68 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



of a large family of "boys" Purple Heather, 

 Try, Rose of Devon, Fear Not, Forward, Intrepid, 

 Thrift, Strive, and Perseverance ; and the Fame and 

 Glory. All the human virtues, and a few of the 

 frailties, have been and are represented by the 

 names of sailing craft, and many a fragrant title or 

 double name has been the product of some loving 

 meeting by the North Sea shore. The lovers have 

 departed, but their craft remain. 



Equally appropriate to the days of steam are many 

 of the names which are borne on the bows and sterns 

 of steamboats. Here romance has disappeared before 

 the hard graft of steam, and in some instances vessels are 

 actually numbered consecutively from One and she and 

 Nine, Ten, Twenty-Two, Twenty- Seven, and other arith- 

 metical craft trawl the North Sea waters as industriously, 

 and doubtless as profitably, as the Gleaner, the Zealot, the 

 Breadwinner, the Bounteous Sea, and the Brighter Hope. 



With so many fleets working the North Sea 

 grounds, there is obviously a wide field of choice in 

 the selection of names for the vessels, and many fads 

 and fancies are gratified in christening the craft, while, 

 at the same time, there are numerous opportunities 

 of paying tributes to departed smackowners by keeping 

 their names green, to living pioneers of trawling, and 

 to public men. Illustrious naval and military officers, 

 unknown to themselves, have provided names for 

 North Sea craft, and General de Wet, an enterpris- 

 ing motor-boat, probably harries fish as persistently 

 as her namesake troubled British soldiers in South 

 Africa. 



In one respect there has been little change compared 



