60 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



parting of the warp by whicli the trawl is towed, and 

 the consequent loss of the whole gear. If, however, 

 the ground-rope give way, the only damage likely to 

 result is in the under part of the net behind it being 

 torn open ; the whole apparatus then comes away clear, 

 when it can be hoisted up, overhauled, and the netting 

 and rope repaired. It was formerly tlie custom to 

 weight the ground-rope to ensure its close working 

 over the bottom, and it is still sometimes the practice at 

 Yarmouth to use short lengths of chain for that pur- 

 pose, secured at each end by ropeyarns to the ground- 

 rope, so as to be easily torn away in case of getting 

 foul. The French trawlers also use chain on the 

 ground-rope, but in those we have examined a great 

 length of chain has been suspended in short festoons 

 and secured by iron rings over the rope, and therefore 

 not easily detached. Our west-country fishermen find 

 that by giving a larger sweep to the ground-rope an 

 old hawser is heavy enough without other addition than 

 the small rope with which it is covered or rounded. 



The narrow straight sides of the net between tlie 

 back and the ground -rope, and extencfing from the 

 trawl-heads to nearly on a level with the bosom, are 

 called tlie " wings " or " gorings "; they are generally 

 made of separate pieces of net, and are inserted when 

 the several parts composing the trawl are put togetl]er. 



From the bosom the whole net, now forming a com- 

 plete bag (Fig. 1 e), tapers to the cod or purse, a length 

 equal to about two-thirds of that of the beam. The cod 

 (Fig. 1/) is a narrow bag about one-seventh of the 

 entire length of the trawl ; it is that part of the net 

 into whicli all the fish which pass over tlie ground-rope 

 sooner or later find their way, and in which most of 

 them are collected when the net is hauled in. The 



