WITH A DEEP-SEA TRAWLER TO THE 
FISHING GROUNDS OFF PAIR ISLE. 
Through the favour of an introduction from Mr. W. II. Storey, 
of North Shields, to Messrs. It. Irvin & Sons, of Shields and 
Aberdeen, I was able to conclude this year's trawling excursions 
with a voyage in a deep-sea trawler. I was anxious for one thing 
to see the ordinary life of the crew, and the nature of the fishing. 
I was also desirous of adding to our collections by the use of a 
surface net, and by gathering amongst the material brought up in 
the trawl. I wished, moreover, to compare an ordinary deep-sea 
trawling voyage with our experimental efforts on this coast. 
For the purpose of collecting I took with me three boxes, with 
bottles and preserving re- agents, and a surface net similar to the 
ones we use at our excursions. 
The “ Ben Ledi ” is one of the newest boats belonging to the 
Messrs. Irvin, and like all the modern boats it is fitted with otter 
trawls capable of over 100 feet extension between the boards. The 
trawling is done at half-speed, and in this case the gear had to pass 
over so many pulleys that one never knew how the net was faring, 
whether it was torn or safe. But the arrangement was a great 
saving of manual labour, practically everything being done by steam. 
The light necessary for hauling in and sorting the fish at night was 
supplied by acetylene lamps placed one on each side of the wheel- 
house. 
We started from Aberdeen on the afternoon of Friday, 9th Sept. 
The log was duly launched as we passed Buchan Ness, and next 
morning it registered 145 when we got near to Fair Isle. This was 
about 8-30, and as soon as we got the island bearing in the right 
direction we started fishing in 55 — 57 fathoms. There was a heavy 
swell, and the weather looked quite unsettled. The result of the 
fishing was fairly good catches of large plaice, with megrims and 
lemon dabs, along with haddock and cod, hake and ling. But 
there were so many “ splits ” in the process that the work of mend- 
ing the nets finally became too irksome. Another boat, the 
“ Mizpah,” followed us to this ground on the Saturday, and was 
similarly unfortunate. The cause of the trouble was quite apparent 
