STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 141 



By way of showing the actual working of a North 

 Sea fleet of steam-trawlers, I will take the case of the 

 Gamecock Fleet, because that assemblage of plucky 

 little vessels came into so much prominence owing to 

 the outrage by the Russian Baltic Fleet. That famous 

 " incident" has been forgotten by the public, and is 

 little more than a memory to those who took part in it ; 

 but the Gamecock trawlers ply their trade as stub- 

 bornly as ever on the banks, and the carriers, with 

 the emblem of a bird on their funnels, still chunk 

 up and down London River as if nothing had ever 

 happened. 



The Gamecock Fleet consists of stearn-trawlers, 

 specially built to carry large supplies of coal. No ice is 

 carried. The fleet has been established about seventeen 

 years, during the whole of which time it has fished in 

 the North Sea without intermission. The Red Cross 

 Fleet and the Great Northern Fleet have existed for 

 about thirty-five years, but only for a portion of that 

 time exclusively as steam-trawlers. The youngest fleet 

 is Hellyers', which was established in 1906. The fleet 

 left Hull on 2Oth February in that year to commence 

 operations, and it has been continuously fishing on 

 North Sea grounds since that period. Messrs. Hellyers' 

 fleet in the North Sea consists of seven carriers and 

 fifty-five fleeters ; but these do not include their vessels 

 which sail to Iceland and the White Sea. 



Although there is nothing approaching the rigid 

 discipline of the Royal Navy, still, these North Sea 

 fleets are well controlled by a specially selected and 

 experienced fisherman who is officially known as the 



