FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



Adding to his statements as to what the Navy as a 

 Navy had done and of the part the mercantile marine 

 had played in the war, the Premier said he would 

 like to say a word about the fishermen, whose con- 

 tribution to the war had been a great one. 



Sixty per cent, of our fishermen were in the Naval 

 Service. Their trawlers were engaged in some of 

 the most perilous tasks that could be entrusted to 

 seamen — mine-sweeping, " a dangerous occupation, 

 often ending in disaster." 



The number of mines the fishermen had swept up 

 was incredible. If they had not done this Britain 

 would now have been blockaded by a ring of deadly 

 machines anchored round her shores.. But their 

 service had not been confined to this work. These 

 fishing vessels were found patrolling the seas every- 

 where, protecting ships, not merely around the 

 British Isles — you found them in the Mediterranean. 

 They surely deserved the best thanks that could be 

 accorded for the services they had rendered. 



The Premier proceeded from the general to the 

 particular, and gave one or two illustrations of the 

 way in which fishermen had faced these new perils. 

 Here was one case given to him by the Admiralty — 

 a story of a trawler attacked by the gunfire of a 

 German submarine. Though armed only with a 3- 

 pounder gun, outranged by her opponent, she re- 

 fused to haul down her flag ; even when the skipper 

 had both legs shot off and most of the crew were 

 killed or injured. " Throw the confidential books 

 overboard and throw me after them," said the skip- 



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