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Fishing Lives Boats, Crews & Stories — Past and Present

A free public archive · Britain & Ireland

Every boat carried somebody's working life.

Fishing Lives is a growing archive of fishing boats, crews and harbour communities — built from photographs and memories contributed by fishermen, families and enthusiasts. Free to browse, free to join.

Discover fishing boats, crews and harbour stories from past and present.

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Most fishing photographs are sitting in albums and lofts — and every year more are lost. Join free, add what you have, and it becomes part of the record. You keep the copyright; the archive keeps the memory.

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Fishing vessel Ethelwulf, The Ethelwulf and its crew - North Shields - Sunk in 1918 and all died

Ethelwulf: Lost after the Armistice

Ethelwulf · SN344 · North Shields

Only three weeks after the First World War Armistice, the North Shields trawler Ethelwulf was lost with all hands after striking wartime mines in the North Sea. A powerful story of fishing families, danger and remembrance.

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Fishing vessel Ben Tarbert, Ben Tarbert HL21, Hartlepool steam trawler. Built Aberdeen 1912 by Hall, Russell & Co Ltd. Later served as an Admiralty boom defence vessel before retur

Ben Tarbert HL21: From Hartlepool Trawler to Wartime Service

Ben Tarbert · A476, HL21 · Hartlepool

Built at Aberdeen in 1912, Ben Tarbert later became Hartlepool’s HL21 and served through wartime as an Admiralty boom defence vessel before returning to the fishing fleet. Her story links the working fish quay, steam trawling and the hidden wartime service of Britain’s fishing vessels.

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