Information courtesy of David Shuttleworth
Arthur Walker Shuttleworth was born in Scultcoates, Hull, Yorkshire, in 1887, to parents Samuel Shuttleworth and Rose Howell. The family moved to Fleetwood at the turn of the 19th century and most commenced work in the fledgling fishing industry.
Arthur married Jennette Wilson in 1910 and lived in Warwick Place and then Carr Road. They had 2 children John (the father of David who was good enough to provide this information in) in 1911 and Nora in 1916.
Arthur was called upon for active service at the outbreak of hostilities and remained in the RNR until the war’s end. However, one documented action occurred on March 9th, the sinking of SS Silverdale .
Arthur Shuttleworth was sailing as master of HMT Clementina II during the First World War. It was during this period that he was instrumental in rescuing the crew of the SS Silverdale in a position that would seem to put her off Corsica. I am quite happy to be corrected on this. In the picture below, Arthur is seated holding the fish.
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Arthur Shuttleworth
Captain Shuttleworth was subsequently presented with quite an ornate, medium sized, teapot with the inscription…
“Presented to Capt. A. Shuttleworth in recognition of gallant services rendered to Capt. McLeod and his crew, of the transport Silverdale, March 9th 1918″ .
After WW1 he fished out of Fleetwood until his death in 1947. He skippered many vessels for Boston and Clifton Steam Trawlers and delivered the steam trawler Bonthorpe to Australia in 1929
Two pictures of HMT Clementina II
The following items are three letters from Captain McLeod, master of the Silverdale.
D.V.T.O.
Dear Sir
On March 9th at 00:35am, a torpedo was seen approaching the SS Silverdale on the port side forward, by my second officer Mr. J. Jappy, which struck the vessel abreast the foremast on about No 1 bulkhead port side, causing her to sink down forward rapidly.
I immediately rung the telegraph to stop and rung her off, as a signal to the engineers to come on deck. The boats were then quickly lowered into the water, and manned by the crew, and finally myself, as vessel was rapidly sinking. She disappeared about 2 minutes after we got into the boats, sinking bows foremost in Lat.37.31N by 10.40E at about 00:44am.
Great praise is due to the master of HMT Clementina II, Mr A. Shuttleworth, for the promptness and seamanlike manner in which he steamed to the scene of the disaster. and picked us up from our lifeboats within 5 minutes of the sinking of SS Silverdale, and the kind treatment provided to us, with food and clothing.
Yours Faithfully Capt. W. Mcleod
Achany Rd.
Dingwall
RossShire
20/6/18
Dear Capt Shuttleworth
Your very kind letter, and photo of your good self and ship at last at hand, after tracking me from Shildon to Lockinver, Sunderlandshire, hence here, for which accept our united thanks dear boy.
You may be sure that they will be highly appreciated for many years to come, by us and co.
I do hope that they will at least leave you at home, for 6 months, after being on active duty for 2½ years.
I am gradually moving south to my Cardiff home, and when my little girl and I get our dials taken, we shall not forget another little home at 41 Carr Road, Fleetwood.
I shall now close with Kind Regards from my little wife and self, to each of you.
Norfolk Hotel
Paddington, London
19/4/18
Dear Madam
Herewith please fnd a small token of esteem, in recognition of a brave, unselfish action rendered by your husband in picking up myself and crew, a few minutes after being torpedoed, on March 9th, on this year, at midnight.
I have put this brave action, before the Admiralty, both at Bizerta, London and Cardiff, and my owners are putting the matter before the proper Authorities.
I am now on my honeymoon, and my wife, and self wish you to accept this small gift from ourselves.
Yours Sincerely Wm. Mcleod
Late Master SS Silverdale
Click to enlarge images
HMT Clementina
HMT Clementina
They were, rather scathingly, known as ‘Three Day Millionaires’ because of the way that they threw their money around. Of course they went mad when they were ashore, fishermen had three week’s worth of drinking and spending to catch up on when they landed.
Because of this it was commonly thought that wages were good. In point of fact they were extremely poor given the harsh conditions and ever present dangers that the men had to endure while they were away from home. This is amply illustrated by looking at the settling sheet from the Melling Steam Trawling Company, who were operating from 170 Dock St. in 1915.
Mellings could be said to be typical of the owners that operated in those days. Their fleet, at that time, consisted of six vessels
Annie Melling
Tom Melling
Lizzie Melling
Harry Melling
Lily Melling
Betty Johnson
This extract from their books shows the true earnings that a skipper or mate could be expected to make.
A. Miller settling March 26th. 1915, ST Annie Melling for 9 trips as follows
3 trips as skipper from December 15th. 1914 to January 7th. 1915
5 trips as mate from February 8th. to March 11th., 1915
1 trip as skipper from March 13th. to March 24th.
3 trips as skipper from December 15th. 1914 to January 7th. 1915
Ship’s accounts for the trips
Gross sales less stage expenses = £193.19.10
General expenses = £92.10.0
Balance = £101.9.10
5 trips as mate from February 8th. to March 11th. 1915
Ship’s accounts for the trips
Gross sales less stage expenses = £418.2.9
General expenses = £256.1.10
Balance = £162.0.11
1 trip as skipper from March 13th. to March 24th. 1915
Ship’s accounts for the trip
Gross sales less stage expenses = £193.10.0
General expenses = £127.19.6
Balance = £127.19.6
A. Miller’s total wage for the 9 trips
Skipper’s share on 3 trips = £21.29.9
Mate’s share on 5 trips = £11.11.6
Balance = £34.1.3
Less cash on a/c = £21.13.0
Less provisions = £28.5.10
Balance = £5.15.5
After 4 trips as skipper and 5 as mate A. Miller is left with the princely sum of £5.15.5. Not a lot is it?
Mr. J T Wragg skipper’s settling for 5 trips from January 8th. to March 11th. 1915
62 days less 4 days settling, 58 days working
Gross sales less stage expenses = £418.2.9
Less general expenses = £256.1.10
Balance = £162.0.11
Skipper’s share and 3 eighths = £15.18.3
Less cash on a/c = £28.6.6
Less provisions = £3.19.11
Balance = £16.18.2
In case anyone thinks that this poor pay improved over the years, the following information I freely admit to extracting from John Nicklin’s excellent book ‘Trawling With The Lid Off’ illustrates that this was not the case.
John Nicklin spent 30 years on Arctic trawlers and this extract was based on 324 days at sea for the 1948/49 tax year. The trawler that he sailed on during that period, the Northern Duke, was the top earner and many more vessels earned half as much.
Vessel’s gross for the year £120,000
John’s gross pay for the year (324 days) £1,200
48 weeks @ £7.50 £360
Poundage £672
Liver Money £140
Total Gross Earnings £1,172
Now consider that the average day was a 12 hour working one whilst on passage and an 18 hour one when fishing. Average that out to 15 hours a day for the trip and then divide the amount earned by the hours worked to get an average hourly rate.
Hours worked = 324 days times 15 = 4860 hours.
Hourly rate = £(1172/4860) = £0.24p per hour.
The following payslip was kindly sent to me by Les Howard. It is from a trip on the Wyre Vanguard in 1962. As you will notice, the wages are not that good for an 18 to 24 hour day over 3 weeks.
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Pay Advice
Who else would work the hours that those men did, under the conditions that they regarded as normal, for so little money? Millionaires? I don’t think so.
Text from The Fishing News 24/06/1951
Wyre Monitor Returns After 45-day Trip
The 19 members of the crew of the Fleetwood trawler Wyre Monitor (FD 304; 137 tons net; Wyre Steam Trawling Co., Ltd.), which arrived in Fleetwood on Sunday after spending 45 days on a fishing trip to the White Sea – the longest trip ever recorded at the port – will have a week’s rest before returning to sea.
Wyre Monitor left Fleetwood on January 5 for a three week voyage. Before fishing could begin she had to make for a Norewgian port for emergency repairs. Back at sea and almost at the fishing grounds, she developed a mysterious leak and raced to Vardo, Norway.
After two and a half days there it was found the repairs could not be undertaken., so with all pumps going and just keeping down the water which was entering her hull the trawler spent another 26 hours making Trondhjem Fjord, where it took nine days for the repairs to be completed.
Meanwhile, two members of the crew who had flu’, and were put ashore for a week in hospital, rejoined the crew.
More coal and food had to be bought before Wyre Monitor could return to the fishing grounds.
The the luck changed and good hauls of fish were made totalling 14,000 stone, including 1,200 stone of plaice, which was landed at Fleetwood fish market on Monday.
The catch made £4,400, an excellent catch normally, but with double the normal fishing time, double the wages, coal and food and other expenses, it will probably just clear the expenses of the trip. In addition, however, the Wyre Steam Trawling Co., Ltd., have the repair bills to meet.
Richard Bettess
29/1/1879 – 23/7/63
Richard (Dick) Bettess was the third child and second son of Frederick Bettess, (10/10/1846-24/10/1916), who was born in Padstow, Cornwall. Frederick was a fisherman and seaman who married Margaret Anne Bond, (1855-31/3/1919), of Fleetwood and settled there. It is probably true to say that any one in Fleetwood with the surname Bettess is a descendant of Frederick and his wife.
William & John
Dick went to sea at the age of 11 as cook in the smack “William & John”, under the skipper Burgoyne Cowell. He sailed in a variety of smacks and prawners, and when he was 16 years old he was sent with ‘Pepper’ Wright to Southport to pick up the prawner “The Two Sisters” and bring her back to Fleetwood. ‘Pepper’ was about the same age as Dick, but Dick was in charge and he skippered the prawner for some time.For the next few years he alternated between smacks and steam trawlers until from 1901 he sailed exclusively in steam trawlers. On the 19th June 1902 he got his steam trawler skippers ticket and his first ship as skipper was the Marrs owned by J.Marrs & Co. This was followed by the Lucerne for the same company. On 16th October 1903 he took command of the Hellenic, belonging to ‘The Grimsby Steam Fishing Company’, better known to an earlier generation as ‘Kelly’s’ (W.M.Kelly).
On 29th December 1903 Dick married Kate Leadbetter whose forebears came from the Banks, near Southport, in the early immigration from that area to Fleetwood, so he was well connected throughout the old fishing community of the port.
In May 1904 he began sailing for “The Wyre Steam Trawling Co”, better known as Ward’s, and he worked for them, in one capacity or another, until about 1936, with a short break in the Navy. Wards made him their Commodore Skipper in 1911 and he continued fishing for most of the 1914-18 War. For some of the time in that war the fishing was organised on a convoy system, small groups of trawlers keeping together. One of the ships had a gun at the bow, in case they ran into an enemy vessel, and one had a gun at the stern to lag behind the others and engage the enemy if they were being chased.
At the beginning of the war Wards had 18 trawlers, but they were requisitioned gradually until in 1918 the last one, the Stormcock, which Dick skippered, was taken. Having no ship he was called up for the Navy and eventually was sent as an ordinary rating to a minesweeper, which was a steam trawler. Ironically he was the cook, and the commanding officer had been a bank manager in peace time. It is interesting to speculate whether the C.O. knew that his cook was a more competent seaman than he was and had far more experience in handling wire ropes and gear above and below water!
Dick served in the Navy from 19th July 1918 to 12th February 1919, when he returned to Wards, taking the Arley to sea on 20th March 1919.
On the 31st January 1920, while still in the Arley, he rescued four fishing boats and their crews, totalling 28 men, in the Sound of Innistrahull, off the north coast of Ireland during a gale. In a continuation of the same incident he went to sea again to Rathlin Island to pick up another six men whose boat had been driven ashore there. For this rescue the Royal National Lifeboat Institution presented him with a pair of silver mounted binoculars and gave the sum of £20 for division amongst the crew. Dick gave up his share to increase the amount for the others. There is a brief account in the magazine “The Lifeboat” of August 1920 on page 88. In this report it is stated “Although no actual risk of life was incurred by the crew of the trawler, it was due to their persevering endeavours, extending over twelve hours, that the men were saved”.
Dick was appointed Shore Skipper for Wards on 19th January 1921. His duties, as outlined in his letter of appointment, were concerned with the employment of skippers and mates, keeping an oversight of all the fishing gear on each ship, gathering information from their own skippers about where they had been fishing and with what results and doing the same generally about other ships, using this information to advise their own skippers on where to fish. In addition he would be sent to look into the merits of any new fishing gear, sometimes going to sea on trial trips, taking new ships for a few months to see how they behaved, particularly if they embodied new features. For example Wards had two new ships built about 1929, the “Lune” and the “Fane”. They both had cruiser sterns and balanced rudders, Dick took the “Fane” for about four or five months to give these new features a good trial. If one of their ships went ashore he would go with the insurance representative to have a look at her and to assess the chance of salvaging her.
About 1936 he was, in modern terms, “made redundant”, but in the language of those days “sacked”. It was caused partly by “the depression”, and partly by “politics” in the firm. Dick went back to full time fishing, sailing for Mellings perhaps properly known as “The Sun Steam Trawling Co”, but after a short time he was persuaded by Archie Watson, the manager for Mellings, to buy his own ship and sail her as skipper. The choice fell on the “Cameo” which was on the small side by the standards of that time but as compared with his early days she was a sizeable vessel. She was bought on the east coast and I do not know her original registration but Dick had the registration changed to Fleetwood and she became FD38. I think that this was because of loyalty to his home port. After sailing her a few years he, in the well known phrase “swallowed the anchor” and gave up seafaring. Round about this time he bought the “Oonah Hall” and ran the two ships through the “Sun” office. The “Sun’s” house colours were a black hull with a thin lighter coloured line right round and a white funnel with a black top separated from the white by a red band with an image of the sun in it. Dick followed this pattern but in place of the sun there was the letter B.
Very sadly the “Oonah Hall” was run down in the first year of the war and lives were lost. This hit Dick hard because in all his own seagoing career he had never lost a man. Soon after the end of the war the “Cameo’s” career came to an end and she was sent to the breakers yard. Dick kept up some interest in fishing by purchasing an inshore boat, the “Pamella” with one or two young men working it. Eventually he gave that up, but almost to the end of his life he visited the dock area, being taken by car because he had difficulty walking.
Some of the ships he sailed in are -
Prawners
Black Prince The Two Sisters
Smacks
William & John Snowdrop Lily Oyster Girl Cygnet
Comet Carlisle Margaret Agnes
Steam Trawlers – crew
Britanic Adriatic Rattler Akranes
Steam Trawlers – Skipper
Marrs Lucerne Hellenic Ribble Wyre Stormcock
Arley Trent Greta Maun Sulby
Queen Alexandra Brock Peter Lovett Transvaal J. Baels Mauriox
Fane Harry Melling Cameo
Information courtesy of Adrian Corkill (Dictionary of Shipwrecks off the Isle of Man)
The 47 ton Fleetwood smack Wave was trawling off St. Bees Head, Cumbria, on March 10th. 1918 when she was captured by the same submarine that had, earlier in the day, captured the smacks Marguerite and Sunrise. Marguerite had been sunk by means of a bomb placed aboard her when she was some 25 miles N ¼ E of Beaumaris while Sunrise went down by the same method 18 miles to the southeast of Maughold Head, Isle of Man. The submarine had released the crews of the two former smacks without loss of life. Wave suffered the same fate as the other two, 10 miles SW of St. Bees Head
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