FISIllNO STATIONS— ISLE OF MAN. 341 



mackcrol are taken in Douglas Bay by the scan as well 

 as by liook and line. Here also there is some good 

 trawling ground for the few smacks belonging to 

 Douglas ; and it is likewise worked occasionally by the 

 Liverpool trawlers, although their usual fishing ground 

 is nearer tlie English coast. 



Line-fishing is more or less carried on throughout the 

 year, except during the herring season. As soon as 

 that fishery is over longlining is begun with the small 

 boats in what is called the " low sea " fishery, not far 

 from tlie land ; this is continued towards the end of 

 January, when the large fishing boats are brought into 

 use, and the lines are shot in deep water at some dis- 

 tance from the island. Cod are the fish specially taken 

 by these lines, the larger ones in deep water, and whelks 

 or buckles are the bait in general use. There is also 

 good handline fishing in Douglas Bay for whiting, 

 and a few haddocks are taken on different parts of the 

 coast, but they are said to have never been generally 

 abundant. Conger fishing occupies a few boats between 

 the end of the longline fishing season in April and the 

 beginning of the herring fishery, and a few lobsters are 

 taken in various places, but that also is not an important 

 fishery. 



The Manx fishing boats used for the drift and other 

 deep-sea fishing are fine, substantial, and useful craft 

 (Plate Xiy.). They are from 38 to 47 feet on the keel, 

 12 to 14 feet beam, and 7 to 8 feet deep; they have a 

 round stern and are all half-decked, but can be com- 

 pletely decked over when necessary. Forty or fifty 

 years ago they were rigged as cutters, but the advan- 

 tage of a mizen, especially when drift-fishing, was so 

 evident in the Mount's Bay boats which came every 

 year to the Irish Sea, that the Manxmen made an 



