HELP FOR THE FISHERMEN 



existence of these unfortunate captives, and those 

 conditions would have been infinitely worse and 

 harder to bear but for the ameliorating influence of 

 the Mission and the generosity of the people who 

 helped the special fund which was raised to succour 

 the prisoners. 



was well indeed for the fishermen prisoners of 

 war that there were available the well tried resources 

 of the Mission. Other and splendid organisations 

 there were which did much to relieve the hardships 

 of prisoners of war in general, but the Mission was 

 particularly well equipped to take special charge of 

 the fishermen of all descriptions who had fallen into 

 the hands of a merciless enemy. 



Fishermen had been accustomed to very generous 

 living — that was one of the compensations of their 

 hard lot afloat. The fare might be rough, but it 

 was good and liberal, with an abundance of excel- 

 lent fresh fish as a regular article of diet. Even 

 when the trips were short, as in the case of the 

 long-liners working from Scarborough — a trip usu- 

 ally covering the period between late on Monday 

 to early on Saturday — the men, who rationed them- 

 selves, took to sea well filled " grub-boxes," this 

 being largely the work of their devoted women folk. 

 These " grub-boxes " were practically the same in 

 size and shape as the familiar lawyer's deed-box, 

 and the long-liner and his wife or sweetheart had 

 made an art of furnishing it with a wonderful assort- 

 ment of what the Americans would doubtless de- 

 scribe as " fixings." 



219 



