Dockers' Stories from the Second World War

Dockers' Stories from the Second World War is a collection of several true stories, drawn from Henry Bradford's thirty-two years as a Registered Docker in the Port of London, revealing the daring deeds of docklands men in the Second World War. Men were often killed and injured during their every-day work on the docks; nonetheless, never was the bravery of these men so tested as during times of war. Henry heard many stories from dockers in his time working the docks but it was their wartime adventures that seemed most vivid: tales of bravery and escapades of men who, once the wars they had fought in were over, returned to work in the docklands of the Port of London, on the river Thames in sailing barges, or on coastal or continental short sea trading vessels. Henry Bradford's lively stories and colourful characters reveal the bravery of ordinary men in the Second World War, from Captain Jim Fryer's ship towage work on Calais roads and Dunkirk beaches, and saving lives of survivors from the bombed hospital ship Paris, for which he was awarded the DSC, to Petty Officer Jack Hicks' quieter but equally memorable posting steering a clinker-built boat on a hush-hush job from the Thames to the north-east, his crew consisting only of an inexperienced co-man and an incredibly efficient WREN. Heroes of London's Docklands is sure to appeal to those whose relatives worked as dockers, and to anyone with an interest in London's East End at war.