594 MISCELLANEOUS 



sary on this account than were required for ordinary fishing pur- 

 poses, and the increased expenses interfered with profitable working. 

 The new trawl-boats were therefore built of greater length, so as to 

 provide room for a small second mast or mizen on which a gaff-sail 

 could be carried, and thus something could be taken off the large 

 mainsail. The result has been very satisfactory; just as much sail 

 is carried as before, but it is not so lofty, and being divided into 

 smaller pieces, it can be handled with greater ease and safety. As 

 a gaff-sail is carried on the mizen, the rig is that of a ketch; had a 

 lug-sail been used instead of a gaff-sail, the vessel would have been 

 what is called " dandy-rigged." The increased length of the vessel in 

 proportion to her size gives many advantages. Space is provided for 

 packing away a considerable quantity of ice, which is a very neces- 

 sary article in the present mode of working the North Sea trawl 

 fishery; the produce of many fishing days can be properly stowed 

 away and preserved in good condition, and the crew have more roomy 

 and comfortable accommodation, a point of importance, since at 

 certain seasons they remain at sea for several weeks at a time. 



" Barking " the sails is a regular practice with the trawlers, as it is 

 with most other fishermen in England and Scotland. The process 

 consists in mopping them over with a composition of a solution of 

 oak-bark, tar, grease, and ochre, which acts as a good preservative of 

 the canvas. This is done once in six or eight weeks, and a suitable 

 place is kept for the purpose at all the important fishing stations. 



Working the beam -trawl requires some little skill which can only 

 be acquired by experience at sea. A knowledge of the ground and of 

 the direction and times of the tide is essential ; for the trawl is towed 

 with the stream, a little faster than it is running, so that there may 

 be just sufficient resistance from the water to expand the net. If it 

 were towed too fast, the pressure of the water against the long trans- 

 verse beam would tend to lift it from the ground, and then the fish 

 would not enter the net. This important point is regulated by a nice 

 adjustment of the length of tow-rope to the force of the wind and 

 state of the sea; and experience enables the fisherman to tell, by 

 pressing the hand firmly on the warp between the vessel and the 

 water, whether or not the trawl is working steadily over the ground. 

 Lowering the trawl to the bottom is also a matter requiring great 

 care, so that it may reach the ground with the beam above the iron 

 heads and the ground-rope in its proper position below. This can 

 only be managed by first getting the whole apparatus in a proper 

 position at the surface, and then keeping the vessel slowly moving 

 through the water whilst the lowering takes place. If, as sometimes 

 happens in spite of all precautions, the net and beam should twist 

 round while being lowered, and the apparatus should reach the bot- 

 tom with its back downwards, then the beam would be on the ground 

 and the iron supports above, the mouth of the net would close, and 

 no good could be done with it. The only thing for the fisherman to 

 do under such circumstances is to haul up the trawl and shoot it 

 again. The popular idea that the beam is always dragging on the 

 ground is therefore a mistaken one. The trawl is shot at the begin- 

 ning of the tide, so that it may be towed for five or six hours, and 

 during that time it will probably pass over from fifteen to twenty 

 miles of ground. As trawlers when engaged in fishing are practically 

 anchored by their trawls, they cannot readily get out of the way of 



