A DREAM OF THE NORTH SEA

BY

JAMES RUNCIMAN

AUTHOR OF PAST AND PRESENT, AMONG THE NORTH SEA TRAWLERS,
SKIPPERS AND SHELLBACKS, ETC.

London:
James Nisbet and Co.,
21, Berners Street, W.

1889

"He slid desperately over and made his clutch"

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

DEDICATION

To the Queen.

MADAM,

This book is dedicated to Your Majesty with the respectful admiration of one who is proud to have been associated with an effort to make the world more hopeful and beautiful for men who not long ago knew little hope and felt no beauty.

In the wild weather, when the struggle for life never slackens from hour to hour on the trawling grounds, the great work of the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, like some mighty Pharos, sheds light on the troubled darkness, and brave men, in hundreds, are thankful for its wise care and steady helpfulness.

Perhaps, of all the tribe of writers, I know most minutely the scope and significance of that Mission—"as well for the body as the soul"—of which Your Majesty is the Patron; and it is my earnest conviction that no event in your brilliant and beneficent reign could well be appraised at a higher value than the despatch of Hospital Cruisers to the smacksmen, which your gracious and practical sympathy has done so much to bring about.

Permit me to subscribe myself,
MADAM,
Your Majesty's most humble,
obedient Servant,

JAMES RUNCIMAN.

KINGSTON-ON-THAMES,
May 1, 1889.

PREFACE.

One of the greatest of English classics—great by reason of his creative power, simplicity, and pathos—has built the superstructure of his famous allegory upon the slender foundations of a dream. But just as the immortal work of John Bunyan had a very real support in truths and influences of the highest power and the deepest meaning, so the pages which record Mr. Runciman's "Dream of the North Sea," have an actual, a realistic, and a tragic import in the daily toil, sufferings, and hardships of the Deep Sea Trawlers. Moreover, the blessed work of healing the bodies, cheering the minds, and