Relaunch for maritime title after rising tide of demand

Dr Robb Robinson

An Author and maritime historian who presented to the Chamber's Hull Area Council on efforts to bring a Beverley-built steam trawler back to the Humber is to relaunch his book about the area's seafaring heritage

The book, Far Horizons: From Hull to the Ends of the Earth, was written by Dr Robb Robinson of the University of Hull’s Maritime Historical Studies Centre and originally published in 2010.

It sold out quickly, as did a reprint two years later. A second reprint now ensures that Far Horizons will be on book shelves in plenty of time for Christmas, with a public launch at 6pm this Wednesday, November 25, at Blaydes House, 6 High Street, Hull.

Dr Robinson spoke to the Area Council earlier this year about his work with Paul Escreet, Chairman of SMS Towage, to bring the Viola steam trawler back to Hull from her current location in South Georgia.

Far Horizons looks at Hull’s broader seafaring history. Dr Robinson, who will give a short presentation about the book at the launch, said the project was prompted by his initial frustration that much of the promotion of Hull during the 1990s overlooked the city’s maritime past.

He said: “The straw that broke the camel's back for me was seeing a presentation about Pioneering Hull in which the sea links were only mentioned twice. Our history at that time seemed to be restricted to Wilberforce and perhaps something on Amy Johnson, Andrew Marvell and Philip Larkin but little else.

“I was really annoyed but as a historian, and a maritime historian at that, I thought I should be able to do something about this. As a young child in the fifties I was shown around the Old Town, which still had working docks, by my grandfather who had in turn been shown around the Old Town by his grandfather who was born in 1833.

“My grandfather was a fund of stories and I never forgot them. For this project I revisited histories and applied academic research and the like. Many stories, however surprising, proved to have a core of truth.

“I started doing further research and stories emerged from other people to create a fully illustrated celebration of Hull's interactions with the sea and a series of biographies of Hull men and women who have made a global impact through the sea.”

Some of the stories first appeared on a Far Horizons website in 2009. The book followed and has since been read around the world. It also informed the team which led Hull’s City of Culture bid.

Dr Robinson said: “We have been continually asked for copies in the wake of City of Culture and indeed supplied a couple of the last copies we had available to Opera North. Because of the demand Kingston Press are doing a limited reprint.”

Copies of Far Horizons, which is hardback and priced at £20, will be available at the launch and at most bookshops over the following weeks.

Further information

Dr Robb Robinson

Tel 07799 566652

Email R.N.Robinson@hull.ac.uk