PERILS OF THE HERRING-FISHER. 315 



" skipper " of the boat, who is probably the principal owner 

 also, and who, if he saves his life, has the prospect before him 

 of heavy loss or ruin. Many and many a herring boat 

 founders this way at sea, her crew worn out by their 

 exertions. At other times an inshore wind dashes the boats 

 on the iron-bound coasts off which they have been fishing, 

 and the crews perish before the eyes of their wives and 

 families. Instances have occurred of a crew reaching some 

 rock withili a short distance of the shore, and within hearing 

 of those assembled on the beach, who, after having vainly 

 attempted to afford them assistance, see the poor fellows 

 gradually washed off one by one as their strength fails them 

 during the rise of the tide. There are but few harbours on 

 the east coast into which the boats can run if caught in a 

 storm and driven away from the safer parts of the coast. If 

 a heavily-laden herring boat is overtaken by rough weather, 

 it is. very difficult to get rid of the cargo quickly enough to 

 escape being swamped. In fact the throwing them overboard 

 is a long operation : and sometimes when they have a lucky 

 haul, they load until the gunwale of the boat is but a few 

 inches above the water. In this case the shipping of a single 

 wave is sufficient to swamp them. A cargo of large fish, 

 such as cod or skate, may be thrown overboard with some 

 degree of quickness not so a cargo of herrings. 



Although the months of July and August generally pass 

 over without any very dangerous weather, September is 

 frequently a season of sudden squalls and storms on our 

 coasts. 



This year, 1848, one of these sudden storms came on 

 towards the end of the fishing season. It reached from the 

 north coast to near Sunderland, beyond which place the wind 

 was comparatively light. The boats had gone out with a 

 gentle breeze, nor had there been any warning of bad 

 weather ; but before morning, on the east coast alone, more 

 than a hundred fishermen were drowned, and the loss of 

 boats, nets, &c., was immense. Nothing could be more 

 melaricholily significant of the havoc which that storm had 

 caused than the fact of one fisherman bringing to his house 

 fifteen blue bonnets, the owners of which must have all 

 perished near the same spot. Fishermen are generally men 

 with large families, and the numbers of widows and orphans 

 left dependent on the charity of the world in these cases are 

 always very great. 



