The great-great-nephew of a former skipper of the Viola trawler told how he felt as though he was experiencing a family reunion as he watched the work of the Viola Trust in creating a virtual reality depiction of the 120-year-old vessel.
The historian who made the connection with Philip Bennett’s family told an audience at Trinity House in Hull how he negotiated a tricky situation when he first met Eric Tharratt, Philip’s great-uncle and son of Green Willows Tharratt.
Dr Robb Robinson said: “It was the first time I’d ever had to tell a 97-year-old man that his parents weren’t married!”
The anecdote was just part of the story of the Viola which captivated guests who gathered to view “Virtual Viola”, created by experts at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA), and a companion video, Viola – Part of the DNA of Hull, which has been made by Hull-based filmmaker Dave Lee.
Built at Beverley shipyard by Cook, Welton & Gemmell in 1906, the Viola was 120 years old on January 17th. The films recreate her story, from operating as part of the Hellyer fleet of boxing trawlers to defending the UK in the First World War and leaving Hull for the last time in 1918 on a career which took her to Norway, Africa and the South Atlantic catching fish, hunting whales and elephant seals and supporting expeditions.
They also record how Viola was mothballed after the closure of the whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia, before one final twist in her remarkable history. Sitting on the beach, where she remains, the old trawler was the target in 1982 of scrap metal merchants from Argentina. But on landing they raised the Argentine flag, an action which triggered the Falklands War.
The Viola Trust was set up in 2016 to bring Viola back to Hull and to promote awareness and education of the ship and the city’s fishing heritage. Robb, a maritime historian and one of the trustees, had researched the vessel’s past for for Viola: The Life and Times of a Hull Steam Trawler, which he co-wrote with Ian Hart in 2014.
He said: “When researching the crew I put together many details of the remarkable life of Green Willows Tharratt, who later changed his name to George William Tharratt. He had been married more than once but never divorced and had been cited as co-respondent in a divorce case in 1917.
“In 2014 I asked during a broadcast on Radio Humberside if anyone knew any of his relatives. I was stunned when Eric, aged 97, got in touch. I asked if I could include his stories in the book and Eric said he would be delighted.”
George William Tharratt was born in Sunk Island, Holderness. Interviewed in 2016 when he was 99, Eric told how the family – he had four brothers and sisters – lived in Hilder Street and then Rutland Street in Grimsby before moving across the Humber
When George died, his widow Dorothy said she would have to send the youngest child to Newland Homes but Eric, then 10, said he would go because he would only have to be there for four years. At 14 he got a job on a farm at Thearne and four years later he joined Smith & Nephew, where he stayed for 46 years until retirement.
He said: “I’d wanted to go into the navy but the people at Newland Homes had to keep me until there was a job and the next one to come up was in farming.”
He remembered going to sea with his dad when they lived in Grimsby: “The first time was a two-week fishing trip and the second was to Ostend to get coal during the general strike in 1926. In those days skippers and chief engineers could take their sons on pleasure trips. I was sea sick at first but OK after the first few days.
“I was delighted when Robb got in touch because my father died a pauper and was treated as a pauper, but he had been a skipper until the last week of his life and that is how he should be remembered. Confirmation of his link with the Viola vindicates that.”
Eric, who lived in St Nicholas Avenue, Gipsyville, never lost his love of the sea and, with his daughter Pat, made the first public donations to the Viola campaign. When he was 102, Eric was interviewed by Robb for a podcast by the photojournalist Jerome Whittingham for his Photomoments website.
Eric told Robb he had recently been in hospital where a doctor said he had actually been on board the Viola. The doctor had visited Grytviken during his Royal Navy career and was given permission to board the historic trawler because he was from Beverley.
After Eric’s death in 2022 at the age of 104, Pat said: “Dad remained fascinated with the Viola and his dream was to be able to go in the wheelhouse where his father captained the ship. It would have meant a great deal to him even though his father was often away fishing for weeks on end and was lost at 60.”
Pat died a few weeks before the event at Trinity House so Philip stepped up to represent the family and to receive a commemorative plaque from Robb.
He said: “When the Viola Trust made contact shortly after the passing of my late Aunt Pat to convey their condolences and to invite me to represent my family at the event I simply could not decline. This was not simply a posthumous gesture in the memory of my late Aunt and Uncle but a sincere, heartfelt privilege and honour to represent our family at such a regal event.
“Both Eric and Pat spoke at length of their very personal campaign to bring the Viola back to Hull. Essentially, it was not only the prospect of a homecoming for the vessel itself but it also felt like a Tharratt family reunion, steeped in history and adventure.
“Along the path of discovery, with the invaluable aid of Robb, Pat and Eric opened new avenues of ancestral enquiry leading to the identity of wider family connections and more incredible stories from the bygone era.
“However, combined with Eric’s account of his time in the armed forces during WWII there was no greater story than that of the Viola and the characterful charms of our great-great-uncle George William Tharratt.
“There will forever be regret amongst both our surviving family and of course the committed members of the Viola Trust that the Viola will probably never leave her current mooring in South Georgia and return to her birth place in Hull.
“Yet it was not for the want of trying and the huge determination of informed academics, professional historians, local councillors, government ministers and the very generous British public, at the very least brought to the attention of the masses the incredible story of the Viola and it’s intrinsic connection to the wonderful city of Hull.”