STEAM, THE CONQUEROR 143 



smack. She is a stationary vessel which is shifted 

 from place to place according to the direction in 

 which the shoals of fish are moving. This direction 

 is known daily by the relative catch of the vessels. 

 The fleet's operations are usually conducted within a 

 radius of ten miles of the mark-boat. The method of 

 discovering the fish and finding the shoals has been 

 well described as "skirmishing." Each morning a 

 carrier collects the fish and goes straight off to Billings- 

 gate market, while another carrier, which has returned 

 from the market, waits near the mark-boat in readiness 

 to leave the fleet on the following morning. In 

 ordinary circumstances there are two or three carriers 

 with the fleet. The mark-boat may be called the 

 rallying-point for the steam-trawlers, which send their 

 catches by the homeward-bound carrier and take empty 

 boxes from the outward-bound carrier which has just 

 joined the fleet after loading up at Gravesend with ice 

 and coal. 



The steam-fleeting on the North Sea banks is 

 carried out in a routine fashion which was not known 

 and could not be known in the days of sail. Steam 

 has conquered everything except the worst of bad 

 weather, and a North Sea trawler will have her gear 

 down in a sea in which many a second-rate cargo boat 

 would be glad to heave to. 



The great majority of the vessels faithfully follow 

 the admiral's signals, for it is only by exercising this 

 obedience that the general well-being and safety can 

 be secured. The vessels usually fish on the tack 

 indicated by the admiral's signals, so as to avoid the 

 risk of collision ; but it is not obligatory to follow 



