to observe
various trawling operations in progress, subsequently applying the
information gained to our own requirements on the 'Aurora'.

A short description of our trawling arrangements may be useful to those
who are engaged in this work on board a vessel not specially designed
for it.

We were provided with three thousand fathoms of tapered steel wire
(varying from one and three-quarters to one and a half inches in
circumference and weighing roughly a ton to the thousand fathoms in
air); this was kept on a large iron reel (A) mounted on standards and
controlled by a friction-brake. This reel was situated on the starboard
side of the main deck, the wire being wound on to it by means of a
chain-drive from the forward cargo-winch.

For heaving in, our steam-windlass was fitted with a specially
constructed drum (B), which absorbed the crushing strain and then
allowed the slack wire to be wound on the reel (A), which was driven as
nearly as possible at the same speed; the windlass usually heaving at
the rate of four hundred and fifty fathoms per hour.

A wooden derrick (D), provided with topping lift and guys, was mounted
on the foremast by means of a band and goose-neck. At the outer end of
the derrick, the dynamometer and a fourteen-inch block were attached.
The maximum strain which could be supported was ten tons. In paying out,
the wire was led from the head of the derrick to a snatch-block on the
quarter (E), constructed so as to admit of its disengagement from the
wire when it was necessary to heave in. This block kept the wire clear
of the propeller and allowed us to have the vessel moving slow or fast
as required, while the trawl was being paid out. The positions of the
various parts of the trawling gear are shown in the plan on the opposite
page.

[TEXT ILLUSTRATION]

Plan illustrating the arrangements for deep-sea trawling on board the
'Aurora'.

Before trawling in deep water the vessel was stopped and a sounding
obtained; then the derrick was hoisted, the wire rove through the
various blocks, the trawl shackled on, and the men distributed at their
stations. When all was ready, the engines were put at half-speed (three
knots), a course was given to the helmsman and the trawl lowered into
the water. When it was flowing nicely just astern, the order, "Slack
away," was given; the wire being paid out evenly by means of the
friction-brakes. In one thousand five hundred fathoms of water, after
the two-thou