THE BEAM-TRAWL. 261 



bottom of the sea, disturbing, perhaps without much 

 alarming, such fish as may come in contact with the ground- 

 rope, and, we may venture to say, ultimately securing 

 them in the purse and pockets, from which there is no 

 deliverance till the trawl is hoisted up on board the vessel 

 and the contents are turned out on deck. 



In an ordinary deep-sea trawl-net the meshes are of four 

 sizes, diminishing from four inches square near the mouth 

 to an inch and a half at the purse or small end ; and the 

 twine for the under side of the net is usually a size larger 

 than that for the back. The net is generally made of the 

 best Manilla hemp, and is well tarred before being used. 

 The only remaining part of the trawl apparatus is the warp 

 by which the trawl is towed over the ground. This is 

 usually a six-inch rope, 150 fathoms long, and made up of 

 two lengths of 75 fathoms each, spliced together. The 

 end of this warp is shackled to two other pieces, each 

 15 fathoms long, and called the "spans" or "bridles," 

 which lead one to each end of the beam, and are shackled 

 to swivel-bolts in the front of the head-irons, so that the 

 pull of the rope comes directly on those parts of the 

 apparatus which are the most exposed to friction by 

 contact with the ground. 



As most of the trawling is carried on far out at sea, and 

 very commonly at long distances from land, good sea- 

 going vessels are required, and vessels of from 45 to 70 

 tons, or even more, are generally employed in this kind of 

 fishery. They are usually called " smacks " from their 

 smack or cutter rig, which until recent years was the one- 

 almost invariably adopted. Forty or fifty years ago they 

 w r ere of comparatively small size, ranging from twenty to 

 thirty-six tons. They were stoutly-built vessels, able to 

 hold their own in almost any kind of weather, but were 



