A Dublin Docker's Funeral
Declan Byrne of the Dock Workers Preservation Society describes the sense of solidarity among dockers during the twentieth century, as it was expressed during a dock worker's funeral.
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A Dublin Docker's Funeral
Declan Byrne describes the traditions around a Dublin dock worker's funeral, including that of carrying the coffin into the church, which is still practiced at St Patrick's Church in Ringsend. ~ Creator: Declan Byrne and Jonathan Evershed ...Text
At one stage in Dublin Port, roughly as many ships were worked outside the dock gates as inside. Ships were worked on the North Wall and along the South Quays.
Cranes would lower their gibs into the ship's hatches, where cargo would be put on hoists to be lifted out onto the quayside, where it would be landed on the quay to be transferred into sheds or landed directly on to transport.
When a docker passed away, regardless of what church the funeral service was being held in, the hearse travelled along the quays. As it passed a ship the gang of dockers would stop working and the crane would turn out to the roadside where it would lower its gib as a mark of respect.