THE FOURTH YEAR 



and hear them express their perfect confidence in 



_ Navy and the outcome of the war. 



" Oh, no," said one skipper, " the losses aren't 

 much just now — you might almost say there are 

 none hereabouts. Look at this fish. Isn't that a 

 fine show for war-time? And it's mostly North 

 Sea fish, too, for about the last catches have come 

 in from Iceland and the Faroes and that way." 



And so it was. These splendid vessels that were 

 all around, and the equally splendid fellows by 

 whom they were manned, had all come in again 

 from the deep sea, from the grounds set apart by 

 the Admiralty for their use, and because of their 



:i consistent courage and their skill and know- 

 ledge they had once more provided a large contri- 

 bution to the nation's food supply. 



At the great fishing-ports, especially Grimsby, 

 Hull, Yarmouth, Aberdeen, Milford Haven and 

 Fleetwood, evidence was given of the country's in- 

 debtedness to the toilers of the deep, as such, and 

 those of them who had gone into purely naval ser- 

 vice like mine-sweeping and patrolling. At other 

 ports where previously fishermen had been unknown 

 they now assembled as part of the Navy, and in re- 

 mote bays and estuaries there were formidable fleets 

 of trawlers and drifters which had become units of 

 the nation's fighting forces and were doing invalu- 

 able work. 



The war necessitated, especially for fishing pur- 

 poses, vessels that would not in ordinary times have 

 been sent to sea ; and disaster sometimes overtook 



229 



