BUILDING A CONCRETE SHIP [Main Title]

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  • Title: BUILDING A CONCRETE SHIP [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 584
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Construction of a concrete petrol barge, PD.25, at Barnstaple, Devon (?), 1918.
  • Description: The raw material - close-up of a piece of concrete held in the hand. Travelling medium shot from a train pulling into a siding at the shipyard - seven months ago the area "consisted of open fields". Pan around interior of design office, with draughtsmen at work. Scenes during the construction of the ship: initial wooden frame built on the ways; network of reinforcing steel hull members added; concrete poured between inner and outer shells; laying down and painting of the deck; high-angle medium shot into the hold, showing dividing concrete bulkhead; reverse shot from hold to deck house containing steam winch; medium close-up of plate brackets which form the ship's knees. Workers stand on the deck of the completed vessel. The launch - long shot as PD.25 enters the water, and medium shots of the barge immediately after launching and at her moorings.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1918
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor) Topical Film Company (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: ships, British civilian - inland: petrol barge (PD25) (object name) ceremonies, British - event-related: ship launching (PD25) (object name) industry, British - ships (object name) engineering, civil, British (object name) 31/3(41) (event) Barnstaple, Devon, England, UK (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 420 ft; Running time: 7 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Subtitles: titling is poor - several of the captions consist only of a single frame, and in one case the lettering has been printed in reverse Summary: in 1918 the Controller-General of Shipping ordered a fleet of 86 barges and steam tugs to be constructed using the Mouchel-Hennebrique system of ferro-concrete, and in accordance with Government specifications. Barges were 187ft 6in long and 13ft 6in in the beam, 20ft 9in deep, and contained three cargo holds. The yard shown may be that built by the British Construction Company, at Barnstaple, on the Taw
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 584

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