314 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
part, has been a long time in use by vessels belonging to the Thames. 
The statement has been made that “it is now generally adopted by 
the' Yarmouth smacks, having been introduced by the Barking vessels, 
many of which find it convenient to make that port their station.’ 7 
The small trawlers, which fish inshore near various ports of the 
British coast, use another form of trawl head which is very much like 
that used by the Brixham men; the difference is that the iron loop 
through which the ground rope passes before it is made fast is put 
inside instead of outside of the frame, as shown in Fig. 3. 
Of late years several English inventors have brought out devices for 
improving the head-irons. Perhaps the most noticeable of these is that 
invented by J. W. de Caux, Fig. 4, which was exhibited at London, and 
is constructed on the same principle as a Dutch pattern described in 
another paragraph. The trawl-head of de Caux’s is wholly of iron, and 
consists of two strong iron plates, arranged in a triangle, joined together 
at the apex so as to form a socket for the end of the beam, and each 
having a crutch or fork at its lower end that fits over a wheel, to the 
hub of which the extremities of the fork is fastened by a bolt, upon 
which the wheel, when working, revolves. The front wheel is a little 
more than double the diameter of the other; they are further connected 
by a stout iron bar, which runs on either side from one wheel to the 
other, being bolted to the hub. A shackle and link for bending the 
trawl foot-rope to is attached to the hub of the small wheel, while a 
large shackle for the towing bridle is secured by a heavy bolt to the 
larger wheel. The wheels are broad iron bands, with four spokes in 
the larger and three in the small one. The special advantages claimed 
for this apparatus are as follows: (1) It goes upon wheels, which roll 
over and are not dragged through the ground ; (2) The trawl-beam 
can be carried at any height from the ground. 
