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Description: | Concept: civilian morale, education, civilian personnel, agriculture / food, seascape, business / trading / markets, historical reference, women / womens work, shipping, empire / commonwealth Description: whole: the image occupies the majority, held within a narrow black border. The title is separate and positioned across the top edge, in white outlined black. The subtitle and text are separate and placed in the lower quarter, in black. All set against a white background. image: a depiction of a British fishing village. Several fishing boats are anchored in the harbour, and others can be seen out at sea. The village streets are full of people, especially around the covered fish market where the fish are sorted, packed and sold. text: LIFE IN BRITAIN TO-DAY GOLDEN Painted by Grace Golden A TYPICAL BRITISH FISHING VILLAGE The prowess of the British as a seafaring race owes much to the age-old calling of the sea-going fisherman. Men of the towns and villages round the coast of the United Kingdom have been fisherman for generations. As long ago as 1160 the port of Hull was a great fishing centre. The east and south coasts in particular are lined with hundreds of small fishing villages similar to that illustrated above. In this picture, the fishing fleet is seen threading its way past the jetties of the little harbour into the open sea. Lying at anchor in the safety of the harbour are those vessels that have already been out earlier in the day. Their catches are being unloaded for cleaning and packing or selling on the quayside to buyers from neighbouring towns. In the centre of the picture is the fish market, where girls gut and clean the fish preparatory to it being packed in ice and crated for dispatch by road and rail to distant inland cities. The waters round the British Isles are rich breeding grounds for edible fish - much of it delicious in flavour and of fine quality - and this harvest from the sea plays a big part in solving Britain's food problem. Quaint old houses and shops, dating back many hundreds of years, are clustered around the quayside. Narrow winding streets traverse the village, and here and there fishing nets and shellfish traps are hung out to dry or to be repaired. Outwardly barely changing through the centuries, these old-world fishing villages are to-day part of a highly-organised, modern, and thriving industry. The vessels employed are without equal for the hazardous work they have to do in all weathers, at the hands of their skilled and seasoned crews. Britain has a fishing fleet of some 2,000 vessels with an annual catch valued at £16,000,000, of which before the war nearly a quarter was exported. There is hardly a family in villages such as this that is not linked with the sea in some way - as boatbuilders, fishermen, coastguards, lifeboat and lighthouse men - generation after generation of these families still feels the call of the sea. In time of need Britain's fishermen man in their thousands her Royal Navy and her Merchant Navy. The British Fleet has proved again and again the vital importance of sea power to defeat would-be world conquerors. Britain's fishing villages produce the men who man her ships, who battle with the elements, and who carry good merchandise to the farthermost parts of the globe. O.P.D. 377/38/9/4 Object: boat, house | Subjects: | poster | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Golden, Grace Lydia Publisher/Sponsor: Central Office of Information | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=5175... | Go to resource |
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