NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 117 



they swam some distance above the bottom during the day. The fact 

 appears to be that the movement of the beam through the water, and 

 its size, alarms the fish in daylight, and that they see it while they have 

 time to avoid it. With the beamless trawl, on the other hand, there is 

 scarcely anything to be seen or to create alarm. It is probable, too, 

 that the head-line of the beamless trawl is not stretched quite straight 

 in the water by the boards, but rises upwards towards the centre, and 

 for this reason a fish would have more difficulty in avoiding the mouth 

 of the net. 



Mr. Scott was led to turn his attention to the improvement of the 

 trawl, in consequence of the gradual diminution in the earnings of the 

 Granton Steam Fishing Company. After various experiments he 

 elaborated and patented the mode of construction above described, and 

 the new apparatus was fitted to some of the Granton Company's vessels 

 in June, 1894. He then chartered three steamers on his own account, 

 had them fitted with his patent gear, and caused them to fish for a time 

 out of different ports in succession, finally taking them to Hull, where he 

 was established at the time of my visit. The new gear was first 

 adopted in Hull by the Anglo-Norwegian Steam Fishing Company, and 

 afterwards by other firms. Mr. Scott informed me that, at the time I 

 was in Hull, it was in use on sixteen or seventeen steamers in that port 

 on eight at Granton, on one at Boston, two at Grimsby, and two at 

 Milford Haven, and I also saw it on one at Scarborough. 



The patentee, however, charged a considerable sum for the right of 

 using his patents. I heard that the charge was £100 a year, but it will 

 be understood that I was not anxious to obtain, or to publish, informa- 

 tion which business men might consider to be in some degree of a 

 private nature, and am only concerned with these matters as far as they 

 are of public interest. Whatever the amount of the charge, it is a fact 

 that many owners of steam trawlers in Hull thought they might obtain 

 the advantages of the beamless trawl without rendering themselves 

 liable for the charges of the patentee, or infringing the patent rights. 

 Their view was that the principle of the otter-trawl was free to every- 

 one, and that the patented special features were not essential. 

 Accordingly, a large number of steamers were fitted with beamless or 

 otter-trawls of a somewhat different construction. The boards of these 

 were smaller and lighter than those of the patent gear, being each about 

 six to eight feet long, and four feet broad. The hinder edge of the 

 board was provided with holes along its whole length at equal distances, 

 and the ends of the head-line and ground rope were shackled into these 

 holes separately. Thus the attachments of the two ropes could be made 

 near together or far apart at pleasure. The head-line was made 74 to 

 94 feet long, and the ground rope longer, and the net was made with a 



