National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
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Swansea Docks in the War Years
Despite the title, this shows busy Swansea docks at the end of the war. A torpedoed ship is in for repair, a trawler arrives with fish, biscuits for the hungry of Europe are loaded.
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Overview
Swansea Docks at the end of the war would be a more appropriate title. Food is being loaded as part of a relief operation for the starving and the displaced, organised by The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. American soldiers unload stores for the US Army in Britain, a transit shed is still ‘blacked-out’. Some cargoes are the usual, war or not - Swedish timber and fish.
The SS Riverton was launched in 1943 and torpedoed in the Bristol Channel on 23/4/1945 when in a convoy, carrying ballast. 3 of the 48 people on board were killed. It beached in St. Ives Bay and was towed to Swansea in August 1945 for repair. On the quayside are American aeroplanes (P47 Thunderbolts), perhaps awaiting transport home? Interestingly, some of the American soldiers engaged in unloading cargoes can be seen to be wearing tin helmets unlike their British counterparts. The UNRRA was active as part of the UN from 1945 to 1947, after which some of its responsibilities were passed onto other UN agencies e.g., International Refugee Organization and the World Health Organization.
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