THE CATCHING OF LOBSTERS 



of it, and allow the few to make their profit undisturbed ; 

 and partly because whelks are never out of season either 

 as food or bait. They are sold principally to the line- 

 fishers of the north and east, not by the cart- or ship- 

 load like mussels, but by the bushel or the bag. 



The most renowned whelkers are the Norfolk men, and 

 where local feeling is not too strong against such a 

 measure, they carry on what might otherwise be a 

 neglected industry in other eastern and southern fishing 

 grounds besides their own. As a rule they are not inter- 

 fered with, for though fishermen are proverbially tenacious 

 of their rights, they are seldom churlish. But the inter- 

 lopers must mind their manners ; you may see a hundred 

 pounds' worth of whelk-gear deliberately sunk by the 

 lawful tenants of the ground if it has been shot so as 

 to do harm to the local industry. Generally, however, 

 the whelkers are regarded as harmless lunatics who 

 "whelk 1 " because they are fit for nothing else. 



One of the funniest things I ever saw in connection 

 with the fishermen was their contempt for some whelkers' 

 boats brought to a southern fishing town from the 

 Norfolk coast ; they were beautiful boats, too : large 

 enough for lifeboats, and, when rigged with a big lug- 

 sail, they could almost fly through the water. Then why 

 the contempt ? Because they had been brought down by 

 rail ! What good could any boat be that had arrived in 

 such an ignominious fashion ? Scarcely any of these good 

 fellows had ever been in a train save one old dear who 

 went to London once upon a time, and while there (not 

 being able to read) " steered " himself about by means of 



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