SMACKS AND TRAWLS 61 



Experience proved that the beam was unwieldy and 

 unnecessary, and there came into being the ingenious 

 contrivance which is called the otter gear. It was 

 not until 1894 that the new method superseded the old 

 plan of fishing. Like all other improvements, the 

 otter was at first ridiculed and condemned ; but the 

 opposition died very quickly, for even the most con- 

 servative smacksman saw in it a welcome change from 

 needless labour, a vast improvement in fishing, and a 

 means of greaterprofit. In place of the beam, two boards, 

 each about 4^ ft. square, were attached to the mouth of 

 the net, where the trawl-heads had been, and so arranged 

 that on being dragged through the water they kept the 

 mouth open in the same manner as the rigid beam and 

 irons. An enormous advantage, too, was the lightness 

 of the contrivance compared with the weight of the old 

 apparatus, and the possibility of shooting and hauling in 

 weather which would make the employment of the beam 

 impossible. With a lessening of weight and the further 

 use of steam, the labour of handling the net has been very 

 much reduced. Powerful steam-winches have succeeded 

 the hand and donkey capstans ; yet even to-day the final 

 work of getting the net on board is hard enough to satisfy 

 even the most robust of toilers. 



At the outset a modified form of the otter apparatus 

 was used, and I remember photographing one of the 

 earliest types of "gallows" a square invention which 

 was unpleasantly suggestive of the real thing which is 

 stealthily concealed in unassuming sheds in gaols. To-day 

 the "gallows" consist of arched girders fitted to the 

 trawler's side, and they form a prominent feature of 

 her equipment. 



