84 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



Let me give a story of the brighter side of the old 

 sailing days, insomuch as that aspect concerns the method 

 of enjoyment which was afforded by the coper. It is a 

 tale told to me by a friendly skipper. 



" So you saw a coper, did you, when you were lookin' 

 for the fleet? Well, he still prowls about the Nowth 

 Sea, but he steers wide o' the fleets, an' only does busi- 

 ness wi' the single-boaters. He never shows his nose 

 amongst the fleeters daren't do it ; an' he isn't wanted. 

 Many's the smart smack 'at's been lost through him, 

 many the home 'at's been ruined ; an' many the life 'at's 

 been lost. Time after time I've spent my last penny on 

 board of the old Dutchman, an' when we've had no 

 money left, I've seen boatloads o' gear ferried to him 

 from the smacks to swop for drink. He did a roarin' 

 trade in the old sailin' days, when for days together smacks 

 couldn't fish because there wasn't any wind. An' when 

 time 'angs 'eavy you get the itch for mischeef. 



"It isn't very many years since I was fleetin' off the 

 Dutch coast. The coper had been very busy amongst 

 us, for we could do nothing, owin' to the weather, but 

 drink, drink, drink. Suddenly some of us determined to 

 go ashore for a spree, so we rigged up the smack's mizzen- 

 tops'l on an oar an' got over the three miles that lay 

 between us an' a Dutch island. There were ten of us 

 when we started, an' we went steadily at it day an' night 

 till we had proper skinsful, I can tell you. Then, some- 

 how, there were only two of us left. We hadn't had a 

 bite to eat it was sup, sup, sup all the time an' we were 

 ravenous. But it was night, an' there were no places 

 open. A trifle like that didn't count, so we went explor- 

 in', an', seein' a nice little cottage with a big tree growin' 



