CHAP, vii.] THE ART OF TRAWLING. 311 



to the trawl-beds, and being quite slack, the mouth of the 

 bag-net forms a semicircle when dragged over the ground. 

 The whole apparatus is fastened to the trawl-rope by means 

 of the span or bridle, which is a rope double the length of the 

 beam, and of a thickness equal to the trawl-rope. Each end 

 of the span is fastened to the beam, and to the loop thus 

 formed the trawl-rope is attached. The ground-rope is usually 

 an old rope, much weaker than the trawl-rope, so that, in the 

 event of the net coming, in contact with any obstruction in 

 the water, the ground-rope may break and allow the rest of 

 the gear to be saved. Were the warp to break instead of the 

 ground-rope, the whole apparatus, which is of considerable 

 value, would be left at the bottom. The trawler, as I noted 

 while the net was in the water, usually sails at the rate of 

 2 or 2 1 knots an hour. The best depth of water for trawling 

 is from 20 to 30 fathoms, with a bottom of mud or sand. At 

 times, however, the nets are sunk much deeper than this, but 

 that is about the depth of water over the great Silver Pits, 90 

 miles off the Humber, where a large number of the Hull 

 trawlers go to fish. When they are caught, the fish (chiefly 

 soles and other flat fish) are then packed in baskets called pads, 

 and are preserved in ice until brought to market. To take 

 twelve or fourteen pads a day is considered excellent fishing. 

 Besides these ground-fish the trawl often encloses haddocks, 

 cod, and other round fish, when such happen to be feeding on 

 the bottom. It sometimes happens that the beam falls to the 

 ground, and, the ground-rope lying on the top of the bag-net, 

 no fish can get in. This accident, which, however, seldom 

 occurs, is called a back fall. Mr. Vivian of Hull, in a letter 

 to the editor of a Manchester newspaper, gave two years ago a 

 very graphic account of the trawl-fishing, and stated that 99 

 out of every 100 turbot and brills, nine-tenths of all the had- 

 docks, and a large proportion of all the skate, which are daily 

 sold in the wholesale fishmarkets of this country are caught 



