Brixham's sleek sailing boats launched the age of deep-sea trawling
Overfishing off South Devon pushed Brixham's fishermen farther out in the early 19th century, so they built fast, tall-rigged boats strong enough to drag big nets in deep water. The design spread worldwide, turned a small village called Grimsby into the planet's largest fishing port and led eventually to factory-sized super trawlers.
A trawler drags a net, called a trawl, along the seabed or through midwater, sometimes towing two or more at once. Boats range from open craft with 30 horsepower to factory ships with 10,000. Earlier, 17th-century North Sea fishermen used the Dogger, a slow but sturdy sailing trawler named after the Dutch word for codfish.
Brixham's fleet earned the village the nickname Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries, and fishermen migrated north to ports like Hull, Scarborough and Grimsby, closer to the Atlantic grounds. Grimsby's dock company opened in 1854 as the first modern fishing port, with hydraulic gates and cranes powered from a 300-foot tower designed by William Armstrong. By the end of the century Britain had over 3,000 trawlers, nearly a thousand of them at Grimsby, and twelve sold abroad became the core of Germany's fleet.
Steam changed the trade. David Allan of Leith converted a drifter in March 1875 and in 1877 built Pioneer LH854, the world's first screw-propelled steam trawler, saying he wanted to make fishing safer, though local crews saw a threat. Steamers ran about 20 feet longer than sailing boats, carried more nets, and returned fresh catches quickly for the best prices. The last sailing trawler came out of Grimsby in 1925.
Nets once came in over the side. In 1947 Christian Salvesen fitted a surplus minesweeper with freezers and a stern ramp, and in 1953 Aberdeen produced Fairtry, the first purpose-built stern trawler, able to haul up to 60 tonnes and opening the super trawler era. During the Cold War some trawlers carried extra electronics and doubled as spy ships. Modern vessels use sonar and sensors that report how fast the net is filling.
Source: Fishing trawler
