| Description | Ewan MacColl and Charles Parker interview an unnamed fisherman, George Keble, Bill Catchpole, and Ronnie Balls, fishermen from Lowestoft, Norfolk, England:
Tracks 1-3: an unnamed fisherman talks about herring and how it is cured
Tracks 4-6: a fisherman, probably George Keble, talks about the decline of the fishing industry in Lowestoft, describes the large number of ships that used to sail from Lowestoft harbour, lists the names of the boats he's sailed in since 1924, talks about his service during the Second World War, his 'bad spell' after the War when the herring weren't plentiful, the need to repair ships, the lack of nets after the War, his family's store was bombed during the War, talks about the decline of family businesses after the War, skipper-owners going into firms after the War, skippers not being able to get jobs now, he doesn't want to be a deckhand having been a skipper since 1924, working on trawlers, talks about the Shetland voyage, following herring down the Scottish coast, herring trawlers don't work out of Lowestoft, foreign trawlers overfishing and killing the herring trade
Tracks 7-12: a fisherman, possibly Bill Catchpole, talks about fishermen coming ashore to work since the Second World War, he works scrubbing fish boxes, talks about working at the fish auctions, his job is to take samples of fish to show at auction, not liking to be ashore, at sea he gets a weekly wage plus a share of the money from the catch, the high price of herring since the War, talks about his father's career in fishing, and his own career - he started as a cook and worked his way up to mate and skipper, describes life as a cook, he was used to the life because he spent his holidays on the drifters, he learnt how to mend nets and his father taught him about the charts, talks about hauling nets of herring, pulling up nets, washing the ship, preparing nets for shooting again, getting 4 hours sleep a night, resting on Saturdays and Sundays, describes the year's work - catching mackerel from January - May; local fishing for herring, fishing in Shetland and the Humber grounds, the smaller size of herring, trawlers overfishing, talks about current prices, which are good this winter;
Tracks 13-18: another fisherman, who is not named, talks about going home to Kessling to meet people in the pub and swap yarns and songs, youngsters from the area not going to sea, he wouldn't stop his son from going to sea, advantages of fishing: it's a healthy life, lots of variety, drifting is more interesting than trawling, there's more of a team spirit among drifters, attitudes to the fishing life among women, younger men not staying in the fishing because of their wives, the growth of fishing companies, fewer skipper-owners, fisherman today aren't interested in the business, they want to earn money, differences between Scottish fishing and fishing near Lowestoft;
Track 19-24: Charles Parker and Ewan MacColl interview Ronnie Balls about fishing during the Second World War, starting as a cook on a drifter, talks about his father being a skipper-owner and buying his own boat, the gales of September 1911, wanting to be a fisherman when he was a boy and the reasons why, talks about his father - he should have talked more to him when he was young, fishermen working on drifting being stung by jellyfish
Total: 1.04.54 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D1040880 |