SEA FISHERIES. 9 



important article of ice, now a necessary part of the 

 fit-out of almost all our deep-sea trawlers, those which 

 work as a rule far out of sight of land. The idea of 

 using ice for the preservation of fish, was first put into 

 a practicable shape by the late Mr. Samuel Hewett, to 

 whose credit it may be stated that, beginning life as 

 a boy on board a trawl-smack, he lived to see a fleet 

 of fifty or sixty vessels in regular work for himself and 

 family, and under his own supervision, to almost the 

 last days of his life. 



His is one more example of how what may be called 

 a rough, unlettered man succeeded, by hard work and 

 constant attention to his business, in doing good, not 

 only to himself, but to an extent he perhaps little 

 anticipated, to the community at large. 



At the present moment no less than 25,000 tons of 

 ice are annually imported from Norway into Hull, one 

 of the great North Sea trawling stations, for the sole 

 purpose of being used for packing the fish in, either 

 on board the fishing smacks, or when sending it off by 

 railway. Hull is only one of three very large trawl- 

 ing stations on the north-east coast of England, and 

 the increase in the quantity of fish, which, by the use 

 of ice, is now delivered in good condition at the 

 various markets of the country, is almost incalculable. 

 It may be said with good reason that, excluding her- 

 rings, pilchards, and sprats, a very large proportion of 

 the fish now caught on the English coasts is put into 

 ice as soon as taken out of the water; it is brought 

 on shore, sometimes after several days, and sold in the 

 wholesale markets ; it is then repacked in ice and for- 



