# Hull commemorates its 'triple tragedy'



## Roadkill (Jan 26, 2008)

I don't normally go in for minutes' silences, memorial services and other displays of public mourning.  They usually seem a bit forced and insincere.  This, however, is one I do wish I were part of.

It's forty years since the 'Triple Tragedy' of January and February 1968, when three Hull trawlers were lost - one in the North Sea, two off Iceland.  The last of them, _Ross Cleveland_, sent this final message as it capsized:



> "I am going over. We are laying over. Help me. I’m going over. Give my love and the crew`s love to the wives and families".



Of the three crews, only one man survived: 58 men died.  It sparked a remarkable campaign on the part of trawlermens' wives for better safety measures in the fishing industry.  Not all of it was implemented, but the tragedy and its aftermath changed an industry and a city forever.

I'm not a religious man, but I'd go to the memorial service at the old St Andrew's Dock tomorrow if I were in Hull, and if I'm in the city on 5th February I'll be observing the minute's silence.

BBC Memory Share feature on the Triple Tragedy

Hull Daily Mail feature.


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## Geoff Collier (Jan 26, 2008)

Roadkill said:


> I don't normally go in for minutes' silences, memorial services and other displays of public mourning.  They usually seem a bit forced and insincere.  This, however, is one I do wish I were part of.
> 
> It's forty years since the 'Triple Tragedy' of January and February 1968, when three Hull trawlers were lost - one in the North Sea, two off Iceland.  The last of them, _Ross Cleveland_, sent this final message as it capsized
> QUOTE]
> ...


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## Roadkill (Jan 26, 2008)

Good question.  I've no idea.  I wonder if, in part, it's just that on the whole we're more reflective as a society these days and rather keener on commemorations and our local heritage than we used to be.  Hull, certainly, is making more of its past than it used to, which is a good thing. The fact that a lot of people directly involved with the tragedy are getting on a bit, or are already dead, might have something to do with it as well.

I've just noticed the cover of a book I have on the fishing industry in Hull.  It's a photo taken in February 1968 of a small boy, standing with his dog by the lock gates of St Andrew's Dock, watching a trawler sail and waiting for the return of his father who, had he but known it, was already dead...


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## moose (Jan 26, 2008)

How awful - I haven't heard about that before. 

I think it's a good thing that people remember the history of their community.


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## dessiato (Jan 26, 2008)

Although I was very young I remember this most clearly. If I remember correctly a Grimsby trawler was lost at about the same time. My family was a fishing family since escaping from Nazi Germany. It was a very hard life, and death was an accepted part of that life. However, it never came easily. I didn't know it was so long ago, this is a time I shall never forget. Grimsby and Hull were always rivals at sea, this tragedy united the two towns in an unimaginable grief.


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## soulman (Jan 26, 2008)

That's very moving. Seafarers, especially fishermen on the trawlers, do one of the most dangerous jobs around.


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## moose (Jan 26, 2008)

Not forgetting lifeboat crews.


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## soulman (Jan 26, 2008)

Yep all seafarers have a very difficult job.


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## dessiato (Jan 27, 2008)

moose said:


> Not forgetting lifeboat crews.



A freind of mine has twice been rescued by RNLI, he spent forty years sailing around the world. He never walks past a collection tin for RNLI without making a donation. He says they are the bravest of all seamen, often going out to rescue people in conditions no sane sailor would.


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## david dissadent (Jan 27, 2008)

I am pretty sure there is a memorial to this in Hull somewhere, perhaps the old city near Bar Revolution or something.


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## Roadkill (Jan 28, 2008)

Not at present, there isn't.  The only memorial in the city to any fisherman at all is a small statue on Hessle Road commemorating those killed in the 'Dogger Bank Incident' in 1904.

There's talk of including some sort of memorial to lost trawlermen in a planned new development around the east end of St Andrew's Dock, which is still derelict, perhaps using the old lock gates as the centrepiece.


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## lang rabbie (Jan 30, 2008)

There is a small plaque at St Andrew's Lock Head

picture at http://www.hulltrawler.net/


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## Roadkill (Jan 30, 2008)

lang rabbie said:


> There is a small plaque at St Andrew's Lock Head
> 
> picture at http://www.hulltrawler.net/



I know, but it's not exactly accessible for most people, two or three miles out of the city centre on the edge of a derelict dock.

<e2a>  That site's expanded a lot since I last saw it, though.    Lots of new material on there.


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## Andy the Don (Jan 31, 2008)

What was the name of the Hull trawler which vanished after getting too near to a Soviet naval formation in the late 60's/early 70's..??


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## Roadkill (Jan 31, 2008)

That was the _Gaul_, which disappeared in 1974.

Trawlers were used to keep an eye on Russian naval movements and it's possible that _Gaul_ had been doing so, but it almost certainly wasn't the Russians who sank it.  The weather was far too bad for a torpedo, surveys of the wreck don't show any damage consistent with being fired on, and those early stern trawlers could be horribly unstable if the upper deck was flooded...

When I was 18 I worked in the amusement arcades in a seaside town near Hull, with a woman whose husband was lost on the _Gaul_.  It had just hit the papers again, as the then-new Labour government had promised to look again at the wreck, so we ended up discussing it a bit.  It was that which first got me interested in fishing history.  FWIW she thought all of the stories about its being sunk by the Russians, or arrested rather than being sunk at all (which most people had accepted was impossible after the first few trawlers had snagged their nets on the wreck in the weeks after the sinking, but some people believed for years) were bollocks: as far as she was concerned, she'd lost her husband in a tragic accident.


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## longdog (Feb 7, 2008)

I have to say the amount of coverage this anniversary has been given in the Hull Daily Mail has been way over the top.

Yes it was a tragic time and god knows it was a horrible way for nearly sixty men to die but does it really warrant a front page story every day for weeks before the event?

I hope they do build a statue somewhere prominent specifically marking the event, it would be better than wasting money on big screen TVs and all the other crap HCC waste their money on.

It seems moderation isn't something Hull's council and media know the meaning of. Last year it was marking the abolition of slavery. I doubt many Hull residents knew anything about Wilberforce and his life but by the end of the year people had been from ignorance to knowledge to being sick to the back teeth of hearing about it.

Lets have our memorial in the city centre where it should be where their deaths can be marked properly and have a bit of decorum, I'm not the sort of person who goes to memorial services but I'd turn out for this. The current flurry of interest in the story is undignified to my mind and the fact that it'll all be forgotten in a week's time to be replaced by whatever the next subject de jour will be seems a touch insulting to be honest.


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## dessiato (Feb 7, 2008)

longdog said:


> I have to say the amount of coverage this anniversary has been given in the Hull Daily Mail has been way over the top.
> 
> Yes it was a tragic time and god knows it was a horrible way for nearly sixty men to die but does it really warrant a front page story every day for weeks before the event?
> 
> ...




I doubt that you are right about Wilberforce. There has been a museum to Wilberforce in Hull for many years, and, from talking to people there, it is quite well known among locals.

I cannot see how it is undignified to remember the deaths of the trawlermen any more than it is to remember the deaths of the Manchester Utd players who died 50 years ago.


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## longdog (Feb 7, 2008)

dessiato said:


> I doubt that you are right about Wilberforce. There has been a museum to Wilberforce in Hull for many years, and, from talking to people there, it is quite well known among locals.
> 
> I cannot see how it is undignified to remember the deaths of the trawlermen any more than it is to remember the deaths of the Manchester Utd players who died 50 years ago.



I'm not saying that it's undignified to remember those who died, far from it.

What I think is undignifed is the saturation coverage it's being given on the front page of the HDM which will evaporate as soon as the paper finds another subject to obsess over.

Yes, we know the aniversary is coming up and keep people informed of what's going on to mark the occasion but does it really warrant front page headlines weeks in advance? It's like the Express with its Diana obsession. 

Call me cynical if you like but this sort of *EXCLUSIVE: ELVIS STILL DEAD* journalism gives me the right hump.


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## Poi E (Feb 7, 2008)

Thanks for raising this one. As others have mentioned, seafarers have one of the most dangerous jobs out there.

I was best man at my friend's wedding recently and my Dad was there. He brought up how he was best man at his friend's wedding in 1966 and three weeks later his mate's ship was lost with all hands. Never mentioned it before. Made me realise how bloody lucky I am to still have a father around after 55 years at sea.

Hope they build a memorial in Hull to these guys.


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