193 



The evidence obtained as to the condition of fishermen in other 

 parts of Ireland frequently alludes to the circumstance that the pre- 

 carious and irregular nature of their employment, and the uncertainty 

 and inequality of its profits, generated a corresponding irregularity in 

 themselves, and caused them to be more addicted to the use of ardent 

 spirits than was common with men following other occupations. They 

 are reported as generally well conducted, and decidedly superior in 

 bodily energy and other respects to the agricultural or manufacturing 

 classes; but that their life, as one of danger and toil, and liable to 

 excesses and reverses, was more open to excitement and temptation. 



"The fishermen along the iron-bound coast from Loop Head to Gal way, 

 and about the mouth of the Shannon, use a carioe, a frame work of ash 

 covered with canvas; these things are kept in the cliffs, and launched, 

 hauled up, and shouldered with facility in places where no boat of 

 wood could be used at all. They are about twenty-four feet long, 

 about two and a half feet wide, and one and a half feet, or a little 

 more, deep, and highly dangerous for unpractised people to get into at 

 all, but in the hands of the natives do wonderful work, and the said 

 natives will go to sea in them in weather that other people would not 

 attempt in any open boat. A great number of them are now in the 

 employ of the Dublin Fishing Company at Dingle, and they bring in 

 more fish, in proportion to outlay, than, I believe, with any other 

 species of vessel. The men are obliged to sit low down in them, and 

 maintain the sitting position, which, for a whole night, is no joke, and 

 perhaps none but the hardy Celt, (subject to starvation, privation, and 

 hardship, without feeling it ?) could endure the same. They go to sea 

 in them with nothing beyond their fishing gear, save an iron pot for 

 a fire-place, and turf to burn therein ; their food the first fish they 

 can catch, and if none is caught they do with an empty belly. They 

 commonly carry four men, who pull two small sculls each, without any 

 blade; the oars having wooden lugs or ears, are shipped permanently 

 down on the gunwale. These canoes can compete in speed with our 

 fastest gigs, provided the water be smooth, and no strong head-wind." 

 Lieut. Church, R.N., Fishing Boats' Report, 1849. 



XVIII. 



EXTRACT from an Article on the FISHERIES of IRELAND, in the 

 " DUBLIN REVIEW," 1837. 



The present depressed state of the Fisheries of Ireland has been 

 attributed to the following causes: the poverty of the Fishermen, 

 their ignorance and prejudices, the want of shelter for their craft, 

 injudicious laws and restrictions, and the frequency of wars. 



Poverty is a charge which has been brought against fishermen in all 

 ages of the world, from the Ichthyophagi, with whom Menelaus was 

 condemned to mess during his disastrous voyage homewards from 

 Troy, to the native Australians of our own days; yet, poor as the 

 vocation is, it did not prevent the Dutch from embarking in it, and 

 persevering in it so as to render it a source of comfortable subsistence 

 for no small portion of their population, and of revenue and greatness 

 to their country; neither has it prevented the population in many of 



o 



