THE RAW MATERIAL 



shot or two before her turn came to take on board 

 the fish which had been caught by the sailing 

 smacks composing the fleet. The carriers were in 

 their prime in the late eighties, and famous amongst 

 them were the Pelican, Gannet, Cormorant, Alba- 

 tross, and Flamingo. The Pelican was a Hull-built 

 vessel, of iron, launched in 1SS4, 133ft. 5m. long, 

 21ft. jin. broad, 11ft. deep, with a net tonnage of 

 141 and a gross of 244, and engines of 68 horse- 

 power nominal. The Flamingo, built at Hull in 

 the following } T ear, was somewhat larger ; but these 

 five vessels were sisters, and amongst them ran 

 enormous distances, did a vast amount of work and 

 weathered many heavy gales and thudded through 

 many a deadly fog before their day was done and 

 they gave place to bigger and finer carriers. 



The trawling industry had reached a state of 

 high development before the steamboat came and 

 pronounced the doom of the smack. Brixham and 

 one or two more old-time ports on the Channel sea- 

 board were the first homes of the trawler, which 

 came into being, as a small vessel of a round score 

 tons, in the middle of the eighteenth century. From 

 Plymouth the trawlers would go to sea in the morn- 

 ing, fish during the day and return to port in the 

 evening, and in those fine sheltered waters in the 

 good weather the life could not have been unenjoy- 

 able. The Brixham men made longer trips, sailing 

 on the Monday morning, returning with their fish 

 on the following morning and going to sea again in 

 the same way until the welcome Saturday ended a 



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