134: BRITISH INDUSTRIES. 



of dealing with the falling off in the supply of oysters, 

 is a question which has not yet been settled by either 

 theorists or practical fishermen. I have previously 

 noticed the considerable fishing for sprats at the mouth 

 of the Thames, when describing the construction and 

 manner of working of the stow-net ; and I need only 

 add, that most of the larger craft at other times em- 

 ployed in oyster-dredging are in winter used in " stow- 

 boating." 



Northward of the Thames we come to Harwich, 

 whose history as a fishing station is somewhat remark- 

 able, for it exhibits a rise to a position of the first 

 importance in connection with a particular kind of 

 fishery, and then a gradual decline to insignificance ; 

 not because of the particular fishing trade ceasing to 

 exist, but owing to its transfer to other ports. Harwich 

 was at one time the great station for the North Sea cod- 

 boats, and to her is due the credit of introducing into 

 this country the welled smacks, by means of which the 

 London markets have been for the last hundred and 

 fifty years supplied with what is known in the trade as 

 "live cod." From a statement prepared by the late 

 Mr. Groom, an old resident at Harwich, it appears that 

 the first welled-smack used in this country was built 

 at Harwich in 1712, and there were three vessels of 

 that description constructed between that year and 

 1715. In the year 1720, the number had increased to 

 twelve, and in 1735, to thirty. Of that number, Mr. 

 Nathaniel Saunders (the progenitor of the three gene- 

 rations of well-known fish-factors and salesmen at 



