Get on board with a fascinating maritime project

East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s archives service is looking for people with an interest in maritime heritage to get on board with a fascinating project.

‘Trawling Through Time’ is the story of Beverley’s former shipbuilders, Cook, Welton and Gemmell. Thanks to a grant of £30,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the archives service can take on volunteers to help catalogue, preserve and create digital copies of historic trawler plans from the former company.

Working with heritage professionals from the Archives service, ‘Trawling Through Time’ participants will form an inter-generational partnership working towards preserving and creating access to the East Riding’s maritime heritage. The project will help them to gain a deeper sense of place in the community, as well as teaching them valuable new skills to use as they develop their careers.

The Archives Service is looking for volunteers who would like to get involved with the cataloguing aspects of the project. Volunteers should have experience of working in the maritime industry, for example ex-trawlermen and shipyard employees, or should be people with a real passion and enthusiasm for maritime heritage, who can come forward and help with the cataloguing of the technical trawler plans. 

It is hoped to begin work very soon, continuing for a year, with volunteers coming in once a month on a rotation basis. 

Cook, Welton & Gemmell was founded in Hull in 1883, then moved to Beverley in 1901/2.  By 1954 there were 650 employees working in the shipyard at Grovehill, but the company went into liquidation in 1963.  Now, with an archive containing 259 ships’ plans for various vessel types built at Grovehill between 1905 and 1962, East Riding Archives’ project will help 40 participants from all generations to get involved.

Sam Bartle, archivist, said : “This will be a fascinating project, offering volunteers the chance to learn new skills, and learn a huge amount the maritime history of Beverley, and the remarkable number of ships that were built and launched here.

"We've got 16 volunteers so far, which is a great start!  We are looking for eight more for the cataloguing, and six more for the digitisation element of the project."

Anybody who would like to know more about volunteering for the project can email archives.service@eastriding.gov.uk or call 01482 392790.