OUR FISHERIES 67 



Lastly, the east coast and Scotch drift-nets for herring are 

 some 30 fathoms long and 9 deep ; whereas in Cornwall the 

 herring drift-net is 40 fathoms long, \\ deep, and with 36 

 meshes to the yard. A " fleet " of such herring nets (in 

 Cornwall) would number from sixteen to twenty. 



In use, then, the drift-net is a moving wall of small-meshed 

 netting, corked above and leaded below, so as to keep it 

 perpendicular. It is shot to windward of the boat, and they 

 drift together, the mainmast being lowered in a crutch, and a 

 small mizzen sail being set to keep the lugger head to wind. 

 The whole fleet of Mevagissey, numbering half a hundred boats 

 or more, can thus fish in close proximity, and the writer has 

 been out more than one night on board the Foam in the midst of 

 a score of other boats, all fishing the same ground, all drifting 

 parallel, without the slightest fear of entanglement. Sometimes 

 care is taken to see the whereabouts of the shoals first, the 

 movements of the gulls and cormorants and porpoises helping 

 in this before the light is gone from the waters, the phosphor- 

 escence of the summer seas coming to the fishermen's aid after 

 night has fallen ; and if there is no sign of fish on a usually 

 productive ground, the men stamp loudly on the deck, which 

 sometimes has the eff"ect of causing the frightened pilchards to 

 show themselves. The boats leave harbour, according to tide 

 and wind, about four or five o'clock in the afternoon, shoot 

 their nets in various parts of the bay, and take them up again 

 towards eight or nine in the evening, a little earlier or later 

 according to the state of the tide and wind. The hauling of 

 the nets, however, and the removal of the fish, which are torn 

 from the meshes and thrown on deck, takes a considerable 

 time, so that the boats may not be back in harbour until after 

 midnight. While the net is being brought on board, the so- 

 called " phosphorescent " effects — these have no connection, by 

 the way, with the element known as phosphorus, but are the 

 result of emission of light by Protozoa and other small animals 

 — are very beautiful. The buyers are waiting on the quay 



