Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Wooden rowing boat used for carrying ropes etc. while tugs are manoeuvring ships into a berth. Hull painted green with black rim. Interior painted grey and white.

The rapid growth of the port of Cardiff in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the increasing number of vessels using the port during those years led to a need for boatmen to handle the mooring ropes of visiting ships as they berthed or took on tugs. At Cardiff, the boatmen operated in two distinct groups, the 'outside' boatmen who operated outside the docks helping to handle the mooring ropes as ships approached the locks, and the 'inside' boatmen who handled mooring ropes within the dock complex, helping vessels to moor at their allocated berths. Though the date and location of the construction of this 'inside' boat are not known, it is probable that it is a product of the former William Diamond boatyard on the Bute East Dock.