ON & UP

To a young man with a keen desire to go to sea, fishing in general was not an entirely dead end occupation, admittedly out of the very many thousands of people employed, only very few made it to the ladder, different branches held varying prospects for some, although by and large young men who aspired to sailing as fishermen generally stuck to the method they started with, Herring, Seine Netting, In-shore, Shell (Lobster/Crab) Trawling, they either remained as long as they were physically capable or got out very quickly. Out of the few who aspired to reaching the top of their calling, academically qualifying for the Certificated grade of Mate or advancing to the exalted position of Skipper, even fewer attained the accolade of being natural good fishermen, some top skippers earned, by today’s standards, 'fat cat' salary - though earned is the operative word - many tried and fell by the wayside, one bad trip (when the owner did not receive a decent return on his investment - bad luck old chap, perhaps things will be better next time - ) second time resulted in a personal interview with the 'boss', costing the firm and all that - then a FINAL chanced to make good or be demoted to Mate until you learn the job- or be put on the beach as a has been. Each and every fishing port had the same problem, the larger the port the more opportunity to make good, or fall by the wayside. A lot of really good fishermen aspired to own or part-own the boats they ran, and with hands-on control were successful, even to the extent of retiring ashore and operating a thriving business. The engine room department had a different problem in so far as a successful Chief Engineer (Driver) was not able to continue the heavy physical part too long, which meant down grading to a lighter shore-side job or 'getting out', other crew members who had no calling for such employment soon drifted away, some men extended their working lives until retirement age, although not many aspired to such a somewhat dubious position.

© Reproduced with acknowledgment to Walter L Hume Isle of Wight