Los Angeles Harbor Dockworkers: "The Longshoreman" 1947 Frith Films; Stevedores at Work

Los Angeles History & Travel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL43776EEAE9061CEF Vocations, Jobs, Industrial Arts playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEAE22DC3E1D959BE Frith Films playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_hX5wLdhf_LT4qgJ-J0GRDwU0az5LeQZ more at http://news.quickfound.net/cities/los_angeles.html Work of LA harbor dock workers (stevedores, longshoremen) is shown. "PICTURES THE WORK & HOME LIFE, PERSONALITY & SOCIAL CONTACTS OF A LONGSHOREMAN, AL HUBER. TOUCHES UPON UNIONS & EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIPS." Reupload of a previously uploaded film with improved video & sound. Originally a public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevedore Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie, and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country. The word stevedore originated in Portugal or Spain, and entered the English language through its use by sailors. It started as a phonetic spelling of estivador (Portuguese) or estibador (Spanish), meaning a man who stuffs, here in the sense of a man who loads ships, which was the original meaning of stevedore; compare Latin stīpāre meaning to stuff, as in to fill with stuffing. In the United Kingdom, men who load and unload ships are usually called dockers, in Australia wharfies, while in the United States and Canada the term longshoreman, derived from man-along-the-shore, is used. Before extensive use of container ships and shore-based handling machinery in the United States, longshoremen referred exclusively to the dockworkers, while stevedores, in a separate trade union, worked on the ships, operating ship's cranes and moving cargo... Loading and unloading ships requires knowledge of the operation of loading equipment, the proper techniques for lifting and stowing cargo, and correct handling of hazardous materials. In addition, workers must be physically strong and be able to follow orders. In earlier days before the introduction of containerisation, men who loaded and unloaded ships had to tie down cargoes with rope. A type of stopper knot is called the stevedore knot. The methods of securely tying up parcels of goods is called stevedore lashing or stevedore knotting. While loading a general cargo vessel, they use dunnage, which are pieces of wood (or nowadays sometimes strong inflatable dunnage bags) set down to keep the cargo out of any water that might be lying in the hold or are placed as shims between cargo crates for load securing. Today, the vast majority of non-bulk cargo is transported in intermodal containers. The containers arrive at a port by truck, rail or another ship and are stacked in the port's storage area. When the ship that will be transporting them arrives, the containers that it is offloading are unloaded by a crane. The containers either leave the port by truck or rail or are put in the storage area until they are put on another ship... The jobs involved include the crane operators, the workers who connect the containers to the ship and each other, the truck drivers that transport the containers from the dock and storage area, the workers who track the containers in the storage... Because they work outdoors in all types of weather, these workers adopted a type of cap that has a snug fit, is warm, and easily stowed in a pocket. These are a type of beanie or watch cap called variously stevedore's cap or stevedore's hat. Before containerization, freight was often handled with a longshoreman's hook, a tool which became emblematic of the profession (mostly on the west coast of the United States and Canada). Traditionally, stevedores had no fixed job, but would arrive at the docks in the morning seeking employment for the day. London dockers called this practice "standing on the stones", while in the United States it was referred to as Shaping... Dock workers have been a prominent part of the modern labor movement... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Los_Angeles The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor Department, is a port complex that occupies 7,500 acres (3,000 ha) of land and water along 43 mi (69 km) of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately 20 mi (32 km) south of downtown. The Port of Los Angeles adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach, employs over 16,000 people, and is the busiest container port in the United States...