Family Vignette--Thomas Adams, Shipwright
Thomas began his trade as a ship builder’s apprentice
in 1876 at the age of 15. The Indenture document by which Thomas Adams became
apprenticed as a shipwright for the boatbuilding firm of Robert Carter Capps
and William Crisp in 1876 established a rather strict set of terms. The document lays it down that the father of
the apprentice shall provide his son with ‘sufficient meat, drink, washing,
lodging, working tools and all other necessaries.’
The terms of the agreement were, indeed, harsh, but in
exchange for opportunity to apprentice, Thomas Adams was paid six shillings a
week! That seems a small sum today, but
in those days many a married man had less on which to bring up his family. When his son Joseph Adams was apprenticed to
a cabinet maker in 1914 he received only 2 shillings a week!
By 1911, Thomas was a shipwright and was living at 6
Maidstone Road, Lowestoft by 1911.
Thomas married Philadelphia “Phillis” Eliza Miller
Kersey in Beccles, Suffolk, England on March 26, 1883. Over the next 21 years, Thomas and Philadelphia
had 12 children, six girls and six boys.
Their children were:
1. Ellen Elizabeth Adams1883–1958
2. Thomas William Adams1884–1956
3. Gertrude Phyllis Adams1886–1919
4. Ethel Daisy Adams1888–1969
5. Violet Caroline Adams1890–1968
6. Jessie May Adams1892–1967
7. Daniel George Adams1895–1969
8. Arthur Robert Adams1897–1973
9. Lizzie Blanche Adams1898–1988
10. Joseph Adams1900–1966
11. Wilfred Richard Adams1902–1960
12. Jack Alfred Adams1904–1926
Shortly before his death on August 22, 1946 in
Beccles, Thomas was the oldest surviving shipwright in Lowestoft. Before he died, Thomas Adams described his
trade in some detail to Edgar March. An
excerpt of that letter is found in Edgar March's "Sailing Drifters".
"I was apprenticed to shipwrighting
in the year 1876 to Messrs. Capps and Crisp of Lowestoft. The hours of
work were 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m on Saturday,
with half-an-hour for breakfast, one hour for dinner. We had to serve
seven years' apprenticeship starting at 2s 6d per week and is raised every
year. When we came out of our time we got 30s per week, which was
considered good wages then. We built a sailing lugger called the
"Start" in the year 1876. She was 44ft long on the keel and was
clinker-built, that is, one plank overlapping the other, and fastened with
copper nails and washers. The timbers were cut by hand and fitted inside.
We used to cut our timber on the pit saw, which means that the timber was laid
over a pit. One man stood in the bottom of the pit and another was on
top, and the saw was pushed up and down; it was very hard work. The ribs
were chopped up with an adze.
We used blearing hair on the seams, that
means we put hot pitch and tar mixed on with a stick and then put hair on.
We built a sailing smack in 1886 for Mr Saunders, which was named RENOWN.
We then built what is known as a carvel-built boat, that is the timbers
were all erected into position on the keel first and then the planks were
fastened to them with 5/8in galvanised bolts, the trunnel or trenail had passed
out by then. All shaping of timbers had to be done by hand with an axe or
adze. We would take the rough tree big enough to make the opposite sides
and then it would be put over the pit saw and sawn down the centre, one being
for starboard and one for port side. All planking would be cut on the pit
saw, which was six to eight feet long."
Philadelphia Adams, predeceased Thomas by just over a
month, having died on July 8, 1946 in Beccles.
Genealogy: Thomas Adams 1861-1946
was married to Philadelphia Eliza Miller Kersey 1865-1946 and her mother was Caroline
Cowles 1831-1877 and her first husband (but not the father of Philadelphia) was
George Adams Kersey 1827-1858 and his mother was Charlotte Adams 1792-1873 and
her father was John Adams 1750-1837 and his son was John Curtis Adams 1797-1873
and his son was William Frederick Adams 1848-1907 and his son was George
"Pikey" William Welch-Adams 1867-1940.
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