CRABS, AND WHELKS 



a pocket-compass and the weather-cocks, and whose 

 method of finding a given spot was to "shape a course 

 nor'-east," etc. After a day or two he shook the dust of 

 London off his feet, because he was sure that wherever 

 he went there was always a policeman following him ; 

 whereas he " knowed he shouldn't be took for a thief 

 down home." 



These despised little boats go off every day with the 

 ebb tide, and on reaching water whose depth at high tide 

 would be about five fathoms, make ready to clear and re- 

 lower the gear. The pulling up of the nearest buoy-line 

 drags up the first few of the series of pots ; these are 

 emptied one by one, and the cord is hauled and hauled 

 till the whole row of pots generally about fifty in 

 number lie empty in the boat. Then you can see that, 

 attached to the buoy-lines, is a main or ground-rope, 

 about a quarter of a mile in length, along which the pots 

 are threaded at intervals of from three to five fathoms. 

 The pots themselves are far more elaborate than those 

 used for crabs or lobsters ; the upper part is a dome made 

 of thin strips of iron, and its base is a perforated iron 

 disc from which depends a little net bag capable of 

 holding two gallons. Round the dome, a cord the 

 " rattling line " is laced loosely, and acts as a ladder up 

 which the whelks climb to reach the bait that is lying on 

 the sieve-like base, through which they will fall into the 

 net below. 



The pots are soon rebaited and thrown over again, and 

 the boat sails away to her next buoy. You can see now 

 why such a capacious craft must be employed ; one series 

 M 177 



