IN THE DAYS OF SAIL 89 



fishing or tumbling about in cobles, but who were 

 content to act the part of degenerated pier-rats and 

 hawk picture post cards and hover round promiscuously 

 in the hope of being rewarded for doing nothing in 

 particular. The finest type of fisherman is undoubtedly 

 the class of man and boy who goes fleeting and on the 

 long voyages such as Iceland and the White Sea. The 

 inshore fisher is being spoilt and softened by too much 

 contact with the holiday-maker and loafer, well-dressed 

 and otherwise. Quite lately one of the hard, fine old 

 school of fishermen declared bitterly to me that it was 

 almost impossible to get a mate to go to sea with him, 

 if the weather was at all unfavourable. " Yet it's in bad 

 weather that I can do best and am almost sure to do 

 well," he added. " Look at this beach. It swarms 

 with young fellows who ought to be off fishing; but 

 that doesn't suit their ticket. They'd rather hang about 

 here and take trippers off in their cobles. I wouldn't 

 let any man under fifty do soft work of that sort. The 

 truth is, a lot of the old deep-sea men have been spoilt 

 by visitors, and those that ought to be deep-sea men 

 are just blow-abouts." 



Until a recent period there was maintained at some 

 of the north-east ports, particularly those which are 

 dangerous of entrance in bad weather, the old and 

 striking custom of "burning off." This warning was 

 to be seen at Scarborough when the old " platform" 

 existed at the foot of Castle Hill, and before the new 

 Marine Drive was finished. The "platform" was an 

 old wooden shed with three small look-out windows 

 commanding a view of the North Sea towards the south 

 and east, and within the building pilots and fishermen 



