A HUMANISING AGENCY 211 



were put swiftly forth at the critical second, and a dozen 

 strong hands grasped firmly anyhow and anywhere, 

 regardless, of necessity, of the pain which was caused, 

 and with the knowledge that a slip meant either that 

 the sufferer would be crushed or beaten to death, or 

 miserably drowned. To-day a patient is strapped in 

 the ambulance, and if the sea runs high he can be hoisted 

 on board by means of tackle. 



Once a falling spar on a smack broke a man's leg. 

 He was put into the boat to be taken to the carrier, so 

 that he might receive attention on shore. A heavy sea 

 was running, and it was impossible to get the boat 

 alongside the steamer. A rope was accordingly thrown, 

 which was fastened round the man's body, and by this 

 means he was hauled through the water to the carrier, 

 "the broken limb," wrote an eye-witness, " being bent 

 about in all directions by the waves." Such scenes as 

 these are witnessed no longer where a Mission ship is 

 stationed. 



One of the earlier of the Mission surgeons gave 

 examples of some of the remedies which were used 

 by smacksmen before the Mission began its operations 

 on the North Sea. " A pill consisting of Stockholm 

 tar and flour was thought much of," he wrote, "and 

 is the only pill I have heard of. If sea-boils and 

 cracks were not left entirely alone, they were treated 

 with an ointment ' salve ' or * oils ' are the correct 

 terms composed of sugar and soft- oap, or perhaps 

 paraffin and treacle. I have heard of a man taking 

 a good pull at a bottle of ' turps ' to act on the kidneys. 

 He went 'raving mad,' but did not die your North 

 Sea fisherman dies hard. Should a finger be cut, 



