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Off Topic The Gaul, 47 years today...

Discussion in 'Hull City' started by Red top reader, Jan 23, 2021.

  1. Red top reader

    Red top reader Well-Known Member

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    Forgot to post this on Friday
    Nothing to do with football
    More about our history as
    a City.....


    On the 22nd January 1974,
    The Gaul set sail from Hull for the
    last time. This poem is about her
    last hours here at home....
    Dedicated to all those who
    have been lost at sea....
    Nature can be both beautiful
    and cruel....


    Gaul a last night’s memory.


    The bells at our Holy Trinity
    signal midnight’s next day hour
    upon these deserted streets
    there are no heart nor flower.
    Beginning at our estuary
    the Humber charts an ebb and flow
    those tides were waited high
    they will always run out slow.
    Over in St Andrews fish dock
    she waits under a winter’s moon
    January here at home
    high water will arrive too soon.
    Shadows lay their blanket
    on all corners, shed and shack
    it will cover every square
    on every inch and train track.
    Rolling slow and silently
    sea and salt lap along waterline
    stretching the mooring ropes
    releasing back in perfect time.
    The only sound is metal creaking
    as those winds cut like a sword
    in moving mirrors sees her reflection
    but as yet just silence aboard.
    My lady’s lines are there
    for all to see in this moon light
    Oh for a crowd to watch
    at this time she’s quite a sight.
    What were your last thoughts
    gently swaying here alone
    I watched you from the roadside
    freezing air was biting bone.
    When the dawn breaks open
    this dark unearthly time
    Thirty six will step onboard
    and release that thick rope line.
    You will slowly pull away
    from the safety of the dock
    bound for the Barents Sea
    first steer through St Andrews Lock.
    Heading up the waterway
    passing ships there tied aside
    out into open sea you’ll sail
    through waves no one could hide.
    A last look back is taken
    to remember home’s smell and sound
    then cutting through the wave
    and swell, and on to history
    the Crew and Gaul... are bound.
     
    #1
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2021
    mazzer, FER ARK, Der Alte and 28 others like this.
  2. Plum

    Plum Well-Known Member

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    Nice one Red Top. It's good that we're not allowed to forget events such as this.
     
    #2
  3. SW3 Chelsea Tiger

    SW3 Chelsea Tiger Well-Known Member

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    Great post. Thank you.

    My mother’s side of the family were Hessle road, my generation don’t appreciate just how lucky we are.
     
    #3
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  4. Phinius T Bookbinder

    Phinius T Bookbinder Well-Known Member

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    I can remember been at a city match with my dad and they had the minutes silence. Remember my dad explaining it to me.
     
    #4
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  5. 1MoreAgain

    1MoreAgain Well-Known Member

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    My mother's side of the family were also hessle road,i was young at the time and i remember people stood outside the stricky arms waiting to hear news ,and the idiot who ran in one day saying they had found the Gaul.
     
    #5
  6. Red top reader

    Red top reader Well-Known Member

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    Bastard
     
    #6
  7. 1MoreAgain

    1MoreAgain Well-Known Member

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    Er Thanks :(
     
    #7
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  8. Red top reader

    Red top reader Well-Known Member

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    Lol I ment the twat that ran in and got people’s hopes up
    Apologies if you thought I meant you...
     
    #8
  9. DMD

    DMD Eh?
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    I can't recall the specific club or comedian, but I heard of one that thought it would be funny to crack a 'gag' about it being found, and the supposed whereabouts of the crew in a club off Hessle Rd.

    Unfortunately for the comedian, the locals were not fully aware of the safe spaces or offence culture of modern times, and rather than post a tweet or on-line petition, dealt with them more directly.
     
    #9
  10. 1MoreAgain

    1MoreAgain Well-Known Member

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    Lol i knew i was just winding you up.
     
    #10
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  11. Red top reader

    Red top reader Well-Known Member

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    Aw... you rapskallion !!!!
     
    #11
  12. TIGERSCAVE

    TIGERSCAVE Well-Known Member

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    RIP every single one of you...
     
    #12
  13. Kempton

    Kempton Well-Known Member

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    Well done RTR, and RIP to all the Gaul crew x
     
    #13
  14. John Ex Aberdeen now E.R.

    John Ex Aberdeen now E.R. Well-Known Member

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    I remember it well, I went to the "Gaul Ball at the City Hall" as a fund raiser, it as a great event and raised quite a lot of money for the families.
     
    #14
  15. Suhcfc

    Suhcfc Member

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    My ex landladies husband was on the Gaul, So many lives lost to the sea from brave men of Hull. . RIP.
     
    #15
  16. Plum

    Plum Well-Known Member

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    A lad in my year at Kingston High school went down with the Gaul. To be absolutely honest I never liked him that much and I was kind of glad when he left at 16 to go to sea. However I'd never have wished this on him, if he was to reappear now I'd shake his hand and thank him for what he chose to do.
     
    #16
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