Kingston Peridot H591 Hull Trawler Marine Oil Painting
Larry Malkin (British, b. 1948)
Kingston Peridot, 1999
Signed Oil on Canvas | Hull Maritime Memorial and Triple Trawler Tragedy
Highlights
• An emotionally charged maritime painting by East Yorkshire artist Larry Malkin.
• Signed, inscribed and dated 1999.
• Commemorates the Hull trawler Kingston Peridot, registration H591.
• Interprets the vessel’s presumed loss off northern Iceland in January 1968.
• Connected with the nationally significant Triple Trawler Tragedy.
• Expressively painted with vigorous impasto and palette-knife texture.
• Combines industrial vessel detail with dramatic Arctic atmosphere.
• Provenance through an Essex private collection and art dealer.
• Presented within a wooden frame with gilt inner slip.
• A meaningful acquisition for collectors of Hull, fishing and British maritime history.
Introduction
A dramatic maritime memorial by Larry Malkin portraying the Hull steam trawler Kingston Peridot fighting for survival within an Arctic storm.
Completed in 1999, the painting looks back upon one of the darkest episodes in Hull’s distant-water fishing history. Kingston Peridot disappeared off northern Iceland in January 1968 with the loss of every man remaining aboard.
Because no one witnessed the vessel’s actual foundering, Malkin’s composition is necessarily imaginative. It should be viewed as an artistic memorial that transforms the historical record into a powerful visual expression of danger, courage and loss.
Catalogue Details
Artist: Larry Malkin (British, b. 1948)
Title: Kingston Peridot
Date: 1999
Medium: Oil on canvas
Subject: Kingston Peridot, H591
Classification: Maritime memorial and industrial marine painting
Signature: Signed by Larry Malkin
Verso: Inscribed and dated 1999
Presentation: Wooden frame with gilt inner slip
Catalogue Note
Kingston Peridot is placed at a severe diagonal, its hull leaning into a succession of rising waves.
The trawler’s mast and rigging cut sharply across the dark sky, creating a structural tension that runs throughout the composition. Nothing appears settled: vessel, water and atmosphere are all subjected to the force of the storm.
Malkin builds the sea from thick passages of slate, indigo, steel green and white. Palette-knife work gives the breaking waves physical volume, while directional strokes carry the eye across the surface with the movement of the swell.
Cold whites describe spray, spindrift and ice. Smaller areas of ochre and rust across the hull emphasise the vessel’s industrial construction and years of hard service.
The sky is heavily painted and almost impenetrable. Its low, dark cloud formations compress the space around the vessel and intensify the sensation of isolation.
Malkin’s intention is memorial rather than purely documentary. The painting communicates the human cost of distant-water fishing through the physical struggle between ship and sea.
The Kingston Peridot
Kingston Peridot was constructed in 1948 by Cook, Welton & Gemmell Ltd at Beverley, one of the principal shipyards serving Hull’s fishing industry.
The steel-hulled side trawler was launched on 10 July 1948 and completed later that year.
Her documented technical details include:
Official number: 181356
Hull registration: H591
Builder’s yard number: 797
Gross registered tonnage: 658 tons
Net registered tonnage: 232 tons
Length: 197 ft 8 in, or approximately 60.25 metres
Breadth: 30 ft 7 in, or approximately 9.32 metres
Construction: Steel screw steam trawler
Machinery: Three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine
Power: Approximately 1,000 indicated horsepower
Propulsion: Single screw
Engine manufacturer: C. D. Holmes & Co. Ltd
These specifications identify Kingston Peridot as a steam trawler built for extended voyages to the distant Arctic fishing grounds.
Ownership and Service
The vessel entered service with Kingston Steam Trawling Co. Ltd and was registered at Hull on 25 November 1948.
In June 1966 she was transferred to Hellyer Bros. Ltd of Hull.
Hellyer Bros. formed part of the commercial world surrounding Hull’s distant-water fleet and was one of the companies confronted by campaigners following the three trawler losses of 1968.
Kingston Peridot continued fishing in northern waters until her disappearance in January 1968.
The Final Voyage
Kingston Peridot left Hull for the Arctic grounds during January 1968.
On 14 January, cook William Good was put ashore in Reykjavík after suffering an injury aboard the vessel. He later returned home by air. His accidental injury consequently saved his life.
The trawler’s final radio contact was recorded on 26 January from waters near Grímsey Island, off the northern coast of Iceland.
When expected communication was not received, an international search involving ships and aircraft began. Although pieces of wreckage were found, Kingston Peridot herself was not recovered.
She is presumed to have foundered during 26 or 27 January 1968. The names of the 20 men lost are commemorated at Hull Minster.
William Good should not technically be described as a survivor of the sinking, as he had left the vessel almost two weeks before she disappeared.
The Triple Trawler Tragedy
Kingston Peridot was one of three Hull vessels lost in rapid succession during the winter of 1968.
St Romanus disappeared first, followed by Kingston Peridot and then Ross Cleveland.
Together, the three disasters claimed 58 lives. Harry Eddom, mate of the Ross Cleveland, was the sole survivor from the three actual sinkings.
The losses had an immense effect upon Hull, particularly the fishing community around Hessle Road. Almost every family in the district possessed some connection to the industry and its dangers.
National attention focused upon trawler safety, communication procedures, weather forecasting and the employment conditions endured by distant-water fishermen.
The Headscarf Revolutionaries
The tragedy inspired an extraordinary campaign led by women from Hull’s fishing community.
Lillian Bilocca, Yvonne Blenkinsop, Mary Denness and Christine Jensen became widely known as the Headscarf Revolutionaries.
They organised meetings, gathered signatures, confronted trawler owners and travelled to Westminster to demand changes to safety standards.
Their efforts helped secure improvements including strengthened radio requirements, better weather information, additional safety equipment and greater oversight of trawler operations.
The campaign gave the Triple Trawler Tragedy a lasting place within the history of British industrial reform and working-class activism.
The Artist
Larry Malkin was born in 1948 and works from Welwick near Spurn Point, East Yorkshire.
His art reflects a longstanding engagement with the Humber estuary, North Sea weather and the ships associated with Hull’s maritime past.
Malkin has produced paintings of trawlers, ferries, tugs and other working vessels. His subjects include ships connected with Hull’s fishing fleet and the Falklands campaign.
In 2016, he became artist in residence at the restored Spurn Lighthouse for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The residency allowed him to respond directly to the dramatic weather, landscape and history of the Spurn peninsula.
He has exhibited throughout Britain and in the United States. His work combines regional maritime knowledge with expressive colour, texture and storytelling.
Provenance
Private collection.
Thomas Cawood, art dealer, Essex.
Curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.
Dimensions
Canvas:
75 cm wide × 39.5 cm high
Framed:
82 cm wide × 46.5 cm high × 2 cm deep
All dimensions are approximate.
Framing
The canvas is housed within a simple wooden frame with a narrow gilt inner slip.
Its understated presentation complements the dark industrial palette and allows the highly textured painting to remain visually dominant.
The work is ready for immediate display.
Condition Report
The painting is preserved in good overall presentation condition.
The canvas remains stable and well tensioned. No visible tears or obvious structural repairs have been identified.
The raised and heavily worked paint surface is consistent with the artist’s expressive technique rather than later deterioration. Colours retain good strength and clarity.
Scattered spotting or staining is visible in places. As the support is canvas, these areas are more accurately described as surface spotting than conventional foxing.
The wooden frame displays general wear, scuffing and some small losses consistent with age and previous display.
The accompanying photographs form an important part of the condition assessment. Additional images and further information are available upon request.
Shipping
Worldwide shipping is available.
The painting will be professionally packaged with suitable protective materials and fully insured for delivery. Please contact us for an international shipping quotation or to arrange collection.
Attribution & Research Notice
The vessel identification, interpretation of the represented event, dating, historical observations, provenance research and contextual commentary presented within this catalogue entry represent the professional, non-guaranteed opinion of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.
They are offered in good faith as informed assessments based upon the visible artist’s signature and inscriptions, available provenance, historic shipbuilding records, parliamentary proceedings, maritime memorial records, published reference material and professional experience within the international fine art market.
Malkin painted the work in 1999, approximately 31 years after Kingston Peridot disappeared. As no eyewitness record of her final moments survives, the scene is catalogued as a retrospective memorial interpretation rather than a literal or documentary representation of the foundering.
Contemporary and later accounts refer to severe weather and dangerous icing conditions. However, the precise sequence of events and immediate cause of the vessel’s loss remain unconfirmed.
As with all works of art and historic maritime subjects, future documentary discoveries, technical examination or further research may refine, expand or revise present interpretations.
Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®
Specialising in carefully curated British and European fine art, antiques and historic works of art. Every artwork is professionally researched and catalogued using comparative scholarship, published reference material and more than two decades of experience within the international fine art market. We are committed to offering collectors works of artistic and historical merit accompanied by transparent provenance research, detailed catalogue descriptions and professional, client-focused service.
Additional photographs and further information are available upon request.
