tt^awlixct. 77 



one knot — is very commonly ascribed to tlie supposed 

 great pressure of the beam and net on the bottom, and 

 to their not being towed h'ghtly over the ground, but 

 dragged through it. This is the foundation of most of 

 the arguments used by the opponents of trawHng — 

 persons who never can have sought to ascertain the real 

 action of the trawl, and who talk of the destruction of 

 spawn, &c., by the heavy beam, apparently unaware that 

 the beam is raised nearly three feet from the ground, 

 and that were its position reversed not a fish could 

 enter the net. It must not be forgotten that the weight 

 of the whole gear is very considerably diminished by 

 its immersion in the water, so much so that the loading 

 of the ends of the beam by the head-irons and the occa- 

 sional use of chains on the ground-rope are necessary to 

 keep the trawl at the bottom and to counteract the 

 tendency it has to rise owing to the resistance of the 

 water to the beam and the upward pull of the trawl- 

 warp leading to the vessel. The great drag is unques- 

 tionably due to the pressure of the water inside the net. 

 Anyone who has been looking on when a scan or circle 

 net has been at work must have observed the labour 

 required to drag the net through the water, and that 

 the fact of the foot of the net touching the bottom or 

 not hardly affects the proceeding. The great difficulty 

 is evidently due to the resistance of the water inside 

 the net, as shown by the meshes being fully spread 

 oj^en. The same action must be familiar to many per- 

 sons in the case of landing-nets, shrimp-nets, &c. ; and 

 it would be hardly needed to mention the subject if the 

 enormous resistance there must necessarily be to a bag- 

 net of the dimensions of an ordinary deep-sea trawl, 

 when towed through the water at even moderate speed, 

 were not so commonly overlooked. But a proof of the 



