290 



summer months some of them fished with hand-lines on 

 the north coast of Scotland, some of them were occupied 

 in carrying lobsters from Norway and Sweden to the 

 London market, and others were engaged in the whiting 

 and haddock fishing. They all used to bring their live 

 cargoes to Gravesend and thence sent them forward from 

 day to day to Billingsgate market. 



In the year 1851 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln- 

 shire Railway Company had completed their magnificent 

 new docks and line at Grimsby ; and the direct connection 

 established by this rail with London and the great pro- 

 vincial centres, together with the geographical position of 

 the port with regard to the great fishing banks, recom- 

 mended it as the most convenient fishing centre on the 

 east coast. 



Smack owners from Harwich, Greenwich and Barking 

 commenced to send their vessels here periodically ; a 

 company in connection with the Manchester, Sheffield, 

 and Lincolnshire Railway Company was formed, and for 

 some years employed twelve smacks one half the number 

 in the lining, and the other half in the trawling business. 

 A market and a dock for the special use of the fish trade 

 were constructed in 1855 ; and so rapid has been the 

 growth of the trade from that time to the present day 

 that the efforts of the railway company in extending the 

 dock accommodation have hardly been able to keep pace 

 with the increasing trade. 



I have not been able strictly to arrive at the relative figures 

 of tonnage, but I shall not be far from the fact, and perhaps 

 near enough for the purpose of this paper, if I compute the 

 tonnage of all fishing vessels in Grimsby in 1855 at 800 

 tons, half of which were cod smacks. At present the 

 tonnage actually belonging to the port is not far short of 

 40,000, 8000 tons of which is represented by about 120 cod 



