Show ahw wr dangers of the th c ocean q new england fishermen ply their voca aon amid imminent perils fog and sudden storms their chief menace special correspondence OW often while seated beside your cosey r breakfast room fire with your steaming cup of coffee your plate of muffins done to a delicious brown with perhaps a tender bit of swordfish or mackerel ready for your discussion do you stop to think of the men who just at this season of the year are braving the dangers of old ocean in order that your table may be well supplied with all the delicacies which as a part of their calling they take from the grudging waters and place at your disposal when you read in your morning paper of a fisherman run down and sunk in the treacherous fog shrouded waters naters off georges do you ou even for a moment regard the matter as one which in the least concerns your per bonal w w ell being or simply pass it off as one of those happenings over which you have no control or as something to be taken as a matter of course and to be immediately forgotten 9 it if you do there are scores of homes in the fishing towns all along the coas of the bay state where the news which interests you for the moment only comes with tragic force to people in whose life tragedy plays a tar far toc prominent part the man who stands on the bridge ot of the liner plying between new lork ork boston and liverpool it if he would could tell many a tale of dis asters in the vicinity of georges plowing through the fog enshrouded waters with no thought save to make a new record for the transatlantic passage there is no time to heed a warning shout a blast from a horn to linger when the sound of crashing timbers rises out of the surrounding darkness or to trace the course of drifting remnants of the vessel of sturdy oak p arced by iron prow another fisherman run down is the word passed from cabin to steer age and there the matter Is dropped it Is only when the roll of the missing is read at that annual service often but a poor guide along a dark ened path the dories are recalled from the scene of the day 9 labor to be lost in the tog fog Is a not uncommon occurrence tind and then it Is that the luckless fisherman becomes a prey to the dangers that lurk in the dark ness fortunate is he if nothing more serious than a night out in the all surrounding nerve testing silence falls to his lot many a time an overturned dory tells the story of lives lost in a vain effort to locate the vessel which in 4 4 4 A 44 wn 1 4 vig pull 7 V 1 r 4 1 T 1 Y jv 4 massachusetts COASTLINE the brightness of the morning stands out as a shining mark only to digap pear in an incredibly short space ot of time when the fog once settles down the seining fleet which operates off the grand banks figures in the dis aster columns of the newspapers quite as frequently as does the fleet which confines its activity to the vi cikity of georges there Is plenty of the picturesque to be found could one but spend the time on aej an one of the vessels which at the end of the sea son mal e port at gloucester boston nevi bedford or any an of the towns which in the old days sent larger numbers of this class of vessels than in recent times the early morning haul has more about it perhaps to attract the lover of the beautiful for the sight is beau ticul beyond the power of pen or brush tt to properly describe with nets dripping sparkling gems of rainbow h ies under the morning sun with thousands of mad mael erel their bodies of blue black and silver re fleeting the light enmeshed in their watery prison endeavoring in vain to get free from the bonds that are drawn closer and closer a sight is furnished not soon to be forgotten sometimes it happens that before the net is drawn the fish become frightened and in a mad rush for freedom overturn men and dories and carry away net and gear with them then it is that the profits of a trip are materially cut down the day long looked ro ward to Is the day when with salt pens full of mackerel with ice chests filled to am W JQ PORTLAND HEADLIGHT in quaint old gloucester that the story comes out in all its vivid details then it Is that many are left to mourn and with each succeeding year the number of mourners increases the tog fog and the gale are he dan gers from which the men of the fleet have most to fear A smooth sea and a bright sl y in the morning is scanty guarantee that the fog will not shut everything in before night or that a northeaster will not swoop down leaving destruction in its path with a tooting of tog fog horns too 4 overflowing with halibut cod sword fish and other denizens of the deep the order up anchor Is given and the fleet with all sails set starts on the race toward home if she be high liner the bounding billow the clara bell or the sarah jane rounds eastern point with every bit of bunting on board set a tn tri colored boast of her prowess |