111)11:11 HV x ?;? . iF\ .. v ^ ASM THE BEAM TRAWL f\S\ t i, flu Beam, b. Trawl the trawl be then in proper position, with the back uppermost and the ground-rope below, more sail is put on the vessel ; the two ropes fastened to the ends of the beam are slowly and evenly paid out till the shackle joining them to the trawl-warp is reached ; then the warp itself is steadily given out, and the trawl is allowed to sink to the bottom. It will hardly be necessary to point out why the vessel should be moving through the water when the trawl is being lowered. It will be obvious that if the apparatus is to reach the bottom with the trawl irons under the beam, and the lower part of the net and the ground-rope in their proper position below, no risk must be run of the net turning round or twisting as it is being lowered. There would be great danger of this happening, if the vessel were not moving ; the net would in such a case hang perpendicularly, and the beam would be almost certain to twist round, so that it would be a mere matter of chance whether the upper or under side of the net and beam would be the first to reach the bottom. If, however, as I have de- scribed, the net be got into proper position when at the surface, and the vessel be slowly sailed along, the net is then towed after it, and as the warp is given out, the net gradually sinks without changing its position, until at last it reaches the ground. Of course, expe- rience teaches the fishermen how to regulate the speed of the vessel, and the rate at which the warp should be given out, so as to ensure just sufficient strain on the trawl to keep it steady whilst it is going down. These are matters which none but the practical fisherman D 2 36 BRITISH IND US TRIES. thoroughly understands ; they require some little judg- ment to prevent mistakes, and mistakes are sometimes made by them ; the strength of the tide may be mis- calculated, or something else ; and the irregular jerk- ing action of the trawl, owing to the beam being on the ground instead of only the irons, tells the fisher- men that the trawl is " on its back." In such a case there is nothing to be done but to heave up the net a long and laborious process and then, after getting the net into the proper position, to lower it once more. Supposing that to have been done, and the trawl to be properly working, as can be easily felt by the even and steady strain on .the warp, the master uses his judgment as to how much more warp should be paid out. It should be remembered that the weight of the trawl-net and the trawl-irons, without considering the beam itself which, from being so continually under water, soon becomes saturated, and loses all its original buoyancy is such as to keep the whole apparatus at the bottom, whilst the strain of the warp, by which the trawl is towed along, is in a direction slanting up- wards. There are, therefore, two opposing forces, one tending to keep the net on the ground, and the other lifting it. The object is to regulate these forces so that the pull from the warp shall move the trawl lightly along the bottom, but without raising it from the ground. If there be too little warp allowed, the pull will be too much upwards, and the net will be lifted ; if, on the other hand, there be too much warp, the irons and net will be dragged too much through the ground, and friction will be increased. One of the TRAWLING. 37 conditions on which this regulation depends is the wind, for if there be very little breeze to drive the vessel along, the friction of the net and irons on the bottom may be sufficient to stop her way almost entirely. In such a case, very little extra warp is required, so that the lifting power may be increased, and the friction over the bottom lessened. But if there be a great deal of wind, which will drive the vessel along even with very little sail, and especially if, as in such a case is likely to occur, there is a good deal of sea, and the strain on the warp becomes irregular and jerking, then more warp is allowed to counteract the tendency that there is to lift the net off the ground. The faster the vessel sails, the more likely the net is to leave the ground ; and as the trawl works most effectively when just touching the bottom, the master of the vessel has to calculate in a very rough way all the conditions re- quired for making the net work properly. This, as I have before said, is a matter of experience, and the ready way in which these rough fishermen make their calculations, often, I will venture to say, without being able to explain their reasons, is shown by the successful manner in which they commonly fish in all kinds of weather. I may now say a few words about the action of the beam-trawl when at work. This net is especially constructed for catching what are called ground-fish, those which, as a rule, keep at the bottom, and natu- rally hide under the sand or mud. With rare excep- tions, all the soles, turbot, brill, and plaice brought to market are caught by the trawl ; the various kinds of 38 BRITISH IND USTRIES. skate or ray are obtained by the same means ; and notwithstanding the peculiar habits of all these fish, there is very little chance of their escaping, when once the trawl-beam has passed over them. The ground which flat fish frequent is that with a smooth surface, and it will be evident that it is only on such ground the trawl can be effectively worked. The trawl is always towed with the tide, but a little faster than it is running ; were it otherwise, the net, being lighter than the beam, weighted as it is with the irons, would be liable to be drifted forwards and prevent the entrance of the fish. The resistance of the water caused by the slight excess of speed in the trawl over the tide, varying according to circumstances, from half a knot to about a knot and a half in the hour, keeps the net expanded and in a proper position on the bottom. The ground-rope then does its duty. Its biting action or close pressure on the ground over which it is towed, is of the greatest importance when soles, turbot, or other flat fish are worked for, as these fish when disturbed do not rise from the ground, as is the habit with "round fish," such as whiting, haddock, gurnards, &c., but seek safety in the sand. When, therefore, as the trawl is slowly towed along, the ground-rope disturbs these flat fish, their first impulse is to dart forwards and again bury themselves ; but the rope is steadily pressing on as the trawl advances, and they are again disturbed. This almost certainly ends in the fish, sooner or later, passing over the ground- rope and entering the net ; they cannot escape upwards, because the back of the net is above them, and if they TRAWLING. 39 dart forwards towards the entrance, they may have to go perhaps forty or fifty feet, the distance probably between the centre of the curved ground-rope and the beam, before they can get clear of the advancing net. The chancres of escape are, therefore, very small, when once the back of the net is fairly over them. In the case of round fish, although they may dart some dis- tance on being disturbed, the fact of their not trying to bury themselves, but to rise from the ground, enables the ground rope to pass under them often without further disturbance. The great resistance offered by the trawl to the for- ward movement of the vessel towing it, a resistance sufficient to reduce her speed in a good breeze perhaps from eight knots to one knot in the hour, is very com- monly ascribed to the supposed great pressure of the beam and net on the bottom, and to their not being towed lightly over the ground, but dragged through it. This has been the foundation of most of the argu- ments used by those persons who have declaimed against trawling, as causing the destruction of vast quantities of fish spawn, the opponents of this method of fishing apparently having been unaware that the trawl can only do its work when the beam is raised clear of the ground by the trawl-heads or irons. And the discovery by Professor Sars, that the spawn of almost all our edible fishes floats during development, explains the entire absence of evidence of fish spawn being brought up in the trawl, as the trawlers have been charged with doing to an enormous extent. The difficulty of towing the trawl over the ground is, with- 40 BRITISH IND USTRIES. out doubt, almost entirely due to the resistance offered by the water, which expands this great bag net with a power only to be well appreciated by those who know the amount of labour required to haul in a simple curved wall of open netting, such as there is in a common sean. That such is the cause of the resist- ance is proved by the fact, that when at certain seasons the trawlers are specially fishing for hake, which keep very near the ground, but not absolutely upon it, and the net is therefore towed along almost clear of the bottom, the resistance is so great, that a heavy press of sail is necessary, in order to obtain a slight but de- sirable increase of speed over that needed for ordinary trawling. After the trawl has been towed over the ground for five or six hours, the tide having done, or the limit of the particular fishing ground having been reached, the net is hauled 'up. In the west country vessels, the warp is hove in over the bow by means of a large winch in front of the mast, or, in the new vessels especially, by a patent capstan near the middle of the vessel ; but in the North Sea trawlers, the warp is got in over the port side, and the capstan is always used. In either case the process is a laborious one, generally occupy- ing three-quarters of an hour, and, if there is much sea on, sometimes as much as three hours. The warp is coiled away below as it comes in, and the beam, having been swung alongside, hoisted up and secured, the net is gathered in until nothing remains in the water but the cod or purse at the end, in which almost all the fish are collected, those which had entered the pockets TRAWLING. 41 having been shaken down into the purse as the main body of the net was hauled in. If there are only a few fish in the purse, it is lifted in by hand ; but when, as often happens, there is from half to three-quarters of a ton of fish, the bag is hoisted up by a tackle, and before being lowered on board, the draw-rope, which I previously spoke of as closing the end of the net, is cast loose, and the whole mass of fish falls out on deck. The scene is a remarkable one, as, with few excep- tions, the fish are all alive and brilliant with their natural colours. The contents of the net are fre- quently of a most varied description, and they of course differ according to season and locality. Turbot, soles, plaice, whiting, gurnards of several species, dogfish, skates, with occasionally a lobster, crabs of various kinds, with a host of other inhabitants of the sea friends and foes, the pursuers and the pursued are here mingled in one writhing and slippery heap. In some parts of the North Sea the catch commonly con- sists of little besides haddocks; in others plaice are the principal fish. But they are not left very long to expend their energies in useless flappings ; sorting the fish takes place without delay ; the " prime," or turbot, brill, soles, and red mullet, are picked out and packed away in baskets by themselves, and the other edible but inferior kinds, technically known as "offal," are arranged in separate packages, whilst the fisherman's mortal enemies, the dogfish, are knocked on the head and thrown overboard, with whatever else there may be of no use to anyone. In the North Sea, where the trawlers stay out for many days at a time, the fish 42 BRITISH IND USTRIES. is stowed away in the hold with layers /of ice be- tween ; but at Brixham and Plymouth the vessels return to harbour every day, and no ice is taken on board. The kind of weather is an important consideration, when trawling has to be carried on. The hot summer months are those in which the least work can be done, because then there is frequently not wind enough to tow the trawl over the ground. But in winter the trawlers are in constant work, and such weather as is sufficiently bad to put a stop to most other kinds of deep-sea fishing, often enables the trawlers to gather in the richest part of their harvest. It is a rough life they have to lead ; but there is a charm in it which makes them follow it up, when once they have become initiated into the work. With good vessels under them they go farther to sea, stay out longer, and are exposed to worse weather, taking the year through, than any other kind of fishermen. They consequently become thorough sailors; but their training is due to their constant liability to hardships and dangers, more espe- cially in the troubled waters of the North Sea. As hard-working fishermen and sailors, the trawlers stand in the front rank ; and I may add that, as a rule, they are equally conspicuous for their honesty and sobriety, a very large proportion of them being teetotallers, and coffee their favourite drink. Good sailors as they are, however, the terrific North Sea gales in which they are sometimes caught, are more than they can always contend with. But they are too far from land to have much hope of gaining shelter ; they must battle it out as best they can; and when, after days of anxious TRAWLING. 43 watching and waiting by wives and mothers on shore, some of the smacks return and report that one or more of the fleet have not been seen or heard of since the gale that perhaps a boat has been picked up, or float- ing wreckage identified as belonging to a fishing craft, then the truth comes home in all its bitterness, that the missing trawl smacks and their hardy crews will never again be seen.* The depth of water in which the trawlers work is generally from twenty to thirty fathoms ; very rarely in as much as fifty fathoms, and then only in one or two particular localities. The most important and extensive trawling grounds are in the North Sea ; and among the numerous grounds in the neighbourhood of the Doggerbank, to which names have been given, and which are resorted to year after year by hundreds of trawlers, according to the season, are the Inner and Outer Well Banks, the Great Silver Pit, and Botany Gut. The Great Silver Pit was discovered in a very severe winter, about 1843. Trawlers were then only feeling their way in the North Sea, and the vessels which worked there were very few. But in the course of their explorations they came on this particular locality, and for many miles in an easterly and westerly direction, the soles, then driven into deep water by the extreme cold, had congregated in such myriads, that the oldest trawler had never seen such a sight as was presented by the trawl nets, after being worked over * Since the above was written, thirty-nine trawl smacks, with crews of 228 men and boys, have been totally lost in the North Sea. It is believed that this unprecedented loss of fishing craft took place during one terrible gale, in January 1877, when upwards of 100 other trawlers were more or less disabled. 44: BRITISH INDUSTRIES. this ground. The news soon got abroad, and a migra- tion of trawlers took place to the North Sea from Brixham and Kamsgate, then coming into notice as a trawling station. When the weather broke up, how- ever, the soles dispersed; but the trawlers thenceforth gave more attention to the North Sea, and year after year, up to the present time, the number of North Sea trawlers has increased, with the result of a propor- tionate increase in the supply of fish from this great fishing ground. In any very severe winter, or, as it is called, a " Pit season," the trawlers still work the Great Silver Pit with wonderful results, and every winter the catches of soles there are on a large scale, but varying very much with the temperature of the season. Nearer the land there are many banks on the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coasts, others farther south off Hastings and in mid-channel ; whilst in the west, the Brixham and Plymouth grounds, small though they are, have long been productive of a large supply of fish of various kinds, according to the season. On the east and south coasts of Ireland, also, and recently on the south-west coast of Scotland, trawling has proved a successful and profitable method of fishing. No more conclusive evidence against the outcry which is periodically made by alarmists in the ^newspapers, that the trawlers are ruining our sea fisheries, can be brought forward, than the simple fact that, at the present time, the Brixham men have a larger num- ber of trawl vessels, are catching more fish, and making more money, than they have ever done since Brixham was a fishing port, and the majority of their vessels are now working over the same limited ground TRAWLING. 45 throughout the year, as they have fished on for the last hundred years ; and in the winter the whole fleet finds profitable occupation there. The evidence afforded by the Brixham fishery is very important, for there is little doubt of Brixham being the oldest trawling station, and, as it is often called, the " mother port of the trawlers." I have previously spoken of the two classes into which, for market purposes, trawl fish are divided, " prime " and " offal ; " and I may now say a few words about the average proportion of the one to the other, which is obtained in a year's fishing. It is im- possible to speak of a daily or weekly average, as in the North Sea many of the trawlers work after particular kinds of fish during certain seasons. Some specially seek after haddock or plaice on grounds where those fish at a certain time of year are known to be abundant. Almost all the catch under these circumstances would count as " offal," although a ready market would be found for it; at other times soles may be worked for on the same system, and a large proportion of the catch would be of a " prime " description ; others again may fish on ground where the take would be varied. The average value of each kind of fishing may pro- bably not differ materially from that of the others ; for where prime fish forms the bulk of the catch, the quantity is likely to be small, and its total value may not exceed that of the frequent very large hauls, mostly of the commoner fish or " offal." Both kinds are con- stantly wanted, and the price of each varies according to the supply sent in. From a careful record kept by Mr. Henry Knott, of Grimsby, of the actual produce 46 BRITISH IND USTEIES. of one of his smacks during each of five following years, and which may be taken as fairly representing the work of a trawler with average success, we may put the proportion of prime to offal as about one-fifth ; but the money obtained for even that small proportion of the best fish, was more than twice as much as was received for the larger quantity of inferior kinds. This record was of a North Sea trawler ; but at Brix- ham, where large quantities of red mullet are landed in the latter part of the summer, the proportion of prime fish would probably be larger, and the money returns increased. Ked mullet are mostly confined to the south and west of England, and they are there properly included among the prime fish. Haddocks and plaice are caught in almost incredible numbers in the North Sea; and some years ago the former were looked upon as almost worthless, for the means of selling them fresh, before the extension of railways from the coast, were extremely limited ; but now, in addition to the increased demand for the fresh fish, the practice of drying and smoking the haddock is so largely adopted, that every one of them that . comes to market is sure of finding a purchaser. The number of sea-going trawlers now working on the English coasts cannot be less than between 1600 and 1700 ; and of these more than 1200 systematically fish in the North Sea. I may here say a few words on a subject to which the attention of fishermen may be profitably directed, viz. the spawning habits of sea-fish. There is nothing about which they speak with greater .confidence than TRAWLING. 47 of fish, of almost every kind which they are accus- tomed to catch, having certain grounds which they frequent at particular seasons for the purpose of depositing their ova. Yet it will hardly be credited that the herring is the only one of those fish whose spawn has ever been found on the ground. And the evidence on this point is by no means only of a nega- tive character. During the last ten years Professor G. O. Sars, under the direction of the Swedish Govern- ment, has been investigating the subject of fish-spawn- ing, and has obtained the most positive evidence of the ova of several of our best-known fish floating at the surface during the whole period of their develop- ment. Among those whose ova have been found float- ing, and have been successfully hatched out, and the young fish identified beyond a doubt, are the cod and haddock. If such be the case with these two species of the same genus, there is hardly room to doubt that the very closely allied species, such as the whiting, coalfish, pollack, hake, and tusk, have precisely the same habit of spawning at the surface. The spawning of the mackerel at the surface has been repeatedly seen, and the floating ova have been collected in all stages of development, and thoroughly identified. Still more surprising is the fact, that Professor Sars and M. Malm have independently discovered on different parts of the Norwegian coast, that the com- mon plaice, regarded by naturalists as the typical representative of the family Pleuronectidoe, which in- cludes all our various kinds of flat fish, has precisely the same habit of spawning at or near the surface, and 48 BRITISH IND USTRIES. that the ova of this fish also float during the whole period of development. This has been proved by both the naturalists I have mentioned ; and there is every reason to believe that turbot, brill, sole, and other closely allied species, do not differ in this respect from their very near relation, the common plaice. Professor Sars has lately succeeded in hatching the eggs of the gar-fish, also found floating ; and as he has been suc- cessful in hatching three or four other kinds of ova, the young fish from which he could not positively identify, and as he is continuing his investigations, we may look forward to further information from him on this interesting and important subject. I have omitted to mention the gurnard among the species whose floating ova he has also identified. It is obvious, therefore, that the idea that fish as a rule deposit their ova on the ground, is a mistaken one ; and the bearing of these discoveries on the possible destruction of fish spawn by the trawl nets, and the consequent injury to our sea-fisheries, need hardly be pointed out. Had I space at my command, I might also bring forward strong evidence to show that the periodical visits of certain fishes to our coasts are not necessarily for spawning purposes, as is generally believed. It is true that large numbers of herrings come near the shore when they are ready to spawn, and that they do spawn there ; but vast numbers of herrings which are not at all in spawning condition also come in. There is no fish which comes nearer the land at certain seasons than the mackerel ; but there is not the slightest doubt about this fish spawning in the open sea; in DRIFT-NET FISHING. 49 fact, it enters our bays and harbours mostly after the spawning is over. The subject of the spawning habits of sea-fish is a very interesting one, and I have now noticed it, in the hope that it may receive more atten- tion than hitherto from fishermen and persons who have opportunities of studying it along our extensive line of coast. DKIFT-NET FISHING. THIS mode of fishing has been in use for many cen- turies; and although there is no evidence to show where it originated, or when it was first adopted in this country, there is every reason to believe that the long- famous Yarmouth herring fishery, of which we hear as early as the sixth century, has always been carried on by means of drift nets. The importance of drift- net fishing is shown by the fact, that it is the only method by which fishes such as herrings, mackerel, and pilchards, which generally swim at or near the surface, can be readily caught in the open sea, at any distance from the land, and in any depth of water sufficient for the nets to float in their proper position. The term " drift nets " is derived from the manner in which the nets are worked. They are neither fixed, towed, nor hauled within any precise limits of water; but are cast out or "shot," the technical ex- pression for throwing out or putting a net into the water, at any distance from the land where there are signs of fish, and are allowed to drift in any direction 50 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. that the tide may happen to take them, until it is thought desirable to haul them in. When at work, they are extended in a long single line, it may be one or two miles in length, their upper edge being supported at or near the surface by means of floats, the nets hang- ing perpendicularly in the water, and forming, as it were, a perforated wall or barrier many hundred yards long and several yards deep. The shoals of fish, in their endeavours to pass through this barrier, force their heads into the meshes, the size of the mesh used depending on whether herrings, mackerel, or pilchards are expected to be caught, and being such as to allow the head and gill-covers to enter, but not to permit the thicker body of the fish to go through. When the fish has found its way through the net beyond the gill- covers, it may generally be considered as effectually meshed ; there is, indeed, little chance of its escape, for the mesh is only large enough for a fish of average size to push its way so far, when the gill-covers are laid close to the body ; but it is necessary for them to open again that the fish may breathe, that is, that the water which enters the mouth may, with the air it contains, pass over the gills, and after purifying the blood with- in them, just as the air we take into our lungs purifies the blood they contain, escape through the gill opening on each side of the head. As this is taking place, and the fish is at the same time hampered by the net, the mesh slips forward and catches in the gill opening, from which it cannot easily be cleared without more or less injury to the fish. In drift-net fishing, then, the nets act as barriers to intercept the moving shoals, and DRIFT-NET FISHING. 51 the fish become meshed in their attempts to pass through. It is found that certain conditions are favourable for drift-net fishing. It will be readily understood that the more indistinct the net is in the water, the more likely the fish are to swim against it and to become meshed. The night is therefore, with extremely rare exceptions, the time chosen for drift fishing ; and it is noticed that just after sunset and just before sunrise, when the change is taking place from light to dark- ness, or the reverse, herrings especially are most likely to " strike " the net, as it is called. This is a point in connection with the habits of the herring which is little understood. A ripple on the surface of the water is also a favourable condition ; and this is easily explained ; for if the surface of the sea be at all broken, such light as falls upon it is reflected by every little wave, and therefore does not penetrate to the nets so as to make them visible. Some very interest- ing observations have also been made on the Scotch coast, with respect to the temperature of the sea during the herring season, and its possible relation to a suc- cessful fishery. The late Marquis of Tweeddale, who was President of the Meteorological Society of Scot- land, provided a number of deep-sea thermometers to be used by the fishery officers and the fishermen, for the purpose of testing the temperature of the sea at different periods of the fishery. The results for the years 1874 and 1875 only have as yet been made public, and the Committee of the Society state that the con- clusions arrived at must therefore only be considered E 2 52 BRITISH IND USTRTES. as provisional ; but they point to a high degree of temperature in the sea being unfavourable to fishing, and that when the sea is found to be colder in any one district than in that on either side of it, the herrings are more abundant and the fishery is more successful in the colder than in the warmer water. The com- mittee also state, as quoted in the Keport of the Scotch Fishery Board of the fishery of 1875, that "the in- fluence of thunderstorms was equally seen as in former years. If there is a thunderstorm of some magnitude, extending over a large portion of the east of Scotland, good takes may be made on that day, but on the follow- ing day, few if any fish are caught over that part of the coast, unless at the extreme verge of a deep part of the sea, as if the fish were retreating thither." Obser- vations on the influence of winds and the temperature of the sea have also been made by the Dutch fisher- men ; and Herr von Freedon, of Hamburg, Director of the German See Warte, believes, from an analysis of these observations, that a temperature of from 53 to 57 degrees of Fahrenheit is most favourable for the herring fishing, and that the chances of success diminish with higher or lower temperatures. These investigations are of very great interest ; and if the results do not teach the fishermen how to make a suc- cessful fishing every year, they may at all events account for failure when it does occur, and so prevent a repetition of the mischief, which, before now, has been caused by the senseless cry that the fisheries are being ruined. There are many problems to be solved in connection with the movements of wandering fishes, DEIFT-NET FISHING. 53 like the herring, mackerel, pilchard, and sprat ; and any bit of information which we can gain about their habits may help materially to guide us in our sub- sequent inquiries. For a description of drift nets and the mode of working them on a large scale, I cannot do better than give some account of the method by which the Yarmouth herring fishery has long been carried on. Drift fishing, "drifting," or "driving," as it is variously called, although the last term is the one in general use among the fishermen, is there worked with fine sea-going decked boats, larger in every way than those similarly used on other parts of our coasts ; and the fishermen can consequently venture farther to sea, and run the chance of worse weather, than most of the smaller boats are capable of doing with a due regard to safety. The nets used for drift fishing are made either of cotton or hemp "twine," as the latter is called, some fishermen preferring the one material, some the other ; and it is not unusual for the two kinds to be placed alternately in the same train of nets. Cotton nets are finer in the line and more flexible than those made of hemp, and they are generally believed to be more effective in meshing the fish. Machinery of a very beautiful and ingenious character is employed in making these nets, and large supplies have been for some years past turned out from the factories at Brid- port, Musselburgh, and many other towns. Cotton nets are now very largely used, and there is every reason to think they will be universally employed for 54 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. all kinds of drift fishing. When new, they are first saturated with linseed oil, then squeezed through a machine, afterwards dried, which takes some days, and, finally they are put into a vat, and hot bark liquor is poured upon them ; in this they remain for two or three days. The bark liquor is a preparation in which catechu is an important ingredient, it having practi- cally superseded the oak bark formerly used for tan- ning nets. In some cases the nets are dressed with coal tar instead of being barked. The herring nets come from the factory in " pieces " 60 yards long and 9 or 10 yards deep, the depth of the net containing 200 meshes; and it is the custom of the fishermen, when speaking of the size of a net, to say it is so many yards long and so many meshes deep, as the case may be. Each piece is divided into two nets 30 yards long. When a net is prepared for use, it is " mounted," or fastened lengthwise along one edge to a small line only 18 or 20 yards long, that length of line being appropriated to the 30 yards of net, so that the " lint," or netting, is set slack, and gives way a little when the fish strike it; and from its flexibility the net holds the fish better than would be the case if it were fully stretched. The ends of the net are called the " heads," the roped edge of the length the " back," as that is uppermost when the net is in the water, and the lower edge the " foot " or " sole." The heads are roped, as well as the back; but the foot is usually left free, so as to be less likely to hitch in anything at the bottom, when the nets chance to be used in rather shoal water or near the ground. The back of the net DRIFT-NET FISHING. 55 is further fastened at intervals of a few inches by very short lines called " nossles," to the cork-rope, a small double rope enclosing at various distances pieces of cork as floats, to keep that part of the net uppermost. The number of such nets used by each vessel depends very much on her size, and ranges from eighty to one hundred and thirty. They are fastened together end to end, and, thus united, form what is called a " train, fleet, or drift of nets," frequently extending to a length of more than a mile and a quarter. The mesh in a herring net is about an inch and a quarter square, equi- valent to thirty or thirty-two meshes to the yard when the net is new ; but after long use and frequent barking or tarring, it becomes contracted to an inch, or even less. Twine nets have been hitherto netted by hand, and for convenience in the manufacture, are usually made up of several narrow pieces called " deepings," which are laced together one below the other, there being three or four deepings in the depth of a net. Twine nets are much heavier than those made of cotton, and consequently involve more labour in working them. There can be no doubt also that from the greater stiffness of the meshes, the fish are not so readily caught in them. On the other hand, it has been said that more fish are lost from cotton nets, the sharpness of the fine cotton-mesh cutting into the neck of the fish, and tearing off the head when the fish hangs from the mesh whilst the nets are being hauled on board. This objection, however, cannot be a very serious one, or cotton nets would not be so largely employed as is now the case. 5 6 BRITISH IND US TRIES. There are still one or two things to be noticed, before I come to speak of the working of the drift nets. I have already mentioned the corks on the cork-rope, as specially intended to keep the back of the net uppermost. These floats in ordinary nets are merely placed there for that purpose, and are not meant to keep the nets at the surface. The weight of the net is considerable, and it is desirable that they should be heavy enough to sink, because the herrings do not always rise to the surface ; it is necessary, therefore, to manage so as to place the nets where it is likely the herrings will be. This is, of course, a matter of uncertainty; but the fishermen judge from the state of the weather, and other signs, how far the nets should be sunk. There is, however, some diffi- culty about this too ; sometimes they hit on the right distance, sometimes no fish are caught. The failure may be from the nets being too high or too low, or it may be from the absence of fish in that part of the sea. In any case the nets have to be buoyed up, and for this purpose small kegs, termed " bowls," are used, and one of them is fastened by a rope to each of the nets, the rope being long enough to allow the nets to sink several fathoms ; or, if thought desirable, it may be so shortened as to bring the net close to the surface. It is found convenient to colour the bowls, so as to mark the different parts of the fleet of nets. The first net is marked by a small white bowl, called the "puppy," and at the end of the first four nets is a " dan," or buoy, with a pole carrying a small flag. The rest of the nets are marked in four divisions; at the first DRIFT-NET FISHING. 57 quarter from the pole is a bowl painted one quarter red and three quarters white ; the next is half red and half white; and at the commencement of the last division the bowl is three quarters red and one quarter white. The intermediate bowls are all black. The only other part of the apparatus is the warp, a stout rope, to which each net is made fast by two small ropes called " seizings." The object of having this warp is to facilitate the hauling in of the nets, to take off the direct strain upon them when this is being done, and to prevent any of them being lost, in case of their being cut through by accident. Drift nets being used almost entirely at night, and often ex- tending for a long distance in the course of vessels passing up or down the coast, are sometimes liable to be damaged by these vessels running over or through them; and if by chance the train of nets is thus divided, the warp which hangs below and is fastened to each one holds the nets together, and prevents any serious loss from the nets being carried away. All the vessels used in the Yarmouth fishery are decked; the largest of them, about 36 tons, N.M., being 52 feet on the keel, with 17 feet beam, and 7 feet depth of hold. They are lugger-rigged, with two masts only, and carry a jib, a large dipping fore- lug, and a working mizen and topsail. The mizen- mast is always kept standing ; but to enable the vessel to ride easier when fishing, the large foremast is fitted so as to lower backwards, on the same principle as may be seen any day in the Thames barges, or in vessels which have to pass under bridges in inland navigation. 5 8 BRITISH IND USTRIES. The mast in these Yarmouth luggers is, however, not lowered completely on deck, where it would be very much in the way when the nets are being hauled in, but is kept for the greater part of its length at such a distance from the deck as to allow plenty of room below it for the men to move about and work. It is supported about the middle by a broad upright piece of wood called a " mitch-board," and which has a crutch at the top on which the mast rests. The same kind of support for the mast is used in all drift-fishing boats of any size, whether decked or open, but it is not always of precisely the same form. The internal fittings in these luggers are in accord- ance with the requirements and convenience of the fishery, and the hold is divided into compartments for the fish, nets, warp, &c. A considerable quantity of salt is carried by the Yarmouth boats, as a good sprinkling of this preservative is desirable to ensure the delivery of the fish in good order, after having been perhaps caught for many hours. As many as from nine to twelve men form the crew of one of these large fishing-boats. Time is valuable in drift fishing ; for if the fish are abundant, the nets are not allowed to remain long in the water, but are hauled in and shot again without delay. All this is very laborious work ; and more than half the crew are not regular fishermen, being merely shipped for the season as " capstan-men," many of them being country- men, or persons who have very little experience at sea, but who have strong arms for working at the capstan, by which the warp, and with it the nets, are hauled in. DRIFT-NET FISHING. 59 The time universally chosen for putting out, or "shooting" the nets, as it is called, is just before sunset ; and the vessel being in what the master has reason to think is a likely place for fish* a point, however, about which there is generally some specula- tion, she is put before the wind, and as she sails slowly along, the net is shot over her quarter, that is, over the side near the stern. Whilst this is going on, the men are distributed at regular stations, some handing up the net from below, others throwing it over and taking care that it falls in the right posi- tion, others, again, looking after the warp and seeing that the " seizings " are made fast to it in their proper places. When all the net is overboard, and fifteen or twenty fathoms of extra warp, termed the " swing-rope," are paid out, the warp is carried from the stern to the bow of the vessel ; she is then brought round head to wind, the ordinary sails are taken in, the mast is lowered till it rests in the crutch of the mitch-board, a small mizen sail, called the " drift-mizen," is set to keep her head to wind, and the regulation lights are put up to show that the vessel is fishing. A certain number of men then remain on deck as the watch, and the vessel and nets drift with the tide. It is important that a strain should be kept on the nets so as to extend them ; it will therefore be readily understood why the nets are shot in the direction in which the wind, much or little, is blowing ; for the vessel being to leeward of the nets when they are in the water, and offering of course more resistance to the wind than they do, drifts more rapidly, and consequently pulls 60 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. upon the nets and keeps them comparatively straight. In Loch Fyne and other large inlets of the sea, where, in the summer nights, the surrounding hills keep off any little air of wind there may be stirring in the neighbourhood, and where the boats are small and fishing in large numbers close together, great con- fusion sometimes occurs from the nets of different boats becoming entangled ; but such a thing rarely happens at sea, where there is more room, and the faintest air is felt by the fishing boat. When there is a great deal of wind, more swing-rope is allowed, and the vessel sometimes rides to the nets with as much as 100 fathoms of clear warp out, the "spring" of the warp under such circumstances easing the strain on the nets. Whilst the nets are in the water, the warp is occa- sionally hauled in till the first net is reached ; this is called the " look-on " net, and by examining it, some idea may generally be formed of whether many her- rings are about, or the dogfish are numerous. The latter are at times very mischievous, and do a great deal of damage to both the fish and the nets if they are left long in the water. I now come to hauling in the nets ; this operation is performed in the same systematic manner as I spoke of just now in connection with shooting the nets, the men being told off to their regular stations, and each having his appointed duty. I need only men- tion, however, that the " capstan-men " are now im- portant persons, for the capstan is the means by which the warp and nets are got on board. As soon as the DRIFT-NET FISHING. 61 fish are all shaken out of the nets, they are sprinkled with salt and then stowed away in their proper com- partments in the hold of the vessel. When the night's fishing is over, the mast is got upright again, the sails are set, and the vessel either returns to port, or, if the catch of fish has been small, shifts to a fresh berth for the next night's work. Drift nets for mackerel are made and worked on precisely the same principle ; but as these fish generally keep near the top of the water, the nets are well corked so as to make them float quite at the surface, and there is no occasion for such a depth of netting as is used when fishing for herrings. A " fleet or train " of mackerel nets, as used by the Yarmouth boats, is, however, of very great length, and is made up of eleven or twelve score of nets, extending to as much as 2^ miles, or double that of a herring fleet. The meshes are of course larger than those in a herring net, there being usually twenty-two or twenty-three to the yard. Cotton is also being adopted for mackerel nets, whenever the old twine ones become unfit for use ; but the change is only being made gradually, as the outlay necessary for a complete fleet of mackerel nets is very large. Pilchard drift-nets, principally used on the coast of Cornwall, are about the size of those used for herrings, with a slightly smaller mesh. Shrunk herring-nets are frequently employed in the pilchard fishery, when the meshes have become too small for their original purpose. The circumstances which guide the drift fishermen 62 BRITISH IND USTKIES. in their selection of any particular spot for fishing, are commonly of a very uncertain character, and at times there is nothing more to influence them than their knowledge that the fish were in some particular locality or at a certain distance from the land at a corresponding period in former seasons. At the com- mencement of the fishing season, they can only be guided by such considerations ; but when the fish are becoming more abundant and occasionally showing themselves at the surface, what is called the " appear- ance of fish," that is, large collections of sea birds and the presence of whales and the smaller species of cetacea, are a tolerably sure indication of there being plenty of fish in the neighbourhood. There must necessarily be a great deal of uncertainty in a fishery of this kind, for practically there is nothing known of the causes which influence the shoals of fish in their daily movements, although it seems probable that the greater or less abundance of food is an important one. The phosphorescent light produced at times by my- riads of minute medusaB and other marine animals when disturbed, especially in calm warm weather, is frequently made use of by the fishermen in their search for herrings, and often leads to the discovery of fish when other indications are absent. The light is called by the fishermen by the names of " briming," " waterburn," or, on the Northumberland coast, " mar- fire." When the water is in this condition, the slightest agitation, as is well known, produces sparks or flashes of light ; and the presence of fish is often indicated by the streaks of light which are caused by their sud- DRIFT-NET FISHING. 63 denly darting through the water. These signs of fish are sometimes observed as the fishing boat is rowed along over the calm sea ; but I have also seen the fishermen produce a more decided effect by rapping with a piece of wood against the planks of the boat nearest the water ; now and then a fish would betray itself by a line of light as it darted away, and when these indications became more numerous, it was de- cided to shoot the nets. This luminous condition of the water, however, is not very favourable for fishing, although I have seen moderate hauls made under such circumstances. The water is then usually too clear and the nets are too distinct for the fish to strike freely ; and, beautiful as the illuminated nets appear as they are drawn through the water, the fishermen have then generally good reason to expect the result of their night's labour will not be very large. The seasons for drift fishing depend of course on the kind of fish sought for, whether herrings, mackerel, pilchards, or sprats ; for although the last-mentioned fish is principally caught in the stow-net and sean, drift nets are also used for it on a certain limited part of the coast. But the seasons for the same kind of fish we may take the herring as a notable example also vary according to the different parts of the coast ; and this difference in the seasons leads to much larger captures in the course of the year than would other- wise be the case, for the boats from several districts are commonly enabled to unite in working succes- sively at different stations, instead of being confined to their own. Thus many of the Scotch fishermen 64 BRITISH IND USTRIES. from the east coast come south as far as Yarmouth in October and November for the herring fishery, which is then in full work in that neighbourhood, and the Yarmouth men begin their fishing in July very much farther north than the coast of Norfolk. The old theory of the migration of the herring is now alto- gether out of date ; and such evidence as has been obtained of the habits of this fish, leads to the belief that the only definite changes of locality it makes are from deep water, more or less distant from the land, to shoaler water near the shore, or the reverse. The object of these movements has yet to be explained. Where there is very deep water not very far from the land, herrings are likely to be found more or less at all times of the year, as seems to be the case par- ticularly at the Outer Hebrides. There are certain months, however, in which they regularly make their appearance, and are successfully fished for on a great part of the coast of the British Islands. The fishery season, although not at the same period in all parts, is tolerably regular for each district ; and this, taken in conjunction with the fact that certain districts are commonly visited by fish having particular characters of size or appearance, which according to many of the salesmen are sufficient to enable them to speak with some confidence as to where they were. caught, con- firms the growing opinion that herrings do not move very far from their native waters. Enough is known of their movements, to justify the belief in two very distinct arrivals of these fish on many parts of our coast, wherever they may come DRIFT-NET FISHING. 65 from, producing the summer or autumn, and winter fisheries. In some districts the winter herrings are not observed ; in others, they are seen but not fished for, as the bad weather at that time often interferes materially with systematic work, or other and more profitable fisheries may claim the attention of the fishermen. In other places, again, the winter fishery is the only one in the district. -The great herring harvest is almost everywhere gathered in during the second half of the year. From the Shetlands, by the east coast of Scotland, almost down to the Humber, the herring fishery takes place from July to September. It is rather later, however, about Flamborough Head, and the home fishery at Yarmouth and Lowestoft is from September to the end of November. In the Channel the general fishery is still later, although small fat herrings are often taken by the Hastings boats during the mackerel season in June. At Eamsgate, October and November are the regular months ; but in the west, the fishery takes place quite in the last part of the year, and in the more distant parts, even in January or the begin- ning of February, running into the period when the winter fishery, as distinct from the autumn one, is carried on along both coasts of Scotland. It might be supposed that as the herrings appear on our ex- treme northern coasts at the beginning of the general fishing season, and are gradually later as we proceed south, there was some foundation for the old theory of migration, and that the fish caught in the Channel in December are the remains of the shoals which were 66 BRITISH IND USTRIES. on the coast of Scotland in August ; but, as we shall see, the condition of the fish at the different places is opposed to such an idea. In the north the herrings are " full " in August and at the beginning of Sep- tember ; then they spawn and disappear. Those caught in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth are not in the best condition that is, full of roe till Oc- tober and November. It is extremely unlikely, therefore, that they should belong to the great shoals which were spawning two months earlier in the north. Again, at the eastern end of the Channel 'the fish are full in November ; but on the Cornish coast and in the west generally, the herrings are not in spawning condition till December, or even a month later. These differences appear to point to the shoals being distinct and somewhat local, and are quite in- consistent with any theory of general migration from the Arctic Sea. At the Outer Hebrides and on the west coast of Scotland, the herring fishery begins in some places as early as April, and goes on continuously till nearly the end of September, when the herrings spawn ; and a separate winter fishery is carried on in January and February. The fishermen in these parts say that the herrings are always on that coast, but of course vary in their condition at different times. The spawning seasons there appear to be in September and February or March. When we come to the Firth of Clyde, with the long- famous fisheries in Lochfyne and the Kyles of Bute, we find that the herring season is from June to September ; DRIFT-NET FISHING. 67 but according to the fishermen of Lochfyne and there is not the slightest reason to doubt the accuracy of their statements in this matter some herrings may be caught in parts of Lochfyne throughout the year. The Isle of Man fishery begins on the western side of the island in June, and finishes on the eastern side in October, when the fish are observed to be in spawning condition. The herring fishery on the north of Ireland is from July to September, and rather later on the east coast that is, in the Irish Channel where an important fishing is carried on, and in which Scotch, Manx, and Cornish, as well as Irish boats take part. On the south and south-west of Ireland there appear to be two seasons one lasting from May or June to Sep- tember or October, and the other from Christmas to the beginning of March the fish being in spawning condition at the close of each of these seasons. On the Atlantic side, however, the herring fishery is very uncertain, as the coast is too much exposed for regular deep-sea fishing to be carried on at night without con- siderable risk, even if the fishermen were provided with proper boats and gear, and had their hearts in their work; and the fish do not always come far enough into the deep bays on that coast to be caught in large numbers. In Galway Bay, however, many good fisheries have been made, and if the fishermen there were more peaceably disposed the Claddagh men especially more profitable work would be accom- plished by them. The drift-fishery for mackerel is principally on the p 2 68 BRITISH IND USTRIES. English and Irish coasts. Mackerel appear at first in deep water on the south and south-west of the British Islands, and are caught sometimes as early as January, sixty miles west of the Land's End. The general Cornish fishery, however, usually commences about the end of February, and lasts till some time in June. May, June, and July are, probably, the most produc- tive months for mackerel fishing by drift-nets on the English coast. After the mackerel have spawned, which they do for the most part in June and early in July, the process taking place at the surface, as is well authenticated, the shoals disperse, and the fish, then readily taking a bait, are caught in large numbers by hook and line. At this time, also, they come very near the land, and consequently within reach of numbers of persons who fish only for amusement. The time when this popular sport is most successful is during the month of August, but it frequently lasts far into Sep- tember along our western coast. Half-grown fish are also caught at times in the herring drift-nets off Hastings in October and November. The mackerel fishery on the Scotch coasts is very unimportant, and drift-nets for the purpose are, so far as I know, unused there. A few mackerel are caught in Lochfyne and near the mouth of the Clyde in August, but only by the sean. The mackerel season at the Isle of Man is from June to August, but the fishery there again is not of much importance. It is very different, however, when we come to the south of Ireland ; and I am glad to say, that the Kinsale fishery has for some years been of considerable DRIFT-NET FISHING. 69 consequence, not only to the fishermen of the locality, but also to the Manxmen and some Cornishmen, who resort to that neighbourhood at the proper season. This fishery is much the same as on the south coast of Cornwall, and lasts from March to June. The drift-fishery for pilchards may be said to be practically confined to the Cornish coast ; for, although many pilchards are annually caught along the south coast of Devonshire, these fish are not by any means abundant so far eastward, and, when they are taken there, it is more frequently with the ground-sean than by drifting. Pilchard fishing by drift-nets begins on the Cornish coast in July, and is carried on till nearly the end of the year. At first the fish are well out at sea, but as the season advances they come so near the land as to be within reach of the seans; and the pilchard drift-boats are forbidden by law to fish within half a mile of where the latter nets are being used. This restriction is to prevent any interference with a method of fishing which, if the pilchards are not dis- turbed when close inshore, has frequently proved, and may again in any year be, most successful and profit- able. I may mention, that whilst most of the produce of the drift fishery is bought up for home consumption, the export trade in cured pilchards to the Mediterra- nean, and which has been carried on for a very great number of years, is almost dependent on the catches by the sean. St. Ives has long been celebrated for its sean fishery and export trade in cured pilchards ; and the returns that I shall give farther on of these exports, and their great fluctuations from year to year, will show 70 BRITISH IND USTRIES. how much may depend on whether or not the shoals of fish approach within a certain distance of a particular part of the coast favourable for seaning operations. The distance from the land, and the direction in which the pilchards are first met with every year on the Cornish coast, appear to vary within some con- siderable limits ; but it is probable that few of these fish are taken during the regular season farther at sea than ten or twelve miles, and they are usually south rather than west of the Land's End. On the south coast some of the shoals make an early approach to the land, and the fish are at the same time captured by both drift-nets and seans. They make an early ap- pearance also on the south coast of Ireland, but they are not generally found at St. Ives, or along the northern part of Cornwall, till October and November. It is believed that the shoals which strike the Irish coast afterwards go southwards, a few being occa- sionally met with at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, but most of them appearing first near the Cornish shore, a little north of St. Ives ; if they then in their course westward enter St. Ives Bay, the seans may do some profitable work ; the movements of the pilchard are, however, so capricious, that it is as likely as not that most of the shoals may pass at some distance from the land, and under these circumstances the seans find very little employment, and the newspapers report another unsuccessful season at St. Ives. There is little to be said about drift-fishing for sprats ; it is only carried on about Eamsgate, Deal, and Hastings, by a few men in small boats, a short LINE FISHING. 71 train of fine-meshed untanned netting being used, with the result of some of the larger sprats being caught ; but the takes of these fish are so enormous every winter by the sfcow-nets, to be presently described, that the small number caught by drift-nets can hardly be considered as of more than local importance. LINE FISHING. Under this head I may speak of two methods of working in very general use by our sea fishermen. These are by long-lines and hand-lines. One very simple distinction between them is, that the latter are practically kept in the hand of the individual fisherman who uses them, whilst the former are put out or shot, and then left to themselves for a longer or shorter period, before the fishermen haul them in, and take off the hooks such fish as may have been caught. Both methods are employed on a large scale in the North Sea cod" fishery, and it will be sufficient for my purpose if I describe the manner in which the Grimsby cod fishermen regularly work with them. The long-line, spilliard, spiller, bulter, or trot, the names variously given to the same kind of line, accord- ing to locality or size, is used for the capture of many kinds of fish, and especially for cod, ling, holibut, and haddock, although turbot, skate, and other ground fish are also taken by it. Long-lining from Grimsby is worked by means of 72 BRITISH IND USTRIES. large smacks like the trawl vessels previously de- scribed. They carry from nine to eleven hands each, and remain at sea until they have a fair cargo of fish, part of the vessel being converted into a well to which the sea has free access, and in which as many of the cod as possible are kept alive until the vessel returns to port. A further description of this well will be given in subsequent pages, after I have spoken of the lines and the manner in which they are worked. A complete set of long- lines, as used in one of these vessels, consists of about fifteen dozen, or 180 lines, each forty fathoms in length, and supporting twenty- six hooks on short smaller lines called " snoods," which are fastened to the main line at a fathom and a half apart, that distance being sufficient to prevent the snoods fouling one another and the hooks becoming entangled. A " string " of this description, made up of the 180 lines of forty fathoms each, fastened together into one, is 7200 fathoms long, equal to more than seven nautical or geographical miles, or about eight ordinary ones, and has 4680 hooks. These are baited with the common large whelk, which, owing to its toughness and substance, is not easily washed off the hook, and is an attractive bait for both cod and ling. Baiting these numerous hooks takes up a good deal of time, and gives plenty of employment to the several hands on board, before the line is ready to be shot. Work commences about sunrise, or earlier if the weather is fine, and sometimes a second shot is made if there be time; but the lines are always hauled in before night, as unhooking the fish, coiling away the LINE FISHING. 73 lines, and arranging the hooks in proper order, so as to be all clear for running on the next occasion, cannot be well done in the dark. Method is requisite even in the management of fishing lines, whether they are in use or in preparation for it. The line is always laid across the tide, so that the snoods may drift clear of the main line from which they hang. When a " shot " is to be made, the smack is put under easy sail, and kept with the wind as free as is possi- ble consistently with crossing the tide, so as to make a fair straight course while the line is being paid out. The lines are neatly coiled in trays, and the baited hooks arranged in regular order for going overboard, each tray containing from twelve to sixteen pieces, and they are paid out one after another, until the whole length of line runs out as the vessel goes on her course. No corks or floats are used to raise it off the ground, but the line is kept steady at every forty fathoms by a very small anchor, and its Buoy to Long-line. position at the two ends, and at every intermediate mile, is marked by a conical hooped buoy, called a " dan," having a pole or staff passing through it, and carrying a small flag. The line is usually shot at half-tide, and when the 74: BRITISH INDUSTRIES. operation has been completed, the smack heaves-to in the neighbourhood of the last buoy, till the tide has nearly finished. The fishermen then proceed to haul up the line. The foresail of the vessel having been lowered to make room for the men to work at hauling in the line, and the end buoy having been got on board, the smack sails along the course of the line as straight as she can go, making short tacks when necessary, the direction of the line being shown by the buoys at each mile, which by practised eyes can be easily observed. The line is then hauled in as the vessel goes on, and the fish are taken off the hooks. If the wind be very light, and so much ahead that the vessel cannot closely follow the course of the line, the work is done from the smack's boat a roomy one, about eighteen feet long, and with a well built in it, in which the fish can be kept alive for a time, until they can be put into the proper well of the vessel. As cod are not only the most valuable fish commonly taken by these lines, but also command a specially high price if they can be de- livered perfectly fresh to the market, every precaution is taken to keep them alive ; they are accordingly placed in the well of the vessel as soon as possible ; and a large proportion of those which are lively and vigorous when taken off the hook, are capable of bearing many days' confinement in this way without any appa- rent loss of condition. " Welled smacks," as they are called, were first tried in this country in 1712, at Harwich, and it has been said that the idea was taken from the Dutch fishermen. These vessels are specially constructed for the pur- LINE FISHING. 75 pose; the well not being a tank fitted into the vessel, but a part of the smack itself. Two strong water-tight bulk- heads are built entirely across the vessel from keelson to deck, enclosing a large space in the centre of the vessel. This forms the " well " (d) ; and a constant 76 BRITISH IND USTRIES. supply and circulation of water from the sea is kept up within it through large auger holes bored in the bottom of the vessel below the water-line, and between the two bulkheads. The entrance to the well is on deck, through a hatchway (6) ; and in front and on each side of it, at a short distance above the water-line, is what is called the " well deck " (c), which keeps the level of the water within certain limits, when the smack is rolling about or pressed down under sail. Cod are the prin- cipal fish put into the well, and when they have been caught in no great depth of water, and are strong and lively when taken off the hook, they will live a long time under these circumstances. It is a curious fact, however, that ling, which are usually taken in rather deep water, and cod from like situations, do not thrive in a vessel's well. Many deaths occur also among the general collection of cod, especially if they are nume- rous, and the vessel be exposed to bad weather, as the fish are then liable to be knocked about a good deal. A sharp look-out, however, is kept on them, and those which appear not likely to survive are taken out, killed, and packed in ice. Thus a cod-smack has gene- rally a large number of dead fish as well as live ones when she returns to port, the former consisting not only of the cod thus taken out of the well, but also of others, with ling and haddock, which were put into ice as soon as caught. It is no uncommon thing for a smack to return from the Dogger after ten days' fishing with from twenty to twenty-five score of fine live cod, besides, perhaps, two-thirds of that number of fish in ice. Holibuts are easily kept alive in the well, and LINE FISHING. 77 find a ready sale at good prices in the Grimsby market. The cost of these welled-smacks is considerable, and more so than that of " dry-bottomed " vessels of the same size; the term "dry-bottomed" being given to ordinary trawl-smacks and such fishing boats as have no well. This expression, however, would hardly be understood on those parts of our coast where welled- vessels are not used ; the distinction between the two classes is not brought under the notice of the majority of our fishermen, for in most cases their knowledge of the various methods and appliances of fishing is con- fined to what are in use in their own localities. The working expenses of a line vessel are also greater than those of a trawler. Each cod-smack carries from nine to eleven hands, of whom six or seven are apprentices of different ages. The principle of paying by shares, so general among the trawlers, except in the case of the Barking men, is here only adopted in paying the captain. He receives nine per cent, of the proceeds of the " voyage;" the rest of the hands are paid weekly wages, the mate getting 24s. and the men 22s. each ; the apprentices receive from 5Z. to 12Z. a year, accord- ing to their length of service. These wages are higher than they were three or four years ago ; and I am glad to find, that the men who are exposed to all the hardships and rough work at sea which fall to the lot of those who catch the fish, have some share in the higher prices which, owing to the ever-increasing de- mand, fish of almost every kind now obtains in the market. Provisions for all hands are also found by 78 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. the owner, without any deduction for them from the wages which are paid. Bait is an important item in the expenses of a cod- smack ; it comes next on the list after wages, provisions, and depreciation of vessel, and costs more than the wear and tear of sails and rigging, great as that must be, when a vessel has to keep her ground in all weathers, for ten days or a fortnight at a time, through a great part of the year in the rough waters of the North Sea. Whelks, or " buckies," as they are called in Scotland, are exclusively employed as bait on the long-lines in these smacks. They are not only attractive to the cod, but from their toughness they give a good hold to the hook. The collection of whelk-bait is a regular trade, in which many small craft of from about twelve to eighteen tons N. M. are constantly employed ; yet great difficulty is sometimes found in procuring a sufficient quantity for the purpose, the demand for whelks, in the London market especially, as an article of food among the poorer classes, interfering considerably with the supply of these shell-fish for the purpose of bait. A large number of whelks is obtained from the trawlers, but most of them are procured by special modes of fishing for them. At Grimsby, the plan is by shallow hoop-nets baited with refuse fish, and sunk to the bottom in suitable localities ; the whelks, being carni- vorous in their tastes, are attracted by the fish-bait, and collect in considerable numbers in the nets, from which they cannot readily escape when the nets are hauled up. Another plan is by baited baskets covered with netting at the top, except in the middle, by which the LINE FISHING. 79 whelks enter. The oldest method, perhaps, is that called " trotting," and is adopted especially about Harwich and near the mouth of the Thames. It is virtually long-lining, but instead of having a hook at the end of each short line or " snood " hanging from the main line, each snood is baited with the common shore crab, about twenty of these crabs being threaded on each line. The carnivorous propensities of the whelks here again lead to their capture, for they feed eagerly on this crab-bait, and are so unwilling to leave it when disturbed, that there is no difficulty in hauling lines and whelks together into the boat. Some idea of the number of whelks required in the North Sea cod fishery may be gathered from the fact, that a smack takes with her on each " voyage " during the regular long-line season, as many as forty wash of whelks ; the " wash " being a stamped measure capable of holding twenty-one quarts and a pint of water. At the close of the season, about March, a smaller quan- tity is sufficient. The whelks are kept in net bags, and are placed in the vessel's well, where they remain alive till taken out for use ; the shells are then broken, and the animals extracted. Dogfish are the great enemies of the long-line fisher- men, and in some seasons destroy immense numbers of the cod, after they are hooked and before the line has been hauled in. When the water is clear, the hooked fish can be seen at a considerable distance, and their struggles to get free only make them more likely to attract the attention of the shoals of prowling " dogs." Long-lining is only carried on by the Grimsby boats 80 BRITISH IND US TRIES. during the winter the time when cod are best fit for the table. Eather rough ground is usually selected, and the smacks work on the Dogger from November to March or April, and on Cromer Knoll, a long-famous bank on the Norfolk coast, from November to Fe- bruary. The Dogger has been celebrated as a cod- fishing bank for a great number of .years, and still retains its character as very productive ground. In March or April long-lining is put a stop to, and very few line- cod are caught in the North Sea for the next three months. Many of the smacks then go away to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and work with hand- lines for the cod which are found in more or less abundance in those localities. The fish caught there are always salted. In July the smacks return, and commence hand-line fishing in the home waters, at distances generally ranging from ten to thirty miles from the coast. The herrings are about this time approaching the land, and are always attended by large numbers of cod and other voracious species of fish, which, following their prey, do not then keep so near the bottom as is their usual habit. Hand-lining, consequently, becomes then a more effective mode of fishing than long-lining. The hand-line in use for this fishery is about forty-five fathoms long, having at the end a leaden sinker of from five and a half to seven pounds weight, with a stout iron wire, called the "sprawl-wire," fixed in it near the top at right angles to the upright body of the sinker, and slightly curved downwards at the ends. To each of these is fastened a snood of smaller line, LINE FISHING. 81 six feet long, bearing a single large cod-hook twice the size of those used on the long-lines, as nothing but cod is now fished for. When the cod are numerous, five Sprawl Wire. or six hooks are put on each snood, but usually there is only one to each. Whelk-bait is used, and the welled- smacks with their regular complement of men are employed as before. Whilst hand-lining, the smack is hove-to, and each of the men works one line, keeping the bait at such a distance from the ground as proves most successful, sometimes close to the bottom, or at other times, perhaps, within a fathom or two of the surface. The best fishing is generally towards the end of the day, and tlien all hands are kept busily at work. The fish caught near the coast are commonly smaller than those* taken on the Dogger Bank ; but after two or three months, when the herring fishery is coming to an end, the cod become scarce inshore, and the smacks G 82 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. prepare for the long-lining in deep water, and there, as the winter comes on, the cod are again found in large numbers. When the smacks arrive with their cargoes of live and dead fish at Grimsby, the cod in the well are taken out by means of long-handled landing nets, and are placed in wooden boxes or chests which are kept float- ing in the dock ; there the fish are stored till wanted for the market. These cod-chests are seven feet long, four feet wide, and two feet deep ; the bottom is made Grimsby Cod-chest. of stout battens placed a short distance apart, so that the water penetrates freely to the interior, as it does also between the planks of which the sides and ends are built up. The top is wholly planked over, except in the centre, where there is an oblong opening for putting in and taking out the fish. This opening is closed by a cover when the chest is in the water. Two ropes or chains are fixed in the ends of each chest for convenience in moving it about and hoisting it out of the water. About forty good-sized cod, or nearly a hundred smaller ones, may be put into one of these chests, and will live there without much deterioration for about a fortnight. There are usually as many as 400 of these chests in the Grimsby fish-dock, some- LINE FISHING. 83 times all in use, and containing from 15,000 to 20,000 live cod. Every day during the cod season a remarkable scene is presented here, and the same thing occurs at Harwich, although on a smaller scale, Grimsby and Harwich being the two ports where the live cod are stored. A certain number of fish being wanted for market, the salesmen make their preparations accordingly, and the cod are taken out of the chests and killed. I say killed, because the fish are not merely taken out of the water and allowed to die, but they are dispatched in a very summary manner. A chest of cod is brought alongside an old hulk kept for the purpose, and moored in the dock close to the market-place ; tackles from a couple of davits are then hooked on to the handles, and the chest is hoisted up till nearly clear of the water, which drains through the bottom and leaves the fish dry. The cover is then taken off, and a man gets into the opening and takes out the fish, seizing them by the head and tail. As may be supposed, the commotion among fifty or sixty cod just out of the water is very great, and it is often a work of difficulty to get a good hold of the fish ; but, one after another, they are lifted out and thrown up to the deck of the hulk, when they come into the hands of another man, who acts as execu- tioner ; he grasps the fish tightly behind the head with his left hand, holds it firmly on the deck, and giving a few heavy blows on the nose with a short club, kills it at once. It is sometimes as much as can be done to hold down a large and lively fish on the slippery deck, whilst giving it the coup de grace; but the work is G 2 84 BRITISH IND USTRIES. generally skilfully performed, and the dead fish rapidly accumulate into a large heap, whence they are taken to the adjoining quay, to be packed in bulk in the railway trucks waiting close by to receive them. Each, truck will hold about twelve score of good-sized fish, or a proportionately larger number of smaller ones. The fish thus killed and packed reach Billingsgate in time for the early market next morning, and are known in the trade by the name of "live cod," the manner in which they are killed affecting the muscles of the fish in some way that enables the crimping process to be carried out successfully some hours after the fish have been taken out of the water. These cod command a high price, and are looked upon as essentially " West End" fish. There is, of course, a great advantage gained by thus storing the cod alive, for not only is the market more regularly supplied than would other- wise be the case, owing to small catches during bad weather, or delays from calms or adverse winds, but the fish themselves also come into the hands of the fish- mongers in a fresher state than almost any other kinds supplied to them. These two methods of line-fishing are carried on more or less around our coasts, with various modifica- tions in the size of the hooks, the weight of the leads, the length and mounting of the lines, and the kind of bait used; the differences depending on the kinds of fish sought for, and, in the case of the hand-lines, the manner in which they are worked. Boats of various sizes are used, but they are mostly of only a few tons' measurement, especially for hand-line fishing, which is LINE FISHING. 85 generally carried on within a few miles of the shore. On many parts of the coast of Scotland, however, the larger boats used for drift-fishing, and now mostly decked, are also employed in the proper season for line-fishing. It should also be mentioned, as showing the different customs of fishermen on different parts of the coast, that while the Grimsby "cod-men" keep their smacks before the wind when shooting their lines, and beat up against the wind when hauling them in, the fishermen from Eyemouth, and, I believe, also from the immediate neighbourhood of the Firth of Forth, if not elsewhere, do precisely the reverse, and always keep their boats before the wind when hauling in the lines. There is one peculiar method of line-fishing about which I may say a few words. It is called " dandy- line fishing," and in principle is much the same as that with the " paternoster," well known in fresh waters . but the line is mounted in a somewhat different man- ner. The line has a leaden sinker or plummet (B) of about four pounds' weight at one end, and above it, at intervals of eight inches, the line is fastened by an ordinary clove-hitch (c) to the centre of pieces of whalebone or stout wire nine inches long, having at each end a very short line terminating with a bright tinned hook. Eight or ten of these spreaders are thus fastened at right angles to the line (A), and the whole apparatus is lowered into the water and gently moved up and down, the distance to which it is sunk depend- ing on where the herrings are supposed to be most numerous at the time, it may be but little below the 86 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. surface, or perhaps as deep as ten fathoms. No bait is used, the bright hooks being themselves sufficiently n Dandy-line. attractive. In this manner great numbers of half- grown herrings have been taken on the Scotch coast, SEAN FISHING. 87 especially on the eastern side. This method was at one time in common use for catching small herrings for bait on the Caithness coast during six weeks or two months before the regular drift-fishing commenced, but it has gone very much out of favour in recent years. It is still employed, however, at several places further south. I have not been able to obtain any very satis- factory explanation of the term " dandy " as applied to this line ; but those who have the best practical ac- quaintance with the Scotch fishermen and their modes of expression believe, that " dandy " in this case has the ordinary English meaning, and a " dandy-line " is merely one which is more than usually smart and pret- tily mounted. SEAN FISHING. Among the several kinds of fishing-net in use in this country, the sean or seine has. probably the strongest claim to be considered as the earliest adopted. Of the origin of any of our nets I can say very little; but there is evidence of the sean, or draw-net, having been used by some nations long before the Christian era; and in the New Testament we read of fishing having been carried on by some of those who afterwards became Apostles, in a manner which agrees entirely with our present method of working the sean. Mr. Couch, the author of the well-known work entitled 1 Fishes of the British Islands,' indeed claims a much 88 BRITISH IND USTRIES. higher antiquity for these nets, and endeavours to show the probability of the sean having been introduced into this country by the Phoenicians, who were known to use this net ; and as they are said to have traded with what is now known as Cornwall as early as the days of Moses, they may have taught the ancient Cornishmen the use of this net. It is not necessary, however, that I should go into this question, and I shall be content with acknowledging that sean-fishing is a very old method in this country, and in no part of it is it more commonly practised, or more thoroughly worked, than in the extreme west of England. The seans used in this country are of three kinds, namely, the sean proper sometimes called the " stop- sean " the tuck-sean, and the ground or foot-sean. One special character, however, is common to them all they surround or enclose the fish, and the diffe- rences between them relate almost entirely to the manner in which the nets are worked. A sean consists of a long train of netting, which may vary in length and depth according to what it is required for ; but it is always deeper in the middle or " bunt " than at the " sleeves " or " wings," as the ends are called. The object of making the middle of the net deeper than the ends, is to give the enclosed fish less opportunity of escaping underneath when the net is being hauled in, as that is the part of the net where the fish congregate under such circumstances ; and when the net is being hauled on shore, its gradual deepening from the ends towards the middle or bunt enables the whole of the foot or lower edge, in most cases, to touch the shelving SEAN FISHING. 89 bottom at the same time, and so to effectually prevent the escape of the enclosed fish in that direction. The net is thrown out or shot in a semicircle if it is to be hauled on shore, or often in a complete circle, if it is intended to be worked entirely from the boats. In either case the ends are sooner or later brought together, and the fish are completely surrounded. The back, or upper edge, is well supported at the surface by corks, which is very necessary, as the fish mostly caught by the sean are those which commonly keep near the top of the water; and the foot is weighted with leads to keep it down, so that the whole wall of netting may hang perpendicularly from the corks. There is no part of our coast where seaning can be seen more effectively worked, or on a larger scale, than in Cornwall. St. Ives has long been famed for its pilchard fishery; and, fluctuating as it has been, the proceeds are so valuable, in even a moderately good season, that for many years it has been thought worth while to keep between 200 and 300 large seans ready for work, and to take their turn in the limited space available for their proper employment. Two, or some- times three, nets are here used for enclosing a shoal of fish, or part of it if it is a large one. The first, or principal net, spoken of as the " sean," is about 200 fathoms long and ten fathoms at its deepest part, and another net of the same kind, called the " stop-sean," is fastened to it. These nets are shot at the same time, the boats starting with them from the point where they are joined together, and in a position rather on the outside of the shoal of fish, if they are at a convenient 90 BRITISH IND USTRIES. distance from the shore ; the boat with the sean throw- ing out the net in a direction parallel with the shore, while the stop-sean is shot as the boat is rowed towards the beach. The two boats ultimately turn towards each other, and gradually bring the ends of the two nets together, thus completely surrounding the fish. The nets are then fastened together at the point of meeting, and the circle gradually contracted by hauling up the stop-sean until the whole of the fish are enclosed by the large sean alone. If there be a probability of enclosing a very large number of fish, a second stop- sean is fastened to the first before the circle of nets is completed ; but this is only required on rare occasions, and, in any case, the fish are ultimately brought within the compass of the single large sean. When this has been accomplished, the whole circle of netting with the enclosed fish is slowly hauled towards the shore, into some quiet place out of the tide, if possible, till the foot of the net touches the bottom, and there it is securely moored. This is necessary, because the hauls of fish are sometimes so large, that several days may elapse before the net can be emptied. Now comes the operation of what is called " tucking " the fish. For this purpose another net, called the "tuck-sean," is employed. It is only seventy or eighty fathoms long, but very deep at the bunt, or middle ; it is shot inside the circle formed by the large sean, and, as it is hauled in, the foot of the bunt is raised so as to get the net under the fish and bring them to the surface, whence they are taken out in large baskets and put into the boats to be carried on shore. I shall give more details SEAN FISHING. 91 of the incidents attending this fishing when I speak of St. Ives, the great pilchard-curing station. Very much the same mode of working the sean is in use on other parts of the Cornish coast, but generally on a much smaller scale ; frequently only one net is employed, and the fish are " tucked " into the boat at once ; but in that case, of course, the capture is not a very large one. The necessity for using rowing boats in working the sean prevents its employment as a " circle-net," except near the land ; it is used sometimes in deep water in some of the Scotch lochs ; and in such cases the net is not grounded, but brought under the fish like a tuck- net. In most cases, however, the sean is there worked near the shore, and the net having been grounded, there is less difficulty in securing the capture of the fish. As the term " trawling " is commonly used in Scotland for the kind of fishing which in England, and, I believe, in most, if not in all, parts of Ireland, is known by the proper name of " seaning," the expres- sion " sean-trawling " might be used when speaking of the Scotch fishery, instead of either " seaning," which would not be properly understood in Scotland, or " trawling," the meaning of which would be liable to be misunderstood in others parts of the United Kingdom. I have now spoken of the sean proper and the tuck-sean; and I have only to describe the ground or foot-sean, in some places called the scringe-net. This sean is much more widely known than the others, for it can be very easily worked, and one of 92 BRITISH IND U8TRIES. even very small size may be the means of catching a great variety of fish. The peculiarity in its working consists simply in the net being always hauled on shore, and that being the case, there is no necessity for the meshes at the wings being as small as is desirable at the bunt or middle of the net, where the fish sooner or later collect, and the greatest pressure is felt. Each wing has a pole to which the ends of the upper and lower edges of the net are fastened, and to this pole a long drag-rope is attached for the purpose of hauling in the net. When the sean is to be shot, the end of one of the drag-ropes is left on shore in charge of some of the fishermen, and the whole of the net with the rope at the other end is put into the sean- boat, which is then rowed out from the shore, and, after shooting the net in a semicircle, returns with the second rope to the beach. The two ropes are then slowly hauled in, the two parties of fishermen gradually approaching each other as the net comes to land, until at last they meet, and the bunt of the net, in which all the fish are collected, is then drawn on shore. The ground-sean may be made of small dimensions, and is therefore very convenient for amateurs who may not be able to muster hands enough to work a large net. Yachting men frequently use it, and often procure a moderate and varied supply of fish by its means. It can be easily worked, wherever the bottom is smooth, and there is a bit of beach on which the net can be landed. At Brighton, and along the Chesil Beach, near Portland, however, nets of this kind and of a large size are regularly used in the proper season for THE STOW-NET. 93 catching mackerel. At the latter place, a long pocket of very fine mesh is inserted into the middle of the bunt of the sean, and in this the fish collect as the net is being hauled in. The bunt is in all cases made of much smaller meshes than the other parts, as the object is to enclose the fish, and not to mesh them, as in the drift nets. THE STOW-NET. This is a gigantic bag-net exceeding in length the largest trawl, and is used every winter at the mouth of the Thames, in the Solent, and the Wash. It is exclu- sively employed for catching sprats ; and numbers of these nets are worked, especially in the estuary of the Thames, from November to February. The net is like a long narrow funnel, with a nearly square mouth, the entrance being thirty feet from head to foot, and about twenty-one feet wide. From this it tapers for a length of ninety feet to a diameter of between five and six feet, and further diminishes to nearly half that size in the remaining part of the net, which, when fully made up, is also about ninety feet long. The whole net is there- fore nearly 180 feet, or sixty yards in length. It is divided into several portions, the first being called the " quarters," from being composed of four distinct pieces corresponding to the four sides of the mouth ; the next is named the " enter," and forms the last part of the most funnel-shaped portion of the net. 94: BRITISH IND US TRIES. The remainder of the net is made up with from two to four divisions, the last being called the " cod," " dock-hose," or " wash-hose," and the intermediate portion or portions the " sleeves," the number of sleeves inserted into the net depending very much on whether there is a prospect of the fish being abundant or otherwise. The meshes throughout the net diminish in size from an inch and three-eighths near the mouth to from half to three-quarters of an inch at the smaller end, there being a slight enlargement of the mesh in the last part of the net. Some little variation may take place in the proportions of the several parts of the stow-net, but those I have given may be taken as fairly representing the nets used by the Thames fisher- men. The smacks employed in this fishery are very commonly those used at other times for deep-sea oyster dredging, and the shrimping boats of the Thames also take part in it. The mode of working the net is very simple. The vessel takes up a position at the beginning of the tide where there are signs of fish, or in localities where the sprats are generally found at that season. She then anchors, and at the same time the net is put overboard and takes its proper position under the vessel. That this may be effectively managed, a rope is made fast by one end to the anchor of the fishing boat before the anchor is dropped ; the other is fastened to four ropes, leading each to one corner of the square mouth of the net, thus forming what is called a double bridle ; and to facilitate the mouth of the net being kept open ? when in the water, two wooden spars or " balks " are THE S TOW-NET. 95 fastened to the mouth of the net, one on the upper side of the square and the other at the foot. More than this, however, is necessary to keep the mouth properly open, and this essential part of the arrangement is pro- vided for, by having a rope from each end of the upper balk to the corresponding side of the vessel, and by weighting the lower balk in order to sink it. When therefore, the vessel has taken up her position for fishing, both vessel and net are held by the same anchor, and the depth at which it is thought best for the net to remain is regulated by the ropes from the ends of the upper balk leading to the vessel. The strain on this enormous bag-net by the force of the tide is often very great, but the net, being held by the same anchor as holds the vessel, both keep in the same relative position, even if the combined strain should cause the anchor to drag. In this position then, the vessel and net remain till the tide has nearly done, the sails being all taken down, and only one hand being left on deck as a watch to see when it is getting slack-water, and to keep a general look-out. As soon as the tide is becoming slack, all hands pre- pare to haul up the net. The first thing to be done is to close the mouth of the net. This is effected by means of a chain fastened to the middle of the lower balk at the foot of the mouth of the net, and leading through an iron loop at the middle of the upper balk upwards to a small davit at the bow of the vessel. By heaving in this chain, the two balks are brought close together, and ultimately raised above the surface of the water, the net with all the contained fish stream- 9 6 BRITISH IND USTEIES. ing away by the side and astern of the vessel. The net is then hauled on board by a long-handled iron hook, and overhauled till the " cod " or end of it is reached. This is then hoisted in by help of a rope, which, after closing the end of the net, leads up to the vessel. This rope, or " pinion," having been cast off, the fish are measured into the vessel's hold in quan- tities of about three bushels at a time, the master superintending the work, and using a kind of wooden hook, called a "mingle," to hold the net in such a manner, that only a certain quantity of fish shall pass out at once. In this way all the fish in the long tube of netting, of which the free end of the stow-net is composed, are worked through the end of the cod or dock-hose into the vessel's hold. " Stow-boating," as this mode of fishing is usually called, is carried on both by day and night during the season. When the shoals of fish are of considerable size, and the captures are proportionately large, it is found that few fish besides sprats are taken ; but at other times young herrings and other small fish are frequently mixed with them. The sprats are usually sold out of the fishing boats to persons who make it their business to purchase, in order to sell again to the wholesale dealers at Billingsgate, who resell them to the fishmongers, so that the price at which sprats are sold in the shops, low as it may appear, is far above what is paid to the persons who catch them. In fact, the takes are some- times so enormous from a large number of fishing boats, that there is often a difficulty in getting rid of THE S TOW-NET. 97 the fish even for the purpose of manure, and there are hundreds, or I may say thousands, of tons disposed of every year in this manner. There is some fluctuation in the quantity of sprats caught from year to year ; but there is no apparent connection between the scarcity or abundance of fish in any one season, and the success of the fishing in the previous one. A net called a " trim-net " is worked on the same principle in some parts of the Wash ; but it is very much smaller, and the mouth is of a triangular shape, three poles, the lowest of which is the longest, being fastened together at the ends so as to produce that form. It is .used at the entrance to some of the small rivers, and catches smelts, eels, flounders, and other fish which frequent brackish water. " Whitebait," which are, without the slightest doubt, nothing but young herrings, are caught in the Thames by means of a small net of much the same shape as a stow-net, and worked on just the same principle. The only other kind of bag-net of any consequence used for catching sea fish, are long nets, which I have seen at the inner part of Waterford Harbour. They are essentially bag-nets, fourteen feet wide, eight feet deep, and fourteen fathoms long. They are fastened to the stakes of old salmon-weirs, and are used for the purpose of intercepting the sprats in their course for a short distance up the river ; but the visits of the sprats to the locality being rather uncertain, the importance of these nets is not very great. 98 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. THE KETTLE NET. This is a curious arrangement of stakes and nets, in use only in certain localities along the line of coast between Beachy Head and Folkestone. Its purpose is especially to catch mackerel when they come tolerably close to the shore, and it acts very much on the same principle as that of a fishing weir, being constructed so as to turn the fish in a particular direction, and to lead them into an enclosure in which they are ultimately captured. The kettle net is divided into two distinct portions, of which one consists of a circular row of stakes eleven feet high and eight feet apart, forming what is called the " pound," often 200 yards in cir- cumference ; this is placed so, that the outer part of the circle is just beyond low- water mark at neap tide, and the pound is completed by fastening to the whole series of stakes a train of netting reaching from the tops to the ground. Old herring-nets are generally used for this purpose, as the mackerel are too large to be caught in meshes of what is called herring-size. The pound is, therefore, an enclosure of netting sup- ported by stakes. The entrance to the pound is made on the land side, and is about thirty-five feet wide. The other portion of the kettle net consists of a straight barrier of stakes and netting, just the same as in the pound ; but it extends in a straight line from high- water mark to a short distance within the entrance to the pound, so as to act as a barrier to any fish attempt- ing to pass between the pound and the shore. The THE KETTLE NET. 99 length of the barrier depends on what slope there is on the ground, or, in other words, on the distance between high-water and low-water marks. As these nets are only used where the tide goes out a long way, the bar- riers range from about 200 to 500 or 600 yards. At high water, the pound and a great part of the barrier are covered by the water, or nearly so, and the mackerel, in attempting to pass along near the shore, are stopped by the barrier ; they cannot get round it at the shore end, and they naturally try in the other direction, and then, by following the line of the barrier outwards, they ultimately pass into the large enclosure of the pound. Once having entered, they are not likely again very soon to find the narrow opening ; and, as the tide falls, the fish naturally keep in the deepest part of the water, until, as it approaches the time of low tide, their escape is completely cut off by the greater part of the pound becoming dry. The fishermen have then no trouble in taking out the fish. A horse and cart are driven into the pound, and the fish are either dipped up with baskets, and put into the cart, or, if much of the ground within the enclosure be still covered with water, a small sean is shot round the fish, and they are drawn on shore. I have hitherto spoken of the pound having been placed somewhere about low-water mark at neap tide ; but it will be remembered that the spring tides go out very much farther, and therefore a larger extent of surface may be utilized for two or three days every fortnight. In order to make the most of this greater recess of tide, it was the practice to put up another kettle net with a shorter barrier, and a H 2 100 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. smaller pound, outside and in continuation of the larger one, the space occupied by it lying between the limits of low water at the neap and spring tides. The obstruction to boat navigation, however, along the coasts where the nets were used, and the danger arising from the stakes extending so far out, and more or less covered by the water at about high tide, have led the Board of Trade to discourage the use of the outer kettle-nets, and to some extent of the inner ones also ; for the setting up of these nets not only causes an ob- struction to navigation, but completely monopolizes the whole extent of shore where they are used, and entirely prevents the sean nets being advantageously employed there. The kettle net is likewise a less generally profitable means of fishing than the seans ; the former catches the fish when they go into the pound ; but with the seans it is frequently possible to surround a shoal of fish which might otherwise escape ; and the best policy in all regulations of fisheries is that which leads to the largest supply of useful fish to the general markets. TRAMMEL OR SET NETS. Two kinds of net are spoken of under these names, but they both are anchored or set when in use, and fish of various kinds become entangled in, or tramelled by, them. The real trammel, however, is peculiar in being made up of three nets or distinct sets of meshes, as is shown by its name, which in modern French is tr email TRAMMEL OR SET NETS. 101 or tramail, a corruption of trois mailles, i.e. three meshes. In low Latin this net is called tramallum or tramela, derived from tres maculae, signifying the same peculiar construction. The trammel, then, is a com- bination of three long nets placed side by side, and fastened together at the back, foot, and ends. Each of the outer nets or " wallings " has a depth of five meshes ten inches square, and is forty or fifty fathoms long. These two wallings are mounted so that the meshes of both exactly correspond in position, and a fish might pass through them as if they were a single net. The third net, however, is placed between the other two, and has its meshes only two inches square ; but it is both twice as long and as deep as the outer ones, the excess being gathered in at short intervals along the edges where the three nets are united. The result is a large quantity of slack netting between the two outer nets. Thus prepared, the trammel is set at the bottom with its length in the direction of the tide. It is anchored and buoyed at each end, the back or upper edge being well corked, and the foot weighted to keep the whole length in a proper position. The action of the trammel is peculiar, and is more like that of a trap than is apparently the case in other sea nets. As the outer nets or wallings stand with their meshes fully open and exactly opposite each other, and the small-meshed net hangs loosely between them, a fish, in trying to pass through the first one, meets the second, and carries a portion of it through the third, thus producing a bag or pocket beyond it. The more the fish struggles within its self-made prison, 102 BRITISH IND USTRIES. the more it becomes " trammelled," and in its 'efforts to free itself, sometimes carries the pocket back through the adjoining large mesh, and makes its chances of escape still more hopeless. There is a double advan- tage in having a walling on each side, for a fish is thus obliged to strike the net just where the middle slack portion can be pushed through the outer large mesh, and the net is equally effective on whichever side the fish approaches it. Nets of this description are much used at Guernsey for the capture of the large red mullet, which are sent thence to the London market. It is also coming more into use than formerly on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, and a trammel now fre- quently forms part of the fishing gear carried by many of our yachts. On the Cornish coast, the trammel is often called a " tumbling net." The ordinary trammel or set-net is merely a single net mounted very slack on the head and back ropes, so as to allow a good deal of play to the netting. It is, in fact, much the same in character as the ordinary drift-nets previously described; but it is set at the bottom with anchors and buoys in just the same way as the true trammel. The meshes are made of a size suitable to that of the fish intended to be caught, as in this case the fish becomes meshed and entangled in the netting. Hake are largely taken in these nets in the south of Ireland ; and it is used in different places for cod, turbot, herrings, &c., and even for crabs on parts of the Scotch coast. ( 103 ) ENGLISH FISHERIES. IT may be interesting to some of my readers if I now take a short survey of the fisheries carried on around the British Islands, pointing out the localities in which they have become important industries, and giving a slight sketch of the kinds of fishing most in favour in the several districts of the coast. It will be convenient to take each country separately; and the extent of coast-line, no less than the importance and variety of its fisheries, fully justifies my beginning with England. I do not remember its having been noticed that the eastern coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, have generally more productive fisheries than the western coasts of the three countries. But such is un- doubtedly the case. On the western coast of Ireland, the frequent bad weather, and the tremendous sea so commonly setting in upon its bold, rocky shores, with the absence, except in a few deep bays or inlets, of harbours in which fishing boats of even moderate size can find shelter, all combine to prevent systematic fishing on a large scale. The same exposed character of the coast of the outer Hebrides, which may be con- sidered as forming a large portion of the western side of Scotland, no doubt interferes there also with profit- able fishing ; but great compensation is provided by 104 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. the comparatively sheltered and productive waters of the Minch, between the outer islands and the mainland. But there is no part of the coast of the United King- dom in which there is less interest taken in sea fishing, or apparently fewer fish of any kind to be caught, than on the western coast of England and Wales that which bounds one side of the Irish Channel. No doubt the Irish Sea is notorious for bad weather ; but the Irish side of it furnishes a larger supply of fish of various kinds, than all the rest of the Irish coasts together. It may be that there is some peculiarity of the bottom on this side affecting the supply of food for the various fishes, and they are, consequently, not attracted to that coast ; or there may be, possibly, ob- jectionable warm currents setting along that shore; but the fact remains, that there are apparently fewer fish on the western side of England and Wales than on any other part of the British Islands. Comniencing, then, at Carlisle, we find, besides a little inshore line-fishing, and occasional drifting for herrings by a few boats, that trawling from the White- haven, Fleetwood, and Liverpool districts is the most important fishery on the north-west of England. But even the trawling grounds are only sufficiently pro- ductive at certain seasons of the year. The supply of fish on them fluctuates very much in successive years, and the trawlers are in the habit of changing their ground at regular times. The principal localities for this trawling are between the Isle of Man and the Eng- lish coast, and in Carnarvon and Cardigan bays ; and during the last few years, from fourteen to twenty-two ENGLISH FISHERIES. 105 trawlers from Whitehaven and Liverpool have fished successfully in February, March, and April, on the Ayrshire coast. It is quite a new thing for beam- trawlers to work on that coast of Scotland; and as good catches have been made there of some of the best kinds of fish, it is to be hoped that Scotch fishermen themselves may in time be induced to try this mode of fishing, especially as we understand that the long- existing prejudice against it has been much lessened. Bad weather, however, is one of the difficulties to be contended with on that part of the coast ; and that liability will, no doubt, interfere with the extension in this locality of a mode of fishing which is so profitably worked on many of the coasts of England. Morecambe Bay deserves some notice from its having long been famous for its shrimp fishery, and the proceeds are not only distributed through the manufacturing districts, but are sent to the London market. The ground in Morecambe Bay consists of extensive sandbanks, with innumerable channels between them, and in these the shrimpers work with cutter-rigged boats of about five or six tons, using an ordinary beam-trawl of suitable size and with a very small mesh. Twenty-five or thirty quarts of shrimps are considered a fair day's catch for one of these boats. Mussel fishing is also successfully worked on some parts of this coast. Long lines are used here in winter, and among the fish taken by them at times are large numbers of dogfish. These mischievous fish, the sworn enemy of fishermen on all parts of our coasts, are here in some cases turned to profitable account, and the fact is especially remark- 106 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. able from its being so entirely exceptional. Some of the Morecambe Bay liners prepare the dogfish for market by skinning them, and removing the head and tail. In this condition they are sold, under the name of " Darwen salmon," to the weavers at Blackburn and Preston, the only persons who can be induced to pur- chase them. It is the only case I have ever met with in this country, in which the hated dogfish was not knocked on the head and thrown overboard as soon as caught. The Welsh fisheries, so far as they depend on the native population, have very little importance. Trawl- ing is carried on at certain seasons in Carnarvon and Cardigan bays, and on the Tenby ground ; but, as I have mentioned, English boats are, with few excep- tions, the only ones engaged there. Drift fishing for herrings and line fishing are both worked on the west coast of Wales ; but the boats in use are mostly small ones, and the supply of fish from them is barely suffi- cient for local demands. Independently of the general apparent scarcity of fish on this coast, the mining and quarrying industries in the Principality are of such importance, that the working population have little inducement to seek their fortune in the uncertain occupation of a sea fisherman. The Milford oyster fishery still employs a good many hands; but, like most other oyster fisheries, there has been a great falling oif in the supply in the last few years. Tenby is the only really important fishing station on the Welsh coast ; and, although there are several ENGLISH FISHERIES. 107 trawl-smacks belonging to the place, a large propor- tion of the trawling on the Tenby ground is done by Brixham boats, some of which regularly work there from April to September, the only time when the fish are found there in any abundance. The trawling ground lies between Lundy Island and Carmarthen Bay. Line fishing is carried on in this neighbour- hood in winter ; and mackerel, herrings, pilchards, and sprats are caught by seans, but their visits are very uncertain. The oyster fishery at Mumbles or Oyster- mouth used to be of some importance, but it has greatly diminished, and many of the boats formerly employed in it have been sold to Brixham men for line fishing. On the south side of the Bristol Channel, the only fishery which requires notice is that for shrimps at Burnham, in Bridge water Bay. For this purpose bag- nets are suspended from stakes driven into the sand ; and, as the nets are placed close to the ground, vast numbers of shrimps find their way into them as the tide ebbs, and, having once entered, escape is prevented by a peculiar arrangement within, on much the same principle as that commonly applied in mouse-traps, and generally adopted in the baskets or " pots " used in the west of England for catching crabs and lobsters. There have been great complaints made in past years of the destruction of small fish in these shrimp nets, and no doubt numbers of small fry have been caught in them. Complaints of this kind have been made on several parts of our coast for years past, but the evi- dence furnished by the immense and increasing supply 108 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. of fish to the markets all over the country, shows how utterly unimportant is the destruction complained of. It might be easily put a stop to; but the shrimp fishery would come to an end at the same time. I will now pass on to the Cornish fisheries, there being little to be said about Barnstaple Bay, Bideford, and Clovelly, except that the ordinary methods of fish- ing are in use near the land, and are more or less successful according to the season, but they are never of any great importance. The fishery which is especially associated with Corn- wall is that for pilchards, and next in importance to it is the mackerel fishery ; besides these there are her- rings, line-fish, and a great many crabs and lobsters to be fished for, and deep-sea trawling is carried on by a few vessels from Penzance and Falmouth. St. Ives takes a very important position in connection with the pilchard fishery. It has a large fleet of fine boats which are used for the drift fishery, but it is particu- larly celebrated for its extensive use of the pilchard seans. Under the head of sean fishing I have given an account of the manner in which these nets are worked so as to enclose the shoals of fish, and I will now speak more particularly of what takes place at St. Ives during the seaning season. Pilchards are included with herrings, mackerel, and sprats under the general title of migratory fish, that is, they only appear near the land during certain months every year. At other times, they are supposed to be in deep water, and possibly far away ; but on these points there is literally nothing whatever known, nor can we ENGLISH FISHERIES. 109 tell why the fish approach the land, as we find they do every year. The idea that they come in for the pur- pose of spawning has been quite disproved. In the case of the pilchard, the great spawning season is in the early part of the summer, before the shoals of fish come near the coast. The pilchards visit the south coast of Ireland towards the end of the summer, and then appear to direct their course to the northern shore of Cornwall. They usually first strike that coast a little to the eastward of St. Ives, but they do not generally come in any number close to the land till they are near that town, and then, following the line of coast, they sometimes enter and work round St. Ives Bay in enormous shoals, and come within reach of the numerous seans kept there for use in this particular fishery. The ground in this bay that is at all suitable for seaning is of very limited extent, so that special regu- lations are required to ensure every sean-boat having its fair chance of fishing. Moreover, the fishery is likely to be so valuable when the fish come within reach, that it is desirable to run no risk of any con- fusion from too many boats being at work at the same time. A special Act of Parliament was accordingly passed some years ago for the management of this fishery, and is still strictly carried out, with the approval of all the fishermen. Under this Act, the seaning ground is divided into six " stems " or stations by fixed marks on the shore ; and it is decided by lot, in what rotation the various seans are to take their turns to occupy the stations. The season lasts frojn 110 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. the 25th of July to the 25th of December, and no sean is to keep possession of a station for more than one day at a time. At the conclusion of the day, the turn is over, whether the net has been used or not, and on the following day the next sean in rotation takes pos- session of the " stem," and so on throughout the season. There are also strict regulations about the dimensions of the nets, nothing less than 160 fathoms in length along the back-rope, with a depth of eight fathoms in the middle or bunt, and six fathoms at the wings, being allowed. The object of fixing a minimum size for the sean is to prevent a net being used that would only enclose a comparatively small number of fish, when it would be for the benefit, either directly or indirectly, of all the people there that the largest portion possible of the shoal should be captured ; for a vast number of persons besides the fishermen find employment from this fishery, and, when once dis- turbed, that portion of the shoal which has not been surrounded at first, is likely to strike off into deep water and be lost. Sometimes, however, the shoals are so large, and the pressure of the fish in the direction in which the shoal is moving is so great, that they are not easily turned or alarmed, and then several seans may be used almost at the same time, each net being shot in succession as soon as the pre- ceding one has fairly done its utmost. The boats used for sean fishing are of three sizes ; the largest of them, known as the "sean-boat," is usually about thirty-two feet on the keel, and with plenty of room in it for carrying the sean. The crew ENGLISH FISHERIES. Ill consists of eight men, six of whom row the boat, and two shoot or throw out the net. The next in size is the " tow-boat," two of which, about twenty-four feet in length, work in company with the sean-boat, and each carries a stop-net, to be united to the sean, as previously described. The remaining boat is a small one, called the " lurker," or " volyer," from which the captain of the sean directs all the proceedings. The position of the shoals is first observed and pointed out by men called " huers," who are selected from the sharpest and cleverest of the fishermen, and are stationed at particular places above the shore, usually two men for each station, and they readily detect the fish by the peculiar appearance and colour in the water where the shoals come near the surface, and signal with a large white ball to the boats waiting below to take their turns. These men remain on duty for three hours at a time, and receive 31. a month and one hogshead of fish out of every hundred hogsheads taken. The practice of measuring the pilchards by the hogshead arises from the fact of these fish being in such large demand for curing and exportation to the Mediterranean, whither they are sent packed in hogsheads. The estimate of the contents of a sean, or the actual quantity landed from one, is therefore con- veniently spoken of as so many hogsheads. The work of landing and carrying the fish to the curing houses, as well as the previous operation of hauling the sean with its scaly contents into shoal water, is performed by a number of men termed " blowsers ; " and it is not improbable that the heaving in of the sean-warp by 112 BRITISH IND USTRIES. means of a capstan on the beach, work in which every- one is glad to lend a hand, may have led to the use of the expression " heav-ah, heav-ah," which is heard on all sides under such circumstances, and to which so much mystery has been attached. The seans belong for the most part to companies or large pro- prietors, and the fishermen receive regular pay in money and a certain proportion of the fish they have succeeded in catching. The division of the fish is made as soon as they are brought on shore, and every household does a little curing on its own account, and provides what is thought almost a necessity in Corn- wall a stock of pilchards for use in winter. Curing is carried out on a large scale at some of the establishments at St. Ives whenever the fish are abun- dant, and preparations must be made accordingly ; but the fishery is a very fluctuating one, depending, as it does, not so much on the abundance of fish on the coast, but on the shoals coming into localities where the seans can be advantageously worked. The curing is the especial work of the women, who pack the pilchards in alternate layers of coarse salt and fish on the stone floor of the curing house, until the " bulk " has reached a height of five or six feet. Here the fish remain for a month, and the oil and brine draining from them are carried off by gutters in the floor to a cistern. When the fish have been suffi- ciently salted, they are washed and packed in hogsheads, each layer of fish being placed with their heads out- wards and with a " rose " of fish in the centre ; a circular piece of wood, called a " buckler," and rather ENGLISH FISHERIES. 113 smaller than the head of the cask, is then placed on the top of the fish, and strong but gradual pressure is applied by means of a lever, until the mass of fish is reduced one-third in bulk, and a great quantity of oil squeezed from them ; this drains through the sides and bottom of the cask, the hoops of which are not at that time very tightly driven, and is collected as before. The quantity of oil obtained from the pilchards depends on the season, but at least two gallons of oil are ex- pected from each hogshead. It is principally used by the leather-dressers. The cask is filled up three times before the pressing is finished, which is not until after eight or nine days, and then the hogshead of fish should weigh four hundredweight gross. The average number of fish packed in a hogshead is about 2500. The pilchards cured at St. Ives in the early part of the season are mostly taken by drift nets, but the sean fishery at a later period is mainly depended on to provide the fish for exportation. In some years the latter fishery is almost a failure ; in others more fish are taken than can be sold in one season. As many as 5500 hogsheads of pilchards were once actually saved from the part of a shoal enclosed by a single sean ; but from 500 to 1000 hogsheads is generally considered to be a very good catch. The export of pilchards is entirely to the Mediter- ranean, Genoa, Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Naples, and the Adriatic being their regular destinations, and steamers the general mode of conveyance. I am indebted to Messrs. G. C. Fox and Co., of Falmouth, for the following statistics of shipments to 114 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. the Mediterranean since 1815, and they afford good evidence of the fluctuations in the success of the sean fishery : Year. Hhds. Year. Hhds. Year. Hhds. 1815 15,000 1836 18,762 1857 15,921 1816 20,000 1837 15,349 1858 18,479 1817 24,000 1838 7,580 1859 3,289 1818 1,700 1839 12,856 1860 4,981 1819 2,900 1840 23,372 1861 11,078 1820 800 1841 9,605 1862 17,854 1821 2,000 1842 20,735 1863 25,677 1822 9,123 1843 8,859 1864 22,439 1823 24,109 1844 13,976 1865 9,929 1824 7,611 1845 30,807 1866 14,294 1825 12,651 1846 34,137 1867 15,832 1826 10,670 1847 41,623 1868 19,993 1827 5,238 1848 7,591 1869 15,143 1828 26,018 1849 25,588 1870 6,048 1829 700 1850 25,530 1871 45,683 1880 1831 22,010 26,648 1851 1852 26,736 15,233 1872 / 1,138* 1 18,406 1832 31,930 1853 21,276 1873 x 31,019 1833 1834 10,037 25,295 1854 1855 6,845 6,103 1874 / 819* \ 7,543 1835 23,833 1856 18,833 1875 7,337 In Mount's Bay, seaning is also carried on, as well as on many other parts of the south coast of Cornwall, but the nets are fewer than at St. Ives, and being distributed in suitable localities along some extent of coast, there is little occasion for the same strict regulations about working them as are practically necessary at St. Ives. Some of them, however, are by common consent adopted. Newlyn and Mousehole, close to Penzance, are the important fishing places in Mount's Bay ; and it is from these villages that the celebrated Mount's Bay luggers * Fish of previous season. ENGLISH FISHERIES. 115 carry on the various drift fisheries for mackerel, herrings, and pilchards, which form such an essen- tial part of the occupation of the Cornish fishermen. Three different classes of boats are used, but they are all built in the same style and rigged with large fore and mizen lugsails. The largest boats are used for the mackerel fishing, and range from thirty to forty feet ? and occasionally more, on the keel, with from eleven to thirteen feet beam. The smaller boats are employed in the herring or pilchard fishing, but all are either entirely decked or have a large hatchway, which can be covered over when desirable. These luggers are all built with a sharp stern, and the mizen-mast is stepped well forward so as to allow free movement of the tiller behind it. The cost of the boats ranges according to size, from 120Z. to as much as 600Z. The mackerel fishery on the Cornish coast is a very im- portant one ; it begins about February, sometimes a little earlier, at some distance from the land, and con- tinues till June. During the season, the quantity of fish sent away by railway from Penzance to the London and other markets amounts to some thou- sands of tons. This fishery is entirely by drift nets during the greater part of the season; but when towards the end of it the mackerel come close in- shore, seans are used whenever practicable. A new industry in connection with the pilchard fishery has within the last few years been established at Newlyn, in Mount's Bay, and at Mevagissey, farther to the eastward. This is the manufacture of " sar- dines," in precisely the same manner as has long been i 2 116 BRITISH IND US TRIES. carried out on the French coast. As there is not the slightest doubt about the French sardine being nothing but the young pilchard, myriads of which are caught every year in the Bay of Biscay for the purpose of being cured in oil under the name of "sardines," there appeared to be no reason why the same manu- facture should not be attempted in other places where the same fish could be procured : and accordingly some enterprising Cornish merchants set up curing establish- ments at the two places we have mentioned, having taken measures to ensure a thorough knowledge of the French method of treating the fish. The result has been a great success; and I understand that orders for Cornish sardines or pilchards in oil have been given during the last two years to such an extent, that the manufacturers have had quite enough to do to execute them. The curing season is in August and September, and the fish are caught for the purpose by both scan and drift nets. There is a general similarity in the methods of fish- ing along the Cornish coast, and it will be hardly necessary to say more than that, besides the important drift and sean fisheries I have spoken of, there is a good deal of general line-fishing; crabs and lobsters have long been caught in considerable numbers, although insufiicient to meet the great increase in the demand for them in the London market and elsewhere ; and there are a few trawlers belonging to Penzance and Falmouth, though such trawling as there is on the Cornish coast is almost entirely done by smacks from Brixham and Plymouth. ENGLISH FISHERIES. 117 The fisheries on the Devonshire coast differ much in their respective importance from those I have just noticed as characteristic of Cornwall. We now find drift fishing less thought of, and deep-sea trawling systematically carried on. Plymouth is the most western regular trawling station, and this mode of fish- ing has been constantly carried on from there during the whole of the present century, and probably for some years before its commencement. More than fifty years ago there were thirty trawl-smacks belonging to the place, but they were only of half the size of those now employed. Although the size and number of the Plymouth trawlers have doubled, the increase has not taken place so much of late, and the vessels have only averaged a little over sixty in number for the last ten or fifteen years. The ground worked by them is about twenty-one miles in length and nine miles in its greatest breadth, and the largest portion of it is west of, and inside, the well-known Eddystone. It is, therefore, not far from the land ; but it has the dis- advantage of being exposed to the heavy sea which sets in with the frequent south-westerly gales, and it is no uncommon thing in winter for the trawlers to be obliged to remain in harbour for two or three days at a time. Much more profitable work might be done by them, however, if they had a little more energy, and devoted more time to the fishing when the weather permitted it. But old habits are not easily changed, and the Plymouth trawlers are still content with going to sea every morn- ing and returning home in the afternoon, thus wasting half their time in harbour, and losing the night-fishing, 1 1 8 BRITISH IND US TRIES. which is always the best for catching soles. They consequently have almost always a large proportion of " offal " fish ; but this soon finds purchasers, and a great deal of all the fish landed at Plymouth is at once sent away by rail. The effect of bad weather on that part of the coast is sometimes so completely to stop all local supply to the market, that the town has been frequently dependent for its fish on such as has been sent from distant parts of Cornwall; and not very long ago, it was the fact, and by no means for the first time, that the only fish in Plymouth market was some that had been sent down from London. Such is the effect of stormy weather on the supply of fish to our markets. Trawling, however, is now carried on to such an extent on widely-separated parts of our coast, that strong winds from any one quarter do not inter- rupt the fisheries in every place ; and when the weather is bad in the west of England, it is generally fine in the North Sea. Billingsgate is, therefore, never with- out a supply ; but the worst time for that great market is, when a succession of gales interrupts the consign- ments from the hundreds of trawlers which regularly work in the North Sea. Contrary to the general rule of late years on our coasts, the second-class boats in the Plymouth Customs' district have increased, whilst those of the first class have slightly diminished. This is due to the drift and line fishing having been very successful, the latter especially having been very pro- ductive of whiting, which is in particular favour when caught by the hook. An immense quantity of drift fish is every year landed at Plymouth, that being a ENGLISH FISHERIES. 119 convenient port for despatching the fish from by rail, if the boats happen to be fishing within some few miles of that place. Between Plymouth and Brixham the fisheries are not of great importance, although various modes of fishing are carried on, mostly with small boats. During the recent inquiry into the state of the general crab and lobster fisheries, it was stated by a dealer of forty years' experience that there had been no falling off in the number or size of the crabs, and that those from Start Bay were the largest he had seen. It is within my personal knowledge that the value of the crab fishery in Start Bay increased immensely in value, as soon as facilities were provided for getting the crabs quickly to market, by the opening of the railway within some few miles of the fishing villages. Lines and seans are also worked in this neighbourhood. We may now pass on to Brixham, which is an essen- tially fishing town, as it has been for long beyond living memory. There is good reason to believe that Brixham has a just claim to the title of the mother-port of trawling. Barking, on the Thames, is also a very old station for this kind of fishing, and a claim has also been put in for her ; but, in the absence of any precise evidence in favour of either town, it is difficult to form an opinion on the knotty question. To Brixham, how- ever, undoubtedly belongs the credit of specially en- couraging the trawling system, and introducing it at other places. Eamsgate, was directly colonized from Brixham, and Hull from Kamsgate and Brixham ; Grimsby first became a trawling station in consequence 120 BRITISH IND USTRIES. of a few Hull trawlers taking up their quarters there ; and Brixham men and boats were the means of esta- blishing trawling from Dublin, which led to this mode of fishing being adopted on several other parts of the Irish coast. Barking, on the other hand, has only sent boats to Yarmouth ; and the superior advantages of the North Sea ports have gradually lessened the im- portance of Barking as a fishing station. I have said that it is difficult to obtain any evidence of the origin of trawling at Brixham, but I may safely say it has been carried on from that port for at least a century. Froude, possibly by a slip of the pen, spoke, in his 6 History of England, 5 of there having been trawlers at Brixham in the time of Elizabeth (1588) ; but I can find no evidence of such having been the case, although there can be little doubt that fishing of some kinds was then an important occupation of the Brixham people. At the beginning of the present century, the trawl-boats were few and small compared with those in use now. In 1852 there were about seventy trawlers working from Brixham, and there are, probably, not less than 120 now belonging to the place, and fishing on the Brixham trawling ground during the winter season, which is the most productive one for trawl fishing. Twelve new boats were added to the Brixham fleet during 1876, and the building -yards were in the autumn of that year in full work on new vessels for Brixham and other stations. Special interest attaches to Brixham, from its being a place from which trawling has been regularly carried on for so long a time on a comparatively small extent of fishing ground. Taking ENGLISH FISHERIES. 121 the extreme length of the trawling ground, it may be said to extend from Portland to the Start. But less than half that distance really comprises the ordinary fishing ground. If the effects of trawling were really so exhaustive as has been said, the Brixham fishery should have come to an end at least fifty years ago ; but there is no appearance of such becoming the case even now, although within that period the trawlers have been nearly quadrupled in number, and more than doubled in size. The trawl fishery at Brixham was never so prosperous or so profitable as at the present day. Everyone there is more or less interested in the fishing ; the actual condition of the fishery is generally understood, and the savings of the fishermen and of many of their friends are invested in it year after year. The cost of new trawl-smacks has greatly increased within the last ten years ; for, not only are the new ones larger than formerly, but all the materials used in their construction are more expensive, so that the first outlay on a good vessel has risen from 800Z. or 900Z. to very nearly 1200Z. The trawlers keep very steadily at their work. Starting early on Monday morning, they return with their catch of fish perhaps in the afternoon, but more commonly on Tuesday morning. The vessel picks up her moorings, but does not lower all her sails, and without any delay the fish is landed ; the men then at once return to the vessel, and she goes off to her work till the next morning; and this system continues till Friday evening or Saturday morning, when the whole fleet returns home, and stays in, till Monday comes 122 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. round again. Saturday is spent in mending nets or doing anything that may be necessary to the vessel, and Sunday is a day of rest for all hands. The fish is sold by auction : and women, at one time the only sellers, still take some part in the work. The old fashion of selling by what is called Dutch auction was the only one adopted here until within the last two years : then for some reason a change took place, and an attempt was made to make the people pay a licence- duty for selling by ordinary auction; but I believe that the Inland Kevenue Board took a liberal view of the matter, and permitted the women to continue their occupation without interference, although the modern style of auction was regularly adopted. I shall have occasion to speak of the extensive use of ice on board the North Sea trawlers ; but the short distance of the Brixham trawling ground from the market makes it unnecessary for the smacks to take ice with them to sea. It is largely used, however, in packing the fish to be sent away by rail ; and as fast as the trawlers come in and land their catches, the fish is sold, packed, and forwarded by the next passenger train. Most of the Brixham fish is consigned at first to Bristol, but long before it arrives there, telegrams are sent on from Brixham to direct the sending of dif- ferent quantities to London or other markets, according to the orders which have been received. There are, probably, few business transactions so generally con- ducted by telegraph, as the sale of fish. The article is essentially a perishable one, and it is of the utmost importance to get it into the market without delay ; ENGLISH FISHERIES. 123 the network of railways and telegraphs all over the country are, therefore, of the greatest value to the fish- ing trade, by enabling the supplies to be sent direct to the places where the greatest demand exists. Another result from these facilities of communication and transit is the general equalization of prices; for, if fish be scarce on one part of the coast, it is, as a rule, not so everywhere at the same time, so that the inland markets are tolerably sure of a supply from one quarter or another. Still the demand is an ever-increasing one ; fish cannot be supplied from abroad, and there are few people in this country who would not like to have it if they could. At present France frequently sends to our markets, and large numbers of soles and other prime fish are sent to Paris. Brixham, although essentially a trawling station, is also interested in the line fishery, and possesses a large fleet of hookers of from five to eight tons, which do good work on the productive whiting ground along that part of the coast. It is worthy of note, that the trawlers work so much on the same ground as is fished by these hookers, that there is often a difficulty in keeping clear of their anchors ; they both catch whiting, the one by hook and the other by net, and they have both regu- larly done so as long as can be remembered ; yet the whiting season of 1876 was as productive as had been known for many years. It appears to me desirable to call special attention to these facts, for they afford the strongest possible evidence, that systematic trawling for a very long series of years over the same ground need not exhaust the supply of fish from it, or interfere to 124 BRITISH IND US TRIES. any appreciable extent with the success of the line fishermen working in the same locality. I need only add further about the fisheries from Brixham and other places in Torbay, that mackerel, herrings, a few pilchards, and plenty of sprats, are taken every year either by drift-nets or seans, the latter nets being especially used, and the sprats being caught by them alone. From Torbay for a long stretch of coast as far as Sussex, the fisheries are mostly of the ordinary inshore character, consisting in a great measure of lining and seaning, the latter fishery being especially worked along that extensive line of shore terminating to the eastward in Portland, and commonly known as the Chesil Bank. The seans are here used for catching mackerel, and are of large size, being usually 150 fathoms long and ten fathoms in their greatest depth. They are used as ground seans, and are hauled up on the beach. From April to October is the general season for this fishery. We may here mention that pilchards are rarely caught on the English side of the Channel eastward of Portland, although they are said to be found much farther up Channel on the French side. We occasionally hear of pilchards as far east as the Thames, but they are not numerous even on all parts of the Devonshire coast. We must go to Corn- wall or to the south of Ireland to see them in abun- dance, and to the Cornish coast to find out their real importance. In the Solent the only novelty in the fisheries is the somewhat extensive use of the stow-net, described at ENGLISH FISHERIES. 125 page 93, by the fishermen of Itchen, Cowes, and Ports- mouth. It is used during the regular sprat season, lasting from November to February, and vast quanti- ties of these fish are caught in those months, and for the most part landed at Southampton. As we pro- ceed eastward, drift fishing for mackerel and herrings becomes more general, and Brighton and Hastings come into especial notice. The larger boats from these places go long distances to take part in the mackerel fishery, and the Brighton boats especially join with the Cornishmen at the earlier part of the season in working at the mouth of the Channel. The almost continuous line of beach along the Sussex coast requires a particular style of fishing boat for conve- nience in launching and hau]ing up where there is no harbour : they are, accordingly, built with very flat floors and large bilge-pieces to keep them upright when they are out of the water. Brighton once had a name for a class of boats in which these peculiarities were carried to excess, and they are still not entirely extinct. These, the representatives of what many years ago was the typical form of Brighton fishing boats, are known by the name of " hog-boats." They are rigged with two spritsails and a jib ; but the lug- rig is now by common consent approved as that most suited for drift fishing, from the facility with which the mast can be lowered and put out of the way, and the few remaining hog-boats are now rarely used except for inshore trawling. The modern drift-boats are not only larger than formerly, but are faster and more com- fortable craft. 126 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. The sean fishery for mackerel at Brighton has long been worked at the regular season, and sometimes with considerable profit ; but it has always been an uncer- tain one, as it of course depends on whether or not the fish come close inshore. The successful working of the kettle nets in the neighbourhood of Hastings is also subject to the same conditions. In some years enormous catches of mackerel have been made by them, whilst in others the fish have not come within their reach. Eye Bay has long been known as excellent trawling ground during a certain time of the year. It has been worked by small trawlers as long as can be remem- bered, and is still productive at the regular season, when, as the fishermen say, the fish come in. Great objections were at one time raised to this inshore trawling ; but, since the results of the fishery were in- quired into, and it appeared that it had been carried on so long, and it was still well worth while for a consider- able number of fishing boats to work there, less has been heard of the supposed injury to the general fisheries by the capture of some quantity of small fish, which always more or less takes place in shallow water. At other seasons the Hastings and other boats trawl successfully on the long-famous Diamond Grounds, off this part of the coast ; and the Yarne and the Eidge in mid-Channel are much resorted to by the Dover and Folkestone boats. Eamsgate is the next important fishing station on the coast, and it is remarkable for the steady develop- ment of its trawl fishery. Early in the present cen- ENGLISH FISHERIES. 127 tury there were three or four open fishing boats, which were used for trawling near the shore. But about forty years ago, a few Brixham men took their smacks to Eamsgate, and the fleet of deep-sea trawlers has been gradually increasing ever since, especially during the last few years. In 1875 there were 147 first-class fishing boats, averaging over thirty-five tons, on the Ramsgate Register, and the whole of these, we believe we are correct in saying, were sea-going trawl-smacks. The home fishing ground is from north to east of the North Foreland, but in winter many of the smacks go farther away into the North Sea, and land their fish at other ports, as the neighbourhood of Rarnsgate is dan- gerous in bad weather, and trawlers like, if possible, to get out of the way of other vessels. The actual fisheries carried on in the Thames con- sist of little more than shrimping, oyster-dredging, and stow-net fishing for sprats; but London still has a considerable number of first-class fishing boats on her register, as Barking comes within the London district. Barking was once a very important station, and the head quarters of the earlier North Sea trawlers. But no smacks have been built there for many years past, and it is difficult to fix any precise time for the com- mencement of its trawl fishery. In my notice of Brixham, I mentioned that it was a question, to which of these two places belonged the honour of introducing deep-sea trawling ; but as all records on the subject are wanting, there is every probability of the matter remaining undecided. The official returns of fishing boats unfortunately give no idea of what fishing they 128 BRITISH IND USTRIES. are used for ; and the Custom House authorities have instructions to give no information to inquirers, owing, I understand, to newspaper correspondents having before now obtained details which were published in a form calculated to mislead the public, or to be mis- understood by them. I cannot therefore give a pre- cise account of the number of trawlers, and of cod- boats comprised in the London return. I have been indebted to boat owners before now for approximate particulars on such points, but it will be readily understood that there are great difficulties in the way of obtaining such information, inasmuch as it involves considerable trouble on the part of those who may be in a position to obtain it ; and very few business men care about collecting statistics for those, who appa- rently have only their own purposes to serve in seeking for them. I have mentioned these circum- stances here, because such difficulties are more felt among a large community than a small one ; but they interfere, in all places, with a true understanding of the subject, unless local knowledge helps to supply what is wanting. In the case of the London Eeturns I can venture to say, from information gathered else- where, that the general tendency is to reduce the number of boats registered in London, and to increase those registered at Yarmouth and other North Sea ports ; for every year shows better the advantage of fishing from the nearest port; and as systematic fishing by both trawl and line is now carried on far out in the North Sea at certain seasons, and at all times largely at some distance from the land, I have reason to ENGLISH FISHERIES. 129 think the number of boats registered in London is not likely to increase, but, on the contrary, to diminish. When new vessels are built, most of them will be registered from where they fish. There are many large salesmen in London, however, who have still some interest in Barking, and their new vessels will probably be registered in London ; but if the fishing trade should continue to extend as it has during the last few years, we may look for the principal increase at the outports. In 1852, when I succeeded in ob- taining precise information about the London boats, there were 149, of which 110 were trawlers and 39 cod-smacks. In 1875 the total number was reduced to 134. But Yarmouth, Grimsby, and Hull, had largely increased during that interval. The trawl-fish sent to Billingsgate are forwarded either by rail or water carriage, depending to a great extent on what part of the coast the fish are caught, and also on the facilities afforded by favourable winds for bringing it direct to London. At some of the east coast ports, Grimsby and Hull in particular, the quan- tity of fish landed and sent away by rail has steadily increased. These are the places from which the numerous inland markets are largely supplied; and the smacks belonging there, which usually take such immense numbers of plaice and haddocks, only occa- sionally come up the Thames. London, however, is the great market for soles, and a large proportion of these fish is sent to Billingsgate, many of them to be afterwards forwarded to the country, and not uncom- monly to the port where they were landed. 130 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. Steam carriers have been successfully employed for some few years past in collecting the fish from the North Sea trawlers and bringing it to London ; and there are now five of these steamers kept in constant work, besides sailing vessels. An industry of some importance of its kind has its head quarters at Leigh, a few miles above Southend. This is the well-known shrimp fishery, the proceeds of which are sent in such large quantities to the London market. The shrimp net used here for catching the brown or true shrimp, is peculiar to the Thames and its immediate neighbourhood, and is practically a beam-trawl, with a second beam below instead of a ground-rope. This lower beam is made of a stout piece of oak nine feet long, two and a half inches thick, and three and a half wide, and is weighted with about twenty-five pounds of lead run into spaces excavated on the upper side. The upper beam or pole is only six feet long, and is supported at the centre by a stout stick about a foot and a half high, which is securely fixed into the middle of the lower beam. A bag-net is fastened to these two parallel pieces of wood, and tightly strained at the ends, this framework forming the mouth of the net, which is about twelve feet in length, and tapers rapidly to the free end. The meshes are necessarily very small, so that the shrimps may not pass through. A simple but ingenious plan is adopted to prevent stones and small rubbish entering the net whilst it is being towed over the ground, and at the same time not to interfere with the capture of the shrimps. It is founded on the observed habit these ani- ENGLISH FISHERIES. 131 s a ^3 CO i K 2 132 BRITISH IND USTRIES. mals have of rising a few inches from the ground when they are disturbed, and consists in leaving a space of two or three inches between the lower edge of the mouth of the net, and the beam to which it is fastened at the two ends and the centre. Through this narrow opening, sand, seaweed, and such small rubbish as is likely to be met with on the shrimping ground, easily pass, whilst the shrimps spring above the gap and find their way into the net. The shrimping boats are small-decked smacks about thirty- two feet over all ; they carry a good deal of lofty sail, but for the sake of convenience have no main boom. The best season is during the early part of the summer ; the shrimping is worked, however, by some of the boats throughout the year. Two or three of these nets are used by each boat, and are kept down from a quarter of an hour to an hour at a time, depend- ing on the wind and the extent of ground they have been over. The shrimps are sifted as soon as caught, and those of the size permitted to be landed under the regulations of the Thames Conservancy are at once put into the boat's well to be kept alive till they are taken on shore in the afternoon. They are then boiled, and sent off by train in time for the London market the next morning. As many as 2000 gallons of shrimps are sometimes sent from Leigh in one day. Some small trawlers work at the mouth of the Thames for flat fish and prawns, or "red shrimps," using the ordinary form of beam-trawl, with beams sixteen or eighteen feet long. Besides these fish, ENGLISH FISHERIES. 133 oyster-dredging is extensively carried on over certain grounds for the collection of " spat " and " brood," to be laid down on the beds of the various oyster com- panies on both sides of the estuary ; but the best mode 134: BRITISH INDUSTRIES. of dealing with the falling off in the supply of oysters, is a question which has not yet been settled by either theorists or practical fishermen. I have previously noticed the considerable fishing for sprats at the mouth of the Thames, when describing the construction and manner of working of the stow-net ; and I need only add, that most of the larger craft at other times em- ployed in oyster-dredging are in winter used in " stow- boating." Northward of the Thames we come to Harwich, whose history as a fishing station is somewhat remark- able, for it exhibits a rise to a position of the first importance in connection with a particular kind of fishery, and then a gradual decline to insignificance ; not because of the particular fishing trade ceasing to exist, but owing to its transfer to other ports. Harwich was at one time the great station for the North Sea cod- boats, and to her is due the credit of introducing into this country the welled smacks, by means of which the London markets have been for the last hundred and fifty years supplied with what is known in the trade as "live cod." From a statement prepared by the late Mr. Groom, an old resident at Harwich, it appears that the first welled-smack used in this country was built at Harwich in 1712, and there were three vessels of that description constructed between that year and 1715. In the year 1720, the number had increased to twelve, and in 1735, to thirty. Of that number, Mr. Nathaniel Saunders (the progenitor of the three gene- rations of well-known fish-factors and salesmen at ENGLISH FISHERIES. 135 Billingsgate) had six, and with four of these, which were very superior to the other two, he visited the coast of Scotland in the course of his fishing expe- ditions, and was at that time the chief medium for conveying goods to and from the north of Scotland. In the year 1745, his four smacks were engaged by the Government to carry the loyalist troops across the Moray Firth from Mickle Ferry to Inverness, from which place they proceeded to the memorable battle of Culloden. In 1766, a Mr. Olibar, a fishing-smack owner at Harwich, made the first attempt to fish for cod with long lines on the Dogger Bank ; but although he was very unsuccessful, he still persevered, and at last was so fortunate, that in 1774 the number of smacks had increased to sixty-two, of which forty went regularly to the Dogger Bank to fish with long lines. In 1788 there were seventy-eight smacks, and in 1798 the number had increased to ninety-six. About this period a few attempts were made at Gravesend, Green- wich, and Barking, to construct smacks of a similar de- scription, and the Harwich fishery gradually declined. In 1852 there were only five cod-smacks belonging to Harwich, and there has been very little alteration since that date. Harwich is, however, still used as a storing place for live cod, and cargoes of these fish are regularly delivered there from smacks hailing from Gravesend and other places on the Thames, the state of that river being such as to make it hopeless to keep the cod long alive in it. The store-chests for cod at Harwich are moored in the tideway, and are 136 BRITISH IND USTEIES. constructed on the same principle as those I have previously described as being used at Grimsby ; but in order that they may offer less resistance to the stream, their ends are rounded off, giving them a somewhat boat-shaped appearance. This form is Harwich Cod-chest. unnecessary in the quiet water of the Grimsby fish- dock, and the oblong shape there adopted is more con- venient for economizing room, and entails less expense in construction. A few deep-sea trawlers sometimes work from Har- wich, and trawling for prawns is carried on along the adjoining coast. There is also some fishing in the Harwich river by means of a net called a " trim-tram," very much the same as the Leigh shrimp-net, which appears to me to be very superior for its purpose, and is probably an improved form of it. The distinguishing feature in the trim-tram is the presence of a triangular wooden frame resting on the ground in front of the lower beam, and it may answer the possible purpose of keeping the mouth of the net upright, and turning aside any rubbish which may be in front of the net; but there is an obvious disadvantage in this frame disturb- ing the shrimps and fish at some little distance before they can enter the net. The average quantity of fish carried annually by the Great Eastern Kailway from Harwich in the last fifteen years is 2000 tons, and this has principally consisted of cod. ENGLISH FISHERIES. 137 Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth next claim our -atten- tion, the latter especially, as it it still famous for its herring fishery, which has been carried on annually in its regular season for at least 700 years. Lowestoft has taken rank as a fishing station, only since the rail- way was brought to the town and the harbour was constructed; and these advantages were not obtained until within, comparatively speaking, the last few years. The following statistics will show how rapid has been the growth of the Lowestoft fisheries, con- sisting of drifting for herrings and mackerel, and trawling. In 1854 there were 32 fishing boats belong- ing to the place; in 1863 they had increased to 174, of which eight were deep-sea trawlers ; in 1872, the number of first-class boats, including the larger drift- boats and trawlers, was 269, averaging 27 tons ; and besides these, there were 258 drift and other fishing boats under 15 tons, and ranking in the second and third classes. The last official return is for 1875, and we there find that the first-class boats of all kinds are stated to have been 325, averaging over 30 tons, and 274 boats under 15 tons. The increase in the fishing from Lowestoft has therefore been enormous ; and it will appear the more remarkable, when we take into consideration that Lowestoft is only a few miles from Yarmouth, the fisheries are of the same kind from both places, and Yarmouth shows no sign of its fishing boats decreasing. Three distinct herring fisheries are carried on from Lowestoft, and are known as the spring, midsummer, and autumn fisheries. The spring fishing is only of recent date, and very little attention 138 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. was given to it until about 1852. It is commenced about the middle of March in deep water, fifty or sixty miles from the land ; but the fish are then very small, and fetch only a low price in the market, being scarcely fit for anything but manure. Nets with meshes below the usual size are necessary for catching them, and it is believed by many people that this fishing is begun much too early. As the season advances, the fish come gradually nearer the land, increase in size, put on fat, and become more marketable. This fishery lasts till the first week in May, when the fish appear to become scarce, and the fishermen get ready for the summer fishery, which requires nets with a larger mesh. The interval between the two fisheries is very short, often only a week ; and when the work is resumed, the fish are found at only a few miles from the coast. The condition of these fish leads to the belief that they are only the remains of the spring shoals, as they are of the same description as those previously caught, and without any development of roe, but they are still fatter. It is difficult to understand why there should be any scarcity of fish for the short time between the two fisheries, if they really belong to the same shoals ; but such appears to be the case. Some connection between them seems likely, for undoubtedly the sum- mer fishery has several times been a short one after an abundant spring fishing, although such is not always the case. The midsummer fishing lasts till the middle of July, and the fish are in great request for the fresh market. After that no herrings are caught till the im- portant autumn fishery begins, about the first week in ENGLISH FISHERIES. 139 September. It has been thought that the fish then taken must be the same as were on the coast in July ; but it is difficult to understand how this should be the case, or if it be so, why the herrings should entirely disappear for six or seven weeks, and then show themselves in nearly the same locality, or even far- ther out. It is clear, however, that there must be vast additions to their numbers, even if some of the shoals be the same, for the autumn fishery is far larger than the others, and most of the fish are in spawning condition. The connection of Yarmouth with the herring fishery dates from the time when the first houses of the town were built, if we may credit the traditions and records on the subject ; and considerable interest attaches to the fishery on that account. Without going into the earliest accounts of the fishery as given by Swinden and Manship, there is no doubt that it was well esta- blished when Henry I. granted a charter to the town in 1108. It is therefore certain that the Yarmouth herring fishery has been carried on for at least 750 years ; and no more conclusive argument can be brought forward in reply to those persons who believe our fish- eries are becoming exhausted, than the fact that the most abundant fisheries which have been obtained by the Yarmouth men, have been within the last ten years. It is worthy of note also, that the earliest re- cords of this fishery speak of the fishermen and buyers assembling from various places about the Feast of St. Michael (the 29th of September) at the place where Yarmouth now stands, so that the commence- 140 BRITISH IND USTRIES. ment of the fishery at that period was just at the same time as it is at the present day. For although the Yarmouth boats now generally begin fishing in July, they then go some distance north, and the home fishery is only carried on from September to November. In my account of drift-net fishing, I have de- scribed the boats and nets used at Yarmouth, so I need now only say a few words about the treatment of the fish after they have been landed. The boats generally run into the haven, and land their cargoes direct at the new fish-market, which is conveniently placed by the side of the river, and can at any time be extended, if more space is required. The entrance to the haven is, however, dangerous in certain weather, and the fish is then landed on the beach in front of the town. For this purpose, large boats, called "ferry- boats," are employed, and not many years ago, all the fish was landed in this manner. These boats fetch the fish from the luggers which have anchored at a short distance from the shore. Baskets, called " swills," are used for carrying the herrings, each one holding about 500 good-sized fish. The boats return thus loaded, and are brought broadside to the beach ; then two beachmen take one of the baskets between them, each supporting it with one hand in front and letting it rest on their clasped hands behind ; in this way they are carried up the beach and placed in rows, two deep, ready for the sale, which takes place as soon as all the cargo is landed. On the east coast of England, excepting in the neigh- ENGLISH FISHERIES. 141 bourhood of Scotland, herrings are reckoned by the " last," nominally consisting of 10,000 fish, but actu- ally of 13,200. The following is the mode of com- putation : 4 herrings = 1 warp. 33 warps = 1 hundred = 132 fish. 10 hundred = 1 thousand = 1,320 10 thousand = 1 last = 13,200 A " hundred " of mackerel, however, only contains 30 warps, or 120 fish. The new fish-market was completed in 1867, and since that year an accurate account has been kept of the herrings landed there. The following statement shows the number of lasts of fish received at the market in each of the nine years, 1868-76; and, as a "last" contains 13,200 fish, some idea may be formed of the produce of the Yarmouth herring fishery, even without taking into consideration what has been landed at Grimsby by some of the Yarmouth boats : 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 Lasts. 15,098 13,608 19,420 19,008 14,450 1873 1874 1875 1876 Lasts. 18,796 17,724 11,820 12,824 The herrings are sold by ordinary auction, and are put up at so much per last ; many of the curers have their own boats, and agree with the crews to give them a certain sum per last for all the fish they bring in ; 142 BRITISH IND USTRIES. and this generally answers well for both parties ; but it occasionally happens that fish are very abundant, and the curers are obliged to take at contract prices all that their men catch, when the market price is much below it. On the arrival of the herrings at the curing house, they are all washed to get rid of the salt put upon them on board ship as soon as they are caught ; and then, without being gutted or any other preparation, they are again put into salt, that from Liverpool being the kind generally used. Their subsequent treatment depends on whether they are to be made into bloaters or red herrings. Bloaters are usually selected fish, full-roed, and of the best quality. The finest are made in October and part of November; but as any herring can be made into a bloater, and there is always a demand for them, their manufacture is carried on throughout the season with the best fish that can be obtained. Strictly speaking, a bloater is nothing more than a herring very slightly cured ; it is kept in salt from twelve to eighteen hours, and then smoked for about twenty-four hours. At the end of that time it is fit for market, and the sooner it is used, the better will be the flavour. " Ked, well-cured, or high-dried her- rings," as they are variously called, are, according to the general rule, kept in salt for fourteen days, then washed, and hung in wood smoke for another fort- night. This is so contrary to the Scotch mode of curing red herrings, that I have heard doubts ex- pressed about the curing at Yarmouth taking so long ; but the time I have mentioned is strictly correct. ENGLISH FISHERIES. 143 Under certain circumstances, however, it has been the practice during the last few years to give only half the time to the curing, and to export such fish by steamer to some of the Mediterranean markets, where they are soon disposed of ; but it is not considered safe to consign any but " well-cured" herrings generally to foreign markets, especially in warm climates. Bloaters are sometimes prepared in the same way, remaining a shorter time in salt and smoke than usual, but they also will not bear keeping. Women are employed in the curing, and the fish, after being washed, are " rived " or strung on " spits," thin sticks about 4| feet long, which are thrust into the mouth and out through one of the gills. Twenty- five fish are put on each stick. The spits are then taken to the smoke room, a lofty room, perhaps about 16 feet square, having a series of wooden frames reach- ing from floor to roof, with small transverse beams, called "loves," beginning at 6 or 7 feet from the ground, and reaching from one side of the room to the other. These frames are 4 feet apart, and the spits are placed in rows, one above another, between them, the ends of the spits resting on the loves of adjoin- ing frames. The roof is covered with tiles, uncemented, so as to allow a good draught through the room, which, when filled, contains three lasts of fish. On the stone floor of this room about sixteen fires are made, the fuel generally being oak billets, as the smoke from this wood gives a high colour to the fish. Ash timber, however, is sometimes used when a particular colour is required for some of the foreign markets. The 144 BRITISH IND US TRIES. spits of fish having been placed on the loves until all the space is filled, the fires are lighted and kept burning for two days. They are then let out, and the fish allowed to drip or drain for a day ; the fires are again lighted for two days more, and this process of alternately smoking and dripping is continued for a fortnight : at the end of that time the herrings, then thoroughly cured, are called " high-dried," and are fit for packing. This is done in barrels, two men being engaged in the operation ; one, standing with the spit in his hand, tells off the fish into the barrel, sliding them from the spit four at a time. These are, for con- venience, counted as two, and the packing is done by the other man as rapidly as the teller counts the 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, which would represent 24 fish. When the barrel is filled to the head, a screw-press is brought to bear on the fish, and they are flattened down so as to allow an additional number to be stowed away, 650 full-sized fish being about the number packed in each barrel, or a larger number of smaller fish. The manu- facturer's name and the number of fish are marked on each barrel, and the package is then ready for export- ation to Italy, the Greek islands, and the Levant. For the home market the herrings are packed in flat boxes. The mackerel fishery is carried on by the Yarmouth boats from the middle of May to the middle of July, but has not been so generally successful in recent years as it used to be. The ground worked in this fishery lies between Yarmouth and the Dutch coast. It is carried on with the same boats, and in the same ENGLISH FISHERIES. 145 manner, as the herring fishery, and cotton is now used there as the material for mackerel nets. Trawling has been carried on from Yarmouth for the last thirty years ; but the importance of the place as a trawling station dates from ten years later, when, as I have previously related, the vessels belonging to the late Mr. Samuel Hewett first made that port their head quarters. Since that time the number of trawlers has been gradually increasing, although not so rapidly within the last few years as in the ports of the Hum- ber. I have lately heard, however, that the increase is still going on. The system of collecting the fish from the trawlers, and sending it on shore by special vessels, has long been" at work in connection with the Thames and Yarmouth smacks, as their fish, as a rule, comes to the London market. Mr. Hewett had, at one time, as many as eighteen " carriers " in almost con- stant work ; and the same plan is still in operation, sometimes by special vessels, or at others by one of the regular trawlers, which fills up from the vessels of the fleet, generally working in the same neighbourhood at particular seasons, and giving a receipt to each smack for the number of packages she sends. Before the introduction of ice, everything depended on the carriers making a quick passage ; it was racing work with them, and great was the wear and tear of canvas and spars. But the captain received a percentage on the price obtained for his cargo, and so he got every mile out of the vessel in the shortest time possible. Time is, of course, still important ; but the loss of a day or two is not of so much consequence as formerly. The steam L 146 BRITISH IND USTRIES. carriers, now doing part of the work, average 2800 packages of fish in each voyage. Besides the fish sent direct to London by water carriage, a large quantity is also landed at Yarmouth and sent away by rail to various markets. Ice, for the use of the trawlers, is mainly imported from Norway, but a good deal is also procured in this country, especially from Norfolk and Lincolnshire. The number of fishing boats in the Yarmouth district, which includes very few besides those belonging to Yarmouth, has increased from 1002 in 1872, to 1018 in 1875. Of these, there were 532 boats averaging over 34 tons, in the first class, and consisting of drift boats and trawlers. The Yar- mouth fisheries can hardly be considered, under all the circumstances, to be in otherwise than a thriving condition. The characteristic fisheries of Cromer and Shering- ham, between Yarmouth and the Wash, are for crabs and lobsters, and, owing to the diminished success attending them, certain restrictions as to the size of these animals allowed to be caught have been imposed by an Act of Parliament recently passed. The fisher- men at Cromer have, for some years past, agreed on certain regulations as to the size of the crabs and lobsters they should keep and sell, but the effect has not been to add to the supply of these crustaceans. By the recent Act, a considerable extent of coast has become subject to regulations having the same end in view, but it is too early to say anything about the result. It is to be hoped, however, that a fair trial will be given to the Act, and that we may be able to ENGLISH FISHERIES. 147 ascertain how far protection is of advantage, for the purpose of keeping up the supply of crabs and lobsters on our coast. The fisheries in the Wash are of several kinds, but the most important are those for shrimps and mussels. The latter indeed are of consequence far beyond the locality, for the line fishermen, on a long stretch of coast northward, depend to a great extent upon them for a supply of suitable bait. Jurisdiction is claimed by the corporations of Lynn and Boston over the fisheries carried on respectively on the Lynn and Bos- ton deeps ; but it may be a question, whether these fisheries have derived any real benefit from being under corporate supervision. Stow-boating for sprats is one of the regular winter fisheries, and there is a small fishery for herrings carried on at the same time. Shrimps, and some flat fish, are taken here by small trawlers, and the trim-nets, previously described, are worked at times with advantage. The coast beyond the Wash includes two of the most important fishing stations on the English coast. These are Great Grimsby and Hull. The history of Grimsby as a fishing station is so modern, that I am able to record something of its rise and progress. Its situation near the entrance of the Humber, and the advantage it consequently had in many respects over Hull, were, to a great extent, lost sight of by the trawlers, whilst the railway from the older town pro- vided the only convenient means of sending away their fish ; but it had been for several years connected with the deep-sea cod fishery on account of its situation, L 2 148 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. and the purity of the water there compared with what was found at Hull. In fact, cod would live in store - chests at Grimsby, when they could not do so at Hull. At last some Hull trawl-smack owners thought of making the other port their permanent head quarters, as there was every prospect of the Manchester, Shef- field, and Lincolnshire Eailway Company soon com- pleting their line to the place. In 1858 five trawlers made Grimsby their regular station, and in the fol- lowing year the railway was opened to the town. Since that date the Grimsby fisheries have rapidly increased, as the advantages of the port have become recognized. In 1863 there were 70 trawlers belonging to the place; in 1872, only nine years later, the trawlers numbered 248, and there were 82 cod-smacks, all belonging to, and fishing from, Grimsby. In 1875 the number of first-class boats was 392, averaging over 55 tons; these included a few small smacks used in the whelk fishery, but all the rest were trawlers and cod-boats. The average tonnage of these last two kinds of fishing boats was above 55 tons, many of them being 70 tons ; and some of the vessels built in 1876 for trawling are as much as 80 tons. The courtesy of Mr. Reed, the dock-master at Grimsby, enables me to give the following return of the quantity of fish landed at the docks in each of the twenty years, 1856-75 ; and although this does not represent the whole proceeds of the fisheries from Grimsby, some quantity of fish being sent by carriers direct to London, and, for some years past, herrings being landed here from some of the Yarmouth drift- ENGLISH FISHERIES. 149 boats, it gives a good idea of the growth of the local fish traffic during the period. It must be remembered, also, that the rise of Grimsby as a fishing station has not been at the expense of Hull, as I shall presently show, for the increase of trawlers has been going on there and at other stations on the east and south coasts during the same time. Keturn of the quantity of fish landed at Grimsby from 1856 to 1875 : 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 Tons. 1,514 1866 3,435 1867 4,344 1868 4,742 1869 4,842 1870 5,371 1871 8,521 1872 9,408 1873 11,198 1874 13,368 1875 Tons. 15,692 19,416 21,621 24,140 26,324 30,857 31,193 34,876 35,134 34,881 Of late years, an annual average of about 4000 tons of herrings has been landed at Grimsby from Yar- mouth and Lowestoft drift-boats, but in 1875 the quantity was much less than usual. Grimsby has large docks devoted to the fishing smacks, and a covered landing wharf 882 feet long and 48 feet wide, which also answers the purpose of a fish market. This large space may be seen every morning covered with fish from one end to the other, and salesmen and buyers busily engaged in selling, buying, and packing the fish. The sales are, as usual in the wholesale market, entirely by auction. Everything has been 150 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. done at Grimsby to develop the fish trade; the ice companies have their storehouses opposite the market, and the railway trucks are brought to the side of the wharf so as to be loaded direct from the market. On the other side of the Humber, and farther up the river, we come to Hull, which has been a trawling station for the last thirty years. There were one or two trawlers previously belonging to the port; but about 1845 there was a migration thither from Brix- ham and Kamsgate, and 40 trawlers fished from Hull in that year. It was soon after the discovery of the famous Silver Pit ; and this led to the systematic prosecution of the North Sea trawl fishery. The suc- cess attending these vessels induced other smack- owners to settle at Hull, new vessels were turned out every year, and in 1863, the fleet consisted of nearly 270 trawlers. In 1872, the number had increased to 313. The Eegister for 1874 shows 357 fishing boats in the first class, and a few shrimping boats are in- cluded in this number ; but the Return for 1875 shows a decrease of one vessel, and a very considerable dimi- nution in the aggregate tonnage of the whole number. That this was a mistake was obvious to anyone ac- quainted with the state of' the Hull trawl fishery, and I have obtained precise information from Hull showing that, so far from there having been any diminution of trawl vessels there, a considerable increase in their number took place in 1875, and large additions were being made in 1876. The largest smacks at Grimsby and Hull in 1872 were 70 tons ; but some of the ENGLISH FISHERIES. 151 vessels now building for the same purpose are as much as 80 tons. Before ice became so generally used as it is at present, the Hull smacks usually fished in fleets, and sent their fish in every day by whichever vessel was going home. Each vessel then stayed out for six weeks at a time, and there was a constant succession of smacks joining and leaving the fleet. When a vessel's turn came to go home, she hoisted a flag, and all the others sent their fish on board, carefully packed in baskets, with a fish-note containing particulars of their number and contents as delivered by each vessel. On her arrival at the Hull docks, she was placed under a steam-crane, and the fish hoisted out, the master handing in his manifest or " pot-list," as it was called, so that each salesman might know what fish was con- signed to him, and from which vessels it was sent. But about twelve years ago, when the advantage of the use of ice had become evident, twenty of the Hull smacks were fitted as " ice-cutters " to collect the fish, and carry it partly to Hull and partly to London ; and these are still kept at work from May to September, the trawlers during that time fishing in fleets of from twenty to fifty vessels. From September to May, how- ever, quite a different system is adopted, for there is generally no want of wind then, and each vessel brings in her own catch. An air-tight compartment is fitted in the hold, called the " ice-box," in which from two to four tons of Norwegian ice are placed when the smack starts on her trip. As the fish is caught it is 152 BRITISH IND US TRIES. stowed away in bulk, with broken ice between each layer, and this is continued till a good quantity of fish has been collected. Then the vessel returns to port, after an absence of, perhaps, ten or fourteen days. The fish are taken out loose and all sold by weight, the buyer finding the packages : those now regularly used being small barrels holding about ten or twelve stone of fish, and called " kits." In these the fish are packed with alternate layers of crushed ice, and then forwarded to the fishmongers all over the country. Pads, trunks, and pots as the old-fashioned measures were called are quite gone out of use at Hull, and are becoming more so every day at other places. The ice now annually used at Hull in connection with the fisheries is about 25,000 tons. A considerable number of small craft belonging to the second class, find employment in the Humber and along the coast to Flamborough in shrimping or line- fishing, and in Bridlington Bay in trawling for flat fish, but there is nothing in these fisheries requiring special notice. From Flamborough northward nearly as far as Holy Island, the peculiar boats called "cobles" are in regular use. They vary a good deal in size, but are all built on one principle and with one object, that of readily beaching, stern foremost, in a surf. The bow is built with a considerable rise, and is sharp and hollow below, but the keel extends only for a little more than half the length of the boat. The after-part of the bottom is flat, with a runner or false keel on each side of the central plank, and carried so far for- ENGLISH FISHERIES. 153 ward as to overlap the end of the true keel from the bow. The result of this construction is that the coble can be backed up with great facility on the beach, the flat keel-plank and false keels keeping her steady and upright, whilst the hollow bow throws off the waves which may be beating her on the shore. These boats 154 BRITISH IND US TRIES. are built with broad planks, and the two upper ones " tumble in " at the quarters, giving the stern a boxed- in appearance. They are very useful boats, and will stand a good deal of bad weather, but are rather dangerous when running before a sea. The fashion has long been to paint the cobles in stripes of yellow, green, and red, thus giving a still more quaint appear- ance to these peculiarly constructed boats. Crabs and lobsters are caught all along this range of coast in creels or cages having a rectangular bottom, and the top rounded, with the usual mouse-trap open- ings at the sides ; the whole framework, except at the entrances, being covered with netting. A variation in the form of trap is, however, adopted at Flamborough, and it requires much more skill in using it, but it will take larger lobsters and crabs than the others. It is called a " trunk," and consists merely of an iron ring about two feet across, with a shallow net suspended from it. The bait is fastened in the centre to a cross line, and three lines placed at equal distances from each other on the ring unite above to form a handle, to which is fastened the rope used in lowering and raising it. A number of these trunks are lowered to the bottom, in suitable localities, and after a time are hauled up. It is in the raising of the trunks that the difficulty of working them properly consists, for the top of the trunk is quite open, and anything within it may easily escape. The greatest care is therefore necessary, especially just when it comes to the surface, as at that time the lobsters are apt to make a sudden spring backwards and clear the ring. ENGLISH FISHERIES. 15 Along the north-east coast of England the fisheries are mainly for herrings by drift nets, and cod, haddock, turbot, holibut, coalfish, and some others by long lines. An exception occurs, however, at Scarborough, which is a trawling station, and takes precedence of Hull in that respect by about ten years, although it is now far behind it in importance as regards both the number and size of its fishing boats. The Scarborough fisheries, in fact, include several kinds, and the same boats are used for each in turn. The regular trawl- smacks at Hull are specially built for one purpose, and all the energies of the fishermen are engaged through- out the year in that one object. It is not surprising, therefore, that in the matter of trawling, Scarborough has been left behind, although her first-class boats have continued to increase during the last few years. The inshore fisheries along the Northumberland coast have been subject to fluctuations at various times, which have led some of the fishermen to bring charges of destroying spawn of different kinds against the deep-sea trawlers ; but it is due to them to say, that when these charges were brought against the deep-sea fishermen, no one was aware that the spawn of cod, haddock, plaice, and most probably the other kinds of flat fish, was not deposited at the bottom, but floated freely in the water. That there was not the slightest evidence of spawn having been destroyed, probably did not affect the belief of those fishermen who expressed themselves so strongly on the subject ; but if fish had at various places become as scarce as was alleged, it is clear some other explanation of the failure must be 156 BRITISH IND USTRIES. sought. A few years afterwards the scarcity of bait was the great cause of complaint, and near the Tyne a profitable salmon fishery on the coast led to the her- ring fishery being neglected. In the neighbourhood of Holy Island and north- wards, a class of boats distinct from the cobles is em- ployed. They are known as " keel boats," and are of very much the same build as the general run of Scotch fishing craft. At Berwick - on - Tweed the fisheries are essentially the same as at the fishing stations in the Firth of Forth, which I shall speak of presently. Crabs and lobsters are fished for on all the rocky parts of this coast, and, according to the evidence given during a recent inquiry there, the supply is not so good as formerly. ( 157 ) SCOTCH FISHERIES. THE sea fisheries on the coasts of Scotland are very important, but they mainly consist of two kinds drift fishing for herrings in summer, and line fishing for cod, ling, haddock, and other fish more or less at other times. Besides these, there is seaning (called " traw- ling" in Scotland) for herrings and sprats in some localities ; a few set-nets are used in others, and there are several places in which crabs and lobsters are regularly worked for. Beam-trawling is in very little favour in Scotland ; and it is only within the last very few years that anything has been done with it in deep water, and then mostly by English trawlers. I have already spoken of the change which has largely taken place, and is still going on, in the Scotch fishing craft, by the substitution of decked for un- decked boats, principally in those of the first class. An increase in the size of the boats has been made at the same time ; but the alteration in this respect has been limited by the general absence of deep-water harbours in Scotland, unless specially constructed. The fishing harbours on the east coast, where they are more particularly needed, are, with two or three ex- ceptions, very small, and only suitable for boats which will just go into the first class, or for smaller ones. 158 BRITISH IND USTRIES. The result is, that although the first-class boats in Scot- land have increased more than 20 per cent, within the four years, 1872-75, their average size in 1875 was only 17 tons, and among them were sixty cod-smacks belonging to Shetland, and averaging 45 tons each. The general Scotch fisheries are in deep water, but this is found not far from the land ; and the boats are able as a rule to go to sea and return every day. The use of ice in these fishing boats is, therefore, un- necessary, and, I believe, is never thought of. The tendency of the fishermen is to go farther to sea than formerly, as they find the advantages in larger catches. Commencing our notice of the Scotch fishery stations with the Firth of Forth and its neighbourhood, we find several places important from the number of fishing boats belonging to them, and the quantity of fish landed there. Berwick is practically a Scotch town so far as regards its fisheries ; and although, as a Customs district, it appears on the English list, it includes Eyemouth, Dunbar, and intermediate villages within its limits. The fisheries along this range of coast generally, are more varied than is usual in Scottish waters. The great herring fishery is carried on from July to September, and during this period large quan- tities of these fish are landed at Dunbar and North Berwick, also from the other side of the Firth, and are sent off by rail to the fish market. Newhaven has long been know as a thriving fishing station, and its boats, for many years the best on the coast, have shared in the improvements which happily are becom- ing every day more widely adopted, whilst the New- SCOTCH FISHERIES. 159 haven fishwives, with their picturesque costumes and marvellous powers of work and tongue, still find plenty of employment in helping their relatives, although their labours in the disposal of the fish have been much lightened since the construction of the coast line of railway. Fishing with long lines is extensively carried on from this place, and the lines in use are of two sizes, those for cod and haddock. The haddock lines carry from 800 to 1000 hooks each, on snoods 14 inches long and 2J feet apart, and mussels and lug- worms are used as bait. The number of men in a boat depends on her size, and whether the fishing is carried on near or far from the land. The smaller boats are used for the haddock fishery, as this is more worked at no great distance from the coast. There is a considerable trade in smoked haddocks, particularly from Eyemouth ; and the curing consists in soaking the fish in pickle for half an hour, and then hanging them for four hours in some hardwood smoke. The haddock fishery from Eyemouth was very suc- cessful in the early part of 1876. The largest boats were used, with seven men in each boat ; and in one week in January the boats were six times at sea, and landed 20,000 stones of haddocks, which sold at an average price of 2s. a stone, thus producing in that short period no less than 2000Z. The haddock fishing season lasts here from October to April, and the average gain by each boat for the season usually ranges fron 400Z. to 600Z. I have received this in- formation from persons, whose business it is to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the results of 160 BRITISH IND USTEIES. the fisheries, and who can see for themselves what is really being done. The cod or " great lines " are worked at considerable distances from land, and although on precisely the same principle as the haddock lines, have fewer and larger hooks, which are fastened to snoods 5 feet long and 2^ fathoms apart. Small haddocks and herrings are used as bait, and cod, ling, skate, turbot, and holibut are the fish caught by them. The number of lines in a boat varies with the number of men, each of whom has one ; and the lines are all fastened together into a " string " when they are shot. A winter herring fishery has also been carried on in the Firth of Forth during the last few years, but it is liable to much interruption by the prevailing bad weather at that season, and varies accordingly. The sprat fishing by seans, or " trawls," takes place at the upper end of the Firth, when the fish come in during the winter. As with all fish which only come under notice at a par- ticular season, the supply of sprats fluctuates from year to year; sometimes being so abundant that they can hardly be sold at any price, and at others produc- ing large profits to the fishermen from a short supply. On the north side of the Firth there are many fishing villages, all taking part in the characteristic fisheries of the district; and important harbour works have been carried on for many years past at Anstruther for the special benefit of the fishermen. An annual grant of money from Parliament has for some time been applied to the construction of this harbour ; but the work has progressed slowly, and so much damage has been done SCOTCH FISHERIES. 161 to the half-finished piers at various times by bad wea- ther, that further assistance from the Treasury, in order to bring the work to completion, seemed by the last Keport of the Board of Fisheries to have been thought necessary. It is along part of this side of the Firth, and a little northwards, that beam trawling in comparatively shallow water is carried on at times ; but it is on such a small scale, that it does not require much notice. From the Firth of Forth northwar^ to Frazerburgh, the fisheries are as usual by drift net and line; but several important stations are met with on this range of coast, where the herring fishery is prosecuted with considerable success. Montrose, Aberdeen, Peterhead, and Frazerburgh may be mentioned as being stations for large fisheries, and the last two have in recent years taken the principal position on the east coast for the extent of their curing operations. Before speaking of these places, however, I should mention that this part of the east coast has long been famous for its haddock fishery, and that at the village of Findon, between Stonehaven and Aberdeen, the preparation of the celebrated "Finnan haddies" was first attempted. The peculiarity in the fish cured there, and which has brought them so much into favour, is that they are hung in the smoke of peat fires. By this operation the fish acquire a peculiar flavour, which enables them to fetch a higher price than the ordinary smoked had- docks which are largely prepared at Grimsby and many other places both in England and Scotland. The name of "Finnan haddie" is so popular, however, 162 BRITISH IND USTRIES. that it is to be feared that what should be simply called " smoked haddocks," are very often made to do duty in the shops for the superior article. The herring fishery from Aberdeen has been very much developed in recent times, and I believe to that town belongs the credit of first utilizing steam in con- nection with the drift fishery. In 1871, steam-tugs were employed for the purpose of helping the' drift boats to and from the fishing grounds. There can be no doubt that this was a move in the right direction, and that the Scotch Fishery Commissioners were quite justified in their remarks on the subject when they said, in their Report for 1871 : " In the absence of direct application of steam to fishing boats, which it may be prognosticated will be introduced before many years have passed, the employment of a steam-tug by the fleet cannot be too much extended. As a resource of modern times, it overcomes the hindrances and diffi- culties of a coast where the tides are rapid, and the winds variable and often light ; indeed, it is impossible too strongly to recommend a force which so easily surmounts these and other obstacles, and, by taking the boats long distances, opens new fishing grounds." There are many difficulties, however, in the way of thus using steam, which, I fear, will prevent any general adoption of the system, notwithstanding its undoubted advantages. In places like Aberdeen, where there is always a large amount of shipping, there may be little difficulty in obtaining the services of one or two steam-tugs when the fishing boats require them. But it is very different at the places where the fisheries SCO TCH FISHERIES. 163 are the only occupation of the people; and this is generally the case at the fishing stations. It would be necessary to charter steam-tugs for the fishing season, and very often to keep them idle ; and the expense of providing tugs sufficient to be of material use in towing some hundreds of large boats to and from the fishing grounds, would necessarily be very great. The system has been tried, however, at three or four places, but only on a small scale ; and I fear there is very little chance of its being carried out to the extent it might be, unless the expenses can be materially diminished. The question of applying steam power directly to the fishing boats has also been considered, but that would involve even greater expense. The experiment has been tried with deep-sea trawlers, and the system seemed particularly applicable to that mode of fishing, in which a certain regular speed is desirable; but although, as I can testify from personal observation, the work was done well under steam, and there was a great saving of time and labour in various ways, the expenses were found to be too heavy to make steam trawling anything but a loss. At the present time, steam in connection with fishing is profitably employed in the carriers which collect the fish from the fleets of North Sea trawlers and bring it to market, as I have previously mentioned; but in no other way does it appear that it can be yet systematically used with advantage and profit. The importance which has been attained by Peter- head and Frazerburgh in recent years, both as fishing M 2 164 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. and curing stations, may be seen by the following figures taken from the official returns published by the Fishery Board of Scotland. They show the number of boats fishing from those stations during the season, including those belonging there, and boats from other parts of the coast ; the number of fishermen employed in them, and of the various persons engaged in curing the fish landed there, with the total number of barrels of herrings cured in each of the five years 1871-75. Return of Boats, Fishermen and Curers, with the number of Barrels of Herrings cured, at Peterhead and Frazerburgh, in the years 1871-75 : PETERHEAD. Year. Boats. Fishermen. Curers. Barrels. 1871 630 3,425 2,132 150,251 1872 705 3,876 2,291 178,060 1873 780 4,468 2,616 209,851 1874 746 4,200 2,841 219,858 1875 730 4,380 2,846 205,305 FRAZERBURGH. 1871 547 2,948 1,977 154,467 1872 773 4,276 2,730 218,202 1873 772 4,315 2,932 216,476 1874 823 4,803 3,235 253,130 1875 905 5,429 3,572 284,284 The method of curing the fish at Peterhead and Frazerburgh, as well as at the fishing stations all round the coast of Scotland, is that known as the " British White Herring Cure," and consists simply in SCOTCH FISHERIES. 165 packing the herring with a certain proportion of salt in well-made barrels, where they remain till they are required for consumption. The process, however, needs considerable care, and it is considered important that the curing should be commenced as soon as possible after the fish are caught. No time therefore is lost in bringing the fish on shore; and after having been measured in a stamped vessel holding 37 J gallons, and known as a cc cran," they are at once taken in hand by the gutters, who perform their duties with a marvellous rapidity, only to be attained by considerable practice. This part of the work is almost entirely done by women. As soon as the fish have been gutted and for this purpose it is only necessary to make a small opening near the head they are placed in large tubs, where they are well " roused " or stirred up with a good supply of salt, so that it may be applied to their whole surface. The fish are then carefully packed with alternate layers of salt in barrels of regulated size, and after remaining ten clear days in pickle, the barrels are filled up as necessary, and finally closed. If, however, they are intended for exportation to a warm country, the barrels are repacked in the same manner as at first. The herrings for curing are separated into four classes, consisting of " Full," or fish having large milt or roe ; " Maties," or fat fish, and with the roe unde- veloped ; " Spent," or shotten, those which have recently spawned ; and " Mixed," consisting of unassorted fish. The whole process of curing is carried on under the supervision of the officers of the Scotch Fishery Board, 166 BRITISH IND US TRIES. or, properly speaking, the Board of British White Herring Fishery. This mode of cure, now, I believe, entirely confined to Scotland, is required by Act of Parliament to be carried out under inspection ; and if the result of the cure come up to a certain standard of excellence, the curers can have, on payment of four- pence per barrel, a Government brand placed on each barrel so approved. The branding is quite optional on the part of the curer; but in either case the curing must be open to inspection, and barrels of a particular size must be used for packing the fish in. It is one of the anomalies of the system, however, that although it is absolutely forbidden to use barrels of other than a certain size, there is not the slightest restriction as to the quality or condition of the fish to be packed in the barrel, so long as the Government brand is not desired for it. Any refuse fish may be cured and packed, but the barrel must be of a certain size. There are four distinct brands in common use, denoting the quality and description of fish cured; but the Crown Full brand, given only to " full " fish properly cured, is the one mainly in request. The advantages and disad- vantages of the branding system have been often discussed, and I need say nothing more on the well- worn subject, except that it appears to greatly facilitate the sale of " white herrings " in the Continental mar- kets, where there is always a large demand for fish cured in this manner. On the other hand, a Govern- ment certificate of the quality of any particular article of commerce is opposed to the policy of free trade now adopted in this country. Branding is, however, in SCOTCH FISHERIES. 167 favour with an increasing majority of the curers for such fish as they send abroad, but only on the east coast and at the northern islands ; the curers on the western side not liking to keep the fish in pickle for the number of days required to enable them to obtain the brand. The explanation of this is, that the western fishery begins earlier than that on the east coast, and the curers there are anxious to send their fish to the Con- tinental markets as soon as possible. Previous to 1859, there were no branding fees, and it was thought that by imposing them, the branding system might lose favour, and ultimately be done away with ; but the result has been otherwise, as will be seen in the following tables. Eeturn of the number of Barrels of White Herrings Cured, Exported, and Branded, with the Branding Fees received in the years 1859-75 : Year. Cured. Exported. Branded. Fees. 1859 491,487 272,979 158,676 2,644 1860 681,193 377,970 231,913 3,865 1861 668,828 390,313 265,347 4,422 1862 830,904 494,910 346,712 5,778 1863 654,816 407,761 276,880 4,614 1864 643,650 364,507 217,392 3,623 1865 621,763 352,701 216,785 3,613 1866 658,146 380,066 249,510 4,158 1867 825,589 478,704 317,421 5,290 1868 651,433 368,744 209,462 3,491 1869 675,143 381,333 244,522 4,075 1870 833,160 530,558 299,381 4,989 1871 825,475 551,605 346,633 5,777 1872 773,859 549,631 422,731 7,045 1873 939,233 668,008 435,274 7,254 1874 1,000,561 737,314 517,558 8,625 1875 942,980 660,970 523,789 8,729 168 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. In the Moray Firth, among several stations of more or less importance, Buckie deserves notice, no less for the industry and enterprise of its fishermen than for the peculiarity of the boats used by them. The general character of the Scotch fishing boats, espe- cially those on the east coast, is to have both ends sharp, a good deal of beam, and a moderate rise of floor. They used to be entirely open, and were rigged with a jib, and fore and main lugs. The change, now very general, from undecked to decked boats has necessitated an alteration in this rig, the mainmast being done away with, and a mizen carried instead, the fore-lug being made with a large foot as in the luggers belonging to Yarmouth and most other Eng- lish fishing ports. The Buckie boats, known as " Scaffs " or " Scaffy boats," are of an entirely different build from the other Scotch craft; they have a flat floor, a long hollow bow, with the greatest breadth at the water-line very far aft; the stem and sternpost rake a good deal, and they have plenty of beam and room on board. In addition to these peculiarities, they carried a mizen as well as fore and main lugs, but I have never observed them with a jib. They are con- sidered fine sea-boats, and the Buckie men are ac- customed to go away long distances in them for the purpose of line fishing, which is their favourite occupa- tion, and takes them sometimes to the Orkneys and other places far from their homes. The advantages of a decked boat are now thoroughly understood by these men ; and in the last few years they have built all SCOTCH FISHERIES. 169 their new first-class boats with decks, at the same time doing away with the mainmast, and carrying a larger fore-lug. The little artificial harbour at Buckie affords shelter to a good number of boats; but, like many other harbours on this exposed coast, it is a dangerous place to enter at certain times of tide, and often in weather when a safe refuge is most to be desired. In the Beauly Firth, sprat-fishing is successfully carried on, subject to the usual fluctuations in the abundance and size of the shoals of fish. Wick, nearly at the north-east point of Scotland, is the largest curing place after Frazerburgh, and for many years occupied the first position as a herring station on the east coast. Its situation particularly exposes it to the effects of the winter storms, and deep- sea fishing in that neighbourhood, whether by net or line, is both dangerous and uncertain at that season. It is hardly less so sometimes in summer ; for any diffi- culty there may be in finding shelter under ordinary circumstances is greatly increased by the large number of fishing boats then working from that station. The construction of a deep-water harbour, and easily ac- cessible in bad weather, is therefore a matter of the greatest importance to the fisheries; but, notwith- standing the large sums which have been spent by the British Fisheries Society, who have a property in the harbour, and further sums advanced by the Public Loan Commissioners, hardly a winter passes without much damage being done to the piers by the tremendous force of the waves which roll into the bay during 170 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. the terrible north-east gales. In the last winter of 1876-77, when wrecks strewed our coasts, and the North Sea week after week added to the list of disabled and missing ships, Wick harbour has been exposed to a succession of bad weather, the effects of which are re- ported as having been more disastrous and destructive to the piers than on any previous occasion. It will be an engineering triumph when the harbour is properly completed ; but it would seem almost impossible to construct any piers there that can withstand the forces to which sooner or later they must inevitably be ex- posed. Great as is the importance of a harbour of refuge at Wick for the hundreds of fishing boats which at the different seasons make that place their rendez- vous, it would be of no little value also to larger shipping which risk the passage through the dangerous Pentland Firth, and which now have no place of refuge in the neighbourhood, when caught in bad weather on that coast. Besides the regular herring fishery from July to September, Wick has also a small winter fishery for herrings, frequently interrupted, however, by bad weather; and cod, ling, and other line-fish are also worked for at the proper season. I may now say a few words about the Orkneys and Shetlands, islands whose fisheries are especially subject to the difficulties arising from the combination of bad weather, deep water close inshore, and very rapid tides ; and yet whose fishermen, particularly the Shetlanders, are as daring and enterprising as any in the SCOTCH FISHERIES. 171 United Kingdom. The Orkney fishermen frequently work with those on the Scotch coast during the herring season, as well as in their own immediate waters, where much uncertainty attends the drift fishing. Here, how- ever, line fishing for cod, ling, and coal fish occupies a good deal of attention ; and haddocks are also caught, though the numbers of these fish vary much in different years. The Orcadians are not such thorough-going fishermen, taking them altogether, as the Shetlanders, and the objectionable, but sometimes necessary, diver- sion of a good deal of their time to the cultivation of the land, prevents their devoting as much attention to the fisheries as they might otherwise give. Dried cod and ling may be looked upon as the most valuable products of the Orkney fisheries, and there is a con- siderable demand for these fish in the Spanish market. Lobster-fishing has always been a profitable occupation in these islands, and it is said to have been the only one carried on there previous to 1815. The lobsters are now packed alive with seaweed in boxes, and forwarded by steamer to Aberdeen, and thence to London. Formerly they were carried away in welled smacks, and, although longer on their journey, they generally reached the market in better condition than they do under the present system. Crabs are also abundant, but they will not bear packing in the same manner as is adopted with lobsters. The larger Orkney boats are now decked, and of the same style as those on the Scotch coast; but the skiffs, used for line fishing, are much smaller and quite open. They have a crew 172 BRITISH IND USTRIES. of from two to four men each, and carry a jib and two large lugs, the foot of the latter being extended by means of a boom. The Shetlands form the northern limit of what may be called our home fisheries ; for, although vessels, fitted out at Shetland, as well as Grimsby smacks, go every year to the Faroe Islands, and sometimes to Iceland for cod, and bring their captures home, this fishery cannot be considered as strictly belonging to our own coasts. The great fishery at the Shetlands is, however, practically by lines ; and cod, ling, saithe or coalfish, and tusk quite a northern fish, and resem- bling a short-bodied ling are the species specially sought after. There is also some drift fishing for herrings, but these fish are very uncertain in their appearance on the Shetland coasts, and the dangerous character of the sea there, and the frequent bad weather, often interfere with regular herring-fish- ing. Besides these difficulties, the greater import- ance of the line fishing induces most of the fishermen to devote as much time as possible to that kind of work. The line fishery is also subject to a good deal of fluctuation, especially as regards the cod, which, not only at the Shetlands, but also at Faroe and Ice- land, become abundant or scarce in successive seasons without any apparent cause. Saithe are taken by hand lines near the coast, and commonly close to the surface. Cod are also taken in the same manner ; but most of them are caught at some distance from the land, and there are particular banks which have long SCOTCH FISHERIES. 173 been famous for their general productiveness. Of these the Foula Bank, between Foula Island and the mainland of Zetland, is a favourite resort. I have already referred to the cod fisheries at Faroe and Ice- land, and, although they are not home fisheries, they are worked by our own fishermen, and a considerable number of vessels, each carrying about fourteen men, are fitted out every year at Lerwick for this particular service. The fishing season is from April to September, and during that period the smacks make two or three trips. Welled vessels are not needed for this work, as all the fish are cured; they are split and salted as soon as caught, and on the vessel's return to Shetland, the fish are washed, and then dried in the open air. They undergo no packing, but are exported in bulk. Many years ago there was a Government bounty on all the fish thus cured, and then it was the practice to punch those of which an account was taken. Fish cured wet were put into pickle, and the barrels were branded ; but all bounties ceased in 1830, and there has been no punching or branding since 1850. Now, the quantity of cod and ling landed at, cured, and exported from the Shetlands and Scotland generally, is only ascer- tained approximately by the officers of the Scotch Board of Fisheries, but the returns prepared by them are probably not very far from the truth. I may here give an extract from these returns for the last ten years, so as to give some idea of the importance of these line fisheries in Scotland, the Orkneys and Shetlands being included in that part of Great Britain, and, until 1869, the Isle of Man also. 174 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. Abstract, showing the total quantity of cod, ling, saithe, and tusk cured and exported in the years 1866-75 : Year. Quantity Cured. Quantity Exported. Dried. In Pickle. Dried. cwts. barrels. cwts. 1866 115,819 9,957 47,753 1867 119,638 10,819 46,225 1868 113,831 9,659 52,403 1869 135,585 10,319 51,864 1870 145,288 9,945 56,400 1871 119,030 9,283 54,171 1872 145,976 11,940 53,631 1873 160,716 12,381 70,101 1874 143,466 6,754 60,913 1875 187,788 8,503 81,880 The average number of fish required to make up a hundredweight in the dried state may be roughly estimated by the returns for Shetland alone in 1875, when there were 3,458,799 fish landed, and these pro- duced 111,812 cwts. of dried fish. The Shetland smacks are not the property of the fishermen, but are fitted out by the curers, the men receiving half the catch, or its equivalent, after all expenses are paid ; they are also provided with bread by the owners. At the close of the deep-sea cod fishery, these smacks are laid up for the winter, and the crews seek some other employment ; but the winter days in that northern region are too short, and the weather commonly too stormy, for much fishing to be done on the coast. Some of the Grimsby cod-smacks, SCOTCH FISHERIES. 175 as before mentioned, work in the summer on the same grounds as the vessels belonging to Shetland, and they also land a great proportion of their fish at the Ork- neys and Shetlands, where it is bought by the curers, so that the produce of these English vessels is included among the fish cured in Scotland. Among the places occasionally visited by a few English and Shetland smacks in search of cod at the beginning of the season, is the very uncertain ground at Rockall. This bank lies in the Atlantic, about 300 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, and is marked by a single roughly conical rock about 30 feet high, with a smaller one, usually uncovered, at a distance of less than a hundred fathoms north of it. There is from twenty to fifty fathoms water within less than a mile around the rocks, and it gradually deepens on all sides beyond that distance. The fishery is only carried on within the fifty fathoms line, and must, therefore, be within a short distance of the rock. The very limited extent of ground on which the fish are found, the danger of keeping near the rock in bad weather, and the difficulty in finding it again when, as some- times happens, the vessels are blown away, all combine to prevent regular fishing at Eockall ; and there is further discouragement in the fact that, except quite at the early part of the season, the fishery is not likely to be successful, and even then there is a good deal of uncertainty about it. The Shetland long-line fishery for ling and tusk is worked in the home waters, and is very important. It is carried on from open boats called " haaf," or deep-sea boats, which have long been 1 76 BEITISH IND US TRIES. famous for their seaworthy qualities. % These are the true " Norway yawls," having very much the build and character of whale-boats, and they are handled in a wonderful manner by the Shetlanders, who show in their love for the sea, and by their daring and energy in their work on it, that they are still worthy of their descent from the Norsemen, of which they are all so proud. These skiffs are about 20 feet on the keel, 28 feet over all, and with 8 feet beam. They carry a single large lug. The most important station on the west coast of Scotland is Stornoway, in the Outer Hebrides. This is the great centre of the herring fishery in the Minch, or the sea lying between the outer islands and the main coast of Scotland. The fisheries here are of the same kinds as those on the northern and eastern coasts; but that for herrings is of considerable im- portance, not only on account of its extent, but because it begins earlier than on the eastern side, and the fish cured at Stornoway are always the first in the Conti- nental markets. The herring fishing on the Atlantic side of the Outer Hebrides is very uncertain at all times, but about April the fishery begins both at the north and south of these islands, and is carried on in the Minch till the middle of July about Stornoway, but generally comes to an end in June at the southern part of the channel. Curing is done at Stornoway, Uist, and Barra, especially at the first-mentioned station ; but a considerable quantity of herrings is sent fresh, with only a sprinkling of salt over them, to Glasgow and Liverpool, special steamers being em- SCOTCH FISHERIES. Ill ployed almost daily during the season for their trans- port. Most of the cured fish goes to the Continental markets, especially to Russia. The curing is neces- sarily carried on under the inspection of the Fishery 178 BRITISH IND USTRIES. Board, but the Government brand is entirely dis- regarded on the west coast, and the curers trust to their own names for selling the fish. They allege that the western fish are more delicate than the others, and will not bear the close packing requisite for ensuring the proper weight in each barrel if the brand is desired. The early market, however, is, without doubt, the great object sought ; and the curers will not allow the num- ber of days for the fish to be in pickle, before sending them away, that is insisted on if the brand is to be given. The general season for long lining, by which the cod, ling, and tusk are here exclusively taken, is from November to July. Cod and ling the latter being especially abundant are caught on various parts of the coast, and have long been successfully fished ; a bank off the Butt of Lewis, and another large one in the middle of the Minch, being favourite resorts for them. The tusk are chiefly found on the Atlantic side of the outer islands. Shore-curing is carried on here as at the Shetlands, and the beach, in suitable places, may be commonly seen covered with the drying fish during the season. Very little of it goes from here to the foreign market, but a good deal is sent to Ireland. There has been a large fishery for lobsters for many years at Bernera, and East and West Tarbert for the English market, and large quantities of periwinkles are collected at the several islands known generally as the Hebrides, and are sent to the same destination. I need say but little of the close time which was SCOTCH FISHERIES. 179 established for herrings in 1860. The persons at whose instance the law was made, were not the fisher- men, but some of the curers, who sought to raise the price of their fish caught during the regular season, by prohibiting the capture of herrings of any description at other times ; although the fishermen on many of the poorer parts of the west coast were largely dependent on them as food, and, to a still more important extent, as bait for the line fishery. Thus, directly and in- directly, the fishermen suffered, until their sore distress became known, and the matter was inquired into. Instructions were then given not to enforce the law. In 1865 close-time was abolished on part of the coast, and shortened on the rest ; and the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868, entirely did away with it on the whole of the west coast, except within the three-mile limit from the shore between Ardnamurchan Point and the Mull of Galloway. The original close-time Act only applied to the west coast ; and happily there are great diffi- culties in enforcing that small portion of it which still remains on the Statute Book ; for such local restric- tions cannot be justified by anything that is known of the cause of either the abundance or scarcity of herrings in different years. The fisheries I have now mentioned are worked, more or less, all along the west coast, in some places more attention being given to one kind than another. Among the islands near the mainland, herring-fishing is less successfully prosecuted than farther out, and the generally poor fishermen do their best to obtain a living mainly by line fishing and lobster-catching. N 2 180 BRITISH IND USTRIES. In the Firth of Clyde the fisheries are more varied, and of considerable importance. At Campbelton we once more meet with beam trawling ; but it is only in shallow water near the shore, after the herring season ; and flounders, with a few soles, are the principal fish thus caught. The same kind of fishing is worked near the mouth of the Clyde. There is also some fishing by hand lines and long lines ; and set nets are used in some parts of the Firth for catching cod, hake, and other kinds of fish. Campbelton, the Kyles of Bute, and Lochfyne, were for many years the scene of an active struggle between two sets of fishermen, both of whom were engaged in catching herrings, but by very different methods. The usual mode of drifting for herrings, as followed in deep water all round our coasts, had long been the only recognized method in the localities I have mentioned, as it still is prac- tically on other parts of the Scotch coast. But about the year 1838, the sean or circle net, known in Scot- land as the " trawl," was introduced as likely to be as useful for catching herrings in Scotland, as it is for capturing pilchards, sprats, and mackerel in other places farther south. It is most effective when used near the shore ; and when the fish are in convenient localities, a very large number may be enclosed at once, and a boatload or more of herrings obtained, after an hour or two of work in places where the water is not deep enough for drift nets to be employed. It might have been supposed that the drift fishers and the " trawlers " in Lochfyne would be able to work in their distinct localities without difficulty; but the SCOTCH FISHERIES. 181 drift men could recognize only their own mode of fishing as the right one, and they brought charges against the " trawlers " of destroying young fish, frightening the shoals away, preventing the passage of the fish to the inner parts of the lochs, and finally they said that the herrings caught by the " trawl " were often so bruised and knocked about, that they were not fit to cure. The one important objection of the drift fishers to the system of " trawling " or seaning, was elicited in the course of subsequent Government inquiries into the dispute, and this was that the large catches of herrings sometimes made by the " trawl " lowered the market price of the drift fish. The curers also joined in the dispute, because the trawl fish were mostly sold in the fresh-market, and consequently cured fish were in less demand. In 1851, an Act was passed to put a stop to " trawling " for herrings on the coast of Scotland, and more strin- gent measures were brought to bear on the trawl fishermen in 1860 and 1861, so as to effectually sup- press their operations. Serious disturbances and colli- sions had taken place between the two sets of fisher- men, and a gunboat became necessary in Lochfyne to ensure the law being carried out. So strong a feeling existed, however, among a large body of the fishermen and others that the complaints against " trawling " were unjust, and the prohibition injurious to the inte- rests of the public as well as to the fishermen imme- diately affected by it, that the subject was formally investigated by the Government, as previously men- tioned ; a special Koyal Commission being appointed 182 BRITISH IND USTRIES. for the purpose in 1862, and the Koyal Sea Fisheries Commission also going into the question in 1864, in the course of their general inquiry into the state of all our sea fisheries. Both Commissions were most decided in condemning the prohibition of " trawling " for herrings ; and it was shown by the comparison of several series of years, that the fluctuations in the Lochfyne herring fishery had been as great before trawling was introduced as at any subsequent period. By Acts of 1867 and 1868, trawling was again per- mitted, and continues at the present time. The three important stations in Lochfyne are In- verary, four miles from its northern extremity, Ardris- haig, about eighteen miles south of it, and Tarbert, ten miles lower down, and six or seven miles from the en- trance to the loch. The total length of Lochfyne is therefore nearly forty miles. Just above Ardrishaig the loch suddenly narrows, and is further contracted at this part by Otter Point, which projects westward for some distance across, and forms the lower boundary of what is called the Upper Loch. This is from one to two miles wide, and the lower loch varies from four to five in width. There is deep water through the entire length, although the depth is irregular, ranging from twenty fathoms in some parts, to as much as one hundred fathoms near the entrance. In some years the herrings go up the loch to its extremity, in others the fishing is almost confined to the neighbourhood of Tarbert. For the last few years the fish have not gone very far up, although good fisheries have been made near the mouth, both by " trawl " and drift net. SCOTCH FISHERIES. 183 Almost every kind of explanation of the general scar- city of fish in the upper parts of the loch has been suggested, with very little evidence to support it ; and since " trawling" has been again permitted, that system of fishing has been once more charged with keeping the herrings away. In 1874, three Scotch gentlemen of position, and who were likely to command the con- fidence of the fishermen, formed themselves into a private committee to inquire into the cause of the failure of the Lochfyne fishery : and in the following year they submitted a Keport, with certain recom- mendations, to the Lord Advocate of Scotland. With reference to trawling keeping the fish out of the loch, a question to which the Committee appear to have given considerable attention, they say: "The fact cannot be explained away, that the fish seem to be at present disinclined to enter other narrow waters where trawling is unknown." I need hardly say any- thing about the general result of their inquiry, as it has been shown that the Committee had not made themselves sufficiently acquainted with the entire sub- ject for their recommendations to be of any practical value ; but the fact mentioned by them, of the herrings seeming at present disinclined to enter other narrow lochs where there has been no " trawling," should have some effect in silencing the discontented drift-fishermen of Lochfyne. On the coast south of the Firth of Clyde, good fishing for both cod and turbot is to be had on a large bank off Ballantrae, well known as a resort for herrings at the spawning time. The larger fish are probably 184 BRITISH IND USTEIES. attracted to the locality by the herrings, and are caught by set-nets anchored at the bottom. Long lining is also carried on from here, and this fishery is worked at eight or ten miles from the land. At Drumore remunerative employment has been found for the fishermen, in dredging the several valuable beds of oysters which have been discovered from time to time in the neighbourhood, and which attract a good many English and Scotch boats to the locality. Portpatrick has also come into notice in the last few years, from the attention there given to the long-line fishery for cod during the winter months. The fish are taken in deep water and among rapid tides, and are considered of finer quality than from any other station in the district. The railway to this port has no doubt had much to do with the develop- ment of this fishery. The only other fishing of any particular importance on this part of the Scotch coast is the beam trawling, which since 1870 has been carried on with considerable success on a stretch of twenty or twenty-five miles between Lochryan and Drumore. The trawling season lasts only through the months of Feb- ruary, March, and April, and successful fishing depends very much on the state of the weather. The trawl- smacks belong chiefly to Whitehaven and Liverpool, and their number has varied from fourteen to twenty- two in the season. Large hauls of fish have been taken, and turbot, holibut, brill, soles, plaice, flounders, cod and whiting, form the marketable produce of this fishery. It seems to be as characteristic of this part of the west coast of Scotland as it is of the corresponding SCOTCH FISHERIES. 185 coast of England and Wales, that what are commonly understood as trawl fish, are only found on certain grounds during a short period of the year. This will probably prevent the Scotch fishermen giving much attention to this method of fishing one which requires considerable outlay and skill for its successful working, and against which there has been, and still is, a decided prejudice amongst them, although as a class the Scotch fishermen are conspicuous for their industry and enter- prise. I am glad to be able to add, that every year shows a marked improvement in their habits of sobriety gene- rally around the coast ; and whatever tendency there may have been to indulge whilst on shore, it has not interfered with hard work at sea, or profitable attention to the regular fisheries, when the seasons for them have come round. In 1867, the total value of fishing boats, nets and lines in Scotland was estimated at 947,109Z. In 1875 it had increased to 1,092,275Z. ( 186 MANX FISHERIES. UP to 1868, when the Sea Fisheries Act was passed, the fisheries of the Isle of Man came under the notice of the Fishery Board of Scotland, and the annual statistics published by the Board included some account of what had been done by the Manxmen. This has come to an end, and the only official information now given to the public about the fisheries of the island, is that relating to the number of boats and men engaged in them. The most important fishery on that coast is for herrings, and Castletown, Port St. Mary, Port Erin and Peel are the stations immediately connected with it. It is carried on entirely with drift nets, and usually commences early in June. The fish are at first mostly taken at a little north of Peel, on the western side of the island, and thence southwards to the Calf of Man as the season advances. It is continued along this part of the coast and a little south of the Calf until the end of September, when the fish are believed to spawn on the rough ground in that neighbourhood. The great herring fishery is therefore confined to the southern half of the western side of the island. In October, however, herrings are found in Douglas Bay, where there is good reason to believe they spawn. MANX FISHERIES. 187 These fish are described as being of a different class from those caught off the Calf, and are supposed by the fishermen to come from the north-east. As soon as the drift season has come to an end at the Isle of Man, the Manx boats proceed to the Irish coast, and take part in the herring fishery there in November and December. There is very little curing done in the island, almost all the herrings caught on that coast being sent with just a sprinkling of salt over them to Liverpool, or some port in Wales. A few trawlers work off Douglas, and some mackerel are taken by line and sean in Douglas Bay; but the Manxmen regularly visit the south of Ireland during the mackerel season there, and by steady attention to the fishery, generally manage to earn a good deal of money. When not engaged with either the herrings or mackerel, the fishermen occupy themselves with the long lines, and catch a large number of cod, either near the land or far out at sea, according to the season. The Manx boats for deep-sea work are fine craft, from 40 to 50 feet in length, half-decked, but can be entirely covered in when necessary. They are dandy- rigged, and sail well. ( 188 ) IRISH FISHERIES. THE history of the Irish Sea Fisheries for the last thirty years offers a painful contrast to what we know of the English and Scotch fisheries within the same period ; for it is a record of almost continuous decline in the number of native fishing boats, and of the men and boys who have any claim to be counted as fisher- men little as that is in the majority of cases. And yet this decline is due to no scarcity of fish on what have long been recognized as the most productive parts of the Irish coast the eastern side of the island, where the herring fishery is regular and important; and the southern coast, where mackerel abound in their proper season. We learn from the Reports of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries something of what is done there, and who are the persons who carry on the work and obtain the reward. In 1875, the highest number of fishing boats working in one day from Howth, the most important herring fishing station, was 683. Of these there were 219 Cornish, 197 Irish, 142 Scotch, and 125 Manx boats. The Irish boats were then only 29 per cent, of the total number at work in purely Irish waters. At Ardglass, the only other station of importance, and in a more northerly situation, the largest average number in any one week of the fishery was 287. These IRISH FISHERIES. 189 comprised 20 Cornish, 40 Irish, 52 Manx, and 175 Scotch boats. At this station the Irish boats formed only 14 per cent, of those engaged in the fishery. In the Kinsale mackerel fishery also, the Irish boats are only a small proportion of the total number of craft which come from various parts to share in the spoil. I take the following statistics from the last Report of the Inspectors, to show how great has been the decline in the number of Irish sea-fishing boats and fishermen. Number of Fishing Boats and Fishermen employed in the Coast Fisheries from 1846 to 1875, inclusive : Year. Boats. Fishermen. Year. Boats. | Fishermen. 1846 19,883 113,073 1861 11,845 48,624 1848 19,652 81,717 1862 11,590 50,220 1849 18,100 71,505 1863 - 11,375 48,601 1850 15,247 68,380 1864 9,300 40,946 1851 14,756 64,612 j 1865 9,455 40,802 1852 11,789 58,863 1866 9,444 40,663 1853 12,381 49,208 ! 1867 9,332 38,444 1854 11,079 49,227 ! 1868 9,184 39,339 1855 1856 11,251 11,069 47,854 | 48,774 1870 \ 9 099 1871 j y ' Uyy 38,650 1857 12,758 53,673 j 1872 7,914 31,311 1858 11,823 52,101 | 1873 7,181 29,307 1859 11,881 50,115 ! 1874 7,246 26,924 1860 13,483 55,630 1875 5,919 23,108 No returns are given for the years 1847 and 1869, but those for the other years are approximately correct. There is great difficulty, however, in procuring exact particulars, although the present Inspectors take espe- cial pains in their instructions to the Coastguard to secure as much accuracy as possible. 190 BRITISH IND USTRIES. The boats with their crews are divided by them into three classes independently of tonnage, and this plan enables us in some measure to understand who are in- cluded under the head of Fishermen. In 1875, the number of craft solely engaged in fishing was 1341, and crews 6241 ; mostly engaged in fishing boats 602, crews 1870; only partially engaged in fishing boats 3976, crews 14,997; total boats 5919, total crews 23,108. To persons who are not familiar with the habits of many of the coast popula- tion in Ireland, it will probably cause some surprise to hear, on the authority of the Inspectors, that the boats and men in the third division, or those only partially engaged in fishing, are not employed in that occupation on an average for more than one month in the year. The boats in this division form two-thirds, and the men nearly that proportion, of the total number of sea-fishing boats and fishermen in Ireland. The duty of collecting the information relating to the number of Irish boats and fishermen devolves on the Coastguard ; but there are extensive lines of coast in some of the wilder and less populated districts, which are not often visited by these officers ; and under these circumstances, it is often impossible to depend on the accuracy of the returns of either boats or men. The returns furnished also by the Customs are in some cases obviously incorrect, and I cannot attempt to explain how, in 1875, they give 367 more boats, and 3739 more fishermen than appear in the undoubtedly more carefully prepared returns furnished by the In- spectors. As the statistics of fishing boats, published IRISH FISHERIES. 191 annually by the Board of Trade, are solely derived from information supplied by the Customs all round the coast of the United Kingdom, there is reason to believe that not much dependence can be placed on the. general system of registration now adopted under the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868. It is almost impossible to obtain accuracy in many parts of Ireland and Scotland, and it is very doubtful whether even the English returns are entirely trustworthy. The Irish fisheries have been subject to fluctuations at various times, so far as the number of boats and men engaged in them is concerned ; but the great decline in comparatively recent years dates from the period of the famine ; and those who have had a long acquaint- ance with the condition of the west coast fishermen, believe their present depressed state is entirely the result of that disastrous time. But it may be asked, if there has been no recovery after thirty years, but, on the contrary, an almost continuous decline in the number of fishermen up to the last year, what hopes are there of ever seeing the fishing population again in a thriving condition? Poverty is but an imperfect excuse for the present state of things. Local assistance has been given time after time with only a temporary improvement. Emigration to America and elsewhere has attracted thousands from their native shores ; and it can hardly be a matter of regret, for most of those who went away have worked with an industry in other countries, of which there was little appearance when they were at home. The great decline in the fisheries is no doubt mainly due to the great tide of 192 BRITISH IND USTRIES. emigration which has long been setting westward. But the majority of those who left the west coast, and of those who still remain there, had never much claim to the title of fishermen, for they belonged to the class who . only fish occasionally, when seaweed-cutting, farming, and other occupations fail them. On the east coast there is a more pleasing picture. The example set by Cornish, Scotch, and Manx fisher- men appears to be having some effect on those in that part of Ireland. Boats are improving, the men are more industrious than formerly, and their numbers are increasing there to some extent ; but there is still great room for improvement, and there must assuredly be sufficient inducement for them to work at the fisheries, when it pays hundreds of fishermen from 'other parts to come long distances for the sake of the profits to be made in the Irish Channel. It is too early yet to judge of the working of the Irish Kepro- ductive Loan Fund recently established under a Par- liamentary grant, for the purpose of assisting needy fishermen with loans to be expended on fishing gear ; but as might have been expected, the money applied for has been far in excess of what can be provided. About 8000Z. was available, and the total amount asked for exceeded 40,000/. The Inspectors express some surprise that the applications were not for a con- siderably larger sum. There is much difference of opinion as to the probability of these loans doing any real good to the fishermen ; but as the experiment is now being fairly tried, we must wait and hope for a satisfactory result. I should have been glad, how- IRISH FISHERIES. 193 ever, if the Irish people generally had shown some disposition to help their own fishermen in the manner now being done by Parliament, but they have only clamoured for Government assistance. The following paragraph appears in the Inspectors' Report for 1874 : " We regret that the generous offer made by Mr. Benjamin Whitworth, member for Kilkenny, to con- tribute 2500Z. for the benefit of the fishermen, pro- vided 750(M. was subscribed by the rest of Ireland, so as to raise a fund of 10,OOOZ., has not met with a single response, so that his intended liberality remains unavailed of." I will now give a short sketch of such of the Irish fisheries as appear to deserve notice. The most im- portant ones are on the eastern and southern coasts, and we may commence with those from Dublin Bay. Dublin is the head-quarters of the deep-sea trawlers, and possesses a fleet of about fifty smacks, ranging from 30 to 50 tons, N.M., and usually working from that station. Deep-sea trawlers were first used from Dublin in 1818, some Brixham smacks having been bought for that purpose. Brixham men also came over, and in the course of time more vessels were added to the fleet, as the fishing grounds became better known, and the profitable character of the fishing was established. The trawlers work all the year round when they can get hands, but in the summer months, the generally light weather is not favourable for trawl- ing, and the men find more profitable occupation in the herring fishery and on board the numerous yachts, o 1 94 BRITISH IND US TRIES. where their services are in great request. Although trawling has been carried on for many years along this part of the coast, the grounds which have been, and continue to be, systematically worked by the Dublin smacks are not very extensive. They lie for the most part within a triangular space between Dublin and Dundrum bays and the Isle of Man. The fishing grounds consist of an irregular series of patches dif- fering in shape and extent, and these are worked more or less successfully according to the season ; the inner grounds the neighbourhood of the Kish Bank, Skerries Bay, and the Mountain Foot ground being fished during the colder months. The Isle of Man ground, abounding in soles, and lying in deep water, is usually worked from March to July. In January many of the smacks go to the coast of Waterford and fish on what is called the Saltee ground, a very productive patch about south-west from the Saltee light-ship. There are bye-laws in force on parts of the coast prohibiting trawling in certain bays, but these regulations appear to have been made more with the idea of satisfying the complaints of the line fishermen, than from any belief that the trawlers did any harm. Line fishing is general along the eastern coast, and long-lining is largely carried on in Dublin Bay and northwards. The fishermen at Eush have devoted themselves principally to that kind of work, by which they catch cod, ling, haddock, and conger, not only in their own neighbourhood, but also during their occasional visits to the western and southern parts of the island. The disappearance of the haddock from IRISH FISHERIES. 195 the vicinity of Dublin Bay a few years ago caused a great outcry against the trawlers, to whose operations it was attributed ; but the recent return of this fish to its old grounds, notwithstanding the fact that trawlers had increased in the interval, has tended to the removal of this misapprehension. As the spawn of the haddock is not deposited on the ground, but has been proved to float during the development of the young fish, it is difficult to understand how trawling could interfere with the supply of these fish except by catching them, and that is simply what the line fisher- men themselves want to do. On the coast of Scotland there have been the same fluctuations in the numbers of haddocks, and they will undoubtedly again occur. The most important and profitable fishing to the general body of fishermen on this part of the coast is that for herrings, and it attracts, as I have previously mentioned, a large number of boats from Cornwall, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. The two great stations for this fishery are Howth, at the northern point of Dublin Bay, and Ardglass, a little south of Strangford, and opposite the Isle of Man. The season commences at some time in June, but the boats are not in full work till July. From that time till the end of Sep- tember, or sometimes far into October, drift fishing is followed up in some part of the Irish Sea, the boats gradually decreasing as the season advances, and many of the Cornish boats leaving in August, so as to take part in the pilchard-fishing on their own coast. A little curing is done at Howth, but a large propor- tion of the herrings caught on the east coast is shipped o 2 196 BRITISH IND USTEIES. fresh by steamers to English and Scotch ports. The same may be said of the produce of the other Irish fisheries line, drift, and trawl fish ; for a better market can be obtained on the English side of the Irish Channel, than at Dublin and the inland towns. South of Dublin, the oyster fishery near Arklow employs a large number of men and boats. The banks are in 10 or 12 fathoms water, and extend southwards almost to Wexford. It is said that if the fishermen had larger boats, much more might be done than at present in the line fishing, and in working oyster beds at a greater distance from land. A harbour, accessible at all times of tide, is also much needed on this part of the coast. The herring fishery at Wexford is usually late in the year, but it is only on a small scale. The boats, or " cots," there used for the drift fishing are of a peculiar build, and deserve a short notice. They are sharp at both ends, and are entirely flat-bottomed with the exception of a small bit of keel at the bow and stern, and a false keel or bilge piece extending some distance on each side, between the floor and the planking. They are about 30 feet over all, and with 7 or 8 feet beam. A centre-board with a depth of 5 feet below the floor is lowered, when the boat is on a wind ; and the sails consist of three sprit-sails and a jib. These boats are well suited for working their way over the shoals inside and outside Wexford Harbour. On the south coast we find a station of some little importance at Waterford Harbour. There is a con- siderable extent of fishing ground within the harbour itself, and good trawling is to be had outside on the IRISH FISHERIES. 197 Saltee ground, and farther out, on the Nymph Bank. The latter has been for many years famous for the variety and abundance of its fish, but its distance from the land, 30 or 40 miles, has interfered with systematic fishing on it, so much time being lost in going to 198 BRITISH IND US TRIES. and returning from the ground. The Hull system of packing the fish in ice as soon as caught, seems peculiarly suited to this case; and at one time a steamer was purchased to be used as a carrier ; but unfortunately she was at first employed in trawling in the open part of Waterford Harbour, and this was more than the small-boat fishermen could put up with. It was at a time when the native feeling was very strong against the large trawlers, and the appearance of a steam trawler gave rise to opposition of such a violent character, that it became necessary to send her away. Dunmore, on the west side of the entrance to the harbour, is the trawling station ; and this kind of fishing in deep water continues to be successfully carried on. A curious bye-law is in force in Water- ford Harbour, by which trawlers exceeding 10 tons are excluded from certain parts of it. A short time ago the limit was 5 tons, but it has been recently enlarged. The effect of this bye-law is, that only those boats which can work in shoal water, where the young fish most abound, are allowed to do so ; the privilege of destroying the small fry is limited to those who can do it most effectually ! The professed object of this regulation was to prevent the large trawlers from catching the young fish ; its real object was to quiet the turbulent spirit of the small fishermen by keeping the large trawlers out of their way. There is a good deal of line fishing here also, and seans are used for mackerel and sprats when the fish come within reach. Between Waterford and Kinsale, various modes of fishing are practised, but none requiring any special IRISH FISHERIES. 199 notice. Dungarvan was once an important place, but its fisheries are now much reduced, and numbers of the fishermen have emigrated. Trammels are used at Ring for catching hake, and there is a little inshore trawling and hand-lining. In Ballycottin Bay and Cork Harbour and its neigh- bourhood, the fisheries are also varied, but not very extensive, although a good many fish are taken at times. Kinsale was at one time famous for its line fishery, and the Kinsale hookers were celebrated as sea-going fishing boats. The town has in recent years come into notice as a great station for the mackerel fishery, and at this time is the resort of boats from other parts of Ireland, as well as from Scotland, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man. The fishing, which is by drift nets, begins early in March, and is carried on till about the end of June; and, as is the case with the herring fishery on the east coast, the stranger boats capture the larger proportion of the fish. Of late years many French boats have taken part in this fishery, but their captures are cured on board and taken away. A great step has been made during the last few years in the development of the mackerel fishery, by the establish- ment of a line of steamers, in addition to the sailing vessels, for the transport to England through Milford of the fish landed at Kinsale. In 1875 there were seven steamers constantly engaged in this work, and occasionally three additional ones, besides nineteen sloops. Several other vessels were employed as hulks tor holding the ice, boxes, &c., for packing ; and the 200 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. quantity of ice imported for the purpose of packing the fish in was 3157 tons. The mackerel are placed with layers of broken ice in boxes holding a " hundred " of fish each, which, in the case of mackerel, is equal to six score, or 120. I find from the Inspectors' Returns, that in 1875 there were 121,533 boxes of fish sold at Kinsale as the produce of the fishery for that year ; the prices per " hundred " ranging from 3Z. 10s. at the beginning of the fishery to Is. %^d. at the close ; the total amount realized by the various fishermen who landed their fish at Kinsale being 73,523Z. Pilchards are abundant every year along the south coast of Ire- land ; but notwithstanding the exertions made by the Inspectors and others to establish a fishery for them, little has been done by the fishermen to second their good intentions, and I fear it will be long before advantage is taken of the profitable opportunities year after year thrown in their way. Bantry and Dingle bays are both good fishing grounds, and much profitable work has been done in the last-mentioned locality. Trawling and line fishing have been especially successful there. At Dingle par- ticularly, and on part of the coast northwards, a remarkable kind of fishing boat is in common use. This is the " Curragh," or canvas canoe. The con- struction of these curraghs is very simple, consisting of a light wooden frame for the top sides, strengthened by a keelson curved slightly upwards at each end to form the stern and sternpost. The ribs are pieces of cask hoop, cut to such a length as to give the requisite curve to the bottom, and outside these are nailed long IRISH FISHERIES. 201 narrow battens to serve as flooring. Over this skeleton pieces of tarred canvas are nailed, each strip about two feet wide, and extending round the bottom from one gunwale to the other. Thwarts are fixed in the usual manner, and the canoe is propelled by three or four pairs of light oars. These curraghs float like bubbles on the water when empty, but with four men in them, and each using a pair of oars, they are easily managed, and will go through a great deal of bad weather. They are about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide, and are used for the line fishing. On the west coast of Ireland we come among a class of men, a large proportion of whom are in a state of extreme poverty, and whose lives are spent in various occupations, such as farming, seaweed cutting, &c., besides the occasional one of fishing. In very many cases, when the fish appear on the coast, these men have few means of catching them, and when fortune favours the fishermen, there is frequently no way of disposing of their catch to advantage. It seems almost hopeless to expect much development of the fisheries on this coast, although at times fish are abundant there. It is from this part that emigration has done so much to thin the population; but now that the American labour market has been over supplied, and many of the Irish are returning to their homes, it is difficult to say what will be the effect on those who have had little heart or inclination for anything but to follow their friends abroad. Gal way has been conspicuous for many years for the greater success of its fisheries. The lawless habits of 202 BRITISH INDUSTRIES. the Claddagh men the fishing community of Galway have done much, however, to curtail the work that might have been done in the bay; but the trawlers appear at last to have obtained a footing there, and there can be no doubt that the fisheries might be much improved, if peaceful work could be ensured. The herring fishery is that which brings most general profit, for the time it lasts, but the line fishery for cod, ling, and whiting is of old standing, and the Galway hookers have long been famous among Irish fishing boats. On the coast northwards from Galway, line, drift, and sean fishing are carried on more or less, but the fisheries are very uncertain, and there has been a com- plete scourge of dogfish in Donegal Bay and on parts of the west coast during the last year or two, which has almost ruined the hopes of the fishermen. There is little to be said of the north and north-east coasts ; line fishing is perhaps most general, and there is some small trawling in the loughs, but the fisheries are unimportant till we come to those that I have already noticed on the east coast of the island. INDEX. A. ABERDEEN herring fishery, 162 , steam-tugs at, 162 Action of the trawl, 37 Act relating to Cornish pilchard fishery, 109 Advantages of storing live cod, 74 of decked boats, 168 Anstruther, harbour works at, 160 Approach to land of spawning and fat herrings, 48 , after spawning, of mackerel, 68 of pilchards after spawning, 109 Arbitrary classification of boats, 13 Ardglass, herring fishery at, 195 a BAG-NETS for shrimps, 107 for catching sprats, 97 Bait for cod, 78 Ballantrae, spawning ground of herrings, 183 Ballycottin Bay fisheries, 199 Bantry Bay, fisheries in, 200 Barking supposed to have been the first to begin deep-sea trawling, 119 Barking trawling station, 21, 119 trawl-head, 26 Barnstaple Bay, fishery at, 108 Beam-trawl, construction of, 22 Beam - trawling little used in Scotland, 157 Berwick fisheries, 158 Bideibrd, fishing at, 108 Billingsgate, enlargement of, 8 , supply of fish at, 129 Bloaters, curing of, 142 Blowsers, 111 Boats for shrimping, 105 Branding fees, 167 system, advantages of, 166 , objections to, 166 in 1859-75, 167 Brighton, fisheries at, 126 drift fishing, 125 hog-boats, 125 Bridgewater Bay, 107 " British White Herring Cure," 164 Brixham trawling station, 21, 44, 119 , oldest established, 45, 120 , customs of trawlers at> 121 fishing ground long worked over, 121 fishermen in the time of Elizabeth, 120 at Kamsgate, 127 204 INDEX. Brixham, number of trawl-boats, 120 smacks, cost of, 121 , small extent of trawling- grounds, 121 supposed originator of deep- sea trawling, 119 , various fish caught at, 121 Buckie, boats at, or " Scaffs," 168 " Buckies," or whelks, as bait, 78 Bulter (see Long-line) Buoy or " dan " to long-line, 73 Buoys or " bowls " to drift-net, 56 Burnham shrimp fishery, 107 c. CARNARVON trawling-station, 22 Carriers, Mr. Hewett's, 145 Chesil Beach, seau-fishing at, 92 Claddagh men, 202 Classification of boats, mislead- ing, 14 Close-time of herrings, Act, 178 Clovelly, fishing at, 108 Coalfish, spawning of, 47 , north-east coast, 155 " Coble " boats, 152 Cod-fishing by hand-lines, 80 by long-lines, 74, 80, 160, 184 , bait used in, 72, 78 by trammel-nets, 102 at Faroe and Iceland, 173 at Great Grimsby, 147 at Harwich, 135 , season for, 173 Cod-fishing smacks on the Nor- folk Coast, 80 Cod-chests used at Grimsby, 82, 148 , killing fish taken from, 83 Cod, dried, 171, 173, 174, 178 , spawning of, 47, 155 Cork, fisheries at, 199 Cornish fisheries, 108 Costermongers at Billingsgate, 10 11 Cots," Irish herring-boats, 196 Crabs caught in Scotland by trammel-nets, 102 Crab fishery on Norfolk coast, 146 on Northumberland coast, 156 at Start Bay, 119 on Yorkshire coast, 154 Cromer crab fishery, 146 Curing pilchards, process de- scribed, 112 "Curragh," or canvas canoe, 200 D. DANDY-LINE fishing, 85 , origin of name, 87 "Darwen salmon," or dogfish, 106 Depth of water for trawling, 43 Difficulty of obtaining fish on the coast, 5 Dingle trawling station, 22 boats, peculiar, 200 line-fishing, 200 INDEX. 205 Dogfish, injuries to lines by, 79, 105, 202 Dogger Bank fishery, 135 Donegal Bay, dogfish at, 202 Dover, trawling station, 21 Drift-fishing boats, rig of, 57, 125 , Cornish, 14 9 Scottish, 14 , Yarmouth, 14, 58 at Brighton, 125 at Hastings, 125 at Kinsale, 199 at Lowestoft, 137 Drift-net fishing, 49, 59, 106, 115 , commencement of, unknown, 49 , or " driving," 53 , probable antiquity of, 49 , season for, 63 , usually at night, 51, 57 for sprats, 70 Drift-nets, explanation of the name, 49 , action of, 59 , " deepings," 55 , description of, 53 , how mounted, 54 , how the fish are caught by, 50 , materials used for, 55 , "train, fleet, or drift of nets," 55, 61 Drumore oyster fishery, 184 " Dry-bottomed " vessels, 77 Dublin trawling station, 22, 120, 193 Dunbar, herring fishery at, 158 Dungarvan, decline of fisheries at, 199 Dutch auction, trawl-fish sold by, 122 E. EELS, trim-net for catching, 97 Emigration of Irish fishermen, 191 English fisheries, 103 Eyemouth, haddock fishery at, 159 F. FAROE cod-fishery, 173 Ferry-boats at Yarmouth, 140 " Finnan haddie," 161 Firth of Clyde fisheries, 180 of Forth fisheries, 158, 160 Fish carried by rail from Har- wich, 136 caught by trawling, 37 , French, 123 , increasing supply of, 107 , sale of, by telegraph, 7, 122 , treatment of, after capture, 9 spawn not taken in the trawl, 39 supposed to come inshore in order to spawn, 48 Fisheries, causes of development of, 12 , Cornish, 108 , English, 103 , Irish, 188 , Manx, 186 , Scotch, 157 , Welsh, 106 Fishing, principal methods of, 19 p 2 206 INDEX. Fishing trade, recent changes in the, 4, 6 Fishing-boats, classes of, 13, 19 , cost of, 15 , Irish, 13 , increase of number, 15 , increase of size of, 13, 15 , table of tonnage of, 18 Fleetwood trawling station, 21 Flounders, trim-net for catching, 97 Fluctuations of coast fisheries, 3 Frazerburgh, herring fishery at, 161 Froude's mention of Brixham trawlers in the time of Eliza- beth, 120 G. GALWAY hookers, 202 trawling station, 22 Great Silver Pit trawling ground, 43, 44 Grimsby trawling station, 21, 147 cod-chests, 82 , docks for smacks at, 149 , number of boats, 148 , statistics of fish at, 149 Ground-fish, 37 rope, 27, 38 scan, convenient for ama- teurs, 92 suitable for trawling, 38 H. HADDOCK curing, 159 fishery, 159 ' season, 159 spawning of, 47, 155 Hake caught by trammel-nets. 102 , fishing for, 40, 199 , spawning of, 47 Hand-line, description of, 80 fishing for cod, 81 Harwich fishery, rise and decline of the, 134, 135 cod-chests, 136 , number of smacks, 134, 135 Hauling-in drift-nets, 60 long-lines, 74 the trawl, 40 Hebrides fisheries, 176 Herring boats, cost of, 115 fishery at Brixham, 124 Isle of Man, 186 Irish coast, 195 Lowestoft, 137 in Scotland, fluctua- tions of, 3 , seasons for, at Lowes- toft, 138 in the Channel, 65 on the English coast, 64, 65 on the Irish coast, 67 on the Scotch coast, 64, 65, 66, 158 at Stornoway, 176 at Yarmouth, 139 at Wick, 170 Herrings, close-time Act, 178 bad effects of, 179 INDEX. 207 Herrings, close-time Act, partial repeal of, 179 unjustifiable, 179 caught by trammel-nets, 102 ,a "last" of, 141 , mode of reckoning, 141 , salting and curing of, 142, 164, 169, 176, 178 , spawning of, 48 , statistics, 141 "Hog boats," 125 Hogsheads of pilchards, average contents of, 113 Holy Island, fishing-boats at, 156 Howth, herring fishery at, 195 Huers, for sean fishing, 111 Hull, trawling station at, 9, 150 , fishing in fleets at, 151 , number of boats, 150 Humber, fisheries in the, 150 " Hundred " of herrings, 141 of mackerel, 141 I. ICE used on board trawlers, 9, 42, 146 , effect on fish kept in, 11 imported at Grimsby, 150 , use of, on board trawlers first begun by Mr. S. Hewett, 9, 145 , quantity of, used at Hull, 152 , imported from Nor- way, 9 Icing the fish, flavour affected by, 11 Irish fisheries, 17, 188 , annual decline of, 17, 188 , " cots " or herring- boats, 196 , eastern coasts, 193 , effect of emigration on, 191 , effect of the famine on, 191 , fishing-boats, 189. , herrings, 195 , line fishing, 194 , oysters, 196 , seasons, 194 , trawling, 194 fishermen, 189 , various occupations of, 192, 193 , help offered to, by Mr. B. Whitworth, 193 Isle of Man fisheries, 194 K. " KEEL BOATS," 156 Kettle-nets, description of, 98 , meshes, size of, 98 , mode of working with, 99 , near Hastings, 126 , objections to their use, 100 , where used, 98 Killing the cod for market, 83 Kinsale fisheries, 1 99 , returns for, 200 , hookers, 199 Knott, record of produce of a smack belonging to Mr. H., 45 p 3 208 INDEX. L. u LAST " of herrings, 141 Length of fleet of herring-nets, 55 -> of mackerel-nets, 61 Leigh, shrimpers at, 130 Line-fishing, 71 , two principal methods of ? 71,84 , boats for, 84 at Brixham, 123 on Cornish coast, 116 at Grimsby, 71 at Harwich, 135 at Newhaven, 159 , season for, 80 at the Shetlands, 172 in Wales, 107 Ling, dried, 171, 173, 174, 178 " Live cod," 84 Liverpool trawling station, 21 Lobster fisheries at the Hebrides, 178 on Norfolk coast, 146 on Northumberland coast, 156 at the Orkneys, 171 on YoAshire coast, 154 Lochfyne herring fisheries, 180 , description of, 182 , " trawling " in, 183 London fishing-boats, 127, 129 Long-lining, 178, 194, 198 Long-lines, description of, 72 , buoy or " dan" to long-line, 73 for cod, 74, 135, 160 for haddock, 159 , method of use, 73 , names for, 71 , number of hooks on, 72 Looking for fish, 111 Loss of trawl-smacks in North Sea, 43 Lowestoft fisheries, 137 , official return of boats at, 137 , three fisheries yearly, 137 trawling station, 21 herring fisheries, 137 Lug-rig common in Scotch fish- ing-boats, 168 Luminous water disadvantageous in fishing, 63 MACKEREL fishing in Cornwall, 108, 115 in Devonshire, 124 on the south coast, 124 - at Lowestoft, 137 at Yarmouth, 144 by drift-nets, 61, 67, 68 season on the English coast, 68, 115 on the Irish coast, 68, 198 on the Scotch coast, 68 on the Manx coast, 69 by ground-seans off Brighton and Portland, 92 , kettle. nets for catching, 98 , a * hundred " of, 141 , spawning of, 47, 68 Malm's observations on spawn- ing, 47 INDEX. 209 Manilla hemp for trawl-nets, 33 Manship on the origin of Yar- mouth, 139 Manx fisheries, 186 - boats, 187 fishermen in the south of Ireland, 187 "Marfire," 62 Markets for Shetland cured fish, 177 Mesh of drift-net for herrings, 55 for mackerel, 61 for pilchards, 61 of scringe -net, 93 for shrimps, 130 of stow-net, 94 of trammel-net, 101 of trawl-net, 30 Mevagissey, Cornish sardines at, 115 " Migratory " fish, 108 Minch herring fishery, 176 line fishing, 178 " Mingle," 96 Montrose, herring fishery at, 161 Moray Firth, 168 Morecambe Bay famous for shrimping, 105 Mussel fishing, 105, 147 N. NEWHAVEN, fisheries at, 158 Newlyn, Cornish sardines at, 115 Northumberland coast fisheries, 155 0. OBSTACLES to fishing in the west coast of Ireland, 67 "Offal" fish, 41, 118 Orkney fisheries, 170 boats, 171 Oyster fishery at Milford, 106 dredging, 133, 184 P. PACKING herrings at Yarmouth, 144 lobsters for the market, 171 of pilchards at St. Ives, 112 1 Paternoster fishing, 85 I Peterhead, herring fishery at, 161 Phosphorescent light in the sea, 62 Pilchard fishery chiefly on the Cornish coast, 69, 91, 108, 124 season on the Cornish coast, 69, 109 drift-nets, 61 seaning at St. Ives, 69, 89, 109 season off Ireland, 70 Pilchards on south coast of Ire- land, 124, 200 , method of curing, 112 , at St. Ives, 112 , export trade of, 113 , extraordinary catch of, 113 , manufacture of" sardines" from young, 115 , estimate of takes, 111 , oil extracted from, 113 , packing, 112 , spawning of, 109 , table of shipments of cured, 114 " Pit seasons," 44 Plaice, demand for, 10 , spawning of, 155 210 INDEX. Plymouth trawling station, 21, 44, 117 trawlers, 117 , fish sent from, 118 u Prime " fish, 19, 41 Prime and offal fish, 45 Proportion of prime to offal fish, 45 R. RAILWAYS, effect of, on fish trade, 4 Ramsgate trawling station, 21, 126 , number of boats, 127 Rate of speed for trawling, 37 Red mullet, 46 caught at Guernsey, 102 Registration of fishing-boats, J3 Ring, fishery at, 199 Rockall bank fisheries, 175 "Round "fish, 38 Rye Bay trawling ground, 126 s. ST. IVES, seaning at, 69, 89, 109 , famous grounds at, 109 Saithe, 172, 174 Sardines, Cornish and French, 116 Sars, Professor, discovery by, 39, 47 Scarborough trawling station, 21 , boats used at, 155 Scotch fisheries, 157 , trawl or sean, 20 , various kinds, 157 Fishery Board, report for 1875, 52 Scotch fishing-boats, change in, 16, 157 , masts of, 17 harbours, small, 157 herrings cured, returns of, 164 , branding system, 166 line fisheries, return of, 174 mode of curing herrings, 164 trawling season, 184 stations, 22 Scotland, interference with "trawling "in, 181, 182 , return of Fishery Board for, 164 , value of boats, nets, and lines, 185 Serin ge-net, 91 Sea fisheries, position of, 1 , present condition of, 1 Act, 1868, 13 Sean, the, 20, 87 Sean-fishing, 87, 89 at St. Ives, 89, 109, 114 in Cornwall, 89, 114 Act of Parliament regu- lating, 109 , boats used for, 110, 115 at Brighton, 92 "huers," 111 , Mount's bay, 1 14 at Mousehole, 114 at Newlyn, 114 at Portland, 92 in Scotch lochs, 91 called " trawling " in Scot- land, 91 , season for, 109 Sean- or seine-nets, 87 INDEX. 211 Sean- or seine-nets, description of, 88 , great antiquity of, 88 , ground or foot, 91, 92 , meshes used in, 92 , method of working, 89, 90 , size, regulations as to, 110 , tuck, 90 , various kinds used here, 88 Set- or trammel-nets, 100 Sherringham crab fishery, 146 Shetland fisheries, 170, 172 smacks, 174 yawls or "haaf boats," 175 Shrimp fishery, 105, 107, 130, 147, 152 , boats for, 132 boats, rig of, 132 net, 130 season, 132 " Smacks," or trawl-boats, 23 Smelts, trim-net for catching, 97 Solent, fishing in the, 124 Soles, 194 Spawning habits of sea fish, 46 Spiller (see Long- line) Spilliard (see Long-line) Sprats, drift-fishing for, 70 , bag-nets on weirs for catch- ing, 97 for manure, 97 seaning, 124 , stow-net for catching, 93 , trade in, 96 Sprawl-wire, 80, 81 Start Bay, crab fishery at, 119 Steamers carrying fish, 130, 145, 199 Steam-power applied to fishing boats, experiments and diffi- culties, 162, 163 " Stow-boating," 96, 134, 147 Stow-net, description of, 93 , meshes of, 94 , parts of, 93 , working of, 94 fishing, 94 in the Solent, 93, 124 in the Thames, 93, 127 in the Wash, 93 Supply of fish difficult to ascer- tain, 6 *' Swills," or Yarmouth fish- baskets, 140 Swinden on the origin of Yar- mouth, 139 . T. Table of tonnage of fishing-boats, 18 Tenby, fisheries at, 106 trawling station, 22, 106 Thames, fisheries in the, 127 Trammel- or set-nets, 100, 102 , action of, 101 , different kinds of, 100 , meshes of, 101 , origin of name, 100 or " tumbling-net," 102 used at Guernsey, 102 Trawl-boats, present and former, cost of, 15, 32, 121 , fit-out of, 32 , " ketch-rigged," 32 , number of seagoing, 46 , rigging of, 13, 17, 31 Trawlers, Plymouth, 117 212 INDEX. Trawl-beam, 23 Trawl-bridle, 30 Trawl-heads, description of, 25 , Barking pattern, 26 , use of, 25 Trawling, 19, 20 by the French, 21 Belgians, 21 Dutch, 21 in the North Sea, 41 , rapid increase of, 21 Trawling Stations : Barking, 21, 119, 127 Brixham, 21, 119 Carnarvon, 22, 104 Devonshire coast, 117 Dingle, 22, 200 Dover, 21 Dublin, 22, 120, 193 Fleetwood, 21 Galway, 22, 201 Grimsby, 21, 119, 147, 148 Harwich, 134, 136 Hull, 9, 21, 119, 147, 150 Liverpool, 21 Lowestoft, 21, 137 Morecambe Bay, 105 Plymouth, 21, 117 Ramsgate, 21, 119, 126 Scarborough, 21, 155 Scottish coast, 22, 158, 180, 183 Tenby, 22 Waterford, 22, 196 Whitehaven, 21 Yarmouth, 21 Trawling-grounds : In the Channel, 44, 126 In the Irish Sea, 44 Isle of Man, 104 Trawling-grounds : In the North Sea, 43 Coast of Scotland, 44 Off Welsh coast, 107 Trawl-net, action of, 37 , back, 26 , beam, 23 , belly, 26 , bosom, 27 , bridles, 30 , " cod " or " purse," 28, 29 , description of, 20, 22 , draw-rope, 28 , flapper, 29 , ground-rope, 27 meshes, 30 pockets, 29 , use of, 29, 30 , proportions of, 27, 30 '* rounded " hawser, 27 , rubbing pieces, 28 , Scotch or " sean," 20 , Spanish, 21 , square, 26 , true or "beam," 20 , twine for, 30 , working the, 33, 37 Trim-net used in the Wash, 97 Trim-tram net, 136 Trot (see Long-line) Turbot, trammel-nets for catch- ing, 102 Tusk, 172, 173, 174, 178 Twine drift-nets, how made, 55 w. Water-carriage of fish, 6 Waterford trawling station, 22, 198 , bag-nets for sprats at, 97 INDEX. 213 Weather suitable for trawling, 42 for drift-net fishing, 51 Welled smacks, 74, 134 , construction of, 74 , cost of, 77 , crews of, 77 , Dutch origin of, 74 first used in England, 74 Welsh fisheries, 106 Whelks, bait for cod, 78 , how caught, 78, 79 , how kept alive, 79 , numbers required for each cod-smack, 79 , where caught, 78 Whitebait, nets for catching, 97 Whitehaven trawling station, 21 Whiting fishery, 118, 123 Y. YARMOUTH trawling station, 21, 120, 137 trawl-head, 26 vessels, 57 , A-X^>. r> _ - --: