In All Seasons
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Ebbs and Flows For Shipyard Workers

In All Seasons, also, Ebbs and Flows For Shipyard Workers. Peebles Island State Park. , In All Seasons , Shipbuilding and repair is mostly outdoor work, hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The office building at the north end of the site had heated space for draftsmen, bookkeepers, and managers but most of the other buildings were simple sheds-built to keep weather off machinery and supplies but providing little comfort or protection to workers., "I remember an act of kindness from a steelworker. It was a cold, windy winter's day on the river, and the steel deck of the frozen Mary (tugboat) was drawing every bit of body heat out of me right through the soles of my boots. He heated a six-by-six scrap of steel plate with his cutting torch and gave it to me, warning me not to touch it directly. It worked great-several times that day." , - Bob Collins, employed at Matton 1972 - 1973, [ Photo Captions, top to bottom: ] , - Matton carpenter trimming plank ends with a shaft-driven portable saw. 1917., - Matton employees prepare a tug for launch by adding blocking and wedges required to raise the vessel into the launch position. c. 1980., - Noisy work-spiking bottom boards with air hammers. c. 1920., - Matton produced wooden subchasers for the Navy during World War II, 1941., Ebbs and Flows for Shipyard Workers , Shipyard work was seasonal and varied as orders for new boats and repairs came in. Most Matton employees lived nearby in Cohoes, Waterford, and Lansingburgh (Troy). A small core workforce was supplemented by a larger group of hourly workers and people with special skills who came and went with the jobs. For some, the shipyard was a place to learn high-value trade skills and build a future, while for others it was temporary and fleeting work., "...the cadre (full-time employees) stayed there, but if they ran out of welding work, then the welders were laid off. If they ran out of corking jobs, they were laid off, so it was only the main cadre that stayed there for any length of time." , William Hunt, Matton Employee, [ Photo Captions, top to bottom: ] , - Employees posed against the Planing Mill. c. 1945., - Mation Shipyard workers. Summer 1943. , - Getting ready to launch. 1949.