ENGLISH FISHERIES. 127 



tury there were three or four open fishing boats, which 

 were used for trawling near the shore. But about 

 forty years ago, a few Brixham men took their smacks 

 to Eamsgate, and the fleet of deep-sea trawlers has 

 been gradually increasing ever since, especially during 

 the last few years. In 1875 there were 147 first-class 

 fishing boats, averaging over thirty-five tons, on the 

 Ramsgate Register, and the whole of these, we believe 

 we are correct in saying, were sea-going trawl-smacks. 

 The home fishing ground is from north to east of the 

 North Foreland, but in winter many of the smacks go 

 farther away into the North Sea, and land their fish at 

 other ports, as the neighbourhood of Rarnsgate is dan- 

 gerous in bad weather, and trawlers like, if possible, to 

 get out of the way of other vessels. 



The actual fisheries carried on in the Thames con- 

 sist of little more than shrimping, oyster-dredging, and 

 stow-net fishing for sprats; but London still has a 

 considerable number of first-class fishing boats on her 

 register, as Barking comes within the London district. 

 Barking was once a very important station, and the 

 head quarters of the earlier North Sea trawlers. But 

 no smacks have been built there for many years past, 

 and it is difficult to fix any precise time for the com- 

 mencement of its trawl fishery. In my notice of 

 Brixham, I mentioned that it was a question, to which 

 of these two places belonged the honour of introducing 

 deep-sea trawling ; but as all records on the subject 

 are wanting, there is every probability of the matter 

 remaining undecided. The official returns of fishing 

 boats unfortunately give no idea of what fishing they 



