Bringing back world’s oldest steam trawler from Falklands would be fitting symbol of Hull’s maritime city status: The Yorkshire Post says

It is the world’s oldest surviving steam trawler with an extraordinary back story – now volunteers are charting a positive course in their efforts to bring the 113-year-old Viola back home from its current location in the Falklands.

The trawler, which was built in Beverley, sailed off to be used as a patrol boat when the First World War started in 1914 and is yet to return to its home port of Hull – having been converted into a whaling vessel in Norway after the war then being used in expeditions around the Falklands.

A £3m campaign is under way to return the vessel to this region in a final voyage that will see Viola take a starring role in Hull’s new maritime heritage displays. A new ‘Homeward Bound’ calendar, featuring paintings by East Yorkshire artist Larry Malkin, has now been launched by The Viola Trust to help raise funds.

There could be few better symbols of Hull’s status as an historic maritime city than by bringing Viola back home.