The Headscarf Revolutionaries: Lillian Bilocca and the Hull Triple-Trawler Disaster

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Listen to Brian tell something of the story, with a particular take on what the tale says about journalism, on his BBC Radio Four Thought piece. Brian W Lavery’s book The Headscarf Revolutionaries and its prequel The Luckiest Thirteen are available from: barbicanpress. These are minor issues in what is otherwise an excellent book, and I guess it isn’t Lavery’s fault that I am quite pedantic when it comes to grammar and style; I blame it on all the undergraduate marking I do. The skipper would get the biggest percentage and then it was shared out amongst the rest of the crew according to seniority.

Sometimes the cause of synchronicity is obvious, as in the World War that preceded uprisings and revolutions from Clydeside to Moscow, or the economic collapse that by 2011 had sparked revolts as diverse as the English riots and the Arab Spring.

The Prague Spring coincided with the Civil Rights movement in the US, the anti-Vietnam War riot in Grosvenor Square, the March events in Poland, the occupation at Nanterre, and eventually the May Days in Paris. But to bring in such large quantities Hull's trawlermen had to take enormous risks, because the best hunting grounds were 1,000 miles away in the dangerous Arctic waters around Iceland. I was at the newsagent’s early doors next morning and could hardly wait to see my first story in a posh paper. These included radio operators for all ships, better weather forecasting, training for young deckhands, more safety equipment and a mothership with hospital facilities to patrol with the fleet. Brian deserves every word of praise that has come his way since the book was released, and every honour too.

Ten seconds after this radio message in the early hours of 4 February, 1968, the Ross Cleveland disappeared. How many people need to suffer from the ecological disaster before somebody like Lillian Bilocca stands up? In the few weeks that I’d been freelance, pals from my previous job had played a few practical jokes on me. The Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland would soon follow in the disastrous footsteps of the previous tragedy.

Councillor Daren Hale, Hull City Council’s Ward Councillor for St Andrews and Docklands, said: “These four women fought hard for tougher laws and changed the fishing industry for good, and it’s only right their memory lives on, and they are given the recognition they rightly deserve. I am from Hull and even though the city has changed a lot in the last 50 years this book draws a very clear picture in my mind of how it was when I was very young. They saw their colleague Chrissie Smallbone, the sister of skipper Phil Gay, being comforted by a clergyman.