The Ships Binnacle sited on the left of the communion area was of the type used in trawlers of seventy years or so ago. The visitor can see still the two pointed candle holders lighting the compass which is still accurate. Originally as well as the glass front, beneath the brass cap on the top of the binnacle there was also a glass window so that the compass could be looked down upon. When the binnacle was brought to this Chapel that glass was replaced with a copper beaten bowl and now we have the only ships "binnacle font" in the world. We are constantly called upon to baptise at this font the children of fishermen and seafarers. Both the binnacle and the ships wheel on the lectern were positioned beneath the pulpit at the Bethel Mission.

The Communion Furniture
The tables and chairs were donated by Mr. & Mrs. G. Jeffs. Mr. Jeffs for many years was a well known Marine Engineer on the Grimsby Docks. The communion cloths used at the services of Holy Communion were made by Mrs. Newson whose husband was a trimmer on the trawler Wigmore and was killed at sea as a result of enemy action in November 1939, and Mrs. A. Mountain the Bethel Secretary until its closure in 1966.

The Three Memorial Windows
The first, to the side of the communion area, is a memorial to those members of the Epine lost off the coast of Iceland on the 13th March 1948. On March the 31st an enquiry was told by the survivors how their colleagues had died.

"Two men fell exhausted from the rigging where they were seeking safety and were drowned as huge waves swept the vessel. Two died on the whaleback. The Skipper and cook while making their way from the tope of the wheelhouse to the rigging were swept overboard and never seen again. The wireless operator was laying face downwards on the wheelhouse apparently dead. One was last seen in a very bad condition entering the wheelhouse. Another was washed overboard and reached shore but was washed out again to the rocks and was lost sight of. Others were washed overboard but were already dead. The second Engineer was washed off the top of the wheelhouse" and so on. This awful tragedy was made worse by the fact that the ship was near to shore and radio contact was kept with her throughout, but because of the heavy seas no one could reach the sinking trawler. The cost of the memorial window was undertaken and place in the Bethel by relatives of the lost men.

The centre window of St. Peter the Patron Saint of Fishermen was designed by G.E.R. Smith and made by A.K. Nicholson of London at a cost of £150.

The trawler Sheldon sank on January 31st 1953 with a loss of all hands. The names of the crew are listed in the panels of the window beneath a picture of the Sheldon steaming a full speed ahead. A double tragedy occurred in that the skipper and mate were father and son. The Sheldon sailed from Grimsby on January 26th and left Kirkwall the Scottish port on January 30th for the Faroe fishing grounds. After that date no radio contact could be established. For 12 days the search went on but with no result. The silent ship was then presumed lost.

The owners of the Sheldon, Sir Thomas Robinson & Son installed the window at the Bethel and each bereaved family contributed "a minimum of two pounds to the cost of the memorial". It was unveiled by Mrs. G.L. Robinson on the anniversary of the loss of the vessel.

The third window showing the crew pulling in the trawl is dedicated to the men who were lost from the trawler Oswald. Survivors were present in the service when this window was dedicated. It was presented by the owners of the vessel the Grimsby merchants Amalgamated Trawling Co Ltd.

Both the Epine and Oswald were unveiled on Sunday March 13th 1949 by Mr. Kenneth Younger M.P. in the presence of the families of the lost men and civic leaders of Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

Written by Alan J. Worton (Former Port Missioner)

Information reproduced by the
GRIMSBY CENTRAL HALL TRUST

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