FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



" fleeters," and whose whole existence was practi- 

 cally spent on the Dogger and other banks, far from 

 land and all the safety and comfort that it repre- 

 sents, exposed to every peril and torment of a noto- 

 rious sea. 



Wherever one went round the coast the same proof 

 of immensity of raw material was evident, and it 

 was fascinating and astonishing to see and study 

 the various types of fisherman and fishing craft. 

 For the secure waters of estuaries and almost land- 

 locked bays there were little vessels which might 

 have been built for pleasure purposes. In such a 

 region as Morecambe Bay, on the Lancashire coast, 

 there were the trim and graceful shrimpers, a com- 

 plete contrast to the famous cobles on the shores of 

 the great sister county Yorkshire, the Viking-like 

 craft in which Grace Darling achieved renown, and 

 which alone can work successfully such dangerous 

 regions as Flamborough Head and the North and 

 South Landings, and can make difficult harbours 

 like Whitby. There were the bigger shrimpers 

 working the Thames Estuary, with headquarters at 

 Leigh-on-Sea, and a cross between a coble and a 

 smack, known as a " mule," which was well 

 adapted for longer trips and heavier seas than the 

 open cobles could contend with. From Land's End 

 to John o' Groats, and up to the Orkneys and Shet- 

 lands, there were innumerable types of fishing craft, 

 each particularly planned to do its special work, and 

 the crews were almost as varied as the vessels. 



The men who worked in some of the quiet Western 



14 



