224 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



belonging to the port, and being owned by London and 

 Barking men, they have h'ttle to do with the Thames, 

 and nothing with its fisheries. They all work in the 

 North Sea, and their fish is landed at various ports — 

 tlie cod at Grimsby or Harwich, and the trawl-fish is 

 sent either direct to BilUngsgate by steam or sailing- 

 carriers, or to some railway station on the coast, as 

 may be most convenient at the time. Gravesend and 

 Greenwich, once storing places for live cod, have been 

 compelled to give np that connection with the deep-sea 

 line-fishery, it having been found impossible to keep 

 the North Sea cod alive for any time in the sewage- 

 laden w^aters of the Thames. This portion of the fishing 

 trade is being gradually concentrated at Grimsby, 

 where the fish can be landed soon after they are caught, 

 and whence they can be readily forwarded by rail 

 according- to the demand in the market. 



The trawl-fish sent to Billingsgate are forwarded 

 either by rail or water carriage, depending to a great 

 extent on the part of the coast on which the fish are 

 caught, but also on the facilities afforded by favourable 

 winds for bringing the fish direct to London. At some 

 ports on the east coast — Grimsby and Hull, for example 

 — the quantity of fish landed there and sent away by rail 

 has been steadily increasing. A great deal of this fish 

 is forwarded to the inland markets, and the Hull and 

 Grimsby smacks, which work largely for plaice and had- 

 docks, do not regularly come to the Thames. London, 

 however, is the great market for soles, and a very 

 large proportion of these fish is sent to Billingsgate. 

 Although vessels belonging to all the northern stations 

 come to London, there is no positive rule for their 

 doing so; but within the last twelvemonths (1873-4) 

 carriage by water has been in increasing favour. The 



