150 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



water, which also has access tlirongli the sides and 

 ends between the planks of which they are con- 

 structed. The top is wholly planked over, except 

 in the centre, where there is an oblong opening for 

 putting in and taking out the fish, and which is closed 

 by a cover when the chest is afloat and in use. Two 

 rope or chain handles are fixed in the ends of the chest, 

 for convenience in moving it about and hoisting it up 

 from the water. Each chest will hold forty good-sized 

 cod, or nearly a hundred smaller ones, and the fish will 

 keep alive in them without any material falling off in 

 their condition for about a fortnight. The cod is the 

 only fish stored in this manner, except on rare occasions, 

 when a cargo of live haddocks is brought in. The 

 chests belong to the smack-owners individually, or to a 

 small number of them who have formed an association 

 for their own benefit, or for the purpose of letting them 

 to those owners who may want additional storage room. 

 A charge of ninepence is made for each chest every 

 time it is stored. There are usually about 400 ^ of these 

 chests in the Grimsby fish-dock, sometimes all in use, 

 and containing from 15,000 to 20,000 live cod. 



Every day during the cod season a certain number of 

 these stored fish, according to the demand, are taken 

 out of the chests and sent off by rail to Lor; don and 

 other markets. A remarkable scene is then presented, 

 and one peculiar to Grrimsby and Harwich, the places 



^ A paragraph appeared in one of the morning papers in IMai'cli, 1872, 

 stating that there had been large arrivals of cod and ling at Grimsby, and that 

 " these chests, a thousand in number, were all full, and smacks had to keep 

 their fish on board. There were not less than 50,000 live ling and cod in the 

 tanks." We happened to be at Grimsby at the time when these large arrivals 

 were said to have taken place, and on inquiring into the truth of tlie above 

 statement, found that tlie number of chests used for storing cod was about 400, 

 and one vessel had been delayed for a few hours on account of all the chests 

 being in use. Ling will not live in these tanks, and consequently are never put 

 into them. 



