348 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING-FISHERY. 



morning at the cheerful but h^borious dredge ; they com- 

 mence about four or five, and finish about ten or eleven 

 o'clock in the morning. 



Others set their " partan" (crab) nets on rocky ground, 

 or their skate-nets to the east of Inchkeith, or proceed to 

 the fishing-banks off the mouth of the Forth to fish 

 haddocks, cod, ling, halibut, and skate, until the time 

 of the herring-fishery again comes round. Many of 

 them unite to the occupation of fishermen the equally 

 hazardous but more responsible profession of pilot ; and 

 it is not uncommon for them to be eight days absent, 

 beating about in their open boats in the ocean, in quest 

 of ships. Their mode of life is certainly of a very ex- 

 citing nature ; at one time they are — in the months 

 of June, July, and August — in their open boats in the 

 ocean, 200 miles from home ; at another they are em- 

 ployed, in the cold, stormy, and dreary nights of winter, in 

 the same occupation in the Firth of Forth ; or they pro- 

 ceed amidst darkness and hurricanes to the oyster-fishing 

 or piloting. In the sunny mornings of May, they skim 

 along to the " hekle" or " hettle" rocky grounds, the 

 favourite haunts of the crab and lobster, to set their trap- 

 like " corv" or box, or nets ; or to the deep water of the 

 Firth, to sink their skate nets. Compared to the lands- 

 man on his downy pillow, the sailor's is considered a life 

 of hardships ; but he has his forecastle for shelter and his 

 hammock for a bed, while the fisherman spends his nights 

 in the middle of winter on the ocean, in an open boat, 

 happy to snatch a nap on the boards if the spray or 

 the waves will allow him, — and this not only for one 

 night, but for many nights in succession. We have often 

 seen the fishermen landing from their boats with their 

 faces incrusted white with the salt of the ocean, and yet 



