The keelmen of Newcastle were a familiar sight for centuries, rowing the coal down river to the waiting sea-going colliers. The keels are first mentioned in connection with the coalmines at Whickham in 1356 but the word itself harks back to AD 400, when the Angles came to this country in three 'Ceols or Chiules'. The keel was an oval-shaped vessel and normally carried some 20 tons. It was propelled by two oars and could carry a sail, while a long pole, called a puoy, might also be used. The coal was shovelled from the keel through a hatch in the side of the collier.
The keelmen were, as they had to be, physically strong and fearless; their arduous calling set them apart and they cherished their independence. They wore blue bonnets on board, as mentioned in the famous song 'The Keel Row' . On holiday, they wore distinctive grey trousers, tight at the knee, then belled out over high-heeled shoes, yellow waistcoats and short blue pea-jackets. Flat-brimmed black hats, with ribbons ending in streamers, and silk neckerchiefs completed the ensemble. A keel's crew consisted of a captain, two keel bullies, (a word meaning 'beloved') and a little boy maintained by the crew. He was called the Pee-Dee.
The keelmen never became a company because of the opposition of their employers, the hostmen. They were bound annually, like pitmen, the binding day being in December. They were in frequent conflict with the authorities over wages, measurement of coal, Sunday working and so on. The keelmen looked after their own, and in 1701 were able to build the Keelmen's Hospital in City Road, Newcastle. They were a formidable body of men and could bring the entire river to a standstill if they struck, though they rendered themselves liable for impressment into the navy if they did so. The strike of 1822 was the beginning of the end for the keelmen as a fraternity, as the construction of staiths meant that colliers could be loaded with coal directly from the bank. The strikers blockaded the river and William Hedley (q.v.) of Wylam mounted his steam engine on a keel and fitted it with paddle wheels in an attempt to run the blockade. The strike failed and the employment of keelmen declined still further with the dredging of the river and the opening of the Swing bridge in 1876.
This colourful community thus disappeared from the banks of the Tyne, leaving only the Keelmen's Hospital and a rich store of folklore and music, not least the nationally-famous 'Keel Row'. We recall that in Elizabeth Gaskell's novel Sylvia's Lovers, the gallant Northumbrian harpooner Charlie Kinraid sings 'The Keel Row' in the streets of Acre, in Palestine.