FISHING PORTS 217 



is noted especially for plaice and cod. The herring 

 ports of Denmark are on the Baltic. 



Geestmiinde is a thing of yesterday. The estuary of 

 the Geest, a small tributary of the Weser, used to shelter 

 a few fishing-boats. The arrangements for selling their 

 fish were so primitive that the fishermen themselves 

 decided to demand a quay and wharfage from the 

 commune of Geestmiinde. The little port did well ; 

 but as long ago as 1892 the Geest had become too small 

 for the handling of the fishing-boats, and as the port of 

 Bremerhaven had begun to excavate docks, the Prussian 

 State decreed the establishment of a special fishing 

 harbour, provided with a modern equipment. An 

 enormous breakwater was built in the Weser, constructed 

 of bavins resting on the material resulting from the dis- 

 placement of an arm of the Weser, so as to provide a 

 foundation for the ulterior installation of the buildings of 

 the new port. The area gained from the river was 180 

 acres. Such was the origin of the present Geestmiinde. 

 This port furnishes one example the more of the method 

 and the power of work of the Germans. While the 

 English and ourselves, entangled in a network of secular 

 interests and traditions, are obliged to reckon with the 

 past, our neighbours across the Rhine, like the Americans 

 of the States, will at a single breath create new things 

 and preside at the inauguration of the working of the 

 new structure. 



The fishing port of Geestmiinde is accessible at any 

 state of the tide. It consists of a very long and relatively 

 narrow basin. By the side of the Weser, and backing 

 on to the breakwater, stretches a large flat space on which 

 the fish market is built, and behind this the factories and 

 warehouses. The railway station is at the extreme end of 

 the market. On the Bremerhaven side the quay is bare ; 



