Wyre Dock's Last Trawler
Fleetwood's days of hosting armadas of trawler fleets are now fast receding into the memory of fishing families in the town. The dockside still maintains an Auction Hall for a fish trading business but it is now a mostly empty echoing structure. The Jacinta is moored alongside Wyre Dock as a reminder of a thriving era in the town's history (and indeed the UK). However one redoubtable Fleetwood fisherman was getting ready to set out to sea today as I took a close look at this important part of the town's heritage.
The Albion with its crew of two or three keeps up a tradition of trawling from Wyre Dock and whilst it may be diminutive in comparison to the deep sea Jacinta - it is still very much a functioning vessel built in the 1950s. Fishing within a twenty mile limit (inshore) the Albion brings in regular catches for sale on Wyre Dock, together with a sister trawler moored a bit further upstream on the Wyre. Its Owner, together with a group of local fisherman, have provided the media with recent news stories on UK fisheries policies and the almost fatal impact of EU fishing regulations over past decades - at least on UK trawlermen. Below : Loading fresh ice into the hold for the day's trawling out of Wyre Dock - upholding a long history - the Albion.
Another marvellous part of the dock's living history is the ice making plant which dominates one side of the Wyre Dock area and clearly very much alive and well from the thousands of visitors arriving by car along Amounderness Way. At one time of course its purpose was to provide ice for the myriad number of fishing vessels embarking on voyages well into the north Atlantic. Still a local landmark its output is more widely and diversely marketed today. Below : the cavernous Auction Hall now a reminder of once busy trading on Wyre Dockside.
And the 'Jacinta' Fleetwood's last link to its deep sea trawling past - moore at Wyre Dock as a living museum.
