ENGLISH FISHERIES. Ill 



consists of eight men, six of whom row the boat, and 

 two shoot or throw out the net. The next in size is 

 the " tow-boat," two of which, about twenty-four feet 

 in length, work in company with the sean-boat, and 

 each carries a stop-net, to be united to the sean, as 

 previously described. The remaining boat is a small 

 one, called the " lurker," or " volyer," from which the 

 captain of the sean directs all the proceedings. The 

 position of the shoals is first observed and pointed out 

 by men called " huers," who are selected from the 

 sharpest and cleverest of the fishermen, and are 

 stationed at particular places above the shore, usually 

 two men for each station, and they readily detect the 

 fish by the peculiar appearance and colour in the 

 water where the shoals come near the surface, and 

 signal with a large white ball to the boats waiting 

 below to take their turns. These men remain on duty 

 for three hours at a time, and receive 31. a month and 

 one hogshead of fish out of every hundred hogsheads 

 taken. The practice of measuring the pilchards by 

 the hogshead arises from the fact of these fish being 

 in such large demand for curing and exportation to 

 the Mediterranean, whither they are sent packed in 

 hogsheads. The estimate of the contents of a sean, or 

 the actual quantity landed from one, is therefore con- 

 veniently spoken of as so many hogsheads. The work 

 of landing and carrying the fish to the curing houses, 

 as well as the previous operation of hauling the sean 

 with its scaly contents into shoal water, is performed 

 by a number of men termed " blowsers ; " and it is not 

 improbable that the heaving in of the sean-warp by 



