Hull to the Rescue December 1800

This is a bit of interesting correspondence from the British Newspaper Archive which was published as a small news column on December 15th 1800. 

It was received by the Mayor of Kingston Upon Hull via express delivery from the Bailiffs of Scarborough, John Coulson and John Travis who were concerned about something that they had observed a couple of days prior that required some external assistance. 

Sir,

About an hour ago two large ships (evidently from the Baltic) were observed from the Castle, distance eight or nine miles at the same time that a lugger rigged Privateer attacked and captured one of them and as the other ship is not more than one mile to the Southward of the Privateer it is apprehended and may be captured also. 

There are also many other ships in sight, coming from the Northward and the signal for an enemy is now flying and the alarm guns fired from the Castle to warn them of the danger which is all that can be done here for their preservation. 

We trust you will have the goodness to despatch any Men of War if there are any in the Humber and if you would have the goodness to forward a copy of this letter to Yarmouth to the Admiral commanding there.

It might be the means of recapturing the ship or ships.

The wind is now from the North-East, a slight breeze and fine weather but rather foggy towards the sea,

We are, etc

Copy to the Worshipful Mayor Hull

I have not been able to find any further historical references to the specific incident apart from the sending of naval vessels by Admiral Dickson and that the Vine, Kirkus and other ships, part of the Baltic Fleet for this port were captured off Scarborough. The enemy of that period will have been from the Alliance made up of Denmark-Norway, Prussia, Russia and Sweden. The Castle still stands intact and that seems to indicate that the worst fears of the good officials of Scarborough did not, after all, materialise. 

Up in the Air 1932

You just cannot help but admire the accumulative efforts of the peoples of Hull and Grimsby to try to bring these two great Port and Trawling centres closer together in terms of means of and time spent travelling between them. 

I have written in recent weeks on the Paddle Steamer Service (1832), big money proposals for a railway bridge (1865), the feasibility study for a Tunnel under the Humber (1923), an actual but short-lived Hovercraft Service in 1969 and of course the magnificent suspension bridge that opened in 1981 providing the shortest road route between the two places. 

It has not been an easy thing to achieve a degree of unification and indeed the ultimate failure and scrapping of what was intended to be the over-arching administrative body of Humberside was testament to this. 

I do feel that the persistent failures, a combination of politics, finance, cultural and social issues have been major obstacles in empowering the Region and attaining its rightful and deserving position as a Powerhouse in the UK economy. 

Another mode of transport on the Hull to Grimsby route was in fact the first of its kind in Britain, that being a passenger service by aeroplane that started up in 1932. Up until that time there were no scheduled internal flights. It was set up, very much as an experiment in the September of that year flying from Hedon Aerodrome to the east of Hull to what was described as a field close to a bus stop at Bradley to the South-West of Grimsby. 

The flights were operated by National Flying Services and aimed at the specific target market of "commercial men". It was on a small scale with a Desouttier cabin type aircraft which could carry only two passengers and limited post and parcel items. 

For a fare of 7 shillings each way the passengers could look forward to a 10 minute crossing. 

The local newspaper gave some column space to the inauguration of the flights and that, in particular, two women were amongst the first 11 users and that they had reported the plane to be comfortable and as smooth as a Rolls Royce. 

Allowing for travelling to and from the runway sites and the short flight a businessman or woman could expect to make the journey from the centre of Hull to the centre of Grimsby in under 40 minutes. 

The operation does appear to have been well patronised initially although there was a higher flow of passengers to Hull than in the other direction. 

I am not sure how long the viability of this pioneering service ran for but as a model for the future of internal flights in the UK it was of great importance. 

Flashing Blaydes and other things from Hull

I wrote this a few years ago but had to air it again with the news that The Bounty replica foundered and sank in the natural phenomena and disaster that was Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Fatalities were recorded.

April 28th, just a month ago,  was the anniversary of the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty in 1789. 

Shipbuilding and Repairing was one of the oldest and most important local industries in Hull with documented yards, Staithes and docks along the course of the tidal River Hull from 1427. Not an unusual industrial process for a port town but able to thrive over many others because of the availability of oak from the hinterland and the trade with Europe for Baltic mast spars (big tree trunks) and good quality sail cloth.

Some of the dry dock basins survive today but only just. The river corridor has been identified for large scale redevelopment along the lines of a casino complex and combined commercial, retail and residential blocks. As with most ambitious and speculative projects in  recessionary times there is a prolonged stay of execution for the inevitable infilling and destruction of these architectural features.

Most of the activity was around the west bank of the river running paralell to the historic Old Town and High Street. Early hand drawn maps of this location, even before the construction of the dock basins, clearly show symbolic ships hulls on the mud as a statement of intent for the merchants and entrepreneurs of the time. The subsequent permanent sites included North Bridge Yard, Number One Dry Dock, the South End Graving Dock and the most well known being Blaydes Shipyard.

It was in the yard of Benjamin Blaydes that he commissioned, for his own fleet , a small hardy collier ship in the name of Bethia in 1784. The vessel was just 2 inches short of 91 feet long and with a beam of  24'4". Cost to build was recorded at £1950 , roughly £195,000 in current monies. A short time after launch and sea trials the stocky Bethia, fully expected to ply her trade around the coastal waters of the UK was purchased by The Royal Navy at an enhanced price of £2600 turning Mr Blaydes a tidy profit.

The ship was renamed The Bounty and the rest is history or at least the Hollywood version of events, perhaps a waste of paradise. My often dormant but lingering interest in Hull's maritime heritage and in particular taking the wrapper off The Bounty story was sparked by an advertisement by a US based yacht agency.

The 1961 built replica of The Bounty or should it be just Bounty, is on the market for US$4.6m . The ship was custom made for the 1962 epic Mutiny on The...... film and has been well preserved and almost fully rebuilt on a regular basis. The replica was built on the original Admiralty Archive blueprints but as a concession for the equipment and logistics of movie making the dimensions were scaled up to 180 feet long and with a 32 foot beam. The reason, the cameras needed considerable space for operation and action shots.

In 1790 The Bounty was torched by the mutineers. For authenticity this was the full intention of the Director, Lewis Milestone but it appears that Marlon Brando kicked up such a fuss that the ship was spared this fate. I have yet to see this version of the film to determine if a balsa wood model filled with lighter fluid was substituted in the closing scenes or whether a very early and bright around the edges form of CGI was used.

I have not seen what the co-stars Trevor Howard and Richard Harris had to say on the subject. What is on offer for the amount of US$4.6m? The true Bounty was pretty small and a full crew was only 44 officers and men. The replica, a real party boat can accommodate 150 revellers on deck or 49 berthed sleepovers. The luxury package caters for only 12 passengers. There is 100,000 square feet of sail in full trim but I cannot really see the guests mucking in by climbing the rigging. Fletcher Christian would certainly have welcomed the modern concession of twin diesel engines.

Otherwise, it is all there. 3 masted, spanker boom, topgallant and other nautical equipment I am not sure about. The ship is in regular use and has just completed its 2011 tour of UK waters, Belgium and Scandinavia before returning to its US base but why not a quick visit to Hull?

Ironically, replica Bounty will have crossed the latitude of the Humber a few times in its summer excursions and there would be a tremendous interest in even a short layover given the origins of the legend. I cannot promise any serious expressions of interest to purchase the vessel amongst the proud citizens of Hull but the queues on the quayside ready to mount the gang plank would be guaranteed.

When it comes to remembering the maritime heritage of the city this sort of thing really floats our boat.

A Possible Shortcut from Hull to London 1923

You can tell when a scheme or a plan is to be progressed in Hull when there is the appointment of some London lads, at not a little cost in their fees, to put a report together.

I've seen a few such Studies and Reports emanating from the Capital which have referred to Hull as a coastal city. 

The same scenario arose in 1913 when thoughts were foremost in the minds of the Hull Corporation Parliamentary Committee about a road and rail tunnel under the Humber Estuary. 

There has always been a consensus that the North and South Banks of the Estuary would be a greater economic powerhouse if they had a permanent link. I wrote last week about proposals for a railway bridge in 1865 and many times on the subject of the magnificent Suspension Bridge that remains, in my opinion, as one of the greatest engineering feats in the UK. 

The Humber Tunnel Scheme was for a route between Paull, to the East of Hull, and Goxhill on the South Bank. 

As well as stitching together the Ports of Hull, Immingham and Grimsby it would also give a slightly shorter distance to London when connections were made to existing corridors of rail and highways. 

An Advisory Committee was formed with some very big hitters including 15 representatives from the main participant population centres, a sprinkling of Engineering types, Contractors and of course the ever present and meddling accountants and lawyers. 

Their brief was to put in place a representation as the basis for promoting a Parliamentary Bill which would be required to secure all necessary powers for compulsory purchase and funding. 

Understandably the onset of the First World War placed a hold on such ambitious projects and the idea was put into mothballs until 1923. 

That was when the London Company of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, Consulting Engineers were engaged at the fee of 4000 Guineas to consider the viability of a Humber crossing, now of additional brief to provide an opinion on a bridge and a tunnel.

Fox and Partners were a prestigious operation with a pedigree of many huge Civil Projects amongst them ether directly or indirectly the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932). 

Lord Deramore, the then Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire was the Chairman. 

The remit of the Consultants was to provide a Report within 3 months on the most suitable and economic means of a Humber Crossing. There were provisos that any link had to be in the vicinity of Hull. Comparative merits of a bridge or tunnel should be considered along with an idea of costs and timescale. 

Such a major scheme could not be a vanity or white elephant project with the emphasis on the integration with existing interchanges and networks for the benefit of the region. 

Other Hull Corporation Departments were instructed to put together other supporting documents so that the best and strongest case could be put to any Parliamentary process. 

So what became of this? 

Whilst the idea of a Humber Tunnel concentrated the time and resources of local politicians, business persons and planners for at least a decade there is only a brief entry in Parliamentary Records of it. 

The Honourable Joseph Kenworthy, MP for Hull (1919-1931) did ask a question to the Minister of Trade on 12th February 1924 but after that the trail went cold. 

It would be interesting to find out if the 4000 Guineas expended to the Consulting Engineers did actually result in the production of a Report. 

As to the actual feasibility of excavating a tunnel of some 2 miles length in that specific location?

Well the geology looked reasonable as this representative cross section shows. The strata of Flamborough Chalk and Burnham Chalk lurking below the shifting alluvial and glacial deposits dod look promising.

Sound the All Clear

Fitted with a brightly painted ,close-boarded wooden door a second world war reinforced concrete bomb shelter makes a lovely garden shed. 

That is conditional however on requiring to fit any items over 80cm wide through the aperture which was only intended to facilitate entry for those on an austere wartime diet and with the catalyst of the warm flames of  an incendiary bomb licking their nether regions.

The back-gardens of Hull still retain a good number of the concrete cuboid structures. 

This is not in any way because of their versatility, of being pleasing to the eye or just downright useful. The sole reason for their stubborn survival is that they are too difficult to get rid of. Not surprising really based on the initial design brief to protect the citizens of Hull or what was referred to as the anonymous 'East Coast Town'. 

When I first moved to Hull in the late 1970's there was a determined effort by homeowners to clear the concrete block-houses. It somehow formed part of that same revolutionary interior design movement to create through lounges and remove chimney breasts. 

Many shelters had sunk into the soft clay soils of the city, others were listing seriously from the partial failure of the same ground conditions, a few were dens of immoral or illegal purpose and the rest overgrown, stopped up or serving as an emergency toilet for the poorly organised. 

Unfortunately for two inheritors of the shelters they met their end through adopting equally mad cap methods of demolition. No doubt the seed of an idea for the best methods to remove the immoveable mass was sown in a pub, or on the bus or in the smoking room at work. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time but with the luxury of 40 years of hindsight I do not ever recall seeing any glowing endorsements on the following;

Method 1;  The Theory; Stand inside the shelter and sledgehammer out the concrete walls. 

                   The Practice; The supporting walls for the 5 ton roof are sufficiently weakened to cause                           collapse. 

                   The Outcome; Death and  a considerable pile of debris for surviving loved ones to filter                           through.

Method 2. The Theory. Build a huge fire inside the shelter and when raging block up the sole aperture.                    The Practice. The reinforcement in the concrete heats up and explodes in a huge release of                      dense materials. 

                  The Outcome. Death but a pile of considerably smaller sized debris for loved ones to filter                       through.

It will only take one positive comment on a bomb shelter from Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsop to make them the next best thing for discerning homeowners. 

I expect Estate Agents will then wax lyrical on the post-war- industrialistic-retro-chic- cubes in order to secure a buyer. It will not be long before imitation bomb shelters will be available in authentic reconstituted concrete, an olde worlde yorkstone version, shiplap cladding and upvc profiles and available on a drive-away basis from all leading DIY outlets. 

One concession for such items for the residents of Hull and that threat of flooding would of course be an ability to float.

Turning the Big Guns on Hull 1911

The National Rail Strike of August 1911 brought the military out onto the streets with bayonets drawn and rifle butts in action against an aggrieved and unruly workforce. 

This had been on the orders of the Government Minister, Winston Churchill as he felt that a show of force was necessary to deter any escalation of militant or violent civil disorder. There were pitched battles and riots in Llanelli in Wales which saw  the shooting by soldiers of two strikers. Some 32 other towns across the UK saw the deployment of the army. 

There had been a tentative agreement on some of the disputed issues between General Management and Union Leaders and the men were encouraged to return to manning the railways. 

To some this indicated that the Strike was over but there remained very resilient resistance in the major cities of the North and North East of the Country. 

At New Shildon in County Durham 1500 troops were marched into the area and in other areas the military reinforcements included cavalry. 

The basic demands of the railway workers was an 8 hour day, a minimum wage of 24 shillings a week and on top of that a pay rise of 2 shillings per week all round. 

The strike had brought a good proportion of the rail network to a halt or with a much reduced timetable service able to be provided. Potato prices doubled, there were shortages of coal and the collateral effect was the laying-off of around 200,000 mine and dock workers who relied heavily upon rail traffic. 

In my home city, Kingston Upon Hull, the fishing industry was particularly badly hit and hundreds of boxes of fish, unloaded on the quayside had to be dispatched for manure as there was no onward transport. 

The North Eastern Railway workers in Hull remained defiant of any back to work order although some of the Carters or Porters employed by the Hull and Barnsley Railway Company did return to work and this caused anger and accusations of scab labour from the strikers. 

Lorries, loaded up and heading out from the Hull and Barnsley Depots had a mounted police escort as they made their way out of the city. In Whitefriargate, an important central thoroughfare, an attempt was made by strikers to undo the harness of a horse pulling a Company lorry which was delivering goods to several business establishments. 

A large group of police, mounted and on foot cleared the crowd away. 

There was general support for the strike in that at some warehouses the transported goods were refused much to the noisy appreciation of the pickets. 

There was an outbreak of violence with the police and van men surrounded and pelted by stones but nobody was seriously injured. 

Perhaps most menacingly, and it is speculated to have been at the behest of Churchill, the Royal Navy Cruiser, Attentive appeared in the River Humber just off Victoria Pier and was later joined by another vessel, HMS Alarm, a torpedo boat destroyer. 

In Newcastle, Leeds , York and Hartlepool there was continued snubbing of the deal. 

HMS Attentive

HMS Alarm

The action of the railway workers was just one of many in the four years leading up until the start of the First World War which saw many sectors of industry and trade directly affected. Not many of the towns and cities where disputes arose will have experienced the show of military force as in Hull. 

Up to the Knees at Christmas

Imagine doing some Shopping in Kingston Upon Hull in the evening of the last Saturday before Christmas, 1921. 

In the busy commercial Market Place and Lowgate there will likely have been a festive scene from the bright lighting of the shop windows, the pavement array of goods under the canopies and a riot of noise from the traders, barrow-men, the phut-phut of a few motor vehicles and a general hubbub of excited consumers making some almost last minute purchases. 

In order to make the most of a weekends trading the shops will have been open quite late. 

Although one of the coldest seasonal months of the year the weather conditions on that specific evening might have been remarked upon as being quite abnormally windy. Shopping bags and carried packages will have been buffeted about. 

Not too unusual for the depths of winter but what did surprise shoppers and shop-owners was very quickly finding that they were wading through rapidly rising flood waters- the mucky, muddy type. 

At 7.30pm on that night a disaster unfolded that the London Times called "of unexampled magnitude" causing considerable damage on a widespread coverage. 

A combination of freakish conditions of high tide and strong coastal gales caused a bulge or tidal surge to race up the Humber Estuary from its source out in the North Sea. This overwhelmed Victoria Pier on its way West and being funnelled up the narrow River Hull corridor the pressure and height of the wave burst the banks and led to flooding of the surrounding low lying urban areas. 

The unfortunate shoppers will have witnessed the inundation along Market Place, around and into the landmark Holy Trinity and St Mary's Churches and affecting the Town Hall, Central Post Office and Bank of England. 

Of the two places of Worship St Mary's suffered more damage. The ancient oak lectern floated away but miraculously the heritage Bible was thrown clear of the water onto a dry desk top. 

The densely populated housing areas running parallel to and branching outwards from the River corridor became quickly overrun with gates and house doors swept aside by the tidal wave and ground floor parlours and kitchens put under the brackish water. The stricken families in the most part were able to take refuge upstairs and although some narrow escapes were reported there was no loss of life.

Worst hit was the Wincolmlee industrial area just to the north east of the city centre with the large Oil Mills directly affected. A stack of stored barrels, 25 feet high was toppled and swept away, similarly some 200 tons of coal which was waiting for use to fuel the steam powered machinery of a flour mill was taken away by the current down Great Union Street. 

Hundreds of homes were ruined and added to the losses experienced by commercial and retail businesses the estimated damage was upwards of three quarters of a million pounds. 

Areas around Hull did not escape the deluge, particularly on the North Bank of the Humber and the Main railway line at Brough was under water. 

The severity of the tidal surge was thankfully short lived and by 10.30pm the waters had receded. 

Here is a link to a wonderful bit of footage at BFI

https://twitter.com/bfi/status/848127824741359616?lang=en

The clean-up operation was immediately begun as regular river flooding was, and indeed still is now, a major threat particularly with much of Hull's population living on the flood plain. It was a well rehearsed activity of remediation by homeowners, businesses and with the dutiful attendance by the Fire Brigade and their pumps. 

The tale of John, Dick and 3 Harry's (1929)

It's always a temptation amongst young boys to wander about on industrial and building sites out of normal working hours, throw a few things, take some memento's and perhaps damage stuff. I did it when young and am sure that many others have done it as well. 

I am not implying anything more than these generally harmless activities and pranks where the four boys of this story are concerned but they just happened to be in and around the Fish Market on St Andrew's Quay in Kingston Upon Hull when it burnt to the ground in August 1929. 

Far from being in the frame for arson the efforts of the boys (plus one other un-named youth) were truly valiant and heroic. 

The building, a vast covered area of some 3.85 acres or about the size of two football pitches, had only been completed and open for business for a matter of days. It was seen as a major development to keep Hull as a major fishing port and commercial market with 270 Merchants operating out of small offices around the market floor where, upon the landing by deep sea trawlers of their catches of plaice, soles, halibut,cod, whiting and hake there would be frenetic activity by an army of Clerks, Barrow-Men and Packers. 

The boxes of fish, freshly excavated from their iced surroundings in the holds of the trawlers would be sold to the Merchants who with equally frenetic activity on thousands of telephone lines made sure that their customers were catered for and that the awaiting railway carriages could be loaded quickly and efficiently to take the purchases to their destinations nationwide. 

Just prior to the outbreak of the devastating fire a flotilla of Trawlers had arrived and were moored pending unloading. The heat and spread of the fire must have been most fierce as 7 steam trawlers suffered major damage to their superstructures with masts, wheelhouses and cabins burned away notwithstanding the loss of valuable deck gear, ropes and lifeboats. 

The ships were the Norman, St Alexandra, Lord Deramore, Dairycoates, Frobisher, Ohm and Marconi, the latter pair belonging to the company Ross. 

H128 Ohm renamed in 1946 as shown

The spread of fire was witnessed by our famous five (plus the other one) who were spurred into action.

At some great personal risk the 3 Harry's and John went on board Frobisher and rescued a cat from the blistering and scorched cabin. They also helped to run out the fire hoses which were connected to a Donkey Engine in the Fish Meal Works. Where boxes were burning on the quayside the boys threw them into the dock. 

Watchmen on the trawlers found themselves in a dire predicament and peril from the advancing wall of fire. Some of them hung on ropes over the sides of the ships just above the waterline and at least one of them had to have overnight hospitalisation for exhaustion. 

In a separate but no less courageous action ,Dick and the other, un-named youth took a rowing boat and made efforts to rescue the exhausted escapees being able to take several ashore. The LNER Firetug was also in action. 

In the light of day the true extent of the disaster was apparent. 

As well as the damaged trawlers there had been the loss of 150 railway wagons of an expensive covered and braking type and hundreds of packing boxes, barrels, wheel barrows and weighing scales.

The livelihoods of the merchants had been ruined as many operated out of the premises. Upon arriving to sift through the still smouldering ashes of the building it was evident that business records and amounts of cash had been lost from the effect of the intense heat causing stronghold safes to burst open and spill their contents. It was reported that only one safe remained locked in the whole building and some £200 was undamaged. 

A site worth witnessing will have been the hordes of rats running about having been driven out of their nesting places by the fire. 

A saving grace was that the large catches of Icelandic and Faroes fish in the ice packed holds of the stricken trawlers had not been affected by the fire or smoke and Food Inspectors deemed them to be in excellent and saleable condition. 

However, the implications of the fire were hugely serious for Hull not just in the thousands of pounds of lost trade but with competing Ports in Grimsby and Fleetwood benefiting and taking the advantage until normal service could be resumed.

Nationally a shortage of fresh fish drove up the prices in that year. 

The unemployment and business interruption figures were not known but hundreds depended upon the Fish Market for their incomes. 

I have not been able to find out any further news about the brave youths- the three Harry's- Young, Duffield and Hepton, John Harper, Dick Campbell and the other. No doubt they may still have descendants in the local area some 91 years after that memorable event.

There is good footage of the aftermath of the fire on the Pathe News Website- 

It made the Pathe Newsreel

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/250-000-fire-disaster/query/St+Andrews+Dock

Poverty of Empathy 1821

In 1821 some good minded citizens in the Port town of Hull Petitioned Parliament for legislation that would allow them to assess ships, very much in the way that property was rateable as a means of raising local tax revenues, and use the monies raised to support the poor. 

The intention was to equalise the Poor Rates in that many families where the bread-winner was employed in maritime activities such as general shipping, fishing and whaling were plunged into destitution if their means of income was interrupted or curtailed by accident, injury, illness or in frequent lay-offs from work. 

The Bill, called the Hull Sailor Poor Bill, was not unique in its aims and intentions as similar local taxes were in place in other port towns such as Sunderland. 

The First Reading before Parliament opened up a huge amount of opposition and this came from what was described as the owners of houses and lands in Hull and York, Shipowners in Hull and constituents of the Sculcoates Ward in the town. 

Clearly, these wealthy and influential individuals could lobby the Members of Parliament to some effect. 

Their line of attack against the Bill was one of broad statements, all of which were challenged by its Proposers as being false and misleading. 

In many situations where the privileged and rich are asked to contribute to those less fortunate than themselves there is a throwing up of hands in horror at the prospect of the use of their money. Those with a vested interest in Hull ships expressed concern that they themselves would suffer hardship from having to pay a levy of this type. 

When in employment each seaman did pay the sum of sixpence a month, originally to Trinity House, and this went towards the upkeep of hospitals. The fund was always limited and Poor Relief was called upon or Parochial assistance had to be relied on. 

A further strand of opposition to the Bill was through the use of the potential for negative economic and commercial impact from a local levy on ships. The powerful lobby claimed that Hull would be prevented form competing effectively with other Ports. In reality, those proposing the Bill, stated that any levy would be of an insignificant amount and particularly when considered against the annual expenses of each ship. 

The lobbyists then focused on the abandonment of a similar scheme in Liverpool on the grounds, they claimed, that it had been widely seen and perceived as unfair. In fact the Liverpool Tax was quashed on a legal technicality although a learned lawyer at the time had strongly defended the treatment of ships for local taxation as though they were stock in trade. 

Whilst shipowners were taking the very lucrative profits from freight, livestock, passenger, trawling and whaling activities centred on Hull a considerable amount of hardship was associated with, in particular, the Greenland fisheries trade and numerous poor were created by this. There were financial benefits for the Shipowners in the form of a Bounty given by the Government for whaling ships. On average a whaler had a crew of 40 and with one third of these being outsiders of the town coming from many other ports in the North of England. Furthermore the owners had to provide an Apprentice for every 50 tons weight of a ship of age no younger than 12 and no older than 20 and were reimbursed for this. 

The opponents to the Bill were vociferous that other users of the Port would leave if a levy were imposed but that was in itself a falsehood in that the tax would only be imposed on Hull ships. 

The charitable and philanthropic motivation of the Bill was continually delayed ,thwarted and frustrated by the mealy-mouthed words form the wealthy vested interests. 

Even under the assurances that it would be impossible for the shipping trade in Hull to be ruined by the imposition of a trifling rate on shipowners the Bill did not get past the Second Reading. It was confined to the archives of Parliamentary Records amongst other great ideas that got nowhere because of the blocking tactics and lack of social justice of the rich and greedy.

A Milestone

They hide in the roadside verges, many of them are forgotten, more are neglected and some are so badly weathered that they have no recognisable features. No, not tramps but old milestones. 

In the days of limitless Local Authority budgets for grass mowing or when farmers and homeowners regarded it as a civic duty to maintain the verges without fear of prosecution for health and safety or highways violations, the milestones were very prominent landmarks on any trunk road journey. 

In modern forms of transport we may pay little attention to the passage of the miles unless keen to preserve some residual value and  not rack up too much on the odometer. However, on foot or on horseback in bygone days the milestone was the equivalent of a sat-nav and essential to guage when to stop for human refreshment or to water or change mounts. 

If average walking pace today is, what, four miles per hour on metalled pavements then I estimate this would be perhaps two miles per hour or less for someone with poor or no shoes, on rough potholed or waterlogged tracks and with cumbersome clothes notwithstanding carrying work tools, baggage or all their worldly possessions tied up in a brightly coloured hankie on the end of a stick. A journey on foot from Hull to York on roughly the same route as current roads would take a minimum of 20 hours or if confined to a daylight passage in winter, 3 days or on Midsummers Eve, the whole day with no stops for Druidistic type events. Under such duress ticking off the passing milestones would be very important. Spot a white horse, 10,000 points but carve your initials on a milestone 1 million points. 

A few years ago I had a wonderful contract to track down milestones in East Yorkshire and report on their condition as they were Listed Structures. My brief included a few vague grid references or equally patchy physical descriptions of where I could find a specific marker. The actual task of locating 17th and 18th Century roadside artefacts was very difficult and time consuming, not helped where new 
roads and by-passes had left the original course as a picnic area ,cul de sac or an overgrown spur in the verge. 

The stonework of a milestone had evidently been striking originally although utilitarian and functional. Recorded distances were etched in fine italic script under usually two bolder carved town names or with an affixed  metal tablet with cast text performing the same role. 

There were two main types of milestone, a basic almost headstone type and the grander two-tier examples which served as a step for mounting and dismounting a horse on the opportunity for a short rest. The stonework, weathering accepted often showed battle scars from modern vehicle impact. I expect that being caught short on a long journey would entail a quick swerve up and stop on the verge only to encounter a hidden mass in the long grass causing grounding or worse to the car and further discomfort to the already desperate motorist. 

A number of the landmarks were just plain missing. I can imagine many rougher 18th and 19th century buildings in villages just off the old coaching routes having unusually good quality dressed stonework above the hearth or in an inglenook feature. Stones on the softer verges, at risk from splashing from passing traffic or now stuck in a gully or drain-off area had settled out of true and were a sorry sight. Perhaps there is a case to go out and retrieve these relics of bygone travel as they are obsolete and redundant as far as the modern road user is concerned. 

I advocate that in a post apocalyptic world the milestone will become a surviving memorial to the way we led our hectic lives .

Pilgrims in the future will marvel at the intricacy of the wording and pass on the folklore of such inscriptions as Hull 20, Leeds 40 and what a marvellous game of rugby league that must surely have been back in the day.

Big Money Plans 1865

There was no doubting the ambition and farsightedness of a few individuals who in 1865 proposed the construction of a railway bridge across the River Humber.

It had gleaned the support of some major players in the emerging UK railway network, amongst them the Great Northern, Great Eastern and Midland Rail Companies. These companies were motivated by commercial success in order to keep their shareholders happy and to attract the new investment that was essential to their expansion across, and exploitation of, the country. 

A principal beneficiary of what would certainly be one of the largest civil engineering projects of the Victorian Era would be Kingston Upon Hull in that the incessant flow of manufactured goods and materials from the industrial areas of South and West Yorkshire and Lancashire down south to London for shipping out to global markets would be reversed. 

Hull was poised to further develop its long riverfront wharfage and dock basins and monopolise its geographical location as the natural Gateway to Europe and beyond. 

The proposed crossing point was to be some 2 miles to the west of the town of Barton upon Humber where the distance between the North and South banks of the Humber was 1 mile. 

This position corresponded to a low lying area beyond a steep cliff line, roughly in my perception to the course of the River Ancholme. 

An Act of Parliament had previously authorised a rail line, the Althorpe and Lincoln and this could be linked into by the building of a branch line to Appleby and then to Keadby on the major navigation river, The Trent. 

This infrastructure would give a direct route into the coal mining and manufacturing hinterlands and that, so far, viable option of shorter route than to London. 

As well as this south and south western orientation a railway bridge would integrate with the newly built line at Staddlethorpe (Gilberdyke) some 15 miles to the west of Hull and a main rail line to the hub of Doncaster. The new routes offered to industrialists and the merchant and entreprenurial sectors a slightly shorter distance from Hull to London- saving 21 miles and Hull to Newark on Trent -19 miles.

As for the technical detail of a bridge, that would be most challenging. 

The Humber did carry a lot of sail and steamship traffic and so any physical crossing would have to cater for the clearance for masts, rigging and superstructure. 

There was some precedent in engineering in the UK to use as a model for this project. Thomas Telford had completed the Menai Suspension Bridge for road traffic in 1826 which although with a total length of 417 metres was actually restricted to a main strung span of 176 metres. 

The Humber rail plan predated that of the Tay Bridge, a 2 mile crossing,  by some 13 years and perhaps a similar lattice box girder might have been a consideration; the combination of factors that caused the Tay Bridge to collapse in 1879 with multiple fatalities not being foreseeable at that time. 

Any structure would have to have a clearance of the central span designed for the highest level of the Spring Tides. 

Initial ideas were for a half mile long viaduct from the Lincolnshire side and a quarter mile length from the Yorkshire side. There may have been a lot of talk about this feat of engineering being entirely possible with the talent and flair that existed and which had seen a rise to celebrity status of the likes of Isambard Kingdom Brunel whose Clifton Suspension Bridge had just opened (1864). 

As for the cost? 

In 1865 a budget of £900000 was predicted which in today's money is £79 million. 

When the Humber Suspension Bridge was eventually built and opened to traffic in 1981 it was ,at 2220m total length the longest single span of its type in the world.  It cost some £90 million to build which puts into perspective the scale of project from 1865. 

Blubber

I found this small column of the news of the arrival of a ship in my home town, the Port of Kingston Upon Hull dating from 1790. 

It has some interesting detail of what the ship brought back to unload although the trade is now to be villified for its cruelty. 

The second paragraph has some very striking social comment which indicates that no occupation was a secure type in the last decade of the 18th Century. 

I provide the column as it appeared in the newspaper of the day being of interest to Merchants and Shipowners alike as the last two entries come from a similar activity from other ports and harbours along the East Coast of England. 

On tuesday last arrived at Hull, the Egginton, Capt Allan* from Greenland with 200 butts of blubber, the produce of 4 fish and 2460 seals. She brings an account of the following Hull ships viz. the Elizabeth of Sutton,  2 fish; Enterprise 1600 seals; Minerva 1 fish, 700 seals; Samuel 1 fish. Sarah and Elizabeth 700 seals; Selby, a fish, 1600 seals. Truelove, 1 fish, 1700 seals; Young Maria, 1900 seals; Diana, 500 seals.

On the arrival of the Egginton at Hull and the ship being moored the men went on shore in a body, armed with long knives, &c to the Custom House to muster. The officers received protections, and for three days no press-gangs durst came near the common men. 

Of course the reference to fish relates to whales as part of a large and regular sailing of a fleet from Hull into the hostile waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic. 

The huge amount of seal carcasses will have been from a shore-party landing and a subsequent bloody assault with blunt weapons on defensive animals. 

It is therefore totally ironic that the crew could not venture out into their own home port without fear of violence against them by the Press Gangs seeking to gain a commission for filling the rosters of other ships. *Capt J Allen is the name in Basil Lubbocks work on "Captains Listed in Arctic Whalers" (published 1937)

It feels a bit Baltic out there - 1861

Following on from yesterday's writing on the pioneering manufacture of Steam powered ships and their influence on the emergence of the Port of Hull as a major trading portal I thought it only right to expand on the great hazards associated with shipping in the hostile environments, in particular of the North Sea and Baltic Waters. 

There was a regular movement of ships from Hull to the Northern European Ports carrying all manner of freight and goods, Livestock and for much of the 19th Century a good proportion of the 2.2 million migrants heading to the New World came along this east to west corridor. 

In 1861, taken as a snapshot of a typical 12 month period of maritime trade there was a series of tragedies of shipwreck, foundering and disappearance with resultant loss of crew, passengers and cargo.

One that prompted a column of its own in the London Times in that year was the steamship, Baltic, under the command of a Captain Buchanan. 

The vessel was on a sailing from Hull to Kronstadt which lies some 20 miles west of St Petersburg, the great Russian Capital. Its Manifest mentioned a cargo of machinery and cotton from the United Kingdom bound for Russia and with a likely return of those seeking a new life in Canada or the United States of America. It was in the ownership of Messrs T Wilson and Son who, as The Wilson Line and later the Ellerman Wilson Line were at one time the largest merchant fleet in the world. 

The transporting of Migrants was a large part of the business income stream in those years. 

SS Baltic didn't make it beyond the island of Hiumaa close to the Gulf of Finland becoming grounded and wrecked. 

The cause of the accident was speculated upon as being a magnetic aberration affecting the ship's compass as was a common occurrence in those waters close to Veckmans Ground. I have not been able to trace such a place on archived navigation maps and it may have been just a nickname for a specific reef, shoal or outcrop that was known to mariners. 

In the narrow sound between Denmark and Sweden farther West there is a geological feature of not dissimilar name- Vengeancegrund although given the separation between the actual location of the wreck of SS Baltic and the Danish Strait any further association is unlikely. 

The new fangled steam ships, predominantly of iron construction will have been susceptible to such magnetic influences to a greater extent than their predecessor wooden hulled sail ships. 

SS Baltic was a relatively new ship having been built and launched by the respected Earles Yard in Hull in 1858 as an example of iron screw propulsion. 

Captain Buchanan may simply have misread a malfunctioning compass and driven his ship onto the shoreline. Fortunately his 21 crew and two or three passengers were saved. 

Wilson and Co had a bad record of shipping losses in the months of late 1860 to the time of the June 1861 SS Baltic wrecking on their Northern European routes. The roster included Arctic, the Kingston and the Bothnia. In each of these events there was tragic loss of life and in the case of Bothnia no trace was found after a last sighting near Helsingor, Denmark. 

You will be familiar with the name, from my recent writing, of the Hull Merchant and Ship Owner Zachariah C Pearson and his highly publicised multi-million pound Bankruptcy. He too suffered a maritime loss in these inhospitable waters, perhaps caused by the same magnetic disturbances to the compass, with the Steamer Wesley of which again no trace was found. 

As a footnote the London Times reported that the owners of the SS Baltic were insured.

What's Up Dock?

The Port of Hull was the very first to apply the new and wonderful power of steam amongst its resident Maritime Fleet and this served to reinforce its importance in river, inland coastal and foreign trade.

In terms of geographical location Hull was able to connect with all of the great manufacturing towns of the English Midlands and North mainly through the River Trent corridor and an established network of man made canals. 

There was unobstructed access from the Humber Estuary to the North Sea and global trade. 

Dock operations of any note dated from around 1767 at which time the town was of a modest 18000 population and emerging from more of a military stronghold status than a true economic hub. 

The Humber Dock opened in 1809 followed by Princes Dock within two decades. 

The London Times Newspaper in 1861 remarked on the prolific rate of construction of Steamships in Hull with the activities in particular of Messrs Brownlow, Ramsden and Co, Earles and Samuelsons being responsible for the launch of 124 steamers of up to 3000 tons burden. 

The latter shipbuilders operated as Humber Iron Works with a yard of 9 acres with extensive frontage to both the Humber and the River Hull. It employed around 2000 men. In addition to the heavy industrial plant requirements Samuelsons had two powerful hydraulically powered slipways which could haul the largest of vessels out of the water for the carrying out of repairs. 

The Hull Dock Company had similarly impressive figures for its land holdings with over 42 acres of dock water area, more than 6 acres of tidal basins, two and a half acres of wharfage and 16450 linear feet of quayage for the berth of ships. 

This was being expanded to cope with the year on year increase in tonnage being imported and exported. 

The New Western Dock for which an Act of Parliament was obtained around 1860 was to further add to the capacity. 

As for the amount of goods and freight passing through Hull this had been recorded as 109491 tons in 1775 and with an eleven fold increase having been attained by 1861. 

As well as being a major shipbuilding town the Port itself was served in the mid 1800's by fleets including 65 ocean-going and 25 inland waterway steamers. There was use of the Port by English and Foreign shipping companies with about 140 ships plying a regular or scheduled service. 

It was still a precarious time for seafarers with frequent loss of ships and their crews to storms and navigational hazards. 

In spite of these tragedies there was a strong commitment to expand operations by the Dock Company which was justified by the rapid rate of increase in tonnage of goods and freight through the Gateway to Europe. 

Boom and Bust 1864

It was the talk of the City of London in April 1864 as well as taking up a lot of comment in Kingston Upon Hull; the Bankruptcy Proceedings of Mr Zachariah Charles Pearson, a Merchant and Ship Owner.

I have written a lot in past years about the Park named after this son of Hull as I live in a house overlooking the 7 acres of landscaped public open space that continues to provide a valued amenity for the community. 

The story of Zachariah Pearson is a true rags to riches and ruin tale, far too fantastic in many aspects to be believed and yet not far off from a story line that would make for a Hollywood Blockbuster. 

Having taken to a life at sea at an early age as a Cabin Boy he worked his way through the ranks to become a Captain. The next progression was quite unusual in that Pearson had aspirations to be an actual Owner and it was this decision that brought him a great fortune and the respect that came from holding Public Office as Lord Mayor in his home city of Hull. 

In 1858 his net worth was stated as £16000 which would have a present day equivalent of approaching £1.5 million. That point in time may have represented the peak of his fortune as within a couple of years, the catalyst being an acrimonious cessation of business with an astute co-owner, Pearson became rapidly insolvent. 

Commissioner Goulburn in the Court of Bankruptcy in the 1864 proceedings was availed of the extent of the debt which amounted to £648000 or in present money, a whopping £57 million. 

What could have helped out in the dire financial situation that Pearson found himself in was a lenient attitude of the United States President, Abraham Lincoln. The fiercest critics amongst the Creditors claimed that Pearson had acted with the utmost of adventurism in his attempts to break the Civil War Blockade with the Southern States by sending a fleet of freight-laden ships seeking to turn a quick and potentially lucrative profit. 

The Creditors called these actions "smuggling" and to a regime that was perpetuated on the abominable use of slave labour. 

Pearson, although a proven exponent of shipping had bought the fleet of ships not on an outright cash basis but through a series of Bills which could be renewed from time to time as the financial situation demanded. Some doubt was cast by those bringing the Bankruptcy Action on alledged grey and shady practice by Pearson using Intermediaries and payments to such a Party as a commission for securing ships which was an unprecedented practice. 

One of Pearson's vessels, the Indian Ocean was burnt out and destroyed bringing about an Insurance Claim. 

Other dealings included another and subsequently untraceable Company who accepted further Bills for Pearson. 

The Commissioner came to the conclusion that Pearson had traded with fictitious capital in that he had incurred debts with little prospect of meeting his commitments but associated claims of an extravagant lifestyle were rejected. 

Although Pearson's annual personal expenditure was around £4000 (£350000 in today's monies) this was not unheard of for someone who had to uphold the pomp and ceremony of Public Office- Pearson was twice Lord Mayor of Hull ,and had to maintain residences in and travel between his business commitments in Hull and the City of London. 

Yes, the American Adventure was ill advised and rash but symptomatic of someone taking great risks to try to secure the level of profit that could possibly help to bale out a foundering business empire. 

Pearson as a self made man will have made many enemies on the way up and who will have relished the prospect of putting the boot in on his quick fall from grace. 

His examination by the Court of Bankruptcy had been over 18 months, clearly an indication of the complexity of the case and the vast monies it involved and Pearson will have suffered much disgrace and personal embarrassment by the attitude and accusations of the Creditors. They would eventually have to settle for a small return in the pound for their losses.

Pearson returned to Hull and lived a quiet life in a modest house in the Park named after him and which remains as a lasting legacy to his fantastic life.

Sticky Fingers

Do I feel like I have been the victim of a scam? 

Can that feeling of having been exploited and ripped off to some extent actually be retrospectively applied to myself 50 years ago aged 7? 

No, I haven't been subjected to psychoanalysis, regression therapy or hypnosis nor contacted by a firm of lawyers asking if I might have a claim for injury or worse during my formative years. 

This all came about having watched an ITV programme on April 23rd entitled "Stuck on you- the Football Sticker Story". 

I was an avid collector of football cards, my earliest album being that for the 1970 World Cup Tournament. The cover of the cardboard album depicted Bobby Moore being carried aloft with the Jules Rimet Trophy from those far off days when, wait for it.....England were the Champions and Holders of that tiny golden symbol of soccer supremacy. 

I seem to remember that a packet of cards, flimsy paper things, cost an old sixpence which was at that time more than my weekly pocket money allocation. 

I continued with the pastime and had albums for the English League for the seasons of 1971-1972 and 1972-1973. I thought nothing of the quality of the photographs of the players but according to the ITV broadcast they were variable in quality, at times featuring a player's head clumsily superimposed on another's body. some poorly re-painted shirts where in the pre-publication period a player was transferred to another team, weird and ungainly poses and some action shots where a player's face is actually obscured by the ball or the elbow of an adversary. I have provided a few examples from the 1972/73 album within the following paragraphs. 

The Publishers of the English League collector cards were FKS whose address was in Canning Place in Liverpool. Theirs was a responsible role and the inside back page of the album bore, under a large capitalised WARRANTY the assurance that each and every stamp as they called them was of identical print run and that a special mixing process was carried out to ensure that there was a fair and equal selection and distribution across the packets. 

Every child who was drawn into the world of collectable cards must have accumulated a huge number of duplicate cards or "swapsies" and this brought about scenes of huddled and haggling youngters with, to anyone eavesdropping being party to a strange and very repetitive mantra of just two words of "got" and "need". The level of negotiation, bartering and horse-trading done in such circumstances may not ever have been duplicated in successive generations and may, you never know, have been the inspiration of many those participants to go into business, mediation, arbitration and the Stock Exchange. 

It was true that FKS ruled in an unopposed manner in the football card sector. That was until the arrival in 1978 of the new kid on the block, the monarch elect in the guise of the Italian company, Panini. They did have a hard act to follow but their unique selling points really appealed to the young market. 

These were an adhesive backing, a better quality of picture and a much more glossy album. I was, in 1978 far too old and cool to partake in the revolution of football cards but my two younger brothers took up and continued the tradition in our family.

If there is one hard lesson I have learned from the experience it is that in retrospect I should not have sellotaped the cards into the album.

Problems with Mr Beecroft's cows in 1861

Being a Port on the Eastern Coast of England, Kingston Upon Hull has for centuries been a Gateway with Europe. 

One of the major trading movements was that of the import of livestock. 

In the mid 1800's the annual volume was around 20000 head of cattle and 30000 of sheep being brought across either in the ill ventilated holds of fleets of Steamers or crowded in what was described by the Cattle Inspectors as well as the Hull Board of Health as objectionable conditions. 

Great plaques had decimated the farm animals through many European Countries and there was a very real concern that the huge amount of beasts arriving on a daily basis could bring the epidemic to these shores. 

It was only a matter of time for symptoms to show in the local dairy herds and sheep population although for a good period of this market trade the infection did not appear. Measures were in place for the seizure and destruction of any diseased cattle arriving in the Port. 

The shipping companies responsible for the passage of the animals came under a lot of criticism for their lack of humane treatment which often meant that there was no provision of fodder or water for the duration of the voyage and there was only the bare boards of the deck to offer any respite from having to be stood all of the time. 

Mucking out and swilling clear was therefore likely to be minimal if carried out at all. 

The circumstances for the introduction of the cattle plaque were therefore very present thanks to the combination of greed, ignorance and negligence of those engaged in the sorry trade. 

The Times Newspaper, not surprisingly therefore reported in 1861 that the epidemic had at length reached Hull to "commit fearful ravages". 

The article recounted that in the space of a week from the time that the first animal was attacked some 30 to 40 other cases had been reported amongst the dairy farms in and around Hull. 

It is hard now to imagine in the current urban sprawl that there will have been farms, milking parlours and dairy operations in what is now seen as the inner-city as proximity to the populus for swift delivery of dairy produce was essential given the lack of large scale chilling and refrigeration equipment. 

There was speculation about the origins of the plaque. 

The foreign cattle imports were prime suspects but the Inspectors in the holding areas in the Port had not found any symptoms in the arrivals. 

A Mr Beecroft who had 32 cows for milk production began to notice the failing of ten of his herd. Veterinary assistance was called and although 5 cows recovered there were fatalities. Beecroft put out an appeal to local Butchers and sold the carcasses at a low price in an attempt to recoup some of his losses. 

Another keeper of cows, a Mr Briggs reported that four of his animals were attacked by the disease and all died within a short period in spite of the administering of remedial measures. 

A Mr Foreman who The Times referred to as a poor man in that he only had three cows lost them after only three days. 

One owner by the name of Bristow lost two cows within a couple of hours. 

Mortality rates were high and relentless with losses being indiscriminate. 

This caused a great deal of consternation in the farming community and a panic selling began to take place to what must have seemed like a morbid congregation of those in the meat trade. 

The carcasses of the animals that died in the Borough of Hull were taken to a yard to be boiled down for the manufacture of the bi-products of  glue and artificial manure.  

A Report of The Times in 1839

The town of Hull has been in a state of considerable excitement during the past week owing to the discovery of a most brutal murder on the body of Mary Clark, a poor old woman residing in Edward Street. 

The circumstances having reached the ears of the Police, Inspector Tacey, an active and efficient Officer immediately went to the house and from the statement made by the husband of the deceased , he was forthwith apprehended and committed to prison. 

The information given to Tacey by Robert Clark , the murderer, that he had beaten the poor woman for getting drunk with a broom-shaft which he broke in two, was confirmed by a Surgeon named Huntington in his evidence before the Coroner on Saturday evening last. 

Mr Huntington, on being sworn said "I was called upon on Wednesday afternoon last by the husband of the deceased about a quarter before 3 in the afternoon. In going along I said what is the matter with her?  and he replied  "oh she  is very ill; I do not think she will be very long; I just want you to come and look at her." On reaching the house I found her in bed , on her back, with her eyes closed and the mouth partly open and apparently in a sound sleep. I tried to feel her pulse and found it difficult to move her arm from the stiffness of the elbow. The husband said she had been in the habit of drinking very hard but had promised to join a Teetotal Society and instead of having done so he found on returning home on friday that she was in a state of intoxication. 

She had been taking a quantity of rum and laudanum. 

In this state he had beaten her with a thick broom handle which he had broken in two. He said he had beaten her in different parts of the body. He said he had slapped her on the head with his open hand but not with his stick or fist. From his saying she was under the effect of drink and from my own observation I thought it advisable to see her again the next day. 

I went on thursday morning and found her worse; and at that time Tacey, the Police Inspector, questioned him as to his beating her , when he replied that she had fallen backward with her head against the edge of the door. From the symptoms I saw I believed there to be an effusion of blood upon her brain. She was insensitive from the time I first saw her. I and Mr Wallis have made a Post Mortem examination. 

On the body we found marks of external violence on both shoulders, upon the outside of both hands and on the right knee; on the left side of the head there was a slight indentation on the parietal bone and on removing the hair, blood followed. The right eye was slightly discoloured and the discolouration extended down the side of the cheek. The skin was broken in a very trifling degree. The parts contained within the chest and the body were comparatively in a healthy state; but opposite to where the wound on the head was , the upper surface of the right hemisphere of the dura mater was occupied with extravasated .blood. 

Found no bloodvessel ruptured; but from the blood seen there must have been. and sufficient blood on the brain to have caused death. Taking opium or laudanum would have a tendency to cause a rupture of a blood vessel on the brain. There were no external marks to lead to the belief that her head had been struck with a stick. 

A Juryman here enquired whether the prisoner might not be allowed to be present at the Inquest.

The Coroner said the Magistrates had been applied to and had refused the prisoner permission to be taken from the gaol until monday. He (|The Coroner) regretted such an order because he thought it was always right for a man to hear the evidence adduced against him. before a Jury, where a charge like the present was pending. (This order emanated from a body of Liberal Magistrates).

Further evidence was given tending to corroborate Mr Huntington's statement. The son of deceased had seen his father beat her on the saturday; and the Druggist who usually sold her the laudanum stated that she was a confirmed laudanum drinker and would drink one, two or even three ounces per day. 

The Jury retired to consider the evidence and returned a verdict of "Manslaughter" against the husband.

Some goings-on down the riverbank 1880

At the Hull Police Court on Thursday, Emil Poulsen , a wholesale tobacconist was charged, with his two sons Robert and Frederick with smuggling 154 pounds weight of manufactured tobacco. 

Other prisoners, named respectively William Ball and John Allison, labourers and Arthur Poulsen a boy were charged with being in possession of 56 bales of tobacco, the average weight of the bales being 50 pounds each. 

William Adamson formerly a Steward on board a steamer was charged with being concerned in the possession of 42 bales of tobacco each of the average weight of 50 pounds. 

Police Constable Ellrington deposed that on wednesday night he was on duty in Waterworks Street, Hull when he saw the two prisoners, Robert and Frederick Poulsen backing a cart into a shed at the back of their father's shop, the elder prisoner being there to receive them. 

He asked what was in the cart, the reply being "nothing". 

He persisted in examining the contents and finding it was tobacco he took them in charge. He then removed to the Police Station a box and two bags of tobacco, the weight being 154 pounds.

The prisoners were remanded for eight days. Ball, Allison and Arthur Poulsen were then placed in the dock and Mr Grayjones , Collector of Customs, stated that when the discovery was made at Poulsen's business premises in Hull he sent Officers to that prisoners private residence at Cottingham near Hull. They watched the place and that morning they saw Ball and Allison and the boy Poulsen come out of the premises n charge of a cart. 

On examining the cart they found it obtained 25 bales of tobacco of which they took possession. Allison told him he had been asked by Ball to help him dig some potato rows and as soon as he found that he was wanted to bury some tobacco he refused to assist and was merely walking out of the yard. 

The Officers searched the house and they found more bales of tobacco bringing the total quantity found at Cottingham to 56 bales, the average weight being 50 pounds. 

Allison was discharged and the other prisoners were remanded for eight days. 

William Adamson was next brought up and a Customs Officer deposed that on wednesday night he was sent to watch the banks of the Humber between Hessle and Ferriby. He, with another Officer walked along the bank and saw a boat a short distance below high water mark aground on the mud. As they approached the boat two men came out of it whom they captured -Adamson being one of them. The other man made his escape. 

In the boat they found 20 bales of tobacco and in a hut on the bank they found 22 bales of tobacco and cigars. The single value of the whole of the tobacco found was about £1700* and Mr Grayjones said that the Customs in that case would no doubt press for the full penalty of treble value and duty. 

The weight of the tobacco found at Cottingham was about 2800 pounds. The prisoner Adamson who said he had only gone down to the boat out of curiosity, hearing that Officers were about was also remanded for eight days. He applied for bail that he might be able to prove his innocence but the Magistrate said he would take time to consider the application for bail in that and the other cases. 

* this equates to around £143000 in today's money (2020)

At the Speed of a Bird

If you study a map of the United Kingdom you cannot overlook the Estuary of the River Humber, amongst the greatest of the nations's watercourses and responsible for draining around 20% of the land area of England. 

It is also represents the largest volume of fresh water flowing out to the North Sea.

In Roman times it was a main route for trading vessels and later the Vikings will have exploited its connections into the Trent and Ouse to reach far into the hinterland. A few years ago when walking the dogs I found a Silver Groat from the reign of Edward the Third (1327 to 1377) in the mud on a section of the north foreshore suggesting that its former owner may have lost it after making a foot crossing.

My wife's grandfather knew the way at low tide before deep water shipping channels and shifting sands made it impossible, if not foolhardy to attempt now. 

A bridge was an early political promise but prior to the construction of the World's longest suspension bridge in 1981 it was only by paddle steamer that the north and south banks of the Humber were linked. 

Otherwise the road trip was around 70 miles rather than about a mile as the seagull flew. My father actually lodged during the week away from the Lincolnshire family home during his appointment to Lloyds Bank in a town inland from Hull because of the time and cost that would be incurred for a daily commute over such a long distance and in the pre-motorway era. 

This watery physical barrier was a recognised disadvantage to achieve the objective of a unified and commercially strong Humberside region. 

In 1966 the Economic Planning Council for this part of the country discussed the possibility of a hovercraft or hydrofoil service between New Holland (which was the Steamer Pier) and the City of Hull.  

The iconic paddle steamers were quite a treat for all of their theatre and spectacle but their schedules were very much at the mercy of the tides and mud banks. My eldest sister had to be evacuated to a smaller boat after one of the steamers ran aground and got stuck downstream. 

The unsatisfactory situation called out for a bit of Entreprenurial spirit. 

Although little known, other than by those who used it, a Passenger and Parcel Service by Hovercraft began in 1968 from Corporation Pier in Hull to what was referred to as The Hoverport in the Royal Dock, Grimsby. 

Thanks to a bit of investigative work by a kind lady in Scotland some wonderful marketing documents about "Hoverlink" have surfaced and make for interesting reading as well as constituting a valuable historical record of the life and times of the region. 

Advertised as "The new exciting way to cross the Humber" the service was actually quite short lived. 

Two hovercrafts, the Mercury and Minerva plied the muddy waters five times a day weekly and with a reduced weekend service. The turnaround time between the destinations was about an hour implying around 30 minutes for a crossing. 

There may have been a gross miscalculation of potential users making the service unsustainable quite quickly after inauguration but another possibly unforeseen consequence of tackling the tidal Estuary was the wear and tear on the mechanics of a Hovercraft which caused damage and unreliability. 

This was in spite of the vessels being the latest type in the world and with the journey referred to as a "flight" and not a sailing. 

The fare was 24 Shillings for an adult  and 16 shillings for a child on a return flight basis and with a weekend cheap rate of 18 shillings and 9 shillings for the same respectively. 

After the demise of this very modern mode of transport, the Hovercraft only having been invented in 1958, it was back to a nice cup of tea in the Salon on the Paddle Steamers whilst enjoying the shortest route across the mighty Humber, well until that service ceased with the opening of the Humber Bridge. 

Bursting for a P (English Lesson 16)

I apologised a couple of days ago after forgetting to post the April English Lesson of word definitions from the wonderful BBC Radio Series "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue". 

To make amends for this shameful lack of concentration and consistency or more by way of a peace offering here is number 16 for the letter "P". 

As it follows on in quick succession from number 15 it may seem a bit like the dreaded double lesson from school days. 

In fact the letter P offers up a most prolific volume of comedic gold that I have split it into two groups with the another to be posted up towards the end of the month- if I remember to do it. 

Propaganda- a surgical aid for a one legged male goose

Psychiatric- guessing correctly 3 times in a row

Propane- non amateur S & M

Pile Driver- a suppository

Passover- a road structure in Israel

Posthumous- Greek mail-order food

Parsnip- Dad's Vasectomy

Placebo- a Spanish Tenor who does nothing for me

Portent- The Millenium Dome

Prophylactic- a college position

Picador- instruction to find your own way out

Picanniny- the voting system for the Tory Leadership

Piano- musical global shipping line

Pontificate- a lecture about french river crossings

Preach- soft fruit with a speech defect

Pumpkin - to interrogate a family member

Portly- shaped like a harbour

Plebiscite- web page for common people

Paradox- proud owner of famous brand of rubber soled shoes

Poppycock- a streaker on 11th November

Pistachio- trying to draw a moustache on a poster when drunk

Palmistry - the science of trying to find out who your Father was

Precipice- push button toilet

Pastiche- Sean Connery's favourite savoury Cornish food

Pile- Aussie bucket

(Source- Kevin Hales collection of ISIHAC contributions to the Uxbridge English Dictionary)