CHAPTER IV 



FIELDS AND HARVESTERS 



WAR to-day is waged as fiercely on the North Sea as it 

 ever was when Jutlanders and Vikings came to England. 

 But it is another sort of fight, a battle with unnumbered 

 hosts that dwell in gloomy waters and are seldom seen 

 till they are conquered. For generations armies of men 

 have fished the Dogger Bank and other shoals, har- 

 vesters of fields that have been, and are, open to all who 

 care to visit them. 



Just as the early sea-wolves ravened and pillaged on 

 the shores of Britain, so these harvesters reap their re- 

 wards. From January ist to New Year's Eve that follows, 

 in steam or sailing craft, but mostly steam, they labour 

 with incessant courage and endurance. The enormous 

 quantity of 22,371,221 cwt. of fish was landed in the 

 United Kingdom in 1909, the value being ^10,69 1,183, 

 and the bulk coming from the North Sea. To win such 

 vast results there were employed thousands of men and 

 boys and four standing fleets of steamboats, irrespective 

 of many craft which operate individually, and are known 

 as single-boaters. 



If the North Sea waters were translucent, what a 

 wondrous sight would be presented to the voyagers upon 



its surface ! Countless myriads of fishes find existence 



36 



