Fleetwood is well known, primarily, as a fishing port. It was not, however, always that way. Indeed, in the mind of the town's creator, Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, it was envisaged as a resort after the style of St. Leonard's on Sea, to cater for the needs of the residents of the Lancashire towns. Peter Hesketh Fleetwood did, nevertheless, have a weather eye on the commercial prospects offered by a new town and port but it is doubtful if even he foresaw the value of a healthy fishing industry. So how did Fleetwood become synonymous with fishing and particularly, hake? For the answer to that question we must go back to a time before Peter was the Lord of the Manor at Rossall Hall.

Imagine, if you will, the Fylde coast in the early part of the 19th. century. Sparsely inhabited, desolate, isolated and windswept, with a line of sand dunes stretching from the Ribble to the Wyre. The closest town of any note was Preston, some thirty miles away; a considerable distance to travel in the days when horse drawn transport was the only alternative to 'Shanks' pony'. Rossall Hall, now a school, was the home of the Hesketh family. Due to the considerable difficulties involved in what was then long distance travel, large estates had to be self sufficient for most of their supplies and all of their skills. To supplement the estate's food stocks a small fleet of inshore fishing vessels was maintained to work the fish rich waters of Morecambe Bay, and was kept on the gently sloping sands of Rossall beach.

Following a severe pounding from a succession of storms in 1814, Bold Hesketh, the lord of the manor and the uncle of Peter Hesketh, moved his vulnerable little fleet off the beach. Although an ideal mooring in many ways the beach was open to all the power and fury of the westerly gales that so often battered the coast. He moored his boats in the well-known shelter of the Wyre Estuary, later building huts for the fishermen to live in. By doing this he sowed the seeds that would elevate the, as yet unconsidered, town to the status of the third largest fishing port in Britain.

By 1840 the town's construction was well underway and the task of getting vessels in and out of port safely could be given some serious consideration. Because vessels were already making the tricky passage upriver to Skippool and Wardleys, already long established as ports, a pilot boat was stationed in Lune Deeps. This supplied inbound vessels with navigators well versed in the vicious tides and currents that swept the Wyre channel. A system of lights was devised to guide ships around the edge of North Wharf Bank and into the deep-water channel that had already been well charted by the redoubtable Captain Denham. Wyre Light, Pharos Light and the Lower Light were all in operation by June 1840, and lit on the 20th. of that month.

To help the pilots pass the time until a call was made on their services they would engage in fishing from their small cutter, selling their catch when they got ashore. Soon the income from the fishing was exceeding that of pilotage. A consortium bought the pilot cutter Pursuit and established the Fleetwood Fishing Company, supplementing the cutter at a later date with four half decked Lancashire Nobbies purchased from Banks, Southport, of the type that would, eventually, become synonymous with the Morecambe Bay fishing or shrimping industry. Soon more of the nobbies, or prawners as they were known locally, began to arrive. They exploited the fish rich waters of the bay, initially landing and selling their catches on the sandy foreshore until the quay was built and quickly became their home. Single-masted, fitted with a short bowsprit and carrying a small sail, they had a long overhanging stern and an open well for working in. These small vessels were the cornerstone of the Lancashire inshore industry for many years, even into the late eighties. By that time, though, they had grown a deckhouse and were fitted with a small engine. This was, usually, a two-stroke petrol/paraffin type. The engine was started, initially with petrol, and switched to paraffin as soon as it had warmed up.

Skate, plaice and codling were just some of the fish that was available from the fishermen during the year, although great care had to be taken to avoid the 'miller's thumb', a small weever fish that increased in numbers during the summer. A prick from one of his spiny fins would result in a rather painful hand.

By 1851 the town's population had grown to over 3000 and regular fish sales were being held. Fish storage sheds had been erected on the quayside and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company had begun to cater to the needs of the, fast growing, fishing industry. Fish wagons were attached to the trains that were calling at the town, allowing the fish to be transported quickly and easily all over the country. By the time that 1860 came around there were 32 small vessels, including smacks, sailing and fishing from the port on a regular basis. By 1876 this number had increased to 64 and the amount of shellfish and fish being shipped from the town reached 100 tons a day.

The larger smacks, at some forty tons, were much larger than the nobbies and were capable of fishing much further afield. Whilst the smaller vessels restricted their operations to Morecambe Bay, the Ribble Estuary and Liverpool Bay, the smacks ranged as far afield as the Irish and Scottish coasts, chasing the skate, hake, cod and dogfish. The edible crab was also highly prized as a catch. Crewed, usually, by four men and a boy. the smacks towed a fifty feet wide beam trawl on around 150 fathoms of rope. This meant that each boat had to carry a substantial spread of sail, and hope for a strong wind, to tow its gear. Otherwise the vessel would remain anchored by its own equipment which consisted of a trawl net held open by a heavy wooden beam with weighty iron shoes on each side.

Beam trawls were the basic fishing equipment until 1894 when a new invention, the otter board trawl, made its debut. In looks it was almost identical to the beam trawl but the revolutionary and successful nature of the new design meant that it would become universally adopted by the larger vessels of the British fishing fleet. The problem with the beam trawl was the heavy wooden beam that effectively restricted the size of the net. The otter board dispensed with the beam altogether and used two large, steel shod, wooden doors that acted like kites. Fixed on either wing of a trawl these kites, when towed, would try to move apart under pressure of the water thus opening out the mouth of the net to its full extent. A further advantage was that larger nets could be utilised by the new breed of steam trawlers that were appearing on the scene. One of the first trawlers to use the new equipment was the Otter and her name soon became synonymous with the new trawl.

Perhaps the most notable of the Fleetwood smacks, though, was the Harriet, registered as FD111 and built in 1893 for Richard Leadbetter. Harriet fished from Fleetwood up until the late seventies, an achievement worthy of note, for a wooden hulled vessel, in an industry that was notably hard on the boats that worked in it. This vessel was, abandoned on a mud flat in the Duddon Estuary where she slowly rotted until she was aquired by the Fleetwood Museum for whom she is now being restored.

It was in 1893 that the fleet of smacks reached its maximum with 95 sailing vessels based at the port. By 1912, this number had fallen to 34 as the advent of steam powered vessels, with their greater endurance and towing power allowing longer trips and larger nets made the smacks relatively uneconomical to operate. The long awaited Wyre Dock was finally completed in 1877. This opened the door for large cargo carrying ships to begin using the port. Initially though, the fishing vessels did not use the dock. Instead they berthed at the Jubilee Quay, where they could do so free of charge (as did some steamers and cargo boats) and a healthy trade in general cargo began to bring a degree of prosperity to the fledgling town.

In 1891, Fleetwood's first steam trawler - the Lark, tipping the scales at 133 gross tons and with a length of 99 feet, arrived to take up station. Owned by Moody & Kelly of Grimsby She sailed from the port for several years before being sold to the Burmese, eventually being scrapped in 1936. There had been previous attempts to use the paddle pleasure steamer Dhu'Artach to fish the bay during the winter months but the smacksmen of Fleetwood, fearing for their livelihood, strenuously resisted this new development.

From this point the fortunes of the industry and the town waxed and waned according to financial considerations. The largest impact, and the one that had the greatest effect on Fleetwood was, undoubtedly, caused by the opening, in 1892 of Preston Dock, followed two years later by the Manchester Ship Canal. The construction of the canal meant that the cargoes of sugar, flax and timber that had been unloaded at Fleetwood, for shipping by train, could now be unloaded at the industrial heart of the county thereby reducing the transport costs.

In 1893 the Hull firm of Kelsall Bros. and Beeching established a fleet of up to 32 steam vessels at the port but in 1897 closed down their operations at Fleetwood and returned to Hull. The following year, however, saw the arrival of trawlers of the James H. Marr fleet, which steadily increased in size and, in 1902, James Marr & Sons (Fleetwood) Ltd. was established. The Marr story really begins with William Marr, a Scot from Dundee who was born in 1808. A harpooner in the whaling trade, he died at sea and was buried in Greenland, leaving a son that he had never seen. Joseph, his son, entered the fish trade as a fish curer but, in 1870, followed the logical step of buying his own fishing vessel, the smack Adelaide. Later he extended his fleet until he had eight vessels operating out of Hull where, by 1887, there were 448 fishing smacks operating from that port. When the era of steam trawlers dawned at Hull, the reaction was much the same as it was to be at Fleetwood, with the smacksmen and owners being of the opinion that they would never replace the sailing smack.

Steam trawlers cost more to run and required larger crews but they had one great advantage. They were not at the mercy of the wind as were the sailing vessels. They could fish when the wind was light or none existent and could tow larger nets. The Marr family had the vision to foresee the future, however, and one of the sons of Joseph, James Herbert Marr entered the fishing business with his father and together they built their first steam trawler, Marrs, at 100ft. long and with a gross tonnage of 100 tons. Seeing the benefits offered by the new town being built on the west coast, Marr moved his operation to Fleetwood in 1898, taking with him his fleet of three steam trawlers, the Marrs had been joined by Rattler and Lucerne and, by 1900, had been supplemented by Annie and Akranes By 1905 Fleetwood's fishing vessels had begun to land their catches in the Wyre Dock. The trade in general cargo had steadily declined due to trade being taken by Manchester and Preston. It was at this point in time that, thanks to James Marr, that the town's reputation as a hake port became established. Up until then hake was not considered to be a fish worthy of bothering with and was often thrown back when it was caught. Cod and haddock were the main species that the fishermen were interested in. James Marr, again showing his vision, was the only one to see the possibilities of hake and consigned a shipment of it to fish merchants at Manchester where it quickly found favour with the public of the Lancashire industrial towns. Very soon regular shipments were being made as Marr's company developed the market for what was to become the prime fish that Fleetwood became noted for. The town was ideally placed to exploit the hake grounds of northwest Scotland and the west of Ireland as well as the traditional Rockall and Faroe Islands grounds.

A fishing fleet cannot operate independently. There has to be a support structure in place to cater for all its needs. Provisions have to be supplied, repairs and maintenance has to be carried out as well as refuelling and preparing the vessels for the rigours of a long sea voyage in the severest of weathers. Ship's chandlers were needed to supply a multitude of items. Rivetters had to repair the plating and riggers had to supply and maintain the ropeworks and the towing cables. Tinsmiths, blacksmiths, plumbers, pipefitters, netmakers, ropemakers, boilermakers, joiners, shipwrights, compass adjusters, sailmakers, wireless technicians and engineers were just some of the industries that sprang up along Dock Street as business began to take off once more.

By 1900, Fleetwood had a second dock in operation, with a covered fish market, for the use of the trawlers. Then the First World War interrupted proceedings. As can be expected, the war severely disrupted fishing operations with many of the trawlers being taken by the Admiralty where they served with great distinction as patrol vessels, armed escorts and minesweepers, jobs for which these hardy little vessels were superbly suited. Marr had no fewer than eleven new trawlers on order or in the process of being built and all of them went for war service, leaving only the Fly and the old Rattler to continue fishing for the company. A total of 34 fishing vessels, however, were lost during the war years by enemy action as well as through the normal operating hazards inherent in such a dangerous occupation as deep sea fishing. The total lack of radio equipment fitted to the trawlers meant that a number of boats just vanished without trace and with no record of how they met their fate, be it enemy action or weather.

One spin off for the industry was the construction, by the Admiralty, of a fleet of large modern trawlers, most of which were auctioned off cheaply at the end of hostilities as surplus. These provided the impetus to rebuild the industry. The Castle class boats, built during the war, were the mainstay of the industry for many years. Unfortunately, though, the large numbers of these boats being available at relatively cheap prices resulted in the flooding of the market. Too many boats landing too much fish caused a dramatic downturn in fortunes that lasted for almost a decade. During the war years Fleetwood experienced a resurgence of the general cargo trade that had fallen off so drastically following the opening of Manchester Docks. Following on from the war the trawlers began to seek out and develop new fishing grounds, sailing to Iceland and Bear Island on a regular basis in search of the silver prize. On the east coast the North Sea grounds had gone virtually unfished for the duration of the war, minefields and restricted areas had curtailed operations severely and this gave fish stocks plenty of opportunity to replenish themselves. The result was some bumper catches of Dover and lemon soles, plaice, halibut, monkfish, saithe, turbot, cod and haddock, when fishing resumed once more.

Then in 1926 came an incident, seemingly unrelated to Fleetwood that was to have a major impact on the town's fishing industry. On the East Coast, in 1885, the Boston Deep-Sea Fishing & Ice Co. Ltd. had been formed. Fred Parkes, a remarkable man, was elected to the board in 1919 and by 1924 had become chairman of the company. Prior to that date, in 1922 in fact, an incident had occurred when a collier, the Lockwood, lost her steering gear and grounded in the River Witham, causing a severe navigational hazard to vessels attempting to enter Boston. The Boston Harbour Master approached the Boston Deep-Sea Fishing Co. and asked if they would be prepared to help move the stricken collier. This they were prepared to do and the trawler William Browns succeeded in refloating the collier, which then sailed with the ebbing tide. Unfortunately, as a result of an unusually low water level, as she neared the mouth of the river, she grounded once more. When the tide turned the Lockwood was carried stern first, by the flood, across the river where she grounded once more and capsized, all but blocking the Haven. She remained in the same position for almost five months while the Harbour Commissioners haggled with salvage companies. The salvors were not too happy with the conditions that the Harbour Commissioners were trying to include in the contract to salvage the vessel, namely that any damage to the banks of the river caused by the operation would be the responsibility of the salvage company. This was unacceptable and they broke off negotiations. In any case, the lowest quote that had been received was from a Grimsby company, which wanted £70000 for the job. Eventually, the Harbour Commissioners approached Fred Parkes once more and asked him to take on the difficult task of moving the wreck. Although the company was not in the salvage business, Fred agreed and the company successfully raised the capsized collier once more despite the tragic death of one of the seamen during the operation. However, when Fred Parkes presented his bill for £1212,000, the Harbour Commissioners - on behalf of Boston Corporation - challenged the amount and refused to pay. The result was a messy court case in which the only winner was the legal profession. The Boston Corporation was compelled to pay up but the Boston Deep-Sea Fisheries Co. had to settle for a lesser amount than was originally agreed. The real loser in all this was the Boston Corporation. Their quibbling and petty mindedness so infuriated Fred Parkes that he announced that he was moving the entire fishing operation, lock, stock, and barrel, to Fleetwood, and by 1923 the move had begun.

The Boston Company was, eventually, to become one of the largest operators of trawlers out of Fleetwood as well as Hull, Grimsby, Lowestoft and Aberdeen. The businesses under their control or in which they held an interest contributed greatly to the affluence of these towns, but they never returned to Boston. Over the years, Boston operated as many as 82 boats from Fleetwood alone, as well as a large number of other vessels jointly owned with other companies. Boston Corporation's loss was Fleetwood's gain. By their penny pinching attitude, the town of Boston lost the opportunity to share in the prosperity that the boom years of fishing brought, and the loss of the Boston trawler fleet heralded the decline of the town as a major fishing port. Once established in Fleetwood the Boston Deep-Sea Fisheries fleet, after two lean years, soon became profitable and their fleet expanded over the years until they owned or operated a third of all the trawlers sailing from the port.

It is worthwhile, at this point, to take a look at the men who sailed on the trawlers. What kind of man would readily give up the relative comforts of a shore based life to take up a life of hardship and deprivation, often in the freezing waters of the Arctic? The life of a trawlerman, especially in the early years of the industry was extremely hard. To someone who has never experienced the life it is almost impossible to visualise just what the fishermen had to endure; and endure it they did, without a second thought. It was just a part of the job and it had to be done. Life on board left little room at all for niceties of life that others took so much for granted. The crew's only luxury was often the chance to close their eyes and snatch a few moments sleep.

Forecastle accommodation was very cramped and Spartan with tiers of bunks at either side of the tapering compartment, and a mess table in between. Often, the deckhead was not much higher than six feet, meaning that the taller members of the crew had to stoop to avoid the risk of braining themselves. In this space, usually heated by no more than a small and inadequate solid fuel stove in the bitterest of weathers, men tried to sleep and eat. That was, when the weather condition allowed the cook to cross the exposed foredeck with the food - there was no room or time for them to do much else. In bad weather the noise and shock of the bow slamming into the waves and the violence of the motion meant that men had to sleep jammed into their bunks as best as they could to avoid being thrown out onto the deck, which was often awash with water.

Such was the motion at times that it was akin to riding a roller coaster and trying to sleep at the same time as the bow would, alternatively, climb skyward and then nosedive into the trough of a wave while, all the while, rolling viciously from side to side. My uncle, Peter, once recounted a curious tale that demonstrates the violence of the motion experienced in the forecastle."We were," he recalled, "dodging in heavy weather. It was too bad to fish and we were in the process of trying to turn head to wind to ride out the weather. We had almost made it when a vicious wave caught us on the bow and knocked us down into a trough. The whole boat just fell sideways, she must have dropped forty feet or so in a few seconds. I found myself floating off my bunk to be jammed into the underside of the upper one. It was a strange feeling. In one of the bottom bunks there was a pair of seaboot stockings. As I watched, they were thrown out of the bunk and, with the boat falling off into the waves, they were tossed into the upper bunk. That was really bad weather."

On deck the crew had to work in the most appalling of conditions, often waist deep in the icy water that poured onto the deck over the low gunwales. It just went with the territory as did working between the two bar-tight steel warps that ran the length of the deck when towing the trawl. Warps that were capable of slicing a man in two if they parted under the strain and the ragged end slashed back across the deck. This was an event that had happened on more than one occasion. Such things, though, were never remarked upon but merely considered to be one of the hazards of a job hat was all hazard.

At hauling time the skipper would call the hands. The winch would be started and the warps reeled in, cracking and banging under the strain and sending showers of water squeezed from the strands, everywhere. Then the birds would appear. How they knew that there would be fish about I could never work out, but they knew. Mollymawks, kittiwakes, gannets, they all appeared wheeling and diving as they waited, calling relentlessly. First the otter doors would appear, to be shackled onto the gallows by their chain preventers. Then the cod end, heralded by a frenzied screaming from the excited birds, would break surface and sit bobbing in the swell as the avian pirates did their best to empty it. The trawler would have fallen beam on to the sea by the time that the crew had to bring the footrope with its line of huge, iron bobbins, inboard. The gilson would slowly lift the footrope out of the water and clear of the rail to drop it behind the rail, guided by the crew. The cod end would be brought inboard to hang, dripping, over the deck. Stooping under the load of fish the mate would release the knot securing the net and allow the fish to cascade down onto the deck.

All this would be taking place in a heavy swell that could see the weather rail lifted ten feet above the water one minute and then plunged a foot under it the next. It's no wonder that limbs and fingers were crushed or amputated. Sleep was a rare and precious commodity that had to be snatched one or two hours at a time when fishing allowed. When on the fishing grounds, the job had priority over eating or sleeping. If the fish were plentiful and double bags occurred, the deck would not be cleared of fish before it was time to haul the gear once more and drop the next catch on the deck. Food, often just sandwiches, had to be grabbed by exhausted men as they headed for their bunks to try for a few precious hours sleep before they were shaken awake, once more, with the cry of "Hauling time." In between hauls the crew would often be roused out to chip away the ice that was forming on the standing rigging and threatening to capsize the vessel. Or they would have to turn to and mend a torn or damaged trawl, repairing the meshes with large, wooden needles loaded with rough and abrasive manila or sisal twine. Small wonder, then, that their hands would be as tough as leather and with fingers thick and powerful. Day and night for up to three weeks the crushing routine went on and a man would have to be really injured to stop work. My uncle remembers, "Many's the time that my hands have been poisoned through a cut or with being spiked by a sharp fin. That was no excuse to stop, though, the skipper or the mate would lance it to let out the infection, patch it up, and it was back to work. Any sewing up of wounds had to be done there and then, a man had to be really ill before the skipper would put into port."