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In this connection it may be interesting to note that 

 in 1814 a trial took place in the Queen's Bench to decide 

 if a Colchester fisherman was doing right or wrong in 

 dredging up and taking brood from Chichester Harbour. 

 The Court held that the taking could not be penal, when 

 the object of such taking was not to destroy, but to pre- 

 serve. With all respect to judicial authority, this decision 

 appears to have been an odd one, unless, of course, they 

 were natural uncultivated oysters, on which no one had 

 spent any time or money. 



The fact that the oyster is more prolific as a rule on the 

 Essex coast, but improves rapidly on being transferred to 

 fatten on the Whitstable beds, has led to much business 

 intercourse between the fishermen of Kent and Essex. The 

 flats of the Kentish coast being common ground, Colchester 

 smacks are frequently seen dredging for brood there, 

 delivering their catches at Whitstable, and retiring for rest 

 and shelter to the Swale, where a fleet of Essex yawls at 

 anchor is no uncommon sight. It is stated in the Gentleman s 

 Magazine of 1860, Part II., pp. 2j/ 2_/5, that at the spot where 

 the Swale is crossed by an iron bridge from the mainland 

 to Sheppey, Augustine baptised 10,000 converts on Christmas 

 Day, 597 A.D. Though this statement may be founded on 

 fact, one would like a little more information on the point 

 of numbers baptised, and whether they took the opportu- 

 nity of indulging in a few oysters. In spite of the frequent 

 communication between Kent and Essex fishermen, the old 

 rivalry still crops up occasionally. The crew of a Whitstable 

 smack not long since observed an Essex boat dredging off 

 the coast near Reculvers, and determined to play off a 

 practical joke on their visitors. Knowing to a nicety the 

 exact position of what is thought to be the wreck of a 

 submerged Spanish galleon, they sailed over it, at the same 



