NATIONAL TRIBUTES 



per. Refusing to leave his trawler when the few 

 survivors took to the boat, he went down with her. 



There was another case of an armed trawler 

 escorting a number of fishing vessels attacked by a 

 submarine. Outranged, her main-boom broken, the 

 funnel down, the wheelhouse blown up, the steer- 

 ing-gear disabled, many of the men killed and the 

 ship sinking, they patched her up with canvas ; yet 

 she went on fighting — and when at last she sank 

 the fishing fleet was safe in port. 



" These are not men trained to war," added the 

 Prime Minister, " they are fishermen. But this 

 is the spirit that has animated our sailors, whether 

 in the Navy, the mercantile marine, or our fishing 

 fleets. Never have British sailors, whether in the 

 Navy or in the auxiliary services, shown more grit, 

 never have they rendered greater service to their 

 native land or to humanity. For their courage, for 

 their resolution, for the service they have rendered 

 and for the resource they have shown, I invite the 

 House of Commons in this resolution to thank them, 

 officers and men." 



In both Houses this memorable vote of thanks 

 to the Navy and Army was adopted with a unity 

 which, showed how thoroughly they realised the vast- 

 ness of the debt which the Empire owed to the men 

 who had shattered the ruthless devices of the Her- 

 man leaders and the desperate efforts of the Her- 

 man hordes. 



A few days after Karl Curzon and the Prime 

 Minister had paid their tributes to the fishermen, 



173 



