What is a Hoveller?

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 8

What is a Hoveller?

The answer to the above question is given in the December number of 4 ‘The P.L.A. Monthly.” “Officially a hoveller is a man who helps barges to negotiate the Medway bridges. Among Thames tugfolk the word hoveller has a wider meaning. To them a ‘hovel’ is a salvage job and a ‘hoveller’ is ergo a man who claims salvage.” The writer goes on to describe the methods employed by hovellers.

“When a Gravesend tugboat crew get wind of a hovel, their one aim is to keep the news to themselves, for a rival crew might easily belt them to the prize. If news of a hovel is received during daylight, the most important thing is to get away without betraying the slightest haste, for the movements of tugs are well-known to each other, and rival crews might smell a rat. At night time news of a hovel demands a getaway as silent as a Flying Dutchman’s. Tugboat skippers adopt many ruses to throw their rivals off the scent; a favourite trick is to alter' the position of the navigation lights, the Thames watermen can recognise the type of craft by the shape and size of the constellation of lamps. ”