The Sinking of the Leicester City
Extract from ‘Cleethorpes, Grimsby Central Hall, and Fishing Memories’ by Rosita Bird
‘Cleethorpes, Grimsby Central Hall, and Fishing Memories’ by Rosita Bird explores several Cleethorpes families, and their influence on the development of Cleethorpes. Connections with Grimsby Central Hall are also discovered. The family links to the area are followed back in time, linking the past and the present. Moving true stories of life and loss at sea are recounted in the book, giving an insight into the harsh realty of fishing apprentices.
This extract recounts the tragic sinking of the Grimsby trawler GY106 Leicester City which ran onto the rocks off the Island of Hoy in March 1953:
The Grimsby Trawler GY106 Leicester City was built in Middleborough by Smiths Dock Co. Ltd. In 1934 to serve as part of the Football Fleet for Consolidated Steam Fishing and Ice Co. Ltd. (J.D. Marsden.) of Grimsby.
Between 1939 and 1946 she was under the control of the Admiralty whilst serving as part of the Royal Naval Patrol Service. The trawlers were seen as ideal for minesweeping and anti-submarine work, as well as escort duties in support of convoys. The H.M. Leicester City survived to return to peacetime service with the Consolidated Steam Fishing Company, despite the Royal Naval Patrol Service losing more vessels than any other branch of the Royal Navy in these dangerous but vital roles.
During the night of 3″‘ March 1953 under the command of Skipper G. Johanson aged 33 at the time, the Leicester City set sail for Iceland and the waters of Faroe. Johansen came to live in Grimsby in 1949, although during the war he was based in Grimsby for a time while in command of a naval minesweeper. This was the first and only fishing disaster he would encounter. Johanson had a crew of 17 on the trawler, the Leicester City. On 22d March the vessel met with harsh conditions of thick fog and treacherous seas which caused the vessel to hit the rocks at Braebuster, Hoy, Orkney early in the morning around 1.40 am whilst it was still dark. Immediately after being stranded and the vessel taking a 45 degree list, a distress flare was fired. This was spotted just after 2 am. The skipper gave the order to abandon ship. This later proved to be a mistake as the ship later righted herself and had the men remained on board they would all have been taken off by lifeboat once the fog had lifted later that morning.
The skipper later explained that at the time, with the vessel so heavily listed, if it had rolled off the ledge it may have sunk very quickly. Also the skipper had no idea how far they were from land, it seemed like the only sensible thing to do was to abandon ship. Unbeknown to the skipper at that time the ship was only 200 or so yards from the shore. This was about a mile from the spot where the Strathelliot, a steam trawler, met a similar fate only a few weeks before.
One of the survivors of the Leicester City, Alfred Jones, a deckhand from Grimsby stated that they were going at full speed hoping to be home by Monday night. “We heard a terrible grinding noise as the ship ran onto the rocks. One of the ship’s two lifeboats was launched, but it was overturned. Five of us clung to the raft. It was terribly cold. I saw one man Robinson, let go and disappear. Another 20 minutes in the water and we would all have been dead. It was lucky the lifeboat crew heard us. There was another ships lifeboat, but I do not know what happed to her.”
Crofters had seen the flare and alerted the coastguard and the lifeboat was launched at 2.35am. And by 3.10am the fog had lifted momentarily and a light was seen coming from the trawler. However, the fog descended again and they decided to cut the engine and listen for sounds. Shouting could be heard at 3.30am. The life raft was spotted with four men. They were so exhausted the Motor Mechanic John McLeod and Assistant Mechanic Edward Wilson had to go into the water and stand on the bottom of the life boats scrambling-net to help lift them into the boat. They reached Stromness at 4am. Visibility was zero. Sadly one of the men had died before reaching the shore. The lifeboat was put out again at 4.30am. There were nine men and the skipper who boarded the second lifeboat, this lifeboat also overturned. These men got to Hoy by clinging to the overturned lifeboat until it washed up on the beach. They were taken on board the Stromness lifeboat J.J.K.S.W which had responded to the emergency. The men landed in Stromness at 2.20pm. Sadly two of the men died before landing at Stromness. The rest of the crew tried to board rafts but were swept away by the seas. The upturned lifeboat drifted ashore on Hoy with the men clinging onto it. Edward Young, who was 41 served in the Royal Navy from the age of 15 until he was invalided out of service after Dunkirk. Young was the mate of the Leicester City and made a heroic swim to the shore in an attempt to get help but was found on the beach and had sadly died of exhaustion and exposure. He left a widow Ann and son Edward James.
The air search continued by the RAF Hastings, and the last man, a wireless operator, was picked up dead by Thurso Lifeboat. In all, seven men were lost.
The Leicester City tragedy changed the whole way of life for a young galley boy – he was persuaded to leave the sea and become one of the best known butchers in Grimsby town. It was the toss of a coin that could have saved the life of his brother Harold. Mr Archie Needham, ran a chain of butcher shops around the town, he was only just 16 at the time of the tragic grounding of the Leicester City. He had done one previous trip on the trawler Visenda. Archie spun a coin with his brother Harold to see which one would go on the Leicester City. Fortunately, Archie won as he was a better swimmer than his brother Harold so had it been the other way around his brother may not have survived. His swimming training in Grimsby docks had stood him in good stead for the swim for his life. Both he and another deckhand Joe Hutchinson were fortunate enough to have seen a lamp. Archie recalled his hands were burning from holding onto the rope as he slid down into the water. They were at sea a long time finally reaching the shore early in the morning. “It was pretty embarrassing because I was naked, but we were so very glad to be safe. But it was pretty cold. I remember that later we had to go down to the Mission to identify the bodies. As soon as I got back to Grimsby my mother got me a butcher’s bike in Freeman Street and I never went fishing again. I always remember the incident because it was the Derby the day before. I believe a horse called Early mist had won.”
The eleven survivors came home in the evening on 25th March wearing borrowed clothes and with their feet bandaged and covered with thick socks. Their feet had been badly cut by the jagged rocks. The train journey back from Scotland had taken 36 hours. Relatives had maintained a 24-hour vigil at the station. The men were met by the outside manager for Consolidated Fisheries – the vessel’s owner – Mr Jack Mawers.
Six days after grounding it was still uncertain whether the Leicester City could be salvaged. Two surveyors took a plane to Kirkwall and a boat to Hoy to see the Leicester City and assess the damage. The Leicester City had a survey report on the state of the ship and reported that the trawlers hatches were burst open and seas were breaking over the wheelhouse and there was a large quantity of wreckage floating in the vicinity. The ship had 1,300 kits of fish on board from her Icelandic voyage. The public enquiry found the accident was not attributable to the lack of care or negligence. The radar had broken down but had not affected the navigation of the ship. It was decided that the salvage ship Salveda was to be withdrawn as the trawler had been battered too much by the bad weather and had to be abandoned.
On 20th May 1953 awards were given to the lifeboat men from the Royal Lifeboat Institution. The Stromness lifeboat had picked up 14 men although three had sadly died. Coxswain William Sinclair of Stromness and Coxswain Angus Macintosh of Thurso, both received the Institute’s thanks inscribed on vellum. The awards were given for determination skill and initiative shown by the men in finding the missing men in treacherous tidal water and for most of the time dense fog.
On 22nd October 1953 there was another moving presentation for the mate John Young who died after bravely swimming ashore to get help. On 17th November 1952 he had qualified for his skipper certificate, but when it came to the prize-giving it was his nine year old son Edward who walked onto the stage of the Grimsby Nautical School. He was presented with a Barometer which should have been handed to his father as the oldest man on the skipper’s course. One of the men on that fateful night was Alfred John Jones (Bookie) as he was known to his mates, managed to swim to the shore which was incredibly difficult in extremely cold waters.
The Procurator Fiscal was informed by the Hoy Postmaster at around 4.30am in the morning that a trawler was on the rocks at Braebuster. Dr Thomas Foubister arrived at around 6am. He found eight of the crew alive and two that had died. Henry Westerman was still alive when he was found on the shore. Some of the Hoy people had been keeping up artificial respiration on him. He therefore took over from them, and the rocking method was started and kept up for about one hour without success, both men had froth in their ears and nostrils and in his opinion death was caused by drowning. Some members of the crew had abrasions on their arms and feet from coming in contact with rocks, these he dressed.
The men that died were:
Wireless Operator Michael Diminopolus of Coombe Street, Cleethorpes who was married with three children. He was in the Navy before taking his course as an Operator at Hull Technical College and then came to Grimsby to find work on the trawlers.
Deckhand Kevin Nevin aged 26 (shown on his birth certificate as Kevin Ross Procter as he was adopted by Mr & Mrs James Nevin at 18 months) of Weelsby Street, Grimsby. He had been married only 15 months and had reached the rank of Petty Officer in the Navy.
Fireman Charles Hunt, aged 41 of Orwell Street, Grimsby, left a family of four sons, Charles, George, Stanley and Robert, his wife having died in 1949. He had worked all his working life on trawlers.
Mate Edward Young of Cooper Road.
Fireman Albert Robinson of Clumber Place, Cleethorpes was married with grown up son and daughter.
Second Engineer George Hill of Nunsthorpe
Fireman Henry Westerman of Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby.
Deckhand Trimmer A. B. Robinson aged 49 was making his third trip on the Leicester City. He had been going to sea for 22 years and during the war he was a stoker and petty officer on board minesweepers and saw service in west and South Africa and the Belgian Congo. He left a wife, daughter and stepson.
On the day of the funeral the streets were thronged with shoppers who stopped as the funeral cortege almost half a mile long wound its way to the Scartho Cemetery. The survivors stood at the entrance to form a guard of honour. Hundreds had waited outside the Bethel Mission in Tiverton Street which was soon packed inside for the service.
The survivors were Fireman, Frank Johnson of Church Street, Grimsby, Jack Dye of May Street, Cleethorpes, Alfred Jones, Deckhand, A. Homes of Hainton Avenue, Grimsby, J. W. Dye and Deckhand, G. French, of Montgomery Road, Cleethorpes, Third Hand Eric Howard of Saunby Street, Cleethorpes, Deckhand J. Hutchinson of Nelson Street, Grimsby, Deckhand, J. Jones of Ravenspurn Avenue, Grimsby, Deckhand G. P. Milbourn of Birch Avenue, Grimsby and Deckhand C. Sackville of Arlington Street, Grimsby. One crew member Mr Tracey of Daubney Street had been landed sick in the Faroes and sent home.
Photographs reproduced courtesy of Lincs Inspire Libraries.
Cleethorpes, Grimsby Central Hall, and Fishing Memories by Rosita Bird is available to buy at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre’s gift shop. It is available in large print and full colour and can also be downloaded in eBook format.
About Rosita Bird, Author of ‘Cleethorpes, Grimsby Central Hall and Fishing Memories’
I am married with 2 children and 4 grandkids. I have worked at a local solicitors, and then as a child-minder and guardian for fostered teenagers. I got into writing children’s books first around 2014.
I inherited a lot if my grandfathers notes and newspaper clippings he wrote about his farming life which l found interesting. He also invented the first hand held rotavator. This together with my interests in family history and a lot of research l wrote ‘Memories of Rural Lincolnshire Families and the Gentleman Executioner’.
My grandfather and great grandfather were Methodist preachers and there were rumours about the link to William Marwood. After that l concentrated on finding out about my husband’s ancestry. Many Cleethorpes people are descended from the Appleyard family who have connection to Levi Stephenson (depicted on the Cleethorpes coat of arms) and Sir Robert Sheffield.
A lot of the Cleethorpes book was gathered from personal stories and information found in out-of-print books in the library. It seemed a shame not to share all this with others who may be researching Cleethorpes families. Putting it all into one book has made it more interesting to anyone locally researching their fishing heritage or just general interest.
If you would like to contribute to the museum’s blog please contact Chloe, our Community Curator, at chloe.james@nelincs.gov.uk