THE RAW MATERIAL 



wire-warp of great strength, ranging from 600 to 

 1,200 fathoms in length — that is to say, a powerful 

 steam trawler would have these warps up to a length 

 of one and a-quarter statute miles. 



These immense coils of steel wire needed the 

 utmost skill and care in handling, but in spite of 

 the exercise of both fatal and serious accidents in 

 connection with the warps were common. It would 

 sometimes happen, especially in bad weather, that 

 in the difficult and complicated operation of hauling 

 the gear a wire-warp would tauten suddenly, and 

 that a man who was inadvertently in the wa}' would 

 lose a limb — and indeed the terrible slash would at 

 times sever a man in halves. These dreadful 

 hazards were amongst the constant perils of the- 

 trawlerman's work at sea. 



When a large drifter's " fleet " of herring-nets 

 was successfully shot it formed a wall of netting in 

 the sea which was more than two miles long and 

 extended about 30ft. below the surface of the water. 

 The successful handling of these nets required great 

 experience and skill on the part of the skipper and 

 his crew. 



Side by side with the development of the fishing 

 industry itself there had been a corresponding 

 growth in the perfecting of vessels and appliances ; 

 and ships and gear had reached a stage of excellence 

 which was singularly creditable to designers and 

 constructors. 



The methods of steam trawling and drifting which 

 were in such wide and efficient emplovment befere 



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