Brian W Lavery tells the story of fishing’s first ‘celebrity’ – skipper Albert ‘Hurricane Hutch’ Hutchinson – and of the adventuring ex-con-turned-writer who made the Grimsby trawlerman a household name more than 80 years ago Television has made ‘reality stars’…
Why a Scarborough trawler was driven onto the rocks in September 1976 remains a mystery. Brian W Lavery retraces the night she perished – and the incredible rescue mission that followed The eerie outline of what remains of the wreck…
Women had not long got the vote when Dora Walker became the North East’s first female coble skipper. Brian W Lavery charts the career of the woman who went wartime fishing with a pistol strapped to her waist Dora Walker…
The Scottish port of Eyemouth suffered Britain’s worst-ever fishing disaster when 189 men and boys perished on what locals still call Black Friday. Brian W Lavery recalls the tragedy Eyemouth’s fishermen were renowned as takers of great risks and getters…
Many of the classic wooden boats built by the Dixon’s yard in the 1960s and 1970s are still going strong – and still fishing. Mark Blanchard reports There aren’t many ports along the south coast between Salcombe and Newhaven, or…
Tom Watson, who skippered the Wyre Victory FD 181 during the second Cod War of 1972-3, recalls an encounter with an Icelandic gunboat in which Britain came out best Tom Watson. There had been a lot in the press of…
In the ‘Dark Winter’ of 1968, three Hull trawlers perished in as many weeks. Fifty-eight men died in the Triple Trawler Disaster, triggering a transformative safety campaign led by Lillian Bilocca. Brian W Lavery reflects on the story… Marching on…
Photojournalist Tony Fitzsimmons documents observations and conversations from an early-summer trip onboard the SWFPO beam trawler Mollie Jayne The Mollie Jayne prepares to leave Brixham for an eight-day trip under a clear blue sky. The South Western Fish Producers’ Organisation…
The Mission’s book, Salty Cove, gives a glimpse of life for fishers and shore workers at Mevagissey. Phil Lockley paid the Cornish port a visit to find out more… The choice of Mevagissey for the Mission’s latest fundraising book was…
On 22 January, Hull’s Hessle Road celebrated one of its own when a plaque was unveiled at the former home of Lillian Bilocca, who led the successful campaign for better safety at sea after the 1968 Triple Trawler Disaster. Her biographer…
