Naughty and Nautical
Slumber on the Humber
Pre-bridge Humber was crossed by paddle steamer; choice of three, Lincoln Castle, Tattershall Castle, Wingfield Castle, (all still afloat!). New Holland, the Lincolnshire landing was like another planet, flat, lonely and a million miles, (two actually), from Hull’s busy docks. (Lincoln Castle since scrapped..October 2010).
King George Dock and East Hull’s foreshore formed the backcloth to boyhood for Gene and brother Derek and when they weren’t filling cheap notebooks with ships’ names, livery and the like, (in those days ships had proper funnels, always in distinctive styles), they were getting up to mischief in places they shouldn’t be in, at which they were expert.
A
B
They were equally expert at identifying tugs; Humberside was bristling with them, chiefly those of United Towing, (white, black-topped funnels and names, (mostly), ending…“man”), though there were others, notably Foster’s, a smaller fleet of smaller tugs. This passion, driven by family connections, Uncle Jack, (Headman), Grandad Taylor, (Yorkshireman, Norman, Autocrat), and Dad, (Superman, which also saw wartime naval service), assured a connection of their own!
It was one long, hot ‘50’s summer, when Gene was about 12 and friend Albert Marshall was with them, that they came upon the very essence of a sleepy estuarine Sunday; Serviceman silent and still alongside the foreshore jetty. There was no-one aboard, so they leapt onto her deck, (being sure that there wasn’t, but there was), and were caught red-handed by the radio operator! But they quickly learnt two things: radio operators are called “Sparks” and this “Sparks” was OK. They knew this because, (believing that they wouldn’t), he told them that if they turned up next morning at some ridiculously early hour, Serviceman would be sailing down the Humber to tow in a big ship.
Now, if you were a little lad‘s lunch box, what would you do on hearing “sailing”, “tow”, and “big ship”? Exactly! Next morning’s ridiculous hour saw three lunch boxes leading three lads at the start of a summer adventure that ended only when Serviceman went off to some far away place.
An unlikely consequence of the Serviceman interlude was an unexpected first encounter with a “cutting-edge” contributor to the “Pop-Music Revolution” that lay just around the corner. “Sparks” had a radio/record shop in New Bridge Street and asked the lads to meet him there one day. He showed them a “45”, an amazing "bendy" gramophone record, which was poised to oust the old crackly, crackable “78”. The lads shoved leaflets through letter boxes to announce its arrival; return service for Serviceman!
Connections didn’t end there, though. Alan Ford, who wrote a history of United Towing went to Maybury Road School, as did Gene and all his brothers. OK, not all that impressive. But Gene was awe-struck the day he found himself talking to Judy’s Uncle Peter, (Edna’s husband), whom he’d met lots of times, when he suddenly realised that this was none other than Peter Foster, tug owner! Peter was equally amazed when Gene reeled off the names of his entire fleet, one of which was Ace Tut. Gene had a long standing puzzle answered that day; where did that name come from? The discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb had inspired the name King Tut for an earlier boat, followed by Queen Tut and, later, Ace Tut, which survived until Gene’s day! Play your cards right and look what happens!
A2B
A=Spurn Head. B=Flamborough Head. A to B not quite Straight Line. Head to Head S-Shaped Line. Head 2 Head 45 Mile-Shaped Line.
1
3
5
C
D
E
Seems she was nautical too! Married a lighthouse keeper! So, Ethel wasn't just Diane's secret granny. She was her mermaid granny!
6
KEY: 1 Serviceman. 2 Autocrat. 3 Norman. 4 See below.
5 Brahman. 6 Brochure sent to Gene by United Towing
on 8th June 1956 in response to a request made two days earlier. Cover shows Englishman. Fleet listed (1956); 35 tugs.
U
N
I
T
E
D
T
O
W
I
N
G
2
Tugs
King George Dock
Hull
Mid 1950's
Photographs
by Gene.
4
Gene doesn't know exactly when these pictures were taken, probably around 1955. What is certain, however, is that they weren't all taken on the same day, as anyone who knows King George Dock will realise. The corner immediately right, after entering the dock through the locks, was always a favourite berth for tugs. Three would fit snugly...snug tugs! 4 shows three such snug tugs, which are, left to right: Brahman, (also pictured in 5), Rifleman and one unidentified. The same corner, also with three snug tugs, is seen in 2 beyond Autocrat. Snug tug line up this time though is,
left to right: Rifleman, Yorkshireman, and another unknown, which is different from the unidentified in 4. The mystery tug in 2 is either Airman, or Guardsman. Serviceman is a possibility too, but, in view of "the connection", Gene would have probably known. The unknown in 4 is a real puzzler. There's so little to go on it isn't even easy to say what it isn't. Maybe Gene is just losing his touch!
Head 2 Head is a long walk on the East Riding maritime coast. There's a lighthouse at each end and another en-route at Withernsea, C. In Gene's day you could visit the Flamborough and Withernsea Lighthouses, (and he did). Spurn was another matter, but he did that too, in 1966, by special arrangement. There's a Smeaton (Eddystone) connection at Spurn. Also remains of an old low light, D. East Riding has an estuarine coast too. It has no major lighthouse, but minor, or whatever, the one at Paull, E, is a real cutie! Interests nautical and perambulatory sum up Gene's tenuous lighthouse connections. Diane's links are fundamental.......she used to be a mermaid!
The Mermaid Gene
No, Gene was never a mermaid! Diane was.....through a gene from an ancestor. Who? It is well known that lighthouse keepers marry mermaids. Therefore anyone who marries a lighthouse keeper must be a mermaid! Dodgy logic, or not, Ethel, met before and rapidly becoming the star of this website, was naughty, as noted already.
Rock Lights
If you were the keeper at C you'd be hard pushed to find a mermaid in Hull Road. Out on Eddystone, though, they'd be all over the basking place! But mermaid abundance isn't the only criterion deciding Rock Light status.
Some are more Rock than others. The list of 73 Rock Lighthouses around the British Isles, (opposite), is comprehensive-ish, "supplied" by the authorities in the various countries involved.* The order, though, is that in which they appear in Light Rock, as sung by Diane on Molecular Dog's second CD, Rockhenge.
And yes, there are two Blackrocks, both in Ireland; Mayo and Sligo.
Light Rock
See Two eyes
Sea Two and one ocean
c 3x10 ms
Ballagh Rocks Bell Rock Bull Rock Bass Rock Blackrock Rockabill
Fastnet Casquets Coquet Island Inishtrahull Inishtearaght Inchkeith
St. Mary’s Island Bardsey Island Scattery Island Round Island Rotten Island Skokholm Island
Flatholm Roancarrig Ailsa Craig Eeragh Nab Tower Dubh Artach
North Rona Stroma Sanda Pladda Fladda Fidra
Farne Island Mew Island Straw Island Eagle Island Oyster Island Little Samphire Island
Flannan Islands Rathlin O’ Birne Hyskeir Tuskar Ballycotton Needles
Metal Man Calf of Man Copinsay Isle of May Maidens Smalls
Lundy Muglins Skelligs Skerryvore Hanois Muckle Flugga
Slyne Head Barra Head Beachy Head Longships Longstone Eddystone
Skerries Out Skerries Ve Skerries Auskerry Sule Skerry Pentland Skerries
Angus Rock Blackrock Wolf Rock Chicken Rock Bishop Rock South Bishop
Royal Sovereign
8
-1
St. Mary's Island 6th November 2006
lighthouse, on an island too, was, Diane realised, a little girl’s show-off dream world. Smugly making obvious her “staying put“, as others dashed, or paddled over the causeway; and being ferried to and fro with “Uncle” Lighthouse Keeper himself at the oars….well, wouldn’t you?
Portland Bill 1964. View from top of lighthouse.
Old lighthouse far left.
Dungeness 1962. Old lighthouse seen from top of new.
(son of Lighthouse-other-Keeper), with whom
she fell in love, and struck dumb by O-level results, (from which she fled!)
Harold was keeper of many lights, Lizard among them, but he was at Whitley Bay when his daughter, Pat, became the first St. Mary’s boat-borne bride. Her husband, Ken….a lighthouse keeper….of course! Ken’s charges included Lundy and Longstone, where he was the last keeper before automation.
Light Rock, (single), was made for Ken and the Rockhenge photos at St. Mary’s, taken deliberately at causeway-flooded high tide, on a perfect day in 2006, mark one of Diane’s many and continuing returns. “Auntie”, (Ethel), is in fact Granny, ( )
“Cousin”, (bride), Pat, is the real Auntie!
Mermaid Diane looms over a Blue Moon lit lighthouse on the cover of Rockhenge, while mere maid Diane looks to St. Mary's in sunlight on the reverse; well, she looks to when she was a mere maid, at least! A "single" version of Light Rock appeared with the Mermaid-loomed lighthouse Green Moon lit and observer and observed laterally reversed on the reverse!
To view Blue Moon and D Left go to
Lighthouse Family
Having “Auntie” living in a
St. Mary’s Island, Whitley Bay, in the 1950’s meant oil lamps and candles; lobsters cooked on a coal-fired stove, but Diane’s lighthouse adventure followed “Uncle” to some of his other postings. Harold had already seen Coquet Island, but Diane’s era coincided with Dungeness and Portland Bill, her stay at the former, (old), allowing ascent of the newly shining new shiner! At Portland, (1964), Diane was deafened by foghorn, (next to bedroom), blinded by Patrick Murphy,
Tidal Islands
Created by tide, but ebb, or flow? Creators both, there are lighthouses to illustrate each. Bell Rock (Inchcape); island at low tide, submerged, (rock, not lighthouse), at high. St. Mary’s; island at high water, part of mainland at low. Call them Types 1 and 2 respectively.
Now, you wouldn’t want to maroon yourself, deliberately or otherwise, on Type 1! On the other type, though, marooning is usually safer.
According to all learned websites Diane and Gene have consulted, Type 2 is a tidal island…..mmmm? Whatever…St Mary’s is a classic example and accidental marooning, near, more than actual, is common. It’s roll/hitch up trousers/skirt and wade the causeway, if you leave it too late! (See photo) A day, or so after said photo, Gene and Simon deliberately marooned themselves on St. Mary’s Island and witnessed a beautiful dawn just after maroon completion. Just after beautiful dawn it threw it down and they endured a soaking characteristic of a Type 1!
St. Mary's Island
August 24th 1982. St. Mary's sunrise
as seen by maroonees Gene and Simon.
L to R Mark, Simon, Diane wade the
causeway, August 1982.
Note work on lighthouse
and cable overhead.
Click lighthouse to return to
thehumangenehome
tide cut-off! There's a lesson to be ignored here!
There's also a link to follow, because this episode is linkable! (Page to link to not yet written)
St. Mary's Island, which is well worth a visit, and therefore a marooning, has also been called, (wrongly), Bait Island. It should be Bate's Island and "they" say it's the OS's fault!
Easy to blame OS. Even easier follow to this link:
24-8-82 isn't the first time Gene has self-marooned.
6-8-70 saw a similar deliberate job with Judy,
Katherine and Philip on in the Dee
Estuary. No beautiful dawn that time, and no
causeway either. It's a mile, or more's hike across
the sands, a resemblance being the deluge following
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