Fish Oils and the Fisheries connected therewith. 223 



a large one, and most of the fish have been taken, the 

 carry-ways are despatched at once to the factory on shore. 

 If not quite loaded, they are generally retained until 

 another school is taken, when they are sent off. 



When they reach the factory, they run alongside of the 

 dock, and the fish are hoisted out into a car. When this is 

 full, it is hauled by steam up the track leading from the 

 dock to the cooking-vats and thrown into them. When 

 a vat is full of fish, water from elevated tanks is let on 

 until the fish are covered. Then steam is introduced and 

 the whole is boiled. To properly cook a tankful of fish 

 takes from 20 to 40 minutes, according to circumstances. 

 In some factories the cooking is very short ; in others, it is 

 preferred to take a longer time, so that the fish shall be 

 equally cooked throughout the mass. At the conclusion of 

 this process part of the oil has been boiled out, but by far 

 the greater portion still remains in the fish ; and this must 

 be removed by means of the hydraulic press. With one of 

 these machines from 200,000 to 300,000 fish can be pressed 

 in 10 hours. Two curbs are used with these presses, so 

 that there is no delay in the work. 



As soon as the oil has ceased to run from the curb, the 

 press is lowered, and the curb, containing the mass of 

 scrap, is rolled away over small turn-tables and out on the 

 track to the scrap-houses, where the two handles holding 

 up the bottom are released, and the whole mass is thrown 

 out. While this is going on another curb has been put in 

 the press. The curb then comes back to the vats for a new 

 load. In this way the work goes on until all the vats are 

 emptied. The oil and water as it comes from the press 

 runs down to the separating-tank. In this tank there is a 

 partition from top to bottom. The oil flows across this in 

 two openings, cut in the top, while the water passes under 



