NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 357 



of causing them to declare that as an adjunct to the 

 Navy these toilers are useless. It is true that in some 

 cases the fishermen have proved failures as Royal Naval 

 Reservists and that officers commanding warships have 

 been relieved to find that they would have no trouble on 

 board because of the men, for the simple reason that 

 they never appeared ; but, on the other hand, it should 

 be remembered that the North Sea man is a being apart 

 from his fellows and requires a special and sympathetic 

 understanding before the best that is in him can be 

 extracted. It should not be forgotten, either, that the 

 rebellious and unsuccessful cases have come from the 

 remoter classes of the inshore fishermen and not from 

 the constant workers on the deep sea. 



In the scheme which I am advocating I do not deal 

 with workers like the Scotchmen, many of whom leave 

 their little farms during the herring season and follow 

 the fish around the coast. I am dealing only with the 

 deep-sea fishermen, the masters, mates, and crews of the 

 steamboats with which in these days the North Sea 

 fishing industry is maintained. 



The alien element in the mercantile marine has been 

 repeatedly dealt with, and its dangers and disadvantages 

 exposed. That alien element scarcely exists amongst 

 North Sea men. Here and there is a foreigner ; but 

 most of the skippers, mates, and crews are the most 

 British of the British, and are recruited from the flower 

 of the fishing population on the north-east coast. They 

 are primitive in their tastes and ways, and their insular 

 prejudice is complete. They have a childlike faith in 

 their country and its superiority, and have all the North 

 countryman's love of birthplace and national institu- 



