ARCTIC SEAS FISHERMEN

Evening Star, Issue 23352, 23 August 1939, Page 2

ARCTIC SEAS FISHERMEN

WORK OF NATIONAL MISSION British fishermen catch enough fishu annually to supply every man,'woman, and child in the country with 521 b. That, it seems, is about as much a» the average person eats in a year. Not everyone realises how dangerous a task this deep-sea trawling can be. It is, in fact, one of the least enviable occupations imaginable. Mr H. Karl Archibald, secretary of the -Royal National Union of Deep Sea Fishermen, told a representative or the ‘ Observer some surprising details. ■ Each fisherman catches enough to fill the needs of 1,400 people. Be is at sea more than 300 days a- year, receives about 37s 6d a week, and from the age of 16 lives and works in a tiny floating factory, only a tenth of th® size of a Channel steamer. Sometimes he works 40 hours on, end without sleep—that is to say, a full week, according to a landsman’s standard?. In the Arctic seas he gets, only a few hours of watery twilight each day. He may work for three weeks without a break, hundreds of miles from the nearest land. Injuries are frequent—and a trawler is not meant for a sick man. . ’• . Over two-thirds of the fish caught come from the Arctic, only a few miles south of the permanent pack ice, Less than one-eighth comes from homo waters, and a little under a quarter from off the far coasts of the British Isles. Two first-aid ships, the Sir William Archibald and the Sir Edward P. Wilis, of the Royal National Mission, are the only vessels of their kind which work all the year round among North Sea fishermen. The Sir Edward P v Wilis, which goes further out, is a ship with a fully-equipped dispensary. .Like her partner, she carries newspapers and magazines, duty-free tobacco, woolleu clothing, necessary supplies, and medical stores.

When the mission was founded in 1881, thanks to the efforts of Mr E. .1. Mather, all fishing was done from sailing ships so small that they had not enough accommodation for their own catches. Each fleet of 20 or 30 contained one ship, known as the “ carrier,” which did. not trawl, but served as a store ship fish brought.by other vessels. The, task of transferring the catch ; in mid-ocean after 1 the day’s trawl was frequently Very perilous. . ' . At this time, too ; the Dutch “ copers,” or trading ships, had become a menace. They joined the. British fishing fleet ostensibly to sell dutyfree tobacco and other necessary oddments. In fact, their cargo was principally rum and raw spirits; the effect among the fishermen was indescribable. The mission had its first great triumph when its ships challenged these copers and succeeded ultimately —by the Hague Convention of 1887 — in driving them from the high seas. The work of the mission on sea and land steadily progressed. To-day there are 14 institptes between Cornwall and the Shetland s. One of these, the Queen Mary Hostel at Grimsby, is the world’s largest home for fishermen. It provides hot, and cold meals from. “ early tide-time ” (4.6 a.m.) until 11 , at night, and, its services are offered at most modest prices. The mission has gone,a long way towards removing the fishermen’s feeling that thov do not belong to the regular community ashore. During the Great War these men did heroic work m mine-sweeping—a task even more dangerous than trawling for fish in Arctic waters —and the mission is prepared, in the event of war, to adapt its hostels for injured men from the sweepers. ; Public support is welcomed. Tna mission needs not money alone but also knitters who will make woollen cloth- • ing for the fishermen; and it is grateful always for books, papers, and magazines. Commander R. G, Studd is the chairman, Mr Archibald tha secretary and general superintendent, and the’ address is 68 Victoria street* London, S.W.I.