62 NORTH SEA FISHERS AND FIGHTERS 



At the outset many patents were secured for the otter 

 apparatus, and it was necessary to pay a fee of ^25 yearly 

 before it could be used ; but, as improvements were put 

 on the market and the demand for the modern appliance 

 grew, the charge was abolished, and to-day the principle 

 is employed, free, in all modern steamboats engaged in 

 trawling. 



The otter trawl had been in use, and its value fully 

 proved, many years before it became universal in steam- 

 boats. So long ago as the middle Sixties the beam had 

 been superseded by two boards and a number of corks, 

 the corks replacing the great spar, and the boards serving 

 the purpose of the irons. A number of amateur fisher- 

 men regularly used the otter apparatus because of its 

 portability, for the boards were detachable and were 

 easily stowed away in small craft. A beam was con- 

 sidered a very ugly thing on board a yacht, and the 

 otter trawl was proved to be not only more compact, 

 but also far superior to the beam-trawl for fishing. 

 Amateurs were enthusiastic in praising the new inven- 

 tion, but in speaking of it even an experienced sea 

 fisherman like Wilcocks, of Guernsey, said, "The regular 

 beam-trawl is too firmly established ever to be superseded 

 amongst fishermen." 



Appropriately enough, it was a correspondent in 

 the eastern counties who gave Wilcocks details of the 

 practical employment of one of the earliest of the otter- 

 trawls, which was procured through Lapthorne, a well- 

 known sailmaker of Gosport. ' * The use of the otter-trawl 

 is very simple," the writer stated. " There is only one 

 thing to be cautious about, which is that you must weight 

 the foot-rope exactly right, neither too heavy nor too 



