192 



although in Germany they take slice for slice of the brown loaf; but 

 it is very possible that many a poor cottier in Scotland and Ireland, 

 might save his cow in a backward spring, if he had spared fodder, by 

 giving her one feed a-day of scalded sea-weed or fish heads, or any 

 procurable substitute which he could give her a taste for." Appendix. 

 1836, p. 187. 



XVII. 

 CONDITION OF THE IRISH FISHERMEN. 



The improvident habits of fishermen are a chief cause of the ill 

 success of their calling. Those of Ireland are not so remarkable for 

 enterprise, and for a steady prosecution of the business, as the English 

 fishermen, especially in the deep sea trade. To incite them to more 

 exertion, and to a diligent search for fish, a successful prosecution of 

 fishing from off their own coasts would probably be the surest means. 



Their great use of ardent spirits arid of tobacco often renders them 

 dissolute and indolent. These were the poison and ruin of the Aus- 

 tralian savage, and of the American Indian, and are now the bane of 

 the uneducated Celt. 



Fishing in the Beep Sea is essentially different from that pursued 

 along the coasts. To prosecute the trade successfully, a large class of 

 boats is requisite. For example, the celebrated Nymph Bank, off the 

 coasts of Waterford and Wexford, requires vessels of from forty to 

 sixty tons. They should be provided with every kind of fishing gear, 

 of the best kind, such as trawls, seines, herring and mackerel nets, long 

 lines, &c., so as to be able to avail themselves of, and turn to the best 

 advantage, any kind of fishing that might turn up. Their being well 

 manned is also a necessary point. The profits of each boat will greatly 

 depend on the experience of the skipper. 



A highly profitable trade in deep sea fishing has, in the last few 

 years, grown up at Dunmore, at the mouth of the estuary of Water- 

 ford. The construction of an excellent harbour for Her Majesty's 

 steam packets has afforded shelter to craft, within access of the rich 

 grounds in George's channel. From twenty to thirty boats of from 

 thirty to forty tons have reaped a considerable harvest, and it is 

 believed that an addition of twice or thrice that number would not 

 diminish the returns. A large annual outlay takes place in the 

 neighbourhood as a consequence of the trade. 



The evidence given in 1836 as to the condition of the Claddagh 

 fishermen, is interesting. They are described as assiduous and en- 

 terprising, and, although poor, superior in comforts and character to 

 the labouring classes. The district then contained about 2,000 per- 

 sons, nearly all the families of men whose earnings were derived from 

 the sea. These families lived very peaceably, and great domestic 

 morality existed among them. The fishermen never took any ardent 

 spirits out to sea, but, after any unusual success, they sometimes 

 indulged in liquor. None of them had any land, so that no other 

 occupation interfered with their calling, or working at their boats and 

 gear. Not more than one-sixth of their time through the year was spent 

 at sea, but, with a better description of craft, and an improved system, 

 their employment in actual fishing might have been more than doubled. 



