THE HERRING FISHERIES. 21 



them, these gentlemen were forced to charter powerful 

 steamers for this purpose, besides an arrangement that 

 the Baltic line of steamers shall call at Stornoway and 

 other fishing ports on the west coast during the season, 

 and convey the fish to Stettin, Dantzig, Konigsberg, Riga, 

 and St. Petersburg. Besides these large steamers, smaller 

 craft convey shipments to Glasgow, vid Hamburg, and 

 other places, and Norwegian schooners even come for this 

 purpose. In June for the year 1882 one steamer alone 

 shipped upwards of 21,000 barrels of cured herring for 

 Stettin. The smaller steamers referred to bring a large 

 percentage of the herring to Stornoway in " bulk," to be 

 gutted and otherwise prepared for the continental markets. 

 The last shipment, in November, from Stornoway for 

 Baltic ports was upwards of 1 500 barrels of cured herring. 



As a proof how fluctuating and uncertain the fishery 

 may be at almost any station, we may select the present 

 district 



At Stornoway, in May (1882), we stated that some boats 

 realized from fifty to sixty-three "crans." In the be- 

 ginning of June very poor catches were recorded, though 

 some boats were more fortunate. Again, herrings were 

 reported to have left the Ayrshire coast for a time, as they 

 were met in with at the sound of Killbrannan ; but one 

 month later (September) a Troon boat came into Ayr 

 Harbour loaded to the gunwale with a take of herring. It 

 was estimated that she had forty maise (or 20,000 herring) 

 of medium size and quality. 



Wick, once the celebrated centre for Scotland, is a 

 peculiar example on this point. In 1794, and even within 

 the memory of some still alive, herrings were so plentiful 

 that the land had to be manured with them. The selling 

 price at Bo'ness, Firth of Forth, was 6d. per barrel. 



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