Changing Course

Fishing Trips, Merchant Ships & New Directions

by Bob Addey

This book is about the life and career of Bob Addey.

When he grew up in Hull during the 1950s and 60s, the city was a major seaport and the home of the largest deep-sea fishing fleet in the country.

As a fifteen-year-old it was natural that he wished to chance his luck in this world-famous industry and he left Hull’s Trinity House School and joined his first trawler as a galley boy without his parents’ permission.

He soon progressed to become a deckie learner but already realised that there were easier and safer ways to earn a living. Leaving the treacherous and icy, Arctic waters he joined the merchant navy and went in search of more exotic places.

From his life as a naive, young sailor, to his time working on almost every type of ship imaginable, including tankers, short sea traders, tramps, coasters, ferries and pilot cutters on the Humber operating from Hull, Grimsby and Spurn Point. And finally, how the Seafarers’ Education Service, the Open University and some significant individuals assisted him to successfully navigate down a diverse and unexpected career path.