Modern British steam trawlers travel as far afield as Iceland, Newfoundland and Morocco.

Steam trawling developed rapidly, and resulted in a correspondingly rapid decrease in the number of sailing trawlers. Between 1893 and 1903, the number of first class smacks in Great Britain decreased from over 2,000 with an average tonnage (net) of 57·4 to less than 900 with an average tonnage (net) of 40. From 1903 until the present day, the number had remained between 900 and 800; it would seem, therefore, that the relative numbers and importance of smacks and steam trawlers gradually attained to a condition of equilibrium. Between 1900 and 1906 the increasing importance of steam trawling received a temporary check. A steam trawler in those days would cost about £10,000 to construct and about £5,000 a year to operate; their commercial success, therefore, depended upon correspondingly large and valuable catches of fish being obtained. When first introduced on the fishing grounds round the coast their superior efficiency and speed amply compensated for their high cost. About 1900, however, the catch obtained by these vessels on the home fishing grounds began to diminish, and the fishermen became alarmed lest the greatly increased efficiency of steam trawling should prove to be its own undoing, and result in the depopulation of the fishing grounds by over-fishing. Between 1900 and 1906, the number of steam trawlers fishing from British ports only increased by 200, whereas, during the preceding 10 years, the numbers had increased from a few hundred to over 2,000.

The anticipated exhaustion of the home grounds led to the steam trawler prospecting further afield. These longer voyages, as far as Iceland and the White Sea and Morocco, were very successful. The result of this was that larger steam trawlers were built, capable of undertaking long voyages of many weeks’ duration. Between 1900 and 1906 the average net tonnage of the steam trawlers increased from 54 to 62. The steam trawlers, in opening up new and more distant fishing grounds, left the home grounds to the smacks. Consequently we find that the smacks confined their operation to the smooth ground in home waters, leaving the rough and more distant grounds to the steam trawlers. A direct result of this gradual redistribution of the fisheries between sailing smacks and steamers was the development of specialized fishing ports. Such ports as Lowestoft, Brixham and Ramsgate, off which good fish are obtainable and which are within easy access of good markets, have retained their importance as smack ports; on the other hand, the development of steam trawling has led to the rapid growth of deep water ports, such as Fleetwood, Grimsby, Hull, Aberdeen, and Milford Haven. In Grimsby, originally one of the greatest strongholds of smack fishing, smacks have been entirely displaced by steam trawlers, owing to the special facilities which the port offers in being near cheap coal, in possessing deep water, and in being in direct rail communication with large markets for trawl fish.

There is no doubt that the rapid development of steam trawling was accelerated by the invention of the otter trawl. This is not only a larger net than the beam trawl, but is for all but small, flat fish, a much more efficient instrument. From the study of market statistics between the years 1889 and 1898 Garstang has calculated that a steamer caught on the average between four and seven times as much fish in the year as a sailing smack.

Fig. 16
I.—PLAN ON DECK. II.—PLAN BELOW DECK.

Plan of Arrangements on and below Deck.—(I) On deck: 1. Winch. 2. Hatches. 3. Gallows. 4. Bollards. 5. Fish-pounds. 6. Steam-winch (for trawl). 7. Blocks. 8. Officers’ messroom. 9. Galley. 10. Ventilators. 11. Funnel. 12. Bunker-hatches. 13. Engine-room skylight. 14. Bathroom. 15. Mate’s cabin. 16. Lifeboat.
(II) Below deck: 1. Collision bulkhead. 2. Crew’s quarters. 3. Storeroom. 4. Iceroom. 5. Fish-hold. 6. Reserve coal bunker. 7. Main bunker. 8. Side bunkers. 9. Stokehold. 10. Main pump. 11. Auxiliary pump. 12. Engines. 13. Dynamo. 14. Cabin. 15 and 16. Chief and second engineers’ quarters.

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