It is clear however that the first trawlers migrated to Hull about 1845, the crews coming from Ramsgate and ultimately Brixham. Their origin is confirmed by the Census of of 1851 which records 313 men employed in fishing, the birth places of the fishermen, their wives and their children are in nearly every case given as Ramsgate or Brixham showing that the colony was a recently established one.
By the 1870s, therefore, trawling was firmly established, though it employed many fewer people than shipping. A list of the fishing fleet in 1878 shows that there were 76 smack-owners. Of these one or two were in business on a fairly large scale: John Holmes and Alfred Ansell, both of whom gave evidence before the Royal Commission of 1885, owned seventeen and eleven respectively in 1878. But the great bulk of the industry was in the hands of men who owned one or two boats, and who often fished from them themselves. The system of payment by shares of the value of the catch, which the trawler-owners had brought with them from Brixham, was general. Fishing was tough and highly-paid, and there was endemic anxiety in Hull about the conditions in which apprentices and boys worked: complaints of brutality at sea, and drunkenness and immorality ashore, were made more serious by the fact that apprentices were frequently recruited from the workhouse, and this was a justifiable matter of public concern. The murder of two fisher boys at sea in 1881 and 1882 led to an outspoken newspaper campaign and an inquiry by the Board of Trade into local working conditions, after which little more complaint was heard. In addition to the fishing industry itself there was from the beginning an ancillary growth of fish-curing in Hull, and the by-laws of the local board of health, published in 1852, included the regulation of fish-curing establishments. The fishing industry in Hull began slightly earlier than the industry in Grimsby on the other side of the Humber. The first trawlers migrated from Hull with the opening of Grimsby docks in 1858, and the industry in Grimsby grew rapidly thereafter in competition with Hull. It has been suggested that, at a time when speed in bringing fish from the fishing-ground to market was essential, Grimsby, facing the open sea at the mouth of the Humber, had a natural advantage over Hull. It was also repeatedly argued in Hull that the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway made efforts to foster the fishing industry in Grimsby which were not matched in Hull.
The transition from sail to steam in trawling at Hull took place rapidly between 1889 and 1899. In 1884 there were 9 steam trawlers at Hull: by 1889 there were 50, and by 1899 385. The increasing deliveries of South Yorkshire coal to Hull after 1880 encouraged this trend. The general adoption of steam imposed new operating conditions on the industry. It was now necessary to cover the additional costs of fuel; but it was also possible, with the general use of ice, to build larger trawlers and to fish further afield. At the end of the century the long trawling voyages of the modern industry began: three Grimsby trawlers were fishing off Iceland in 1891, and by 1898 Hull trawlers were there in large numbers. The greatly increased capital necessary to build and operate steam trawlers also had its effect on the industry, encouraging the concentration of trawler-ownership in fewer hands. In 1878 one owner, John Holmes, had owned seventeen smacks, and another, Alfred Ansell, eleven, but the remainder of the fleet had belonged to 76 different owners, mostly owning one or two smacks each. By 1913, of the 389 steam trawlers registered in Hull, 230 were operated by four firms: the Red Cross, the Great Northern, the Gamecock, and Hellyer's companies.
The transition from sail to steam in trawling at Hull took place rapidly between 1889 and 1899. In 1884 there were 9 steam trawlers at Hull: by 1889 there were 50, and by 1899 385. The increasing deliveries of South Yorkshire coal to Hull after 1880 encouraged this trend. The general adoption of steam imposed new operating conditions on the industry. It was now necessary to cover the additional costs of fuel; but it was also possible, with the general use of ice, to build larger trawlers and to fish further afield. At the end of the century the long trawling voyages of the modern industry began: three Grimsby trawlers were fishing off Iceland in 1891, and by 1898 Hull trawlers were there in large numbers. The greatly increased capital necessary to build and operate steam trawlers also had its effect on the industry, encouraging the concentration of trawler-ownership in fewer hands. In 1878 one owner, John Holmes, had owned seventeen smacks, and another, Alfred Ansell, eleven, but the remainder of the fleet had belonged to 76 different owners, mostly owning one or two smacks each. By 1913, of the 389 steam trawlers registered in Hull, 230 were operated by four firms: the Red Cross, the Great Northern, the Gamecock, and Hellyer's companies.
