312 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
beam finds a snug berth, and all danger of the heavy and somewhat 
unmanageable spar swinging on board as the vessel lurches is avoided. 
It would be often difficult to prevent this if the beam were not long 
enough to overlap the after shrouds. ” 1 
The above statement applies more particularly to the single-masted 
cutters, but it may be said that on the larger ketch-rigged trawlers the 
forward end of the beam usually comes in abaft the main rigging, and 
is prevented from swinging across deck by a guy rope (one end of 
which is fast to the after main shroud), which is taken around the head 
or the end of the beam by one man, who holds it firmly with a round 
turn on the rigging. 
( b ). The Trawl-heads. 
The trawl heads, or head-irons, serve a variety of purposes, such as (1) 
weighting the trawl sufficiently to sink it; (2) supporting the beam, 
each end of which is firmly fixed at right angles into a socket, commonly 
called a u cap” or “joggle,” above or below the top of the head-iron; 
(3) raising the upper part or back of the net, which is fastened to the 
beam, from the ground, thus keeping the mouth of the apparatus open 
sufficiently to permit the entrance of fish ; (4) as a runner, which slides 
easily over the bottom, and to which are attached, on the front side, the 
towing bridles, while the foot rope and wings of the net are fastened to 
the rear of the trawl head. 
There are several forms of head-irons used on different parts of the 
British coast, though those most commonly employed have a general 
resemblance to each other ; local differences being due, in most cases, to 
some peculiarity which exists or has existed in the fishing from certain 
sections. 
From Grimsby, Hull, and other important fishing ports on the east 
coast of England a trawl-head like that shown in Fig. 1 is the prevailing 
'Deep-Sea Fishing, etc., p. 55. 
