net is hauled on board,
when, if it is found that a number of fish have been caught, the whole
of the net is hauled in by means of a capstan and the warp to which the
nets are fastened. The fish are then shaken out, and the vessel beats
up again to the spot from which the net was first shot, and the process
is repeated.

Mackerel nets have larger meshes, being twenty-four or twenty-five to
the yard. They are not so deep as the herring nets, but they are twice
as long, often extending to a distance of nearly two miles and a half.
Occasionally in one night a single boat has taken from twelve to
fourteen lasts of herrings, each last numbering ten thousand fish; but
of course the catch is uncertain. One boat, however, has been known to
bring in the enormous quantity of twenty lasts. Some few years ago
upwards of nine thousand lasts, or nearly one hundred and twenty
millions of fish, were caught by the Yarmouth luggers. Several vessels
bring in one hundred lasts each.

As is well-known, immediately the herring leaves the water it dies;
hence the phrase, "dead as a herring." To preserve the fish, salt is
immediately thrown upon them in the boats; they are carried to the
fish-house in open wicker baskets, called swills, where they are
delivered over to a man called a "tower," when they are placed on the
salting floor. If they are to be used at home, they remain for only
twenty-four hours; but if for the foreign markets, for several days.
They are afterwards washed in fresh water, and strung up by splits
passed through their gills, one tier below another, to about seven feet
from the ground. Oak-wood fires are then kindled under them for
fourteen days, if intended for the foreign market; but if for home use,
only twenty-four hours. The first are called red-herrings, and the
latter are known as bloaters. When sufficiently cured, they are packed
in barrels, each containing about seven hundred fish. Between thirty
and forty thousand barrels are sent to the Mediterranean, but a far
larger quantity is used at home. Upwards of two hundred boats, carrying
two thousand men, are employed in the herring fishery; but many more are
engaged on shore in curing the fish.

Hearing that the deep-sea fishing was going on, papa and Uncle Tom
agreed to accompany one of the cutters which was about to rejoin the
fleet; and as we had seen more of Yarmouth than of most places we had
visited, we returned on board to get ready to sail wit