Hull's lost trawlermen remembered at service 55 years on

It is estimated more than 6,000 trawlermen from Hull alone perished between 1835 and 1980

The first in a series of services to mark 55 years since 58 fishermen died in three separate trawler tragedies has been held in Hull.

The service, at the memorial benches near the Bullnose Heritage Centre on Hessle Road, remembered the crew of the St Romanus, who died in 1968.

It was the first of three ships which sank in January and February of that year, claiming a total of 58 lives.

Events will also honour crews of the Kingston Peridot and Ross Cleveland.

More than 100 people attended Wednesday's service, which took place at the junction of Boulevard and Hessle Road at 11:00 GMT.

An event was held last month at the Guildhall, hosted by the Lord Mayor and Consort, to honour the crews of the Lorella and Roderigo

Jerry Thompson, chairman of the Bullnose Heritage Centre, said: "January has always been a bad time.

"I've done all the research. I've lived and breathed every man's name and I wonder how people got through it all, but they pick themselves up and get on with life."

Only one man survived the 1968 triple trawler tragedy, which led to a successful campaign for improved safety standards by a group of women dubbed the Headscarf Revolutionaries.

An event was held last month at the Guildhall, hosted by the Lord Mayor and Consort, to honour the crew of the Lorella and Roderigo. Both vessels capsized off Iceland in appalling weather with hurricane-force winds and blizzards on 26 January 1955.

More than 6,000 trawlermen from the city have been lost at sea and the names of some of them are listed on four Bethel boards, which are named after a seamen's religious organisation.

Wednesday's ceremony was the first in a series remembering losses of trawler crews from Hull

Services to remember lost crews

The St Romanus sank in the North Sea on 11 January 1968 with the loss of its 20-man crew.

The crew of Kingston Peridot, also lost in 1968, will be remembered on Thursday 26 January, along with those of the Lorella and Roderigo, which sank on that date in 1955.

The crew of the Ross Cleveland, the final trawler lost in the 1968 disaster, will be commemorated on Sunday 5 February.

On Wednesday 8 February, the crew of the Gaul, lost in 1974, will be remembered.