THE PILCHARD THE STURGEON 



caught by the gills and were carrying it down with their 

 weight. 



"A shark, lads," roars the skipper. "Look to your 

 tow-ropes. 1 ' 



Again the cork-line ducks, then comes up again, and 

 floating with it is, alas ! a jagged strip of netting several 

 yards long. A blue shark that has wandered up from 

 the Bay of Biscay has helped himself to a mouthful of 

 the fish. 



" Pull up sharp, 11 is the order, which is quickly executed 

 and the net examined. Perhaps the mischievous monster 

 has but bitten a hole big enough for its unwieldy body to 

 pass through ; if so a fold is made, the edges are deftly 

 joined up without useless lamentation, and the net is 

 taken aboard till another shoal presents itself. But where 

 drift-nets are used, and the pilchards therefore a fixture 

 in the net, times have been known when, on starting to 

 haul up, the hapless fishermen have found little to haul 

 beyond the cork-line and a strip of net, for the shark has 

 passed along the entire length of the " fleet, 11 cutting out 

 the catch as though with a pair of scissors, with the result 

 that the lower part of the net or as much of it as has 

 not been swallowed has been sunk irretrievably, together 

 with the fish that it contained. 



During the past five-and-twenty years many of the 

 old seine rowing-boats have been displaced by steamers, 

 but it may be questioned how far this is a change for 

 the better. Certainly larger seines can be used, and 

 towing is made easier, but here the fishermen will tell 

 you that the advantages end; for a great part of the 

 L 161 



