Good post Captain. Interesting but sad.
When it was obligatory to eat fish on a Friday and we turned our noses up at it. Little did we know the dangers and hardships men of the sea went through.
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Good post Captain. Interesting but sad.
When it was obligatory to eat fish on a Friday and we turned our noses up at it. Little did we know the dangers and hardships men of the sea went through.
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Don't know how well this will come out but this was my first ship, the now departed MV Lincolnshire, part of Bibby Line. Very fond memories.
Nice photo Gynsman.
This is a Charles Dixon work, It was a study of the Arcadian and would be used as a poster for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. The vessel looks like it is approaching port, the sun is setting in the west behind the hills and the smoke is gently curling upwards from her funnel making it look like she is running at a slow speed.An altogether glorious painting,
BrianD
Nice one Brian.
That is the real price of Fish, The price for the fish on the dockside to the trawler men was peanuts compared to the prices that the mongers charged to the customers.
I went to Fleetwood last weekend and went to see the Jacinta and take the Photos. Unfortunately it was closed to visitors so couldnt get onboard. Maybe when the tourist season opens.
I took a few photos from the dockside.
Below is a write up about her, it is from the `Fleetwood Motor Trawler` site.
M.V. Jacinta – FD159
Fleetwood Trawler – Jacinta FD159
Official Number: 341758
Built: 1972 at Wallsend by Clelands Shipbuilders Ltd
Yard Number: 322
Gross Tonnage: 599
Net Tonnage: 178
Length: 142′ 8” ft
Breadth: 32′ 1” ft
Draught: 12′ 10” ft
Owner: J Marr and Sons Ltd
History
1982: Transferred to Hull.
February 1990: Skippered by Dennis Beaumont, Jacinta set a British record catch with £270,516
09/02/1995: Left Hull under tow for Fleetwood to become the focal point of a maritime museum after engine repairs were judged too costly.
Notes
As a trawler working out of Fleetwood, The Jacinta became the most famous stern trawler of her generation. She returned to port with record catches and soon covered her building costs many times over. After years at sea, her engines failed and she seemed doomed for the scrapyard. However, a group of local Fleetwood people rallied to save her and she was bought from her owners for just one pound, and was towed home to Fleetwood. She was then fitted with a new engine to enable her to go to sea and attend heritage festivals
This is the last of the fishing boats in my collection. The wooden steam drifter Ocean Harvest YH305 ,built in 1913 for Bloomfields Ltd. of Great Yarmouth,shown hauling her nets. As hundreds of other fishing vessels, she was requisitioned for naval duties during World War 1, but thereafter she remained with Bloomfields until July 13th 1939 , when she was wrecked at Rattray Head, her crew being rescued by the Peterhead lifeboat.
This was painted by them Yarmouth artist Kenneth Luck,
BrianD
Nice pictures fellas.
It's a good painting Brian and the artist has kept everything in balance even though the dominant colour is yellow. Charles Dixon is obviously born to it.
I'm talentless when it comes to painting, I would have to stick with blue sky and green sea for it to seem right, even though it's a sunset.
Thanks for all your ship postings, really appreciate them.
Oddsocks
From the excellent site, Fleetwood and Wyre on line site
Photo from the site and the excellent Painting from Steve Farrow - Grimsby Based Trawler Artist, the sea is so real..
More of the high price for Fish. the RED FALCON of Fleetwood
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Browse > Home / Fleetwood History, Trawler Tales / Red Falcon Red Falcon
Mid-December 1959.
The week before Christmas and the whole of Fleetwood waited.
A trawler was overdue… and a silence descended on the port.
For days the sea around Skerry – Vore in the South Minch was scoured for the 449-ton Red Falcon and her crew of 19 in a massive sea and air search.
Families waited with mounting anxiety – eyes scanning the horizon in vain and hope. But the Red Falcon was lost – presumed to have been overwhelmed in heavy seas as she made for home.
Wreckage – including a rocket container box, pieces of wood believed to be floorboards on a lifeboat and two lifebuoys stamped “Red Falcon” - was washed up 25 miles north of the vessel’s last known position.
Lost with all hands – leaving 25 children fatherless and a town too stunned to celebrate Christmas.
The Red Falcon – built in 1936 – was the last coal burning trawler in the lago Steam Trawler Co. Ltd. Fleet. She was formerly named Cape Barfleur.
Her last voyage started on November 25th 1959 when she sailed for the Icelandic fishing grounds, leaving on the same tide as the Red Sabre.
The two vessels fished together at Iceland for most of the trip and turned for home at the same time.
Red Falcon was skippered by Alexander Hardy, (45) of Broadway, Fleetwood. A most experienced skipper who undertook minesweeping duties during the war.
He was in contact with Sabre’s skipper (Tom McKernan) and the skipper of the Red Knight (John Mecklenburgh) during the voyage home. Both men later thought the falcon had been engulfed by a tidal wave.
Skipper McKernan had been about 70 miles ahead of the Falcon and Skipper Mecklenburgh about 150 miles behind. Both reported severe gales – with winds gusting to 100mph. Skipper McKernan advised the Falcon to avoid the tidal race off Islay which Skipper Hardy acknowledged.
The area was known to be treacherous with swirling tides.
But relatives had received wires from the ship saying she would be docking Monday night.
As was the custom, many went to meet her in on that Monday – December 14th. It was not unusual for ships to be delayed by bad weather and families again went down to meet Falcon on the Tuesday.
The radio silence from the vessel was ominous and anxiety mounted. “We fear the worst,” said Captain E.D.W. Lawford,
DSO, RN, managing director of the owners.
And as the terrible news began to sink in, the “mission men” continued their task of comforting the bereaved. The Superintendent of the Fleetwood branch of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, Mr Duncan Brown, and the Port Missioner Mr.G. Wright, visited homes.
All but one of the crew – Fireman Joseph Mair of Portsmouth – lived in Fleetwood.
The crew list was given as:
Skipper Alexander Hardy (45), Broadway, Mate George Gloss (59), Gordon Road, Chief Engineer Jim Carter (39), Macbeth Road, Second engineer William Irvine (45), Bramley Avenue, Bosun Jim Gorst, (38), Wingrove Road, Deckhands Joseph Blackburn (21), Radcliffe Road, Jack McDaid (27) North Street, Jim Read (26), Willow Street, Edward Archer (31), Belmont Road, George Harlin (24), Chatsworth Avenue, Joseph Riches (26), Knowsley Gate, Jim Morley (27), Heathfield Road, William Deery (36), Bold Street, Jack Preston (16), Radcliffe Road, Wireless Operator William Cooper (46), Heathfield Road, Cook George McLoughlin (44) Witton Grove, Assistant Cook John Coultas (20), Abbotts Walk, Fireman John Smith (33), Whinfield Avenue.
Within days an appeal fund for dependants was set up by the Mayor of Fleetwood (Councillor Jim Shaw,JP). Owners, lago, started it with a £1,000 donation and the fund eventually topped £20,000, with cash pouring in from all over the country.
A cheque for £10.10s. Was received from the Church of Scotland on the island of Tiree, Inner Hebrides. An accompanying letter said the loss of the Falcon so near their shores had made a deep impression on the community. It was on the rocky shores of isle of Mull and one from people in Oban.
Seven months after the loss an inquiry opened at Fleetwood Town Hall. It was revealed that the last radio contact with the Falcon was at 7am on December 14th. The Sabre’s skipper called up the Falcon and reported the wind as force 10 between Skerryvore and Rathlin Island. He said he had had a very rough passage but was now under the lee of Rathlin. Falcon’s skipper said he was abeam of Skerryvore Light and he would avoid the tide race.
A few minutes later the Red Knight had also been in radio contact with the Falcon and heard she was in bad weather with a “confused” sea.
The Sabre and Knight continued their homeward journey and no real anxiety was felt until Knight – which had been astern of the Falcon – docked at midnight on Tuesday, December 15th. A 3-day search was launched.
Both skippers thought a tidal wave had swamped the Falcon.
The inquiry believed it was difficult to ascertain the cause of the loss but the most probable cause was that the ship was “overwhelmed”.
And its loss left a town overwhelmed with shock and grief.
Written by The Editor · Filed Under Fleetwood History, Trawler Tales
You may have guessed by now that my favourite marine artist is Charles Dixon. Here is another of his paintings of the London river and it is entitled quite simply "The Working Thames". It is signed and dated 1889.It feels like dusk and there is a fog coming on,it's going to be another murky night ,
BrianD
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