212 SEA FISHERIES 



acres, an inner basin of 15 acres, and two dry-docks. 

 The market is built on the quay ; it is an enormous 

 shed, no less than a mile and three-eighths in length, and 

 is divided into two floors. Under this shed the fish is 

 unloaded, sold, and packed. How much better this 

 system is than the French system, which consists of 

 carrying the fish to an often distant market ! There 

 is direct communication between the boats and the 

 shed. On the further side of the shed are the railway 

 lines. At the hour of despatch in the afternoon it is 

 not unusual to see four trains being filled at the same 

 time. All the equipment necessary to the fishing 

 industry is concentrated in the Fish Dock, from the 

 ice factories to the ship-chandlers' stores. 



M. Roy has described, in picturesque terms, the inner 

 life of Grimsby : " It is a curious spectacle, the sight 

 of the fleet of trawlers ascending the H umber from a 

 period two hours before flood tide, at which time the 

 tidal gates are opened. As far as one can see the heavy, 

 troubled waters are obscured by the smoking funnels 

 of the boats as they hasten in, for the place which 

 they will occupy along the pontoon is not without 

 importance, as the sale begins at the northern ex- 

 tremity of the shed. Between the jetties, which are, 

 perhaps, too close together, there is a hustling, a 

 veritable scrimmage, of hurrying vessels, which are 

 continually thrown against one another by colliding 

 bows or beams ; but there is never a serious collision, 

 and it seems a miracle that there is not. The docks 

 gradually become busy ; the first arrivals tie up to the 

 best places in the first basin ; bows on to the quay, 

 they arrange themselves in close-packed ranks. When 

 the first dock is filled, the newcomers, in order to 

 reach the second, have to make a sudden turn at the 



