Working with prestigious archives of contemporary photographs, the authors chart the history of Britain's fishing heritage with 120 rarely seen photographs. Fishermen were hardy individuals with a precarious existence dictated by the changing rhythm of the wind and the waves. While at sea, their womenfolk cleaned, salted, pressed and bulked the fish. The fishermen of the East Coast are the last of the hunter gathers, in the later 19th and early 20th century British fishery expanded and exceeded its European rivals to become the biggest fishery in the world. Dwindling fish stocks after the Second World War saw the end of the fishing industry as it had been known, now the trawlers had to make the hazardous voyage to deeper waters. This book celebrates the heyday of the British fishing industry, the people, the processes and the vessels.