580 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



season; but Mr. Cleghorn was inclined to ascribe it mainly to 

 over-fishing, which had gradually diminished the number of herrings 

 captured. 



The boats employed by the French and Dutch in the herring 

 fishery are about sixty tons burden. They generally depart for the 

 Orkney and Shetland isles. They afterwards betake themselves to 

 the German Ocean, and fish the Channel in November and December. 

 These boats carry up to sixteen hands, according to their size. 

 Arrived at their fishing ground, they cast their nets, as seen in 

 PL. XXIX. 



The lines of the Dutch fishermen are five hundred feet in length, 

 'composed of fifty or sixty different nets. The upper parts of these 

 nets are supported by empty barrels or cork-buoys, the lower edge 

 being weighted with lead or stones, which are kept at a convenient 

 depth by shortening or lengthening the cords by which the buoys are 

 attached. The size of the mesh of the nets is such that the herrings 

 of a certain size are caught in it by the gills and pectoral fins. If the 

 first mesh is too large to hold them they pass through, and get caught 

 by the next or succeeding mesh, which is smaller. The herring-fishery 

 is regulated by Act of Parliament, and the legal mode of capture is by 

 means of what is called a drift-net. The- drift-net is made of fine twine, 

 marked with squares of an inch each to allow for the escape of the 

 young fish. The nets are measured by the barrel bulk, a net measuring 

 fifty feet long by thirty-two deep, and each holding half a barrel. The 

 drift is composed of many separate nets fastened together by means of 

 a back rope, and each separate net of the series is marked off by a 

 bladder or empty cask. The process is that described by Dr. Bertram 

 in an article published in the " Cornhill Magazine." The writer had 

 made his arrangement for a night at the herring fishery under the 

 auspices of Francis Sinclair, a very gallant -looking fellow, who sails 

 his own boat from Wick, and takes his own venture. Bounding over 

 the waves with a good capful of wind, they had left the shore and 

 beetling cliffs far behind them ; they reached their fishing ground, 

 where they tacked up and down, eagerly watching for the oily 

 phosphorescent gleam which is indicative of herrings. " At last, after 

 a lengthened cruise," he says, " our commander, who had been silent 

 for half an hour, jumped up and called to action. ' Up, men, and at 

 them !' was the order of the night. The preparations for shooting 



