CHAPTER XV 

 A HUMANISING AGENCY 



JUST as steam has revolutionised North Sea fishing and 

 North Sea life, so the Royal National Mission to Deep 

 Sea Fishermen has brought about a wondrous change 

 in smacksmen. All life at sea, until a recent period, 

 was rough and hard, and mostly cruel. The savage 

 discipline of the old Navy, when the lash was used to 

 flog men into obedience, was reflected in the North Sea 

 smacks, and the unhappy little fellows who were sent to 

 the fleets from the workhouse, or packed off by a 

 magistrate in preference to sending them to gaol, were 

 entirely at the mercy of men some of whom did not 

 show mercy or kindness because they had never known 

 it in their own lives of brutal sordid toil. 



There were in the old sailing days, when foul deeds 

 could be so easily concealed, many dreadful crimes 

 committed for which no punishment could be inflicted, 

 because the perpetrators were not known ; but occasion- 

 ally there would come to light some wrong of exceptional 

 character which would be dealt with by a judge and 

 jury, and give the public an insight into the lives of 

 deep-sea toilers who were more of outcasts from their 

 fellow-creatures ashore than the heathen in far countries. 

 Such an instance was afforded by the murder on the 



