At each end of the locks there are lay-bys for ships awaiting their turn to tie up to. You put two people ashore to handle your own lines. There is a short vertical mast on each side of the break of the forecastle. A horizontal boom, supported by the mast is used to swing out a nimble seaman, sitting on a T seat on a rope one of his mate’s controls. As the ship approaches the lay-by, and the boom can reach over the land the seaman swings out on the boom and his mate lowers him, hopefully, onto the wharf. Going up-bound the first ashore handles the bow line; down-bound the first ashore handled the stern line. A line secured ashore could then be used, with the flow of water, to bring the ship alongside. If a rope was put ashore from the bow first and pulled tight before one aft, the ship spun round across the canal.This picture shows a seamanbeing swungg over the wharf before being lowered down. BBy luck I managed to have him standing on a railing on the cargo winch deck in front of the accommodation block. Courtesy of Tom Kearsey.

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