BOATS AND GEAR 231 



the last two or three years : the Occident and Orient, each 

 of 300 tons and developing 500 h.p., and the Europe and 

 Amerique. The Rorqual, of Arcachon, launched from 

 the Altringham yard at South Shields, is the largest trawler 

 afloat. Her length is 167 feet ; beam, 27 feet ; depth, 

 15 feet 6 inches. The hold for the fish has a capacity 

 of 244 cubic yards. It is furnished with cork-lined 

 partitions and cooled by a powerful refrigerating plant. 

 There is no lack of ventilation. All the shelves and 

 partitions in the hold are movable and of galvanised iron ; 

 they can easily be removed if the hold is to be filled pell- 

 mell with salted cod. The engine is a compound triple- 

 expansion model of 750 h.p. 



Trawlers are employed in the Newfoundland and Ice- 

 land fisheries. They work across the continental Atlantic 

 plateau, from the south of Ireland to Cape Vincent ; 

 along the coasts of Morocco (a few in the Baie du 

 Levrier), all over the Channel, and in the North Sea. 

 English and German trawlers until recently frequented 

 the White Sea. 



Line boats, or line trawlers, fish only with the line. 

 They are small steamers of 20 to 25 tons, 40 to 60 feet 

 in length, propelled by engines of 40 to 115 h.p. They 

 cost from .1,400 to ^1,600, and their crews do not 

 exceed twelve. Many are built of timber. "Since the 

 adoption of metallic construction," says M. So6, "the 

 desire for speed (often more than 9 knots at trials) has 

 resulted in the loading of vessels with machinery, so that 

 the amidship sections necessarily become almost strictly 

 circular in their lower portions, in order to make room 

 for the huge boiler, which greatly adds to the tonnage of 

 the vessel. From the very first a curious fact was to be 

 observed, which has, for that matter, been noticeable 

 more or less everywhere since the advent of iron ships. 



