FISHERIES.
Mr. Stevenson was ever an intelligent and anxious observer of the
habits and industry of the people of those remote and isolated parts of
the country which he so often visited. He was specially interested in
the fisheries from which they mainly derive their support, as testified
by frequent allusions to them in his journals and notes.
The following notice regarding the state of the Scottish fisheries,
made in 1819, to the editor of the _Edinburgh Philosophical
Journal_,[11] will be read with interest:--
“Having been for many years conversant with the navigation of the
Scottish seas, I have, prior to the war with Holland, seen fleets of
Dutch ‘busses’ engaged in the herring fishery off the northern parts of
our coast. For a long time past, however, those industrious fishermen
had not ventured to approach these shores; and they are now only
beginning to reappear.
“In the early part of August last, while sailing along the shores of
Kincardineshire, about ten miles off Dunnottar Castle, the watch upon
deck, at midnight, called out ‘Lights ahead.’ Upon a nearer approach
these lights were found to belong to a small fleet of Dutch fishermen
employed in the deep sea fishing, each vessel having a lantern at her
mast head. What success these plodding people had met with our crew
had no opportunity of inquiring; but upon arriving the next morning at
Fraserburgh,--the great fishing station on the coast of Aberdeen--we
found that about 120 boats, containing five men each, had commenced
the fishing season here six weeks before, and had that night caught
no fewer than about 1500 barrels of herrings, which in a general way,
when there is a demand for fish, may be valued at £1 sterling per
barrel to the fishermen, and may be regarded as adding to the wealth
of the country perhaps not less than £3000. In coasting along between
Fraserburgh and the Orkney Islands, another fleet of Dutch fishermen
was seen at a distance. The harbour and bay of Wick were crowded with
fishing boats and busses of all descriptions, collected from the Firth
of Forth and southward even as far as Yarmouth and Lowestoft. The
Caithness fishing was said to have been pretty successful, though not
equal to what it has been in former years.
“In the Orkney and Shetland Islands one would naturally look for
extensive fishing establishments, both in herrings, and what are termed
white fish (cod, ling, and tusk); but it is a curious fact, that while
the Dutch have long come from their own coast to these islands to fish
herrings, it is only within a very few years that the people of Orkney,
chiefly by the spirited and praiseworthy exertions of Samuel Laing,
Esq., have given any attention to this important source of wealth. It
has long been a practice with the great fishmongers of London to send
their _welled_ smacks to fish for cod, and to purchase lobsters, around
the Orkney Islands; and both are carried alive to the London market.
This trade has done much good to these islands, and has brought a great
deal of money to them; but still it is of a more circumscribed nature,
and is less calculated to swell the national wealth, than the herring
and white fishery in general.
“Hitherto the industry of the Orcadians has been chiefly directed to
farming pursuits; while the Shetlanders have been almost exclusively
occupied in the cod, ling, and tusk fishing. It is doubtful, indeed,
if, up to this period, there be a single boat belonging to the Shetland
Isles which is completely equipped for the herring fishery. But on
reaching Shetland another fleet of Dutch doggers was seen collecting in
numbers off these islands--a coast which is considered a rich harvest
in Holland.
“So systematically do the Dutch pursue the fishing business upon our
coasts, that their fleet of busses is accompanied by an hospital ship.
This vessel we now found at anchor in Lerwick roads, and were informed
that she paid weekly visits to the fleet, to supply medicines, and to
receive any of the people falling sick, or meeting with any accident.
“Though Shetland is certainly not so much an agricultural country as
Orkney, yet it may be hoped that the encouragement judiciously held
out by the Highland Society, for the production of green crops in
Shetland, may eventually have the effect of teaching these insular
farmers the practicability of providing fodder for their cattle in the
spring of the year. This has long been a great desideratum. The command
of a month or six weeks’ fodder would enable the proprietors of that
country to stock many of their fine verdant isles with cattle, and to
employ their hardy tenantry more exclusively in the different branches
of the fishery.
“It is well known, that, next to the Newfoundland Banks, those of
Shetland are the most productive in ling, cod, tusk, and other white
fish; and by the recent discovery of a bank, trending many leagues to
the south-westward, the British merchants have made a vast accession
to their fishing grounds. The fishermen who reside in the small
picturesque bay of Scalloway, and in some of the other bays and voes on
the western side of the mainland of Shetland, have pursued with much
success the fishing upon this new bank, which I humbly presume to term
the REGENT FISHING BANK--a name at once calculated to mark the period
of its discovery, and pay a proper compliment to the Prince. Here
small sloops, of from fifteen to twenty-five tons burden, and manned
with eight persons, have been employed. In the beginning of August
they had this summer fished for twelve weeks, generally returning home
with their fish once a week. On an average, these vessels had caught
1000 fine cod fish a week, of which about 600 in a dried state go to
the ton, and these they would have gladly sold at about £15 per ton.
So numerous are the fish upon the Regent Fishing Bank, that a French
vessel, belonging, it is believed, to St. Malo, had sailed with her
second cargo of fish this season; and though the fishermen did not
mention this under any apprehension, as though there were danger of the
fish becoming scarce, yet they seemed to regret the circumstance, on
account of their market being thus preoccupied.
“Here, and at Orkney, we had the pleasure to see many ships arriving
from the whale fishing, and parting with a certain proportion of their
crews. To such an extent, indeed, are the crews of the whalers made up
from these islands, that it is calculated that not less than £15,000
in cash are annually brought into the islands by this means. With
propriety, therefore, may the whale fishery be regarded as one of the
most productive sources of national wealth connected with the British
Fisheries.
“From the Orkney and Shetland Islands our course was directed to the
westward. A considerable salmon fishing seems to be carried on in the
mouths of the rivers of Lord Reay’s Country in Sutherlandshire: the
fish are carried from this to Aberdeen, and thence in regular trading
smacks to London. We heard little more of any kind of fishing till we
reached the Harris Isles. There, and throughout the numerous lochs
and fishing stations on the mainland, in the districts of Gairloch,
Applecross, Lochalsh, Glenelg, Moidart, Knoidart, Ardnamurchan, Mull,
Lorn, and Kintyre, we understood that there was a general lamentation
for the disappearance of herrings, which in former times used to crowd
into lochs which they seem now to have in some measure deserted. This
the fishermen suppose to be owing to the _Schools_ being broken and
divided about the Shetland and Orkney Islands; and they remark, that,
by some unaccountable change in the habits of the fish, the greatest
number now take the east coast of Great Britain. This is the more to
be regretted, that in Skye, the Lewis, Harris, and Uist Islands, the
inhabitants have of late years turned their attention much to the
fishing. Indeed, this has followed as a matter of necessity, from
the general practice of converting the numerous small arable farms,
which were perhaps neither very useful to the tenants nor profitable
to the laird, into great sheep walks; so that the inhabitants are
now more generally assembled upon the coast. The large sums expended
in the construction of the Caledonian Canal have, either directly or
indirectly, become a source of wealth to these people: they have been
enabled to furnish themselves with boats and fishing tackle, and for
one fishing boat which was formerly seen in the Hebrides only twenty
years ago, it may be safely affirmed that ten are to be met with now.
If the same spirit shall continue to be manifested, in spite of all
the objections which have been urged against the salt laws, and the
depopulating effects of emigration, the British Fisheries in these
islands, and along this coast, with a little encouragement, will be
wonderfully extended, and we shall ere long see the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland in that state to which they are peculiarly adapted,
and in which alone their continued prosperity is to be looked for,
viz., when their valleys, muirs, and mountains are covered with flocks,
and the people are found in small villages on the shores.”
* * * * *
The following history of the origin of the Shetland herring fishery,
communicated to _Blackwood’s Magazine_ in 1821, is, I think, worthy of
being recorded:--
“Few people, on examining the map of Scotland, would believe that the
herring fishing has only within these few years been begun in Orkney,
while the natives are almost strangers to the fishing of cod and ling.
“On the other hand, it is no less extraordinary that although the cod
and ling fishery has been carried to so great an extent in Shetland
as to enable them to export many cargoes to the Catholic countries on
the Continent, not a herring net has been spread by the natives of
Shetland till the present year (1821), when Mr. Mowat of Gardie, and a
few other spirited proprietors of these islands, formed themselves into
an association, and subscribed the necessary funds for purchasing boats
and nets, to encourage the natives to follow the industrious example of
the Dutch.
“The immediate management of this experimental fishery was undertaken
in the most patriotic and disinterested manner by Mr. Duncan, the
Sheriff-Substitute of Shetland. Having procured three boats, he
afterwards visited Orkney, to ascertain the mode of conducting the
business there, and having also got fishermen from the south, this
little adventure commenced. Its nets were first wetted in the month
of July, and it is believed its labours were concluded in the month
of September, after obtaining what is considered pretty good success,
having caught as follows, viz.:--
The ‘Experiment,’ 6-manned boat, 212½ crans.
The ‘Hope,’ 5 ” 119¾ ”
The ‘Nancy,’ 4 ” 80 ”
-------
412¼ ”
=======
“The great object which the Shetland gentlemen have in view, in this
infant establishment, is to give employment to their fishermen in the
herring trade, after the cod and ling season is over, and by this means
to enable them to partake of those bounties and encouragements so
properly bestowed by Government on the fisheries; and thus abstract the
attention of the lower orders of these islands from an illicit traffic
in foreign spirits, tea, and tobacco, which has greatly increased of
late years.
“The profit of the herring fishing at its commencement has, however,
afforded more encouragement than could have been expected; for, besides
paying the men a liberal allowance for their labour, a small sum has
been applied towards defraying the expense of the boats and nets. But
what is of far more consequence to this patriotic association is the
spirit of enterprise which it is likely to create by bringing forward a
number of additional boats in the way of private adventure, which must
be attended with the best advantage to the Shetland Islands.”
THE SYMPIESOMETER.
Again, in 1820, Mr. Stevenson took occasion to express his solicitude
for the welfare of the fishermen in the following note, suggesting the
means whereby they might sometimes avoid a coming storm--a suggestion
which is now to some extent carried out by the Board of Trade’s
establishment of marine barometers at many of our fishing stations:--
“Mr. Stevenson informs us,” says the editor of the _Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal_[12] for 1820, “that having occasion, in the
beginning of September last, to visit the Isle of Man, he beheld the
interesting spectacle of about 300 large fishing boats, each from
fifteen to twenty tons burden, leaving their various harbours at that
island in an apparently fine afternoon, and standing directly out to
sea with the intention of prosecuting the fishery under night. He at
the same time remarked that both the common marine barometer, and
Adie’s sympiesometer, which were in the cabin of his vessel, indicated
an approaching change of weather, the mercury falling to 29·5 inches.
It became painful, therefore, to witness the scene,--more than a
thousand industrious fishermen, lulled to security by the fineness of
the day, scattering their little barks over the face of the ocean,
and thus rushing forward to imminent danger or probable destruction.
At sunset, accordingly, the sky became cloudy and threatening, and in
the course of the night it blew a very hard gale, which afterwards
continued for three days successively. This gale completely dispersed
the fleet of boats, and it was not without the utmost difficulty that
many of them reached the various creeks of the island. It is believed
no lives were lost on this occasion, but the boats were damaged,
much tackle was destroyed, and the men were unnecessarily exposed
to danger and fatigue. During the same storm, it may be remarked,
thirteen vessels were either totally lost or stranded between the Isle
of Anglesea and St. Bee’s Head in Lancashire. Mr. Stevenson remarks,
how much it is to be regretted that the barometer is so little in use
in the mercantile marine of Great Britain, compared with the trading
vessels of Holland, and observes, that although the common marine
barometer is perhaps too cumbersome for the ordinary run of fishing and
coasting vessels, yet Adie’s sympiesometer is so extremely portable
that it might be carried even in a Manx boat. Each lot of such vessels
has a commodore, under whose orders the fleet sails; it would therefore
be a most desirable thing that a sympiesometer should be attached to
each commodore’s boat, from which a preconcerted signal of any expected
gale or change of weather as indicated by the sympiesometer could
easily be given.”
THE HABITS OF FISHES.
The following notes as to the habits of fish may prove of interest to
the naturalist:--
“It has often been observed in the course of the Bell Rock operations,
that during the cold weather of spring and autumn, and even at all
seasons, in stormy weather, when the sea is much agitated by wind,
the fishes disappear entirely from the vicinity of the rock, probably
retreating into much deeper water, from which they do not seem
to return until a change of weather has taken place; so much was
this attended to by the seamen employed on this service, that they
frequently prognosticated and judged of the weather from this habit of
the fishes as well as from the appearance of the sky.”
“It was a general remark at the Bell Rock that fish were never plenty
in its neighbourhood, excepting in good weather. Indeed, the seamen
used to speculate about the state of the weather from their success
in fishing. When the fish disappeared at the rock, it was considered
a sure indication that a gale was not far off, as the fish seemed to
seek shelter in deeper water, from the roughness of the sea, during
these changes of the weather. This evening, the landing master’s crew
brought to the rock a quantity of newly caught cod fish, measuring
from fifteen to twenty-four inches in length. The membrane called the
_sound_, which is attached to the backbone of fishes, being understood
to contain, at different times, greater portions of azote and of oxygen
than common air, the present favourable opportunity was embraced for
collecting a quantity of this gas in a drinking glass inverted into a
pail of salt water. The fish being held under this glass as a receiver,
their bladders were punctured, and a considerable quantity of gas was
thus collected. A lighted match was afterwards carefully introduced
into the glass, when the gas exhibited in a considerable degree the
bright and luminous flame which an excess of oxygen is known to
produce.”
On showing this extract to my friend Dr. P. D. Handyside, who has
contributed some interesting papers to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
on the Polyodon gladius, he writes:--“Biot and De La Roche found that
the proportion of oxygen in the air bladder increases with the depth of
the water in which the fish usually lives, from a small quantity up to
87 per cent. Biot found in the deep Mediterranean fishes 87 parts of
oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid. Humboldt found in the electrical
eel 96 parts of nitrogen and 4 only of oxygen. No hydrogen has ever
been detected in this organ. In the air bladder of marine fishes oxygen
predominates, and in that of fresh-water fishes nitrogen. No air sacs
exist in rays, flounders, sole, turbot, and others which lie at the
bottom.”
Dr. Handyside adds: “The extract shows with what a practical and
accurate mind your father was endowed, and I think, in justice to him,
you should give his observations.”
I also communicated Mr. Stevenson’s papers on fishings to the Honble.
B. F. Primrose, C.B. (Secretary to the Fishery Board: Scotland), who
has kindly sent me a letter explaining why the progress of the fishings
in the Shetland Islands is slow, from which I give a few extracts:--
“I have read with great interest your father’s notes upon the
fisheries of Scotland. They bear distinctly the impress of that
practical and accurate mind with which he is described as having
been endowed. It is also pleasant to see that his mind went a great
deal further, and grasped the application of science to solve the
mystery of fishings.
“He seems to have overlooked, as was universal in his day, that the
secret of fisheries is not the presence of fish but the certainty
of markets. Samuel Laing of Orkney, to whom he refers, was, I
think, the first that struck this key note of truth. The Dutch
came here and fished for herrings because they could not fill
their vessels fast enough for the markets behind them in Holland.
The Shetlanders did not fish for herrings because they had no
remunerative market for them, but they fished, and fished boldly,
where they had one, viz., for the whales of the Arctic Regions.
They might have brought the herring home from off their own coasts
and got nothing for them, but they could not bring the whale oil
home without a secured profit.
“The same thing obtains still. Shetland, from its position, cannot
compete with the mainland of Scotland either in the home market
or in the great continental markets for herrings; but it yields
large supplies of cod, ling, and tusk, for which it pushes distant
adventures to Iceland and the Faroe Isles.”