226 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



are lying near us, and this, I dare say, meant the salva- 

 tion of both the smack and ourselves. 



" Time after time, as we ran before the wind and sea 

 in the darkness, we were swept by a big wave, and I 

 expected every moment that we should be carried over- 

 board, or that some immense mass of water would fall 

 on us and crush us like matchwood. But an old North 

 Sea smack was the stiffest and handiest vessel in the 

 world, and I managed to keep the Uncle Tom up to it 

 as she ran away from The Cemetery. 



" I could only carry a bit of storm canvas, but the 

 smack hardly needed any sail at all to keep her going in 

 such a breeze as that. She plunged and rolled and 

 pitched in the most awful manner, but I stuck to the 

 tiller and never let it go except once or twice when the 

 mate relieved me for a few minutes. Even a North Sea 

 smacksman isn't made of iron and has to snatch a bit of 

 rest when he gets the chance. We were all sodden to the 

 skin, in spite of our oilskins and thick clothing but then 

 I've known us be out for eight and ten weeks at a 

 time, and never dry for a minute, day or night. 



" When the morning came it showed a scaring sight, 

 for the shallow waters of the Dogger were just one roar- 

 ing, foaming plain. I never saw a snarlier sea, and it 

 was the more uncanny, because the wind was out of all 

 proportion to the size and fury of the waves. It was 

 more like some wonderful phenomenon than an ordinary 

 North Sea gale, even in winter. I looked around and 

 saw that the smacks, which had been working peacefully, 

 with their gear down, were either running for it, or had 

 disappeared entirely. 



" At such a time as that, with the freezing wind driving 



