CHANGES IN TRAWLING VESSELS. 68 



and bolted to the engine-room on one hand and the bul- 

 warks on the other. A larger boat in the newer vessels is 

 placed on rests in the centre of the ship over the engine- 

 room, while in the most recent it occupies the centre of the 

 stern, and the front ' stock ' or support has a swivel. Moreover, 

 in the ' Belcher,' the hook of the chain-lashing is jointed and 

 fastened with a ring, so that the boat can be made ready in a 

 minute. The modern boat is considerably larger, and is covered 

 with canvas. 



In connection with the fittings on deck, the use of raised or 

 projecting figures or letters of sheet-iron on the funnel is one of 

 the modern changes ; they are very easily seen at a distance. 

 The initial letter of the owner is sometimes added. Each 

 vessel is, of course, marked likewise on quarter and bow. 



The ice-house, which had just been introduced in 1884, is 

 now an important part of the vessel, usually in front of the 

 fish-hold. Five tons of broken ice are taken in the larger 

 vessels to the distant grounds. It is sent from the stores in 

 barrels, and passed from the cart to the hold by a funnel. So 

 important has this feature become both for liners and trawlers, 

 in Aberdeen for instance, that special factories have been 

 erected for the manufacture of ice by the ammonia-system, 

 about 90 tons being made daily in one^ near the harbour, and 

 55 in another^ On the distant grounds, where most of the 

 work of the larger vessels occurs, the ice is placed over the 

 fishes after they are ' gutted ' and consigned to the hold, as was 

 done by the English trawlers from the distant grounds in 1884. 

 The price of ice (at present 17 s. 6d. per ton crushed and 

 delivered alongside the ships) is thus an item of moment in the 

 trawling expenditure. On discharging the fishes from Iceland, 

 Faroe, or the Great Fisher Bank, the old ice is thrown over- 

 board, and, though it might seem economical to keep it for use 

 in a subsequent voyage, e.g., for the preservation of the offal, 

 for which 10^. per ton is got from the manure-companies, yet 

 it is certainly the safer method. No wind-sails are now 

 employed. 



1 North Brit. Ice Co. (Mr Lang's). 



2 Aberdeen Ice Co. 



