PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 29 



sixty times, declared that he had never met such a nasty 

 sea as that in bad weather in the H umber. When 

 spending some days on board a lightship, in sight of land, 

 I was assured by several members of the crew that they 

 would far rather be well out at sea, because the sight of 

 the fields and houses only increased the longing to be 

 ashore. 



The regions where these lightships cluster are those 

 with which so many great North Sea achievements are 

 associated. Most famous of all is Yarmouth Roads, 

 where, before steam became universal, as many as a 

 thousand vessels could be seen at anchor when shelter- 

 ing in bad weather or delayed by unfavourable winds. 

 Yarmouth and its people fascinated Defoe, who wrote 

 his famous description of a storm, as did Dickens, long 

 afterwards, in David Copperfield, when he found "bewail- 

 ing women whose husbands were away in herring or 

 oyster boats, which there was too much reason to think 

 might have foundered before they could run in anywhere 

 for shelter. . . . The sea, having upon it the additional 

 agitation of the whole night, was infinitely more terrific 

 than when I had seen it last. Every appearance it had 

 then presented bore the expression of being swelled" 

 It was in Yarmouth Roads where the great, good- 

 hearted fisherman Ham perished, and it was at Yarmouth 

 that Mr. Barkis, doubtless for once unwillin', went out 

 with the tide. 



Robin Hood's Bay, on the Yorkshire coast, is locally 

 associated with the renowned outlaw, who is supposed 

 to have fled to this quaint spot when he was hard 

 pressed. He had boats ready, so that if necessary he 

 could hurry off to sea. At one time the romantic Robin 



