Edward FitzGerald and "Posh" Part 5

Gowing and his house are as tedious as Mr. Dove and _my_ house; we must hope that does not mean to play as false.

"I am very sorry for your loss of lines and anchors.

"E. FG."

Mr. Gowing was, so far as Posh can recollect, a Woodbridge builder, and Mr. Dove was the Builder who altered Little Grange for FitzGerald.

Whether or not the life-belts fitted or were ever used I can't ascertain.

But I believe that one was in existence a year or so ago. The "lines and anchors" were, Posh thinks, lost from his old punt the _Gazelle_.

For the sake of convenience I give a letter here which is somewhat out of date, but inasmuch as it has nothing to do with the fishing but only with the trust which FitzGerald had in Posh it may very well come in here.

"MARKETHILL, WOODBRIDGE, _October_ 2_nd_.

"DEAR POSH,

"I forgot to tell you that I had desired a Day and Night Telescope to be left _for me_ at the Lowestoft Railway Station--Please to enquire for it: and, if it be there, this Letter of mine may be sufficient Warrant for _you_ to take the Gla.s.s.

"Do not, however, take the Gla.s.s _out to sea_ till we have tried it.

"We got here yesterday. I shall not be at Lowestoft _this week_ at any rate.

"Yours, "EDWARD FITZGERALD.

"Please to send me word about the Gla.s.s. I left a note for you in George Howe's hands before we started. I was sorry not to see you; but you knew where to find me on Monday Evening."

The gla.s.s was, Posh a.s.sures me, a good one. But no one knows what became of it. Later FitzGerald again mentions the gla.s.s.

"WOODBRIDGE, _Monday_.

"DEAR POSH,

"If I could have made sure from your letter that you were going to stop on sh.o.r.e this Day, I would have run over to see you. You tell me of getting a Job done: but I cannot be sure if you are having it done To-day: and I do not go to Lowestoft for fear you may be put to sea again.

"Of course you will get anything done to Boat or Net that you think proper.

"You did not tell me how the Spy-Gla.s.s answers. But do not trouble yourself to write.

"Yours truly, "FLAGSTONE FITZGERALD."

{Woodbridge River (evening) where the "scandal" berthed: p97.jpg}

As soon as I asked Posh the meaning of the signature "Flagstone FitzGerald" he burst out laughing. "What!" said he. "Hain't yew niver heard about ole Flagstone? He was a retail and wholesale grocer and gin'ral store dealer at Yarmouth name ---" (well, we will say Smith for purposes of reference. As the man's sons still carry on his old business here in Lowestoft it is as well not to give the true name. By the way, I do not mean that the sons carry on the "flagstone" business), "and he owned tew or t'ree boots and stored 'em hisself. Well, when they come to make up (and o' coorse he'd chudged the men for the stores, ah! and chudged 'em high!) they went t'rew the stores an' found as he'd weighted up the sugar and such like wi' flagstone! Well, they made it sa hot for him at Yarmouth that he had ta mewve ta Lowestoft, and he was all.u.s.t called Flagstone Smith arter that. I reckon as the Guv'nor heerd the yarn and liked it. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

And it isn't a bad yarn for one which is actually true in every respect.

About the same time, or a little later (for it is impossible to fix the date of these letters definitely), Fitzgerald wrote:--

"WOODBRIDGE, _Sat.u.r.day_.

"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 fishing 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"

fishing--i.e. the herring and mackerel fishing (for though sprats and pilchards are caught by drift nets, it is unnecessary to consider them when dealing with the great North Sea drift fishing)--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 fishing), that the great Martinmas fishing 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 fishing 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 fishing-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 fishing 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 fishing boats should be exempt. He proved to be right, for the regulations were never enforced on fishing 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 Fishing 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 _Fishing_!--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: