322 MODERN SEA FISHING 



long boom, be it remembered, is to keep the bait and line 

 away from the side of the ship. I believe this might be done 

 by means of an otter board. The experiment is worthy a trial. 

 But what is generally available is a long spar, or, at any rate, 

 a stout oar, and this latter has been used with some success by 

 Lieutenant-Commander E. Hunter-Blair, who, like Captain 

 Howell, is a very successful ocean fisherman, though his fish 

 were probably caught while the vessel was going at a compara- 

 tively low rate of speed. Above nine knots Captain Howell's 

 gear is certainly to be preferred. This gear was also described 

 in the ' Field,' and in the following words : 



Lash the loom of a large ash oar to a boat's afterdavit, as high 

 from the water and as far out from the ship's side as possible. Secure 

 an ordinary 2o-fathom lead line to the end of the blade of the oar, 

 leaving sufficient of the line to form a foreguy to lead to the fore- 

 most davit ; continue the lead line with thirty to forty fathoms of 

 window-sash cord ; next a snooding six fathoms long, best made of 

 three wires, unlayed from a piece of two-inch steel wire hawser. The 

 wire must be secured to the hook without any sharp bend what- 

 ever. 



Fish in foreign seas in home waters they seem more timo- 

 rous are sometimes caught right under the vessel's counter, 

 or ahead of the bow, by lines trailing from the jibboom. 



The wire snooding for this purpose is as often as not made 

 from one to seven or even eight strands unravelled from a gal- 

 vanised, steel wire, twisted cable. A good hook for the purpose 

 is not easily obtained, nothing special being usually made, so far 

 as I know, which will stand the enormous strain. The hooks and 

 bait kindly lent me by Captain Howell for the use of the artist 

 (see p. 319) were made by Messrs. Farlow & Co. An ordinary 

 shark hook, about one-third the usual size, will answer the 

 purpose ; but it must be of first-rate steel, and may be larger 

 or smaller according to the size of the fish expected. The 



