IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 79 



say, as many have said to me, of trawlers, " Ah ! That 

 is going to sea ! " And they as readily admit or confess 

 that if all going to sea meant the same incessant toil 

 and discomfort there would be remarkably few sailors. 

 Perhaps the only parallel to the strenuous life of North 

 Sea men is to be found in the adventurous seekers of 

 the Poles ; yet even these intrepid explorers are inspired 

 with the spirit of adventure and the prospect of great 

 rewards, to say nothing of an assured fame and profit on 

 return to public life. 



One of the worst features of the old sailing days was 

 the apprenticeship system, which had many elements of 

 inhumanity and barbarism in it. Grimsby became 

 notorious for the number of unhappy little fellows who 

 were sent to prison rather than return to a life of slavery 

 and degradation on the Dogger, and so common became 

 the system of disobeying orders that on an average, even 

 so recently as twenty years ago, two hundred fishing 

 apprentices were committed to gaol at Grimsby alone, 

 for periods varying from a week to a month. Many of 

 the boys were born and reared in the workhouse, and 

 only occasionally, when some infamy had been perpet- 

 rated on the North Sea grounds, had the public any 

 means of learning what the lads suffered. They were 

 little better than slaves, with none of the slave's enjoy- 

 ments and pleasures. They were at the beck and call 

 of any man, brute or otherwise, and so hard and in- 

 cessant was the labour, so dull and uninviting was the 

 life in many cases, that a single trip to the Dogger was 

 enough for even a young and robust lifetime. 



Once ashore, nothing would induce many of the 

 apprentices to go back to sea. There was no alterna- 



