Twentieth+Century

"The Golden Age Of The Herring"

The years leading up to the First World War constituted the greatest boom years of the entire British fishing industry. In Lowestoft's case, herring and mackerel led the way, followed by trawl-fish. The period saw the drifting fleet go over almost entirely to steam, so that by 1913 there were 350 powered vessels and only a handful of sailing craft. Together with the Scottish fleet of 420 boats, which came down that year, they landed a total of 535,000 crans of herring (a Iran weighed 28 stones) on the autumn Home Voyage. This was the largest catch ever achieved before or since. In fact, the number of Scottish vessels that arrived in the town each October had necessitated the building of a new dock in 1902-3 to accommodate them (the Hamilton Dock). The money that the Scottish people themselves brought into Lowestoft became extremely important in the local economy. The boats were provisioned and supplied by local shopkeepers and merchants; the shore personnel of gutting-girls and coopers took board and lodgings in the town; and at the end of the season, in early/mid December, most of the Christmas presents to take back home, were purchased in Lowestoft shops.

Another feature of the period (and one which can still be seen) was the number of new streets laid out near Belle Vue Park, in the north part of Lowestoft. The spacious terraced villas that were built were bought by all sorts of people who were benefitting from the fishing boom: boatowners, shopkeepers, marine insurers and surveyors, bank clerks and cashiers, successful skippers and many more. In the case of the skippers, a lot of them moved from humbler homes in other parts of Lowestoft, most notably the Beach Village, feeling that their new wealth must be reflected by a suitable home to match. So many of them congregated in Worthing Road and Sussex Road that these two streets became known as "Skipper Rows". Over Lowestoft as a whole, it is interesting to note how many houses still bear the names of former fishing boats, usually because it was the vessel that earned the money which made it possible for the occupant to buy or rent the dwelling. In 1901 Lowestoft's population was 23,385 and by 1911 it had risen to 37,886.

Leaving statistics aside for the moment, it is interesting to examine the way fishermen were paid. The ten crew members of a steam drifter (and the earlier sailing boats, for that matter) were paid a share of the boat's earnings at the end of a voyage after all running expenses had been met (coal, food, replacement gear etc.). The amount varied according to their rank on board, with the skipper being paid most. If a boat's earnings did not exceed its expenses, however, the men got nothing. During their absence from home their families had to live on what little money had been saved and, when this ran out, on credit. The fishermen themselves did not need a lot of money because they were fed on board (and usually fed well). A few odd shillings a week were made available for them from the sale of spare herrings. The only person on board to receive a regular wage was the chief engineer, because he was needed to keep the boat running. After World War I all the men were paid a weekly sum, which their wives could draw in their absence, but this was deducted from their pay-off at the end of the voyage. Another drawback to being a drifterman, during the 1920s and 30s, was that share fishermen were not entitled to dole money when they were out of work. The law classified them as self-employed and they had to apply for poor relief in times of hardship. It was the same with skippers and mates on trawlers. They were also paid on a share basis, but the rest of the crew received a regular weekly wage. The larger Lowestoft trawling smacks had five in a crew, the smaller ones three or four.

"A Hard Life For Little Reward"

No matter what kind of vessel it was, though, the work on board involved long hours, cramped living conditions, physical hardship and danger. A typical smack of the period was nearly 70 feet in length, 181/2 feet in the beam and had a hold depth of nine feet. She was out in the North Sea in all weathers, dragging a heavy beam trawl along the bottom for five or six hours at a time. The crew were constantly turning out in oilskins and leather seaboots to haul the nets and gut the catch. Trips usually lasted from a week to ten days, but they might be longer in very calm conditions or if the boat got blown about in a gale. Off-duty time, such as it was, was spent in the very small cabin, where the crew's bunks often provided the only space for sitting as well as sleeping.

The steam drifters weren't a great deal better and many of them weren't a great deal bigger than the smacks. They were sometimes built of wood, sometimes of steel, and their engines were anything between 20 and 35 horsepower. They carried something like 70-100 nets, depending on hold size, each individual net being 33 yards long by 14 yards deep. These were lashed together and thrown overboard to form a great net wall below the surface of the sea. The herrings swam into this net screen when they rose from the sea-bottom around sunset. Thus, a typical fleet of 80 or so nets meant a mile and a half of gear out ahead of the boat which, still attached to its nets, drifted along on the tide until such time as the skipper thought fit to haul. Shooting them over the side only took about half to threequarters of an hour, but hauling them in was another matter entirely. It might be done in six to eight hours with a moderate catch and favourable weather conditions, but with a heavy catch and bad weather it could take 24 hours or more. As long as the boat was drifting along the crew could rest, but once the work began no one got any respite. Ideally, a drifter crew liked to get in and out of port with a catch each day, but in the event of a poor haul the fish would be salted away in the hold and the boat would stay out. The "overday herrings", as they were called, never fetched as much at market as the fresh ones did.

The period leading up to the First World War was hectic for everyone involved in the fish trade. A rail link with the neighbouring port of Great Yarmouth was built during 1901-3 and Lowestoft also benefitted from the construction of factories for canning herring - thus adding another processing method to the traditional ones. Everything flourished on the strength of the "Silver Darlings", as they were called. Fish trains left the railway station every day during the autumn season, taking the catches to all parts of Britain, and there was a lesser fishing period during the springtime as well. Mackerel were landed in great quantity, so were trawl-fish, and apart from the summer holiday trade everything in the town was geared to fishing. It was the time of greatest prosperity and, during the course of it, a few far-sighted boatowners used some of their wealth to invest in steam drifter-trawlers. These were dual-purpose vessels, which could carry out both modes of fishing and were thus able to keep working all the year round. This was a wise move, as many herring-drifters were laid up when not engaged on the main voyages. While they were out of action, they were not earning any money.

"Fishermen At War"

When World War I broke out, most of the steam drifters and driftertrawlers were requisitioned by The Admiralty for minesweeping and patrol duties, so there was little herring fishing for the four years or so that it lasted. The bulk of Britain's steam trawlers were "called up" as well, but Lowestoft had none of these and its sailing smacks continued to work the southern North Sea. They suffered great losses at the hands of German U-boats. These would draw up alongside a smack; the fishermen would be ordered off into their little boat (dinghy); the German sailors would then board the empty vessel, help themselves to fish and leave a time-fused bomb down the hold. Many a smack was sunk in this way, so some of the Lowestoft owners persuaded The Admiralty to arm a small number of trawlers with a gun, which could then be used to attack submarines. They had some success at first and achieved a small number of sinkings, but as the U-boats became wise to the trick they merely stayed out of range and shelled the smacks with their heavier guns. In fact, they tended to fire at any sailing boat on sight, presuming it to be armed, and thus losses remained high.

"Goodbye To The Good Days"

With the end of hostilities in November 1918, everyone came back to fishing in a mood of great optimism, thinking that things woud continue as before. But the boom years were over for both trawling and herringdrifting. Many of the 250 sailing smacks that Lowestoft had had in 1914 were now at the bottom of the North Sea and there wasn't the money available to replace them. The steam drifters and drifter-trawlers which had survived the war came back reconditioned, refitted and raring to go. However, the herring shoals became progressively less plentiful because of overfishing and the destruction of spawning grounds by the action of trawls being dragged along the bottom. This had been going on before the war, but nobody in the industry saw it (or if they did, they took no notice). The process continued throughout the 1920s, and the herring industry was also badly hit by the collapse of various of various European currencies - especially the German Mark Crisis of 1923. Apart from this, the new communist government in Russia had cancelled all debts incurred under the Tsarist regime. This ruined many Scottish curers and their East European markets were never again as large as they had been before World War I.

Against this background of general decline, the population of Lowestoft continued to rise by natural growth amongst its resident inhabitants and by the absorption of two neighbouring parishes. True, there was a certain drift away from the town during the late 1920s and early 30s - mainly to new manufacturing industries in the Midlands and also to the west coast fishing ports of Milford Haven and Fleetwood. But generally speaking the population trend over the whole of the inter-war period was one of increase. In 1921 the figure stood at 44,323; in 1931 it was 41,769. There was a fair amount of unemployment in the fishing industry at Lowestoft, but it was not as disastrous as it might have been, and this was mainly due to two factors.

First of all, during the 1920s, a number of steam drifters went seine-netting for haddock, cod and plaice on the Dogger Bank. This proved a profitable enterprise for the few years it lasted, especially where catches of haddock were concerned. Then there was the introduction into Lowestoft of steam trawlers, which helped to fill the gap caused by the loss of so many smacks. They were mainly old vessels, which were past their best, but some of the local boatowners found it possible to make them pay their way. So did one of the big Grimsby firms, which shifted a number of its "superannuated" vessels down to the Suffolk port and, by 1930, had over 30 of them based there. There is no doubt that both these developments staved off a certain amount of unemployment which would have otherwise resulted.

Meanwhile, in order to keep men and boats employed, the traditional voyages away from home became even more important than they had been before the war. The drifters went round to Plymouth at Christmas for herrings, then moved on to Newlyn for a mackerel voyage in the spring months (the East Anglian spring herring and mackerel voyages had come to an end by the 1920s). When they returned home in May, they were overhauled and then went off to The Shetlands for a summer season. When this was over, they worked their way back down the whole of the east coast to be home in time for the autumn season. Other drifters fished the Irish Sea for herrings during the summer months and also ventured into waters off the west coast of Scotland. The drifter-trawlers (and most of the Lowestoft boats built during the 1920s were these dual-purpose craft) did the autumn Home Fishing, but the rest of the time they were trawling, either out in the North Sea or, more popularly, round in western waters. The Padstow sole voyage from January to May became very important, and then the boats would move on up to Milford Haven and Fleetwood to spend the summer months fishing out of those ports before returning home. In fact, some of them did not return home at all; they stayed trawling round on the west side of the country all year, with their crews going back to Lowestoft only once in the twelve-month period for a few days holiday at Christmas. It was this pattern of migratory labour which led to many Lowestoft fishermen and their families settling permanently in Padstow, Milford Haven and Fleetwood - especially the Lancashire port.

"The Advent of Diesel"

The 1920s saw another development in Lowestoft - the introduction of diesel engines into fishing boats. A specialist diesel herring-drifter was built in one of the local yards in 1926, but even though she performed well the local boatowners did not invest in the new type of craft because coal was fairly cheap and no one saw the need to change their existing vessels. Hence, no more diesel drifters were built. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, however, a number of trawling smacks were converted from sail to diesel - especially those boats which had been built after World War I and thus had timbers that were able to stand the stresses of having an engine and propeller shaft mounted in them. Finally, during the mid 1930s, one local businessman had a little fleet of seven small, specialist, diesel trawlers built - vessels that were intended to work the traditional Lowestoft North Sea grounds. In 1937 the port's fleet of nearly 400 boats consisted of 150 steam drifters, 90 drifter-trawlers, 60 sailing smacks, 18 motor smacks and 70 steam trawlers. Herring catches on the Home Voyage that year were only one third of the 1913 level, and the Lowestoft drifting fleet was over 100 boats smaller than it had been at that time. The number of incoming Scottish craft was also greatly reduced.

"The Hungry Thirties"

With the 1930s being a time of general economic depression throughout the whole country and much of Europe, and with the silver shoals becoming scarcer and more unpredictable in their movements, the herring industry suffered rather more badly than trawling. In Lowestoft's case, the trawling side of things was helped by a twofold process. The sailing smacks, with their beam trawls, caught a lot of high-class soles, turbot and plaice, which were not greatly damaged in the net because the boats moved over the ground very slowly. The fish, when landed, fetched a good price and served a quality trade in hotels, restaurants and households which could afford to spend money. The steam trawlers, using otter trawls, covered the ground more quickly, but in doing so the fish often became damaged and bruised. These catches didn't fetch such a high prices at market. The steamboats also caught large quantities of cod, whiting, rays and dogfish - cheaper varieties which were very popular with the frying trade, where batter could cover up a multitude of sins. Finally, the development of filletting techniques in the 1920s and thereafter meant that much inferior quality and undersized fish, which had hitherto been unsellable in the shops in a whole-fish trade, could be passed off to the customer. There is no doubt that filletting has a lot to answer for in the overall depletion of fish-stocks.

Just as things in the herring industry were getting very bad indeed (even when good catches were made, they were often dumped because there was no demand for them), war broke out again. As in the previous conflict, most of the drifters and trawlers were taken over by The Admiralty for patrolling and minesweeping, and from 1939 to 1945 fishing was a greatly reduced operation in Lowestoft. It was conducted almost entirely by longshore boats and by a few of the older and smaller vessels that were no use for Naval duties. The war period also saw the end of the sailing smacks, none of which went fishing when peace returned, thus ending over 70 years service bringing in protein from the North Sea.

"Post-War Developments"

Once fishing resumed again in 1946, the town was about to undergo changes that were to alter its face for ever. For a start, much of the bombdamaged housing in the older parts of Lowestoft wasn't rebuilt and the people were moved out into new council estates on the northern and southwestern outskirts. In terms of the ~nass of bombs dropped per head of the population, Lowestoft had been the most heavily bombed place in Britain. The Beach Village was one area which declined drastically and the 1953 tidal surge finished it off altogether. New and more varied industries began to move in, which ended for ever the traditional, almost-total reliance on fishing and allied trades. Fishing remained important, however, and for a few years after the war the steamboats and the newly built diesel drifter trawlers enjoyed something of a mini-boom period, though they didn't go away in such numbers on the seasonal voyages to other parts of Britain. The North Sea yielded good catches of herring after its six year rest, and the use of lorries carrying insulated containers of fish that had been iced and boxed resulted in markets all over the country being reached speedily. However, as the 1950s wore on, it was obvious that over-exploitation of stocks was resulting in dwindling catches, and by the late 1960s the great East Anglian autumn voyage had ceased to function. Overfishing was largely to blame, not so much by drift-netting as by the use of small-meshed trawls and suction-pipe devices. Both these methods were, and are, used by a number of Continental countries, especially Denmark, to catch immature herrings and anything else swimming around to be turned into fish-meal. This is then used to feed cattle, which are eventually used to feed people.

Luckily for Lowestoft, her newly expanding industries, making all kinds of goods from shoes and television sets to artists' paintbrushes and wooden door-frames, enabled her to withstand the death of a staple industry. The British Rail and Transport Docks Board has also helped by expanding the commercial potential of Lowestoft as a trading port for the first time since the mid 19th century. Thus, once again, there is a livestock trade with the Continent and considerable imports of timber, grain and petroleum also find their way into the harbour. The bridge channel has been widened and deepened to take larger vessels and the future of the port looks bright and reasonably assured. True, the road and rail links with the rest of Britain are not first-rate in modern terms, but Lowestoft does give good service to its customers and there is plenty of berthing space in the inner harbour.

Another thing that has lessened the impact of the collapse of the herring industry was the fact that Lowestoft was also a major trawling port. This meant that well over half her total fishing fleet kept working, supplying not only traditional outlets with fish but also acting as a source of supply for the new processing industries that began to spring up in the 1950s and 60s. Cod and plaice were the species most required for freezing and for turning into all sorts of ready-to-cook dishes, like fish-fingers. Much of Lowestoft's catch had always been plaice, so the port was in a good position to take advantage of the new demand. In fact, the 30 years from the late 1940s to the late 1970s was a real bonanza period for the trawlers, and both owners and crews did very well in financial terms.

There were changes, of course. First came the change from steam to diesel during the 1950s, with the newer vessels being mainly in the region of 100-120 feet long. Then, as fish became more scarce nearer home owing to bigger engines, better and more efficient gear, improved electronic navigational aids and advanced sonar devices for detecting the presence of shoals, the Lowestoft trawlers were forced to go further and further north in search of a living. By the 1960s they were running down to grounds off the Danish and Norwegian coasts. There was plenty of fish about, but the boats used up a good deal of fuel getting there and back. This was all right while oil remained comparatively cheap, but the sharp price-rises of recent years have hit the Lowestoft trawling industry very hard.

"Hard Times Again"

As things are at present, boats find it difficult to make a ten or 12 day trip profitable, and the numbers fishing have dropped drastically. From 1948 to 1973 the number of trawlers remained comfortably over 100, even going up to 130 at peak times. For the rest of the 1970s it fluctuated between about 50 and 70 (including a small number of stern trawlers), a drop partly accounted for the the conversion of some boats to work other than fishing. There was a further steady decline during 1980-81 down to around 30-35 vessels and 1982-83 has seen it diminish even more. There are only about 20 of the larger trawlers fishing at the time of writing, which is the lowest number that the main fleet has stood at since trawling was first introduced into the town. The only bright note has been the expansion of the amount of inshore vessels operating from the port. There are about 60 of these at present, anything between 40 and 80 feet long, and they cut down considerably on running costs by working short trips close to home and by employing small crews. Their landings now make a very significant contribution to Lowestoft's total catch.

To return to the larger trawlers. Although a certain amount of unemployment has been caused by the decline in numbers of boats working out of the port (there are usually eight or nine men in a crew), it hasn't been as bad as it might have been. In the late 1960s some of the fishing companies started to convert a number of their vessels to standby duties for the North Sea gas rigs and platforms. This means just what it says. A boat, stripped of its trawling gear and fitted with life-rafts and safety devices, goes out into the North Sea, anchors near a particular rig and just waits there in case of an emergency. The period of time spent at sea is a month and the life can be rather boring for the crew of six or seven men on board, but the job pays well and the change in use of these trawlers has kept maritime folk employed. With the rise of the North Sea oil industry, many more vessels have been converted (several of them former distantwater boats from Fleetwood and Grimsby, made redundant in 1976 by Iceland closing its seas to foreign vessels), and there are now over 70 of them based at Lowestoft.

"Steady Increase In Population"

How the fishing industry will change and develop in the next few years is hard to say, but one thing is already certain: the whole post-war period has seen Lowestoft grow steadily in size and numbers. It is Suffolk's second biggest town - well below Ipswich in terms of population, but also a good way ahead of Bury St. Edmunds. In 1951 there were 44,050 people living in the place; in 1961 it was 45,687; in 1971, 50,610; and the 1981 figure stood at 55,321. This steady rise is only partly accounted for by the growth of industry, though the North Sea gas and oil development has been most significant. Many retired folk from the London area and the Home Counties have come to settle in the Lowestoft area, while younger people with families have moved into the town to live. The latter have come both from East Anglia and from other parts of the country, and though they live in the town they don't always work there - they commute daily to other places within reasonable travelling distance, such as Yarmouth, Norwich, Beccles and Bungay.

Over the last 20 years Lowestoft has spread increasingly outwards to absorb the surrounding parishes of Gunton, Oulton Broad and Pakefield, all of which were added to it long ago for electoral and administrative purposes. It is unlikely to be long before the outlying village of Carlton Colville, to the south-west of the town, will be part of the built-up area. Large housing estates (especially private ones) have sprung up on every side, except the seaward one, and further growth is envisaged by the planners from now until the end of the century. Whether the forecasts are accurate remains to be seen, but Lowestoft is very much the giant in its own immediate area. It lost its borough status with the reform of local government in 1974, but it is the dominant influence in Waveney District Council, the controlling authority in the north-eastern corner of Suffolk.