Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - A History of Penarth Dock by Roy Thorne . . .

The wheel house of the "Primrose" had no top and was open to the sky so the skipper, Bert Lawday, was on a tilting bridge with no top, but in spite of its awkward and dangerous position the tug completed its task as a rudder until the vessel left the dock. According to Charles Lawday, his father "had a word" with the negligent deckhand. No doubt some strong language was used.

Charles took one of his friends on board the "Primrose" with Charles’ father’s permission, but the father, the skipper told the boys that they were not to go to the stern of the tug. Near the stern of the tug was a parabolic arch over which the towing hawser rode.

The "Primrose" had towed mud barges out to the Cardiff Flats, the barges had discharged their cargo of mud, and the "Primrose" swung for the dock so that the whole, tug and barges, made a U shape.

Charles' friend had disobeyed the skipper’s orders and had gone aft. He was standing on the engine hatch with his head over the parabolic steel arch, and as the tug swung around for the dock the nine inch hawser moved over and trapped the boy’s head.

Skipper Lawday saw this and quickly had "all hands on deck" to physically lift the hawser from the boy. Charles Lawday tells that his father was angry with him, but sympathetic to the boy who had almost been killed.

The dock to the boys of Albert School, St. Joseph’s School and the Church-in-Wales School was part of their lives. They could not avoid its noise and hustle and bustle, but the many coal trucks and sidings, and the depth of water in the dock made it a dangerous place. The dock policeman had a busy time protecting boys from their sense of adventure. These boys were soon to see business cease at the dock.

The Great Western decided to close some of its dock facilities. Penarth was the obvious choice and the G.W.R. decided in 1932 to close it, but the generous action of the Earl of Plymouth in waiving shipment royalties temporarily delayed its closure.

During the early part of 1936 rumours were abound in the town that the dock was to be closed, and the "Penarth Times" of 5th March 1936 reported : -