72 BRITISH IND USTRIES. 



large smacks like the trawl vessels previously de- 

 scribed. They carry from nine to eleven hands each, 

 and remain at sea until they have a fair cargo of fish, 

 part of the vessel being converted into a well to which 

 the sea has free access, and in which as many of the 

 cod as possible are kept alive until the vessel returns 

 to port. A further description of this well will be 

 given in subsequent pages, after I have spoken of the 

 lines and the manner in which they are worked. 



A complete set of long- lines, as used in one of these 

 vessels, consists of about fifteen dozen, or 180 lines, 

 each forty fathoms in length, and supporting twenty- 

 six hooks on short smaller lines called " snoods," which 

 are fastened to the main line at a fathom and a half 

 apart, that distance being sufficient to prevent the 

 snoods fouling one another and the hooks becoming 

 entangled. A " string " of this description, made up 

 of the 180 lines of forty fathoms each, fastened together 

 into one, is 7200 fathoms long, equal to more than 

 seven nautical or geographical miles, or about eight 

 ordinary ones, and has 4680 hooks. These are baited 

 with the common large whelk, which, owing to its 

 toughness and substance, is not easily washed off the 

 hook, and is an attractive bait for both cod and ling. 

 Baiting these numerous hooks takes up a good deal of 

 time, and gives plenty of employment to the several 

 hands on board, before the line is ready to be shot. 

 Work commences about sunrise, or earlier if the 

 weather is fine, and sometimes a second shot is made 

 if there be time; but the lines are always hauled in 

 before night, as unhooking the fish, coiling away the 



