FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



huts, about as big as dog-kennels, and crawled into 

 them for shelter. 



" The Germans stripped us of everything we had. 

 They would not allow you even a lead pencil or a 

 bit of paper or money ; if you had any money they 

 took it from you. But they were not content with 

 that — they disfigured us by cutting one half of the 

 hair of our heads off and one half of the moustache, 

 cropping close and leaving the other half on, making 

 you as ugly as they could. They took the hair off 

 from the centre of the neck right down to the centre 

 of the forehead, so that those who had long hair 

 looked frightful. This was done out of spitefulness 

 — the Germans don't do it now. It was a nasty 

 thing to do ; but we made the best of it, and laughed 

 at one another. 



" They fed us very badly. 



" For breakfast they gave us coffee, made out of 

 rice, no sugar or milk in it, with nothing to eat. 

 For dinner we had cabbage-water, the cabbage cut 

 up into little bits. Sometimes a little bit of greasy 

 fat pork was put into the water, but it was only by 

 chance that you got one of these bits, about as big 

 as the bowl of your pipe. At teatime you had 

 ' coffee ' again, and then you got the black bread, 

 which had to last you twenty-four hours, and that 

 was a piece only as big as your fist. 



" When we were taken out of the fields we were 

 put into big canvas tents, holding about 600 men, 

 and there we were packed like sardines in a box. 

 We were forced to lie on the ground, and all sorts 



66 



