The life of the crew of every light-ship is pretty much the same on Sunday. At dawn the lantern is lowered and cleaned and prepared for the next night’s work. At 8 a.m. all hands must be on the alert, the hammocks stowed, and breakfast served. At 10.30 the men [pg 247]assemble for prayers, and the captain or mate performs divine service. After sunset the men meet again for prayers. With the exception of the services, the routine on week days is the same as on Sunday. The captain and mate take turn and turn—a month on board and a month on shore; the men do duty for two months on board for one on shore; and, monotonous as their life may seem to the uninitiated, it is doubtful whether there is not a beneficial moral activity in existence on a floating light that tends to elevate the character of both officers and men.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Sketches of our East Coasts:—Norfolk—Yorkshire.
Harwich; its fine Harbour—Thorpeness and its Hero—Beautiful Situation of Lowestoft—Yarmouth; its Antiquity—Quays, Bridges—The Roadstead—Herring and Mackerel Fishing—Curing Red Herrings and Bloaters—A Struggle for Life—Encroachments of the Sea—A Dangerous Coast—Flamborough Head—Perils of the Yorkshire Fisherman’s Life—“The sea gat him!”—Filey and its Quiet Attractions—Natural Breakwater—A Sad Tale of the Sea—Scarborough; Ancient Records—The Terrible and the Gay—The Coupland Helpless—Lifeboat out—Her men thrown out—Boat crushed against Sea Wall—Two Killed—Futile Attempts at Rescue—A Lady’s Description of a Scarborough Gale—Whitby—Robin Hood’s Bay—An Undermined Town.
Proceeding now to the east coast of our island, we come to a series of places interesting to the men of the sea, and some of them renowned as watering-places. Leaving the mouth of the Thames, we soon arrive at Harwich, which is acquiring considerable importance in view of the Continental routes with which it is connected. It is situated on high land at the mouth of the Stour, and near the confluence of the latter with the Orwell, immediately opposite the well-known Landguard Fort. The shore is bold, and the views of the German Ocean, with its ever-shifting fleets of native and foreign vessels, are grand and extensive. It has a breakwater, dockyard, and magnificent harbour, in which, it is said, more than 100 vessels of the Royal Navy and between 300 and 400 colliers have ridden at one time. There are steamers constantly plying to Ipswich, about twelve miles up the Orwell—a river famous for the beautiful scenery of its banks. Ipswich itself, celebrated as the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey, is the largest market town and port of Suffolk, and possesses respectable-sized docks and ship-yards, and any quantity of interesting buildings of the mediæval period.
HARWICH.
Thorpeness, a dreary little place near Aldborough, on our way up the coast, would not attract the tourist, but it was long the residence of one of Suffolk’s heroes. Joseph Chard commenced life as a carpenter, but was soon found at Thorpeness, where he lived in a little cottage built by himself, and owned an old boat, which cost him originally fifty shillings, in which he followed the calling of bumboatman, or purveyor of provisions and odds and ends to passing ships, from which he frequently conveyed messages to shore. Gradually he saved money, and, uniting his old and new trades, built a fine boat, which cost him twenty-five pounds. In three or four years more he was rich enough to purchase a fast-sailing yawl, which a gang of smugglers were obliged to relinquish about that time, and with which Chard won the prize at the next Aldborough Regatta from a host of born watermen. Not content with these successes, he bought and studied a coasting-book and chart, and soon emerged a full-fledged [pg 248]pilot for one of the most dangerous localities, the Sands of the Swin—a study almost as difficult as biquadratic equations. He assisted at various times in saving 109 lives, no less than eighty of which were rescued in his own boat, appropriately named the Thorpeness Stormy Petrel.
Farther north, and standing upon the most easterly point in all England, the important seaport of Lowestoft is situated. The town is placed on a lofty eminence, from which fine sea-views are obtained, and the side of the cliff descends gradually in hanging gardens or terraces covered with trees and shrubs, below which is a long line of buildings appropriated to the curing of fish. It has two harbours, with piers. The herring (more especially) and the mackerel fisheries employ from 1,500 to 2,000 men and boys, while the industries connected with the sea commence at twine and rope making and end in ship-building. There is a chapel for British and foreign sailors, six almshouses for poor master fishermen, and two lifeboats.