CHAPTER X 



THE EDUCATION OF FISHERMEN 



THE education of the fishing community may be considered 

 from two standpoints. There is firstly the education of 

 adults, who may be considered for this purpose to be all 

 persons over sixteen years of age, and secondly the education of 

 boys and apprentices. The former group is sharply distinguished 

 from the latter, since its requirements are altogether different. 

 The provision of educational facilities for fishermen who have passed 

 the apprentice stage is by no means a simple matter. Persons who 

 are engaged in work on land can almost invariably, provided they 

 possess the necessary zeal, profit by attendance at technical classes 

 with little or no disturbance to their employment. The fisherman, 

 however, stands in an entirely different position. The nature of 

 his calling necessitates his absence from home for more or less 

 irregular and lengthy intervals, and absence from home in his case 

 naturally means the cutting off of any educational facilities provided 

 at his home port. Trawlers, as a rule, work regularly throughout 

 the year. In the case of a deep-sea smack the average fishing 

 voyage will last for from four to seven days, but the steam trawlers 

 may be absent from port for ten days to three weeks on a single 

 voyage, and voyages of over a month's duration are occasionally 

 made. The steam trawler usually makes a particular port his 

 headquarters, e.g. Fleetwood, but the smacks usually make the 

 nearest port to the fishing grounds their temporary headquarters. 

 Thus a Brixham trawler may land his fish at one time at Milford 

 and at another time at Fleetwood ; a Hoylake smack whose crew 

 will be entirely Cheshire men will have temporary headquarters 

 for months at a time, at either Liverpool, Douglas or Bangor (North 

 Wales). In the latter case it would be ahnost impossible for the 

 Cheshire Coxmty Council to arrange for the technical education of 

 these men. The case of the drifter is somewhat different. Here we 

 have a seasonal fishing followed by an interval of rest, the vessels 

 being laid up entirely for a certain period, often of several months' 

 duration. It is, therefore, easier for these men to make themselves 

 more efficient navigators by attending some course of technical 



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