[5] THE LONDON FISHERIES EXHIBITION. 118Q 



but it splits the waves like the prow of a vessel, and the concave sides 

 lead one portion of tbe waves to the right and another to the left. As 

 the same takes place at every one of these apparatus the waters from 

 the right side of tlie one and from the left side of the other are drawn 

 toward each other, mutually break their force, and at the same time 

 prevent from going any farther that part of the wave which rolls against 

 the space between two prisms, thus producing calm water back of the 

 apparatus. While in other harbors a mole costs £1,000,000 sterling per 

 mile, Greenway Thomas calculates that a mile of his wave-breakers 

 would only cost from £10,000 to £30,000 [$50,000 to $150,000]. It would 

 not be difficult to construct of such apparatus places of refuge near 

 small fishing-stations, where, owing to the great expense, other harbors 

 could never be constructed. On coasts where at certain seasons there is 

 a good deal of moving ice, Greenway Thomas's wave-breakers might be 

 taken up and stowed away safely before winter sets in. 



Floating hakbors. — In a similar manner Leeds has projected float- 

 ing harbors, which, located on the i^rincipal fishing-grounds, could re- 

 ceive a large number of vessels and could be furnished with tanks for 

 live fish, store-houses for nets and other ai)paratus, ice houses, &c. 

 Thereby many accidents would be avoided which, as the Duke of Edin- 

 burgh remarks, occur in transporting the fish-boxes from the fishing- 

 vessels to the steamers ; and the fishermen would not be obliged to 

 be inactive for some time, till the fish which they have caught have 

 been taken up by the steamers, of which there is frequently not a suf- 

 ficient number on hand. 



Icing. — For keeping fresh fish, cold is nowhere in Europe employed 

 in such a rational manner as in America, where fish are kept fresh for 

 weeks and months in large storehouses which are constantly kept cool 

 by ice-machines, thereby preventing any loss if the number of fish 

 caught has been larger than the immediate demand, and enabling 

 dealers to supply the markets regularly, even if at times the fisheries 

 have not been very successful. In America common fish are frozen 

 hard, just as in Eussia, while the finer kind of fish, in order not to lose 

 any of their delicate flavor, are only cooled off a little above the freez- 

 ing point. 



Freight rates. — For the transportation of fish we use cold only in 

 a very primitive manner, by packing the fish in baskets between lay- 

 ers of ice. Thereby the weight is considerably increased, the freight 

 becomes more expensive, and by the melting of the ice the fish become 

 watery and lose their flavor. The general introduction of ice-cars, 

 such as we have on some European railroads, would make it unneces- 

 sary to pack the fish in ice ; they would keep better and the cost of 

 freight would be diminished. The wholesale transportation of cheap 

 salt-water fish to the interior of Germany has thus far been made al- 

 most imjiossible by the liigh rates of freight on the railroads. That it 

 is possible to transport fish at much cheaper rates, we see in America, 



