THE HERRING FISHERY. 



Boats (their 

 build, &c.) 



Nets and their 

 manufacture. 



Crew. 



The term 

 "barrel." 



Opinions of 

 writers re- 

 garding 

 migratory 

 habits of 

 herrings. 

 These 

 opinions 

 contradicted. 



purpose well, being nearly half as broad as they were long, 

 and open from bow to stern. There was no place of shelter 

 in them, nor any way of cooking their food. Oars were 

 always used, but the fishermen always carried a large 

 blanket with them, which served both as a covering to keep 

 them warm and a sail when the wind was fair. These 

 boats were round-sterned from fourteen to sixteen feet 

 keel and about seven feet beam. It was not possible to go 

 any distance to look for herrings in boats of this description. 

 They were known by the name of " nabbies." 



The nets were also very indifferent, being all home-made. 

 The women spun the twine, and it was very coarse, twice as 

 heavy as that used at the present time. The fishers them- 

 selves made the nets. 



There were generally four men in each boat, and each 

 boat carried a train or fleet of nets consisting of four barrels, 

 one for each man, the name " barrel " arising from the habit 

 of carrying their nets in barrels when going from one fishing 

 station to another. The barrel or net was not made in one 

 length ; it consisted of thirty " deepings," each deeping being 

 twelve yards long and fifty meshes deep, the size of the 

 mesh being rather more than an inch, or what we term 

 thirty-four rows per yard. I will now proceed to make 

 some general statements, confining myself to the west and 

 north coasts of Scotland. 



The method of fishing is nearly alike as regards herrings 

 on all the British coasts, except " trawling," which I refer to 

 afterwards. Buffon and other writers were of opinion that 

 the herring was migratory, that our coasts were wholly sup- 

 plied from the Arctic regions, and that herrings visited our 

 coasts in spring and left in early winter. The spawning 

 banks off Ballantrae and others around our coasts have 

 proved the fallacy of these opinions. In regard to these 



