Living Silver 



belly ripped open when the wheel gave a bit of a jerk, old Dodge 

 Sinclair it was. These spokes can give you a nasty bruise. They 

 can rip your belly open.' But they all soon realised that they 

 were not really expected to know much about navigation. That 

 could be left to the skipper. If he got drunk then the mate would 

 probably stay sober enough to take over. And, anyhow, with all 

 these new aids to navigation, the ship could almost be expected 

 to sail herself. 



One of the pupils had been, of all things, a naval commander - 

 though his duties had never permitted him to go to sea - and he 

 was full of the notorious stories of the bad seamanship of fisher- 

 men in small boats. 'And what would the Goldfish do if his little 

 boat got out of sight of land? He'd drown.' But it so happened 

 that the Goldfish overheard one installment of these rhetorical 

 questions. He slobbered out an answer that showed something 

 of the verve usually hidden behind his drooling: 'And no, I 

 wouldn't now. I'd probably do the same as these big cruiser 

 captains do when they catch a glimpse of a headland in the dis- 

 tance. I'd faint dead stiff. And then,' he added reflectively, 'I'd 

 get on with the job.' Years later, Jan was able to look back on 

 that comment and see that it was just. For, although many fishing 

 skippers have only the flimsiest knowledge of navigation, they can 

 outmanoeuvre most naval officers when it comes to inshore sea- 

 manship. The grace with which they park their rusty steamships 

 at the side of the fishmarket, park them as easily as a motorist 

 might park a Morris Minor, contrasts vividly with the berthing 

 of a small naval ship. Even a corvette or a frigate can sometimes 

 look as though it were in the centre of a spider's web of ropes, 

 with winches groaning and bollards creaking, the entire crew 

 rushing about and jumping and shouting, the captain on the bridge 

 and the first officer on the forecastle exchanging worried glances, 

 while the vessel itself, deaf to all their endeavours, remains an 

 obstinate six feet ofiF from the quay. Aboard a trawler there is 

 never any such fuss. 



Yet the handling of a ship is one of the least of the fisherman's 



i6 



