Record Breaking Riveters

A little healthy competition in the shipyard – who can fasten the most rivets in a nine-hour stretch?

During the First World War, the shipbuilding industry was more important than ever to Britain. In this fragment of a newsreel, shipbuilders have some fun by competing to set the world record for riveting. As the opening title card explains, a team from London set the pace by fastening 4,276 rivets in nine hours. However the triumphant riveter we see at work and celebrating his victory is W. Moses of Vickers ltd, Barrow-in-Furness, who sinks a mighty 5,894 rivets in the same time.

Impressive as these efforts were, a lasting Guinness World Record for riveting was set elsewhere in 1918. In June that year, at the Workman Clark Ltd shipyard in Belfast, John Moir powered through 11,209 rivets in nine hours, almost double Mr Moses’s achievement. His record remains undefeated.