Heritage body presented with evocative image of peril at sea

Lost Trawlermen, by city-based marine artist and former trawlerman Dennis Chapman, gives a sea-level view of a lifebelt and invites people to contemplate the despair of a man lost overboard.

The painting, which will be on display in Stand’s unit in High Street, will also be on show at the city’s annual Lost Trawlermen’s Day service, which is organised by Stand.

Stand chairman Charles Pinder said: “It’s quite poignant because three-quarters of the painting is a rough sea and you are looking from the perspective of somebody who is in the water looking up at a lifebelt.

“I think it’s splendid and everyone who has seen it, particularly those who have been to sea, says that’s how it is. As an ex-trawlerman who knows the sea Dennis has been able to paint it in a way that somebody who has never been to sea could not.”

Hull was once home to the largest deep water fishing fleet in the world and more than 6,000 men and boys are believed to have died while sailing from the city since the mid-19th century. Stand is working to create a memorial to the city’s lost trawlermen and hopes it will be near St Andrew’s Dock, the former home of the fishing fleet.