Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/557

 COLLIER DISCHARGING.—E. W. COOKE, R.A.

in the Pool (see below). The men are employed, as will be seen, "jumping" the coals in baskets, which, after passing through the weighing machine, are delivered into barges alongside. This jumping operation required a good deal of practical skill, and greenhorns often got awkward falls. It consisted of four men who held in their hands whip lines, attached to a rope, which was passed over a single pulley with a basket fastened to the end of it. As the basket was being lowered into the hold the men walked up a temporary platform, not unlike an