64 SALT-WATER FISHES 



hauling the spars together on board, and the net is hoisted, the 

 sprats being shot into the hold a few bushels at a time. 



The sean, or seine, works on a totally different principle. 

 It is also a somewhat more costly apparatus than the trammel, 

 as one measuring 50 fathoms in length and 2 in depth 

 would, with ropes and leads complete, cost about ^Tif- There 

 are two ways of using the sean. That in use for sand-eels 

 in estuaries, such as that of the Teign, alluded to in a 

 subsequent chapter, is a simple ground-sean, shot on ground 

 that the fish are known to frequent at a particular stage of 

 the tide, and then hauled ashore. In order to set such a net, 

 it is taken in a half-circle on a row-boat and quietly dropped 

 over the stern, the rope fastened to one extremity having been 

 left ashore. The boat, its half-circle completed, is again 

 beached, the occupants jumping out with the stake and rope 

 attached to the other end. The two gangs of men, each 

 hauling on an end of the net, then approach on the beach, so 

 that the ends of the net are drawn together, all exit closed, 

 and the small-meshed centre " bunt," in which the catch 

 presently accumulates, hauled high and dry. 



Such a mode of seining is simple and of secondary 

 importance in comparison with the annual gathering of 

 pilchards in St. Ives Bay between the last days of July 

 and Christmas. Those who know that picturesque spot, 

 even when this interesting fishing is not in progress, 

 invariably notice, from the train window, the long line 

 of tarred sean-boats drawn up on the beach. These boats 

 are 32 ft. long, and take a crew of eight men, six to row, 

 and the other two to work the net. When fishing, each is 

 accompanied by other two boats with the "stop-net," and 

 there is a fourth boat, known as the " lurker," from which the 

 captain directs strategic operations. The long sean would 

 measure about 160 fathoms in length, and is about 8 ft. deep 

 and 6 ft. at the sides, or wings. The stop-net measures 70 or 

 80 fathoms, and is deepest in the bunt. 



