FISHING STATIONS— ENGLAND. 203 



undoubtedly armed vessels. Among the first six of 

 these stands the " Roebuck, Sir Walter Raleigh^ The 

 remaining ships, forming more than half the fleet, are 

 given nnder the heading of the towns by which tliey 

 were provided. 



The Roebuck is evidently spoken of as one of the 

 armed ships, and not a mere fishing vessel; but although 

 we will not venture to say the two versions are in- 

 capable of reconciliation, we should have been glad if 

 comparing them had lessened our first doubt about 

 there having been trawlers at Brixham so long ago 

 as 1588. 



We will now turn to modern Brixham, and say a 

 few words about what has been the condition of the 

 trawl-fishery there in recent years. The subject has 

 some interest in connection with the allegation that 

 beam-trawling not only causes a wasteful destruction of 

 fish, but leads to a permanent exhaustion of the fishing 

 grounds. The conclusions arrived at by the Royal Sea 

 Fisheries Commissioners after an exhaustive inquiry 

 into the subject in 1863-5 were to the effect that 

 whilst trawling, like almost every other method of sea 

 fishing, caused the destruction of a certain number of 

 young fish, there was not the slightest appearance of 

 the trawling grounds having become exhausted; but, 

 on the contrary, the continual increase in the number 

 of trawl-smacks was strong evidence that the supply of 

 fish to be obtained from the grounds was greater than 

 had ever been believed ; for it seemed impossible to 

 suppose that men would year after year invest their 

 savings in vessels for the purpose of carrying on this 

 particular method of fishing, if the supply of fish were 

 year after year becoming less. Yet there are many 

 people at the present time who adhere to the belief that 



