Fishing During the Great War

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the British fishing industry that boomed in 1913 and in the years preceding the outbreak of the Great War. It refers to the Grimsby steam trawler Zenobia that was detained for several hours in Heligoland after being stopped by a German gunboat on 4 August 1914, but then was eventually allowed to proceed. It also recalls the German trawler Else Kunkel and fishing smack Hammil Warden that were detained after sailing into Aberdeen, unaware that war had been declared the previous night. The chapter mentions the Admiralty that had been keen to get fishing vessels off the North Sea as the waters were likely to be on the front line of the maritime war, providing no place for civilian fishing vessels. It elaborates how substantial numbers of fishermen and fishing vessels became required for wartime naval security duties.