THE BRITISH HERRING FISHERY 



the gills, are wriggling for freedom, so close to you that 

 you can touch the polished little bodies ; more, you can 

 see cod and other big fish jumping above water to snatch 

 a mouthful. 



" Yeo-ho ; oo-up ! Now, all together oo-up ! Now 

 oo-up ! All together ! " murmur the hands in a sort of 

 doleful chorus, as they bend to their labour, and with 

 muscles strained to their utmost, hoist in coil after coil of 

 net, so stuffed with fish that, in places, it is difficult to 

 find a hand-hold. Here and there may be an empty mesh, 

 where a slender youngster has been able to squeeze itself 

 right through the little inch-and-a-half opening ; but 

 the majority of the middle and lower squares have 

 tenants. 



" Well have to be lively, lads," says the skipper, who 

 has left the helm and is bearing a hand with the nets ; 

 "I'm thinking there'll be dead stuff in the last three, 

 else." 



When herring have been held by their gills for some 

 length of time they are apt to die in fact, no fish dies so 

 quickly, whence the saying, " dead as a herring 1 ' ; and 

 dead fish means dead weight ; a net filled with such a 

 catch will sometimes tear itself away from the " fleet " 

 and be lost beyond the hope of recovery. Therefore the 

 men waste no time in working their way through the 

 seemingly interminable series of nets, for the last three to 

 come up were the first three to be shot, and they will be 

 lucky if they find them unbroken. The last lot are more 

 crowded than ever ; every now and then there is a little 

 jerk as half a dozen meshes break ; and some of the men 



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