58 THE FISHING INDUSTRY 



connected up in line, and carried by the tide till they 

 form one long line, one end of which is attached to the 

 drifter. The position of the nets is indicated by the 

 line of bladder floats. 



The fish swim against the nets, push their heads 

 through, and then, owing to their gill openings, find 

 that they cannot withdraw their heads, and in this way 

 are caught in enormous numbers. Generally, fishing 

 goes on all night, and in the morning the nets are hauled 

 in, and, together with the attached fish, are thrown into 

 the hold situated amidships. The drifters then return 

 with all possible speed to the fish wharf. While the 

 boats are returning to port, the men draw the nets 

 from the hold and shake them free from any entangled 

 fish. When the drifter reaches port, she moors along- 

 side the fish wharf, bow on, and unloads her cargo 

 of fish, using her derrick mast. The fish are unloaded 

 in a round basket which is stamped by the Fishery 

 Board's officer as holding a quarter of a " cran." The 

 word " cran " is derived from the " crown " branded 

 by the Fishery Board's officer on each of the two wooden 

 shafts in the basket. 



/ The cran is the measure which is universally used in 

 the trade. At Yarmouth and Lowestoft originally 

 herrings were counted out and sold by the " last." A 

 cran averages from 900 to 1,000 herrings and weighs 

 approximately 3 cwts. A " last " equals ten crans, 

 and originally consisted of 13,200 herrings, counted out. 

 This method, of course, was too slow and has now been 

 abandoned. 



The herrings, as they are removed from the ship, 

 are put into special baskets called " swills," each swill 

 holding half a cran. The swills containing the day's 

 catch are arranged in rows on the fish wharf, opposite 

 each drifter. It is a great sight to see about four or five 



