OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 365 
an enormous draught of soles, and the circumstance gave rise to the 
institution of a regular winter fishery. Boats and capital were 
attracted from all parts, and Hull became the principal centre of the 
North Sea trawling industry. The tonnage of smacks also under- 
went a rapid increase, culminating in that which is now in general use. 
What has probably been of more lasting importance to the trade 
than the transitory productiveness of the Pits, was the introduction 
of haddock-curing at Hull, which took place about 1840. The 
haddock is after all the trawlers’ best friend, as alone of all the 
trawl fish it seems able to make headway against the devices of man. 
Before curing was introduced, there was practically no market for 
these fish. I am told that only the largest were ever thought worth 
bringing ashore, and sometimes not even these. Statements have 
been made that there were no haddock on the Dogger when that 
ground was first worked, but the balance of the evidence obtainable 
shows that the fish were exceedingly plentiful there, though of no 
account, for the reason | have mentioned. 
The introduction of ice and the adaptation of steam to fishing 
purposes occurred, almost simultaneously, about 1850. Steam power, 
I believe, was first used in the North Sea by Mr. Rushworth, and in 
connection with line-fishing. The advantages of ice are obvious, 
since its use permitted the boats to make much longer voyages than 
had previously been possible. Steam does not appear to have been 
very extensively used until about 1860. 
It will have been noticed from the foregoing remarks that the 
development of the North Sea trawling has been effected entirely by 
fishermen from the south coast, and to the present day we find that the 
bulk of the trawling fraternity are the descendants of south-coast 
men. Of the rise of the deep-sea line fishing I have little know- 
ledge, but I believe it is also owing, at least in great part, to exotic 
enterprise. In most of what are now large fishing centres there 
have existed, in all probability, minor fisheries from a very early 
period, which have been to some extent masked by the more im- 
portant modern methods. I do not know that this was the case at 
Hull; while at Grimsby, which has not yet been mentioned, there 
was certainly no indigenous fishery of any importance. 
Grimsby, in fact, is an altogether modern fishing station, Karly 
references to the port make no mention whatever of any existing 
fishery, though the adjacent hamlet of Cleethorpes seems to have 
been always occupied in longshore fishing, whenever its inhabitants 
had leisure from less reputable pursuits. At Grimsby the existence 
of a very indifferent natural harbour permitted a certain amount of 
shipping trade to be carried on from the earliest period of English 
history, and in 1801 this natural harbour was considerably improved. 
