We'll never forget

Former trawler skipper Jim Williams remembers friends and family lost at sea

At work aboard the Arctic Corsair, which is now a floating museum berthed in the Museums Quarter, off High Street

Lost Trawlermen's Day will take place at St. Andrew's Lockhead, seen here in busier times during the 1960s

More than 6,000 Hull trawlermen have been lost at sea in the last 100 years. Hull in print reports on the day they are remembered

A trawlerman for 27 years, Jim Williams knows all about losing lives at sea.
He could have been lost himself when he almost signed up for a trip aboard the ill-fated steam trawler The Sargon in 1948.
"Days later she was wrecked in a snowstorm off north-west Iceland," says Jim.
"I'd changed my mind when I found out my uncle was the skipper, because it was unlucky for families to sail together."
Sadly, that superstition rang true in 1974 when Jim lost his cousins Terry and Harry Williams in an accident aboard the Boston Lincoln.
"They were brothers - very close. Terry was knocked down the ramp and Harry went to save him. They were lost within minutes."
Jim now volunteers as a guide on Hull's museum trawler, the Arctic Corsair, and he's also a member of STAND, Hull's fishing heritage association, which organises Lost Trawlermen's Day each year.

A fitting tribute

"The losses are still very much felt today," says Jim.
"But the fishing community was supreme in that families and neighbours would rally round and support each other when there was a bereavement or when a trawler went down.
"Lost Trawlermen's Day is a chance to remember the thousands of dads, granddads, husbands and sweethearts that were lost. And it's also a good chance for old shipmates to come together again."
The day is held every February, which was the time of year when most trawlers were lost, owing to the harsh winter weather of the Arctic and "black frost".
"The problem was that the temperature was so low that water would freeze within seconds when it touched a surface," says Jim.
"The spray used to freeze on the superstructure of the ships and affect the stability, and a lot of ships were lost that way, especially when you couldn't get on deck to chip away at the ice."

This year, Lost Trawlermen's Day takes place on February 11, when more than 500 people are expected to attend an open-air memorial service at 12 noon, at the Outer Bullnose, St. Andrew's Lockhead, off Clive Sullivan Way.
Each person will be given a carnation to throw into the ebbing tide of the Humber, so they can pay tribute to those loved ones that have been lost.