CHANGES IN BOATS OF LINEKS. 73 



employed was about 35 feet long, clinker-built, with pump of 

 wood, and without a deck, and fishing was carried on by the 

 crew of six men not far from land. The lines consisted of three 

 strings and a half or 700 hooks (each hundred of the fishermen, 

 however, being equal to 120). The mainmast carried the large 

 lug-sail, and the foremast the smaller. Instead of a fixed stove 

 for cooking the men used an old pot, or a small portable fire on 

 an old tray, but as they did not go to distant grounds this 

 temporary arrangement sufficed. Their fishes were placed in 

 baskets — each containing about ten stones. No market existed 

 in those days for fishes, and they were sold by the women in 

 town and country, or to " fish-cadgers," who carried them in 

 carts to neighbouring towns. Their captures were accordingly 

 limited in quantity, and a large catch could not easily be 

 disposed of Towards the beginning of the century, indeed, a 

 cart has been filled frequently for a shilling with fishes of 

 various kinds. 



For herring-fishing the nets were of hemp, had 29 rows to 

 the yard, and did not shrink. Each boat had eighteen or twenty 

 nets, each being 55 yards in length and 15 yards deep. The 

 nets were hauled by the hand, as in primitive times. In 

 white fishing a gaff or " clip " was used for seizing heavy fishes 

 or those unhooked when hauling the lines. 



Now the position is much altered. After the period men- 

 tioned the length of the boats increased, 4 strings instead of 

 3 formed the lines, and now no less than 6 strings with about 

 1,200 hooks are used, while the hooks instead of being 36 inches 

 are 45 inches apart. The largest boats are 60 feet or a little 

 more in length, are decked, and furnished with an aft-cabin 

 and berths for the men, as well as a cooking-stove. They are 

 carvel-built (that is, instead of the planks overlapping as in the 

 clinker-built boats, the edges touch, and the intermediate chink 

 is caulked). The foremast is the larger and carries the heavier 

 sail The pumps are now of iron. The greatly improved 

 fittings of the boat, such as patent blocks and the arrangement 

 of the ropes, enable a smaller crew to do the work, so that 

 occasionally 5 men suffice in a boat of 60 feet, whereas in the 

 olden time there were 6 in the 35-foot boat. The nets, of 



