FISHERIES PROTECTION 191 



protection cruisers much in the same light as the citizen 

 ashore regards the policeman. If he does wrong, he 

 must do it by stealth. He frequently succeeds. Yet 

 policing North Sea fishermen has grown into a fatherly 

 care of these brave toilers by the naval officers who 

 command the little warships that are spoken of by 

 smacksmen as "Government boats." It is largely due 

 to the officers' ceaseless vigilance that the coper has 

 been driven off the Dogger and other banks, and that 

 law rules the North Sea pretty much as it reigns ashore. 

 The commander of a gunboat on fisheries protection is 

 the stipendiary magistrate of the North Sea. He is 

 there to administer the law, and to give advice and help ; 

 and he does it all with prompt and sailor-like efficiency. 



The ships of the Royal Navy which are detailed for 

 work amongst the trawlers are not ideal craft for deep- 

 sea work ; but probably a special sort of ship would 

 need to be evolved that is capable of giving ordinary 

 comfort on the torn waters which are ruled by the wild 

 winds that sweep down from somewhere near the North 

 Pole. You may pass on the North Sea an effete 

 hooker, flying the white ensign, which is inferior in 

 every way to many a vessel that has been scrapped ; 

 yet she is considered good enough to ride the fiercest 

 waters in the world. You may see some such forlorn 

 craft as the Thrush, smart enough in her day to be 

 commanded by a sailor who is now the King, wallowing 

 in the swell, and you know that she would doubtless fail to 

 catch a wrong-doing powerful modern trawler even if she 

 almost burst her boilers in the chase. Yet she is good 

 enough for fisheries protection. A new ship, however, 

 the Watchful, has been detailed for this particular duty, 



