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Life at sea was perilous in the 18th century. Sailors faced the prospect of being shipwrecked, lost overboard, and seriously injured.
For the families they had to support, destitution was a very real prospect. Wives could so easily be left as the only breadwinner in a household. And should both parents in a family die, children would be left as orphans, unable to support themselves in a harsh world.
The 18th century saw the beginnings of large scale organised approaches to improving the physical and moral welfare of seafarers, and the provisions available to support their families.
Drawing upon the city’s archival collections, this exhibition explored how the people of Hull have helped the seafaring community since the 18th century. It featured an image gallery of digitised material to help tell the story, and was supported by a talk given as part of our Lunchtime Club series on the 8th October 2019.
You can access PDF versions of the exhibition panels that were displayed here:
1. Odes to the Seafaring Life
2. Seamens Services and Sermons
3. Charitable Funds
4. Hull Marine Bible Society
5. Port of Hull Society
6. Mariners Church Society
7. Mission to Seafarers
8. Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen
9. Apostleship of the Sea
10. Sailors Families Society
11. Sailors Orphans Society
12. Trinity House Hull
13. Central Schemes
14. A Seafaring Life in Pictures
On from 8th October to 30th November 2019, entrance was free and the exhibition could be viewed during normal History Centre opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 9.30am-5.30pm, and every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month 9.00am-4.30pm.
Throughout October and November, we tweeted images from the exhibition, so if you couldn't come in person you could still take part on Twitter (#FTIPOTS).
For the young people in our audience, we hosted a special ‘All at Sea’ History Makers session on the 29th October 2019 (10am-4pm) where you could find out what it was like to be a seafarer in the 19th century.