Margaret Rose

The 157ft trawler Margaret Rose had a short career fishing out of Fleetwood. Her maiden trip was in 1931 and two years later she was sold to a to a French firm and moved across the Channel.

The arrival of this 428-ton super trawler attracted crowds to the promenade as she steamed into port on a fine April day.

Bedecked with flags she was greeted by thousands of visitors and locals who thronged to the seafront and lock pits to greet her.

The latest addition to the port’s fishing fleet, the Margaret Rose was owned by Boston Deep Sea Fisheries Ltd. Her first catch of 3,760 stones – mainly hake – auctioned for £956.

Locals marvelled at her latest gadgets ranging from a submarine signal depth sounder, wireless telephony, steam steering and every possible comfort for the crew.

Her skipper was Walter Holmes who In September 1932 commanded an augmented crew aboard Margaret Rose as she undertook a pioneering trip to the American coast.

The 6,000-mile trip to search for hake was launched with a Civic send-off by Councillor A J Priestley, Chairman of Fleetwood Council.

Visiting the firm’s offices he congratulated Mr Basil Parkes on the enterprising voyage. It was, he said, a venture fraught with great possibilities for Fleetwood’s fishing industry.

He wished the skipper “God speed,  good weather and good fishing”.

As she set off for her secret destination in search of hake, Margaret Rose was provisioned with 400 tons of coal, 100 tons of ice and 2 tons of salt as well as foodstuffs for a month.

Aboard her were Skipper Holmes, Mate Harold Goodier, Bosun J Gibbons, Deckhands G Sharpe, H Bamber, A Plummer, H Slowell, H Andrews, F Chilvers, Cook J Andrews, Chief Engineer H Murthwaite, Second Engineer T Murray, Fireman H Johnston and R Higham, Apprentice A Rodmore and Wireless Operator L Cadwill.

But a month later Margaret Rose arrived in Grimsby after an unsuccessful quest for hake.

She landed 1,400 boxes of cod, haddock and flat fish.

A crew member explained, “The weather was fine when we left Fleetwood but after 24 hours we struck bad weather. Going through the Gulf Stream we found the head oppressive and the engineer and firemen were working in 90 degrees of heat.

“We made our first haul off Newfoundland and found cod and haddock. This was not the class of fish we wanted and we dumped it overboard.”

Steaming to Nova Scotia Bank and to other grounds the crew found the same varieties.

Later some hake was caught but it was not the type caught in homewaters.

Margaret Rose’s catch from her Trans-Atlantic trip auctioned at only £307.

In 1933 the vessel was sold to a French firm and re-named Marguerite Rose. Her new port of registry was Boulogne.

Several crew – including Skipper Holmes, Messrs J Gibbons, A Rodmore, R Chambers, W S Wrigley and J Andrews – sailed to France with her.

Nothing more was heard of the Marguerite Rose until February 1939 when news reached Fleetwood that she had been bombed in the port of Almeria in a Franco raid and sunk in the harbour.