ENGLISH FISHERIES. 125 



page 93, by the fishermen of Itchen, Cowes, and Ports- 

 mouth. It is used during the regular sprat season, 

 lasting from November to February, and vast quanti- 

 ties of these fish are caught in those months, and for 

 the most part landed at Southampton. As we pro- 

 ceed eastward, drift fishing for mackerel and herrings 

 becomes more general, and Brighton and Hastings 

 come into especial notice. The larger boats from 

 these places go long distances to take part in the 

 mackerel fishery, and the Brighton boats especially 

 join with the Cornishmen at the earlier part of the 

 season in working at the mouth of the Channel. The 

 almost continuous line of beach along the Sussex coast 

 requires a particular style of fishing boat for conve- 

 nience in launching and hau]ing up where there is no 

 harbour : they are, accordingly, built with very flat 

 floors and large bilge-pieces to keep them upright 

 when they are out of the water. Brighton once had a 

 name for a class of boats in which these peculiarities 

 were carried to excess, and they are still not entirely 

 extinct. These, the representatives of what many 

 years ago was the typical form of Brighton fishing 

 boats, are known by the name of " hog-boats." They 

 are rigged with two spritsails and a jib ; but the lug- 

 rig is now by common consent approved as that most 

 suited for drift fishing, from the facility with which 

 the mast can be lowered and put out of the way, and 

 the few remaining hog-boats are now rarely used except 

 for inshore trawling. The modern drift-boats are not 

 only larger than formerly, but are faster and more com- 

 fortable craft. 



