NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 123 



After this, having passed the Barnard Buoy, which is near the 

 end of the Newcome, we shot off Kissingland Lifeboat House, and 

 steered north again nearer the shore. 



Third haul, a short one, the trawl having caught fast. There were 

 17 soles 2 to 2| in. long, 6 soles about 6 in. long. 



Fourth haul, same direction. There were caught 23 small soles 

 about 2^ in. long, a number of whiting, some of the previous year's 

 and some of the same year's broods. Many of the latter were thrown 

 overboard ; the size of these is stated below. 



Fifth haul, a long haul northwards towards Lowestoft Harbour on 

 the ebb tide. I counted 38 of the small soles when the cod end was 

 first emptied out, besides a large number picked out in the process 

 of sorting afterwards. There were also some whiting and small plaice, 

 mostly kept for market. 



The mode of working was as follows : — When the trawl was hauled, 

 the cod end was emptied out into a wooden box in the boat. There 

 were always a number of the little soles in the meshes of the net, 

 alive and apparently, in most cases, uninjured. Except those which 

 I kept, they were all thrown overboard alive. There was always a 

 large quantity of Hydroids, chiefly Hydrcdlmania and Sertularians, 

 with pieces of red seaweed occasionally. A considerable number of 

 fish of unsaleable kinds were also taken, namely, Agonus catwphradus, 

 Trachinus vipcra (the lesser weever), Gobius minutus (the sand goby), 

 one or two small Syngnathus (pipe-fish), a small Acanthias vulgaris 

 (spiny dog-fish), and a small Galeiis vulgaris (locally called " Sweet 

 William "). The invertebrates were some Portunus, or swimming 

 crabs, Carcinus, the shore crab, one Cancer (edible crab), a number 

 of Isopods and Amphipods, including Idotea and others. We also 

 took several living specimens of the bivalve Madra stuliorum, var. 

 cinerea, Gwyn Jeffreys. These things were all thrown overboard. The 

 marketable fish were placed in a separate box, and then the shrimps 

 were riddled over the side and the sorting completed, after which 

 they were placed in a basket to be taken ashore. The shrimps were 

 thus not as in the Thames shrimping boats, which are much larger, 

 boiled on board. There were no Pandalus, or pink shrimps, only 

 the brown Crangon vidgaris, and the catch of the whole trip amounted 

 to about two pecks. The man told me that there had been little 

 " call " for shrimps that season, and his earnings had not averaged 

 more than £1 a week. The only assistance he had in the work was 

 that of his son, a lad of seventeen. The boat was the property of 

 a widow, whom he paid for the use of it. 



I brought ashore a large number of the whiting cauglit, and 

 measured them to see if I could distinguish the broods of difl'erent 



