The continued incursions of the French trawlers on British fishing-grounds
in the Channel have led to a regrettable incident, which occurred off Dungeness on Tuesday night. The gunboat 'Leda,' discovering a French trawler within the three miles limit, signalled to her to stop, but the trawler made off, and refusing to heave to, was fired at, first with blank cartridge, and then with ball, with the result that one of the crew was killed. The evidence given at the inquest entirely exonerated the commander of the gunboat. It appeared that the trawler, though hailed in French, made off at once under full sail; that in spite of repeated hails and signals her captain refused to stop, constantly tacking across the gunboat's bows; that no shots were fired for an hour and a quarter ; and that after some forty blank shots had been fired to no purpose the order was given to fire ball cartridge at the upper part of the rigging. The commander explained that the electric light was treacherous to shoot by, and this and the motion of the two vessels—it was fairly rough at the time—accounted for the mishap. The jury, who found a unanimous verdict of "Accidental death," very properly expressed their sympathy with the friends of the man who was killed. It is fortunately impossible to attach any inter. national significance to the incident, except in so far as it may call attention to the wholesale inroads made upon British waters by the French fishermen.
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