Yvonne Blenkinsop, who has died aged 83, was one of four charismatic fishermen’s wives who transformed the safety of UK trawlers in 1968 with a barnstorming campaign. Their grief and outrage after the loss of three Hull ships and 58 crew in less than a month struck a nerve in public opinion, winning reforms that management and politicians had fenced over for years.
The Vietnam war was driven off newspaper front pages as the women and their supporters woke Britain up to the cost in human lives of the cosy national favourite, fish and chips. Labour’s future deputy leader, John Prescott, then a young seamen’s union official, helped them make a giant wood-and-cardboard cod on wheels, smeared with blood-red paint to drive the message home.
