1 36 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



the herrings have been shaken from the nets, and are 

 slattingjslimily about with the drifter's heavy roll. 



Four hours' hard hauling, shaking, stowing, and 

 packing and twenty thousand herrings as the pay for 

 all the work. Not a heavy catch, not an overwhelming 

 profit ten pounds for owners and skipper and crew, 

 with all expenses first to be deducted, but still something 

 for the night's rough work ; and so, with thankfulness 

 that matters are no worse, we surge away to harbour 

 on the rising sea. The skipper takes the wheel till 

 breakfast is ready ; then, willingly obedient to the 

 summons, we tumble below again and fall hungrily upon 

 tea, bread and butter, and herrings herrings freshly 

 caught, gutted, beheaded, and deprived of tails, slashed 

 with jack-knives latitudinally, so that when the huge 

 dishful of them is placed on the floor, piping hot from 

 the boiling fat in which they have been fried, we can 

 bend down and help ourselves, and with our fingers 

 strip the crisp, delicious morsels from the bones and eat 

 them. Savage, certainly ; but cutlery is scarce, space 

 is cramped, and there is no table. 



Competition is as merciless in drifting as in other 

 walks of life, and only the fittest of the fit survive. 

 The sailing drifter is seen at her best when she is 

 running for market in a smart breeze, not the " smart 

 breeze " of the North Sea smacksman, which means a 

 dangerous ,gale ; but the strong wind in which the 

 Lowestoftman can carry all his canvas and crack on 

 with tautened gear and deck awash. That is the time 

 when skipper and crew enjoy the triumph of success 

 of toil, and run to port with some of the sea's good 

 harvest. These Lowestoftmen claim that their craft are 



