120 BRITISH IND USTRIES. 



of a few Hull trawlers taking up their quarters there ; 

 and Brixham men and boats were the means of esta- 

 blishing trawling from Dublin, which led to this mode 

 of fishing being adopted on several other parts of the 

 Irish coast. Barking, on the other hand, has only sent 

 boats to Yarmouth ; and the superior advantages of 

 the North Sea ports have gradually lessened the im- 

 portance of Barking as a fishing station. I have said 

 that it is difficult to obtain any evidence of the origin 

 of trawling at Brixham, but I may safely say it has 

 been carried on from that port for at least a century. 

 Froude, possibly by a slip of the pen, spoke, in his 

 6 History of England, 5 of there having been trawlers at 

 Brixham in the time of Elizabeth (1588) ; but I can 

 find no evidence of such having been the case, although 

 there can be little doubt that fishing of some kinds was 

 then an important occupation of the Brixham people. 

 At the beginning of the present century, the trawl-boats 

 were few and small compared with those in use now. 

 In 1852 there were about seventy trawlers working 

 from Brixham, and there are, probably, not less than 

 120 now belonging to the place, and fishing on the 

 Brixham trawling ground during the winter season, 

 which is the most productive one for trawl fishing. 

 Twelve new boats were added to the Brixham fleet 

 during 1876, and the building -yards were in the 

 autumn of that year in full work on new vessels for 

 Brixham and other stations. Special interest attaches 

 to Brixham, from its being a place from which trawling 

 has been regularly carried on for so long a time on a 

 comparatively small extent of fishing ground. Taking 



