54 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



Mr. Thomas Campbell, who in the old days was the 

 largest individual owner of sailing trawlers, and stead- 

 fastly refused to abandon wood and canvas in favour of 

 steel and steam. The original total cost of these vessels 

 was probably not less than ^7000, yet they only realised 

 ^215. The prices paid were 60, ^53, ^40, ^32, and 

 ^30, the buyers getting all the stores, sails, and running 

 gear as well as the craft. One of the smacks was built 

 so recently as 1894, tne oldest dating from 1884 ; another 

 of them, with the romantic name Red Nell, was built in 

 1885. Small though the prices named are, yet they are 

 greater than many of the sums for which splendid vessels 

 have been sold. I have seen a fine smack auctioned for 

 ^25, and others withdrawn because not even a bid like 

 that was made. Numbers of these famous vessels are 

 rotting in creeks and harbours on the east coast, 

 because there is no use for them and it does not pay to 

 break them up for firewood. Surely, before it is too late, 

 one or two of these old fighters of the North Sea might 

 be preserved as a link with the past, and kept with just 

 as much care as the Victory. 



The beam-trawl was an apparatus consisting of nine 

 distinct parts. These were the beam, the trawl-heads, 

 the ground-rope, the bosom, the cod or purse, the draw- 

 rope, the rubbing-pieces, the pockets, and the bridle. 

 The beam was proportionate to the size of the net. 

 The wood usually employed to make it was elm, 

 experience proving that this was the best material. 

 For the smaller beams, which had a length of about 

 36 ft., it was not difficult to find single pieces of 

 wood which could be used with little or no trimming. 

 If, however, the trawl beam was very large, two or 



