The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-12
HONOLULU HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, THURSDAY MARCH u, 1885.
NORTH SEA "COOPERS."
FLOATING PUBLlc-HOUSES WHICH
HAIL FROM GERMAN PORTS.
A Visit on Board Cooper" and the
Shippers Reception The Curse
Ofthe North Sea-Dishonest
Smackmen.
[St. James' Gazette. I

st. James Gazette
In July last it was announced that a
German vessel, the Diedrich had been at
tackled and plundered in the North sea by
a gang of pirates, supposed to belong to
English fishing -smacks working on the
Dogger bank. The assailants, it was said,
rowed up in boats, boarded the Diedrich,
assaulted and maltreated her officers and
crew, and made off with a considerable
amount of loot The word PIRACY"
was evidently an exaggeration, for it is
not pretended that the pirates" were
armed. 1t was suggested. no doubt, that
they carried knives and bludgeons But
bludgeons are no part of the stores of a
fishing-smack, and every sailor carries 4
knife as a matter of course.
To those acquainted with the DGgger
bank the whole thing was clear at once
The Diedrich was admittedly a German
cooper. l" The "coopers" are large
smacks of sixty or seventy tons measure
ment, literally rugged and fast sailers.
with a cargo consisting principally of
cigars, tobacco, and spirits. But they
also carry scent, kid gloves, bangles, and
other such wares of Autolycus, which the
smacksmen purchase for their wives.
daughters, or sweethearts There will
also be an assortment of sundries-Cut-
lery, combs and brushes, razors, and
distinctly Objectionable character, such as
stereoscopic slides, the sale of which on
shore in England would be an indictable
offense The prices charged are low, and
the goods, as a rule, are worthless The
spirits are abominable Only, a smacks-
man in want of drink will drink any
thing. The one genuine article cooper
carries is her tobacco. This costs you Is
pence a pound. The favorite brand re-
1oices in the title of "Rising Hope. " and
it would be cheap in London at pence
the ounce.
These coopers come out of the German
ports and cruise about among the fishing
fleet There is no secret as to their bust
ness. 1t is publicly indicated by a small,
square blue flag hung third up the main
tOpmast. They are in reality, floating
public houses, and the flag in Question is
their sign board. Now English fishing
smacks on the Dogger put down their
trawl at sunset and haul 1t at sunrise.
During the day a fishing smack, as a rule,
lies to, drifting slowly to leeward and
! hardly shifting her position on the fishing
grounds 1t is during the leisure hour
of the day-generally after dinner-that
che visit to the cooper takes place. You
row up to her, and are welcomed by a
polyG,St skipper. who commences pro-
ceedinZs by handing round glasses of
liquor and then gets to business. Over
the business an alteration is by no means
uncommon, and it will sometimes get
beyond the length of mere words. If, on
the other hand, things go amicably, an
hour or two will be spent in drinking
Hamburg sherry, potato-spirit, and other
such poison; and then the men will Tejoin
their smack, all more or less drunk and
loaded with rubbish.
There is nothing good on cooper ex-
cept her tobacco; and this is only because
cut tobacco can not easily be counter
feited or adulterated The floating grog-
shops in the coopering trade are the curse
of the North sea The men waste money
on them which would be better spent on
shore; and in too many cases the skipper
of cooper is neither more or less than
receiver of stolen goods. When the
smaCksmen have no money he will tempt
them to "truck" the stores of their vessel
and many a valuable net, many fathOms
of rope, many anchors, and other such
gear. have been reported as lost, which in
reality have been bartered away for an
eighth of thejr value in exchange for Ham
burg spirits No one says that this is
honest on the part of the smackmen; but
there is rough sense in a remark often
heard from the bench, that if there were
no receivers there would be no thieves.