50 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



it had left it in the morning. As some indication 

 of the greedy manner in which the fish were biting 

 that day, I may mention that my camarade lost 

 a plaice, which carried away a yard of gut and 

 three hooks ; and then he recaught the fish, tackle 

 and all, less than half an hour afterwards. 



The only drawback of that ground (the sewer 

 we accounted in those days of singleness of pur- 

 pose a distinct gain) was that it lay in the track 

 of steamers calling at the pier. When backing 

 out to change the course for either Swanage or 

 the Island, these would at times nearly swamp the 

 anchored boats, though a little care and courtesy 

 on the part of the captains might easily have given 

 us a wide berth. Eight years later, one of the 

 skippers, whose course is run, nearly upset my 

 boat with his wash and so alarmed a lady who 

 was fishing with me that I reported him to his 

 owners and had him cautioned against a repetition 

 of such buffoonery. I mind him well, a red- 

 headed fellow ; and his remarks on the occasion 

 of his reprimand were classical. 



It was not until 1897 that, in company with 

 another enthusiast, who owned a most convenient 

 Berthon boat, I varied this sewer-fishing with 

 investigations of the rocky grounds off Durley 

 Chine and further west, where we caught pout 

 and conger and one or two good sized-dogfish, 

 mostly of the kind called nurses, some of which 



