Herring: A History of the Silver Darlings

by Mike Smylie

For over two millennia, herring has been commercially caught, and its importance to the coastal peoples of Britain cannot be measured. At one point tens of thousands were involved in the catching, processing, and sale of herring. They followed the shoals around the coast from Stornoway to Penzance and many towns on Britain’s East Coast grew rich on the backs of the "silver darlings." This book looks at the effects of the herring on the people who caught them, their unique ways of life, the superstitions of the fisherfolk, their boats, and the communities who lived for the silver darlings.

Genres: Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

Reviews

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of herring is entwined in the history of commercial fishing.... So says the back of the book.

The author has done a formidable job (ten years worth of research, apparently) of detailing the known history of herring fishing in Great Britain. To do so he talks a little about the history of fishing in general - herring fishing in particular - in the Baltic and on the continent. The detail in the history is amazing and quite fascinating. The short bio of the author at the front is also fascinating; naval architect, maritime historian, fisheries ethnologist and herring smoker who travels Britain to maritime festivals with the Herring Exhibition. Yes, it seems there is a Herring Exhibition. I did not know that either.

The fondness for herring definitely comes throughout, from the plea in the introduction toward eating more herring and less fast food, to the short recipes at the start of each chapter. The detail of the writing and the elaborate structure of the history he tells, it all leads to a fascinating reading experience in it's own way.

There is a lot of detail about the British history of the fisheries, the boats used, their history and building styles. There is an intense minutea of information about the methods of preserving the fish and the markets they went to.

The thing that was absent - to my disappointment - was much information about the actual fish for which the book is named. The herring, the 'silver darling' of the title has very little information about it proffered. In similar books I have read there was a fair amount of natural history, taxonomy, research into the life history and biology. Here the space is more taken with how there were preserved in the various fishing communities. This, I felt was a little sad.

I have just enough knowledge of boats to be interested in what I was reading - not quite enough to follow it all. Just enough interest in food to be intrigued by methods employed in the preserving of the fish. Enough marine biology background to be interested in what there was of that. A fascination with history, so that the detailed descriptions of the different communities and their development along side the herring fisheries was quite interesting.

What I do not have is enough knowledge of Britain to follow a lot of the descriptions;I have visited there only once in my adult life, have never been to Scotland, Ireland or and of the surrounding islands, and so was metaphorically at sea for a lot of the location descriptions. There is a map of the locations... On page 191, by which time I was lost. I would recommend to anyone else reading the book to locate the map and bookmark it before they start.

The book ends with an impassioned statement about how joining the EEC put the nail in the coffin of the British commercial fishing. I derived a small chuckle at the fact that the author must be one of the happy people in Britain now that they are separating again.

[Caley Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the fishing and consumption of herring in Europe and North America throughout history. The recipes are a nice touch too.

[Dave McBain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable history of herring fishing. Would have preferred the bibliography to have been referenced throughout the text, but that is a minor gripe. Recipes were a nice, but for me unneccesary touch.

[Elizabeth]

As seen in TheNew Yorker .