202 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



appears to have first become famous as a fishing station 

 on account of its welled-smacks which were used for tlie 

 North Sea cod fishery, as is the case now; and we 

 know that at the beginning of the present century the 

 Brixham trawlers were of small size. But if we mny 

 rely on Mr. Froude in this matter, Brixham had sea- 

 going trawlers in the time of Elizabeth and the Spanish 

 Armada, which will take us back to 1588 — nearly three 

 liundred years ago. In his description' of the English 

 attack on the Spanish fleet, he says : — " Drake return- 

 ing from the chase, came up witli her (the Cajntana, 

 the Admiral's disabled ship,) in the morning. She 

 struck her flag, and he took her with him to Torbay, 

 wliere he left her to the care of the Brixham fishermen, 



and himself hastened after the Admiral The 



prize proved of unexpected value. Many casks of reals 

 were found in her, and, infinitely more important, 

 some tons of gunpowder, with which the Roehick, the 

 swiftest trawler in the harbour, flew in pursuit of 

 the fleet." 



In the course of a search for more information on 

 this trawling question, we found the same vessel re- 

 ferred to in the ponderous work by " Mr. Oldmixon," " 

 who says — "At which instant a great galeon (the 

 Admiral's ship) lost her foremast, and Sir Francis 

 Drake in the Revenge took her .... and Sir Francis 

 sent the Roebuck with her into Dartmouth." 



He gives the names of the 88 ships composing the 

 English fleet then in the Channel, only 35 of them 

 apparently belonging to the Ro}'al Navy ; but the rest 

 are described as " Other Ships of the best Sort" ; and 

 as they formed part of the English fleet, they were 



' History vf Eii<jlati(I, vol. xii., i\ o'JT, Cabinet Edition (1S70). 

 ^ History of En<jland {Wcwxy Vil I.— Elizabotli), p. 5SS (173'J). 



