tonnage, which have larger crews because of the use of handlines, one 

 finds, in spite of the crowding, careful attention to and realization of hygi- 

 enic conditions which cannot be criticized. In their clean galleys, the 

 fishermen eat on a clean cloth, frequently washed. One cannot then accept 

 the principle that foulness and suspension of all the rules of hygiene is a 

 necessary condition accompanying cod fishing. 



Thanks to the patient efforts of the commanders of the Naval Station 

 vessels and to their collaborators, the Workers of the Sea, who, from their 

 founding, have taken an effective course, and thanks equally to the custom of 

 substantial prizes to the captains and crews of vessels maintaining a satis- 

 factory state of cleanliness, this deplorable condition has tended, more and 

 more, to become a thing of the past. One even finds aboard the more recent 

 motor trawlers used in bank fishing, remarkably comfortable quarters for 

 the crews. 



In spite of the evidence of service rendered to the fishermen by vessels 

 of the National Maritime, a new step remains to be taken to give aid on the 

 fishing banks its maximum effectiveness. 



For these vessels, the mission of surveillance which is the reason for 

 the Naval Station, is primarily that of rendering assistance. Besides special 

 arrangements not found on a warship, these vessels have varied duties: pro- 

 tocol visits and calls at foreign ports, justified by the fact that they alone 

 officially carry the French flag in North America where the memory of the 

 mother country is still very much alive; carrying out military and oceano- 

 graphic functions during the course of cruises on a predetermined itinerary 

 with a minimum of detours. Thus these vessels, obliged to follow a program 

 fixed in advance by ministerial instructions and spending long periods on the 

 banks, cannot devote themselves entirely to rendering aid. 



Private initiative alone is free from these obligations and restrictions 

 and can undertake actions exclusively aimed at assisting the fishermen. It 

 was for this reason that the Society of Workers of the Sea was founded. 



Priority in organizing assistance at sea goes to England, and it is curi- 

 ous to note that this undertaking was started by the necessity of combatting 

 the crimes of an enterprise, arising in the second half of the 19th century, 

 the action of which has been justly labelled "contre-assistance. " This was 



115 



