Ross Tiger - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Ross Tiger is a traditional side-winder fishing trawler that was converted into a museum ship

Museum ship

A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

in 1992. She is currently berthed in Alexandra Dock at her home port of Grimsby

Grimsby

Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...

, close to the site of the former PS Lincoln Castle. She forms the star attraction of North East Lincolnshire

North East Lincolnshire

North East Lincolnshire is a unitary authority in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, bordering the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire and the administrative county of Lincolnshire...

County Council's National Fishing Heritage Centre

National Fishing Heritage Centre

The Fishing Heritage Centre is a museum at Alexandra Dock, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England, opened in 1991. It depicts the 1950s heyday of the distant waters fishing fleet. The centre also hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions throughout the year. Tours of the fishing trawler Ross Tiger are...

since restored and opened to the public in 1992. As Grimsby's last traditional sidewinder 'conventional trawler', she represents a now virtually extinct breed of vessels that once made up the largest fishing fleet in the world.

She is a member of the National Register of Historic Vessels with certificate number 621.

History

The Ross Tiger, GY398, is North East Lincolnshire’s memorial to the history of the Port of Grimsby. According to ABP, the town is 'Chief vehicle-handling centre of the North, handling almost 400,000 vehicles annually' with ships up to 6000 dwt However, the once thriving fish docks are now largely desolate with derelict buildings. The recent controversial loss of the PS Lincoln Castle also gave cause for concern that the town was losing touch with its once Great status, with the Grimsby Telegraph

Grimsby Telegraph

The Grimsby Telegraph is a daily British regional newspaper for the town of Grimsby and the surrounding area that makes up North East Lincolnshire. It is owned by Northcliffe Newspapers. The main area for the paper's distribution is in or around Grimsby and Cleethorpes...

quoting NE Lincs Council as stating 'it would not be right to burden council taxpayers with the bill' to keep the steamer in the town. With Victorian docks once the envy of the nation, Grimsby was famed for its great fishing fleet. Fishing from the port of Grimsby goes back as far as Grim, the Viking fisherman who founded the town, and her trawlers were a permanent feature of one of the busiest waterways in the British Isles – the River Humber. The importance of the Humber was not forgotten during both world wars and neither was the town’s fishing fleet. Grimsby became the largest base for minesweepers in Britain, with the trawlers and motor minesweepers clearing 34,858 mines from the North Sea lanes during the Second World War. The brave men of the Royal Naval Patrol Service

Royal Naval Patrol Service

The Royal Naval Patrol Service was a branch of the Royal Navy active during the Second World War. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to protect coastal Britain and convoys during WWII.-History:The Royal Naval Patrol...

used peacetime fishing vessels to venture into known mine infested waters to sink mines and hunt submarines. Many did not return. They are remembered with a memorial constructed by their surviving comrades who remember how vital their work was for Britain’s war effort.
When the trawlers returned to their fishing roles the fishing fleet grew along with the national demand for fish, with Grimsby rising to the title of the largest fishing port in the world. The Ross Tiger (GY 398) was built to supply that demand.

In January 1957 Ross Tiger, the first of twelve new trawlers for one of Grimsby’s most prolific trawler owners, was completed in the yards of Cochrane and Sons, Selby, Yorkshire. The new vessels were to become the ‘middle water’ fleet for Ross Trawlers

Ross Group

The Ross Group was a British food company founded in Grimsby, England in 1920.The Ross brand remains common in the retail frozen fish market...

Ltd, complementing the larger ‘deep water’ fleet of the firm, with Cochrane and Sons also constructing a new smaller class of ‘near water’ vessels. They were to be known as the ‘Cat Class’ or the ‘Cat Boats’, each being named after a type of cat, although the Ross Jackal and the Ross Zebra also belonged to the group. The Tiger would work the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

, Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

and the Norwegian coast, although is capable of making trips further north. The larger ‘deep water’ vessels would commonly take on the hazardous Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

oceans including Bear Island and Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

. The deep water vessels of the Ross fleet include the Ross Revenge which later found fame as Radio Caroline

Radio Caroline

Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...

and is still in existence today. The smaller vessels of the Ross fleet, designed for waters closer to home, were known as the ‘Bird Boats’ and were named after birds, for example, Ross Falcon and Ross Mallard. Subsequent Cat Class vessels saw minor alterations to the design, such as a slightly extended bridge top to allow for larger side-light screens and the addition of bobbin derricks to the bridge verandah. Most of the class built after 1958 featured a flat transom, although the Ross Jackal of 1960 was given the original rounded transom as seen on the Ross Tiger. Despite these few alterations the vessels of the class were, in most respects, identical sisters.

Use of a local school to name the vessels is probably the cause for two of the Cat Class to be named after a dog and a horse; the Ross Jackal and the Ross Zebra. This was in keeping with the companies’ involvement with the youth of the town. This extended as far as giving guided school tours of the trawlers between trips whilst moored in Grimsby docks, with meals provided in the company canteen. Those children would soon be in search for work - a fact that the company knew well - and in the largest fishing port in the world that was likely to have been work at the docks. A fond memory of Ross Trawlers may well have been enough to ensure that those lads signed onto a Ross Group

Ross Group

The Ross Group was a British food company founded in Grimsby, England in 1920.The Ross brand remains common in the retail frozen fish market...

ship instead of one of the many rival firms in the town.

The trawlers of the town scoured the ocean floors for deep sea fish, with a particular focus on cod and haddock. Haddock, regarded as a cleaner fish by Grimbarians, was preferred locally although the rail links from the town allowed for Grimsby fish to supply the nation, particularly with links to the south and the great Billingsgate Fish Market

Billingsgate Fish Market

Situated in East London, Billingsgate Fish Market is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east of the City of London, where the riverside market was originally established...

of London. The Cod Wars spelt the end of the life of many Grimsby trawlers, though some were saved from the breakers’ yard to become standby vessels used for offshore oil rigs. The Ross Tiger was among those fortunate few, changing hands in 1985. However, the aging vessels were soon to be redundant and Ross Tiger was looking at the breakers’ yard or yet another change of hands. Once again, the Tiger proved lucky. She was purchased by a museum trust to become the star attraction of her home town's Fishing Heritage Centre, and restored to her fishing day glory. Guided tours of the vessel show visitors the unique spaces aboard and demonstrate how various pieces of equipment aboard this traditional design of trawler were used.

Despite conversion to a standby vessel, much of the original fabric of the ship is retained. This makes the Tiger a very unique survivor, allowing visitors to witness her original Ruston and Hornsby diesel engines, wood paneling, cabins and bunks, ships galley and mess room as well as the beautifully preserved wheelhouse with period instruments. The plush skipper's berth, just abaft the bridge, is also surprisingly well preserved, down to the original lampshades! This all combines to provide visitors with a genuine feel for this special and unique environment. These are the long lost surroundings that were familiar to the men who, for generations, satisfied much of the nation's desire for deep sea fish.

Ross Tiger has recently undergone substantial maintenance work to her exterior above the waterline, enabling her to continue to give a valuable insight into the lives of the fisherman of the past. She is a very solidly built ship, up for the death-defying role she was designed for, and is still sound. However, unless she is able to secure funding for her future and the required maintenance work that will soon be needed to her hull, including transport to an area of the docks that will permit this, the people of Grimsby will be concerned for her future. The recent grisly fate of the beautiful PS Lincoln Castle is still fresh in the memories of those who care for the tremendously significant and industrious, yet astoundingly overlooked, history of the region.

Statistics

Builders: Cochrane & Sons, Selby, Yard No 1416.
Delivery: Grimsby, February 1957. Registered to Derwent Trawlers.
Gross Tonnage: 355.
Nett Tonnage: 127.
Length: 126.6 ft.
Beam: 26.5 ft.
Depth: 13 ft.
Engines: 7 Cylinder, Diesel, manufactured in Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

by Ruston & Hornsby

Hauntings

The museum, including the Ross Tiger, is said to be the home of various spirits. This has manifested itself in unexplained cold spots, smells, such as tobacco smoke, and footsteps with no obvious source.
It is believed that the spirits may be associated with the previous use of the land that the museum occupies - a former timber yard - though some believe that the hauntings of the Ross Tiger are more likely to be due to former crew members or a particular ex-member of the museum staff that enjoys making his presence known. Investigators from television's Most Haunted
Most Haunted
Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series. The series was first shown on 25 May 2002 and ended on 21 July 2010. It was broadcast on Living and presented by Yvette Fielding. The programme was based on investigating purported paranormal activity...

have visited the ship.

Previous Skippers

Include but may not be limited to -

Alfred Hodson (See photograph below to right)
Edward Hodson
William H Hodson
Alfred E Drury
John G Drury
J Daly
Dennis Avery
Arthur Bannard
Jimmy Brown
Peter Brown
Alfred George Camburn
George Chambers
Jeff Colbert
Charlie Cressie
Frank Gilchrist
James Gordon
C Greaves
John Major
Harry Mitchell
Lionel Huxford
J Jensen
William Goddard Johnson
George Edward Pedersen (Took the Tiger on her maiden trip, Feb 1957)
W. B Roach
John Roberts
D Sinclair
Lennie C Smith
Dave Speck
Sheldon Stoakes
Wally Stoakes
G Welbourn
Chris Yensen

The 'Cat Boats'

Ross Tiger - February 1957
Ross Leopard - October 1957 (Still in existence and currently for sale)
Ross Jaguar - December 1957 (Converted into a three masted tall-ship and renamed simply Jaguar)
Ross Panther - April 1958
Ross Cougar - April 1958
Ross Cheetah - November 1959
Ross Lynx - February 1960
Ross Jackal - April 1960
Ross Puma - August 1960 (Wrecked off Hoy in 1968 - the only of the Cat Boats to have been lost, though all hands saved)
Ross Genet - October 1960
Ross Civet - October 1960
Ross Zebra - November 1960.

History

Statistics

Hauntings

Previous Skippers

The 'Cat Boats'

See also