FISHING STATIONS— ENGLAND. 247 



fisliery when there is no drift-fishing going on ; and as 

 the lug-rig is not convenient for trawl-boats, a different 

 set of masts and sails is then used, and the lucfp-er is 

 converted into a ketch. This rig we have before 

 noticed ^ as coming into fashion with the regular 

 trawlers at other ports, especially with the large ones 

 recently built. The Barking pattern of trawl-iron is 

 the one most commonly used at Yarmouth. 



Between Yarmouth and the Wash there are a few 

 small fishing villages, of which Cromer and Sherring- 

 ham are the most important. The bottom along this 

 coast is rocky, and the characteristic fisheries are those 

 for crabs and lobsters ; there is also some line-fishing, 

 but the herring boats are few. The boats used by the 

 crabbers are of a rather peculiar build — short and 

 roomy, although sharp at both ends; their usual size 

 is about 15 feet long and 5 feet beam; no thole-pins 

 are used, but the oars are worked through holes cut in 

 the gunwale plank. These boats carry a single large 

 lug, with which they do pretty good work, and they 

 have a crew of two, or sometimes three men. The crab 

 season lasts from the 1st of April to the 20th of June, 

 and the lobster fishery is systematically carried on from 

 the middle of July till Michaelmas. The lobsters are 

 in great demand for the numerous visitors to Cromer, 

 but the crabs are generally sent inland. Ten years 

 ago we found the great complaint of the Cromer fisher- 

 men was the absence of railway communication with 

 the markets, and the uncertainty attending the sale of 

 their crabs, as they were almost entirely dependent on 

 two or three buyers from Norwich ; and when none of 

 these happened to come down they were obliged to get 

 rid of their catches in the best way they could at home, 



' Sec Trawling, p. 67. 



