16 
or ever accept the tail-piece of either lamprey or herring. 
The skate however is not so particular with regard to the 
joint. 
The lines are coiled into a tray made of wood, usually 
480 fathoms in each, and the hooks are placed with careful 
regularity in rows on the bottom of the tray. About two 
or three hours before sunrise the lines are laid out. The 
end of the line is attached to an anchor, which is secured to 
a buoy-line and buoy, the vessel is steered away, usually 
to the wind or close hauled, and one of the men “pays 
” 
out” or “shoots” the line, as it is termed, while the rest 
attend to the anchors and buoys. When the whole length 
of line is out, it is allowed to remain two or three hours, 
and then the hauling commences. As soon as a cod or 
ling is caught it is carefully pierced under the fin on the 
right side, in order that the air with which the belly of the 
fish is inflated may escape. This operation, which is 
carried out in less time than I have used to relate it, being 
performed, the fish is dropped into the well. The cod and 
haddock are usually allowed to swim about free, the ling 
and halibut are suspended by their tails, and so confined 
they are found to live longer. 
A day’s catch may vary from twenty cod or even less, to 
three or four hundred cod and ling, and proportionate 
quantities of haddock and other fish. The vessel usu- 
ally returns to port after an absence of from eight to twenty 
days; on its arrival the live fish are put into chests or 
trunks, which are kept afloat in the dock and adapted so 
that the water may circulate freely from without. The 
dead fish are landed in the market, and it is sold at once, 
being forwarded thence to all parts of England, Scotland, 
and even to Ireland. 
During the summer months the greater number of the 
