New-York tribune., 1904-10-27
THE TR4WLING' FLEET.
"a NoueEist's account of the Boats
Fired Upon by Russia.

FW6Q L fjOH Og n0eotu'
In that excellent new novel. The Truants"
f9arper e. BrOsD. by Mr. a. Z. ". Mason
which we reviewed the other day. some inter
esting glimpses are given Of the North sea
srawling feet on which Russian warships have
lately been firing. 10 the astOnishmert Of the
civilized world. Ny Mason himself with the
ardor OF writer who gathers the material for
his books al irst hand, has served with that
feet and he knows just what he life is like OF
the mon who spend their lives on the Dogger
hank. IN The Truants' he represents his hero.
Tony Stretton. sg shipping aboard the 'Perse-
zerance" as a practical hand for period of n
few weeks. IN order mat he may work out. un-
disturbed. certain problems hy which he is con-
fronted. He has to take some risks and IN ine
iraNling feet one learns how 10 estimate r1sAs-
"Out there" ne says. ''men risk their lives daily
20 put a few boxes Of FISH on board FISH cut
ter Take the risk half hearteely and your
boats swamped for a sure thing. but take it
with all your heart and there are the fish boxes
10 your credit"
Just how the risks are faced and conquered
ly the fishermen of the feet. Mr.. Mason tells us
fn his description Of the meeting between STREET
ton and Alan Warrisden, who has come out in
the steam fish carrier TO find him. Its no
bobby's job" the captain of The City Of Bristol
tells him. when referring to the life Of a man on
the Dogger bank, and so We may infer from
the following:
warrisden looked over a gray. savage sea; The
ar Wac thick with sDindrift The waves leaped
rom Gn I56 p0 5 ' kee IN sleep
uprising hin of foam All about hn me sai'e az ne
boats headed TO the wind sinking and rising ~ lle
Ie1 = ;, 80 ~ ~ oieo u ~ ~ sec roller ike sharks
IN and tbe next instant the dripping huh Of the
boat iung out upon breaking crest -.
from tn 'Persevsrancc' alongside with her
fish" the captain shouted The punt VIII give
You passage back TO the FerseNer alce' r, hut @
don't think you wlH be able TO return here There
Increasing every moment. However, there will be
another cutter mp to-morroN, and u u = not 100
II took warTisden fur minpte 70 reaIize, The
meaning of the captains WORDS tte ooheI - ~ ne 5i,T
stumbling breaking waves he listened 70 me roar
OF The wind through the riSEi1F, . ,.,,,, ,o
THE boats won't come ALONGSIDE To-Day "e
Won't they the ssaeeT replied Il 5roeTes. Looki The
traWlers were an forming 70 wludward in a rough
sm-clrSs 4oGoL ] ] Nc y, ibs Main varels and men
standing upon the boats capslzec on 1''t ~ ,S InFE
were actually intending 10 put theiT hsh on board
You @ is See viii The gale blowing up they mayn't
get . chance TO put their FISH on board for three
ar four davs afte- this thu captain explained
"oh' you can take it from me. The Moth Sea Is
As WarTisden watched. one hy one the tTawlers
dropped their boats and loaded them with 1sh-
boxes. The boats pushed Of three men TO each
trawlers bore away, circed round The city OF
So hat a having 19A diseharsed their sh The boats
might go down again with the wind 10 lnelr re
spective ships. WarTisden watched the boats piled
mp with hshboNes coming through the welter OF the
Fea. II seemed some desperate race was being
Towed.
can you tell ne which is the boat from the
Z think It's the hfth,' said the captain.
The boats down. each one the kernel Or a
FloIe Of spray. MarTisden watched. admr1ng how
CleVerly they chose The lt-lc gaps and valleys in
the cTests Of the waves. Each moment he looked
A boat tossed upward and overturned; each
But boat Was overturned. One hY one they
passed under the stern Of the CITY 81 BTistol ard
cane alongside under the shelter of It's wall.
The NTH boat ranged up. = man stood up IN the
stern.
THE Perseverance, he cried Fourteen boxes"
ard as he spoke great 1eaped Up against the
TinGNarc bow OF the cutter; The cutter rolled
from il suddenly her low iulwarks dipped under
Vater on the leeward SIDE close by the "Perse-
Shove off,~ the man cried who was standing
IN snd rs he shouted he lurcAed and fell into the
bottom of the boat. The two men in the bow
pushed or with their oars. but they 100 late.
The cutters hulwark caught the boat under the
Keel; il seemed she must De upset and men and
pened. But the miracle did happen. As the FISH
cutter rghtc0 Sne SCOOped onto her deck the boat
With It's boxes and its The incident all
seemed 10 happen within a fraction Of a second.
throw out a rope Warrisden saw the cutters bull
WsTks dip. the sailor falling in the boat and the
hp6f upOn the deck Of the cutter I'm swift
FuceesSlon that he had not yet realized disaster
wss inevitable before disaster was avoided
The sailor rose from the bottom Of the boat and
Etofped on deck. stalWart. dripping figure.
From the Perseverance sir. Fourteen boxes. :"
ne said. looang up 10 the captain the bridge.
the rail- knew the sailor 10 be Tony Stretton.