TALES

Early morning, my body didn’t function well until I’d had porridge & a cup of tea, & since we had no car, it was still a 30 minute walk to the docks, via the unofficial short cut at New Clee train station. The docks police would question you if they caught you, as the official way on to the dock was via Humber St!

Dad’s job, along with his 4 work mates, was to clean out fishing boat & trawler fish rooms after they’d landed their fish – spratters were the worst I recall.

The fish rooms & all the wooden boards had to be clean & hygienic for the next trip to sea. I think dad’s company was called BDS Chemiclean, part of Tom Sleights. There was only ONE 60ft steel barge to clean all manner of fishing boats in fish docks 1 – 3; she was loaded with water & high pressure hoses that were so powerful, they could cut your fingers off!

On dark frosty mornings the deck was covered in ice, which made it a dangerous place for anyone, let alone a child, but in the 70’s, H & S wasn’t a big thing!!

Everything had to be defrosted in winter. The big old barge engine was started first as this offered a little warmth & brought an icy steel hulk to life, & I seem to remember all the pumps & barge engine being started by crank handle back then – not like turning an ignition key today!

The water they put in the fish rooms from the high powered hoses had to be pumped out. Most of the ‘snibbys’ (wooden fishing boats) had a hand pump on deck which I’d pump – it kept me occupied & I felt my muscles develop quickly during this period.
I learned things like tying up the barge along side a trawler. Often, when there were plenty of boats in, they were rafted side by side, & you’d have to clamber over one boat’s deck to clean the fish room of the next one.

I was never allowed down the fish room ever, but there was always plenty of pumping to do on deck.

My dad & his work crew often got a nice hand out of fish for a quick barrow job, which kept us fed at home a couple of times a week – we had all manner of fish which wasn’t that popular on the fish market – ugly looking fish I remember, but skinned & cooked beautifully by dad who used to be a cook in the merchant navy.

You had to watch out for the Dock’s police who could fine you for taking fresh fish from the dock with no bill of sale, but the night watchmen on the fishing boats always seemed to get plenty of fish – I’m not sure how they did it, so night watchmen were good to know!
Through the summer, after a while getting used to the way the barge manoeuvred, Pete the foreman gave me a go steering this beast of a barge with an open topped wheelhouse. It was magic driving it around the docks & made me feel immensely proud & grown up.

We pulled up along side this trawler one time & a lad my age, that was with his grandfather night watchman, was mega impressed with my helmsmanship & bringing the barge alongside a wooden snibby that would have crumpled if I’d got it wrong! Yes, I remember feeling big headed then!

Working on the docks, or rather helping dad & his crew, fuelled my love of ships. Whilst other lads were discovering girls, I was gazing at ships – a bit of a geek! I was always artistic though & all things marine were imprinted on my mind, which made it easy for me to draw ships, both from memory or real life. I spent hours drawing on the fish dock.

A key part of the docks was the market and this was a hub on the pontoon. Barrows were used to carry kits of fish and transport them to a wagon. Each kit would weigh about 11 and a half stone including the fish and the weight of the box, you’d then have to pull these to the wagons. Each one had 50 kits on and only 2 people to move them. Nowadays they use modern machinery like forklifts, but we didn’t have this in our day.

The fish curing process had a few steps to it. In fish curing, you’d have what we call ‘houses’ which are chimneys. The chimneys had railings on either side which you’d climb up to hang the fish, once you’d done this you’d light the fire at the bottom and use oak wood shavings to give the fish the flavour. Before this though, you’d brine them filling tubs with water and salt and putting colouring in to give them a ‘lemon’ shade although they’d look orange at first. You stagger this so that they would be ready one after another and they would be drip dried before hanging them in the ‘houses’. Work finished at 5pm when all the fish was filleted and hung in the ‘houses’.

Work on the docks was hard and could be scary. For example, to cross the pontoon, there was a special ramp you had to cross which you had to run like hell down to get up the other side this was all whilst pulling a barrow weighing about 70 stone! Doing this the first time was quite scary, but you got used to it after a couple of times. There were lighter moments during these times though, as a 15 year old starting out I was quite naive and the older filleters would play jokes on you. One time, I was asked to go out for a ‘long stand’ and I didn’t know what it was. So I went down to one of the shops, and asked for one, the shopkeeper said “Wait there” and then smiled, before I realised what a ‘long stand’ was.

I worked for Atkinson’s Fish Curers which used to be on Henderson Street, but it isn’t there anymore. I don’t think the new filleters now would put up with what we did back then. There was good banter on the docks which helped to make the hard work easier sometimes. In three words, I would describe the docks as tough, eye-opening and overall a good experience.