280 ORIGIN OF THE NA:\tE WHITEBAIT. 



"In the year 1798 my father, Eichard Thoraas 

 Camion, succeeded my grandfather in the business, and 

 suppHed the whole of the hotels and taverns at the 

 above-named places, and all the leading fishmongers in 

 London. 



" He had the honour of supplying His Koyal High- 

 ness the Prince Eegent, at Carlton House, and from the 

 year 1820 (when His Majesty King George the Fourth 

 ascended the throne, until 1830 ; during the ten years' 

 reign of that monarch), my father supplied the royal 

 table with whitebait every day throughout each succes- 

 sive season. He had also the honour of supplying His 

 Eoyal Highness the Prince Leopold (His Majesty the 

 late King of the Belgians), the Foreign Ambassadors, 

 and most of the nobility in London. I had the honour 

 of taking the fish to Carlton House, St. James's Palace, 

 &c. 



" I have succeeded my father in the business nearly 

 forty years, and have supplied the hotels and taverns 

 at Greenwich and Blackwall, up to the present time. 



'* I have supplied the Brunsw^ick Hotel, Blackwall, 

 for thirty-five years successively. 



" 1878. '' James Henry Cannon.'' 



The use of these fish as bait (before utilized as food) 

 directly affected the fisheries of the North Sea in the 

 following curious manner. The whitebait were used as 

 bait in crab pots for catching the common shore crabs. 

 These crabs were used for catching whelks in the 

 estuary of the Thames by the process called "trotting," 

 and finally the whelks were (and still are) of very great 

 importance for catching cod in the North Sea. 



When used as '' bait " these fish — as now^ — were 

 bright and silvery, and were called u-hite-hait, in contra- 

 distinction to other baits that were not white. "When 



