blyth u3a local history group

BLYTH u3a Local History

Group

ABOVE: modern day view of the river from North Blyth, by Chris BELOW: an old photo, loading herring barrels at Blyth quayside

Blyth u3a Local History Group

Editorial Thanks for all the support, a great start for the Local History Group with two very enjoyable, interesting and well attended meetings in October and November. Good venue and the group is almost at full capacity. No meeting in December as this is a busy time for many. Instead, we have a Newsletter with 3 local history stories:

• The Ark Royal, by guest editor Janet Kennedy from the Creative Writing Group

• Herring Lasses, by another guest editor Chris

• Coal Trimmers, by Mick

Next History Meeting

• Wed 5th January 2022, Blyth Town Football Club

• Doors Open 1.00 pm, u3a members only I’m still putting a programme together for the New Year and will send out more details in a few weeks time.

Thank You A big THANK YOU to those who have made the meetings run smoothly, serving tea/coffee, setting out and clearing away tables/chairs and organizing admission. It’s a large group and the meetings couldn’t run smoothly without you! Regards and Seasons Greetings to all Mick


A short history of the Blyth built Ark Royal: the bravest of them all? – by guest editor Janet Kennedy I say ‘Blyth built’ Ark Royal because this one wasn’t the original to bear that prestigious name. Ark Royal is a name traditionally reserved throughout history for ships of great importance, going back to Elizabethan times. The first recorded Ark Royal is dated 1587 for a ship in the Spanish fleet. The Ark Royal ‘of Blyth’ started its life on 7th November 1913, being laid down as a merchant cargo vessel for the Stephens, Sutton and Stephens ship builders of Blyth, destined to become a freight vessel trading coal for grain across the Black Sea. However, in 1914 it was purchased by the Royal Navy for £81,000. Having only its spacious frame and keel laid down this allowed total redesign to accommodate seaplanes, the first of its kind to do so. Launched from Blyth 5th September 1914, Ark Royal was commissioned to carry eight float planes on 10th December 1914. Service – First World War The ship proved too slow to work with the grand fleet, or for operations in the North Sea. Ark Royal was ordered to the Mediterranean January 1915 to support the WW1 Gallipoli campaign with reconnaissance and observation. Ark Royal had varied levels of success here.


During her inaugural mission she attempted to fly three seaplanes to reconnoiter the Straits, but two of them had engine trouble and one failed to take off despite the calm water. A wight pusher1 eventually managed to get into the air, discovering new enemy fortifications on which a single bomb was dropped. The price for this was to suffer seven bullet holes in its skin. Days later attempts were made to spot enemy fleet as they bombarded Ottoman fortifications defending the Straits, but this was unsuccessful. Later in the month moderate success was achieved spotting mines from the air, although they failed to detect the minefield that sank one French and two British dreadnoughts and damaged another British battlecruiser.

seaplanes would take off and land alongside in the water, lifted on and off by crane

1 Wight Pusher, a British twin float patrol seaplane


Success was achieved on 12th April when Ark Royal reconnaissance detected a large ammunition dump, so assisting HMS Lord Nelson to direct fire onto the target. After a few near misses on herself, Ark Royal was forced to move to Imbros (Turkish island), then onto Lemnos (Greek island), both in the Aegean Sea, where she became a depot ship for planes in the area. During 1916 she supported British troops on the Macedonian Front. Later in 1918 attacking the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben. Days later Ark Royal attempted to repeat this success by bombing another German battleship at dawn with her short 184’s, but all ten bombs missed. Not to be totally defeated, another attack was planned with a modified short 184 which could carry a 14inch torpedo, but this too failed, the weight of the torpedo proving too heavy for the aircraft to lift. The final duty of WW1 was to support seaplanes conducting anti-submarine patrols in the Aegean Sea. Inter War Service After WW1 she transported aircraft across the Black Sea and supported British and White Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks in the Caspian Sea during the Russian civil war. The ship went on to support RAF aircraft in British Somaliland in the campaign against Diiriye Guure’s Darawiish and Mohammed Abdullah Hassan in 1920.


Later in 1920 she was put into reserve at Rosyth. After a full refit she was recommissioned in September 1922, ferrying for an RAF squadron in the Dardanelles during the Chanak Crisis. On her return to British waters, she was put to reserve again in 1923. During the interwar years Ark Royal was recommissioned within home fleet as a training ship, converted to test and trial aircraft catapult launchers, and crew in shipboard recovery techniques. During December 1934 she was renamed HMS Pegasus. In doing so the name Ark Royal was released for a new carrier, ordered to be built in Portsmouth. Service – World War Two November 1940 saw HMS Pegasus converted to a prototype fighter catapult ship, covering convoys against attacks by German long-range bombers. Between December 1940 and July 1941, she escorted 9 convoys, crucially assisting in maintaining the lifeblood arteries of supplies from across the Atlantic. But perhaps her finest hour had been slightly earlier, on 15th October 1939. On this day HMS Pegasus rescued 400 survivors of the Royal Oak merchant vessel, which was sunk by a German U Boat.


This remarkable rescue should resonate with every riveter, every engineer, every tradesman, every crew member and civilian from Blyth and beyond, who contributed to the development, building and service of this honourable vessel. Its heroic, successful rescue testament to the character, toil and dedication of these individuals. On this day the ship not only rescued 400 souls, but in so doing protected our nation from starvation and hardship by keeping this shipping lane open. HMS Pegasus continued these duties up to 1944, thereafter becoming a barracks ship until May 1946. Post War Years Listed for disposal in June 1946, she was sold, renamed SS Anita l, registered under the Panamanian flag and converted to a freighter. However, the SS Anita l was seized by creditors and auctioned off to a Dutch shipbreaking company on 16th June 1949. She was resold once more before being purchased by the British Iron & Steel Corporation in October 1950, later that year being finally scrapped at Thomas W. Ward Gray's of Essex. The question now begged is – are there any Blyth families who have tales of Ark Royal, either in dock or on water?


Photo provided by Janet

General Characteristics

Type Seaplane carrier Displacement 7,190 tons (standard) 7,570 (loaded) Length 366ft Beam 50ft 10in Draft 18ft 9in Installed power 3,000ihp Propulsion 1 shaft 1 vertical type expansion steam Engine 3 boilers Speed 11 knots (13mph) Range 3,030nmi at 10 knots Complement 180 Armament 4 x 1 QF 12-pounder 12cwt Guns x 2 machine guns Aircraft carried x 8 floatplanes Further research can be found in volume 1 of ‘Jane’s Fighting Ships’ available at most public libraries.


Herring Lasses by guest editor, Chris Killen

The trade in pickled herring was developed in the late C12th by the Danes. Eventually it was rebranded as the Scotch Cure in the C18th and the UK dominated the huge European markets from C19th to the start of WW1.

Herring lasses were the gutters and packers who worked

the herring seasons around the coasts of Britain and

Ireland. From early teens to grandmothers in their

seventies they were always lasses, never herring women.

Many were from more remote parts of Scotland, leaving

their homes for the chance to earn a living and the

opportunity to travel.

Work was seasonal and when the railways developed the

skilled workforce could travel further, employed by

businessmen known as curers. Starting in Shetland, the

lasses and the fleet moved down the East Coast of

Scotland, on to Blyth and eventually ending up in Great

Yarmouth. The season usually finished by December.

The Scots workforce emerged with the introduction of the

Scotch cure system, a lack of reasonably paid alternative

employment and recognition of skills in gutting the fish.

KIST, everything the lasses needed was packed into a kist – a wooden trunk or box that was loaded on to the train or boat transporting them to each destination


The White Herring Trade

For Blyth the season would start in April and could last through to September and the lasses would be seen on the quay working long hours in all weathers. Mostly the work was white or salt-pickled herring for export to Germany or Russia.

Brawn and Brains

The migrant workforce continued to grow as the Scottish herring fleet conquered the European markets, built on a tradition of strong and independent women with physical strength and skills in financial management. By the early C20th most herring ports looked to the annual ‘invasion of the Scottish herring lasses’

Gutting and packing herring required skill, speed and stamina. As the scale of operations increased, the curers drew on this existing culture to develop a seasonal migrant labour model.


Working in Teams The herring lasses worked in teams of three: two gutters and a packer. Members of the same family or friends, they would tend to come from the same community. The work was hard and often long, 6am to 6pm was standard and carrying on until 9pm was regular. There was an allowance for food and in most ports they were provided with basic accommodation. After their visitors had gone many landladies would strip out the rooms and cover the walls against the herring scales, guts and pervasive smell. Try to imagine this, in your clothes, in your hair. Not to mention the room you were sleeping in. It must have been unbearable.

Gutting and packing was piece work with payment for barrels passed by inspectors. A higher rate was paid for gutting than packing and teams would share the money equally. A barrel took from 900 to 1,200 herrings, depending on the size of the fish.

FARLINS, the gutters worked at long troughs called farlins and had to sort the herring by size and quality. Smaller herrings took more gutting to fill a barrel. In 1918 the curers raised the farlins to a more easily operational height, avoiding the back-breaking work of picking up from shin level. Salt was scattered on the herrings as they were tipped into the farlins, helping with the preservation, and making it easier for the lasses to pick them up.


A short, sharp knife known as a futtle was used, the gutting and removal of the gills done in one movement, each fish taking around one second to gut and put in the tub. If the packer was tall she could more easily reach the bottom of a barrel to lay the first layer of herrings – belly up and tightly packed. The bottom and top layers were crucially important as inspections didn’t always go deeper. The filled barrels were left for a few days to pine – the herrings shrinking in the brine. This salt pickle was drained off but kept – providing a crucial the flavour. The barrels were topped up with new layers of herrings and the pickle poured back in and the lid put back on. In Blyth the smell stretched as far as Wensleydale Terrace. “Get Up And Tie Yer Fingers”

The sharpness of the futtles and the speed of the work meant accidents were common. Constant contact with salt made every wound really painful. Lasses would use cloots – strips of cotton, usually from flour bags, tied around each finger at the beginning of the day (Get up an’ tie yer fingers, was a standard wake up call). The lasses covered their hair to stop the herring muck getting into it. They wore long oilskin aprons and the rubber boots which replaced the leather ones of the early days.

The Red Cross and other organisations provided first aid stations but blood poisoning meant the end of a season. The Scottish fleet didn’t work on Sundays and when there was any spare time, the herring lasses would knit.


FOR DISCUSSION AT OUR JANUARY MEETING!!!

“Wor Bella”

When men were called up in 1916 women flooded into the munitions factories and saved the war effort. Despite their dangerous jobs and long hours the heroic “munitionettes” also played football to raise money for wartime charities, playing to crowds ranging from 4,000 to 22,000 people!

These selfless women soon forged competitive sides and the top team in the region was Blyth Spartans Ladies. The free scoring Bell Reay was the superstar with 133 goals in 30 matches, Wor Bella was the Alan Shearer of her day.

Matches were deemed to be “friendlies” but in the North East 30 teams competed in a knock-out competition for the Alfred Wood Cup. Wor Bella is the story of Spartans Ladies’ remarkable munitionettes’ cup victory in May 1918.

Fri 25th Mar 2022 Matinee 2.30 or Evening 7.30

Sat 26th Mar 2022 Evening 7.30


Coal Trimmers by Mick Killen

It is said Trimmers all dressed the same: moleskin trousers tied with string below the knee and they all carried heart-shaped shovels. Once the coal was on the Staithes, and at the berths, Teemers would open the doors on the bottom of the wagons and guide the coal into hoppers under the rail deck into the hold of the collier. The coal would form a conical heap and block up the hatchway. The empty wagons rolled back to the siding by gravity. Trimmers went into the ships holds and trimmed the heaps into the corner so the coal would not shift on the voyage. Spreading and levelling the coal with shovels and rakes so that its weight would be evenly distributed, keeping the ship level or it would become unbalanced during the journey. Although Trimmers earned ‘big money’ it was hard earned, the work being noisy, oily and very, very, dirty. There were occasionally some serious accidents, due to poor visibility and cramped conditions. For our final page, an insight into a very different side of these men as they celebrated the festive season in 1892!

Most coal wagons were not fitted with brakes; a trimmer known as a "Spragger" would jam pieces of wood "Sprags" into the wheels to slow the wagons down

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