The Victoria History of the County of Lincoln/Deep Sea Fisheries and Fish Docks

by Ethel M. Hewitt

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DEEP SEA FISHERIES AND FISH DOCKS

It is at Boston, although destined to decline in later times to the second place in the great fishing industry of the county, that the history of that industry may be said to begin, as indeed befits the city of St. Botolph, 'the Saint of seafaring men.'^[1] Frequent mention is made in Calendars of the Patent and Close Rolls from the fourteenth century of the great fish market at Boston.

In 1555 a Scottish ship riding in the roads laden with herrings was compelled to come into the borough to sell the same;^[2] though in 1590, through want of shipping, Boston was actually obliged to become the regular customer of the Scotch merchants.^[3] Nor was the great field of profit which lay at the gates of the port allowed to escape the attention of yet more distant members of the fishermen's craft. Vessels from the Low Countries had long been fishing Boston Deeps when a licence was granted by Queen Elizabeth^[4] in response to the humble suit of certain of these Netherlands strangers praying that they might be allowed to settle permanently in the port, 'where divers of them, being fishermen, have used the feate and trade of fishing of herring, cod, mackarel, and other fish, after the manner of their country.' In compliance with their petition, forty of the Dutch fishermen, with their families, were permitted to take up their residence in the town. Thus the foundation was laid of that thriving trade in the harvests of the Wash and of the North Sea which the English fishermen, with astonishing supineness, suffered to pass more and more into the shrewd keeping of their foreign brethren, a trade which a century later had grown to such proportions as to provoke not only the wrath but the amazement of Yarranton, Postlethwayt, the writer of Britannia Languens,^[5] and others.

For in 1680, we learn from the latter chronicler, the Dutch profit on the English fishery was about £5,000,000 in cod and herring, whilst their fleet numbered 8,000 ships, manned by 200,000 men.^[6] The reputation of the Boston herring was especially great, a hundred dollars being considered a small price for a barrel of these fish, cured after the Dutch fashion, the secret of which was so long kept from their English neighbours and rivals. This secret was at length given to the world by some patient observer:

After they have hauled in their nets, which they drag in the sterns of their vessels backwards and forwards in traversing the coast, they throw them upon the ship's deck, which is cleared of everything for that purpose: for they never carry any boats or yawls along with them, as they would be an incumbrance to them in dressing the herrings; they carry many hands on board, even to the number of thirty or forty in each vessel, whom they separate into sundry divisions, and each division has a peculiar task; one part opens and guts the herrings, another cures and salts them by lining or rubbing their insides with salt (which is all done upon the deck), the next packs them, and, between each row or division, they sprinkle handfills of salt; then the coopers put the finishing hand to all by heading the casks, and stowing them in the hold; thus they go on, while barrels and salt last, and, when that is exhausted, then they retire; but the jaggers, or storeships, commonly provide them with everything necessary, so that they seldom or never depart the coast before they are brimful; and really (to give them their due) they are the best fishermen in the world; for they are not only ingenious in every article of their tackling or materials, but also diligent, industrious, and endure the great fatigues to admiration.^[7]

As to the salt used in their curing, Yarranton says 'they make salt upon salt, with Portugal and sea-water mixt together; and by this means they have this commodity cheap, which is used so considerably in the fishery.'^[8]

Retracing our steps, however, to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the port of Boston was then well maintaining its ancient fishing reputation. Offerings of the spoil of Boston Deeps were at this date frequently sent to notable personages. Thus, in 1613, we learn from the Corporation Records, oysters and fish were sent to 'my Lord of Rutland.' In 1615 the earl of Exeter was presented with a keg of sturgeon and other fish. Sturgeon again figured in a similar gift to the earl of Lindsey in 1622, to Sir Henry Vane in 1652, and once more to the earl of Lindsey in 1664; showing that the town had evidently at this time somewhat rallied from the profound and pathetic despair which in 1607 had driven them to plead that their city might be placed upon the list of 'decayed towns.'^[9]

The story of the Dutch invasion in the sixteenth century was repeated in the early part of the nineteenth, though the intruders came in this instance from nearer home. In 1813 the Boston fishermen were petitioning that the Deeps might be forbidden to those of Lynn, Cromer, and Sheringham during the herring season. But the Corporation replied that they had no power to do so, nor to interfere at all in the matter.^[10]

It is, however, to the Boston Deep Sea Fishing and Ice Company Limited, that the port owes much of its new era of twentieth-century prosperity. Formed in 1885, the year of the completion of the dock, by several local gentlemen, orders were, on the subscription of more than half the capital, placed with Messrs. Earles of Hull for eight steam trawlers. At the same time a number of fishing smacks were purchased, and early in 1886, the fishmarket being then opened, the company entered upon its career. It was not for a few years that success attended the venture in any decided sense, but the tide once turned, the good fortune of the company has continued unbroken. The eight steamers have grown into a noble fleet of thirty-five, varying in length from 90 ft. to 125 ft., whose fishing operations extend from as far north as Iceland to as far south as the Bay of Biscay and the Portuguese coast. Owing to the success of the parent company, others followed quickly in its wake, but all these have been gradually acquired by or amalgamated with the one now existing. The ever-growing scope of the business has necessitated the erection of a variety of workshops, including those devoted to engineering, boiler-making, tin and copper smiths, mast and block and twine spinning—the establishment of these enabling the company to take in hand all repairs connected with their boats. In addition to these, there are to be found upon the dock-quays under the company's jurisdiction an ice factory and a store for the reception of imports from Norway. The company are further lessees of the slipway built by the dock authorities in 1899 at a cost of £7,000, which, in addition to trawlers, is capable of receiving vessels up to 200 ft. in length and 1,000 tons dead weight. The value of the fish landed here amounts to about £100,000 yearly, being distributed throughout the kingdom by the wholesale merchants, to whom it is sold immediately on its arrival. The coal consumed by the company amounts to upwards of 50,000 tons per annum, the whole of conveyed from the colliery in wagons belonging to them.

From the point of view of employment alone, such an undertaking cannot but prove of considerable profit to the community in whose midst it is being carried on. The number of hands actually employed by the company is upwards of 500, the weekly amount paid in wages being about £800 or £900.

In 1901 the directors, in common with trawler-owners elsewhere along the east coast, awoke to the necessity of obtaining a class of seamen whose early training should fit them for the conditions which have replaced the trawling of the past. The apprenticeship system was therefore adopted, and a home was established for the accommodation of the boys when on shore. The lads, of whom there are now more than thirty on articles, are bound for four years, which is the shortest term on the coast, and during their apprenticeship every boy is allowed a reasonable amount of spending money. His chief remuneration is the 'stocker,' but when he attains to the place of deck hand, as some of the apprentices do very early, he is permitted to share in the perquisites of the crew. These are placed for him in the Seamen's Savings Bank, and at the close of his apprenticeship represent a very useful sum.^[11]

The story of the Grimsby fisheries is the history of the port, and that, in turn, is the story of a struggle, sternly and strenuously maintained for centuries, against the silent and insidious inroads of an enemy that threatened, with every fresh advantage, to make a final end of Grimsby's present proud position as the premier fishing-port of the kingdom. The fortune of the fight was full of fluctuations. Now, victory was on the side of the sea; now, on that of the town—in either event, the battle was worth waging, for the prize was the seemingly unfailing harvest of the North Sea.

As early as the reign of Edward III the accumulation of mud and silt at the mouth of the harbour was doing much damage to the trade. The diverting of the River Freshney did somewhat to repair this damage; but in the reign of Charles I the smallest fishing-boats could scarcely approach the town. Local apathy seems to have abandoned hope for many years, though there were spasmodic efforts to cope with the mischief; but it was not until 1801 that the so-called Old Dock was constructed by the Haven Company at a cost of £60,000. In its construction, 135 acres were reclaimed from the sea. The Old Dock speedily passed from the hands of the earliest owners into those of the directors of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway. By this company, the New Docks, twenty-five acres in extent, were added to the Old, with a lock capable of admitting the largest vessels of war. The first pile of the coffer dam of the New Dock was driven in 1846, and on 18 April, 1849, the foundation stone was laid by the Prince Consort. The New, re-named the Royal Dock, was completed in March, 1852, and the formal opening took place on 27 May of the same year. The accommodation which was soon found to be increasingly necessary involved a further outlay on the part of the company in 1872, when, on a large area of land acquired in the West Marsh, the construction was begun of the New Alexandra and Union Docks, together with the deepening and widening of the Old Dock. These docks were opened on 22 July, 1879, by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Additional accommodation was brought into use in 1888 and 1899. In the former year a new coal drop was erected, by means of which coal can be shipped at the rate of 350 tons per hour at a single spout. At a later date a hydraulic coal hoist was erected, and sidings provided on the west side of the Royal Dock to increase the coal-shipping facilities of the port. Two coal hoists were constructed with hydraulic appliances in No. 2 Fish Dock, to enable coal to be loaded direct into steam fishing vessels or lighters. In March, 1893, a new transit shed 900 ft. by 178 ft., covering an area of 160,200 square feet, was brought into use on the west side of the Royal Dock. In August, 1900, the Fish Dock No. 2, which had taken three years to construct, was completed. This brings the water area of No. 2 Dock up to 16 acres, and the total area of the fish docks to 29 acres. On the south side of the No. 2 Fish Dock is the floating or pontoon dry dock ordered by the directors for the fishing trade. It was opened for use on 1 October, 1900, and is of great value to the trade.^[12]

On the quays and in the sheds there are forty-two fixed and portable hydraulic cranes, having a lifting capacity varying from l0 cwt. to 70 tons; and also nine hand cranes, for the rapid loading and discharge of goods and produce. The tank for working the machinery by which these operations are carried on is contained in a tower 28 ft. square at the base, 300 ft. high to the top of the lantern, and is capable of holding 26,500 gallons of water. The total weight of the machinery and water is 60,000 tons. The tower can be ascended by means of a hydraulic lift.

At the moment of writing Parliament has given powers for the building of yet another deep dock, which cannot fail to be of immense commercial value to Grimsby. Immingham Marshes, the site selected for this fresh undertaking, bear the hallmark of the approval of two eminent engineering authorities, Mr. Liddell and Sir John Wolfe Barry, both of whom declared that there was no other place on the Humber with its advantages. For the dock purposes 616 acres have been acquired, and 4½ miles of new line will be constructed to connect the dock with the Great Central Station at Ulceby. The dock will have a depth of 35½ feet below high-water ordinary spring tides. The entrance lock is to measure 850 ft. by 90 ft., with a depth of water on the sill of 47½ ft. at high water, while the channel outside it will be flanked on either side by jetties extending outwards to low water. The dock itself, together with the greater part of the entrance lock, lies within the line of the Humber bank. The fact of there being no expensive reclamation works to be undertaken, and of the deep-water channel lying so close to the shore, renders the site an ideal one for a deep-water lock.

In its construction 3,500,000 cubic yards of material will have to be excavated, and about 1,250,000 cubic yards of mud and stone lifted by dredgers. The contractors' estimate is for 350,000 cubic yards of concrete, 500,000 cubic yards of timber, 35,000 cubic yards of brickwork, 80,000 cubic feet of granite, and 2,000 tons of steel work for girders, before the completion of the work.^[13]

Not the least of the problems with which the masters of the fishing industry find themselves confronted is that of the transit and distribution of the fish itself, which may be yearly estimated at 800,000 tons (£5,000,000). It is a problem with which over 500 merchants are concerned, and it has been satisfactorily solved for them by the Great Central Railway, whose sole property are the market and fish wharves, over a mile in length, at which their business is transacted. Prior to the year 1854 little or no fish was sent away from Grimsby; the following table shows the growth of the traffic since that date:—

1854	453
1860	4,537
1865	13,468
1870	26,324
1875	36,794
1880	46,931
1885	70,658
1890	71,382
1895	92,462
1900	133,791
1901[14]	128,445
1902	165,510
1903	162,026
1904	164,461
1905	153,653

It is to figures that the historian of the Grimsby docks and fishery must return, over and over again, if any faithful impression is to be conveyed of the stupendous and ever-increasing growth growth of the fishing industry. The port is one of the five on the east coast which in 1904 contributed 1,214 (or 94 per cent.) to the total of 1,288 first-class steamers of 45 keel and upwards engaged in fishing on that coast. In 1905 the fishing vessels registered at Grimsby were as follows:—

	No. of Vessels	Tonnage	Average No. of Crew per Vessel	Total No. of Hands
Steam Line Vessels	41	3,466	13	533
Sailing Line Vessels	11	668	9	99
Steam Trawlers	448	27,553	9	4,032
Sailing Trawlers	27	1,054	5	135
Total	527	32,741	–	4,799

Forty-two thousand and ten men and boys (not including coopers, packers, curers, and net-makers) are returned as plying their trade here; more than half of them come from six ports, of which five are on the east coast. Grimsby records a total of 4,823 resident in the port, 3,967 being engaged in trawling (except for shrimps), and 856 in other modes of fishing. In the 'floating' fish returns for England and Wales, herrings predominate, the total in 1904 being 3,199,303 cwt. Grimsby's contribution being 391,819 cwt.^[15]

At special seasons, during holy week for instance, it is not unusual for as many as 200 to 300 fish-wagons to be dispatched, carrying 700 to 800 tons. The traffic in small parcels of fish has attained, especially in recent years, to remarkable proportions, thousands of these being now sent away daily.

Prior to the supersession of sail by steam, the fishing-grounds of Iceland and the Faroe Islands^[16] had been regularly visited by the Grimsby fishermen. It was in 1891 that the first steam-trawler fished the familiar ground of Ingol's Hoof, making, it is recorded, a good catch of plaice and haddock. In 1892 the number had risen to fourteen; by 1899 there were fifty-five steam-liners, and from sixty to seventy trawlers at work, each vessel making from twenty to thirty voyages in a year, the take being from twenty to a hundred tons per voyage. In the years 1900 to 1902 three Grimsby fleets made 206 voyages, their average catch being six tons of fish per voyage—a fifth of the whole. Boston, which has the distinction of being the only other English port engaged in the Iceland fishery, records, from 1897 to 1903, thirteen to fourteen tons per voyage.

During 1904 English fishing vessels from Grimsby fished not only the Bay of Biscay and off the coast of Portugal, but proceeded to extent their operations still further afield. Trawling, especially for soles, was successfully carried on off the coast of Morocco.^[17] One Grimsby vessel, in the early autumn of 1904, landed at Lisbon 18 tons of fish, on which duty was paid at the rate of 10 reis per kilo. (say ½d. per 2¼ lb.)

The future of ice as an indispensable factor in the successful transport of fish by rail is said to have first occurred to Mr. Samuel Hewett of Grimsby, who, beginning life as a boy on a trawler, lived to see fifty or sixty vessels owned by him on the seas. No less than 25,000 tons were being imported from Norway every year when, in 1898, a factory for the manufacture of artificial ice was projected, being the joint undertaking of the Grimsby Ice Company and the Grimsby Co-operative Ice Company.^[18] This factory has been working since 9 October, 1901, and is capable of producing 300 tons of block ice per day. Built upon land alongside the fish dock, the factory can supply the fishing fleet direct by overhead appliances, the ice, after having been crushed, being conveyed down a sloping shaft to the waiting ships.

In addition to the manufacture of ice, several smoke-houses have been established for the curing of herrings and haddocks. The Grimsby curers have long since wrested the palm from their Dutch competitors of the seventeenth century. The salting and drying of cod is now by no means an unimportant feature of the trade in fish. The 'Grimsby cod-chests,' of which as many as 400 were formerly to be seen in use at the docks, have gone out of fashion with much that was once in vogue in the direction of the fisheries, though it is still possible to count 80 to 100 floating in their old quarters any time between October and January. These chests are 7 ft. long and 2 ft. deep; the bottom is made of stout battens, placed a short distance apart, so that the water penetrates freely to the interior, as it does also between the planks of which the side and ends are built up. The top is wholly planted over, except in the centre, where there is an oblong opening, for putting in and taking out the fish. This opening is closed by a cover when the chest is in the water. Two ropes or chains are fixed in the ends of each chest for convenience in moving it about or hoisting it out of the water. About forty good-sized cod, or nearly 100 smaller ones, may be put into one of these chests, and will live there without much deterioration for over a fortnight.^[19] 'Here,' says Defoe,^[20] 'is a particular trade carried on with London, which is nowhere else practised in the whole kingdom, that I have met with or heard of, viz. For carrying fish alive by land-carriage in great butts of water. The butts have a little square flap, instead of a bung, about 10 in., 12 in., or 14 in. square, which, being opened, gives air to the fish; and every night, when they come to the inn, they draw off the water, and let more fresh and sweet water run into them again. In these carriages they chiefly carry tench and pike, perch and eels, but especially the two former, of which here are some of the largest in England.'

SHELL FISH

The mussel 'scalps' of the Wash have long been famous for the excellent quality of the takings. In 1777 the marshal of the Admiralty received between £3 and £4 a year for collecting the duties due to the corporation for mussel vessels coming into the port. And in 1780 'mussel money' was ordered to be collected.^[21] A record year was evidently 1810, when fifty vessels were annual visitors to the Wash, when they carried away in that one season 1,200 tons, which furnished bait for the cod-fishing on the Dogger and Well Banks; £50 was paid by one fisherman alone for the carriage of mussels from Boston in 1850, whilst three years later 100 tons taken by 50 sail of from 4 to 14 tons burthen were being exported every week. If sold in Boston the cargo fetched 1s. a bushel, if the sale was delayed until they reached their destination (Leeds, Manchester, or Birmingham) the price was raised to 2s. 6d. During nine months of the year it is calculated by Wheeler in his History of the Fens that 80 to 140 tons were taken from the 'scalps' for food, 80 to 120 tons for bait—in busy seasons representing a profit of £700 to £800 a week. These riches were recklessly dealt with, for in 1863 it was brought to the notice of a Royal Commission sitting at Boston that, owing to the want of proper supervision and the wholesale carrying away of the mussels, chiefly for manuring purposes, the beds were becoming rapidly exhausted. It was not, however, until 1870 that the corporation obtained an order, under the Sea Fisheries Act, giving them full jurisdiction over the raided beds and empowering them to appoint a bailiff.^[22]

The beds were promptly temporarily closed, with the result that, on their reopening in 1871, 4,500 tons were taken from the Old South Middle Bed, representing 18¾ tons to an acre. A year later the yield from the Gat Sand Bed was 2,139 tons to its 158 acres; 13½ tons, that is to say, to an acre. In 1876 4,000 tons were taken from the Tofts, 6 tons to an acre. Coming down to the later times, according to the most recent report of the Sea Fisheries, under the Boston Order of 1897, 85 boats were licensed, producing in tolls and fees £40 5s; 115 new layings were staked off between the Witham and Welland, and 40 of these were leased at 5s. per annum. Under the Boston Order of 1902, 44 layings, leased at the same rental, returned 35 tons (£100).^[23]

The fishing for shrimps, which still maintain their reputation for quality, is carried on at Boston for nine months in the year by smacks, and also by men driving in a cart with one horse, of which there are twenty-eight along the coast.

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1. Stukeley, Iter Curios. 31.
2. Thompson, Hist. of Boston, 306.
3. Thompson, Hist. of Boston, 306.
4. Charter Book of the Corporation.
   'For the encouragement of the fishing trade, the great nurse for mariners,' Elizabeth ordered the stricter observance of fast-days—not, as the State Papers quaintly record, 'on the ground of conscience, but on the authority of the Prince, for the good of the country,' 'the times needing a supply of mariners, many fishing ports and ships being now decayed, as are the sundry trades connected with the fishing' (Cal. S. P. Dom. 1595–7, p. 540).
5. John Smith, England's Improvement Revived, Book 6, pp. 268–9.
6. 'To carry on this great trade,' says a writer of the time, 'they have 700 Strande-Boates, 400 Euars, and 400 Sullits, Drivers, and Tod-Boates.'
7. Postlethwayt, Universal Dict. Trade, i.
8. Yarranton, pt. ii, 134. The trade had not been wholly neglected amongst Englishmen, for a licence was granted to one John Smith for eight years to make and provide white salt in three ports, of which Boston was one (Cal. S.P. Dom. 1599–1601, p. 310).
9. Corporation Records.
10. Thompson, Hist. of Boston, 306.
11. Fish Trades Gaz. 22 June, 1901.
12. The appended figures show the area of the docks constructed to be 103¼ acres: Royal Dock, 25 acres; No. 1 Graving Dock, 400 ft. long; No. 2 Graving Dock, 400 ft. long; No. 3 Graving Dock, 450 ft. long; Union Dock, 1¼ acres; Alexandra Dock, 48 acres; No. 1 Fish Dock, 13 acres; No. 2 Fish Dock, 16 acres; Pontoon Dry Dock for fishing craft, 116 ft. 8 in. long.
13. Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1906.
14. The decrease in 1901 was due to the fishermen's strike, ot which Mr. F. G. Aflalo devotes several pages of the sixth chapter of his important work on The Sea-Fishing Industry of England and Wales. Four hundred vessels were laid up during this strike, and much fish was conveyed to London on board the 'Cleethorpers.'
15. The above figures are from the Annual Report of proceedings under the Fisheries Act, 1904; and also have been supplied by the courtesy of Captain Barwick, port-master at Grimsby Docks.
16. Dr. Ch. Parkins, in a letter to Lord Burghley, states that, 'at the writer's going into Denmark, he was told that there was an agreement allowing Englishmen to fish in Iceland under certain conditions.' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1591–4, p. 247.
17. Annual Report on the Sea Fisheries of England and Wales, 1904, 21.
18. In 1890 the amount of ice imported at Grimsby was 62,279 tons.
19. E. H. W. Holdsworth, Sea Fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland, 83. The idea of the cod-chests seems to have been a Lincolnshire tradition.
20. Defoe, Tour through Great Britain, iii, 22.
21. Marrat, Hist. of Boston, 66.
22. The office, and its necessity, was of ancient standing. In March, 1595, one Christopher Wilson, 'now aged and in extreme poverty,' begged the office of 'water bailiff of the Ouse, from Lynn to Boston, for 21 years, on rent of 40s., such an officer being necessary to preserve the spawn and brood of fish and prevent its inordinate taking by the common fishers.' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1595–7, p. 24.
23. Rep. of Sea Fisheries, 1904, p. 83.