FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



details which had been furnished by the Admiral 

 Commanding the East Coast Mine-sweepers of the 

 rewnt mine-sweeping operations off Scarborough. 



The Memorandum stated that at the beginning 

 there was no indication of the position of the mines, 

 although, owing to losses of passing merchant 

 ships, it was known that a minefield had been laid. 

 In order to ascertain how the mines lay it was ne- 

 cessary to work at all times of tide, with a conse- 

 quent large increase in the element of danger. 

 These particular operations covered the period from 

 December 19 to December 31, 1914, and were in 

 charge of Commander Richard H. Walters, R.N., 

 A. M.S. Staff. During that time a large number of 

 mines were swept up and destroyed, and by 

 Christmas Day a channel had been cleared, and 

 traffic was able to pass through by daylight. 



On the very first day of these dangerous opera- 

 tions Commander Lionel G. Preston, R.N., H.M.S. 

 Skipjack, proceeded at once into the middle of the 

 area where some mines had exploded to give assist- 

 ance to trawlers which had been damaged. He an- 

 chored between the trawlers and the mines, which 

 had been brought to the surface, and he set about 

 the work of sinking them. 



Lieutenant Godfrey Craik Parsons, R.N., H.M.S. 

 Pekin, showed great skill and devotion to duty in 

 continuing to command his group of trawlers after 

 having been mined in Trawler Number 58 on De- 

 cember 19. On that day his group exploded eight 

 mines and brought six more to the surface, Traw- 



50 



