August 2024 Newsletter part two

3. Tommy, Henry, Yvette, Ray, Alice, Gary and Mini. What do they all have in common? A comic magician, a boxer, a politician, a percussionist, a musician, an actor and a make of car…… Cooper. They all share a name that has its origins in the making of barrels. A cooper is a craftsman who produces wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable. Wooden liquor barrels are made up of oak due to expedience and porosity. White oak barrels are primarily used for aging because it adds great flavours to whiskey and wine. Other wood barrels used for aging whiskey and wine are hickory and maple wood, French oak, redwood, walnut, cherry, and chestnut. Ships, in the age of sail, provided much work for coopers. They made water and provision casks, the contents of which sustained crew and passengers on long voyages. They also made barrels to contain high-value commodities such as wine, sugar and water though after a while this became undrinkable. A substitute would be beer or rum! The proper stowage of casks on ships about to sail was an important stevedoring skill. Incidentally, ‘stevedore’ is Spanish for ‘A man who stuffs’ !

But a very important and highly volatile material on sailing ships of the line and in armouries ashore, was gunpowder or black powder.

This was also stowed in barrels and kept in the bowels of the ship or special areas within the fortifications. Strict rules had to be adhered to, to prevent accidental ignition including special clothing and shoes to prevent accidents. In the 19th century, coopers who crafted barrels on ships were often called ‘groggers’ (or jolly jack tars), as when a barrel of rum had been emptied, they would fill it up with boiling water and roll it around, creating a drink, which was called grog. ‘King Stairs’ jetty in Portsmouth harbour was originally called ‘Coopers Jetty’ as the barrels were manufactured on the Portsmouth side and floated from that jetty across to Royal Clarence Yard where Naval victualing took place. Such was the importance of barrels to the Navy in those days. Some of the traditional tools have now retired to museums so here are a selection:-