69 



66. Working out of deep water harbours, boats such as the 

 latest designs of Scotch herring boats, are indicated as most 

 suitable for lining and drift-netting ; decked boats of this type 

 should hold their own in any weather commonly encountered off 

 Indian coasts and quite suitable to make the long journey from 

 Mangalore to the ocean banks north of the Laccadives. 

 Whether the local lateen sail, serviceable, simple, and immensely 

 powerful, should be retained, or whether it may be replaced by 

 the handier British lug and mizzen can only be decided by 

 experience ; it should be the aim of any working experiment in 

 deep-sea fishing to settle this point by specific trial, either by 

 working competitively two boats rigged in the two fashions 

 or by trying one boat first under the one rig and then under 

 the other, under the same conditions and for a period of several 

 weeks at each trial. The big lateen has the initial advantage 

 of being already thoroughly understood, excellently handled by 

 the men of these coasts particularly by the boatmen of Tuti- 

 corin and Pamban and by the Bombay men who man the 

 Ratnagiri fishing boats and the fleets of pattamar coasters seen 

 in such numbers along the west coast during the north-east 

 monsoon ; as developed in the Tuticorin cargo boats this sail 

 gives wonderful speed in the light winds so characteristic of 

 our seas. 



European boats, especially those of Great Britain and 

 France, are built and rigged to withstand Atlantic gales, 

 perhaps the worst weather to be met with anywhere in the 

 world ; and, as their fair weather winds are generally stronger 

 than our ordinary winds, the sail area carried by a Scotch 

 fishing lugger is very considerably less than Indian coasters of 

 the same size habitually carry. For example in a design of a 

 typical fishing lugger as used in British waters, the sail area 

 works out at 900 square feet in a 40-foot boat, whereas an 

 Indian designer gives 1,500 square feet sail area to a 50-foot 

 boat. 



67. No restriction as to depth and draft of water need be 

 placed on fishing boats using the harbours of Madras, Mangalore, 

 Cochin and Pamban. Those usiDg most of the other harbours 

 in the first instance and till we have further experience, should 

 be restricted to a maximum of 5 feet draft when loaded. For 

 harbours with specially shallow entrances and those such as 

 Kistnapatam where considerable surf breaks on the bar, decked 

 boats of an improved Ratnagiri type, shallow, of great beam 

 (more than 1 in 3 of the length), and with both stem and stern 

 well sheered, should prove the most suitable. 



68. The next step will be to translate these deductions into 

 practice and to learn from every -day working experience carried 



