Fishing

Memorial: M2626

Statue at Hessle Road, Hull depicting George Henry Smith, Skipper of the trawler ‘Crane’ d. 1904 and other casualties of the Dogger Bank Incident

Location

Hessle Road, Hull, England

Transcript

'ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION / TO THE MEMORY OF / GEORGE HENRY SMITH / (SKIPPER) / AND / WILLIAM RICHARD LEGGETT / (THIRD HAND)/OF THE ILL-FATED TRAWLER 'CRANE' / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE NORTH SEA / BY THE ACTION OF THE RUSSIAN BALTIC FLEET / OCTOBER 22ND 1904 / AND / WALTER WHELPTON / (SKIPPER) OF THE TRAWLER 'MINO' / WHO DIED FROM SHOCK MAY 13TH 1905 / UNVEILED BY / LORD NUNBURNHOLME / AUGUST 30TH 1906'[additional plaque] 'This plaque marks the centenary of the tragic events / which took place in the North Sea October 1904 / As a result of the heated international situation at the / time of the Russo-Japanese War, the Hull fishing / fleet came under fire in the North Sea / victims of mistaken identity. / This statue, a portrait of skipper Smith of the / trawler 'Crane', situated at the heart of Hessle Road, / for generations the home of the fishing community. / It remains as a tribute to the bravery / of the city's trawlermen past and present. / Unveiled on this day 24th of October 2004 / by Commander Makhovney / Naval attaché to the Russian Embassy.'

Details

Description: Above the incriptions a pair of horns and the initials RAOB (Royal Antidiluvian Order of Buffaloes). Statue of a fisherman in Guernsey, souwester, and seaboots, his right hand raised, holding binoculars in his left hand.
Type: Memorial
Materials: marble, granite
Date Erected: 1906
Artists: Albert Leake
Vessel: Crane, Mino

Event

Russo-Japanese War

Event Date

1904-1905

People


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Extra

Notes: Trawlers 'Mino' and 'Crane' fired on by Russian fleet in mistake for the Japanese. Lord Nunburnholme (Charles Henry Wilson) was indisposed on the morning of the unveiling which was carried out by John Watt JP. Albert Leake, a stone mason ans sculptor of Spring Bank West assembled the monument at a cost of £245-00. It was carved in Italy from a photograph posed by Mr Leake wearing oilskins and a souwester. The memorial committee were elected for the Blythe Boys Lodge of the RAOB of which Skipper Smith had been a member.
Bibliography: 'Hull Daily Mail' (5 April 1978). Arthur G. Credland 'North Sea Incident 21-22 October 1904 commonly called the Russian Outrage (Hull, 1986,) pp. 63-4. Image from contemporary postcard.
Recorder: Christine Parkes, David Saunders, Barbara Tomlinson
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