he can recall, is young " Squire " Collard, of Eddington, 

 whom he remembers as a good sportsman and keen follower 

 to hounds. 



The smacks always work square with the tide, for to work 

 against the tide in anything of a wind would, as the fisher- 

 men say, " swim the dredges " right off the ground. It is 

 obvious, as these comparatively light dredges have to work 

 with the tide, a steamboat that cannot travel broadside on 

 like a smack under sail is of no use, an objection which does 

 not arise in trawling for fish, a different and heavier 

 description of net and tackle being employed, which 

 renders following the tide unnecessary. In America some 

 of the fishermen do dredge from steamers, but have to use 

 heavy dredges, and in Connecticut it is asserted that these 

 heavy dredges improve the oyster farms rather than injure 

 them. 



\Ve cannot be sure when the present type of fishing 

 smack came first to be used by the free dredgers and 

 flatsmen, and the expression smack seems to have an 

 equally obscure origin. Little change has probably been 

 made for at least three centuries, though no doubt decked 

 boats gradually took the place of earlier undecked sailing 

 craft and open rowing boats, with or without lugsails. 



The open rowing boat can even now be used, for recently 

 I had the pleasure of assisting my nephew, Edward 

 Maynard Collard, of Herne Bay, in dredging from one off 

 the flats, He is an enthusiast on the subject, and full of 

 information, owing to the keen interest which he takes in 

 all appertaining to the Whitstable oyster and its culture. 



