching his colleagues burning off a
section of plate on the bridge wing, as he waits for work.
shots of grinding and welding
EDWARDS
10:20:29:08 /IF A CHARGEMAN HAD 60 MEN ON A SHIP, AT
10:20:35:12 ANY ONE TIME THERE MIGHT ONLY BE /40
MEN WORKING AND 20 OTHERS WERE
WAITING FOR WORK. YOU HAD TO WAIT
10:20:42:09 PERHAPS FOR THE /BURNER TO BURN IT, THE
10:20:45:17 CAULKER TO CHIP IT, THE /WELDER TO
WELD IT, IN ORDER TO COMPLETE YOUR
10:20:49:18 JOB./
mast of ship in scaffolding, men welding a section, fitters
working in a confined space under the engine, one of
them climbs out of the bilges emphasizing the cramped
conditions
LEWIS
10:20:56:06 /WHEN YOU COULD SEE THE WAY THINGS
WERE GOING, YOU KNOW, THE COST OF
BUILDING SHIPS AND THE COST OF DOING
WORK, I FELT THAT TOO RIGID
10:21:04:20 DEMARCATION WAS /PRICING YOURSELF
10:21:07:16 OUT OF THE MARKET. /IT WAS CAUSING
THE LOSS OF JOBS THERE WAS NO DOUBT
10:21:10:04 ABOUT IT./ /SO WITH DEMARCATION
10:21:11:10
BARRIERS BEING LOWERED THIS
OBVIOUSLY SAVED AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT
10:21:16:24 OF TIME./
10:21:20:05 tilt up moving dockside crane seeing crane driver
10:21:22:16 /THE UNIONS ARE NOW AMALGAMATED INTO
LARGE CORPORATES AND WITH THE
AMALGAMATIONS IT MAKES IT A LOT
10:21:29:05 EASIER./
10:21:31:04 men work on ship exterior: shipwright pulling on chains
to open a compartment
2 men talking and pointing to the section of hull they are
working on
10:21:31:12 /YOU KNOW WITH THE BOILERMAKERS AND
THE SHIPWRIGHTS -THEY’RE BOTH DOING
ALMOST IDENTICAL WORK IN SOME
RESPECTS AND NOW THEY’LL JUST GIVE A
COMPARTMENT TO ONE OR THE OTHER ON
10:21:43:08 A SHIP AND THEY DO THE LOT, /WHEREAS
BEFORE THEY WERE BOTH INVOLVED IN
10:21:45:17 THE SAME COMPARTMENT./
SCENE VII
The scene begins with a contemporary sequence set
at dinner-time in the yard, the following one is set at
an earlier time and shows long established practices.
The next passage explores other social customs (many of
which involved breaking the Dockyard Regulations)
such as unofficial tea-breaks, illicit smoking and leaving
the Dockyard during working hours.
The scene ends with a resume of the historical
importance of the Dockyard as a technological leader
and focus of the local community.
10:21:49:05 clock in workshop
10:21:54:13 men in workshop eating chips, reading paper
10:22:07:07 mens’ dining room, group of men playing cards
10:22:11:22 womens’ dining room, 2 women knit and chat
HARVEY
10:22:12:00 /WE USED TO GO OUT THERE AND HAVE OUR
MEALS IF WE WAS TALKING AND LAUGHING
THEY USED TO SAY ’SHH IT’S LUNCH-TIME’
STILL CARRIED ON LAUGHING AND TALKING
10:22:21:00 YOU CAN’T SIT THERE LIKE THAT CAN YOU./
10:22:22:11 /COS THAT DINING ROOM WAS FUNNY./
10:22:23:23
COCKERILL
10:22:32:04 /IN THE ROPERY YOU HAD YOUR HALF HOUR
DINNER BREAK, A QUARTER OF AN HOUR
EARLIER THAN THE REST OF THE NAVAL-
BASE AND THE REASON DATES BACK TO THE
INCEPTION OF WOMEN WORKERS IN THE
NAVAL-BASE SO THAT THE WOMEN
WOULDN’T HAVE TO MIX WITH THE
ROUGH DOCKYARDMEN GOING IN AND OUT
10:22:47:07 THE GATE./
b/w sequence, late 19th century
music indicates a change of scene
10:22:48:09 track inside ropewalk
10:22:58:15 outside spinning room ‘no smoking sign, girl walks past
NARRATOR
10:23:04:02 /TRADITIONS, RULES AND PROCEEDURES
10:23:08:00 HAD DEVELOPED OVER THE CENTURIES./
misty track down river, eerie squeaking of crane.
10:23:13:04 a woman walks along wall to Dockyard carrying lunch
for her husband in a basin
10:23:14:01 /WOMEN AND CHILDREN USED TO BRING
THEIR MENS’ FOOD INTO THE GATE TO BE
10:23:18:05 COLLECTED AT DINNER-TIME./
10:23:20:07 woman waits at Dockyard gate
crowds of men flooding out through the gate, some
searched by policemen
man collects dinner from wife.
10:23:23:04 /THE POLICE AND MILITIA SEARCHED
PEOPLE GOING IN OR OUT, IF YOU WERE
FOUND WITH DOCKYARD PROPERTY OR
SMOKING MATERIALS ON YOU IT COULD
10:23:32:09 MEAN INSTANT DISMISSAL./
10:23:42:07 the man sits on Ropery steps to eat his dinner
animated still -submarine with dockyardmen and ships in
basin
10:23:46:07 /THERE WAS LITTLE CONTACT WITH THE
10:23:48:02 NAVY./ /MILITARY DISCIPLINE WAS NOT
10:23:49:05
APPRECIATED IN THE YARD AND
ALTHOUGH THE REGIME WAS STRICT THERE
10:23:55:14 WERE MANY WAYS ROUND IT./
Colour sequence about illicit tea making and smoking,
seen through the eyes of a worker.
10:23:52:19 man carries boiling up pot across Ropery floor to make
tea
10:24:00:18 2 men sit and talk on ropewalk
p.o.v worker on ropewalk
COCKERILL
10:24:00:17 /ALTHOUGH THEY WERE SEARCHED AND ER
WEREN’T ALLOWED TO TAKE SMOKING
10:24:04:18 MATERIALS IN, /PEOPLE USED TO SMUGGLE
‘EM IN ANYWAY AND SO THEY WOULDN’T
GET CAUGHT THEY WOULD PROBABLY
10:24:10:13 SMOKE WITHIN THE BUILDING, /WHICH WAS
10:24:12:12 A VERY DANGEROUS OCCUPATION./
ADCOCK
10:24:13:18 /ARSON IN A ROYAL DOCKYARD YOU STILL
CAN BE HANGED FOR I DON’T THINK IT’S
10:24:19:22 EVER, BEEN REPEALLED./
10:24:19:23 rolling cigarettes in Ropery.
music cuts in, has an ironic quality
10:24:30:24 dockyard rest room
EDWARDS
10:24:30:24 /WHAT USED TO HAPPEN WAS THAT PEOPLE
WERE DISAPPEARING IN THE MID-
10:24:36:09 AFTERNOON, /HALF PAST TWO TO THREE
O’CLOCK THERE WAS NOTHING DONE
10:24:40:20 BECAUSE EVERYBODY STOPPED WORK./
10:24:41:21 /THINGS WERE MUCH MORE, MUCH MORE
10:24:43:24 LAX. /
10:24:41:08 slow pan over deserted ship in dry dock- no-one working
man strolls along deck, men cycle past on dockyard
bikes
10:24:47:02 /AND THE POLICE HAD THE ABILITY TO BE
10:24:49:17 ABLE TO /STOP A PERSON AT THE GATE AND
10:24:53:01 ASK HIM WHERE HE WAS GOING/ AND IT
COULD BE FOUND OUT AS TO WHETHER HE
HAD LEFT THE YARD DURING WORKING
10:24:57:07 HOURS./
the sequence continues in the late 19th century.
10:24:57:13 a man walks across the deck of a ship
sounds of loud work in the background
10:24:58:01 /THE THINGS OF WHICH ONE WOULD HAVE
10:25:02:06 BEEN DISCHARGED FOR IN YEARS GONE BY./
sounds of hammering on metal and stone and music.
10:25:02:15 policeman on duty at gate
10:25:11:04 archive film of workshop and battleships at sea
10:25:23:15 man pushing trolley of empty bobbins on ropewalk
a man walks a horse pulling a sledge in the alleyway
between the Ropery buildings, the camera walks with
him
other shots show details of work and ships
the music continues with sounds of work
HUNTER
10:25:25:24 /IT WAS A WAY OF LIFE THAT YOU WON’T
10:25:28:23 FIND ANYWHERE ELSE./ /IT’S A HANGOVER
10:25:32:06
FROM THE LAST TWO OR THREE HUNDRED
YEARS, WHEN, THE DOCKYARDS WERE THE
FORERUNNERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL
10:25:40:05 REVOLUTION./
10:25:42:10 /THEY ALREADY HAD /STEAM
10:25:42:19
10:25:44:01 POWER AND /CRANAGE AND, /BRICK
10:25:47:14
BUILDINGS AND THINGS LIKE THAT WHICH
WE TAKE FOR GRANTED NOWADAYS BUT
WHICH MUST HAVE BEEN RATHER UNUSUAL
IN THE DAYS WHEN THEY WERE BUILT, IT
10:25:54:20 MUST HAVE BEEN RATHER A /SPECIAL
10:25:56:02 PLACE TO WORK./
10:25:58:19 /IT WAS CERTAINLY A PLACE
10:26:02:07 THAT PEOPLE WORKED HARD TO GET INTO./
10:26:06:03 profile of a man in silhouette, he looks out to the river
10:26:15:18 black 20 seconds
music continues and cross-fades into a more questioning
tense piece as the film moves to the 17th century in the
next scene.
PART II
SCENE IX
In Part Two the film progresses forwards from the early
days of the dockyard to the present day through a
chronological scheme of episodes touching on some
of the key issues of each period; these include aspects of
the social structure and administration of the yard, major
changes in materials and techniques and the impact of
war.
Each scene represents a different century and has
distinctive visual and audio characteristics appropriate
to the period.
The first scene is set in the 17th century. Extracts from
the diary of Samuel Pepys describe the Dutch invasion of
the Medway and its’ impact on the Dockyard.
10:26:36:05 Mudflats of the Medway estuary seen from a ship
travelling down river, intercut with engravings of
Chatham Dockyard.
The music continues.
PEPYS
10:26:43:23 /12TH JUNE 1667/
10:26:46:19
10:26:48:19 /ILL NEWS IS COME TO COURT OF THE
DUTCH BREAKING THE CHAIN AT CHATHAM,
WHICH STRUCK ME TO THE HEART AND THE
TRUTH IS I DO FEAR SO MUCH THAT THE
10:26:59:07 WHOLE KINGDOM IS UNDONE./
10:27:01:13 /14TH JUNE
A MAN OF MR GAWDEN’S CAME FROM
10:27:07:02 CHATHAM AND SAW THE /THREE SHIPS
BURNT AND SHIPS GOING FROM THE MEN OF
10:27:11:09 WAR AND FIRE THEM./
10:27:13:03 /HE HIMSELF DID HEAR
MANY ENGLISHMEN ONBOARD THE DUTCH
10:27:16:23 SHIPS./
10:27:21:06 /MOST STRANGE THE BACKWARDNESS AND
DISORDER OF ALL PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY THE
KING’S PEOPLE IN PAY, TO DO ANY WORK,
10:27:30:02 ALL CRYING OUT FOR MONEY/
10:27:31:10 /AND IT WAS SO
10:27:32:17 AT CHATHAM/ THAT THIS NIGHT COMES AN
ORDER TO STOP THE PAY OF WAGES AT
10:27:36:21 THAT YARD,/
10:27:37:15 /THE DUKE OF ALBEMARLE
10:27:39:14 HAVING RELATED/ THAT NOT ABOVE THREE
10:27:41:11 OF /ELEVEN HUNDRED IN PAY DID ATTEND
10:27:45:02 TO ANY WORK THERE./
10:27:52:11 Upnor Castle seen from river
shipwrights saunter past the timber sheds in Dockyard
chatting
NARRATOR
10:27:53:20 /IN THE 17TH CENTURY /DOCKYARDMEN
10:27:55:03
WERE SEEN AS A TRUCULENT LOT,
HOWEVER THE WAGES WERE OFTEN PAID
A YEAR LATE AND THE MEN WERE
10:28:00:04 LAID OFF EASILY./
10:28:05:14 River Medway jetties and cormorant
SCENE X
Set in the18th century Dockyard this scene highlights
some of the main characteristics of the period. Most of
the scene is shot in colour (rich browns and pastel
colours); sounds are predominantly those of work in
wood and hemp, soft and un-mechanised.
10:28:11:15 Shipwrights, seen from a platform above, working on the
mould loft floor drawing out the lines of a ship. They use
a chalked string to mark a line to scribe.
DEFOE
10:28:15:06 /THE TWO GREAT ARSENALS PORTSMOUTH
AND CHATHAM, TRIVE BY A WAR, AS A WAR
RESPECTS THEIR SITUATION.
VIZ THAT WHEN A WAR WITH HOLLAND OR
10:28:27:22 ANY OF THE POWERS OF THE NORTH,/
10:28:28:10 /THEN CHATHAM AND WOOLWICH AND
10:28:32:16 DEPTFORD ARE IN REQUEST./
night exterior of mould loft
10:28:45:03 man in rigging of large ship moving down the Medway
10:28:49:18 gun deck of the ship as it moves down river
NARRATOR
10:28:50:15 /IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WAR
CENTRED ON THE ATLANTIC, FAVOURING
PLYMOUTH AND PORTSMOUTH, NOT
10:28:56:15 CHATHAM./
10:28:58:01 /ALSO THE /MEDWAY WAS
10:28:58:16
GRADUALLY SILTING UP. CHATHAM
BECAME A CENTRE OF SHIPBILDING, MAJOR
REPAIRS AND REFITS, IT WAS NO LONGER
10:29:06:21 THE HOME OF THE FLEET./
10:29:06:19 shipwrights work on the timbers of a large ship with adze
and scraper
10:29:11:06 engraving: Dockyard vista, with the Ropery and
Medway where ships are moored
10:29:18:17 pan around the hold of the Victory reveals massive
timbers and the rounded shape of the bottom of the ship.
Other shots in this sequence emphasise the vastness of
the 18th century buildings and mast ponds which were
required to build the larger ships of the 18th century.
COAD
10:29:18:20 /IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY YOU START
THE GREAT EXPENSION IN THE NAVY, NOT
JUST IN TERMS OF THE NUMBER OF SHIPS,
BUT IN THE ACTUAL SIZE OF INDIVIDUAL
10:29:28:16 SHIPS, RISING VERY SUBSTANTIALLY./
10:29:29:12 /WELL THAT OF COURSE IMMEDIATELY HAS
AN IMPACT ON THE SCALE OF THE DRY
DOCKS AND THE BUILDING SLIPS, BUT IT
ALSO HAS AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON
10:29:37:17 BUILDINGS /AWAY FROM THOSE, THINGS
LIKE MAST HOUSES HAVE TO BE MADE
10:29:41:13 BIGGER TO TAKE THE MAIN MASTS,/ THE
MOULD FLOORS HAVE TO BE MADE BIGGER
10:29:45:21 TO TAKE DRAW UP THE LINES OF THE SHIP/
sunlit floor of Ropery with ropes, soft sounds of rope
work
10:29:51:19 /AND SO IT GOES ON, THE ROPERIES NEED TO
BE BIGGER BECAUSE MORE RIGGING IS
10:29:55:11 REQUIRED./
10:29:56:10 /YOU REALLY WERE GOING TO
10:29:58:18 THE INDUSTRIAL HEARTS OF ENGLAND./
10:30:05:18 a horse pulls a sledge with barrels in Ropery alleyway
10:30:15:11 engravings of 18th century ropemaking, show men
carding, spinning and forming and finally laying rope.
(live) strands of yarn move in the sun.
The rattle of a drive belt signifies time, with soft sounds
of working rope and footsteps on wood.
ADCOCK
10:30:19:05 /YOU’D HAVE HANKS OF FIBRE ROUND
YOUR WAIST, CONNECTED TO A HOOK, AND
10:30:24:16 /A BOY WOULD TURN A CAPSTAN, OR A
LITTLE WINDLASS TYPE THING WITH TWO
10:30:30:22 OR THREE HOOKS ON AND /AS HE WALKED
DOWN THE FLOOR HE’D BE EASING IT OUT
10:30:33:06 /BETWEEN HIS FINGERS, AND THIS IS WHERE
IT COMES FROM, THE TERM ‘SPINNING A
10:30:36:18 YARN’;/ /AND I HAVE HEARD THAT IT COULD
10:30:39:16
TAKE TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE TO MAKE A
10:30:43:10 /LARGE SIZED ROPE./
10:30:44:03
10:30:48:11 /NOTHING’S REALLY ALTERED GOING BACK
10:31:51:20 THOUSANDS OF YEARS./
10:30:54:14 c/u of rope slithering across the floor and
sounds of a gun carriage being dragged: it is unclear
whether we are on the ropewalk or onboard a ship.
10:31:05:21 sailors secure a tarred rope around a cleat
engraving of the choppy Medway estuary at Sheerness
and ships.
10:31:05:21 /IT’S ONE OF THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT
TRADES, WHEN YOU’RE GOING BACK TO THE
DAYS OF THE SAILING SHIPS. ALL SHIPS
COMING TO AND FROM AN ISLAND HAVE TO
BE PROPELLED, NOW THE SHIPWRIGHTS
USED TO BUILD’EM AND THE SAILMAKERS
10:31:20:20 AND ROPEMAKERS USED TO /MAKE THEM GO
10:31:22:04 ALONG, SIMPLE AS THAT./
10:31:32:20 b/w sequence: the Commissioner and his wife walk
slowly and unconcernedly along the Officers’ Terrace,
they enter the Commissoner’s House and the camera
follows them; we hear soft sounds of the sea, and a
harpsichord playing the menuet, the volume increases
gradually as they approach the ballroom door and enter
COAD
10:31:38:24 /THE DOCKYARDS WERE PREDOMINENTLY
10:31:40:17 CIVILIAN,/ /THEY OWED THEIR ALLEGIANCE
10:31:42:01
TO THE RESIDENT COMMISSIONER, WHO
WAS USUALLY BUT NOT ALWAYS A
10:31:49:11 CIVILIAN./
10:31:57:05 Colour sequence: the couple dance the menuet in
the ballroom.
The music is louder than the petitioner’s voice:
MALE NARRATOR
(Petition 1780s)
10:32:21:10 /THE HUMBLE PETITION OF YOUR MAJESTY’S
LOYAL SUBJECTS IN ALL YOUR MAJESTY’S
DOCKYARDS MOST HUMBLY SHOWETH THAT
YOUR PETITIONERS HAVE LONG LABOURED
UNDER THE SEVEREST HARDSHIPS FROM
THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THEIR WAGES,
TOGETHER WITH THE LONG ARREARS,
WHICH SELDOM IS LESS THAN TWELVE
10:32:41:15 MONTHS./
Contrasting scene set in the mould loft with sounds
of wood tearing. The juxtaposition suggests that the
Commissioner is uncaring and frivolous, removed from
the world of work. There is a note of bitterness in the
voice-over that follows.
10:32:46:05 a shipwright walks from the window to his mate who is
waiting to give him instructions
ADCOCK
10:32:46:10 /NOT ONLY ROPEMAKERS, SHIPWRIGHTS
OTHER TRADES IN THE YARD, THEY
DECIDED THAT THEY WEREN’T GOING TO
WORK UNDER THE CONDITIONS THAT THEY
WERE WORKING UNDER, MORE OR LESS
DOWNED TOOLS AND THOUGHT THEY
COULD GET OUT, BUT OF COURSE YOU HAD
THE POLICE HERE THEN, OR THE MILITIA, SO
10:33:04:17 THEY HAD, DIDN’T HAVE A HOPE./
SHIPWRIGHT (sync voice)
WELL THAT’S THE 26TH FRAME, YOU CAN
10:33:05:21 MARK THAT ONE IN/
mould loft and dance scenes continue
stills of ships and the Medway, loud ship repair sounds
ADCOCK
10:33:10:08 /THEY REALISED THAT THE
10:33:14:06 ADMINISTRATION WAS /CORRUPT FROM TOP
10:33:15:11 TO BOTTOM/ /AND IT WAS A PERK, ‘OH WELL
10:33:17:09
YOU GO DOWN AND LOOK AFTER CHATHAM,
THERE’S NOTHING GOING ON THERE’ AND
YOU WERE GIVEN A FEW HUNDRED A YEAR
10:33:25:20 TO GO AND RESIDE AT CHATHAM./
10:33:26:21 /PETT HE WAS ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS
10:33:29:07 OF THE DOCKYARD/ /AND YOU HAD SHIPS
10:33:32:10
GOING TO SEA WITH
10:33:34:08 /PROVISIONS THAT WERE BAD, THE ACTUAL
MATERIALS, YOU HAD WOODEN SHIPS THAT
10:33:39:21 WERE ROTTEN ‘N /CORDAGE THAT WAS
10:33:40:24 ROTTEN./
10:33:41:04 2 sailors on yardarm test the security of the rigging
10:33:48:14 sequence with dance and wash of ship inter-cut, the
couple head towards the door into the garden
10:34:04:08 sequence with shots of sailors climb rigging of a ship
inter-cut with the Commissioner and wife going sedately
up the stairs. At the top is a symbolic painting of
Neptune ruling the waves.
ADCOCK
10:34:08:06 /IT’S HARDER NOWADAYS TO RUN A
10:34:13:12 BUILDING, OR TO RUN THE ROPERY OR /ANY
FORM OF MANUFACTURING PROCESS THAN
IT WAS IN MY PREDECESSOR’S DAYS
10:34:20:10 BECAUSE THEY RULED BY FEAR./
10:34:22:21 /THEY KNEW
10:34:24:09 THAT THE /OFFICIALS HAD THEIR ACTUAL
LIVLIHOOD IN THEIR HANDS BECAUSE THEY
COULD TURN ROUND AND RECOMMEND
THAT THAT MAN BE DISCHARGED BECAUSE
10:34:33:05 THERE WAS ALWAYS /SOMEBODY ELSE
COMING ALONG TO TAKE THEIR PLACE. IT
10:34:37:15 WAS A RULE OF FEAR./
10:34:44:16 /I MEAN YOU KNOW YEARS AGO IF A
ROPEMAKER REFUSED TO WORK THEY WAS
SENT TO SEA, FLOGGED
10:34:51:16 AND SENT TO SEA. /
10:35:00:11 details of orlop deck of a ship showing timber structure
10:35:02:17 work on mould floor hammering in batons
engraving of a ship under construction on the
stocks Chatham shipbuilding
DEFOE
10:35:06:10 /THE MASTER BUILDERS APPOINT THE
WORKING OF EVERY PIECE OF TIMBER, AND
GIVE TO THE OTHER HEAD WORKMEN THEIR
10:35:12:20 /MOULDS FOR THE SQUARING AND CUTTING
10:35:16:20 OUT OF EVERY PIECE /AND LAYING IT IN IT’S
10:35:19:15 PROPER BERTH IN THE SHIP./
SCENE XI
This scene looks at the main developments during the
19th century and how they affected the Dockyard;
the changes include the introduction of mechanization
and of work in iron and steel. It is mostly shot in mostly
black and white and has an industrial feel; the pace is
unrelenting and sounds are harsh and mechanical.
There are comments by the contemporary observer
Charles Dickens.
Colour sequence:
covered building slips (massive roofed structures)
10:35:32:00 pan around roof of wooden covered slip (like an
upturned boat)
COAD
10:35:31:23 /WELL IF YOU LOOK AT SOMETHING LIKE
THE COVERED SLIP, THAT REALLY IS THE
CRAFT OF THE SHIPWRIGHT AT WORK
THERE WITH THAT GREAT TIMBER ROOF.
PEOPLE LIKE THE MASTER SHIPWRIGHT
WOULD GET TOGETHER IN THE DOCKYARDS
AND DRAW UP DESIGNS FOR THEIR
10:35:44:21 BUILDINGS./
10:35:46:19 /A LOT OF THE INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
WHICH WERE PIONEERED IN THE
DOCKYARDS WERE LATER COPIED TO A
GREATER OR LESSER EXTENT BY THE
EMERGING INDUSTRIES OF AN INDUSTRIAL
10:35:56:16 BRITAIN./
black and white sequence
short shots show an industrial quayside & couple
dancing waltz on the wooden covered slip
music: a modern slightly dissonant treatment of a waltz
10:36:02:05 mechanical grab on quayside swings across
a colour sequence in the Ropery and Spinning
Room begins with:
10:36:13:21 shot of two men sitting on a metal barrel talking and
watching,we have the impression that they are telling
the story
the sequence talks about the introduction of
mechanization to the Ropery. We see the capstan,
overhead running ropes and laying machinery.
We then see the machinery in the Spinning Room.
ADCOCK
10:36:19:14 /IN THE 1800S THEY STARTED BRINGING
STEAM ENGINES INTO THE ROPERY
BUILDINGS, TO DRIVE THE MAIN CAPSTANS
10:36:28:00 AND THE CONTINUOUS RUNNING ROPES./
10:36:28:12 /THAT WAS ABOUT 30 OR 40 YEARS BEFORE
IT WAS ACTUALLY USED ABOARD ANY
10:36:32:15 VESSEL./
10:36:36:22 Spinning Room machinery
10:36:37:21 /THE SPINNING MACHINERIES WHEN THEY
WERE INTRODUCED, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
10:36:42:19 THE 1850S, 1860S,/ I WOULD THINK
10:36:45:10 PRODUCTION MULTIPLIED 100 TIMES./
the next sequence talks about the introduction of iron
in ship construction:
10:36:56:10 two men sitting on a barrel continue to tell the story
stills and live shots of early iron ships are inter-cut with
whirring machine sounds and ship-building effects.
HUNTER
10:36:57:06 /WHEN THE TRANSITION OCCURRED
BETWEEN WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON SHIPS
AS THEY WERE THEN, THEY
10:37:02:22 pan along the iron cladding of a ship
EMPLOYED THE PEOPLE THAT COULD USE
IRON AND THEY WERE BOILERMAKERS,
CIVILIAN SHIPYARDS YOU TENDED TO USE
10:37:10:08 BOILERMAKERS FOR PLATING./
10:37:12:19 /WHEN THEY BUILT THE ACHILLES IN THIS
DOCKYARD, WHICH WAS THE FIRST IRON-
BUILT SHIP IN THE DOCKYARD, THEY
EMPLOYED BOILERMAKERS, AND THE
10:37:19:11 /BOILERMAKERS WENT ON STRIKE,/
10:37:20:20
10:37:21:19 /WHICH IS SOMETHING YOU COULDN’T GET
AWAY WITH IN THE DOCKYARD AND THEY
10:37:24:18 WERE DISCHARGED./
10:37:27:23 /THE SHIPRIGHTS, SEEING THAT IRON SHIPS
WERE GOING TO BE BUILT AND GOING TO
BE THE THING OF THE FUTURE, THEY
VOLUNTEERED TO TAKE OVER THE
BOILERMAKERS’ WORK AND AS A RESULT
SHIPWRIGHTS RETAINED THEIR
10:37:40:10 PRE-EMINENCE IN THE DOCKYARD./
pan around Brunel’s revolutionary sawmill
black and white section
10:37:46:22 - tilt down board listing ships laid out and built in the 19th
century yard
stills of early steel ship construction
10:37:53:22 /THE DOCKYARD NOT ONLY HAD THEIR
TRADITIONAL WORK, WHICH THEY’D
10:37:58:21 ALREADY GOT, BUT ALSO PICKED UP /THE
NEW WORK, WHICH WAS IRON WORK AND
10:38:02:13 LATER ON STEEL WORK./
a ship’s funnel disgorges smoke
10:38:09:15 close-up of the couple waltzing on the covered slip
stokers stoking a ship’s engine
insistent machine sounds continue
DITCHBURN
10:38:14:01 /AND AS THE ENGINE WAS PUT INTO THE
SHIP THEN YOU’RE INTRODUCING
ENGINEERS AND YOU’RE GRADUALLY
10:38:21:13 INTRODUCING OTHER TRADES /INTO
10:38:22:16 THE SHIP./
close-up of paddle turning on paddle steamer
archive film and stills show the forging of a gun, and a
large gun in a press
the tone of the narration is harsh; clanking, rasping
machine sounds reach a climax and fade into dissonance.
NARRATOR
10:38:26:11 /THE 19TH CENTURY WAS THE HEIGHT OF
BRITAIN’S INDUSTRY AND EMPIRE,
NOWHERE WAS THIS MORE IN EVIDENCE
THAN IN THE ROYAL DOCKYARDS, WHERE
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION WAS TURNED
10:38:38:14 INTO NAVAL ARMOUR AND SHIPS, /IN A RACE
BETWEEN COUNTRIES TO PRODUCE THE
10:38:42:01 MOST POWERFUL NAVY./
10:38:47:18 pan and tilt-close-up as the couple waltzes
archive film shows the raw materials of ropemaking:
sisal harvested and processed in Africa and manila on the
dockside in the Philippines
music has an undertone of industrial sounds
stills of Victorian sailors aboard ships, one is docked in
Chatham
10:38:48:21 /THE DOCKYARDS, LIKE THE REST OF
BRITISH INDUSTRY, TOOK ADVANTAGE OF
CHEAP RAW MATERIALS AND LABOUR FROM
10:38:55:05 THE COLONIES,/
10:38:57:23 /THEY USED AND EXPLOITED
10:39:00:15 THESE RESOURCES./
10:39:13:19 /THE NAVAL SEAPOWER WHICH
UNDERWROTE THE EXPANSION OF THE
10:39:18:12 COLONIES, IN TURN DEPENDED /ON SHIPS
FROM THE ROYAL DOCKYARDS. THEY
10:39:21:23 POLICED AND /PROTECTED BRITAIN’S
10:39:24:17 INTERESTS ALL OVER THE WORLD./
10:39:29:00 archive film of foundry work and stills showing cranes
and punches
subtle industrial sounds combine with crane noises and
voices
10:39:33:22 dark water ripples under a jetty
music fades up with a tracking shot on the covered
wooden slip.
The camera discovers a couple dancing in the
distance and tracks slowly towards them. The emphasis
is on symbolic power of the state.
DICKENS
10:39:35:12 /ALL THIS STUPENDOUS UPROAR IS BUT A
NOTE OF PREPARATION FOR THE DAY WHEN
10:39:41:13 THE /SCUPPERS THAT ARE NOW FITTING
LIKE GREAT, DRY, THIRSTY, CONDUIT PIPES
10:39:49:00 SHALL RUN RED./
10:40:07:12 colour sequence: dance continues on a vast warehouse
concluding triumphantly in a promenade
10:40:25:01 black and white sequence: men talking on the ropewalk
music continues with an insistent industrial buzz.
NARRATOR
10:40:27:24 /A VAST EXTENSION TO THE DOCKYARD WAS
BUILT, TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF BRITAIN’S
GROWTH, AND THOUSANDS OF NEW
10:40:35:15 WORKERS WERE REQUIRED./
stills show the building of the Dockyard extension and
new basins late 19th century
sounds of pile drivers and music
10:40:47:15 stills show military presence in the town in the late
19th century, dockyard men in huge numbers and busy
streets
DICKENS
10:40:47:16 /SOLDIERS, SAILORS, JEWS, CHALK, SHRIMPS,
10:40:54:03 OFFICERS AND DOCKYARDMEN./
10:40:57:02 /MEN ARE ONLY NOTICEABLE BY SCORES, BY
10:41:01:17 HUNDREDS, BY THOUSANDS, /RANK AND
10:41:02:21 FILE,/
10:41:03:04 /COMPANIES AND REGIMENTS./
10:41:04:21
10:41:05:14 /THEY WALK ABOUT THE STREETS IN ROWS
OR BODIES, CARRYING THEIR HEADS IN
EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AND DOING
EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS WITH THEIR
10:41:15:10 LIMBS. /
10:41:15:07 press in a workshop in action
exterior of covered building slips with drive shafts
percussion like hammer blows and hammering on stone
10:41:17:08 /IT RESOUNDED WITH THE NOISE OF
10:41:19:20 HAMMERS /BEATING UPON IRON AND GREAT
10:41:22:02 /SHEDS OR SLIPS UNDER WHICH THE MIGHTY
MEN OF WAR ARE BUILT, LOOMED
10:41:28:22 BUSINESSLIKE./
a sequence exploring the atmosphere during ship
construction:
10:41:29:12 still – with many men standing on the staircase of a
ship’s scaffold during construction
we see a group of men around a rivet-fire, heating rivets,
riveting and drinking tea made on the rivet fire
DITCHBURN
10:41:29:24 /WHAT WAS THE SORT OF ATMOSPHERE IN
10:41:33:00 THIS PLACE WHEN YOU HAD A SHIP GOING?/
PRICKETT
10:41:33:09 /AH…IT WAS VERY GOOD….COMRADESHIP,
10:41:39:10 VERY GOOD INDEED;/
10:41:40:00 /NOISE, DIABOLICAL, BECAUSE YOU ONLY
HAD TO HAVE ONE CAULKER, OR ONE
RIVETER, CAULKING OR RIVETING AND IT
USED TO REBOUND AROUND THIS PLACE, IT
MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN A HUNDRED
10:41:54:14 YOU KNOW /AND THAT WENT ON RIGHT
THROUGH YOUR DINNER HOUR AS WELL,
10:41:58:04 YOU HAD NO BREAK FROM IT WHATSOEVER,/
10:41:59:20 /AND WHEN YOU REALISE THAT WE HAD
ABOUT UP TO THIRTY CAULKERS AND TWO
GANGS OF RIVETERS GOING, ALL DAY,
10:42:12:02 THAT PART OF IT WASN’T VERY PLEASANT./
10:42:17:12 close-up of men on the ship’s staircase
men carry workboxes on slip and pile them up
DITCHBURN
10:42:17:12 /HOW MANY MEN USED TO BE HOUSED IN
10:42:19:08 HERE THEN GORDON ? /
PRICKETT
10:42:19:19 /OH… I SHOULD SAY ABOUT 100, 150, NO
10:42:24:13 COVER, NO /NO FACILITIES OR
WHATSOEVER, AND OUR BOXES USED TO BE
ALL STREWN DOWN HERE WITH ONE ON TOP
OF THE OTHER TO MAKE A BIT OF SHELTER
FROM THE WIND AND SNOW, THE MORE WE
10:42:35:05 COULD MAKE FOR A BARRIER THE BETTER./
The introduction of steam power led to a decline in the
use of rope and in the importance of the ropemaker,
a sequence set on the ropewalk, in the rigging loft, and
aloft in rigging illustrates this
stills show the use of rope on late 19th century
warships
10:42:39:06 a rigger rolls a coil of rope down the ropewalk and
out through the door opposite the rigging loft
PRICE
10:42:45:07 /AT ONE TIME THERE USED TO BE A MASTER
10:42:48:00 ROPEMAKER IN THE YARD/
CROUCH
10:42:48:01 /OH YES, YES;/ I MEAN IT WAS THE PLACE AT
10:42:49:01
ONE TIME
PRICE
10:42:51:05 /OH YES/
10:42:51:10
CROUCH
WHEN THEY HAD RIGGING SHIPS AND ALL
10:42:55:12 THAT SORT OF THING./
PRICE
10:42:55:13 /WELLTHE WORK USED TO COME FROM OUR
PLACE INTO THE RIGGING HOUSE NEXT
10:43:00:00 DOOR/
CROUCH
10:43:00:04 /THAT’S RIGHT/
10:43:00:19
PRICE
10:43:00:24 /AND OUR BIG ROPES USED TO GO TO THEM
TO BE SPLICED UP AND WHAT HAVE YOU
10:43:06:20 AND THEY USED TO ATTEND TO IT THERE./
CROUCH
10:43:20:10 /ONCE THE SAILING BOATS WERE DONE
AWAY WITH AND YOU GOT IRON TRADE
SHIPS AND ALL MECHANISED, YOU DIDN’T
NEED SO MUCH ROPE, YOU ONLY NEEDED
10:43:31:23 ROPE THEN FOR/ PULLING THE BOAT ALONG
OR TYING IT UP TO THE DOCKSIDE OR
10:43:39:04 ANYTHING LIKE THAT AND /YOU WEREN’T
WANTED SO MUCH. THAT’S WHAT MADE IT,
THEY SUDDDENLY DECIDED
10:43:43:24 /WELL YOU WERE IMPORTANT FOR
THE SAILING SHIPS BUT YOU WERE NOT
IMPORTANT FOR THESE SO YOU BECAME A
10:43:50:07 TITCHELER TRADE./
PRICE
10:43:51:02 /IT WAS A NON ESSENTIAL EVENTUALLY./
10:43:52:20
CROUCH
10:43:52:21 /THAT’S RIGHT
PRICE
10:43:53:22 /IT WAS A TITCH OF A TRADE THEN WASN’T
10:43:53:13 IT? /
CROUCH
10:43:53:22 /THAT’S ALL IT WAS./
10:43:56:05
PRICE
10:43:56:05 IT WAS A TITCH OF A TRADE./
10:43:57:02
strands of rope cut by rigger: he finishes making an eye
10:44:03:07 men making tea and heating rivets in the rivet fire,
sounds of pumping fire
This sequence looks at how developments in ship-
building and materials affected the Dockyard and its’
relationship with private yards.
we see a large ship being built,
sailors on the deck of a battleship (archive film and stills)
and (live) footage of work on deck
sounds: busy industrial tones and throb of a ship’s engine
a night scene shows men on a ship going below
symbolizing the disillusionment and retreat of
dockyardmen at the end of the century
music: the alarm tone of a xylophone
NARRATOR
10:44:14:12 /THE PRIVATE SECTOR WAS JEALOUS OF THE
ROYAL DOCKYARDS FOR THEIR
10:44:18:05 PRECEDENCE IN /IRON WORK AND
10:44:20:05 EXPERIMENTATION./
10:44:22:19 /THEY SPREAD THE RUMOUR THAT
DOCKYARDMEN WERE LAZY,
WITH LITTLE WORK AND EASY PENSIONS
10:44:29:05 AND THEY WORKED ON /OUTDATED
10:44:30:19 TECHNIQUES./
10:44:33:22 /WITH STEEL SHIPS THE
10:44:37:02 EMPHASIS SHIFTED TO PRIVATE YARDS/
10:44:39:15 /AND AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY A LOT OF DOCKYARDMEN WERE
10:44:42:24 LAID OFF. /
10:44:44:21 /THE LOSS OF SECURITY MEANT A GREATER
10:44:48:07 TENDANCY TO UNIONISATION./
SCENE XII
This scene looks at the main developments in the
Dockyard during the twentieth century, including the
impact of the Second World War and the Dockyard’s
decline from the 1960s until its’ closure in 1984.
colour sequence:
10:45:03:05 the topcart sets off down the gloomy ropewalk, the
ropemaker riding on it, the camera follows the men
walking behind it putting the ropes on trestles
the machine sounds are harsh and loud
register of work people
ADCOCK
10:45:06:19 /I WAS ABOUT 8 OR 9 YEARS OUT OF MI
APPRENTICESHIP BEFORE I ACTUALLY GOT
ESTABLISHED BECAUSE THERE WERE STILL
SENIOR ROPEMAKERS AND UNTIL ONE OF
THOSE RETIRED, OR UNFORTUNATELY DIED,
YOU WEREN’T ESTABLISHED, BECAUSE YOU
ONLY HAD A CERTAIN AMOUNT ON THE
10:45:21:06 BOOKS./
10:45:25:07 /SOME OF THE OLDER PEOPLE
BEFORE ME WERE NOT GETTING
ESTABLISHED TIL FOUR OR FIVE YEARS
BEFORE RETIREMENT SO THAT THEY COULD
STILL BE MORE OR LESS DISCHARGED WITH
A MINIMUM AMOUNT OF NOTICE, WHICH
HAPPENED BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD
10:45:38:06 WARS./
10:45:38:14 2 men and a dog outside the Mitre Hotel
a sequence of stills in the desolate streets of Chatham,
dockyard families with many children c.1920
a poster announces the closure of the Dockyard
the sound effects are surreal
10:45:59:07 on the ropewalk the fore laying machine is unhooked and
goes back fast
bale of fibres are winched through a hatch
10:45:59:08 /ONE OR TWO OF MY SKIPPERS WHEN I CAME
IN HERE, THEY ASKED ME WHAT THE HECK I
WAS DOING BY COMING INTO THE
DOCKYARD BUT DIRECTLY THE WORK
STARTED BUILDING UP AGAIN THERE WAS A
CALL FOR SHIPBUILDING AND THAT THEY
WANTED MORE PRODUCTION FROM THE
ROPERY, SO PEOPLE STARTED COMING
10:46:13:18 BACK./
10:46:17:21 track down ropewalk seeing ropemaking paraphanelia
black and white sequence set in World War II –
atmospheric details of the ropewalk
still shows the launch of a submarine during the war
sound – steady (menacing) crescendo of machinery,
leads into insistent percussive track
SLADE
10:46:23:05 /WHENEVER WE THINK OF THE DOCKYARD
WE THINK OF THE WARTIME YARD, AND WE
YOU KNOW FEEL SAD ABOUT THE WAY
10:46:30:09 THINGS HAVE GONE SINCE THE WAR./
10:46:32:19 /IN ’44 THERE WERE 7 SHIPS BUILDEN IN THIS
10:46:36:13 YARD/
10:46:42:10 /BUT ON TOP OF THAT THERE WAS MASSIVE
CONVERSIONS GOING ON IN THE DOCKS AND
OF COURSE MAJOR WAR DAMAGE BEING
10:46:49:20 REPAIRED./
10:46:51:17 archive film shows wartime ship-repair in dockyard
10:46:59:06 back of a man sitting on the ropewalk, yarns are draped
from the over-head bobbin frame
still of a badly damaged ship, ratcheted machine rhythm.
ROTHERHAM
10:47:00:15 /SHIPS USED TO COME IN DURING THE WAR
WHERE THEY’D BEEN TORPEDOED AND
STUFF LIKE THAT, COMPARTMENTS WITH
10:47:07:20 /PEOPLE STILL IN ‘N MMM TERRIBLE,
10:47:14:16 SEEN ALL THE SIGHTS MMM sighs/
10:47:14:20 archive film – night shots of bombed ships on fire
10:47:21:10 dark interior of the Ropery with menacing sound of
approaching Messerchmitt
10:47:31:12 archive film – German film of the Dockyard (made as a
guide for bombers)
xylophone
it is the first day of the War and people are working on
the ground floor of the Ropery
10:47:49:20 coiling up rope
the air-raid siren sounds, a yardboy grabs his gas
mask and runs as fast as he can down the rope-floor
HOLMES
10:47:55:12 /WE WERE ALL AT WORK ON THE DAY THAT
WAR WAS DECLARED, WE’D ALL BEEN
ISSUED WITH GASMASKS AND FOR SOME
10:48:07:11 UNKNOWN REASON THE /SIREN SOUNDED
AND THE YARD-BOY THAT WAS STANDING
10:48:12:02 NEXT TO ME, IN A FIT OF /PANIC, PUT ON HIS
GASMASK AND RAN THE COMPLETE LENGTH
OF THE FLOOR, WHICH WAS A TREMENDOUS
10:48:20:04 LONG WAY,/
10:48:27:09 /AND WHEN HE GOT TO THE OTHER END WE
HAD TO RIP HIS GASMASK OFF HIM,
OTHERWISE HE WOULDN’T HAVE
10:48:34:08 BEEN ABLE TO BREATHE AT ALL SEE laughs/
10:48:40:02 ropewalk sequence showing details of working
machinery and ropes at the fore-end (later shots at aft
end) during the laying of a rope
(lit like 1940s cinematography)
ADCOCK
10:48:41:09 /THE WAR YEARS WERE VERY, VERY HARD.
YOU HAD OVER 200 PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN
THE ROPERY AND THE AMOUNT OF
CORDAGE THEY TURNED OUT WAS
COLLOSAL. THE EXTRA WOMEN WERE
RECRUITED LOCALLY, THE MALE SIDE WAS
10:49:01:20 A CONSTANT /FLOW,/
10:49:02:09
10:49:06:09 /A LOT OF THE MEN WEREN’T SUITED TO
THAT KIND OF WORK, I MEAN WE HAD
PEOPLE COMING IN WHO OUTSIDE WERE
10:49:14:24 /BAKERS,/
10:49:15:18
10:49:16:20 /YOU KNOW I MEAN THEY’D NEVER SEEN A
BIT OF MACHINERY IN THEIR LIFE, ALL
THEY’D BEEN USED TO WAS KNEEDING
DOUGH AND THAT SORT OF THING AND THEY
WAS LIKE A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE
10:49:26:10 /BUT THESE WERE THE PEOPLE YOU HAD TO
10:49:28:02 WORK WITH./
10:49:30:22 /THERE WAS ALWAYS FIGHTS GOING ON,
THERE WAS ALWAYS PEOPLE GETTING INTO
FIGHTS, A LOT OF ARGUMENTS, A LOT OF
10:49:37:24 HASSLE AND THAT SORT OF THING./
10:49:50:06 man peers in through window, inside he sees
(still) men and women welders in a big workshop
COCKERILL
10:49:55:05 /DURING THE WAR WOMEN WERE
RECRUITED TO DO VARIOUS OF THE MENS’
10:49:59:21 JOBS WHO’D BEEN CALLED UP./
Spinning Room sequence set during World War Two
hands working at the back of the frames as the cans turn
stills of groups of women at work on the spreader are
inter-cut with live footage
10:50:04:09 c/u of sliver flowing into cans and a woman’s hands
guiding it
10:50:04:03 /THE MAIN WOMEN FORCE OF THE YARD
10:50:07:15 IS THE ROPERY AND THE COLOUR-LOFT./
ANNE MCALINDEN
10:50:08:17 /WELL THEY ALWAYS SAID IT WAS A CLOSED
SHOP YOU SEE, FOR WIDOWS AND ORPHANS,
10:50:13:24 BUT IN THE /WAR SEE THEY TOOK ANYBODY,
10:50:16:20 ANYBODY THEY COULD GET./
DORIS HARVEY
10:50:18:11 /THEY USED TO SAY IT WAS COMMON THEN
WORKING IN THE ROPERY, I NEVER SEE NO
10:50:23:12 DIFFERENCE WITH ANYBODY./
10:50:26:04 /THEY WERE ALL OLD PEOPLE IN THERE,
THEYMUST HAVE BEEN THERE DONKEYS’
10:50:30:10 YEARS./
10:50:31:17 /THESE OLD LADIES THAT WAS THERE THEY
10:50:34:16 KEPT SAYING /‘YOUNG BITS OF STUFF
COMING IN HERE NOW’ ‘E SAYS HA HA .
WHEN I WAS IN THERE WHEN THIS WOMAN
COME ROUND AND SHE SAID
10:50:41:16 zoom in on still of 3 women working at spreader
10:50:43:00 /whistles/
10:50:43:09
10:50:45:15 continuation of close-up of woman working at cans with
swirling sliver of fibres
10:50:46:07 /‘OH MY GOD’ I THOUGHT ‘WAR’S GOT HER
ALRIGHT’, WHEN I GOT ME CAN FILLED I PUT
THE OTHER ONE ON AND I THOUGHT I’LL
HAVE A PEEP AND SEE IF SHE’S ALRIGHT.
10:50:54:15 /‘NOW TELL ME WHAT WAS WRONG WITH
YOU ?’.
SHE SAID ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘WRONG
WITH ME’?.
I SAID ‘TWICE YOU DID THAT TO ME’
‘YES OH THAT’S THE FOREMAN’ SHE
SAID’AND THAT’S THE ENGINEER-
10:51:08:10 MANAGER’. /
10:51:10:20 /WHEN HE SAID TO ME ‘WHERE’S THE CROW’
I SAID ‘I DIDN’T KNOW YOU GOT CROWS
AROUND HERE’, THAT MEANT SOMEBODY TO
WATCH TO SEE WHETHER THE FOREMAN
WAS COMING SO THAT THEY COULD HAVE A
CUP OF TEA, THAT’S HOW MEAN IT WAS. YOU
KNOW THE RED CANS WE’VE GOT
DON’TCHA. I’VE SEEN POTS OF TEA, ‘N CUPS
AND EVERYTHING ELSE GO IN THERE,
KIPPERS ‘T THEY HAD THEM FOR
10:50:32:24 BREAKFAST HA./
SCENE XIII
This scene looks at the post war period, when there were
improvements in working conditions and changes in the
administration and working practices. Technological,
political and economic developments eventually led
to the Dockyard’s closure.
10:51:36:21 exterior Ropery door
10:51:41:03 quiet working environment of the bobbin end of the floor
still: men with large reels of cable
p.o.v. shot walking past a man standing in the doorway
into the dark Ropery
NARRATOR
10:51:44:12 /THE DOCKYARD CAUGHT UP WITH OUTSIDE
INDUSTRY TO SOME EXTENT AFTER THE
WAR. MAJORITY UNION MEMBERSHIP
BROUGHT IMPROVEMENTS IN JOB
10:51:52:09 SECURITY,/
10:51:53:13 /WORKING CONDITIONS,/
10:51:54:20
10:51:56:13 /HEALTH AND SAFETY, IN WHICH THE
DOCKYARD LAGGED FAR BEHIND. HEALTH
AND SAFETY LEGISLATION WASN’T
ENFORCEABLE ON CROWN PROPERTY, SO
10:52:07:04 UNION PRESSURE WAS CRUCIAL./
Spinning Room (slightly sinister)
10:52:06:18 colour, sliver crawling into spinner
10:52:11:09 black and white - woman sweeping, flashing effect
The next section looks at conditions of work in the
Dockyard. It focuses on the Boilershop, and briefly on
the Nuclear Facility.
A man sits on the deck of a ship, looking at
photographs taken in the Boilershop where he used to
work. Live shots recall sounds and events that he
remembers. He looks at safety leaflets and photos.
10:52:23:22 hand-cutting plate
LEWIS
10:52:24:18 /I ENTERED THE BOILERSHOP STRAIGHT
FROM SCHOOL, I WONDERED WHAT I’D GOT
10:52:28:05 INTO./
10:52:28:15 /THERE WAS SOMETHING LIKE 700
PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN THERE, ‘N IT WAS
LIKE DANTE’S INFERNO. YOU KNOW YOU
10:52:35:13 HAD ALL THE RIVET FIRES, /CHIPPING
HAMMERS, RIVETING HAMMERS AND ALL
THIS SORT OF THING AND YOU
DIDN’T HAVE EAR PROTECTORS OR
ANYTHING ELSE. THEY HAD TO OPEN ALL
10:52:45:00 THE DOORS OF THE SHOP BY /20 PAST 7 IN
THE MORNING, WE STARTED AT 7.00, TO LET
ALL THE SMOKE OUT OTHERWISE YOU
10:52:49:19 COULDN’T BREATHE IN THE PLACE;/
10:52:53:06 /AND WE HAD NONE OF THIS PROTECTION
10:52:56:12 YOU’VE GOT NOW YOU KNOW /FOR
10:52:59:01 INHALING FUMES AND THIS SORT OF THING./
10:52:00:23 /WE HAD NO REAL PROTECTION AGAINST
SUCH THINGS AS ASBESTOS, I MEAN
10:53:05:01 /ASBESTOS WASN’T RECOGNISED AS SUCH A
SERIOUS INDUSTRIAL DISEASE AS IT IS NOW.
THESE ARE THE SORT OF CONDITIONS THAT
10:53:13:19 WE FOUGHT AGAINST FOR YEARS./
10:53:15:18 man takes out radiation safety leaflet and looks at it
HUNTER
10:53:15:19 /ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH NUCLEAR
SUBMARINE WORK IS THAT IT WAS VERY
LABOUR INTENSIVE, YOU NEEDED A LOT OF
10:53:23:03 PEOPLE,/
10:53:24:20 /AN INORDINATE NUMBER OF PEOPLE TO
REFIT A NUCLEAR SUBMARINE BECAUSE OF
10:53:30:10 THE RADIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS./
Clarinet notes blend mournfully with wind.
Flashing stills of nuclear work and boat
10:53:31:09 stills intercut in rapid succession with black, sounds of
wind and percussion
SLADE
10:53:32:22 /CHATHAM WAS THE BEST OF THE YARDS
FOR REFITTING NUCLEAR SUBMARINES, WE
10:53:38:05 WERE A SPECIALIST YARD. /
10:53:48:01 p.o.v walk along dockside
LEWIS
10:53:49:22 /PEOPLE HAVE YOU KNOW DIED FROM IT.
THERE’S A LOT OF CLAIMS PENDING WITH
10:53:55:07 THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE./
10:53:58:16 pan over bikes leaning on wall
still of aircraft carrier being towed out of a basin in the
Dockyard
workshop shots
RAPLH
10:54:04:23 /IT’S ALWAYS BEEN A WELL KNOWN FACT
THAT THE DOCKYARDS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN
OVERMANNED AND THE SIMPLE REASON IS
10:54:14:00 THIS, THAT SHOULD AN /EMERGENCY ARISE,
WELL THEN THERE WAS ALWAYS LABOUR
AVAILABLE TO GET A COUPLE OF VESSELS
10:54:21:05 OUT/ /IN DOUBLE QUICK TIME./
10:54:21:22
10:54:23:00
10:54:26:06 /WE INFACT AT CHATHAM WERE ACCUSED
OF GILDING THE LILY, WE WERE REACHING
OR ATTAINING TOO HIGH A STANDARD WITH
10:54:34:09 A LOT OF OUR WORK/ /BUT I SUPPOSE IN THIS
10:54:35:03
DAY AND AGE THE COST OF IT IS ONE OF THE
10:54:40:19 THINGS AGAINST THAT SORT OF ATTITUDE./
10:54:40:14 colour - aircraft carrier leaving a dockyard
The next section looks at the introduction of planning in
the Dockyard.
10:54:58:24 p.o.v walking along the quayside.
archive film shows marking plate, drilling and riveting
still –planners looking at a model of the Nuclear Facility
HUNTER
10:55:05:23 /IN THE 1960s THEY DECIDED THAT THEY
WERE GOING TO DO AWAY WITH THREE
HUNDRED YEARS OF DOING THIS ON A
PERSONAL BASIS AND INTRODUCE A NEW
10:55:16:16 SCHEME WHEREBY ALL THIS WAS PLANNED./
10:55:20:23 /YOU HAD TO SET UP AN ENORMOUS
10:55:22:16 /PLANNING DEPARMENT./
10:55:23:19
10:55:26:15 /SO, BEAUTIFUL THEORETICALLY, IT WAS
JUST LIKE MOVING DRAFTS ON A DRAFTS
10:55:31:06 BOARD, IT WAS WONDERFUL./
10:55:33:04 docking scene conveys the idea of men on the dockside
waiting for work.
stills of submarine construction when things worked on a
‘personal’ basis; clarinet music.
LEWIS
10:55:34:11 /THE SHIP’D WASTE TWO OR THREE DAYS
WAITING FOR THE PAPERWORK TO GO
10:55:38:03 THROUGH THE TRADE OFFICE,/ /WHEREAS
10:55:45:02
BEFORE AS I SAY IT WAS JUST THE TWO
CHARGEMEN MEETING ON A SHIP & BOB
SAYING TO HARRY ‘SEND A COUPLE OF YOUR
BLOKES DOWN I’M READY FOR THEM NOW
DOWN THE ENGINE ROOM’ AND IT WAS AS
10:55:54:13 SIMPLE AS THAT./
10:55:56:22 exterior covered slip
10:55:58:04 /THIS GRANDIOSE PLANNING SCHEME IN MY
OPINION WAS INHIBITING PRODUCTION
10:56:04:06 RATHER THAN HELPING IT./
events and phenonema contributing to the Dockyard’s
reduction in size and eventual closure
recent uses of rope:
10:56:07:01 sailors lifting rope on dockside, tug during docking
10:56:18:22 paying in rope at capstan in the Ropery
COCKERILL
10:56:19:10 /THE START OF THE CUTS YOU CAN TRACE
BACK TO THE SMALLER NAVY ASPECT,
WELL AS THE SIZE OF THE FLEET
DIMINISHED, NOT SO MUCH IN NUMBERS BUT
IN SIZE OF BOATS, YOU NEEDED SMALLER
SIZED CORDAGE THEREFORE OBVIOUSLY
10:56:35:11 THE WORKLOAD WENT DOWN./
ADCOCK
10:56:39:00 /AND NOW WITH NUCLEAR PROPULSION YOU
10:56:42:07 NEED A ROPE AT ALL HARDLY./
10:56:43:11 man drawing round a mould in workshop
compact engine room of a destroyer
LEWIS
10:56:45:08 /YOU’VE GOT A MUCH SMALLER SHIP WITH A
10:56:49:00 A MASS OF TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT./
10:56:57:03 rigging house, many men at work
10:56:57:10 /BECAUSE OF THE CHANGING REQUIREMENT
YOU KNOW FOR REPAIR OF SHIPS, MORE
TECHNOLOGY LESS SORT OF MANUAL
WORK, THE NUMBERS HAD REDUCED
ANYWAY BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT
10:57:08:18 THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CLOSURE./
10:57:11:09 track and pan over interior of Ropery door which slams
shut
Mournful clarinet music runs through this sequence,
with soft effects as though the dockyard is running
down.
10:57:14:04 /NINE MONTHS PRIOR TO JUNE ’81 WE WERE
TOLD THAT CHATHAM’S ROLE WAS
ASSURED FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE
AND WITHIN NINE MONTHS THERE’D BEEN A
CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT POLICY AND WE
WERE ALL TOLD WE WERE BEING CLOSED IN
10:57:26:19 1984./ /SO YOU’VE GOT TO APPRECIATE THAT
10:57:31:19
WAS ONE HELL OF A SHOCK TO PEOPLE
THAT’D BEEN ASSURED THAT THEIR YOU
KNOW THEIR SECURITY OF EMPLOYMENT
10:57:40:03 WAS THERE FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE./
10:57:40:00 wild pan over dockyard cranes.
still: family group in the Dockyard by nuclear arm
man in 19th century working clothes walks down Ropery
cock loft floor, p.o.v shot.
the music cross-fades to an anxious mechanical track
HUNTER
10:57:53:01 /IF YOU SEE A FIRM LIKE THE DOCKYARD
CLOSE DOWN WITH THE LOSS OF 7,000 JOBS
AND THEY’RE SAYING “IF I CAN DO THIRTY
YEARS IN THE DOCKYARD, AND THEN THEY
CAN JUST CLOSE IT, JUST LIKE THAT, AND
YOU’D SACRIFICED QUITE A LOT IN ORDER
TO GET A GUARANTEED WEEKLY WAGE,
THEN ER I’M NOT GOING TO LOOK FOR
LONGTERM EMPLOYMENT AGAIN I’M
NOT GOING TO BOTHER WITH PROSPECTS,
JOB PROSPECTS, I’LL JUST TAKE ANYTHING
10:58:19:20 THAT COMES ALONG AND HOPE IT PAYS./
10:58:22:06 /YOU THINK TO YOURSELF WELL AFTER ALL
THESE YEARS WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW
I’M NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING A
CAREER ANYWHERE BECAUSE CAREERS
10:58:31:13 LEAD TO ULTIMATE DISAPPOINTMENT./
still: men on scaffold at end of a refit
10:58:36:20 the man walks to window and looks out (at dockyard
work) he sees (still) a submarine on building slip.
Spinning Room-a woman snips threads at the spinner at
the end of a full set
EDWARDS
10:58:38:21 /YOU DON’T IN YOUR MIND ER THINK
10:58:44:19 ABOUT /WAR IF YOU LIKE, THAT YOU’RE
GETTING THINGS READY FOR WAR, YOU
10:58:50:04 WERE DOING A /JOB AND YOU WERE DOING
10:58:53:00 THE BEST THAT YOU POSSIBLY COULD./
The music stops, cheerful voices of people,
10:58:57:12 stills- mobile dinner hut
Ropery women waving flag as Falklands ships return
10:59:11:04 profile of girl (19th century) in doorway of the Spinning
Room
10:59:15:10 the man walks out of the Ropery door and away
Sailors load a coil of rope
track from ship moving down river in Medway estuary,
misty and moody
final music (continues over credits)
ADCOCK
10:59:17:02 /‘YOU TAKE ROPEMAKING’ HE SAID, I’LL
NEVER FORGET IT ‘YOU TAKE ROPEMAKING,
THEY’LL ALWAYS WANT ROPE’ HE SAID
10:59:24:04 ‘THEY’LL NEVER /TAKE A SHIP OUT OF PORT
WITHOUT CORDAGE ON. HE SAID ‘YOU’VE
10:59:28:21 GOT A JOB THERE FOR LIFE’./
10:59:58:02 fade to black and title on closure of dockyard