03 September 1981 the British Post Office issued four stamps to mark 1981 as both Fishermen’s Year and the centennial year of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen. The stamps each depict typical fishing activities off the British coast. The stamps were designed by Brian Sanders, and are in my eyes one of the better stamp designs of ships on stamps.
The 14p stamp which is recognised by ex-crewmembers as the LINSEY II, owned by the Eastern Sea Fisheries Joint Committee of Kings Lynn. In service from 1960 to 1973, when she was sold.
She was used to safeguard fish and shellfish stocks in the Wash. The photograph after the stamp is designed is thought to have been taken in 1969 while she was conducting trials with a suction dredge on cockle beds in the Wash. Have not more details on the vessel.
On this kind of vessel the net is shot and hauled from the side of the ship. Bobbins or rollers keep it close to the sea bed while rolling over any obstructions. The upper side has floats to keep the trawl open. The trawl is towed over the sea bed for several hours, depending on the fish sought and their abundance. In hauling the trawl, the net is whinced in and the pulled in over the side mostly by hand.
Cockels lie buried beneath the sand or mud surface and can only be caught by fishing gear which digs them out of the sea bed. In the Thames estuary, they are caught by a hydraulic cockle dredge, with water pressure washing the cockles out of the sand.
The 18p depict a herring drifter, fishing for herring on which the fishermen are hauling in the drift net over the side of the ship, which was a backbreaking job. This kind of fishing does not more exist but in my younger years by crossing the North Sea large fleets of drifters could be seen.
The 22p depicts a lobster fishing vessel. Pots baited with fresh dead fish are set on the sea bed, in fleets of 20 to 70 pots each. They are fastened at intervals along a rope anchored to buoys. The pots are left overnight and usually hauled in within 24 hours.
The 25p depicts the use of a seine net for catching surface schooling fish such as mackerel and herring. A seine is a long curtain of netting with a series of rings on its lower side through which a wire is passed. The net is laid to surround the fish which are located by echo sounder. They are trapped by pulling the wire to form a purse. They are trapped by pulling the wire to form a purse. They are then transferred to the ship by a smaller net or brail.
Great Brittain 1981 14p/25p sg1166/69, scott956/59
Source: Log Book. Internet. Watercraft Philately 1981 page 58