78 THE REV. R. F. WHEELER, M.A., 
some red or yellow ochre, and a ladleful of Stockholm tar to 
give it consistency, is what is used to bark the sails. The sail 
is spread out on the dry pavement, and the mixture is worked 
in with mops made of canvas pieces. They use only bark and 
Stockholm tar with their nets, rejecting altogether the use of 
catechu, so extensively employed elsewhere. About November» 
it is usual for a large number of the boats, twenty or more, to 
proceed to Hull and Ramsgate, and to Tenby, about May. 
Only the better class of boats proceed on North Sea voyages. 
When they go the fishermen regularly break up their establish- 
ments, and take their families with them, shutting up their 
houses while away. Most of the boats belong to wealthy owners 
on shore. The fish taken is divided into seven shares. The 
Skipper or master has a share and a quarter; each man, one 
share; and the remainder belongs to the owner, who has to pay 
the boy (if not an apprentice), and to find food for him. The 
men find their own food. The owner paysall damages to vessel» 
gear, &c. The ordinary wear and tear of a boat and gear, with- 
out allowing for casualties, may be set down at £100 a year or 
thereabouts. It is the custom for the boats to come into the 
harbour on Friday afternoon, and to remain until Monday morn- 
ing; the Saturday being devoted to repairs and preparation for 
the following week. 
There are old laws about fence months and limits, but they are not 
much remembered. Lord Vernon (who then lived at Churston), 
some forty or fifty years since, was anxious to revive these old 
laws, but without much success. The people have fallen into 
the old ways, “ Governed only by the common law of the land 
against doing injury one to another, and by the law of conscience 
and of God; but their conviction is, the more trawling the more 
fish. They see no diminution in the supply though the number 
of takers is daily increasing. It is like ploughing the ground 
the small worms are raised up, and then come the shoals of fish 
after them.” 
The law regulating trawl fishing (13th and 14th, Charles 
II., cap. 28; 8rd James I., cap. 12) would exclude all trawlers, 
from May to November, from fishing within a line drawn 
