Nelson & His World

ADM 106/1188/218 - Captain John Henshaw, Hunter, Hamoaze. Is stationed at the Isle of Man where few supplies can be had but fish can be caught sufficient to supply the whole crew and asks for a sein and trawl
1770 Aug 19

ADM 106/898/22 - Captain Dandridge, Wolf Sloop, Gosport. Assigned a turtle net but there being no turtles in Virginia has enclosed a request for a seine.
17 May 1738

ADM 106/941/19 - Captain Maybe, the Lenox, Portsmouth. Request for barge oars and the nets for the fishing gear which are not in store
6 Feb 1740/41

ADM 106/1124/299 - Captain Locker, Nautilus in Hamoaze. Request for twine, lead, corks and rope to make a seine and turtle nets
12 Nov 1763

ADM 106/1128/241 - Commissioner Frederick Rogers, Plymouth. Receipt of letters ... to supply the Shannon with a camp forge, Doctor Knight's Compasses and twine for a sein and turtle net
4 Oct 1763

ADM 106/1128/265 - ... to supply the Actaeon with twine for seine and Turtle Nets
11 Nov 1763

ADM 106/1165/286 - ... to supply the Favourite Sloop with sein twine for making nets
13 Oct 1768

ADM 106/1178/182 - For Commissioner Hughes, Portsmouth. Receipt of letter and warrants to supply the Dunkirk with a fishing net or sein...

Sir Edward Pellew encourages his squadron off Rochefort to employ every method for catching fish, which has much retarded the appearance of scurvy in his own ship, and others. What a pity that this excellent practice is not general in the fleet, when there is nothing else for employment. Lord Duncan, in the North Sea, has always been remarkable for his indulgence in this duty.

The following day I was sent with another midshipman with two boats to haul the seine in a bay about a mile to the westward. On the first haul we caught about four bucketsful of rays, parrot-fish, snappers, groupers, red and white mullet, John-dories, some crabs and two electric eels. One of the boat’s crew hooked one of the latter by the gills with the boat-hook, when his arm was immediately paralysed, and he let it fall, calling out that someone had struck him. The man near him laid hold of the fish again as it was making for the shore, and the shock he received threw him on his knees. I ran up to him, for he appeared in great pain. However, he soon recovered, and before the ill-fated eel could reach its element, he caught up a large stone and made it dearly atone for the pain it had inflicted. We made another haul, but were not so successful, as we only caught some ray, crabs, and an alligator three feet long, which had torn the net. We stunned him by a blow with one of the boat’s stretchers, threw him into the boat, and after taking in the net, repaired to the ship.

The dolphin, the bonito, and the albacore, are sometimes caught with the grains, but generally by means of lines baited either with bits of tin, or with pieces of the flying-fish, when any are to be had. In fine weather, especially between the tropics, when the whole surface of the sea is often covered with them, a dozen lines are hung from the jib-boom end and sprit-sail yard, all so arranged, that when the ship sends forward, the hook, with its glittering bait, barely touches the water, but rises from it when the ship is raised up by the swell. The grains, spoken of above, resembles nothing so much that I know of as the trident which painters thrust into the hands of Daddy Neptune. If my nautical recollections, however, serve me correctly, this spear has five prongs, not three, and sometimes there are two sets, placed in lines at right angles to one another. The upper end of the staff being loaded with lead, it'falls down and turns over the fish, which is then drawn on board on the top of the grains, as a potato or a herring might be presented on the point of a fork.

The dolphin is eaten and generally relished by every one, though certainly a plaguy dry fish. It is often cut into slices and fried like salmon, or boiled and soused in vinegar, to be eaten cold.

The bonito is a coarser fish, and only becomes tolerable eating by the copious use of port-wine.

Nothing particular occurred until our arrival in the Downs : the seine was frequently hauled, by Lord Nelson's directions, and the eagerness and vivacity which he showed upon the occasion, to the great delight of the seamen, early pointed out to me the natural liveliness of his character, even in trivial matters.

The wind, when off Dungeness, was scanty, and the Ship was to be put about ; Lord Nelson would give the orders, and caused her to miss stays. Upon this he said, rather peevishly, to the Master, or Officer of the Watch, (I forget which,) ' Well, now, see what we have done. Well, Sir, what mean you to do now ?' The Officer saying with hesitation, ' I don't exactly know, my Lord ; I fear she won't do,' Lord Nelson turned sharply towards the cabin, and replied, ' Well, I am sure if you do not know what to do with her, no more do I either.' He went in, leaving the Officer to work the Ship as he liked.

During the time we lay at anchor here we were in the habit of sending a boat to haul the seine on the Bayonne islands, and we were generally pretty successful. Amongst other fish, we frequently caught the torpedo, which gave me a practical lesson of its electric powers.

A number of those huge birds, the albatrosses, were soaring over the face of the waters, and the flying-fish, when rising into the air to avoid the dolphins and bonitos, were frequently caught by these poaching birds, to the very reasonable Disappointment of the sporting fish below. These intruders proceeded not altogether with impunity, however; for we hooked several of them, who, confident in their own sagacity and strength of wing, swooped eagerly at the baited hooks towed far astern of the ship, and were thus drawn on board, screaming and flapping their wings in a very ridiculous plight.

Captain Cook's seamen caught albatross in the same way and they were apparently relished by many of the crew, even though they had fresh mutton available to them at the time.