As soon as the herrings are brought on shore, they are carried to the fish houses, where they are salted, and laid on the floors in heaps, about two feet deep; after they have continued in this situation about fifty hours, the salt is washed from them by putting them into baskets and plunging them into water; from thence they are carried into an adjoining fish house, where, after being pierced through the gills by small wooden spits about four feet long, they are handed to the men in the upper part of the house, who place them at proper distances as high as the top of the roof, where they are cured and made red.
The upper part of the house being thus filled with herrings, many small wood fires are kindled underneath, upon the floor, whose number is in proportion to the size of the room, and the smoke which ascends from these fires is what dries or cures the herrings. After the fish have hung in this manner about seven days, the fires are extinguished, that the oil and fat may drip from them and in about two days after the fires are re-kindled and after two more such drippings, the fires are kept continually burning until the herrings are perfectly cured, which requires a longer or shorter time, according as they are designed either for a foreign or home consumption. After the herrings have hung a proper time, they are taken down (which is called “striking”), and are packed in barrels containing 800 or 1000 herrings each.
From the many frauds which have been formerly practised in this part of the fishing branch the packing of herrings, a complaint was made to the government, in the reign of Charles II. praying that this grievance might be redressed, and accordingly an Act of Parliament was obtained, 15 Charles II, to the following purpose:—
That from and after the first day of August, 1664, no white or red herrings of English catching shall be put up to sale in England, Wales, or towne of Berwick upon Tweed, but what shall be packed in lawful barrels or vessels, and what shall be well, truly, and justly laid and packed; and shall be of one time of taking, salting, saveing, or drying, and equally well packed in the midst, and every part of the barrel or vessel: and by a sworn packer, with a mark or brand denoting the gage of the barrel or vessel, and quantity, quality and condition of the herrings packed therein, and the towne or place where they are packed. And the bayliffs of Great Yarmouth for the time being, and the mayor, bayliffs, or other head officer for the time being, of every port, haven, or creek, out of which any vessell or ships do proceed to fish for herrings are hereby authorised and required before the first day of July in the year 1664. And before the first day of July every year after, to appoint for their respective haven, port, or creek, a competent number of able and experienced packers to view and pack all white and red herrings of English catching as shall be brought into their port, haven, or creek; and well and truly to mark and brand the barrels or vessels into which such herrings are put, with such mark or brand as is above directed. And to administer to them yearly an oath, (which oath they are hereby authorised and appointed to give them) for the well and true doing thereof according to this Act. And in case the said bayliffs of Great Yarmouth, or the mayor, bayliffs, or other head officer for the time being of any such port, haven, or creek, shall not appoint and swear such packers before him in every year, as is by this Act required they shall for every default, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds of lawful money of England. One moiety to his maiestie, his hiers and succesors and the other moiety to him or them that shall informe or sue for the same in any court of record, by bill, plaint, or other action, wherein no essoyn, protection, or wager in law shall be allowed.
THE OATH.
You shall well and truly doe, execute, and perform, the office and duty of packer of herrings; according to the tenour of an Act of Parliament in that case made and provided. So help you God.
The herrings are shipped off for market, which formerly was chiefly confined to foreign ports especially those belonging to Roman Catholic countries, and only a small quantity reserved for home consumption; but of late years the home consumption has greatly increased, and the commissions from foreign parts have neither been so numerous nor so large as in former years. The great increase of inhabitants in London appears to be the cause of the former, as the less rigorous observance of Lent, and other fish days, in Popish countries, is the reason assigned for the latter.
These reasons will receive farther confirmation from the following account of the demand for herrings for foreign consumption, in 1755. In that year there were cured in Lowestoft and Yarmouth 70,000 barrels, which were consigned to the following ports:—
From hence it appears, that out of 70,000 barrels of herrings cured that year, only 18,000 were consumed in England. Since that time the demand for herrings for foreign markets has further declined, and that for home consumption has increased in the same proportion.
The quantity of herrings properly termed a barrel is 1000, though oftentimes 800, as when the fish are picked; the antient method of packing red herrings was in cades, containing 600; but that is a method observed now only in the packing of sprats.
In the year 1776 the herring merchants of Lowestoft were much alarmed with apprehensions of the utter extinction of their fishery, and, consequently, with the total ruin of the town. Some merchants belonging to Liverpool, the Isle of Man, and Dunbar and Caithness, in Scotland, having introduced the method of curing herrings into these parts, and set up a red herring fishery in opposition to Yarmouth and Lowestoft, endeavoured to become their rivals both at the London as well as the foreign markets. But, after repeated attempts, their schemes proved totally abortive, through the superior quality of the Lowestoft herrings; and, consequently, the fishery at Lowestoft was thereby re-established upon a more permanent foundation than before.