The peculiar build of the Truelove accounted to a large extent for her many hair-breadth escapes from the danger of being ‘nipped’ in the ice. Her sides bulged outwards like a barrel; or, as sailors put it, they ‘tumbled home’ to the deck.
One of the saddest events in the Hull whaling industry was the return home of the Diana in 1867. This was the first steamship to go to the whaling-grounds, and in her voyage of 1866 she had the misfortune to become locked in the ice for six months. The sufferings of her crew can be imagined. Captain Gravill died in December, one of her crew died in February, five died in March, and five more died in April.
The Hull Whaler ‘Truelove’.
The Truelove was sent out from the Humber as a relief ship for the Diana, but the two vessels passed each other. With thirty-six men down with the scurvy, and only seven left fit to work the ship, the unfortunate Diana eventually reached home, her dead captain’s coffin on the ship’s bridge.
The following year this ill-fated vessel was wrecked on the treacherous flats of Donna Nook, off the Lincolnshire coast at the mouth of the Humber. With her loss the whaling industry of the Humber seamen came to an end.
During many of the years when the whale fisheries were providing work for East Riding seamen, France and England were at war. Men were consequently needed to man the English navy, and such notices as the following were frequently issued in seaport towns:—
RECRUITING FOR THE NAVY.
WANTED.