Themes
Portsmouth Dockyard
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Learning
Boilermakers
Boilermakers were one of the senior trades in the Dockyard. They built and repaired all the boilers in the Dockyard and on ships. Boilermakers carried out the construction and maintenance of the ventilation. This included the funnel, which was the only part of a ship the shipwrights did not build. Boilermakers also built the catwalks in the engine rooms and around the boilers.
There are many pipes in boilers and some of the work of a boilermaker is fitting and repairing the pipes.
Boilermakers used these tube expanders. Boilermakers would insert the tube expander into the pipe to ensure that the connections with the tubes are airtight.
There are differences between the roles of boilermakers in civil yards and Royal Dockyards. In civil yards, boilermakers built the ship and did all the plate work and the titular trades of caulkers, riveters and drillers came under boilermakers. However, in the Royal Dockyards all the titular trades came under the shipwrights and the shipwrights undertook the plating. These differences occurred during the transition from wooden to iron ships. In civil yards boilermakers plated ships as they were competent in working with metal. Whereas in Royal Dockyards shipwrights successfully argued that they should continue to be responsible for building ships, whatever the material. This was accepted and so the trades differed in the civil yards and Royal Dockyards.
