44 THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. 
the labours undergone by the trawl fishermen during their 
spells of work, which vary in length in different districts, the 
number of voyages not being the same for every smack, nor 
are the rewards of labour always the same. As a rule the 
captain and perhaps his second hand share in the venture, 
and are remunerated according to the catch, but different 
smack-owners have different modes of dealing with their 
hands. In order however to give our readers some idea 
of the earnings of those engaged in trawling, we may refer 
to the terms of the Messrs. Hewitt, who own a large fleet of 
smacks. The writer obtained much valuable information 
about shares and modes of payment at Great Grimsby ; but 
“it will be better to take the latest authoritative information 
on the subject, and therefore we shall summarise what was 
said about the fishing fleet of Messrs. Hewitt by their 
manager, Mr. H. Harvey-George, when he was examined 
during October last year (1882), by the Sea Fishing Trade 
Committee. As was stated by that gentleman, the men 
employed by the Messrs. Hewitt (570), are all paid on the 
share system, the rates of pay for the different classes being 
as follows :—There is first the skipper; his standing wages 
and poundage is as follows: if the catch fetches under 
100/, Is. in the 14; if under 150/, Is.in the 17, on the 100/, 
and a fifth on the 50/.; if over 150/ one-fifth on the total. 
The mate gets 145.a week and his poundage is : under 100/, 
5d. in the 14; under 150/, 5d. on the 100/. and 7d. on the 
50/.; if over 1507, 7d. on the total. The third hand has 
14s. a week and 4d. in the 1/7; and the fourth hand Ios. a 
week and 3d. in the 1/.; the fifth hand 9s., and 2d. in the 12 ; 
the sixth hand 8s., and 2d. in the 14; and the cabin boy 7s.a 
week, and Id. in the 14 These per-centages are paid on 
the total earnings of the vessel ; and the smacks of the firm 
