THE MINESWEEPERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17586, 17 September 1917, Page 6

THE MINESWEEPERS.

ADDRESS BY REV H. JOHNSON »» At the Choral Hall on Saturday night the Rev Harry Johnson delivered a lecture on "The Minesweepers of the North Sea." In the absence of the Mayor (Mr H. Holland), Mr F. Anderson presided over a large attendance.

Mr Johnson said that the minesweepers were an arm of the Navy, and little was known of their work. Thby were men of the Dogger Bank. To know a certain class one had to live with them in their normal surroundings. The speaker produced a map showing the Dogger Bank. It was a great fishing place, he said, and was not far from tne Horn Reefs and the Jutlands. Tho Bank covered oyer 11.000 square miles, and the average depth was from eight to sixteen fathoms. Over 400,000 tons "of fish were sent to market from the Dogger. Thd value of the fish was estimated at ten million pounds, which was a richer yield per acre than from cultivated land. There were also what were called floating towns. The sj'ec of each town was about lot) to 200 sails. There were seven or eight men or boys on each sail. ' There were 12.000 men on the Dojcger and about 20,000 on the Xorth Sea fishing ground?. The fleets were owned by syndicates end the movements were regulated by the weeks and days. A fleet was under tho control of an admiral and vice-admiral. The admiral was generally a very illiterate man. but ho knew more about the bottom of the North Sea than tho people iwb.o lived here would know about Christchurch. The morals of the men were perhaps not very high, but now the conditions were imnroving. Churches social clubs, tempe"rance halls, a dispensary and hospitals were' established. and helped to make the lives of tho men more happy. The Dogger Bank wns the speaker's parish, and some of his parishioners were very young. Turning to the latest work of the sweepers, Mr Johnson said that the trawlers worked in couples, and each was connected with heavy cables. When at wcrk the boats travelled at about five, knots an hour, and an anxious watch was kept for any sign of obstacles. Mr Johnson referred so the valuable services of the mine-sweepers at the Narrows ox the Dardanelles, and also oil Gaba. Tepe. The .work hadsbeen done ax, great risk. Over sixty mine-sweep-ers had been mined and 150 had been torpedoed. Hundred? of fishermen had given their lives for their country, and some thousands of widows and orphans were left to mourn those asleep in the deep. " But they have kept the home waters open," said the speaker, " and thanks to the mine-sweepers only a small percentage of ships have, been lost through mines. I for one," concluded Mr Johnson, "know full well that. England has nob been disappointed in the one-time Dogger Bank fisher men, who aro now our Navy minesweepers." (Applause.) A vote of thanks to Mr Johnson closed the meeting. $