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London: Faber & Gwyer, 1928. Pp. xi + 274; Preface, vii-viii. 1

The town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, lies about forty miles north-east of Boston. 2 As, in the old days, New Bedford to the south of Cape Cod was the centre of the whaling industry, and Salem, between Boston and Gloucester, was the centre for the fast clipper ships which traded with China, so Gloucester has always been the port for the deep-sea fishing of the North Atlantic. 3 It has the most beautiful harbor for small ships on the whole of that coast. In the summer, the Gloucester fishing schooner, laden with its seines and dories, can reach the south Banks or “Georges”; in the winter the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, where the codfish abound; it may even buy and sell in the harbour of Reykyavik, Iceland. 4 All the year round, and on every day of the week except Friday and Sunday, which are unlucky, 5 schooners are setting out for their cruises of several weeks. There is no harder life, no more uncertain livelihood, and few more dangerous occupations. Since the introduction of the “knockabout rig” – the schooner with a long bow and no bowsprit 6 – there are fewer losses at sea; but Gloucester has many widows, and no trip is without anxiety for those at home. 7 On the long rows of drying racks that lie behind the wharves, the salt fish is dried in the sun; the unedible parts of the fish are used in glue factories round about; the products of these two industries go to the whole of America.

Anyone who has ever read Mr. Kipling’s Captains Courageousshould be thrilled by these true stories of the adventures of Gloucester fishermen or “bankers,” written by one who (with all respect) knows the subject much better than Mr. Kipling. 8 Mr. Connolly has himself shipped many times with the fishermen “out o’ Gloucester” and knows their life and their ways intimately. 9 He is the author of several volumes of short stories of this life – stories which are brilliant pieces of fiction, but which also have received the exacting approval of the Gloucestermen themselves. But for a reader who is unfamiliar with that life, the tales in the present volume will serve as the best introduction. They are true narratives: most of them can – or could a few years ago – be learnt by word of mouth from the men between trips, as they lounged at the corner of Main Street and Duncan Street in Gloucester. 10 The heroes of these narratives are not imaginary heroes, but actual men.

Published By:   Faber & Faber logo    Johns Hopkins University Press

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