IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 83 



would have to find refuge in the union. It is something 

 to know that in these days a man who has toiled may, at 

 the end of his labour, get at least a pittance from the 

 country in the way of pension. 



The spirit of devilment dies hard in North Sea men, 

 and, even in these prosaic days of steam-fishing, some of 

 them are guilty of acts of almost incredible folly and 

 recklessness. Not long ago, on an October day, in Foxe 

 Bay, Iceland, the crew of the Balmoral Castle, a steam- 

 trawler, were amazed to see the St. Paul, another trawler, 

 bearing down towards them in a manner that made 

 collision seem inevitable. The Balmoral Castle was 

 steered out of the way of the St. Paul, which, however, 

 came on again to what proved a deliberate attempt to 

 run her down. Twice, by skilful manoeuvring, the 

 threatened craft was saved ; but for the third time 

 the St. Paul tried to ram her and succeeded. As the 

 St. Paul crashed into her victim, her skipper tumbled 

 out of her wheelhouse and shouted, " Now, laugh ! " 

 There was little indeed to laugh about, for both the 

 steamboats were so badly damaged that they had to 

 return to port for repairs. The skipper of the St. Paul 

 admitted the facts at the Board of Trade inquiry, nor 

 did he deny them when he was charged at the Hull 

 police court with endangering the lives of both the crews 

 by wilfully running his ship into the other. All he 

 could do was to plead that he was mad drunk at the time 

 of the outrage, and that he did not remember anything 

 about it. The offence was a serious and uncommon one, 

 and had to be met with severe punishment. This was 

 inflicted by the stipendiary magistrate, who sentenced 

 the skipper of the St. Paul to six months' hard labour. 



