220 THE SEA FISHERIES 



unconnected with the task of the main engines, i.e. the propulsion 

 of the ship. In sailing trawlers the donkey engine will be the only 

 one on board, and will be used for hauling the net. No special 

 engineer is carried, the engine being looked after by the fishermen. 

 Another room is equipped to show the various processes of smoking 

 and preserving fish. There are smoking frames and chambers, with 

 steam boilers for cooking by steam. Attached to the school, but 

 independent, except that it is under the same direction, is a depart- 

 ment for carrying out investigations relating to the economic and 

 commercial aspects of the fishing industry. This includes not only 

 well-equipped laboratories for chemical and bacteriological work, 

 but also rooms and apparatus for experiments in methods of drying, 

 frying, curing, smoking and otherwise preserving fish ; for extracting 

 oils and separating stearin, for refrigerating, for testing the breaking 

 strain of ropes. 



The work of the Ibis is of such a special and interesting descrip- 

 tion that a short account of it is appended. 



This institution has two main functions : (i) The Orphanage 

 proper, which is a ship moored in the Ostend-Bruges Canal, and on 

 which the boys are educated up to eleven years of age, and (2) the 

 Home for young fishermen-in-training, which is on shore close by. 

 The orphanage ship Ibis is an old gunboat, purchased from the 

 British Government some years ago and adapted for its present 

 purpose. Boys are admitted as soon as they are old enough to 

 receive instruction, often at the age of six years. They remain on 

 the Ibis tmtil they are eleven. From the latter age the boys go to 

 sea in groups of from ten to twelve in one of the trawlers belonging 

 to the Society which manages the institution. Voyages are made 

 of similar length and under similar conditions to those of ordinary 

 commercial trawlers, and the fish caught is sold in the market in 

 the usual way. While on board each boy is under an obligation, 

 weather permitting, to one hour's lessons per day. Between voyages 

 the boys return not to the ship, but to the Home on shore, where 

 every opportunity is given to them to complete their professional 

 training. They stay with the Society until the age of fourteen or 

 fifteen, and are then engaged with readiness by the trawl-owners 



In Scotland the education of the fishing community falls natura,lly 

 under four heads. Work in day schools ; work in continuation 

 schools; special classes for day-school teachers; and the work of the 



central navigation schools. 



In the Scottish code of 1886, navigation appeared as a possible 

 optional subject of instruction in the upper senior classes as one 

 of the subsections of elementary science. In 1890 important 

 changes were made, the effect of which was that although naviga- 



