Hello everyone! My name is Jason Lok and I am the new Documentation Assistant for the Hull Maritime project.
I am originally from Hong Kong and I moved over to study in the UK when I was 16. After my A-Levels I went to the University of Hull to study History, during my stay I have discovered how interesting Hull is, and I decided to stay after my degree!
On the 6 June, Robin, the curator of maritime and social history, had taken me to all the Hull Maritime project sites, so that I would have a better understanding about the project and what I am going to be involved in. The first site we went to was the Arctic Corsair, which is Hull’s last distant-water, sidewinder fishing fleet. It was my first time seeing the ship in person and I was surprised by the size of it, having seen the Spurn Lightship that is in the Hull Marina now, I thought the Arctic Corsair would be of similar size. However that was not the case, the Arctic Corsair is much bigger!
We then got onto the Arctic Corsair and had a look at the vessel properly, the corridors were very narrow and the rooms were very small. I was trying to imagine how it would have been like living there, it must have been a very difficult life, with the vessel constantly rocking back and forth in the water, it would have been very hard for the trawlermen to walk around. I was very amazed by the Arctic Corsair, and I am very excited to see it when it is repaired and available for public viewing again!
Did you know: The Arctic Corsair was actually involved in the Third Cod War in 1976, the trawler came into a confrontation with the Icelandic Coastguard gunboat. The Skipper Charlie Pitts then commanded to ram the vessel to the gunboat!
The next highlight of the day would be the visit to the Maritime Museum. I have visited the Maritime Museum once when I was in my first year of University, but it went into reconstruction soon after that so I hadn’t visited properly again since, I had always wondered what changes were made to the museum.
It was very interesting to see all the structural changes that the museum was making, this opens up a lot of new possibilities for the museum, and I was very happy to know that I will be part of the change. What I loved the most was the plan to expand the content within the museum. For example there will be spaces dedicated to Hull’s global influence, looking at the reasons why people decided to come into Hull, and some even decided to stay and live here! I also had the privilege to help researching for this topic!
Did you know: The Maritime Museum was previously Hull’s Dock Offices, the roads and the Queens Garden used to be part of the River Hull, and ships used to come into the city that way!
