I take my 4 year old son on bike rides, often around Hull and he asked me how I know so much about Hull. I told him about these videos and he's watched the whole thing! a proper little history nerd!
I am a TV producer, journalist, documentary maker in New Zealand. I have watched this brilliant piece today. Wonderful quality documentary, superb on camera pieces, evocative pictures, and lovely music. Magnificent work. Thank you. Simon
I said the same to my sister just yesterday. A very talented presenter who brings the history to life. In fact, he’s better than most on tv. I am from Hull and love these videos of the city that I love. ❤❤
I served my apprenticeship at Humber St. Andrews Engineering, 68-73, yes it was a bit rough at times and smelly to say the least, but it set me up for 10 years as an Engineer Officer with Blue Star Line. In the early days cycled 7 miles across Hull, did a days work then cycled the return journey in all weathers and thought nothing of it. Some of those days you spent 8 hours in Wm Wright Dry Dock in winter with a freezing Easterly wind coming off the Steppes ( the Russian Steppes that is, not the drydock steppes), snow showers, but our life was far better than a trawlermans. We often saw damage to trawlers with the bow stove in, guardrails missing. A large wave of water is not compressable, so the steel goes first. Living conditions on the old steam sidewinders was horrible to say the least, long hours, cold and wet living on fried fish three times a day, hardly healthy. I spent a few weeks working on the slip at the Easter end of the dock, heard lurid tales about factory at Cod Farm with young lads and the 'ladies' that worked there. I also spent some time in the HSA Commercial garage behind slip that serviced a lot of the fish merchants new fish trucks which took the fish to the rest of England with the demise of the railways. When I returned from a couple of voyages with Blue Star Line about 1974 and visited HSA, they had moved the diesel fitters into part of the Lord Line Building as the Diesel shop must have been going to be demolished as that was next to the Ice factory. When I joined HSA in 1968 they had just opened the Diesel Shop, so it was short lived. I saw the decline in Hull with the loss of the Fish Dock and then the other docks, large employers closing down. CD. Holmes, Sizers, Rosedowns, Fenners, Priestmans, Hull Typewriters, Hull Rad, Brigham & Cowan, Dunstans, Drypool Engineering, Humbrol, Seven Seas, to name but a few, then you have all of Bankside. These are companies that employed a lot of skilled men and women so there was money in the town, it was an attractive town with tree and flower lined roads. Now it is a dump I am sorry to say. All part of the Thatcher scorched earth policy. I have still got a blanket I bought for the car from the fishermans stores next to William & Glyns bank near the Load Line building.
Wow, just wow , what a documentary . My husband went out in trawlers at age 15 , he was at sea during the triple trawler tragedy and everything you talked about after that. He swore that the Icelandic patrols once actually shot at them! After the fishing industry collapsed, he went into the army as did many of his friends and family , it was the only work available that wasn’t demeaning and tame for tough men used to danger .
Mr. Nerd, thank you and greetings from Leipzig. 28th April 1943 I was born in 26 East Grove, Gipsyville. All the family worked on the fish dock. My grandfather, father and his uncles were engineers maintaining the trawlers. My young uncle started as a bobber and became a filliter. Trawlers (built in Beverley) were the normal ships. If you worked on KGV Dock, you worked on 'big boats'. My great-grandfather, at the turn of the century, before the trawlers were refrigerated, was chief engineer on a 'box-man'. These ships loaded up with ice and sailed to the Dogger Bank to take the fish from the trawlers and then sail directly to Billingsgate Market in London. Thank you once again.
My first job was as a porter in a fish factory on Hessle road. 15 years old and £7.50 a week. Always got a seat to myself on the bus home! Great video, thanks.
This made me cry. So much history and pride, so many lives lost, so many brave families. My father's family were Hessle Roaders and they carried that strength and determination through poverty and hard times. What a shame Hull doesn't appreciate the history within those buildings more. Thankyou
Thankyou Hull History Nerd...Again, a Welshman having served in the Royal Navy i ultimately ended up in Hull (long story)Hull has been my adopted home for 25 years and extremely proud of the fact and the likes of yourself have endorsed that due to your Channel to which i enjoy very much, my brother comes up from Wales annually and i bombard him with lots of facts as we bimble around in & around Hull, this episode i very much enjoyed due to its Association to its proud fishing industry and found Mr Bill Alexanders recount of life on the Sea particularly interesting, Having been in the Submarine service 12 years do not ever asked me to be a Fisherman!!. Thankyou Hull History Nerd👍
My dad was a bobber on St Andrews dock, (RIP dad) I worked on fish dock in my 20s. Iam 66 now. I played music with all the musicians in that band shown -Les Ward, Mick MgGarry (RIP Mick). 3 day million air, says it all really.....fantastic days ile never forget. God Bless to all. Fantastic people. Great documentary, Thanks.
Kicked out of school age 15 no exams behind me so off I went to the docks in Hull to find work I went straight at it❤ working on a cement ships unloading cements then onto coca and fish infact there isn't much I haven't unloaded on the docks I loved the banter ,the constant pisstaking by mates it was hard graft but you just got stuck in you'd soon get pulled up on it if you ever started flagging hey and the money was great for a kid like myself
I remember walking along those docks as a kid in the mid-1970s, enthralled by ships moored to rusted bollards, lines of railway vans, derelict red-brick buildings, the tops of tall cranes lost in the morning mist. An outstanding presentation, hats off to you, good sir.
What an absolutely wonderful video, I don't live in hull but I remember most of it as just like you I have lived through it, the early history was new to me and fascinating. A guy I used to work with told me that he used to be on the trawlers and he told me that St Andrews dock was so busy that trawlers would be queued up in the humber waiting to get in. I also remember the women's campaign for safer working conditions and I have always believed that they should be properly and rightly honoured. As a boy in the 50s travelling on the ferry to the south bank with my parents I remember seeing the dock.
Thank you so much. Wonderful interesting local history. It’s a pity those who present a negative impression of this area refuse to appreciate the strength and quality of local communities
Brilliant and moving account of Hull’s fishing heritage, told with the passion that could only come from a local person. Top notch stuff as always. Thank you 👍🏼😊
Wonderful look back into the history of this industry and its people. Both my grandfathers worked on trawlers, I was born down Rugby street, Hessle Road. Now living in South of france, my husband works on superyachts, who's from boothferry, and both my sons are following him into the industry. So my family are still seafarers albeit much better conditions. One of my earliest memories is visiting on St Andrews Dock and seeing my nanna mending the nets. My grandad doffing his cap to what seemed to a small child, the entire world, he knew everyone! Traditions such as Friday fish (off dock) to painting the back yard in the infamous deep red paint (off dock), I cant remember the name but can distinctly remember the smell! Hessle Road in those days was a thriving wonderful place and ironically when we come home to visit family n friends, its our first port of call for fish n chips, I kid you not. More often before we've even unpacked or checked in. You can't keep a hully from their fish n chips. It was however an incredibly hard life, my grandfather would have never wanted us to follow him in his footsteps. Really loving your documentaries, brings back lots of memories and nostalgia for me. ...and of course great to hear the Hull accent!! Great work n look forward to watching more.
I'm not from Hull but I do love learning the history of anywhere I end up. This was a brilliant look into the history and makes me proud that I live here now.
During the War my Dad spent two years off the coast off North Africa on the Hull trawler Kingston Cyanite. They shadowed the Desert Rats from El Alamein to Benghazi trying to make sure Monty got his supplies and Rommel didn't. Many British trawlers were requisitioned by the Navy for minesweeping, anti-submarine and convoy escort duties and the fishermen were conscripted to effectively crew their own boats. Trawling gear was swapped for the tools of war and off went the fishermen went to the bitter waters of the Northern Patrol, The Channel and the Hell of E-Boat Alley, to the Atlantic and Artic Convoys, to the U-Boat infested East Coast of America, Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, Africa, The Indian Ocean and the Far East. Coal burning fishing boats, many older than their outdated guns, made astonishing voyages of thousands of miles to fight in strange waters with the odds heavily stacked against them. Beverley built Kingston Cyanite came home and fished out of St Andrews Dock until being broken up in 1957
Very interesting, especially the section on the Cod Wars about which I knew very little; shades of Suez with the USA bending our arm in their own interests.
Really enjoyed this video, but most of all! I learnt a lot too! I never knew nor understood the loss of Hulls fishing fleet was actually down to the cold war and USA's involvement in doing so. And the poignant message towards the end 'Hull had a lot to lose' ! Thank you for sharing. Brilliant piece of work and research! And as always,! I look forward to the next video . Thank you!👌👍👍👍.
I always get a little misty eyed at the thought of the "Fish dock". My dad was on the trawlers during the 2nd World War and then spent the rest of his working life working at St Andrews Dock. Thank you so much for making this documentary.
I don't know when and don't know how but I'm sure I've met you, it's been niggling at me, Enjoying your documentaries all the same, very informative, well done and thanks
What a fantastic piece of documentary work. Thoroughly enjoyed this an can empathise with the loss of the fishing industry that rocked Hull with similar impacts on Teesside with the loss of ship building and steel making. It tears the heart out of a community, proud of what they do.
Absolutely, and it annoys me when people say that Hull is a bad place; it's really no better or worse than any other northern community that lost its key industries. There are parts of other cities that are far worse in terms of poverty and violent crime than Hull, yet we're still the butt of media derision.
Thank you, for such a wonderful insight as to where my family roots are. Many of them were shipwrights, riveters, boiler makers etc. I see the russians haven't changed ! I never heard about this, and that the Hull Docks were badly bombed in WW2, I can remember watching the cod wars on black and white tv news, and seeing the trawlermen's wives as well. I have to come up to Hull for myself and explore more history. I will watch some more of your Hull vids, thank you.
What a stunning video. So much sadness and abandonedment. How can this happen. It makes me feel sick. Thanks Jamie. Just wow............ Glen... 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
Thank you for this video, my stepdad came from Hessle road and his Dad was on the boats. He never talked about it and I would have been too young to appreciate it, but I do appreciate your channel and films. It means a lot to hear someone talking about this area with pride and warmth.
Wonderful work. I worked for Smith & Nephew and visited our Factory site in Hessle Road many times over the years. Obviously, I knew about Albert Dock (because our factory was flooded by its waters), but am grateful to learn more about the wider Hull dock history.
What a great documentary. I had forgotten the US put the final nail in the coffin. I studied Architecture in Hull in the 1970's and still have good memories and fondness for the city. We students had a darts team and I remember playing in the league in some of the Clubs down Hessle Road. Wisely, we didn't win many matches!!
Fantastic video as always,as a son in law of a trawler man and son of a docker , both sadly no longer with us ,me and my wife have made sure that our 3 kid's have grown up knowing the history of this city's maritime past. That's why channels like yours are so important, because with each generation those ties to the past are stretched and we need to make sure they never break .
Absolutely, it's such a vital part of Hull's massive history. How quickly society forgets after just a couple of generations! That's one of the reasons I wanted to start this channel, to collect as much as I could and put it out there for people to remember, or to learn anew stuff that they never knew about their own past.
@@hullhistorynerd Absolutely, way back in my school day's trips to the whaling museum where a regular thing and unfortunately schools just won't have the resources today for things like that. A few years ago I went on a work thing to Barnsley to a see a community project on the site of a former pit, and there seemed to be a real pride and commitment to keep the past alive. I really enjoyed the Cottingham videos about the Snicket's, brought back memories of being a teenager trekking from North Hull to meet a girlfriend and following those paths. 👍👍👍
Fantastic Jim, what a lovely tribute to all the men and families of Hull . You do a marvellous job in all of your presentations , credit to you and your helpers !
Another great video displaying the history of our City and a new Shanty for me to learn and sing. Thanks and I look forward to the next one and beyond.
I just want to echo many of the earlier comments, this is outstanding! You must have spent many hours researching and producing this video. I have no connection to the fishing industry but living on the coast near Hull I well remember the cod wars being reported on radio Humberside and your video vividly takes me back to those times. Congratulations, and I hope after reading all the positive feedback here you can take pride in what you have done. Thank you.
Thank you, it means a lot that so many people have enjoyed this, it was a super important video for me and for Hull, and I really didn't want to mess it up, so I'm very glad that I haven't!
Absolutely the best video so far. You can't be from a fishing center and not know the tales that are in this video. The wife's campaign should be celebrated for what it is.... A campaign to save lives, that actually did what it went out to do
Found your channel through my interest in BR Diesel's and having watched your videos on the class 37 and class 20 I was impressed with the quality of content and presentation which lead me to watching more of your videos and after watching this very emotive one I felt I had to say that the quality and presentation of this is absolutely fantastic and as a born and bred Scarborian I can appreciate the devastation caused by the loss of our fishing industry and the poverty and social issues left in its wake. Subscribed. Now, to trawl through more of your channel.
Fantastic journey through several chapters, well presented and all of it fascinating! It was absolutely worth waiting for but I now need another ‘weekend away’ in Hull to explore this area properly. Who knew that Hull would become my favourite place outside of West Yorks because of the hidden history it holds?
You've outdone yourself this time Jamie, this is a fantasic, well produced story & tribute to the Fishing industry. I am old enough to remember the cod wars, and my older sisters remember Big Lil. My grandfathers' brother was killed on a Trawler in 1917 that was performing mine sweeping near the Isle of Lewis. Hull like so many other towns and cities in the Midlands & the North was left to it's own devices when major industry closed (think of the mines or manufacturing) and we live with the consequences of this divide today.
Thank you for a moving and insightful overview of the Hull fishing industry. I live in Birkenhead, a town totally dependent on one industry [shipbuilding] that has almost vanished in a generation. There isn't any real solution to these long-term issues, but it does rather make one wonder what we pay our taxes, and central government for if they cannot do something to ameliorate the economic impact on coastal communities, or am i being naive?
Mr Nerd - best video yet As a boy walking down Cholmley st onto the Boulevard and to the school my mates and i was cheeking a group of rather merry fishermen dressed in ice blue suits with the widest trouser s id ever seen - the fishermen throwing coins over their shoulder and laughing at us kinds scramble for the bounty . One accidently threw a half crown over and guess who got that - ? Cheers Rob
Since i been reading your great features ive realised how much i lived in the hessle rd era - and you’ve corrected so many memories i was so wrong about my recollections about the cod war s. The only down side is i realise how old i am now lol Looking forward to the next nerd attack 😀
Wow, another great slice of visualised history. This meant a lot to me as my father was connected to the Hull Fishing industry & I recall those days as a child visiting St Andrews Dock with him. More of the same please! Should you want any help with any future projects I may be able to contribute. Hessle born & bred with 60 odd years of Hull & its surrounding districts memories. Thanks for your work & I'll keep a look out for more.
Excellent work, well done. Really enjoyed watching, it's not just history, it's the story of Hull's life and soul. I reckon there must be a BBC4 series there with all your video's. Look forward to your next project, Phil H
Loved this. I agree your best yet and very moving at the end. How much you love Hull shines through in your work, fantastic, Hull needs people like you, thankyou.
I thought this was top-notch, your passion for the subject shines through. Well done. I was brought up in the 50's on De Grey Street and I remember being carried by my Dad at 4am to his car ready for a long drive to Cornwall for our holiday. My abiding memory is the smell of fish being offloaded at the Fish Dock even though we were miles away. The scale of fishing was immense.
Oh yes, it would have been so busy in the 50s, even though the decline had already begun. All my memories of the place are of it derelict, so it's deeply evocative and emotional to see footage and photos of it in full flow, and to hear people's recollections of it! These memories are a gateway to a Hull I just missed out on by a decade or two.
@@hullhistorynerd That's the value that your work brings, memories come alive. When I recall how things were I remember how simple life was, we either played on the street as there were few cars or we played on the bomb site. My dad had the only car locally, a Jowett Javelin, and he bought it to force himself to give up smoking because he couldn't afford both. Many of my pals only saw their dads occassionally, most of them were either ar sea or in jail. There were no supermarkets, no mobile phones, no internet, no plastic packaging, no motorways. There were plentiful council houses, doctors visited you at home. Life hasn't seen universal improvement I fear.
Simply amazing and emotional. Broadcast quality right there. Very well done in producing such an excellent documentary. The music was wonderful also 👏👏
Spectacular presentation mate; loved you closing words. I was born in 1980, spent my life growing up down Hessle Rd (Tyne St.). Spent summer hols and weekends on those very docks you presented from. Seen it changed so much in my life time so far. Thanks so much for making this! You are doing a great service! :D
Superb once again Jamie, well done 👍🏻 Fascinating from start to finish. Love walking along there now and also be on how derelict and underused that area is when it could be a massive positive for Hull. Would love you to do a piece on where the trawler men lived, from the owners who I gather lived in Swanland (where I do now) to the terraces of Hessle Road.
Watched a couple of your episodes. Completely engrossed. Best thing I’ve found on TH-cam in a while. I’ve lived in the city for 2 1/2 years now and absolutely love the place. Invaluable insights into its history. Brilliant!
Amazing video, my family has a big history with the fishing industry of Hull my great great great grandad George Henry Smith was the skipper of the crane I grew up been told the stories of what happened by my grandad sadly he's no longer with us but I still remember sitting with him and been amazed by it all
This was very special. I enjoyed every minute and feel I understand Hull in a new way. The ups and down are gut wrenching. I thought what you said at the end, really capped it all off. “We had everything to loose” Wow. Great work Sir.
Thankyou, welcome to the channel! I hope you enjoy the other videos, Hull has a fascinating and surprisingly rich industrial history as a portrait that many people would never suspect!
Yet another enthralling story of Hull's past. Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into researching and producing this and all your other videos.
Spot on, its clear you've put some work into that one! very interesting. I had family (Uncles) that worked the fishing fleet from Hull and this brought home just how hard it was. I remember the icelandic wars and the end of the industry well myself. Before spending some time with the last of the local fleet via a job in electronics, at which time I visited the Marr offices within the Lord line building and putting kit aboard the Kirkella... great doc 👌
outstanding documentary.. i was very moved by the sea shanty music, which if i'm honest, i never expected to be. I'd have loved you to have done one extra chapter, just dealing with the st andrews quay development heyday of the late 80's/90's and then it's change from entertainment to retail in the 2000's
Nice one, I love riding my bike around the old Lord line building. To bad they covered up the old dock, would have been a nice marina now. The one in the city center is clearly not enough for the demand in the area
When you see how St Andrews dock used to look when it was thriving, it's a great shame to see it dilapidated now. Just left to return to nature. The graffiti doesn't help either. There's no "progress" here, as in reinventing the space to be put to good use, just a painful joyless reminder of Hull's wonderful past. It would be easy to blame Iceland for enforcing their 12 mile limit. They have every right to thrive, but the cost to the UK fishing industry was almost terminal. What was once a cheap nutritious meal is now more of an occasional luxury food. We don't get cod or haddock in Australia, and fish and chips is high on our list when we return to Hull occasionally. This must be a new one HN, and I'm pleased to see it's a nice long episode...
@@hullhistorynerd I appreciate the work you must put into these HN, delivered in your inimitable style. As always a welcome respite from the police state coming to a town near me. Fantastic work....!!
In a word-Wow! Thanks for your work in putting this together. I've said this before but this material should be on TV. Barnsley in particular has seen a dramatic run down of it's industry, mining, but for completely different reasons, with the associated social problems. 😒
Another quality production and a great walk thru time. Pity the Marr building has now gone but i was lucky to film and photo all around the Lord line Building. Thanks
I am also sorry for your loss. The most heartbreaking story of that dreadful tragedy which i have never forgotten is the captain who knew they were all going to die on the radio said ''tell our familys that we loved them and say goodbye for us''.after that i always thought about the men who risked so much for our fish & chip suppers every time i bought one
Me grandad used to say he used to sail 100 mile north of rock all. I used to ask what was there. He used to say f*ck all… them men who owned them trawlers got away with murder the way they treat those lads. RIP to all the lads who sailed out then lock gates never to return. The state of the area now is a disgrace and the council shouldn’t allow it out of respect to those that was lost. Fantastic video once again👍🏼
I used to go onto the fish Dock and watch the fish filleted on the spot and take it to Leeds neville hill when I worked there those filleters worked so hard and quick.
Just want to say, for people curious about the Russian Outrage, there's an absolutely incredible two-part series from Drachinifel (a naval history themed youtuber) where he talks about their voyage. Theres all sorts of bizarre incidents that get covered there, for example the zoo they ended up creating during their time in Madagascar, or the commander effectively going rogue and attempting to evade his reinforcements due to said ships being largely useless. A fun additional note on the Royal Navy's involvement: the British admiral tasked with fighting them (should they have actually gone to blows at that time) drafted a battle plan he described as "chivalrous", because he intended to keep most of his ships back and only engage with a few of his battleships. He thought it was only fair to do this given the poor standard of gunnery.
Your excellent series on Diesel locos is what brought me here, but this is your best video yet. Well researched, fantastically presented, and expertly edited. If anyone reading this hasn't watched "Hull's Headscarf Heros" about the tripple trawler tragedy, look it up and watch it.
Yes, it's a fab documentary, I watched it when I was researching this video. Brian Lavery, who appears in the documentary, wrote a brilliant book on the triple trawler tragedy called The Headscarf Revolutionaries that you might enjoy if you want to know more. Again, part of my research for this video! It really upset me to learn how people sent poison pen letters even to Harry Eddom, the poor lad who survived and who must have been dealing with horrendous survivor's guilt and PTSD as it was. Also, I'm glad there are folk who came here from the diesel videos enjoying the local history content! Don't worry, there are more diesel episodes in the pipeline, I just need to get myself out further afield to find some different locos...
@@hullhistorynerd I live in the South of England but I view this topic as an importnat part of our national history! I didn't know about the poison pen letters to those people, and it was upsetting to learn about such things in your video; particularly the part where the press were focusing on Lil Bilocca's weight rather than the how passionate she was leading the campaign and the noble cause she was risking her life for. I will seek a copy of the book you reccomend and look forward to more content in the diesel series (I'll be cheeky and say my request would be for the Deltics or Westerns please!!)
I take my 4 year old son on bike rides, often around Hull and he asked me how I know so much about Hull. I told him about these videos and he's watched the whole thing! a proper little history nerd!
Fantastic, always great to hear about a new generation learning about the history of our city!
I am a TV producer, journalist, documentary maker in New Zealand. I have watched this brilliant piece today. Wonderful quality documentary, superb on camera pieces, evocative pictures, and lovely music. Magnificent work. Thank you. Simon
Thankyou! That is praise indeed from a pro!
I joined BUT in 1974
PICT
OTHELLO
NORSE
DANE
ARAB
KURD
SIR FRED PARKES
All as an Engineer Officer.
I was decimated when the owners sold us out
I said the same to my sister just yesterday. A very talented presenter who brings the history to life. In fact, he’s better than most on tv. I am from Hull and love these videos of the city that I love. ❤❤
I served my apprenticeship at Humber St. Andrews Engineering, 68-73, yes it was a bit rough at times and smelly to say the least, but it set me up for 10 years as an Engineer Officer with Blue Star Line. In the early days cycled 7 miles across Hull, did a days work then cycled the return journey in all weathers and thought nothing of it. Some of those days you spent 8 hours in Wm Wright Dry Dock in winter with a freezing Easterly wind coming off the Steppes ( the Russian Steppes that is, not the drydock steppes), snow showers, but our life was far better than a trawlermans. We often saw damage to trawlers with the bow stove in, guardrails missing. A large wave of water is not compressable, so the steel goes first. Living conditions on the old steam sidewinders was horrible to say the least, long hours, cold and wet living on fried fish three times a day, hardly healthy.
I spent a few weeks working on the slip at the Easter end of the dock, heard lurid tales about factory at Cod Farm with young lads and the 'ladies' that worked there. I also spent some time in the HSA Commercial garage behind slip that serviced a lot of the fish merchants new fish trucks which took the fish to the rest of England with the demise of the railways.
When I returned from a couple of voyages with Blue Star Line about 1974 and visited HSA, they had moved the diesel fitters into part of the Lord Line Building as the Diesel shop must have been going to be demolished as that was next to the Ice factory. When I joined HSA in 1968 they had just opened the Diesel Shop, so it was short lived.
I saw the decline in Hull with the loss of the Fish Dock and then the other docks, large employers closing down. CD. Holmes, Sizers, Rosedowns, Fenners, Priestmans, Hull Typewriters, Hull Rad, Brigham & Cowan, Dunstans, Drypool Engineering, Humbrol, Seven Seas, to name but a few, then you have all of Bankside. These are companies that employed a lot of skilled men and women so there was money in the town, it was an attractive town with tree and flower lined roads. Now it is a dump I am sorry to say. All part of the Thatcher scorched earth policy.
I have still got a blanket I bought for the car from the fishermans stores next to William & Glyns bank near the Load Line building.
Wow, just wow , what a documentary . My husband went out in trawlers at age 15 , he was at sea during the triple trawler tragedy and everything you talked about after that. He swore that the Icelandic patrols once actually shot at them! After the fishing industry collapsed, he went into the army as did many of his friends and family , it was the only work available that wasn’t demeaning and tame for tough men used to danger .
A brilliant series thank you for your work ❤
great documentary. unfortunetaly some thick heads of Hull are still stuck in those times , still blame the E|U and refuse to move on
Mr. Nerd, thank you and greetings from Leipzig. 28th April 1943 I was born in 26 East Grove, Gipsyville. All the family worked on the fish dock. My grandfather, father and his uncles were engineers maintaining the trawlers. My young uncle started as a bobber and became a filliter. Trawlers (built in Beverley) were the normal ships. If you worked on KGV Dock, you worked on 'big boats'. My great-grandfather, at the turn of the century, before the trawlers were refrigerated, was chief engineer on a 'box-man'. These ships loaded up with ice and sailed to the Dogger Bank to take the fish from the trawlers and then sail directly to Billingsgate Market in London. Thank you once again.
Wonderful video sir,so many docks i visited half a centuary ago are now filled in like graves.
My first job was as a porter in a fish factory on Hessle road. 15 years old and £7.50 a week. Always got a seat to myself on the bus home! Great video, thanks.
This made me cry. So much history and pride, so many lives lost, so many brave families. My father's family were Hessle Roaders and they carried that strength and determination through poverty and hard times. What a shame Hull doesn't appreciate the history within those buildings more. Thankyou
Thankyou Hull History Nerd...Again, a Welshman having served in the Royal Navy i ultimately ended up in Hull (long story)Hull has been my adopted home for 25 years and extremely proud of the fact and the likes of yourself have endorsed that due to your Channel to which i enjoy very much, my brother comes up from Wales annually and i bombard him with lots of facts as we bimble around in & around Hull, this episode i very much enjoyed due to its Association to its proud fishing industry and found Mr Bill Alexanders recount of life on the Sea particularly interesting, Having been in the Submarine service 12 years do not ever asked me to be a Fisherman!!. Thankyou Hull History Nerd👍
This is better than what they put on TV now. Zero political agenda or box tickers. Thanks for making such a good program that is honest and truthful 😀
My dad was a bobber on St Andrews dock, (RIP dad) I worked on fish dock in my 20s. Iam 66 now. I played music with all the musicians in that band shown -Les Ward, Mick MgGarry (RIP Mick). 3 day million air, says it all really.....fantastic days ile never forget. God Bless to all. Fantastic people. Great documentary, Thanks.
It's a time and place that defined so many lives forever.
Kicked out of school age 15 no exams behind me so off I went to the docks in Hull to find work I went straight at it❤ working on a cement ships unloading cements then onto coca and fish infact there isn't much I haven't unloaded on the docks I loved the banter ,the constant pisstaking by mates it was hard graft but you just got stuck in you'd soon get pulled up on it if you ever started flagging hey and the money was great for a kid like myself
Brilliant, my grandfather was a cook on the Kingston line. Many memories resurfaced with this video. From Hessle Rd to Pretoria South Africa
I remember walking along those docks as a kid in the mid-1970s, enthralled by ships moored to rusted bollards, lines of railway vans, derelict red-brick buildings, the tops of tall cranes lost in the morning mist. An outstanding presentation, hats off to you, good sir.
Fantastic stuff, one of your best. Your passion is clear, respect. Top man.
What an absolutely wonderful video, I don't live in hull but I remember most of it as just like you I have lived through it, the early history was new to me and fascinating. A guy I used to work with told me that he used to be on the trawlers and he told me that St Andrews dock was so busy that trawlers would be queued up in the humber waiting to get in. I also remember the women's campaign for safer working conditions and I have always believed that they should be properly and rightly honoured. As a boy in the 50s travelling on the ferry to the south bank with my parents I remember seeing the dock.
Thank you so much. Wonderful interesting local history. It’s a pity those who present a negative impression of this area refuse to appreciate the strength and quality of local communities
Brilliant and moving account of Hull’s fishing heritage, told with the passion that could only come from a local person. Top notch stuff as always. Thank you 👍🏼😊
I used to work on Hull fish docks and this was a brilliant way of showing the plight of the area.
The fishing industry has always been forgotten.
Wonderful look back into the history of this industry and its people. Both my grandfathers worked on trawlers, I was born down Rugby street, Hessle Road. Now living in South of france, my husband works on superyachts, who's from boothferry, and both my sons are following him into the industry. So my family are still seafarers albeit much better conditions.
One of my earliest memories is visiting on St Andrews Dock and seeing my nanna mending the nets. My grandad doffing his cap to what seemed to a small child, the entire world, he knew everyone!
Traditions such as Friday fish (off dock) to painting the back yard in the infamous deep red paint (off dock), I cant remember the name but can distinctly remember the smell!
Hessle Road in those days was a thriving wonderful place and ironically when we come home to visit family n friends, its our first port of call for fish n chips, I kid you not. More often before we've even unpacked or checked in. You can't keep a hully from their fish n chips.
It was however an incredibly hard life, my grandfather would have never wanted us to follow him in his footsteps.
Really loving your documentaries, brings back lots of memories and nostalgia for me.
...and of course great to hear the Hull accent!!
Great work n look forward to watching more.
I'm not from Hull but I do love learning the history of anywhere I end up. This was a brilliant look into the history and makes me proud that I live here now.
During the War my Dad spent two years off the coast off North Africa on the Hull trawler Kingston Cyanite. They shadowed the Desert Rats from El Alamein to Benghazi trying to make sure Monty got his supplies and Rommel didn't.
Many British trawlers were requisitioned by the Navy for minesweeping, anti-submarine and convoy escort duties and the fishermen were conscripted to effectively crew their own boats. Trawling gear was swapped for the tools of war and off went the fishermen went to the bitter waters of the Northern Patrol, The Channel and the Hell of E-Boat Alley, to the Atlantic and Artic Convoys, to the U-Boat infested East Coast of America, Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, Africa, The Indian Ocean and the Far East. Coal burning fishing boats, many older than their outdated guns, made astonishing voyages of thousands of miles to fight in strange waters with the odds heavily stacked against them.
Beverley built Kingston Cyanite came home and fished out of St Andrews Dock until being broken up in 1957
Very interesting, especially the section on the Cod Wars about which I knew very little; shades of Suez with the USA bending our arm in their own interests.
Really enjoyed this video, but most of all! I learnt a lot too!
I never knew nor understood the loss of Hulls fishing fleet was actually down to the cold war and USA's involvement in doing so. And the poignant message towards the end 'Hull had a lot to lose' ! Thank you for sharing. Brilliant piece of work and research! And as always,! I look forward to the next video . Thank you!👌👍👍👍.
I always get a little misty eyed at the thought of the "Fish dock". My dad was on the trawlers during the 2nd World War and then spent the rest of his working life working at St Andrews Dock.
Thank you so much for making this documentary.
I don't know when and don't know how but I'm sure I've met you, it's been niggling at me, Enjoying your documentaries all the same, very informative, well done and thanks
What a fantastic piece of documentary work. Thoroughly enjoyed this an can empathise with the loss of the fishing industry that rocked Hull with similar impacts on Teesside with the loss of ship building and steel making. It tears the heart out of a community, proud of what they do.
Absolutely, and it annoys me when people say that Hull is a bad place; it's really no better or worse than any other northern community that lost its key industries. There are parts of other cities that are far worse in terms of poverty and violent crime than Hull, yet we're still the butt of media derision.
Thank you, for such a wonderful insight as to where my family roots are. Many of them were shipwrights, riveters, boiler makers etc. I see the russians haven't changed ! I never heard about this, and that the Hull Docks were badly bombed in WW2, I can remember watching the cod wars on black and white tv news, and seeing the trawlermen's wives as well. I have to come up to Hull for myself and explore more history. I will watch some more of your Hull vids, thank you.
What a stunning video. So much sadness and abandonedment. How can this happen. It makes me feel sick. Thanks Jamie. Just wow............ Glen... 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
Thank you for this video, my stepdad came from Hessle road and his Dad was on the boats. He never talked about it and I would have been too young to appreciate it, but I do appreciate your channel and films. It means a lot to hear someone talking about this area with pride and warmth.
I have to say, that is a really, really special documentary.
Wonderful work. I worked for Smith & Nephew and visited our Factory site in Hessle Road many times over the years. Obviously, I knew about Albert Dock (because our factory was flooded by its waters), but am grateful to learn more about the wider Hull dock history.
My dad was from Hull so this has been very interesting. He went to sea sailing from Hull to Oslo.
Needless to say my mother was Norwegian. They married in Hull in 1950.
What a great documentary. I had forgotten the US put the final nail in the coffin. I studied Architecture in Hull in the 1970's and still have good memories and fondness for the city. We students had a darts team and I remember playing in the league in some of the Clubs down Hessle Road. Wisely, we didn't win many matches!!
Fantastic video as always,as a son in law of a trawler man and son of a docker , both sadly no longer with us ,me and my wife have made sure that our 3 kid's have grown up knowing the history of this city's maritime past.
That's why channels like yours are so important, because with each generation those ties to the past are stretched and we need to make sure they never break .
Absolutely, it's such a vital part of Hull's massive history. How quickly society forgets after just a couple of generations! That's one of the reasons I wanted to start this channel, to collect as much as I could and put it out there for people to remember, or to learn anew stuff that they never knew about their own past.
@@hullhistorynerd Absolutely, way back in my school day's trips to the whaling museum where a regular thing and unfortunately schools just won't have the resources today for things like that.
A few years ago I went on a work thing to Barnsley to a see a community project on the site of a former pit, and there seemed to be a real pride and commitment to keep the past alive.
I really enjoyed the Cottingham videos about the Snicket's, brought back memories of being a teenager trekking from North Hull to meet a girlfriend and following those paths. 👍👍👍
Fantastic Jim, what a lovely tribute to all the men and families of Hull . You do a marvellous job in all of your presentations , credit to you and your helpers !
Another well researched and interesting documentary that will be on utubes servers for future generations to watch and learn when we have gone.
Another great video displaying the history of our City and a new Shanty for me to learn and sing. Thanks and I look forward to the next one and beyond.
I just want to echo many of the earlier comments, this is outstanding! You must have spent many hours researching and producing this video. I have no connection to the fishing industry but living on the coast near Hull I well remember the cod wars being reported on radio Humberside and your video vividly takes me back to those times. Congratulations, and I hope after reading all the positive feedback here you can take pride in what you have done. Thank you.
Thank you, it means a lot that so many people have enjoyed this, it was a super important video for me and for Hull, and I really didn't want to mess it up, so I'm very glad that I haven't!
Absolutely the best video so far. You can't be from a fishing center and not know the tales that are in this video. The wife's campaign should be celebrated for what it is.... A campaign to save lives, that actually did what it went out to do
Found your channel through my interest in BR Diesel's and having watched your videos on the class 37 and class 20 I was impressed with the quality of content and presentation which lead me to watching more of your videos and after watching this very emotive one I felt I had to say that the quality and presentation of this is absolutely fantastic and as a born and bred Scarborian I can appreciate the devastation caused by the loss of our fishing industry and the poverty and social issues left in its wake. Subscribed. Now, to trawl through more of your channel.
Glad you're enjoying the videos, and hope you find more that keep your interest!
My granddad worked on them.
Excellent video. Always informative and entertaining!
Fantastic journey through several chapters, well presented and all of it fascinating! It was absolutely worth waiting for but I now need another ‘weekend away’ in Hull to explore this area properly. Who knew that Hull would become my favourite place outside of West Yorks because of the hidden history it holds?
Hopefully it won't be as long till the next video, this one was a huge thing to film and edit!
You've outdone yourself this time Jamie, this is a fantasic, well produced story & tribute to the Fishing industry.
I am old enough to remember the cod wars, and my older sisters remember Big Lil. My grandfathers' brother was killed on a Trawler in 1917 that was performing mine sweeping near the Isle of Lewis.
Hull like so many other towns and cities in the Midlands & the North was left to it's own devices when major industry closed (think of the mines or manufacturing) and we live with the consequences of this divide today.
Amazing job making this. I'll definitely be watching again. Thank You.
Thank you for a moving and insightful overview of the Hull fishing industry. I live in Birkenhead, a town totally dependent on one industry [shipbuilding] that has almost vanished in a generation. There isn't any real solution to these long-term issues, but it does rather make one wonder what we pay our taxes, and central government for if they cannot do something to ameliorate the economic impact on coastal communities, or am i being naive?
Mr Nerd - best video yet
As a boy walking down Cholmley st onto the Boulevard and to the school my mates and i was cheeking a group of rather merry fishermen dressed in ice blue suits with the widest trouser s id ever seen - the fishermen throwing coins over their shoulder and laughing at us kinds scramble for the bounty .
One accidently threw a half crown over and guess who got that - ?
Cheers Rob
Since i been reading your great features ive realised how much i lived in the hessle rd era - and you’ve corrected so many memories i was so wrong about my recollections about the cod war s. The only down side is i realise how old i am now lol
Looking forward to the next nerd attack 😀
Wow, another great slice of visualised history. This meant a lot to me as my father was connected to the Hull Fishing industry & I recall those days as a child visiting St Andrews Dock with him. More of the same please! Should you want any help with any future projects I may be able to contribute. Hessle born & bred with 60 odd years of Hull & its surrounding districts memories. Thanks for your work & I'll keep a look out for more.
Excellent work, well done. Really enjoyed watching, it's not just history, it's the story of Hull's life and soul. I reckon there must be a BBC4 series there with all your video's.
Look forward to your next project, Phil H
Loved this. I agree your best yet and very moving at the end. How much you love Hull shines through in your work, fantastic, Hull needs people like you, thankyou.
I thought this was top-notch, your passion for the subject shines through. Well done.
I was brought up in the 50's on De Grey Street and I remember being carried by my Dad at 4am to his car ready for a long drive to Cornwall for our holiday. My abiding memory is the smell of fish being offloaded at the Fish Dock even though we were miles away. The scale of fishing was immense.
Oh yes, it would have been so busy in the 50s, even though the decline had already begun. All my memories of the place are of it derelict, so it's deeply evocative and emotional to see footage and photos of it in full flow, and to hear people's recollections of it! These memories are a gateway to a Hull I just missed out on by a decade or two.
@@hullhistorynerd That's the value that your work brings, memories come alive. When I recall how things were I remember how simple life was, we either played on the street as there were few cars or we played on the bomb site. My dad had the only car locally, a Jowett Javelin, and he bought it to force himself to give up smoking because he couldn't afford both. Many of my pals only saw their dads occassionally, most of them were either ar sea or in jail. There were no supermarkets, no mobile phones, no internet, no plastic packaging, no motorways. There were plentiful council houses, doctors visited you at home. Life hasn't seen universal improvement I fear.
Another pearl, Enlighted about the cod wars at last. Thanks for posting
im nearly 18 and to learn about the places i come from is interesting my grandad was a trawler man so its great to hear the history
Excellent as always. And nice to see you back with a real long one…..
Simply amazing and emotional. Broadcast quality right there. Very well done in producing such an excellent documentary. The music was wonderful also 👏👏
Thankyou, the songs were great, weren't they? That closing song by my old friend Tim couldn't have been more perfect for this video!
Excellent- I have lived in the West Riding all my life and remember the local fish & chip shop having fish boxes with “Hull” branded on the side.
Spectacular presentation mate; loved you closing words. I was born in 1980, spent my life growing up down Hessle Rd (Tyne St.). Spent summer hols and weekends on those very docks you presented from. Seen it changed so much in my life time so far. Thanks so much for making this! You are doing a great service! :D
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you for watching!
Excellent Documentary
Absolutely amazing, what a fantastic well presented video.
Thank you For This Brilliant post, Keep safe . 👍
Superb once again Jamie, well done 👍🏻 Fascinating from start to finish. Love walking along there now and also be on how derelict and underused that area is when it could be a massive positive for Hull. Would love you to do a piece on where the trawler men lived, from the owners who I gather lived in Swanland (where I do now) to the terraces of Hessle Road.
What a great documentary, I learned so much about the trawler industry that I just didn;t understand.
Watched a couple of your episodes. Completely engrossed. Best thing I’ve found on TH-cam in a while. I’ve lived in the city for 2 1/2 years now and absolutely love the place. Invaluable insights into its history. Brilliant!
Loved it. I miss Hull. I lived 17 years in Brid. It was the 'Big City'.
This was absolutely fantastic, so interesting this should be televised, with a fantastic presenter,
I enjoy all of your videos, but this has to be one of your best.
Amazing video, my family has a big history with the fishing industry of Hull my great great great grandad George Henry Smith was the skipper of the crane I grew up been told the stories of what happened by my grandad sadly he's no longer with us but I still remember sitting with him and been amazed by it all
This was very special. I enjoyed every minute and feel I understand Hull in a new way. The ups and down are gut wrenching.
I thought what you said at the end, really capped it all off. “We had everything to loose”
Wow.
Great work Sir.
Very well done videos! Martin was right, you are the man!
Thankyou, welcome to the channel! I hope you enjoy the other videos, Hull has a fascinating and surprisingly rich industrial history as a portrait that many people would never suspect!
Another fantastic video, a great insight into our fishing industry history, I never sat and thought about what caused it's demise but now I know.
Superb - could be your best one yet. May have to rewatch all the others just to be check.
Yet another enthralling story of Hull's past. Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into researching and producing this and all your other videos.
Spot on, its clear you've put some work into that one! very interesting. I had family (Uncles) that worked the fishing fleet from Hull and this brought home just how hard it was. I remember the icelandic wars and the end of the industry well myself. Before spending some time with the last of the local fleet via a job in electronics, at which time I visited the Marr offices within the Lord line building and putting kit aboard the Kirkella... great doc 👌
outstanding documentary.. i was very moved by the sea shanty music, which if i'm honest, i never expected to be. I'd have loved you to have done one extra chapter, just dealing with the st andrews quay development heyday of the late 80's/90's and then it's change from entertainment to retail in the 2000's
I popped over to this channel after watching Hull History Nerd on Martin Zero's expidition of Hull.
Welcome to the channel! Hope you enjoy it!
Absolutely brilliant HHN . Worked on dry side until St Andrew’s closed as a young kid . Saw history unfold without really knowing it at the time
Nice one, I love riding my bike around the old Lord line building. To bad they covered up the old dock, would have been a nice marina now. The one in the city center is clearly not enough for the demand in the area
When you see how St Andrews dock used to look when it was thriving, it's a great shame to see it dilapidated now. Just left to return to nature. The graffiti doesn't help either. There's no "progress" here, as in reinventing the space to be put to good use, just a painful joyless reminder of Hull's wonderful past.
It would be easy to blame Iceland for enforcing their 12 mile limit. They have every right to thrive, but the cost to the UK fishing industry was almost terminal. What was once a cheap nutritious meal is now more of an occasional luxury food. We don't get cod or haddock in Australia, and fish and chips is high on our list when we return to Hull occasionally.
This must be a new one HN, and I'm pleased to see it's a nice long episode...
It was certainly a while in the making, so much to talk about, not all of it made it into the final cut!
@@hullhistorynerd I appreciate the work you must put into these HN, delivered in your inimitable style. As always a welcome respite from the police state coming to a town near me. Fantastic work....!!
In a word-Wow! Thanks for your work in putting this together. I've said this before but this material should be on TV.
Barnsley in particular has seen a dramatic run down of it's industry, mining, but for completely different reasons, with the associated social problems. 😒
Very interesting to watch that we'll made documentary 👍
What a fantastic series of videos, I think your best yet. Keep up the good work.
Another quality production and a great walk thru time. Pity the Marr building has now gone but i was lucky to film and photo all around the Lord line Building. Thanks
What a fantastic peice of work, all of your stuff is great but this is a cut above. You deserve all the credit and support you're getting.
Your best video so far. I found it very emotional.
I lost a cousin in the triple trawler tragedy.
I'm so sorry, it often seems that every family in Hull lost somebody on the trawlers.
I am also sorry for your loss. The most heartbreaking story of that dreadful tragedy which i have never forgotten is the captain who knew they were all going to die on the radio said ''tell our familys that we loved them and say goodbye for us''.after that i always thought about the men who risked so much for our fish & chip suppers every time i bought one
Excellent film. Thank you so much.
awesome footage loved watching it
You've done some great videos but this is the best one yet.
good to see you again hull history nerd . yeah
thankyou loved this one so so much thank you
Great work as usual from Canada
Me grandad used to say he used to sail 100 mile north of rock all. I used to ask what was there. He used to say f*ck all… them men who owned them trawlers got away with murder the way they treat those lads. RIP to all the lads who sailed out then lock gates never to return. The state of the area now is a disgrace and the council shouldn’t allow it out of respect to those that was lost. Fantastic video once again👍🏼
Hear hear.
Fantastic video, infact they are all fantastic well researched and presented. Awesome thank you.
Superbly crafted and presented documentary. Congratulations on an important and passionate testament. 👍❤️
Great work man....My Dads gonna love this too.
I used to go onto the fish Dock and watch the fish filleted on the spot and take it to Leeds neville hill when I worked there those filleters worked so hard and quick.
Aye, you couldn't be slow on those jobs!
Absolutely fantastic j so good really interesting and so well made you should be on TV mate
Really great video. Very informative. Love the passion you put into this documentary. :D
Just want to say, for people curious about the Russian Outrage, there's an absolutely incredible two-part series from Drachinifel (a naval history themed youtuber) where he talks about their voyage. Theres all sorts of bizarre incidents that get covered there, for example the zoo they ended up creating during their time in Madagascar, or the commander effectively going rogue and attempting to evade his reinforcements due to said ships being largely useless.
A fun additional note on the Royal Navy's involvement: the British admiral tasked with fighting them (should they have actually gone to blows at that time) drafted a battle plan he described as "chivalrous", because he intended to keep most of his ships back and only engage with a few of his battleships. He thought it was only fair to do this given the poor standard of gunnery.
That sounds brilliant, I'll have to give that a watch!
Drachninifel! I listen to voyage of the damned quite regularly it’s hilarious 😂 kamchatka! All be it tragic for the men.
Your excellent series on Diesel locos is what brought me here, but this is your best video yet. Well researched, fantastically presented, and expertly edited. If anyone reading this hasn't watched "Hull's Headscarf Heros" about the tripple trawler tragedy, look it up and watch it.
Yes, it's a fab documentary, I watched it when I was researching this video. Brian Lavery, who appears in the documentary, wrote a brilliant book on the triple trawler tragedy called The Headscarf Revolutionaries that you might enjoy if you want to know more. Again, part of my research for this video! It really upset me to learn how people sent poison pen letters even to Harry Eddom, the poor lad who survived and who must have been dealing with horrendous survivor's guilt and PTSD as it was.
Also, I'm glad there are folk who came here from the diesel videos enjoying the local history content! Don't worry, there are more diesel episodes in the pipeline, I just need to get myself out further afield to find some different locos...
@@hullhistorynerd I live in the South of England but I view this topic as an importnat part of our national history! I didn't know about the poison pen letters to those people, and it was upsetting to learn about such things in your video; particularly the part where the press were focusing on Lil Bilocca's weight rather than the how passionate she was leading the campaign and the noble cause she was risking her life for. I will seek a copy of the book you reccomend and look forward to more content in the diesel series (I'll be cheeky and say my request would be for the Deltics or Westerns please!!)
@@philbailey8082 I have plans for episodes on both Deltics and all of the Western Region diesel hydraulics, so keep watching!