Top photo shows a group of stout fishermen at Nymindegap,  About 1910.      &nbs

Top photo shows a group of stout fishermen at Nymindegap,  About 1910.         The lower photo is a map/ chart from 1827 showing the “The Gap”.

The following text was translated from a museum website:                                https://vardemuseerne.dk/ae-gaf-en-udmaerket-bekvem-fiskeplads/

Located on the socalled “Iron Coast” .. the West Coast of Jutland (Denmark), there is a fishing village called Nymindegap.                                                  Today it is not so easy to see, but back in the 1870s, Nymindegab was considered Denmark’s largest fishing village and was a forerunner of large-scale fishing from the port of Esbjerg. Nymindegab’s biggest advantage was that “Æ Gaf” (local name for “The Gap”) here formed a natural harbor where ships could be sheltered from the rough westerly wind. As a consequence, it wasn’t necessary to tow the boats ashore, as on the rest of the West Coast… to keep the boats safe the surf.                                                                                Another important thing for Nymindegab to become an important fishing village is described by the local Bailiff of Varde A. C. Wedel Heinen in 1831: “Nature has made this place an excellent and convenient fishing spot, as Ringkøbing Fjord’s inlet offers the opportunity to supply bait with the amount of herring that flows in and out of the fjord in large shoals. That is a condition for a rich deep-sea fishery.” In the spring, the herring sought their way through “Æ Gaf” - and here it was easy to catch large quantities of herring, which were used for bait for sea fishing. From March to midsummer, when the herring season peaked, fishermen and Bait Girls travelled to Nymindegab, where they settled in small fishing huts - aka Bait Houses. The deep-sea fishing was also called line fishing or board fishing, named after the boards holding lines and hooks, that the fishermen brought along on the North Sea.                                                                        The weather was a decisive factor in how far one sailed out, and sometimes one had to spend several days and nights at sea, because the wind was in the wrong direction. Once the hooks were set, the anchor was dropped. If it was day, you waited half an hour before hauling in the hooks. The fishermen always brought sandwiches but did not touch the snaps, when they were at sea. At night, they had a break usually lasting a few hours, in order to get some sleep. Once the anchor had been taken up, the hooks were hauled in during the rowing, same as when they had been put. And now just remained getting the boat  back through the gap. An Easterly wind was considered the most favorable, but if there was a storm from the west, the entrance through “Æ Gaf “ became dangerous, and the boat risked capsizing.

https://vardemuseerne.dk/ae-gaf-en-udmaerket-bekvem-fiskeplads/