BLOCK'S GURNARD. 53 



shire coasts, it remains to describe both, and the mode of 

 using them. The boat is about twenty-five feet long, and 

 ten feet in the beam, or breadth. The average burthen 

 about ten tons ; and they carry three tons of ballast gene- 

 rally shingle, with some loose pigs of iron, which are shifted 

 from side to side as occasion may require. The boat is 

 fitted with two masts, with a square sail to each ; sometimes 

 a third mast and sail are set up when the wind is very 

 light, and thus rigged they are called lugsail-boats. The 

 trawl-net for a boat of this power has a beam of eighteen 

 or twenty feet in length the extent of the beam being the 

 breadth of the mouth of the net ; and the length of the 

 net is from sixty to seventy-five feet. In the representation 

 of this net, the rope on the extreme left that runs through 

 the block is called the trawl-warp, and is the only con- 

 nexion between the boat and the net when the net is 

 overboard. The ropes passing obliquely from the block 

 to the two sides are called the bridle, and serve effectually 

 to keep the open mouth of the net square to the front, when 

 the net is drawn along over the ground by the boat. The 

 trawl-beam is four inches diameter, and is supported at the 

 height of twenty or twenty-four inches above the ground 

 by a heavy frame of iron of a particular form at each end 



