by John Higgins
The History Group has long been aware that the Humber Ports have been something of a black hole in the knowledge of our preserved collective memory. We are deeply indebted to John Higgins (retired as inspector in 1985) who has written much about his time in the force and has graciously shared some of it with us.
This is one of John’s stories –
The Albert Dock at Hull was home to a huge fishing fleet in the middle of the Twentieth Century hosting 180 deep sea trawlers as well as the coastal fishing boats. It was a hard and dangerous life
for the trawlermen- between 1952 and 1967 fourteen trawlers and 93 men were lost at sea in just fifteen years. Then in January 1968 two deep sea trawlers were lost while fishing in treacherous conditions in Arctic waters. The St Romanus and the Kingston Peridot were both substantial vessels and there were no survivors from either vessel.
The fishing wives of Hull were used to tragedy in their community but this time they were angry at the poor safety record of the trawlers and they came together to get something done about it. Their anger was directed towards the trawler owners. On the afternoon of Friday 2nd of February the women met in a local hall to elect a committee, on the very day that the St Romanus was officially reported missing.
The women were incensed and marched en masse to the trawler owners’ premises at the Albert Dock. Officers of the BTP were aware of what was happening and ready to meet the crowd. They were used to dealing with the men folk but an army of 400 inflamed and chanting women and children was a different thing entirely. It was to be a testing time for the police. Representatives of the trawler owners association agreed to meet a deputation and the remaining crowd were held at the dock entrance. A delegation of three women, Lilian Bilocca (known as Big Lil), Rose Cooper and Mavis Wilkinson met with the owners at their premises accompanied by escorting police officers; the meeting was described as ‘very lively’, and lasted for fifty minutes. The women were particularly angry because the owners of the two missing trawlers refused to meet them and they did not get the answers they were looking for. Meanwhile, the remaining crowd of women had moved to a public right of way on the foreshore of the fast flowing River Humber; they were in an ugly mood and on the verge of storming the building where the meeting was taking place. With considerable diplomacy the police diffused a difficult and dangerous situation and persuaded the women to withdraw from the dock and the river bank.
Big Lil Bilocca and her two aides announced they would travel to London the following week for a meeting with the minister for the fishing industry. Of more concern to the police was that they also announced intentions to arrive at the fish dock every tide to prevent any trawler from leaving, which did not have a fully manned crew including a competent radio operator. They declared they would board any undermanned trawler to prevent it leaving and would continue to do so until the owners of the missing trawlers agreed to meet them. When the crew of one trawler passing through the lock shouted they did not have a radio operator on board, there were emotional scenes and Big Lil made determined efforts to jump aboard. She seemed intent in throwing herself into the lock whatever the outcome. She was restrained by WPc Maggie Tomlinson and other officers including PCs Colin Bielby and Harry Edson; it was no easy task, Big Lil was all of 17 stones and not easily dissuaded. She did not get aboard the trawler but her protest was successful because it turned around and put back to port to await a radio operator.
The following Monday morning, the women’s committee succeeded in meeting the owners of the missing trawlers. In a perverse twist of fate, news began to trickle in during the meeting that a third trawler, the Ross Cleveland was missing. Christine Smallbone, whose brother was the skipper of the Ross Cleveland, withdrew from the meeting. Big Lil Bilocca and her committee did attend the Houses of Parliament (appropriately enough on the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Act giving women the right to vote and stand as members of parliament.)
In October 1968 an Official Inquiry was held into the loss of the three trawlers and the deaths of their fifty-eight seamen. It was presided over by the Wreck Commissioner, John Naisby QC and lasted eighteen days; Big Lil Bilocca was there every day, she wanted to give evidence but was eventually dissuaded from doing so. The inquiry heard evidence from 130 witnesses, the most dramatic of which came from Harry Eddom, crewmember of the Ross Cleveland and the only survivor from all three vessels. Eddon described the events of the 4th of February that year: the crew had been busy all day chipping ice from the superstructure which re-appeared almost as soon as they cut it away. During the afternoon the wind increased from Force 8 to Force 9 and it was snowing hard. The skipper, Phil Gray decided to head for shelter; they were about 35 miles from the coast of Iceland. Later in the day, the wind increased to hurricane Force 12 and the ice everywhere was three to four inches thick. As the skipper tried to turn the boat into the wind, she suddenly capsized. Harry Eddon was thrown into the freezing Arctic waters but was soon picked up by the bosun Hull trawler Ross Cleveland and another crew member in a life raft. Both these men died of exposure during the night. Ernie Bilocca (Lil’s son), a deckhand on the trawler Kingston Andalusite, saw the Ross Cleveland sink.
At its conclusion, the inquiry made five recommendations to increase trawler safety. Lil Bilocca and the women she represented became known as the Headscarf Revolutionaries, their campaign was aggressive and highly successful; many new safety requirements were introduced. Big Lil died in 1988 aged 59 years and although she did not receive the acclaim she richly deserved, her name is revered in the City of Hull. In those days of not so very long ago, it would have been impossible to think that there are now no longer any trawlers working out of Hull. Any fish in the city today, arrives on the back of a lorry from who knows where.
This article originally appeared in the BTPHG Year Book 2018