6 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



exertion, and encourage tliem to make use of Letter 

 kinds of boats and gear. 



Fisliermen are generally proud of their boats and of 

 their professional knowledge. We were once told in 

 Ireland that we should find every fisherman there 

 insisting on the boats of his own locality being the best 

 in the country ; and if by any chance we could obtain 

 his confidence, he would tell us that his own boat was 

 the best in the place. This feeling, however, although 

 common, was not universal, nor is it by any means 

 confined to Ireland. We all have a natural disposition 

 to think well of what has done us good service ; and it 

 is only when we have to compete with strangers that 

 we fully realize the defects in our cherished property 

 which throw us behind in the race. This is notably 

 true of fishing boats ; and the tendency in recent years 

 among fishermen to visit parts of the coast at long 

 distances from their own homes, so that boats of dif- 

 ferent styles and classes often fish in company, has led 

 to many improvements being made, especially in regard 

 to their size and for the comfort of the men. The 

 result is that the boats can go farther to sea, and are 

 more independent of weather. There is, of course, 

 increased expense, but larger returns are made because 

 the fishing is carried on with more regularity and 

 system. 



Since the recent great extension of net-making ma- 

 chinery fishermen have come to rely very much on 

 manufacturers for their gear, and especially for drift- 

 nets, which are now made of suitable lengths and sizes, 

 requiring little trouble on the part of the fishermen to 

 mount and fit them ready for use. It is but a few 

 years ago that on very many parts of the coast almost 

 the whole of the gear was prepared at home, the wife 



