chain in the keel, to which the rope was attached gave way. As the boat then lay in the wash of the sea, little could be for her safely, and so, she remained exposed to the fury of the waves for fully two hours. During that time the nets and a quantity of fish were washed out, the stern and outrigger carried away, and the mizemast(sic) broken in three pieces. Also in the same night, the “Jolly Fisherman” drifted, with her nets, and got them entangled with the masts of a wreck off Fairlight, whereby twenty of the nets were lost.
The Loss of the “Try-all”, of Hastings, was another effect of the gales. She was hopelessly missing, and Henry Cliffen, her captain, and Walter Stace, her mate, left respectively a widow and four children, and a widow and two children to mourn their fate.
Back from the North. By the second or third week in September, the herring catching was entirely suspended, and the larger luggers belonging to Hastings had returned from the North Sea. A few good catches had recently been made off Yarmouth, but they were of an exceptional character. One boat had no fewer than ten lasts, and another had twelve lasts. At Lowestoft 37 lasts of herrings were landed and good prices were obtained. But, beyond these exceptional gluts, the season was not a profitable one; in fact, upon the whole, it turned out to be anything but a remunerative one. The most successful crews only shared an average of about 17s. per week, whilst the average earnings were only 8s. per week. Of the smaller boats many did not pay their expenses. Trawl fishing also was only moderately successful.
The Western Coast. Unusual activity was shewn at Plymouth and the fishing towns of Cornwall in the third week of December, in consequence of unprecedented catches of herrings. About 200 boats were engaged in what was a new branch for that part of the coast. The average price was about 19s. per thousand. All the fish had to be sent off to London or other places by railway, in consequence of the Cornish men not be(sic) acquainted with the mode of curing. About 50 tuns were sent away by one train.
A Barnacle Dispute.
On the 12th and thirteenth of August, the question of wreckage rights caused a dispute between one of the pleasure-boatmen and Mr. Southon, the Custom-house officer. The boatman purchased a balk of timber which had been picked up by a Deal boat, near the sovereign buoy, and which was covered with some fine specimens of barnacles. The sale originally was an illegal act, all wreckage and derrelict(sic) articles found upon the sea or shore being vested in the Receiver of Wrecks under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. Application -
