Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-29

and prepares to swing it on board. If the
-smacksman slips his life will be crushed
out of him. between the boats. and If the
box slips tits irretrievably lost in that cruel
and roaring sea. And by the way, very
few of the North sea fishermen are able to
swim.
The writer has heard some of these men
declare that they have deliberately neglect
ed swimming, because as the greater part
of their life is spent right out of sight or
land the knowledge of it would only add
to, and prolong, the pain of drowning.
The summer visitor to these floating vii
lagos is apt to take away a very pleasant
impression of the life; but he sees nothing
of the horrors of the North sea in the win
ter gales, when the black waves rush down
upon the boats with a noise like thunder.
/ have been on board in the night when
the hour has struck for the great net to be
hauled The sleepy men come on deck to
face the Kissing, roaring wind. or lashing
sleet, or binding snow. They tug and
strain at the trawl that heaving and
tossing deck by the feeble flicker of oil
lamps. until the huge beam comes up. And
then they grope in the dark. coiling nets
mechanically before beginning the grue-
some work of sorting and packing the f1Sh
under conditions positively appalling.
A Sleep of Exhaustion.
After this work. utterly exhausted they
plunge into their reek!ng doghole of a cabin,
fling themselves down in their sodden
clothes, and sleep until the next call sends
them on deck with steaming garments or
course. the steam capStan has Hghteneu
their labOrS, and the cabins are more uecenl
than they used to be.
They are grand men. and no weakllns
survives among them. The smackmans lie
is made up of furious spells OF WORK.
snatches of heavy sleep and stray hours or
leisure.
No sight is more impressive than to see
the steam-carrer taking up her station III
the North sea on a stormy morning, there
to lie weltering amid the vicious cross-seas.
The fleet of smackS and traWlers are
scattered far and near, but they gradually
converge toward the big carrier Little
central point. The myriad masts sheer
fiercely through the drift. Vessel after
vessel makes her tremendous swoops from
the crest to the hollow of these dread seas,
and it seems that only miracle can pre-
vent some of the wallowing boats from
crashing into each other.
But each lunge is measured, and the cooi
hands at the tillers generally manage TO
work themselves out of complications thal
would paralyze a coward NeVertheless,
very severe accidents ocur. When L Vlslteo
the Short Blue" fleet last year. one OF the
crew broke his thigh in getting the traWi
on board, owing to heaVy peam laiiilS
upon him.
A big sea was running, and it was quite
impossible to- send him ashore for treat
ment In the old days the poor man would
floating hospitals have changed all that.
The latest one, the Queen Alexandria Is
a blessing positively incalculable to these
splendid fellows. with its beautifully htteo
operating rooms comfortable beds with
spotless linen, modern dispensary, electric
light and hot and cold baths
The North sea boats are mostly steam
trawlers, carrying eight and nine hana Janus
each l we'll remember going out from
Hull to visit the very feet into which the
murderous Russian battleships poured
their cruel midnight broadsides. We left
on the floating hospital Queen Alexandra,
and nothing could have been, more curious
than the inquiries we made of passing yes
sells whether they had seen the hoating
town we were in search of.
We were laden with every KIND or COM
fort-tobacco medicine and literature-and
no sooner had the hospital arrived at the
fleet than boats were lowered and patients
began to come on board for both surgical
and medical treatment.
Nor are the cod fishermen of Newfound-
land neglected. Even the wild and desc
late coast of Labrador is visited by these
floating hospitals and churcheS-notably
the beautifully equipped "Strathcona,
which was presented by the eminent Cana
dian statesman of that name. Her skipper
Is both clergyman and doctor-the Rev. Dr.
Wilfred T. Grenfell, M r. c.. S.
1t is even more interesting to watch the
floating church taking up its station, ana
blowing it's shrill steam whistle, which
does duty as church bell. Forthwith boats
are lOWeTeu anu III HAIL al Houi VI ~ Ga
earnest and hearty congregation is gath
cred in the hold of the mission vessel, ana
the worShipers sitting on empty nsn
trunks, are roaring out hymns to the tune
of portable harmonum.
Government Aid.
1t is estimated that the hospital and mis-
sion steamers consume over $4,000 worth
of coal in a single year. Toward Christmas
time they carry out hampers of good things
to the fleets, not forgetting warm woolens
and the warmeSt of warm mittens, SOCKS
and comforters. How thankful must be the
pitiful victims of Admiral RojeStvensky
have been that the mission hospitals were
at hand after that murderous midnight at
tacki'
These men, we have seen, work terribly
hard for the merest pittance: but the gov
eminent helps them good deal, partic-
ularly through the department of marine
biology. If you were told of these fisher
men gravely catching fish, fixing neat little
metal labels on to them, and then slipping
them back into the ocean, in the hope that
some other man would find them some
where else, and thus their movements would
be traced. you would smile and think about
salt on the birds tall
Yet it is DONE and done by order of Sc
riOuS government department, so that the
movement of the shoals may be recorded for
the benefit of the fishermen, whose years
fishing. by the way, weighs more than nine
hundred thousand tons of which nearly
AS might be supposed. these rugged fish
ermen were pretty stiff proposition at first
for the missionaries.
What We want" said the admiral of the
Gamecock fleet once. apropos of religious
work among the North sea fleets. 'is not
so much of this ere cant, but more whis-
kyr'
The doctors who work among these men
tell many funny stories about their great
respect and regard-even love-for medi-
cine
Il remember one day." said Dr. GrenfelI
to the present writer, IT CHANGED to move
one of the long boots belonging to a skip
per. which lay in corner of a cabin. Out
fell bottle of medicine, which 1 had given
its owner an hour or two previously
Why. what do you keep your medicine
in your boot for, skipper? l asked him.
- For fear the other men should find it.
sir. They drank the last bottle you gave
me before had "a chancer"
Not the Only One.
From Smart Set.
YES L ALWAYS carry NV biey r,opaxy In