IIG NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 



brought up over each quarter of the vessel to the steam winch. For 

 hoisting in the gear, two oblong wooden frames are used, each re- 

 sembling a gallows, witli an upright on each side, and at once named 

 gallows in the figurative language of the fishermen. These were at first 

 fixed on the rail of the vessel, one near the bows, one on the 

 quarter, and, when the gear was up, the boards were secured to these 

 frames, so that they were out of the way and incapable of doing harm 

 through being dashed about by the waves or the motion of the ship. 

 The frames were afterwards fixed on the deck inside the bulwarks, the 

 boards being allowed to drop between them and the latter when not in 

 use, an arrangement which was thought to be still more convenient. 



The advantages claimed for this gear are (1) That it catches more fish 

 per haul on account of its much greater breadth ; (2) That it catches 

 round fish, such as haddock and cod, in the daylight as well as at night, 

 whereas the beam-trawl catches much fewer in daylight ; (3) That there 

 are no beams to break, and no new drawbacks to neutralise this 

 advantage. 



Concerning the greater efficiency of the patent trawl, which is stated 

 to be as much as 50 per cent, more than that of the beam-trawl, there 

 seems to be no possibility of doubt. It has been proved by experience, 

 and by the rapidity with which the new gear has been adopted. 



At Hull the steamers first fitted with the patent gear frequently 

 caught twice as much fish, and made twice as much money, as those 

 still using the beam-trawl. One steamer, after a voyage of seven days, 

 fishing on the Ilolman Ground, i.e., ofi' Hantsholm, in the North of 

 Denmark, landed 400 kits of fish, of which 80 kits were plaice. The 

 kit contains 10 stone, the box used at Grimsby containing about 9. On 

 this voyage the skipper said he threw all his haddock, both small and 

 large, ovei'loard during the first three days, because they would fetch 

 less money than the plaice and cod. The value of this " voyage " of 

 fish was £190. The causes of this greater efficiency are two; firstly, 

 the greater extent of ground covered by the new trawl ; secondly, the 

 fact that it catches round fish in the daytime. It is obvious that, other 

 things being equal, the new trawl must catch more fish in consequence 

 of its greater extent. A trawl beam does not exceed 45 to 50 feet long, 

 and could not be increased without a considerable increase in the size 

 of the ships and their machinery, while the head-line of the beamless 

 trawl is 75 feet long, and may be more. I have not heard that the 

 beamless trawl catches as many soles in the daytime as at night, the 

 reason for the fact that these are caught more at night being their 

 nocturnal habits ; in the day they remain buried in the sand. But with 

 the beam-trawl it was nearly always found that more cod and haddock 

 were caught at night, and some fishermen believed that this was because 



