THE FOOD NAVY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21556, 19 January 1940, Page 4

THE FOOD NAVY

The trawlei’s are out again, fishing for mines this time, said Mr Alastair M. Dunnett in a recent 8.8. C. broadcast. The war has made them put their nets away and bring out the bigger gear. Otherwise I wonder if war has brought many new hazards to their day's work? I wonder, because it is not long since I went winter-trawling myself—for one trip. I boarded my trawler in Leith a year ago, and in no time at all we were on the way down the river and into the open Firth of Forth. I was the eleventh man—the normal trawler crew being 10—so they called me the goalie. But right away I must avoid giving the impression that these shipmates of mine were a rollicking crew. Deep-sea fishermen never are—at least not the ones I have sailed with. They do not make many jokes, and those they do make are slow, with a kind of grim bite to them. The trawlermen who take their ships minesweeping will be no worse off than they were in the Food Navy. At least they will probably have regular watches and off-duty spells, with the safety of other ships’ company. And to men who live as they do, war is just one more danger.