INTRODUCTION. 15 



afford them a constant change of water. Since the use 

 of steam carriers and ice, these well-boats have not 

 been of such vital importance, although they are still 

 valuable adjuncts to the Doggerbank fishery. In 

 addition to the deliveries of fish by boats belonging to 

 the port, Harwich is visited by many smacks from 

 other districts, which here land their catch for carriage 

 to London. The safety of the harbour, the easy 

 access to it, the shortness of the railway journey, and 

 the facilities afforded for placing cargoes on the rail, 

 make this port a most advantageous one. 



Burnham and the Crouch supply a small number 

 of fishermen both for in-shore and deep-sea trawling. 

 The number is probably increasing. 



Maldon, Mersea, Tollesbury, and the villages on 

 the shores of the Blackwater have a considerable 

 population engaged in the sea fisheries, mostly on 

 trawlers belonging to other ports, both of the North 

 Sea and the English Channel. I do not think any of 

 their boats take part in the drift-net fisheries of the 

 North Sea. 



Brightlingsea, Wyvenhoe, and the shores of the 

 Colne have a larger population engaged in fishing 

 than any other part of the county. Their boats are 

 engaged wherever there is fish to be caught in the seas 

 surrounding the United Kingdom, from the western 

 shores of Ireland, where the mackerel fishing attracts 



