ENGLISH FISHERIES. 151 



vessels now building for the same purpose are as much 

 as 80 tons. 



Before ice became so generally used as it is at 

 present, the Hull smacks usually fished in fleets, and 

 sent their fish in every day by whichever vessel was 

 going home. Each vessel then stayed out for six weeks 

 at a time, and there was a constant succession of 

 smacks joining and leaving the fleet. When a vessel's 

 turn came to go home, she hoisted a flag, and all the 

 others sent their fish on board, carefully packed in 

 baskets, with a fish-note containing particulars of their 

 number and contents as delivered by each vessel. On 

 her arrival at the Hull docks, she was placed under a 

 steam-crane, and the fish hoisted out, the master 

 handing in his manifest or " pot-list," as it was called, 

 so that each salesman might know what fish was con- 

 signed to him, and from which vessels it was sent. 

 But about twelve years ago, when the advantage of the 

 use of ice had become evident, twenty of the Hull 

 smacks were fitted as " ice-cutters " to collect the fish, 

 and carry it partly to Hull and partly to London ; and 

 these are still kept at work from May to September, 

 the trawlers during that time fishing in fleets of from 

 twenty to fifty vessels. From September to May, how- 

 ever, quite a different system is adopted, for there is 

 generally no want of wind then, and each vessel brings 

 in her own catch. An air-tight compartment is fitted 

 in the hold, called the " ice-box," in which from two 

 to four tons of Norwegian ice are placed when the 

 smack starts on her trip. As the fish is caught it is 



