84 THE REV. R. F. WHEELER, M.A., 
impossible to obtain accurate information; but I believe that 
from 900 to 1,000 will rather be below the mark. I have 
heard of 800 being seen at one time at work off the Dutch 
coast, but many of these, perhaps most, were only small 
Dutch boats. The mode of working the trawl vessels varies. 
The Hull boats are worked on the joint-stock principle, ‘the 
owners sailing in them and working them. The Barking (or 
Thames) vessels are the property of a few wealthy owners, and 
the men are paid regular wages. They remain out at sea for 
eight weeks at a time; a Yarmouth smack six weeks. The cost 
of a Barking trawler, complete for sea, is from £800 to £1,000. 
The cost of the cutters which attend the fleet is from £1,000 to 
£1,500, and the expense of working such vessels is from. £50 
to £60 per month. The Barking trawlers are worked on a most 
systematic plan. The two largest owners of trawling smacks— 
Messrs. Hewitt and Morgan—have a commander-in-chief for 
their respective vessels, who is known as the admiral, and the 
proceedings of all the other smacks belonging to other owners 
are also regulated by the movements of these two admirals. The 
pay of a captain of a Barking smack is 14s. a week, and 5 per 
cent. on the value of the fish sold in Billingsgate from his smack. 
The mate gets 19s. a week, and the men’s wages vary from 14s. 
to 18s. a week. The owners find provisions and everything. 
The apprentices get what they can. A Barking smack carries a 
captain, three men, and four apprentices. 
I find that it is stated, on what seems to be very good autho- 
rity, that there are on the east coast of England, from London 
northwards, 17,000 fishing vessels of all sorts and descriptions 
with an aggregate tonnage of more than 75,000 tons. 
As regards the productiveness of the various fishing grounds, 
the matter may be summed up in a very few words: everywhere, 
save from the deep sea fishing grounds off Brixham and from 
Dover, the report is that it is failing. Irom the Lancashire 
coast the report is that the fry are much killed; the injury in- 
flicted by the shrimp fishermen of Poulton, by destroying the 
small fry of soles, turbot, flukes, and plaice, is said to be terrible. 
The oyster fisheries are also suffering, and the demand increases 
