132 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



what'll happen to us if Russia doesn't take our herrin', 

 but buys from the Japs ? Them little coloured men are 

 wonderful, an' we've had several of 'em out in the fleets 

 with us, learnin' our ways, so that they can buy drifters 

 an' catch herrin' for themselves off the Japanee coast, I 

 take it. 



" There's so many stories told of fishin' that aren't 

 true, an' so many people come an' bother you with foolish 

 questions. One tale that's made such a lot of is the 

 death-cheep of the herrin'. They'll tell you that when 

 the herrin' are caught an' shaken out of the nets an' are 

 wrigglin' an' lashin' about, they'll squeak just like wee 

 little kittens. Well, sometimes they do, but not often, 

 an' that's only when they're full of wind an' you step on 

 'em or pick 'em up an' nip 'em. 



"Then there's land people who come an' bother you 

 with foolish questions. I try to put 'em off, but can't 

 allus do it. There was an old lady who worrited me 

 past endurance with her questions, askin' if the herrin's 

 were caught in the barrels, as she'd sometimes seen 'em 

 that way in shops. I told her no, an' then she aggravated 

 me to that extent that I told the only fib I ever spoke in 

 my life for I larned a lot about the Scriptures at 

 Sunday School. 'How do you kill 'em when you've 

 caught 'em ? ' she asked, an' I answered, ' We bite their 

 heads ! ' She looked at the catch o' herrin's we had, an' 

 murmured as she walked away, ' Lor' ! How tired your 

 poor jaws must be ! ' 



" There's a wonderful lot o' luck in the herrin' fishin'. 

 I like it best when we can have a good clear sweep of 

 sea to ourselves an' that comes earlier in the year, say 

 in June, when we go away North, and come down with 



