HELP FOR THE FISHERMEN 



and captives frequently declared that without these 

 parcels of food, boots and clothing life in the Ger- 

 man prison camps, especially in winter, could not 

 have been supported. 



While the society's work was kept steadily going 

 at so many points ashore, it became possible, with 

 the heart}' co-operation of the naval authorities, to 

 detail a Mission smack for service amongst the 

 fishermen who were attached to the Grand Fleet. 

 This enterprise was so successful that subsequently 

 another Mission smack was sent to the Grand Fleet, 

 the two vessels serving the purpose which they had 

 for main- years carried out amongst the toilers of 

 the deep. 



At one period the Mission was in the happy posi- 

 tion of finding no fewer than three of its vessels 

 attached to the Grand Fleet — the two smacks re- 

 ferred to and one of the Hospital steamers. Simul- 

 taneous^-, with the object of helping the food supply 

 of the country, another Mission smack was specially 

 equipped and sent trawling, and this work she 

 carried on with marked success. 



A list of fishermen who were detained as prisoners 

 of war in Germany was issued by the Board of 

 Trade in the early autumn of 1917. Of these prison- 

 ers 1^8 belonged to Grimsby, 65 to Boston, 26 to 

 North and South Shields, and 18 to Hull. There 

 were 222 interred at Ruhleben, 81 at Brandenburg, 

 13 at Dulmen, 10 at Hamelm, 2 each at Strohen 

 and Soltau, one each at Karlsruhe and Haveburg, 

  I 10 at places unknown — making a total of 342. 



223 





