Comments on: Red Falcon http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/2008/09/red-falcon/ Part of Fleetwood Maritime Heritage Trust Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:53:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: atherfield http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/2008/09/red-falcon/comment-page-1/#comment-16161 atherfield Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:05:33 +0000 http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/?p=363#comment-16161 I have a poem in my possession transmitted by the Radio Operator of the Trawler Red Falcon on the 7th Nov 1959. I was serving onboard the Battle Class Destroyer HMS Dunkirk at the time as Boiler Room Stoker and we were leaving Iceland for Rosyth after a six week Fisheries Protection Patrol. Red Falcon's poem was thanking us for all the help we had given them. I wonder if someone can tell me if the Radio Operator who went down with the Red Falcon [ William Cooper] was the same man that transmitted the Poem. Norman Evans I have a poem in my possession transmitted by the Radio Operator of the Trawler Red Falcon on the 7th Nov 1959. I was serving onboard the Battle Class Destroyer HMS Dunkirk at the time as Boiler Room Stoker and we were leaving Iceland for Rosyth after a six week Fisheries Protection Patrol.
Red Falcon’s poem was thanking us for all the help we had given them. I wonder if someone can tell me if the Radio Operator who went down with the Red Falcon [ William Cooper] was the same man that transmitted the Poem.
Norman Evans

]]> By: Arthur David Serry http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/2008/09/red-falcon/comment-page-1/#comment-10344 Arthur David Serry Sun, 31 Oct 2010 09:16:49 +0000 http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/?p=363#comment-10344 We left Oban Scotland and down the Sound of Mull in the Fishing Vessel "May Lily" BF225 and the glass was falling very low. We were just about to clear Ardamurichan Liht, when we the skipper Mr George West got up and decided we would not go any further after talking together with many of the other skippers. You could see by the swell it was going to be bad night and we steamed back and entered Tobermory Bay. We dropped two anchors one off each bow and I was told keep a good lookout as the skipper and mate Mr Joseph Wiseman instructed me what to watch for. By eleven PM it was a full force ten gale and we were dragging our anchors. We had to start the main engine and engage the gear ahead to dodge ahead to the anchors all night. We heard that the Red Falcon had sunk during the night. I believe the Trawler "Robert Limbrick" ran aground behind Coll Island that Night. When the gale died down about as quick as it had started. in the late morning a flotilla of fishing vessels went searching. Skipper Frank West of the 'ELM' being a wartime Navy Skipper, calculated that the vessel had to be aground behind Coll Island which was indeed correct. There was a lot of shoal rocks off the mainland behind Coll Is. to the south end so Frank made sure we did not go too close by we could see the "Robert Limbick" on her side with thousands of seagulls feeding on the fish/cargo that had gone through the huge tears on the vessel. All hands were lost so my guess is that with the huge storm the vessel had gone aground and rolled over and over until she arrived at the spot she ended up in. That is the closest I ever want to be to any shipwreck,and as a farmer come fisherman it was a vivid object lesson that I kept in mind when I became a Skipper myself. We left Oban Scotland and down the Sound of Mull in the Fishing Vessel “May Lily” BF225 and the glass was falling very low. We were just about to clear Ardamurichan Liht, when we the skipper Mr George West got up and decided we would not go any further after talking together with many of the other skippers. You could see by the swell it was going to be bad night and we steamed back and entered Tobermory Bay. We dropped two anchors one off each bow and I was told keep a good lookout as the skipper and mate Mr Joseph Wiseman instructed me what to watch for. By eleven PM it was a full force ten gale and we were dragging our anchors. We had to start the main engine and engage the gear ahead to dodge ahead to the anchors all night. We heard that the Red Falcon had sunk during the night. I believe the Trawler “Robert Limbrick” ran aground behind Coll Island that Night. When the gale died down about as quick as it had started. in the late morning a flotilla of fishing vessels went searching. Skipper Frank West of the ‘ELM’ being a wartime Navy Skipper, calculated that the vessel had to be aground behind Coll Island which was indeed correct. There was a lot of shoal rocks off the mainland behind Coll Is. to the south end so Frank made sure we did not go too close by we could see the “Robert Limbick” on her side with thousands of seagulls feeding on the fish/cargo that had gone through the huge tears on the vessel. All hands were lost so my guess is that with the huge storm the vessel had gone aground and rolled over and over until she arrived at the spot she ended up in. That is the closest I ever want to be to any shipwreck,and as a farmer come fisherman it was a vivid object lesson that I kept in mind when I became a Skipper myself.

]]> By: Ron Read http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/2008/09/red-falcon/comment-page-1/#comment-6926 Ron Read Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:57:03 +0000 http://www.fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk/?p=363#comment-6926 I am the son of Ronald (Ronnie) Jack Read who was a skipper in Fleetwood. He sailed in the Red Hackel. I believe that Jim Read was my uncle. I was 8 years old when the Falcon went down, all of our neighbors were part of the fishing industry and that loss was felt by the whole town. I remember waving my dad off from the Prom near the ferry and being there when he docked. I live in the USA now but on my last visit to Fleetwood I got to see the statue of the family waving to their loved ones, very touching. Ronald Christopher Read I am the son of Ronald (Ronnie) Jack Read who was a skipper in Fleetwood. He sailed in the Red Hackel.
I believe that Jim Read was my uncle.

I was 8 years old when the Falcon went down, all of our neighbors were part of the fishing industry and that loss was felt by the whole town.

I remember waving my dad off from the Prom near the ferry and being there when he docked. I live in the USA now but on my last visit to Fleetwood I got to see the statue of the family waving to their loved ones, very touching.

Ronald Christopher Read

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