2-913-873 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mare and Co.'s Iron Ship-Building Works, 1854. Shipyard on the River Thames in London during the Crimean War, an '... industrial army of between 3000 and 4000 hands, busily engaged in the construction of vessels, not only to meet the exigencies of the war, but also the demands of our increased trade...It is almost bewildering to pass amongst the numerous punching and shearing machines, moved by steam power, cutting and piercing thick iron as readily as if it were writing paper...In this yard some of the most powerful machinery is in motion: numerous furnaces are in active operation, heating and melting the masses of iron. The larger piece of iron-work near the foreground...weighs several tons, and has been forged by the Steam-hammer...At the long roller in the middle of the picture the hot iron is flattened into plates, and rolled into bars and ribs of various shapes...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.