in that very necessary but exceedingly unpleasant task of cutting open fish and removing the perishable portions.  With unerring precision the sharp knife was plunged into each cod or haddock, and the fish was in its marketable condition in shorter time than one can write.  A little boy plunged them into a pail of ruddy-looking water, and from thence into the regulation fish box or basket that finds its way to the Metropolis.

A change has come over the inhabitants of Staithes since 1846, when Mr. Ord describes the fishermen as ’exceedingly civil and courteous to strangers, and altogether free from that low, grasping knavery peculiar to the larger class of fishing-towns.’  Without wishing to be unreasonably hard on Staithes, I am inclined to believe that this character is infinitely better than these folk deserve, and even when Mr. Ord wrote of the place I have reason to doubt the civility shown by them to strangers.  It is, according to some who have known Staithes for a long while, less than fifty years ago that the fisher-folk were hostile to a stranger on very small provocation, and only the entirely inoffensive could expect to sojourn in the village without being a target for stones.  The incursion of the artistic hordes has been a great factor in the demoralization of the village, for who would not be mercenary when besought at all hours of the day to stand before a canvas or a camera?  Thus, the harmless stranger who strays on to the staith with a camera is obliged to pay for ’an afternoon’s ‘baccy’ if he want an opportunity to obtain more than a snapshot of a picturesque group.  He may try to capture a lonely old fisherman by asking if he would mind standing still for ‘just one second,’ but the old fellow will move away instantly unless his demand for payment be readily complied with.

No doubt many of the superstitions of Staithes people have languished or died out in recent years, and among these may be included a particularly primitive custom when the catches of fish had been unusually small.  Bad luck of this sort could only be the work of some evil influence, and to break the spell a sheep’s heart had to be procured, into which many pins were stuck.  The heart was then burnt in a bonfire on the beach, in the presence of the fishermen, who danced round the flames.

In happy contrast to these heathenish practices was the resolution entered into and signed by the fishermen of Staithes, in August, 1835, binding themselves ‘on no account whatever’ to follow their calling on Sundays, ’nor to go out with our boats or cobbles to sea, either on the Saturday or Sunday evenings.’  They also agreed to forfeit ten shillings for every offence against the resolution, and the fund accumulated in this way, and by other means, was administered for the benefit of aged couples and widows and orphans.

The men of Staithes are known up and down the east coast of Great Britain as some of the very finest types of fishermen.  Their cobles, which vary in size and colour, are uniform in design and the brilliance of their paint.  Brick red, emerald green, pungent blue and white, are the most favoured colours, but orange, pink, yellow, and many others, are to be seen.