Ex-fisherman Graham Hobson has been given award for his part in the rescue of a group of people in Cleethorpes, where several lives were saved.
Speaking to Gi Grimsby News, Graham explained: “Myself, my wife, and my daughter had been in the Punchbowl for a meal, and after that, we got in my car, went down and parked up the Promenade in a spot, and were looking out to sea and at the ships and boats that were coming up and down.
“It was then that I noticed these little figures right where the sea was and the tide was right out, but they were on the turn and were shuffling back, but the tide was already at their feet. I told my wife that they wouldn’t have enough time to get back to shore as the tide was coming in that fast.
“The next thing you know, they were stood on the sandbank, and it was surrounded by water. They tried to walk off it and found it was too deep. I could see they were in trouble from my own experience of being at sea for over three decades.”
Seeing that they were in imminent danger, Graham alerted the Coastguard, who arrived on the scene shortly after in a small dinghy. Graham explained that they couldn’t fit all of the trapped individuals in the craft and so made the decision to call reinforcements and a larger boat to come and assist the rescue.
Thankfully, all of those involved were rescued.
Graham continued: “The coastguards came walking up the slipway, and I stood there and talked to one of them. I told them I was the one who phoned up because I recognised that they were in trouble, and they shook my hand and wished me all the best.”
However, it was not all over yet for Graham.
“Being an ex-fisherman, I go to the Central Hall down Freeman Street every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and meet up with others. Amy, who is in charge, made me a coffee and was coming out of a room as I was, then everyone started clapping, and I thought, ‘What are they clapping for?’”
It turned out that everyone was applauding Graham and his noble efforts to help save the stranded individuals earlier.
“So, I got sat down, and then they said, ‘We’ve got someone special here today’ and how they had rescued two people. She had a box of Aero chocolates and a voucher for a meal, which she gave me, but she also had a plaque for me,” he continued.
Graham had been awarded for his heroic efforts by receiving a “Certificate of Appreciation and Recognition” on behalf of the “Old Sea Dogs”, many of whom are his friends and former colleagues, and he found himself a bit emotional.
“I couldn’t speak; I couldn’t do anything. I was a bit emotional.”
However, this isn’t the first time Graham has shown his heroism.
Graham, 81, began his career in fishing when he was just fourteen and a half, where he began on an old steam ship called the Ronso.
“My father never wanted me to go fishing. I was the only one that wanted to be a fisherman in the family.”
One of his acts of heroism came about while aboard the “Lord Wavel”.
“It was icy, and we were waiting on the aft side of the ship near the gallows to go forward and get our sea gear from the ship. It was a steam ship, and the heat used to dry our gear out.”
“One of my mates reached through to the gallows and fell between the last part of the warp (the wires that take the strain of the fishing gear) that was coming over the rollers, and then the last roller came down, and he fell between them and sliced his arm.”
“We all helped him up and took him to shore in Iceland, where he was taken on a plane to Reykjavík.”
Graham also told us about the time he was working down in Lowestoft “after fishing packed up” in Grimsby.
“When fishing packed up, I said to my wife I wasn’t to be out of work. I had a brother-in-law called Ronnie Stoneman, and he was a skipper on a ship down in Lowestoft. He helped me get in touch with their office, and he got a me job on a trawler called the Hathley in Lowestoft. I went on her, and I was on for about eighteen months to two years because I didn’t want to be out of work.”
One day, Graham and a crew went out “to complete a transfer”, where he explained to a fellow crew member that he “shouldn’t go tideside because it’s too dangerous”. Upon hearing this, the crew member responded, “I’m the boatman”, before the situation went sideways.
“I ended up in the middle of the rig and thought to myself, ‘That’s it; it’s going to be my last.’”
“The tide was flashing up and down, and as I went up, it was pulling me back down. My head came up, and I took a big breath. As I went down, I started swimming, and then the Hathley came and saved me. Then we had to go back and pick up the others and the lad who was hanging onto the rope on the dinghy.”
Graham still has relatives fishing in the area around Lowestoft, but he has since retired following a rather action-packed time as a fisherman and still dabbles in the occasional act of saving lives.
