FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



relieved and dealt with ashore, were grievous at sea, 

 in the wretched hole of a cabin which was the toiler's 

 only place of refuge. The simplest of remedies 

 were taken to sea, if taken at all, and the crudest of 

 methods were employed in seeking cures. Asked 

 if they had any medicines in the fleets — and the 

 question was put so late as in the Eighties — a skipper 

 replied that in his own fleet there were some dings 

 in the smacks ; but when the bottles were emptied 

 they were never filled again. " And," he added, 

 " we didn't know what to do with them." That 

 remark represented the position of the great body 

 of the fishermen. Of recognized remedies they were 

 ignorant and consequently they set to work to con- 

 coct medicines which only the iron constitution of a 

 deep sea toiler could withstand — a favourite mixture 

 included a proportion of Stockholm tar and a dash 

 of turpentine, and this the patient swallowed in 

 perfect faith. Pills of fearsome components were 

 made and taken in equal confidence ; in fact, the 

 medical and surgical devices were such as one had 

 been accustomed to read of in connection with stoics 

 like the Red Indians or primitive races such as the 

 aborigines of Australia or the blacks of Central 

 Africa. 



Such were the conditions on the fishing banks well 

 within the recollection of the middle-aged ; such the 

 almost unrelieved sufferings of a race whose corres- 

 ponding fellows ashore had at their command the 

 finest hospitals and the highest medical and surgical 

 skill. 



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