222 THE TEAWL-NET. 



of the gear to be saved. Were the warp to break instead of the 

 ground-rope, the whole apparatus, which is of considerable value, 

 would be left at the bottom. The trawler, as I noted whUe the 

 net was in the water, usually sails at the rate of 2 or 2|- knots 

 an hour. The best depth of water for trawling is from 20 to 30 

 fathoms, with a bottom of mud or sand. At times, however, the 

 nets are sunk much deeper than this, but that is about the depth 

 of water over the great Silver Pits, 90 miles off the Humber, 

 where a large number of the Hull trawlers go to fish. When 

 they are caught, the flsh (chiefly soles and other flat fish) are 

 then packed in baskets called pads, and are preserved in ice until 

 brought to market. To take twelve or fourteen pads a day is 

 considered excellent fishing. Besides these ground-fish the trawl 

 often encloses haddocks, cod, and other round fish, when such 

 happen to be feeding on the bottom. It sometimes happens 

 that the beam falls to the ground, and, the ground-rope lying 

 on the top of the bag-net, no fish can get in. This accident, 

 which, however, seldom occurs, is called a back fall. Mr. Vivian 

 of Hull, in a letter to the editor of a Manchester newspaper, 

 gave two years ago a very graphic account of the trawl-fishing, 



£50 or £60 a week ought to he oMained. Each net is 10 fathoms 

 long, and is sunk 9 fathoms during the fishing, the upper part heing 

 floated hy a long series of barrels, which are fitted at intervals of 15 

 fathoms. The warps used for laying out the nets in each vessel measure 

 2200 yards. Two men take up the nets, two empty the fish out of them, 

 iand one boy stows the nets while his fellow stows the wai-ps, which are 

 raised by a windlass worked by the men. Bach net weighs about 28 ' 

 pounds. In order to preserve the nets and sails, it is necessary at 

 frequent intervals to cover them with tanning, which is prepared in large 

 coppers These coppers cost £40." 



On the Gulf of St. Lawrence the engagements of fishermen are as 

 follows : — ■ 



" The fishermen are brought to the fishing-station at the expense of 

 the firm engaging them. They are furnished with a good fishing-boat, 

 thoroughly fitted, and are besides supplied with fresh bait as long as it 

 can be got, and they require it, but on payment of a sum of $6 to $8 ; 

 and for each 100 codfish delivered on the stage they receive the sum of 

 5s. 6d., one half in money and the other half in goods and provisions. At 

 these prices, and fish being abundant, fishermen earn |6, $10, $15, and 

 even $20 a day ; and after an absence of from 6 to 9 weeks, bring 

 home from $80 to $120, and sometimes more. But they have to board 

 themselves ; and if the fish is not abundant, their account of the pro- 

 visions lent to their families before their departure, their own board, the 

 purchase of their lines, take up the greatest part of their earnings, and 

 they very often return to Magdalen Islands with empty pockets." Great 

 quantities of all kinds of fish are found in the St. Lawrence. 



