The Return of Big Wheel

Recycled ride to Hutton Cranswick on Friday, 20th October 2017

The Return of Big Wheel

Cyclists: Martin Bell, John Bodman Boddice, Phil McMullen, Alison McNichol, George Sweeting, Chris Szafran, Bob Watson, Steve Superman Watts, Trev Officer’s Mess Whatmore & Dave Big Wheel Williamson (Leader)

Outward journey: Molescroft roundabout, Cherry Burton, Etton, South Dalton, Bracken and passing Bustard Nest Farm and Little Bustard Farm just before TJ’s Cafe & Hutton Cranswick Fish & Chip shop (for some of the group.)

Return journey: Hutton, Southburn, Etton, Cherry Burton and home

Distance: 31.8 miles

Weather conditions: Clear blue sky in the morning but becoming overcast in the afternoon – light wind

One thing about being an investigative, roving reporter for the U3A Recycled group is that you develop an instinct for knowing when things are not right. It’s as if you’ve a special sort of antennae. There were all the classic signs that this guy was in a bad way. I’d seen it all before.

When I received Big Wheel’s e-mail saying that the plan was to lunch at either TJ’s cafe or Hutton Cranswick for fish & chip shop the firstalarm bells started to ring. TJ’s cafe my foot, our leader was hell bent and desperate for fish & chips after being held captive on a cruise ship for the last couple of weeks or so. I imagined him shaking with his addiction like Shaking Stevens used to do in one of his 70’s pop songs.

I’m sitting next to Bob Watson on a council seat which is very convenientlysituated along the side wall of Hutton Cranswick Fisheries. Althoughwe have a seat, it’s not the best place to eat as in front of us are seven wheelie bins.Big Wheel, Superman Steve and Bodman are seated on a low brick wall at the other side of the road with their great value senior citizen deals. (The others have stopped at TJ’s cafe.) When Bodman raises his mitt with half his fish in it, I’m reminded of one of those grizzly bears scooping up a salmon catch with its big paw in a fast-flowing river. Netted, gutted, frozen, encased in an overcoat and, if that’s not enough, the main component of our national dish is then submerged in a sizzling pan of fat.

Minutes later it’splaced in a glass fronted viewing display to be gawped at by hungry customers! Finally, it’s doused in salt and vinegar. There’s a look of contentment on Bodman’s face as he takes a last final, lingering look at those lush flakes. His fish ends its day byentering his digestive system, but we’ll not go into that journey today.

What follows is a tribute to those fishermen and others in the long supply chain who have given us our meal today and to previous generations who have gone to sea; with the rapid decline of the fishing industry in Hull and the rest of the UK it’s also something of an elegy.

It’s hard to believe now that Hull was one of the world’s biggest fishing ports as recently as the 1970’s. From about 1830, fishing smacks from south coast ports began to fish further afield. They worked the Dogger Bank during the summer months, and used Scarborough harbour and market for selling their catches. The Scarborough fishermen resented this intrusion on their home grounds and there were reports of knife fights between rival factions in those early days. The discovery of the fabulous Silver Pitts fishing grounds, 70 miles south of Spurn and not far from the Dogger Bank, led many of the owners of south coast vessels to settle in Hull and Grimsby. One of these was Robert Hellyer, a Brixham man, who brought his entire family north, and settled in Hull to found his famous trawling company. In 1854 there were 30 fishing smacks registered in Hull - nine years later there were 270, and by 1880 there were 420 – a remarkable increase.

The method of “Boxing” – and early method of intensive, mechanised fishing - was that smacks sent their fish in boxes in small rowing boats to fast steam carriers. It was extremely dangerous work rowing deeply loaded small boats to the carrier and then returning with empty boxes. The fast steam carriers rushed their cargos to Hull and other docks, including London. Numerous fatalities occurred: many men drown when working in rough weather. The Hull “Box” Fleet was still using this system as late as the 1930s.

At the turn of the century steam began to quickly replace sail for fishing. (In 1903, there were no fishing smacks registered in Hull.) The first steam trawler sailing out of Hull was called the Magneta and weighed 52 tons net and was just over 95 feet long. Steam powered fishing fleets could now look further afield to grounds in the Barents Sea with a round trip of 3500 miles,to Iceland with a round trip of 1800 miles,or to the White Sea with a combined distance of 3400 miles.

In both World Wars, Hull trawlers played their part in minesweeping and escorting convoys and the Admiralty requisitioned many trawlers.

Hessle Road was the home of the port’s fishermen. There was a huge shore based infrastructure of shipwrights, riggers, fish factories and net makers. The heyday was in the 1950s when fish and chips were a cheap family meal after wartime austerity. Also in the 1950s, 350 fish vans would leave St Andrew’s Dock by rail every day. The work of fishermen was hard, dangerous and because life was uncertain some fishermen made the most of their short periods between voyages by copious spending, mostly in local pubs. Fishermen were known as “three-day millionaires” – this being the time ashore between trips. Drinking was not allowed and boats set off to Iceland with many crew suffering from a 3-day binge. Failure to turn up was a criminal offence. Injuries on boat were often dealt with by the Skipper and injured crew waited until they returned to their home port for treatment. In the mid-1950s there were 8000 men working on 320 trawlers in Hull and three times that number in fish processing and other associated trades. Many fishermen were lost at sea, fishing being the most dangerous occupation of all. Fishing at its height killed four times as many men as mining. Long hours were worked – 20-hour shifts were not uncommon. Boats were not large by modern standards. Death could be in minutes from freezing water if a man was washed overboard. Black ice clung to upper decks, rigging and masts causing boats to topple over and capsize. In January and February 1968 three Hull trawlers, St Romanus, Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland, were lost. There was also the loss of the Gaul in this period. Such was the loss of life that urgent calls were made to improve safety. Health & Safety in the 1950s was only rudimentary and it was only after a campaign by the wives of trawlermen that radio operators were made compulsory. Grimsby, Hull, Fleetwood and Aberdeen lost 125 fishing boats between 1946 and 1975.

The 1960s heralded in a new era of Stern trawling, freezing and processing at sea. In 1961, Hull’s first stern-fishing trawler the Lord Nelson arrived from Bremerhaven, West Germany. J Marr followed this with their Junella in 1962. Fish are gutted and filleted by machinery, after which the fillets are block frozen and placed in cold store. Factory ships are able to make fish meal from the inedible waste of bones, heads, skins etc which is often fifty percent of the total catch. St Andrew’s Dock closed in 1975 as it wasn’t large enough deal with the new freezer ships and a move was made to William Wright Dock in the same year.

The Icelandic Cod Wars ended with Iceland and other countries imposing 200-mile limits in 1976. In the end there was nowhere to fish. By the 1980s two family firms survived in Hull: J Marr and Boyd Line who eventually sold up to UK Fisheries, the last remaining firm still based in Hull. A state of the art fish market opened in Hull in 2001, but the Icelandic agent, Atlantic Fresh, rationalised its Humber operations and Fishgate soon closed. EU quotas have also been a final nail in the coffin.

The cycle today hasn’t been without incident: early in the ride Phil McMullen picked up a puncture at the bottom of Constitution Hill on the Malton Road. (Because we were running late, Martin Bell who joined us near South Dalton had a long wait.)

This location keeps local cycle shops in business at this time of year and should be renamed Thornhill! Superman Steve, thankfully on the road to recovery after a previous cycle accident, took a tumble but with no serious consequences. Chris Szafran’s gear selector packed in and Superman Steve, resourceful as ever, wedged it to his frame with a stone which I assume held out until he arrived home. Once or twice, Chris was tempted to waggle it like a loose tooth, but held back after comments from Steve the fixer of most things mechanical on our rides.

Just before TJ’s cafe there are two farms, Bustard Nest Farm and Little Bustard Farms. Since bustards became extinct in the UK in 1832 I’ve wondered why they’ve been given these names. Bustards are large terrestrial birds living mainly in dry grasslands area and steppes of the Old World. Their shape is similar to a large goose, but a bustard is much larger with considerably longer legs and a straighter neck. They range in size from 40 cms to 150 cms. The Great Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds and can be found across Europe as far south as Spain and as far north as the Russian Steppes. They are listed as vulnerable with populations in many countries on the decline. There is a marked difference in size between males and females, termed sexual size dimorphism. Great Bustards exhibit the largest sexual dimorphism of any bird species. Females can be as much as 50 per cent smaller than males.

Good to see Trev Officer’s Mess Whatmore on the ride today. “New bike?” someone asked. “No, I’ve had it since the old king died,” replied Trev with his usual cheery grin. He’s kept us amused today with his observations on life, but so in their own ways have all the others.

George Sweeting

22nd October 2017

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