Sudden Came the Sea

After a hard day facing storms at sea, what better way for trawlermen to unwind than to relax in the galley with a hot cup of cocoa?

This is one of several cinema ads for Rowntree’s cocoa produced in 1955, all on the theme of returning from the cold or from dangerous occupations to be soothed by a hot cup of cocoa. In this one we have fishermen out at sea desperately trying to pump water off the deck of their storm-tossed trawler. Waiting back home a fisherman’s wife has the rather less dangerous job of supplying the children with hot cups of cocoa.

This is one of a large collection of films made by Rowntree’s of York (now Nestlé), most of which are adverts for their confectionery products. The narrator, Edward (Ted) Victor Emmett, was also a commentator and film editor for Gaumont Sound News, Gaumont British News and Look at Life between 1929 and 1959, as well as for instructional films, and contributed scripts for films in the 1930s. Historically cocoa production in Europe was based upon slavery in the Caribbean, and it seems that slavery and child labour on cocoa plantations still remains very much with us in West Africa.