FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



as large as the cost of such a vessel before the war. 

 A pair of steam trawlers, sister boats, one built in 

 19 1 2 and the other in 1913, were offered for sale at 

 £22,600, for the two taken together; and for three 

 fine steam trawlers offered in one lot the " owners' 

 ideas " were £35,000 for the three taken together, 

 but it was alluringly intimated that doubtless busi- 

 ness could be done on the basis of a prompt offer of 

 £32,500 for the three. There were larger trawlers 

 than those mentioned, and very many smaller; but 

 these details will afford an understanding of the 

 dimensions of the trawlers which were so extensively 

 employed in connection with the Navy. From the 

 ordinary standpoint they were almost grotesquely 

 small ; 3^et this was the sort of vessel which through- 

 out the year withstood the heaviest North Sea gales 

 and in which deep sea men would go, as they often 

 did, to any part of the world. Trawlers built for 

 the Colonies and Japan had been taken to those 

 remote countries under their own steam and had 

 completed their long voyages with perfect success, 

 suffering neither damage to ship nor loss to crew. 



It was significant of the immense development in 

 the growth of the fishing industry throughout the 

 world and of the steam trawler in particular, that 

 builders were prepared to submit plans, specifica- 

 tions and prices for vessels which were considered 

 suitable for special conditions of fishing anywhere, 

 and to send " an experienced representative to 

 confer with the authorities at any foreign or colonial 

 port ' at which it was desired to establish the 

 fishing industry. 



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