90 FISHING INDUSTRY OF PLYMOUTH. 



The ^'adventure'* is divided into a number o£ shares, 

 ■which vary in number according to the fishery prosecuted 

 and the net-carrying power of the boat. 



A mackerel boat of fifteen tons carries a skipper, six men^ 

 and a boy as crew. 



In this case the adventure is divided into thirty-fourths, 

 of which g^ths = one share. 



The owner who finds the boat and its gear and makes 



good damage, &c., sustained by it has . . 2 shares := -g^iths. 

 The skipper who acts as ship's husband, and who makes 



a certain amount in that way has . . .1 „ A^bs. 



The six men have each 1 share . . . .6 „ M^'^^- 



The boy i „ ^^tb. 



The nets 71 „ iftlis. 



17 shares = ffths. 



The nets are usually brought on board by the men en- 

 gaged. One man may bring two nets, another one net, and 

 so forth. The owners of the nets are paid in proportion to 

 the number of nets they bring on board out of the sum (^Iths) 

 which is set apart for the nets. By this arrangement the 

 undertaking has essentially the character of a co-operative 

 society. 



Cornwall is, I believe, the only county in England where 

 this method is carried out by the fishermen. 



The numbers of shares, as I have before said, in an ad- 

 venture, vary according to the fishery and the net-carrying 

 power of the boat, and this makes the agreements all the 

 more complicated. There appears, nevertheless, to be an 

 excellent understanding between the several parties who 

 enter into these engagements every year, and a dispute is of 

 very rare occurrence (No. 30). 



3. Payment of Hoohers. 



Shares. — Among hookers the details are again different. 

 The gross catch is divided into five and a half shares. The 

 owner of the boat has one and a quarter shares ; the skipper, 

 one and a quarter ; second hand, one ; third hand, one ; 

 and fourth hand, one. 



Until recently the owner took one and a half shares and 



