It will be seen that there is now some system to the wage scales of longshore work, and that the scale shows an advance to compensate for the rise in the cost of living, and is therefore to be regarded as semipermanent in general structure. Further investigation of the awards of the National Adjustment Commission shows that many items of minor dispute have been satisfactorily settled. However, there remains a great deal to be done in the improvement of working conditions, in accident prevention and relief, and in stabilizing employment.

16

Probably the matter of casual labor or irregularity of employment is the one that needs first attention. It is true that the National Adjustment Commission made some rulings to lessen this evil in minor lines, but the fact remains that the system of hourly employment allows for extreme irregularity of employment. Shipping operators must see and understand the problem and must endeavor to work toward its solution.

HANDLING OF COMMODITIES.

The loading or discharging of cargo is done at the expense and responsibility of the ship, and there are used almost as many methods as there are ships. There is little standardization of methods or equipment, but the essential facts can be easily understood.

Vessel cargoes may be handled (1) through the hatches, or deck openings; (2) through the side ports, or side openings; (3) without using any openings, in case of deck loads.17

Deck loads are not important, nor do they present methods of handling that are greatly different from those used through hatches or side ports. Side ports are used mostly on river steamers and small coastwise vessels; hatch loading is by far the most common method employed.

HANDLING FREIGHT THROUGH SIDE PORTS.

Cargo may be handled through side ports by (1) unassisted man power, (2) hand trucks, (3) conveyor systems, (4) ship's tackle. The practice of carrying freight is confined largely to rivers, where the vessels and the packages of freight are small, and even in these places it is being eliminated by more improved methods. It has been common at New Orleans, but the National Adjustment Commission has ruled that "the practice of steamboating' or carrying freight in and out of ships or in and out of cars will be reduced to the smallest practical minimum." 18

In handling freight by hand trucks a gangway is laid between the pier and the side port. There is often a large difference in level between these two, due to variations in height of piers and side ports, in tide level, and in draft of the vessel, and this difference may become so great that it will be impossible for the longshoremen to push the truck up the grade.

Partly to overcome this difficulty and partly to lower the cost of handling, conveyor systems have been installed on some piers. These

16 See p. 116.

17 See MacElwee, R. S.: "Ports and Terminal Facilities," pp. 149–166. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1918.

18 Coastwise longshore award at New Orleans, Oct. 21, 1918: Chairman's Report, National Adjustment Commission, 1918, p. 126.

differ in detail, but two general types are recognizable.19 With one the hand truck is still used, the conveyor being simply an endless chain which, by means of lugs, engages the truck and pulls it to the top of the incline. The other type of conveyor is the endless revolving belt upon which packages are set and carried. This takes a force of men to bring freight to and carry freight away from the belt.

With some classes of ships and freight, side-port handling can be done by means of the ship's tackle, but it is not common. An example of it is in the dragging of heavy logs up a skid and through an end port or "raft port" of the hold of a sailing vessel.

HANDLING FREIGHT THROUGH HATCHES.

A very large proportion of all ocean freight is handled through the hatches, and the methods used here must be more carefully understood. These methods may be divided into several groups, as follows: 20

1. Ship's booms and tackles used alone.

2. Ship's tackle used in connection with cargo masts and pier winches.

3. Use of cranes on the wharf.

4. Use of floating cranes.

5. Use of specialized equipment.

The method chosen depends in part upon the kind of freight (bulk. live, standardized package, or general cargo), in part upon the vessel, and in part upon the port conditions.

HANDLING BY SHIP'S TACKLE.

A large proportion of the freight at ports of the United States is handled by the ship's equipment alone. This equipment is simple, consisting of winches or small steam engines driven by steam from the donkey boilers, and of booms to which are fitted blocks and lines. A winch contains one or more drums, on which winds the rope that hoists the freight. The simplest conceivable apparatus is one consisting of a winch with one drum around which is wound a rope. The rope is led through a block fixed at the end of the boom and then down into the hold, and a weight fastened to it may be lifted by revolving the drum in such a way as to wind up the rope. Additions to this simple form are necessary to obtain horizontal movement, to secure speed, and to gain greater lifting power. Horizontal movement, as in moving the weight from the hatch to the side of the ship, is secured by running a rope through a block fixed to a boom that is swung out over the ship's side, attaching it to the weight, and winding it up so that it will pull the weight over to the side. Speed is secured primarily by the elimination of lost time. There would be lost time if the rope itself had to be tied to each weight; therefore the rope ends in a hook which can be quickly attached to or detached from a receptacle in which the weight is put. Greater lifting power is gained by running the rope through more than one block.

19 MacElwee, op. cit., pp. 150-151.

20 See also MacElwee, op. cit.

In order that the methods may be clarified and the terms understood, consider the loading of a vessel with general cargo. The first things to do are to hire the men, get up steam, clear the hatches, and rig up the necesary tackle. Clearing the hatches is not difficult. A hatch consists of an opening that is boarded over at each deck that it passes through. These boards rest upon steel stringers and "strong backs" that may run either 'thwartship or fore and aft and that are fitted into the coaming (raised portion of the deck around the opening) by grooves in such a way that they can be lifted out.

Clearing a hatch then consists of rolling back the tarpaulin that covers the boards, removing the boards by hand and setting them to one side, and lifting out and laying to one side by ship's tackle the beams and "strong backs." If the hatch is very large and the packages to be loaded small, only part of the hatch may be cleared. The coaming, which should be at least 3 feet high, helps to prevent men from falling into the opening thus made.

The kind of rigging adopted will vary with locality, commodity, and equipment available. The simplest, which though called "old" is still used, consists of one rope attached to the center drum of the winch and passing through a block on the boom, which is fixed in a position over the hatch, or through a block suspended from a span running from mast to mast. This rope is called a "fall" or "whip." In loading most cargo at present two falls are used, the "up-and

FIG. 1.-Rope sling.

down fall," to lift and lower the "draft" (or load), and the "burton " to obtain horizontal movement. If only one fall is used, the draft is dragged up to the hatch coamings, since the boom must be placed over the hatch and there is no means of lifting the load perpendicularly from the pier. In order that it can be dragged there must_be a "skid," or inclined plankway, from the pier to the deck and another from the side of the ship to the hatch coaming. These two skids, with the winch, the boom, and the fall, make up the transfer equip

ment.

66

The group of men working as a unit is a gang," the size of which varies greatly. Generally speaking, there are about 20 men in a gang. Approximately one-third of these are on the pier, trucking the goods to the side of the vessel and preparing the drafts to be lifted; one-half are in the hold, stowing the freight; and the remainder (say three men) are on deck. Of the men on deck, one will run the winch, a second will be the gangway man who gives the signals, and the third will be the "whip runner" who returns the fall or "whip " to the new draft.

The truckman on the pier wheels his truck to the pile of merchandise, which he carries to the end of the skid. Two or more men at this point have laid a sling on the floor of the pier. A sling is simply a loop of rope the sides of which are kept close together. (See fig. 1.)

long rove

21

The packages are laid on the sling. The two ends of the sling are then brought up over the packages, and one end is passed through the other. The end that is passed through is the "long rove and the other end is the "short rove or "bite" (see fig. 2). The hook on the end of the fall is then attached to the bite "long rove." The gangway

وو

Boom

over

Match

FIG. 2.-Rope sling.

The

A

Winch.

Skid

man gives the signal to the winchman, who turns on the steam, and the fall is wound up around the center drum. sling tightens around the draft, which is then dragged along the skids and swung out over the open hatchway. The winch is reversed and the draft lowered sharply into the hold. marker on the fall will tell the winchman when to stop, or he may be able to tell by feel or or by following the draft with his eye. The stop is made in time to hold the draft clear of the deck or floor on which it is to be placed. Several holdmen then take hold of it and swing it as far as possible in the direction in which it is to be stowed. It may take several swings. Just when it is over the proper place, they shout, or the gangway man signals, and the winchman lowers it rapidly to the deck. The hook is released and the fall is swung so that it can be caught by the "whip runner as the winch

FIG. 3.-Loading ship, using ship's winch, one boom, and skid. This method is slow and causes damage to goods.

2 In many cases the packages are laid on a sling plank," and the sling is passed around the ends of the packages that project beyond the plank.

man raises it. The whip runner carries it down the skid and it is

attached to another draft.

The disadvantages of this method are its slowness and the damage done to the draft by dragging it over the skids. Other methods have, therefore, been adopted. In some cases one fall drags the draft to the hatch coamings and is then released and returned to the pier,

FIG. 4. Loading ship, using two booms and pier winch. One boom is swung over the side of the vessel in order that the draft may be raised vertically from the pier.

while another fall is attached to the draft and lowers it into the hold. This speeds the work up considerably. In other cases one boom is swung over the ship's side and another over the hatch. The fall attached to the boom over the side will lift the draft to the level of the hatch coamings, and the burton and up-and-down falls, attached to the boom over the hatch, will swing it to the hatch and