Four steam tubs, 23 barges, one steam crane... and much more besides are used to construct the new breakwater at Leith Dock.

Four steam tubs, 23 barges, one steam crane... and much more besides are used in the construction of the new breakwater at Leith Dock. This 'making of' film documents the considerable feat of engineering in expansive detail. The Port of Leith is still the biggest enclosed deep water port in Scotland.

The construction of breakwaters at the Port of Leith.

Shot of a steamship's funnel issuing smoke. Close up of a book titled "Leith
Dock Commission, 1936: Conditions of Contract, Western Extension Scheme". Book
opens to reveal the names of contractors commissioned to construct "West and
East Breakwaters" and "Digging and Reclamation Works". Intertitle lists the
equipment used.

Diagram of the breakwaters showing dredged and reclaimed areas. Intertitle
describes the dredging/ reclamation process. A dredger at work. Some shots show
Leith in the background. The reclaimed area of land being built up with dredged
ground. Diagrams showing the structure of the East and West Breakwaters and how
they were constructed. Shots of the barges dropping clay for the base of the
breakwaters and the men at work on the barges. Long shot of the breakwater in
an early stage of construction. Cranes dropping boulders of clay. Barges
bringing clay to the cranes. Men at work. A suction dredger in the Firth of
Forth bringing up sand for the cores of the breakwaters. Dredged sand being
poured into the breakwaters. Men walking on the sand. Crane lifting more clay
from a barge and depositing it on the breakwater. More sand being pumped in.
Men shovel sand on the side of the breakwater. Shots of the crane operator
working in his cab. Various shots of breakwater construction. Men working on
the site. Man drilling whinstone at a Lothian quarry. Two men set a charge in
the hole. Detonation: a rock face explodes. Men working on large stones with
drills and pickaxes. A charge is set in a large stone and detonated, sheering
it in two. A man splits a stone by hammering in metal levers. A crane lifts
stones onto waiting railway cars. At Leith docks stones are transported from a
railway car onto a barge. men assembling stones on the breakwater. Men tarring
in the stones.

Shots of the completed breakwater. A man walks along it. Leith seen from the
breakwater. More shots of the breakwater. A raised monument in stone bearing
the legend "Port of Leith: western extension breakwaters, commenced 1936,
completed 1942" and the names of the chairman, engineers and contractors. Shot
of the opposite side of the monument, which has two thistles chiselled into it
and a shield containing a picture of a ship and the inscription "Port of
Leith, perseverence". Close up of shield design. The Leith dock commissioners
and engineers walk on the breakwater to view the work, led by the chairman Hugh
Rose. The men pose for the camera. Shots of the director of works, J.Dalgliesh
Easton at his desk. Aerial shots of the port of Leith and the breakwaters.
868 feet.