HELP FOR THE FISHERMEN 



deep sea trawlers in the days when men and boys 

 spent their lives on the dangerous fishing banks, far 

 from home, with little or nothing to relieve the 

 oppressive monotony of their existence and the suf- 

 ferings which were inseparable from their calling. 

 If a man fell ill or sustained a serious injury there 

 was nothing for it but to make the best of the matter 

 at sea or send the sufferer home by the carrier or a 

 returning smack. Occasionally a smack, having a 

 sick or injured man in her crew, would run home 

 with him, but that proceeding was sternly dis- 

 couraged and the skipper risked discharge as the 

 reward of his humanity. He had been sent to sea 

 to fish, and so make money for his empWer, and 

 not to waste the time of the vessel and the crew. 

 That brutal, sordid view was expressed more than 

 once by callous owners, even though they had been 

 themselves fishermen ; and that fact of their pre- 

 vious employment indicated how forlorn and almost 

 hopeless was the position of the deep sea fisherman. 



There were no means at sea of bettering the lot 

 of the men ; they were a race apart, a class to them- 

 selves, and the}- were left to work out their own 

 salvation. Their kindness to each other was limited 

 by the opportunities afforded b}' breaks in their 

 work, and these, few at any time, were almost non- 

 existent when a small number in a crew had been 

 reduced by even one, for the extra work of the 

 incapacitated man fell upon them and attention to 

 him became an extra burden. 



The common ills of life, which could be so easilv 



211 



