FISHERMEN IN WAR TIME 



bad weather far from land. These drifters carried 

 a crew of 10 or 12, and in addition to the consider- 

 able accommodation needed for them there were 

 below compartments for the nets, warps and salt. 



The steam drifter was in the first instance built 

 mostly of wood, but gradually steel was employed 

 and the size of the vessel grew considerably, until 

 a fine drifter would have a length of about 100ft. 

 and a speed of ten knots. Such a vessel would fetch 

 a high price, and a craft built in 1898, of oak, 63ft. 

 long, would command £750. For a wooden steam 

 drifter built in 1900, 76ft. long, £2,650 was asked. 

 A wooden steam drifter which eight years previously 

 had changed hands at £950 was sold by public 

 auction at Fraserburgh in the autumn of 1917 for 

 £2,900. 



There was little difference between the net which 

 was used with the old beam-trawl and that which 

 was employed with the otter gear. In the later and 

 greatly improved method the use of the heavy and 

 cumbersome beam was abandoned, and it was re- 

 placed by two boards which varied, according to the 

 size of the vessel, from about 8ft. by 4ft. to 10ft. by 

 5ft. These boards, which weighed 7c wt. or 8c wt. 

 each, were of very ingenious design and exceptional 

 strength, qualities which well fitted them for the 

 hard and strenuous work they had to do. They 

 were so balanced that they moved forward on their 

 longest edge, the result being that the mouth of the 

 net was kept open to the fullest extent. Each 

 board was secured and towed by a separate steel 



32 



