396 EXAMINATION OF THE PRESENT STATE 
as to what grounds he will fish, and in this instance, as far as I 
could gather, our skipper had decided to try for a catch of small 
plaice, and anything else he could come by, south of the Horn Reef, 
on the Danish coast. However, the plans of skippers are notoriously 
changeable, and that they should be so is perhaps as good a proof 
as any of the uncertainty which attends the North Sea trawl-fishery 
in its present condition. We were hardly clear of the dock gates 
before we met another trawler of the same firm coming up the river. 
Professional etiquette, not to speak of other considerations, de- 
manded that both skippers should slow down and have a parley, and 
the usual query ‘‘ How’s trade ?”’ was, for a wonder, answered with 
«A good living.’ Inquiries as to where this ‘‘ good living ” was to 
be found elicited the information that plaice were plentiful “ below ” 
(north of) the Reef, so our skipper determined to give the ground a 
trial, and laid his course accordingly on clearing the Spurn 
Lightship. I may here remark that fishermen at sea always 
appear most willing to give each other information as to the fish to 
be found on grounds which they have been working. Whether it 
is correct information or not is another matter. 
Having left the river and got a clear course for the Horn Reef 
Lightship, we have now leisure to have a look at the principal 
members of the crew. Pretty nearly all the nations of the earth are 
represented in the North Sea trawling community, from Kroomen to 
Farée Islanders, and on this occasion our skipper was a Prussian, 
and his mate a Dane. The former has the reputation of having 
landed more undersized plaice than any other man in the world, and 
it was chiefly this consideration that induced me to seek a berth on 
his boat. He was fully acquainted with the object of my inquiries, 
and was, and I believe is still, as anxious as any man that the destruc- 
tion of small fry should be stopped, but made the perfectly candid 
reservation that, as long as there was a market for such stuff, he 
did not see why he should not make use of his experience of the 
coast, and knowledge of the habits of the fish, to catch more of 
them than anyone else could. It would be libellous to suggest that 
a wholesome contempt for the three-mile limit may not have been 
an unimportant factor in his previous successes. He was excellent 
company, and certainly did not betray his foreign origin by any 
ignorance of the intricacies of the English language, as commonly 
spoken at Grimsby. ‘To his other accomplishments he added that of 
the violinist, and usually beguiled the tedium of the evening with 
frequent renderings of the one tune with which he appeared to be 
acquainted, 
The mate, a huge Dane, was known as “ Tom, 
suppose, that was not his name. He was a good-natured soul, and 
” ‘because, IL 
