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Maritime Heritage Centre

Fleetwood Development Trust have made a rival bid for a replacement for the burned out pier. The new building will be a Maritime Heritage Centre and will be for the benefit of tourists and local folk alike.
You may have seen the article in the local newspaper concerning the Maritime Heritage Centre that has been proposed for the site that the pier once stood on.

The Trust needs dedicated volunteers to take charge and drive this project forward and provide Fleetwood with a resource that will benefit the town as a whole.

As you will know, Joey Blower (who holds the lease on the site) has proposed building a hotel complex, a proposal that has been rejected by the town on more than one occasion. The Maritime Heritage Centre will be more in keeping with the current surrounding architecture and will celebrate Fleetwood’s nautical past as well as containing modern, forward looking projects.

We need to plan, negotiate and to secure finance to push this vital project forward so that the town’s links to the sea will not be forgotten.

If you are willing to help in any way, please contact Peter Brady at peter@fishermansalmanac.co.uk (01253 872219)or Jim Porter at webmaster@fleetwood-trawlers.info (01772 452326) for further information.

Thank you

The mainstay of a series of attractions will include the following.

  • A rolling maritime heritage exhibition.
  • A planetarium/cinema.
  • A debating chamber for the newly formed Town Council (this will also be available to local interest groups for meetings and displays).
  • A cafeteria/coffee shop.
  • A viewing platform to allow visitors to make full use of the panoramic vista of Morecambe Bay.
  • Local schools will have the opportunity to participate in projects such as The Jason Project.
    And much more.

Several large corporations have expressed interest in supporting the project and an artist’s impression shows the projected building.

The Proposed Centre

The Proposed Centre

A pleasure trip on the Red Rose

By Eric Haworth

I spent most of my school summer holidays in Fleetwood and had been intrigued by the trawlers as they left or returned on the high tide. As many as twenty or thirty trawlers would pass the families lined up on the prom waving goodbye to their dads for weeks on end. Each trawler would sound the fog horn in its own way so even at night they would be recognised by the families left behind.

The Taxi came to my Granddad’s shop in North Church Street at four o’clock in the morning. We swept past the police at the dock gates on a cold dark rainy night and drove straight up to the trawler Red Rose that was to be my home for the next three weeks.

The quayside was frantic, ice and provisions were being loaded, men were leaping on and off the ship. The whole crew it seemed to me, were all drunk, arrived cursing and swearing as they fell out of taxis in a last minute dash before we sailed. If they were lucky they would have had two days ashore with their families (or in the pubs) before setting off on another trip.

The Red Rose was a new ship built in Aberdeen in 1955 and was one of the last oil fired trawlers built to fish the Icelandic and North Russian fishing grounds out of Fleetwood. In those days it was revolutionary in providing decent aft crew quarters, with showers and flush toilets. (It was later relocated at Hull, renamed Lord Howe and finally scrapped in 1968.)
We sailed on the early morning tide to Heysham where we filled up with fuel oil. The heavy smell of the oil gave me the first hint of seasickness which was to plague me for the next week. Being sick for days on end and not eating meant that my stomach was throwing up bile and my muscles were aching with all the retching. These first few days were a nightmare not helped by the whole crew recovering with foul hangovers only to start boozing again when the `bond store` was opened.

As the crew sobered up, and we approached Iceland the fishing gear was made ready. It started to dawn on me how hard and dangerous the work was as the net was manually hauled over the side and the bobbins and trawl doors were winched into the sea (In the 1950’s all the trawlers had side nets).
The skipper, Captain McKernan, up on the bridge in a high chair lashed to the side rail, leaned out of the window and controlled every movement. He really was the boss, and was acknowledged as one of the most successful trawler captains in Fleetwood.
The net was trawled night and day for the next two weeks, weather permitting until the holds were full of fish. The crew worked 16 hours at a time in the worst conditions imaginable often soaked and covered in fish blood as they gutted the fish on the open deck .

After helping to gut the fish my jeans were soaked in blood and slime of the fish and stayed that way for the rest of the trip. I must have smelled delightful!
A more pleasant but equally difficult job was to chop the ice down in the fish holds and cover layer after layer of fish as they were placed in the aluminium storage racks.

The worst was to come in the form of a Force 9 gale when all we could do was to stow all the gear and steam slowly into the storm. The ship literally sailed up a wave then down into the trough repeatedly for two days. It was sheer terror to a young teenager. The bow would dive into an oncoming wave which would wash onto the bridge blacking out the windows, in what seemed ages they gradually turned dark then light green and then cleared as the wave moved down the ship.

As the stern and propeller came out of the sea, the engines raced to maximum revs and the ship shuddered violently. The ship was almost like a submarine with all doors locked and hatches closed. The pitching motion was so violent that the only way to sleep in my bunk was to tie myself in. Another boy on the same trip didn’t, and ended up smashed against the cabin wall as he was thrown out of his bunk.

At the other extreme, we steamed through flat calm in a dense fog among a least twenty other trawlers all determined to carry on fishing. We were the only ship with radar but that packed in and like all the others had a lookout at the bow and regularly sounded the foghorn. It gave a whole new meaning to fishing blind.
The weather changed again as we steamed back from Iceland on a beautiful summer evening the sea was like a mill pond and myself and several of the deckies were leaning back against superstructure enjoying a bit of warm sunshine.

Literally out of the blue we were reminded how fickle and unpredictable the sea can be. A rogue wave quietly bore down on us and although we spotted it at the last minute all we could do was grab the hand rail and hold tight whilst it swept over the trawler. We rolled through what seemed like 90 degrees and were
completely engulfed by seawater which rushed through the open doors and flooded the crews quarters. It also deluged down the galley skylight where the cook luckily escaped scalding as the water hit the stove.

Two minutes later we steamed on through flat calm as though nothing had happened, but then had to bail out and dry everything. Then as now, deep sea fishing was dangerous and out of our twenty-one crew,
three died at sea within a few years. Tragically William Cooper the radio operator on the Red Rose later became the radio operator on the Red Falcon and died when she went down in 1959. I spent a lot of time with Bill since I was interested in becoming a radio operator. His other job on the Red Rose was boiling cod livers in the bow . This was a peculiar feature on the Red Rose in that cod liver boilers were usually located astern.

In spite of the weather, at the end of two weeks non-stop fishing we had the hold full of mainly cod and haddock all neatly stowed in ice. The latest i.e. freshest was carefully laid out in trays head to tail to get the highest price at the quayside auction. Everyone had a vested interest since the wages depended on the value of the catch. After a good catch, the crew with children would shower them with presents
and sweets, and the pubs which lined Dock Street did a roaring trade.

Naval Weapons of WWI

As fitted to armed trawlers

Unidentified Weapon

Naval 12 Pounder
Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

7.5 Inch Howitzer

7.5 Inch Howitzer
Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

6 Pounder Gun

6 Pounder Gun
Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

3 Pounder Hotchkiss

3 Pounder Hotchkiss
Picture courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

I Never Met My Brother

Information courtesy of John McLaughlin

Barney McLaughlin

I never met my brother

During the 2nd World War a white pigeon landed on our house, he sat on the windowsill and, because a white pigeon near the house was supposed to be unlucky, my mother tried to chase it away. Our house was in Rosshead, Glenhead, by the sea. From the window we could see the cliffs, the fishing rocks and the sea stretching across to Portrush and Rathlin Island.

I came from a family of twelve children. The oldest boy was called Barney, and, being the first born, I always felt that he was my mother’s favourite. I often heard people talk about him but I’d never met him as he lived in England. He was the oldest and I was the youngest and he’d left Ireland before I was born. The reason that he’s left was that he’d been distilling and making poiteen, he had been charged by the Gardi and sent to Mountjoy jail, Dublin for three months. Upon his release he went to live in England, never to return.

During the war I remember a telegram arriving at our house from the War Office, saying that Barney’s ship had been torpedoed by the Germans. The whole family was devastated and my mother was heartbroken for a week until another telegram arrived from the War Office. They told us that there had been a mistake, Barney was not on the ship he should have been on. Seemingly that day he’d missed the ship because he’d got drunk. Because he did this he was jailed for one week, this was looked on as a serious crime as fishermen were fishing for food for the nation.

As far as I know he kept his roots and remained a fisherman for the rest of his life. He died 25 years ago and is buried in Hull. Since then I’ve met his son and daughter but I will never meet my brother. Every time that I see a white pigeon I think of Barney.

First Trawler Loss of WWII

Davara FD152

In August 1939 with the prospect of conflict in the offing, several trawler owners on both the East and West Coast recalled their vessels and delayed the sailing of others. Once War was declared, however, and with markets suffering from a lack of supplies, many trawlers returned to sea thinking that on the West Coast at least, the War might be slow to get under way.

They were not to know that many German U-boats were already moving into positions to the West of Ireland and outboard of the Western Isles – both areas favoured fishing grounds of the Fleetwood trawling fleet. On Tuesday 12 September 1939, the Mount Steam Fishing Co’s DAVARA (FD152) commanded by Skipper William Boyles and a crew of eleven, sailed from Fleetwood for the West of Scotland grounds.

In the early afternoon of Wednesday 13 September she was in a position some 21 miles NNW of Tory Island, County Donegal when she was closed by the U-boat, U.27 which with the deck gun manned, commenced shelling the DAVARA. Despite damage Skipper Boyles managed to get the boat into the water and with all the crew onboard the trawler was abandoned.

The shelling continued for about half an hour and thirty five rounds were counted, the DAVARA sinking at 14.55. The crew were in the boat for five hours constantly baling and rowing and were exhausted when picked up by by the West Hartlepool steamer WILLOWPOOL (4815grt/1925) and landed safely.

The DAVARA was the first British trawler to be sunk by enemy action in WWII. (Crew (all Fleetwood unless stated) – Sk. William Boyles; G. T. Pugh, Mate; W. Spall, Bosun; A Scott, Ch Eng, Thornton; J. Higgins, 2nd Eng, Burn Naze; E. Prentice, D. G. Gall, C. S. Hunter & H. R. Wright, deckhands; R. O. Welch & J. Gregger, firemen; C. W. Sharpe,

Only days later on 16 September in position 53.50N 11.10W the U.27 came upon The Sun Trawling Co’s RUDYARD KIPLING (FD33) under Skipper Charles Robinson with a crew of twelve and boarded the trawler. Ordering the crew to lower the boat and pull over to the submarine, supplies of food, including sugar, bread and fish and the vessels wireless equipment were transferred to the submarine before time delayed explosive charges were placed forward and aft; at 15.53 the trawler sank in three minutes. In complete contrast to the treatment of the DAVARA’s crew, during the eight hours that the U.27 towed the boat towards the Donegal coast the men were fed with hot soup and meat, given cigars and two rations of rum. In the early hours of the following morning when about five miles off the Donegal coast, they were ordered into the boat, but before being set adrift they were given greatcoats to wear. After an unpleasant journey they eventually landing safely at Killybegs. On 20 September the U.27 was detected by HM Ships, FORTUNE (P.No.H70) and FORESTER (P.No.H74) to the West of Scotland and forced to the surface by depth charges, she was sunk and all the crew captured.

Further U-boat victims soon followed though not all crews were released or lost. Fishing off the Faroe Islands the CALDEW (FD347), under Skipper T. J. Kane was stopped on 24 September by the U.33 and following the same pattern the crew was ordered into the boat before the trawler was sunk by gunfire. The boat was sighted by the neutral Swedish steamer KRONPRINSESSAN MARGARETA, (3765grt/1914) and the crew were rescued. Unfortunately the rescue was observed by an enemy seaplane which informed the German destroyer FRIEDRICH IHN (Z14) and torpedo boat, ILTIS, who intercepted the Swedish steamer and demanded that the survivors be handed over. On return to Germany the crew was declared prisoners of war and interned first in Stalag XB and later Milag Nord and with the exception of the Skipper, remained as prisoners for the rest of the War. Skipper Kane was exchanged on 21 June 1943 in Lisbon and repatriated.

By the end of 1939 and four months into the War, Fleetwood had lost a further eight fishing trawlers, WELLVALE (FD140), ARLITA (FD188), LORD MINTO (FD51), CRESSWELL (M129), DELPHINE (A126), SEA SWEEPER (FD171), SULBY (FD87) and WILLIAM HUMPHRIES (LO533) and with them the lives of over 50 fishermen. The incidents of Monday 18 September 1939 are particularly interesting. On the previous Monday, the ALVIS (H52) owned by Saint Andrew’s Steam Fishing Co, with Skipper Albert E. Thomason in command, left Fleetwood for the St. Kilda grounds. On the afternoon of the 18 September the Alvis was trawling about 29 miles NNW of St. Kilda in about 200 fathoms when around 1.20pm BST a submarine approached and fired a single round which fell short of the trawler. Skipper Thomason was ordered to stop the ship and put the crew in the punt and row over to the submarine, where he was taken onboard and questioned by the Captain. While alongside it was noted that the boat was leaking and the Captain asked “Is that the only boat you have got?” When Skipper Thomason replied in the affirmative, he said that the English should be ashamed of this, to send ships to sea with only one boat. The crew were ordered back onboard the ALVIS accompanied by an officer and three ratings from the submarine and the wireless transmitter and receiver were thrown overboard along with the trawl and all the gear out of the fore hold, all the time taking photographs; it was 4.40pm before they finished and were rowed back to the submarine. The Captain gave the Bosun a parcel, “Give this to your Captain with my compliments, and I hope he gets home quite safely”. It was a bottle of gin. The ALVIS having recovered the boat, steamed for St. Kilda with the submarine in company for about 11/4 hours before she submerged, and the trawler, her part catch still intact returned to Fleetwood accompanied down the Irish Sea by the HAYBURN WYKE (FD99).

The submarine was U.35 commanded by Kapitänleutenant Werner Lott, who on leaving the ALVIS proceeded back to the fishing grounds were he stopped the LORD MINTO (FD51) (Sk. C. Pennington), the ARLITA (FD188) (Sk. E. Christy) and the NANCY HAGUE (FD133) (Sk. R. King). The crews of the LORD MINTO and ARLITA were ordered to leave their ships and proceed to the NANCY HAGUE, whereupon the two abandoned trawlers were sunk by gunfire in position 58.09N 09.17W. The NANCY HAGUE which was the oldest trawler of the group, was allowed to return to Fleetwood with all the men. On 29 November 1939, off the West Coast of Scotland, the U.35 was detected and attacked by HM Ships ICARUS (P.No.D03), KINGSTON (P.No.F64) and KASHMIR (P.No.F12) and forced to the surface where she was scuttled by the crew who were then taken prisoner.