For lads leaving school in Fleetwood, going to sea was almost a foregone conclusion. Apart from the ICI trawling, and its support industries, was the main employer in the town. Sons (usually) followed in their father's footsteps and went fishing. This normally occurred after several trips 'pleasuring' Fishermen from inland towns were a rarity, although not entirely unknown.

Coming from Accrington, Les Howard followed his family into the mills where he lasted for only 12 months.Having had enough Les headed for Preston to join the Merchant Navy but was turned down. He then attempted to join the army but was equally unsuccessful so he headed to Fleetwood to have a look at the fishing situation. At a visit to the Pool offices in Station Road Les was advised to go to navigation school to learn the rudiments of the job.

Here Les is shown learning navigation with Captain Carruthers who was in charge at the time. The navigation school took fledgling seamen and taught them the skills that they would need such as knots and splices, navigation rules, net mending, compass reading and the thousand and one things that they needed to know to be able to do the job.

Les states that there was a large group of trainees in his class but, out of all of them, only three stayed the course. Perhaps the reason was the criteria that they had all to complete a pleasure trip. Les went on Cevic and remembers that he "...had never been so sick in all my life". He spent two happy weeks experiencing the delights of seasickness to such an extent that he was throwing up in his bunk.

Most of the other lads on the course were from Liverpool and they soon headed back there. One of them sat the test for colour blindness. This was the standard test for all seamen and involved reading symbols made of red, green and blue coloured lights. This was essential for reading navigation lights used to decide the type of vessel and the direction that it was travelling. The lad couldn't distinguish the colours and was asked to leave.

The pay wasn't too good being £4.00 a week for the 3 month course and, because he wasn't local to the town, he had to find lodgings. These were in the Seaman's Mission in London St. He remembers the meals as being monotonous, toast for breakfast, soup and dry bread for dinner and a proper meal at tea time. Supper was a corned beef and onion butty that the mission worker, Reg, made for them. Under that regime they had to be in for 11 o'clock every night. Les was one of the first to start the school in September 1961, having completed the required interview prior to acceptance. Before that it was a case of signing on and learning the job as you went along. This system was fine if you got with a good crew who were prepared to 'show you the ropes'.

Once the course had been completed he signed on Winmarleigh , one of Boston Deep Sea Fisheries 'pocket' trawlers as ¼ brassie, and completed five trips in her. The skipper was Charlie Robinson and Les remembers how he once hit him over the head with a platter for starting a meal before him. What the cook, Chippy Ben, thought about his using his utensils in that way, Les doesn't say. Charlie Robinson eventually died while anchored off at Wyre Light whilst waiting for the tide.

The Winmarleigh experienced some terrible conditions during his third trip when the weather was so bad that she landed only 42 boxes for a 14 day trip. The mate, John Rogers, paid Les the compliment of saying "....he stood up to the conditions like a true fisherman. He was seasick many times early in the voyage but it certainly provided him with some experience of fishing at its worst". Les recalls that

"I knew that it was rough but I decided to sail again on the next trip. I was on the ship''s log for that. It has been an astonishing experience, but I suppose I would not have missed it for anything. It was a real baptism,' he added, ' there was nothing like this in my last job in a weaving mill in Blackburn. The trip must have been the worst on record and we fished for only 2 days instead of the normal 12 for a trip of this kind. I was certainly seasick and quite ill for days. When the storm was at its worst the radar equipment was smashed and we had to rely on lookout men posted on the bridge."

Although he was paid £9 a week at the mill Les swapped it for the much tougher work at £4 plus 2/6 in the £ bonus on the catch. When the Winmarleigh docked the evidence of her ordeal was evident in the scarred paintwork and structural damage. Repeatedly the vessel had to fight their way through stormy seas and on one occasion the wind was so fierce that the trawler could make little progress. The mate, John Rogers, describes the weather as "The worst that I have seen in 10 years".

This wasn't the only time that, Les also encountered bad conditions aboard the SSAFA during a trip to Iceland. This is described in "A Near Miss" in the Cod End.

After the Winmarleigh came a spell with Wyre Trawlers, aboard the Lord Montgomery , where Les found out "Just how bloody cold Iceland was in winter and how bad the weather could be". Les, as a half brassie with Judder Harrison, remembers that the crew were "...really old" and wondered if the older fishermen preferred the old trawlers to the diesel ones.. The toilets were 'unreal' and he says that you had to really time things well to avoid getting back what you'd just parted with.

When the crew managed to get a bath on the way home, it was in a cast iron tub up forrard on the port side of the foc'sle where you had to hand pump the water in and then stick a steam hose into it to warm it up. There were no sinks for washing in. All the crew slept forrard with only an old coal burning stove for warmth and it could get really uncomfortable in bad weather when you could be bounced around in your bunk quite a lot.

The galley was aft and the mess was down below the galley. Everybody sat around the large table to eat and the food was really good. What the cook turned out on the old coal fired stove was unreal given the conditions that he worked in.. The skipper would sound the whistle when the meals were ready. If the weather was good you could just stroll aft for it but in bad weather you had to time the seas right and dash aft before she took another sea across the exposed foredeck.

Les recalls that, despite the conditions, 'They were great days and she was a grand old lady that left me with some good memories of her. Sadly she went for scrap like most of the trawlers did.

Following on from Lord Montgomery Les signed on Wyre Defence as ¾ brassie for 2 trips fishing home waters and acknowledges that he was still learning at that point

Then came a trip on Jean Marthe , one of several so called 'pocket trawlers' sailing from Fleetwood at the time. After only 10 months he moved from brassie to full deckie, something that gave him great satisfaction.

After they had settled after a trip the crew used to get a 'fry' of fish. At the dock gates Bernard would offer to buy the fish, going up to Rowey Taylor's lock up to weigh it. After giving the men the money for the fish he would then offer to sell them a 'drink or two' so that Les remembers being "pissed and bloody broke" at 8 in the morning.

After Jean Marthe came the Wyre Conqueror and his first trip as a full deckie. The rest of the crew were 'young lads' who had not long been deckies themselves and Les remembers being very nervous when he went to sign on. Although he does not remember much about the crew, two of them, the cook and the skipper stand out in his mind to this day.

The cook was called 'One Slice Jack' because the crew were only allowed one slice of bread with each meal because he didn't like baking. He did, however, make soup and no matter what the soup was he always put the bones back into the kettle when it was served. By tradition, as well as manners, the crew always waited for the skipper to start before they began their meal. The skipper,Henry Reeder, was noted for the rather unsavoury habit of dipping into the kettle with both hands and fishing the bones out. He would then proceed to gnaw on the bones and then throw them back into the soup. Now, fishermen are not the fussiest eaters around but Les recalls that not many of them wanted the soup after that and there was always a rush for the second sitting.

Les was in the Conqueror for 2 trips sailing to home water grounds. On the second trip he says that "After 24 hours we were up to the gunnels with bloody coley that were worth bugger all". As the crew's wages depended on not only the amount of fish caught but the quality of the catch as well, they were all getting rather "pissed off" and Les shouts up to the bridge to ask the 'fat bastard', in no uncertain terms, when they were going to get onto some better fish. The result was the sack when they got back and Les was on walk about for a while. He never went back in the Conqueror .

Wyre Vanguard and more trips to Iceland came next, in 1962. Summer off Iceland was something of a revelation to Les with its long days and relatively good weather. Les always respected the older hands but didn't always get on with the younger ones, having a "Bit of a punch up" with one of them who later went on to fire a trawler ( because he didn't want to sail) with the loss of lives.

Captain Riou came next and it was back to home water fishing. Unfortunately the vessel developed engine trouble and only managed half a trip so money was scarce that trip. Rather than stay ashore Les then joined Marr and signed onto the Gavina , one of the many Marr boats that he sailed in.

He remembers the skipper as George Beech, a small and chubby man with a gravelly voice who only ever wore baggy underpants and a stained vest when he was on the bridge.

Harold, the cook, was a man who liked his drink and he never surfaced for at least 24 hours after sailing, but hew was a hell of a cook who turned out cakes for the crew and that was something unheard of.

The skipper's son sailed as mate and went on to become the youngest skipper in Fleetwood at 21. Les sailed with him when he was 23 and, over 3 trips, they made £4,264-4-3 Looking at his pay slip reveals that Les was paid £30-12-6.

Staying with Marr, the next vessel that Les signed onto was Corena and he stayed with her for six months between January and July 1963. She must have been a good ship to sail in as there were no changes to the crew in that period. He recalls the cook, Cow Pie Gol, who made the biggest spud pie that he had ever seen. It was built in the huge tin that the bread was made in. Once it was made the cook would vanish for 24 hours or so because he would be blind drunk.

Les credits the cook as being a 'Good Un' and can still visualise him in the galley, with a sweat rag round his neck. He would wipe the sweat off himself and then wipe the plate with the same cloth. He was, in Les' words, "A 'Dirty Bugger' but a bloody good cook". One of his less attractive habits would be to wash himself down in the tin that was used to make the bread. He would also wash his feet in the same tin. It didn't put Les off sailing with him, however, as he sailed with him a few times after the Corena

After Corina came Dorinda , another Marr vessel. One trip was enough for Les and the rest of the crew, the reason being the skipper. His name was John Bruce or, as the deckies knew him, Brucie The Bastard. He was christened this because he was the last to run in for shelter if the weather turned bad and always worked his crew to the limit. It was so bad that entire crew signed off and Les went for another trip on Gavina but got the sack because his "face didn't fit".

The only thing for it was a trip to the pool to see what was available, unfortunately the only vessel was Dorinda and Brucie The Bastard so he had no alternative but to "sail with the bloody lunatic again", but for only one trip.

Between 1964 and 1967 Les sailed in Navena on 5 different occasions, all with different skippers but he cites Johnny Burns as being one of the best that he sailed with.Two more of the cooks that he sailed with spring to mind, the first one being Holy George. Holy George was a reformed alcoholic who had taken to the bible in a big way. The problem was his sense of timing. As the crew only got half an hour for their meal, and were probably very short on sleep, it was the wrong time to start preaching the word of God to them. It was no fun, Les recounts, to come aft for a meal and have Holy George ranting at them while they ate. Trawlermen, being no respecters of religion, they gave him a hard time, in Les' own words......

"We would head aft for our meal and George would start preaching at us from his bible so we'd all shout "Fuck off George, we've only got half an hour." Anyway, it kept him off the booze and he was a good cook. He came to a sticky end, though, he threw himself overboard. He set the table and cooked the meal and then disappeared. I think that he must have got fed up with us all telling him to fuck off. They never found his body."

The next cook that Les remembers was called Dave, although he can't recall a surname. On the way back from the fishing grounds Les was having a shower when Dave walks in just as he was spraying himself with deodorant.......

" Dave asked me what it was so I thought I'd have the crack with him so I left it with him telling him that it was good for spraying round your arse, although on the can it said that it shouldn't be sprayed on tender parts. I left him and was heading back to the cabin when I heard a scream so I ran back to the washroom and there was Dave sitting with his arse in a sink full of cold water but he saw the funny side of it."

" I had just signed off and settled but Dave was still signed on Navena although she was in dock when I bumped into a friend of mine from Preston. His name was Gabriel although we all called him Gay. We'd had one or two drinks when we bumped into Dave in a pub and he invited us back to his place. What he didn't tell us was that his grandma had just died. We all trooped round to his house and there was grandma stretched out in her coffin. After a while we were all well oiled and Gay decided that he would have a few words with the deceased so he staggered over to the trestles supporting the coffin, trips and promptly falls in on top of the old lady. Dave and myself managed to get him out but Dave was hopping mad so we beat a hasty retreat and that was the last time that I ever saw Dave."

The next trawler that Les signed on was Jacinta , where he stayed for quite a while and it was here that he met the Croston family who he says "Were the best family that you could ever know." Fran was already living with them on Abbotts Walk and Buns got Les in there after his first trip on Jacinta . Up until then he had been staying at the Missionand had been for quite a while. Buns was a lumper and Les remembers the breakfasts that he used to make with shrimps and prawns with the bacon and eggs. He would also make a big pan of shackles for them when they used to stagger in after an afternoon's drinking.

The trips on Jacinta followed the same pattern as all the rest. a lot of work and very little sleep. After settling, however, it was time to let off some steam and Les recounts how himself, Fran and Buns went out for a day on the town. The session started at the Fleetwood Arms, moved to Dead Un's, The Bug, The Ship and then started all over again. The day finished with them all back at Abbotts Walk where Buns fell asleep in the front room and Fran decided to paint his face with lipstick so Les left them to it and sat in the romm next to the kitchen. Mrs Croston ruled the kitchen. She worked for the railway, cleaning out carriages, and always wore a boiler suit that appeared to be two sizes too small for her. Suddenly Les heard Buns shouting at Fran, "I'll kill you, you bastard", and the next thing Fran comes running down the lobby with the painted Buns in hot pursuit. Fran runs through the door slamming it after him and Buns runs straight through the glass panel. The next moment Fran runs back out of the kitchen, behind Buns, with Mick chasing after him and hitting him over the head with a long brush, swearing up a blue streak as she did so. They flew through the front door, waking Old Man Buns up as they did so. He appeared at the top of the stairs wearing the biggest, baggiest underpants ever seen, asking, "What the ****s going on here?"

Les met up with them later and Fran's head was full of lumps and bumps and the first thing that Buns asked was "Has she cooled down yet?", everyone knew what Mick was like. They were all well oiled when they decided to sneak home. As they crept up the stairs they forgot about a creaky step and they were met with a shout of "I can hear you buggers sneaking in". As Les says, "Great days"