232 KEA FISHERIES 



I am referring to the relinquishment of lines like those of 

 sailing vessels, although these have given excellent results 

 both in point of speed and steadiness, and the adoption, 

 hardly justified for such small vessels, of forms analogous 

 to those of large steamers. . . . Owing to the impor- 

 tance of the machinery, most line-fishing vessels have 

 only a very small hold. . . . According to the season 

 and the locality, they capture conger, rays, haddock, 

 dabs, plaice, &c. Their voyages are usually only of 

 some 18 or 20 hours' duration ; the moment the fish is 

 landed, the lines prepared, and stores of provisions, coal, 

 water, ice, &c., are renewed, the boat departs again with 

 all speed for the fishing-grounds." These boats are 

 nearly all owned in Boulogne. Those of Aberdeen are 

 generally larger than those described above. 



The steam drifters are steam herring boats. They 

 have the chief characteristics of the sailing vessels a 

 hold with many hatches and a capstan on one side. The 

 Scotch ports own more than 500 of these boats. The 

 Boulogne drifters have two rudders one at the stern 

 and one at the bows. The foremast is always made to 

 lower. The motor-boats 1 remain to be considered. 

 There are a dozen at Boulogne, a score along the Norman 

 and Breton coasts, a dozen on the coast of Vendee and 

 Charente, and four in the Basque country. Arcachon 

 holds the record with 279 motor-launches ! A few herring 

 boats have been fitted with two petrol motors, one of 

 150 to 200 h.p. to drive the propeller, and one of 25 or 



1 In the smaller English ports it is not uncommon to see smacks, 

 drifters, or small trawlers fitted (sometimes by the fishermen them- 

 selves) with small motors and three- or four-inch propellers, giving a 

 speed of 4 or 5 knots. The propeller is only for use in calms, or 

 against the tide, or navigating an estuary at low tide in a narrow 

 channel, or in taking up moorings. [TRANS.] 



