Year. Boats. £ s. d. 1770 26 2401 2 2½ 1771 26 3080 15 6½ 1772 33 3179 5 1 1773 36 3374 15 6 1774 35 2012 13 0 1775 32 2441 5 2 1776 30 1595 17 8½ 1777 20 1698 15 0 1778 21 1295 19 1½ 1779 21 1618 4 6 1780 20 1559 3 10 In 1781, sixteen boats averaged £173 15s. 3½d. per boat. In 1782, sixteen boats averaged £136 1s. 2d. per boat. In 1783, sixteen boats averaged £189 1s. per boat. In 1784, twenty boats averaged £119 5s. 11½d. per boat. In 1785, twenty boats averaged £249 8s. 8½d. per boat. (Supposed to be the greatest mackarel season ever known at Lowestoft). In 1786, twenty-four boats averaged £146 7s. 9½d. per boat. In 1787, twenty boats averaged £105 5s. per boat. In 1788, twenty boats averaged £93 6s. 6d. per boat. In 1789, twenty-six boats averaged £98 16s. 2¾d. per boat. Total amount from 1770 to 1789 inclusive, £49,769 4s. 3½d. {55a} As soon as the mackarels are brought on shore they are poured upon the beach in heaps, each boat’s by itself. The beach being the place where the fair for the fish is held; here it is that the padders and other purchasers assemble for the purpose of buying them. The fish being thus exposed for sale, are generally sold by private contract, though some times by public auction; formerly by a man appointed by the merchants for that purpose, but now many of the merchants sell their own fish. The common markets for vending the mackarel are London, and the principal towns in Norfolk and Suffolk, and the adjoining counties; they are sent to the former place in small vessels, called cutters, employed by the fishmongers in London; and to the latter places by carriers, called padders who are employed by the fishmongers belonging to the several towns to which the fish are sent.