Trimmer
Congratulations! You are now employed as Trimmer on a Grimsby trawler.
Listen to the audio clip below to hear a fellow Trimmer talking about your new job.
Average wage: £6.2s.2d per week. Around £145 in today’s money.
Average hours: 20 hours a day. Up to 70 hours without sleep when fishing.
Main duties:
- Fire the boilers with coal to keep up steam pressure.
- Maintain the boilers and pull ashes from the fires.
- Clean down the fishroom on longer trips when it is used for storing extra coal.
- Chop ice in the fishroom for storing the fish.
- Keep the crew sleeping quarters warm and supply fuel for heating the stove.
- Assist crew on deck if required, filling braiding needles and gutting fish.
- Trim and prepare paraffin navigation lights.
