very comforting, though my quarters
were small. The crew were all stocky, good-humoured, and independent.
Democratic as East London had made me, they impressed me very
favourably, and I began to look forward to the venture with real
pleasure.

Drink was the worst enemy of these men. The quaysides of the
fisherman's quarters teemed with low saloons. Wages were even paid off
in them or their annexes, and grog vessels, luring the men aboard with
cheap tobacco and low literature, plied their nefarious calling with
the fleets, and were the death, body and soul, of many of these fine
specimens of manhood.

There was never any question as to the real object of the Mission to
Deep-Sea Fishermen. The words "Heal the sick" carved in large letters
adorned the starboard bow. "Preach the Word" was on the port, and
around the brass rim of the wheel ran the legend, "Jesus said, Follow
me and I will make you fishers of men." Thirty years ago we were more
conventional than to-day, and I was much surprised to learn from our
skipper that we were bound to Ostend to ship four tons of tobacco,
sent over from England for us in bond, as he might not take it out
consigned to the high seas. In Belgium, however, no duty was paid. The
only trouble was that our vessel, to help pay its expenses, carried
fishing gear, and as a fishing vessel could not get a clearance in
Belgium. Our nets and beams, therefore, had to go out to the fishing
grounds in a friendly trawler while we passed as a mercantile marine
during the time we took on our cargo.

So bitter was the cold that in the harbour we got frozen in and were
able to skate up the canals. We had eventually to get a steamer to go
around us and smash our ice bonds when we were again ready for sea.
During the next two months we saw no land except Heligoland and
Terschelling--or Skilling, as the fishermen called it--far away in
the offing. Nor was our deck once clear of ice and snow during all the
time.

Our duty was to visit as many fleets as we could, and arrange with
some reliable vessel to take a stock of tobacco for the use of their
special fleet. The ship was to carry about six feet of blue bunting on
her foretopmast stay, a couple of fathoms above her bowsprit end, so
that all the fleet might know her. She was to sell the tobacco at a
fixed price that just covered the cost, and undersold the "coper" by
fifty per cent. She was to hoist her flag for business every morning,
while the small boa