# Edgar Wallace



## ALAN TYLER

Reading the Daily Express today there,s a small article about the Edgar Wallace trawler which sank in the Humber 75 years ago today with the loss of 12 lives. Anyone out there with anymore information?


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## treeve

http://hulltrawler.net/Sidewinder/Vessel - E/EDGAR WALLACE H 262.htm


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## mattarosa

*Edgar Wallace*

DAILY MIRROR 10 January 1935 (front page)
HUMBER DISASTER - 12 LOST
Trawler Sinks Near Hull Harbour
MOTOR-BOATS RACE
It is feared that twelve lives were lost when the steam trawler, Edgar Wallace, suddenly disappeared in the River Humber near Hull Harbour last night. Six other members of the crew are reported to have been rescued.
The disaster occurred at about eight o'clock, and, according to the Hessle police, the Edgar Wallace was in collision with a larger vessel.
As soon as the police heard of the accident, they telephoned to the Hull police, who sent fast motor-boats to the spot.
"Cries for help from the darkness over the water were the first intimation anybody had of the tragedy," said a Hessle resident to the Daily Mirror last night.
"The night ws clear, but we could only see lights away in mid-stream.
"Soon after the shouting began we saw distress lights sent up from one of the ships. Then a ship's siren blared out a message for assistance.
"Terrible Moment"
"There was nothing we could do after informing the police but stand at the waterside and watch the ship's lights.
"After some time they disappeared. It was a terrible moment when they vanished."
According to Lloyd's, the Edgar Wallace is a steel-screw steam trawler of 336 tons. She was built in 1925 and is owned by the Newington Steam Trawling Co. Ltd, her port of registry being Hull.
Two survivors of the trawler were taken to Goole. One of them, Clarence Wilcox, was brought in on the steamer Goole. The other, whose name is Coleton, came on board the steamer William Cash.

TIMES 10 January 1935
TRAWLER SUNK
MANY LIVES LOST IN THE HUMBER
THREE SURVIVORS
The steam trawler Edgar Wallace, owned by the Newington Steam Trawler Company, Limited, of Hull, struck a sandbank in the Humber near Hull yesterday evening, heeled over and sank, and about 12 or 13 of the crew are feared to have been drowned.
Two survivors reached Goole last night, one in the steamer Goole and the other on board the William Cash. The man in the Goole was Clarence Wilcox, of Hull, and the other man was named Coleton.
A later message from Hull states a third survivor, Charles Hendrick, of Wellsted Street, Hull, has been landed on the Lincolnshire side of the river.
Ted Hodges, a member of the crew of the Goole, said that as their vessel was near Hessle cries for help were heard. A small boat was launched, and Wilcox was found in the river, clinging to a piece of wreckage. Wilcox told him that the Edgar Wallace had struck a sandbank, heeled over, filled with water, and sunk. He had been in the water for over an hour.
LIFEBOAT CAPSIZED
A number of the crew of the William Cash stated that their attention was drawn to something unusual happening by the steamer Pylades. They launched a small boat and picked up Coleton. They saw another man struggling in the water and got hold of him, but while they were trying to lift him into the boat he fell back and sank. They continued to cruise round for some time, but could find no trace of the man.
In the meantime the Pylades had launched a lifeboat, but this capsized, throwing three of her crew into the water. They were rescued after a struggle and the Pylades returned to Hull.

TIMES 11 January 1935
15 LOST IN CAPSIZED TRAWLER
A SURVIVOR RESCUED FROM MAST
HULL, JAN. 10
Fifteen lives were lost when, as reported in the later editions of the Times today, the Hull trawler Edgar Wallace foundered in the Humber last night. The crew numbered 18. The survivors are:-
W Cameron of Coleman Street, Hull, a spare hand, who was picked up by the steamship William Cass and taken to Goole;
Clarence Wilcock, of Wellstead Street, Hull, who was picked up by a steamer and taken to Goole; and
Charles Hendrick, who was picked up by a motor-boat and landed at Keadby, in Lincolshire.
The Edgar Wallace was within sight of home when she foundered, after having steamed nearly 1.400 miles with a cargo of fish from Bear Island in the Arctic.
W Cameron stated that it was dusk when they arrived off the Fish Dock at Hull. There were four or five other vessels abreast of the Fish Dock and the Edgar Wallace could not get clear of them. "We grounded four times, I believe, before the ship overturned/ We had dropped anchor ready for coming alongside, and then got it up again. When we dropped anchor a second time I was down in the fo'c'sle with the deckie learner. The vessel turned over on her port side, but it would be about an hour before she was completely submerged.
"The deckie learner boy and I," continued Cameron, "were trapped in the fo'c'sle, but we managed to scramble through a port hole. The skipper shouted directions and counted the men and we got on to the whale back. The skipper, mate, and chief engineer were all forward and all went together," Cameron added that one of the engineers afterwards clung to the wireless mast. He himself followed suit and was rescued a minute or two before the pole snapped.

R.I.P.


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## mattarosa

*Edgar Wallace*

The tragedy was reported as far afield as Australia.


The Argus (Melbourne) Friday 11 January 1935
S
AVED BY PASSING SHIPS

CRIES HEARD IN DARKNESS

LONDON, Jan. 10.

Men on board the steamer Goole, hearing cries for help in the darkness while in the estuary of the Humber, launched a small boat and picked up a man clinging to a piece of wreckage, who said that he had been in the water for an hour. The man was a member of the crew of the Hull steam trawler Edgar Wallace (336 tons) which, when returning with its catch, struck a sandbank, heeled over, and foundered.

In the meantime the crew of another ship picked up the second survivor, but a search of the spot for other survivors where the trawler sank was fruitless. It is feared that 14 men were trapped by the rushing in of the water when the trawler heeled over.


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## mattarosa

*Edgar Wallace*

There is a great deal on the Internet about the Edgar Wallace, if you Google many links come up.

I found this link particularly moving. You can hear a poem about the tragedy, written by a cousin of Robb Robinson, read by Hull schoolchildren.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/humbers...s/arts_and_culture/newsid_8210000/8210408.stm


Hilary


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## ALAN TYLER

Thanks for the information everyone, Fishermen have my upmost admiration for the work they do, often in appalling conditions.


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## taylorde

*Edgar Wallace*



ALAN TYLER said:


> Reading the Daily Express today there,s a small article about the Edgar Wallace trawler which sank in the Humber 75 years ago today with the loss of 12 lives. Anyone out there with anymore information?


 My Great grandfather Jame Thomas Vessey died while trying to salvage the Edgar Wallace. Following is an article from the Grimsby Newspaper;

While engaged on salvaging the Edgar Wallace, the ill-fated trawler which went down in the Humber a fortnight ago with the loss of 16 lives, a Gainsborough man lost his life last night.

He is James Thomas Vessey (66), of 352 Ropery Road, Gainsborough. He was an engine man on the "Boatman" a vessel well known in the Trent and Humber, and owned by the United Towing Co., of Hull, which was engaged in salvaging operations on the Edgar Wallace, which is under water on a sand bank in the Humber.

Last night the boat capsized after a collision with a lighter, the Humber at the time being in a treacherous condition owing to a strong flowing tide.

Mr Vessey is the only member of the crew not yet accounted for, and it is believed he was trapped in the engine room.

Having a life long experience of the Trent and Humber, Mr Vessey was formerly employed for many years by the Gainsborough Packet Co., and in 1913 he joined the United Towing Co., with whom he had an unbroken service ever since.

His wife predeceased him seven months ago and leaves a grown up family of eight.

Mr Vessey practically lived on the "boatman"and only came home when occasion permitted, his last visit being a fortnight ago.

In a letter to his family during the week-end, Mr Vessey expressed regret that salvage operations had not been successful at the moment, and more particularly that the bodies if the missing men had not been recovered.
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Details of inquest to follow.



Steam Vessel Losses in the Humber Estuary 
Date Vessel Lives Lost 
12 Jan 1920 SINGAPORE H505 6 
9th Jan 1935 EDGAR WALLACE H262 15 
11 Dec 1938 REEFLOWER H86 None 
08 Mar 1939 LADY JEANETTE H466 9 
9th Mar 1939 St DELPHINE H 380 3


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## Puritonjohn

Hi, he was also my Great Grandfather. My Grandmother was his daugther Florence,


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## Basil

> the Humber at the time being in a treacherous condition owing to a strong flowing tide.


I can vouch for that. Helming a 70ft steel ketch up there one day, I was briefly unsure of the direction in which we were being set.


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## Esined

ALAN TYLER said:


> Reading the Daily Express today there,s a small article about the Edgar Wallace trawler which sank in the Humber 75 years ago today with the loss of 12 lives. Anyone out there with anymore information?


My grandfather (Martin Hendricks) was one of the three survivors, his hands froze to a piece of wood in the freezing waters of the North sea and that is how he survived


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## tenterden

EDGAR WALLACE H.262


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