2i 4 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



still composed of sailing vessels, with steam-carriers 

 to keep up communication with Billingsgate. The 

 account is simple and charming, and, as it was written 

 when women rarely went out to the fleets, I will 

 quote from it, as a feminine impression of the men 

 of the North Sea. The visitor's husband had suggested 

 that she should accompany him in one of the Mission 

 smacks. " Now, I must confess that this idea did not 

 appeal to me in the slightest degree," she said, "but 

 after a great deal of persuasion I overcame my scruples 

 and agreed to go. At five o'clock one Saturday 

 morning in the first week of May we were towed 

 out of Gorleston for a week's cruise. 



" My friends had bidden me a tearful farewell. Such 

 an unheard-of trip as this they could not understand, 

 and apparently they did not expect to set eyes on me 

 again. I am afraid I shared their misgivings when they 

 made anxious inquiries as to my wishes concerning the 

 disposal of my personal effects. If I had been starting 

 on a voyage in search of the North Pole I could not 

 have left amid more gloomy prophecies than those of 

 my friends on sailing for the Short Blue Fleet. 



" The Queen Victoria, in which we sailed, was the 

 flagship of the Mission fleet. She was a floating 

 hospital, and visited the fleets with the object of 

 doctoring sick and injured smacksmen while out 

 at sea. As a rule, she went out for six or eight 

 weeks at a time, as did also the smacks, with a 

 skipper and crew of seven or eight, a doctor, and 

 occasionally a lady, who was expected to minister 

 spiritually to the fleet. Sometimes these occasional 

 ladies did what was expected of them ; but, alas ! it was 



