62 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



one, carrying the stop seine, is manned by a crew of nine, 

 six rowing, two to shoot the seine, and one acting as bow- 

 man, on whom the course of the boat depends. The 

 second boat is called the volgar or follower, and carries the 

 tuck or smaller lifting seine. The third is the lurker, the 

 smallest -of the three, and is chiefly occupied by the hirer 

 or guide, and some boys. The seine is of various lengths, 

 ranging from 250 to 300 fathoms, by 13 to 16 fathoms 

 deep. Its meshes are smaller than those of the drift-net, 

 the object being to enclose the fish without meshing 

 them. 



The seine net has a line of head-ropes, to which are 

 attached corks and other buoys, to keep its upper edge 

 near the surface. To the lower edge are attached innumer- 

 able small pieces of lead, which bear it down and keep it 

 close to the ground, the object being to shoot the seine in 

 shallow water with a clear bottom. The "tuck" is a 

 similar net, but of smaller dimensions ; its mesh is of the 

 same size as that of the seine, but it has in the middle 

 a hollow bag, as it were, into which the fish go when the 

 process of tucking is going on. These nets are very 

 expensive, costing from ;£^300 to £600. 



The " drift " fishing employs about 47 boats. Each 

 boat costs about .^200, or when a set of three nets is pro- 

 vided, so as to fish for herrings and mackerel as well as 

 pilchards, the cost is ;^400. Unlike the seine boats, the 

 drift boats must all be manned by sailors. 



As many as 4200 hogsheads, or over 1 200 tons, of fish 

 have been taken in one cast of the seine, but this enormous 

 catch was an extraordinary haul. A good cast, enclosing 

 a large shoal, has, however, often yielded 1200 hogsheads 

 of fish. 



The pilchards, when taken on shore, are gutted and 



