SHORES OF THE CLYDE AND FIRTH. 25 
1888, anent the mussel beds of the East and West Coasts : 
— " The mussel fishing in the Greenock district may be 
said to rank in Scotland next to Montrose in value. 
The chief beds are situated in the river Clyde on the 
north side, between Helensburgh and Dumbarton, the 
space fished being about three miles in length by about one 
in breadth. A small portion of this ground belongs to 
the town of Greenock, who got it by charter in 1816. 
This portion extends from the Tail of the Bank east- 
ward to Garvel Point at the east end of Greenock. In the 
ground above that, however, and opposite Port-Glasgow, 
which is the most prolific part, no one seems to have any 
vested rights. Nearly all the mussels fished are sent to 
the East Coast, and the quantity despatched in the year 
1887 was 3850 tons.'' These figures, however, do not 
include what were taken away otherwise than by rail, and 
it is safe to say that the annual shipment of mussels from 
the Port-Glasgow and Greenock banks exceeds 4000 tons. 
MUSSEL-FISHING. 
The mode of mussel-fishing is very simple. Two men 
with a stout rowing-boat set out for the banks, each 
provided with a long-toothed close-set iron rake, wire- 
netted round the ends and back, which is attached to a 
pole about twenty feet in length. This is let down to the 
bottom diagonally — a man standing on each side of the 
l)oat — and drawn in to the perpendicular, with the hands 
then raised to the surface, and the contents emptied 
into the boat. From twelve to fifteen shillings per ton 
frc^e on rail at Port-Glasgow is procured for the cargoes, 
and for nearly eight months in the year. Before the present 
depletion of the banks was brought about, as many as 
twenty boats were employed in the trade. How important 
