Wharfinger (pronounced ''wor-fin-jer)'' is an archaic term for a person who is the keeper or owner of a
wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
. The wharfinger takes custody of and is responsible for goods delivered to the wharf, typically has an office on the wharf or dock, and is responsible for day-to-day activities including
slipways
A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...
, keeping tide tables and resolving disputes.
The term is rarely used; today a wharfinger is usually called a "
harbourmaster
A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct opera ...
".
Etymology
The word's
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
is probably
Elizabethan-era English, and possibly a corruption of ''wharfager''. An 1844 usage appears in Pigot's Directory of Dorset in which Beales and Cox are noted to be wharfingers for the Port of
Weymouth.
Duties
In Smith v. Burnett, 173 U.S. 430 (1899), the US Supreme Court set forth the primary duties a wharfinger owes to vessels using the dock. A wharfinger does not guarantee the safety of the vessels using its dock, but must exercise reasonable diligence to determine the condition of the berth, remove dangerous obstructions or provide a warning thereof, provide a usable entrance and exit to the dock, maintain sufficient depth for anticipated vessels by dredging, and warn of latent hazards and dangers.
Current usage
While the term "harbormaster" has supplanted the term "wharfinger" in some areas, it remains in popular use. For example, in the town of Saint Andrews in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, wharfinger is the name for the official responsible for the Market Wharf. The same is true in the Port of Nanaimo in the Canadian province of British Columbia. At the Port of Los Angeles, wharfingers are facilitators and problem solvers.
What's a Wharfinger?
/ref>
Historical and literary uses
*Richard Wharfinger is the name of a fictional Jacobean playwright—author of ''The Courier's Tragedy''—in Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
's 1965 novel ''The Crying of Lot 49
''The Crying of Lot 49'' is a 1966 novel by American author Thomas Pynchon. The shortest of Pynchon's novels, the plot follows Oedipa Maas, a young Californian woman who begins to embrace a conspiracy theory as she possibly unearths a centuries-ol ...
''.
*British author Jane Wilson-Howarth's grandfather listed his occupation on his daughter's birth certificate in 1926 as wharfinger; he was supervisor of a warehouse in the London Docks between the wars.
* Benjamin Hicklin's father, also Benjamin, was a wharfinger at the time of the signing of young Benjamin's articles to an attorney at law in 1832. Hicklin, the son, is remembered through the Hicklin test, a legal definition of obscenity.
*In the 1832 novel ''The Pickwick Papers
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with '' Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to ...
'' by Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
, the father of Mr. Winkle is a wharfinger.
See also
*Slipway
A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...
*Wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
*Demurrage
The term "demurrage" from Old French ''demeurage'', from ''demeurer'' – to linger, tarry – originated in vessel chartering and referred to the period when the charterer remained in possession of the vessel after the period normally allowed ...
*bonded warehouse
A bonded warehouse, or bond, is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty. It may be managed by the state or by private enterprise. In the ...
* Berth
*yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
*yacht broker A yacht broker is a specialist who serves yacht or boat sellers and/or buyers as a representative for the sale or purchase of a yacht or boat. The yacht broker is paid an agreed commission by the seller to market the yacht for sale, field interest ...
* houseboat
Notes
{{Reflist
Marine occupations