麻豆社

World War One hit small fishing villages like Beadnell in Northumberland by finally wiping out the herring market.

Fishermen were forced to revert to line fishing from cobles in seas patrolled by German U-boats.

At the outbreak of war there were about 60 fishermen in the Northumberland coastal village of Beadnell. Around a quarter of them enlisted but most spent the war at home, fishing the North Sea.

The herring market, already badly affected by the arrival of the bigger steam drifters, disappeared as a German blockade meant the export market came to an abrupt end.

The men were largely forced to revert to line fishing for white fish from traditional cobles.
They also regularly saw U-boats and witnessed one British vessel being blown up.

Location: Swinhoe Links, Beadnell, Northumberland NE67 5BW
Image courtesy of Katrina Porteous