444 MODERN SEA FISHING 



large numbers are sometimes seen and harpooned. Lowe 

 gives an account of a basking shark which paid a visit to 

 Stromness Harbour one day. It cruised about, from time to 

 time showing its back fin, and occasionally a large portion of 

 its body, above the surface. It seemed to take no heed of the 

 boats which came near it. In the end it was harpooned and 

 lanced. It measured twenty-three feet, and six barrels of oil, 

 which is of considerable value for commercial purposes, were 

 obtained from its liver. Another very large shark was caughi 

 off the Isle of Wight. It measured twenty-eight feet in length, 

 and allowed itself to be dragged ashore. At one time it was 

 an extremely common shark in the seas surrounding the 

 Orkney Islands, but it is now comparatively rare except when 

 some wandering shoal visits the coast. Having regard to the 

 ease with which it is captured, it is a fish likely to be exter- 

 minated in due course. 



Another shark which is sometimes caught on our coasts is 

 the PORBEAGLE (Lamna cornubiai). In shape it is not unlike 

 the basking shark, being well rounded and portly, but lacks the 

 projecting spotted nose of the basker. In colour it is more 

 often than not a dusky green on the back, lightening to white 

 on the belly. During the summer and autumn porbeagles 

 visit the East coast of England and Wales. They are reputed 

 cunning and fierce, but are occasionally taken on long lines 

 when attempting to rob the hooks of a captured whiting or 

 codling. When one is captured, it is not an uncommon thing 

 to find in its stomach a number of fish-hooks and a spinner or 

 two. In 1 88 1 one of these fish measuring seven and a half 

 feet in length was caught at Wick. A porbeagle of eight and 

 a half feet was once brought into Margate, and one about the 

 same size was captured off Hastings. 



Foreign sharks hardly come within the scope of this portion 

 of the book. How they are taken by the simple method of 



