One who raises coal out of a ship’s hold by means of a pulley: see quot. 1880.
1836–9. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Steam Excursion (D.). At the appearance of the coal-whippers and ballast-heavers.
1861. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 39. The lodgings here are occupied by dredgers, ballast-heavers, coal-whippers.
1880. F. Gosman, Past Events (Newc.-on-Tyne, 1881), 129. An apparatus for rapidly discharging vessels laden with coal. This coal-whipper is intended to be fixed on the deck of the vessel.
So Coal-whipping vbl. sb.
1861. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 95. He had met with an accident … which prevented him from following coal-whipping any longer.
1887. R. Newman, in Charity Organisation Rev., July, 275. Coal-whipping … has now all but ceased.
