194 YARMOUTH. 



bloaters are for quick sale and speedy consumption ; then there' 

 is a special cure for fish sent to the Mediterranean — " Straits- 

 men " I think these are called ; then there are the black herrings, 

 which have a really fine flavour. In fact the Yarmouth herrings 

 are so cured as to be suitable to particular markets. It may 

 interest the general reader to know that the name of " bloater " 

 is derived from the herring beginning to swell or bloat during 

 the process of curing. Small logs of oak are burned to produce 

 the smoke, and the fish are all put on " spits " which are run 

 through the gills. The " spitters " of Yarmouth are quite as 

 dexterous as the gutters of Wick, a woman being able to spit a 

 last per day. Like the gutters and packers of Wick, the spitters 

 of Yarmouth work in gangs. The fish, after being hung and 

 smoked, are packed in barrels, each containing seven hundred 

 and fifty fish. 



The Yarmouth boats do not return to harbour every morning, 

 like the Scotch boats ; being decked vessels of some size, from 

 fifty to eighty tons, costing about £1000, and having stowage 

 for about fifty lasts of herrings, they are enabled to remain at sea 

 for some days, usually from three to six, and of course they are 

 able to use their small boats in the fishery, a man or two being 

 left in charge of the large vessel, while the majority of the hands 

 are out in the boats fishing. There has always been a busy 

 herring-fishery at the port of Yarmouth. A century ago upwards 

 of two hundred vessels were fitted out for the herring-fishery, 

 and these afforded employment to a large number of people — as 

 many as six thousand being employed in one way or the other 

 in connection vrith the fishery. The Yarmouth boats or busses 

 are not unlike the boats once used in Scotland, which have been 

 already described. They carry from fifteen to twenty lasts of 

 herrings (a last, counted fisherwise, is more than 13,000 herrings, 

 but nominally it is 10,000 fish), and are manned with some 

 fourteen men or boys. 



The following summary of the official statistics issued by 

 the Board for the fishing of 1872 will give the reader an 

 idea of the present state of this important industry. The 

 information laid before Parliament about the capture and 

 branding of herrings during the year 1872 is fuller than usual, 

 and is of more than usual interest, setting forth as it does the 

 increasing value which is attached by curers to the brand, and 

 giving at the same time a series of minute details of the great 

 improvement annually being effected in the construction of 



