92 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



mothers, and daughters who have so often launched the 

 lifeboats or cobles on the east coast when their men- 

 folk have been in peril, and have at times pulled out 

 and done as Grace Darling did before them. It is 

 mostly the womenfolk of the inshore fishermen who are 

 seen at work of this description the men who go out for 

 the night or a few days. The wife and sister, daughter 

 and sweetheart of the deep-sea fisherman, whose life is 

 mostly spent in fleeting, sees him but seldom, and for 

 only a few days in the year. 



If I ventured on a prophecy, which I think is likely 

 to be fulfilled with regard to North Sea fishing, it is that 

 before long the fleeting system will be either abolished 

 or completely reformed. With so many growing demands 

 on the part of the employed, it is unlikely that men will 

 be found who are willing to remain at sea, cut off from 

 home and family, for such protracted periods. Even as 

 I write, a fishermen's trade union is being formed at 

 North Shields. It is a scheme for the labour organisa- 

 tion of the Tyne fishermen ; and all the east coast 

 fishermen are being organised. Industrial combinations 

 are quick to detect or suspect grounds for grievance, 

 and it will be deeply interesting to watch the develop- 

 ment of this movement which originated on the mighty 

 Tyne. 



