Name Esther

1. What is the vessel’s ability to demonstrate history in her physical fabric?

Evidence for designs, functions, techniques, processes, styles, customs and habits or uses and associations in relation to events and people. How early, intact or rare these features are may impact on significance.

ESTHER was built in 1888 by the shipwright William Collinson of Grimsby as a sailing trawler. Her traditional construction comprised wooden frames and beams and, as a two-masted smack with a ketch rig, she was typical of the larger smacks used as trawlers from the port of Grimsby. However, ESTHER was planked with oak, a deviation from the standard practice of using larch or fir planking on oak structural members, which gave her a robust hull structure.  Her oak frames and planking are believed to be mostly original.  After being sold to the Faroe Islands in 1922, ESTHER was significantly modernised and converted to a motor trawler, or coastal cargo vessel, to keep her competitive and profitable. 

Superstructure added in later life is known to have been removed when Esther came back to Grimsby in 1992.  A survey undertaken that year indicated that she was built to a typical design for her type and area, but showed features representative of one of the final sail trawlers built as the age of steam was creeping in. Her deck was re-laid at this time, masts were sourced and work to restore her to her original appearance was carried out.  Unfortunately non-original deck fixtures that were removed during the process were not kept.                                                      

2.   What are the vessel’s associational links for which there is no physical evidence?

Associations with people or places. Off-ship research.

ESTHER is the sole surviving vessel built by William Collinson and one of only five similar craft from the Humber fisheries region listed on the National Register of Historic Vessels.  She was awarded National Historic Fleet status in 1996 but is now currently listed on the National Archive of Historic Vessels due to being sunk.  ESTHER has a strong regional significance to the Humber demonstrated by her original name, G.I.C., which represents her purchasers, the Grimsby Ice Company Ltd. (GICL), for whom she fished from launch on 13th June 1888. 

She also has international associations from her later life spent in Iceland, having been sold abroad like many other fishing vessels once replaced by more modern craft in the UK. In March 1916, now re-named ESTHER, she was used to rescue the lives of 38 fishermen of Grindavik on the South West coast of Iceland.  She continued to work during the Second World War when, in the Faroe Islands, she had a narrow escape from Hitler’s Luftwaffe during one of her perilous trips across the North Sea bringing fish to feed a beleaguered British nation.

By the time ESTHER returned to Grimsby in 1992, she had the impressive record of 104 years spent working as a fishing vessel. Ninety of these were based outside the UK, working fisheries in Scandinavia and further afield.  Original archive material, including crew agreements, photographs and oral histories still exist from the vessel’s working life as G.I.C.  However, there is little written material on the builder, individual vessel designs or the Humber fisheries, which gives ESTHER an additional significance as a rare surviving physical entity of her period.

3.   How does the vessel’s shape or form combine and contribute to her function?

Overall aesthetic impact of the vessel, her lines, material she was built from and her setting.  Does she remain in her working environment?

ESTHER is typical of the larger smacks used as trawlers from the port of Grimsby which started to be built from the 1850s, once the railway had linked Grimsby to the rest of the country.  By the time she was built, construction of the sailing trawler was well established and the vessel’s deep hull provided stability whilst towing a heavy trawl, as well as giving speed when on the return journey to port with a catch.  ESTHER’s hull was not as fine as the earlier smacks, reflecting the growing technique of ‘fleet fishing’ where the return journey was made by other vessels, whilst the main trawler continued to fish at the fishing grounds.  The vessel also had a large sail area to support her function.

ESTHER exists as one of the few surviving vessels from the early era of the Humber fisheries and remains in Grimsby where she once operated.  The site of the yard where ESTHER was built is believed to be very close to the vessel’s present location at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre.  The vessel is currently sunk, but still intact and it is planned that she be re-floated for a detailed examination to inform a plan of stabilization and conservation. 

Date: March 2020