PRIMITIVE NORTH SEA MEN 31 



Some quaint particulars concerning the ocean toilers 

 nearly two centuries ago were given by the Rev. John 

 Lewis, who was vicar of Minster, and wrote of the 

 antiquities of the Isle of Thanet. The inhabitants who 

 lived by the seaside, he said, were generally fishermen, 

 or those who went voyages to foreign parts, or those 

 who depended upon " foying" that was, going off to 

 ships with provisions, or to help them in distress. 

 Many of these people, especially those who went to the 

 " North Seas" to fish, were "a sort of amphibious 

 creatures," who got their living both by sea and land, 

 being fishermen as well as husbandmen, and equally 

 skilled in holding the helm and the plough. According 

 to the season of the year, they made nets, went cod, 

 mackerel, or herring fishing, sailed on voyages, exported 

 merchandise, or ploughed and mowed and reaped and 

 sowed, and generally led the life of a farmer. As boys 

 they went to catch herring and whiting, and to the 

 " North Seas," to which they made two voyages a year. 

 From the second voyage they returned home soon 

 enough to enable the men to share in the wheat season, 

 "and take a winter's thresh." After the latter they 

 returned to the sea. There were also two seasons for 

 the home fishery, known as " shot-fare" and "herring- 

 fare." Of these the first was the mackerel season, 

 which usually began about May, when the sowing of 

 barley was ended ; the other was the season for catching 

 herrings, which opened about the end of harvest and 

 finished in time for the wheat season, which, in Thanet, 

 was November, the wheat being then sown. Owing 

 to the mixture of the two callings of land and sea it 

 was not uncommon for farm-servants to bargain with 



