THE memorial to those who lost their lives with the Royal Naval Patrol Services will be maintained forever.
That was the pledge given to the veterans who created the memorial on Grimsby's Royal Dock to the thousands who were killed in the Second World War.
Captain Martin Gough, the dockmaster for Grimsby and Immingham ports told guests attending the annual memorial service, the marker would continue to be maintained by Associated British Ports.
He said: "As time passes and the remaining veterans '"cross the bar'" ABP will continue to maintain it as a token of the esteem in which we hold them."
The memorial was started in 2001 by the veterans with the help of ABP ports director Dennis Dunn.
It was to replace the plaque on the west side of Grimsby's Dock Tower, which was beyond refurbishment.
The memorial is a tribute to the 128 local men and the 39 trawlers lost during the Second World War while keeping the vital shipping lanes of The River Humber and its approaches open.
Captain Gough stood in for veteran Tom Walkley, 91, who is a former chairman of the now disbanded Royal Navy Patrol Service Veterans' Association. He was not well enough to lead the service, which was held on Seafarers' Day yesterday.
The veterans were represented by Harry Redman, 93, of Cleethorpes.
He was stationed on the River Clyde and in Iceland.
He said: "It is very important that we keep the memorial going. Tom got all the mines and bollards for the memorial, so we could continue to honour those men who should have been here today."
He added: "We have got to think of the men who lost their lives."
The veteran told how the association decided to have their own memorial at Grimsby Docks in 2001.
He served aboard the trawler Barbarian which was commissioned by the Royal Navy to clear rivers and shipping lanes of mines. He was in the Royal Navy Reserve.
Captain Gough said the Royal Naval Patrol Service was a "navy within a navy" and were affectionately known as "Churchill's pirates". He said: "That is because they managed to disregard most of the naval rules and regulations. It was formed with great haste by the Admiralty in 1939 and disbanded in similar fashion in 1946.
"During its formation, the service cleared a total of 33,580 mines but at a cost of 659 vessels and 13,890 personnel, of which there were 2,385 men who gave their lives but whose bodies were not recovered, so they have no grave but the sea."
Minesweepers operating out of HMS Beaver, in Grimsby, cleared 1,700 sea mines in the River Humber and its approaches.
Captain Gough said: "The crews reportedly treated the clearance of the mines as a sort of sport, each boat trying to out do the others, almost regardless of the dangers they faced."
He said a memorial service will continue to be held each Armistice Day on November 11.
The Mayor of North East Lincolnshire, Councillor Alex Baxter, said: "It is vitally important that we remember them each and every year. The service they provided in the Humber and the shipping lanes is an inspiration to future generations.
"Calling them Churchill's Pirates sums them up. They did their duty well."
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