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Vol. II.
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F I S

435

F I S

in barrels of from 600 to 700 pounds. The tongues are cured inlike manner, and brought in barrels of from 400 to 500 pounds.The roes are also salted in barrels, and serve to cast into the sea todraw fish together, and particularly pilchards. The oil conies inbarrels of from 400 to 520 pounds, and is used in dressing leather.In Scotland they catch a small kind of cod on the coast of Buchan,and all along the Murray Frith on both sides; as also in the Frithof Forth, Clyde, &c. which is much esteemed. They salt and drythem in the sun upon rocks, and sometimes in the chimney.

Herring-Fishery. Our great stations for this fishery are offtlie Shetland and Western isles, and off the coast of Norfolk , inwhich the Dutch also share. See the article Ci.upp.a. Thereare two seasons for herring fishing: the first from June to the endof August; the second in autumn, when the fogs become very fa-vourable for this kind of fishing. The Dutch begin their herring-fishing on the 24th of June, and employ a vast number of vesselscalled busses, between fifty-four ami sixty tons burthen each, andcarrying three or four small guns. They never stir out of port with- |out a convoy, unless there are enough to make about eighteen ortwenty cannon among them, in which case they are allowed to goin company. Before they’ go out they make a verbal agreement,which has the same force as if it was in writing. 'The regulationsof the admiralty of Holland have been partly followed by thetrench and other nations, and partly improved and augmentedW’ith new ones; as, that no fisher shall cast his net within 100fathoms of another boat: that while the nets are cast, a light shallBe kept on the hind part of the vessel: that when a boat is by anyaccident obliged to leave off fishing the light shall be cast,into thesea: that when the greater part of a fleet leaves off fishing, andcasts anchor, the rest shall do the same, &:c. In the late king’sreign very vigorous efforts were made, and bounties allowed, forflic encouragement of the British herring fisheries: the first wasof 3l)s. per ton to every buss of 70 tons and upwards. ThisBounty was afterwards raised to 50,s. per ton, to be paid to suchadventurers as were entitled to it by claiming it at the place ofrendezvous. The busses are from twenty to ninety tons burthen,nut the best size is eighty. A vessel of eighty tons ought to taketen lasts, or 120 barrels of herrings, to clear expences, the price ofthe fish to be admitted to be a guinea a barrel. A ship of this* lze ought to have eighteen men, and three bouts ; one of twentytons should have six men and every five tons above require an■tdditional hand. To every ton are 250 yards of net; so a vessel°t eighty tons carries 20,000 square yards; each net is twelveJards long, and ten deep ; and every boat takes out from twentythirty nets, and puts them together so as to form a tong train ;ley are sunk at each end of the train by a stone, which weighs it‘ own to the full extent: the top is supported by buoys made ofMeep skin, wi:h a hollow stick at the mouth, fastened tight;

Hough this the skin is blown up, and then stopped with a peg, topi event the escape of the air. Sometimes these buoys are placedj *‘ le 'op ot the nets; at other times the nets are suffered to sink‘ e n>er, by lengthening the cords fastened to them, every cord{ ? ein S for that purpose ten or twelve fathoms long. But the bestfisheries are generally in more shallow water. Of the Scots fish-p- v 1,1 die western isles, the following account is given by Mr.

*nnant: “ The fishing is always performed in the night, unlessj • a ccident. The busses remain at anchor, and send out theirnats a little before sun-set; which Continue out, in winter andvi'd'.T 61 "’ clay-light; often taking up and emptying their nets,sh . ' t ' ,e . v d° t pn °r twelve limes in the night, in ease of good}) i c<?ss - During winter it is a most dangerous and fatiguing em-th.^’ rcas °n of the greatness and frequency of the gales inI*v S |? seas ’ an '' sll< d' g ; des are the most successful captures ; butis'w 1<? P ro ' r i<l( nee of ileaven, the fishers are seldom lost, and what])ai(.°i IU . B'B Icvv are visited with illness. They go out well pre-I,; 'd ."Ah a warm great coat, boots, and skin aprons, and a goodInis l , S , IOH of Beef and spirits. The same good fortune attends thew ‘iieh in the tempestuous season, and in the darkest nights,b^-dmiaiiy shitting in these narrow seas from harbour to har-b,. Sometimes eighty barrels of herrings are taken in a nightfan Tl a . ls il sBigle vessel. It once happened, in l.och-Slap-,,l s ’. n *kie, that a buss of eighty tons might have taken 200 bar-\v as '. ?. ne n *glit, with 10,000 square yards of net; but the masterResist, for want of a sufficient number of hands to

* r ' vc capture. Tlie herrings are preserved by salting after

the entrails are taken out. Tlie last is an operation performed bythe country people, who get three-halfpence per barrel for theirtrouble, and sometimes, even in winter, can gain fifteen-pence a-day. This employs both women and children; but the salting isonly entrusted to the crew of the busses. The fish are laid ontheir backs in tlie barrels, and layers of salt between them. Theentrails are not lost, for they are boiled into an oil; 8000 fish willyield ten gallons, valued at one shilling tike gallon. A vessel ofeighty tons takes out 244 barrels of salt; a drawback is allowed foreach barrel used by foreign or Irish exportation of the fish; butthere is a duty per barrel Tor the home consumption, and the samefor those sent to Ireland . The barrels are made of oak staves,chieflv from Virginia; tlie hoops from several parts of our ownisland, and are either of oak, birch, betel, or willow ; tlie last fromHolland, liable to a duty. The barrels cost about tiv. each ; thevhold from 500 to 800 fish, according to the size of tlie fish ; and aremade to contain thirty-two gallons. Tlie barrels are inspected byproper officers: a cooper examines if they are statutable and good;if faulty he destroys them, and obliges the maker to stand to theloss.” Herrings are cured either white (i. e. pickled), or red.Of the first, those done by the Dutch are most esteemed, beingdistinguished into four sorts, according to their sizes, and the bestare those that are fat, fleshy, firm, and white, salted the same daythey are taken with good salt and well barrelled. The British -cured herrings are little inferior, if not equal, to the Dutch; forin spite of all their endeavours to conceal the secret, their methodof curing, lasting, or cashing the herrings, lias been discovered,and is as follows. After they have limited in their nets, whichthey drag in the stern of their vessel backwards and forwards intraversing tlie coast, they throw them upon tlie ship’s deck, whichis cleared of every tiling for that purpose: the crew is separatedinto divisions, and eacTi division lias a peculiar task; one partopens and guts the herrings, leaving the melts and roes; anothercures and salts them, by lining or rubbing their inside with sail;the next packs them, and between each row and division theysprinkle handfuls of salt; lastly, tlie cooper puts the finishing handto all, by heading tlie casks very tigiit and stowing them in thehold. Hed herrings must lie 24 horns in the brine, inasmuch asthey are to take all their salt there; ai.d when they are taken out,they are spitted, that is, strung by tlie head on little wooden spits,and then hung in a chimney made for that purpose. After which,a fire of brush wood, which yields much smoke but no flame, be-ing made under them, they r main there till sufficiently smokedand dried, and are aftmvnrds barrelled up for keeping.

[.ouster Fishery. Lobsters are taken along the British chan-nel, and on tlie coast of Norway , whence they are Brought toLondon for sale; and also in tlie frith of Edinburgh , and. on thecoast of Northumberland. See tlie article Cancer. Bv 10 and11 W. III. c. 24, no Icb-tiT is to be taken under eight incites inlength, from the peak of the no i e to tlie end of tlie middle fin ofthe tail; and by 9 G. 11. cap. 33, no lobsters are to betaken ontlie coast of Scotland from the first of June to tlie first of Sep-tember.

Mackarei. Fishery. The mackarel is a summer fish of passage,found in large shoals, in different parts of the ocean, not far north ;but especially on the French and English coasts. The fidi'mc isusually in the moqths of April, May, “and June, and even Juiv,according to the place. See Scomber. They enter the English channel in April, and proceed up to the straits of Dover as thesummer advances; so that by June they are on the coasts of Corn-wall, Sussex, Normandy , Picardy, &c. where the tisii is most con-siderable. They are an excellent food fresh ; and not to be de-spised when weli prepared, pickled, and put up in barrels; a me-thod of presetting them chiefly used in Cornwall . The fish istaken in two ways; either with a line or nets: tlie latter is themore consideiable, and is usually performed in the night-time.Tlie rules observed in tlie fishing for mackarel are much tlie samewith those already mentioned in the fishery of herrings. Thereare two ways of pickling (hem: tlie first is by opening and guttingthem, and filling the belly with salt, crammed in as hard as-possi-ble with a stick ; which done they range them in strata or rows, atthe bottom of the vessel, strewing salt between tlie layers. In tliesecond way they put them immediately into tubs full of brine,made of fresh water and salt, and leave them to steep, till thevhave imbibed salt enough to make them keep; after which they.

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