LINE-FISHING. 307 



bottom of the vessel at various distances below the water 

 line. The entrance to the well is through a hatchway 

 leading from the deck for a short distance downwards, 

 where it opens in the " well-deck," which covers the whole 

 upper part of the well except the opening just mentioned. 

 The object of this lower deck, placed as it is a little above 

 the water-line, is to keep the level of the water within 

 certain limits when the smack is rolling about or pressed 

 down under sail ; it also helps to prevent the water splash- 

 ing up through the hatchway on the main deck. Cod are 

 the principal fish put into the well ; and when they have 

 been caught in only a moderate depth of water they thrive 

 better than those taken at greater depths. There is some 

 mortality, however, among the best of them, arising from 

 their being knocked about in the well during bad weather. 

 This cannot be altogether prevented when there are many 

 fish on board ; but they are taken out at once and packed 

 in ice, and each line-smack on returning to port generally 

 has a number of such fish preserved in that manner, includ- 

 ing also cod, ling, and haddock, which were not thought 

 likely to live in the well when they were taken off the 

 hook. It is no uncommon thing for a smack to return 

 from the Dogger with from twenty to twenty-five score of 

 fine live cod, besides perhaps two-thirds of that number of 

 fish in ice. 



The season for long-lining is during the winter months, 

 and the fishing is carried on from November to March or 

 April, depending partly on what ground the smack is at 

 work. The great enemy the cod-fishermen have is the 

 dogfish, which at certain times, but fortunately not every 

 year, commit great havoc among the cod which have 

 become hooked. One case is recorded of nearly every 



fish on the line having been more or less eaten by the 



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