THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. 43 



summer to the hills and in winter to the valleys, so in 

 summer the fish frequent the sandy elevated plateaux 

 beneath the sea, while in winter they withdraw into the 

 deeper submarine depressions. The sandy or muddy 

 eminences in which the fish are found in summer fringe 

 the coasts of England, Holland, Germany, and Denmark. 

 But in addition to the elevations which surround the basin 

 of the sea, a great block of high tableland, about 200 miles 

 long and about 30 miles broad, runs from south-west to 

 north-east almost in the middle of the sea. This is the 

 Dogger Bank where, rather more than a hundred years ago, 

 Dutch and English fought a sharp and indecisive action, and 

 where now hundreds of British, Dutch, and French fisher- 

 men obtain a livelihood. In the immediate vicinity of the 

 south of the Dogger, the land abruptly slopes away into a 

 valley which was probably once a river estuary, and which 

 is now known as the outer Silver Pit ; while south of this 

 again the southern shore of the old watercourse is formed 

 by some elevated ground known as the Well Bank. 

 Between the Well Bank and the English coast the high 

 tableland is intersected by two deep depressions, known as 

 the Sole Pit and the Silver Pit. North-west of these again, 

 the stony foreshore which runs from Flamborough Head 

 bears the name of California. 



These salient features in the physical aspect of the North 

 Sea ought to be understood by any one who desires to 

 form a clear idea of the fishing trade of the United 

 Kingdom. The names which, in modern times, have been 

 given to some .of these submarine valleys and hills, such as 

 the Silver Pit, the outer Silver Pit, and California, sufficiently 

 indicate the importance which fishermen attach to the 

 grounds. In cold weather, indeed, the flat fish are congre- 

 gated together in the valleys and fall an easy prey to the 



