Aboard the Anthony Stevenson, a red ensign flies at half mast as the family firm show their respect for one of their longest serving skippers, Roger Nowell who passed away today...
Roger, seen here mending gear aboard one of the Nowell family boats, the beam trawler Semper Allegro represents a generation of fishermen who witnessed the biggest transition in the industry since the introduction of steam power - from a time when the they were the 'last of the hunters' relying largely on a echo sounder, compass and fishing knowledge won through experience the hard way - pre mandatory safety certificates, pre radar, pre-EU logbooks, pre VMS, pre GPS, pre 3D video plotters, pre man-made fibres and pre ICES fishing areas.
All of this was recalled and mulled over in a very personal TV series on the BBC, The Skipper - with a book written to accompany the series told largely from the wheelhouse of the family firm's William Sampson Stevenson, his 'little tiger'.
Roger lived life to the full and everyone in the industry who sailed with him or spent any time in his company ashore will have a yarn (or several hundred) to tell recalling those days gone by - his big heart and big smile will be missed by one and all.
The World will be a poorer place without Roger Nowell. We will all miss his wicked sense of humour and ability to tell at tale RIP Roger.
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