Living Silver 



on the Caroon; but the others were no longer attached to the 

 wings of the net. Inch- thick rusted wires, inch- thick and almost 

 a quarter of a mile long, now led back from the boards to the 

 dumpy orbs of the Dan Lenos. These in turn were fastened to an 

 iron butterfly, heavy too and usually rusted, a long thin arc of 

 metal divided into two arms. From the upper and longer one the 

 top leg, thick wire again, reached back for twenty fathoms to the 

 head-line. The shorter and lower wing of the butterfly held a simi- 

 lar leg of wire and it was attached to the ground-rope. This gear 

 had been developed early in the century by some Belgians and was 

 known as the Vigneron-Dahl, or VD gear. By this time, it was 

 obligatory for European trawlers. To float all these auxiliary de- 

 vices out into fishing position was a much more complex oper- 

 ation than the mere shooting of a simple trawl. Yet, with the 

 continual depredations of men on the main grounds, they were all 

 necessary if fish were to be caught in commercial numbers . The 

 Dan Lenos acted as spreaders, holding the mouth of the net open, 

 the gorge of a cage, and battering down obstacles with their thick 

 iron studs. And the legs too tended to keep this throat open, 

 stretching it more effectively than any pattern of boards could ever 

 have done, and they acted also, as the lengthy sweeps did, like shep- 

 herds or sheepdogs to direct fish into the net. For Jan discovered 

 that fish acted like sheep. When they were chased by a ware 

 drawn over the sea bottom they ran away from it, swam forward and 

 forward as fast as they could. They never thought of jumping over 

 it or even of holding themselves stationary above it and letting the 

 wire pass under them. They always went forward until, giving up 

 hope of ever escaping, they turned at right angles and floated back 

 into the belly of the net. By use of these various wires the catch- 

 ing power of any given net could thus be magnified to three or 

 four times its original value. To think, then, of the net as the chief 

 instrument of capture became slightly ridiculous, since it was di- 

 rectly responsible for only about a quarter of the catch although all 

 the fish were finally guided into it. 



The gargling roar of machinery thudded through Jan's memory 



148 



