26 MR. A. H. PATTERSON ON A DECAYED TRAWL-FISHERY. 
III. 
NOTES ON A DECAYED TRAWL-FISHERY. 
By A. H. Patterson. 
Read 26 th October, 1909. 
Of the world-renowned Herring Fishery at Great Yarmouth 
much has been written ; the centuries have thrown around 
it a halo of quaint, romantic lore, and provided us with 
a continuance of history of entrancing interest. In ages 
long gone by our hardy Anglo-Saxon ancestors pursued 
“ the silvery hosts of the North Sea,” with an ardour that has 
not been diminished even in our own times ; to this day there 
is “ an ancient and fish-like smell ” ever pervading this corner 
of East Norfolk, which promises to become larger still with 
the scramble for dividends, and the constant increase of 
catching power. Little remains to be added to the long, and 
so far successful record, save statistics, as the years roll on. 
Not so fortunate has been the short and chequered career 
of the local trawling industry ; a century covers its advent, 
rise, prosperity, and its decay, which promises to be final and 
irrecoverable. There exists no very 'certain record of its 
inception and early years-; Nall,* in 1866, tells us somewhat 
vaguely that it was “ a comparatively modern, but most 
important branch of the Yarmouth Fisheries,” that was but 
little pursued at the beginning of the 19th century. 
It is true that during the 16th and 17th centuries, as 
Swindenf informs us, a considerable fishery, undoubtedly 
a line fishery, was carried on in the North Sea for Cod and 
Ling, and was then known as the “ Iceland Trade.” 200 sail 
of vessels, of from 30 to 40 tons, were annually employed 
* "Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft,” 1866. 
f History of Great Yarmouth (1772), p. 406. 
