FISH AND FISHERIES OF EAST SUFFOLK. 3G3 



concrete quay-heading made, with piling extensions extending 

 along the north side as far as Walberswick. New gutting-sheds 

 had been built, and large areas of the original marsh and sand- 

 dune levelled, raised, and in places concreted, in preparation for 

 the Herring harvest. A Herring-mart, surrounded by some 

 seventeen merchants' offices, stores, sheds — even a restaurant 

 and a Scotch Girls' Eest— had cropped up; and there is a 

 promise of great things in store for the resuscitated port. 

 Nearly four hundred Scotch lasses are expected this coming 

 season, with a corresponding number of male labourers and 

 participators in the fishing. Mr. H. J. Sayers, who kindly 

 piloted us round, speaks most optimistically of the future of the 

 port. Yarmouth, Kamsgate, and Lowestoft boats have used the 

 harbour with encouraging results. 



That Yarmouth should see, in the development of Southwold, 

 a menace to her prosperity as a Herring port is absurd ; Yar- 

 mouth can still retain the lion's share, and if the local authority 

 [without hindrance from the Commissioners, with the jealousy of 

 Norwich behind them], instead of haggling and wasting money 

 over law proceedings, would spend it for increased accommoda- 

 tion, a fishing of yet huger dimensions would ensue. There 

 are plenty of Herring shoals off Southwold, in the latter part of 

 the fishing especially. I have seen a "punt" bring in a fine 

 autumnal catch of Herrings of a quality unsurpassed. 



The old-worldness of Southwold, and its beach, notwith- 

 standing the assumption of modernity in the matter of catering 

 for visitors, is still an observable and interesting feature. The 

 fishermen's storage huts remain on the south foreshore, with 

 many quaint hints for the artist, and some eighty small fishing- 

 boats, called "punts," fish from the beach, being hauled up into 

 a north and a south contingent when operations are over in the 

 bay, known as Sole Bay — a suggestive title. They are marked 

 L. T. (port of Lowestoft), the dues being under that port's 

 authority. Southwold has ambitions for a separate authority. 

 These sturdy little "punters," of some twenty feet in length, are 

 built much on the lines of a "gig" ; they are fitted with a lug- 

 foresail (without a boom) and a small mizen ; the mizen-mast 

 starts straight up from the stern-post. They sail well, but the 

 foresail flaps ungracefully when luffing up into the wind. The 



