FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



with the high bows and low after-part, sharing in 

 the drag which was clearing the lane between the 

 two great rivers. 



From that high cliff it was as impressive to watch 

 the sweepers as it was to see the procession of steam 

 and sailing vessels going north and south, as if no 

 such thing as war existed, and certainly as if the 

 German Navy had no being. Already great and 

 good work had been done by the sweepers. The 

 work was a continuation of the task which had been 

 started at the very beginning of the war, and was 

 never to be relaxed while the war continued. How 

 long it was to be maintained when peace returned 

 time alone was to show ; but it was known that 

 whenever the fighting ended there would be still a 

 long hard task before the sweepers, and that many 

 a peril would have to be faced by sweeper and fisher 

 before the last of the German devilries had been 

 cleared away. 



To watch the steamers and sailing vessels, big 

 and little, going their appointed ways to north and 

 south in comparative security was a powerful re- 

 minder of the wonderful work which even at that 

 early stage these sweepers were doing. Inshore 

 were the sweepers, keeping the lane clear ; away out 

 upon the waters were patrolling warships, and 

 beyond them it was certain that there were more and 

 bigger ships of war, waiting for the Germans, who, 

 however, had learned wisdom, and did not come. 



In peace time this famous North Sea lane was a 

 continuous line of shipping, and it was no uncom- 



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