21 8 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



We were told of an instance when a service lasted for 

 twelve hours ! If members of our congregation got 

 tired and wanted a change, they rose from their seats, 

 and without making the slightest effort to leave quietly, 

 clattered on deck, took a stroll round, and came back 

 again. 



"At one meeting I attended, after a deputation had 

 waited upon me with a request that I would play the 

 harmonium for them, I could not help being amused at 

 the attitude of a smacksman who evidently was not 

 considered by the others to be * converted.' A fellow- 

 skipper was praying earnestly for him by name, a fact 

 which did not disconcert him in the least, for all through 

 the prayer he conversed with a friend in his normal 

 voice, evidently about the course of some vessel, for at 

 intervals I could plainly hear such expressions as ' nowth- 

 east by nowth,' and 'lost his gear,' showing very de- 

 cidedly that the fears for his soul's safety expressed by 

 his seafaring brethren were not shared by him. The 

 hymns were the great features of the meetings, the men 

 singing them with tremendous heartiness in fact, they 

 sang so loudly that I could not hear the harmonium, 

 although I was playing it ! " 



