336 SEA FISHERIES 



The warehouses at Basle are refrigerated, so the mer- 

 chants can amass stocks of fish and render themselves 

 relatively independent of the market. The refrigerated 

 warehouse is the indispensable complement of the 

 refrigerating hold of the steam trawler ; the bond of 

 union between the two is the refrigerator car. In ordi- 

 nary trucks a ton of ice loses, in the middle of summer, 

 about 6 cwt. of its weight in twelve hours ; but if the 

 walls are lined with cork the loss is only some 65 to 

 90 Ibs. There are two forms of refrigerator car. Either 

 the cold chamber is cooled by a packing of ice surround- 

 ing it, which is itself isolated from the exterior by a 

 special sealed partition, or the chamber is cooled by a 

 little refrigerating apparatus fitted to the car. 1 



Billingsgate is the most important of the world's 

 fish markets. London devours every day 1,540,000 Ibs. 

 700 tons of fish ; more than 250,000 tons a year, or 

 nearly three-quarters of all the fish consumed in Eng- 

 land (not including herring). Eleven railway companies, 

 most or all of which have an office especially occupied 

 with the shipment of fish, pour into Billingsgate an 

 average load of 550 tons per diem, or 198,000 tons a 

 year. The rest comes by water. " The fish brought by 

 water," says M. Roy, "come regularly by four carriers 

 or runners from the Hull fleet, that port being badly 

 placed for the use of the railway. The quantity averages 

 about 150 tons a day. The Dutch also send the larger 

 part of their shipments of eels directly to Billingsgate 

 in sailing vessels. Eleven enormous glass doors give 



1 All refrigeration on a large scale is effected by the cooling of com- 

 pressed gases by radiation or cold water. The expanded gases usually 

 rarified then circulate through the refrigerating pipes. Ammonia 

 vapour is usually employed, a vacuum pump causing it to " boil " rapidly, 

 giving off an intensely cold vapour ; but air can be used. [TRANS.] 



