216 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



Fortunately I was not sea-sick, being a fairly good 

 sailor, but the hours passed very slowly, and it seemed 

 a very long time before we discovered the fleet. My 

 husband enjoyed every inch of the way, being an 

 enthusiastic seaman, and he would sit on the grating 

 at the stern of the boat in company with the skipper 

 and crew, and talk ' shop ' by the hour together. 



" I spent my time reading on deck and listening to 

 the conversation around me, or down in the steward's 

 little kitchen watching with much interest his cooking 

 operations, or else in our own cabin trying to sew. We 

 had meals in this same cabin, and I was much taken 

 with the crockery which was used. It was of thick, 

 white earthenware, each piece being adorned with a 

 blue flag, and on the flag the letters M.D.S.F. Every- 

 thing else belonging to the ship was marked in the same 

 way. 



" When we reached the fleet, which was eventually 

 discovered off the coast of Holland, things brightened 

 up considerably. The fleet consisted of some 150 

 smacks, and was a lovely sight when first we came 

 across it. The moon shone on the smacks as they 

 fished on that silver sea ; and it seemed impossible to 

 realise how different sometimes was the scene when 

 those peaceful-looking waves were lashed into fury and 

 brought death and destruction in their wake. 



" Early next morning our friends the smacksmen 

 began to pay their respects to us. When it became the 

 good pleasure of a smack's skipper to visit us he ran 

 up his flag and a boat from the Queen Victoria put out 

 and fetched him. In all that fleet I had the honour to 

 be the only woman, and a young one, too I had not 



