~ 
15 
the year, and the fishing grounds where their operations 
have been carried on. During the summer months, whelks 
and herrings are now used, and from October to April, 
lampreys and whelks by the vessels that go to the Dogger 
and the Great Fishery Banks, but whelks only by the 
vessels that fish on the grounds nearer home. 
The cost of bait is a considerable item in the outfit of a 
cod smack, amounting to from twelve to twenty pounds per 
voyage. Ice is another item, which may be put as from 
seven pounds to ten pounds per voyage, and these, together 
with wages and food for the crew, harbour dues and other 
requirements, bring the current expenses of a smack up to 
about thirty pounds weekly, without any allowance for wear 
and tear, insurance or interest on capital invested, 
The vessels are insured in local mutual insurance 
societies against total and partial loss up to a sum 
representing from one half to two-thirds of their value, and 
the yearly cost of assurance seldom exceeds two and a 
half per cent. of amount assured. A smack such as I have 
described of about eighty tons register costs ready for sea 
from £1,600 to 41,800. 
Previous to 1862 the long-line operations never extended 
beyond the Dogger Bank. But since then they have year 
after year been carried further northerly and easterly, and 
at the present time the whole area from Shetland south- 
wards is fished upon. 
As soon as the vessel arrives on the fishing ground, the 
lines are yot ready, and the hooks baited. Where whelks 
are used as bait, the shells are broken with a mallet, the 
snail is sorted out, and carefully put on the hook. If 
lamprey or herrings are used, they are cut into small slices 
and so put on the hook. A curious fact with regard to 
this kind of bait is, that cod, haddock, or ling will seldom 
