FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



as he gave a kick and the booted artificial foot came 

 away, " That's it! I've got into the knack of doin' 

 it, just as a jokin' surprise ! But there it is — an' 

 I'm still in the Navy, the only man, I fancy, that's 

 servin' the King afloat on one foot." 



Just as the War called from every nook and cor- 

 ner of the Empire men for the Army, of whom some 

 had led the most peaceful of peaceful lives, so it 

 brought into the naval and fishing services men and 

 lads to whom the busy world was a mysterious and 

 sealed book. Some of these quiet livers had remark- 

 able experiences. Amongst them was a young sailor 

 who came from a fisher home on a small island on 

 the coast of Scotland, a lad who, until he was called 

 up, had never been in a train. At the end of two 

 months' service, when he had become more or less 

 used to trains and other products of advanced civi- 

 lisation, he had the shattering experience of being 

 in the worst zone of a night air raid on Chatham 

 in which more than ioo sailors in barracks were 

 killed. He escaped with his life, but had to go into 

 a naval hospital. There was something strikingly 

 impressive in the mental picture of large numbers 

 of these young men and older men from remote 

 home districts who were plunged into the vortex of 

 the conflict. Not a, few there were, like this young 

 seaman, who had never travelled in a train, and 

 others who, like the fisherfolk of the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands, made their first acquaintance with the 

 sight of trees. 



46 



