A Trip in the Steam Trawler Nora Niven: Exploring Northern Waters

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 20, 16 November 1907, Page 8

A Trip in the Steam Trawler Nora Niven: Exploring Northern Waters

The two extreme ends of the trawl are first got up to the gun’ale with the powerful winch, and next the “quarterr?r’C! r "'° J" I ''" “ th pass 10,, " d the outsi<le of the 11Pt about a third' of the distance from each end, and have the etteet ot gathering up the mouth and drawing it into the ship’s side—are heaved in, and the top, or mouth of the trawl lies along the bulwarks, as seen in this picture.

,'! trawl was kept by a beam of heavy wood. In the modern gear these otter each weighing close on half a lon. take the plaee of the beam, and give a much greater spread. There is one on each '"le of the month, and by an ingenious arrangement of the chains the tendency is for them to pull outwards as hex are hauled along the bottom of the sea in an almost upright position, ami so the trawl which trails out behind them like a huge jelly bag is kept open at the mouth, the lower side attached to the foot-rope dragging along the ground and the upper side limiting above it. The arch from which the board is suspended is called a "gallows” and there is a similar one at the other end of the vessel. The trawl is shackled on to the Imard at the back end as mav lie oliserved by looking at the right-hand side of the photograph.

After the otter gear is up to the gallows and the quarterßare hauled the manner shown, till the cod-end is reached. A >;.■ passed, an

re hauled in. the rest of the net is got aboard by hand in assed, and the catch is heaved on board by the winch.

The “cod end.” as the apex of the trawl is called, is gat red up lik amidships. The bottom is secured with a running knot, whi i is release out on the deck, in a quivering diiny mass

e<l up like an old-fashioned net purse, and brought aboard is released bv simply pulling one end. and the lish tumble niny mass of many colours.

This is the sort of thing that breaks the trawl, and the trawler’s heart These mushroom-shaped gro« on ‘ e of as big as umbrellas, are of a great weight, and grow on rocky bottom, whence the. ate nby th. t.awl. which generally after a “catch” of this nature is in a sad plight Aery often the toot-lope -a st oil st. . ""* • ed with heavy hemp rope, which may be seen on the right side of the photograph is snapped as t . ‘ and the net itself comes up with a heart-breaking lot of gaping rents, which take hours of patient urnk to le ■ • • a haul as this—which in trawling parlance is "muck”—though useless is a glonous sight. I his on. !• ■ ■ gorgeous. The fish were a brilliant rose-pink, and all the hues of the rainbow were to be found in the >tiange dwaif trees, and other growths which came up in the net. Mr. Harry Stephenson, of Kussell. who is in charge ot th. xj tion while in northern waters, is holding on to the rope on the right.

It is somewhat difficult to picture the manner in which the net is brought on board as one 1 1 ’ boat to see the operation' properly. but this picture gives a good general idea. Ihe rawl sha gmr he > after the mouth has come aboard, and the eod end (where the tisli are) is still floating alongsid . It |< w ll <*. a in such eases it alwavs comes to the top of the water a long wax from the steamers sole. the fish buoying it up like a float In this illustration the trawl is all ready for passing the strop round the eod end to hoist it on boaid the men hailing over the gunwale lieing engaged in shaking down a few straggling fish which have managed to g themselves half-way through some of the meshes.

The motionless tide caught a soft reflection from the heavens, and its dull silver surface was only broken by the gradually increasing, fan-shaped wake of the steamer, the only moving thing at that hour, except a small school of porpoises gambolling olf North Head. Early rising has its compensations after all. The reason for our unreasonable start was Mr. Ayson's desire to get out to the trawling ground before breakfast. Inside a line drawn from Cabbage Bay to the south end of Tiri Tiri, thence to the

W eighty as the trawl is when full of fish and with 125 fathoms of wire warp out, this powerful winch brings it aboard in a very few minutes. With the throttle right open, the winch, when hauling in the trawl, can pull the steamer sideways bodily through the water. She if* 105 feet long overall, and draws L 3 feet, so the reader with a taste for figures can reckon what the resistance and the power necessary to overcome it must be. The drums work independently or together. mouth of Matakana Harbour, trawling is prohibited, and our intention was to start at a point three miles outside TiriW’e reached our destination before seven, and Mr Ayson’s wish to have the net over before breakfast was gratified with something to spare. Mr Ayson was only with us for a, day, his object in making the trip being to initiate Mr Harry Stephenson, t hi* Inspector of Fishtries at Russell, who is representing the Depa i tinent on the Northern trip, into

his duties. After a hard day. in which five trawls were made, Mr Ayson was landed the same evening at Man-o’-War Bay. Waiheke, where he had to make some inquiries into the vexed question of the ovster fisheries.

First thing to be done in experimental trawling is to find out the depth, and the nature of the bottom. Up to about five and twenty fathoms soundings are taken with the hand line, familiar to most people—a light line marked in fathoms, with a bar of lead at the end. For deep water an invention of that benefactor of the sailor. Lord Kelvin, is used —the deep sea sounding machine. In appearance it is simply a box with a handle on either side. Inside there is a drum round which is wound many fathoms of thin wire, which runs over the taffrail on a wheel. At the end of this line a heavy lead bar is attached, and immediately above this a brass tube is made fast to the line. This tube contains a spring which pushes up an indicator running in a slot with a scale at tin* side showing the fathoms. There is also an indicator on the side of the drum which gives the number of fathoms run out. The deeper you go in water the greater is the pressure. It increases in a known ratio, and Lord Kelvin has used this fact in his invention. The water presses on the spring in the brass tube and this spring in turn forces up the indicator, exactly on the same principle as those “ try-your-strength machines” so popular at fairs. The indicator remains at the highest point it has reached, so the depth is recorded in plain figures with the utmost fidelity. No matter how far the lead may be astern (for soundings can be taken going at full speed ahead with this invention) tin* brass tube only shows the direct ver-

tical pressure of the water. At the bottom of the lead both in the hand line and the machine there is a cup-like hollow which is filled with tallow. Some of the sea bottom adheres to the fat, and gives an indication as to whether you are over sand, shell, mud, or so on. Before going any further it would be as well to say something about the boat herself, as she is unique as far as this part of the world is concerned. A MODERN TRAWLER. The Nora Niven is the finest trawler south of the line, and everything about her is up to date in every respect. The builders are Messrs. Cochrane and Sons, Selby, Yorkshire, and the engines and trawling fittings were supplied by the Great Central Engineering Company of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, one of tire*largest firms of the kind in England. Strength is the main feature of the vessel. The first thing that strikes one is the unusual solidity of all the fittings, and the more you see of her the stronger she seems. She is very different from the ordinary coastal steamer plying about New Zealand waters. And after some experience of what she had to do you appreciate the necessity for all this solid work. The Nora Niven is a replica of the trawlers used in the North Sea, the most famous fishing ground in the world. Grimsby, where she was fitted out. is a great fishing seaport, and when the trawlers are in, their masts make a veritable forest

at the docks. They steam long voyages, some going as far north as Iceland, fifteen hundred miles away, in search of a cargo. Naturally, the fish are getting scarcer and scarcer round the North Sea close to England, and the fishermen have to follow them. The Nora Niven is 105 feet overall, and has the unusually deep draught of 13 feet aft, this being necessary to fit her for the work. Were she a boat with less hold on the water, she would drift too readily. She is so dee]) that the screw never races, even in the heaviest sea. In a boat towing the tendency to race is inenxased many times, but the Nora Niven is as steady as a church. On a consumption of 3 X tons of coal a day she can steam about 8 knots an hour. When towing the net her speed is reduced by one half, so this will give a good idea of the weight of the trawl, and the necessity for solidity in the boat that operates it. As in all deep-sea trawlers the Nora Niven has a complete refrigerating plant of her own. and can make 2.1 tons of ice a day. The cool chamber has a capacity for holding thirty tons of fish, which can lie landed as fresh as the day they were caught. A description of tin* gear on a trawler is somewhat difficult without models, but in operation it is simplicity itself. I’p till about the eighties, trawling was • lone from sailing-vessels- fishing smacks —with beam trawls, and most picturesque they were. fleets of them sailed out of the eastern seaports of England. and other places, and ranged all over the North Sea. >ow they have been replaced by the less striking, but

more effective steam trawler. The trawl itself is, of course, a net, as everybody is aware. It has several component parts, but unless you have seen one it

This rough sketch of a trawler with trawl towing behind does not pretend to absolute accuracy, and is simply given to more easily expain the working, and particularly the manner in which the gear leads from the trawl to the winch. W’ould be only confusion to name them. Suffice to say, that it resembles nothing more than a jelly bag, with a wide mouth, and tapering away to the end, known as the “cod-end.” In the beam trawl the mouth was held open by a wooden beam kept oft* the sea bottom by iron brackets, the beam being weighted to keep it under water. The ends of the

beam were attached to a warp or line bymeans of bridles, and this warp was towed by the vessel. It will readily be understood that there must be some limit to the length of a beam, and it was seldom possible to get one longer than fifty feet—anything beyond that not standing the strain. Gradually this form of trawl, which served its purpose, and served it well, was ousted by the modern, known as the “Otter Trawl.” It is eminently simple, and wonderfully effective, the spread of the trawl being very much greater than was possible with the old style. On the Nora Niven, which is not by any means a large boat compared witii the vessels at Home, the trawl hrs a spre;*l nearly twice that of the old-fashioned one. Instead of the beam two boards are used to keep the ends of the net apart.

ABOUT THE GEAR.

Each board or “otter gear,” as it is called, measures some seven feet by four and a-half, and is heavily shod with iron, the weight being close on half a ton. The front of the shoe, or lower edge, is rounded so as to pass over the bottom more readily. Tht* trawl is attached to the back end of the Ixiard. There are two boards to each trawl, one at either side. On the inside of each board there are four chains coming from the corners, the two front ones being slightly shorter than the other pair. These four chains are shackled to a stout wire rope, the “warp,” by means of which the trawl is towed along. The nice adjustment of the four chains referred to has the effect of keeping the boards nearly upright in the water, and at the same time pointing the front edge somewhat outwards, so that the tendency is for them all the time to spread out from the centre of the trawl-mouth, which is, of course, kept fairly taut. At first sight it would seem impossible that two boards could have this effect. Why they don’t flop over on their sides is surprising to the unitiated. but it is remarkably simple in practice. The front end of a trawl, or, rather, its mouth, is made fast to two ropes, one called the "head rope” and the other the “foot-rope,” the former being at the top and the latter at the bottom respectively. The foot-rope is longer than the head rope, so it will follow that the bottom of the trawl will sag behind the top, or. in other words, the top of the net will be slightly over the under part of the mouth, as it is dragged over the bottom of the sea. The effect of this is to prevent the escape of the fish as they are disturbed from their feeding grounds. The force of the trawl moving through the water drives the fish into the end of the net —the “cod end”—and there they stay till it is hauled on board; the time it is down varying according to the ground and other circumstances. To return for a moment to the otter gear. The steel ropes or “warps.” to use their technical name, run through sheaves hung on “gallows,” or arches, at the side of the vessel, and are controlled by a powerful winch. There are two drums to the winch, and each warp can be operated singly or in unison. One otter board is hauled in forward, and the other comes aboard aft. so it will be easily understood that when they are first lowered into the water they would not tow evenly astern —one side would be longer than the other. There are marks on the wires which show the winch-man exactly how much he has got out, and when both are of equal length.

SETTING THE TRAWL

“Shooting” is the technical name for setting the trawl. “Shoot, oh!” calls out the skipper, and the men come tumbling up from the fo'cas'le. A trawler will have two or more trawls on board in case of accident. The Nora has four, two being always in position ready for setting. When not in use the trawl is neatly stowed along the bulwarks cm either side, nnd lashed to the top rail. A trawl is always set on the windward side, the object being to prevent the ship drifting over the net. First, the men drop over the cod end or apex, and when it has had time to sink the Imdy follows carefully. I>ast of nil the warps are paid out a little, anil the difference lietween the length of the for’ard and the after warps is equalised by checking the latter, and paying out more of the

former. Both arc unwound together from this point, till the requisite length is reached. This is a matter that is regulated by the deptli of water and the speed at which the vessel is going, (in the trip being described the deepest water we trawled was about 51) fathoms, and the- average length of warp out would lie 125 fathoms. There are 350 fathoms on the drums of the winch, and in the South, where much deeper water was prospected, the whole lot was frequently all out to the last few coils. When the trawl is drawing nicely, the engines are set full steam ahead, or, to lie precise, at towing speed, which is slightly less than ordinary steaming speed.

It will be easily understood that the bow warp will be towing at a somewhat wider angle from the side of the steamer than tlie stern warp, owing to the overhang of the for’ard gallows, and the na turn! sheer of the vessel itself, while the stern warp is towing quite close in to the vessel's side. To get over this difficulty a wire l rope, witii a hook on tile end (called a “messenger”) is passed over the for’ard warp, and is slipped down till it is opposite the quarter. It is then hauled inboard, picking up the stern warp on its way in. The two warps are dropped into a “snatch block” made fast to the quarter by a chain, and tow as snug as could be wished This takes a long time to explain, lint in practice the whole tiling is done in a marvellously expeditious manner, which comes of long use and skill.

ON FOUL GROUND.

In such fishing as that on which the Nora Niven is engaged, they are working blind, so to speak. They know nothing about the bottom, except what the chan says, and the information is of the most meagre description. It follows that the work is full of surprises, sonye of which are the reverse of pleasant. Every time the tratvl goes over the side there is a possibility of leaving something in the neighbourhood of £lOO at the bottom of the sea, and this did happen in the South —the whole net being torn clean away. The trawl may be towing along beautifully with a nice sandy bottom, when suddenly the warps give an ominous “kick.”

“Stop her!” is telegraphed to the en-gine-room, and the* winch starts t.o whine and haul in the* trawl. Ihe skipper with a face on which conflicting emotions play hide and seek, looks anxiously over the side at the net as it comes into view. The net is there* certainly, but a closer inspection reveals the fact that the foot-rope has carried away, the “belly” is badly torn, and there are gaping hole’s in the cod-eud which usually escapes, as it floats higher than th.* rest of the trawl. “Put her into hospital,” says the skipper, with a resigned air, “and set the starboard trawl.” The work of setting the second is only a

matter of a few minutes. All that has to lie done is to unshackle the warps, and change them over to the other otter gear. From the winch the warps an* led round “bollards” for’ard ami aft, and by an ingenious arrangement of pulleys, wheels, and rollers, all the hauling is done by the one winch, which is fixed just aft of the hatch. Once on the Northern trip we had just torn one trawl badly, ami the other hadn’t been down long before it. too, was hauled aboard in a very dilapidated condition. It took the crew a couple of clays to repair the damage. More than once we had the foot rope carried away. The foot-rope is a substantial bit of gear, as the reader will see Irom the photographs. First of ail there is a stout wire rope about an inch and a-half in diameter, and round this is served thick rope, the whole* being several inches in thickness, and strong enough, one would have thought, but the speed of the boat towing it over a rocky bottom soon makes short 'cork of it.

HAULING IN.

There is a novelty about trawling in new ground, which invests the cheerful and frequent “Haul-oil!" of the skipjier with a fresh charm every time. Even the hardened old trawlers, who have answered the cry more times than they could remember, were as keenly interest - ed as schoollioys as noon ns the quarter ropes were at the rail. To hau’ in, the ship is put before the wind, and the trawl is brought np on the windward side. The great big winch makes very light, work of the matter, and n hundred fathoms comes n leia rd in no time. The vessel, instead of living in front of the trawl, as she was wlem towing, is now

broadside on, so the net conies in just as it was put out, or “shot.” As soon as the two otter boards are up at the “gaHows” the "quarter ropes” are hauled in. There are two of them. One end is made fast to the foot-rope about a third the distance from the board, and the other end is passed round the outside of the trawl, and comes through a loop in the head rope, just above the spot where the other end is made fast to the foot-rope. The other rope is similarly fixed to the other end, and the effect of hauling on them is to close up the mouth of the trawl to about a third of its size. The quarter-ropes bring with them the foot-rope and the head-rope where they are attached, and charting from these two pointy the men haul in the cod-end, or jelly-bag part of the concern, by hand. The net is gradually brought in, and any fish that may have got caught in the meshes are shaken down to where the majority of the spoil has been driven by the force of the water. When the last couple of fathoms of net are alongside, a strop is passed round, and the cod-end then exactly resembles a well-filled old-fash-ioned net purse. Tackle from the main mast is hooked on to the strop, and the catch is hauled aboard, and lowered almost to the deck in the waist. The cod-end is threaded on a rope, which is gathered up and tied with a peculiar knot, the virtue of which is that it will hold a great strain, but is, at the same time, easy to let go. By pulling one end the elaborately-made knot comes apart, the mouth of the cod-end opens, and a glittering mass of quivering and Happing fishes pours out over the deck, dripping wet and glancing in the sunlight with all the colours of the rainbow. Sometimes there are fish, and sometimes there are not. If there is a good bag, the cod-end will float to the surface long before it reaches the side of the ship, being buoyed up by the fish.

WHAT THE THAW! BRINGS UP.

In some localities the trawl will come up full of schnapper, as in one of the pictures,'with the bag that had fortytwo cases of that popular fish in it. In another part it will be nearly all tarakihi. Other fish taken were: Schnapper, tarakihi,- moki, Johnny Dories, gurnard, leather-jacket, barracouda, trevalli, sharks, stingarees, porcupine fish, pigfish, maomao, skate, not to ’ mention smaller kinds. One of the prettiest bags we had was a small catch of red schnapper, whose colour is a most beautiful rose pink, shading lighter towards the lower part. When they were jumping about the deck it looked as though a big bowl of gold-fish had. been upset. Like all fish they lose the brilliance of their tints very quickly after leaving the water. If you haven’t seen a big and varied catch of fish it is very difficult to describe the magnificent splash of colour it makes on the deck, or the wonderfully delicate tints and hues when you look.closely into the glittering mass.

Considering the many varieties of fish that live in our waters, one cannot help wondering why some of them are not better known and more used. The good old homely schnapper is a most desirable article on the breakfast table, and one does not tire of him, but he has a lot of most eligible friends who would give an appetising variety to the menu. There is the John Dory, for example. Fried John Dory is a dish fit for a king. Tarakihi is another sort we could have more of with advantage, and so one could go on with many varieties, such a bream, moki, etc. Hundreds of people who are extremely fond of fish would be surprised if you told them there were other edible kinds swarming round the coasts of the Dominion.

Under the scornful name “muck” the hands aboard include everything that cannot be laid out on the fishmonger’s counter, but frequently a bag of this stull is a sight for the gods, teeming with strange forms of life, animal and vegetable. Mr. Edgar Waite, the Curator of the Christchurch Museum, who was with the Nora Niven as scientist when she was in the South, would pounce on a heap of this stull just as it was about to lie consigned to the vasty deep at the end of a shovel, and spend hours over it. The floor of the ocean in places must be like a fairy grove, or one of those enchanted gardens in the Arabian Nights, tu judge from the glimpses the trawl afforded us from time to time. Off the Hay of Inlands there was one haul in particular which'moved even the most matter of fact trawler to expressions of wonder and astonishment.

A WONDERFUL SIGHT.

There were several dwarf trees about three or four feet high, which realised one’s idea of the sort of thing that grew in the garden of the Princess Bulbul. They had evidently been torn from the solid rock. The branches were covered with feathery leaves of a most delicate form, coloured cream-brown, and attached to them were all manner of things just like a Christmas-tree. From a short distance off, it was difficult to say that it was not hung with all manner of vivid-hued fruits—bananas, grapes, tomatoes, and what not—anu round the branches at intervals were twined starfish in knots resembling what sailors call “Turk’s Heads.” They were not spiked like ordinary star-fish, but smooth and bright as a Japanese lacquered box. Some were cream with maroon stripes, others a rich golden yellow, others crimson, and on no two was the marking the same. From one branch depended a cluster of things half prawn, half sea-horse, and from different points swung shark’s eggs—a semi-transparent lyre-shaped bag of the same colour and quality as celluloid (from which it was difficult to distinguish it), some four inches in attached to the shrub by cartilaginous tendrils, whose spirals seemed intended by wonderful Mother Nature to catch in sueh growths and find a safe hatchingplace. One branch minus leaves, if one could so term the feathery growth, looked exactly like a frond of coral, the colour a rich crimson-lake,with the tips of the countless excrescences lighter in tint. On a closer examination the branch was found to be sheathed with a gelatinous substance, quite soft to the touch, which soon dried and lost its exquisite colour.

Some of the shells were very strange and interesting, particularly one that seemed to be very plentiful. It was an ordinary-looking spiral shell as big as a man’s hand, but round the base was ranged a number of smaller shells, forming a sort of base which would apparently keep the shell off the ground, like a house on piles. ■ They were stuck on with some kind of cement, and in other specimens small stones or pebbles were used in a similar way.

Sponges, and fungoid growths of many colours and fantastic shapes—umbrellas, hats, bowls, etc.—were common, and some of them weighed half a hundredweight and more. Star fish, squids, molluscae, medusae, seaweed and yards of gelatinous transparent stuff as thick as leather and marked with red spots were brought up at nearly every haul. They would no doubt be greatly prised by the naturalist, but are shovelled over without the slightest compunction by the business-like fisherman.

RUM CUSTOMERS.

A eomical and frequent oeeupant of the eod-end was the porcupine fish. He is a perfect sphere, snow white on the body, and greenish black on the track, with splashes of bright yellow on jet blaek. All over him, at intervals of an inch and a half or so, he has spikes, always at the “ charge ” —hence his name. When he falls out of the net he is blown up tight with his own importance, salt water and air, so that he is a considerable weight, and comes down with a heartiness that pumps a feeling “pech” from his funny little three-cornered mouth. He has two fins at the side of his face like ears, and he has a very human look when seen bow on. With the mouth slightly open, his round eyes that have rims like spectacles, and his pronounced “ embonpoint,” the porcupine bears an absurd likeness to the late lamented Mr. Pickwick, as pourtrayed by “ Phiz.” Pride goeth before a fall, and this beautifully round ball of spikes is not long out of his native element before he begins to ooze much salt water at the mouth and gills—pumps out his water ballast, as it were—and assumes the undignified corrugations of the style of pot hat one usually sees decorating the caput of Guy Fawkes. The porcupine fish could never hope to get a ticket for the Peace Gonferenee at the Hague. With a bayonet-studded garment like that he couldn’t possibly get a hearing. The business end of his spikes' is permanently fixed at right angles to his hull, and he can't lay them down even for a spell like other fishes. His fins, tail, etc., are in spikestudded sockets, and at will he can draw in all his working parts, and present to a hungry enemy nothing but a ball of rneedle-sharp points— a somewhat unsettling dish if taken internally. The real body of the. fish is a very insignificant affair hid in the middle of his borUooa gear. The porcupine is not

unlike some people one meets in the street in this respect. Another peculiar fellow as far as; his armament goes is the leather-jacket or trigger fish. All his offensive energies are concentrated into one solitary spine on the top of his back, which sticks up in an uncompromising manner when one tries to handle him. He has, however, this advantage over the porcupine, that he can assume a temporary air of innocence by letting his spike lie along his back when he feels in the mood. He can set his weapon at halLcock, or full-cock, like the trigger of a gun —hence one of his names. His other cognomen comes from the nature of his skin. Once you relieve him of this, however, he is not half bad eating, and a hungry man might do worse than satisfy his cravings with leather-jacket.

(To be concluded next week.)

I allow pressed into a hollow at the bottom of Hie lead brings up some of i In* sand, shell, or mud as the case may Im*, ami gives an indication of the sori of ground that the trawler is over.

As it lies on the deck the trawl looks a meaningless mass of meshes, but the fisherman can pick up any part at random and go right ahead with the repairs. In the case of a portion of the net -being carried away, a new 7 piece of net is put in—“shooting in a piece,” as it is called—and where there is simply a tear, or small hole, new meshes are made Captain Neilson and the mate are both expert netters, and it is astonishing how rapidly their flying needles evolve, order, and a whole trawl, from apparently hopeless tangles.

There are two pairs of otter boards—one on each side, so that when one trawl is disabled, the other can lie set in a few minutes. This view is looking for'ard. and if one has a close scrutiny will enable the reader to see how the warp leads from the winch.