20 THE SEA FISHERIES 



£6000 to £7000 to build. For convenience of fishing a steam trawler 

 carries two trawl nets ready for instant use, one on either side of 

 the ship. When on the fishing grounds, fishing is continuous, the 

 duration of a haul is from five to six hours, and as soon as the net 

 is hauled and cleared it is shot again. Trawling is possible at depths 

 from 5 to 200 fathoms, except where the bottom is very rocky. 

 Beyond 100 fathoms trawling is not at present practised extensively 

 for commercial fishing. As a rule a steam trawler carries nine 

 hands, consisting of the skipper, mate, boatswain, two deck-hands, 

 cook, two engineers and a fireman. The larger vessels which make 

 longer voyages carry additional hands. Payment is partly by wage, 

 partly by share. 



The tendency in recent years is for the design of steam trawlers 

 to become adapted for a special kind of fishing. A steamer working 

 the North Sea grounds and landing her fish at Grimsby would be 

 designed on different lines to a Fleetwood trawler working the 

 Iceland grounds, or a Swansea trawler destined for Moroccan 

 waters. Consequently a general description will not apply in all 

 respects to any particular boat, though there is naturally an agree- 

 ment in broad outlines. The text-figures show a longitudinal 

 section and the deck plans of a steam trawler. In the older type of 

 trawler the master and all hands were accommodated in a small 

 cabin aft, but in the more recent types the living accommodation 

 is distributed as shown. Forward of the after cabin are the engine, 

 boiler, stokehold and main bunkers. Practically all the larger 

 vessels have a spare bunker filled with coal on the outward voyage, 

 but capable of being washed out and used for storing fish on the 

 return journey. Forward of this is the main fish-hold, loosely 

 divided into divisions or pounds by detachable boards fitting 

 athwart-ships fore and aft, and shipping into stanchions the full 

 depth of the ship. Each pound is divided horizontally by a number 

 of shelves on which the fish, mixed with ice, is laid. The two forward 

 pounds are filled with crushed ice before the vessel leaves port. 

 Forward of the ice-room is the store-room with racks for the nets, 

 ropes and other gear, and in the later ships a forecastle with accom- 

 modation for about eight men. On deck aft there is generally a 

 house on the extreme stern, which serves as a storeroom and also 

 for protection of the lifeboat, usually fitted on the top of the cabin 

 skylight. In more modem trawlers there are two lifeboats slung 

 from davits on either side, just abaft the funnel. Forward of the 

 cabin skylight come the galley and the entrances to the cabin and 

 engine-room. Forward of this is a skylight with the casing over 

 engines and boilers. Then come the funnel, and forward of it the 

 bridge with wheelhouse, and in the later types the skipper's cabin. 



