Fig. 13
CURING YARD AT YARMOUTH
The herrings, as they are removed from the ship, are put into special baskets called “swills,” each swill holding half a cran. The swills containing the day’s catch are arranged in rows on the fish wharf, opposite each drifter. It is a great sight to see about four or five hundred drifters lying, bow on, alongside the fish wharf for about 21⁄2 miles, all unloading fish as fast as they can.
A good day’s catch would consist of about 90 crans. A good catch, therefore, would average about 100,000 herrings, and would weigh about 13 tons. Some boats come in with as many as 160 crans of fish, and the total “cranage” for a day may exceed 30,000. The total catch for Yarmouth on a good day would be about 30,000,000 herrings, weighing about 4,000 tons.
Sometimes when the catch has been poor, the drifters remain out on the fishing grounds for another day, rather than come home with a small catch. In this case, the two catches are kept separate, the first catch being called “overdays.” Overdays are worth about half the price of fresh fish and are, of course, less suitable for high grade curing.
After it has been purchased by the curer, the fresh herring may develop into a salted herring, a red herring, a bloater, or a kipper, depending upon the degree of salting and smoking to which it is subjected. Herrings are sometimes put into cold storage, to be withdrawn subsequently as occasion demands, either to be salted or, more frequently, to be consumed fresh. Cold storage affords a convenient method of preserving herrings when there is a glut, for at such times it is often impossible to deal with the herrings adequately in the ordinary curing yards.
Salted Herrings. The fresh herrings are delivered to the curer’s yards. Here, the fish are emptied into broad, shallow troughs, which generally run from end to end of the yard. The troughs are about 4 ft. wide, and are generally made of wood and arranged at a convenient working height. Usually, the trough is situated just inside the boundary wall, and the fish are delivered into it through large openings in the wall.
Fig. 14
SCOTTISH FISHER GIRLS