MR. A. H. PATTERSON' ON A DECAYED TRAWL-FISHERY. 37 
The number of smacks belonging to Y armouth in 1889 was, in 
round figures, some 400 vessels, which included those belonging 
to the Companies and private individuals ; then suddenly set 
in a decay which was fast and furious, and in less than ten 
years, disaster almost complete and final had left us with a 
mere handful of aged and almost obsolete boats. Private 
owners were doing badly in the late 8o’s ; those who were not 
involved in mortgages sold at a sacrifice ; and some who 
had had smacks off the Companies failed, the Companies 
taking the trawlers, while local tradesmen had to whistle for 
their credit. Companies themselves, dissolved, and made 
ruinous endings of one-time promising ventures. A few fleets 
continued trawling until the nineties with some show of 
success, but the introduction of steam trawlers at Hull and 
Grimsby, the greater distances to be travelled in order to 
discover newer and more profitable fishing-grounds, added 
to the favouritism shown to Lowestoft by the railway 
authorities, who virtually own the docks and wharves, knocked 
Yarmouth completely out of the field. It is interesting to 
note that while, in 1862, Yarmouth sent 9300 tons of trawl- 
fish to London, Lowestoft despatched only 1250 tons. To-day 
matters are not only reversed, but Yarmouth does not receive 
into port the odd 50 tons ! And as if to add insult to injury, 
there came into this port a fleet of weather-beaten sailing- 
boats purchased in 1896. It was bruited abroad that a 
revival of the trawl fishery was about to take place ; but for 
months these vessels lay moored by the quayside, with sides 
and decks bare of paint, seams gaping, and tarry hulls blistering 
in the sunshine, with standing rigging ravelling and decaying 
in the strong air. The only crews that mustered were a trio of 
watchmen, who lighted fires in the cabins where they spent the 
night, not in peace and quiet, for whole colonies of black rats, 
starving and gaunt, had arrived with these out-dated craft. 
Boat after boat was smoked, and dead rats were found in all 
directions.* After some months of idleness there arose 
a clamour among the Harbour Commissioners as to the 
nuisance these idlers created, and a more complete dispersal 
* Vide ‘ Notes of an East Coast Naturalist,’ pp. 262-266. 
