Construction of The Manchester Ship Canal: Part Two: Men and machines

摘要

Contrary to popular belief the Manchester Ship Canal was not entirely dug out by navvies using picks, shovels and barrows. The navvies did indeed remove millions of tonnes of earth by this back-breaking method, but sometimes they were aided by purpose-built sophisticated machines. However, it was not always possible to get a machine to all parts of the site due to floods and soft earth. For his efforts on the pick and shovel the humble navvy (the name is derived from navigation digger) could command 4 or 5 pence per cubic meter of earth removed; if the earth was hard and rocky, he could sometimes persuade an understanding ganger (foreman) to increase the rate to 6 pence (2.5p).