The trawler St Finbarr, built at the Ferguson Brothers shipyard Glasgow for the fishing company Thomas Hamling & Co., was one of Britain's first modern freezer trawlers.

She sailed from her home port of Hull on November 16 1966, but on Christmas Day that year fire broke out in the crew's quarters as she struggled to find a decent catch around the once rich grounds off the coast of Labrador.

Skipper Thomas Sawyers told the crew to relax and enjoy a Christmas drink in the hope that fishing fortunes would pick up the next day. Weather conditions were atrocious with the air temperature down to 14 degrees centigrade and a heavy north easterly gale starting to blow up

The fire broke out early on Christmas morning in the greasers cabin in the crew's accommodation area. Smoke and flames quickly began to fill the gangways with escape routes blocked off.

The engineer on duty reported by telephone to the bridge that smoke and flames were entering the engine room from the crew's accommodation area. The Skipper attempted to get to the area from the bridge but was driven back by the dense smoke. The two spare hands by now had reached the bridge and were told to sound the alarms and to shut of all the accessible fuel tank valves.

The ship's crew attempted to tackle the blaze, but they were unable to bring it under control and, fearing the worst, the St Finbarr's skipper sent out a Mayday signal, which brought several dozens of vessels to the area including several Hull trawlers. While distress calls were being transmitted, an explosion of hot air and gas from the deck below blew out the bridge windows and doors, throwing the skipper out onto the engine room casing. Life rafts were launched in the freezing conditions, but almost half the crew were lost in the freezing conditions. Of the 25 men who set out from Hull a month earlier just 13 survived.

One of those was 19 year old deckhand Robert Coulman whose family now believe it is time to build a lasting memorial in Hull and are supporting plans by the fishing heritage group Stand to build a special statue and create a garden for those who died. The St Finbarr finally sank on December 27, 1966.

Robert's mother Edith, now aged 88, said she thinks about her son almost every day and the memories will never go away. "It all seems like yesterday," she added.

Ironically, one of the first one the rescue scene was Robert's uncle, Eddie Coulman, a factory hand on the trawler Ross Illustrious. Now aged 86, he said: "It was terrible but there was nothing you could do. We came alongside and you could feel the heating coming off the deck."

Another relative was Gill Harrison (now Gill Long) who was newly married and expecting a child. She lost her young husband Tony and said it took her many years to get over the tragedy.

The Stand organisation in Hull has now launched a £100,000 appeal to build a memorial and is asking local people to make a donation.

A year later three more Hull trawlers, the St Romanus, Kingston Peridot and Ross Cleveland, were lost in Britain's worst ever 20th century fishing disaster.

Meanwhile, Hull's last sidewinder trawler, Arctic Corsair could be moved from its present base on the River Hull to its former home in St Andrews Dock.

The Stand heritage group, which fought to save the ship over a decade ago, is urging the move where it could become the focal point of a future re-development of what was once Hull's thiriving deep sea fishing centre. The plan is to create a new urban village around a restored dock area.

Stand chairman Adam Fowler said: "The trawler, moored next to the memorial garden in a new urban village would be a fitting tribute to Hull's once-mighty fishing industry."

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---