FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



used in happier and remoter times. A picture was 

 also shown of sweepers actually at sea, carrying out 

 their work under the protection of destroyers ; and 

 generally the display gave an instructive, though 

 necessarily very limited, insight into the opera- 

 tions of the mine-sweepers and drifters. 



Fishermen had remained singularly unaffected 

 by the industrial turmoil which raged all around 

 them. They had for so long been completely out of 

 touch with the ordinary life and movement of the 

 country that they were almost unacquainted with 

 change or progress in any calling except their own. 

 They were content to go on in more or less the old 

 way, taking inevitable changes philosophically. For 

 the most part they were ignorant of the meaning 

 and aspirations of trades unionism, though in this 

 respect combination had done much to better their 

 general position and to strengthen their hand. But 

 in the immense fishing industry, as in every other 

 industrial direction, the war brought important 

 changes. As the old order of illiterate smacksman 

 passed, and the new order of smart, well-informed 

 skipper and deep sea toiler took his place, the in- 

 evitable unrest arose ; a broader view of the situation 

 was taken, the unfairness of many things became 

 obvious, and thoughtful men, while in no way 

 shirking the sufferings and perils of the fishing on 

 the North Sea banks and in remoter waters, 

 developed a vivid realisation of possibilities of im- 

 provement. 



236 



