A glance at the past with old photos of fishermen

These photos taken in the 20th century help us reflect on the hardships and pleasures of being connected to the sea. 

The nautical world usually says seafarers like being invisible, but after watching the Vendée Globe Weekly Highlights we start to question whether the real invisible sea-worshippers are fishermen. 

Fishermen have been around for centuries and they usually face greater dangers than merchant sailors. Movie enthusiasts might remember The Perfect Storm, the story of a crew of fishermen that get caught in a destructive storm. Now, fiction is not far away from reality, and there are pictures that remind us of the hardships of this career. 

The following images, from the 19th century and 20th century, narrate the story of fishermen:

Aboard a Dutch fishing trawler, 1943.

Courtesy of Nationaal Archief (the Dutch National Archives)

Crew of the halibut steamer boat the Roman. Pilot Oscar Grauer standing at right and taken between 1900 and 1909. 

UBC (The University of British Columbia) Library

Corcarneau (Finistère, France): The sardines are removed from the fillets, 1913. 

Photographer: Agence Rol (French photo agency)

Courtesy of Gallica Digital Library

Norway. Cod Fishing, 1910. 

Photographer: Anders Beer Wilse

Courtesy of the National Library of Norway. 

Fishermen on the pier at Downings, Co. Donegal, c. 1910. 

Photographer unknown 

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland on The Commons.

Saturday Afternoon, c. 1889

Photographer: Frank Sutcliffe

Courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, (last photograph seen) was born in Leeds in 1853, only 14 years after the birth of photography. Son of Thomas Sutcliffe, he became an English pioneering photographic artist and his work was present in the enduring life in the seaside town of Whitby, England, as well as surrounding areas. 

His affection and respect for the town and its people shines through his black and white work, and between 1880 and 1894 was awarded sixty gold, silver and bronze medals at exhibitions all around the world. His art portrays a senior fisherman, fishing boats, clothed and naked children playing in a boat and a portrait of fisherman for instance. This brief video of Eihwaz takes us on a journey around his art:

40,000 years of history briefly captured on camera

Fishing is one of the oldest practices and it dates back to at least the Upper Paleolithic period which began about 40,000 years ago. Little is known about the different fishing practices then but subsistence fishing at the time consisted in catching fish by hand using rudimentary tools with natural materials. 

During the Graeco-Roman Times, fishing became a main career, and Romans became major consumers and traders of fish. They used different types of nets and since refrigeration was not yet developed, the fish that was not eaten immediately was fermented and transformed into garum. 

In the 19th century, sails were replaced by steam power, and boats became bigger and more powerful. This enabled them to pull wide nets in deep waters, intensifying seafood trade. The English town of Grimsby became a major centre of commercial fishing and was connected to London’s Billingsgate Fish Market by a direct railway line. 

Just as in the case of Frank Sutcliffe, other photographers wanted to capture the lives of fishermen around the world, giving us today a deeper meaning and understanding on the situations at the time.

Did you enjoy this journey through time with pictures? If so, you might enjoy the following article: How technology has changed the history of sailing.  

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