DRIFT-NET FISHING. 57 



quarter from the pole is a bowl painted one quarter red 

 and three quarters white ; the next is half red and 

 half white; and at the commencement of the last 

 division the bowl is three quarters red and one quarter 

 white. The intermediate bowls are all black. The 

 only other part of the apparatus is the warp, a stout 

 rope, to which each net is made fast by two small 

 ropes called " seizings." The object of having this 

 warp is to facilitate the hauling in of the nets, to take 

 off the direct strain upon them when this is being 

 done, and to prevent any of them being lost, in case 

 of their being cut through by accident. Drift nets 

 being used almost entirely at night, and often ex- 

 tending for a long distance in the course of vessels 

 passing up or down the coast, are sometimes liable to 

 be damaged by these vessels running over or through 

 them; and if by chance the train of nets is thus divided, 

 the warp which hangs below and is fastened to each 

 one holds the nets together, and prevents any serious 

 loss from the nets being carried away. 



All the vessels used in the Yarmouth fishery are 

 decked; the largest of them, about 36 tons, N.M., 

 being 52 feet on the keel, with 17 feet beam, and 

 7 feet depth of hold. They are lugger-rigged, with 

 two masts only, and carry a jib, a large dipping fore- 

 lug, and a working mizen and topsail. The mizen- 

 mast is always kept standing ; but to enable the vessel 

 to ride easier when fishing, the large foremast is fitted 

 so as to lower backwards, on the same principle as may 

 be seen any day in the Thames barges, or in vessels 

 which have to pass under bridges in inland navigation. 



