FISHERMEN OF DOGGER BANK.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10598, 29 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

FISHERMEN OF DOGGER BANK.

Not long ago a tramp steamer out of '"iull, England, and bound for liiga j-iguled a' little trawling smack which had l)cen swamped by "the great seas that, breaking aboard, put out the fires. The crew was saved, but the really remarkable, thing about it all was that when observed by 'the' rescuers those toilers -of the deep had' their nets outand were about their usual business.

Trawling off the Dogger, a submarine bank 170 miles by 70 miles, are llcets of from 100 to 100~ vessels, each manned by a crew of live oi six men. The fish are scut to Billingsgate and Shadwell and through those great distributing centres find their way to English breakfast tables. " Each fleet is commanded bv an admiral, whose vessel is readily distinguishable by a flag at the forestiiv. The smacks are ketch rigged, 6-5 to "95 feet, and are worked by companies and by individual owners. The iTPW-'£_i-t small standing wages and a percentage. They have no outlit to speak ui', anything strong and 'warm' serves as clothing. The mission to deep sea fishermen provides sea boots, stockings, steering gloves, and similar articles at nominal prices. The mission also supplies sound tobacco, and equally sound reading matter, and from the same source men receive free medical treatment. . The process of trawling, writes Henry Waterman in Zion's Herald, is simply ground fishing or fish dredging. A, smack tows a large net which is attached to a trawlbeam between 50 and 60 feet long, at each end of which is a i heavy iron band that keeps the trawlbeam swinging about- three feet clear. This apparatus is dragged along the bottom of the water. The gear is raised to the surface by means of asmall steam engine. In tho old days the trawl was raised by hand, a process which meant a terrible strain at the capstan for two hours. To-day the task is accomplished in half an hdur.'^ A fleet of a hundred vessels will readilv caie for an area of ten miles. The necessity of- all" obeying the admiral's signals as to when to haul the net or when to sheet it is evident, as, failing good discipline, the smacks wonld be in constant danger of collisionand fouling one another's gear. The smacks lay to to haul the nets, and when trawling in a good breeze sail at a rate of about three to four knots", as the fis,li lie close to the bottom"in twenty to' thirty fathoms of water, thus making it necessary to" pay put some

eightv"lathoms ot tiawl Fishing is earned on almost wholly at night, and when it is good the men often have to be satisfied -with three hours _ sleep in the tw ent-j -foui. "Each fleet is accompanied b\ steam carrieis, one of which leaves each morning for London, Hull, 01 Gnmsby with the catch of the pervious night. Sometimes the fleets are as far off as the coast of Denmark, and were it not for these earners much time would bp lost. Tlicu too ice would be a nccessi'Dj in the absence of the carriers, an item of no small importation s Til the ' old da>s," prior to 1881, the deep sea. fishers were little cared for, bv "mission," board of trade, or'philanthi opist The" prevailing-conditions at. that" time beggar description,''•■{fnch the

lot of tliosc men was anything but j happy. While yet l;oys they began as cooks or apprentices and life was a sea- , .-aw between fifty days at sea and seven days on shore. For pleasure they depended on the .Dutch coper, a small vessel which was always near a fleet, and was a veritable curse to the North Sea. The coper dealt in cheap tobacco and cheaper liquor, and, not content with that, peddled prurient books and obscene pictures. Terrible talcs are told of fights and other disgraceful episodes on board the copers. I recall one weird story of ai drunken lot trying to rouse a still drunker comrade. Failing to do that they saturated his clothes with turpentine and applied a match. The man was burned to death, the ship took,fire and was barely saved. The mission to deep sea fishermen changed all that. The mission took the position that attention to bodily welfare is the first "thing to consider. .It .has smacks of its own whick fish-along-side, the fleets and the revenue>so raised goes toward the support of the" mission. Such revenue, however, is at best but incidental, and voluntary subscription' had, to be resorted to. The expense of such work is heavy, the mission maintaining'nine smacks-in the ,North Sea as well as'£arrying on "work in x British North America. ' Each smack'combine's church, temperance league, library, and club. In addition four well-equipped hospital boats make-extra demands for money.

The smacksmen make 'excellent sailors under all conditions. Inured to danger from-early life, .living in an atmosphere of constant" danger, they fit into any berth and show a dash-and hardihood that are little short of jthe sublime. ' To a genuine, landsman the call of the deep "is a mystery. . Occasionally some curious investigator takes a trip to the Dogger Bank. One trip is generally enough. The smacks are necessarily dirty, the smell of fish is everywhere, and everything is covered with fish scales and gurry.' The fetid air'of-the cabin makes the forecastle of a coasting brig a sweet resting place in comparison.