FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



related to the extraordinary act of an unnamed 

 lieutenant of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. 

 He was in command of a motor launch attending on 

 a flotilla of mine-sweeping trawlers when a drifting 

 mine was sighted. Half a gale was blowing and a 

 heavy sea was running, and not only had attempts 

 to sink the mine by gunfire proved abortive, but it 

 was getting dark, and there was a strong probabi- 

 lity that the mine would be lost sight of and drift 

 away and remain a peril to navigation. 



The lieutenant, determined to do his best to 

 remove the danger, lowered a boat and pulled over 

 to the mine, which was only occasionally to be seen 

 as it was swept by the waves. The officer got as 

 close to the mine as he dared to pull, then he jumped 

 into the sea with a line, which he passed through 

 the ring-bolt in the top of the mine. This line was 

 made fast to the motor launch, which towed the mine 

 into smooth water, where it was sunk by rifle fire. 



The uncommon coolness and courage of this act 

 is obvious, for in the turmoil of wind and sea the 

 officer might well have inadvertently seized one of 

 the horns of the mine and ended the enterprise in a 

 manner far different from the purpose which he had 

 in mind. 



This thrilling incident was made known in the 

 autumn of 1917, when a selection of such cases had 

 been published, and had given a glimpse, but a 

 glimpse only, of the work of those who swept and 

 kept the seas. Though when the story was pub- 

 lished there was no mention of the officer's name, 



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