272 THE SEAS 



for two or three weeks. In olden days the fishermen, 

 having to rely on sail alone, could not venture too far 

 from their harbours, because of the time required to return 

 to port and the consequent difficulty of keeping their 

 catches fresh. But with the advent of steam vessels 

 carrying large supplies of ice the fishermen have gone 

 further and further afield, until now they range from 

 Iceland and the White Sea in the north, to the Moroccan 

 coast in the south. In consequence the steam ship has 

 largely superseded the sailing vessel. But the picturesque 

 brown-sailed trawlers and smacks are still to be seen 

 sailing from Brixham, Plymouth and Lowestoft. 



The type of ship used in these deep-sea fisheries is 

 dependent upon the kind of fish that it is required to catch, 

 whether it be fish living upon the sea bottom, demersal 

 fish, or those that roam the water layers above the bottom, 

 pelagic fish. For the former, the bottom fish, the vessel 

 in general use is known as the trawler ; for the latter, the 

 drifter ; each type being specially designed and equipped 

 for the kind of gear it uses to ensnare the fish. 



Trawling 



The steam trawlers are the larger of the two, and they 

 vary slightly in size according to the grounds they frequent, 

 the vessels requirea lor long voyages to such rough and 

 inhospitable waters as the Arctic seas being the larger 

 and more powerful. In general they range between 

 1 20 and 200 feet in length, and an innovation in recent years 

 has been the introduction of Diesel motor engines to re- 

 place' steam power, especially on the Continent. Many 

 vessels are also equipped with plant for rendering down 

 fish-livers for the extraction of oil. 



The following are the main requirements of a steam 

 trawler : low freeboard to help in the hauling of the net 



