Rivet Hammer

This rivet hammer was used to knock red hot rivets into steel plates. Riveting was an important part of building the Titanic. Riveting squads in the Harland & Wolff shipyard were usually three men and one or two young boys aged 14 or older. A boy heated the rivets in a furnace to a temperature of around 650 degrees Celsius. Then a boy, called a ‘Heater’ or ‘Rivet Catcher’, would hold it in tongs and run or climb to where it was needed before it cooled off.