New superintendent ‘honoured’ by Fishermen’s Mission role

The first, a Mrs Jarvis, was the Mission’s first superintendent in 1905.

Tracey, who was commissioned last night at a service at St John the Baptist, in the heart of the former fishing community in west Hull, was a child when her uncle, David Redfern, perished on the trawler St Romanus, aged 19, the first of three fishing vessels to be lost within three weeks, with the loss of 58 lives. The sinkings became known as the Triple Trawler Disaster.

Tracey, 45, a former chaplain at Dove House Hospice, said: “I was only a young girl of two-and-a-half but I can still recall it.

“Obviously my family went through a very difficult time and the Fishermen’s Mission were the ones who brought the bad news to my family.

“To be part of the Fishermen’s Mission is just a real privilege and honour.”

Although trawlers no longer land into Hull, 70 fishermen live locally and fly out to Canada, the West Coast of Africa and Iceland for work.

The Mission, based at King Edward Street, offers advice and support to retired fishermen, widows and their dependants.