Final voyage crew · 18 October 1961
Faces of the Arctic Viking
Twenty men formed the crew of the Arctic Viking on her last trip. Five were lost at sea, fourteen were rescued from a life raft by the Polish lugger Derkacz, and one had been landed in Norway after injury.
The people behind the report
Names that deserve more than a list
The official record gives roles, evidence, timings and findings. The human story sits underneath those details: skippers, engineers, deckhands, firemen, a wireless operator, a cook, a galley boy and spare hands, all making a living in one of Britain's hardest industries.
This page gathers the crew as people first. Some entries already have biographical detail from crew lists, newspaper accounts and family notes. Others are still outlines, waiting for photographs, memories or records to fill the gaps.
Lost at sea
The five who did not return
Lost at sea
Samuel Waddy
Bosun · Age 47
Senior deck hand, listed at Harrow Street, Hull. His widow Florence later brought a damages claim, a stark reminder of the families left ashore.
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David Craft
Fireman · Age 34
Worked below decks keeping steam up for the trawler's engine, one of the hardest and least visible jobs aboard.
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Edward Kent
Second Engineer · Age 38
Part of the engine-room team responsible for keeping the machinery turning whatever the sea was doing above.
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Dennis Lound
Spare Hand · Age 29
A younger member of the working crew, recorded in the research notes with a Wellsted Street, Hull address.
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John Robinson
Deck Hand · Age 23
Remembered in survivor testimony and family notes as Johnny, an Army buddy and close friend of David Cressey.
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Those who lived with the story
David Cressey
Spare Hand / Helmsman · Age 25
At the wheel as the ship lay over, he later described clinging to it with his feet off the deck while trying to hold her hard to starboard.
Read bioPhilip William Garner
Skipper · Age 28
One of Hull's younger distant-water skippers, known in the notes as "Fascinating Phil" and previously involved in the 1959 Icelandic gunboat incident.
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Mate · Age 28
The skipper's right hand. His evidence helped reconstruct the final morning and the ship's behaviour before the capsize.
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Chief Engineer
His account from below decks is part of the human evidence behind the later discussion of wave formation and stability.
Read bioRaymond Dodsworth
Spare Hand · Age 24
Remembered the ship swinging heavily and later described forcing his way out as water filled the compartment.
Read bioAlan Bailey
Spare Hand
Recalled Charles Kirk's warning cry, "She's going," as panic spread and the crew scrambled upward.
Read bioCrew roll
Names still being researched
- J. Kiel Third Hand; landed at Honningsvag after injury
- John Clare Galley Boy; survivor
- Charles Kirk Deck Hand; survivor
- Dennis Petrini Deck Hand; survivor
- J. W. Rood Cook; survivor
- Ray Hotham Crew; survivor
- William Campbell Marshall Radio Operator; survivor
- Keith William Carr Spare Hand; survivor
- Harry Cooke Engineer; survivor
- J. Clarke Crew; survivor
Sources and gaps
A living record
These entries are drawn from the Arctic Viking Obsidian research vault: crew lists, survivor notes, newspaper clippings, court material and family recollections. Where details are uncertain or incomplete, the page keeps the wording careful and leaves room for the record to grow.