FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



value of ^20. No letter accompanied it, and there 

 was no clue whatever to the sender ; but the recipi- 

 ent had little doubt as to the identity of the sender, 

 and accordingly she put the money to the credit of 

 a fisherman who when at that particular port fre- 

 quented the institute, and who had a bank balance 

 of importance. This action proved to be correct, 

 and when the fisherman again turned up he had the 

 satisfaction of knowing that his money was safe. 

 Every penny might well have been squandered, for 

 the port was notoriously dangerous to fishermen and 

 inine-s weepers, so much so that parts of it were put 

 out of bounds by the naval authorities. This 

 fisherman, a bachelor, was like many of his fellows, 

 earning large wages, but unhappily he squandered 

 a considerable part of his money in heavy drinking. 

 He never, however, lost touch with the Mission ; he 

 always returned to the fold, and was always wel- 

 comed. It was undoubtedly helpful to him to get 

 back to the institute and its friendly atmosphere, 

 and he always had the comfort of knowing that his 

 money was secure and available for his use. 



The work which the Mission was able to carry on 

 both at sea and on land after the war broke out was 

 invaluable ; but there was no part of the under- 

 taking which was of more real worth and aroused 

 deeper sympathy than the consistent labour in con- 

 nection with the fishermen who were prisoners of 

 war in Germany. 



In a previous chapter first-hand details have been 

 given of the cruel conditions which governed the 



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