V ADMIRALTIES 309 



whereupon we stopped pretty promptly wasting 

 pity on ourselves. They described to us their 

 own year's fishing (the Marie-Marthc is convert- 

 ible into an otter-trawler) off France, off the west 

 coast of Ireland, and in the Iceland waters. That 

 voyage, though it Is hard work and very cold, 

 they prefer to bobbing in and out of their own 

 port. Payment, they said, for the men Is a 

 regular wage of a hundred francs a month and 

 half a franc on each thousand, whether of ship's 

 earnings or of profits I could not be certain; for 

 their French was as diflScult to an Englishman as 

 our Devon talk would be to a Frenchman who 

 had learnt his English among Cockneys. One 

 younger man, not of the stout fisherman build, 

 told us about service in the French navy (he 

 agreed perfectly with the British bluejacket who 

 voiced the lower deck's sentiments by saying, 

 'An admiralty's a ****** rogue that you can't 

 bring to book!'), and he mentioned the Stelnhell 

 case, then just concluded, 'Do you think your- 

 self that she was guilty?' I asked. 



'Je n'sais pas. Ou^importe? Figure to your- 

 self, she was a pretty widow and had rich friends. 

 . . . Money is w^hat one wants.' 



'In England, too. If you are poor, keep clear 



