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having trouble reading an occupation

PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 4:41 pm
by Tempest
Hi, anyone any idea what this occupation could be. Later in life he's a Brickmaker but how this fits that I'm not sure?

Pavigatoir?
Pavigator?
Navigator?

Re: having trouble reading an occupation

PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 5:02 pm
by BC Wench
It reads Navigator also known as a Navvy who would work on roads, railways, canals etc.

Re: having trouble reading an occupation

PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:17 am
by Tempest
Thanks BC, and I thought my writing was bad, so that first letter is an N?
I guess in those days a Navigator wasn’t a skilled trade, maybe brickmaking and laying cobbles are interchangeable trades.

Re: having trouble reading an occupation

PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:35 am
by SRD
The canals and the bridges, the embankments and cuts,
They blasted and dug with their sweat and their guts
They never drank water but whiskey by pints
And the shanty towns rang with their songs and their fights.
Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done.
Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
Yes to shift a few tons of this earthly delight.

They died in their hundreds with no sign to mark where
Save the brass in the pocket of the entrepreneur.
By landslide and rockblast they got buried so deep
That in death if not life they'll have peace while they sleep.
Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done.
Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
Yes to shift a few tons of this earthly delight.

Their mark on this land is still seen and still laid
The way for a commerce where vast fortunes were made
The supply of an Empire where the sun never set
Which is now deep in darkness, but the railway's there yet.
Navigator, Navigator rise up and be strong
The morning is here and there's work to be done.
Take your pick and your shovel and the bold dynamite
For to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
Yes to shift a few tons of this earthly delight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0F41AvO_Q