SCIENTIFIC TRAWLING 189 



their coble, at an inclusive charge of 6 weekly, to assist 

 him in his work of marking and releasing crabs. The 

 pay was good, the work easy and pleasant, and the 

 scientific work proceeded smoothly. Crabs were caught 

 and marked and then set free, so that in due course 

 some at least of them might be recovered and bear 

 witness to their travels. The North Sea man has a 

 habit of letting matters settle in his mind, and the coble- 

 men, regarding the scientific experiments with disfavour 

 and suspicion, designed to keep their chief and employer 

 ashore. That was not a hard matter. They took him 

 out one day in shabby weather, whereupon he discovered 

 that he could, with the greatest ease and comfort, con- 

 duct his operations from the safety and solidity of the 

 land. For a considerable period the new arrangement 

 lasted, then it was abruptly terminated, and the coblemen 

 resumed the gentle art of crab-potting, for the official 

 had discovered that the men, holding it to be a crime 

 and an unheard-of thing to give back to the sea that 

 which had been wrested from it, had removed the marks 

 and then sold the crabs in the ordinary and legitimate 

 way of commerce. 



