THEIR ROUND OF LIFE AND LABOUR. 39 
FISHERS OF THE NORTH SEA—TRAWLERS. 
The North Sea Fishermen nothereditary fishers—Severe apprenticeship 
—Length of apprenticeship objected to, and should be restricted— 
Rad behaviour of North Sea Fishermen—Extent of the German 
Ocean—Value of the fish it yields—Trawling the chief mode of 
Fishing—Fleets of Smacks—The work of Trawling—The earnings 
of the trawl men. 
THE fishermen of the North Sea, so far at any rate as they 
hail from the chief English ports, cannot be called heredi- 
tary fishers. The fishing smacks belonging to Hull, Great 
Grimsby, Yarmouth, and other ports, take apprentices from 
whatever place they can obtain them, and such has been 
the practice for many years, the consequence being that 
these vessels are now manned by a body of fishermen who, 
although they have been bred to the business, were not, as 
the saying goes, “born to it.” Many of the lads who are 
taken as apprentices belong to families of the local labouring 
classes, but a larger number are received from workhouses 
and charitable institutions, and in some instances, we 
believe, from reformatories. The masters of fishing vessels 
have usually come through the whole round of labour inci- 
dental to all the grades of service before being appointed 
_to the command of their smack—the office of cook at an 
early stage being one of the appointments. 
It has been ascertained by inquiry that the apprenticeship 
to be served on board the big fishing-boats is a severe one ; 
and by several of the captains, and by the older hands on 
