Film ID:
NEFA 8442



Visitor Tabs


Billingham Film Unit short on Billingham Wharf in 1935, documenting working practice and industrial infrastructure.

The film opens with a view of steam and smoke billowing out of towers and chimneys. A load of white powder is hoisted out of a ship’s hull by crane, some of it spilling over the sides and being blown by the wind. The same crane is then shown from a distance repeating the action as a man in a flat cap and coat walks along the dockside.

A man in a harness hangs from the top of a mast to clean it. The ship Guernica passes the camera as thick smoke envelops the scene. A tug hangs behind it. Rowers attach a cable from the ship’s bow to the dock.

A fly wheel spins at high speed on a ship’s deck; a line is lowered by rope. Two blacksmiths work in tandem hammering a strip of hot iron. A man joins them in the next shot to work the bellows and stoke the fire.

The Gastelu is moored at the dockside. A crane is lowered into a ship’s hull while in the foreground a team of men push a barrow laden with sacks. The men pass, the crane is raised.

Six men stand in line for the camera in bowler and fedora hats, talking and joking among themselves. Three men shovel white powder, wearing caps and waistcoats.

Two men wave from the top of the crane tower.