394 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
this fishery all the 4 bomschuiten ? of the coast take part during the win- 
ter, and some of the luggers which carry on the herring fishery in sum- 
mer; also the fifty large vessels referred to above (as being employed 
a portion of the year in fishing for cod with lines), and all sorts of 
other vessels, great and small, hailing from the small towns along the 
coast.” 1 
Assuming that there is probable truth in the belief held by some 
writers that the use of beam-trawls was first made known to the English 
fishermen by the Dutch who accompanied the Prince of Orange to 
England in 1688, there is reason to believe that this system of fishing 
has long been practiced by the Netherlander. 
1. Fishing Grounds. 
While the larger vessels commonly fish in the North Sea, the “bom- 
schuiten” usually carry on their work not lar from the Dutch coast. 
Genrally the Dutch vessels resort to many of the same grounds for 
trawling that are visited by the fishermen of the countries previously 
mentioned. 
2. Vessels. 
The larger class of vessels employed in beam-trawling are, as has 
been said, generally employed in herring fishing during the season 
when herring are most abundant in the North Sea. As the herring 
fishery is, par excellence, the most important of all the Dutch fisheries, 
the vessels are constructed and rigged with especial reference to their 
fitness for catching herring, while their adaptability to beam-trawling 
is, in most cases, considered of secondary importance. These vessels— 
the so-called luggers, or loggers — range from about 45 to 70 tons; they 
are not so sharp forward as the British smack ; are nearly of the same 
relative proportions as to length, breadth, and depth, being possibly 
not quite so deep as the English craft. They are flush-decked, ketch 
or yawl rigged, and generally with mainmast arranged so that it can be 
lowered. They have an ordinary capstan that stands well aft — so as to 
be out of the way of the nets when herring fishing — and the trawl-warp 
leads over theside abreast of this capstan. The winches, “ dummy,” etc., 
that form a part of the deck equipment of a first-class English trawler, 
were not attached to the models of Dutch vessels exhibited at Berlin, 
1880, or London, 1883; therefore it may be assumed that these are not 
used. 
The u bomschuiten ” are a peculiar class of smaller fishing craft, de- 
signed especially for use on parts of the coast where harbors are not easy 
of access or where there are no harbors. They are made extraordinarily 
wide, being about two-thirds as broad as long, while the bottom is flat 
and constructed with especial reference to being hauled out on a beach 
or again launched through the surf. They are clinker-built, usually 
about 30 feet long, both ends shaped nearly alike,- rounding yet almost 
1 Introduction to the official catalogue of the Netherlands exhibit at London, 1883. 
