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FISHES. 



Fishing Boats off Scarborough. 



the drift nets are managed by four or six men, in one boat. The seine fishery is carried on near shore, 

 the net fishery further at sea. The former supplies the foreign demand, and the latter the home-market, 

 since, from the manner in which the fish are taken by the latter process, they are not so well fitted for 

 curing as by the former. 



The nets of the seine fishery are a " stop-seine," with leaden weights at the bottom and corks at the 

 top, to keep it floating, which costs between three and four hundred pounds, being about a quarter of a 

 mile long, and one hundred feet in depth; and a "tuck-seine," which is made with a hollow in the centre, 

 and is half the length, and eighteen feet deeper than the "stop-seine,' costing about one hundred pounds. 

 Two boats, of about fifteen tons each, are used, in one of which the "stop-seine" is carried; the other, 

 carrying the " tuck-seine," is needed to aid in inclosing the fish. The third, called the " lurker," from two 

 to four tons burden, is used to carry the men to and from shore, besides being useful to those engaged with 

 the nets. Its crew consists of the master-seiner and three of the men, the rest being equally divided 

 between the other two boats. The fishermen begin their labors towards evening, proceeding to the 

 resort of the fish and anchoring. If a shoal appears, the master-seiner and his men endeavor to ascertain 

 its extent, with other needful conditions. Having determined these, they cast out the net, vast as it is, 

 and with its numerous appendants, within five minutes. The particulars of the several processes following 

 it does not come within our plan to describe: The result is, that sometimes two thousand hogsheads, or 

 five millions of fish have been inclosed at a single haul, and ten days may elapse before the whole are 

 conveyed away. 



The fishing by drift nets is generally carried on in ordinary fishing boats, occupied by four men and a 

 boy. Often there are as many as twenty nets to each boat, all which, together, may extend three quarters 

 of a mile in length. The fish, on being brought to shore, are taken to the storehouses, where they are 

 salted and ranged in heaps, five or six feet high, and sometimes ten or twelve feet wide. After thus lying 

 five or six days, they are packed into hogsheads. By the appliance of a powerful lever at the top of the 

 hogshead, the oil is extracted, and issues therefrom through holes made for the purpose. This pressing 

 lasts a fortnight. 



