152 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



the nose with a short bkidgeon, kills it at once. With 

 a large and lively fish it is sometimes as much as can 

 be done to hold it down with one hand on the slippery 

 deck whilst giving it the coujy de grdce ; but tlie work 

 is generally skilfully performed, and the dead fish 

 rapidly accumulate into a large heap, whence they are 

 taken on shore to be packed in bulk in the railway 

 trucks waiting close by to receive them. Each truck 

 will hold about twelve score of good-sized fish, or a 

 proportionately larger number of smaller ones. The 

 fish thus killed and packed reach Billingsgate in time 

 for the market early the next morning, and are known 

 in the trade by the name of " live cod," as they are 

 quite fit for crimping on their arrival^ some hours after 

 having been killed in the manner described. These cod 

 command the highest price, and are looked upon as 

 essentially "West End" fish. 



The advantage of being able to store the cod alive is 

 of course a general one ; for not only is the market 

 more regularly supplied than would otherwise be the 

 case, owing to small catches during bad weather or 

 delays from calms or adverse winds, but the fish them- 

 selves come into the hands of the fishmongers in a 

 fresher state than almost any other kinds supplied to 

 them. 



Line-fishing by the two methods just described is 

 carried on more or less on all parts of the coast, with 

 various modifications in the size of the hooks, the kind 

 of bait, the form of leaden sinker, and the length 

 and size of the lines, dependent mainly on the kind of 

 fish worked for. Excepting in the case of large cod, 

 ling, holibut, and skate, and haddock at certain times of 

 the year, line-fish are mostly caught within a few miles 

 of the shore ; and the boats employed, either rowing or 



