We believe, however, it is now in contemplation to go to work upon a large
scale in those waters, having screw-steamers to collect the produce, and
bring it to Milford Haven alive in wells, from which port it would come,
_viâ_ the South Wales and Great Western Railways, to Billingsgate, within
twenty-four hours after it was caught. The value of screw steamers having
capacious wells has been fully tested by Mr. Howard, of Manningtree,
Essex, who fitted an engine and screw into one of his welled
fishing-smacks. Scarcely a lobster, out of twenty thousand put alive into
the boat, was lost, whilst large numbers of those brought in sailing
smacks perish. Salmon, cod, and other fish, are brought alive with the
same success in the welled steamers from the North Sea and the coast of
Scotland. It is almost time that some new ground were found in place of
the famous Dogger Bank, which has now been preyed upon by so many nations
for centuries, and has supplied so many generations of Catholics and
Protestants with fast and feast food. No better proof that its stores are
failing could be given than the fact that, although the ground, counting
the Long Bank and the north-west flat in its vicinity, covers 11,800
square miles, and that in fine weather it is fished by the London
companies with from fifteen to twenty dozen of long lines, extending to
ten or twelve miles, and containing from 9,000 to 12,000 hooks, it is yet
not at all common to secure even as many as four score fish of a night--a
poverty which can be better appreciated when we learn that 600 fish for
800 hooks is the catch for deep-sea fishing about Kinsale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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