2-

NORTH SEA FISHERS
AND FIGHTERS

.,

NORTH SEA FISHERS
AND FIGHTERS

BY

WALTER WOOD

//

AUTHOR OF

MEN OF THE NORTH SEA" "SURVIVORS' TALES OF GREAT EVENTS'
ETC. ETC.

WITH COLOUR AND PENCIL ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRANK H. MASON
AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

LONDON

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRtlBNER & CO. LTD.

191 1

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

INTRODUCTION . * . . . . . xi

A SONG OF THE NORTH SEA . . - . . . xv

I. PIRATES AND PILLAGERS ... . . . i

II. MERCHANT ADVENTURERS , . . . . n

III. PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN . . . . • 20

IV. FIELDS AND HARVESTERS . . . . 36
V. SMACKS AND TRAWLS ...... 47

VI. IN THE DAYS OF SAIL ...... 70

VII. PRIME AND OFFAL . . . . • • 93

VIII. LORD OF THE FISHES . . . . . .114

IX. WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER . . '. .125

X. STEAM, THE CONQUEROR . . . . .139

XI. THE THREE GREATEST FISHING PORTS . . .153

XII. WAGES AND PROFITS . . . . . .164

XIII. SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING . . . . . .177

XIV. FISHERIES PROTECTION s . . . • . 190
XV. A HUMANISING AGENCY .- . . . 200

XVI. THE GREAT MARCH GALE . ... 219
XVII. CARRIERS ....... 233

M188686

vi CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGF

XVIII. COLLIERS . .242

XIX. NORTH SEA TRAMPS . . 248

XX. WINTER AT AN OLD-WORLD HARBOUR . . -255

XXI. WRECKS AND RESCUES . . .261

XXII. THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE . . . 275

XXIII. THE PITILESS GOODWINS . . 287

XXIV. BROOM AND WHIPLASH ' .* . . -305
XXV. PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBOROUGH •; . . . 319

XXVI. THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE . . . -336

XXVII. NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY . . . . 35°

INDEX . . . . . • • 363

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOUR PLATES
A CARRIER : THE COCK OF THE NORTH SEA . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

A LONG-LINER . ; * . ; . . . . . .70

ROUNDING CASTLE HILL IN WINTER. . . . .218

OLD COLLIER BRIGS ... . ; v . . 242

A LIFEBOAT RESCUE . . . * . . . 298

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBOROUGH HEAD . . .318

IN BLACK AND WHITE

LlNDISFARNE . . . . . . .»..*, I

C^DMON'S CROSS AT WHITBY—WHITBY ABBEY ,. . . \.-' .fr
SCARBOROUGH CASTLE . ' , . ^.. . . * « 8

A NORTH-EAST COAST PIER— SMACKSMEN ASHORE . . 20

AN ANCIENT LOOK-OUT ON THE NORTH SEA COAST— DOLPHINS . 24

THE MASTER OF A LIGHTSHIP FIRING THE SIGNAL GUN— THE

LAMPLIGHTER OF A NORTH SEA LIGHTSHIP . * . .28

THE COD-END OF A TRAWL, WITH ITS CATCH— THE COD-END

UNLASHED AND THE CATCH OF FlSH IN THE POUND . 36

A NORTH SEA SKIPPER AT THE WHEEL— A STEAM -TRAWLER'S

FISH-ROOM . . . . » » . 40

OLD BEAM-TRAWLERS . „ . . . . . 46

vii

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

AN OLD MAST AND BLOCK-MAKING SHOP WHICH HAS PASSED

AWAY . . . . ' . . -SO

"FOR SALE"— SCOTCH HERRING-BOATS PACKED LIKE HERRINGS 54

A MODEL BEAM-TRAWL MADE FOR THE AUTHOR BY AN OLD

NORTH SEA SMACKSMAN— AN EARLY TYPE OF "GALLOWS" 60

A LONG-LINER ON THE NORTH SEA— A DUTCH HERRING-VESSEL 66
BOARDING FISH . . . . . . . -74

THE CABIN OF AN OLD SMACK, SHOWING THE LADDER DOWN
WHICH MEN TUMBLED WHEN THE WARNING SHOUT AROSE
OF "WATER'S COMIN'!" — THE INTERIOR OF THE CABIN,
SHOWING A TABLE WITH FOLDING SIDES, LOCKERS, AND
THE BUNKS ABOVE THEM , * . * 78

"BURNING OFF" SMACKS . . . , x . .88

A COASTER OFF DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE— A NORTH SEA LINER'S

Bow AND TILLER . . . . . . .92

SCOTCH HERRING-BOATS ENTERING HARBOUR . . .96

UNLOADING HERRINGS FROM A " MULE "—GUTTING HERRINGS

FOR EXPORT . . . . . .100

AN ICELANDER . ... . . . .106

BACK WITH THE HERRINGS: UNLOADING FROM A SCOTCHMAN . 114

HERRING-BOATS ON A CALM SEA— EVENING . . .120

A MOTOR HERRING-BOAT— A LOWESTOFT STEAM-DRIFTER . 124

SHOOTING THE NETS FROM A STEAM-DRIFTER . . .128

A STEAM - DRIFTER'S CREW — THE CREW OF A NORTH SEA

SHRIMPER, SHOWING SMALL BEAM-TRAWL . . . 132

LAUNCHING A STEAM-TRAWLER, BROADSIDE ON, AT THE YARD

OF MESSRS. COCHRANE, SELBY, YORKSHIRE . . .138

THE ENGINEER OF A STEAM-DRIFTER— THE ENGINEER OF A

STEAM-TRAWLER . . • . . . . .140

THE ADMIRAL OF A NORTH SEA FLEET /••* . • ii '" .142

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

FACING PAGE

HAULING THE TRAWL— " SET BACK ON HIM !" . . . 144

DIAGRAM SHOWING THE WORKING OF THE OTTER TRAWL . 146

THE OLD TUGS WHICH WERE THE FIRST OF NORTH SEA STEAM-
TRAWLERS . v . . . . . .148

A NORTH SEA SKIPPER IN A STEAM-TRAWLER'S CABIN— THE
CABIN OF A STEAM-DRIFTER, SHOWING THE SKIPPER'S
BUNK »• .. :. f". . . . . .150

LOADING THE BOAT WITH TRUNKS OF FISH— FERRYING FISH

TO THE CARRIER ... . . . . .152

HAULING UP LIVE FISH FROM THE WELL OF A DUTCH BOTTER

—A TRUCK FOR CARRYING LIVE FISH IN TANKS . .158

A HERRING FLEET > . ;. . . . . 168

THE UNPARALLELED FLEET OF CARRIERS AND TRAWLERS AT
BILLINGSGATE DURING THE GREAT RAILWAY STRIKE IN
AUGUST 1911 . . . . . .174

A SCIENTIFIC STEAM-TRAWLER, THE HUXLEY— A STEAM-
TRAWLER LEAVING ABERDEEN . . . . .178

SCOTCH HERRING-BOATS — H.M.S. THRUSH, FORMERLY COM-
MANDED BY KING GEORGE, ON NORTH SEA FISHERIES
PROTECTION DUTIES . . . ' . ' . * .190

THE NEW GENERATION OF NORTH SEA MEN— THE GENERA-
TION THAT HAS PASSED . . . . . .196

A COPER IN A SAILING FLEET . . . . .200

A NORTH SEA SKIPPER IN HIS "DOPPER," OR BLANKET

OVERALL . .*• . . . . . . 204

THE MATE OF A NORTH SEA STEAM-TRAWLER . V .208
A NORTH SEA BOAT COMING ALONGSIDE . . '„> . 212

THE CREW (WITH Two VISITORS) OF A NORTH SEA MISSION
SHIP— THE HOSPITAL OF THE /. AND S. MILES, IN WHICH

THE MEN WOUNDED IN THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE WERE
TREATED . 2l6

x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

A NORTH SEA PORT . . . . . . . 222

A CARRIER LOOKING FOR HER FLEET — A CARRIER FOR

BILLINGSGATE PASSING GREENWICH . . . .232

FOGGY WEATHER : HEAVING THE LEAD— FIRING A ROCKET IN

THE FOG WHEN LOOKING FOR A FLEET . . . 236

THE CREW OF A NORTH SEA CARRIER . . . .238

TAKING THE AIR : A DUTCH BOY AS FIGUREHEAD— DUTCH

EEL-BOATS AT BILLINGSGATE „ ... . . 240

A SINGLE-BOATER— A NORTH SEA COLLIER. < V • • 246

THE MASTER, MATE, CHIEF ENGINEER, AND STEWARD OF A

NORTH SEA TRAMP . • " * . "•'.'. . . 250

A BEAM-TRAWLER AT SEA — A STEAM-TRAWLER ENTERING

HARBOUR IN WINTER . . , ... . . .258

THE FARNE ISLANDS AND BAMBURGH .-. . , . 260
THE MOUTH OF THE TYNE . ' . . . . .264

A SMACK TURNED INTO A COASTER— AN OLD YAWL GETTING

TO SEA . * . . ' . . . ' . • . 270

A DECK VIEW OF THE HOSPITAL STEAMER /. AND S. MILES . 274
SKIPPER WHITE, WHO COMMANDED THE /. AND S. MILES AT

THE TIME OF THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE .... 280

A GERMAN FOUR-MASTER MAKING FOR HAMBURG— A FRENCH

FOUR-MASTER TOWING DOWN THE NORTH SEA . . 286

FROM NEAR THE GOODWINS— BOILING SHRIMPS AT SEA . . 294
THE MOUTH OF THE HUMBER ..... 304

A RELIC OF PAUL JONES— THE OLD CONVICT SHIP SUCCESS . 322

THE SMUGGLERS' CAVE, FLAMBOROUGH— AN OLD NORTH SEA

MAN . . . . . . . . 326

A TORPEDO-GUNBOAT ON FISHERIES PROTECTION . . . 350
GERMAN PILOTS IN THE ELBE. . . . ;.:/. . 358

INTRODUCTION

IN this book I have tried to give an understanding of
the deep-sea fishers of the North Sea and some of the
other fighters who have been, or are, connected with that
famous ocean. I have dealt almost exclusively with the
trawlers for two reasons — because I know them best and
because they are the most important section of our
splendid army of toilers of the deep.

There has not been in the history of the modern
industrial development of Great Britain any revolution
so amazing and romantic as that which has taken place
within the last twenty years on the North Sea fishing-
grounds ; nor is there any stretch of water which for other
reasons has come into so much prominence.

Two and a half centuries ago trade rivalry between
Great Britain and Holland brought about the bloodiest
of all our modern naval fights, most of which took place
on the North Sea, and if in the near future the same
cause brings us into conflict with a powerful and jealous
neighbour, it is certain that this ocean will be again the
area of appalling battles, with consequent paralysis of
trade and crippling of our food supplies — a devastating
calamity.

xii INTRODUCTION

A long study of the deep-sea fishers of the east
coast, on which I was a resident for some years, and
visits to past and present fleets, with many other
expeditions afloat, have enabled me to accumulate
much original information with regard to these fine
fellows' lives and work, and this I have freely used.

It is not easy to get first-hand knowledge from the
deep-sea fisherman, who is neither vain nor loquacious.
All I could glean from one man who witnessed the
outrage by Russian warships in the Gamecock Fleet
was — " It were fair chronic." On the Dogger, after a
haul, I asked a skipper for details of his bag. " Why,"
he answered slowly, " they're what you might call
smallish big." Beyond that he could not go. But
from time to time I have had many willing and able
helpers afloat and ashore, amongst the latter being
Mr. George Appleyard, who was for many years
harbour-master at Scarborough, one of the oldest of
east coast fishing ports. When writing of other
matters I have sought details only from the best
sources, most of which are mentioned in their proper
places.

Although I have not dealt with the many quaint
and fascinating inshore fishers of the east coast, nor
done more than make a selection from events with
which naval men and more peaceful warriors have been
associated, still the work will, I hope, give a broad idea
of what the North Sea has been and is, and what its
boundless harvests mean to us as a people.

INTRODUCTION xiii

I do not propound general schemes of reform or
improvement in the interests of deep-sea fishermen,
though I have my own ideas on the subject ; but as a
final chapter I venture to make suggestions which if
adopted would, I think, greatly benefit the country.

" 'Tis the hard, grey weather
Breeds hard Englishmen."

There is no harder, greyer weather than that of the
North Sea ; there are no harder Englishmen than deep
North Sea men.

A SONG OF THE NORTH SEA

From the Arctic zone to Dover,
Surging sullen, north and south;
Past the Shetlands and the Orkneys
And the yellow Humber's mouth;

Meeting many sluggish currents
And the tidal sweep of Thames,
Past the net of eastern islands
That in summer gleam like gems ;

Flooding Dogger Bank and Goodwins,
Skirting France's fertile shores;
Belgium, Holland, Prussia, Denmark,
Up to Norway's rugged doors —

Runs the grey North Sea eternal:
And upon its savage surge
Sons of men are ever righting,
To the melancholy dirge.

For these sons of men are toilers
Of the solemn northern deep,
And on ruthless stretch of ocean
Rigid battle-station keep.

Theirs to work in sorrowed patience,
And to struggle on in strife ;
Theirs to sow — but seldom harvest,
In the pitch and toss of life.

May the laws that govern fairness —
May the God in whom we trust —
Judge the reaper of the Dogger,
When his gallant bones are dust,

NORTH SEA FISHERS AND
FIGHTERS

CHAPTER I

PIRATES AND PILLAGERS

" THEY are sea- wolves that live on the pillage of the
world," declared a Roman poet of the first of English-
men who crossed the wild North Sea and conquered
Britain. Fighters led by ruthless war-lords sailed from
Jutland in 449 and landed in the Isle of Thanet, hard
by the pitiless Goodwins. They were pirates and bar-
barians, fit sons of the savage seas on whose borders they
were born and bred, and the toilers of which to-day are
the bravest of the brave.

Those fierce invaders knew nothing of God or Christ.
They were heathens who worshipped many deities,
first of whom was Woden, the god of war ; and amongst
whose brothers were the god of storms, the god of
thunder, and the god of death. They fell relentlessly
upon the Britons, and by the end of the century they and
their successors were masters of the east and south coast
from Norfolk to Hampshire. Ship after ship came to the
eastern shores of England from the other side of the

2 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

North Sea, bringing pirates and pillagers by whom the
Britons were destroyed wherever they were found.

By way of rivers — Thames, Ouse, Humber, Tees, and
Tweed — these invaders sailed as far as they could go,
burning, pillaging, outraging, and killing. Barbarians
they came, barbarians they remained, and a century after
their landing even the Britons spoke with fierce contempt
of them as dogs and wolves. Yet when they were estab-
lished as conquerors they settled down as tillers of the
soil and administrators of the captured country. North-
umbria was formed, and Edwin, its sovereign, became
the greatest of the kings who reigned in England.

On the very spot in Thanet where the Jutland war-
riors had set foot there landed Augustine, the bringer of
Christianity and gentler laws to the land which, for four
centuries, had been under the dominion of Rome and the
Roman legions.

Along the North Sea borders of the country there
arose many of those famous institutions whose ruins may
be seen to-day by any voyager who skirts the coast.
On the island of lona Columba and his twelve disciples
founded a monastery and church, and that lonely spot
in the Hebrides was the battleground in after years of
many noble priests and North Sea fighters. lona to-day
gives numerous links with the sea-wolves of nearly fifteen
centuries ago. Lindisfarne, now called Holy Island, came
into being, and at Whitby, on the .high, stern cliffs of
Yorkshire, Hilda founded the splendid abbey whose ruins
are amongst the most majestic on the coast. Csedmon,
the father of English song, belonged to the band of
which royal Hilda was the head, and amongst them, too,
were illustrious followers like John of Beverley and

C/EDMON S CROSS AT WHITBY.

WHITBY ABBEY.

PIRATES AND PILLAGERS 3

scholars and divines who sought to bring about with
holy methods blessings to succeed the havoc of the
sword.

Green, who tells us how these things came to pass in
early North Sea days, adds that by the close of the fifth
century the whole coast of Britain, from the Wash to
Southampton Water, was in the hands of the invaders.
But little more than the coast had been touched by the
invaders ; " great masses of woodland or fen still prisoned
the Engle, the Saxon, and the Jute alike within narrow
limits," the Engle having appeared in the estuaries of the
Forth and the Humber.

The Humber to-day maintains a proud association
with the North Sea — a connection that has been unbroken
ever since those stormy times when England was begin-
ning as a nation. All along the north-east coast, from
Spurn to Berwick and beyond, the traveller by land or
sea may yet behold romantic evidences of warlike and
religious doings by the peoples of the past. From the
water he may gaze towards the ruins of the abbeys and
the castles on the coast and little islands, and from the
comfort of a dining-car may see, journeying from Ouse
to Tweed, remains of noble buildings which have made
their mark in history.

The North Sea washes the long coast-line of Great
Britain's most extensive county — Yorkshire ; and on
Yorkshire's greatest river, the Humber, stands the
Empire's third largest port. That county contains the
oldest railway in the world, the Stockton and Darlington,
long ago absorbed by the North- Eastern Railway
Company, whose system covers not only some of the
most romantic of all the North Sea borders, but also

4 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

includes England's two greatest and bloodiest battlefields
— Towton Field and Marston Moor.

The Jutland wolves who came to England were
followed by marauding Danes, and again England was
conquered, though only for the time, by sons of the
North Sea. The Danes swept over England, and
the tide of battle ebbed and flowed, until they were
massacred and their power was crushed. These Danes
were the Vikings or Norsemen of song and story.
They were plunderers and pirates, of the same stock as
the English, by whom at last, under Alfred, they were
beaten and driven out of the country, but not before
they had made a lasting impression on the race. They
launched their fine long open boats on the North Sea,
and with oars or a squaresail, or both, swept across
it towards our own coasts. We know exactly from
remains which have been found what those craft were
like, and can realise what the Norsemen were, for on
the North Sea shores of England there survive many of
the Vikings' words, and there are amongst the fishers of
the coast not a few fair-haired men and maids whose
ancestors came over to us more than a thousand years
ago. Some of the craft, too, are almost unaltered since
the Norsemen's days, and in the famous cobles of the
Yorkshire coast we may see something closely resembling
their smaller vessels, whilst from the fishers of the
north-east coast we may hear expressions or words
that have come unaltered down the centuries. There is
still at Flamborough Head, on the Yorkshire coast, the
ravine named Dane's Dyke, a region which is even yet
sometimes called " Little Denmark."

So far the North Sea had played a leading part in

PIRATES AND PILLAGERS 5

the early history of England. That stormy stretch of
water was to give to England the first of her momentous
naval victories. Alfred and Richard had defeated fleets
at sea ; but it was for Edward the Third to be called the
King of the Sea, by all his people. In 1327 the Scots
made ready to invade England with a large army, and
accordingly the northern ports were ordered to provide
ships of sixty tons or more. These vessels were to meet
at Yarmouth ; and ships with large supplies of wine were
sent to accompany them. That was but the beginning
of preparations which culminated in the great battle of
Sluys. Sluys was, in those early times, the most
flourishing port on the Flemish coast. It was originally
named after an English engineer who made the sluices
there, although long years afterwards the place became
so much choked with sand that not even the smallest
craft could enter.

Hull, Newcastle, and other north-east ports loom
largely in the annals of those early times. The king
had ordered a galley on the H umber and several ships
from other northern ports, all of which were to be fitted
out to convoy victuallers and oppose the Scots.

At that time French marauders, who were unhesi-
tatingly called pirates, had swooped on our shores and
killed and pillaged after the fashion of the Jutlanders
and the Danes ; but they had been put to flight. In
the autumn of 1339 the ships of France were in the
Sluys, and the crews swore to the Flemings that they
would not return to their own ports until they had
captured five hundred English towns and a hundred
English ships.

It was a bold and noble boast, and, full of their

6 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

enthusiastic valour, the Frenchmen put to sea. In
October then, as now, the North Sea was better to
behold from the shore than from the water, especially
when crude, unseaworthy craft were concerned, and the
result was that, of the braggart ships which put forth,
most foundered and the rest were lucky to return to
Flanders.

Naval history contains no year more memorable
than that which followed — 1340. At the very beginning
Edward in. took the name and arms of King of France,
and determined to enforce his rights and title. Early
in June, at Ipswich, he had forty ships to take him
and his followers to Flanders. He knew that at Sluys
the King of France had gathered an enormous army
to prevent him from landing.

Early on an afternoon in June he sailed for Flanders
with two hundred vessels. He was joined by fifty more
ships under Sir Robert Morley. This great fleet arrived
off Blankenberg, ten miles from the mouth of the Sluys, to
the west, and found a French fleet of 190 ships, galleys,
and great barges lying at anchor, fastened to each other
with iron chains and cables. Small boats were sus-
pended from the masts, the boats being filled with stones
which were to be hurled upon the assailants. Amongst
the French fleet were several ships which had been
taken from the English, notable of these being the
Christopher, renowned as the greatest vessel of her
time.

Thirty-five thousand Normans, Picards, and Genoese
manned the French ships, the English force being con-
siderably less. Nobles, knights, and gentlemen abounded
on both sides, and there were present with Edward many

PIRATES AND PILLAGERS 7

high-born dames who were going out to Ghent to join
the Queen. Presumably these matrons and maidens
were in transports, and were protected by three hundred
men-at-arms.

That battle on the North Sea shores remains on
record as one of the most savage and momentous com-
bats. There was little in the way of strategy or tactics ;
it was a case of immense bodies of valiant armed men
getting close together and settling their fight with arrows,
swords, axes, and any other weapon that could be hurled
or handled, to the martial strains of trumpets.

So closely packed together were the French ships
that their masts looked like a forest. Edward led his
soldiers on, covering his advance with showers of arrows.
Both sides fought with furious courage, the fiercest of
the battle being reached when the English men-at-arms
and the enemy were mingled in a struggling crowd.

The battle grew into a butchery. The two fleets
became a tangled medley, and there was a hideous com-
motion of strife. In one French ship alone 400 men
were killed, and the survivors escaped only by leaping
into the sea, where most of them were drowned. The
Christopher was triumphantly recaptured. The English
flag was again hoisted in her and she was manned
with English archers and sent to attack the Genoese
galleys.

The stones proved deadly missiles, for the crew of a
galley belonging to Hull were crushed to death by them.
The few captures made by the French included the
vessel which contained the King's wardrobe, and with
the exception of a woman and two men all on board were
slain. Amongst the killed on Edward's side were a

8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

dozen ladies, and there were womenfolk of lesser rank
included in the dead.

The loss of the French was 25,000; that of the
English was only 4000 ; so that about thirty thousand
dead was the cost of that early sea-fight which made
Edward in. the sea-lord of the world. Six years later,
at Crecy, with his son the Black Prince, he gained
another far-reaching victory at small cost to himself, and
a loss to the French of 1 1 princes, 1 200 knights,
and 30,000 of lesser ranks — more than Edward's entire
army on the field.

" Thus God our Lord has shewn abundant grace,"
wrote Edward piously, in his letter to his son describing
the affair — the earliest dispatch in existence containing
an account of an English naval victory. To the North
Sea, therefore, belongs the double distinction of bearing
on its waters the first of the English race and giving to
the nation the earliest, and one of the greatest, of her
naval triumphs.

There is scarcely any part of the east and north-
east coast which has not some stirring and historic
association with the distant past. South of the H umber
there is interest of a kind which is singularly different
from the attraction of the country north of that great river.
Each locality has its special charm and fascination ; each
is for all time closely connected with the North Sea
fishing industry as it is carried on to-day. To the east
coast belongs the honour of beginning the deep-sea
revolution, and to the north-east coast, with its enter-
prising, far-seeing business men, the credit of raising the
operations to their present gigantic dimensions. From
Yarmouth and other east coast ports went forth the

SCARBOROUGH CASTLE.

PIRATES AND PILLAGERS 9

first herringers ; and from Scarborough sailed some of
the earliest of trawlers.

Scarborough and its castle have loomed large in con-
nection with North Sea fishers and fighters for nearly
a thousand years. In the eleventh century Harald
Hardrada, King of Norway, came and plundered the
north-east coast. His men, says Green, were farmers
and ploughmen ; his ships were the fishing-vessels of the
coast. The Norse king swooped down on the Yorkshire
coast. He fought the burgher-men of Scarborough, and
vanquished them with fire and sword before he sailed in
triumph up the Humber, to be slain in the fierce fight
at Stamford Bridge. From that time onward Scarborough
Castle, which came into being, was the scene of many
conflicts and strange happenings. Arising from one of
them was the old saying, " A word and a blow — like a
Scarborough warning." In 1553, during Wyatt's Rebel-
lion, Lord Stafford's second son seized the castle by a
trick. On a market-day he disguised a band of his
troopers as countrymen, and craftily entered the castle
grounds. The sentries, assuming that the visitors had
come in the ordinary way of business, were unsuspecting
and unready, and it was not till they had been captured
and disarmed that they knew how badly they had been
fooled. While they were held prisoners the rest of
Stafford's force was admitted. For three days they were
in possession of the fortress ; then it was retaken, and
Stafford was beheaded in London for high treason.

To-day the ruins of the castle crown the hill, which
has been altered almost out of recognition, even in recent
years, by the construction of the Marine Drive. While
that doubtful improvement was being made, there were

io NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

passing finally away, as if departing with the spirit of
the grim old hill itself, those valiant sailing fishing-craft
which had formed an unbroken link with the days when
the early pirates and pillagers crossed the North Sea in
craft dependent on the wind, and came and founded
England.

CHAPTER II

MERCHANT ADVENTURERS

THE hardy Norsemen were the pioneers of unnumbered
hosts of adventurers, fighters, and explorers who have
sailed the troubled waters of the grey North Sea.
Long after crude piratical swoops on our eastern
seaboard had ended, and many a fair Saxon maid and
tawny-bearded Viking had become the progenitors of
a new and warlike race, there arose a breed of men in
whom the spirit of enterprise was dominant and who
could not be satisfied with anything less than going
forth upon the waters. Two overmastering motives
prompted them to leave their homes and people — the
lust of battle and the greed of gain.

Musty records bear silent witness to their daring,
and in east coast towns and inland cities there are
ancient buildings which are linked with their romantic
deeds. Merchant adventurers in the old days sailed
away, many of them from the yellow Humber, to the
Near East, to fight and overcome the infidel, if God
favoured the enterprise, and to perish miserably in
captivity if Heaven frowned on the undertaking — which
was a way that Heaven frequently had.

One of the most illustrious pioneers of adventurous
seamen was William Cummins, of Hull, who flourished

12 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

four and a half centuries ago. Although a youth of
robust constitution, yet his mother designed him for the
gentle craft of clerking. Perhaps she was fortified in
this determination by the standing of his uncle, who was
a monk. The cleric was a late seafaring man who had
entered the Church in accordance, it was supposed, with
a vow he had made to the Virgin when he was in
peril off the north-west coast of Africa. William was
apprenticed by the monk to Thomas Kingsley, a master
mariner sailing from Hull, and owning the Speedy, a craft
described as a " schooner-brig." The Speedy was em-
ployed in the coasting trade, and Cummins was acting
mate of her when she foundered off Heligoland in a
heavy gale. All hands were drowned except Cummins
and an old sailor named Shepherd. By clinging to a
floating spar these two kept themselves afloat until they
were picked up by the Tyger, a well-found ship com-
manded by Captain Jinks, a rover of evil reputation.
For many years Jinks had scoured the seas and captured
any vessel he could overpower.

Cummins and Shepherd had been rescued, but their
case was not very hopeful, for the Swallow and the
Garland, a couple of fast sailers, as swiftness went in
those days, were dispatched by the King for the express
purpose of ridding the seas of Jinks. The Tyger was
overtaken off Land's End, and she made a fight with
His Majesty's ships that was worthy of her name.
The combat was brought to a dramatic close by the
pirate, who, soon after nightfall, blew up his ship, after
her crew had abandoned her. This they did on finding
that escape from the warships was hopeless, but they did
not go until they had burst open the spirit-room and got

MERCHANT ADVENTURERS 13

mad drunk. In that unserviceable state they jumped
into the boats and shoved off, but were drowned in a
cross-sea which half a gale of wind had raised. One
boat was left for Jinks, Cummins, and Shepherd, the
only three who remained on board. Jinks stayed
because he had faith in his luck, and hoped to escape
by the remaining boat ; he was also earnestly wishful
to get away a heavy box to which he attached great
value, and which the drunkards might have prevented
him from removing peacefully.

As the Swallow and Garland approached, the
pirate, who had been below for some time, appeared
on deck, tugging at his box. Having ordered
Cummins and Shepherd to help him to get it into the
only remaining boat, which was drawn up close under
the stern, several bags of bread and kegs of spirit, a
barrel of water, and a compass were lowered. Then
the captain told the men to get into the boat as smartly
as he did, for he had fired a slow-train leading into the
powder-room ; and in ten minutes, if they were not a
good distance from the Tyger, they would all be blown
to the devil with her. The order was obeyed with
ready zeal, and the boat was only a few hundred yards
away when the ship, having a large store of powder,
blew up with a terrific roar, lighting the sea for miles
around.

Doom now, and at last, overtook the rover. He
had risen in the stern-sheets to behold the havoc
wrought by his slow-train, and while gazing at the
appalling spectacle he was struck on the head by a
descending spar, and instantly killed. The same
missile stove in the water-cask. It was lucky for

14 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Cummins and Shepherd that they were not seen by
the King's ships, for although they were confident
of proving that they were on board the Tyger by
compulsion, and not from choice, it is likely that the
victors would have given them suspension from the yard-
arm first and trial afterwards, even if they had troubled
to inquire at all.

In accordance with a sailor superstition of the time,
Jinks was not buried until the dawn broke. Then he
was cast overboard, Cummins repeating the Latin
prayer for the dead of the Roman Catholic Church — a
performance for which his pious training had befitted
him.

Cummins and Shepherd, after much suffering at sea,
landed at Penzance, and without loss of time made their
way back to Hull. Of their association with the pirate
nothing was said, nor was reference made to the strong-
box ; indeed, for many reasons, the two found it advis-
able to announce that they had been providentially
spared from the wreck of the Speedy, and after long
and perilous wanderings in strange countries had been
restored to their native town.

With the booty which had fallen to him from the
pirate, Cummins carried out a yearning he had long felt,
and, on 8th August 1475, sailed in the Rainbow, a stout,
two-masted coasting vessel, with a crew of twenty-three
men and boys, to search for gold and ivory. The godly
uncle was consulted as to this expedition, and, upon his
advice, such things as the savages of North Africa were
known to prize — beads, knives, and other showy trifles
— were taken for purposes of barter, with powder,
arquebuses, pistolets, and fighting axes. The voyage

MERCHANT ADVENTURERS 15

was favourable, but the crew, for the most part, proved a
villainous set, only Shepherd and five sailors standing
by the master. The African coast — Cape Palmas —
was safely reached, but the crew broke into open
mutiny.

The ring-leader, believing the captain to be asleep,
crept into his cabin in the dead of night, meaning to
murder him with an axe. He was detected, and hanged
at the yard-arm ; but this stern example did not make
the peace and discipline of the Rainbow certain. The
mutineers were determined that the master should perish,
and a plot was formed to destroy him and Shepherd,
and seize the ship. While ten of the disaffected crew
were ashore with Cummins and Shepherd — great
quantities of ivory and gold-dust being ready for
shipment, and the captain bargaining peacefully in a tent
with the natives — the mutineers burst in. There were,
however, so many negroes about that they could not
reach their victims, and two or three of them were
stabbed by the infuriated crew. Springing behind some
bales of cloth for shelter, Cummins and Shepherd shot
two of the assailants dead ; two more speedily went
down, and the rest, dismayed, broke and fled to some
neighbouring woods. The master and Shepherd in-
stantly rejoined their boat, and put off to the ship just
in time to help the loyal men on board to beat off an
attack by mutineers who had not gone ashore.

After a fierce fight the assailants were driven below,
several of them being severely — and one mortally —
wounded. Resolved that he would not perish in a
lonely fashion, this man set fire to a quantity of loose
tow, and, the flames having reached a barrel of tar, the

1 6 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

ship was doomed. Seeing that the Rainbow could not
be saved, but hoping that he might at any rate preserve
some of the stores, Cummins cut the cable with an axe,
to beach the ship, as the wind was blowing dead on
shore ; and then, with Shepherd, six sailors, and three
boys, he jumped into the longboat and reached the
land.

The plight of the crew was so terrible that even the
stout-hearted captain despaired of salvation. But the
natives proved kind and helpful, and assisted, amongst
other things, to hunt down and destroy the sailors who
had fled to the woods. The survivors began to hope
that salvation would come in their ability to reach a
friendly coast ; but there was little prospect of this.
The wreck of the Rainbow was worthless, and the long-
boat would hold only half the men and boys. At last it
was resolved that Shepherd, two men, and three boys
should leave, on the chance of reaching Europe and
returning with help. These had been chosen by lot.
The longboat carried 500 ounces of gold-dust, to buy a
suitable craft for the rescue.

In April 1476 Shepherd returned to Hull, and told
a marvellous and untrue story of what had befallen the
ship and her people. He declared, amongst other things,
that Cummins was dead. - The fact was, Shepherd's
nature had undergone a change. He had become
faithless and avaricious, and was determined that if there
were riches to be had he would possess them alone.
He forgot when safe ashore again that he had pledged
his soul to "save his captain and his comrades." But
Shepherd had not allowed for everything; he had
forgotten that as he and Cummins had had some

MERCHANT ADVENTURERS 17

experience of piracy together it might be reasonable to
suppose that the master did not altogether trust him.
This was the fact, for Cummins had secretly given a
letter to John Darling, the eldest of the sailor-lads, to
deliver to the young wife whom the master had married
only a month before he sailed from Hull in quest of
gold.

By June Shepherd had secured a fine ship called
the Mary Rose, in which he meant to go gold-hunting
on his own account. But the ship was not fully paid
for, and though Shepherd tried to get Cummins's
supposed widow and mother to advance him money,
they refused. He had declared that the captain was
dead, and that he bore no message or letter from him,
although, as a matter of fact, the master had given him
sailing instructions in writing and a letter for delivery to
the young wife — a duplicate of that which had been
entrusted to Darling.

The boy Darling had done his duty faithfully, and it
happened that the woman knew that the captain was
alive when the longboat left. Darling had forwarded
his precious parcel from London by a coasting-vessel
which had put in at Hull. In a covering letter he
warned Mistress Cummins not to be too trustful of
Michael Shepherd, and said he would have delivered
the packet personally, but he was unable to leave his
bed, since he had suffered cruelly from the effects of
three weeks' exposure in the longboat, until rescued by
a whale ship. Before the rescue took place, two of the
sailors and one of the boys had died.

The story now becomes more romantic. Shepherd
was despairing of raising the needed money when a slim

1 8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and handsome young gentleman called, and, giving his
name as James Carr, and explaining that he was
adventurous and wished to see the world, said he would
advance the loan on condition that he could sail with
the Mary Rose as a passenger. Shepherd gladly took
the offer, and the slim and handsome young gentleman
had one of the best berths on board set apart for
him. The Mary Rose sailed on Midsummer Day,
1476.

The story of Cummins from this point is long and
exciting ; but a few sentences will serve to indicate its
leading points. The slim and handsome passenger was
Mistress Cummins in disguise. She had taken this
romantic means of rejoining and saving her husband,
and she accomplished both her objects.

Poetic judgment overtook the faithless Shepherd,
for he was massacred, with other members of the crew
of the Mary Rose, by natives, whose women he had
maltreated and whose goods he had stolen, in strict
accordance with the spirit of the times.

The voyage home was marked by storm, mutiny,
and a meeting with a French pirate ship, the Mogador.
The mutineers captured the Mary Rose, which in turn
was taken by the Mogador, and this craft having been
cleverly seized by Cummins — who forced the rovers to
work their own ship to Hull — he returned in safety to
his native country. He became rich by trading with
the Levant ; but he had had enough of the African
goldfields, which he never revisited. One of his sons
commanded a " victualler" belonging to Drake's squadron
in the fight with the Spanish Armada.

That is the story of one of the many adventurers

MERCHANT ADVENTURERS 19

who sallied forth from the most famous of all North Sea
ports, a town which maintains its position and is to-day
the third port in the realm and the headquarters of the
largest private shipping company in the world — Thomas
Wilson, Sons, & Co. Ltd.

CHAPTER III

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN

THERE were stirring times on the North Sea borders
from the days of Elizabeth and her sailors until the
period when Charles the First lost his head, and cavalry
and infantry officers were given the command of ships
and sent to kill and slay the Dutch. Many of the rough,
gruff men who crushed the Armada were North Sea
fishers, and their descendants followed Blake and
Monk and the rest of the grim brotherhood of the
Commonwealth.

Five years before the Armada came to England a
return was prepared of all the masters, mariners, and
fishermen belonging to "every shire through the realm."
This showed a total of 14,771, including 957 wherrymen
between London Bridge and Gravesend. The fishermen
on the North Sea borders were —

London . . . . .191

York 507

North parts .... 450
Lincoln ..... 334

Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent were given as
returning no fishermen.

These returns are obviously imperfect. On the York-
shire coast alone, in the ancient ports and harbours of

A NORTH-EAST COAST PIER.

SMACKSMEN ASHORE.

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 21

Hull, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, and Whitby, as
well as many fishing villages, there were considerable
bodies of men who won their living from the North Sea,
although they did not venture far upon it, and it was
these toilers who for a long period came into conflict
with the enemies of their country, especially the Dutch.
Numberless small encounters took place, of which only
incomplete records exist, but there was almost ceaseless
warfare, in greater or lesser form, between the peoples on
each side of the North Sea, until there came the de-
vastating period of the three Dutch wars.

Of national affairs the primitive North Sea men of
the seventeenth century knew little and cared less ; but
to fight the Dutch was a thing after their own hearts,
for the sons of Holland were dangerous trade com-
petitors. Herrings were a source of national wealth,
yet the Dutchman had the effrontery to cross the North
Sea and expect to be allowed to compete on equal
terms with his English rival. Time after time the
Hollanders ventured into east coast ports, for honest
purposes ; and as often they were cast forth, when
North Sea toilers got the chance to push them out.
State papers give abundant proof of that — for instance,
several Dutch " skuits " put into Yarmouth in; September
1675 to ta^e herrings and sell them at that port, as they
had been accustomed to do until stopped by Act of
Parliament. They claimed the right to catch and sell
the fish ; but the town thought differently, and seized
the Dutchmen's catches, salving their consciences by
giving a moiety to the poor.

Those were adventurous times on shore as well as
at sea. Afloat merchandise was not safe ; ashore it

22 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

was equally in peril of being looted by robbers, and
accordingly, whenever anything of value was intended
for transport, great precautions had to be taken to
secure its safety. On 6th October 1676 the Duke
of Monmouth issued a warrant to Sergeant John
Wrangham to march from Hull to Gainsborough with
the file of musketeers under his command. At Gains-
borough the sergeant was to receive some waggons
belonging to merchants trading with London, and he
was to convoy them to the capital, being charged to
secure and defend the waggons to the utmost of his
power from any attempts to take them. When he
had done his task the sergeant was to return with all
convenient speed to the garrison at Hull. He was
to take special care that the soldiers all along the
march behaved civilly and duly paid for whatever
they had occasion for.

That record indicates the state of affairs on land.
Nothing of moment could be done without protection
or the exercise of force ; and the same state of things
existed on the seas, especially the North Sea, where
fishing operations brought the rival nations into
constant conflict.

In August 1676 a fleet of 200 Dutch doggers were
seen about a league off Flamborough Head, convoyed
by two or three men-of-war. They stood to the
southward about a league and then stood off to sea.
French warships were at that time constantly swooping
on the fishing-craft, and they had just made a descent
on a Dutch fleet of doggers and busses, taking away
the masters and holding them to ransom. These
unhappy toilers had already suffered considerably owing

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 23

to poor fishing, for " they were all badly fished, none
of them having above a barrel of herrings apiece."

The times were indeed tumultuous. Simultaneously
with the report of the descent on the Dutch doggers
was an account of a French man-of-war being in
Scarborough Road. She was a ship of about forty
guns and had two prizes with her, one a " raft-laden"
ship from Norway and the other a Dutch West India-
man of between thirty and forty guns, laden with
sugar, indigo, and other valuable commodities. The
Frenchman did not remain long, and the news of
her going was promptly conveyed to Bridlington by
Scarborough fishing-boats, for the men of the North
Sea were the news carriers of the coast on both sides
of that stretch of water.

Bridlington and Hull loomed large in the official
correspondence of the times, mostly in connection with
fishing and shipping. Bridlington then, as now,
provided in certain winds a vast natural harbour of
refuge for vessels which could not make headway.
When gales were blowing ships put into Bridlington
Bay for the shelter of the great Flamborough Head.
Fleets of colliers, light or laden, were constantly
sheltering in the Bay. In September 1676 a score
of light colliers were at anchor, "the wind having
blown very hard, much northerly, most of this week."
Several of the sheltering ships were from Holland,
and eight or ten soldiers were landed at Bridlington
who had been at the siege of Maestricht. They
reported that of three British regiments which were
there not one was left, and that great privations had
been endured and heavy losses suffered. " The poor

24 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

soldiers look as if they had come out of gaol, miserably
poor."

Soon after the landing of the soldiers twenty light
colliers were at anchor, waiting for a fair wind, as
they had been doing for many days. They had
already got up their anchors and sailed as far
northward as Robin Hood's Bay, "but the wind
took them short and brought them in here again."

With so much traffic there were from time to time
many exciting happenings in connection with ships.
Some dragged their anchors and went ashore, or were
blown out to sea, according to the wind ; others took
fire or fell into the clutches of a prowling privateer.
In November 1676 a fire and a great smoke were
seen ten miles southward of Bridlington Bay. When
the morning broke it was learned that the vessel was
a dogger of London, laden with deals from Norway.
In the thick weather she had run ashore, and, being
left with a candle burning, she was set on fire and
badly damaged, and most of her cargo was destroyed.

Shipmasters who were anchored in the Bay, with
time passing wearily, were glad to give and get the
news. They brought tidings of victories or defeats on
the other side of the North Sea ; and as often gave
accounts of their own doings or adventures. The
master of a Newcastle ship, who sheltered just after
Christmas, told how, in coming from Gottenburg, he
was forced to get the ice cut for more than four
miles, to clear a passage to the sea.

All along the North Sea coast of England and
Scotland there were exciting happenings to chronicle ;
but more particularly in relation to those places which

AN ANCIENT LOOK-OUT ON THE NORTH SEA COAST.

DOLPHINS.

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 25

then, as now, were particularly closely associated with
the continental ports. Hull was the centre of many
strange events by land as well as sea, amongst them
being the affair of Walter Morgan and Corporal
Emerson. This may be mentioned as an illustration
of the fierce spirit which prevailed on the North Sea
borders, and how ready men were to use force in
settlement of quarrels. A difference had arisen between
the two, and the consequences were described in a
letter written from Hull on 4th September 1676
to Sir Henry Pomeroy, captain of a company in
the Holland regiment. The affair happened on
ist November 1674, so that a considerable period
passed before the letter was dispatched.

" I had the guard of this town," wrote Morgan,
"and a little after one in the night went my round
and found all well. I returned to the main guard,
where I found all in an uproar, and all but one
complained against the corporal, for, not being able
to tie one neck and heels, which they refusing, he
broke their heads with such an oaken plant as scarce
is worn by any. The two pieces of the stick the
soldiers brought me to see, a third the match that
tied the soldier who made the difference, a fourth
and a fifth their broken pates. I told the corporal
I thought him too severe, and that these men might
come to be corporals in time, as well as he, and that
I never did such a thing in my life and prayed him
to do so no more, and so left him. He said, 'Surely
my officers knew what they did when they made me
corporal, for it is twelve years since I was corporal,
and I am not now to be taught my duty, but know

26 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

it as well as you,1 at which I stepped back and, being
muffled with my coat, struck him one blow with my
flat hand. He turned up his eyes, biting his tobacco-
pipe, twisting his hands as if he had been troubled
with the falling sickness, and fell on my foot with
some three or four drops of blood out of his ear.
I got him laid on the settle. After a while he rose
and went to the fire and asked me leave to go home,
and I sent one with him to light him, after which I
never heard of him till he was laid out for dead.
Then the Governor, without any examination before
a court-martial or himself, disarmed me and delivered
me over to the civil power, who forthwith sent me
to prison, where I had still remained, had you not
bailed me. I hope you will labour for my trial at
our next Michaelmas sessions."

In those primitive times ships blundered north and
south as best they could, steering by landmarks when
they were able to see them and anchoring when there
was fog or bad weather. But, in spite of all their caution,
mariners were caught in the hard gales which arose so
swiftly on those treacherous waters, and great numbers
of vessels and their crews were lost. Navigation was
largely a matter of guesswork, and frequently a master
was hopelessly bewildered as to his position, and conse-
quently came to grief.

In November 1676 the Success of London was
wrecked off Yarmouth. She was bound for Venice
with 800 barrels of red herrings and about twenty tons
of lead. The night was very dark and a tempestuous
south-east wind was blowing. The master judged that
he was ten leagues at sea when, as a matter of fact, he

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 27

was just off the land, and the Success came ashore within
two miles of Yarmouth. Five men who went off in a
boat were drowned ; but all the people in the Success
were saved. The ship herself was broken to pieces, and
most of the herrings were lost ; but the greater part of
the lead was saved, and some of the guns.

Long years after that particular Success came to grief
I saw another old-world vessel with the same name off
the east coast. I had gone seaward down the Valley
at Scarborough, and there, in the South Bay, I set eyes
upon her — a phantom-like vessel that surely had no
business on the ocean. I hurried to the harbour, and
discovered that the freak was the old convict ship Success,
which, despite her century of age, had worked her own
way, under her own sail, from Australia to England, and
had done the trip in almost clipper time — four months.

So far back as 1669 the question was being con-
sidered of building lighthouses on the east coast. A
double lighthouse was proposed at St. Nicholas' Gatt,
and lighthouses at Cromer, Flamborough Head, and on
Fame Island. A licence was granted to Sir John
Clayton and George Blake to build these structures, and
to receive, " by way of voluntary contributions and not
otherwise," towards their maintenance, any sum not
exceeding the following rates : " For every loaden ship
ijd. and id. per ton for every light ship passing by the
places where the lighthouses should be erected, for sixty
years at the yearly rent of 2os., all of which lighthouses
are built, but only that at St. Nicholas' Gatt is lighted."
There still stands on Flamborough Head, hard by the
lighthouse and Lloyd's Signal Station, the fine tower
which is called the Old Lighthouse, but concerning which

28 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

little that is reliable is to be learned. The structure was
doubtless at one time a look-out place ; but it does not
appear to have been used as a beacon.

The constant traffic up and down the North Sea
caused some of the earliest of all efforts to light our
shores to be made on the eastern border of Great
Britain. Long before lighthouses were built there were
in use fire beacons and coal beacons, braziers in which
wood or coal was burnt, and which served their purpose
well enough in good clear weather, but were useless in
bad seasons. An open grate in which coal had to be
kept burning by a man with a pair of bellows was not
a promising contrivance, especially in a winter snow-
storm ; yet such beacons were in use on the east coast
so lately that only half a century ago there was still living
the man who tended the coal beacon at Harwich. A
coal fire was shown at Cromer from 1719 to 1792 ; but
primitive lighting structures were employed at various
places a century earlier, and doubtless the famous Boston
" Stump " in days gone by did duty as a light for manners,
just as in the daytime the tower served as a landmark
for mariners. The Lowestoft Lower or Beach Light-
house was first illuminated in 1608, and was lit with oil
in 1730.

The long stretch of dangerous east coast necessitates
the employment of a great number of lighthouses and
light vessels, most of the latter being stationed between
Cromer and Lowestoft. Many of these craft are moored
in positions in which they endure the full force of North
Sea gales and the consequent discomfort of a particularly
violent and unpleasant motion ; indeed, the master of a
former Hull light vessel, who had crossed the Atlantic

THE MASTER OF A LIGHTSHIP FIRING THE
SIGNAL GUN.

THE LAMPLIGHTER OF A NORTH SEA LIGHTSHIP.

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 29

sixty times, declared that he had never met such a nasty
sea as that in bad weather in the H umber. When
spending some days on board a lightship, in sight of land,
I was assured by several members of the crew that they
would far rather be well out at sea, because the sight of
the fields and houses only increased the longing to be
ashore.

The regions where these lightships cluster are those
with which so many great North Sea achievements are
associated. Most famous of all is Yarmouth Roads,
where, before steam became universal, as many as a
thousand vessels could be seen at anchor when shelter-
ing in bad weather or delayed by unfavourable winds.
Yarmouth and its people fascinated Defoe, who wrote
his famous description of a storm, as did Dickens, long
afterwards, in David Copperfield, when he found "bewail-
ing women whose husbands were away in herring or
oyster boats, which there was too much reason to think
might have foundered before they could run in anywhere
for shelter. . . . The sea, having upon it the additional
agitation of the whole night, was infinitely more terrific
than when I had seen it last. Every appearance it had
then presented bore the expression of being swelled"
It was in Yarmouth Roads where the great, good-
hearted fisherman Ham perished, and it was at Yarmouth
that Mr. Barkis, doubtless for once unwillin', went out
with the tide.

Robin Hood's Bay, on the Yorkshire coast, is locally
associated with the renowned outlaw, who is supposed
to have fled to this quaint spot when he was hard
pressed. He had boats ready, so that if necessary he
could hurry off to sea. At one time the romantic Robin

30 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

seems to have been moved to try his luck as a fisher-
man, for he declared —

"The fishermen brave, more money have
Than any merchants two or three ;
Therefore I will to Scarborough go,
That I a fisherman brave may be."

Robin gallantly ventured forth, probably in a coble ;
but, if he really meant to fish, he lost sight of his honest
purpose on seeing a French ship of war approach.
There was no doubt in his mind as to what he should
do — he commanded that he should be tied to the mast,
so that he could stand fair at his mark, then, taking
his bow, and declaring that he would spare never a
Frenchman, he shot his arrows and vanquished his
foes ; after which, boarding the ship, he was rewarded
by finding " Twelve thousand pound of money bright,"
as the ballad-writer duly puts on record.

The far stretch of east coast had its little nooks
of harbours and established ports long before the days
of Robin Hood. At the time of the Conquest the
primitive North Sea men of Yarmouth went after the
herring in their open boats, and in succeeding centuries
they plied their ancient trade in vessels which grew
larger, had better accommodation, and carried more
men — forerunners of the modern lugger and the steam-
boat. Yarmouth has its own historians — conscientious
and laborious workers like Manship, Palmer, and Nail —
and the town of gridirons gave them plenty of material ;
while Defoe and Dickens added imaginatively to what
has been recorded more prosaically. The name of
Captain Cook is imperishably associated with the
Yorkshire coast, on which he was born.

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 31

Some quaint particulars concerning the ocean toilers
nearly two centuries ago were given by the Rev. John
Lewis, who was vicar of Minster, and wrote of the
antiquities of the Isle of Thanet. The inhabitants who
lived by the seaside, he said, were generally fishermen,
or those who went voyages to foreign parts, or those
who depended upon " foying" — that was, going off to
ships with provisions, or to help them in distress.
Many of these people, especially those who went to the
" North Seas" to fish, were "a sort of amphibious
creatures," who got their living both by sea and land,
being fishermen as well as husbandmen, and equally
skilled in holding the helm and the plough. According
to the season of the year, they made nets, went cod,
mackerel, or herring fishing, sailed on voyages, exported
merchandise, or ploughed and mowed and reaped and
sowed, and generally led the life of a farmer. As boys
they went to catch herring and whiting, and to the
" North Seas," to which they made two voyages a year.
From the second voyage they returned home soon
enough to enable the men to share in the wheat season,
"and take a winter's thresh." After the latter they
returned to the sea. There were also two seasons for
the home fishery, known as " shot-fare" and "herring-
fare." Of these the first was the mackerel season,
which usually began about May, when the sowing of
barley was ended ; the other was the season for catching
herrings, which opened about the end of harvest and
finished in time for the wheat season, which, in Thanet,
was November, the wheat being then sown. Owing
to the mixture of the two callings of land and sea it
was not uncommon for farm-servants to bargain with

32 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

their masters that they should go to "shot-fare" and
" herring-fare."

The North Sea fishery had been at that time much
followed by the inhabitants of Thanet, but want of
success had greatly discouraged them in recent years,
and many of the men and boys had left the work. The
tackle used in the North Sea fishing by the people of
Thanet consisted of a peck, or heading knife, a splitting
knife, a gutting knife, and a contrivance carrying two
hooks with which very good results seem to have been
secured. This was a semicircular bar of iron, in the
middle of which was a lead to poise it through a hole, in
the top of the bar there went an iron ring, to which was
fixed a line of so many fathoms as the depth of water
needed. At each end of the bar was a hole with a
ring in it, to which was fixed a piece of line about ten
inches long. This was called the "snood," and to it
was fastened the hook, with a piece of lead on the top
of it resembling a fish, and called the " fish." It was
said that sometimes cod were enticed to swallow the
hook when it was unbaited.

The "shot-fare" and the "herring-fare" gave em-
ployment to the "poor people on shore" who were
busied in spinning, twisting, and knitting the nets. The
prices paid were small enough. They were —

Spinning by the pound . y ... '• 2d.

Twisting * . . . . , id.
Knitting a shot-net, which is but two

deepings by the awlne . .. . fd.
Knitting a herring-net of three deepings

by the awlne » . , . . id.

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 33

Beating or mending these nets, is. a day, with
victuals, or is. 3d. per day, with a break-
fast only.

An " awlne " was a French measure of 5 ft. 7 in.
Sixty awlnes made a " dole," or parcel, of shot-nets,
and twenty awlnes made a ''dole" of herring-nets.

The reverend author spoke of the seamen of Thanet
as being excellent sailors — very bold and dexterous in
going off to ships in distress — but he deplored their
practice of pilfering stranded ships and abusing those
who had already suffered so much. The name they
gave to the custom was " paultring," but, said the
writer, "nothing sure can be more vile and base than,
under pretence of assisting the distressed masters and
saving theirs and the merchants' goods, to convert them
to their own use, by making what they called guile-
shares." It became customary from this "paultring" to
use the expression " seafaring ways," as indicating the
" utmost rudeness and barbarity." A learned antiquary
named Twine was accordingly moved to represent the
inhabitants of the seacoast as " rude, rough, cruel,
given to robbery, and, in one word, the very worst of
people." There was no rule, however, without an
exception, added the vicar hopefully ; but he did not
seem to find it in Thanet.

There was a rude rhyme which ran —

"Ramsgate capons, Peter's lings,
Bradstow scrubs and Margate kings."

" Capon " signified not a fowl for the table, but red
herrings, and the reproach was levelled at Ramsgate,
3

34 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

St. Peter's, and Bradstow because the people there
formerly lived " very meanly and poorly," eating scarce
anything but fish, and particularly red herring and ling,
or " North Sea cod." On the other hand, Margate was
the chief, if not the only, place of business, and its
inhabitants were wealthy, and lived in plenty ; but
Margate fell on somewhat evil days and the "kings"
departed. Meanwhile, Ramsgate prospered and allured
many rich people, so that apparently the "capons"
which were not genuine were succeeded by acceptable
chickens and other good fare.

The primitive North Sea men of the past, the
fishers who were also husbandmen, have their successors
in the Scots who come from northern ports to southern
climes, following the herrings. Their fine seaworthy
luggers, a feature of many of which is the horizontal
steering-wheel, often crowd English harbours, and the
crews throng the streets on the Sabbath, decently
dressed and orderly. These people from the Shetlands
and elsewhere are still in many ways primitive. I have
given a cigar to one of them, only to learn that he did
not know how to smoke it. And just as their fore-
fathers did long ago, so they do themselves — till the
soil in due season, and at the proper time go fishing.
They are industrious, reserved, and sober — though some
of them, perhaps, when in port for the week-end, relax
vigilance a little and snuggle in their cabooses and
make themselves contented with the help of grateful
waters. "The Cotter's Saturday Night" has its repetition
on a broader scale in many a lugger which is in harbour
for the week-end. At eventide you may see the men
and boys carrying their basketsful of bread, meat,

PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 35

vegetables, and groceries down the piers or on the quays
of some quaint haven. They crowd into their confined
and evil-smelling quarters, and make themselves com-
fortable and happy. To this end they brew innocuous
drinks, or mix strong spirit with the contents of the
water-cask, though there are primitive North Sea men
who hold it more than half a sin to favour such un-
natural alliances.

The tale is told — and, like many other stories, it
may be true — of the Scotch skipper whose lugger was in
port for the week-end. He gave the boy a sovereign,
strictly charging him to lay it out in food and drink to
the best advantage. In due season the youth returned,
bearing half a dozen bottles of whisky and a penny
loaf. For a moment the master gazed admiringly, then
exclaimed despairingly, " Heaven forgive you, boy !
Whatever shall we do wi' all this bread ? "

CHAPTER IV

FIELDS AND HARVESTERS

WAR to-day is waged as fiercely on the North Sea as it
ever was when Jutlanders and Vikings came to England.
But it is another sort of fight, a battle with unnumbered
hosts that dwell in gloomy waters and are seldom seen
till they are conquered. For generations armies of men
have fished the Dogger Bank and other shoals, har-
vesters of fields that have been, and are, open to all who
care to visit them.

Just as the early sea-wolves ravened and pillaged on
the shores of Britain, so these harvesters reap their re-
wards. From January ist to New Year's Eve that follows,
in steam or sailing craft, but mostly steam, they labour
with incessant courage and endurance. The enormous
quantity of 22,371,221 cwt. of fish was landed in the
United Kingdom in 1909, the value being ^10,69 1,183,
and the bulk coming from the North Sea. To win such
vast results there were employed thousands of men and
boys and four standing fleets of steamboats, irrespective
of many craft which operate individually, and are known
as single-boaters.

If the North Sea waters were translucent, what a
wondrous sight would be presented to the voyagers upon

its surface ! Countless myriads of fishes find existence

36

THE COD-END OF A TRAWL, WITH ITS CATCH.

THE COD-END UNLASHED AND THE CATCH OF
FISH IN THE POUND.

FIELDS AND HARVESTERS 37

in them, and certain portions of the Dogger and other
banks would not show sand or shell, or smooth or rough
ground, according to the charts ; but would reveal an
almost solid moving dark or silver mass.

That famous submarine plateau which is called the
Dogger Bank lies in the middle of the North Sea. To
the ordinary mind there is nothing to distinguish this par-
ticular stretch of water from the surrounding sea ; but the
trawler man knows it as the Londoner knows his Charing
Cross.

The Dogger, indeed, is the Charing Cross of the
North Sea, for it is there that nearly all things fishing
meet, and from which all operations start. The fleets are
constantly on or near the Dogger ; the steam-carriers
surge up London River from the Dogger, and it is back
to or near the Dogger that they mostly go when they are
clear of Billingsgate and Gravesend. Just as the gold-
fields of Africa and Australia have been the lodestars of
countless adventurers and courageous spirits, so the Dogger
Bank has been the object of armies who have left the
North Sea shores in various sorts of craft. Rich hauls of
gold have been taken by sinking shafts ; hauls of silver
fish, as precious, have been made from the prolific waters
of the Bank. There is this difference between the two —
that, whilst the mines have been gutted and laid bare,
the sandy plateau has remained fertile, and myriads of
fish have appeared to take the places of the unnumbered
hosts which have been scooped by the relentless trawls.

Day and night throughout the year, ceaselessly, except
when prevented by bad weather from working, the steam-
trawlers are at work on the Dogger, gathering its harvest,
and so it is with all the other fishing-banks of the North Sea.

38 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

No factory ashore is driven with greater regularity and
persistence than a modern steam-trawler. The purpose
of the loom is to weave, weave, weave ; and the object
of the trawler is to fish, fish, fish. But the mill has this
great advantage, that it is a steady and reliable concern ;
the workers are sure of their feet, irrespective of weather.
Hard gales may sweep down on the stout stone or brick
walls, sleet may slat against the windows, but these
things only serve to emphasise the comforts of the indoor
workers. The enginemen and boilermen may go about
their business unconcerned because of the weather; yet
within a hundred miles or so — for the western edge of
the Dogger is only sixty miles from the east coast of
England — the fisherman is wallowing in weltering seas,
the trawler is towing her gear amid the roar of the wind
and the surge of the waves, and the engineer and stoker
are carrying out their labours on their bucking, straining
iron or steel floors which, as likely as not, are deep in
dirty water. Only when the weather is uncompromisingly
bad is the gear hauled, for loss offish means loss of money
on the Dogger. The skipper or steersman in his wheel-
house on the Dogger is an object which always claims
the admiration of the observer ; and not less so is the
engineer, often almost naked, who stands by his bucking,
rattling machinery, and the grimy fireman who has
scarcely standing-room on his steel or iron floor. There
is the trimmer, too — whose position involves incessant
toil and discomfort. May the day be not far distant
when some efficient mechanical method of supplying
boilers with steam will be devised, if only for the sake of
eliminating firemen.

Time was, apparently, when the Dogger was a region

FIELDS AND HARVESTERS 39

above, and not below, the surface of the sea ; and the
day may come when again it will be a fertile and smiling
stretch of country. Engineers of the future may reclaim
it, as they mean to win back the Zuyder Zee, and the
people of the Dogger may be a race of whom we cannot
form any conception, and of which it is, perhaps, better
not to think. Included in that people may be learned
creatures who will tell their fellows what the Dogger
used to be in the brave days when hard North Sea men
fished it mercilessly ; and statistics may be forthcoming
as to the amount of wealth represented by generations
of trawling from the Bank. The time is not yet.
Meanwhile, there are no figures available to give an
accurate idea of the aggregate of the enormous wealth of
the countless hauls which have been made from the
Bank, since the early days when single-boaters ventured
forth and shot their nets. We can only speculate and
estimate, and use the figures of the present as a guide to
the performances of the past and the probable achieve-
ments of the future. Of the past we know, fully or in
part ; of the present we are well informed ; but of the
time to come we only know that science will decide how
best the fish supply shall be dealt with.

Not far from the Dogger, and due east from the
Yorkshire coast, is one of the most famous of all the
North Sea fishing-grounds. This is the Silver Pit, a
region which, in its way, has been as profitable as some
of the goldfields of Australia. The winter of 1 843 was
very severe, and myriads of soles had been driven by the
cold into the deep water of this particular part of the
North Sea. Very few trawlers were then at work ; but
one of them, a Hullman, had his gear down. When the

40 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

trawl was hauled, it was found to be full of fish — not
a mixture of prime and offal, but of prime alone, and
the primest at that, for the entire catch consisted of sole.

Hurrying to Hull, the skipper sold his precious catch,
and hastened back to the money-giving spot for more.
Again the trawl was packed with soles, and the wondrous
hauls were repeated, not only by the discovery of what
became known as the Silver Pit, because of its wealth of
fish, but also by other trawlers who had heard of the
presence of abundant prime.

The fame of the Silver Pit spread far and wide, and
smacksmen swooped on Hull and settled there. The
few trawlers rapidly increased in number, and money was
made almost as swiftly as it was being taken from the
goldfields. The wiser and more cautious men built the
foundations of substantial fortunes ; but the more im-
provident spirits acted on the principle of easy come,
easy go. The man who discovered the Silver Pit and
founded the east coast fishing trade died in Hull work-
house fifty years after he had led the way to fortune !

The Dogger is the father of the North Sea banks.
It is with that famous region that the most courageous and
romantic deep-sea operations are associated ; but there
are now many other localities which are being worked
by steamboats just as hard as ever the Dogger was in
the earlier days of fleeting. Great Britain is scarcely
more clearly mapped out into countries than the North
Sea is charted into districts, most of them known only
to fishermen or those who are connected with the
fishing industry. There is the Viking Bank, 450 miles
from the H umber, and almost midway between the
Shetlands and Norway; the Great Fisher Bank, north-

A NORTH SEA SKIPPER AT THE WHEEL.

A STEAM-TRAWLER'S FISH-ROOM.

FIELDS AND HARVESTERS 41

east of the Dogger ; the Little Fisher Bank and the
Jutland Bank. There are the Horn Reefs, off the coast
of Denmark, the Broad Fourteens, not far from the
Dutch coast ; the Great Silver Pit, almost on a line
drawn between Flamborough Head and Heligoland;
the Long Forties, due east from Aberdeen, and many
places with strange names like the Puzzle Hole, Brucey's
Garden, Clay Deep, the Hospital, and the Cemetery.
Irrespective of romance or sinister import in the names,
the localities serve as harvest-grounds for the merciless
steam-towed trawls. Other great "regions" are the
Fladen Ground, nearly 300 miles north of the Humber,
and the Oyster Ground, which stretches half-way across
the North Sea from Heligoland towards Flamborough
Head. These shoals and grounds are named as fisher-
men have named them ; there are also official designa-
tions which are specially adapted to help official work in
connection with the North Sea industry. That work is
being done with great zeal and ability.

These well-defined " regions" abound in fish, to be
had by all comers for the trouble of catching ; but the
whole of the North Sea itself, outside the coast-limits, is
the scene of operations of the modern British trawler.
She has the vast area of 152,000 nautical square miles
to work in, the greatest of all fishing-regions frequented
by trawlers ; yet nowadays not even that immense
locality — nearly three times the area of England and
Wales — satisfies the enterprise of steamboat owners.
There are eighteen " regions" frequented by British
trawlers, these " regions " having a total area of more
than 700,000 square miles. The Baltic Sea takes second
place in extent, with nearly 135,000 square miles, and

42

NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the White Sea third, with nearly 129,000. The table
from the official chart may be quoted, showing the
" regions" and their actual dimensions. The table
indicates at a glance how wide afield the modern British
trawler goes in quest of prey —

No. of
Region.

Name.

Approx. area
in sq. mis.
(nautical).

I.

White Sea . . . . ...

128 QI7

II.
III.

Coast of Norway .....
Baltic Sea

29,648
134,801

IV.
V.
VI.

North Sea
North of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland)
Westward of Scotland ....

152,473
18,096

72.OQQ

VII.

^6 608

VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.

Faroe .
Rockall
West of Ireland .
Irish Sea . \^ '
Southward of Ireland
Bristol Channel .

4,949
3,430
9,066

15,743
50,416
8. 6n

XIV.

English Channel

2<;,2i8

XV.
XVI.

West of France

25,422
15,464

XVII.
XVIII.

Coast of Portugal

9,997

I<V4.QQ

Total

701,569

Fishes may and do change quarters ; but their instinct
is no match for the experience and wisdom of the ruth-
less admirals who, as soon as a particular ground is fished
bare or ceases to yield satisfactory hauls, order their
fleets to new regions perhaps a hundred or more miles
away. These sudden shiftings are a sore trial to carriers
returning from market. Their skippers have to go on
seeking till they find, and there are cases on record of
skippers burning all their coal and consuming all their

FIELDS AND HARVESTERS 43

stores, and even then failing to join their fleets. Wire-
less telegraphy on the carriers and at least the admirals'
vessels would abolish this evil, and it is surprising that
keen business men, such as those who control the great
North Sea fleets, have not yet made use of this in-
vention.

The Germans have more than half a dozen steam-
trawlers fitted with wireless apparatus, and special
measures have been taken to instruct skippers and
fishermen in the use of it. The German purpose seems
to be to employ the system not only in connection with
fishing operations, but also to give warning of approach-
ing storms. In existing circumstances no advantage
could be taken of such warnings by British trawlers,
except the single-boaters, which might run for shelter.
The fleeters have to ride out gales and make the best of
them, although the splendid modern boats have little to
fear from wind and water. Occasionally, however, a
steam-trawler founders with all hands, and there is the
ever-present danger of serious damage being done and
life lost through shipping heavy seas.

The gloomiest of prophecies have been made con-
cerning the harvest fields of the North Sea. Every year
for generations has brought forth its dismal seer who
has foretold the utter depletion of the banks ; yet these
Jeremiahs have been consistently confounded, for, despite
the vast growth of the fishing industry, the total quantities
of fish increase annually. This is largely due, of course,
to the opening of new and distant grounds ; but while
there has been a falling off in some heavily trawled
localities, notably the Dogger, other regions have been
developed and the shortage more than made good. The

44 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

incessant cannibalism amongst fishes and the remorseless
scooping of the trawl has not apparently affected the
incredible population of the deep.

Death, damage to property, and injury to person
have been at all times associated with North Sea trawling.
The end comes so swiftly and unexpectedly, too, in such
terrible and pitiless fashion, and often there is no avoid-
ing it. Damage is done by every gale that blows, and
daily in the fleets there are greater or lesser injuries to
men and boys. Seas sweeping fiercely over or crashing
on smacks and steamboats have crushed the life out of
thousands of splendid fellows ; collisions in fog or clear
weather have sent one or both of the colliding craft to
the bottom of the sea, and there have been more fishing
vessels lost, with their crews, because of liners and cargo
steamers driving over the North Sea, than have been
ever reported or will be ever known.

I remember being in a fishing-vessel south of the
Dogger, in the early spring, amusing myself and at the
same time doing useful work by blowing the trumpet
which served as syren, for there was a dense fog, and
we had little or no way.

The fog abruptly lifted, and so near to us that I read
the name on her bow quite easily without the help of
glasses, was a German Atlantic liner, driving full speed
ahead and making never a sound by way of signal. She
went past and was enveloped in the clammy air.

I was standing near the skipper. " Well ? " I said.
" A near enough shave ? "

"Ay," he answered bitterly. "A few seconds late
in gettin' where we are, an' we shouldn't ha' bin talkin'
now. They slice you — an' slink away. They're too

FIELDS AND HARVESTERS 45

mighty to stop, an' in too big a 'urry, them liners.
Besides, what do a few poor fishermen matter ? "

Many a home on the east coast of England, to say
nothing of the other side of the North Sea, has been
desolated by the reckless deeds of steamboat men. True,
commanders of stately liners and masters of tramps are
just as mercilessly driven in the race of life as any slave
ashore, and where the loss of a tide may mean a lost
market, or, worse, dismissal, there is not much room for
sentiment.

Just as the Russian warships blundered through a
North Sea fleet, so other steam-craft have cut their way
through peaceful trawlers, and, though they have not
wantonly and cravenly fired guns, yet they have wrought
just as much mischief, for they have sent many an in-
offensive vessel to the bottom, with all her crew — and
there has been no talk of retaliation or compensation.

In thick weather or snowstorms on the Dogger and
other fishing - banks smacks especially have suffered
greatly. In the old days of sail alone, when craft were
almost helpless, a steamboat would loom up, and before
she was fully seen she had cut through and destroyed a
smack, and kept her course without so much as slowing
down or troubling to learn what mischief she had done
and how much death she had dealt.

The total number of fishermen employed in 1909-10
was 103,719, and the number who lost their lives was
243 — a death-rate of i in 427, but the death-rate in
the larger fishing-vessels was i in 203. The greatest
number of deaths were due to accidental or other
injuries, 217 fishermen meeting their end in this manner.
The bare official returns for the year named show how

46 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

perilous still is the calling of the fishermen around our
coasts, despite the advances that have been made
towards securing safety ; but in one direction at least
there has been an enormous improvement, and that is
in connection with the boarding of fish. Under the
heading, " Boat Accidents when Fish Ferrying," the total
number of deaths for the year was only four, and these
related to steamboats, there being no casualties for
sailing vessels. This is a wondrous change from the
days of smacks, when often enough there would be four
or more men lost in a single morning in one fleet.
Heavy seas carried overboard or killed thirteen men —
three from sailing, and ten from steam, vessels ; and
miscellaneous accidents accounted for twenty-five lives —
twenty-one in steamboats and four in sailing vessels.
There were four suicides — all in steam vessels — and three
cases of supposed suicide, three out of the total of
seven being firemen and trimmers. Disease accounted
for twenty deaths — seventeen in steam, and three in
sailing, vessels — no fewer than five skippers of steam-
boats being amongst this number. The total included
eleven deaths from heart disease, which is strong indica-
tion of the severe and prolonged bodily strain to which
fishermen are subjected. Of the total number of deaths
twelve were directly or indirectly attributed to drink.

K.

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4
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i

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,j
o

CHAPTER V
SMACKS AND TRAWLS

YARMOUTH was the cradle of beam-trawling. From
that famous old port the first of the beam-equipped
smacks sailed, and it became the headquarters of the
great sailing fleets which worked the North Sea.

In the vast and astonishing developments which have
taken place in connection with deep-sea fishing during
the last quarter of a century, no port has shared in
greater viscissitudes than the town whose harbour is the
Yare. Towards the end of the Forties there were not
more than four or five trawlers leaving Yarmouth ; less
than twenty years later the number had grown to 150;
in 1887, when smacks had reached their highest de-
velopment, four fleets sailed from the port, and nearly
3000 men and boys were serving in them. The chief
spirit of the industry at that time was Mr. Samuel
Hewett, who began life as a smack's boy. In 1863 he
owned between fifty and sixty trawl-smacks and carrying
cutters, and was paying ;£ 20,000 yearly for wages and
victuals. He also possessed half a dozen line vessels,
catching haddock, cod, and whiting; but he was
abandoning these for the trawlers, which paid better.
The time was coming, and was not far distant, when the
steamboat was to oust the trawl-smack just as she had
crushed the liner.

47

48 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Barking and the Thames were very intimately
associated with the early days of trawling, but little has
been learned of the position which the town held as
a fishing port a century and a half ago. At the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century, however, Barking,
Greenwich, and Gravesend were building welled-
smacks, to share in the North Sea fishing, and in 1852
Barking had no fewer than 1 34 trawlers and 46 smacks
engaged in lining for cod and haddock. Twenty-five
years later Barking had ceased to be reckoned as a
fishing port.

Barking and Brixham claim the renown of origin-
ating deep-sea trawling. There has been much con-
troversy on the point, which has never been satisfactorily
settled, nor is it likely to be. Brixham and Barking
trawlers were certainly amongst the very first to adopt
this form of fishing, and their bluff, stout little smacks were
numbered with the first of the reapers of the Dogger.

The early trawler was a vessel of from 30 to 50
tons, carrying six or seven hands, men and boys.
These were paid by wages, the skipper having five per
cent, of the earnings. As a rule, the smacks did not go
so far north as the Dogger, but fished on the south
edge of it, and about Botney Gut, 80 miles from
Yarmouth. They trawled at a depth of from 18 to
23 fathoms, the greatest depth being 40 fathoms,
at the Silver Pit, and an average good day's fishing
was a ton per smack. In calm weather the vessels got
but little fish ; a fair catch in a smart breeze, and in
a gale nothing. The trawlers remained out for six
weeks, though the Barking smacks were at sea for two
months together.

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 49

An average good day's fishing was a ton per smack.
A ton would contain about 3 cwt. of soles, and half a ton
of haddock, the rest being plaice and whiting, a few
turbot, a few brill, and a very few cod. A good fishing-
ground had a smooth bottom, and the smacksmen knew
by practice when they got to rocky ground. In fine
weather short hauls of two or three hours were made.
With such hauls the fish were alive, but they came up
mostly dead, and the longer the trawl was down the
worse the fish were. The fish changed their place
according to the season. In very cold weather they got
into deep water for warmth ; in fine weather they went
into shallow water, and Mr. Hewett, when on the Dutch
coast in the height of summer, saw turbot a few inches
from the surface.

As a rule, the trawlers went with the tide for four or
five hours. The tide would go from two to two and a
half miles an hour, and the vessel would drive a knot or
a knot and a half. Moderate weather — a two-reefed
sail, would suit a trawler best. The total useful speed
would be three and a half miles an hour, with tide and
wind, though a little faster was desirable for soles, and
faster still for plaice and haddocks. It was impossible
to fish against the tide, as the bottom of the net lifted
up. The early experience of trawling showed that, the
more the ground was stirred up, the better produce came
from it. Trawling disturbed the ground and brought
the insects up, supplying the fish with food. A Hull
smacksman stated that the fish followed the trawl, " like
a parcel of crows, to catch these things."

" I compare trawling almost to farming," said a
Yarmouth fisherman. " You plough the field and cast

50 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

out all that's bad, and you think every year you get
better crops. So it is with us. We disturb the ground
and the soil comes up underneath, and the fish are able
to get at it." The trawl with a 36-ft. beam was
found most serviceable by Yarmouth men, who worked
in strong currents which would break longer beams.
Larger beams were used by smacksmen on the north-
east coast, and these were called by Yarmouth men
" sea-rakers."

In those early days, the beginning of the halcyon
period of trawl-fishing, some amazing catches were
made, for there were still comparatively few beams at
work over a vast area, and the fish had not developed
the cunning of the modern haddock, of which it has been
said that it is crafty enough to see a trawl coming and
to give it a wide berth. In three weeks one skipper
caught 326 packages of fish, of ij cwt. each, and he was
at Smith's Knoll with thirty trawlers which, for several
weeks, were within hail of each other, working backward
and forward with the tide ; and there was little or no
difference between the catches of the foremost and the
sternmost vessels.

It will be seen that for the three weeks' catches
referred to the average catch per day was more than a
ton, and as a trawler cost less than a thousand pounds —
;£8oo or ^900 — and the wages of the mate were only
1 8s. and common hands i6s., there were ample chances
of owners enriching themselves and skippers becoming
owners. Many a steady man, who as a small boy had
been sent to sea by Boards of Guardians, became a rich
smackowner.

It was found in the early Sixties that it did not pay

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 51

to employ steamers to carry the fish from the fleets
to the markets, and accordingly fast-sailing cutters,
specially built for the purpose, took the fish to Billings-
gate and the coast ports. One of Whistler's etchings
shows nearly a dozen of these cutters lying off Billings-
gate in 1859, with the porters carrying the fish ashore —
a quaint and quiet spectacle compared with the rush and
hustle of the steamboat days. The fish was packed in
ice, and three or four days — sometimes a week or more
— elapsed between the catch and the delivery.

The cutters took from 400 to 600 packages each to
Billingsgate, where, daily, several of these vessels would
be lying. The packages consisted of about one-half
prime, and the other half plaice, haddocks, etc. The
haddocks were mostly bought by costermongers, who
cleaned, cured, and smoke-dried them. These were sold
as Finnan haddocks, and realised on an average 123. or
145. a basket, but sometimes as low as 8s., at others as
high as 2os. Each basket weighed 150 Ib. or 160 Ib.
The plaice were mostly bought by " friers," who cleaned
the fish, cut them in slices, and fried them in oil, after
which they were hawked on barrows or sold at shops in
poor neighbourhoods — the heralds of the many existing
fried-fish shops in London and the provinces. At that
time plaice would sell for as low as 6s. or 73. a hamper of
1 50 Ib. or 1 60 Ib. There has been a change in this, as in
many other respects in connection with fish, for at present
plaice is invariably dearer than haddock.

The strong feeling that existed between the line and
trawl fishermen was the cause of much trouble in those
earlier days, and the liners suffered greatly, both in mind
and pocket, owing to a "contrivance" which the trawlers

52 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

placed in front of their vessels — possibly the forerunner
of the torpedo-net-cutters — to enable them to cut through
a fleet of nets without any interruption.

The trawl revolutionised North Sea fishing and
drove out of the industry the old-fashioned methods.
From half a dozen in the early Sixties the smacks grew
in number until, twenty years later, there were 3000
British deep-sea trawlers, excluding the steam-carriers,
for, in spite of expert prophecies, it was found necessary
and profitable to employ steamboats to convey the fish
to market from the fleets. Even an authority like Holds-
worth, writing in 1874, when steam-carriers were at work
and a " steam-cutter fish-carrying company " had just
begun working from Yarmouth, wrote : "It is yet a
question whether it will pay to apply steam to the actual
trawlers." Yarmouth led with 700 smacks, mostly
owned by Messrs. Hewett, and Hull and Grimsby came
next, these three ports possessing about 1500 smacks,
the rest being attached to other ports around the
coast.

It was calculated at that time that the total amount
of the capital invested in the industry was not less than
^15,000,000, and that no fewer than 20,000 men and
boys were exclusively employed in deep-sea trawling,
mostly on the North Sea. From the earlier vessels of
24 and 35 tons the smacks had grown to a tonnage of
90 in some cases, with a corresponding increase in the
size of beam and net, the beam being as long as 50 ft.,
and the net having a length of 70 ft.

The cost of a modern, thoroughly well-equipped
sailing trawler was as high as ^1600, and, exclusive of
the wages paid, the yearly working expenses were about

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 53

^400. Simultaneously with the growth of the industry
was a change in the method of paying the smacksmen,
the tendency being to adopt a plan which would give
them shares in the catches proportionate to their positions
in the craft. The sum mentioned — ^1600 — included
a fit-out of all that was needed for fishing, which cost
£70 or ;£8o. This fit-out consisted of a double set of
almost every part of the gear, so that loss by accident
could be made good without returning to port. Ordinarily
a trawl-net would last from three to four months, but
parts of the net would have to be renewed during that
time, the under parts twice and the cod five or six times
before the net was finally condemned.

Smacks derived their name from the smack or cutter
rig which in the early days of trawling was almost universal.
When the vessels increased to double the original size a
change of rig became desirable so that there should not
be an undue increase in the cost of working ; consequently
the size of the mainsail was reduced and a mizzen-mast
was added, with great success. This new method was
called " dandy " rig, and was generally adopted by the
North Sea trawlers. With larger vessels came greater
comfort and safety for the crews and the power to carry
considerable quantities of ice.

The finest of the North Sea smacks were the most
splendid sea-boats in the world, and they were handled
with a skill and courage worthy of their beauty. The
old-time fisherman and owner pinned his faith to these
craft, and nothing would induce him to believe in steam.
Only a year or two ago there were sold five of the
smacks which helped to build the foundations of
Grimsby's success as a fishing port. They belonged to

54 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Mr. Thomas Campbell, who in the old days was the
largest individual owner of sailing trawlers, and stead-
fastly refused to abandon wood and canvas in favour of
steel and steam. The original total cost of these vessels
was probably not less than ^7000, yet they only realised
^215. The prices paid were £60, ^53, ^40, ^32, and
^30, the buyers getting all the stores, sails, and running
gear as well as the craft. One of the smacks was built
so recently as 1894, tne oldest dating from 1884 ; another
of them, with the romantic name Red Nell, was built in
1885. Small though the prices named are, yet they are
greater than many of the sums for which splendid vessels
have been sold. I have seen a fine smack auctioned for
^25, and others withdrawn because not even a bid like
that was made. Numbers of these famous vessels are
rotting in creeks and harbours on the east coast,
because there is no use for them and it does not pay to
break them up for firewood. Surely, before it is too late,
one or two of these old fighters of the North Sea might
be preserved as a link with the past, and kept with just
as much care as the Victory.

The beam-trawl was an apparatus consisting of nine
distinct parts. These were the beam, the trawl-heads,
the ground-rope, the bosom, the cod or purse, the draw-
rope, the rubbing-pieces, the pockets, and the bridle.
The beam was proportionate to the size of the net.
The wood usually employed to make it was elm,
experience proving that this was the best material.
For the smaller beams, which had a length of about
36 ft., it was not difficult to find single pieces of
wood which could be used with little or no trimming.
If, however, the trawl beam was very large, two or

"FOR SALE."

SCOTCH HERRING-BOATS PACKED LIKE HERRINGS.

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 55

three pieces of elm had to be scarfed together and
secured by iron bands. This was the form most com-
monly seen on the Dogger when trawling had reached
its height. To each end of the beam an iron trawl-
head was fixed into a socket. A pair of trawl-heads
weighed from 360 to 400 Ib. These trawl-heads stood
in relation to the beam as the runners do to a sledge.
The lower part was quite flat, the front part being curved
and the back and top practically straight. The object
of the trawl-heads was to keep the beam about three
feet above the ground and so afford an uninterrupted
entrance to the net itself. The upper part of the net
was known as the back, and the bottom portion was
called the "belly." The front edge of the back,
technically called the "square," was fastened to the
beam ; but the " belly " part was extensively cut away
so as to form a sort of semicircle on the ground. The
middle of this curve or sweep, the "bosom," was thus
at a considerable distance behind the beam and in front
of the net, the distance, as a rule, being about equal to
the length of the beam itself. The ground-rope pro-
tected what might be called the lower lip of the net.
Generally the ground-rope was an old hawser " rounded "
or covered with small rope, which served two purposes —
to make it heavier and to prevent chafing. But there
was a greater object than that to be served, and this
was to stir up the ground and so rouse the fish which,
as a rule, would immediately make their way into the
net, and, having once done that, there was little chance
of escape. It was essential that the material forming
the ground-rope should be old, so that in case an
obstruction was met — and this very frequently happened

56 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

on rough ground — the rope would be destroyed and the
net itself saved.

The net would sometimes have a length of 100
ft, the meshes being of four different sizes, varying
from 4 in. square near the mouth to i| in. at
the cod-end. The net with a length of 100 ft.
would have a width of 50 ft. at the mouth, so
that there was an immense triangular bag towing
at the bottom of the sea, which, if it came across a
shoal of fish, would scoop a tremendous haul. It was
not uncommon for 3 tons of fish to be caught at a
time, and on the Dogger I have seen one of the old
beam-trawls so crammed with haddock that it could not
be hauled ; as a matter of fact, the net burst and the
dead haddock were as thick on the surface of the water
as an icefloe.

The most interesting part of the beam-trawl net was
in the old days, as it is now, the cod-end, for here the
fish are found when the net is hoisted inboard and the
moment comes for the big-bag-knot to be unlashed and
the catch released. The cod-end is a narrow jail for
the fish, and once in it and in the pockets there is about
as little chance for the creatures to escape as there is
for a convict to get out of prison. It must be remem-
bered that the fish are swimming against the tide and
that the net is being towed with it, so that, the more
they try to escape, the smaller is their chance of freedom.
If, however, fish turn about and try to get away from
the enveloping meshes, they seek to do so by keeping
to the two edges or sides of the net. In this case they
are doomed, because then they swim into the pockets.
These pockets, two in number, are placed near the cod-

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 57

end and are made by lacing the upper and lower
parts of the net for about 16 ft. Each pocket is
practically a reversal of the cod-end, and is literally a
trap, for the entrance consists of a valve or curtain of
netting, called a flapper. This flapper is so constructed
that, although it allows free admission to the fish, still, it
prevents them from returning. If they turn at all, they
must go into the pockets, which are practically inverted
cod-ends, so that there is no chance whatever for them
to escape, especially as fish are constantly entering the
net and often enough forming a solid mass.

To the trawl-heads, by means of shackles, the bridle
was attached, and to this in turn was fastened that
important part of the trawl's equipment — the warp.
The warp had a length of 150 fathoms, consisting of
two sections of 6-in. rope spliced together.

In the old smacks the trawl was almost invariably
carried on the port side, and when the beam was not in
use it formed, with its trawl-heads, net, and gear, a very
prominent feature of the vessel. The great beam usually
projected beyond the stern.

The shooting of the trawl, although a comparatively
simple matter, required much skill so as to prevent the
trawl from reaching the bottom upside down, and so
making the work of towing useless, because the beam
would drag on the bottom and the net would not be
opened and consequently incapable of catching fish.
The mere fact that heavy labour was involved in
hauling the trawl was in itself a sufficient reason why a
skipper should be careful in seeing that the apparatus
was properly shot. First of all, the cod-end was thrown
overboard, then the rest of the net followed until it was

58 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

all hanging over from the beam and towing alongside as
the smack went through the water. At this stage the
fore-end of the beam was slacked away until it was
completely clear of the vessel and turned by the action
of the water at nearly a right-angle from the stern.
Then the other end was lowered until the whole beam
was level with the water, and the trawl being in its
proper position, the vessel was forced along a little
faster and the bridle and warp carefully paid out, so
as to allow the trawl to sink to the level of the sea.
Immediately on touching the bottom, the fishing began,
for the trawl-heads ran on the ground, the ground-rope
stirred up the fish, and the creatures were captured in
greater or lesser abundance, quickly or slowly, according
to numbers and the nature of the locality.

It was while the smack was towing her gear that the
crew would snatch some rest and be ready for the heavy
work of hauling the trawl and cleaning, sorting, and
packing the fish and getting it ready for conveyance to
the carrier. Once the gear was shot, the skipper and
his crew were in the hands of fortune. Not even the
most experienced fisherman could tell, except occasionally,
what the luck of the sea would bring him. His net
might be full to bursting, or the catch might be so
meagre as not to be worth the trouble of sending to
market. It might happen, too, that the net would foul a
submerged wreck, or an old anchor, or, being on rough
ground, might become entangled with stones or rocks
and torn to tatters. Frequently a net would be hauled
in a state of wreckage, and it was then necessary to set
to work at once to repair the damage.

Some astonishing hauls have been made in the North

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 59

Sea, not only of fish, but also of undesirable debris, to
say nothing of those ghastly catches which are inevitable
in such a calling as this — the bodies of fishermen. Some-
times a single body will be brought up, occasionally a
couple would be recovered, and once at least three
were found in one trawl. This was in December 1887,
when three men were lost out of the boat of the smack
Spark.

The beam-trawl, in the early days of trawling, was
entirely man-handled. Shooting the ponderous, clumsy
apparatus was easy and simple, for it simply meant that
the crew had to get the contrivance overboard without
fouling the vessel, and then leave her comfortably to do
her work of fishing. But hauling the trawl was a vastly
more difficult and laborious undertaking. The whole
of the work had to be done by hand, and often enough
the crew, working in the blackness of a winter night on
the piercing Dogger, would toil incessantly for three
hours before the cod-end could be hoisted on deck and
the fish released. Then, when even the powerful frames
of North Sea smacksmen were exhausted by their labours,
the men would have to set to work to clean, gut, and
box fish which froze while it was being handled.

A great and welcome relief came when steam was
introduced to work the capstan. Donkey-boilers were
installed in many of the smacks, especially the fine new
craft which were built just before steam-trawling became
universal. Steam proved an enormous help and a
welcome blessing, for it abolished the weary tramping
hour after hour round a capstan and the incessant
struggling with the handspike. But, even with the help
of steam, the working of the beam-trawl was, and is,

60 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

excessively laborious, because there is still much manual
labour involved in the management of the primitive
apparatus. No one who has not actually shared in it
can understand what that labour meant. The Aurania,
in which I made my first trip to the Dogger, was one
of the finest smacks ever built, and one of the most
thoroughly well equipped in every way. She was
practically new, and was put into commission just before
the almost incredible revolution of the North Sea fishing
as an industry ; yet, even with the help of steam and in
good spring weather, the work of getting the trawl on
board, in which 1 shared on several occasions, was a
heavy and disheartening undertaking, especially when,
as sometimes happened, the catch was so meagre as to
be scarcely worth the trouble of ferrying to the carrier.
The Aurania long since vanished from the unequal fight
with steam, and, for anything I know, she may be still
afloat as a little coaster or broken up for firewood.

The beam-trawl was fitted to the earliest steamboats,
the old paddle-craft from the Tyne and the north-east
coast generally, which were the pioneers of steam-trawl-
ing, and these old trawls were the link between the
original gear and the skilful scientific apparatus which is
now universally employed in deep-sea fishing.

The first great change that was made in the method
of trawling was the abolition of the beam. To-day there
is little difference between the net which is used and that
which was originally employed, but there has been a vast
alteration in the complete apparatus and the system of
shooting, hauling, and trawling. The change has been
so great that it is essential to go into some detail with
regard to it.

A MODEL BEAM-TRAWL, MADE FOR THE AUTHOR
BY AN OLD NORTH SEA SMACKSMAN.

AN EARLY TYPE OF GALLOWS.

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 61

Experience proved that the beam was unwieldy and
unnecessary, and there came into being the ingenious
contrivance which is called the otter gear. It was
not until 1894 that the new method superseded the old
plan of fishing. Like all other improvements, the
otter was at first ridiculed and condemned ; but the
opposition died very quickly, for even the most con-
servative smacksman saw in it a welcome change from
needless labour, a vast improvement in fishing, and a
means of greaterprofit. In place of the beam, two boards,
each about 4^ ft. square, were attached to the mouth of
the net, where the trawl-heads had been, and so arranged
that on being dragged through the water they kept the
mouth open in the same manner as the rigid beam and
irons. An enormous advantage, too, was the lightness
of the contrivance compared with the weight of the old
apparatus, and the possibility of shooting and hauling in
weather which would make the employment of the beam
impossible. With a lessening of weight and the further
use of steam, the labour of handling the net has been very
much reduced. Powerful steam-winches have succeeded
the hand and donkey capstans ; yet even to-day the final
work of getting the net on board is hard enough to satisfy
even the most robust of toilers.

At the outset a modified form of the otter apparatus
was used, and I remember photographing one of the
earliest types of "gallows" — a square invention which
was unpleasantly suggestive of the real thing which is
stealthily concealed in unassuming sheds in gaols. To-day
the "gallows" consist of arched girders fitted to the
trawler's side, and they form a prominent feature of
her equipment.

62 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

At the outset many patents were secured for the otter
apparatus, and it was necessary to pay a fee of ^25 yearly
before it could be used ; but, as improvements were put
on the market and the demand for the modern appliance
grew, the charge was abolished, and to-day the principle
is employed, free, in all modern steamboats engaged in
trawling.

The otter trawl had been in use, and its value fully
proved, many years before it became universal in steam-
boats. So long ago as the middle Sixties the beam had
been superseded by two boards and a number of corks,
the corks replacing the great spar, and the boards serving
the purpose of the irons. A number of amateur fisher-
men regularly used the otter apparatus because of its
portability, for the boards were detachable and were
easily stowed away in small craft. A beam was con-
sidered a very ugly thing on board a yacht, and the
otter trawl was proved to be not only more compact,
but also far superior to the beam-trawl for fishing.
Amateurs were enthusiastic in praising the new inven-
tion, but in speaking of it even an experienced sea
fisherman like Wilcocks, of Guernsey, said, "The regular
beam-trawl is too firmly established ever to be superseded
amongst fishermen."

Appropriately enough, it was a correspondent in
the eastern counties who gave Wilcocks details of the
practical employment of one of the earliest of the otter-
trawls, which was procured through Lapthorne, a well-
known sailmaker of Gosport. ' * The use of the otter-trawl
is very simple," the writer stated. " There is only one
thing to be cautious about, which is that you must weight
the foot-rope exactly right, neither too heavy nor too

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 63

light ; if it is too heavy you get such a quantity of mud,
weed, and stones that you require powerful tackle besides
all hands to get the net on board, but you at the same
time catch plenty of fish. If you do not weight it suffi-
ciently your net does not drag the bottom nor open
properly, so you catch no fish, as the cork head-rope
and the leaded foot-rope come together. I found my
net, after altering the leading twice, go quite right, and
catch double the quantity of fish that the professional
trawlers here catch with the beam-trawl. My head-rope
is 42 ft. long, foot-rope the same ; at every half-
fathom of foot-rope I wrap a piece of sheet-lead round
once and a half ; when all is on, I serve the whole foot-
rope over with one strand of an old Manilla hawser,
which makes it very thick and prevents it cutting into
the mud too much ; I think if I did not it would pick up
a fourpenny bit."

A primitive form of the otter-trawl is recognised in
many places on the east coast of Scotland as the most
deadly of all forms of trout-fishing. A Scotchman who
explained the method to me, with the warning that the
practice of the plan involved hard labour, if discovered,
said that the principal apparatus needful is half a barrel-
head. To the centre of this a weight is attached — lead,
iron, or other metal — and to each end of the barrel-head
is fastened a line, the two lines forming a bridle. A
line, corresponding to a trawl-warp, is attached to the
bridle, and to this warp is fastened hooks bearing flies.
My informant, who had often seen the device in opera-
tion by other people — under his own direction — spoke
enthusiastically of the results. The system, he declared,
succeeds when all other plans fail. He swore by it just

64 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

as earnestly as he declared that all men who boast of
triumphant trout-fishing with flies do not speak truth-
fully ; and that their success is due to the use of worms
as bait. On that point I am not competent to give an
opinion. I merely quote what my companion said, and
refer to this primitive engine as a curiosity. Its effects
certainly seem to be as deadly as the operations of the
otter-trawl in a powerful modern steamboat.

Sailing cod-smacks worked on three different grounds
according to the season of the year. These seasons and
places were : October to Christmas, on the Great
Fisher Bank and Dogger Bank ; Christmas to April,
alongshore ; April to September, Iceland and Faroe
banks. For the first-named season a cod-smack's
fishing outfit was: 16 dozen lines, each 30 fathoms
long (two of these lines, equalling 60 fathoms, were
called a "piece"); 6000 hooks and snoods. A snood
was 2^ ft. long. Fifty-two hooks were put on a " piece "
of line, the distance between them being 8 ft. 6 in. ; or,
if 12 ft. apart, 32 hooks. A dozen large anchors were
carried, as well as 1 2 small anchors, 1 2 buoys with staff
and flag, and 12 buoy-ropes ; 16 trays, 16 tray-lashings ;
60 whelk-nets, each net holding a "wash" ; i sweeping-
in and i sweeping-out net; 2 tomahawks, 2 prickers.
The same number of lines was needed for the along-
shore fishing as for the Dogger, except that a small
anchor with a buoy was placed between each shank to
keep the lines on the bottom.

For hand-lining in the Iceland or Faroe fishing the
outfit needed included 4 dozen lines, each 35 fathoms
long, wound on reels or frames, 3 dozen cod-leads, 300
to 400 hooks of various sizes, 9 splitting, 2 heading,

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 65

and 6 gutting, knives, half a dozen small brushes for
cleaning fish, 3 files for sharpening hooks, a sharpen-
ing stone, a dozen tomboys, a dozen reels, and 3 cod-
prickers. These are the details given by O. T. Olsen.

Many special committees have been appointed by
Parliament to go into the whole question of deep-sea
fishing, and these inquiries have put on record a vast
amount of evidence with regard to deep-sea fisheries,
particularly those of the North Sea. Nothing can be
more astonishing than the difference in the points of
view expressed by men whose lives had been spent in
that particular industry. One smacksman, for instance,
would declare positively that the use of the trawl would
inevitably result in the utter depletion of the fishing-
grounds ; while another witness, with equal honesty,
would express the conviction that the trawl could do
no harm whatever, and that to fish the sea bare was an
impossibility.

When the trawl was first introduced it was bitterly
condemned by the old-time fishermen who had de-
pended on the line and the old-fashioned nets, and
whose methods differed but slightly from the systems
pursued in the time of Peter, the patron saint of fisher-
men. The first Parliamentary Commission had before
it a number of fishermen whose work had been carried
out entirely on the Dogger and other North Sea banks.
One of them, who was avowedly hostile to the beam-
trawl, said he was certain that, thirty years previously,
double the quantity of fish could be obtained that was
available at the time he spoke, but that gradually the
supply had fallen away. He predicted that some day,
if trawling were allowed, England would cry out for
5

66 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

want offish. He said that when he was a young man
there were nine of them in the family, and for twopence
his wife could buy enough haddock to give them a
dinner ; but at the time he spoke the same quantity
could not be bought for less than ninepence or tenpence.
Another witness said that the trawlers not only swept
away the lines, but also destroyed the fish, and the only
remedy was that trawl-fishing should be abolished. He
added that, although ten years previously he used to take
sixty or seventy codfish a day, still, at the time he gave
evidence, when trawling had been in existence for about
six years, he could not take one. A South Shields
fisherman stated that the number of trawling vessels
on the Dogger Bank had increased ten per cent, during
the year, and yet the smacksmen were getting about a
quarter less fish, and some of them scarcely made a
living. A smack would sometimes catch five tons of
fish a day ; but the average was a ton and a half. He
declared that the fish caught in the trawl were not fit for
the market, as the insides were broken and the galls
burst and ran through them. Much evidence of the
same sort was given, some of the witnesses declaring
that not only was the fish diminishing in quantity, but
also deteriorating in size.

According to the custom of all commissions and
inquiries, evidence in direct opposition to that which
had been tendered was given, for experienced fisher-
men declared that trawling did not damage the industry,
and that in it was the only real hope for the fishing of
the future. Some of the witnesses gave valuable
information relating to the fishing during the early
part of last century. One of them, who had fifty

A LONG-LINER ON THE NORTH SEA.

A DUTCH HERRING-VESSEL.

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 67

years' experience, said that when he first went to sea
the boats were about one-third their present size.
In 1812 every boat brought in more white fish than
they could carry. A boat's crew was not so well off
at the time he spoke as thirty years previously. In one
year, about 1825, he made ^126, but a few years back
he earned only ^78. For the last five years his average
for the white-fishing was about ^50, and an additional
^50 might be made from the herring-fishing. The
cost of a line-boat with fittings was about £^o, but
a herring-boat with nets cost not less than £100.
He calculated that a young man ought to earn
;£ioo a year. A full third of that amount would be
neccessary to maintain the boat and tackle. The
boats lasted about fourteen years.

In the old trawling days poetical, romantic, and
sentimental names were freely chosen for the smacks,
and some of these are still borne by craft that sail
lazily from quiet ports in the summer-time, or go to
sea in a freshening breeze, solely for single-boating.
There is still something of romance and poetry in
such a vessel as the Tranquillity, as she tumbles over
the blue waters, Dogger-bound, from an old-world
Yorkshire harbour, with the smoke curling from her
galley, and her crew in brown jumpers that match
the deep tan of the sails. There are the Wayside
Flower, Star of Hope, Eye of Providence, Good Design,
Piety, Brotherly Love, the Radiant, and the Venture, to
keep the Tranquillity company ; while from other North
Sea ports there still venture forth, dependent on their
canvas, the Early Blossom, the True Vine, Lily of
the Valley, Happy Return, Emmanuel, Boy Ben — one

68 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of a large family of "boys" — Purple Heather,
Try, Rose of Devon, Fear Not, Forward, Intrepid,
Thrift, Strive, and Perseverance ; and the Fame and
Glory. All the human virtues, and a few of the
frailties, have been and are represented by the
names of sailing craft, and many a fragrant title or
double name has been the product of some loving
meeting by the North Sea shore. The lovers have
departed, but their craft remain.

Equally appropriate to the days of steam are many
of the names which are borne on the bows and sterns
of steamboats. Here romance has disappeared before
the hard graft of steam, and in some instances vessels are
actually numbered consecutively from One — and she and
Nine, Ten, Twenty-Two, Twenty- Seven, and other arith-
metical craft trawl the North Sea waters as industriously,
and doubtless as profitably, as the Gleaner, the Zealot, the
Breadwinner, the Bounteous Sea, and the Brighter Hope.

With so many fleets working the North Sea
grounds, there is obviously a wide field of choice in
the selection of names for the vessels, and many fads
and fancies are gratified in christening the craft, while,
at the same time, there are numerous opportunities
of paying tributes to departed smackowners by keeping
their names green, to living pioneers of trawling, and
to public men. Illustrious naval and military officers,
unknown to themselves, have provided names for
North Sea craft, and General de Wet, an enterpris-
ing motor-boat, probably harries fish as persistently
as her namesake troubled British soldiers in South
Africa.

In one respect there has been little change compared

SMACKS AND TRAWLS 69

with the days of sail, and that is in the use of fishing
numbers and letters. The smacks carried these on
the bows and sails ; the steamboats have them painted
on each side of the bow and quarter and on the funnel,
and give also the name and port on the stern.

CHAPTER VI

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL

ROMANCE and peril are naturally far more prominently
associated with the days of sail on the North Sea
than with the age of steam. North Sea trawling is
to-day a gigantic industrial undertaking, and, while
the work is perilous, still, the element of danger is
infinitely less than it was when the fishermen had
to depend solely on the wind. Romance has to a
large extent, and inevitably, disappeared, and even
the coper, the notorious grog-shop of the Dogger,
which was a marked feature of the fleets a quarter
of a century ago, has vanished. The fierce, rough
days of smuggling and kindred offences are practically
no more, although occasionally a North Sea man will
by care and cunning get the better of the watchful
Customs.

It is doubtful if a thoroughly modern young skipper,
a man of great skill and knowledge compared with
his predecessors, could understand the smacksman of
half a century ago if he were suddenly put into
their midst and had to lead their life and follow their
work ; it is certain that the old-time fisherman could
not credit his senses if he were spirited back to the
Dogger and introduced to the wonderful and ceaseless
fighting life of the modern steamboat man.

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 71

In former days everything depended on wind and
sail ; to-day everything in the fleets is done by steam,
except boarding, and I am inclined to think that in
the near future even this will be accomplished with
the help of machinery. There is a fine opportunity
for an enterprising man to introduce and at least
fully try, as an experiment, a motor-boarder. It would
doubtless be maligned and belittled ; but I believe it
would triumph.

The conditions under which the boarding of fish
were carried out in the sailing days involved a heavy
loss of life. In one fleet alone the average yearly
loss was thirty-five men. " Boat upset while boarding
fish," was one of the commonest records, and when it
was made it meant that life was lost.

North Sea trawlers are the most skilful and daring
boatmen in the world ; but all their skill and courage
were at times powerless to save them from death.
The fish had been caught, and was packed in readi-
ness for conveyance by the carrier to market. A
dangerous sea would be running, but the admiral
would not consider it essential to order that no
attempt should be made to board. Some of the
skippers had sent off their boats in worse weather,
and they would not want to miss the market and
lose the fruit of their all-night's toil. So the boats
were thrown out and the trunks put in, a few skippers
only preferring to suffer loss of money rather than
pay toll in life and limb.

Of necessity a host of small craft would be afloat,
struggling with the vicious cross-seas. The men
then, as now, stood up to their work, one facing the

72 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

bow and one the stern, so that a watchful eye can
be kept on the seas that charge from all quarters
simultaneously. But iron nerve, giant strength, and
wondrous skill at times availed nothing — a snarling
comber came, and, when it had roared past, the boat
had capsized and the men were struggling in the
savage seeth. Short the fight must needs be, for
the fisherman's heavy clothing and ponderous boots
bore him down, and, unless help was just at hand, he
was doomed. Help, if near, is never withheld, and
in giving it to-day, as in the time of sail, North Sea
men perform deeds of valour that put to shame many
of the acts, some of them brave enough, many of
them paltry, which ashore are so lavishly praised and
generously acknowledged.

In one of the fleets three men hastened to the
rescue of two who were struggling for life. In a
moment they themselves were the victims of the fierce
waters — and all the five were drowned. In the Short
Blue Fleet I spoke with a skipper who was collecting
money for the relatives of three members of his crew
who were swept from their boat the first day they
joined the fleet for the eight weeks' trip after the
brief visit home. The accident happened on a fine
morning, and the men were drowned before the
skipper's eyes, and almost within reach of a carrier ;
but the sea had grown so suddenly that it was im-
possible to give any help. On one February morning
seven men were drowned in the Great Northern
Fleet through the capsizing of their boats, and two
were lost in the Grimsby Fleet — making nine in one
morning. The total number of lives lost in the

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 73

North Sea fleets during the year which ended on
30th June 1910, was four, a number which goes to
show how much safer are the days of steam than
were the days of sail.

That was the sort of toll which had to be paid
yearly, and was paid, while ferrying the fish on the
North Sea from the smacks to the carriers.

The old-time smacksmen scorned and hated all pro-
tective measures. " We're used to being drowned," they
said, and dreaded more than death itself the chance of
being ridiculed for taking precautions. The Board of
Trade might make regulations as to lifebuoys, but there
were few means of enforcing laws on the Dogger,
and, often enough, when lifebuoys were available they
were not put into the boats. With sails, too, involving
the necessity of dependence on the wind and a
dangerous clustering of smacks near the waiting carrier,
accidents were bound to happen amongst the crowded
boats, and sometimes, when a smack had to bear
away because of a freshening wind, the boat would
have to be pulled through waters which had become
swiftly troubled, and perhaps from sheer exhaustion
the men would be unable to meet a charging sea
and would be overwhelmed and perish.

Nowadays the steamboats can be manoeuvred so
skilfully that the carrier is only a stone's throw away,
there is but a short distance to ferry, and, if need
arises, the trawler can run down and pick up her
boat before serious mischief happens. In this respect
steam, if more remorseless than sail, and steamboats,
if not so romantic and picturesque as smacks, have
worked wondrous changes in connection with boarding

74 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

fish on the Dogger, just as steam has added vastly to
the all-round safety and comfort of the men who
labour ceaselessly to keep the markets well supplied
with fish.

" Sending a man fleeting is like sending him to the
gallows," a smacksman once told me, in the days of the
sailing fleets, and he bitterly condemned a system which
cut a man entirely off from shore life and compelled him
to spend his existence on the open sea, with never a
change from his workaday surroundings, except such as
weather, runs home, and the luck of trawling brought
him. Can it be cause for wonder that he sought the
refuge of the coper and forgetfulness of toil and misery
in a mad debauch ? Was it not natural enough that he
should seek and find oblivion in the vile drinks which
were slinkingly sold in the fleets, and out of which
enormous profits were made by the foreigner? And
can it be matter for marvel that when he got ashore on
a place like Heligoland or one of the other islands, or the
mainland on the east side of the North Sea, the smacks-
man should behave more like a savage than a civilised
being ?

There were men in the old days into whose souls the
iron of the North Sea had settled, and who saw no gleam
of hope or prospect of salvation in the future. They
were almost as much the slaves of their employers as
negroes were the chattels of their masters on the planta-
tions, with this difference, that the nigger had at least
joyous sunshine and surroundings, and not infrequently a
happy existence. He was not cut off from his womenfolk
and children and compelled to lead a grey, lonely, and
bitter life. Under a good master there was much to

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 75

make existence agreeable. Not so with the smacksman.
He had one small dog-hole of a cabin in which he was
forced to eat and sleep and drink and spend his leisure time,
and often enough that cabin would be wet or flooded during
the whole of a ten or eight weeks' voyage in the dead of
winter, while for long spells, in bad weather, it would be
impossible to get a hot drink or hot food.

Even at its best the living accommodation in a smack
was bad. There was one cabin only, right aft, and in this
the cooking was done, meals were taken, and the crew
slept. The largest cabins in the largest vessels scarcely
afforded height enough for a man to stand upright, and the
task of entering and leaving the cramped space was at all
times difficult and often dangerous. A wooden ladder
with half a dozen steep steps usually formed the means
of going down and coming up from below, the companion
being just spacious enough to enable a man to get in and
out. In bad weather the hatch had to be drawn, and
those who ascended or descended had to watch for the
chance which the breaking seas gave them. Light was
usually given by a very small skylight, like a little box
whose sides were glazed and protected with brass or iron
rods ; and air was admitted, when possible, through the
skylight and the companion. When a gale was blowing
the skylight had to be battened down, and, as the com-
panion was kept closely shut for the most part, the at-
mosphere below became stifling and poisonous. Round
the sides of the cabin were four bunks, a pair on each side
on the same level, dark, fearsome cupboards, with doors
which could be shut. I nto these enclosed shelves, in winter-
time, the sodden and exhausted smacksman was glad to
climb, and to shut himself in, probably doing nothing

76 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

more than throw down his sou'-wester or other head-dress,
but at times taking off his great boots. More often he
would simply drop to the sodden foul floor, stretch
himself out, and sleep like a log. Vermin might swarm —
as it often did in the old wooden vessels — insects of the
filthiest type ; but the smacksman was impervious to the
onslaughts. Woe to the fresh and appetising landsman or
apprentice who adventured on the Dogger. I know that
in my own case every sanguinary insect on board claimed
me for its own, inflicting suffering that became positively
maddening, and was only alleviated by going on deck in
the middle of the night and getting the solitary hand to
be merciful enough to drench me with repeated pailsful of
water. How horrible was the sight just then of the scores
of smacks in the peaceful moonlight ! How unromantic
the twinkling lanterns which were scattered on a wide
expanse of sea ! I fared no better when I tried to rest
on a bed which had been made for me in the hold by the
simple device of spreading a piece of canvas on the top
of a spare trawl-net ; nor when I sought forgetfulness by
curling up on the bare boards of the deck. I bitterly
regretted that I had not taken the advice of the owner
before sailing — " Spend eighteenpence on a feather-bed
made of straw— you won't sleep either on a locker or the
floor."

When steam was introduced into the smacks for the
purpose of working the capstan, or dandy-wink, a donkey-
boiler was installed, usually just outside the cabin, from
which it was separated only by a wooden partition, at
one end of which was a door leading to the engine com-
partment. This door was mostly open, so that the hot
air would come through into the cabin even on a blazing

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 77

summer day. Yet in such a den the little apprentice,
who was cook and general drudge, would spend most of
his time, attending to his glowing stove with the huge
kettle on top with its constant supply of smacksman's
tea. There was this to be said for the cook-steward —
that his dishing and waiting duties were simple. He
merely took the tin dish of beef, vegetables, fish, or what-
ever might be in preparation, and put it on the floor or
the table, and the crew helped themselves, pronging with
their own forks or, more often, helping themselves with
their fingers. If a cabin had a table, it was hinged, so
that the sides could be quickly let down and provide a
space between the table and the lockers. When seated
on the lockers, the flaps were raised and the meal
proceeded.

Sometimes these little cabins were crowded to suffo-
cation. These would be on notable occasions such as
"mutton parties," of which I attended one. We had
towed a leg of mutton astern for three days, to keep it
fresh, and on joining the fleet the joint was cooked, with
an enormous supply of vegetables. A number of friendly
skippers were bidden to the feast, and the cabin became
a mass of huge human bulks. The mutton turned like
magic to a bone, which was picked clean by a favoured
guest who had it in his great hands ; the beer vanished,
vast quantities of tea disappeared, and the atmosphere
turned to the density of a London fog with tobacco
smoke. For some time I could not understand a solemn
silence which possessed the company, broken only by
low but earnest ejaculations. At last I discovered that
the men were gambling for cabbages.

Very rarely, when the weather was exceptionally fine

78 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and calm, and trawling was impossible because there
was no wind, the cabins would be abandoned and the
decks used for a kind of grand reception, for perhaps as
many as a score of smacks would be lashed together, so
that it was easy to step from one to the other.

There were no sanitary arrangements whatever in the
sailing smacks, whose domestic economy was through-
out of the most primitive description. They were as
different from the splendid latest types of steam-trawlers
as was the old emigrant ship from the Olympic. The
North Sea skipper of to-day has his own cabin and may,
if he pleases, live in isolated splendour ; the general
cabin is a fine, well-ventilated room of the most comfort-
able sort, and there is every facility for cooking and
serving good and abundant food. Excellent sanitary
provision is made, and some particularly well-appointed
steam-trawlers have bathrooms. I have seen two or
three of them, but they were used for the storage of boots
and clothing. The average North Sea man gets quite
enough of the water on the outside of his vessel.

The marvel is that in past days men and boys could
be found to undertake the work, and probably the smacks
could never have been provided with crews if it had not
been for Boards of Guardians and reformatories. Legions
of miserable children have been sentenced to the Dogger,
to perish there, or become men and heroes. Those who
survived and remained did at least get inured to sufferings
and hardships, and provided the finest race of seafarers
in the world — and that they remain to this day.

I think that there is no officer or man in the Royal
Navy, or the merchant service, accustomed to big ships
and change of scene and climate, who will not readily

THE CABIN OF AN OLD SMACK, SHOWING THE
LADDER DOWN WHICH MEN TUMBLED
WHEN THE WARNING SHOUT AROSE OF
"WATER'S COMIN' !"

THE INTERIOR OF THE CABIN, SHOWING A

TABLE WITH FOLDING SIDES,
AND THE BUNKS ABOVE THEM.

LOCKERS,

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 79

say, as many have said to me, of trawlers, " Ah ! That
is going to sea ! " And they as readily admit or confess
that if all going to sea meant the same incessant toil
and discomfort there would be remarkably few sailors.
Perhaps the only parallel to the strenuous life of North
Sea men is to be found in the adventurous seekers of
the Poles ; yet even these intrepid explorers are inspired
with the spirit of adventure and the prospect of great
rewards, to say nothing of an assured fame and profit on
return to public life.

One of the worst features of the old sailing days was
the apprenticeship system, which had many elements of
inhumanity and barbarism in it. Grimsby became
notorious for the number of unhappy little fellows who
were sent to prison rather than return to a life of slavery
and degradation on the Dogger, and so common became
the system of disobeying orders that on an average, even
so recently as twenty years ago, two hundred fishing
apprentices were committed to gaol at Grimsby alone,
for periods varying from a week to a month. Many of
the boys were born and reared in the workhouse, and
only occasionally, when some infamy had been perpet-
rated on the North Sea grounds, had the public any
means of learning what the lads suffered. They were
little better than slaves, with none of the slave's enjoy-
ments and pleasures. They were at the beck and call
of any man, brute or otherwise, and so hard and in-
cessant was the labour, so dull and uninviting was the
life in many cases, that a single trip to the Dogger was
enough for even a young and robust lifetime.

Once ashore, nothing would induce many of the
apprentices to go back to sea. There was no alterna-

80 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

tive ; they were taken before the magistrates, and sent
to gaol. Time after time the boys declared in the
police courts that they would rather go to hard labour
than back to sea — and to prison they were committed.
It was publicly and frequently declared that under the
old sailing and apprenticeship system boys spent more
time in gaol than on board their masters' smacks. Yet
there were considerable possibilities of success, as many
prosperous men to-day have proved.

In the old sailing days the smacksmen lived well, but
in a very rough manner. The food was spoiled in the
cooking, which was usually done by lads who had not
been long at sea, and had not been trained in any way.
On my first trip to the Dogger I heard of a youth who
had run away from home and joined a smack. He was
placed in charge of the galley, and as a first effort turned
out a pudding. The crew ate it, but requested the cook,
as a favour, to make the next with baking-powder. A
faithful pledge was given that the instruction should be
carried out to the letter. The boy did not know much
about the work, and there was no one on board competent
to teach him. He depended on his own resources and
inventiveness. He boiled the pudding — and, just before
serving it, scattered a handful of the powder on the top.
The criticisms of the diners were repeated to me ; but
they cannot be recorded here.

I asked the skipper of the Aurania to give me
particulars of the victualling of his smack for her eight
weeks' trip, and he did so. The Anrama carried four
men and two boys — for whose sustenance she had on
board: biscuits, \\ cwt. ; flour, 20 St.; cheese, 25 Ib. ;
beef, 200 Ib. ; a leg of mutton ; 4 hams ; tea, 6 Ib. ;

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 81

cocoa, 28 Ib. ; treacle, 28 Ib. ; currants, 8 Ib. ; raisins,
8 Ib. ; lard, 40 Ib. ; mustard, 4 Ib. ; pepper, | Ib. ; salt,
3 st. ; baking-powder, 4 Ib. ; carraway seeds, i Ib. ;
condensed milk, 16 tins; relish, 12 bottles; cabbages,
20 ; a bunch of rhubarb ; and three tanks of fresh water.
There were also six dozen bottles of beer on board,
many of which were emptied — opened with a pair of
forks — before we were out of sight of land, and only two
or three of which were untouched by the time we joined
our fleet off Heligoland. Our stock of crockery and
cutlery was neither large nor varied. The cutlery con-
sisted of a few knives and forks and a teaspoon. The
teaspoon was kept in the medicine - chest, but was
produced for my special use.

I tried, without success, to show that the proper way
to make tea was not to put a handful into an enormous
kettle which was constantly on the fire, and from which
the old leaves were not removed until the kettle was full
to the lid — and then only in sufficient quantity to make
room for a fresh supply of dry leaves. Long custom
had established the art of brewing tea — and on the
Dogger the smacksman likes liquid with bite and body
in it — and I did not persuade the boy to deviate. He
was a fine little fellow, full of talk and hope for the future
and the days when he would have a smack of his own
and be a great man. I listened and talked also, watch-
ing him knead some dough with which he designed to
produce a North Sea delicacy called " busters." These
were depressing discs of unleavened bread, with sinister
shadows, arising partly from the cook's hands and partly
from the smack's chronic uncleanliness.

We seated ourselves on the cabin floor and assailed
6

82 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the kettle and the victuals. The time came when the
" busters "were produced; but I let them pass. With
all possible respect and goodwill towards the cook, who,
poor little fellow, hovered near, with folded bare arms
and exposed chest, to see the crowning glory of his toil,
I could not grapple with them — for I had seen them
made.

In these days, if my young friend of the Grimsby
smack is still alive and following the calling of the
Dogger, he must be a brawny man, probably master of
a steam -trawler. If so, he has witnessed one of the most
amazing of modern revolutions — the change from sail to
steam in fishing — and as he dines in his comfortable cabin
he must call to mind the crude days of wood and canvas,
and recall, as he might conjure up a dream, the placid
days off Heligoland, when, both of us younger by many
years than we are to-day, we looked at the hull-like lump
of land rising from the North Sea, and in our different
ways pictured the paths before us. At that time Heligo-
land was a British possession, soon to be given to a
foreign power and fortified, and to cease to be a place
where British North Sea men, who were by way of being
roystering blades, could land and spend the hours when
calms made trawling impossible and brought much devil-
ment into being.

And the great, bluff, burly skipper — the man who
could not either read or write, but who knew his Dogger
as well as the Biblical student knows the Scriptures.
What of him ? I wonder if his gloomy forecast that the
Dogger, which had held him so long, would keep him,
has been realised ; or if that other foreboding has come
to pass — that when he was incapable of going to sea he

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 83

would have to find refuge in the union. It is something
to know that in these days a man who has toiled may, at
the end of his labour, get at least a pittance from the
country in the way of pension.

The spirit of devilment dies hard in North Sea men,
and, even in these prosaic days of steam-fishing, some of
them are guilty of acts of almost incredible folly and
recklessness. Not long ago, on an October day, in Foxe
Bay, Iceland, the crew of the Balmoral Castle, a steam-
trawler, were amazed to see the St. Paul, another trawler,
bearing down towards them in a manner that made
collision seem inevitable. The Balmoral Castle was
steered out of the way of the St. Paul, which, however,
came on again to what proved a deliberate attempt to
run her down. Twice, by skilful manoeuvring, the
threatened craft was saved ; but for the third time
the St. Paul tried to ram her — and succeeded. As the
St. Paul crashed into her victim, her skipper tumbled
out of her wheelhouse and shouted, " Now, laugh ! "
There was little indeed to laugh about, for both the
steamboats were so badly damaged that they had to
return to port for repairs. The skipper of the St. Paul
admitted the facts at the Board of Trade inquiry, nor
did he deny them when he was charged at the Hull
police court with endangering the lives of both the crews
by wilfully running his ship into the other. All he
could do was to plead that he was mad drunk at the time
of the outrage, and that he did not remember anything
about it. The offence was a serious and uncommon one,
and had to be met with severe punishment. This was
inflicted by the stipendiary magistrate, who sentenced
the skipper of the St. Paul to six months' hard labour.

84 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Let me give a story of the brighter side of the old
sailing days, insomuch as that aspect concerns the method
of enjoyment which was afforded by the coper. It is a
tale told to me by a friendly skipper.

" So you saw a coper, did you, when you were lookin'
for the fleet? Well, he still prowls about the Nowth
Sea, but he steers wide o' the fleets, an' only does busi-
ness wi' the single-boaters. He never shows his nose
amongst the fleeters — daren't do it ; an' he isn't wanted.
Many's the smart smack 'at's been lost through him,
many the home 'at's been ruined ; an' many the life 'at's
been lost. Time after time I've spent my last penny on
board of the old Dutchman, an' when we've had no
money left, I've seen boatloads o' gear ferried to him
from the smacks to swop for drink. He did a roarin'
trade in the old sailin' days, when for days together smacks
couldn't fish because there wasn't any wind. An' when
time 'angs 'eavy you get the itch for mischeef.

"It isn't very many years since I was fleetin' off the
Dutch coast. The coper had been very busy amongst
us, for we could do nothing, owin' to the weather, but
drink, drink, drink. Suddenly some of us determined to
go ashore for a spree, so we rigged up the smack's mizzen-
tops'l on an oar an' got over the three miles that lay
between us an' a Dutch island. There were ten of us
when we started, an' we went steadily at it day an' night
till we had proper skinsful, I can tell you. Then, some-
how, there were only two of us left. We hadn't had a
bite to eat — it was sup, sup, sup all the time — an' we were
ravenous. But it was night, an' there were no places
open. A trifle like that didn't count, so we went explor-
in', an', seein' a nice little cottage with a big tree growin'

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 85

up alongside an' overhangin' a bedroom window, we
swarmed up the trunk. I clambered on a branch that
touched the window an' tumbled in. Then you might
have thought the end of all things had come, for there
were two women asleep in the place, one old an' t'other
young. An' they both rushed to the window an' raised
squalls 'at fetched out all the police an' people in the
place. I can't tell you how it happened, but my pal had
disappeared an' I was left all alone to face it out as best
I could.

"Well, they talked a lot an' shouted a lot. I told
'em my tale an' they told me theirs, but they talked
foreign, so we couldn't understand one another. How-
ever, there was no mistakin' what they meant, especially
as they began firm' pistols, an' makin' it plain 'at if I
didn't get back to my boat it 'ud be all the worse for me.
So I cleared out as far as the beach, an' there I saw my
pal with his feet in the flood-tide an' a' empty spirit-
bottle clasped in each hand, sleepin' calmly on the sand,
an' just within an ace o' bein' drowned — not that he'd
ha' cared, for he wasn't in a state to care for anything.
I hauled him high an' dry an' then left him an' slipped
away to try an' get some breakfast. I hadn't touched
food for three days an' three nights, an' when a man's
like that he doesn't care even for police with pistols.

" I wandered about an' wandered about till I came
to a likely lookin' little restaurant. I slipped in, an'
findin' only one or two people lookin' after the place, I
began to tell 'em what I wanted. What wi' their fright
an' their botherin' foreign lingo, I couldn't make 'em
understand, so I fell back on signs, an' that worked 'em.
But the worst o' them foreign breakfasts is 'at they don't

86 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

satisfy you — what's rolls an' coffee for a man to start the
day on ? However, I drank their coffee an' ran through
their rolls in a way 'at amazed 'em, an' left 'em without
any for anybody else. I wasn't satisfied, but there was
nothing more to eat, so I had to stop.

" Now, you must understand 'at I hadn't a coin of
any sort in my pocket — it had all gone in drink ; but the
way I looked at it was 'at they'd got my money amongst
'em somewhere, and I hadn't got vally for it, so I wasn't
troubled much on that point. However, they'd been
very kind, an' when I clearly saw 'at they wouldn't hear
o' bein' paid, an' 'at they begged me, in their foreign
way, not to mention it, I made a big pretence o' feelin'
in my pockets for the money. At last I thanked 'em
very kindly and left 'em, an' they came down to the
beach to see us both off, an' gave a very willin' shove to
the boat when we got her afloat again. The police had
a wonderful lot to say, an' we could plainly see 'at if we
went back we shouldn't be welcomed. The fleet had
gone, becoss a breeze had sprung up ; but we came
across a single-boater, an' he kept us aboard till we
picked our own smack up again.

"Well, there you are. There's a little yarn o' the
way we used to amuse ourselves in the old days — an' not
so very long ago, mind you — before the Mission drove
the coper off the Dogger an' provided beautiful ships
where we can get tobacco at cost price, an' where, when
a man's ill, he can be looked after by a doctor an' pulled
round without havin' to go home, an' ten to one losin'
his berth.

" Why, it's only a few weeks since one o' the coper's
skippers wrung his hands an' said 'at the Mission had

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 87

completely ruined him. ' Before it came,' he said, ' I
could live without workin'. Now I'm forced to fish/ "

Connected with the days of sail were many quaint
expressions and sayings, some of which are still em-
ployed, but with lessening force and meaning. Many
are pure localisms and quite incomprehensible to dwellers
outside the radius in which they are used. For ex-
ample, there is the term " Wrangem," which, although
fully understood by the fisherfolk of Scarborough, con-
veys no meaning to the stranger. " Wrangem " has
been in use for nearly a century, and may have had its
rise in the old custom of putting aside fish for drink,
unknown to the men's wives who, on that robust coast,
were quite as prompt to use their fists as their tongues
when need arose. There is another and more romantic
version of the origin of the word. In the old days
there dwelt in Scarborough a skipper of renown called
Wrangem, who was justly famed for the excellence of
his liquors. With him the fishermen did serious business
when they came in from the sea, and it was their
custom to put certain fish aside, and say as they did so,
"That'll do for Wrangem." By a simple process of
exchange the fish was represented by full-bodied grog
or other welcome refreshment. In course of time the
word was applied to all offal fish which was claimed, as
it used to be claimed, by apprentices, and also for
what the men caught by hook while the herring-boats
were riding at their nets, this fish being free from
auction dues.

It was a common enough sight, until quite lately, on
the north-east coast to see men come ashore from
steam and sailing vessels carrying considerable quantities

88 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of fish, which came under the heading of " Wrangems"
or " stacker," which is another term for perquisites. I
have repeatedly seen men and boys bearing these
trophies, and many an agreeable little bargain has been
struck between the conveyers of the fish and house-
holders ashore. The custom, however, is almost a thing
of the past. Owners find the cost of running modern
trawlers so heavy that they cannot afford to allow any
fish to be removed from their vessels except for legiti-
mate and regular sale in the market. The easy-going
ways of the past are vanishing, or have gone with the
lazy brown sails and creaking spars ; many a quiet, old-
world haven has been converted into a bustling fish
port, and the observer may, in some of these places,
witness sights and hear language which are not what
one expects to come across in such romantic neighbour-
hoods. In one of the quaintest of north-east coast
havens I have heard a blustering bully of an overseer in
a fish-market use expressions which would have caused
his expulsion from Billingsgate. The words were
directed, too, to men who were accustomed to put off
in their cobles in bad weather, and who would be ex-
pected to retaliate at once on such a person. Their
fathers, contemporaries of Wrangem, would have given
him an early opportunity of cooling himself in the
harbour.

I am sorry to have to say that on many recent visits
to the east coast I have been struck by the astonishing
change that has come over some of the longshore men,
not the deep-sea fishers. This summer, in some of the
most inaccessible places, I talked with, and saw, many
men and boys who a few years ago would have been

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 89

fishing or tumbling about in cobles, but who were
content to act the part of degenerated pier-rats and
hawk picture post cards and hover round promiscuously
in the hope of being rewarded for doing nothing in
particular. The finest type of fisherman is undoubtedly
the class of man and boy who goes fleeting and on the
long voyages such as Iceland and the White Sea. The
inshore fisher is being spoilt and softened by too much
contact with the holiday-maker and loafer, well-dressed
and otherwise. Quite lately one of the hard, fine old
school of fishermen declared bitterly to me that it was
almost impossible to get a mate to go to sea with him,
if the weather was at all unfavourable. " Yet it's in bad
weather that I can do best and am almost sure to do
well," he added. " Look at this beach. It swarms
with young fellows who ought to be off fishing; but
that doesn't suit their ticket. They'd rather hang about
here and take trippers off in their cobles. I wouldn't
let any man under fifty do soft work of that sort. The
truth is, a lot of the old deep-sea men have been spoilt
by visitors, and those that ought to be deep-sea men
are just blow-abouts."

Until a recent period there was maintained at some
of the north-east ports, particularly those which are
dangerous of entrance in bad weather, the old and
striking custom of "burning off." This warning was
to be seen at Scarborough when the old " platform"
existed at the foot of Castle Hill, and before the new
Marine Drive was finished. The "platform" was an
old wooden shed with three small look-out windows
commanding a view of the North Sea towards the south
and east, and within the building pilots and fishermen

90 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

assembled in time of gales to watch for the coming of
smacks to harbour, and the appearance of vessels which
might need pilots or a tow. If the weather allowed a
coble to get out, off a pilot would go, sometimes picking
up a five-pound note for the trouble of telling a master
his position or guiding him to a neighbouring port ;
or a steam-trawler would thrash out and get hold of
the lame duck. The "platform" was the rendezvous
of the old-time smacksmen — and there were quaint
neighbouring inns to which they could withdraw, and
in whose cosy corners, over glasses of hot grog, they
could re-spin many a North Sea yarn.

The "burning off" took place when it was con-
sidered unsafe for a smack to enter the harbour, owing
to the dangerous sea running. A great iron brazier was
placed on the top of the outer pier, and in it a big fire
made of wood. When the flames and smoke of this
device were seen a skipper knew that he was officially
forbidden to attempt to enter the harbour. Often
enough a smack would be kept dodging about in the
heavy sea for several tides. I remember seeing one,
in a winter gale, that was burnt off for five successive
tides, and for sixty hours she was wallowing and
thrashing about within a stone's throw of refuge, yet
forbidden to try and get the shelter of the harbour.
Occasionally a reckless or worn-out skipper defied the
warning, and made a dash for port. He usually
succeeded in entering safely. There is a famous tale
of one of the old-world skippers who saw the signal
burning, and defied it. He swore that he would get
into harbour, warning or no warning, and he made a
desperate dash for it. Fortune favoured his reckless-

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 91

ness, but in an unexpected and amazing way, for an
enormous sea lifted up his smack bodily and carried
her safely over the outer pier and dumped her down
in harbour. They called the skipper Mad Isaac, and
his wonderful achievement was numbered with the
thrilling records of the old frequenters of the
"platform."

Not far from the " platform " was, and is, a bend or
elbow in the pier, which is called John Donkin's Bight.
John was a comrade fit for Mad Isaac. He was a
fearnought who fought his way out of harbour in his
coble when no other man would venture ; and, seeking
the shelter of the bend, he would lie in wait for pilotage
or salvage. So it happened that the spot became
known as John Donkin's Bight, and that is the name
by which old North Sea men still speak of it.

There are so many different classes of workers on
the North Sea that these peculiarities in describing fish
and things are naturally only understood by the men
who are specially associated with them, just as
"flithers" is a word peculiar to the Yorkshire coast —
and certain parts at that — or " buckfanning " to a
particular locality in that county. " Flithers " is another
term for the limpets which are gathered on the cliffs
by buxom women, for use as bait by husbands, or
brothers, sons or sweethearts. I suppose the day
is not very far distant when you cannot wander down
the shore or on the cliffs in winter and watch these
fine specimens of womanhood, these "flithers women,"
plying their simple calling, having walked miles with
their empty baskets, and having to walk miles more
when the baskets are full. These are the wives,

92 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

mothers, and daughters who have so often launched the
lifeboats or cobles on the east coast when their men-
folk have been in peril, and have at times pulled out
and done as Grace Darling did before them. It is
mostly the womenfolk of the inshore fishermen who are
seen at work of this description — the men who go out for
the night or a few days. The wife and sister, daughter
and sweetheart of the deep-sea fisherman, whose life is
mostly spent in fleeting, sees him but seldom, and for
only a few days in the year.

If I ventured on a prophecy, which I think is likely
to be fulfilled with regard to North Sea fishing, it is that
before long the fleeting system will be either abolished
or completely reformed. With so many growing demands
on the part of the employed, it is unlikely that men will
be found who are willing to remain at sea, cut off from
home and family, for such protracted periods. Even as
I write, a fishermen's trade union is being formed at
North Shields. It is a scheme for the labour organisa-
tion of the Tyne fishermen ; and all the east coast
fishermen are being organised. Industrial combinations
are quick to detect or suspect grounds for grievance,
and it will be deeply interesting to watch the develop-
ment of this movement which originated on the mighty
Tyne.

A COASTER OFF DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE.

A NORTH SEA LINER'S BOW AND TILLER.

CHAPTER VII

PRIME AND OFFAL

ALL the fishes that are trawled from North Sea waters
are divided into two great classes — prime and offal.
The prime is composed of the upper ranks of fishes, and
the vast lower orders constitute the offal. Naturally
enough, the prime goes to the high and rich community
ashore, and the offal to the people. The exception to
this rule is found mostly on the North Sea, where the
fisherman may, if he is so disposed, regale himself with
a sole or turbot, the primest of the prime ; but he seldom
does so, for he prefers to send the best and most valuable
of his catches to market. He is content with the inferior
sorts ; but even these, when cooked as North Sea men
can cook them, are delicacies such as are seldom found
on inland tables. Yet fish can be too fresh, and there
are species which are tough and rather unpalatable
when taken straight from the net to the galley. These,
like freshly killed beef, are better for twenty-four hours'
keeping.

Soles come easily first amongst the prime. Nothing
gladdens the heart of the fisherman more than a good
haul of this aristocrat of the deep, for, however erratic
the market may be, there is always a certainty of profit
on the catch. It seldom happens that the supply of sole

94 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

exceeds the demand, and there is not in connection with
this fish that wholesale waste which has to be recorded
when there is a glut of the inferior descriptions. Often
enough the wholesale cost of sole at Billingsgate is 2s.
or 2s. 6d. a pound, although it will be occasionally as
low as 6d., the price being entirely dependent on the
supply. Turbot, which comes next to sole in order of
merit, will command as much as is. a pound wholesale
in a good market. Brill, which so closely resembles
turbot in many ways, realises almost the same prices as
that lordly fish, and about the same as those which are
paid for lemon sole and the most superior sorts of plaice.
The offal comprises many sorts of fish, most of which
are familiar to housekeepers by name, while others are
designated in a manner that would puzzle any one but
an expert. Haddocks and halibut are known to all,
especially the former ; gurnets are not unfamiliar, and
whiting, of course, is known to every caterer, and appears
on many bills of fare ; but few ordinary buyers would
venture on witches, megrims, latchets, skate, or roker.
All these classes have a constant place in the Billings-
gate list, while other fishes are dealt with which are
not considered worth offering as regular "lines." Yet
nothing is more surprising than the change which will
sometimes take- place, and has taken place, in the
estimating of fish as an article of food. For example,
skate, ray, and kindred fish are despised at many ports,
even by the poorest classes, while, on the other side of
the North Sea, skate almost ranks as prime. Haddock
also is frequently looked at dubiously, largely because it
is so cheap and plentiful, but, properly cooked and served,
a choice haddock is a welcome dish at any table.

PRIME AND OFFAL 95

Time after time the markets are glutted with plaice
and haddock, huge quantities of which are brought by
British and foreign trawlers to Billingsgate, Grimsby,
Hull, and Aberdeen, from Iceland and the White Sea.
If the markets have been badly supplied owing to heavy
weather in the North Sea, these trawlers from distant
waters make enormous profits ; but, if there is a big
supply on hand, then the cargoes fetch infinitely less.

Looking casually at the excellent " Echoes of the
Markets," in The Fish Trades Gazette, I find, under the
Hull report for 25th May 1911, that heavy catches of
Iceland and White Sea fish were still being landed, but
that deliveries from the nearer grounds continued quite
inadequate to meet the requirements of the trade, " and
during the early part of the week the order business was
practically suspended through the absolute failure of
North Sea supplies. For some days Iceland and White
Sea varieties have monopolised the market, and during
the week-end values fell to rock-bottom level. . . .
White Sea plaice was difficult to dispose of at any price.
Monday's supplies consisted of three big catches of
White Sea plaice, and five voyages from Iceland, the
North Sea and nearer grounds being represented by one
solitary boat." For the same week " substantial con-
signments of White Sea plaice met a slack sale at
low figures " at Billingsgate ; while on the Monday, at
Grimsby, there was a huge supply from some eighty
steamers, Iceland and Faroe fish making an immense
show. There was a keen sale for haddocks ; " soles,
turbots, and brills were cheap enough in proportion,
brills occasionally selling for more than turbots."

For winter months the reports naturally showed

96 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

short supplies and high prices on many occasions. At
Aberdeen, in February, owing to continued stormy
weather and scarcity of fish on certain areas, supplies
were short and prices advanced " until very high figures
were reached." At all the east coast ports the state of
business was the same; and Billingsgate on one day
was without carriers, a single steamer finding her way
to the market on another day, with a scanty cargo of
900 trunks — 36 tons — which she had managed to
collect from her fleet. During that week "no calm
weather was experienced " on the North Sea banks ;
there were continual gales, with mist and rain. A
singular effect of the bad weather was that at Grimsby
there was only a small rise in the noon tide, and for the
first time in some years the port's traffic was suspended,
vessels being unable either to enter or leave the docks.
A score of trawlers were kept outside, many of whose
skippers were anxious to land their catches that day,
while about fifty were locked up in dock, although ready
to go to sea. This was the first time such a state of
things had arisen since the new deep lock was made.
The failure of the tide caused a considerable loss to the
trade, as well as great inconvenience. Another effect of
the gale was the enormous rise in the value of haddocks,
55. per stone being current at Billingsgate, while as much
as 75. was paid at Aberdeen.

Gloomy as that period seemed to be, yet it was
succeeded by a time of remarkable prosperity on the
markets — and all within a week, for after the bad
weather " Wednesday's market (at Grimsby) was the
best ever recorded at the port for a single day so far
as deep-sea fish is concerned. Twelve Iceland trawlers,

PRIME AND OFFAL 97

six from Faroe, and one from the White Sea, landed
such enormous catches that the trade of the market
overflowed on to almost every available adjoining
space." There were also three dozen trawlers from
home waters, and great though the accommodation is
at Grimsby — the world's biggest fishing port — yet it
was not equal to the extraordinary demand upon it.
Competent judges estimated that the weight of the
fish handled on that particular Wednesday — the last
in February 1911 — was nearly 1000 tons; while, for
that and the two preceding days, it was calculated
that the total weight was more than 2500 tons — a
gigantic quantity. By way of contrast it may be stated
that the record for Aberdeen was the aggregate of about
735 tons, landed during one day in April 1911.

Billingsgate cannot, of course, offer figures which
compare with those for Grimsby. Most of the fish
which is sold at Billingsgate is conveyed to that market
by rail, the carriers from the North Sea fleets being
comparatively few in number, and taking, as a rule, only
a day's total catches. On the other hand, the vessels
putting into Aberdeen, Hull, Grimsby, and the lesser
ports are almost exclusively single-boaters, and many of
these, coming from Iceland, the White Sea, and other
distant fishing-grounds, have been absent from port
three weeks or more, running out and home and
trawling, so that their catches represent numerous
shoots of the gear, unless there has been exceptional
luck — and time after time the trawl may be hauled quite
filled with fish. A very few such hauls and the trawler
is homeward-bound.

Actual figures, taken at random, will show the pro-
7

98 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

portions of fish landed at Billingsgate, and the variations
of the quantities. The figures are for days in the early
months of 1911 —

By sea. By rail.

Tons. Tons. Total.

120 540 660

360 420 780

200 545 745
172 500 672
280 438 718

'9° 525 715

60 468 528

244 432 676

174 552 726

204 510 714

The totals for ten days are 2004 tons by sea and
4930 tons by rail, making a grand total of 6934 tons.
The daily average of sea-borne fish was slightly over
200 tons and that of rail-borne nearly 500 tons, the
daily average of both classes being 700 tons. An effort
was made some years ago to develop and put on a firm
basis the fish-market at Shad well ; but the scheme was
not successful, and the deserted and forlorn buildings are
a familiar sight to travellers up and down the Thames
between the Tower and Greenwich.

A great difference has been made in the markets by
the development of distant fisheries, particularly those
of Iceland. Already the Icelandic region has been pro-
ductive of numerous comfortable fortunes, many losses,
and numberless adventures. The steam-trawler man in
these days cannot tell what fate and fortune have in
store for him, especially when he starts for the icy, lonely

PRIME AND OFFAL 99

regions of the Far North. Take the case of the Hull
steam-trawler Mackenzie, of 93 tons and 75 horse-power.
She left port at the end of 1910, and in December was
lost off the coast of Iceland ; but her crew of a dozen
men, after excessive hardships, were got ashore by Ice-
landers, who bravely and skilfully rescued them by means
of bladders to which ropes were fastened. A dozen
wild, shaggy little ponies were secured, and on the backs
of them the men made their way over the ice-clad country
to Reykjavik, the capital, and afterwards returned home.
They were lucky enough to escape with their lives.
Compare their unhappy and profitless case with that
of the Hull steam-trawler Hercules, which, in September
1904, put ashore one of the heaviest and most valuable
catches ever landed at Grimsby. Her cargo included
500 boxes of Icelandic plaice and 400 kits of cod and
haddock. The plaice was sold at 245. a box, and the
entire catch was valued at £joo. The possibility of
making such a haul as that is a great inducement to
men to forsake the familiar Dogger and adjacent banks
and steam long distances before shooting the trawl and
starting to reap an almost monotonous harvest of
prosperity.

But no business is more of a gamble than trawling.
I have a letter written to me in the month of June from
a skipper in one of the fleets. It shows what a miser-
able return goes to the trawlers for their hard work when
the supplies of fish are greater than the demand.

" Markets are fearfully low just now," he wrote.
" For our first two boardings " (he had just rejoined his
fleet) " we made £i, 173. 3d. and ^4, i8s. 5<i. for 106
boxes; out of that 123. 6d. came to the share of

ioo NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the crew. We all get a little out of that. We are
hoping the prices will go up. We have thrown away a
lot of small haddocks since we heard how markets are.
The whole fleet have been shovelling overboard the
small haddocks."

" Plenty of fish, and no money," he says, in another
letter ; " but we hope prices will soon pull up a little."

This skipper told me, both by word of mouth and
pen, many little tragedies of the fishing-banks, and
almost casually in one of his friendly communications
I find this: "A fisherman went to sea the week before
last, leaving his wife well. He came back in ten days,
and she was in her grave. He left her well and hearty.
Poor beggar ! I did feel for him. He sold up his home
and has cleared out of Grimsby. And so the world goes
on." The skipper was ashore for a brief spell when he
wrote that, and he finished by saying, " I am just going
to take my craft out for a sail along the country lanes."
How he loved to dwell, when talking on the Dogger,
on the memory of those rare Sunday strolls with the
wife whom he so seldom saw!

I have also kept particulars of the results of a day's
fishing by one of the old sailing fleets of about 130
smacks. The catches totalled 2865 boxes of fish. With
the exception of 139 boxes of " prime " — turbots and soles
— all the boxes contained " offal" — haddocks and such-
like inferior fish. Prime always commands a good price,
but the fishermen are often heavy losers when offal is
plentiful, for while this class of fish sometimes only
fetches is., or even 6d., a box in the market, the cost of
conveyance thither is 2S. 2d. per box.

The day's fishing mentioned was very good, and

UNLOADING HERRINGS FROM A "MULE.'

GUTTING HERRINGS FOR EXPORT.

PRIME AND OFFAL 101

the smacksmen would not be out of pocket — although
they would not be much in — for I noticed that the offal
was selling at Billingsgate for 33. 6d. a box, meaning
that the fishermen would make is. 4d. per box on fish
of that kind.

I had an opportunity on board the carrier — the
Pelican — of analysing the returns of fish, and from these
I noticed that the largest number of boxes sent by a
single smack was sixty, while the smallest was one.
Almost every other number between these two was
included in the other returns. A box of " prime" will
fetch on an average £$ ; but the price varies according
to the market. The boxes contain about seven stones
each when packed in the ordinary manner ; but they
will hold an additional stone.

The cod, which represents in itself a gigantic North
Sea industry, ranks as offal. Vast quantities of this
species of fish are caught by trawl and line, and there
are always heavy dealings in both live and dead cod for
the purposes of immediate consumption and drying and
curing for export. For two hundred years at least the
cod has received special attention from fishermen, and
even in the crude early days of harvesting the sea special
and ingenious efforts were made to devise means of
getting cod on the market in the best condition. There
is only one way of doing that, and it is to keep the fish
alive as long as possible. What is known as live cod
fetches a much bigger price on the market than what
is technically called dead cod, although, as a matter of
fact, both creatures are carcases. The dead cod is the
fish which has been hauled and cleaned and packed and
sent to market in the usual way ; the live cod is the fish

102 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

which has been kept alive and killed when wanted. To
make this latter state of things possible there came into
being two centuries ago the special kind of craft called
welled smacks. They were first tried at Harwich in 1712,
the idea, apparently, having been taken from the Dutch.
These vessels were specially constructed for the purpose
of keeping alive the fish that had been caught. The
well was actually part of the vessel, the midship section,
the sides of the smack being perforated with holes which
enabled a constant supply of sea water to circulate in the
well without endangering the safety of the vessel. A
hatchway on deck gave admission to the well, into
which the living fish, when caught by hooks, were
thrown.

It was found that cod, being big, strong fish, and
little damaged because of their gluttonous attempts to
raven the hook as well as the bait, were particularly well
adapted for preservation by this ingenious, if somewhat
barbarous and primitive, method, and experience showed
that in a properly constructed well they would live for
long periods and could be brought to port in fine healthy
condition and killed and put straight on to the market
according to requirements. Of course, there were many
casualties, but, owing to the constant supervision of the
creatures, there was comparatively little loss, because if
the cod died they were promptly removed from the well,
or, if not likely to survive, were taken out and killed and
packed in ice. As the years went on, the special industry
pursued by the welled deck vessels grew rapidly, and
large numbers of living, frisky codfish were landed at
some of the east coast ports, especially Grimsby.

When a welled smack arrived a remarkable and

PRIME AND OFFAL 103

interesting performance was gone through. By using
specially constructed landing-nets men removed the cod
from their floating prisons and put them into what were
known as cod-chests. These were boxes 7 ft. long,
2 ft. deep, and 4 ft. wide, the construction being very
much like the fish-trunk of to-day. The top of the box
was completely planked over, although in the middle
there was an opening, provided with a lid, into which
the fish were placed. As the bottom and sides of the
chest were formed of planks with spaces between them,
the chests naturally floated on the surface of the dock.
Through the opening in the top the fish were emptied
from the landing-net, and nearly a hundred small-sized
cod and about forty large fish could be kept in one of
the chests for two weeks without going off in quality.
It was quite usual to have three hundred or four hundred
of these cod-chests in Grimsby dock at the same time,
and they would contain anything up to twenty thousand
live fish.

With such a system as this it was not difficult to
keep the market more or less adequately supplied with
cod, just as butchers furnish the public with meat in
proportion to the demand. The quantity of fish that
was wanted for the market being known, the task of
supplying it would begin, and men would fall on the cod-
chests and produce and prepare the fish for market. It
was not a question of getting the creature out and letting
it die in the ordinary way, but a matter of expediency,
humanity, and profit. The fish were promptly taken out
of the cod-chests and as promptly killed. To each end
of the chest was attached a rope or chain handle so that
the big box could be easily dealt with. A chest was

104 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

brought alongside an old hulk specially kept for the
purpose and moored near the market-place. Tackles
having been hooked to the handles of the chest, it was
hoisted sufficiently clear of the dock to allow the box to
drain, and the cover having been removed, a man stood
in the middle of the chest and, seizing the fish by the
head and tail, took them out and threw them on to the
hulk's deck. It was a lively and exciting performance,
for a big live fish of any sort is no easy thing to handle
when taken from the water. As soon as the floundering
cod thudded and flapped on the deck of the hulk it was
annexed by the experienced executioner, whose sole
weapon was a short club, and whose only power was an
iron grip and stout muscle. He seized the cod just
behind the head, held the fish firmly to the deck, and in
a second or two killed it with one or two heavy blows
on the nose. A big heap of fish formed rapidly, and
this was as quickly taken ashore and placed in the
waiting railway-trucks for conveyance to Billingsgate.
The fish were not put in boxes, but straight into the
truck, which would hold about two hundred and fifty
good-sized fish and a much larger number of smaller cod.
By the adoption of this system of catching, keeping, and
killing the cod when wanted, it was found possible to
get the fish to Billingsgate in perfectly fresh condition,
and put the cod on the market in a state which
invariably enabled the dealers to get good prices for
their commodity.

One of the most important items in the expenses of
a cod-smack was the bait ; in fact, so considerable was it
that it exceeded the wear and tear of sails and rigging.
In long lining by codmen only one sort of bait was used,

PRIME AND OFFAL 105

and that was whelks, or buckles, as the Scotch people
call them. Long experience showed not only that the
cod greatly favoured this particular shellfish, but also
that the whelks were tough enough to keep to the
hooks. So great was the demand for whelks that the
collection of them was an established business giving
employment to a large number of small boats and
people. Trawlers themselves would from time to time
be able to supply considerable quantities of whelks, but
frequently the supply would run short and the codmen
suffer proportionately. The fondness of many of the
poorer classes in the country for the shellfish would also
interfere considerably with the supply available for bait.

Very great quantities of whelks were needed by
codmen for each voyage. In the height of the season
one vessel would take to sea with her forty wash of
whelks, a wash being equal to twenty-one quarts. More
than eight hundred quarts of whelks, therefore, would be
needed as bait, and the breaking of the shells, extraction
of the little animals, and hooking them was in itself a
protracted and laborious business. Great care was
taken to keep the whelks in good condition. They
were placed in net-bags and kept alive in the smack's
well until they were required for use. With attractive
bait like this, enormous numbers of cod were caught by
the liners.

Frank Buckland recorded, in his genial and careful
manner, a talk he had with a North Sea skipper at
Grimsby, apparently in the early Seventies. His
informant had been master of the Hurricane, a fine
smack, and he had knocked about the Dogger and
other banks for two-and-forty years. The catch of one

106 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

trawler for a voyage of eleven days he gave as follows :
seventy kid of haddocks (2 cwt. in each kid) ; five
score of turbot ; forty boxes of plaice ; two boxes of
soles ; twelve score of cod ; and four very large
sturgeons. " I have known another vessel bring in as
much as one hundred and ten kid of haddock," the
skipper added ; "but she was gone a few days longer.
We pack fish and ice together. We never use the
same ice twice, and ice is often very expensive. It
costs from £3 to £6 every voyage." Buckland was
greatly interested in the Grimsby cod-chests, which
were sometimes so thick that the water in the dock
could be scarcely seen, and often enough men and boys
would walk about on the tops of them and jump from
one to the other. A box was hauled up for inspection,
and, on the lid being opened, Buckland found a " solid
mass of living cod, all struggling and gaping with their
immense mouths. ... In another of these boxes there
was a large number of great halibuts. I had never seen
a live halibut before. He is a curious-looking fellow,
one side brown, the other a creamy white. The cod
will live in the boxes about eight weeks ; they have no
food given them. The halibuts will also live from eight
to nine weeks. A cod weighing 50 Ib. is considered to
be a large fish. ... A 7o-lb. cod is the largest ever
known."

Buckland described a remarkable sight he saw while
walking round the dock. He noticed some men hauling
at a rope which was evidently made fast to something
very heavy. When this body came to the surface he
was astonished to find that it consisted of a solid mass
of live cod, each fish being tied by the tail to a rope.

\

AN ICELANDER.

PRIME AND OFFAL 107

When the cod were in the water they spread themselves
out in a circle, looking like a large cartwheel without the
tire, only, the spokes were much more numerous. When
the cod were hauled up into the air they looked like a
rope of gigantic onions, and the cods' tails seemed very
sore and much lacerated by the string which fastened
them to the rope. Rightly enough, Buckland thought
that this practice was very cruel.

These welled smacks cost considerably more than
the ordinary trawlers, and their maintenance, too, involved
a heavier expenditure. It may be remarked that the
ordinary type of fishing- vessel was called " dry-
bottomed," signifying that they had no well. As a rule,
a cod-smack carried nine or eleven hands, about half of
whom were apprentices of varying ages. In the case
of these vessels only the skipper was paid on the share
principle, although that principle became general with
trawlers. The skipper of a codman received nine per
cent, of the proceeds of the voyage, the rest of the hands
being paid weekly wages. The mate received twenty-
four shillings, and the men twenty-two shillings each,
while the apprentices were paid from five pounds to
twelve pounds yearly according to their length of
services. In addition to the wages the owner found
provision for all hands, nothing being deducted for food
from the wages. This, of course, made a considerable
difference to the fishermen, especially those who were
unmarried and who found it necessary to pay for lodgings
only when they were ashore. While in no respect lavish
or even liberal, the wages, taken in conjunction with the
food and the floating home, such as it was, at least com-
pared favourably with the earnings of ordinary working-

io8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

people on land. At the same time the fishermen earned
far less than the wages paid to miners and other men
following dangerous or hazardous employment ashore.

There is one particular specimen of offal which
infests the North Sea grounds, in common with other
fishing areas around the coasts, and this is the dogfish.
Ingenious attempts have been made to turn his carcase
to some useful and profitable purpose ; but so far without
success. As an article of food he is despised, perhaps
unjustly, and, with the exception of a few localities, he
has no commercial value. The only satisfaction the
fisherman can get out of association with him is to
destroy him ruthlessly whenever the chance to do so
comes his way. No mercy is ever shown to the animal,
and when once he is on the deck of a fishing-craft of any
sort he is doomed.

The cannibalism of the dogfish was markedly proved
in the case of a codman which returned to port from the
North Sea. The vessel's crew had more than six score
cod on the lines, but only six were secured alive. As to
the rest, the smack returned to harbour with her rigging
decorated with their skeletons. The "dogs" had got
the flesh. The dogfish and the cod will devour their
own tribes as unconcernedly as they will raven any
small fry that happens to be handy. Often enough, on
being opened, a cod will be found to have swallowed
half a dozen or more herrings. The voracity of this
fish makes it easy to hook.

The dogfish is the shark of the North Sea, the past
and present foe of all fishermen. He wages incessant
war with nets and their catches ; he never shows mercy,
and never gets it. He is a game fish, and usually dies

PRIME AND OFFAL 109

fighting. He can do incalculable mischief to drift-nets
and make vast numbers of herring and small fry utterly
unfit for market, because he seems to kill and mangle
for the mere joy of murder and the lust of maul. He
is voracious and ferocious, and when he is hauled in the
trawl at midnight it is needful to turn aside for settlement
with him, for he will bite through any limb to the bone,
and will not let go. If he is a big fellow of, say, 6 ft.,
he cannot be very easily or readily dispatched. I have
seen them, when on deck, leap and writhe even after
many heavy blows have been struck on the head. If a
piece of wood, a handspike, or a plank from a fish-trunk
is held near the fierce animal he will grip it with his
teeth and hold so firmly that he may be dragged about
the deck for a long time until he is finally settled.
When he is dead he is thrown overboard, where he
makes a welcome meal for his brothers. Occasionally
the fish are eaten by fishermen, and they are regularly
dried in the Orkneys for winter food.

"We catch lots of dogfish in the trawl," an old
Yarmouthman stated. " They are very tiresome. They
prick our fingers in the dark, and we can't afford to pay
boys to hold lanterns. It's the piped dog, with two
scales on the back. We get the spotted dog in the

summer."

The sinister reputation of the dogfish is not confined
to the North Sea. The pilchard and the southern
herring-fishing suffer heavily owing to the raids of dog-
fish, yet the conservative toilers of the Channel, who
might turn the enemy to profitable advantage, insist
upon calling him "dogfish," instead of "flake." " Dog-
fish," as Mr. H. G. Murdoch pointed out at a meeting

no NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of the Plymouth Fisheries Association, is not a market-
able name. Mr. Murdoch strongly advised fishermen
to bring to market all the " flake" they could catch, in
order to sell it, and he made the interesting statement
that some years ago he offered to send "flake" to
Liverpool by his company's steamers, in lots of up to
fifty tons, and to send it free of charge, but not a single
pound was sent. On the other hand, at the same meet-
ing, Mr. J. Jacobs declared that not only did the fisher-
men catch all the dogfish they could, but also used
special bait ; yet it was not worth while to trouble
about this special fish, because the better sorts were
so easily obtainable. Generally speaking, a profitable
price cannot be obtained for dogfish. Ninety-five per
cent, of this fish sent from Plymouth was sold for
London fried-fish shops, and the rest was disposed of
in south coast towns.

Prejudice is hard to conquer, and no objection is
more difficult to overcome than that which relates to
food. Dogfish is dogfish, if it is labelled honestly ; but,
described as flake and properly trimmed, it is a good and
wholesome dish. Snails, appearing on a menu as such,
would be unattractive as a course ; but, written down as
" escargots," and included in a French bill of fare, they
become a delicacy to the epicure. In the same way
catfish may be disguised and relished in proportion to
the craft and cunning of the title ; but, displayed for sale
in all its native repulsiveness, it is not likely to find a
buyer. In some of the coast towns, where great numbers
of catfish are landed, the animal would not be thought
of for a moment ; but, with the hideous head cut off and
the foul-looking hide removed, the firm white flesh is

PRIME AND OFFAL in

most attractive and finds a ready sale in centres where
fishing is not an industry. Another marine animal of
unattractive aspect, which in its unadorned condition has
practically no market value, is the skate. This fish ranks
as offal, and in some districts even the poorest people will
not touch it, although in certain parts of foreign lands
the flesh is greatly esteemed. Fishermen, as a rule, will
not on any consideration eat the animal,and if the reasons
they give for their refusals are correct, it is no cause for
wonder that they will not consume it in any shape or
form. In a restaurant for which the caterers are an im-
portant West End firm I saw on the bill of fare recently,
" Skate, 6d." The price was reasonable for a fish-
course ; yet that very day, at Billingsgate, skate was
being sold at sixpence a stone ! Assuming that at the
restaurant a portion of the fish weighed 4 oz., the retail
selling price was fifty-six times that of the wholesale
price! The same proportion prevails with respect to
many other kinds of fish, especially the offal ; but for
the prime sorts there is not such a great difference. On
behalf of a very large firm of caterers who buy enormous
quantities of fish, it was stated in a law case not long
ago that the average price paid for fish, wholesale, was
less than a penny a pound.

In dealing with halibut, Buckland recorded that the
week before he visited Grimsby a halibut was sold for
^"3, I2s. 6d., and that in February 1874 an immense
halibut was brought to the London market. This fish
was 6 ft. 3 in. long, 3 ft. 1 1 in. wide, and weighed nearly
2 cwt. About the same time he made an outline in
linen of a huge skate which measured 6 ft. 10 in. long
with the tail, and was 5 ft. 3 in. wide. I saw recently,

H2 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

in Aberdeen fish-market, a skate which must have
been as big as Buckland's, and for which, apparently,
owing to the hot weather, there was no demand. I
imagine that it was taken off to be used as manure.

Much greater halibut than that of which Buckland
gave particulars have been landed. In May 1911 the
Hull steam-trawler Mac far lane brought to Billingsgate
a halibut weighing 700 lb., or more than 6 cwt. This
monster fetched only 455., or about fd. per lb. At
Aberdeen, in July following, there was landed the
biggest halibut which was ever received in that port.
This fish weighed 448 lb. gross, and nearly 400 lb. when
gutted ; it was 8 ft. long, with a girth of 7^ ft. Still
larger was a specimen which was brought from Iceland
last year, this being 8J ft. long and weighing 33 st.
When cut into three parts the middle slice weighed
13 st.

Some fishes are peculiar to certain localities, and so
much is this the case that the very names by which
the animals are known are not understood outside the
neighbourhood, any more than the Yorkshire dialects
are comprehended by Londoners. In the North of
Scotland, for example, there are fishes known as
"whitches," or " witches," a term unused in southern
places; " megrims" are a complete mystery to many
deep-sea fishermen— a mystery as great as is the " wine-
drinker," an emperor of herrings, sometimes called the
King Herring, which, when caught, gives rise to almost
Druidical rites by the fishermen who secure it. This
creature rarely comes to the nets, and is symbolic of
luck if cast back at once into the sea. It appears to
belong to the Lowestoft district, yet a man who was

PRIME AND OFFAL 113

born in that town, who lived there for nineteen years,
and is engaged and has been long engaged in the fishing
trade, told me that he had never even heard the name
and did not understand the description. Many a North
Seaman is at a loss to say what a " megrim" is; yet
great numbers of this fish are regularly dealt with at
Billingsgate.

The megrim, as a matter of fact, was described and
dealt with by Yarrell, who says that its common name
is the seal-fish, megrim being the Cornish name for the
animal. The megrim was then supposed to be confined
exclusively to the southern coast, between Weymouth
and the Land's End. It seldom exceeded 4 or 5 in.
in length. The colour of the fish was a uniform
pale yellow-brown. Megrim is equivalent in meaning
to smooth sole.

CHAPTER VIII
LORD OF THE FISHES

IN value and renown the herring takes an unassailable
position as the lord of fishes. Joan of Arc is associated
with that famous " Battle of the Herrings" which in the
fifteenth century crowned the English victories over the
armies of France. That combat, one of the outstanding
features of the Hundred Years' War, took place at
Roncray-St.-Denis on I2th February 1429. Sir John
Fastolfe was convoying salted herrings for the English
army before Orleans, when news reached him of the
coming of a French force under the Bastard of Orleans
— the Due de Bourbon — and he entrenched himself at
Roncray. The French attacked him, and were driven
off with heavy loss, the Bastard being badly wounded.
It was at that time, when Orleans had been forced by
famine to propose surrender, that Joan, prompted, as
she believed, by Divine inspiration, presented herself at
the French Court and begged to be allowed to relieve
the beleaguered city. She was given permission, and
raised the siege triumphantly. She entered the city
with supplies, and the English force withdrew ; but, later,
Joan was captured and burnt by the English at Rouen
as a witch.

Barrelled herrings changed the destinies of the world

LORD OF THE FISHES 115

during the early years of the seventeenth century, when
Holland, striving for world dominion, and likely to be
crushed for want of funds, found in the vast herring-
fisheries the means to raise money and pay her way.
In those days men went just as mad over the possibilities
of this fish as a source of wealth as they do now in
relation to gold-mines. The fishery, indeed, was called
the gold-mine of Holland, and there were not wanting
in England enthusiastic but deluded people who believed
that from the sea was to come, with ease, the riches that
were needed to save a decaying England. For long
years the famous " busses," or deep-sea boats of Holland,
had been working the Dutch herring-fishery. The first
long herring seine net was made at Hoorn early in the
fifteenth century, and in that period, too, was discovered
the way of curing the fish which swarmed in countless
millions in the North Sea. So ably were the Dutch
operations carried out, so zealous were the Hollanders
in developing their resources, and so courageous were
the people on the waters, that there was no part of the
civilised world to which herrings were not carried. It
is said that in 1615 there were 2000 busses sailing from
Dutch ports, with 37,000 seamen; and that within a
few years the trade had grown enormously, with a
corresponding increase in the number of busses and
other vessels and crews employed.

So far-reaching in importance were the herring-
fisheries at that period, that about 60,000 people in
Holland were dependent on them for a living, and it
had been long agreed that the fisheries of England and
Holland should be allowed to proceed without molesta-
tion, despite the bitter quarrels and misunderstandings

n6 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

between the two countries. So early as 1357 the
"Statute of Herrings" had placed the industry under
Government control, and on the accession of James i.
no one could fish without a licence.

Charles i. in 1636 was roused from his indulgences
to recognise that there was peril from the prosperity of
the industrious Dutch, and he issued an Order in Council
prohibiting the herring-fishing in English and Irish seas
without a licence. Not long before that edict it had
been claimed that Great Britain had sole rights over the
seas around its coasts. Holland sent an embassy to
beg that the Order should be revoked, but the effort
failed, and so that he might maintain his position and
be victorious over the united forces of Holland and
France, Charles sent to sea a powerful fleet. To pay
the fleet's expenses there was imposed that unjust burden
of ' 'ship-money" which resulted in such disastrous con-
sequences to the English people until, in 1641, it was
declared illegal.

Yarmouth was included in the places on the coast
where the Dutch were forbidden to fish. The fisheries
of that ancient port were greatly damaged as a con-
sequence. One result was the disappearance of the
celebrated Free Fair. The Dutch busses had been ac-
customed to sail for Yarmouth some days before 2ist
September, when the herring-fishery practically began
with what was called " wetting their nets " — a ceremony
in which, doubtless, ' 'square -face " took a more
prominent part than sea or fresh water. The Sunday
before this was named Dutch Sunday, and a fair was
held, the booths being ranged on both sides of
the quay.

LORD OF THE FISHES 117

The herring-fair died hard, however, for it was
described in 1785 by an eye-witness. About fifty
schuyts sailed up the Yare, all on the Friday evening,
and when they were moored alongside the quay the
wide-breeched Dutchmen sat on deck in the moonlight
and smoked peacefully. Great crowds of people went
to see them, many going to Yarmouth from places like
Norwich. During the war with France the fair was
discontinued for many years. After the peace of 1814
it was revived, but in an imperfect fashion. A fleet of
schuyts sailed into Yarmouth Roads. A fair was held
on the beach, and there were many exchanges of good-
will between the two peoples who had been such bitter
and inveterate enemies. The visit, however, resolved
itself mostly into taking in water for the schuyts, and,
having done that, the ample Dutchmen and their clean,
bright, picturesque craft sailed away after the herring.
From that time the custom of holding the fair slowly
but surely died. To-day, however, there remains at
Yarmouth the ancient and impressive custom of blessing
the herring-nets in the majestic old church of St.
Nicholas.

The vast importance of the herring-fishery for many
centuries has been recorded in contemporary papers,
none of which are more interesting than those relating
to the period of the three Dutch wars.

The fish were so abundant at Yarmouth in October
1666 that there was not salt enough to save them; a
prize had been taken containing 156 weigh of salt, and
£j, i os. a weigh was offered for the salt, so that the
fish might be preserved. A quaint reason was given
for the plentiful supplies of fish — that the Dutch had

— _

n8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

not been fishing, consequently the beds of fish were
undisturbed when the Yarmouth men got to work on
them. Salt, indeed, was so dear that herrings, when
caught in great abundance, had to be sold quickly for
what they would fetch, as the salt necessary for their
preservation could not be bought at a profitable rate.
There never was a better herring-fishery at Yarmouth
than that year's ; but salt was wanted ; " twelve herrings
a penny here fills many a hungry belly."

The sea, indeed, was fuller of herrings than had
ever been known. No sooner were fishermen's nets in
the water than they were full, and some of the men had
been forced to throw three or four lasts overboard,
while others had lost their nets because of the enormous
numbers of herrings in them. Salt was, however, £13
a weigh and bay salt £12, so that the herring harvest
was not any great advantage to the reapers who could
not afford to pay such prices for the salt.

It was for a long time the custom at Yarmouth to
send to the sheriffs of Norwich a hundred herrings,
which were to be baked in twenty-four pies or pasties
and sent to the lord of the manor of East Carlton, for
conveyance to the king. They are, or were, still sent
to the Clerk of the Kitchen's office at St. James's. A
bold attempt was made in 1778 to get more than the
equivalent of the herring-pies in return for the toll.
The sheriffs of Norwich attended personally with the
pasties and demanded six white loaves, six dishes of
meat out of the king's kitchen, a flagon of wine, a
flagon of beer, a truss of hay, a bushel of oats, a pricket
of wax, and half a dozen tallow candles. It was con-
veniently discovered that there was no precedent for

LORD OF THE FISHES 119

the delivery of these good and useful things, and they
were refused, the discomfited sheriffs apparently retiring,
baffled and pieless.

In his report on the Norfolk fisheries Buckland
said it would be well within the mark to declare that
every favourable night during September, October, and
November there were fishing for herrings in the North
Sea between 5000 and 6000 miles of netting. Writing
of the enormous shoals, he said that Captain M' Donald,
of the cruiser Vigilant, informed the commissioners ap-
pointed to inquire into the Herring Fisheries of Scotland
(of whom Buckland was one) that at the end of August
1877 he fell in with a shoal of herrings at a depth of
1 08 ft. The shoal extended for 4 miles in length
along the coast, and was 2 miles broad. In order to
get some idea of this shoal, Buckland scaled out its
dimensions on a map of London. Supposing one end
of the shoal to be at the Marble Arch on the west, the
other end on the east, extending in a straight line,
would reach the London Docks beyond the Tower, and
the width would be from the House of Commons to
Euston Square Station. Captain M 'Donald stated that
the shoal was a solid mass of herrings. Buckland came
to the conclusion that the progress of an army of herrings
through the water might be illustrated by the observa-
tion of a flock of rooks or starlings flying through the
air. Supposing a net were floated haphazard in the
air, on the chance of catching a flock of rooks, the birds
might strike the net in a body at the middle of the net,
while the portions of the net to the right and left of it
would catch only comparatively few birds. So it is with
the herrings. If there is no indication of their where-

120 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

abouts in the sea by the appearance of birds, whales,
etc., a fleet of nets is floated haphazard. Buckland
instances the case of a Yarmouth fisherman who had
been at sea three weeks without getting a fish, and was
anxiously watching his fleet of nets when suddenly he
saw a gull make a sweep at them and fly away with a
herring. In almost a minute the whole fleet of nets
was full of herrings, of which twelve lasts (120,000)
were caught.

In July this year, coming down the North Sea,
I passed through a fleet of Scotchmen and a fleet
of steam -drifters. Going to my cabin, I wrote a brief
account of what I saw, which I will reproduce without
alteration. It is this —

While writing this I am passing through one of
the Scotch herring-fleets of the south-east coast of
Scotland. The boats cover an immense area of sea
and are exceptionally close in shore. The nets are
being shot in some cases, and in others the boats
are already riding at them. The sea is perfectly calm,
and there is the merest breath of wind. The sun
is setting, big and placid, and the scene is one that
will soon be a thing of the past, for there will be
nothing visible on the waters but mechanically driven
craft. In some respects that will be well, because
just now the herring-boats have had very poor luck.
Yesterday in many parts was quite a blank in fishing,
owing to the complete absence of wind.

An hour later, nearing midnight, I am steaming
through another fleet, mostly steam-drifters. A few
of them have not even troubled to lower their fore-
masts, as it is so unusually calm. All the vessels

I

I

HERRING-BOATS OX A CALM SEA : EVENING.

LORD OF THE FISHES 121

ride serenely ; and the sight is one to gladden the heart
of the superficial and impressionable onlooker. The
full moon is shining placidly, and there is perfect
and rare peace on the North Sea — yet the constant
war is going on, for the floats and corks around
us indicate the miles of nets that are hung down
in the water, and in the meshes of which already
scores of thousands of herrings must be imprisoned.
The fishers may or may not have luck. So far the
season has not been good. It began badly, with small
catches, but big prices ; then came heavy catches, with
such a glut of the markets that there was not in some
cases any sale at all, and the fishermen had to take
thousands of crans of herrings back to sea and throw
them overboard.

The first attempt to hatch the herring at Grimsby
was made in 1889 by the attendant of the Grimsby
Marine Fisheries Society Ltd. — J. Epton. He went
off in herring-boats three times for the purpose of
getting herring ova ; but he was not very successful.
On one of his excursions he found only one ripe herring.
As the herring-fishing is done at night, and the ova
must be procured while the herring is still alive, the
work of getting it was difficult, especially as a good
light is needed and appliances must be at hand. The
ways of herring-boats are almost as erratic as those
of the fish itself. The attendant was landed on one
occasion at Scarborough, at another time he was
taken to Lowestoft, so that by the time he reached
Grimsby the eggs had suffered considerably. The
eggs, which are adhesive, had been collected on sheets
of glass at sea. For some time there was hope of

122 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

hatching them, as there were signs of life ; a few,
indeed, hatched out, but almost immediately died. It
was feared that the current of water in the troughs
was too strong for the tender fry.

No better means of realising the gigantic proportions
of the modern herring-fisheries around our coasts, but
mostly in the North Sea, is afforded than a study of
the last report of the Fishery Board for Scotland.
This was issued in May 1911, and forms a most
valuable and fascinating work in relation to all the
Scottish fisheries. The record herring-catch was in
1907, when 6,253,341 cwt. of the fish were landed,
their value being ,£1,795,650, with an average price
per cwt. of 55. 9d. In 1910 the figures were 5,687,226
cwt. and £"1,594,308, the average price being 55. 7d.
The average for 1899 was 75. o^d., and that for
1904 was 35. 9d., an astonishing comparison which
shows the erratic value of fish. The operations of the
Scotch herring-fishers are not confined to Scotland ;
they share largely in the herring-fisheries of England
and Ireland. In 1910 1257 boats took part in the
English fishing, their catches being of the value of
£456,528, compared with ,£242, 460 and 679 boats in
1899. It will be seen that the total value of the
herrings caught by Scotch fishermen during 1910,
mostly in the North Sea, was well over £2,000,000.
More than one and three-quarters of a million barrels
of herrings were exported to the Continent, the
greater part going to Germany and Russia. From
40 to 50 per cent, of the total quantity of herrings
exported to Germany is sent over the frontier to
Russia. More than 80 per cent, of the herrings cured,

LORD OF THE FISHES 123

gutted, and packed in barrels in Scotland are exported
to Europe and America, principally the former, the
best customers being Germany and Russia. A large
proportion of the herrings consumed by the Russians
are shipped to the German Baltic ports and conveyed
thence by rail. Herrings are the staple food of the
peasantry, who usually eat them raw, with potatoes.
The best qualities, particularly west coast matjes,
are taken by the wealthy classes as hors cFceuvres
and sometimes realise more than ^5 a barrel.

" In the early years of the nineteenth century," the
report states, " the export trade was confined almost
wholly to the West Indian plantations and Ireland.
The slave-owners in the Indies found Scottish herrings
to be both a cheap and a wholesome food for their slaves,
and large quantities were purchased by them annually.
The abolition of slavery, however, put an end to the
demand from that quarter, and the prospects for the
industry were of the most gloomy description. By a
fortuitous combination of circumstances, however, the
insignificant trade with European countries received a
stimulus, and in 1843 tnat trade, which had begun in the
closing year (1815) of the great European war, grew
perceptibly, the export to Europe then reaching for the
first time a total of 100,000 barrels. Its growth remained
comparatively slow until the economic measures of Sir
Robert Peel enabled Russia and Germany to become
bigger customers of this country, and the repeal of the
duties on timber still further assisted to develop the trade
by bringing about a reduction in the cost of the barrels
in which the herrings were packed. In 1850 the total
export reached 250,000 barrels, in 1870 it had risen

124 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

still further to 486,000, in 1880 to 976,000, and last
year to 1,767,544 barrels — a record of phenomenal
progress."

Of the 90,813 persons employed in 1910 in the
Scottish fisheries and subsidiary industries no fewer than
38,941 manned the : fishing-fleets, 17,010 were gutters
and packers of herrings, 14,500 were engaged in the
carrying trade, and the rest were employed in various
ways in connection with the industry. There is no more
familiar and interesting sight on the east coast during
the herring season than that of the fisher-girls, many of
them very comely, all strong and healthy, who "gip"
the herrings. Their expertness with the knife is wonder-
ful, and their industry untiring, for they are Scotch and
are paid by results.

A MOTOR HERRING-BOAT.

A LOWESTOFT STEAM-DRIFTER.

CHAPTER IX

WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER

SCARBOROUGH CASTLE, grim and ruined, tops the hill
which overlooks the grey North Sea between Flam-
borough Head and Whitby Abbey, where Csedmon,
founder of English poetry, was a monk, and not far from
which was the monastic home of the Venerable Bede,
father of English learning. When Baeda and Csedmon
were alive they watched the early fishers sail away to
catch and bring ashore that marvellously prolific creature
which was and is of all fish the unchallenged king.
They went and came, these small crude craft, when wind
and sea permitted, and to-day, twelve centuries later,
the men of the east coast put to sea, also at the will of
wind and wave, to gather some of its abundant harvest.

The Lowestoft drifter, sail and steam, have come
south after their voyage north to accompany the herring
in that mysterious migration which begins at the Shet-
lands, the unnumbered living mass advancing almost as
the Gulf Stream goes on its appointed way.

We sailed from Scarborough on a Sunday as the
bells were chiming for the morning service, knowing that
when they rang for evensong we should have shot our
nets and be drifting at them.

These Lowestoft vessels are only part of that vast

125

126 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

fleet which is known as herring-drifters, and includes
the small boat containing two or three men and the
steamer with her round dozen. There are ketches, and
a great variety of other rigs, such as yawls, luggers,
mules, Zulus, keelboats, yaffers, and sploshers. The
sailing " Lowestoftman " — it is typical of the North Sea
fishing industry that boats are spoken of as " men "
of their ports: the " Hullman," the "Fileyman," the
" Grimsbyman," and so on — is a well-found craft, some
80 ft. in length and 17 or 18 in beam. They are
honestly and stoutly built, and when they come to
grief, it is through stress of wind and sea, and not because
of owners' carelessness or fishermen's incapacity.

The drifters carry nets enough when they are
fastened together and suspended in the sea to make a
wall which may be a mile long, or even more, and several
yards deep. The upper edge, called the "back," has a
great number of corks which keep the nets upright, and
to afford the necessary buoyancy barrels or great leather
floats are used. The nets are shot over the quarter just
before sunset, while the vessel sails slowly along. When
all the nets are overboard the swing-rope is paid out ;
the boat is I brought round head to wind, the ordinary
sails are taken in, the foremast is lowered till it rests on
the crutch of the mitch-board, the drift-mizzen is set to
keep the vessel head to wind, and the fishing-lights are
shown — the lantern on deck which can be seen in clear
weather for five miles round, and a light at the head of
the mizzen-mast. A watch is set, a solitary man, and the
rest of the crew turn in until he hoarsely calls them up
to haul.

The Lowestoft fishermen say that the method of

WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER 127

catching herrings has scarcely changed during the last
thousand years or more, and that their nets must be the
same in principle as those which were employed before
Richard the Lion-hearted and his Crusaders sailed for
the Holy Land. The statement has much of truth in it,
and when a sailer drifts at the nets she presents much
the same spectacle that could have been witnessed many
centuries ago. It was at night when the herrings were
caught, and night on the vast and melancholy waste of
water hides that modernity which only day reveals.
There are other riding-lights, and here and there, the
mast-head and sidelights of a steamer going north or
south ; but the steel and iron hulls are only guessed by
some chance glimmer from a port or deck-house.

And the men have changed but little, surely ! Their
dress for work is primitive, hiding all that is suggestive
of the modern landsman. There is the jumper which
the skipper and crew wear — a garment made of stout
canvas and barked like the sailcloth. It covers the arms
and trunk nearly to the knees, almost as the coarse
smock garbed the serf of old, and the men of his rank
who would alone, in those days, go to sea to fish. The
jumper in its long variety is like a night-dress. Its short
form is generally favoured, but skippers often use the
long garment, as the covering keeps the cold out, and
skippers, being leaders, have spare time in which to feel
the draughts that invade all unprotected crevices. There
are rough, thick, woollen stockings, and boots which may
be thigh boots, or half boots, or dumpers, according to
the weather, and as for head-dress, that is anything in
the way of covering which comes handy ; but mostly a
cap, except in bad weather, when it is the sou'-wester.

128 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Our own skipper is a man who has followed the drift-
ing for thirty years. His very life is wrapped up in the
herring and its possibilities, for upon the success of the
fishing his income depends. He is learned in the lore of
herringing. You may try to turn him from the topics of
the sea and drifters, but he will invariably come back to
the herring, and you listen contentedly to his talk by the
hour, for he has a subtle knowledge of his subject. He
has much time to spend at the wheel, and in giving
orders when the nets are shot or hauled ; and there are
the odd moments, too, when we assemble in the cabin
aft, with its lack of light and air, and ways of life that are
reminiscent of the customs of the Middle Ages.

The mate after awhile takes the wheel and we go
below to dinner. George, the boy, who is the skipper's
son, has laid the feast. There is no waiting, no helping,
no ceremony. A leg of mutton is in a tin dish on the
cabin floor ; another dish, big and oblong, contains gravy
— a small lake of it ; a third is heaped up with potatoes,
and a fourth is filled with Norfolk dumplings. They
have been boiled, and consist of flour and water and
baking-powder. On the Dogger, rolled out flat and
baked, they would have been called " busters." George
is proud of his cooking skill, and explains that he can
make the dumplings better and richer by the addition of
suet. We pour out tea, a heavy, sickly liquid, sweetened
with condensed milk and much sugar, all boiled together
with a mass of used leaves which have not been removed
from the kettle. We help ourselves from the joint with
our own little knives and two-pronged steel forks, and
with a long, common, pewter spoon scoop up such gravy
as we can catch between the drifter's rolls and pitches,

WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER 129

and if we want a dumpling we annex one with a fork-
plunge. All of us can reach with ease, for our sea-boots
are mixed up with the dishes. It is very crowded in the
cabin, and we are thrown against each other with the
lurches, and our lake of gravy partly mingles with the
cinders of the stove-pan, while our enamelled mugs over-
flow into our jumpers.

George, with folded arms, gazes steadily upon me
from a corner near the oil-lamp, and at times he smiles.

I know what is passing through his mind, and assure
him that I have been out on the North Sea many times
and have never yet been mastered by it, or by any other
stretch of water. " You're sure you aren't goin' to be
turned up, sir ? " he says, and the men laugh hilariously
but kindly.

" Now," says the skipper at last, knocking his pipe
on the locker and clambering to his feet, " I reckon it's
gettin' pretty nearly time to shoot." So we climb on
deck, and just as the worshippers ashore are making
ready for evensong we shoot our nets.

No confusion exists as to duty. The skipper controls
and takes the wheel. The hawseman has to be forward
to make fast the seizings of the warps ; amidships is the
whaleman, paying out the nets, while the net-ropeman
also pays out and hauls in, holding the net-rope ; the
work of the net-stower is to pay out the nets from the
net-room, which is a large chamber forward ; the younker,
being the man of all work, helps anybody who calls for
his assistance, while the boy has all sorts of odd jobs to
do, as well as the cooking and washing up.

The nets are floating near the surface, indicated by a
mile-long line of bobbing barrels and buoys which mark
9

130 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the quarter, half, and three-quarter lengths of nets, and
we go drifting at the will of wind and tide. The sea
appears to be evermore the same, but, although we are
toiling on the deep as harvesters, we know that it is
Sunday. Westward, dimly seen, is the high land of the
Yorkshire coast, with Caedmon's old monastery crowning
the cliff at Whitby, and there returns to mind the picture
of the men who on these same waters plied the craft of
herringing more than a thousand years ago — pretty
much in principle as we are doing now.

When we are slowly drifting we assemble in the
gloomy cabin aft and take our tea. There is the kettle
on the floor, and near it some enamelled mugs ; ac-
companied by a great stack of bread and butter, a dishful
of wedges of cheese ; a dish of sliced cucumber and
another dish of sliced onions. The cucumber is part of
my addition to the menu ; also some bananas and oranges
— and we Dutch the fare.

George has climbed into a cupboard-like bunk, which
he is sharing with the whaleman, and though he feigns
sleep, yet, from time to time, he makes sepulchral
observations. He has resolved that I shall be distressed,
and for aught I know to the contrary, he has some fear-
some medicine that he wishes to inflict upon me. I am
as stubbornly determined to have none of it.

The skipper strips a banana cautiously, rather dis-
trustingly. He does not seem fully to understand, and
after the first bite says that he has never before eaten
one, and thought it was a thing containing seeds.
" Fishermen don't often eat fruit," he explains. " They
don't seem to need it — and fruit's dear. But it's good —
like a meller apple, I reckon. Yes, sir, I'll take another.

WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER 131

I could learn to like 'em. Landsmen have a lot to be
thankful for, when they can get things like that to eat,
and why they should ever come to sea for pleasure is a
thing I can't understand."

" I reckon," says the whaleman, with a sigh, " 'at no
man but a fool, or who wasn't forced, would go fishin'.
It's sixteen week since I left my wife — an' I'm pinin' to
see her again. She'll be goin' to church by this time.
An' there's so much work to do an' so little for it when
it's done."

"Yes," proceeds the skipper, "the men who do the
most work don't get the most pay. The dealer an' the
middleman comes in and sees that that don't happen.
We used to sell the herrin' by the hundred, countin' of
'em an' givin' a hundred an' thirty-two to the dealer as a
hundred. The thirty-two were ' over-tail,' an' belonged
to the dealer, who got nearly a third of the profit of the
catch for just a-handlin' it ashore, although he hadn't to
do any o' the hard work o' fishin'. We sell by measure
now, a cran bein' a thousand herrin', but it's the dealer
first an' the fishermen a long way second. That don't
seem to be right, nohow, but then there's so many
puzzlin' tangles in this queer world. Think what it
means for fishermen and dealers when there's been an
extryordinary catch — as sometimes happens. Only four
year ago, in November, a fleet of us was kept out o'
Lowestoft by fog. When the fog lifted, four hundred
drifters, sail an' steam, crowded in, an' all had big catches,
too. It was Sunday, but special permission was given
to use the market, an' thirty thousand crans were landed
— thirty million o' herrin'. Think of the ' over-tail ' in
that lot ! Most of 'em went off to Russia — an' I wonder

132 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

what'll happen to us if Russia doesn't take our herrin',
but buys from the Japs ? Them little coloured men are
wonderful, an' we've had several of 'em out in the fleets
with us, learnin' our ways, so that they can buy drifters
an' catch herrin' for themselves off the Japanee coast, I
take it.

" There's so many stories told of fishin' that aren't
true, an' so many people come an' bother you with foolish
questions. One tale that's made such a lot of is the
death-cheep of the herrin'. They'll tell you that when
the herrin' are caught an' shaken out of the nets an' are
wrigglin' an' lashin' about, they'll squeak just like wee
little kittens. Well, sometimes they do, but not often,
an' that's only when they're full of wind an' you step on
'em or pick 'em up an' nip 'em.

"Then there's land people who come an' bother you
with foolish questions. I try to put 'em off, but can't
allus do it. There was an old lady who worrited me
past endurance with her questions, askin' if the herrin's
were caught in the barrels, as she'd sometimes seen 'em
that way in shops. I told her no, an' then she aggravated
me to that extent that I told the only fib I ever spoke in
my life — for I larned a lot about the Scriptures at
Sunday School. 'How do you kill 'em when you've
caught 'em ? ' she asked, an' I answered, ' We bite their
heads ! ' She looked at the catch o' herrin's we had, an'
murmured as she walked away, ' Lor' ! How tired your
poor jaws must be ! '

" There's a wonderful lot o' luck in the herrin' fishin'.
I like it best when we can have a good clear sweep of
sea to ourselves — an' that comes earlier in the year, say
in June, when we go away North, and come down with

A STEAM-DRIFTER'S CREW.

THE CREW OF A NORTH SEA SHRIMPER,
SHOWING SMALL BEAM-TRAWL.

WITH A LOWESTOPT DRIFTED i$$

the shoals till we start to make Lowestoft our head-
quarters. That's a better time than this, when we're all
so crowded that there isn't room enough on the sea for
us, and we get bunched up an' foul our nets, and some-
times lose them an' our fish as well. I've known us lose
a hundred nets, costin' three pound each — three hundred
pound altogether.

" You were askin' about the Dutchman that we saw
comin' away from the North — it allus seems so strange
to me how them old boms make their way out and home
again — they do things so leisurely, you see. He hadn't
even got his tawps'ls set. I reckon 'at the Dutchmen
are poor fishermen ; the French are better, an', of course,
Lowestoft men best of all. I once saw some Dutchmen
with a catch of herrin' so big that the nets looked just
like a solid mass, an' the Dutchmen were three days in
haulin'. They had to get the foremast up an' rig halyards,
an* they shook the herrin' out like apples from a tree.
The Dutchmen were three days in haulin', but I dare say
we should ha' done the work in fourteen or fifteen hours.
It's cruel hard work when it comes to a heavy haul, be-
cause there's no stoppin' for meals when we once begin."

"No," observes the hawseman, "there's just a mug
o' tea an' then breakfast, which may be served at five or
six in the mornin', or the same time in the afternoon —
an' that's the fisherman's best meal. He don't take no
count o' dinner, nor yet supper, so long as his breakfast's
got. Old Skip there, he don't want no more nor two
herrin' for breakfast, I reckon ; an' I don't care for more
nor eight or so ; but the old net-stower, he can't be
satisfied nohow wi' less nor a dozen, an' I do know
fishermen who manage to get through nearer a score —

134 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

an' herrin' are wonderful good things to eat, they
say."

"There's no question, to my thinkin'," pursues the
skipper, "'at herrin's get to know when you've come
amongst 'em. They feel the loss o' their comrades an'
swim away. An' I think that that's as wonderful as
their want o' sense in not goin' astarn when they're
meshed. If they did they'd escape, many o' 'em, but
they allus drive ahead, an' keep stuck. They've no
chance, what wi' the drifters an' the dogfish an' the cod,
which carry off enormous numbers. The dogfish are
cruel an' destructive creatures, doin' a lot o' harm to our
nets, but in the case o' the cod we do get something for
our pains and loss, for we bring 'em on board. With
the dogfish we can do nothing but bang him on the
head — an' we allus do that, givin' him a wide berth, for
he's fair poison if he gets his teeth into you. I've seen
cod that thick about the nets that they've been like a
flock o' sheep, an' that crazy after herrin' 'at they just
jump up out o' the water alongside an' beg for 'em, as a
dog will beg for a biscuit. You see, we get to under-
stand fish, us fishermen, just as gentlemen ashore know
the ways o' dogs an' horses. Now, sir, I don't know
about you, but I'm goin' to turn in. Take my bunk
there, if you'd like it. I can manage on the locker."
"I think," I answer, "that I will lie down on deck."
George peeps from his dark cupboard and smiles
broadly. The skipper gives me a coverless pillow and
a couple of rugs and I climb the straight short ladder
to the deck. "Take up thy bed and walk," says
George, as a forlorn hope, and the laughter which greets
the sally does not die till I am stretched on the planks,

WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER 135

with the raw wind striking across my face and the
roughening water from the sullen Dogger lapping
against the drifter's hull, telling its tales of hardship and
suffering ; bringing back oppressive memories, and
resurrecting that nameless fear which comes to all who
understand the North Sea and the smashing fury of
its waves, when gales sweep landward from the east or
north. I cannot rest, and rise and join the lonely
watchman, and, smoking, we converse in low tones,
pausing at times to listen to the spouting of a blow-fish
which is swimming around the drifter, and whose
presence is interpreted by the watchman to be a sign
of herrings. Always our talk is of the sea and drifters
and herrings. Insiduously there comes up from time
to time some tale of loss and sorrow, and I call to mind
the wrecks that I have seen. You cannot get away
from the gloom and pity of it. The North Sea has
you in its grip — and the grip is merciless.

"It's one o'clock," I tell the watchman in answer
to his question. We rouse the crew, and in the
darkness, sleepy, silent, heavy, oil-frocked, and sea-
booted, and in most cases wearing woollen mittens,
they come on deck to start the long, laborious work
of hauling the nets, which may last four or fourteen
hours.

George reels against me, owlish, but incorrigibly
hopeful. " Still tawpside-up, sir ? That's good. Like
these old drifters — they're all right so long as they keep
afloat, aren't they ? There's tea in the galley, and
there'll be breakfast by and by." With that he tumbles
down a little square hole forward, to stow the warp as
the nets are hauled in, and I see him no more until

1 36 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the herrings have been shaken from the nets, and are
slattingjslimily about with the drifter's heavy roll.

Four hours' hard hauling, shaking, stowing, and
packing — and twenty thousand herrings as the pay for
all the work. Not a heavy catch, not an overwhelming
profit — ten pounds for owners and skipper and crew,
with all expenses first to be deducted, but still something
for the night's rough work ; and so, with thankfulness
that matters are no worse, we surge away to harbour
on the rising sea. The skipper takes the wheel till
breakfast is ready ; then, willingly obedient to the
summons, we tumble below again and fall hungrily upon
tea, bread and butter, and herrings — herrings freshly
caught, gutted, beheaded, and deprived of tails, slashed
with jack-knives latitudinally, so that when the huge
dishful of them is placed on the floor, piping hot from
the boiling fat in which they have been fried, we can
bend down and help ourselves, and with our fingers
strip the crisp, delicious morsels from the bones and eat
them. Savage, certainly ; but cutlery is scarce, space
is cramped, and there is no table.

Competition is as merciless in drifting as in other
walks of life, and only the fittest of the fit survive.
The sailing drifter is seen at her best when she is
running for market in a smart breeze, not the " smart
breeze " of the North Sea smacksman, which means a
dangerous ,gale ; but the strong wind in which the
Lowestoftman can carry all his canvas and crack on
with tautened gear and deck awash. That is the time
when skipper and crew enjoy the triumph of success
of toil, and run to port with some of the sea's good
harvest. These Lowestoftmen claim that their craft are

WITH A LOWESTOFT DRIFTER 137

the hardest-driven of any in British waters, and this may
well be so, for on both main and mizzen they carry
enormous jackyard topsails, and the Lowestoftman will
hold on to these in strong winds which make it needful
for lesser sails to be taken in.

"Yes, these drifters are fine boats," our skipper
says, " an' bein' what they are, we are pretty safe in
them, an' when it breezes up too much, we can run in
to port an' get away from the weather. The deep-sea
trawlers can't do that ; they're out on the Dogger and
have to stick it through, be the weather what it will.
No, I've no mind to go. All my thirty year have been
spent in driftin' — beginnin' in June or so, goin' north to
meet the herrin', an' followin' on 'em south back to
Lowestoft, an' workin' 'em till Christmas. It's bitter
cruel work in the cold late autumn an' the winter, an'
I've had many a narrow squeak. I've seen drifters
founder with all hands; but I've allus got safe back.
It's no good stayin' out when the wind an' sea are too
strong, for you lose both nets an' labour ; but com-
petition gets that fierce you're forced to do as others
do — an' some of 'em hang on to the weather till there's
scarcely no chance to get away in safety. An' when
they hang on you've got to hang on too, for fear o' bein'
left. It would never do to run back without herrin'
an' find 'at other fishermen had stuck on an' got some."

When the drifters used to go to sea the urchins
followed them along the haven, singing —

Herrings galore ;

Pray, Master —

Gay Master —

Luff the little herring boat ashore.

138 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Pray God send you eight or nine last ;

Fair gain all,

Good weather,

Good weather,

All herrings — no "dogs."

The boys continued their crude and unmelodious ditty
until they were pacified with biscuits which were thrown
to them by the crews.

There is no singing to sea nowadays, and there are
no spare biscuits, but when the herrings are landed,
the ragged urchins follow the baskets and seize the
fish which fall to the ground, claiming them as loot.

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CHAPTER X
STEAM, THE CONQUEROR

THE townsman, sleepless in the night, is often solaced
by the thought that within a limited area of his couch
there are thousands of men at work, and more awake
than he. Lights are burning throughout the hours of
darkness ; armies of toilers are making ready for the
coming day and its demands on food and drink. The
restless being may direct his thoughts to London River
and follow its involutions to the open sea, where he
will at all times come across ships on which work never
ceases, and where there is constant evidence of the
triumphant march of steam. Only a quarter of a
century ago the wisest and most experienced of smacks-
men scoffed at the idea of steam conquering sail on the
North Sea banks ; but to-day no prophet, however bold
and confident, would venture to forecast the means which
will be employed to get deep-sea fish twenty-five years
hence.

Matters move slowly on the North Sea, but when
energetic owners set to work to bring about a change
they do not rest till they have succeeded. As keen
business men they recognise that the best results are
obtainable only by the employment of the best appli-
ances, and to-day there are at work on the North Sea
ground splendid craft which are equipped with the

139

140 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

latest inventions, vessels on which neither money nor
skill has been spared.

Wireless telegraphy, or some more modern method of
communication between the fleets and the land, will be
surely adopted — if only because the Germans have set
the lead — and if the necessities of trawling demand a
revolution in the methods of propelling vessels and
working gear, then it is certain that the change from
steam will be made.

At present, however, steam, the conqueror, rules
the North Sea fishing industry. Even as I write, the
ancient and venerable art of crabbing has been assailed
by the triumphant engine. For almost unnumbered
generations that class, which is known as the " Grimsby-
Sheringham " fishers, has remained faithful to the open
boat for crabbing and line-fishing, according to the
seasons, off the Yorkshire coast. They have scorned to
deviate from the ways of their fathers ; but now experi-
ments are being made for inshore fishing from Grimsby,
and steam has been applied to an old motor-launch so
as to allow the craft to be used for crabbing and line-
fishing. If the experiment succeeds, as it doubtless
will, we may in our own day and generation find it
needful to bid good-bye to the quaint and quiet ways of
potting and lining from little old-world harbours, such
as those which still exist on the Yorkshire and other
north-east coasts. We shall know the sadness of
saying farewell to the ancient mariners who steer crab-
pot-laden donkeys up the rough face of the North
Landing at Flamborough, and tell you of the brave
days of the Smugglers' Cave, and of the Smuggle-Hole
in T'Oard Ship at Filey.

THE ENGINEER OF A STEAM-DRIFTER.

THE ENGINEER OF A STEAM-TRAWLER.

STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 141

By way of showing the actual working of a North
Sea fleet of steam-trawlers, I will take the case of the
Gamecock Fleet, because that assemblage of plucky
little vessels came into so much prominence owing to
the outrage by the Russian Baltic Fleet. That famous
" incident" has been forgotten by the public, and is
little more than a memory to those who took part in it ;
but the Gamecock trawlers ply their trade as stub-
bornly as ever on the banks, and the carriers, with
the emblem of a bird on their funnels, still chunk
up and down London River as if nothing had ever
happened.

The Gamecock Fleet consists of stearn-trawlers,
specially built to carry large supplies of coal. No ice is
carried. The fleet has been established about seventeen
years, during the whole of which time it has fished in
the North Sea without intermission. The Red Cross
Fleet and the Great Northern Fleet have existed for
about thirty-five years, but only for a portion of that
time exclusively as steam-trawlers. The youngest fleet
is Hellyers', which was established in 1906. The fleet
left Hull on 2Oth February in that year to commence
operations, and it has been continuously fishing on
North Sea grounds since that period. Messrs. Hellyers'
fleet in the North Sea consists of seven carriers and
fifty-five fleeters ; but these do not include their vessels
which sail to Iceland and the White Sea.

Although there is nothing approaching the rigid
discipline of the Royal Navy, still, these North Sea
fleets are well controlled by a specially selected and
experienced fisherman who is officially known as the

142 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

admiral, but familiarly spoken of as the " Boss." The
admiral is responsible for the fishing operations of the
fleet, and, in theory at any rate, when he sets the lead
the rest of the trawlers must follow him. Each fleet
carries a vice-admiral, who takes charge or command
when the admiral is absent. It happened that at the
time of the Russian outrage the Gamecock Fleet was
commanded by the vice-admiral, Mr. Thomas Carr,
a Naval Reserve man. Occasionally a second vice-
admiral will be carried in the fleet, so that whatever
happens there is a responsible head, an experienced
and reliable skipper who is capable of grappling with
any emergency that may arise on even the erratic
North Sea. Nothing is left to chance.

For both night and day there are certain established
signals according to which the skippers shoot or haul
their gear. In the daytime signals are made by
means of flags, indicating how the fleet is to trawl.
The regular night-signals are one green rocket when
the gear is to be shot and the trawling is to be
on the starboard tack, two green rockets for trawling
on the starboard tack free ; and corresponding one and
two red rockets as signals to trawl on the port tack
or on the port tack free. Two white rockets are the
signal for the trawl to be hauled. When these coloured
rockets burst they send up three green or red stars, as
the case may be.

With each fleet there is what is known as a
mark-boat, the purpose of which is to indicate the
rendezvous of the trawlers when they assemble for
the purpose of sending off their fish to the attendant
carrier. The mark-boat is usually an old sailing

THE ADMIRAL OF A NORTH SEA FLEET.

STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 143

smack. She is a stationary vessel which is shifted
from place to place according to the direction in
which the shoals of fish are moving. This direction
is known daily by the relative catch of the vessels.
The fleet's operations are usually conducted within a
radius of ten miles of the mark-boat. The method of
discovering the fish and finding the shoals has been
well described as "skirmishing." Each morning a
carrier collects the fish and goes straight off to Billings-
gate market, while another carrier, which has returned
from the market, waits near the mark-boat in readiness
to leave the fleet on the following morning. In
ordinary circumstances there are two or three carriers
with the fleet. The mark-boat may be called the
rallying-point for the steam-trawlers, which send their
catches by the homeward-bound carrier and take empty
boxes from the outward-bound carrier which has just
joined the fleet after loading up at Gravesend with ice
and coal.

The steam-fleeting on the North Sea banks is
carried out in a routine fashion which was not known
and could not be known in the days of sail. Steam
has conquered everything except the worst of bad
weather, and a North Sea trawler will have her gear
down in a sea in which many a second-rate cargo boat
would be glad to heave to.

The great majority of the vessels faithfully follow
the admiral's signals, for it is only by exercising this
obedience that the general well-being and safety can
be secured. The vessels usually fish on the tack
indicated by the admiral's signals, so as to avoid the
risk of collision ; but it is not obligatory to follow

144 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the signals, and, if a skipper is disposed to do so, he
may trawl on a different tack.

The gear is shot about noon daily. By that time
the men have boarded their fish and received their
supplies of empty boxes from the carrier. For five
or six hours the steamboats trawl at the rate of about
two and a half miles an hour. A faster speed would
mean the risk of damaging the gear and catching less
fish. At about five o'clock in the afternoon the gear
is hauled, and all hands are very busily employed in
gutting and packing the fish. Meanwhile, the trawl
has been shot again, and is towed until at midnight
the admiral's signal to haul is seen and the gear is
got up, to be shot again and hauled once more at
about six o'clock in the morning. There are, conse-
quently, three shoots and three hauls in the course of
the twenty-four hours.

I know of nothing more impressive and splendid as
an act of labour than this hauling of a North Sea trawl,
especially at midnight. There is all around the vast
solemnity of tumbling water, and the bobbing, dipping
lights of the floating town with its population of, say,
five hundred men. The steam-winches are wheezing
and clanging, and the wheels of miscellaneous mechanism
are rattling, with sudden stoppages and spasmodic starts.
Drowsy men have tumbled up from below, and all are
working harder, surely, than ever slave toiled at his
oar in the bank of a galley. In my own special craft
the skipper, with set face, gives the lead ; next to him
is the mate, prototype of Ham in David Copperfieldy
and each in his place in that serried little rank is
another member of the crew,

STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 145

The skipper gives the order and word of en-
couragement.

" Hey ! Hey ! Hey ! " he sings.

" High up ! " he shouts encouragingly.

Then "Set back on him!" and "Now again!"

There is panting and strenuous heaving.

" And again ! " followed by steady tugging and
pulling at the sodden heavy gear.

This is the slow, laborious man-handling of the
trawl which still exists, despite all that steam has done
for mortal man on North Sea banks.

" Up ! " The word of command rises gruffly in the
darkness, with its luminous patches from the big-wicked
paraffin lamps on deck and verandah.

" All together ! Oh ! Ho ! Ho, oh, ho ! "

There is hardly a breathing-space before the skipper
shouts, " Go on again. Up ! Up, up, up ! " Then
there seems to be a desperate and final scrimmage
with the gear, and you wonder whether it will ever
be got on or above the deck. Suddenly the conflict
ceases, there is a strange sizzling of water, a swift
unlashing of what seems to be a complicated knot,
and then the slither and clatter of falling masses of
fish. There is at once a greater splash and clash,
for the gear is overboard again, and the trawl, which
has scarcely rested, is scooping up and collecting
more fish.

You have heard the curt command, " Right over ! "
and the next you know is that men are knee-deep in
pounds of slithering fish and that gutting-knives are
being fiercely plied. However often you may see
that special sight, it never loses its awful fascination,

10

146 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and you watch it just as closely as you follow the
blows of the man who, in a Chicago stockyard,
hammers the skulls of the big beasts in the two-pair
pens, or the swift blood-sodden slaughterer of the
pigs which have whirled the wheel and hang by
shackled leg from the sloping bar of steel on which
they travel to the jabbing knife.

I have watched that wholesale butchery in Chicago,
and have been too much stupefied to be sickened ;
and I have seen repeatedly the unlashing of the
big-bag knot on sailing smack and steamboat ; but
while in the stockyards there is no escape from the
horrors of the knife and hammer and the streams of
blood, there is at least on the North Sea an absence
of any gruesome spectacle — and always the chance
to turn away to windward and take a deep breath of
briny, uncontaminated air.

When fishing during the day steam-trawlers have
a ball hoisted forward, the ball being replaced at
night by a white light ahead — a white globular light
which is carried in addition to the ordinary mast-head
and sidelights. The admiral's vessel has specially
fixed cross-tree lights, so that she can be readily
distinguished from the other craft in the fleet.

In ordinary circumstances a steam fleet of about
50 trawlers will be spread over an area of 7 or
8 miles. The mizzen is invariably set when
trawling, and in some cases the mainsail as well. It
is necessary when trawling to exercise great care,
so that the gear shall not be fouled. Any sudden
movement of the vessel causes the hawser to slacken
and the boards to fall down. It happened in the

STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 147

Gamecock Fleet, when the Russian ships began firing,
that a great many trawlers, by suddenly going full
speed, either lost or damaged their trawls.

The plan of a steam-trawler, which is given,
shows the Otter gear ready for shooting, the position
of the apparatus in the vessel, and the trawl when
at work. The net is bag-shaped, the mouth being
very wide, to give the greatest possible spread of net.
The size of the net depends entirely on the power
of the vessel using it ; but the average size of a
modern North Sea otter trawl-net is about 100 ft.
in length, with a spread of from 80 to 90 ft.
The otter trawling-boards are attached to the net,
and it is the force of water passing between those
boards which gives the " spread," or, in other words,
keeps the net open. The trawling warps are fastened
to the boards, the length of warp used being regulated
by the depth of water in which the vessel is fishing.
Hundreds of fathoms of heavy wire warp are used
by a steam - trawler, so that powerful steam - winches
are necessary for hauling in the gear. As the illustra-
tion shows, the warp from one barrel of the winch
passes first round a centre fairlead, thence round a
midship side fairlead, and then over the after gallows,
while the warp from the other barrel, after passing
over the centre fairlead, goes direct over the fore
gallows. The warps generally pass through a special
warp-guide, or towing-block, which is placed well aft
in the vessel, the ends of the warp, as already stated,
being attached to the otter boards. On the under-
side of the trawl-net a ground-rope is fixed. This
ground-rope, as its name implies, trails on the ground,

148 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and is made of a steel wire rope over which old rope
is wound. The length of the ground-rope is governed
by the size of the trawl-net, but the average length
for North Sea fishing is about 140 ft. Trawl-nets
are, or ought to be, made from high - class pure
Manila twine, Manila fibre having great strength, and
being the best-known fibre for work in sea water.
Otter trawl-nets are generally coal -tarred, this tar
acting as a preservative of the twine. Many changes
have taken place in the construction of the otter
trawl-net since it was first introduced, and practical
fishermen consider that the present apparatus has
reached a very high stage of perfection.

One of the first steam-trawlers to be specially built
for fishing was the Zodiac, which was launched in 1881
from Earle's yard at Hull. She was constructed on the
lines of the powerful sailing vessels which were then
employed on the North Sea, and in addition to her
engines she carried a good deal of sail. The Zodiac,
which was owned by the Grimsby and North Sea Steam
Trawling Company, Limited, was completely successful.
Since she was put afloat Earle's Shipbuilding and
Engineering Company, Limited, have built and equipped
more than 160 vessels of the same class. The Zodiac
has vanished from the fishing-banks, so have most of
her contemporaries, especially those wooden clinker-built
paddle-boats with which steam began to conquer sail.
Some of these stout little vessels were worked remorse-
lessly, and I used to marvel, on seeing them fight their
way into port in bad weather, how they held together.
They looked like big bantams as they came on, thrashing
away with their wings of paddles and immensely proud of

STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 149

themselves when they were safely in harbour. Famous
amongst the earlier steam-trawlers were the Flying
Sprite, Tuskar, Triumph, Hero, and the Flying Spray.
Some of the paddle pioneers were little better than
venerable floating foundries ; yet they were able to work
rough ground on which a screw-trawler was almost
helpless and practically useless.

Fleeters, single-boaters, and Icelanders are the three
great classes into which the trawler fleets may be divided.
The fleeters are generally a smaller class of vessel than
the others, being from 100 to no ft. long; but I have
been on board much smaller craft than these on the
banks, one in particular being a hardy little warrior of
just over 40 tons. Her skipper assured me that in a
breeze she was a beautiful bird, and I am certain that he
spoke the truth ; but even the toughest of us do not, as
a matter of choice, fix on a contrivance whose chief
abiding-place is somewhere between the clouds and the
crests of North Sea waves.

The fleeters go to sea carrying enough coal and
provisions to last them for about six weeks, during
which time they stay on the fishing-grounds and deliver
their catch of fish every morning to the carrier.

The steam-trawlers which go single-boating leave
port for some particular ground on which, in the opinion
of the skipper, fish will be found. This ground may be
50 miles or more from the coast, or a lesser distance.
The likely spot having been reached, a trial shot of the
trawl is made, and if the result is satisfactory a buoy
called a "dan" is placed in the sea, to indicate the
location of the fish, and this neighbourhood is worked
either until the fish leave it or the catch justifies a return

ISO NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

to port. As the fish is caught it is gutted, boxed, and
iced and put in the steamboat's fish-room. As the
single-boaters are constantly running to and from port,
the lives of their crews are far more varied and agreeable
than those of the men who are constantly fleeting far
away from land and completely isolated from home.

The third class is composed of the larger vessels,
which, during the season, go to Iceland and the White
Sea, spending three to four weeks on the trip and
bringing home large cargoes of fish, which realise
sometimes as much as ^1000, the result depending, of
course, very much on the state of the market. These
vessels are worked usually by about fourteen men, in-
cluding the captain and engineers, and cost, when ready
for sea, anything between ^"6000 and ^7500. Some of
the biggest afloat have been built at Selby by Messrs.
Cochrane & Son.

From stem to stern they are crowded with appliances,
not an inch of space being wasted. Starting from the
after end, there is a cabin with accommodation for the
captain, chief engineer, and four other hands ; then comes
the engine-room, boiler-room, coal-bunker, reserve bunker
(this is used to carry coal when going to the fishing-
grounds, and fish when returning), fish and ice room,
storeroom, forecastle containing eight men, and sometimes
a store forward of this. The fish-room is divided into
several compartments, both vertically and horizontally,
into which the various kinds of fish are placed and packed
in ice to preserve them during the voyage home. The
vessels are provided on leaving port with an ample supply
of fresh provisions of various kinds, and have large tanks
containing fresh water, enough, and to spare, for the longest

A NORTH SEA SKIPPER IN A STEAM-TRAWLER'S CABIN.

THE CABIN OF A STEAM-DRIFTER, SHOWING THE
SKIPPER'S BUNK.

STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 151

voyage. These splendid vessels, owing to their being in
and out of port so often, and having, throughout the winter
months especially, to withstand the full force of the North
Sea gales, are made exceptionally strong, and although
they are built to Lloyd's highest class, yet their scantlings
are in most cases very much in excess of Lloyd's require-
ments, and as a good sea-boat there is nothing to beat,
and few craft to equal, a North Sea steam-trawler. I
have seen them working far from their original homes,
trying their luck in the Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay, and
off the Morocco Coast, and lying snugly in such places
as Oporto ; steam-trawlers have gone out to the Cape of
Good Hope, and I know a man who took one of the
early paddle-craft to the other side of the world, a
I2,ooo-miles' trip. To-day energetic measures are
being taken to organise fleets of steam-trawlers for
Australian and Japanese waters. Perhaps we shall see
cargoes of frozen fish brought home from the Antipodes.
At the end of December 1909 the total number of
first-class steam-trawlers registered in England and
Wales and the Isle of Man was 1336, no fewer than
1 1 22 of these being registered at English North Sea
ports, including 514 at Grimsby, 446 at Hull, 76 at
North Shields, and 31 at Boston. No steam-trawlers
were registered either at Yarmouth or Lowestoft, where,
however, there were 139 and 243 steam - drifters
respectively. Grimsby alone, also Hull, had more
steam-trawlers in 1909 than all the foreign countries
bordering on the North Sea put together, this total
being 433, of which Germany accounted for 290, the
Netherlands 78, Belgium 25, Norway 15, France
10, and Denmark 15. The Scottish steam-trawlers

152 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

"employed" at North Sea ports during 1909 was

278.

At the time of writing some of these totals have
been greatly exceeded. The Germans in particular
have advanced. In June 1911 the number of German
trawlers arriving at Aberdeen from Iceland was double
the number for June 1910.

LOADING THE BOAT WITH TRUNKS OF FISH.

FERRYING FISH TO THE CARRIER.

CHAPTER XI

THE THREE GREATEST FISHING PORTS

GRIMSBY, Hull, and Aberdeen are the greatest fishing
ports in the United Kingdom, and Grimsby is the
largest in the world. In each of these places railway
companies have enormous interests, and the towns bear
witness to the gigantic development of the steam-trawl-
ing industry during the lasfquarter of a century. Because
of its rapid rise from nothingness, Grimsby is more like
an American city than an English town. In the United
States many flourishing centres of trade and population
have been brought into being entirely owing to a railway
company's enterprise. So it is with Grimsby, which
owes its importance and prosperity to the Great Central
Railway, formerly the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln-
shire Railway. The company solely owns the immense
market and fish wharves, which are more than a mile
long, and in which over 500 merchants do their
business.

At the time of the Crimean War, Grimsby was an
obscure town with little or no fish traffic ; to-day it
possesses nearly 700 steam fishing-vessels, representing
a capital of ,£3,500,000 and employing crews numbering
nearly 6000, while directly and indirectly half the popu-
lation of the town is dependent upon the fishing industry.

153

154 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

The population of the port is nearly 70,000, so that
about 35,000 men, women, and children subsist on the
trawl, line, and herring fisheries in connection with the
town. The population in 1790 was only 982.

The steam-trawlers are dealt with all the year round,
and on a busy day as many as a hundred will be dis-
charging their cargoes of live and dead fish, and at the
same time huge quantities of ice, from the local factories
and the Norwegian ice-fields, are being handled. Four
trains abreast may be seen loading up with fish for the
London and provincial markets. The fish is loaded
direct from the market into the trucks, and is dispatched
by special express and passenger trains as well as by the
Great Central steamers to the Continent.

The first fish train leaves Grimsby at 9.9 a.m. for
the West Riding and the North of England, as well as
Scotland ; the last departs at 8.30 p.m., for the Lancashire
and Yorkshire districts. Between those hours thirteen
fish trains are dispatched, conveying fish for all parts of
the United Kingdom. The London supplies are sent away
at 1.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m., and 7.40 p.m., these trains convey-
ing the cargoes which will be sold at Billingsgate on the
following morning. The times named are, of course,
subject to alteration, to meet the requirements of the
trade. These are frequently very severe, especially
when there have been exceptionally heavy deliveries of
fish ; but the resources of the Great Central are equal
to any strain that can be put upon them. An express
fish train takes precedence of all other goods and minerals
traffic, and even a passenger train may be shunted to
allow the passing of the freight which is so perishable.
A train of this description consists of about a dozen

THE THREE GREATEST FISHING PORTS 155

specially made and equipped bogie-carriages, drawn by
a powerful bogie-engine of the most modern type. Each
van will hold about 15 tons, and an average load for
a fish train is 150 tons. With a length of 44^ ft., a
width of 7 ft., and a height of 7 ft., cemented floors
which slope to a drain in the centre, so that all un-
necessary liquid may escape, and with a system of
thorough ventilation, these vans make it possible for fish
to be conveyed in the best condition. For the carriage
of live fish special tank trucks are provided, the fish
being kept in the water in the tanks till wanted.

"The fish special for London, leaving Grimsby at
5.30 p.m., reaches Marylebone at 12.20 a.m.," wrote a
correspondent of The Times. " Here it will be drawn
up at a fish wharf, where a night staff of men will be
waiting to unload the waggons, and to dispatch the
consignments, by means of drays, either to Billingsgate
or to the termini of other railway companies. Begun
within twenty minutes of the arrival of the train, this
work will have been finished by 3 a.m. Meanwhile, the
special leaving Grimsby at 7.40 p.m. will have reached
Marylebone at 2.15 a.m., and this will be dealt with in
the same way, the consignments for Billingsgate being
all delivered there by 5 a.m."

In addition to the business in bulk, thousands of
parcels are conveyed daily from Grimsby by the Great
Central. This is a feature of the fishing industry which
has been developed enormously by firms who specialise
in selling parcels of fish, weighing from a few pounds
upward, direct to consumers in all parts of the country.

Vast quantities of fish are smoked, the daily output
of smoked haddock, codling, herring, etc., being from

156 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

25 tons in the case of the large firms to lesser
quantities with smaller but equally well-equipped con-
cerns. Every possible appliance has been furnished for
the preparation of this description of fish, which is
exported to all parts of the world.

Codling and kindred fish are dried and salted in
huge quantities, the fish being split, salted, and dried
as soon as it is brought from the fishing-grounds. In
connection with cod there is an extensive manufacture
of the finest oil from the fresh livers.

The constant coming and going of such great
numbers of steam-trawlers necessitates the provision
of very large quantities of coal and ice. More than
700,000 tons of coal are needed yearly for these in-
cessantly industrious steamboats ; and over 200,000 tons
of ice are required. Most of the ice is made in two
large local factories, whose modern and perfect plant is
capable of producing 600 tons a day. In addition to
this artificial ice great quantities of the natural article are
imported from Norway.

Graving-docks, a floating dry-dock which is worked
by electricity, sawmills, engineering shops, and miscel-
laneous premises for the making of fish-trunks, building
boats, and producing immense numbers of blocks and
other articles needed by steam-trawlers, are constantly
busy. A good deal of employment is found for women
and children in connection with the manufacture and
repair of nets. Universal providers of trawlers' gear
and stores are the Great Grimsby Coal, Salt, and
Tanning Company, Ltd., whose net manufactories are
the most important in the United Kingdom, and whose
concern is the largest of its kind in the world. Ex-

THE THREE GREATEST FISHING PORTS 157

tensive works produce the gear with which steam-
trawlers are equipped, and in this respect, as in every
other way, machinery has superseded hand labour. The
old hand-made twine is being replaced by twine which
is produced by machinery. Slow manual effort was in
keeping with the easy-going days of sail ; but all things
have given place to the inevitable pressure attendant on
the victory of steam.

The whole of the Grimsby fishing trade is now con-
ducted with an energy and bustle that amazes any one
who saw it in the days of sail. I remember well the
long business of warping out of dock at Grimsby and
getting to sea, in a smack — a sleepy performance, indeed,
compared with the promptness with which I got away in
a steam-trawler the last time I left the port.

No. i Fish Dock has an area of 13 acres, and
No. 2 Fish Dock has an area of 16 acres. The
Pontoon Dry-Dock for fishing-craft has a length on
the blocks of 116 ft. 8 in., and a maximum lifting-
capacity of 425 tons. The extension of No. 2 Fish
Dock, which was under construction for three years, was
finished on 8th August 1900. The Pontoon Dry-Dock
was opened for use on ist October 1900, the first vessel
to use it being Messrs. Moody & Kelly's steam-trawler
Blackbird.

Natural ice from Norway was solely used by the
fishing trade at Grimsby prior to 1897 ; but the supply
was unreliable, and prices rose in consequence of the
growing demand for the article. It became necessary,
therefore, to introduce artificial ice, and towards the end
of 1898 the building was begun of a large factory for
making artificial ice. This was the joint venture of the

NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Grimsby Ice Company and the Grimsby Co-operative
Ice Company. The factory, which began work on
9th October 1901, is built alongside the Fish Dock,
and by means of the latest overhead appliances fishing-
vessels can be supplied direct from the factory, which
can produce 300 tons of block-ice daily.

At the close of the year 1910 there were registered
at Grimsby the following fishing-vessels : —

No. of
vessels.

Tonnage.

Average no.
of crew
per vessel.

Total no.
of hands.

Steam line- vessels
Sailing „ . .
Steam-trawlers . . .
Sailing „

Total

3f

16

521
18

3,175
850
38,080
5"

13
9
9
5

494
144
4,689
90

593

42,616

5.417

At the present time the total number of steam fishing-
vessels registered at the port approaches 700, with a corre-
sponding increase in the total number of hands employed.
The following table shows at a glance the enormous
increase in the fish traffic which has been sent away
from Grimsby since 1854. Before that year the town
had little or no fish traffic : —

Year

1854
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910

Tons

453

4,537

26,324

46,931
71,382

i33>79i
179,792

HAULING UP LIVE FISH FROM THE WELL OF A DUTCH BOTTER.

A TRUCK FOR CARRYING LIVE FISH IN TANKS.
By permission oj the Great Central Railway Co.

THE THREE GREATEST FISHING FORTS 159

The first annual report of the Marine Fisheries
Society, Great Grimsby, for the year 1889, stated that
Grimsby, which was even then the largest fishing port
in the world, had a fleet of more than 800 fishing-vessels,
including 38 steamers. It was estimated that the value
of this floating property was ,£1,000,000. These vessels
carried 4500 men and boys, and in the course of a year
brought to Grimsby Market between 70,000 and 80,000
tons of fish. In those early days several trawling
excursions were made in and about the mouth of the
H umber in the steam-launch Chapman, belonging to the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway — now
the Great Central.

The enterprise of a railway company to which
Grimsby owes so much has its counterpart in the
operations of the North-Eastern Railway Company
with respect to Hull, the third port of the realm. The
fishing industry here is conducted on a vast scale,
although the total number of vessels registered at Hull
is considerably smaller than Grimsby's. There are,
however, about 500 steam-trawlers, with a tonnage of
about 374,000 tons. During 1910 there were landed at
the port 141,246 tons of fish, of the value of ,£1,300,000.
Special trains and special waggons are used by the
North-Eastern Railway Company to convey the fish
to all parts of the United Kingdom. Ice factories,
curing-houses, and every necessary convenience for the
transaction of trade are provided, and there are four
slipways for the repair of fishing-craft. With one
exception all the docks at Hull are owned by the North-
Eastern Railway Company.

Aberdeen has grown with almost phenomenal

160 NORTH SEA PISHERS AND FIGHTERS

rapidity into the headquarters of the steam-trawling
industry in Scotland. It is only thirty years since
steam-trawling and steam line-fishing as organised
trades were introduced in the city. In 1891 there were
only 59 steam-trawlers and 6 liners belonging to the
port, the value of the trawlers, including their gear,
being ,£180,102; in 1910 the number of trawlers had
risen to 217, and of liners to 53, the value of the
trawlers being ,£876,620, and of the liners £"121,015.
The total value of trawlers and liners was, therefore,
,£997,635. The total value of the trawlers and liners
in 1891 was .£192,822. The increase in the number of
fishermen employed has been, of course, correspondingly
great. In 1910 there were employed in trawlers alone
at this port no fewer than 2127 men, a number which
was much greater than the total of all classes of
fishermen employed at Aberdeen in 1893. In 1910 the
quantity and value of the white fish landed at Aberdeen
were the highest in the port's history; the port con-
tributed 65 per cent, of the total quantity, and 69 per
cent, of the value, of the white fish landed in Scotland.

One of the most striking features of the industry
at Aberdeen is the building and equipping of steam-
trawlers. These vessels are beautiful examples of their
class, and a peculiarity of them is their method of show-
ing their sidelights. These are placed in lighthouses
forward, in the same picturesque fashion as that of some
of the earlier ocean liners, of which examples are still
afloat. While dealing with this chapter, I saw at
Aberdeen no fewer than 10 fine trawlers on the stocks
alongside each other, and several more were being
completed after launching.

THE THREE GREATEST FISHING PORTS 161

Unlike Grimsby and Hull markets, that at Aberdeen
belongs to the Town Council, who recognise the need of
keeping up to date in everything relating to the trawl-
ing industry, and find the market a very profitable in-
vestment. The harbour dues on fishing-vessels at
Aberdeen are : trawlers, 6s. per arrival ; steam-liners,
43., with a discount of 20 per cent. In addition 2d. per
cwt. is charged on all fish landed, half of which is
claimed by the Town Council. The revenue from
fish, exclusive of herrings, was nearly ;£ 18,000 in
1910.

In varied interests of operations, so far as North Sea
fishing is concerned, the lead is taken by the North-
Eastern Railway Company, whose area of influence
extends from the Humber to the Tweed, and, in
addition to the enormous operations represented by the
ancient port of Hull, there are the fishing ventures
of North Shields, Sunderland, Hartlepool, and Scar-
borough. At Hartlepool the Company have just
opened a fine new fish-dock. For different modes of
fishing there is scarcely any region which approaches,
certainly none which surpasses, that which is served
by the North-Eastern system. The most modern opera-
tions in steam trawling and lining, as exemplified
at Hull, are side by side with the old-world way of
doing things, which may be seen at Flamborough,
Whitby, Staithes, Newbiggin, Cullercoats, Robin
Hood's Bay, and Berwick, to mention three or four of
the towns and villages where primitive North Sea men
still exist.

Lowestoft is another famous east coast port which
owes much to a railway company — the Great Eastern.

ii

1 62 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

The neighbouring port of Yarmouth, like Aberdeen,
is under the direction of the municipal authorities.
These two ports are mostly associated with the herring-
fisheries, the days of their trawling glory having
passed.

Though Hull takes second place to Grimsby in
relation to the trawling industry, yet the ancient town
maintains its importance. In the past the H umber
port has been famous for fisheries which have either
died out or ceased to be profitable. The Northern
Whale Fishery was formerly carried on principally by
Hull ships ; but the industry drifted farther north,
Peterhead securing most of it. In 1829 33 ships
left Hull for the whaling, returning with nearly 4000
tons of oil and 236 tons of whalebone ; but forty years
later scarcely a whaler left Hull. Etty, the painter,
who was apprenticed in Hull for seven years, spoke of
the port, referring to the whaling days, as " memorable
for mud and train-oil." The inhabitants, however,
had reason to be grateful to the North Sea for its
bounty. Taylor, the water-poet, who was at Hull in
1662, said —

" The people from the sea much wealth have won ;
Each man doth live as he were Neptune's son."

That statement may have applied with truth in
Taylor's time ; but it certainly does not describe the
general state of things now, unless Neptune's son sub-
sisted in a very modest way. The steamboat fisherman
of to-day has become a hard industrial toiler, and
certainly, in great centres like Grimsby, Hull, and
Aberdeen, there is not much romance associated with

THE THREE GREATEST FISHING PORTS 163

his dwelling-place ashore. His home is usually some
very ordinary house, in a very ordinary street or terrace,
and not always so strangely or characteristically named as
that renowned locality in Hull which is called the Land
of Green Ginger.

CHAPTER XII
WAGES AND PROFITS

NORTH SEA fishers are paid on a peculiar and com-
plicated system, one which has successfully resisted all
attempts at change. The great element of chance, the
luck of trawling, the gambling of fishing — these for
generations have made it impossible to put the immense
industry on the established basis of a great business
undertaking ashore. A skipper seldom or rarely knows
what the result of a haul may be ; but the net may
bring up a small fortune, a voyage may result in a
wonderful profit, and consequently he likes to feel that
he will benefit in proportion to the success of his toil.
That also is the feeling of his crew. It is a feeling
which has prevailed for generations amongst deep-sea
fishers, and the opportunity of some remarkable good
fortune has enabled many skippers and other deep-sea
toilers to start building a substantial fortune. In-
numerable chances of assuring financial success have
been lost or wasted. I remember seeing, in the earlier
days of steam-trawling, a vessel which had been single-
boating so triumphantly that she brought to port a catch
which realised £joo. The profits of the skipper and
crew, who were working on the share plan, were ac-
cordingly very considerable ; but they went mostly into

164

WAGES AND PROFITS 165

the coffers of the publicans. Free drinks were plentiful
for all comers, and while the money lasted the steam-
boat did not return to sea. With such a fine chance
many a deep-sea fisherman has paved the way for one
of the numerous great concerns which are associated
with the days of sail and the ruling age of steam.

Though the method of paying the deep-sea fisherman
for his work is complicated, and depends largely on the
particular form of industry and on local custom, yet
there is a growing tendency to establish wages on a
simple and regular basis. Steam-trawling has become
such a carefully organised business that perhaps the
day is not far distant when there will be a standard
rate of pay for all who are engaged in it, and that the
workers will be remunerated by fixed sums, according
to the custom of the great manufacturing districts of the
north of England. At present, however, the share
system enters very largely into the earnings of North
Sea fishermen, and the older men certainly favour this
plan, to which they have been accustomed all their
working lives. In the past there was a far better chance
of making money in the lump by fishermen than there
is to-day. A crew might have an exceptionally good
haul and supply a depleted market, receiving big prices
for their fish, and considerable fortunes were built by
prudent skippers on the foundation of some such lucky
catch. In these days the victory is mostly with the
strong — the great companies which have been established
to work the North Sea trawling-grounds. Some of these
concerns, however, fall on disastrous times, while others
pay high dividends. It is the luck of trawling.

The payment of a regular wage is favoured by many

1 66 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

large employers of labour in the steam-fishing industry,
and there are certainly many skippers and hands who
would be glad to know exactly what their weekly income
is to be, irrespective of the results of their hauls. Em-
ployers and employed have their federations, and in time
the system of remuneration will doubtless be settled on
a mutually satisfactory basis. There have been serious
troubles in connection with the wages of North Sea
fishermen, the greatest of all being the strike at Grimsby
in 1901, when hundreds of vessels were unemployed for
three months and there was much suffering amongst the
men, women, and children who were dependent on the
fishing industry. The strike was a startling revelation
to many people of the vast interests which were at stake
in the North Sea fisheries — interests which have grown
rapidly and enormously ever since that period, only ten
years ago. The lock-out of the fishermen was a local
and national calamity ; but such a dispute would in
these days be infinitely more serious. After many
scenes of disorder in the town, both sides agreed to
arbitration, and the dispute was settled, for the time at
any rate, by Sir Edward Fry. The arbitrator fixed the
following rates of pay : —

Poundage after deducting
Weekly the expense of

wages. the voyage.

Chief engineer . . . 345. 3 Jd.

Second engineer . * .275. 2^d.

Third hand . . . . 203. 2jd.

Deck-hands, cook, trimmer . i8s. ijd.

This basis of remuneration makes it possible for
North Sea fishers to share in any extraordinary luck
there may be upon the banks ; but a fair average of

WAGES AND PROFITS 167

wages is maintained, and there are not too many cases,
of exceptional good fortune. An expert like Alderman
Mudd, of Grimsby, a practical deep-sea fisherman and
an owner of many crafts, calculated that the average
weekly earnings of a skipper were £4. ; a chief engineer,
465. ; a second engineer, 365. ; a mate, 353. to 405. ; a
third hand, 275. ; a deck-hand, cook, and trimmer, 245.,
with food in addition, in all cases. This provisioning is
a most important consideration, and it should not be
forgotten that lodging is provided for a considerable
portion of the year, especially in the case of fleeters.
The entire estimated cost of a private soldier in a Line
regiment is ^75 a year ; that is supposed to be what he
gets out of the country in the way of pay, rations, and
clothing and lodging. Considering his toil and dis-
comforts, a trimmer, for example, is undoubtedly not
so well off as the ordinary British soldier, to say
nothing of the superior advantages of the Household
Troops.

Like all share systems this method of remuneration on
the North Sea is subject to great fluctuations. Writing
to me from one of the fleets, a skipper said: "At
present the North Sea is using us very well, but, by
George ! we have had about ten real bad days " (the
month was November) "and are fair tired of rolling and
knocking about. Yet it has done us all good, for the

markets have taken a jump — and time too. Skipper

for sixteen weeks did not round 305. per week ; a mate
was telling me that for ten weeks his wife received 155.
per week, and that brought him £5 in debt at the end
of the two trips. Another told me that they had to
part with some of their home, to keep things going. It

1 68 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

has been a hard summer for many of the fellows in the
fleet — working for a dead horse, sending from 1000 to
1500 boxes of fish to market for five weeks, and then
not to earn 1 55. per week. The whole body were long-
ing for breezes, and thank God they came. Our 807
boxes that we have had this trip out have cleared 53. 6d.

per box. Skipper last voyage's 1 200 boxes cleared

him 2s. i id. per box. However bad it is for the men,
the company gets paid well. On the 1200, carriage, etc.,
was 2s. 9d. per box — ^165 ; then £112 expenses make
^"277, and then n shares of what is left — not much left
for the catcher. However, this applies to all the fleets,
and there's nothing for it but to laugh and bear it."

On this question of remuneration for work done on
the North Sea banks it is important to remember that
in the old sailing days the system was adopted, in some
cases at least, of paying a regular wage. The plan was
not successful, and for a fairly obvious reason. Finding
that they were paid in any case, skippers and men, being
far away from land and their employers, very humanly
took advantage of the situation and failed to put into
their efforts that consistent energy which was essential
to achieve success. The coper and the attractions of
adjacent shores proved too much for the fleeters, the
result being that they fished when they were in the
mood to do so, which was not too often, and they sought
enjoyment when they felt disposed towards it, which was
frequently. The system of paying a regular wage has
not up to the present proved successful on the North
Sea, though its adoption would be welcomed by those
North Sea workers who, because of the share system,
are unprotected by the Workmen's Compensation Act.

WAGES AND PROFITS 169

The share system prevails in the herring-fishing, on
the following basis, in the case of a steam-drifter with
her crew of ten : Say the gross earnings for a season
are ^"1000; from that sum the expenses of coal, food,
landing dues, fish salesmen's commission, and incidentals,
amounting in the total to ^250, are deducted. The
owner of the vessel then takes half, and the other half
is divided amongst the crew according to their rank, and
the owner out of this half takes three shares.

The skipper takes . . • iJi shares

„ mate „ . . . ii „

„ engineer „ . . . i „

„ hawsemen „ . . i ,,

whaleman . .

„

„ netstower „

„ stoker „ . . . £ „

„ cast-off man „ . . . f „

>» >> » ~%-g »»

„ cook or boy „ . . . | „

Such is the principle. The practice works out in an
astonishingly erratic manner, for even a skipper's share
will be sometimes so small as to be contemptible. Not
long ago the skipper of a Lowestoft steam-drifter told
me that for a whole year's fishing at the drifting, reckon-
ing the lost time ashore in winter, his total earnings
were only ^34. " It's a bare, hard living at the best,"
he added. On the other hand, there is always the
chance of a big success. For example, in 1899 the
Yarmouth herring-fleet, in its voyage which ended in
Christmas week, made a record catch of herrings, the
aggregate being 26,000 lasts, with a value of ,£300,000.
Lowestoft also had a record catch of 18,000 lasts. This

1 70 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

voyage began in August, and high prices were realised
throughout the season. The most successful Yarmouth
boat earned ^3400, and her skipper received ^200,
the mate ^140, six of her crew ^124, and the cook, who
was a boy, ^31. For that season the Scotch fisher-
girls, as they mostly were, were paid ;£ 13,000 in wages,
the tellers who counted the fish received ^2000, and
the cartage amounted to ^3600.

In the days when fishing was done entirely by
sailing vessels there were occasionally strokes of good
fortune which corresponded with the big hauls and
profits of to-day. The mackerel fishery of 1821, for
example, was astonishingly successful. On 3Oth June
sixteen Lowestoft boats had catches of a total value of
^5252 — an average of ^328 each. Four Hastings
boats, on a Sunday in March 1833, brought to harbour
10,800 mackerel, and the next day two boats took to
market 7000 fish. Early in February 1834 a Hastings
crew, for one night's catch, cleared £100. The boats
engaged in the mackerel fishery at that time were
usually attended by fast-sailing vessels, and these were
dispatched with the fish as soon as it was taken. These
cutters sailed direct either for London or the nearest
market from which land carriage could be got. The fish
was sent from places like Hastings by vans, which
travelled to London in the night.

The highest price ever known at Billingsgate market
up to nearly a century ago was realised in May 1807,
when the first Brighton boatload of mackerel fetched
forty guineas a hundred — at the rate of 75. each, reckon-
ing six score to a hundred. The next boatload, how-
ever, was sold at only thirteen guineas a hundred,

WAGES AND PROFITS 171

although that was a very high price. I n the following year,
at Dover, mackerel were selling at sixty for a shilling !

Mr. Henry Knott, a Grimsby smack-owner, gave
details of the weight and value of fish taken by one of
his craft in each of the five consecutive years, 1860 to
1864. During that period 86 tons of prime sold for ^23
a ton, and 357 tons of offal for £2 a ton, the total price
realised for the 443 tons being ,£2702, an average of
£6 a ton. The price per pound of the prime was 2jd.
and that of the offal not quite a farthing.

A master of a fishing- vessel trading for the London
market told Yarrell that eight men, fishing under his
orders off the Dogger Bank, in 25 fathoms, took
eighty score of cod in a day. These were brought
to Gravesend in stout cutter-rigged vessels of 80 or
100 tons, called store-boats, built for the traffic, with a
large well in which the fish were kept alive, and of these
a portion was sent up to Billingsgate with each night
tide. The store-boats remained as low as Gravesend,
because the water there was sufficiently mixed to keep
the fish alive ; they would have been killed if taken
higher up. At that period, half a century ago, there
were more than 250 well-boats which brought the fish
to Billingsgate. These were built at a cost of more
than ,£275,000, and were manned by more than 2000
men and boys. Yarrell estimated that these crews must
earn ,£140,000 yearly before the capitalists got any profit.

In his Wages and Earnings of the Working-Classes,
published in 1867, Professor Leone Levi stated that
the average earnings of a fisherman might be taken at
2os. a week, and 6s. for a boy ; but in many cases the
fishermen had other employments, and when they were

i;2 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

paid by wages, all the time they were at sea they were
fed at the owners' expense. "The labour is great and
intermittent," he said. " For many nights consecutively
the men are out. In some cases, where the boats are
large enough, they have sleeping accommodation ; but
when the boats are small the hardship is great. When
the fisherman is paid by wages he defrays no part of the
expense; but it is otherwise when he works by shares."
Professor Levi estimated the cost of a pilchard-boat at
more than ^200 ; a herring-boat, ^35 to ^40 ; a trawl-
boat about £20; a line-boat, ^60; a seine-boat, ^15,
besides the cost of fitting up. These craft were, of
course, much smaller than those which are now in use
for similar purposes. In 1865 no fewer than 98 fishing-
smacks were wrecked, "but many isolated accidents
occur of which we have no account." In referring to
" fishing-smacks " Professor Levi doubtless included all
fishing- vessels ; even so, the loss was heavy. At that
time there was little or no interest taken in fishermen,
many of whom were miserably poor and often forced to
put to sea in rotten craft with corresponding sails and
rigging and gear. In this respect there has been an
amazing advance, largely owing to official encourage-
ment, but mainly due to private enterprise. No man
who understands steamboats would hesitate to journey
to any part of the world in a modern North Sea trawler,
especially with a North Sea crew.

Valuable and interesting information with respect to
the earnings of Scottish fishermen is given in the last
annual report of the Scottish Fishery Board ; but the
details cannot in many cases be considered more than
approximately accurate because of the unwillingness of

WAGES AND PROFITS

173

many fishermen to divulge figures, and also because
proper accounts are not kept. Motor-boat fishing,
which has developed enormously, proved very successful,
and these east coast craft — auxiliary motor-boats — occupy
a position intermediate between steam-drifters and sail-
drifters. The following figures relating to a typical Scotch
district, with a fairly large motor-fleet, are considered to

be authentic : —

Summer Her ring- Fishing.

Steam-drifters
Motor-boats .
Sail-boats

Steam-drifters

Motor-boats

Sail-boats

Highest.

;£I05°
910
600

Lowest.

500
105

English Herring- Fishing.

Highest. Lowest.

540
31°

90

75

Average.

;£8oo

635

355

Average.

320
162

The average earnings per vessel of the craft engaged
in the principal fishings off the Scottish and English
coasts were regarded as " fair." The results for the
chief districts were —

District.

Great Summer Herring-
Fishing.

English Herring-
Fishing.

1910

1909

1910

1909

Anstruther
Aberdeen
Peterhead
Fraserburgh
Banff1
Wick .

840
720
1029
1030
750

1000

1

969

800
942
590
850

1310

z

547
562
600
790
646
540

z

468
522
512

480

582

560

1 Includes also early herring-fishing.

174 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

The herring-fishings did not absorb the whole energy
of fishermen who owned steam-vessels. Some of them
went great-line fishing during the early months of the
year, while others followed the early herring-fishings.
These fishings are not generally popular amongst the
fishermen, for unless the catches are very good the
earnings do not compensate for the labour involved and
the wear and tear of gear owing to stormy weather.
Another section of the fleet, which fished mostly from
Aberdeen, were great-lining during the whole season.
In 1910 these vessels were remarkably successful, one
earning ^4200, and the average for about seventeen
being ^"3800. These agreeable results induced the
owners of more than a score of trawlers to fit them out
for the line-fishing during the summer months, and these
craft also secured good profits.

A small motor-skiff in Shetland earned ^607 gross
for the year, seven-eighths of that amount being prob-
ably net earnings. In another case two crews working
haddock lines for about ten weeks made a gross total of
£2 20. Generally speaking, fishermen were pleased with
the results of motor-fishing and their ability to make
two trips a day instead of one, and to work their boats
with four men, compared with five for the sailers, largely
discounted the extra running expenses.

The replacement of sail by mechanically propelled
vessels (says the last Report of the Scottish Fishery
Board), which is now such a notable feature of the herring-
fishing industry, was still further exemplified during 1910,
when 706 steamers, 51 motor-boats, and 500 sailing
vessels took part in the English herring-fishing, as
against 645 steam- and 614 sail- and motor-vessels in

vi D

WAGES AND PROFITS 175

1909. The average earnings of the steamers amounted
to ^530; of the motor-boats, ^295 ; and of the sailing
boats, ^134. The earnings of the steamers were
practically identical with those of 1909 (^529), but
those of the sailing boats compare unfavourably with
last year's earnings, which amounted to ^204.

The great railway strike in August 1911 gave proof,
which was scarcely needed, of the paralysing effect of
labour troubles on the modern steam-fishing industry.
It also showed the hardship inflicted by irresponsible
demagogues on, amongst others, toiling fishermen. The
strike meant that many laborious hauls of trawls on the
North Sea banks were wasted energy, for when the
cargoes of fish were brought to market it was impossible
to unload them, and the North Sea men, who were
innocent of any participation in the troubles ashore, were
robbed of the fruits of their toil as the result of the glib
vapourings of agitators. E normous quantities of valuable
and nutritious food were wasted solely as the result of
the action of these self-appointed leaders in industrial
troubles.

By way of showing how resourceful are those
business mea who direct the North Sea fleeting, I may
mention that when the strike paralysed the fish trade of
some of the ports, particularly that of Grimsby, arrange-
ments were made to send a number of steam-trawlers
direct to Billingsgate, and that in the middle of August
there was to be seen the uncommon spectacle of several
of these vessels unloading their fish, as well as the
carriers from the fleets. The lesson was useful as
indicating the resources of modern business enterprise
and the impossibility of labour agitators carrying out

1 76 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

their own narrow and selfish purposes. These men
were apparently under the impression that by creating a
railway strike they were completely crippling distribution.
It was a fine strategic movement to send the steam-
trawlers round by sea to supply the London market with
fish. Equally resourceful was the order given to two
Grimsby trawlers, on reaching the H umber, to land
their fish at Ymuiden, in Holland, and at Ostende, and
to make another voyage before entering Grimsby.

A brief and remarkable strike in connection with the
fish traffic of Hull took place early in 1911. At the
beginning of February six fish porters employed by the
North-Eastern Railway Company struck work on the
ground that although they were required to do the work
of "checking" the fish packages they handled, still, they
were only paid the rate of wages given to fish porters —
checkers being paid 293. a week and fish porters 245.
There was a strike on the railway which lasted a day
only, although it seemed probable that the trouble would
extend and cause very great disturbance of the fish
traffic and a heavy loss of money.

CHAPTER XIII
SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING

IF anything had been needed to complete the thorough-
ness with which the fish of the North Sea were chased
and captured, it was afforded by the scientific efforts of
the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.
This society was formed by men who were interested in
our great sea -fisheries. Its object was to help industry
and further science, and since the Association was formed
it has added enormously to our knowledge of the habits
and conditions of the life of sea-fishes. The headquarters
are at Plymouth, where a fine Laboratory, built and
equipped at a cost of ,£12,000, was opened on 3oth June
1888. Practical and scientific investigations have been
conducted continuously since that time. The permanent
scientific staff consists of a Director of the Laboratory,
a naturalist for fishery investigations, and a director's
assistant who is chiefly employed in collecting, identifying,
and preserving marine animals. English and foreign
naturalists also visit the Laboratory for independent
research.

Though the headquarters are at Plymouth, yet the
work is thoroughly national. From 1892 to 1895
elaborate investigations were made by the society's
officers, working from Grimsby and Lowestoft as

12

1 78 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

centres, regarding the destruction of immature fish in the
North Sea. Those researches had special reference to
the proposed closure of certain fishing-grounds, and to
the proposal to prohibit the sale of fish below a certain
size. On this point valuable evidence was placed by the
Association in 1893 before the Select Committee of the
House of Commons on Sea Fisheries. The Committee
in their report stated that they had had "the evidence
grounded on the observations of the scientific experts
employed by the Marine Biological Association, and by
the Scottish Fishery Board. Indeed, it may almost be
said that this is the first fishery inquiry in which the
more important complaints have been founded, not
merely on the statements and the ideas of rival classes of
fishermen, but upon facts and statistics."

Amongst the practical investigations upon matters
directly connected with sea-fishing, which the Association
has carried out, are the following : —

(i) The reproduction and development of fishes, the
determination of the characters of egg, larva, and young
at all stages of growth, with experiments on the rearing
of fishes in captivity, and on their rate of growth in con-
finement and in the sea ; (2) The size at which maturity
is reached in different species ; the variations which this
relation undergoes in different localities ; the character-
istics of local races of fish ; (3) The food-supply and
sense organs of fishes, with experiments on their
methods of feeding, and on the manufacture and employ-
ment of artificial baits ; (4) The distribution of flat-fishes
at different stages of growth ; their migrations ; the
destruction of immature fish on particular grounds, or by
particular methods of fishing; (5) The natural history

A SCIENTIFIC STEAM-TRAWLER,

THE HUXLEY.
By permission of the Marine Biological Association.

A STEAM-TRAWLER LEAVING ABERDEEN.

SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 179

of migratory pelagic fishes, including the pilchard,
anchovy, and mackerel, with reference to their reproduc-
tion, racial peculiarities, and the extent and direction of
their migrations ; (6) The relation between the distri-
bution, seasonal migrations, and varying abundance of
fishes, and the physical conditions of the sea.

The Association's income is derived partly from a
Government grant and partly from public and private
contributions. The Government began with a grant of
^500 yearly, a sum which was increased in 1891 to
;£iooo; and ^400 is contributed annually by the
Fishmongers' Company.

In the summer of 1902 the Association undertook to
carry out for the Government, amongst other things, the
investigation of the fishing-grounds of the southern part of
the North Sea. That work resulted from the delibera-
tions of representatives of the European Powers bordering
the North Sea, which was held at Christiania in 1901.
For the purpose of conducting the researches, a large
steam-trawler was hired and specially fitted out, and an
additional laboratory was opened at Lowestoft. The
English investigations were to be continued for six years.

The steam-trawler which was acquired was the
Khedive, renamed the Huxley. She was built of steel
at North Shields, in 1899, her net tonnage being 44
and her nominal horse-power 52. For five years the
steamboat was hired, then she was bought, and, after the
six years, was sold, and is now working as an ordinary
trawler, from Grimsby. Altogether the Huxley made
112 voyages, and during her employment on North Sea
fishery research work 920 hauls were made with the
beam-trawl and 569 with the otter-trawl — a total of

i8o NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

1489. This apparatus is known as the commercial gear ;
small gear included various forms of trawls and other
tow-nets, as well as dredges, and with these a total of
1513 hauls was made. With the Association's steamer
Oithona, of 28 tons and 20 horse-power, the Wash,
Bridlington Bay, the Suffolk bays and estuaries, and the
mouth of the Thames were fished, and altogether from
this vessel 102 hauls were made in the North Sea.

A remarkable feature of the work that was carried
out was the marking of fish, in order to trace their
migrations and growth. Living fish, mostly plaice, were
marked with numbered labels of different kinds (brass
discs, bone buttons, vulcanite studs, etc.) and were set
free in various parts of the North Sea. Plaice and other
flat fish were marked by means of discs or studs fastened
near the edge of the body ; skates and rays were marked
with brass labels on the wings ; codfish, haddock, and
latchet were marked by means of a silver or vulcanite
label attached to one of the gill-covers of the fish, or
near the back fins. Rewards were paid for marked fish
as follows : For the fish and label complete, with infor-
mation as to place and date of capture, 2s. ; for the label
alone, with the same information, is. ; for the label
alone, without information, 6d. In addition to the
reward the market price was paid in the case of valuable
fishes. These rewards are still given by the Board of
Agriculture and Fisheries.

These experiments by the Association resulted in the
marking and liberation of 16,104 plaice, 713 soles, and
552 other fish; of which 4605 (28 per cent.) plaice, 57
(8 per cent.) soles, and 113 (20 per cent.) other fish were
recovered. The object of the markings after March

SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 181

1909 was to ascertain the movements of plaice east of
the Dogger, when at a larger size than those fishes
which were marked in the majority of the experiments
carried out on the Eastern Grounds. In July 317 plaice
were accordingly marked in Clay Deep and the vicinity.

It was found that with rare exceptions the recaptures
of plaice marked either on the Flamborough Off Ground
or among the Leman Banks were confined to a definite
tract of ground which follows the main direction of the
English coast. Very few recoveries took place to the
west of a line drawn from Flamborough Head to a few
miles east of Cromer. Very little trawling, however,
takes place in that region, except in the late spring or
early summer, while the ground, being the typical rough
area of the North Sea, is unsuitable for plaice. Of the
recaptures 73 per cent, were known to be made by
English steam-trawlers, while of the 17 per cent, which
were returned from the Grimsby pontoon or fish-markets
probably the majority were recovered by the same craft,
for only 7 per cent, are known to have been retaken by
foreign fishing-vessels.

On the Flamborough Off and neighbouring grounds
the plaice of immature size are markedly stationary,
being mostly caught after travelling a few miles from the
point of liberation ; on the other hand, mature plaice
travel considerable distances within those limits, in what
is clearly a spawning migration. Spawning plaice are
taken on the Flamborough Off Ground and in the south
of the Southern Bight, and spent plaice at these and
intermediate positions. The number of mature,
spawning, or spent males taken in the Southern Bight is
in distinct excess over that of the females, while the

1 82 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

reverse is markedly the case on the Flamborough Off
Ground. If spent fish are omitted that excess of mature
males remains ; so does that of females on Flamborough
Off Ground, but this is very slight. Accordingly, it is
somewhat doubtful whether a greater proportion of the
males than the females take part in a southward
migration, or whether the sexes both move southwards,
but the females, returning earlier, are caught farther to
the north than the males. Generally speaking, a greater
proportion of the males than the females appear to
travel, more males than females leaving the Flamborough
Off Ground. It is evident that in the Southern Grounds
the females move northward at an earlier date than the
males, the females predominating among the fish of
mature size marked near Smith's Knoll, off the Norfolk
coast, while the males are in excess in marking experi-
ments farther south.

An important and interesting observation was made
on the fish trawled for marking, and this was that fish
differ as to the appearance of the eyes, which in some
cases are dull and in others markedly bright. In four
experiments the plaice with bright eyes were recaptured
in far greater proportion than the rest, so that it appears
as if the eyes afford a test of the condition of the fish.
The high proportion captured in the case of the bright-
eyed plaice was fully maintained in two other cases in
which only fish of that kind were marked.

Vitality experiments were made on the plaice from
about fifty hauls of the commercial trawl of the Hiixley.
In some of these experiments a number of fish were
placed in the tanks immediately after capture, others
after an hour's exposure on deck, a proceeding which

SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 183

gave information as to the state of the fish after a period
corresponding roughly to that which small plaice would
lie on the decks of a trawler before being returned to the
sea. It also enabled a comparison to be made between
the proportion surviving under these conditions and the
proportion which would survive if they were returned to
the sea at once.

The measuring of fish was carried out systematically,
the total catches being measured on nearly all occasions.
Enormous numbers of fish were dealt with, the total for
the years 1902-9 being 610,139, of which 179,763 were
plaice, 50,658 haddock, and 379,718 other sorts.

Transplantation experiments were conducted on a
considerable scale. Thirteen of these experiments,
dealing with 3942 fish, consisted in the transference of
plaice from the coastal grounds of the North Sea to the
southern parts of the Dogger. The experiments began
in 1904, and by the end of June 1909 nearly 1000 of
the plaice had been returned. The two most noteworthy
features of the growth in length of these recovered fishes
were the undoubted growth which was found to have
occurred on the Dogger during the winter months, and
the full confirmation of the high estimates of a year's
growth which had been derived from the first experi-
ments. This growth was found to be never less than
twice, and frequently from two and a half to three times,
that prevailing on the coastal grounds from which the
plaice were taken. The condition of the transplanted
plaice showed a steady improvement until August, a
slackening in September, and a marked increase in
October, these relations existing in both the first and
second years of liberty. The weight of the plaice

1 84 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

retaken after a year had increased to from 4*5 to 575
times that which was possessed on liberation ; this
increase being, in round terms, rather more than three
and a half times the growth which would probably have
taken place in the same period on the coastal grounds.

The report of the Council of the Association points
out that since the value of plaice increases with their
size, the increase in value of the transplanted plaice is
yet more remarkable. If the most detailed statement
of the prices of plaice of different lengths, those drawn
up by Johansen for plaice of the Kattegat, be accepted
as accurate for the North Sea, it appears that these plaice
when transplanted had a value of £4 ; within a year £7
worth had been recovered, while those presumably at
liberty were of £42 value. Had the plaice remained on
the coastal ground, on the same calculation, their total
value at the end of the year, assuming that none were
retaken during the year, so that all enjoyed a year's
growth, would be but £iS. The estimated increase in
value in two years, though based on more meagre data,
yet indicates that the value of the plaice retaken within
that period was nearly three and a half times that of all
the plaice liberated, while the probable worth of those
still at liberty was still greater.

The Huxley s far-reaching work included important
investigations which added greatly to existing knowledge
of the eggs of many fishes. The eggs occurring in the
greatest quantities were those of the mackerel, sprat,
horse-mackerel, and solenette, and a particular cruise of
the vessel in June 1909 resulted in getting much
additional information as to the spawning of these
species of fishes in the Flemish Bight. June was found

SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 185

to be a period of intense spawning. Great catches of
eggs were made with the Petersen young-fish trawl and
Todds trawl, and almost every stage of development
was represented.

Another interesting feature of the work conducted
by the Association is reported for February 1910. In
co-operation with Mr. G. P. Bidder drift bottles were
put out along a line stretching east-north-east from
Spurn. One hundred bottom drifters and 266 surface
drifters were put overboard, the first at 5 miles and
the last at 88 miles from land. This experiment took
place in an area which was previously untouched in
similar investigations, but was known to be a plaice
spawning-ground, and results of great interest were
yielded. Messrs. Wilson, of Hull, gave all facilities for
the work, and Captain French, of the s.s. Zero, con-
tributed valuable help during the voyage in which the
bottles were put out. A curious circumstance was noted
— that the proportions of bottom-drift bottles returned
from fishing-vessels approximated to the percentages of
recoveries which were met with during a year amongst
the selected bright-eyed plaice to which reference has
been made.

Grimsby trawlers assisted in the Association's work,
and a report of the fishermen's records gives a detailed
analysis of 13,246 hauls made by the skippers of these
vessels during the period 1904-7. These hauls were
allotted to twenty-three different areas in the central and
southern parts of the North Sea. Examinations were
made of the catches of seven species of food fishes —
plaice, soles, turbot, brill, cod, haddock, and whiting, and
as far as possible the seasonal and yearly fluctuations of

1 86 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

each of these species were determined for each area.
The comparative distribution of each species was
estimated, and investigation was made of the spawning
periods and regions. The final results gave a striking
contrast in the seasonal and geographical distribution of
the round and flat fishes. Plaice, soles, turbot, and brill
were found in their greatest numbers on the eastern
grounds and in the adjacent areas. Cod and haddock
were very scarce in these areas, but these species seemed
to be very abundant on the Dogger and on the grounds
north and north-east of it, where the prime fish are very
rarely found and plaice are comparatively scarce. The
round fish appeared on the inshore and southern grounds
in the autumn and winter only, when the flat fish are
present in very small numbers, and they are almost
completely absent from these grounds in the late spring
and summer, when soles and turbot are numerous. The
yearly fluctuations varied, but, on the whole, showed a
decline throughout the period for most of the species.
These fluctuations in some areas were complementary
to those in others. Compared with records of catches
of fish taken ten and twenty-five years before these, they
showed a very considerable diminution.

The travels and movements of marked fishes and
other marine animals have been in many cases accurately
recorded, and some surprising results have been achieved.
A large marked plaice was found to have travelled 136
miles from the point of liberation to the spot where it
was caught, and many other instances of long journeys
are recorded. In the southern part of the North Sea
a definite southward migration of large plaice in the
winter months was demonstrated. The fish congregated

SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 187

in the region immediately north of the Straits of Dover
and spawned there. After spawning they migrated
northward again to their spring and summer feeding-
grounds.

Scientific investigation into the sea-fisheries continues
to be made by the Scotch Fishery Board, under the
superintendence of Dr. T. Wemyss Fulton. Most of
the research work is done at the Marine Laboratory,
Bay of Nigg, Aberdeen, where requests for plaice fry
were received from fishermen on various parts of the
coast. A considerable improvement in the plaice-fishing
on the Aberdeenshire coast has been reported by fisher-
men, who attribute this to the liberation of many
millions of fry during the last nine years. During that
period nearly 193,000,000 plaice fry from the Hatchery
were liberated off Aberdeenshire, 45,000,000 being
deposited in the Fraserburgh neighbourhood. The
number of food fishes marked and liberated during that
period was 2328, of which 1915 were plaice. Of the
marked and liberated fishes 503 were afterwards caught
and returned, 500 being plaice, of which 26 per cent,
were recaptured. The attempts to mark haddock were
unsuccessful, owing to the great tenderness of that fish,
but, in the hope that information may be secured, special
care is being taken and a special mark employed.

There are many fishermen who make a study of
some of the fishes that are captured. The vast majority
of the animals naturally go unnoticed, the only interest
in them being of a temporary nature and confined to a
swift calculation of their probable market value. Any-
thing exceptional, however, will claim long and earnest
consideration, for to fishermen the uncommon is what a

1 88 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

good murder mystery or a serious political squabble is
to the townsman. I found in conversation with a fisher-
man that he made something of a hobby of the ray
species. " Ray-fish suckle their young," he said, "and
fishermen often enough, judging that they are with
young, will cut the females open and throw the young
into the sea, where, if it's calm, you can see 'em darting
about ; but they don't live, because they haven't their
mothers to nourish 'em. Dogfish suckle their young,
too, and sometimes the female dogfish will be hauled up
with the young hanging on. Sometimes, when caught
and cut open, the young will be born. This is called by
some fishermen 'shooting their young.' Some fishes
suffer from awful diseases, and I know enough about
skates to keep me from ever touching 'em as food. In

some parts fishermen call 'em " But I had better

not repeat the word. What this informant told me was
in remarkably close agreement with what several emi-
nent naturalists have written concerning the ray tribe.

North Sea fishermen have their own peculiar and
quaint convictions with regard to right and wrong.
Like the children of Israel, they glory in overcoming an
opponent in a bargain. They have also original ideas
concerning property, especially that which may be looked
upon as national. Money is given by a public depart-
ment for recovering marked fishes and marine animals,
and some of the sons of the North Sea have distinguished
themselves by achievements which are not, and will not
be, recorded in official reports as to the growth and
welfare of the food supplies for market. On the coast,
at a place where crabs and coblemen abound, a duly
appointed investigator engaged a couple of men and

SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 189

their coble, at an inclusive charge of £6 weekly, to assist
him in his work of marking and releasing crabs. The
pay was good, the work easy and pleasant, and the
scientific work proceeded smoothly. Crabs were caught
and marked and then set free, so that in due course
some at least of them might be recovered and bear
witness to their travels. The North Sea man has a
habit of letting matters settle in his mind, and the coble-
men, regarding the scientific experiments with disfavour
and suspicion, designed to keep their chief and employer
ashore. That was not a hard matter. They took him
out one day in shabby weather, whereupon he discovered
that he could, with the greatest ease and comfort, con-
duct his operations from the safety and solidity of the
land. For a considerable period the new arrangement
lasted, then it was abruptly terminated, and the coblemen
resumed the gentle art of crab-potting, for the official
had discovered that the men, holding it to be a crime
and an unheard-of thing to give back to the sea that
which had been wrested from it, had removed the marks
and then sold the crabs in the ordinary and legitimate
way of commerce.

CHAPTER XIV
FISHERIES PROTECTION

WITH such vast wealth in the North Sea to be had for
the trouble of catching with nets and lines of various
sorts, it became essential that measures should be taken
to control the fisheries and protect them. To this end
legislation came in, with the result that there is an
international agreement regulating the North Sea
fisheries. The countries which are parties to the
arrangement are Great Britain, Germany, Belgium,
Denmark, France, and Holland.

The fishermen of each of these countries enjoy the
exclusive right of fishery within the distance of three
geographical miles from low-water mark along the whole
extent of the coasts of their respective countries, as well
as of the dependent islands and banks. The territorial
limits in Norway and Sweden are four miles. The Sea
Fisheries Act, 1883, and the corresponding legislation
of the other countries concerned, came into operation
while the fishing was still mostly done by sailing vessels.
Up to that period skippers had done pretty much as
they liked ; but with the coming of steam there was
organised a complete system of policing the fisheries in
the North Sea outside territorial waters, and now the

master of a North Sea trawler looks upon fisheries

190

SCOTCH HERRING-BOATS.

H.M.S. THRUSH, FORMERLY COMMANDED BY KING GEORGE,
ON NORTH SEA FISHERIES PROTECTION DUTIES.

FISHERIES PROTECTION 191

protection cruisers much in the same light as the citizen
ashore regards the policeman. If he does wrong, he
must do it by stealth. He frequently succeeds. Yet
policing North Sea fishermen has grown into a fatherly
care of these brave toilers by the naval officers who
command the little warships that are spoken of by
smacksmen as "Government boats." It is largely due
to the officers' ceaseless vigilance that the coper has
been driven off the Dogger and other banks, and that
law rules the North Sea pretty much as it reigns ashore.
The commander of a gunboat on fisheries protection is
the stipendiary magistrate of the North Sea. He is
there to administer the law, and to give advice and help ;
and he does it all with prompt and sailor-like efficiency.

The ships of the Royal Navy which are detailed for
work amongst the trawlers are not ideal craft for deep-
sea work ; but probably a special sort of ship would
need to be evolved that is capable of giving ordinary
comfort on the torn waters which are ruled by the wild
winds that sweep down from somewhere near the North
Pole. You may pass on the North Sea an effete
hooker, flying the white ensign, which is inferior in
every way to many a vessel that has been scrapped ;
yet she is considered good enough to ride the fiercest
waters in the world. You may see some such forlorn
craft as the Thrush, smart enough in her day to be
commanded by a sailor who is now the King, wallowing
in the swell, and you know that she would doubtless fail to
catch a wrong-doing powerful modern trawler even if she
almost burst her boilers in the chase. Yet she is good
enough for fisheries protection. A new ship, however,
the Watchful, has been detailed for this particular duty,

I92 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and she will doubtless be the pioneer of a number of
specially built craft for North Sea work.

The type of ship with which smacksmen have be-
come most familiar in connection with policing the
fishing-grounds is the torpedo-gunboat. There were
originally sixteen of these sister first-class torpedo-gun-
boats, which, with a speed of twenty knots, were de-
signed to run down and destroy torpedo craft, till they
in turn, and very quickly, became useless for their
purpose through the advent of destroyers. These gun-
boats had a displacement of 735 tons, with a length of
230 ft, a breadth of 27, a complement of 85 men, and
a 47 quick-firing gun as the heaviest ordnance. In
bad or even moderate weather they were what a North
Sea man would call a " washer," and service in them
was neither comfortable nor exhilarating.

No clearer, finer first-hand picture of the work done
by His Majesty's ships on fisheries protection has been
given than that by Commander E. Hamilton Currey,
R.N., in two articles " On the North Sea Fishery,"
which he contributed to \hePallMall Gazette. He has
been kind enough to let me quote from these papers.

" A thousand drifters are out to-night, and as each
has shot nets varying in length from a mile to a mile
and a quarter, this particular portion of the sea craves
wary navigation. Outside the outermost the gunboat
crawls slowly up and down till dawn. With their hinged
foremasts lowered, their riding-lights burning, and just
steadied by a rag of a mizzen, the drifters ride at
their nets. But now a flush comes over the rim of the
eastern horizon, and the long spell of immobility is at

FISHERIES PROTECTION 193

an end. The warps come in as the windlass heaves, and
the fishermen, in yellow canvas aprons, claw their nets
over the sides ; the fish gleam like bars of silver in the
rising sun as they are shaken from the net and lie in
shining heaps upon the deck. Another hour and the
sea is red and black with their sails. A fresh breeze
comes piping up from the northward, and a great Scotch
drifter passes the loitering gunboat. The huge red
lugsail is eased a trifle, and as the sheet tugs on its
groaning cleat the splendid boat lays over and tears land-
ward like a racing cutter. . f * <

" ' Whither away now, sir ? ' asks the sub.

" ' Oh, we'll have a turn on the Broad Fourteens,'
answers his captain, ' and pick up some fresh soles for
breakfast to-morrow out of the trawlers.'

" So they seek the haunt of the flat fish and the trawler,
which is the middle of the North Sea, and find the
boats hard at work, headed by their ' Admiral,' who
flies a red flag and directs the fleet, and is generally the
oldest and the wisest of these splendid fishermen from
Yarmouth and Lowestoft. They fill up with fresh water,
loiter again through the night, and in the morning the
wind drops. A big Lowestoft trawler hails as they pass.

" * Got no water aboard, sir ; will you give us a
"pluck" into Ymuiden?'

" So the end of the trawl- warp is passed aboard and
the grateful skipper is left within a mile of his market
and his destination, while the gunboat streaks across, as
the sun dips, to shepherd the drifters once again."

It is shepherding, indeed, with these harvesters of
the Dogger ; but sometimes a black member of the flock
13

194 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

careers at large and resists all efforts at capture or
reformation. He knows that heavy punishment is the
result of being caught trawling in forbidden waters, yet
stolen fish is sweet, and he will often shoot his net within
the three miles' limit and risk all consequences. Big
fines, confiscation of gear, even arrest of the vessel
herself, may be the penalty for poaching ; but the fisher
takes the risk of all. Sometimes he is caught in the
very commission of his sin. A gunboat sees him, and
swings up at her top speed just in time to land him —
or at least, if she is a warship of his own nation, to warn
him in bluff sailor-speech to begone. It may be that a
British naval officer, being at heart a sportsman himself,
and knowing something of the hardships of those who
win a living from the sullen North Sea, may range
alongside in time to learn of some felonious act. Very
well — but even a Tory squire ashore will occasionally
give a poacher the benefit of a doubt, or go so far as to
say that a prisoner may not be guilty, but he must not
do it again.

Little or no mercy, however, is shown by foreign
Powers towards British fishermen arrested in their
territorial waters, and this is particularly the case with
Germany. A British master was charged with fishing
in German waters, and his advocate reported that the
Appeal Court at Leipzig had pronounced the presence of
a foreign fishing-boat in German waters with the in-
tention of fishing to be an offence equivalent to that of
actual fishing, and that consequently British fishing-
boats, when, for any reason whatever, within the
territorial limits of Germany, should be most careful to
avoid everything which could raise any suspicion of their

FISHERIES PROTECTION 195

intending to fish. The Board of Trade issued a notice
calling attention to this advice and the importance of
being guided by it, and reminding British fishermen of
the severity of the penalties incurred by an infraction of
the German law.

The notorious case of the Moray Firth has been the
cause of much unnecessary work by cruisers, and of
great injustice to British fishermen. The Moray Firth
is an arm of the North Sea, in the north-east of
Scotland, 78 miles broad, and running south - west
for nearly 24 miles. It gives abundant and
excellent fish, yet the waters have been closed to
British fishermen, although foreigners have been and
are at liberty to get what they can catch. They have
done so and taken their cargoes to Aberdeen and other
markets and sold them. Such a state of things would
make far less renowned fighters than North Sea men
break laws, and they have used every artifice to evade
the regulation.

Strong feeling against foreign trawlers has naturally
arisen ; but not even heavy punishments can stop the
efforts of British fishermen to reap some of the advan-
tage which is so freely and unjustly given to foreign
rivals. At the end of May 1911 the master of a Hull
trawler pleaded guilty at the Wick Sheriff Court to
trawling within the Moray Firth limit. He was fined
^100, with the option of sixty days' imprisonment, and
that severe sentence is typical of the heavy penalties
that are constantly imposed on British fishermen for
doing what is done with safety and impunity by
foreigners.

What the following up of reports and rumours of

196 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

illegal trawling means in winter has been described by
Commander Currey.

"' Manoeuvres' are over, and back again at fishery
protection is the torpedo-gunboat. Week by week she
glides out of Harwich Harbour, and each succeeding
week finds the weather worse than the one which
went before. Pessimism prevails in the ward-room,
and the Sub - Lieutenant has become a professed
cynic, and receives the gibes of his messmates with a
dark and gloomy scorn. Forward, the mess-deck under
the top-gallant forecastle leaks like a sieve ; twice in a
month has the sea gone clean through the cook's galley,
putting out the fire and ruining, once the men's dinner,
a second time filling their allotted breakfast cocoa with
North Sea brine. Waterproof sou'-westers and blas-
phemy fill the lower deck. They ride out a gale in
Gorton Roads, another in the Wash, and escape a third
by the skin of their teeth by darting back into Harwich
Harbour, and still fishery protection has to be attended
to and the North Sea patrolled. . ...

'"'Ands unmoor ship.' ' W'y, w'ere the 'ell can we
be agoin' to now ? '

" * It's like this/ said the Captain to his Navigator, as
they cleared the mouth of the H umber, ' there's been
illegal trawling taking place at Stornoway, and I'm
ordered to inquire into it.'

" The Sub opened his mouth to answer, but she had
shipped a sea, green, over the forecastle, and about half
a pint of the H umber estuary flew straight down his
throat and rendered him incapable of speech for at least
five minutes. Slowly they fought their way northwards ;

THE NEW GENERATION OF NORTH SEA MAN.

THE GENERATION THAT HAS PASSED.

FISHERIES PROTECTION 197

the grey combers struck them pitilessly on the starboard
bow, and the spindrift, torn from their crests by the
bitter wind, seemed to scorch their hands and faces.
Night came, but with it no alleviation, and the crash of
the seas and the twanging sound of the gale rushing
through the rigging seemed to belong to an order of
things which had lasted since the beginning of time.
They anchored in the Firth of Forth, and for twenty-
four hours with red-hot stoves and boiling cocoa they
thawed the marrow in their bones. . . . Tolsta was
reached, and inquiry begun, the local fisherman
interrogated.

" * You say illegal trawling has taken place in the
bay ; can you give me the date and the name of the
vessel ? '

" * Mayhap it was ten days or forbye a fortnight that
she heard a trawler in the bay.'

"'Did you*** her?1

" ' She did not.'

" ' And you don't know her name ? '

" ' She does not.'

" * And that is all the evidence of illegal trawling you
have got to give me after coming five hundred miles to
find out ? '

" ' She knows no more than she has said.'

" ' And this,' remarked the Captain to his companion,
the coastguard officer, as he lighted his pipe, ' is what
I've got to write a dispatch about to the Admiralty ! ' "

The torpedo-gunboat was back on the Broad
Fourteens, in black, bitter December, and a winter
snowstorm was raging. The sea water froze as it came

198 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

aboard, boats, gun, and torpedo-tube were deep in snow,
and the lee-side of the bridge was a veritable drift.
The Captain and the Sub were on the bridge, making
a night of it.

" They could see nothing. Hour after hour they
clung to the bridge rail, striving to pierce with
ineffectual vision the wreaths and wreaths of snow.
The wind howled and whistled, the ship rolled heavily,
the siren sent up its mournful note. Ever and anon the
Captain's servant struggled up the steep bridge-ladder
with boiling cocoa, which kept the life in them. Neither
spoke, and all sensation had long ceased in their hands
and feet.

" From out of the unseen came a yell : ' Hard a star-
board, for the love of God ! '

" It was the voice of the look-out man. The port
telegraph clanged to ' Stop/

" ' Over with her, Quartermaster,' said the Captain
quietly, his hand on the lever of the telegraph. The
steam wheel rattled furiously.

" ' Right your helm, sir, and she'll clear,' came the
voice of the Sub to starboard.

" Again the wheel spun. The Captain dashed across
the bridge, and there, sliding by, close enough for a
man to have put out his hand and touched her, was
a ship.

"' Sailing ship not ringing her bell; close shave,'
was the only comment. ' Put her on her course,
Quartermaster."

That is a fine word-picture of fisheries protection

FISHERIES PROTECTION 199

work in winter on the North Sea. Such is the danger
and discomfort on board one of His Majesty's ships of
war ; such is the weather in which the gallant little
steam-trawlers battle continuously, and in which, in the
old sailing days, smacks were forced to work to keep
the markets supplied with fish, and on board of which
sometimes there was no fire and no dry sleeping-place
for a whole voyage of eight or more weeks.

During 1910 H.M.S. Ringdove was the only naval
vessel available for marine superintendence around the
Scottish coasts. Throughout the great summer herring-
fishery she was employed mostly in preserving order in
the Shetland harbours, and for the rest of the year
she was engaged largely in connection with the foreign
trawlers in the Moray Firth. The routine work done in
the course of the year by the Board's own cruisers — 5 in
number — was considerable, one of them being 269 days
at sea and steaming 21,559 knots, and another detaining
407 boats in connection with various Regulations. The
fines imposed amounted to ,£2005, the maximum penalty
for illegal trawling — £100 — having been inflicted in
12 cases. Of that sum ^543, i6s. 8d. was paid, 18
of the accused went to prison, and 2 absconded.
The prosecutions for illegal trawling undertaken by
the Scottish Fishery Board from 1886 to 1910 was
694, and in no fewer than 628 a conviction was ob-
tained. The amount of the fines imposed was ,£29,995,
of which ,£13,191 was paid.

CHAPTER XV
A HUMANISING AGENCY

JUST as steam has revolutionised North Sea fishing and
North Sea life, so the Royal National Mission to Deep
Sea Fishermen has brought about a wondrous change
in smacksmen. All life at sea, until a recent period,
was rough and hard, and mostly cruel. The savage
discipline of the old Navy, when the lash was used to
flog men into obedience, was reflected in the North Sea
smacks, and the unhappy little fellows who were sent to
the fleets from the workhouse, or packed off by a
magistrate in preference to sending them to gaol, were
entirely at the mercy of men some of whom did not
show mercy or kindness because they had never known
it in their own lives of brutal sordid toil.

There were in the old sailing days, when foul deeds
could be so easily concealed, many dreadful crimes
committed for which no punishment could be inflicted,
because the perpetrators were not known ; but occasion-
ally there would come to light some wrong of exceptional
character which would be dealt with by a judge and
jury, and give the public an insight into the lives of
deep-sea toilers who were more of outcasts from their
fellow-creatures ashore than the heathen in far countries.
Such an instance was afforded by the murder on the

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A HUMANISING AGENCY 201

North Sea of an apprentice, by Otto Brand, the skipper
of a smack. The lad was done to death in the most
cruel fashion, and Brand was deservedly hanged at
Armley Gaol, Leeds, on 23rd May 1882.

It was at this period — the autumn of 1881 — that the
idea originated of doing something for the men and
boys whose lives were spent on the Dogger and other
banks. At that time the largest and most famous of the
fishing fleets was the Short Blue, of which the owners
were Messrs. Hewett & Co., the organisers of the
fleeting system. The curse of the fleets was the coper,
craft which for half a century had sold drink and tobacco
to the English smacksmen. Originally these vessels
sailed from Dutch ports and sold articles of clothing
and gear to the fishermen ; but experience quickly
taught the Dutchman that it was far more profitable to
barter the tobacco and spirits for fish. The evil of
bartering grew so much that in the worst days of the
coper an established system of wrong-doing existed, and
it sometimes happened that a skipper, in order to satisfy
his craving for drink, would dispose of all his gear and
even, in extreme cases, the smack herself.

To get the tobacco cheaply it was necessary to visit
the coper, whose skipper sold it at less than half the
price which had to be paid in England, because from
the Continent he obtained the article at practically cost
price, whereas in England a heavy duty was imposed.

The copers were not all foreigners ; one or two sailed
from English ports. Mr. E. J. Mather, who founded
the Mission, related that one of these English craft was
the Annie, sailing from the Humber, and others were
the Dora and the Angelina, of Yarmouth. A man who

202 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

served three years in the Angelina told him that
they left Yarmouth with their gear aboard, like an
ordinary trawler, and made straight for Nieudiep, in
Holland, where they took in ^500 worth of grog
and tobacco. She then joined her fleet, and in one
voyage alone the cargo would be sold and a profit made
of ^500 — 100 per cent., and that in two months. A
bottle of rum was sold for is. 6d., raw brandy at 2s.,
aniseed brandy — dangerous and insidious spirit, and a
great favourite with the smacksmen — 2s. 3d., and gin
at is.

Such a profit as that — at the rate of 600 per cent,
yearly — was infinitely more than could be made out of
the most successful trawling ; but the system of copering,
so far as English vessels were concerned, was not to
become established or permanent. The danger was
recognised in time, and crushed out. The insurance
clubs at home made it clear that these smacks were not
wanted in the societies, there was opposition from one
or two powerful owners, and there was always the peril
of falling into the hands of the law and being severely
dealt with. The English copers, therefore, ceased to
ply their trade in the fleets, and one at least resumed
her honest work of fishing.

First of all, there went to the Dogger, as the pioneer
Mission ship, the little Ensign, a 56-ton yawl-rigged
craft which had been working with the Short Blue
Fleet. She was altered so as to accommodate a
missionary and men who cared to go aboard for
worship ; and she was provided with a small dispensary,
equipped with a medicine-chest.

The Ensign left Yarmouth to the accompaniment of

A HUMANISING AGENCY 203

scornful criticisms and jeers from the very smacksmen
whom she was designed to help ; yet within a short
period she proved her worth, and less than a year after
her first cruise Messrs. Hewett wrote voluntarily to say
that their men had been completely revolutionised and
that great good had been done. They sent a donation
and became annual subscribers. That was recognition
by practical men of a practical undertaking — for the
Mission exists "as well for the body as the soul."

The Ensign was bought in 1882, and in 1883-84
three more vessels were acquired — the Salem (afterwards
the Temple Z0te),6the Cholmondeley, the Edward Auriol
(afterwards the Clulow), the Ashton, and the Euston.
There was a further vessel, the Edward Birkbeck ; and
the Ensign was renamed the Thomas Gray, in recognition
of the deep interest in the Mission of the late head of
the Marine Department of the Board of Trade. There
followed two splendid craft, the Queen Victoria and the
Albert, of 150 tons each, thoroughly well equipped in
every way, and provided not only with a dispensary,
but also with a hospital and accommodation for a resident
doctor, because it was recognised that to be completely
effective the vessels must carry a skilled surgeon, to
deal with the many accidents and ailments that are
inseparable from North Sea fishing.

The trawling trade, as carried out by sail, had
reached its zenith ; yet there were only two or three
far-seeing men who realised that the revolution was
near, and that in future everything would give place to
steam. The International Fisheries Exhibition of 1883
gave a great impetus to trawling, with the result that
capital was put into many new fishing ventures for

204 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

which there was no chance of success. At Yarmouth,
the headquarters of the sailing trawlers, nearly a hundred
and fifty new smacks were fitted out ; but, so far from
proving successful, they were failures, and many of them
were soon laid up in harbour, others were working at a
loss, and large numbers of skippers and men were thrown
out of employment. It was calculated that in 1886
there was a loss of more than .£30,000 on the Yarmouth
smacks, and other fishing towns suffered proportionately.

Meanwhile, the Mission smacks had entered upon
that splendid work which has been maintained con-
tinuously for thirty years, and has now reached a
magnitude unthought of at the outset, and yet which is
not proportionate to the needs of the trawling fleets.
The coper was fought with his own weapons, to a large
extent. Tobacco was consigned to Ostend — 3 tons of
it — and was put on board a Mission smack there, to
escape the payment of duty. The smack went round
the fleets, after leaving Ostend, and disposed of her 3
tons of tobacco at the actual cost price, is. per lb., against
the is. 6d. charged by the coper. Soon after this the
great firm of Messrs. W. D. & H. O. Wills offered to
supply tobacco for sale in the fleets, at approximately cost
price, and they regularly sent large consignments of cut
and cake tobacco, the cut in pound packets and the cake
in "pocket-pieces."

A singular feature in connection with the coins
received in payment for tobacco in the fleets was that
before the money was finally paid into the bank it had
to be thoroughly washed in boiling water — a proceeding
which will be readily understood when it is remembered
that, in the days of sail, smacksmen went to sea for eight

A NORTH SEA SKIPPER IN HIS " DOPPER," OR BLANKET OVERALL.

A HUMANISING AGENCY 205

or ten weeks or more, and returned to port without
having washed once. Sometimes a Mission ship would
take during a voyage as much as ^100. That sum
would be mostly in silver and copper, and would represent
the sale of more than three-quarters of a ton of tobacco.
At that particular time, after my first visit to a North
Sea fleet, I was ferried from my smack to the attendant
Mission ship — the Thomas Gray — and bought, for 8s.,
half a stone of tobacco as a present for the crew who had
shown me so much kindness after leaving Grimsby. It
was the only way in which I could venture to make
a gift.

The copers were doomed, although they made a
brave attempt to hang on to the fleets. At one time
three copers were cruising with one fleet ; but they
dispersed and disappeared, especially as an International
Conference was held at the Hague in June 1886, for the
purpose of regulating the coper traffic. As a result of
that conference the copers were abolished, and now they
are only a memory. I saw one of the last of them.
She was cruising forlornly on the outskirts of our fleet,
with nothing to distinguish her at a distance from an
ordinary sailing smack, except her flag, although close
inspection showed that she was not equipped with gear
for honest fishing purposes. If only because it has
driven the grog-shop off the North Sea banks — and it
has achieved that — the Mission has justified its existence
and done a marvellous work.

The coper s liquors, as I have said, maddened the
smacksman, and it was no very rare occurrence for a
man to jump overboard, or for smacks to be lost through
the drunkenness of crews.

206 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

One of the worst cases of this nature was that of a
man who, on returning from the coper, fell stupefied on
the deck of his vessel. His drunken comrades tried to
rouse him, but failed. Then they poured a quantity of
" turps " over his clothing and set fire to the inflammable
liquid. Their object was to awaken him, but the man
was burnt to death, and it was only by speedy help from
a neighbouring smack that the vessel was saved from
destruction.

Until the Mission vessels began to run, the coper
found in the English trawler an ever-ready customer for
his liquors and obscene prints and letterpress. On the
sale of his wares he prospered, and the smacksman's
work suffered in proportion, while his employers' be-
longings followed his own money — for the stranger did
not refuse payment in kind. It was hopeless to think
of defeating the enemy until it was possible to sell
tobacco, without which smacksmen as a body cannot
live, at the same price as he. The Mission entered
upon a hard, long fight, and won a famous victory. It
fought with the coper on equal terms, owing to official
aid and generous help from men of business, and to-day
on board any of the Mission vessels excellent cut
tobacco can be purchased, duty free, at is. 2d. per lb.,
and cake tobacco at iod., as against the coper s is. 6d.
and is. ; and the smacksman is kept from the temptation
to drink, which was ever present on board the foreigner.
As a practical undertaking the Mission was directed
to keep pace with the changing order of things. It was
useless to station a sailing vessel with a fleet of steam-
boats ; craft were needed that could follow the admiral
just as swiftly as any vessel under his control, and heavy

A HUMANISING AGENCY 207

though the undertaking was, yet the responsible com-
mittee were able to place an order for a steam Mission
ship at a cost of about ,£12,000, through the generosity
of an anonymous donor who paid the full expense of
building and equipping the vessel. This was the
Alpha, built at Leith in 1900, a steel vessel of 275
gross tonnage and 70 horse-power nominal. She was
followed in 1902 by the Queen Alexandra and \)s\e Joseph
and Sarah Miles, both built at Leith also, and provided
with everything that can minister to the comfort and
recreation of the men whose lives are spent on the
North Sea. The three steamboats represent an original
capital outlay of more than .£34,000, and need a sum of
£3000 yearly — .£1000 each — to maintain them, although
they are equipped with fishing-gear and send their fish
to market like the rest of the fleeters.

The great difference between a Mission ship and an
ordinary trawler, in connection with fishing, is that she
does not fish on Sundays, whereas very many of the
steam-trawlers do. This Sunday labour, apart from
any sentiment relating to the Sabbath, tells severely on
men who are almost incessantly at work throughout the
week and are deprived of needed change and rest.
There is no such thing for the North Sea man as a
half-day on Saturday and a whole day on Sunday — a
complete rest and holiday to end the week. Perhaps
the time is near when he shall have his day of rest, by
law, like other and far less hard workers ashore.

At present the Mission can station vessels with three
only of the four steam fleets that are fishing the North
Sea grounds. A fourth steamer is urgently needed, and
steps are being taken to raise the money to provide her.

208 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

I am concerned solely with the North Sea work of
the society, which has extended its area of operations
enormously, and aims at covering every phase of the
British fishing industry, afloat and ashore, without
clashing in any way whatever with other marine agencies.
There is the great and wonderful work which Dr.
Grenfell is carrying on in Labrador — work in which the
King has shown a marked personal interest — and the
lesser branches round the coasts ; but the main adventure
is on the North Sea, amongst the fleeters. Dr. Grenfell
laboured zealously to put that North Sea undertaking on
a firm basis before he devoted his untiring energy to
Labrador, and I well remember talking with him on the
east coast in the early Nineties and listening to his
enthusiastic prophecies as to the future. I do not think
that even " Grenfell of Labrador" dared to hope for such
a wonderful result as that which has attended his efforts,
yet doubtless now he is on the verge of far greater things,
for he has won the earnest co-operation of energetic and
resourceful men of business in America.

It is with the North Sea man that so many zealous
workers are connected, notable amongst them being
Sir Frederick Treves, Bart. Sir Frederick has been
associated with the work, especially at the London
Hospital, from the beginning, and he has lived to see
wonderful changes in the system of handling injured and
sick smacksmen.

Before the coming of the Mission death and suffering
were inseparable from the toil of the banks ; death and
suffering there are to-day, but death has been robbed of
something of its gloom and terror, and suffering has been
vastly alleviated by the surgeons who attend to cases out

THE MATE OF A NORTH SEA STEAM-TRAWLER.

A HUMANISING AGENCY 209

at sea and forward them, when necessary, for treatment
at the London Hospital.

While writing this chapter I heard a North Sea
skipper tell how, when he first went to the Dogger, as a
lad, he severely injured his arm. For sixteen weeks he
remained at sea, with no opportunity of getting the wound
treated, except in the roughest fashion ; there was not
time when he came ashore to cure it, and he had to go
back to the fleet, a helpless youngster, and let chance do
the healing. That is merely one — and not a lurid —
instance of the neglect and suffering of old, in the days
when a mixture of turpentine and treacle was reckoned
an efficient medicine, and when fine lads and splendid
men who had been cruelly wounded in their calling had
to endure inexpressible torture in a rolling, wallowing
storm-hammered smack or carrier before harbour could
be reached — and then the flag at half-mast would tell
the sorry tale of too late.

Words can hardly give an understanding of the
sufferings and discomforts of the old days that are
mercifully gone ; the imagination can scarcely picture
the avoidable privations of the toilers who had been
seriously or fatally injured. To-day there are, and must
be, the terrible accidents that are inseparable from deep-
sea trawling — the havoc done to life and limb by
smashing seas, or charging heavy trunks of fish, and the
ghastly limb-lopping or body-cutting that occur in a
moment when a wire rope tautens, snaps, and slashes
through the air like a colossal knife. But side by side
with these grim happenings there are the means of
curing some of the results and of lessening or mastering
pain.

M

210 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Figures are fallacies, in many cases ; but, in relation
to this Mission work on the North Sea, they at least
convey some idea of the magnitude of the tasks attempted
and the ends achieved. During the year 1910 more
than 15,000 patients were medically and surgically
treated.

The Queen Victoria, the Albert, the Alice Fisher,
and the Clulow were the sailing vessels which carried a
surgeon, and on board of which cases of a serious nature
could be treated ; but if the doctor was satisfied that
there was no hope for a patient, a run was made for port,
unless the sufferer was sent home in his own vessel or
the steam-carrier. There were ten berths in the large
airy hospital of the Queen Victoria, including two swing
cots, most valuable in cases of fracture. The " nurse "
was a smacksman himself, and therefore one of the
kindest and most willing of attendants on smacksmen
who were sick or injured. The dispensary was excel-
lently equipped, and a large number of out-patients could
be attended with comfort at one and the same time.

In cases of serious accident there was an ingenious
and admirable contrivance in the form of a stretcher, by
which the sufferer could be brought on board, and the
pain consequent on the transference from one ship to
another reduced to a minimum. The introduction of
this stretcher alone prevents an incalculable amount of
suffering. It makes unnecessary the seizing of a patient
by his clothing or limbs when being lifted from the boat
to the hospital ship or carrier ; for the weather may be
such that one moment the boat is high above the vessel's
deck and the next deep in the trough of the sea.

Before the days of stretchers a dozen strong arms

A HUMANISING AGENCY 211

were put swiftly forth at the critical second, and a dozen
strong hands grasped firmly anyhow and anywhere,
regardless, of necessity, of the pain which was caused,
and with the knowledge that a slip meant either that
the sufferer would be crushed or beaten to death, or
miserably drowned. To-day a patient is strapped in
the ambulance, and if the sea runs high he can be hoisted
on board by means of tackle.

Once a falling spar on a smack broke a man's leg.
He was put into the boat to be taken to the carrier, so
that he might receive attention on shore. A heavy sea
was running, and it was impossible to get the boat
alongside the steamer. A rope was accordingly thrown,
which was fastened round the man's body, and by this
means he was hauled through the water to the carrier,
"the broken limb," wrote an eye-witness, " being bent
about in all directions by the waves." Such scenes as
these are witnessed no longer where a Mission ship is
stationed.

One of the earlier of the Mission surgeons gave
examples of some of the remedies which were used
by smacksmen before the Mission began its operations
on the North Sea. " A pill consisting of Stockholm
tar and flour was thought much of," he wrote, "and
is the only pill I have heard of. If sea-boils and
cracks were not left entirely alone, they were treated
with an ointment — ' salve ' or * oils ' are the correct
terms — composed of sugar and soft- oap, or perhaps
paraffin and treacle. I have heard of a man taking
a good pull at a bottle of ' turps ' to act on the kidneys.
He went 'raving mad,' but did not die — your North
Sea fisherman dies hard. Should a finger be cut,

212 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

go on working and let it bleed well ; then get a
'chummie' to tie some tobacco round it. A burn
should always be held before the stove to draw the
fire out of it. A fracture was always left alone,
and the unfortunate transferred as soon as possible
to the cutter, which would take two days to get to
London, being 250 miles distant. Imagine that
happening with plenty of wind, and a hard bunk —
no mattress — to lie in. What strikes every one is
the remarkable stoicism displayed by these men.
They work away as hard as ever with great sea-boils
on their wrists, painful cracks between the fingers,
nasty poisoned fingers, and even after severe injuries
to head and limbs. * How can you go on like this?'
'Well, sir, it's either work or go home. If you can't
work you're a nuisance, and if you go home you
mayn't get work for weeks. And what are the wife
and children to do then ? ' Of course, the advantage
of spare hands is very evident, and an important point
in the Mission work. . . .

" I had amongst my patients an ex-private of the
3rd Light Dragoons, who had fought in the Soudan
campaigns. He was interesting from the fact that
he received an arrow through his wrist, a bullet-wound
over the biceps of the right arm, and another in the
fleshy part of the back ; further, he had broken both
his legs ; he was a year and a half in a hospital
for rheumatism ; and he was in the smack Beaver
when she was hove down and had her decks swept
clean, both masts being broken and he himself swept
overboard, but no lives were lost. At present sea-
boils are his affliction."

A NORTH SEA BOAT COMING ALONGSIDE.

A HUMANISING AGENCY 213

I have had long talks with some of the coper's
former friends, and have received proof enough of
the havoc which was wrought in the dark days of
old. But the coper has disappeared from the fleets,
and where he in former years spread corruption and
misery, the " Bethel-ship" — the Dutchman pronounces
it "battle-sheep," and the name is more appropriate
than he imagines — now attends to every spiritual and
physical want in the trawler.

A Mission ship is one of the most interesting vessels
afloat. She is a cruising hospital, a place of worship,
a tobacco shop, a clothing establishment, a free library,
a club-room, an hotel, and a recreation ground. If a
smacksman is sick or injured, he will be fetched on
board and receive skilled attention until he is better ;
if he wants to attend service and hoists a signal to
indicate his wish, the Mission boat will call for him ;
tobacco he can obtain at cost price ; warm woollen
" helmets," mufflers, stockings, and mittens he is able
to buy for next to nothing ; if he longs for something
to read, he can have magazines and papers for the
asking ; if he has a craving to converse with fellow-
men, he can satisfy it on board the " Bethel-ship."
If, again, he desires to escape for an hour from the
surroundings of his own vessel, he can pace a clean,
attractive deck and almost forget the smell of fish.
With the exception of the woollen articles — for which
the Mission makes a small charge, as it has no in-
tention of pauperising in any way — and the tobacco,
everything is free, and there is plenty of it.

I have before me the manuscript of a description
of a lady's visit to the Short Blue Fleet when it was

2i4 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

still composed of sailing vessels, with steam-carriers
to keep up communication with Billingsgate. The
account is simple and charming, and, as it was written
when women rarely went out to the fleets, I will
quote from it, as a feminine impression of the men
of the North Sea. The visitor's husband had suggested
that she should accompany him in one of the Mission
smacks. " Now, I must confess that this idea did not
appeal to me in the slightest degree," she said, "but
after a great deal of persuasion I overcame my scruples
and agreed to go. At five o'clock one Saturday
morning in the first week of May we were towed
out of Gorleston for a week's cruise.

" My friends had bidden me a tearful farewell. Such
an unheard-of trip as this they could not understand,
and apparently they did not expect to set eyes on me
again. I am afraid I shared their misgivings when they
made anxious inquiries as to my wishes concerning the
disposal of my personal effects. If I had been starting
on a voyage in search of the North Pole I could not
have left amid more gloomy prophecies than those of
my friends on sailing for the Short Blue Fleet.

" The Queen Victoria, in which we sailed, was the
flagship of the Mission fleet. She was a floating
hospital, and visited the fleets with the object of
doctoring sick and injured smacksmen while out
at sea. As a rule, she went out for six or eight
weeks at a time, as did also the smacks, with a
skipper and crew of seven or eight, a doctor, and
occasionally a lady, who was expected to minister
spiritually to the fleet. Sometimes these occasional
ladies did what was expected of them ; but, alas ! it was

A HUMANISING AGENCY 215

more often a case of the spirit being willing, but the
flesh weak, the lady spending most of her time in
her bunk, engaged in earnest prayers on her own
behalf.

" On this particular trip there was no doctor, and
the ' occasional ' lady was myself. I am afraid that
I did not come up to expectations in many ways,
but I gave my services where I could, and the
smacksmen kindly made the best of them.

" For three days after leaving Gorleston we sailed
along in a vain endeavour to find the fleet. We had
expected to come up with it in about twenty-four
hours, but were doomed to disappointment. During
those three days I was astonished to notice how few
ships of any description we passed. It seemed as
if our own little craft was the solitary occupant of that
great sea, and it gave me somewhat of a feeling of
desolation. Once we came across a smack, the crew
of which hailed us, and on coming near we were
informed that the skipper had fallen down the hatch-
way and broken a rib. The man was hoisted on
board and his hurt attended to by our skipper, who
was something of a doctor, and was then pressed to
stay in hospital to be nursed until better, but he
absolutely refused to remain, and rejoined his smack.

"We also passed a smack which was searching,
as were we, for the Short Blues, and for some time
we kept together. A fog gathered, however, and after
it had dispersed we found that we had lost our
companion. With the exception of that night of fog,
the weather all the week was fine and clear, but there
was a swell, and consequently we rolled a good deal.

216 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Fortunately I was not sea-sick, being a fairly good
sailor, but the hours passed very slowly, and it seemed
a very long time before we discovered the fleet. My
husband enjoyed every inch of the way, being an
enthusiastic seaman, and he would sit on the grating
at the stern of the boat in company with the skipper
and crew, and talk ' shop ' by the hour together.

" I spent my time reading on deck and listening to
the conversation around me, or down in the steward's
little kitchen watching with much interest his cooking
operations, or else in our own cabin trying to sew. We
had meals in this same cabin, and I was much taken
with the crockery which was used. It was of thick,
white earthenware, each piece being adorned with a
blue flag, and on the flag the letters M.D.S.F. Every-
thing else belonging to the ship was marked in the same
way.

" When we reached the fleet, which was eventually
discovered off the coast of Holland, things brightened
up considerably. The fleet consisted of some 150
smacks, and was a lovely sight when first we came
across it. The moon shone on the smacks as they
fished on that silver sea ; and it seemed impossible to
realise how different sometimes was the scene when
those peaceful-looking waves were lashed into fury and
brought death and destruction in their wake.

" Early next morning our friends the smacksmen
began to pay their respects to us. When it became the
good pleasure of a smack's skipper to visit us he ran
up his flag and a boat from the Queen Victoria put out
and fetched him. In all that fleet I had the honour to
be the only woman, and a young one, too — I had not

THE CREW (WITH TWO VISITORS) OF A NORTH SEA
MISSION SHIP.

THE HOSPITAL OF THE /. AND S. MILES, IN WHICH THE MEN
WOUNDED IN THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE WERE TREATED.

A HUMANISING AGENCY 217

been long married then — and if I never caused a sensa-
tion before or since, I certainly had the satisfaction of
creating one when I appeared on deck that bright
morning shortly after our first boatload of visitors had
arrived. Some of the men eyed me as if I had been a
new specimen from the Zoo, but I didn't mind that ; I
thoroughly enjoyed my little triumph, and made the best
of it.

" The moral effect of my presence showed itself
when some of the skippers shuffled furtively below and
washed themselves — a luxury unknown to the inhabi-
tants of the smacks while out fleeting, their water-supply
being only sufficient for drinking and cooking purposes
— but the most amusing result was this. A skipper
came on board who possessed only one eye. He did
not expect to find strangers in the hospital ship, and
certainly not a lady, and was much taken aback on
seeing both. The next day, when he visited us again,
my husband and I were considerably exercised in mind
as to what had greatly altered his appearance. At last
my husband discovered that not only had he washed
himself vigorously, but also he had donned a glass eye !

"The real purpose of the visits to the Mission
boat by the smacksmen was to hold religious meetings.
These took place in the crew's cabin, and were much
enjoyed and appreciated. Perhaps they would not have
come quite up to the idea of an orthodox parson, and
assuredly they would not have pleased an average con-
gregation. At home we are apt to grumble if we are
kept in church a minute over the hour and a half, but
these meetings on board the Mission smacks always last
two or three hours, and sometimes longer than that.

21 8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

We were told of an instance when a service lasted for
twelve hours ! If members of our congregation got
tired and wanted a change, they rose from their seats,
and without making the slightest effort to leave quietly,
clattered on deck, took a stroll round, and came back
again.

"At one meeting I attended, after a deputation had
waited upon me with a request that I would play the
harmonium for them, I could not help being amused at
the attitude of a smacksman who evidently was not
considered by the others to be * converted.' A fellow-
skipper was praying earnestly for him by name, a fact
which did not disconcert him in the least, for all through
the prayer he conversed with a friend in his normal
voice, evidently about the course of some vessel, for at
intervals I could plainly hear such expressions as ' nowth-
east by nowth,' and 'lost his gear,' showing very de-
cidedly that the fears for his soul's safety expressed by
his seafaring brethren were not shared by him. The
hymns were the great features of the meetings, the men
singing them with tremendous heartiness — in fact, they
sang so loudly that I could not hear the harmonium,
although I was playing it ! "

CHAPTER XVI

THE GREAT MARCH GALE

I DO not know — I doubt if any one can tell — how many
lives the North Sea gales have claimed amongst the fisher-
men, nor how often it has been necessary to put on record
the brief statement, " with all hands " ; but time after time
the storms have swept the waters and the sailing craft
and steamboats have paid tribute. By a gale on 3rd
December 1863 nearly a hundred children in Yarmouth
alone were made orphans, and the loss of life from Hull
and Grimsby was as heavy. Twenty-four smacks were
lost on the North Sea, with all hands — 144 men and
boys, leaving 84 widows and 192 children. From one
family alone two brothers, two brothers-in-law, and two
cousins perished. Catastrophes like these are scattered
through the century. Every gale that lashes the North
Sea into fury takes its toll of human life ; but not so merci-
lessly as in the old days of sail. Canvas has been driven out
by steam, and the stout oak has given place to steel and
iron. The men, however, are just the same, and the
trawler of to-day is as swift to respond to the call for help
as ever his predecessors were — and they never failed to
risk life and limb. Every British battle brings out the
stuff of which V.C. and D.S.O. men are made ; every
struggle on the North Sea, too, makes heroes from the

219

220 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

selfsame flesh and blood — only for the smacksmen there
is seldom any more reward than the knowledge that they
have done their duty. " It is nothing," says the trawler,
when the dangerous work is ended ; and he patiently pur-
sues his toilsome way.

One of the most appalling gales that ever swept across
the Dogger raged on 6th March 1883, and caused the
loss of more than 360 men and boys from east coast
ports. That awful visitation destroyed families bodily ;
fathers and sons went down together, and widowed
mothers were left penniless in ruined homes. Smacks
were overwhelmed bodily and lost with all hands, and
the little ships that did escape only reached port after a
long, fierce fight and the exercise of wondrous skill and
courage by their crews and skippers.

All the survivors of that memorable breeze are smacks-
men of the old school of sail. Some of them, who were
skippers, have come to their last moorings ashore, and
seldom get far away from that vast grey stretch of sea of
which their very lives and bodies seem to be part and
parcel. Sometimes, if you know them well, they will
take their memories back to the gale and tell of grim
things that happened on the edge of the Dogger when
many a son of the North Sea was gathered to his fathers.

One of the Dogger warriors is old Ben ; it is mostly

"old" Tom, or Jack or Peter, as the case may be, when
talking of North Sea men, irrespective of advanced years ;
but in this case Ben is really getting on in life. For one
brief and famous spell he left the coast and came to
London — a five days' visit spent in some remote Eastern
suburb, and including an immortal bus ride, in which the
driver said many things and Ben said many more. The

THE GREAT MARCH GALE 221

locality explored was, I believe, Hoxton, on the memory
of which Ben dwells fondly, calling it London. Ben said
that of course I had heard of Mr. Somebody, of Hoxton,
and I assured him that I had, though I was honest enough
to admit that I had no personal acquaintance with the
driver. It was a hot summer day when I talked with Ben,
on board an old smack in harbour. Beyond us was the
vast blue placid stretch of the North Sea, with the ever-
lasting procession of steamships tramping north and south ;
inland were the purple moors, withering in the blazing sun.
Old Ben smoked and did a bit of rough joinery ; and
when his mind could be taken from the lurid lights of
Hoxton and the wild, odd things that the bus-driver had
said, he would glance towards the Dogger and jerk out
fragments of the story of the great March gale. I had
many talks with him ; and put together and told, not in
his own way, which would not be understandable in print,
but in the ordinary tongue, his tale was this —

" During my life as a North Sea smacksman I saw
as much wind and weather on the Dogger as most men ;
but I never saw anything so savage as the great March
gale. I've known other breezes as bad in some ways,
but never one that brought up such a deadly sea as that,
and in such a short time did so much mischief and caused
such heavy loss of life.

" I remember the great winter gale of 1861, when the
Whitby lifeboat was lost with all hands in trying to save
some sailors, and the coast hereabouts was strewn with
battered wrecks and dotted with drowned men. There was
a famous disaster within a few hundred yards of us, and out
at sea smacks went down bodily, and those that escaped only
came home to report loss of life or show how badly they'd

222 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

been hammered by the cruel seas. But even that dread-
ful gale was not so destructive as the great March gale
of 1883.

" When a smacksman talks about a gale he means
that something phenomenal took place. In the ordinary
way bad weather means to him a breeze ; if it's a real
smashing snorter he'll let himself go a bit and call it a
smart breeze or a hard blow, with a big lump of sea ; but
the weather has to be something of a hurricane before
he'll call it a gale. Before you can understand what that
real smart breeze meant you must get into your mind
some clear idea of what the Dogger is. People hear so
much about it and understand it so little. The Ban-k is
an immense stretch of sand, rising up from the middle of
the North Sea, and forming a sort of tableland. In
some places there is a depth of only a few fathoms, and
at the most it is very shallow. You can go from thirty
fathoms to nine in three minutes. The northerly or
north-westerly edge is very dangerous, for, when a gale
is blowing from that quarter, the full force of the waves is
driven up against the edge of the Dogger and makes a
deadly smother. The Dogger itself is a fatal place just
because of this uncommon shallowness. The waves
have no depth to swing and roll in, and, having struck
the Bank, they break into an immense cauldron which is
more like a whirlpool than anything else. Give any real
sailor or smacksman plenty of room and depth, with a
true sea running, and he'll be comfortable in his mind ;
but he gets uneasy when he's caught in broken water. In
a true, swinging sea he knows what to expect, but he can
never tell when he's going to be knocked down when
the water comes from all points at once.

A NORTH SEA PORT.

THE GREAT MARCH GALE 223

" To the North Sea smacksman every part of the
Dogger has a particular name, but the most gruesome
of all is 'The Cemetery,' and that's what we call the
'edge' of the Bank, because so many ships and men
have been lost there. Even to-day, when scarcely any-
thing fishes on the Dogger except powerful, well-
appointed steamboats, no skipper is happy if he gets
caught on The Cemetery. Like most other men, he
wants to spend as little time as possible in such a
melancholy place. If he has his gear down and a breeze
springs up, he's only content when he hauls his trawl
and cuts and runs for it. With steam that's an easy
enough thing to do, but in the old days things were
vastly different, because the sailing vessels either had
to ride out a gale or founder. The smacks were out for
six, seven, eight, or ten weeks at a time, and only ran
home to re-fit and re-provision and then got back to the
fishing-grounds. This meant that year in and year out
the smacksman had to spend his life on the stormy
waters of the Dogger and face all its dangers. He
might be two or three hundred miles away from port, so
that there was no chance of seeking shelter. I shouldn't
have cared to show my nose in port and have to say
that I had run home because I was scared of a breeze.
I shouldn't have gone back to sea again in that particular
smack nor in any other. The man who gets upset
because of wind and weather isn't the man to make a
living on the Dogger. He carries his life in his hands,
and always expects them to be emptied suddenly.

" Well, I sailed from Scarborough as skipper of a fine
little ketch of fifty-one tons which was called the Uncle
Tom. We were single-boating and I wanted to get as far

224 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

out on to the Dogger as I could, because it was on the
Bank that the best fish was to be caught. We got away
finely and nothing happened to bother us till we were as
far as The Cemetery and had shot our gear and were
towing it at two or three knots an hour. Then I got
uneasy, for there was something queer and uncanny in
the weather, something that I couldn't account for and
didn't understand at all. North Sea smacksmen work
mostly by instinct and the lead. There are barometers
and chronometers and such-like fantastic gear for the
big liners, but the old school of fishermen were brought
up to use their wits, and to understand the weather
became part of their nature. As a rule, the smacksman
didn't own a chart. Give him the lead and a lump of
tallow and let him heave it overboard, and he could tell
you exactly, from the stuff he brought up, which part of
the Dogger he was on, just as you know which street
you're in by looking at the name of it on a lamp-post or
a wall.

" In winter-time you expect bad weather on the
Dogger, and you get it ; for that matter, you sometimes
get it all the year round, and I've known a snowstorm
out there even in summer-time.

" It was the beginning of March, and there was a
strange dulness both in the sky and on the water while
we were trawling. There was something mysterious
about it all, and I grew more uneasy when I noticed
what a wonderful lot of sea was rolling up to the edge of
the Bank, and how little wind there was with it. That
absence of wind and the immense height and fierceness
of the sea will always remain in my memory as the
chief features of the great March gale.

THE GREAT MARCH GALE 225

" The breeze had been prophesied by weather experts,
but it came sooner than any of us expected. I was
hoping to get out to the Dogger and back home before
the weather grew too bad for fishing. There had been
three or four days of calm, and when I got to the north-
west edge of the Bank, on The Cemetery side, it was still
pretty calm, with only just a nice fishing breeze.

" The gear had been shot at about eleven o'clock at
night. Then the wind freshened, but didn't grow into
anything like a smart breeze. At the same time the
sea got up in the most amazing way. There were a good
many other smacks about, and in the blackness of that
awful night they were fair napped.

" We had been trawling for two or three hours, and
I should think we had a fair lot of fish in the net.
When I saw how bad the weather was likely to be I
gave the order to haul the trawl, but I'd scarcely spoken
the words when the Uncle Tom gave a heavy lurch and
the thick trawl- warp was snapped just like a piece of
thread. This meant that the whole of the gear, worth
about thirty pounds, was gone ; and that's a heavy loss
for poor smacksmen. When you lose your gear in the
North Sea you don't get it back unless, as sometimes
happens, another trawler hauls it up ; but even then it's
scarcely worth bothering about. It's best to say good-
bye to your property.

" There was only one thing to do. The gale had
broken on us, and even in the darkness I could see the
waves tearing towards us like mad things. I took the
tiller and headed for home, and did all I could to make
a run for it. In the Uncle Tom the companion was well
forrard, and not aft, as you see it in the old yawls that
15

226 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

are lying near us, and this, I dare say, meant the salva-
tion of both the smack and ourselves.

" Time after time, as we ran before the wind and sea
in the darkness, we were swept by a big wave, and I
expected every moment that we should be carried over-
board, or that some immense mass of water would fall
on us and crush us like matchwood. But an old North
Sea smack was the stiffest and handiest vessel in the
world, and I managed to keep the Uncle Tom up to it
as she ran away from The Cemetery.

" I could only carry a bit of storm canvas, but the
smack hardly needed any sail at all to keep her going in
such a breeze as that. She plunged and rolled and
pitched in the most awful manner, but I stuck to the
tiller and never let it go except once or twice when the
mate relieved me for a few minutes. Even a North Sea
smacksman isn't made of iron and has to snatch a bit of
rest when he gets the chance. We were all sodden to the
skin, in spite of our oilskins and thick clothing — but then
I've known us be out for eight and ten weeks at a
time, and never dry for a minute, day or night.

" When the morning came it showed a scaring sight,
for the shallow waters of the Dogger were just one roar-
ing, foaming plain. I never saw a snarlier sea, and it
was the more uncanny, because the wind was out of all
proportion to the size and fury of the waves. It was
more like some wonderful phenomenon than an ordinary
North Sea gale, even in winter. I looked around and
saw that the smacks, which had been working peacefully,
with their gear down, were either running for it, or had
disappeared entirely.

" At such a time as that, with the freezing wind driving

THE GREAT MARCH GALE 227

cruelly against your face, it's hard to do more than try
and see just ahead of you, but from time to time I looked
about me, and occasionally saw just a little dark speck of
a smack trying to fight her way off the Dogger and get
into deeper and safer water. It was pitiful to see the
poor little things struggling for very life, and to know
that whatever happened you could do nothing. You
were thankful if you kept yourself afloat and the life in
your own battered body.

"Not very far away from me there was a Hullman,
which had been working on the Bank. She was making
a grand fight for it, but it was awful to see the way the
seas were hammering her.

" I looked again and the Hullman seemed to be falling
into the trough of an enormous wave. You know what
it is, I dare say, to be out on the Dogger and to look at
another smack not far away which has rushed down the
crest of a wave and gone right into the hollow. Often
enough she sinks so deep and the seas rise up so
enormously between you, that you lose sight of her
altogether.

" I lost sight of the Hullman. I looked again towards
the spot where I had last seen her, but not a sign of her
was left. She'd been smashed bodily by a huge wave,
and must have been one of the first of the smacks that
foundered. It was no use being scared by such a sight
as that. I stuck to the tiller, and all that day we tore
towards Hull. We got just a bite or sup now and again
to keep us going, but there was no chance of anything
like a hot meal — and hot food and drink at such times
may mean all the difference between winning and losing
your fight. We were swept and smothered by the seas,

228 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and everything below was awash or adrift. Immense
bodies of water smashed on board ; but we managed to
dodge them. We had to hang on for life, but, when
there was a chance of doing it, the men jumped below
till the seas passed. The man at the tiller had to stick
there and take his chance, because, if he'd let go, the
smack would have been lost.

" Time after time the breaking seas filled the deck to
the rail, but still the Uncle Tom staggered on and kept
afloat. It is the custom of North Sea smacksmen, when
a big sea is sweeping on, to shout, 'Water's coming,'
and drop below. On board many a smack that day the
seas crushed and killed or maimed the poor fellows who
had no chance of escape. Decks were swept as clean as
if they had been cut with an enormous knife. Dandy
winks were wrenched from the decks, although they
were secured by iron bolts, just as you might pluck some
little ornament away which has been glued on to a toy.
Masts and rigging were carried away, and in lots of
cases the smacks were almost smashed to bits before
they sank. It seemed as if no ship built by human
hands could stand up against the awful force of those
Dogger breakers, and how the Uncle Tom ever got
through it is a marvel even now.

4 'The man who makes his living on the Dogger sees
some strange, odd things. I've known a man to be swept
overboard and brought up afterwards, dead, in a trawl
belonging to another smack. In this great gale a man
was swept away from the deck of his smack and carried
by an enormous sea straight on to the deck of another
smack not far off, where he was saved by the crew, who
clutched him before he could be hurled back.

THE GREAT MARCH GALE 229

" In many cases the huge quantities of water which
had tumbled on board burst the companions and got
below, filling the smacks and sinking them. That
happened mostly when the companions were right away
aft, just by the tiller-head, and I think it would have
been the fate of the Uncle Tom if it had not been that
the companion was built more for'ard.

" Most of the smacks which were lost were knocked
down on the edge of the Dogger, where they were
caught in the broken water and had no chance of escape.
In some cases they were smashed to pieces, and the
crews were either killed or drowned.

" I remember seeing a smack which had had one side
of the bulwarks carried away by a heavy sea, and yet
the other side was undamaged. The most extraordinary
mischief was done, and although I'd spent all my life at
sea I could hardly believe some of the sights I saw.
The seas came from everywhere at once.

"I'll tell you of a thing I saw not long before this
famous breeze, and what happened then happened time
after time in that deadly March. There was a fine
smack sailing out of Grimsby, which was built as strong
as good wood and honest labour could make her. She
had a flagged floor, which served as good ballast and
also as a nice cool place for the trunks of fish. The
smack had been out on the Dogger and had got a good
catch, and was running home to market when a heavy
gale knocked her down. She must have been turned
almost completely over by one sea and then turned back
by another, enough, at any rate, for her to keep afloat
till she could stagger into harbour. When I saw the
smack her ballast had burst up and all the flags and the

230 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

fish had been thrown about in the most wonderful
way. She was smashed and hammered terribly, and
how she escaped was a mystery. That will give you
some idea of the way the old smacks were punished in
a North Sea breeze.

11 Well, we kept the Uncle Tom with her nose pointed
towards the coast. It was perishingly cold and we were
sodden to the skin. All the food we could lay hands on
— it wasn't much — was soaked by salt water.

" At last I saw ahead the cliffs down by Flamborough
Head and knew that the most dangerous part of the
business had to be got through. Ever since we started
I'd kept my head and nerve and strength. I wasn't
scared in any way — I dare say I was kept fit by remem-
bering that if I lost my nerve we were done for. Besides,
a North Sea smacksman isn't supposed to be upset by
any breeze that blows.

" The only chance of safety was in getting the smack
into the shelter of Bridlington Bay ; but with such a
tremendous run of sea the chances were equal that in
rounding the Head she would be capsized. I got the
Uncle Tom down off the Head ; then I saw that it would
be almost suicide to try and run her round. There was
only one thing to do, and that was to wait for the turn
of the tide, when the water would be a bit smoother
and there would be a chance of slipping into the Bay.
But even when I got into the slack water I didn't feel
that it would be safe to try and run the Uncle Tom into
the Bay, so there was nothing for it but to dodge about
and wait for my chance to come.

" I let that tide go past, and the second, the third, and
the fourth ; and for two perishing days and nights the

THE GREAT MARCH GALE 231

Uncle Tom wallowed about just off the Head, until
suddenly I saw my chance of getting into the Bay — and
I took it like a starving dog snaps a bone. I ran out of
the bad weather into the fairly smooth water of Bridling-
ton Bay, sheltered by the Head, and saw all around a
great fleet of ships, many of them crippled. At night
they looked like a town lit up.

" Many a fine smack was by that time lying on the
bed of the Dogger, with her crew, mostly in The Cemetery.
Even in the sheltered Bay a lot of the vessels dragged
their anchors and went ashore.

" There have been many dreadful gales on the North
Sea within living memory ; but that March breeze is
always spoken of as being the worst as far as smacksmen
are concerned. The heaviest loss fell on Hull and
Grimsby, and when on that sorry Sunday I got the Uncle
Tom safely into Hull, I went to see the crippled smacks
which had managed, like myself, to run back to safety, I
found that they entirely filled four docks, and some of
them were so badly beaten and damaged that it was
wonderful that they had escaped at all. It was pitiful to
see the battered craft — but even that was easier to look
on than to go into streets where nearly every house
had orphans and a widow. You can patch ships up well
enough, and make them as strong as ever they were —
sometimes stronger ; but you can't do much with broken
hearts — and there were plenty of 'em after that big
breeze in March.

" As for the Uncle Tom, she got into port without so
much as a scratch. Many men had lost their lives ; a
few had lost their nerve — and that is something, I can
tell you, for a North Sea smacksman.

232 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

" I remember one young fellow who, as soon as he got
into port, said, ' Look here, skipper, let's have my
money. I've had enough o' the Dogger to last me a
lifetime."

" He was paid off, and from that time he never went
out again to the Bank.

" I and my crew had come safely through it all with
the Uncle Tom ; but during the whole of the breeze it
was touch and go with us — all the time it was 'just as
near as mak's nae matter.' "

A CARRIER LOOKING FOR HER FLEET.

A CARRIER FOR BILLINGSGATE, PASSING GREENWICH.

CHAPTER XVII

CARRIERS

IF I were asked to name the finest craft making regular
trips and the most hardy of all captains running on
established routes, I should not hesitate to answer,
" Carriers and their skippers."

There are many men who tramp the North Sea
persistently, and in small craft of a few hundred tons ;
but their lives are romantic and luxurious compared
with those of carriers' skippers, and their vessels are as
different from the carriers as is the Mauretania from
the well-found tramp. The trading steamboat's captain
spends much of his time very pleasantly in port, and, as
a rule, his table is well found and his cabin a most
comfortable home. The skipper of the carrier, however,
is in port just long enough to unload his fish, take on
board ice, fresh boxes, re-coal and replenish stores.
His life afloat is that of the ordinary trawler, except
that he has more anxiety and responsibility. He is
ceaselessly on the rack, either looking for his fleet or
hurrying to catch the market with his perishable goods.
He is the hustler of the North Sea.

Only those who know what trawling is, and what
bitter winter weather on the water means, can realise
the hardships of the men who tramp the Thames and

233

234 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the seas that lie between Billingsgate and the fishing-
grounds. From day to day, week to week, month to
month, and year to year, ceaselessly, monotonously, the
carriers ply their calling and the skippers and their crews
fulfil their destiny as surely as did Vanderdecken and
his spectral band.

Just as steadily as Scotch expresses keep up their
communication between the north and Euston, St.
Pancras and King's Cross, so the valiant little carriers
form an ever-running link between the London market
and the toiling fleets that scour the banks ; but while in
the one case there are well-laid, firm, costly, and cease-
lessly inspected tracks, in the other there is nothing but
the turgid, troubled sea. The " Flying Scotchman " has
his permanent way, his signals, his stopping-places, his
every detail scheduled out for him. The driver steps
upon the footplate, his fireman with him, and he knows
that, God and accidents permitting, he will reach York,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, or other
distant destination safely and on time.

Not so the carrier's skipper. If he is bound for
London River he is serene of mind, for he knows that
he will find London River and Billingsgate where he
left them, barring cataclysms and perhaps fires and alien
risings. Gales may blow and seas may crash on board ;
oversea boats may wallow and heave to in the roaring
smother ; liners may hesitate and slow down ; coasters
may shelter and anchor, or not put to sea at all — but the
carrier neither slackens speed nor falters.

Who ever heard of a North Sea carrier taking count
of weather — even North Sea weather ? What is she
built for but to drive through gales? Why is her

CARRIERS 235

skipper on the bridge, unless it is to thrash her through
them ? But he does not call them gales or storms.
He speaks of breezes — and if the breeze is very bad — a
hurricane — he reluctantly admits that it is a "smart"
one. Beyond that he declines to go. His vessel may
be an ancient foundry, a " washer," which means that
all that may be seen of her in a "breeze" is her bridge
and funnel, but he will hang on to the shivering rails,
keep a footing on the deluged quivering boards that
threaten to fall to pieces under him, peer into the thick
malignant weather ahead — and do his best to follow his
own advice to any doubtful Thomas who is in his
company — " Don't look aft." It is better for the
doubting Thomas's peace of mind that he should not
do so, that, indeed, he should look neither aft nor for-
ward nor amidships, for in a North Sea breeze there is
little to behold from a deeply laden carrier's bridge
except the water.

As I write I call to mind the little, sturdy, brown-
faced, oil-skinned master of the carrier in which I made
my first run from north to south, from Heligoland to
the Thames. At the last moment I had leaned over
the end of the bridge with him as he said to a couple of
men who had laboriously ferried their fish to us, " We
can't take your offal, we've got no more ice. But you
can let's have your prime. We'll take that." So the
prime was taken, the painter was let go, and we
started.

" Full speed ahead."

The order was given to the engineer and the run to
Billingsgate began, against a head-wind and sea. She
was heavily laden, and her progress was not so rapid as

236 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

usual. By night the wind had strengthened and the sea
had grown ; still the telegraph pointed to " Full speed
ahead," and the carrier drove along with the water
roaring down her deck and the spray dashing heavily
across the bridge and glittering in the moonlight like an
icy shroud.

" You're driving her ! " I shouted to the skipper, as
we dodged behind the weather-cloth.

" Yes, we're bound to catch the market." He turned
to bawl to the engine-room, " Shove her along, boys ! "
and, obedient to the order, the fires were fed and black
smoke belched from the funnel, going straight astern,
while the vessel plunged through the head seas harder
than ever and the water surged and thundered down
the deck. "We start full speed ahead," he continued,
"and never stop till London's reached, no matter what
the weather's like. These cutters are splendid boats
and will weather any breeze. They're the hardest-
driven steamboats afloat. Sometimes she's nearly buried,
and I've seen heavy spray dash right over the mast-head.
Not long since she had the front of the bridge — it's a
dozen feet above the deck — washed away, and the wheel
was smashed to pieces. But that's nothing, of course.
We must catch the market. That's a standing order ;
and if we don't obey it, well, other men will. You see,
if we're a few hours late the cargo depreciates, and that
doesn't suit either the seller or the buyer."

I wonder what has happened to my cheerful, friendly,
brown-faced skipper and his giant mate, who, later, wrote
and said that since I left them they had had nothing
but bad weather and ill-luck. Do they still drive out
beyond the Nore and the Maplin and into the black

II
3*

H •<

CARRIERS 237

depths of the North Sea nights, looking for the fleet ?
And does my Barking skipper still survive, my rugged,
grim philosopher who squatted on his bridge and pem-
micaned his ethics in the phrase, " Don't look aft," while
incidentally expressing his disbelief in missionaries and
alluding warmly to them, especially their eyes ? His
aged craft — she had been running for a quarter of a
century — collapsed in the Thames, and was promptly
sold — to foreigners. Strangely enough, the carrier by
which I was to have left the fleet, instead of that by
which I actually travelled, foundered on the next trip
out, giving her crew just time enough to escape.

The work of finding a fleet is often enough difficult
and exasperating even in clear fine weather ; but it is a
hard task indeed when a dense fog hangs over the
North Sea, for then nothing can be seen through the
clammy and depressing atmosphere. Occasionally a
wandering carrier or trawler will loom up and there is
the mutual dismal hail — " Seen anything o' the fleet?"
The negative reply is usually accompanied by ferocious
criticisms of the North Sea and life in general, with
occasional oblique compliments to the admiral's intelli-
gence. It is opined that if he were really fit to fill his
post he would have remained on his ground until at any
rate the particular seekers had joined him. From time
to time a baffled skipper will fire a gun-rocket, in the
hope of an answering signal from the hidden fleet. The
rocket is fixed to the steamboat's rail, a space is cleared
around it, because a rocket, especially a gun-rocket, has
an unfriendly habit of damaging onlookers, and with a
red-hot poker the skipper will discharge his firework.
There is a deafening report, then a deep silence in which

238 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the skipper listens earnestly for a reply. Occasionally a
hopeful sound will be heard, and the fleet will be found,
but more often the rocket has been vainly fired and the
steamboat continues her prowling on the waters. It has
happened, but comparatively seldom, that a carrier has
burnt all her coal, as well as her empty trunks, in
searching for her fleet, and that at the end of her
tribulations she has had to return to port and start afresh ;
and that a steam-trawler has wandered for many days,
with the same distressing consequence.

"An infant crying in the night,
An infant crying for the light ;
And with no language but a cry "

might well express the attitude of carrier skippers who
are seeking fleets. A carrier goes towards the spot
where a fleet has been working ; but the admiral may
have given the signal to change ground, and the fleet
may have steamed a hundred miles or more from the
locality where the carrier left it. There is no help for
the skipper. He has to "seek" just as industriously as
an old-time tug from Tees or Tyne goes on the same
mission. He must hail in and out of season, and his
parrot-cry will be, "Seen anything o' the Gamecocks?"
or whatever the missing fleet may be. This is the old-
time cry and way, and there will be no change and no
saving either in pocket or temper until wireless tele-
graphy or the most up-to-date method of communication
is adopted.

When the carrier reaches her fleet she will, if she has
time to spare, shoot her gear, for she is equipped with
trawling apparatus, and she will make one or more hauls

CARRIERS 239

for the profit of her owners and her crew. Having
taken her turn on the station and loaded up, she runs to
market, slackening at Gravesend to take a pilot on board.
As soon as she is alongside at Billingsgate, either next
to the quay or abreast of another carrier, gangways are
placed, and up and down them processions of head-
protected, clogged, and white-smocked men are hurrying.
Long before daybreak the work begins, in winter, and
from London Bridge, looking down the dark river, you
can see the figures flitting in the garish light of the
electric lamps, one stream trotting on board, and one
hastening ashore, each stream keeping to its own
gangway, so that there shall be no collision, no con-
fusion. Leaving London Bridge and taking your stand
opposite the entrance to the market from the street, you
see a little regiment of men, some carrying on their heads
loads of fish that need almost a giant's strength to bear.
It is a strange and fiercely busy sight. The narrow
streets are glutted with the great carts of railway com-
panies and dealers, and away in shadows, watching for
their time to come, are the costers with their barrows —
as if noble game must have their feed before the small fry
take the leavings. Boxes by the thousand are brought
forth from the dank, dark maws of the carriers and either
put straightway into the vehicles or sent into the adjacent
shops and warehouses of dealers for more deliberate
dispatch. To protect his clothing the fish-porter wears
the smock and overalls, and to save his head from
damage he assumes a padded hat with a sort of pug-
garree, to keep the slime at bay. Thick clogs or heavy
boots are worn, and the clank of this gear rings sharply
out even in the din of human voices, the rattle of hoofs,

240 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

and the thundering of ponderous waggons over granite
roads.

This is the roar and rush and bustle to which the
carrier comes direct from the fishing-grounds. She
exchanges one scene of toil for another, and that is the
only variety she gets. There is no romance, little
picturesqueness, small comfort, and ever-present peril ;
but to all these things the skipper and his crew become
accustomed. They can at least look forward to the
summer weather and the sunshine and to the days when
they will rest from their labour.

At Billingsgate there is always to be seen a striking
contrast with the most modern type of fishing-craft. This
is afforded by the Dutch eel-boats, of which two are con-
stantly moored just off the market — typical bluff sailers
from the other side of the North Sea, comfortable craft
which bring their cargoes irrespective of weather and
seldom come to grief. The last stage of their journey,
that up the Thames, is usually done with the help of
steam, in the form of a tow. When Yarrell wrote of
these craft, he said that the London market was princi-
pally supplied with eels by Dutch fishermen. " There
are two companies in Holland, having five vessels each ;
their vessels are built with a capacious well, in which
large quantities of eels are preserved alive till wanted.
One or more of these vessels may be constantly seen
lying off Billingsgate ; the others go to Holland for fresh
supplies, each bringing a cargo of 15,000 to 20,000
pounds' weight of live eels, for which the Dutch mer-
chant pays a duty of £13 per cargo for permission to
sell. Eels and salmon are the only fish sold by the pound
weight in the London market."

TAKING THE AIR.
A DUTCH BOY AS FIGUREHEAD.

DUTCH EEL-BOATS AT BILLINGSGATE.

CARRIERS 241

For a very long period these Dutch eel-boats have
visited the Thames — one writer stating that they have
had moorings in the river since the days of Queen
Elizabeth — and it is said of them that they enjoy the
right to occupy their position for so long as they keep
at least one vessel stationed there. Certainly the Dutch
have had the right of mooring three of these vessels off
Billingsgate Market since the reign of Charles i. That
monarch granted the privilege to the Dutch in recog-
nition of their " straightforward dealings with us."
Apparently there are always two at least of the craft
in position. In the numberless journeys I have made up
and down London River, I have never seen fewer ; and,
what is perhaps as strange a circumstance, I have never
seen one of the eel-boats either coming to or going from
Billingsgate. r

CHAPTER XVIII
COLLIERS

FOR many centuries great fleets of sailing ships and
steamboats have passed in constant procession up and
down and across the North Sea, bearing coal, just as for
countless generations craft have plied with fish. Only
the imagination can adequately estimate the wealth that
is represented in the total by these two great essentials
of life. Millions sterling to a bewildering aggregate
stand for the value of the coal alone, and vast sums
indicate the worth of the food which has been taken
from the teeming waters.

It is significant that two of the hardest and most
perilous callings in existence — coal-mining and deep-sea
fishing — are closely associated with the North Sea ; and
of all the craft which navigate that stretch of ocean none
are harder driven than the colliers and the trawlers.

In the olden days Newcastle and Sunderland were
the two northern ports from which most of the coal was
shipped to London, and at times as many as a hundred
vessels were lumbering on their way together to the
Thames. For example, it is recorded that in September
1675 a hundred "loaden colliers" passed through Yar-
mouth Roads for London River ; and to-day you may

not look from any part of the coast between the Thames

243

COLLIERS 243

and the Tyne, in clear weather, without seeing a craft of
some sort bearing coal, mostly for the London market,
but also for ports in every part of the world. There
still remain some, but not many, of the old-time collier-
brigs, the " Geordies," which were almost as notorious
as they were celebrated.

The coal-carrying trade has been one of the most
famous features of the North Sea for several centuries.
The quaint craft of the earliest days conveyed the coal
from the northern ports to London, dependent not only
on wind and weather, but also on the friendly disposition
of neighbouring nations. It was one thing for a vessel
to clear the departure port and quite another for her to
reach London River safely, for there might be prowling
privateers or ships of war ready to swoop down on the
helpless craft and take the precious cargo as a prize and
the wretched crew as prisoners of war.

To-day the trade is done with railway regularity and
almost railway security by specially built and equipped
steam-colliers. Several of these have been constructed
so that they may navigate the Thames as far as Batter-
sea and the Wandle, and it is a somewhat odd sight
to watch a sea-going craft proceeding past Chelsea, or
moored snugly in a dock below Chelsea Bridge. These
particular steamers are fitted, of course, with lowering
masts and funnels, to enable them to pass under the
numerous low bridges between the Tower and the
Wandle.

Twenty per cent, of the total coal product of the United
Kingdom comes from the north-east coast. In the
counties of Durham and Northumberland the output of
coal exceeds 55,000,000 tons, and of that quantity about

244 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

20,000,000 tons is shipped on the Tyne. Writing in
The Times on i6th May 1911, a special correspondent
stated that the North- Eastern Railway Company pro-
vided accommodation for about 15,000,000 tons, and the
shipments both by river and railway are conducted in
the most up-to-date and efficient manner. At the Tyne
Dock the work goes on night and day, without extra
charge, and so perfect and complete are the arrange-
ments that it is not uncommon to unload at the rate of
600 tons an hour. Mr. Wilcock, of the North-Eastern
Railway, told the correspondent of a quick record in
which 4000 tons of cargo coal and bunkers were loaded
in ten hours and fifty minutes. The ship was in port
only thirteen hours.

The coal-carrying trade of the North Sea is indeed
one of the most striking features of that waterway, and
in many cases the commodity is almost as frequently
handled as is fish before it reaches the consumer ; while
in the same way the price to the user increases with
every fresh handling. It is a common enough experi-
ence for the London householder to pay for coal twice
or thrice the price at which it can be bought by the
resident in the north, and that is one of the solemn
truths which are amongst the first to be known by the
northerner who settles in the capital.

With so many handlings it is inevitable that there
should be an ultimate heavy cost to the consumer, and
what that cost must be can be fully realised only by
those who study the methods by which the coal is dealt
with from the time it leaves the pit-brow to the time
when it is shot into the householder's cellar or carried or
hoisted to some aerial flat which has accommodation

COLLIERS 245

only for half a ton — a final elevation which puts the
last financial straw upon the burden-bearer's back.

A journey down the Thames towards the sea will
give an opportunity of seeing many of the gigantic iron
and steel structures that have been specially erected for
the prompt discharge of sea-borne coal ; and in most
of the continental ports on the North Sea borders the
same description of mechanical appliance may be
noticed. Vast fleets of lighters are constantly em-
ployed in dealing with this branch of trade alone.

When Plimsoll waged his noble war against rotten
and overladen ships — and that was less than fifty years
ago — he described the North Sea colliers. They were
then mostly screw-steamers, though there were still
many of the old class, and were generally to be found
lying between Blackwall and Woolwich. They were of
small size — from 150 to 600 tons — and were built as
brigs, sloops, or schooners. Most of them, however,
were brigs.

A visit to two or three of them, said Plimsoll, showed
a state of things which was common to all. A collier
brig was generally worked by a captain and a mate, who
lived in a small dirty cabin, and by four men and a boy,
who lived and slept in the most miserable of forecastles.
This forecastle was very small, and so low that no person
of ordinary stature could stand upright in it. It was
dark, and the only approach was by a very small hatch-
way. The forecastle generally contained a quantity of
old ropes, some rusty chains, a large tub of grease, and
some damp canvas. These things, together with three
or four dirty hammocks, took up the whole space,
and it was only from sickness and the most urgent

246 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

necessity that the sailor remained there for any length
of time.

" So old and ill-constructed are some of these colliers,
that in rough weather the forecastle is deluged with
water. This condition of things is made much worse by
the negligence of the sailor himself, for it seems to be a
rule that the cook, instead of throwing over the side of
the ship the refuse of material used for food, as dirty
water, potato parings, etc., deposits these with great care
in some corner of the forecastle. No attention is paid
by the captain to the sanitary state of the ship ; during
the voyage, which is often a rough one, he is engaged in
working the vessel, and while she is in harbour he is on
shore waiting upon the owners of the vessel, or trans-
acting their business in the Coal Exchange. . . . The
provisions supplied in this class of ships vary both in
quality and quantity ; the supply, though, is very de-
ficient, and there is an almost universal complaint among
the men and boys that they have not sufficient to eat.
Although coasting voyages last not longer than three or
four days, and the ship is very seldom far away from
land, the men scarcely ever get fresh meat ; the supply
always consists of salt beef — the coarsest parts of the
animal. To this I may add that the biscuits are of the
worst description, very hard, and are masticated with
the greatest difficulty. The quality of provisions de-
pends entirely upon the liberality of the captain, who
not unfrequently has a share in the ship, and whose
interest is consequently concerned in keeping down all
expenses ; the comfort of the men seems to be made
subservient to pecuniary advantages."

Very different indeed is the state of things which

A SINGLE-BOA 1ER.

A NORTH SEA COLLIER.

COLLIERS 247

exists to-day in the coal-carrying trade of the North
Sea. Some remarkably fine well-found craft are engaged
in that traffic, and, so far as they are concerned, there is
no cause for complaint as to either the quality or the
quantity of the food supplied. Crews nowadays generally
" find " themselves. The voyages are made with great
regularity, and both masters and men have plenty of
opportunity of getting spells of enjoyment ashore while
the vessel is taking in or discharging her cargo. That im-
provement has been largely due to the strenuous labours
of Mr. Plimsoll in the interests of all seafaring men.

There is in the South Kensington Museum a re-
markably interesting whole model of the brig Brotherly
Love. She was built of wood in 1764, and in 1876 was
said to be still employed as a coasting collier. She was
of 214 tons gross register, with a length of 86*5 ft., a
breadth of 24 ft, and a depth at the side of 27 ft.
There is another model of the brig Liberty and Property,
with a tonnage of 274, a length of 120 ft, a breadth of
28 ft, and a depth at the side of 20 ft This vessel was
built of wood at Whitby in 1754, and was employed in
the Shields and London coasting trade. Apparently,
judging from her ports and other details shown in the
model, she was intended for use as a ship of war if
necessary. There is another rigged model of the brig
Antelope, built of wood at Sunderland in 1766. Her
tonnage was 195, length 80 ft, breadth 24 ft, and depth
at side 20 ft. The model shows her with topsail, courses,
foretopmast staysail, and jib set

CHAPTER XIX

NORTH SEA TRAMPS

HARD by the Tower Bridge is always a fleet of grimy
little steamers, many of them black-hulled, black,- funnelled,
and blue-boated, and named after birds. You marvel at
their number, and wonder whence they come and where
they go. They are a fleet in themselves, yet these are
merely the ships that have come in from neighbouring
waters, making ready for sea again, discharging or taking
in cargo from wharf and lighter.

These are the tramps of the North Sea, the small,
stout vessels which are for ever running between the
Thames and foreign ports, and some of which occasion-
ally distinguish themselves by taking as long to cross
the North Sea as a slow liner takes to bridge the Western
Ocean. They spend much of their lives, which are long,
laborious, unromantic existences for the most part, in
Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and the
ports on the borders of the Biscay and the Mediter-
ranean. Sometimes they are invested with an air of
dignity and importance. That is when they are con-
veying Royal furniture for use during a Royal sojourn
abroad.

If you look the steamers up in Lloyd's you will find

their official tonnage and horse-power, and will get an

248

NORTH SEA TRAMPS 249

entirely wrong impression of their size and might, be-
cause here, as elsewhere, the official differs so greatly
from the actual. Theoretically, a craft of 700 tons net
register and 1 20 horse-power is not the sort of thing to
which the traveller spoiled and nerve-softened by floating
palaces would trust his life ; but in practice the carrying
power is raised to 1300 tons and the machinery will
develop a nine-knot speed. In theory, too, the tramps
come and go, weather permitting ; as a matter of fact
they run in defiance of wind and water, and keep their
appointed times as well, at any rate, as many suburban
railway trains.

The typical tramp of the North Sea is a craft of
mellow years, and like a seasoned voyager she bears her
journeys calmly. Winds may roar and seas may crash,
but she knows them of old time, and while the new-
fangled boat may clutter, jib, and curvet, as if afraid or
startled, the veteran thumps evenly along and " punches
into it."

A towering, crumbling sea may threaten to strike
and swamp her. What of it ? She has had such blows
before, and wards them off with her bluff bows ; or if a
sea has crashed broadside on, or has been shipped in a
heavy roll, she shakes it out of her spacious scuppers,
and drives along with gushing sides. If the propeller
whirrs in air and the squat of the counter on the sea as
the stern falls down to watery burial threatens to snap
the shaft or turn the engine-room into a useless foundry,
what of that ? For has not this same steamboat tramped
a full quarter of a century without ceasing, except for
repairs, and has not the brave old heart of her, which is
called a compound engine, survived many a worse shock ?

2$o NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

If one's spirits sink at times when imagination pictures
what might happen if the only boiler collapses, what
of that again ; for has not this very single boiler
driven the tramp for twenty-five years, and wet or
fine, rain or snow, fog or sunshine, heavy sea or
oily calm, brought her safely home again to London
River ?

Hire your wherry at some weeping stairs by Tower
Bridge and go on board as the only passenger. The
Blue Peter is flying on the foremast, signal of departure.
The last lighter is alongside, with a cargo varying from
empty fruit baskets to sultanas, drums of oil, barrels of
petroleum, and iron water-tanks. The Customs officer
is present, seeing that the laws of his Department are
obeyed ; and the pilot, blue-coated, somewhat brass-
bound, is ready to take the bridge when the landsman-
looking person who navigates as far as Gravesend has
been dropped, for the blue-coated man is foreign, and
pilots the ship across the North Sea, where another
foreigner relieves him. It is a costly but necessary
business.

The captain is at large, with watchful eye, and the
steward is stowing his stores in secret corners and
mysterious underground holes. Let him be blessed,
here and now, with a hearty blessing, for he is a good
steward, an honest steward, and the kind, strong face of
him assures you that he will not fail in case of need to
administer the simple curative methods of the tramp,
the chief of which is that you should be laid on a
shelf and left to Nature and a large bottle of cholera
mixture.

The steward arranges and contracts to maintain you,

a
5 S

i

t:

H fa

a °

NORTH SEA TRAMPS . 251

at sea and in port, at an inclusive charge of 35. a day,
and modestly hopes that it is not too much ; and for 2d.
he will give you better and more lager than you can buy
in the West End or in a mail-boat or on board a railway
train for is. At the end of your round trip you
will get your bill, which is in reality a tally, a very
chevaux-de-frise of strokes, which stand for bottles ; but
emotionally you bless him again, for you have swum
in lager at the price of a West End lunch. He is a
married steward, and sometimes vaguely mentions his
wife and family, after the way of a man who alludes
to his bank balance when he is not quite sure that he
has one.

Your home is in the little cabin aft, with old-time
maple and mahogany fittings, primitive oil lamps, and
faultlessly polished brass everywhere, even to the
chimney of the stove. There is the transom, almost
broad enough for bunks, the transom-lockers, where the
beer comes from, and the crimson-covered sofa, wide
and soft enough to sleep on. There are two won-
drous state-rooms, jutting out from each side, open-
ing into the cabin, just as they did in the old days of
steamboats, and there is a table which will seat six
people.

If you are humorous and agile you can step out of
your bunk in your pyjamas, take breakfast, regain your
shelf, and go to sleep again, probably amid rounds of
applause. If you do not win the sleep you woo, it is not
for want of soothing music, because there is the ceaseless
vibration of the screw beneath your very head, nor for
want of snoring breezes from North or South or East or
West.

252 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Your shipmates are the men who have done things
and bring you into touch with the whole world. Their
eyes have seen most that the earth can offer in the shape
of good and evil. Take one of them at random. He is
a quiet man, young and slight of build, but every inch of
him bone and muscle. Look at his face, the brownness
of it, the clearness of the skin, the squareness of the
jaw, the firmness of the mouth, the eyes that do not
falter.

There is a wondrous humour in the smile, and a
joyous ring in his careless laughter as you jest. Then
the face hardens as the keen eyes peer over the weather-
cloth of the narrow bucking bridge — hardens because
there may be passing through the mind the picture of a
sailing-ship in which he was more than six months getting
from China to America, never touching, seldom seeing,
land ; twice rescued from starvation by passing vessels,
and once from death from thirst by catching rain in sail-
troughs ; or a vision of a cholera-stricken steamer in
which he ran down the Indian coast, with midnight
stoppages of engines for the moment needed to cast the
corpses overboard ; or the bullfight he has recently be-
held in Spain, or he may be wondering whether, when
he gets ashore, he will remain in the old packet or be
drafted to another tramp. So young, and yet he has
seen and done so much !

You leave the bridge and go below with the chief
engineer, overlook the engines, enter the stokehold,
where the solitary fireman feeds the furnaces, then away
through the shaft-tunnel, blaze-lamp in hand, crouching
in the slush and water and whirr and groans and
complaints of it all, groping towards the stern, preceded

NORTH SEA TRAMPS 253

by the scurrying rats which love nothing so much as to
come and eat the engine-tallow and drink the engine-oil.
And how could you suppose, if you did not know, that
the cheery, friendly engineer was in a steamer, one of
five which entered the Bay of Biscay from Gibraltar
within twelve hours of each other, and the only survivor
of the five ? The four foundered with all hands in a
terrific gale in the Bay, and the chiefs big tramp, grain-
laden, listing heavily, swept and smashed by seas, pulled
through it only by a miracle.

Every engine-room in every tramp sings its own
peculiar story. You can make the story what you like.
In one ship the ceaseless song was, " Don't forget the
oil-feeders ! " until the brain reeled with the reiteration
of it ; in another the clanking, thudding, panting, squeak-
ing, straining stood for " Don't care a jigger if I never
get home ! "

And the skipper and his stories! His humour, his
mimicry of the foreigner and his ways, and the belief,
unexpressed, but none the less clearly indicated, that
God made only the Britisher, and that somehow the
rest of men were evolved. He tells the wildest stories
in the soberest way, as, for instance, that when Nelson
fought the Danes and put the telescope to his blind eye
he declared —

"Copenhagen shall be tagen —
Yah, Yah, Yah !— "

which he interprets for you by explaining that " yah " —
which he spells — is foreign for "yes." He carries his
humour even unto those who will not, cannot see it, as,
for example, when he points to the metal badge which

254 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the dignified German pilot carries suspended from his
waistcoat, and asks him if it is his bus-driver's ticket !

Meanwhile the steward, with whom last night you
were drinking lager at St. Pauli, in turn at his expense —
this being the etiquette of little tramps — is cheerily
cleaning your boots.

CHAPTER XX

WINTER AT AN OLD-WORLD HARBOUR

ONE winter's day, early in the New Year, I looked out
of my window and saw that the snow was falling thickly
and that the wind was blowing in from the sea. I
raised the sash and listened and heard the roar of the
rising tide on the beach. It was the boom of the grow-
ing gale — the call to arms. I got into my heaviest cloth-
ing and hurried down the Valley to the foreshore. It
was somewhat like going down a colossal megaphone
and getting to the enormous mouth and meeting the
collected forces of the salted breeze. Wind and wave
were driving landward with united voices, and there was
a vast dull and growing roar. In such a wild commo-
tion it is better to be alone ; there is neither wish nor
breath for talk. All one's strength is needed to keep a
footing and struggle on. Occasionally one is picked up
and carried bodily into the air until a friendly obstruction
stops the journey.

I have seen a north-east gale pick up a heavy fisher-
man and hurl him against a post on a pier, breaking his
leg. I have seen a Yorkshire coast town stripped of
slates and bereft of chimney-pots by the same fierce
agency. No very old or modern shoddy work can
stand against the charges of the bitter wind that comes

255

256 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

with hurricane ferocity straight from the Polar regions.
I have seen the coast strewn with wrecks and the uplands
by the cliffs covered with enormous trees that have been
uprooted and flung down.

Recollections such as these returned as I looked
eastward and saw the tumbling yellow seas and ghostly
steamboats which were waiting till the tide served, so
that they might seek the shelter of the harbour. The air
was thick — like fog — with snow and spray, and already,
three hours before high water, there were signs of what
the seas would be like at the top of the flood. Waves
were rushing and swirling round the end of the east
pier, and the great mass of stonework was from time to
time smothered in the breaking waters. The combers
were thundering on the beach, and the surf was whipped
from the crests and carried townward in a vast grey
cloud. Above was the leaden, sullen sky, ahead was the
gloomy Castle Hill, alongside was the long procession of
the seas, under foot was the slushy snow, and all around
me was the swiftly growing storm. From the chimneys
of the old town, rising on the hillside, the smoke was
caught by the levelling wind and mingled with the ocean's
spray.

I fought my way along the foreshore, and as I
passed the lifeboat-house the doors were flung wide
open, oil-skinned men were putting on their life-belts,
and the crew were standing by in readiness to meet a
call. The first of the steam-trawlers, a battered paddle
vessel, was making for the harbour, although the tide-
ball had not been hoisted. I pressed forward, almost
doubled up as I leaned against the wind, and struggled
down the Lighthouse Pier, and there I learned once

WINTER AT AN OLD-WORLD HARBOUR 257

more what a winter gale from the North Sea is like and
what it means to those in charge of the old-time
harbour.

Harbour-master, deputy harbour-master, and staff
were clothed in oil-frocks, sou'-westers, and heavy top-
boots — clothing which you would think would defy the
weather of the Horn itself; and yet there was not one
who was not soaked to the skin. Rain and snow and
deluge of sea beat through their garments, and the
glistening figures floundered at their duty in the depth
of discomfort.

On the Lighthouse Pier there was thud of sea, groan
of machinery, clank of paddle, howl of wind, and roar of
human voice. At the harbour mouth there was disorder
and confusion, for the London boat, an ugly lump of a
coaster, had got athwart the entrance and there was not
water enough to float her. She was a danger to herself
and the incoming, rushing steamboats, and frantic was
the effort that was made to berth her, so that she should
be secure and taken from the track of the traffic. While
men on board and ashore were getting her away the
trawlers were running home. They rode in on the swell
of the seas, lost to view time after time in the snow and
spray-filled air. They came, now wallowing in the
trough, now rising on some huge crest ; at times caught
broadside and swept towards the harbour with appalling
force. You held your breath as they chunked gallantly
in. You saw the great waves crumble at the end of
the East Pier, noticed the swirl of the tide, and saw
dimly, as through a mist, that fatal shore on which so
many ships and men have perished. Over the bay, in
the welter, you discerned the Spa, and wondered if that
17

258 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

storm-beaten spot could ever be the chosen haunt of
much that is fairest and brightest in the country.

'"Ere she comes!"

"'Old her up, skipper!"

" Now she does it ! "

" No, she doesn't ! "

"She'll miss it!"

" No, she won't ! "

You are standing under the lee of the waterhouse,
sheltering with a group of fishermen, and you hear their
excited comments as the brave old weather-beaten trawlers
— the like of which you will not find elsewhere than off the
Tyne and Scarborough — rush round the pier-head, with
their paddles thumping and their oil-clad crews at their
stations, on the sea-swept deck. There is heaving of
ropes, bawling of orders, twirling of steering-wheels —
and the ancient craft steam calmly into the harbour and
up to their buoys.

They have fought another fight, and it is still well
with them.

The sea is growing mightily, and a little screw-boat —
she is a Hullman — with a freeboard of something like
three feet, comes through the smother of the gale and
is swept onward like a shell. Three men are in her
wheelhouse, and they rush her around as no one but
North Sea smacksmen can rush a trawler round the race
of Castle Hill. Still all is bustle, for the boats keep
coming in. Then, as the evening closes, harbour-
master, deputy, and staff sigh with relief, for the worst is
over for the present ; their time of greatest anxiety has
passed, and they can seek temporary refuge from the
storm.

A BEAM-TRAWLER AT SEA.

A STEAM-TRAWLER ENTERING HARBOUR IN WINTER.

WINTER AT AN OLD-WORLD HARBOUR 259

I had long since sought shelter in the office at the
base of the lighthouse. Time after time the seas swept
in almost solid sheets against the rounded side, and the
little window by the desk was deluged. At intervals
there came a sea which smashed upon and over the East
Pier, with a force so terrific that the lighthouse positively
bumped. The shock came through the structure by way
of the booms connecting the outer breakwater with the
head of the Lighthouse Pier. Once upon a time — not
many years ago — there came a mass of water so tremend-
ous in its power that it cracked the head of the immense
mass of masonry on which the lighthouse stands.

The door opened and in came the harbour-master
and the deputy. They were drenched with the sea and
the soft snow, and were numb with their exposure.
They would want, they said, "a dry shift from clew to
earring," and one proceeded to remove his " soul-and-
body-lashing," as he termed it — in other words, a rope
which he had passed round his waist to keep his oil-frock
secure.

I accompanied the deputy to the lantern, to light the
flashing apparatus. There I felt the lighthouse tremble
with the shocks of the charging seas. I looked through
the windows, too, towards the whitening hills. The
other panes were thick with snow and ice — and there I
beheld a spectacle such as few residents had witnessed.

The gale had reached its height, and it was the top
of the flood. The panorama was appalling in its grandeur.
Billow charged on billow, in one wild whirl, and with
resistless fury crashed against the massive breakwater.
There was the collision, the spouting high in the air of
the torn sea, and the sweeping over the two harbours

26o NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of spray so thick that it looked like an enormous cloud
of steam. Vessels at their moorings were smothered in
it, and the water roared down the inner side of the pier
like a gigantic cataract.

Warily we struggled out of the little door of the
lighthouse lantern, and looked at the advancing seas.
Even at that height above the water the spray was
carried far over our heads ; it was impossible to face the
fury of the storm, and the stoutest heart might well have
quailed at that plain of raging waters.

I clambered back with my friend into the lantern, down
the worn stone steps, and back into the office, and thence
on to the pier. Before I left I wrested from the heads
of the harbour the admission that the gale was a hard
one ; and that the wind was blowing at something like
ninety miles an hour. As I struggled homeward the old
house-fronts were white to the eaves with snow, and the
ruthless wind was wrenching out the weakest bricks and
slates.

It was a wild, uncompromising night — the sort of
weather to make you raise your hat to the harbour-master
and his staff and the oil-skinned figures who tugged at
wheel and tiller, and kept their craft up in the race that
runs round Castle Hill when the gale comes in from
east or north.

!

CHAPTER XXI
WRECKS AND RESCUES

THE most popular heroine of the old generation that is
passing, and has nearly gone, won her renown on the
North Sea. She was Grace Darling. More than sixty
years after she made the world ring with praise of her
achievement, one of the most appalling of maritime
disasters occurred on the North Sea. That was the
loss of the Elbe, a North-German Lloyd's express mail
steamer — soon to be followed by the terrible loss of the
Berlin.

Grace Darling, a true daughter of the North Sea,
helped to row a coble through a heavy sea, to save the
survivors of the steamer Forfarshire, on 6th September
1838; and Skipper Wright, a North Sea smacksman,
and his crew, in the Wild/lower, rescued the handful of
people who escaped from the sinking Elbe. Both
events are memorable because of the courage and
endurance that were shown in the work of salvation.
The story of Grace Darling has been made known by
many writers ; that of the Elbe was told to me, on a
bright day in a sunny south coast watering-place, by the
only woman who was saved from the liner, Miss Anna
Bocker.

The Forfarshire, a small steamer engaged in the

261

262 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

coasting trade, sailed from Hull for Dundee on the
evening of 5th September 1838. She carried sixty-three
passengers and crew, as well as a considerable quantity
of cargo. Steamships of those days were crude and
imperfect craft, especially in their boilers and machinery,
and shortly after the H umber had been left it was found
that the boilers of the Forfarshire were leaking. The
weather, too, was bad.

A strong wind was blowing, there was a nasty sea,
and, worse than all, the air was thick. All the elements
of danger were present, even to the proximity of a
deadly coast. Throughout the day after sailing, how-
ever, the steamer managed to forge laboriously ahead.
She struggled past the Fame Islands, or Staples, off the
coast of Northumberland, north-east of Bamborough
Castle, and separated from the mainland by the Fairway
Channel. The leakage in the boilers increased so rapidly
that when the Forfarshire was off Berwick the water
was up to the furnaces and putting out the fires. Still
the master held on, but when St. Abb's Head was abeam
the engineer reported that the machinery was useless
and could not be worked any longer. Some sail was
accordingly set, and the Forfarshire was got round and
began to run south, before the wind, in the hope of
reaching shelter — a hard thing on that inhospitable
coast, which, then as now, is unprovided with harbours
of refuge.

The steamer surged and blundered down as far as
the dangerous Fairway, and the captain tried to steer
her through the channel. It was a forlorn hope in that
black night, and in a heavy gale. She was swept
repeatedly by savage seas, she refused to obey her helm,

WRECKS AND RESCUES 263

and was completely at the mercy of the waves and
weather.

The dreadful and inevitable end was not long delayed,
for the ship was hurled against a jagged rock and her
bows were crushed in. Almost instantly a big sea lifted
the Forfarshire high up, then dropped her on the rock
with such tremendous force that she broke in two. The
entire upper part was carried away, and with it the chief
cabin, in which the agonised passengers were huddled
together. Every soul from that part perished.

Immediately after the vessel struck, a boat was
launched, and eight of the crew and a passenger
managed to get into it. The fore part of the steamer
held fast to the rock — which the Forfarshire would have
avoided if she had been a few yards farther to the south-
west.

A mile away from the rock was the Fern Lighthouse,
the keeper of which was named Darling, with whom
lived his wife and his daughter Grace. Of the disaster
itself they saw nothing and knew nothing till the wild
night had given place to morning, then, at about seven
o'clock, the wreck was noticed. There was little likeli-
hood of any of her people being alive, and it seemed
impossible for any boat to live in the sea that was
running ; but Grace implored her father to try and reach
the wreck, and vowed that she herself would take an oar
and help to pull the boat. What man, so impelled, could
answer " No " ? Not Darling — and he got his coble
afloat, his wife and daughter helping with the launch.
The two managed to fight their way across the stretch
of sea that was like a whirlpool, and if they had needed
any reward for their labour they had it in the sight of

264 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

nine survivors of the wreck who were almost perishing
— amongst them a woman who had witnessed the
drowning of her two only children and heard their last
despairing cry for help above the howl of wind and roar
of ruthless breakers.

After strenuous efforts Darling and his daughter
managed to help the survivors into the boat, and to row
them safely back to the lighthouse, where food and
drink and fire restored them, and whence, in a little
while, they were transferred to the mainland.

The courage of the enterprise, and the youth and sex
of one of the rescuers, thrilled the country as it had not
been moved by any deed of recent years. Public praise
and money rewards were given to Grace Darling, who
lived just long enough to learn fully what the world had
to say and do. She died, a delicate girl, not long after
the rescue of the survivors of the Forfarshire.

The loss of the Elbe, in itself one of the most terrible
of disasters to Atlantic liners, was relieved from total
horror by the skill and courage of North Sea
smacksmen who rescued the survivors. The accident
occurred in the winter of 1895, which was one of the
most severe of modern times. The Medway was frozen
over, and skaters swarmed on the ornamental waters of
the London parks. On the more exposed railway tracks
in England trains were snowed up, and there were many
calls on the east coast for the lifeboats.

Wild weather raged on the North Sea, and such
fishing-craft as were out were covered with ice. There
were on the banks, of course, the fleeters, for there is no
running home on their part to escape bad weather ; and
there were also afloat a few adventurous single-boaters,

WRECKS AND RESCUES 265

sail and steam. Amongst the smacks was the Wild-
flower, whose skipper was William Wright.

When the Elbe left Bremen for New York,
calling at Southampton, the German rivers were frozen
and the weather was intensely cold. She sailed from
Bremen on the afternoon of 3<Dth January, and began
her trip to America. There were, all told, 352 people
on board, the passengers including a number of women
and children. She carried two pilots, one German and
one English, and her captain was a brave and experienced
officer.

All went well until five o'clock on the following
morning, when the liner was run into by a small steamer
named the Crathie and so badly damaged that within
twenty minutes she foundered.

The Crathie herself could do but little — she was a
cargo craft with a crew of twelve, bound from Rotterdam
to Aberdeen ; and the tackle of the liner's boats was
frozen, so that axes had to be used to lower them.
When the boats were at last freed and lowered they
capsized, with one exception. All those on the star-
board side, filled with terrified passengers and crew, were
either smashed or swamped before they touched the sea,
and the occupants were drowned or killed. A boat on
the port side, into which Miss Bocker made her way,
capsized as soon as it touched the water, and all who
were in it, with the exception of herself, were drowned.
She could swim, and managed to seize and hold on to
the boat's mast, which was afloat. Within a few
minutes she was picked up by another small boat, one
which, though meant to carry only fifteen people, already
had nineteen packed together. In the bitter darkness

266 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

she was seen and seized and hauled into the boat and
left, almost senseless, in the freezing water in the
bottom. She saw the liner, which was burning lights
and firing rockets, sink stern first, and then almost
abandoned hope, for it seemed as if the boat could not
live in such weather and that no help could come. Yet
one or two sail were seen.

The survivors were too far off to notice signals of
distress ; then a lonely smack was seen, and the little
craft, almost simultaneously, saw the boat upon the
water.

The vessel was the trawler Wild/lower. She had
her gear down, for the weather had fined enough to
enable the trawl to be shot. Instantly the hard work of
getting up the gear began ; it went on for half an
hour, then the smack bore down, and by strong North
Sea hands which were stretched over her bulwarks the
survivors were plucked up one by one and taken on
board. The boat, badly damaged, was sent adrift, and
the smack headed for Lowestoft, forty miles away.

The rescued people were crowded into her little
stifling cabin, and had food and drink — but so great was
the call on the smack's stores that when she reached
port, the first to take the tidings of the disaster, there
was not so much as a biscuit left. The last of them was
given to and eaten by Miss Bocker. The Wildflower
reached Lowestoft about twelve hours after the Elbe
foundered. The boat was cast ashore at Walton-on-the-
Naze. The whole of the Elbes people, with the excep-
tion of the rescued score, were lost. Miss Bocker was
bidden to Osborne to tell the story to Queen Victoria
and the Empress Frederick. The disaster made a deep

WRECKS AND RESCUES 267

impression in this country and Germany. Steps were
taken to recognise the heroism of Skipper Wright, and
his reward took the practical shape of a smack. The
blame for the collision was, by an Admiralty Court at
Bremerhaven, attributed to the Crathie ; but it was con-
sidered that the Elbe was not free from reproach for
not getting out of the way of the Crathie and failing to
attract that vessel's attention by signalling on her
whistle.

The recognition of Skipper Wright's bravery is
amongst the comparatively few cases in which the cour-
ageous acts of North Sea men have been rewarded.
These acts are so numerous, and smacksmen are so little
given to speaking of them — and there are no halfpenny
illustrated and other journals on the North Sea. Yet it
sometimes happens that an unusual deed will be brought
to public notice, and such was the case not long ago,
with the result that the Stanhope Gold Medal for the
bravest deed of the year 1910 was awarded to a North
Sea man, and eventually presented to him by the King
at Buckingham Palace.

Many of these acts of heroism on the North Sea go
unrecorded in the Press — indeed, few of them are known
outside small circles, and even then they are taken as
matters of course ; but sometimes a North Sea man is
brought unwillingly to the front, and is compelled to
accept public attention and receive recognition of his
conduct. The Stanhope Gold Medal and ^5, awarded
by the Royal Humane Society for the bravest deed of
the year, were presented on i4th February 1911 to
Frank Fraser, chief engineer of the steam-trawler Don-
side, of Aberdeen. The Donside, a steel vessel of 59

268 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

tons and 50 horse-power, built in 1900, and owned by
Mr. G. Fyfe, of Aberdeen, was on the Viking Bank,
some 225 miles north-east by east of Aberdeen, at 12.30
a.m. on 27th August 1910. Although it was a pitch-
dark night and blowing hard, with a heavy sea running,
the skipper decided to shoot his trawl. When he thought
that all was clear he shouted to let go, but unfortunately
John Fraser, a deck hand, was standing on a part of the
net, and was carried into the sea. Hearing the cry
" Man overboard ! " the chief engineer rushed up from
below and instantly jumped into the water after the deck
hand, who was his brother. He managed to reach him
and they both drifted astern. A light in the after rigging
enabled the men to be faintly seen, and a rope was
thrown which the engineer succeeded in grasping. His
hands, however, were greasy with oil from the engine-
room, and he had the utmost difficulty in retaining his
hold. It was only after fifteen minutes' strenuous
exertion that they were got on board.

That is the bald official record of the bravest deed of
1910 ; but the reader will have no difficulty in fitting the
trimmings to the tale, if they are wanted. The presenta-
tion was made at the annual meeting of the Royal
Humane Society, by Admiral the Hon. Sir Edmund
R. Fremantle, K.C.B., C.M.G., A.D.C., himself one
of the five living naval officers to whom the medal
has been given in the past. The medal was founded
in memory of the late Captain Chandos Scudamore
Stanhope, R.N. It has been given for many gallant
deeds in many parts of the world ; but it has never been
awarded for a finer or more dramatic performance than
that of the chief engineer of the little Donside on the

WRECKS AND RESCUES 269

Viking Bank. This bank is much frequented by Scotch
steam-trawlers, especially those from Aberdeen, and
lying as it does, almost midway between the Shetland
Islands and the coast of Norway, some very bad and
bitter weather is often experienced even in the height of
summer.

It was upon the Outer Dowsing Sands that the
destroyer Cobra was lost in September 1901. The
Cobra was designed and built at Armstrong's works at
Elswick, and after an exhaustive survey by the Admiralty
officials she was bought by the Government. The
vessel being reported ready for delivery, a navigating
party was sent to Newcastle and left that port with her
at 5 p.m. on the i7th for Portsmouth. The Cobra was
commanded by Lieutenant Bosworth Smith, who had
served some time on fisheries protection duty and was
well acquainted with the North Sea. She carried two
officers and forty-eight warrant officers and men. On
the voyage down the North Sea she met with bad
weather, and, at 7.30 on the morning of the i8th, broke
her back near the Outer Dowsing Lightship, and was
lost with most of her crew, the only survivors being
Chief Engineer Percey and eleven petty officers and
men. A singular feature of the disaster was that one of
these survivors, a second-class domestic who had volun-
teered to go with the navigating party, had never before
been to sea. The survivors were picked up from the
dinghy by a P. & O. cargo boat. The court-martial,
which was held on board H.M.S. Victory, found that the
Cobra " did not touch the ground nor meet with any
obstruction, nor was her loss due to any error of naviga-
tion ; but is attributed to the structural weakness of the

270 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

ship." A special pension of ^100 a year was granted
to the widow of Lieutenant Bosworth Smith, and
pensions were given to the widows of the seamen and
firemen who lost their lives in the Cobra. About ^4000
was subscribed in Portsmouth for the relief of the
dependants of those who perished. The Cobra was
a turbine-driven destroyer, and it is remembered as a
strange fact that the Viper, a sister ship, was lost a few
weeks earlier in the Channel.

The lifeboat of to-day had its origin in a North Sea
port — South Shields. Disastrous autumnal gales in 1789
resulted in the offer of a prize for the best craft capable
of being launched from the shore and sent to vessels in
distress. The prize was won by Henry Greathead, of
South Shields, who was also rewarded in other ways
for his invention, which proved so successful that in a
dozen years three hundred lives were saved off Tyne-
mouth alone by means of boats built according to his
plans. These boats were in use for more than half a
century, then, in December 1849, a score of the ablest
pilots of the Tyne were drowned by the upsetting of one
of the Greathead type of boats. She capsized and the
pilots were drowned inside her, because she was so deep
in the water as to leave them no space to breathe.
This calamity and the miserably inadequate rewards
given to men who went off to vessels in distress — in the
spring of 1850 lifeboatmen off Holy Island were con-
sidered well enough paid at one-and-eightpence each
for risking their lives — caused further steps to be taken
to evolve a new type of boat. After competition the
model of James Beeching, of Great Yarmouth, was
chosen. Three accidents happening quickly to the

A SMACK TURNED INTO A COASTER.

AN OLD YAWL GETTING TO SEA.

WRECKS AND RESCUES 271

Beeching type of boat, with serious loss of life, other
measures were adopted to secure a better type, and to-
day every place on the east coast where a lifeboat is
needed has such a craft, adapted to the special needs of
the locality and usually commanding the entire con-
fidence of the volunteer crews by whom they are
manned.

The North Sea has given to lifeboat history not only
some of the bravest deeds that have been recorded since
the lifeboat was invented, but also some of the most
serious accidents. The greatest disaster to a lifeboat
was that on 9th December 1886, when the Southport
and St. Anne's lifeboats capsized and failed to right
themselves, the result being that twenty-seven of the
crews perished. But for aggregate loss in life the
North Sea stands unrivalled, for it has three famous
disasters to its cruel record. These are : the loss of the
Whitby lifeboat on 9th February 1861, when a dozen
men out of thirteen were drowned within a few yards of
the shore ; the Scarborough lifeboat, less than a year
later, when there was almost a repetition of that
accident ; and the Caister lifeboat disaster, an event
which at the time thrilled the world because of the
courage of the crew and the saying — " Caister men
never turn back." It is in connection with the North
Sea, too, that there is on record what is considered to be
the finest lifeboat rescue that was ever effected — that of
the survivors of the Indian Chief by the Bradford.

The story of the loss of the Whitby lifeboat may
be briefly told. Following some comparatively mild
weather, an exceptionally severe storm burst over the
North Sea. At that time, fifty years ago, enormous

272 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

numbers of sailing vessels were employed as coasters
and in oversea work. Many of these craft, caught by the
storm, were hurled ashore, and in a very short space of
time no fewer than seven vessels were wrecked on half
a mile of the coast at Whitby. The harbour there is
dangerous to make in bad weather, and at such a time
as this there was no chance of the ships running into
shelter between the piers. The only hope of salvation
for the crews rested in the coming of the lifeboat and
the courage of the fishermen who formed her crew.

The lifeboat was a new craft 30 ft. long, 7 ft.
9 in. broad, 3 ft. 6 in. deep, and with a foot and
a half sheer of gunwale. She had been launched only a
few months previously and was manned by thirteen of
the bravest and most skilful men of Whitby. She went
out, to begin with, and rescued the crew of one vessel
and brought them ashore, and for the fifth time she was
pulled into the fierce seas and returned with crews
saved from vessels which were being smashed to match-
wood on the rocks and beach.

By this time the men were utterly exhausted ; they
had had nothing to eat since breakfast and had only
been able in some cases to drink a glass of grog in the
intervals between two or three of the valiant rescues.
Not all the men took even this refreshment ; some of
them had nothing whatever in the shape of food or
drink. A sixth ship was driven in by the furious wind
and overwhelming sea behind the pier. Exhausted
though they were, the men fought the lifeboat out again
in expectation of bringing safely ashore the crew of the
latest wreck. Yard by yard they struggled out, thou-
sands of people watching their fight from the piers and

WRECKS AND RESCUES 273

the cliffs. Amongst the crowd were the wives and
children of the lifeboat men, who, with two exceptions,
were all married, and of these two one was a widower.
By the most tremendous exertions on the part of the
enfeebled crew the lifeboat was got fifty yards away
from the pier and was in the very midst of the wild
welter of waters. Suddenly and unexpectedly she was
caught by a huge snarling cross-sea and instantly
capsized and either hurled her men into the sea or
buried them under her. So swiftly did the accident
occur that the watchers ashore scarcely realised what
had happened. It was three o'clock in the afternoon,
too, and the short winter's day was drawing to a close.
The coastguard had the rocket apparatus ready, and
when it was seen that the lifeboat had capsized, a rocket
was fired ; but the line broke and blew away to lee-
ward. There was no hope for the men, twelve of
whom perished almost immediately, although they were
furnished with life-belts. The only man who was saved
by being thrown ashore was wearing a cork jacket,
which had been sent to Whitby as a pattern. This
survivor was Henry Freeman, who, after a long and
splendid career as coxswain of a later Whitby lifeboat,
died on i3th December 1904. Ten women were made
widows and forty-six children were orphaned by the
disaster.

The Scarborough lifeboat disaster was attended by
circumstances which have made it memorable in local
history. In November 1861 a heavy gale was blowing.
The Coup land, a schooner, tried unsuccessfully to make
the harbour, but she was swept towards the Spa, in
front of which she struck. So heavy was the sea that
18

274 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the great stones of the Spa wall were dislodged and
hurled about — just as I saw them shattered a few years
ago — and the South Bay became a cauldron. The life-
boat was manned and got near the Spa, so near that the
crew could hear the shouts from the spectators who were
watching the operations. In such a sea and at such a
place even a lifeboat was helpless. The tremendous and
torn waters got her, and the oars having been wrenched
out of the men's hands, she was hurled against the Spa
wall. She took the ground to the south of the Spa and
her crew at once jumped out and struggled to get
ashore. In the wild rush of the sea this was a
difficult and dangerous task, and some of the onlookers
courageously rushed down the incline to help them.
Amongst these people was Lord Charles Beauclerk.
Suddenly an immense breaker roared in, caught up the
lifeboat, hurled her against the massive wall, then
receded and dropped the heavy craft. In a moment or
two a number of people had been crushed to death,
amongst them Lord Charles, whose body was taken to
an adjacent music hall. The crew of the Coupland were
rescued by the rocket apparatus. In that disastrous
gale fourteen Scarborough fishermen perished, twenty
men were lost at Yarmouth, and many more were drowned
in the North Sea.

A DECK VIEW OF THE HOSPITAL STEAMER /. AND S. MILES.

CHAPTER XXII

THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE

MIDNIGHT on the Dogger, three days before full moon,
late in October ; the weather hazy, with Scotch mist at
times, but nothing to prevent ships' lights being seen
at a considerable distance. On the ground 200
miles east-by-north of Spurn, in 23 fathoms of water,
thirty steam-trawlers of the Gamecock Fleet, with
about a dozen steamboats belonging to Messrs. Leyman
& Company, were fishing peacefully. For ten years
the Gamecock vessels had trawled on the same ground,
which for a quarter of a century had been a rendezvous
for fishing-craft. With or near the fleet were two of the
hospital steamers of the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen
and three carriers, all engaged in trawling, with their
gear down and steaming at about two and a half knots
an hour. Without exception the mizzen was set, and in
some cases the mainsail also. The regulation lights
were burning and other lights were showing, for many
of the crews were gutting and boxing the fish in
readiness to ferry to the homeward-bound carrier in
the morning. The fishing numbers and the letters in-
dicating the ports of registry were visible, and there was
no mistaking the nature of the little busy fleet of steam-
trawlers, industriously employed. They were working

275

276 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

in the neighbourhood of an old smack which, anchored,
served as a mark-boat. Ordinarily the admiral would
have been in command, but he was ashore for a brief
spell, and in his absence the vice-admiral controlled the
fleet, flying his flag in the Ruff. From the little un-
romantic flagship and the mark-boat rockets had been
fired, to direct the fishing.

There was nothing whatever in that region of water
in the form of a ship of war until the Russian Baltic
Fleet appeared on the horizon, commanded by Admiral
Rozhdestvensky. The fleet, which had been solemnly
blessed by the Czar, had sailed from Libau on i5th
October 1904; shortly before midnight on Friday, the
22nd, it bore down, in two sections, on the Gamecock
Fleet. One section passed without doing more than direct
searchlights on the trawlers and show coloured lights.

The fishermen looked with interest at the warships,
some of them pausing in their work. Toil on the
Dogger is monotonous, and it is not every day or night
that battle squadrons pass. Some of the men laughed
and joked and enjoyed the spectacle of the searchlights
and coloured lights as they might have relished an
entertainment ashore.

The first squadron of the Baltic Fleet steamed in-
offensively through and beyond the fishing- vessels. The
second squadron, consisting of four battleships, steamed
just across the head of the trawlers, plying their search-
lights. Then a bugle rang out in the night, and instantly
guns and machine-guns rapped and rattled, and upon
the helpless fishing-craft a hail of missiles fell. Some
accounts put the duration of the cannonade at twenty
minutes ; certainly for ten the broadsides blazed

THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE 277

frantically. If the gunners had been cool and taken
aim there could not have been a steamboat left upon
the ground ; but they were frenzied with fright, paralysed
with terror of the unseen but suspected, for reports had
been current that the Baltic Fleet was to be waylaid and
destroyed in the North Sea by Japanese torpedo-craft.

For a few startled seconds the fishermen believed
that the ships of war had suddenly opened a sham fight ;
then cries of terror and amazement mingled with the din
of the discharges, and hoarse voices gave the order to
get the gear up or let it go, while engine-room tele-
graphs rang wildly for "Full speed ahead." Anything
and anyhow to get away from a neighbourhood which
had swiftly become an area of destruction and death.
As well might harnessed hares have tried to run from
greyhounds. The trawlers were held in place by their
heavy unwieldy gear, which cannot be easily hauled or
cut away. In the old days a few blows with a hatchet
or jack-knife would have cut the trawl-warp and set the
smack free ; but steel ropes are far different and tougher
matters, and the steamboats of the Gamecock Fleet
were literally held prisoners while the blundering
battleships steamed past them and kept up a monstrous
bombardment.

Some fifty peaceful little trawling vessels, an in-
dustrious fleet spread over an area of seven or eight
miles, utterly defenceless, unable even to run away — and
at the mercy of giant warships that bristled with guns,
great and small. How much ammunition was expended
is not known, but for fully ten minutes the sea was
pitted with the hail of missiles and the neighbouring
steamboats were riddled. From the bridges and decks

278 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of the warships, only two or three hundred yards away
from their defenceless targets, officers, petty officers, and
men must have seen the nature of the craft that formed
the fleet. There were the regulation lights burning, and
the decks were illuminated with powerful lamps which
gave light enough for the men to see their work of
gutting and packing their latest catches. The human
figures were clearly visible, even the heaps of fish in the
pounds could have been seen, yet so blindly panic-
stricken were the men-of-war's men that they did not
for a moment stop their murderous cannonading.

Not a shot was fired in answer ; the Russians heard
the startled cries of inoffensive men ; they must have
heard the screams of some of the wounded ; they could
not fail to see the discharge of green rockets from the
vice-admiral's vessel and other trawlers ; still they held
to their mad business and blazed away until they had
steamed through the fishing-area and saw nothing
around them but the open waters, and no ship of any
kind except the creations of their own imaginations.

The Czar-blessed Baltic battleships lumbered on
their way towards the Straits of Dover, never stopping
to inquire into the havoc they had wrought. There is
no reason why, in their senseless fright, the responsible
officers should not have wiped out the fishing-fleet com-
pletely and left one or two survivors to make their way
to land or be picked up, to tell the amazing story. They
had done enormous mischief; yet little compared with
what might have been caused under proper fire discipline.

Shot and shell and rifle calibre bullets had put the
entire Gamecock Fleet out of action in a few minutes.
The great and complicated work of trawling had been

THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE 279

paralysed and one of the nation's important food sources
had been stopped.

Two men were lying dead, others were seriously in-
jured ; many were suffering from shock ; yet on board the
attacking warships not an individual had been so much
as scratched by hostile fire. No one can tell, however,
what were the feelings of the admiral who was responsible
for the outrage, and who must have known before he
left the fishing-area how terribly he had blundered.

One trawler, the Crane, was sunk ; her skipper,
Henry Smith, and her boatswain, William Arthur
Leggett, were slain ; six men, William Smith, John
Nixon, Harry Hoggart, Arthur Rea, Albert A. Almond,
and John Ryder, were wounded, Hoggart being per-
manently incapacitated. Skipper Whelpton, of the
trawler Mino, was so severely shaken that he died six
months later. Five trawlers, the Mino, the Moulmein,
the Gull, the Snipe, and the Majestic, were damaged by
shot, while other vessels were damaged by the explosion
of shells close to them. In several cases trawl ing-gear
was lost or damaged.

These were the bare and startling facts that were
made known at Hull on the Sunday afternoon following
the outrage. The shot-riddled Mino reached the port,
bearing the bodies of the two men who had been killed in
the Crane before she foundered. Other crippled trawlers
came in from the Dogger, bringing the wounded with
them ; but the uninjured craft remained at sea and, as
soon as they could do so, resumed their ceaseless work.

The cannonading, amazing and incredible, gave an
opportunity for the display of that unostentatious
heroism which is inseparable from North Sea fishing.

2 So NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Many acts of bravery were put on record, and none
were more valiant than those which were chronicled in
connection with the Crane. Hers was a pitiful tragedy,
yet the gloom was relieved by the courage and resource
of her own survivors and the fishermen who boarded her
when she was foundering. Amongst those who escaped
injury was the skipper's son, Joseph Alfred Smith, whose
arm was grazed by one of the Russian shots. The boy
had gone to sea for the first time. Few North Sea men
have had a sterner baptism than his.

One of the very first stories of the outrage was told
by the mate of the Crane, when he was still on the
Dogger, and speaking to Skipper J. W. White, of the
Mission steamer Joseph and Sarah Miles, to which the
wounded were taken. "We had just hauled and shot
away again," he said, "and were in the fish-pound clean-
ing the fish and passing jokes about the war vessels,
which we could see quite plain, and heard their firing,
when suddenly something hit us. The third hand said,
* Skipper, our fish-boxes are on fire; I'm going below
out of this,' and walked forward, the skipper, who was
on the bridge, laughing at him for being frightened.
We were hit again forward, and some one called out and
said, ' The bosun is shot.' I went forward to look, and
found the boatswain bleeding and a hole through our
bulwarks, and the fore companionway knocked away. I
went to tell the skipper. Before I got aft a shot went
through the engine-casing, and I began to feel frightened.
I could see that the skipper was not on the bridge. I
went aft, passed the chief, who was bleeding, gave him
my neckcloth to stop the blood, went right aft and saw
the skipper lying on the grating. I said, * Oh, my God,

SKIPPER WHITE, WHO COMMANDED THE /. AND S. MILES
AT THE TIME OF THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE.

THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE 281

he is shot ! ' I picked him up and saw that his head
was battered to pieces. I dropped him, rushed down
the forecastle, and saw the boatswain lying on the floor,
with his head battered in.

" Another shot came and hit us, I didn't know where.
All hands were shouting out they were shot. I jumped
on the bridge to blow the whistle, but that and the
steampipe were knocked away. I tried to alter the
wheel, but the wheel-gear was smashed. I then found
we were sinking. I went to the boat, cut the grips,
plugged her up, and put the painter on the winch to
heave her aft, but found some of the winch smashed.
Then something hit me on the back. I saw the Gull
launch her boat. I dragged the skipper forward and
got the third hand up on deck and went for the chief.
He was unconscious. By this time the G^ll£s boat came
alongside and we put in the skipper and bosun, and got
in ourselves — how, I don't know.

" When the boy came to me and said, * Where is my
father ? ' that was a pill I could not swallow. For the
life of me I could not tell the boy what had happened to
his father.

" The searchlights made everything like day. The
fireman, while he was in the engine-room, saw the war-
ship that was firing on us — saw her through the hole
they made in the ship's side. They made a target of
us. They meant doing for us. They needed no lights
to see what we were. The searchlights told them plain
enough."

The Mission surgeon, Dr. Anklesaria, who was on
board the Joseph and Sarah Miles, said that the damaged
trawlers were naturally on the look out for their own

282 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Mission ship, the Alpha, but before they could find her
they sighted the Miles, and steamed up and shouted for
help, saying that some of the wounded were bleeding to
death. " We hauled up our gear at once and launched
our boat," he wrote, and soon, with two of the Mission
crew, he was on board the Gull, to which the dead and
wounded had been taken. " I have never witnessed
such a gory sight. Two men lay on deck with their
heads nearly blown to pieces. In the cabin the scene
was more heartrending still, when I saw six men
stretched about anyhow, bleeding and groaning with the
agony of their wounds. Under the circumstances, I had
them all removed on board our ship. With all these
wounded men on board, our floating hospital looked like
a veritable battlefield. Indeed, it presented a most
pathetic sight. It kept me busy with knife and needle
the whole of that day, and it was not until late in the
night that I had the satisfaction of seeing them all safe
and snug in their cots, as far as circumstances allowed."
When it was seen that the Crane was sinking, Charles
Beer, mate, Harry Smirk, chief engineer, and Edwin
Costello, boatswain of the Gull, went off in a boat to
rescue the survivors. When they got on board the
Crane they found the living members of the crew lying
about injured. The vessel was in total darkness, and it
was known that at any moment she might founder ; yet
Costello went into the horrible little forecastle to bring
up Leggett's dead body. This he succeeded in doing,
and was going below again to see how much damage
had been done by shot and shell, when his comrades
shouted to him to come back instantly, as the trawler
was sinking. She went down almost immediately.

THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE 283

Beer, Smirk, Arthur Rea, engineer of the Crane, Smith,
the mate, and Costello received the Albert Medal for
gallantry. With the exception of Costello, who was
prevented by illness from visiting London, the men
attended Buckingham Palace on the morning of Saturday,
1 3th May 1905, and the decoration was conferred upon
them by Edward vn., who had been deeply interested in
the outrage. Smith, who took charge of the Crane when
the skipper was killed, refused to leave her till every
man had been taken off. Rea showed unyielding courage
when, in spite of the fact that the little ship was actually
foundering, he groped back to the engine-room, which
was in total darkness, and tried to put the engines on
to full speed ahead. The stokehole was flooded with
water, and Rea could do nothing. He went on deck,
where the skipper was lying dead, and all the survivors
were wounded except the boy.

Such, told briefly, is the story of the Dogger Bank
outrage — an event which became officially known as the
" North Sea Incident." It was alleged, on the part of
the Russians, that there was reason to suppose that Japa-
nese destroyers were lurking in the North Sea — Russia
and Japan were then at war — but there was nothing
whatever to justify the supposition, still less to mistake
peaceful fishing-vessels for ships of war of any sort.

The news of the occurrence threw the whole country
into a state of dangerous excitement. The King
telegraphed to the Mayor of Hull, speaking of the " un-
warrantable " action of the Russians ; " urgent represen-
tations " were at once made by the Foreign Office to the
Russian Government, and such was the general clamour
that the Czar sent a message expressing regret and

284

NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

promising "complete satisfaction, as soon as the circum-
stances were cleared up."

Meanwhile, the important question as to damage done
by the outrage and the compensation to be paid by the
Russian Government was considered by the Board of
Trade Commissioners, Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge,
G.C.B., and Mr. Butler Aspinall, K.C. Many com-
plicated questions arose. The claims were divided by
the Commissioners into classes, with the assessment
they made in each case. These were as follows : —

Nature of Claim.

Amount
Claimed.

Amount
Assessed.

£ s. d.
10,670 o o
17,472 o o
310 o o

177 9 6
362 o o

1,110 0 0

2,500 o o
8,342 18 8

10,351 10 o
646 6 6

7,552 o o
2,458 9 8

38,476 o o
1,319 16 4

£ s. d.
5,800 o o
6,700 o o
137 o o

177 9 6
172 6 o

I, IIO O O

650 o o
6,834 18 8

9,141 o o
646 6 6

5,676 o o

2,202 9 8

17,779 10 o
915 6 4

Personal injuries indirectly due to gunfire .
Loss of clothes and other effects (including in-
cidental expenses in one instance) .
Loss of earnings and wages due to detention, ab-
sence of ship from fishing-ground for repair, etc.
Physical indisposition after exposure to unusual
danger and loss of earning power due to shock

Complete loss of vessel and consequent loss of

Examination and repair of vessels damaged by
reason of the firing • •'••• ; f •• . .
Loss of fishing-gear
Demurrage whilst vessels were detained in har-
bour for examination, repairs, etc. .
Loss of and disturbed fishing, 2ist to 22nd Octo-
ber 1904, and following days, loss of rebate, etc.

Loss of services of skipper killed
Increased management expenses due to unpre-
cedented nature of the incident
Surveyors' fees and miscellaneous expenses due

Costs of solicitors and accountants . ' .
Total . •' * . . .

101,748 10 8
2,081 12 5

57,942 6 8
2,081 12 5

103,830 3 i

60,023 19 i

THE RUSSIAN OUTRAGE 285

The claims submitted included the following : —

Damage to the Gamecock Fleet . . „... . .£58,000

Repair of Mission ship Alpha . , '; . * ' . 5,042

J. K. Green, skipper of the Gull^ shock . ' . 150

J. K. Green, saving lives of the crew of the Crane . 2,000

John Nixon, chief engineer of the Crane »; > *;..• 1,500

A. Rea, second engineer, Crane . . . . . 1,000

A. E. Almond, trimmer, Crane . . . . 1,000

W. Whelpton, skipper of the Mino, shock . . 150

W. Whelpton, salving the Mino . - . . 500

Seventeen other claims . ,. . . . 485

These claims were not settled in full, however, the
total sum paid by the Russian Government being ,£65,000,
far below the original total. The lower sum, however,
as will be seen from the Commissioners' tables, was
assessed by the Commissioners themselves. The mate
of the Crane received ,£2000 and £18 for clothing;
John Ryde, deck hand, was paid £"1500, with £12 for
clothing ; John Nixon received ^500, with clothing
allowance ; Arthur Rea, £"400 ; and A. Almond, ,£300.
The Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen suffered loss in
consequence of the award. The amount given to them,
^3906, was less by £79 than the actual expenditure on
the Alpha in consequence of the incident. The receipt
of these considerable sums of money by men who had
not been accustomed to the control of large amounts
proved far from an unmixed blessing, and in one or
two cases the compensation allowances were recklessly
squandered.

An International Commission of Inquiry into the
11 North Sea Incident "was subsequently held in Paris,
at the Foreign Office, under the presidency of Admiral

286 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Fournier, of the French Navy. The report of the Com-
mission established the British case, declaring that there
was no complicity on the part of the British trawlers,
fixing the responsibility of the cannonade on Admiral
Rozhdestvensky, and describing his proceeding as
unjustifiable. The report plainly stated that there were
no torpedo-boats present on the Dogger Bank on the
night of the incident, thus discrediting entirely the
positive statements of Russian officers on this important
point.

Nearly two years after the cannonade a statue was
unveiled at Hull in memory of the lost. It represents a
fisherman, and is about 18 ft. high. The inscription is :
" Erected by public subscription to the memory of
George Henry Smith (skipper) and William Richard
Leggett (third hand), of the steam-trawler Crane, who
lost their lives through the action of the Russian Baltic
Fleet in the North Sea, October 22, 1904, and Walter
Whelpton, skipper of the trawler Mino, who died
through shock, May 1905."

T" _ ,1 .-- 1

A GERMAN FOUR-MASTER MAKING FOR HAMBURG.

A FRENCH FOUR-MASTER TOWING DOWN THE NORTH SEA.

CHAPTER XXIII
THE PITILESS GOODWINS

OLD beam-trawlers still sail out to the North Sea,
largely from between the Forelands, where Ramsgate
lies. They go lazily or smartly, according to the wind,
past the northern end of that great " shippe-swallower "
which is called the Goodwin Sands, and on which so
many North Sea fishers and fighters have perished.

The Goodwins stretch 10 miles from north to south,
and are 4 miles broad. The nearest point to the main-
land is opposite Deal, a distance of 4 miles, while the
monster's head is 6 miles from Ramsgate. At high-
water the Sands are covered to a depth of 16 ft. ; at
low tide they are to a great extent exposed, and on a
hot summer's day they form a golden field on which you
may ramble, cycle, or play cricket. But there are other
places that are quicksands, shifting masses which long
ago earned for the Goodwins the evil name of " shippe-
swallower."

The shoal is, indeed, a veritable Hydra, for it has
heads on every side, and no sooner is one carried away
by swirling waters than another is formed. Between
the Goodwins and the mainland are the famous Downs
where, in westerly and easterly gales, fleets of vessels
anchor for shelter. This deep channel is one of the

288 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

world's great waterways, and along it there is an ever-
lasting procession of steam and sailing craft. In fine
bright weather the buoys and lightships serve as guides
to pilots, but let one of the stealthy North Sea fogs
envelop the ravenous region, and there is little hope of
keeping clear of danger.

On Good Friday, 1909, the steamship Mahratta,
homeward bound from Calcutta, with a valuable cargo,
and in the care of an experienced pilot, struck the South
Goodwins. A fleet of tugs got hold of her and held her
fast ; but the pitiless Goodwins gripped tighter, and,
just as a boa-constrictor will not let its victim go when
once the monster's jaws have got it, so the Goodwins
began to swallow the noble craft. Soon she broke her
back, her steel decks arching as the fore and aft parts
settled in the quicksands, and when, from Ramsgate
East Pier, through the good clear telescope of Charles
Fish, the famous lifeboatman, I looked at her, more than
a year after the Goodwins began to swallow her, only her
four masts were visible.

The Mahratta is the biggest ship that was ever
wrecked on these fatal sands. Hers, however, is not
the saddest case of loss, for probably of all the Goodwins'
victims, none has become more widely known than the
Indian Chief. Fish was coxswain of the lifeboat
Bradford when, in a bitter winter gale, she rescued the
frozen survivors of the ship and brought them safely
home.

The Indian Chief, a vessel of 1200 tons, was bound
from Middlesbrough to Yokohama. She sailed on a
Sunday afternoon, with twenty-nine souls, including the
north-country pilot. All the way down the grim North Sea

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 289

she had thick weather. In the blackness of the early
morning of Wednesday, 5th January 1881, she struck
the Long Sand, north of the Goodwins. Fish at that
time was harbour-boatman at Ramsgate, as well as
coxswain of the lifeboat, and it rested with him to decide
whether or not the craft should be got out in answer to
the signals of distress. The coxswain did not hesitate.
He fired a rocket, showing that the lightship's signal
had been seen ; then the wild alarm was given and the
volunteers rushed to the lifeboat and took their places
in her — first come, first served, from a crowd of eager
heroes.

The brave old V^Ucan, predecessor of the Aid,
which you may now see in the harbour, ever ready for
the fight, took the Bradford in tow, and dragged her
out into some of the most dangerous seas that were ever
battled with, even by life-saving craft. The coxswain
told me he never saw worse or more bitter weather —
and he was on service 353 times, and helped to save
887 lives from the Goodwins' hungry maw.

It was one in the afternoon when the Vulcan and
the Bradford left the shelter of the harbour and plunged
into the furious seas. The spray froze as it flew over
the crew, crouching for shelter, and hair and beards
became masses of ice. There were 18 miles to cover
before the wreck was reached, and even the gallant
Vulcan, specially built for such a task, was seven hours
in covering the distance. During all that time the
lifeboatmen, lashed to their seats, endured the savage
thrashing of the breakers and the piercing cold.

The rescue of the perishing seemed impossible, yet
the coxswain determined to stand by till daylight, and
19

290 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

throughout the long night the lifeboat and the tug
wallowed in the freezing waters.

Then the dawn came, and for the first time the
Indian Chief was seen, gripped in the Goodwins — but
not all of her. For twenty-four hours and more the seas
had thrashed her, and the Sands had tumbled her, and
all that the lifeboatmen could see was a solitary mast.
That lonely vestige of the wreck was still three miles
away, and it was not till the lifeboat had slipped her
tow-rope, and got down to the Long Sand under
her storm-foresail, that the pity of the tragedy was
realised.

Eleven oil-skinned men were lashed in a bunch in the
top of the mast — which was the mizzen — all that was left
of the twenty-nine. These survivors unlashed themselves
and dropped, one by one, into the lifeboat. Not all,
however, came away, for the captain, though he seemed
to watch the operations of rescue, was frozen dead.
The second mate, when he was got into the lifeboat, was
raving mad. He died as the ice-clad craft was towed
back to Ramsgate Harbour, which was reached after
the Bradford had been out for twenty-six hours in some
of the worst weather known to living memory.

That famous wreck will show something of the
fierce doings of the Goodwins ; but no one knows how
many ships and lives have been swallowed by these
mysterious and treacherous Sands. They are always
shifting and changing, and are full of hidden dangers
even to the men who are constantly working in their
neighbourhood. The Sands at low-water often bristle
with the skeletons of wrecks, and the jagged ironwork
or rotting timbers of lost vessels.

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 291

Deal boatmen, who should know the' Goodwins as
the London cabman knows his streets, have gone to the
shoal and have never returned. Perhaps : their boats
have struck on these fatal fangs of wrecks, perhaps they
have been engulfed by quicksands ; at any rate, they
have disappeared — and the Goodwins keep their secrets
well. The Downs themselves, despite the shelter they
offer to vessels during bad weather, are not perfectly
secure, and frequently sailing ships drag their anchors
and are lost.

In that memorable gale of 1703, when Winstanley,
who had built the Eddystone Lighthouse, perished with
it, no fewer than 40 ships were lost in the Downs, in-
cluding 30 men-of-war. That was a November gale,
and one of the most disastrous recorded in history. It
is calculated that no fewer than 8000 souls perished.

Another storm in February 1807 added to the
number of ships and men who have found a last home
on the Goodwins. A score of ships were lost in the
Downs and on the Sands. The whole of the coast was
strewn with wreckage, and the event was remarkable
largely because of the universal thieving that attended
it, all classes looting anything on which they could lay
hands. Again, in a great storm in November 1836,
when 400 vessels were sheltering in the Downs, many
foundered with all hands.

The origin of the Goodwins is a mystery ; but they
have been known and spoken of for more than eight
hundred years. Ancient chronicles state that at the
close of the eleventh century an appalling flood visited
the south coast of England and buried an entire
kingdom which existed between the Scilly Islands and

292 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Land's End. That destructive and phenomenal tide
roared up the Channel and overwhelmed the banks of
the Thames and many other rivers, sweeping away
towns and people and innumerable animals. It is
recorded that "the lands in Kent, that sometime
belonged to Duke Godwyne, Earl of Kent, were
covered with sandes and drowned, which are to this
day called Godwyne Sandes." The story is, at any rate,
a romantic one.

Another version of the origin of the sandbank is
that, in the century named, the Goodwins consisted of
land which belonged to the Church, but the Abbot of
Canterbury neglected to keep in repair the walls pro-
tecting the estate from the sea, which accordingly
flooded and covered it, ultimately leaving the Sands.
If legend is to be credited, the Sands in those far-off
days were rich meadow-lands, and had their own quiet
burial-grounds and churches. Since those crude times
the Goodwins have become a graveyard for all races of
the earth.

The Goodwins to-day are what they have been for
centuries — unconquered, treacherous, ravenous. All
attempts to overcome them, to the extent of putting up
a permanent beacon or lighthouse, have failed. Long
ago an effort was made to erect a lighthouse in which
men could live, but the structure was never finished.

In 1841 the Trinity Corporation scuttled an old
ship on the Sands and put more than sixty tons of
ballast into her, making her a heavy-weight indeed.
A mast rose from the hulk to bear a beacon, and for a
time the vessel, filled to the beams, held her own ; but
the Goodwins would have none of her, for even she

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 293

proved quite an easy morsel for the monster to absorb.
She vanished.

The " shippe-swallower " is not the place that one
would choose voluntarily as a cricket-ground or cycling-
track, yet adventurous spirits have pitched their wickets
on the Sands, and wheelmen have taken their machines.

Cricket matches have been few and far between,
and there seems to be only one record of cyclists
braving the dangers of the bank. Seventy years ago,
a party of young bloods from Deal set forth in a small
boat to the Goodwins, played a game of cricket — more
or less — drank, and were merry — and would have
perished if a lugger had not been sent post-haste to
save them, for the sea got up, and their little craft would
have had no chance of keeping afloat.

North, south, east, and west of the shoals a lightship
is stationed, and bobbing buoys, wailing syrens, and
deep-throated guns and screaming rockets are always
ready to raise the warning that a ship is ashore and
lives are in peril.

The Sands are ever lurking for their prey, and, just
as police precautions must be taken to warn peaceful
wayfarers of the dangers of notoriously unsafe districts,
so the lightshipmen and shoremen between the Fore-
lands are ceaselessly alert to indicate the perils of the
long and fatal bank. The shrill whistle of the constable
is the alarm signal in time of stress ; in the region of
the Goodwins the boom of the gun and the flare of the
rocket tell the tale of danger.

Take Ramsgate, for example, the best known of
all the towns which face the Sands. In the watch-house
at the end of the East Pier, adjoining the quay at which

294 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

the London steamers land and embark passengers, there
are men on duty ceaselessly.

When it is dark, one man on watch outside is
constantly looking towards the Goodwins — the man
who, when the town clocks chime the hours, repeats the
time, ship's fashion, on the bell near the watch-house.

In the interior, men are awake or sleeping in their
hammocks, slung high above the floor, but ready to
obey a summons instantly.

In the harbour, the Aid, successor of the Vulcan, is
ever ready ; and near her is the lifeboat, always afloat,
like the tug. One seaman and one fireman are constantly
on duty on board the Aid, but the harbour-master has
the power to order all the members of the crew to stand
by in bad weather, to be ready for emergencies.

Day and night, throughout the year, steam is up on
board the tug, and when the time for action comes
"the fireman shakes the fires up, the deck-hand gets
the lights ready, and, when everything is done, off they
go." That is a watchman's way of describing to me
the ceremony of departure to a wreck.

But there is in it far more than that, and much
more than the public ever realises. The watchman
spoke truly when he added that, during a long, dark
night, the lifeboat might go out half a dozen times
without the public, snugly sleeping in their beds, being
aware of its dangerous expeditions.

The manning of the Ramsgate boat for service is
a strange and rousing] bit of work. Take a wild
Goodwins night — the wind whistling and roaring, and
the sea thundering and crumbling on the sandy
beach near the watch-house, indicating heavier and

FROM NEAR THE GOODWINS : BOILING SHRIMPS AT SEA.

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 295

deadlier surges on the bank six miles away. The bitter
blackness is pitted with the gleams from the lightships
and the lighthouses, the light-vessels' lanterns making
great sweeps as the red craft roll and pitch heavily at
their moorings.

You can see what sort of waves are rushing shore-
ward, and can picture what the breakers are like on the
Goodwins, and how at times the heart of the bravest
pilot must quail as he peers ahead and around him and
realises what a mistake will mean to the ship and people
in his charge. Well for him it is that there are so
many lights and sounds to warn him of the perils of the
Sands, and so many ready to succour the fishers and
fighters imperilled.

There is no other shoal in the world which is more
thoroughly marked than these fatal Sands, and no other
region where more perfect means exist for saving life,
and where braver men live. Between the North and
South Forelands, a distance of ten miles, five lifeboats
are stationed, and four lightships — the North Sand
head, the South Goodwin, the East Goodwin, and the
Gulf Stream — and year in and year out, unceasingly,
hundreds of men are ready to obey the rousing cry of
" Man the lifeboat ! " whilst there are always crowds of
brave fellows at Deal prepared to put off in their famous
luggers.

The record of the old Northumberland\\{&>®z.\. shows
what such a craft can do, even when fighting an
opponent like the Goodwins. From 1851 to July 1865,
when she was broken up, she saved 261 lives from ships
that were totally lost, and took nineteen vessels safely
into harbour.

296 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

The call for help will surely come during a bitter
gale by day or night. There is the boom of a gun from
the Goodwins, or the flare of a rocket, or the actual call
of a voice, for the Gull lightship and the watch-house at
Ramsgate are connected by telephone. Instantly a
rocket is fired from the capstan at the head of the
pier to let the lightship know that the signal of distress
has been heard, and the lifeboat crew is summoned.

A policeman, a civilian — any one may see the rocket
and raise the alarm, but whatever happens a watchman
must go through a certain routine. He must run to the
homes of the lifeboatmen and rouse them, and he has
to perform this task even though the men themselves
may be, as they always are in bad weather, within reach
of the craft in which they are to battle with the storm.
The routine call will take twenty-five or thirty minutes,
but sometimes, long before it has been made, the tug is
dragging the lifeboat towards the Goodwins.

It maybe a case of saving life or salving a vessel,
and in both respects the men of Deal and Ramsgate
have an unequalled record, for the Goodwins are
always seizing prey in the shape of man and ship. The
Lifeboat Institution pays a certain sum to each volunteer
who goes on service, whether life is saved or not.

"There's no retaining fee," a storm warrior told me.
" If we get a vessel off the Goodwins and into the
Downs or harbour, there's so much for each of us,
according to the value of the ship and her cargo. We'd
rather take salvage-money than lifeboat-money; but
those jobs are very rare nowadays. There's a nice bit,
too, for a man who first gives the alarm of a ship in
distress — no matter who or what he is. Perhaps a

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 297

policeman gets the luck. Steamboats are not as
profitable as the old wind-jammers, because the steam-
boats can keep clear of the Sands, as a rule ; but the
wind-jammer hasn't much chance when the Goodwins
once grip her, though at times we manage to pull
her off."

A sailing vessel, even a small one, is still worth a
good deal of money to the salvors. Take the case of
the Italian barque Pinin. She stranded on the South
Goodwins on Christmas night, 1904, in foggy weather
while on a voyage from Buenos Ayres to Dunkirk. She
struck the Sands at half-past ten, but her signals of
distress were not seen for twelve hours. Then, on Box-
ing morning, the tug Hibernia discovered her, and tried
to tow her off, joyfully anticipating a handsome Christmas-
box. The men of the East Goodwin lightship also saw
the wreck, and fired guns. The signals were repeated
by the Gull and North Sand lightships, and with eager
anticipation — for other men were desirous of sharing in
the unexpected Christmas-box — men of Deal manned
three luggers, and a lifeboat was launched. The little
Hibernia had tried gallantly to tow the barque off the
Sands, but the tide had failed, and she did not succeed.

The Pinin was the property of any craft that could
get her, and accordingly, when at one o'clock the luggers
and the lifeboat got alongside, their crews were engaged
to jettison the cargo, which consisted of heavy logs of
hardwood, weighing up to three tons each. It was bad
weather, and the barque rolled so dangerously that her
crew refused to go aloft, and the boatmen had to do their
work and loose the sails. The ship's hatches had to be
battened down to prevent her from filling, and one of the

298 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

luggers was taken on board to save her from swamping.
It was a difficult and dangerous time, but the boatmen
worked like giants, and threw eighty tons of the logs
overboard.

Then the barque was pulled off by the Hibernia, and
towed to the safety of the Downs. Two other tugs, the
Warrior and the Conqueror, promising names, bore
down to give help and get salvage, but fortune was
against them. In making fast, the Warrior had her
propeller fouled by a hawser, and the Conqueror had to
tow her out of action and into shelter. The Hibernia,
the luggers, and the lifeboatmen therefore had it all their
own way, and got their reward in a court of law.

The barque was worth altogether ^7384, the
Hibernia was worth ^8500 ; one lugger was valued at
^200, and the other two at ^150 each. The total crews
of the tug, lifeboat, and luggers numbered fifty-eight ;
thirty-seven went on board the barque. Judgment was
given for ^700 to the Hibernia and £400 to the life-
boatmen and luggers, so that the stranding of the ship
cost ;£noo in salvage, to say nothing of other losses.

Salvage, however, is not always so profitable, nor is
it invariably given with justice. In 1881 the barque
Chaudiere, from New Zealand to London, went ashore
on the Goodwins. Two luggers and a tug got her off.
Altogether she was worth nearly ,£50,000 ; yet it was
thought that £200 was enough to pay the men who had
salved her ! They refused to take that sum, and eventu-
ally the Admiralty Court awarded them ^"400.

Tragedy has swiftly followed tragedy on the Good-
wins. Most of the disasters have been inevitable, but
some could have been easily avoided. Amongst these

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 299

was the case of an American skipper who was sailing
through the channel under a great press of canvas, in a
south-westerly gale. He was warned of his peril, and
urged to take a pilot and shorten sail. He refused to do
either — and shortly afterwards his clipper perished on
the Goodwins, with all hands. Such, too, was the fate
of a ship which passed Ramsgate in the night, and refused
the offer of a pilot to take charge of her for £$. The
weather was bad and foggy, and the captain was in a
hurry. He blundered on to the Sands, and every soul
was lost with the vessel.

Give the lifeboat crew a chance, and they will do all
that mortal man can accomplish to save life and ship.
In these days no obstacle is put in the way of their work,
but there is a notorious case of obstruction on record in
relation to the Goodwins. On New Year's Day, 1860, a
German brig struck the Sands. There was a blinding
gale, with snow and fog, but the signals of distress were
seen at Deal. It was known that a Deal pilot was on
board, and as it was impossible for the Deal boats to put
off, a telegram was sent to Ramsgate, where the tug had
steam up, and the lifeboat was manned, to get the craft
out to the rescue.

Incredible as it seems, the harbour-master refused to
let either tug or boat depart, because he did not know,
" officially," that the ship was ashore. He stubbornly
refused, time after time, to give permission, and it was
not till three hours had passed that, having " officially "
heard a gun from the South Sand lightship, he ordered
the tug to get the lifeboat out. The frantic and infuri-
ated men hurried to the wreck, to find that she had be-
come a total loss, and that of the thirty people all had

300 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

perished except five, who had taken to the only small
boat that was left. These men were picked up by the
lifeboat. The pilot was numbered with the lost.

Sometimes, after a struggle which is almost super-
human in its fierceness, a crew will be dragged from the
very jaws of death on the Goodwins. Such an instance
of salvation is on record concerning the Providentia, a
full-rigged ship from Finland which went ashore on the
Sands one bitter December night.

When the lifeboat reached the ship it was seen that
she had been almost smashed to pieces, and that, of her
crew of fifteen hands, only three were visible — two men
and a boy, who were crouching for shelter under the lee
of the deck-house. The lifeboat fought valiantly to get
near the wreck, and it seemed as if she would triumph,
when a tremendous sea swept upon her and injured half
a dozen of her crew.

Undaunted, she continued the fight, and in the thick
of it a man was seen to spring up from the shelter of the
deck-house and to hurl himself into the tumult of waves,
trying to reach the lifeboat.

After a fierce struggle, he gripped the gunwale and
got his head through a lifebuoy ; then the ruthless waters
swept him away into the darkness. He was considered
lost, and the lifeboat set to work to save the other three
survivors.

But on the run back there happened one of the
wonderful things of the sea, for in the blackness of the
night a cry for help was heard, and the crew dragged on
board the very man who, on the verge of safety, had
been torn away by the waves. This proved to be the
captain.

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 301

Later, it was known that eleven men had escaped
from the wreck in a small boat and had landed at
Boulogne ; so that, although the Providentia was a total
wreck, gripped by the Goodwins, every man on board
had escaped.

There have been memorable disasters in recent years,
ever since steam became almost universal for marine
propulsion ; but the most noted calamities relate to the
days of sail; and of all that have been put on record
there is none more terrible than the annihilation of an
entire fleet of war-ships in the exceptional storm of 1703.
Thirteen ships were anchored in the Downs, under the
command of Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont, who was
only thirty-four years old — one of the youngest British
officers who ever flew his flag. There had been pro-
tracted and exceptionally severe weather; and it grew
worse until the night of 26th November 1703, when a
hurricane was raging. The fleet was seen at its moor-
ings in the evening; but when the day broke it had
completely vanished. Every vessel had been torn from
her anchors and totally lost either on the shore or on the
Sands. Of the thirteen ships nine were either sunk or
went ashore, 1200 officers and men perishing with them,
while the remaining four were driven by the wind and
sea towards the Goodwins — more dreaded than the land,
for there at least was firm foundation if the shore was
once gained.

There was no hope for the ships, which were either
smashed to pieces or engulfed. Four of them, the
Stirling Castle, of 70 guns, the Mary, also of 70 guns,
the Mortar •, a bomb, and the Restoration, broke their cables
and were driven on to the Sands. Every soul in the

302 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Mary and the Restoration was lost, including Beaumont.
From the Stirling Castle and the Mortar seventy persons
were saved.

So many ships have been lost on the Goodwins, and
it has been such a matter of course to expect these
disasters, that records of some of the events have not
been kept. Little more than passing mention is made
of the loss of the transport Aurora on the Goodwins in
December 1805, two months after Nelson won Trafalgar,
yet three hundred men perished with her ; and little more
than allusion to the loss in December 1814, a few
months before Waterloo, of the packet British Queen.
She left Ostend for Margate, struck on the Sands, and
was lost, with all her people.

The Goodwin nearly claimed a crowd of emigrants
some years ago. They were on board the Fusilier,
bound to Australia from London. In a December gale
she struck the Sands, and there seemed no hope of rescue
for the panic-stricken souls, of whom nearly seventy
were women and children. The long, dark night passed,
and the gloomy morning came. By that time the
Fusilier was swept incessantly by freezing seas, and
bumped bodily by charging waves. There was faint
moonlight and some illumination from lamps on board ;
and by these cheerless beams the drenched and shivering,
almost perishing emigrants, saw the outline of a lifeboat
nearly alongside.

Two oil-skinned fighters of the Sands had floundered
on board. Instantly, in the wild night, clamorous voices
were heard — prayers of men that their wives should be
saved ; appeals of women for their children's sake. At
the same time there was a mad rush to the ship's side to

THE PITILESS GOODWINS 303

get to the lifeboat, the only refuge. Warning shouts
arose that the lifeboat would carry only a score of persons,
and that to crowd her in such a sea would be disastrous.
She must make trip after trip, and meanwhile the Good-
wins were engulfing the ship.

One merciful feature of salvation there was, and that
was the presence of the Aid, which had towed the life-
boat out, and was now lying to leeward, so that the little
craft could run down to her. Terrified women were
helped, pushed, dragged, or dropped into the boat ;
there was a fierce run to the Aid, a furious fight in
transferring the saved, and a dangerous trip back to the
wreck. So the ruthless war went on, steam-tug and
lifeboat battling with the gale, and oil-skinned warriors
once more showing that even the Goodwins cannot
always conquer. Three hours and more the lifeboat
continued fighting ; then the emigrants had been taken
from the Fusilier to the Aid, and that gallant little
steamer, packed with drenched and starving creatures,
struggled back to Ramsgate Harbour.

In that tale of danger and escape from death one
incident stands clearly out from all the rest. When the
women in the Fusilier were being helped and forced
away, blankets were rolled up and thrown into the life-
boat to give protection, if not warmth. Few words
could be heard in the clamour of the gale ; but a wild
cry rose as a despairing husband thrust a bundle into the
hands of a seaman.

" Look out, there ! " roared the sailor, as he hurled the
woollen mass into the lifeboat. " Catch this ! It's a
blanket for the man's missis ! "

When the tug was reached an exhausted woman, who

304 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

had been helped on board and was taken below, struggled
wildly to return to the lifeboat.

" It's the blanket she wants!" shouted the men near
her.

The bundle was handed to the steamer and was
about to be thrown on deck, when there was a startled
cry of, " Gently with the bundle, boys ! There s a baby
in it!"

And so there was. A little child was lying, snug
and cosy, in the warm heart of the big, rough blanket.

The Goodwins are pitiless, indeed ; and will continue
to claim ship and life, but they will also maintain that
noble race of men who are ceaselessly warring with it,
and so often prove victorious in the fight. These heroes
wrest some lives at any rate from the maw of the
monster whose toll will never be revealed until the sea
gives up its dead.

THE MOUTH OF THE HUMBER.

CHAPTER XXIV

BROOM AND WHIPLASH

MEN of the North Sea bore the burden of the bloody
battles which for twenty years were fought between the
Dutch and English for dominion of the ocean. No
fights were fiercer than those which took place when the
two countries were republics, and the leaders of the
combatants on each side were men like Blake and
Tromp.

On and off, throughout that long period of bitterness
and hostilities, the North Sea bore the fleets of England
and Holland. Some of the officers and most of the men
doubtless knew little of, and cared less for, some of the
causes of the war ; but most of the crews were either
fishermen or understood the fisheries, and as one of the
great grievances of the English was that Dutch craft
came and flagrantly fished in English waters and yet
refused to pay to England the tax of the tenth herring
which was claimed, there was no lack of motive for
ferocious fighting. Only the fury of trade rivalry and
business jealousy could have supported the opponents in
their sufferings and privations.

The thoroughness of the prevailing hatred is shown
by many of the contemporary Dutch and English
accounts of the actions. At home nothing was too

20

306 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

malignant or belittling to be written concerning the
Hollanders, and for more than a century English scribes
were sure of gaining admiration and approval if they
were virulent enough in describing the achievements of
the enemy.

"Shocking instance of barbarity by the Dutch,"
" Tyrannical conduct and cruelty of the Dutch " — these
and headings like them were welcome fare for English
readers, especially when served in company with such
incidents as " Ludicrous terror of a Spanish captain,"
" Horrible instance of French cruelty," " English courage
displayed in a gallant enterprise, and Dutch cowardice
exposed," " Independent and heroic conduct " of a British
officer. If the English writers were to be credited then
there was nothing in a Dutchman but monstrous in-
humanity and " square-face " courage, and nothing in the
British heart but valour. Yet the truth was that the
Englishman found in the Dutchman a foe as brave and
resourceful as himself, and just as much a son of the North
Sea. May it not be well said of these fishers and fighters
from both sides of the North Sea that strife was in the
blood of them and had to find an outlet ? There was more
excitement behind the gun and pike and in slashing with
the cutlass than there was in shooting and hauling nets on
lonely fishing-banks, and more prospect of reward in prize-
money ; yet there was scarcely greater danger, for a
North Sea gale, sweeping over the fishing-craft, might
and often did cause as much suffering and loss as a well-
contested battle with the gun and sword.

Broom and whiplash figure largely in that story of the
early fights between the English and the Dutch for con^
quest of the Narrow Seas. Almost at the end of 1652

BROOM AND WHIPLASH 307

Blake went forth and defeated the gallant De Ruyter ; but
the stern soldier of the Commonwealth was in turn sur-
prised by the renowned Tromp, who captured some of the
English ships and, it is told, swaggered through the
Channel with a broom lashed to his mast-head, as a symbol
of his boast to sweep the English off the seas. There
is no substantial evidence that the Dutchman either
made such a threat or used such a sign, nor is there
proof that in retaliation Blake displayed a lash, as an
indication that he would whip the Dutchman back to
Holland.

The stories are picturesque, and not incredible ; they
are at any rate in keeping with the crude and savage
spirit of the times. No tale was too stupid or primitive
for credence ; yet in the feeblest of them we find a
reflection of the spirit that animated all classes on both
sides of the North Sea.

There is the famous tale which tells that when Tromp
passed Dover Roads without paying due honour to the
British flag Blake ordered three guns to be fired, without
shot, to call the Dutchman to a sense of his obligation
to the mistress of the seas, and that the Hollander's
reply was a whole broadside. Blake was in his cabin,
drinking with his officers, and when the hostile ordnance
shattered some of the glasswork he angrily declared that
he took it very ill that the Dutch admiral should take his
ship for a bawdy-house and break his windows. The
story may not be, and* probably is not, true ; but it served
its purpose of keeping fanned the flame of hatred
between the rival nations. History repeats itself
strangely. Tromp's son lived to visit England and be
made a baronet by the restored sovereign ; in the year

308 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of the Coronation of George v. Dutchmen, who had
fought long and gallantly against the English in South
Africa, came to London as the guests of the King and
were honoured by him in a special fashion.

A few months after he flaunted his broom, if he did
so at all, Tromp died. He fell in one of the indecisive
sea-fights ; but his name was gallantly upheld by his son
Cornelius, who, in the second Dutch war, fought bravely,
especially at the battle of Solebay, or South wold Bay,
in Suffolk. In the third Dutch war with England
Cornelius Tromp again distinguished himself, and he
was the admiral who later came to England to be
honoured by the King. The names of Tromp, De Ruyter,
and Opdam stand side by side with those of Blake,
Monk, Myngs, the Earl of Sandwich, the Duke of
York, and Prince Rupert, and the other fighters of the
fierce Dutch wars.

This long strife gave to England the bloodiest of
all her naval battles, and some of the hardest struggling
took place either on the open North Sea or the shores
of it. Lowestoft is particularly associated with the sea-
dogs of two and more centuries ago, and the old parish
church contains many tablets to their memory. The
Lowestoft admirals — Allen and Utber — and a Lowestoft
captain — also named Utber — took part in the fight off
Lowestoft on 3rd June 1665, when the English fleet
consisted of 114 ships, commanded by the Duke of
York, Prince Rupert, and Montague, Earl of Sandwich.
The Dutch, under Admiral Opdam, had the wind
against them ; but they fought gallantly till they were
defeated, with a loss of 18 ships and 7000 men, the
English loss being only i ship and 700 men. The

BROOM AND WHIPLASH 309

fight became famous because of the great number of
distinguished men who perished in it. Opdam's ship
took fire and was lost with her 500 people, amongst
whom were volunteers from the best families of Holland.
On board the Royal Charles, which was the Duke of
York's ship, the Earl of Falmouth and Lord Muskerry
were killed, as well as Mr. Boyle, son of the Earl of
Cork. They were all slain by one cannon-shot. Their
blood and brains, Pepys recorded, flew in the Duke's
face, and it was said that the Duke was struck down by
the severed head of Boyle. The Earl of Marlborough,
Rear- Admiral Sansum, and Captains Kirby and Ableson
were numbered with the lost, as well as the valiant Sir
John Lawson, who was mortally wounded by some of
the flying debris of the shattered Dutch flagship.

"A greater victory never known in the world," said
Pepys exultantly, on learning the first news of the fight ;
but later, when he had had one of the victorious captains
to dine with him, he modified his views, and wrote :
" He assures me we were beaten home the last June
fight, and that the whole fleet was ashamed to hear of
our bonfires. He says the Dutch do fight in very good
order, and we in none at all. He says that in the July
fight both Prince Rupert and Holmes had their belly
fulls, and were fain to go aside, though, if the wind had
continued, we had utterly beaten them. He do confess
we be governed by a company of fools, and fears our

ruin."

Opdam perished with his ship. Lawson was struck
on the knee by a flying shot from the flagship when she
was blown up. It was at first thought that he would
recover ; but the injury proved fatal. The praises of

310 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Sir John were sung in some verses which also indicated
the bitterness of the feeling between the two nations, for
the poet, in recording Lawson's death, said that his

"... valour beyond fate did go,
And still fights Opdam in the lake below."

The July fight was that of 1666, when the grim
Monk and Prince Rupert fell upon the Dutch fleet
under De Ruyter and Tromp, routing the enemy and
killing Tromp. The fight was long and fierce, and De
Ruyter had the bitterness of being deserted by some of
his chief officers. Yet he maintained the struggle until
he found that the seven ships which were left to him
were surrounded by three times that number of the
English. The English were in crescent formation, and
pressed heavily upon the stubborn Dutchmen.

Monk, resolved at all costs to crush his opponent,
drove hard upon De Ruyter's flagship and tried to
smash him with the firing of a united broadside. It was
at this apparently hopeless moment that De Ruyter
despairingly exclaimed, "How wretched am I, that
among so many thousand balls, not one will bring me
death ! " He, however, quickly recovered, and with-
drew the remnant of his shattered force to Walcheren.
In executing that retreat he won renown as great as
victory would have given him.

Six years later, at. Solebay, De Ruyter almost had
his complete revenge. At the head of more than a
hundred sail he surprised, on 28th May 1672, the
combined English and French fleets of much larger
force than his own, as they were lying at anchor. De
Ruyter first fell on the French, then, as they drew out

BROOM AND WHIPLASH 311

of the engagement, on the English, who endured the
burden of the battle. As a result of the affair, which was
indecisive, the allied fleet was unable to take the offensive
for more than a month afterwards, although they had
lost only one ship and the Dutch five or six.

Meanwhile, De Ruyter had scored a triumph which
even he could scarcely have considered possible — he had
lumbered across the North Sea and invaded England
itself, and carried off to Holland as a chief trophy the
finest warship in the world — the Royal Charles, which,
on 3rd June 1665, had carried the flag of the Duke
of York.

A letter from Hull, written on i6th June 1667,
sounded that note of consternation and fear which was
universal in England when it was known that the Dutch
had sailed boldly up the Thames, entered the Medway,
defeated the English, burnt some of our finest warships,
and carried off the Royal Charles. At Amsterdam there
is to be seen the arms which decorated the stern of the
Royal Charles, bearing an inscription stating that she
was captured during the "glorious operations in the
river of Rochester in the year 1667." That relic is as
much a source of pride to Holland as the remembrance
of the Dutch in the Medway is a lasting national
humiliation.

A profligate monarch and licentious Court had put
pleasure and selfish indulgence before everything else,
with the result that the Navy had been grossly and com-
pletely neglected. Ships were badly found, ordnance
was imperfect, ammunition was bad, and such shot as
there was available proved, often enough, either too
large or too small for the guns for which it was issued.

312 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Greatest of all scandals was the failure to pay the
seamen their wages. Men were forced to serve, under
conditions which to the present-day mind are appalling,
yet they could not get their miserable money. In
despair some of the pressed men sought to escape by
jumping overboard and swimming ashore. A few found
freedom that way ; others were mercilessly shot as they
made their attempts. Considerable numbers of good
English seamen entered the Dutch service, and fought
as readily against their own country as they would have
bled for it if they had been treated with common and
ordinary gratitude.

" Some do not stick to say things were better
ordered in Cromwell's time," wrote the Hullman, "for
then seamen had all their pay, and were not permitted
to swear, but were clapped in the bilboes ; and if the
officers did they were turned out, and then God gave a
blessing to them ; but now all men are for making them-
selves great, and few mind the King and the nation's
interest, but mind plays and women, and fling away
much money that would serve to pay the seamen. . . .
Our garrison is much out of repair ; very many of our
gun-carriages are very bad, and almost past using."

In every big and little port on the east coast, indeed,
there was amazement and alarm. None knew better
than these people on the North Sea shores how powerful
and insolent the Dutch had grown, and all realised that
the degrading raid on the Thames and Medway as far
as Rochester would spur the men of Holland to further
swoops and outrages.

Bad as the news was, it became infinitely worse
when it reached remote places like Whitby and

BROOM AND WHIPLASH 313

Newcastle, for it lost nothing in the telling and repeti-
tion. People at Newcastle were declared to be at
their wits' end owing to the tidings of the national
disgrace, and they gave up their own city for
lost ; yet they set to work at once to draw the ships
up the Tyne for safety, to plant guns, repair the walls,
and build a fort at Tynemouth Castle. Newcastle
folk had special cause for fear and panic, because, as
a result of the raid, coal had risen to £6 a chaldron.
It was reported that the Dutch were resolved to attack
Newcastle and destroy the coal fleet.

Whitby people were "perplexed that the Dutch
vapour so publicly in the Thames, " the vapouring,
however, being much more full of body than the
corresponding performance nowadays ; Bridlington,
while sorry to hear the news, hoped that already the
King's forces had repulsed the invaders. " Strange
discourse " was caused at Lynn, in Norfolk, by the
report of the burning of the English ships ; and at
Yarmouth and elsewhere wrath prevailed, as well as
consternation. Though every one at Yarmouth talked
"at a strange rate," yet there was something more
than speech, for the drums beat bravely, and there
and elsewhere noble lords who had been temporarily
sobered into recognising the country's peril, and
accordingly their own, left their debaucheries and
frivolities and to martial music did their best to enrol
the most willing and warlike men, and encourage them
to meet the enemy. The Dutch were then credited,
and rightly, with the intention of ravaging the east
coast, after their success in the Thames and Medway.

It was on Wednesday, i5th June, that the Dutch

314 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

descent was made. A contemporary Dutch account
described the sailing of the fleet from Holland on
the ist June — a date which might well correspond
in the history of the Netherlands with our own
'•Glorious First" of the same month. Lieutenant-
Admiral De Ruyter was in command of the ships,
some of which were driven from their anchors by
a strong south-south-west gale on the 4th ; but were
safely before London River on the 7th. The admiral
held a council of war, to decide how best the Thames
could be navigated by some of the lightest vessels,
and whether they could take some of the King's
ships. On the Qth seventeen ships of war, four advice-
boats, and four fire-ships sailed up the Thames, com-
manded by Lieutenant-Admiral Van Ghent, with whom
went De Witt as deputy of the States General.

That evening the ships arrived before Queen-
borough and Gravesend ; but as nothing could be
done they returned to Queenborough on the loth.
Going back to Rochester, they conquered Sheppy and
Queenborough and attacked the fort at Sheerness,
recently built for the defence of the passage to Rochester
and Chatham.

"Our cannons so stormed the place ^that the enemy
left it. ... Our people found there an entire royal
magazine, with very heavy anchors and cables and
hundreds of masts." They took what they wanted
and destroyed the rest, the damage done being
estimated at more than "four tons of gold." These
statements are obviously much exaggerated, after the
manner of stories told under excitement ; but extensive
mischief was undoubtedly done by the Dutch.

BROOM AND WHIPLASH 315

On the 1 2th, the wind being east-north-east, the
Dutch sailed with the tide about four miles up the
Medway, and made a severe attack. Before their
coming the English had sunk seven fire-ships, "and
enclosed the river with a thick and heavy iron chain,
running on pulleys, which turned on wheels. Six of their
ships, distributed in good order, lay before the chain ;
at the one end lay four, and at the other end two
stout frigates which crossed the water. This notwith-
standing, the Dutch, with more than mortal bold-
ness, made an attack against all these dangers."

One English frigate was taken, another was burnt
by means of a fire-ship, then " the other four ships
were left by their comrades, the crews in confusion
sprang overboard, and our people took the Royal
Charles, fitted to bear 100 pieces of cannon, and with
32 guns on board. . . . Nothing more costly has been
made in England, and it must have cost almost
100,000 dollars in the gilding alone. They also
took the Charles v., with two others of the largest
ships, the Matthias and the Castle of Honingen, which
are burnt. The chain was burst into pieces, and all
within it destroyed and annihilated. . . . On land
our people did not do much, for all was in commotion,
and the English, with 12,000 men, came against them
in arms ; so the Dutch abandoned the places which
they had taken, and came again, with their ships,
into the Thames."

In the main the Dutch account is correct ; but on
the English side it was declared that the chain was
easily forced, because it was merely fastened with cable-
yarn, and that, although the Royal Charles had only

316 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

30 (the Dutch said 32) guns on board, still the
ammunition supply was so short that it was soon
spent. When the Dutch took her they hoisted their
own flag over the English flag, and the famous painting
by Van der Velde shows her being towed across the
North Sea with that display of bunting — shameful and
humiliating to England and shedding lustre on the
Dutch. The Royal Charles, however, was not taken
off at once. She struck the ground and kept fast till
the next tide, a mere handful of Dutchmen remaining
on board. The invaders also leisurely completed their
task of burning the ships they had captured and
could not take away.

Utter panic seized the country when the details
of the invasion were known. Fierce recriminations
took place concerning the state of the Navy, which
had been grossly and wickedly neglected. It was
believed that London would be attacked and sacked,
and terrified families fled from Greenwich and Black-
wall, in the expectation of those places falling before
the capital. Merchants were stunned with fear, and
bankers shut up their shops. " People are ready to
tear their hair off their heads. We are betrayed,"
wrote a London correspondent despairingly, and there
was indeed cause for the belief that persons high in
office had acted treacherously and disloyally. The
King himself, roused to fury enough to forget his own
base pleasures for the time, sent a circular letter to
the legal profession, speaking of the " insolent spirit
of our enemies," and begging for money in consider-
able sums "by way of loans." The East India
Company was asked for a loan of £20,000, and appeals

BROOM AND WHIPLASH 3 1 7

were made to citizens and others. There was a
sudden and frantic effort to try and remedy at once
the long neglect of the Navy.

Meanwhile, the triumphant Dutch fleet of 52 vessels
was said to be going homewards ; then came the
startling news that the enemy were preparing to raid
the east coast ports. They did, indeed, on 2nd July,
get two or three thousand men ashore at Harwich,
near Felixstowe cliffs. They covered the landing
of these men, who made a bold appearance with
their pikes, their guns keeping up a constant fire at
the port. But the result of their attempt on Harwich
was far different from their success at Rochester.
They met with stubborn opposition, and were driven
back to their boats and out to sea.

Many dismal hearts were cheered by this success,
and the people at Harwich were greatly encouraged
by the appearance of the Duke of York, who had
hurried to the coast. Peace was spoken of, but
prematurely, for the triumphant Dutch hovered about
the eastern shore and kept the inhabitants in a state
of terror. Then they were moved to try and repeat
their success in the Medway, and six weeks after their
victory at Rochester they reappeared off Chatham.
There were several unimportant meetings between
the English and the Dutch forces, but the truth was
that both nations were weary of the bitter and pro-
tracted strife, and it was known that negotiations
were continuing in the hope of settling terms of
peace. On 26th July it was definitely announced
that the two countries had come to terms, and that
peace had been concluded; then it seemed as if the

318 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

English and the Dutch tried to surpass each other
in expressing rapture at the termination of a costly
and devastating war.

There is to be seen in the grounds of Greenwich
Hospital an old gun, in a remarkably good state of
preservation, which bears the following inscription : —

" This gun was found sunk in the sand in St. Mary's
Creek, below Chatham. It is of iron, believed to have
been cast in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and is
supposed to have formed part of the armament of the
Matthias, a ship set on fire and sunk by the Dutch under
De Ruyter when he sailed up the Medway to attack
Chatham, I2th June 1667."

CHAPTER XXV

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO'

BY the light of a full harvest moon, on an autumn
evening in 1779, wondering people on the Yorkshire
cliffs watched one of the most stubborn naval fights in
British history. That was the battle between John
Paul Jones and his squadron and two British ships of
war off Flamborough Head. To-day, in an enclosure
at Scarborough from which the Head is visible, there is
an old anchor, recovered some years ago by the paddle-
trawler Dunrobin, which is believed to have belonged to
one of the ships engaged — the Serapis.

The very name of Paul Jones became a bogey on
the north-east coast. He was, in the estimation of
many people, a renegade Scotchman, a romantic ruffian
who, if the Flamborough fight had gone against him,
would assuredly have found a place in Execution Dock.
His name has been as much execrated in England as it
has been glorified in America. That he was a bold and
clever seaman there can be no question ; but he was
possessed by a vanity which may have been as much
the cause of some of his successes as his skill and daring
were. He lived to make the world ring with praise of
his deeds, to be idolised for a time, and to die, almost
neglected and forgotten, in Paris. More than a century

319

320 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

after his obscure burial his remains were removed to
America, and buried with much solemnity and honour,
for he is spoken of as the father of the United States
Navy.

Jones, whose original name was John Paul, was born
at Arbigland, in Kirkcudbrightshire, on 6th July 1747.
After achieving notoriety in the days of his boyhood he
took to the sea and had various adventures in slavers
and other craft. A brother of his, who had gone to
America, died in Virginia in 1773, leaving no will and
apparently a considerable fortune. On behalf of the
family John took charge of the estate and dealt with it
as he did later with other possessions that were not his
own. For a couple of years he kept modestly in the
background, having, perhaps, a full appreciation of
unwritten laws, then, in December 1775, he entered the
American Navy, disguised as Paul Jones. America, at
that time a British colony, had been driven to rebellion
by the folly and incapacity of the administrators at home,
and began that brave struggle which ended in total
independence.

Jones made his name notorious on the British coasts.
A contemporary writer referred to him as this " noted
desperado," and harsher things were spoken by those
who suffered from his depredations. There are many
notable deeds to his credit ; but the best remembered is
his conflict with the British off the Yorkshire coast.

Jones scoured and harassed the North Sea. He
showed a special liking for Scotch parts, and one of his
most celebrated compositions was a bombastic ultimatum
to the magistrates of Leith, which was never delivered.
Through the influence of the philosopher Franklin, who

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO' 321

represented America in France, Jones had been furnished
with a small squadron of ships, of which the largest was
an old Indiaman named the Due de Duras. Jones
altered this name to the Bon Homme Richard, in compli-
ment to a saying of Poor Richard — " If you would have
your business done, come yourself — if not, send," one of
Franklin's proverbs. The Richard carried forty guns,
and, like the rest of Jones's ships, was manned by a
mixed crew, including not a few renegade Englishmen.
No one, however, could condemn an Englishman at that
time from entering the service of any navy, provided it
was not his own, for he was flogged into loyalty, and
treated worse than a dog when on board ship. Jones
also had the Alliance, a frigate of thirty-six guns, com-
manded by a Frenchman who showed neither courage
nor obedience, and was afterwards dismissed the service
on the ground of insanity ; the Pallas, a French ship of
thirty-two guns ; the Cerf, of eighteen guns ; and the
Vengeance, a twelve-gun vessel.

At the head of this force Jones sailed from France
and appeared off the Scotch coast, meaning to swoop on
Leith, as he had previously descended, but with slight
success, on Ireland and Whitehaven.

Styling himself " The Honourable Paul Jones,
Commander-in-Chief of the American Squadron now in
Europe, etc.," he prepared his momentous summons to
the Leith fathers. 4< Savages would blush at the un-
manly violation and rapacity that has marked the tracks
of British tyranny in America," he wrote, " from which
neither virgin innocence nor helpless age has been a
plea of protection or pity. Leith and its port now lies
at our mercy ; and did not our humanity stay the hand

21

322 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of just retaliation, I should, without advertisement, lay it
in ashes." He, however, nobly forbore, until he had
given the people of Leith a chance of paying a ransom
of ,£200,000.

This concoction was penned when the Richard was
at anchor in Leith Roads, on i7th September 1779 ; but
the colonel who was detailed to deliver it did not do so,
for the simple reason that a gale forced Jones to put to
sea.

His audacious appearance had terrified and amazed
the Scots on the coast, for so close to the shore did he
sail that at one time he was not more than a mile away
from Kirkcaldy, in the Firth of Forth. The I7th was a
Sunday, and the good Mr. Shirra, a dissenting minister
of the town, abandoned his kirk and held a service on
the beach, to a congregation largely composed of scream-
ing women and of children who raised their voices in
sympathetic chorus. The minister, in impassioned dia-
lect, prayed loudly and fervently for the defeat of the
"piratical invader, Paul Jones." The story goes that
the lamentations of the congregation inspired the pastor
to declare that he had been long a faithful servant of the
Lord, and that, unless the Lord saw fit to turn the wind
about and drive the " vile piret " out to sea, he, the pastor,
would not stir a foot, but would just sit down till the
tide came. When the suppliant was afterwards credited
with having wrought well with Providence he modestly
replied, " Na, na — / prayed; but the Loral sent the
wind ! "

Jones had gone to sea, taking his ultimatum and his
colonel with him. His great design had failed, but he
made amends by capturing small fry that were unable

A RELIC OF PAUL JONES.

THE OLD CONVICT SHIP SUCCESS.

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO' 323

to protect themselves. He had fallen upon and seized
a little collier, whose master he held captive, so that he
might use his local knowledge in destroying the coal-
carrying trade and in that way paralysing London. This
big enterprise also he had to abandon, and he gave the
master back his vessel, " on account of his attachment to
America, and the faithful information and important
services he rendered me by his general knowledge of
the east coast of Britain," said Jones. " I had given
orders to sink the old vessel, when the tears of this
honest man prevailed over my intention." The ex-
planation is as picturesque as was Paul Jones's costume
when he reached France a victor. He was then attired
in continental dress, crowned by a jaunty gold-braided
Scotch bonnet — perhaps a graceful tribute to the land of
his birth.

Most of Jones's schemes had failed, though not for
want of pluck on his part. He had carefully prepared
his plans, and they had been checkmated. Then chance
came his way, and, taking it, he won the greatest glory of
his life — the victory off the Yorkshire coast. However
different opinions may be as to the morality of his per-
formances, there is no doubt that he was a courageous and
resourceful fighter. He succeeded against odds that were
more than equal, and with crews who were not awed
into discipline by King's officers.

Nowhere could be found a better place for witnessing
a battle than the primitive and rugged part of the York-
shire coast off which Jones and his opponent met. That
stretch of bold shore to-day differs little in appearance
from the aspect it presented more than a century and a
quarter ago. The people themselves are almost un-

324 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

changed, for Flamborough village is nearly three miles
from the nearest railway station, and that a very small
one ; and the North and South Landings furnish sights
as odd and quaint as when Jones appeared off the grim
and dangerous headland which juts far out to sea. From
the Castle Hill at Scarborough, twenty miles away, the
Head is clearly visible, and watchers on the ramparts of
the fortress would distinguish the flashes of the guns and
hear the boom of the discharges. To the south of Flam-
borough, on the shores of Bridlington Bay, and farther
down the cliffs, were crowds of amazed and excited
people.

It was known that Jones was in the neighbourhood.
On 2ist September he had chased two sail off Flam-
borough Head. One, a brigantine collier, in ballast, of
Scarborough, he took, and at once sank her, as a fleet ap-
peared to the southward. Jones could not come up with
the fleet before night ; but he got so near one of the ships
that he drove her ashore between the Head and Spurn.
A Sunderland brigantine, from Holland, then fell to him
as a prize. Next morning, at daybreak, he saw a fleet
approaching from Spurn, and took it to be a convoy
which was expected at Leith from London. According
to the story told by Jones, who did not err on the side of
modesty, the fleet had not the courage to come on, although
one of the ships had a pendant hoisted and seemed to be a
ship of force. This vessel, however, kept to windward,
very near the land, and on the edge of dangerous shoals
which Jones could not approach with safety. He signalled
for a pilot, and two pilot-boats went off. These, appar-
ently containing fishermen, told Jones that the ship with
a pendant was an armed merchantman, and that a King's

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO1 325

frigate was anchored in the H umber, not far down the
coast, in readiness to convoy a number of merchantmen
bound to the north.

Jones hesitated at nothing in the execution of his
plans. The pilots supposed him to be an English war-
ship and therefore made known to him the private signal
which they were required to make. By using this signal
Jones tried to decoy the merchantmen out of port, but
the wind changed and the tide was unfavourable, so that
" the deception had not the desired effect, and they
wisely put back." Finding the entrance to the Humber
very difficult and dangerous, and as the Pallas was not in
sight, Jones determined not to remain off the mouth of
the river and steered out again to Flamborough Head to
join the Pallas. In the night they saw two ships and
chased them until three o'clock on the following morning.
Jones was then very near the ships — the Alliance and
the Pallas — and made the private signal of reconnais-
sance, which he had given to each of his captains before
sailing from Groix. Only half the signal was returned.
Both sides lay to until daylight.

Matters were becoming exciting and rapidly leading up
to the grand climax. The morning of the 23rd had come
and Jones pursued a brigantine, following this by chas-
ing at noon a large ship that was rounding Flamborough
Head from the north. Simultaneously he manned and
armed one of the pilot-boats to send after the brigantine,
which seemed to be the vessel he had driven ashore.

Now it was that the fleet of merchantmen from the
Baltic, forty-one sail in all, appeared off Flamborough
Head, bearing north-north-east. Jones, on seeing the
fleet, immediately abandoned the single ship which was then

326 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

anchored in Bridlington Bay. He recalled the pilot-boat
and made the signal for a general chase. When the fleet
discovered Jones's squadron bearing down, all the mer-
chantmen crowded sail towards the shore. At the same
time the two warships which were convoying the fleet
steered from the land and prepared for battle. "In
approaching the enemy," wrote Jones, " I crowded every
possible sail, and made the signal for the line of battle, to
which the Alliance showed no attention. Earnest as I
was for action, I could not reach the commodore's ship
until seven in the evening, being then within pistol-shot,
when he hailed the Bon Homme Richard. We answered
him by firing a whole broadside."

The principal interest of the battle centres in the
struggle between the two chief ships — the Richard and
the Serapis. There was a subsidiary conflict — that of
the Pallas and the Countess of Scarborough ; but it has
become insignificant by being overshadowed. After two
hours' hard fighting the Countess of Scarborough, which
was much inferior in armament to her opponent, was taken
by the Pallas.

Once the fight began it was continued with fierce
resolution on both sides, and rarely has a more moving
spectacle been witnessed from the shore, although there
have been more terrible struggles very near the land —
amongst them the Nile, Camperdown, Algiers, and
Navarino.

Evening had fallen, the full moon was rising in the
placid sky, and there were the twinkling lamps and candles
in the cottages and houses ashore. Fisherfolk and tillers
of the soil were abroad, husbands and wives were out
with their children, and many a fine young fellow and

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO1 327

his handsome sweetheart were on the cliff-tops gazing
at the battle.

Jones was a bold and skilful sailor ; Captain Pearson,
who commanded the Serapis, had won a reputation as a
fine officer. Each man tried his hardest on that peaceful
evening to win an advantage, but movements were slow,
for there was little wind. Jones, recognising his inferior
strength, sought to grapple at close quarters with his
enemy, and tried to lay the Richard athwart the bow of
the Serapis. Some of his braces were, however, shot
away, and the manoeuvre failed. The bowsprit of the
Serapis went over the Richard's poop by the mizzen-mast,
and instantly Jones made both ships fast, the result being
that the stern of the Englishman was forced close to the
American's bow. The ships lay square alongside of
each other, the yards were entangled, and the muzzles of
the opposing guns came in contact.

By this time it was eight o'clock and the Richard
was leaking badly, having received a number of eighteen-
pound shots below the water-line. Jones's battery of
twelve-pounders, on which he had placed great reliance,
and indeed chief hope, were completely silenced and
abandoned. The battery of the lower gun-deck con-
sisted of half a dozen old eighteen-pounders, but, beyond
firing eight shots in all, these weapons were useless.
At the very first discharge two of these guns burst and
killed nearly all their crews. Already the officer com-
manding a party of twenty soldiers on the poop — Lieu-
tenant-Colonel de Chamillard, who was to have de-
livered the ultimatum to the magistrates at Leith — had
abandoned that station owing to losses amongst his men.

So furious and destructive had been the firing that

328 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

an hour after the fight began Jones had only two nine-
pounders on the quarter-deck which were not silenced,
and during the rest of the action not one of the heavier
pieces of ordnance was discharged.

The guns on the quarter-deck were commanded by
the purser, Mease, but he was wounded in the head, and
Jones took his place. Rallying a few men — a hard task,
for discipline was lax in Jones's squadron, and there were
not a few cowards serving under him — he shifted over
one of the lee-quarter-deck guns, making three of these
nine-pounders brought to bear against the Serapis.

In one respect, however, Jones was fortunate. His
tops were well manned, and from them, especially the
maintop commanded by Lieutenant Stack, a killing fire
was directed upon the Englishman. From one of the
nine-pounders, too, double-headed shot were fired at the
mainmast of the Serapis, grape and canister being
scattered upon her decks. Under that cannonade the
decks of the Serapis were deserted, the only place of
refuge for the living being below.

Jones believed that now the Englishman was on the
point of surrendering ; but an utterly unlooked-for thing
occurred. " The cowardice or treachery " of his gunner,
carpenter, and master-at-arms induced them to ask for
quarter.

Pearson heard the cry. " Has your ship struck?"
he shouted.

Jones was equal to the hail, and grasped the peril of
the situation. " I haven't yet begun to fight ! " he
shouted back.

Instantly the battle was resumed more fiercely than
before. Already the lower-deck ports of the Serapis

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO1 329

had been closed, so that the enemy could not board
through them, but they were quickly beaten in by the
enemy's shot.

All this time the ships were locked together so
closely that when the crews were loading the guns their
rammers either struck the ships' sides or entered the
ports. An attempt which the English made to board
was checked, nor did they win in an attempt to get clear
of the Richard by letting an anchor go, hoping that the
ships would drift apart. They were too firmly lashed
together, and the sea was calm, with very little wind.

The Serapis had become, to all appearances, a
deserted ship. Her people had been driven below,
where alone they could find shelter ; and now occurred a
dramatic and destructive incident. More cartridges than
were needed had been got up from the magazines by
the powder-monkeys of the Serapis, and they had been
laid alongside the guns on the main-deck.

A Scotchman in the crew of the Richard crept out
to the end of the main yard-arm, carrying a bucket filled
with explosives. He got over the main hatchway of the
Serapis, and instantly dropped a hand-grenade. Some
loose powder which was on the main-deck was fired ;
this in turn exploded cartridge after cartridge, with
hideous results, for a score of men were killed, twenty
were mortally wounded, and as many were burnt or
otherwise injured. Some of the men were blown to
pieces; yet in spite of that demoralising happening
Pearson would not yield, and the fight went on.
Several times the Serapis had been on fire ; but the
flames had been mastered.

For two hours and a half the bloody battle had been

330 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

waged ; then the Alliance came up and Jones reason-
ably supposed that the victory was as good as won.
But to his amazement that ship, instead of attacking the
Englishman, fired a broadside full into the Richards
stern.

Furious and incredulous, Jones and his people shouted
to the Alliance to stop firing into the Richard '; but she
passed along the offside of the ship and continued her
cannonade. There could not be any mistaking the
vessels, for it was full moonlight, and they were quite
different in appearance and construction. The Richards
sides were black, while those of the Serapis were yellow.

Jones in desperation showed his reconnaissance
signal — three lanterns, placed horizontally, one at the
head, another in the middle, and the third at the stern ;
yet Landais, the captain of the Alliance, took no notice.
He passed round, firing into the Richard's head, stern,
and broadside, mortally wounding an officer and killing
several men. Truly Jones was justified in declaring that
his situation now was deplorable ; nor can some of his
officers be blamed for urging him to strike. In any case
Jones was not likely to surrender. He knew what his
punishment would be, in view of his nationality and
piratical performances. He refused to haul down his
colours, although his ship was sinking and was also on
fire. To complete the apparent hopelessness of his
situation, the master-at-arms released the prisoners, of
whom there were on board three hundred, taken from
prizes and ransomed. These men swarmed on deck,
but what seemed like a very imminent peril was turned
by the resourceful commander into a means of salvation.
He ordered them to set to work at once on the pumps,

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO' 331

and driven into obedience by Lieutenant Dale and the
sense of their own extremity, the captives obeyed.

At this time the Richard was almost a shattered
wreck, for her sides were smashed in by the British fire
and she had five feet of water in her hold. She was not
a large ship, and at that crisis, with more than six
hundred men and boys on board, the decks red with
blood, and the dead and wounded everywhere, she was
in very truth, as Jones had said, a deplorable thing.

The Serapis, however, was in worse case than her
opponent, especially as the Alliance gave her the same
attention that had been shown to the Richard. Con-
tinuous fire had been kept up on her mainmast, and that
immense spar was tottering to its fall, soon to crash
down. She had maintained a splendid fight, and, if
one has regret at all, it is that Pearson did not longer
wage his gallant defence. He had, however, done well ;
he believed that no further good could result from con-
tinuing the combat, now that the Alliance had joined
the Richard^ and with bitter reluctance he surrendered.
How deeply he felt his humiliation was indicated by his
caustic remark to Jones when, on the deck of the
Richard, he yielded up his sword. He gave it, he said,
to " a man who may be said to fight with a halter round
his neck." Jones ignored the taunt, and generously
replied that Captain Pearson had fought like a hero and
hoped that his sovereign would reward him in the most
ample manner.

Fire was raging in the Richard, and it was ten
o'clock next morning before the flames were put out.
Jones was anxious to carry his ship into port, but he
could not save her. He removed his wounded, and at

332 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

ten o'clock on the night of the 25th, nearly fifty hours
after the battle, she sank in the North Sea. No lives
were lost in her, according to Jones — though Pearson
stated afterwards that she took a number of men with
her — but it was impossible to save any of the stores.
Jones lost most of his clothes, books, and papers, and
several of his officers lost all their clothes and effects.
The Serapis, which had been fitted with a jury-mast,
reached the Texel.

The killed in the Serapis numbered 61 ; the Richard's
list of dead was 42 ; but it was believed that the total loss
on each side was about the same, in killed and wounded
— 150 ; making altogether 300 — a heavy butcher's bill.

This account of the battle is based chiefly on the
story which Jones wrote about a fortnight after the affair
and sent to Franklin. A letter written to the Admiralty
by Pearson on 6th October, when he was on board the
Pallas, in the Texel, gives other details which differ
somewhat from Jones's story, although, on the whole,
that is accurate and fair. Captain Pearson related how,
on the 23rd, being close in with Scarborough, a boat
went off at about eleven o'clock in the morning, with a
letter from the Corporation bailiffs, giving information of
a flying squadron of the enemy's ships being off the
coast. From that moment it is clear that Pearson's
great object was to save his convoy, and that he
succeeded in doing so, for his ships escaped into Scar-
borough and other ports.

When Jones was within musket-shot of the Serapis,
Pearson hailed and asked what ship it was. They
answered, in English, '^^ Princess Royal" To the
further question, " Where do you belong?" they gave

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO1 333

an evasive reply ; whereupon Pearson declared that if
they did not at once tell him he would fire into them.
Instantly there was a shot from the Richard, followed
by a broadside from the Serapis ; then, after further
broadsides, the ships were locked together. The
Richard he found, later, to be in the " greatest distress.
Her quarters and counter on the lower deck entirely
drove in, and the whole of her lower deck guns dis-
mounted." She sank "with a great number of her
wounded people on board of her."

Captain Pearson spoke highly of the conduct of his
officers and crew, nor was Captain Piercy, in the
Countess of Scarborough, in the least remiss in his
duty, "he having given me every assistance in his
power, and as much as could be expected from such a
ship, in engaging the attention of the Pallas, a frigate of
32 guns, during the whole action." He claimed that, in
addition to "wholly oversetting" the intentions of the
flying squadron, he had rescued a valuable convoy from
falling into the hands of the enemy — " which must have
been the case had I acted any otherwise than I did.
We have been driving about the North Sea ever since
the action, endeavouring to make any port we possibly
could, but have not been able to get into any place until
to-day we arrived in the Texel."

Pearson was duly tried by court-martial and honour-
ably acquitted. Hull, Scarborough, and other towns
made him a freeman, and he received presents of plate
from merchants and a knighthood from the King — a
distinction which caused Jones to declare sarcastically
that next time he had the good fortune to meet the
captain he would make a lord of him.

334 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Jones was overwhelmed with praise and flattery from
Franklin, Congress, and other sources. The King of
France gave him a sword and made him a knight of
the Order of Merit ; the Danish monarch conferred a
pension upon him, which, however, Jones seems to have
been left to raise himself, and the Emperor of Russia
decorated him with the ribbon of St. Anne. Finally
Jones entered the Russian naval service and became a
rear-admiral. Early in May 1790 a contemporary
letter stated that the " noted Paul Jones" landed at
Harwich from a packet-boat. He was dressed as a
Russian admiral, and was not recognised until his name
was seen on packages at the custom-house ; then there
was such a hostile demonstration by the people who
surrounded the inn where he was staying that Jones
secretly escaped from the town the same day he landed.
He died in Paris in 1792, in his forty-fifth year, neglected
and almost forgotten, and was buried in an obscure
cemetery.

The generations passed, and Jones became known as
"the Father of the American Navy." Measures were
taken to identify his resting-place, and this at last was
found, mostly through the exertions of General Horace
Porter, United States Ambassador to France. Jones
had been buried in the old St. Louis Cemetery, and
his remains were exhumed on ist April 1905, and
preparations made to transfer them to America. On
6th July dense crowds witnessed the arrival in Paris
of 508 American sailors and marines from four war-
ships which had reached Cherbourg. They escorted
the body from the American Episcopal Church,
where it had lain since its discovery, to the Gare des

PAUL JONES OFF FLAMBRO' 335

Invalides. At night the body was taken from Paris to
Cherbourg and placed on board the flagship Brooklyn,
which conveyed it to America. With impressive naval
ceremonies the Father of the American Navy was re-
interred at Annapolis, and there he rests — regarded by
many as a very ordinary privateer and by many others
as a man whose life was spent in fighting valiantly for
the cause of liberty.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE

IN the last autumn of the eighteenth century H.M.S.
Lutine, 32 guns, with a crew of 240, was wrecked on
Vlieland, one of the islands off the coast of Holland.
One man alone escaped, and he died before reaching
England. To-day the Lutine is the best-remembered
ship that has added to the toll of the brave in the
North Sea, because she carried an immense amount
of treasure, and strenuous efforts are being made
to recover what is left of it. Considerable capital has
been raised to carry on the work, and a wonderfully
equipped salvage steamer goes — when she can get — to
the place of wreck and pumps up huge quantities of
sand; at other times she lies restfully in the harbour
at Harlingen or Terschelling. The workers say that
they will succeed; several Dutchmen with whom I
spoke this summer, near the place where the Lutine is
embedded in the shifting sands, declare that success is
impossible, and that neither skill nor pluck will win the

treasure.

The Lutine was a French ship which had been
captured by Admiral Duncan. She carried a great
quantity of money and bullion, and, being heavily in-
sured at Lloyd's, she proved a serious loss to that

336

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 337

institution. The wreck was claimed by the Dutch
Government, who, however, in 1801 granted one- third
of the salvage to the bullion fishers. After occasional
recoveries of treasure, and as the result of many negotia-
tions, the King of the Netherlands ceded to Great
Britain, for Lloyd's, half the remainder of the wreck. In
August 1857 a Dutch salvage company began opera-
tions, and in two years Lloyd's had received over
,£22,000. In course of time rather less than ,£100,000
was secured, leaving more than a million sterling in the
wreck. The rudder of the Lutine was recovered in 1859,
and a chair and table were made from it for Lloyd's,
where the articles, with the ship's bell, still are.

The Lutine, which was commanded by Captain
Lancelot Skinner, was lost on 9th October 1799. She
struck the sands of Vlieland, far out of her course, and
went down with all hands save the sole survivor. The
riches she carried were for the account of London
merchants trading with Germany. The regained
treasure was mostly gold and silver coinage ; that
which remains is chiefly bar bullion, and it has un-
doubtedly been driven deep down into the sand by the
action of the tides. It is only in calm weather and
certain winds that operations can be conducted ; but at
the time of writing it is claimed that powerful pumping
has resulted in almost reaching the treasure itself.

That part of the North Sea which claimed the
treasure-ship more than a century ago, on her voyage
from England to Hamburg, has proved the graveyard
of many fine British ships and many gallant crews. The
most disastrous of these calamities occurred a hundred
years ago, when, on 24th December 181 1, the St. George,

22

338 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

of 98 guns, the Defence, 74, and the Hero, 74, were
wrecked on the coast of Jutland. All the crews,
numbering about 2000, with the exception of 18 men,
perished, amongst the lost being Rear- Admiral Reynolds.
Just before the previous Christmas the Minotaur, 74
guns, was wrecked on the North Haaks, Texel, with a
loss of 400; and there, on 28th January 1812, the
Manilla, 38 guns, was lost with 8 men. The St. George
had 738 officers and men on board, of whom 731
perished ; of 593 in the Defence 587 were lost, while
every soul in the Hero — 590 — was drowned. This was
one of the most terrible catastrophes that ever befell
British ships of war.

The Minotaur afforded a remarkable instance of the
perils of North Sea navigation in the days when so
many British ships of war had to make their way to
and from countries with which we were at war, for her
officers believed that she had struck on the shores of
England when, as a matter of fact, she was aground
upon the North Haaks. The Minotaur, Captain John
Barrett, had been ordered by Admiral Sir James
Saumarez to protect the last Baltic Fleet, and in
December 1810 she was sailing home. The weather
was thick and hazy, the wind was blowing hard from the
south-east, and the ship was going at the rate of four
knots an hour, under close-reefed topsails and courses.

The darkness was intense, and the captain, realising
the dangers of his position, ordered that hourly sound-
ings should be taken, under the immediate direction of
the pilot of the watch. On the 22nd, at midnight, the
pilot desired the ship to be put on the other tack. All
hands were turned up to carry out the evolution, and

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 339

Lieutenant Snell, the officer of the watch, was telling the
captain what was being done, when the Minotaur struck
with such force that it was impossible to move her.

All the officers and men were on deck, and the
eager question was, " Where have we struck?"

The pilot of the watch declared that they were on
some English shoal ; but the other pilot was convinced
that the ship was on the North Haaks, and there she
proved to be. So heavily had the ground been taken
that it was almost impossible to stand on the deck. The
yawning timbers admitted water so swiftly that soon
there was 15 ft. in the hold, and a few minutes later
it had risen above the orlop deck. Masts were cut away
and guns thrown overboard, and the boom of other guns
gave the signal of distress. The crashing masts and the
smashing seas destroyed all the boats except the launch
and two yawls, and as the Minotaur sank more deeply
in her yielding bed and the water covered the forecastle,
there seemed to be no prospect of salvation for the
company.

Throughout that awful night her people crowded
together, while the seas roared over her, and the thunder
of the unseen breakers on the shore was heard above all
other sounds. At eight o'clock on the morning of the
23rd, two days before Christmas, the Minotaur broke
her back, and the utter destruction of the ship and her
company seemed certain.

The gunner, a brave man, offered to try to reach the
shore in a yawl ; but the captain, believing that no boat
could live in such a sea, refused at first to let him try.
At last he gave consent, and the gunner and thirty-one
of the crew managed to get clear of the wreck and the

340 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

spars and casks of spirits and provisions which were
being hurled dangerously about by the seas.

For two hours the gunner and his crew struggled
with the waves, the officers and men, who were crowded
on the poop and quarter-deck of the Minotaur, watching
them with intense anxiety. Then the yawl was seen to
reach the shore, and instantly the desperate survivors
fought to get the launch afloat.

Time after time savage seas had surged across the
wreck, and never a snarling mass of water came without
carrying back into the whirling deep some despairing
human being. The launch was got afloat, and, crowded
with men, she reached the land in half the time that the
yawl had taken.

The news of the wreck had been spread ashore, and
when the boats landed Dutch and French officers and
soldiers were waiting to receive them. The enemy
proved as merciless as the sea had been, for the almost
perishing survivors were at once made prisoners of war.
Appeals were made for help to be sent to the survivors
on the wreck. The launch, which was one of the smallest
of the kind carried by 74-gun ships, had taken eighty-
five men ashore, although one gunwale was entirely
broken in and the craft had no rudder ; the yawl had
also safely landed — yet the Dutch held that the task of
rescue was too dangerous, and the officers and men who
remained on board the Minotaur saw that there was no
chance of salvation except by hurling themselves over-
board and trying to swim to the land. The second yawl
had been launched, and the captain and about a hundred
men tried to reach the shore ; but the craft was capsized
and every soul perished. Early in the afternoon the

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 341

after part of the ship, on which the survivors were
crowded, turned bottom up, and the miserable remnant
of a ship's fine company was drowned.

There was one strange feature of the wreck which
was put on record at the time. On board the Minotaur
was a large tame wolf which, from the time it was caught
as a cub, had been the pet of both officers and men, and
had become specially attached to a lieutenant named
Salsford. When the ship was wrecked the wolf howled
pitifully, keeping close to Salsford all the time. When
at last the officer tried to reach the shore by clinging to
a drifting mast, his pet was with him. They were
repeatedly washed off, yet helped each other back to the
mast, the wolf acting just as a big and faithful dog would
have done that was trying to save his master. The
mast was driven quite close to the land, and it seemed as
if the strange pair would reach salvation ; but both were
utterly exhausted and benumbed, and Salsford, . unable
to support himself any longer, fell away from his only
hope of safety. Simultaneously the wolf placed his paws
round the drowning officer's neck, and Salsford at the
same moment clasped the animal in his arms. So,
locked together, they sank.

On the day before Christmas, at dawn, the survivors
were marched off as prisoners of war to Valenciennes ;
but in a few weeks the gunner escaped, hiding and
almost starving for more than a month ; then, by agreeing
to pay ^50 to the skipper of a smuggling craft at Ostend,
he escaped to England.

There was a note of tragic prophecy in the words of
Captain Newman, commanding the Hero, when, a year
after the loss of the Minotaur, he made ready to convoy

342 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

a homeward-bound fleet. He believed that the ships
had been detained too long, "and," he added, "it is well
if some of us do not share the fate of the Minotaur."

Within a few days the Hero was lost, also on the
North Haaks, with every soul on board. She sailed
from Wingo Sound on i8th December 181 1, in company
with the Grasshopper, a 1 6-gun brig, the Prince William,
and the Egeria. On the 2Oth the stormy weather had
dispersed the ships, and the Hero and Grasshopper were
left with about eighteen merchantmen to convoy. That
was two days before Christmas. Just before noon
Captain Newman signalled to the Grasshopper to come
within hail. He believed that they were on the Silver
Pits, well towards the English coast, a repetition of the
mistake made by the Minotaur, and directed that the
course should be altered to the south-west. This course
was kept till 10 p.m., then the signal was made to alter
it to two points to port.

The weather was bitterly cold, with heavy squalls of
snow and sleet. The Grasshopper was going at the rate
of nine knots when, at half-past three in the morning,
she was seen to be in broken water. All hands were
turned up, and almost immediately the vessel struck.
Suddenly she fell into three fathoms of water, and was
anchored by letting the best bower go. She struck again
in a few minutes, and struck repeatedly while she remained
in that position.

It was at this dangerous and exciting time that the
attention of the people of the brig was called to the
position of the Hero, which was about a mile away,
firing guns and burning blue lights. For half an hour
these signals were made, and it was supposed that the

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 343

Hero was anchored. When the day broke, however, it
was seen that both ships were inside the North Haaks,
about five miles from Texel Island, and that the Hero
was lying on her broadside, a total wreck.

The situation of the warship was hopeless and terrible.
The heavy seas were sweeping over the ship's company,
who were huddled on the poop and forecastle. The
little Grasshopper, pounded and thrashed by the waves,
made a gallant effort to succour her big consort ; but
she was helpless, and the Hero, as a forlorn hope, fired
a gun and hoisted a flag of truce. Dutch boats put out,
but the wind and tide prevented them from getting nearer
than three miles to the wreck. Throughout the day the
Hero was mercilessly hammered by the seas and bumped
on the sands, then, during the night, she went to pieces,
and all hands were lost.

The Grasshopper, as the only means of salvation, cut
her cable and made for the H elder Point, where she was
surrendered to the Dutch.

The loss of the St. George and the Defence was a
calamity which filled the English people with horror,
accustomed though they were at that period to dreadful
happenings at sea. The boldest sailor shrank from
navigating the treacherous and dangerous southern
stretch of the North Sea in winter-time, for in thick,
heavy weather even the pilots themselves were hopelessly
bewildered as to their exact position. There were not,
a century ago, the wonderful and complete systems of
lightships, buoys, and lighthouses which we have to-day,
and the appliances for ascertaining a ship's rate of
progress were few and imperfect. Time after time ships
had sailed from England or the Continent to cross the

344 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

North Sea and they had struck shoals and gone to
pieces, men reckoning themselves lucky if they escaped
by means of boats or spars or were cast ashore.

The loss of the Minotaur in particular had shown
the perils of winter navigation of the North Sea, and the
commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet had been ordered
not to delay the departure of the last homeward-bound
convoy beyond the ist of November. Accordingly,
Rear-Admiral Reynolds on that day sailed from Hano
with a convoy, flying his broad pendant in the St. George,
of which the captain was Daniel Oliver Guion. Heavy
gales, however, forced the admiral to put back three
times, and it was not until i2th November that he finally
left his anchorage.

The flagship had begun a voyage which for suffering
and loss is almost unparalleled. Several of the merchant
ships foundered, unable to help themselves, and the
warships incapable of giving them assistance. During
the night of the I5th the wind grew to hurricane force,
and all hands in the St. George were called to give the
ship cable ; but before this could be done the seas drove
so heavily through the hawse-holes that everything that
was not thoroughly secured was swept away and the men
were unable to stand up to their duty. They were, how-
ever, still doing their best to veer away the cable when
a large merchantman of the convoy was hurled against
the St. George in the darkness. She struck the flagship
on the bows and severed her cables, then she was torn
away, and, to the accompaniment of an appalling chorus
of cries and shouts from drowning men, she sank, and all
her people perished.

Men and gear were powerless in that storm and on

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 345

such a coast ; all that pluck and skill could do was done,
and the masts were being cut away when a huge sea
lifted the flagship and dashed her on a sandbank, where
she remained. The masts had fallen clear of her tower-
ing sides, and for that small mercy the ship's company
had cause for gratitude, though there seemed little chance
of saving her. Despite their peril and intense sufferings
in the bitter weather, the crew fought gallantly. They
were ordered to man the pumps, and they did so cheer-
fully. In the hurricane of wind and snow and sleet they
laboured till the day broke, then they had the joy of
learning that the water was not gaining on them. The
ship's rudder was torn away, and she was bumped per-
sistently upon the shoal ; but throughout that long and
awful day her people fought to save her as fiercely as
they had ever contended with an enemy behind his guns.
There seemed no hope of rescue or salvation ; yet by ten
o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the I7th, the flagship
had been almost miraculously cleared of danger ; the water
had fallen to the working of the pumps, jury-masts were
fitted, and a rudder fixed — one had been supplied from
the consort Cressy — and on December the battered but
triumphant battleship reached Gottenberg in safety.

The undaunted admiral and officers and crew set to
work to put their ship in trim for another effort to cross
the wild North Sea. By i7th December the extensive
damage had been partially repaired, and though the St.
George was scarcely fit to venture forth again, yet she
weighed anchor, and with the Defence and Cressy con-
voyed a fleet of homeward-bound merchantmen.

For nearly a week the ships struggled to get out
into the open waters and away from the fatal shores ; but

346 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

very little progress was made. Two days before
Christmas a heavy north-westerly gale was met off the
Jutland coast, and the ships were thrown into helpless
confusion.

The crippled St. George was again mostly skilfully
and nobly handled ; but it was soon evident that she
would be worsted in the fight. The makeshift rudder
was wrenched away, and all through the night the
wounded giant was hurled about by merciless seas.

On the dark morning before Christmas Day a gun
was heard from the Defence, which was believed to have
gone ashore about two and a half miles away. It was a
knell of death which might almost have heralded the
flagship's doom, for almost immediately she struck, and
it was known that nothing could save her this time.

There was ten feet of water in the hold, and so
rapidly did the sea gain on the pumps that in thirty
minutes it reached the lower deck and the people were
driven to seek refuge on the main-deck. By ten o'clock
in the morning the survivors had been forced from the
main-deck to the poop, and there, huddled together, swept
ceaselessly by bitter seas, they awaited, with what forti-
tude they could, the coming of the inevitable end. With
the exception of a yawl, every boat had been smashed
to pieces by the waves, or carried overboard. Hopeless
though the effort seemed, yet a few men volunteered to
try and get to land in the yawl. Permission was given
to try, but it was withdrawn, as it was considered im-
possible that the boat could live.

Seven hundred and fifty officers and men had sailed
from Gottenberg in the flagship ; but of that great
number many had been swept away, others drowned on

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 347

board, and some frozen to death. Throughout that
unspeakable day of sorrow, gloom, and suffering, which
heralded Merry Christmas at home, the survivors strove
to keep the life within them.

The shattered ship was crowded with the living and
the dead — but only that part of her which was still above
the level of the livid sea. The dead outnumbered the
living. Many of the corpses had been swept overboard ;
but clusters were left, amongst them that of the gallant
Reynolds and the valiant Guion.

Death had levelled all distinctions, and abolished
rank and pride ; a body was a body in that awful remnant
which had been a flagship — and a row of bodies was a
rampart against the sea, just as it was proving under
Wellington in the Peninsula. So it happened that
survivors, who could crawl or move, put their strength
together and made a rampart of corpses as a shield
against the seas which surged resistlessly against and
over them.

Admiral and captain helped to build that ghastly
barricade. They were morticed in the fourth row of
corpses which was put to windward, and against which
the freezing waters swept in sinister procession.

More than five hundred officers and men had perished ;
two hundred wretches still remained, but not so utterly
bereft of hope that they did not make a last attempt to
get to shore. They got a topsail yard and a cross-jack
yard, the only spars remaining, and these, with infinite
labour, they lashed together and launched.

The savage seas were waiting for the sorry and im-
perfect structure, on which only ten men ventured, and
the first wave smashed adrift the timbers. Five men

348 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

were drowned at once, five reached land, and one of
them died almost as soon as he believed that he was
saved.

When the toll of those brave men was known, it
was found that of the whole ship's company only seven
were saved, and these were rescued by courageous Danes
who ventured into the welter of waters and took them
from a raft on to which they had cast themselves.

The bodies of the admiral and Captain Guion were
cast ashore and buried with military honours in Rinkum
Church, near that of Captain Atkins, of the Defence.

Admiral Reynolds had known tragic experience of
the terrors of a great wreck, for, in 1797, when command-
ing the frigate Amazon, which, with the Indefatigable,
fought and conquered the French Droits de L'Homme,
74, he was near that ship when she was driven ashore
off Ushant, with about 1800 souls on board — a crew of
700, 1050 troops, and 50 English prisoners. Most of
them perished, and the Amazon herself was driven
ashore, the ship's company, with the exception of half a
dozen men who were drowned, being made prisoners.

The loss of \h^ Defence was a repetition of the wreck
of the Si. George. She also had struck, and the seas
swept over and killed, maimed, or carried off her people.
A spare anchor was torn away from its berth, thrown on
end, and sent crashing upon a crowd of men on the fore-
castle, killing 30 in its fall. Out of the crew of 600
only 6 men were saved, through the courage of the
Danes and their subsequent kindness.

The dead, who were washed ashore from the wrecks,
were buried with military honours, and the survivors were
sent to England, by the generosity of the Danish

THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 349

Government, without exchanges of prisoners of war
being demanded. From these two ships of the line,
with their combined crews of nearly 1400, only 13
persons were saved ; but altogether that Christmas of a
century ago, on the coast of Jutland, claimed nearly
2000 lives. A bitter North Sea gale in winter
caused a far heavier loss in ships and men to England
than the battle of Trafalgar.

CHAPTER XXVII

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY

To some extent the nation is awakening to the need of
allying more closely with the Royal Navy the thousands
of men and boys who toil ceaselessly on the waters of
the North Sea. I have tried to show that no greater
social and industrial revolution has been known in recent
years than that which has taken place on the Dogger
• and the other North Sea fishing-banks. The smack
has vanished and with her has gone the venerable beam-
trawl. The old-world skipper, illiterate, yet able to read
his North Sea with the lead as easily as one reads type,
has departed, and he has been followed by a race that
has been handled but neither moulded nor spoiled by
the Board School. The fishing-craft have changed
completely ; the men and boys are of a later and more
progressive generation, but the old brave spirit dominates
the fishermen, and quietly, patiently, doggedly, and with
never-failing resolution, they work out their hard and
gloomy lives on the turgid waters east and west of
which are the world's two most powerful nations in
arms — Germany and England. Simultaneous with
that change has been one of the most remarkable ad-
vances known — the stepping of a continental nation
from a position of no naval or maritime importance

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 351

whatsoever to a front place amongst the world's great
sea-powers.

One of the most significant movements in connection
with the British Navy of to-day has been the complete
change of opinion with regard to the probable area of
future contests for sea supremacy. Until lately it was
generally believed that the struggle would be decided in
the Mediterranean, and the British Fleet was distributed
on that basis, the most powerful ships being allocated to
the Mediterranean. Now, however, in view of the
amazing and sinister growth of the naval power of
Germany, our strongest units are concentrated for North
Sea work.

Germany, with a foresight and sagacity that compel
admiration, has been quick to realise the strategical
possibilities of the North Sea. One of her great objects
is to give, in time of peace, a thorough training to her
naval forces on the stormy waters which they know so
well. Until recently it was possible to say of most
foreign navies that their training was carried out in the
security of harbours or sheltered waters. Manoeuvring
in winter or on seas notoriously troubled was carefully
avoided, and there was not anything to approach,
certainly nothing to excel, the splendid work throughout
the year which has made the British Navy the admira-
tion, envy, and example of the world.

Germany is not renowned for originating changes ;
but she is swift to follow a lead, and never hesitates to
try and improve on Great Britain's naval and maritime
achievements. On rare occasions, indeed, Germany sets
an example. She did so lately in connection with North
Sea trawlers, for wireless telegraphy was installed in

352 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

several of these vessels, enabling the German Admiralty
to keep in constant touch with that floating world on the
Dogger and in the neighbourhood, of which most
Englishmen are deplorably and densely ignorant. If
to-day there were a repetition of the Russian outrage, the
German Admiralty in all probability would know of the
affair immediately ; but we should have to wait until a
carrier, a trawler, or a hospital steamer brought the
startling tidings to shore. Admiral Rozhdestvensky's
blundering squadron fired on the vessels of the Game-
cock Fleet on the night between the 2ist and 22nd of
October 1904 ; but it was not until the evening of
the 23rd that the shot-riddled Mino reported the
occurrence at Hull, about forty hours having elapsed
since the cannonading.

For some years the country has depended chiefly
upon its fishermen to recruit the Royal Naval Reserve.
Roughly speaking, 100,000 men and boys are con-
stantly employed in the fishing industries around our
coasts, and several thousands of these are in the Naval
Reserve. In 1908 these 100,000 toilers won from the
sea fish of the value of ,£10,962,757, and most of the
fish represented by that great sum was caught by
North Sea men. Only a quarter of a century has
passed since the first paddle-boats, roughly equipped
with beam-trawl apparatus, began the steam-fishing
which revolutionised work on the North Sea banks.
Not 500 steam-trawlers were used in 1893; now there
are more than 2000 at work, the majority plying their
calling on the North Sea. But although the actual
means of winning fish from North Sea waters have been
completely changed, still the men and boys are the same

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 353

in the main essentials, and they form a body which would
prove of inestimable value in case of conflict between
Great Britain and Germany.

In view of the alteration of our fighting basis from
the Mediterranean to the North Sea, with a great naval
base at Rosyth, the time has come for a complete work-
ing understanding between the Royal Navy and the men
of the North Sea, for the establishment of what might
be called a North Sea Auxiliary, the backbone of which
should be the trawlers.

The North Sea fleeter spends his life practically
afloat ; at the outside he has not more than three full
weeks ashore, so that he lives in the confined space
of the little steamboat — a craft, say, no ft. long and
2 1 ft. broad — his only change corning when he ferries the
fish to the carrier, or visits the Mission vessel which is
stationed with his fleet. He has to ride out the bitterest
and most dangerous gales and to endure hardships which
are unknown to ordinary seamen and have no existence
in the Royal Navy. The North Sea man, especially if
he is a skipper or a mate, knows his ground thoroughly,
and with the help of the lead can locate his position with
unerring accuracy ; and he is learned in the wisdom of
the weather and the tides. He is a skilled North Sea
pilot and in many cases has an intimate knowledge of
many of those seaboard places which are so zealously
guarded by the Germans. This special knowledge alone
would make him an invaluable auxiliary to the Royal
Navy ; and it would well repay the country to retain his
expert services for use in time of need.

A register could be formed and kept of suitable men
for this branch of the North Sea Auxiliary, giving a
23

354 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

man's shore address and the name of his vessel, so that
when afloat or at home he could be reached with ease.
The modern North Sea steam-trawler has a very large
coal-carrying capacity, and remains with her fleet until
the coal is exhausted. Each fleet, as I have shown, is
under an experienced admiral ; and there is a vice-
admiral. With few exceptions the admiral's signals as
to trawling and changing ground are obeyed. At present
a skipper or mate, if with the fleet, could be communi-
cated with by the usual method, the carrier, but probably,
at no distant date, the admiral's ship and the Mission
vessels will be equipped with wireless apparatus. Such
installations ought to be insisted upon and made without
delay. By means of them constant communication could
be maintained between the fleets and the Admiralty and
prompt measures taken in case of need. If such an un-
fortunate thing happened as a repetition of an outrage
like the firing by the Russian Baltic Fleet, British ships
of war could be hurried to the scene within a few hours,
or dispatched to intercept any vessels that might seek
to escape.

It has been the custom for many years to detail ships
of the Royal Navy for fisheries protection duty in the
North Sea, and there are officers still in the service, and
some on the retired list, who possess exceptional know-
ledge of these vitally important waters. When the
Russian warships fired on the Gamecock Fleet the ship
engaged on this protection duty in that locality was
H.M.S. Hearty, later the service was performed by
H.M.S. Thrush, but the duties fell mostly to the lot of
the torpedo-gunboat type, amongst them being H.M.S.
Circe and H.M.S. Sheldrake. Something much more

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 355

modern and powerful than these ships is needed to work
in conjunction with North Sea fishing-fleets ; and surely
the time has come when a warship of the most modern
type should be detailed for fisheries protection duties.
The vessel to be employed for this service should be one
of the very best in the Navy, a powerful unit in which
the North Sea men who joined her could become familiar
with the very latest weapons and methods of warfare
afloat, so that they would be able to settle down at once
to service conditions and routine in case of mobilisation.
It would not be necessary to carry more than a skeleton
crew in such a ship, which, with her officers, and propor-
tion of petty officers, bluejackets, and marines, would
certainly, with her full complement, made up mostly from
the North Sea Auxiliary, possess a body of men who
would be the very pick of the seafaring population and
every one an expert in North Sea ways and weather.
There would be no service afloat in either large or small
craft from which these men would shrink, and no danger
which they would hesitate to face. The cruiser would
act as a feeder for any fleet which might be called upon to
operate in North Sea waters, and skilful North Sea men
could be put on board every ship, of whatever description
— men in whom admirals and captains could place as
much confidence as the commander of a liner puts in his
pilot. Such a ship as I have suggested has been built
recently — H.M.S. Newcastle — a second-class protected
cruiser of 4800 tons, with turbine-driven engines giving
her a high speed. The Newcastle was built on the Tyne,
and no more appropriate vessel could be found for use as
a North Sea school and a North Sea nursery than this
product of a North Sea river.

356 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

It is easily conceivable that such a cruiser, in time of
sudden stress, might inflict a very serious blow upon an
enemy. The North Sea is a fog-infested area of water,
and under cover of a fog an invading force might seek
to make a descent upon our eastern shore or southern
coast ; her transports, crowded with troops, might, and
easily could, lose touch with their convoy, and the
cruiser might have the opportunity to fall upon and
destroy the transports ruthlessly. But, apart from any
such dramatic possibility, she would serve her purpose
well by acting as a floating school and barracks for the
North Sea Auxiliary.

In connection with this North Sea Auxiliary I would
advocate the inclusion, as floating hospitals, of the
vessels which fly the flag of the Royal National Mission
to Deep Sea Fishermen. These stout little ships would
be valuable and welcome additions to the sick-bays and
hospitals of the warships, and it might well be that an
action could be continued or resumed by reason of the
ability of an admiral commanding a fleet to get rid of
his wounded by transferring them to the Mission's
hospital vessels. These craft, with the help of a subsidy,
could be fitted to accommodate a considerable number
of cases — enough at any rate to relieve very greatly the
pressure on the surgical staff of the fighting fleet.
Equipped with wireless apparatus, they could be sum-
moned promptly to the scene of action, or near it, in
readiness to obey a call when given.

An undoubted prejudice exists in some quarters
against the incorporation of North Sea men as a section
of the Navy ; and even amongst those naval officers who
know fishermen well, the hostility prevails to the extent

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 357

of causing them to declare that as an adjunct to the
Navy these toilers are useless. It is true that in some
cases the fishermen have proved failures as Royal Naval
Reservists and that officers commanding warships have
been relieved to find that they would have no trouble on
board because of the men, for the simple reason that
they never appeared ; but, on the other hand, it should
be remembered that the North Sea man is a being apart
from his fellows and requires a special and sympathetic
understanding before the best that is in him can be
extracted. It should not be forgotten, either, that the
rebellious and unsuccessful cases have come from the
remoter classes of the inshore fishermen and not from
the constant workers on the deep sea.

In the scheme which I am advocating I do not deal
with workers like the Scotchmen, many of whom leave
their little farms during the herring season and follow
the fish around the coast. I am dealing only with the
deep-sea fishermen, the masters, mates, and crews of the
steamboats with which in these days the North Sea
fishing industry is maintained.

The alien element in the mercantile marine has been
repeatedly dealt with, and its dangers and disadvantages
exposed. That alien element scarcely exists amongst
North Sea men. Here and there is a foreigner ; but
most of the skippers, mates, and crews are the most
British of the British, and are recruited from the flower
of the fishing population on the north-east coast. They
are primitive in their tastes and ways, and their insular
prejudice is complete. They have a childlike faith in
their country and its superiority, and have all the North
countryman's love of birthplace and national institu-

358 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

tions. In time of stress and battle their loyalty and
devotion would be unquestionable, and it would fare ill
with any foe who came across their path. They have
not been spoiled and degraded by the halfpenny picture
newspaper, and few acknowledgments are made of their
deeds of valour on the stormy waters. No person who
has worked amongst them and shared their lives and
dangers can hesitate to pay tribute to their courage and
simplicity, or fail to recognise how valuable they would
be as an acknowledged unit of the Royal Navy.

Quite recently M. Charles Bos, the distinguished
French naval expert, declared that on the day when
Germany is ready, " in one night her fleets will command
that portion of the North Sea which has been marked
out by her general staff; and the remainder will be
sown with floating mines, of which there exist enormous
stocks at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, rendering the area
thus sown impracticable to the English fleet." If such
a thing really happened that the German outbreak will
take this form, then it is impossible to exaggerate the
value of such a North Sea Auxiliary as that which I
have suggested.

A remarkable trial for espionage took place at
Leipzig on 2istand 22nd December 1910. Two British
officers, Lieutenant Brandon, R.N., and Captain Trench,
R. M.L.I., were found guilty of attempting to convey to
the British Admiralty information the keeping secret of
which is considered essential to the national security of
Germany. The trial was conducted by fourteen judges
of the Supreme Court of the German Empire. The
Court found that the attempt to communicate to the
British Admiralty information which was both secret

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 359

and essential to German security was proved ; that
there had been an effort to obtain a general study of
the German coast defences ; that delivery of the in-
formation had not been proved ; that there were miti-
gating circumstances, and that, on the other hand, there
had been grave peril. The officers were sentenced to
four years' detention in a military fortress ; and the
Court ordered all the papers, maps, and instruments
found in their possession to be confiscated.

The trial showed how deeply concerned the German
authorities are with respect to their naval and military
defences on the only coast-line they possess — the land
bordering on the North Sea. The locality which was
most particularly in question was the Island of Borkum,
It is an interesting locality and has exercised a fascina-
tion over adventurous yachtsmen ; but long before these
explorers ventured to the eastern shores of the North
Sea the network of islands which fringe the Dutch and
German coasts were intimately known to North Sea
smacksmen, who, in the sailing days when the wind was
too feeble or fickle for trawling, went ashore.

A regrettable failure by the Admiralty has to be
recorded in connection with North Sea men. It was
the intention of the Admiralty to establish a reserve of
300 fishermen at Grimsby to man a small squadron of
mine-sweeping steam-trawlers for special war service.
A number of Grimsby trawlers were subsidised for use
in time of emergency, their purpose being to sweep for
mines. These trawlers, of which there are half a dozen,
were to have been accompanied during the training
period by two cruisers. Efforts were made to enrol the
fishermen for the special trawler section of the Royal

360 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

Naval Reserve, and 22nd May 1911 was the date fixed
for inaugurating the training service. At the beginning
of the month only eleven men had been enrolled for
service, a twelfth having been rejected because of
defective eyesight. These eleven volunteers comprised
four engineers, three deck-hands, two trimmers, and two
second-hands — not enough to form one complete crew.

The details of service were published ; but there was
no general willingness on the part of the fishermen to
enrol themselves. For such dangerous work as sweeping
the seas for submarine mines they considered that the pay
offered was altogether inadequate, especially in view of
the fact that they would lose a good deal of their regular
work and would have to provide their own food. The
skippers resolutely refused to associate themselves with
the scheme, and not one signed on, as the Admiralty
fixed the age limit between twenty-five and thirty-five
years. The skippers called attention to the fact that the
best masters in the port were over thirty-five, and they
asked for an extension of the age limit ; but without
success. There was a strong feeling in Grimsby that
before the scheme could succeed the interest of the skip-
pers must be secured, and that, if that were done, recruits
could be obtained from the various crews ; but no effort
was made to gain the co-operation of the skippers, no
adequate inducement was held out to the men themselves
to join, and the result was that the half-dozen subsidised
trawlers were left unmanned by the very crews on whom
in time of danger they would have to depend for success.
The vessels, however, managed to put in an appearance
during the Coronation Naval Review.

This was almost the first serious attempt to incorpo-

NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 361

rate the men of the North Sea in the Navy, apart from
the efforts which have been made for some years to
enrol fishermen as members of the Royal Naval Reserve.
The action of the Admiralty clearly shows that they
have failed to understand the real character of the North
Sea fisherman. The authorities in Whitehall cannot be
expected to grasp the complexities of the smacksman's
character ; but it should have been apparent to them
that the terms offered for admittedly dangerous work were
not likely to induce volunteers to come forward even
from ordinary seafaring classes, much less from the
ranks of men who are wonderfully skilled in North Sea
lore and North Sea waters, and some of whom are
able to make incomes beside which the proposed Admir-
alty remuneration was almost insignificant. If the
Admiralty desire to incorporate the men of the North
Sea as an established branch of the Navy, particularly
for such severe and risky work as mine-sweeping, then
they must recognise the necessity of adequate payment
and fair and reasonable conditions of service — neither of
which elements was present in the terms proposed in
connection with the establishment of a reserve of
fishermen at Grimsby.

Briefly, my scheme resolves itself into this — that a
powerful cruiser of the most modern type should be
constantly employed in fisheries protection work on the
North Sea ; acting just as much as a parent ship to the
trawlers as a torpedo depot ship acts to destroyers ; that
she should serve as a training ship and a floating school
to those men and boys who had specially enlisted or
engaged themselves for service only in the North Sea
waters, so that there should be at all times available a

362 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS

body of men who possess special and exclusive know-
ledge of that area of water which has become the most
important and deeply significant of the waters around
our coast.

King George is a practical sailor, and he has already
shown his devoted interest in the service that he loves
so well ; and it would surely give the sovereign satisfac-
tion to know that the best use was being made of this
army of brave men and boys which is always afloat on a
wild, bleak stretch of ocean, constantly performing acts of
courage which put to shame the vulgarly advertised and
often enough braggart acts of men and boys ashore.

THE END

INDEX

Aberdeen, record landing of fish at,

97 ; phenomenal growth of fishing

at, 1 60.

Admiral of the fleet, the, 142.
Apprenticeship system, the, 79 ;

apprentices in cod-smacks, 107.
Aurania, the smack, 60 ; provisioning

of. So.
Auxiliary, suggested North Sea,

356.

Bait, 104.

Barking smacks, 48.

Beam-trawl, the, 54 ; shooting the,

57-

Beam-trawling, 47.
Billingsgate, 51, 97, 143, 171, 175.
Boarding fish, 71.
Brand, Otto, 201.
Bridlington in olden times, 23.
Brixham and trawling, 48.
Buckland, Frank, 105.
" Burning off," 89.
" Busses," 115.
"Busters," 8 1.

Cabin, smack's, 75.

Casdmon, 2, 125.

Campbell, Mr. Thomas, 54.

Carriers at sea, 235.

" Cemetery," the, 223.

Chicago stockyards, the, 146.

Coal-carrying on the North Sea,

243-

Cobra, the loss of the, 269.
Cod, live and dead, 101 ; large,

1 06.

Cod-chests, 103.
Cod-smacks, 64.

Colliers, fleet of, 23 : bad state of,

246 ; models of, 247.
Collision, narrow escape from, 44 ;

wilful, 83.
Compensation for the Russian

outrage, 284.
Cook, Captain, 30.
Cooking in smacks, 77, 81.
Coper, the, 70, 84, 201, 204, 205.
Coupland, the loss of the, 273.
Crabbing, 140.
Crane, the loss of the, 279.
Crathie, the, 265.
Cummins, Wm., of Hull, merchant

adventurer, n.

Currey, Commander, R.N., 192.
Cutters, 51.

" Dan," a, 149.

Darling, Grace, 261.

" Death-cheep" of the herring, 132.

Diseases of fishes, 188.

Dispatch, earliest English naval,

8.

Dogfish, 1 08.
Dogger Bank, the, 37.
Doggers, Dutch, 22.
Donside, the, 267.
Drift-bottles, 185.
" Dry -bottomed " craft, 107.
Dutch herring-fisheries, 115, 133;

wars, 306; in the Medway, 311 ;

at Harwich, 317; contemporary

gun, 318.

Earnings, fishermen's, 67, 167, 171,

173-

Eel-boats, Dutch, 240.
Eggs offish, 184.

363

INDEX

Elbe, the loss of the, 264.
Ensign, the, 202.
Espionage, trial for, 358.
Etty the painter, 162.
Eyes offish, the, 182.

Ferrying fish, 46 ; perils of, 72.
Fish, quantity of, landed in the

United Kingdom, 36 ; special

train, 155.
Fishermen, early, number of, 20 ;

number employed in 1909-10, 45 ;

loss of life amongst, 45.
Fishing, an average day's, 49.
"Flake," 1 10.

Flamborough Off Ground, the, 181.
Fleet, looking for a, 237.
Fleeting, the evils of, 74.
" Flithers," 91.
Forfarshire, the wreck of the,

262.

Fruit and fishermen, 130.
Fry, Sir Edward, and fishermen,

166.

" Gallows," 61.

Gambling for cabbages, 77.

Gamecock Fleet, the, 141, 276.

" Geordies," 243.

Germans and the North Sea, 43, 140,
152, I94,35o>35i5358.

Goodwin Sands, the, 287 ; wrecks
on, 301.

Great Central Railway, 153.

Great Northern Fleet, the, 141.

Grenfell, Dr., 208.

Grimsby, record landing of fish at,
96 ; the world's greatest fishing
port, 153 ; fish-docks, 157 ; fishing
vessels at, 158; fish traffic, 158;
strike at, 166.

Halibut, large, 106, in, 112.

Hartlepool, 161.

Harwich, 102.

Heligoland, 82.

Hellyer's Fleet, 141.

Herrings, Battle of the, 114 ; sheriffs

of Norwich and herring-pies, 118 ;

enormous shoals, 119; Scotch
erring fleet, 120; hatching, 121 ;

record catch, 122; export trade,
123 ; gutters and packers, 124 ;
extraordinary catch, 131.

Hewett, Mr. Samuel, 47.

Holds worth and fish-carrying, 52.

Hospital ships, 207.

Hull, 5, 7, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 28,
40, 52, 95, 97, 99, 112, 151, 153,
159, 161, 162, I76,3H,333.

Huxley, the, 179, 182, 184.

Ice, use of, 106 ; natural and arti-
ficial, 157.

Iceland, steam-trawler lost off, 99.
Illegal trawling, 199.
Indian Chief, loss of the, 288.

Joan of Arc, 114.

John Donkin's Bight, 91.

Jones, Paul, 319 ; off Scotland, 321 ;

fight with the Serapis, 326 ; death

of, 334 ; reburial, 335.
Joseph and Sarah Miles, the, 207, 280.

King Edward vil. and the Russian

outrage, 283.
King Herring, the, 112.

Land of Green Ginger, the, 163.

Legislation, sea fisheries, 190.

Levi, Leone, and wages, 171.

Lifeboat, origin of the, at South
Shields, 270 ; the Bradford and
the Indian Chief, 271 ; loss of
the Whitby lifeboat, 271 ; Scar-
borough disaster, 273 ; the North-
umberland, 295.

Lighthouses, 27.

Light vessels, 28.

Lowestoft, drifters, 126; and Great
Eastern Railway, 161.

Lutine, the, 336.

Mackerel fishing, 170.
"Mad Isaac," 91.
March gale, the great, 219.
Marine Biological Association, 177.
Mark-boat, 143.
Marked fish, 180, 187.
Mary Rose, the, and gold-hunting,
17-

INDEX

365

Measuring fish, 183.

" Megrims," 113.

Mine-sweeping, 359.

Mino, the, 279.

Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen,
200.

Money, boiling of, 204.

Moray Firth, the, 195.

Morgan, Walter, and Corporal Emer-
son, 25.

" Mutton party," a, 77.

Names of smacks and steam-trawl-
ers, 67.

Newcastle, H. M.S., 355.

North-Eastern Railway, the, 159,
244.

" Offal," 94, loo, 171.
Oithona, the, 180.
Otter trawl, the, 61, 147.
" Over-tail," 131.

Paddle-trawlers, 60, 149.

Parliamentary Commissions, 65.

Patient, a remarkable, 212.

Pelican, the, carrier, 101.

Pepys and the Dutch, 309.

Plaice fry, 187.

" Platform," the, 89.

Plimsoll, 245.

Porters at Billingsgate, 239.

" Prime," 93, 100, 101, 171.

Queen Victoria, the, 210, 214.

Rail-borne fish, 154.

Railway strike, the great, 175.

Rainbow, the, adventurers' ship, 14.

Ramsgate, 294.

Red Cross Fleet, the, 141.

"Regions," North Sea fishing, 41.

Religious meetings, 217.

Remedies for sickness, 211.

Robin Hood, 29.

Rocket, firing a, 237.

Royal Charles, the, 311, 315.

Royal Navy and North Sea men,

35?.

Russian outrage, the, 141, 142,
275.

Salt, scarcity and dearness of, 117.

Salvage, 297.

Sanitary arrangements, 79.

Scarborough Castle, 9.

Scotland, Fishery Board of, 122,

172.

" Sea-rakers," 50.
Shadwell, 98.
Share system, the, 164.
Short Blue Fleet, the, 201 ; a lady's

visit to, 214.
Silver Pit, the, 39.
Single-boating, 149.
Skate, 94, in.
Sluys, battle of, 6.
Smack, origin of the name, 53.
Smith's Knoll, trawling on, 50.
Stanhope Gold Medal, the, 267.
Steam-trawlers, early, 60 ; modern,

150 ; number of, 151.
" Stocker," 88.

Success, the convict ship, 26.
Suffering on the North Sea, 209.
Supply and demand, 99.

Taylor, the water poet, 162.

Tea, smacksmen's, 8'i.

Thanet, the Isle of, and fishing, 31.

Thrush, H.M.S., 191.

Tobacco on the North Sea, 204.

Trade union, fishermen's, 92.

Transplanting fish, 183.

Travels of fishes, 186.

Trawl, shooting and hauling the,

144.

Trawler, sailing, cost of, 52.
Trawling, signals for, 142, 143.
Treves, Sir F., Bart., 208.
Tromp and Blake, 307.
Tyger, the, and Jinks the Rover,

12.

Uncle Tom, the, 223.

Wages, 107.

Welled smacks, 102, 171.

Whelks as bait, 105.

Whisky, Scotch skipper and, 35.

Whitby Abbey, 2.

White Sea plaice, 95.

Wildflower> the smack, 266.

366

INDEX

Wilson, Messrs., of Hull, 19, 185.

"Witches," 112.

Wrecks : St. George, Defence, Hero,

and Minotaur, 338.
" Wrangems," 87.
Wrangham, Sergeant John, 22.

Yarmouth, Dickens and, 29 ; and
beam-trawling, 47 ; herring-fair,
117; abundance of herrings at,
117.

Zodiac, early steam-trawler, 148.

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