David William Besford was born in the Lowestoft area in late 1939, the son of Arnott Herbert Smith Besford and Alida Maria Besford (née Erebout). His brothers and sisters born in Lowestoft were Albert (born 1924), Marcella Besford (later Bird, 1932–2024) and Peter Besford (1936–2014), who was also a Lowestoft trawler skipper.
David began his fishing career in 1955 with Claridge Trawlers, as a deckie-learner (an apprentice deckhand) in the Bermuda. In 1975 he took command of the new St. Patrick, his first command of a stern trawler. Her maiden voyage in early November 1975 lasted 15 days and broke the Lowestoft port record, with a catch of 598 kits.
Marconi Marine, which supplied the St. Patrick’s radio equipment, reported her arrival in its magazine, Mariner, in January–February 1976.
In 1985, the biggest and best landing ever made by a beam trawler at Lowestoft was recorded by Colne Shipping’s St Rose LT 300, with 509 kits to gross £32,402 after 13 days at sea, skippered by David Besford.
David Besford had previously been skipper of the Dominica around 1967 with Colne (East Coast) Shipping out of Lowestoft.
David died at the James Paget University Hospital on 17th September 2011, aged 71, after a long illness. He lived in Kingswood Avenue, Lowestoft, and his death notice in the Lowestoft Journal described him as a loving husband, father and grandad. His funeral was at Gorleston Crematorium on 5th October 2011.
St. Patrick
The St. Patrick (IMO 7366180) was a stern trawler built in 1975 by Richards Shipbuilders Ltd. in Great Yarmouth, UK, and owned by Colne Fishing Co Ltd. Its length was 39 metres and gross tonnage 475 tons.
Stern trawlers are powerful vessels that are often built for hauling heavy catches up the stern onto the working deck.
It carried the name Gavina from 1986 to 1989.
The ship was converted to a standby support vessel in 1990, and was later named the Viking Vixen.
It was scrapped in 2006 in Esbjerg.
