538 MODERN SEA FISHING 



be time the harpoon is put in. If the fish sinks dead, she 

 will rise after a certain number of hours or days, and is usually 

 recovered. 



In the space at disposal it is impossible to say much on 

 this widespread and varied fishing industry, extending as it does 

 over thousands of miles of the ocean, from the Arctics to the 

 Antarctics ; but if the reader wishes for further information, 

 he may be advised to read ' The Fisheries and Fisheries Indus- 

 tries of the United States,' 1887, by George Brown Goode. 



HARPOON GUNS 



The American fishermen do not look on harpoon guns with 

 much favour, and the writer, from his own observations, is very 

 greatly inclined to agree with them. The harpoon at times flies 

 very true, but, again, it is most erratic in its flight, even striking 

 sideways and failing to fasten the fish. This is probably due 

 to the. momentary check the shackle ! and foregore give when 

 the former reaches the end of the harpoon. It takes a very 

 quick eye and some one well accustomed to the use of firearms 

 to observe this deflection of the flight of a harpoon, and 

 probably that is the reason why the Scotch fishermen seem 

 quite satisfied with the gun at present in use ; but it is more than 

 likely some of the misses which one hears of, and which are put 

 down to bad shooting, are caused by the harpoon not flying 

 true. The mark is big and the distance short, so, although a 

 harpooneer may be bothered a little by the lop of the sea, 

 provided he is cool and can hold straight, a miss ought hardly, 

 if ever, to occur. 



In these days of electricity and other inventions, surely 

 some better motive power than powder might be invented. 

 Compressed air might do, or some power, such as a strong 



1 ' Shackle ' some harpooneers put a small piece of cork between the bars 

 of the harpoon at the end that goes into the gun, to deaden the shock. 



