292 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



13 feet beam, and 4 feet 9 inches deptli of hold. They 

 were, we believe, entirely open boats, except in some- 

 times having a small covered forecastle ; and we do not 

 remember having observed any decked boats among the 

 hundreds of fishing craft which then came under our 

 notice. Since that time there has been a great change 

 for the better ; the boats on this part of the coast have 

 been built with 10 or 12 feet more keel, and an increas- 

 ing number of them are fully decked ; while farther 

 south, according to the Report of the Fishery Board pre- 

 viously quoted, the increase in size has been very much 

 greater. The lug-rig (Plate XIII.) is the one universally 

 adopted on the Scotch coast, except on the south-yvest, 

 where a different style of boat is in partial use. The 

 masting of the Scotch fishing boats, however, is unlike 

 anything we see on the English coast, except near that 

 23art of it where the two countries join. The sails 

 consist of two lugs and a jib ; the fore-liig is the 

 principal one, and with that alone the boats work 

 exceedingly well ; the second lug is smaller, and gene- 

 rally with very little peak, and is set on a mainmast 

 stepped nearly in the centre of the boat. This arrange- 

 ment of carrying a main-lug instead of a mizen gives a 

 characteristic and peculiar appearance to the Scotch 

 fishing boats, and it cannot fail to strike anyone at all 

 familiar with the different position of the after-sail in 

 English luggers of every kind of build ; but although 

 there may be some advantages in the Scotch rig, we 

 can hardly doubt that the handiness and general con- 

 venience of a mizen which have led to its use in all our 

 other lug-rigged fishing boats — from the large Yar- 

 mouth boats doT\mward — would be equally felt in Scotch 

 waters. The present fashion, however, is so general, 

 and fishermen of any country are so slow in making a 



