Special service at Fishermen's Memorial remembers brave in the Merchant Navy
FLAGS were lowered to honour the sacrifices of thousands of seafarers who were remembered at a special service next to Grimsby Minster.
About 32,000 Merchant Navy seamen, many of them serving from Humber ports, died in the Second World War.
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FLYING THE FLAG: Standard bearers, from left, Kenneth Scales of the Royal Navy Asssociation, Cleethorpes, John 'Seawolf' Shirley and Bob Cousins of the Immingham and South Humberside Merchant Navy Association, pictured at the Merchant Navy Day Memorial Service, held in St. James’ Square, Grimsby, in front of the Fishermen's Memorial. Pictures: Rick Byrne
The memorial service at The Fishermen's Memorial was led by the Rev Cameron Macdonald, the chaplain to the mission to seamen at Immingham, and was attended by the Deputy Mayor of North East Lincolnshire, Councillor Peggy Elliott and her consort Steve Elliott.
The Mayor of Immingham, Councillor Neil Castle, also represented the port.
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Rev Macdonald said: "We are here to honour those who died in the service of the Merchant Navy. We look back at the war and remember with thanksgiving those who sailed on the Atlantic convoys, the Russian convoys and the routes between Britain and Norway, and we remember the Falkland Islands war which was commemorated this year.
"As well as remembering those who died, we remember those neglected or those who simply passed peacefully away.
"Where would this country be if it had not been for them?"
He added: "We remember all seafarers. They are in a dangerous business and a lonely business."
David Cullum, a member of Immingham branch of the Merchant Navy Association, read the eulogy.
Councillor Elliott, whose father Charlie Topple served in the Navy, said: "We are a small close-knit area here. There are many families with strong connections to the sea.
"It is important for us to keep these services going. There were many trawlers from Grimsby which ended up mine- sweeping during the war. They went out from our docks."
She said many of those attending the service had remembered her father.
Peter Richardson, 64, who attended the memorial service with his dad George, 89, said: "We have to honour all of them. Many of them did not get the recognition they deserved in their lives. None of them got defence medals."
The Merchant Navy Day memorial service also included readings from the Bible and the hymn Eternal Father Strong To Save.
There are estimated to be about 16,000 seafarers working in the UK with a few thousand working from the ports of Grimsby and Immingham.
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