Herring A History Of The Silver Darlings – Mike Smylie

Flocks of seagulls were probably trying to grab a few fish, their cries adding to the shouts of the men. Although, in fishing, there is always an initial sense of winning over nature as the fish comes aboard in the nets – this is the skill of the hunter-gatherer – the whole task becomes mundane over a period of hours. Six hours on a pitching deck covered in fish slime, in cold and wet conditions, hands being torn by netting and stung by jellyfish, arms being pulled from their shoulder sockets and muscles aching, is not fun by any standards.

It was simply a necessity and thus the work was completed. From the small boat’s point of view, the fisher has less chance of noting these appearances, for the lower down he is in the water, the less he can see. The chances are also that he is closer inshore, in shallower water. But at some point in the season, the chances are that herring get into any net thrown into the sea, even during the day.

I once sailed down the river Deben in the late autumn with Robert Simper and his son Jonathan in their Suffolk beach boat Three Sisters, IH81. Reaching the open sea off Bawdsey Ferry, we threw over the side a train of about five nets and, after tying the end to the bow of the boat, settled down to drink coffee, eat sandwiches and spend a few hours chatting. After the tide had taken us several miles north around Orford Ness, almost to Aldeburgh, we hauled in, bringing up half a bucket of herring in the process.

Although the sun had broken through what had earlier been a mist, and the wind was light, we had brought in enough of the silver darlings for a good feed for a couple of nights. Boats like Three Sisters have been fishing these East Anglian waters for generations. Aldeburgh, like Southwold and Thorpeness, where Three Sisters had been built in 1896, were home to groups of longshore fishermen who would follow the herring during the season in the same way as the Yorkshiremen did.

Then during the rest of the year they would trawl or work trains of pots.

© Mike Smylie, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2024 The right of Mike Smylie to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978 1 80399 813 8 Typesetting and origination by The History Press Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall OceanofPDF.com 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Contents Acknowledgements The Author Introduction: ‘Herring for Health 6½d’ PART ONE: The Common Atlantic Pool Henry Sutton’s Finest A Hundred Herring Baked in a Pie A Refreshing Change to Salmon Our Goldmine in the North Sea The Rudiments of the British Empire The Influence of the Norwegians Herring for Sardines: The New England Herring Fishery in the Nineteenth Century PART TWO: Catchin’ Herrin’ The Fish Weirs The Drift-Net West-Coast Toilers The Scottish East Coast Fishers and the Zulu Wars The Fishermen and their Pipe Stalkies Herring Fishery after the Depression Fishing – A Deeply Bred Way of Life PART THREE: Curin’ Herrin’ 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. ‘Guarented Fine Westcoast Herrings’ The Fisher Lassies: An Unheard-of Phenomenon Smoking the Herring (and fresh, canned and iced herring) Herring and its Legislators and Administrators The Legacy of Herring Postscript 1: Irish Herring – A Family Perspective Postscript 2: Carbon-Zero Herring? Bibliography Appendices OceanofPDF.com Acknowledgements The first edition of this book was more than ten years in the waiting when it was published and now another seven years has shot by since then.

Over all that time, each and every summer season, I have travelled widely about Britain, and much more narrowly around parts of northern Europe, with my Herring Exhibition, now called ‘Kipperland’, both exhibiting and collecting information on the ‘meagre herring’. It seems my wooden smokehouse, picturesque and atmospheric and now fifteen years old, is a magnet to draw in folk with a story to tell of their nostalgic days at the fishing.

Thus to all those folk who spent some time, whether it be a few minutes or much longer, I say a big thank you. To those fishermen who allowed me on their boats, thank you for putting up with endless questions whilst you worked.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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