Speaker Robb Robinson - A Forgotten Navy: Fishermen, Fishing Vessels and the Great War at Sea

During the First World War, 3,000 fishing vessels were taken into Admiralty service and 39,000 fishermen from small and large ports joined the RNR (Trawler Section). Many spent over four years on the maritime front line in the grim war against mines and U-boats.

They saw action all around the coasts of the British Isles — not least off the Yorkshire coast — and in many other maritime theatres of war. In addition, many older fishermen continued to catch fish in these same seas in an attempt to maintain the beleaguered nation’s fish supply.

Although oceans of academic print have been devoted to Dreadnoughts and Jutland, until recently the vital role that fishermen from places such as Staithes played has been either underplayed or forgotten.

This lecture intends to outline something of the contribution that fishermen made to the Great War at sea.