Part 5 (2/2)
”MY DEAR LAD,
”I suppose the Lugger had returned, and that you had gone out in her again before my last Note, with Newson's Paper, reached you. I have a fancy that you will go home this evening. But whether you are not [_sic_] do not _stay_ at home to answer me. I have felt, as I said, pretty sure that the Boat was back from Harwich: and we have had no such weather as to make me anxious about you. One night it blew; but not a gale: only a strong Wind.
”I shall be expecting Newson up next week.
”I have thought of you while I have been walking out these fine moonlight nights. But I doubt your fish must have gone off before this.
”You see I have nothing to say to you; only I thought you might to [_sic_] hear from me whenever you should come back.
”E. FG.”
CHAPTER VIII HOW FISHERS FISHED
The poor mackerel season ended in the second week of July. Why, when mackerel were so scarce, the _Meum and Tuum_ did not give up the fis.h.i.+ng and try for ”midsummer herring” it is difficult to understand, and Posh does not remember the reason, if there was one. Possibly the change of nets, etc., etc., was too much trouble. Anyhow, the season was unprofitable for the mackerel boats. On Monday, July 13th, FitzGerald was still on the _Scandal_ at Lowestoft, and wrote from there to Mr.
Spalding (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p. 113): ”Posh made up and paid off on Sat.u.r.day. I have not yet asked him, but I suppose he has just paid his way, I mean so far as Grub goes. . . . Last night it lightened to the South, as we sat in the Suffolk Gardens--I, and Posh, and Mrs. Posh. . . .”
The ”making up” may require some little explanation. The ”drift”
fis.h.i.+ng--i.e. the herring and mackerel fis.h.i.+ng (for though sprats and pilchards are caught by drift nets, it is unnecessary to consider them when dealing with the great North Sea drift fis.h.i.+ng)--is carried on on a system of sharing profits between owners and fishermen. Trawlers, i.e.
craft that fish with a ”trawl” net for flat fish, haddocks, etc., etc., are managed differently.
”Making up” is the technical term for balancing profit and loss of a season, and ascertaining the sums which are due to owners and crew respectively.
In the days when Fitzgerald was a ”herring merchant,” the systems of Yarmouth and Lowestoft were different. At Yarmouth the owner of the boat took nine shares out of sixteen, and bore all losses of damaged or lost nets, etc., the remaining seven shares being divided among the crew in varying proportions. For instance, the skipper took 1.75 or two shares, the mate 1.25 or 1.5, and so on down to the boy with his one-half or three-eighths share. At Lowestoft the shares were also divided into sixteen; but the owner took only eight, and the crew the other eight. The losses of gear, nets, etc., however, were borne equally between the two lots of eight shares, and, on the whole, I believe the Yarmouth system was more favourable to the men, though the Lowestoft system made the skipper and crew more careful of the nets and gear than they might have been did not they suffer for any loss of them. The introduction of steam drifters has made the shares complicated in the extreme. The owners take so much as owners of the boat, so much for the engines, etc., etc., and, in fact, the owners get the share of a very greedy lion. However, the prices rule so high nowadays, and the catches are occasionally so large (the other day a steam drifter brought in over 200 pounds worth of fish to Grimsby as the result of one night's fis.h.i.+ng), that the great Martinmas fis.h.i.+ng of the east coast has become a gamble in which fortunes may be made and lost. Many a boat earns over 2000 pounds from October to December. A lucky skipper may take 200 pounds for his share of the home fis.h.i.+ng alone. But such figures would have sounded fantastic in FitzGerald's day, for I have been a.s.sured over and over again by herring fishers that in the sixties and seventies, ay, even in the eighties of last century, 20 pounds was a ”good season's share” for a prominent hand of a successful drifter.
Posh, as half owner, would take four-sixteenth shares, and as skipper would probably take another two-sixteenths, so that he would draw more than any one else.
Some time during the spring or summer of 1868 there was great excitement amongst the fis.h.i.+ng-boat owners of Lowestoft and other ports on account of an Act just pa.s.sed regulating the building of vessels, having especial regard to the ventilation of the cuddy, forecastle, or the men's sleeping quarters. Posh tells me that many owners of drifters considered that the Act applied to all craft, including fis.h.i.+ng boats, and that great expense was undergone by some over-conscientious owners in fitting ventilating drums and shafts in accordance with the Act. If the statute applied to any drifter it would apply to the _Meum and Tuum_, and FitzGerald evidently thought that the intention of the Act was that fis.h.i.+ng boats should be exempt. He proved to be right, for the regulations were never enforced on fis.h.i.+ng boats. He wrote to Posh:--
”WOODBRIDGE, _Sat.u.r.day_.
”DEAR POSH,
”You must lay out three halfpence on the _Eastern Times_ for last Friday. In that Newspaper there is a good deal written about that Act for altering Vessels: the Writer is quite sure--that the Act does _not_ apply to Fis.h.i.+ng craft; and he writes as if he knew what he was writing about. But most likely if he had written just the contrary, it would have seemed as right to me. Do you therefore fork out three halfpennies, as I tell you, and study the matter and talk it over with others. The owners of Vessels should lose no time in meeting, and in pa.s.sing some Resolution on the Subject.
”I have not seen Newson, but West was down at the Ferry some days back and saw him. For a wonder, he [Newson] was _Fis.h.i.+ng_!--for Codlings--for there really was nothing else to do: no Woodbridge Vessels coming in and out the Harbour, nor any work for the Salvage Smacks. He spoke of his Wife as much the same: Smith, the Pilot, thought her much altered when last he saw her.
”You will buy such things as you spoke of wanting at the Lowestoft Sales if they go at a reasonable price. As to the claim made by your Yawl, I suppose it will come down to half. The builders are coming to my house again next week, I believe, having left their work undone.
”Now, here is a Letter for your Mantelpiece to-morrow--Sunday--I don't think I have more to say.
”Yours E. FG.
”Mr. Durrant has never sent me the hamper of Flowers he promised.
”P.S. I post this letter before Noon so as you will receive it this evening: and can get the Newspaper I tell you of:
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