Britain’s oldest working fisherman is celebrating 70 years at sea – even though he doesn’t like fish and can’t swim. Bill Hocking, 80, began fishing as a 10-year-old apprentice on May 20, 1940, when he caught his first crabs to sell at market. The great-grandfather has fished commercially ever since and still goes out to sea every day at 5am despite his advancing years.
Mr Hocking, of Looe, Cornwall, used to work as part of a trawling crew but now goes out on his own in his small boat Neptune’s Pride. He battles all weather conditions and uses pots to catch crab and lobsters which he sells at Looe Fish Market. But even after seven decades at sea, Mr Hocking admits he still doesn’t like eating his own catch – and can’t swim.
He said: “I am not as young as I was and now sometimes I struggle a bit, but it’s a way of life. I just enjoy being out there as long as I can physically do it I have no intention of giving up. I will carry on as long as I can. What am I going to do? Give up, go home and die? My life is out there at sea and it always has been. The thing is I’m not a fish eater. I don’t like shellfish and I don’t really like any fish to be quite honest. I prefer steak.”
Mr Hocking, who has five grandchildren, began as an apprentice aged 10 and until January 1944 his catch was delivered to Plymouth until the construction of Looe fish market in 1987. He used to go out on 36 hour trips and snare major hauls but he now only catches a few lobsters and crabs each day. Father-of-two Mr Hocking added: “When I first started it was very different. In those days all you had to do to be a fisherman was get your register signed once a year. Now you’ve got forms to fill in, morning, noon and night.”
His wife Margaret, 80, has spent their 57 years of marriage worried sick that he might fall overboard – because he can’t swim. She said: “Bill has never actually been in the water, unless by accident, because he can’t swim at all. It has always worried me that he could fall overboard. But he won’t give up – he’ll carry on until he can’t go anymore or falls in the water. It’s what he loves doing and I would never try to stop him. He has always been out there. I tell him to take it easy nowadays, but he won’t listen. Although he does catch less than he used to. Years ago he could catch 30 lobsters a day and now he might only catch one.”
Daily Mail
Vocabulary
apprentice – hajós inas
crab – rák,
trawling crew – vonóhálós legénység
lobster – homár
intention – szándék
shellfish – kagyló
to snare – hálóval (meg)fog
haul – fogás (halászé)
to fall overboard – a hajóból kiesik
