ON THE COAST OF BERWICKSHIRE. 223 



he made no effort to save liimself after that. The assisting boat drove 

 to leeward, and could give no farther aid. The next boat that came 

 up, by throwing a rope, saved one man ; the rest of the crew, to the 

 number of four, perished. 



Sometimes the nets are anchored in very shallow water, when the 

 fish come so near the shore that they cannot be taken in the usual 

 way. This is called ground fisJdng. They are anchored in the direc- 

 tion of the tide, to render the pressure as light as possible. As many 

 as thirty barrels have been taken out of a single net in this way. The 

 nets do not drive out among the fish by the tide as in the other way, 

 so that by far the heaviest takes have been realized in this manner. 

 But whether from the shoals being more assiduously sought out and 

 broken in upon by our fishermen before the herrings reach the shore 

 than formerly, or from some other cause, they do not come into small 

 creeks among the rocks so frequently as in earlier years. 



A much greater quantity of herrings is taken by each boat on this 

 coast than formerly. This arises in part from the greater number of 

 nets used by the fishermen, fully a third more than twenty years ago, 

 and partly by greater diligence and activity in seeking out the fish, 

 as well as by fishing on ground formerly thought so dangerous from 

 the existence of shoals as to be carefully avoided. The portion of the 

 bay between Berwick and Holy Island was one of these dreaded spots ; 

 whereas, for several years, the most abundant fishing has been realized 

 there. 



A much superior class of boats is now in use to those employed 

 twenty or thirty years ago. They are much larger, carry nearly double 

 the burden, and sail much faster. Some of them are thirty-seven feet 

 long. The crew consists generally of four men and a boy, sometimes 

 of five men. And what shews the improved circumstances of the 

 fishermen, most of these boats are their own property, one shared in 

 common sometimes by two and sometimes by three men ; whereas, at 

 an earlier period, it was common for them to hire the herring boats, 

 and allow each boat a fifth or a sixth share of the money realized 

 durino- the season. 



I 2. Mode of talcing Raddochs. — Haddocks are taken with hooks. The 



I lines used for the purpose contain each from six to seven hundred 



I hooks, which are arranged at the distance of a yard and a quarter 



I equally along the whole line. The hooks are suspended from the 



I hach or principal part of the line by a snood and wij) fastened together 



j the former a little thinner than the back, and made like it of hemp 



I cord ; the latter of hair, to which the hook is attached. When the 

 materials are very strong and bulky the line does not fish well. The 



I line, when baited, is carefully coiled into one end of a basket, about 



