FREMANTLE lost a couple of its colourful identities last week, with the deaths of Alec Smith and Trevor Hoskin.

Mr Smith’s family ran the Fremantle Hotel for 60 years and he was famous for both his drawings and cartoons during the America’s Cup, as well as his storytelling about life in the port city’s bars.

Mr Smith, who’d had dementia, ran popular tours during the Fremantle Heritage Festival.

Author Ron Davidson recalled running into Mr Smith in his book Fremantle Impressions: “We walk towards the Fremantle Hotel which Alec’s parents managed and where Alex lived in the same room for 30 years and the same building for 40, since he was born in 1929.

“He tells me of the time when the hotel’s fine dining room was converted to a service hospital, with the wall and windows along Cliff Street protected by sandbags from bomb blasts on the wharf which is only 200 metres away.

“The hospital never has a patient.”

A Hilton resident, Trevor Hoskin was a legend in the fishing industry, having been an engineer for some of the biggest names in WA’s fishing history; the Fedeles, Shannons, Correias and Riccardis to name a few.

“The hunt for a diesel engine and the smell of diesel fumes made Trevor alive and he was truly born for this life,” his family said in a release.

“His love affair with the ocean started on the freezer boats and trawlers.”

Mr Hoskin died from leukaemia, with more than 300 people attending his funeral.