142 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



for all bands are found by tbe owner, without deduction 

 for them from the wages. 



Bait is an important item in the expenses of a cod- 

 smack ; it comes next on the hst after wages, provisions, 

 and depreciation of vessel, and costs more than the wear 

 and tear of sails and rigging. Whelks or "buckies," as 

 they are called in Scotland, are exclusively used as bait 

 on the longlines by the cod-smacks, on account of their 

 toughness and the good hold they consequently give to 

 the hook. It is a curious circumstance that although 

 mussels, which are such an excellent bait for almost all 

 kinds of fish, are in general use with longlines when 

 worked from small boats; they are said not to answer 

 for the smacks, notwithstanding that the lines are on 

 the same princij^le and commonly catch the same kinds 

 of fish. The explanation given of this is that the smack 

 works in rougher water and is under less control than 

 the boats — that as the line runs out very fast, and has 

 a rapid drag through tlie water on its way to the 

 bottom, soft bait like mussels is very likely to be washed 

 off the hook ; but small boats are under the command 

 of the oars, and the line goes overboard slowly, each 

 hook entering the water and sinking without more 

 resistance than there would be to a handline in a tide- 

 way. 



The procuring of whelk-bait is a regular trade, in 

 which many small craft from 12 to 15 tons are con- 

 stantly employed. Large quantities of these shell-fish 

 are obtained from Boston and Lynn Deeps, but they 

 are also fished for along the Kentish shore and on 

 other parts of the coast. 



Of the methods in use for catching whelks the one 

 adopted about Harwich is that called " trotting." The 

 trot is only another name for a longline of small dimen- 



