Scale: 1:48. The ‘Cayton Bay’ is typical of the large deep-sea steam side trawlers that operated – and continue to operate – out of Hull and Grimsby, north-east England. Built by Cook, Welton and Gemmell Ltd, of Beverley, for Messrs. George Walton, of Hull, she was fitted with a powerful engine and her large bunker capacity gave her the range required to steam perhaps 5000 miles during a voyage lasting three or four weeks.

The fish were caught by towing a trawl net along the sea bed for a period of up to three hours, according to the prevailing conditions. When the skipper judged that the time was right, the net is hauled alongside and is hoisted by means of a sling and tackle to the foremast head. The rope which closes the bottom of the net (the cod end) is then slipped and the catch falls out into the wooden partitions, called fish pounds, which are fitted onto the trawlers foredeck, a feature that we can see on the model. There the fish are gutted by the crew, prior to being packed in ice, refrigerated, or otherwise treated. A deep-sea trawler like the ‘Cayton Bay’ may bring home as much as 200 tons of fish including cod, halibut, and plaice.

The model shows, among other things, the winch gear for laying and hauling in the nets, the radio antennae, navigational equipment used for detecting and catching shoals, and the reinforced sides of the hull to protect the vessel against the friction of the nets and quaysides.