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A drifter is a type of National Register of Historic Vessels
File:Rigging2.png, Norse
A drifter is a type of fishing boat
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was es ...
. They were designed to catch herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
in a long drift net
Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. The nets are kept vertical in the water by floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weig ...
. Herring fishing using drifters has a long history in the Netherlands and in many British fishing ports, particularly in East Scottish ports.
Until the mid-1960s fishing fleets in the North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
comprised drifters and trawlers Trawler may refer to:
Boats
* Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing
* Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes
** Trawlers of the Royal Navy
* Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built t ...
, with the drifters primarily targeting herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
while the trawlers caught cod
Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...
, plaice
Plaice is a common name for a group of flatfish that comprises four species: the European, American, Alaskan and scale-eye plaice.
Commercially, the most important plaice is the European. The principal commercial flatfish in Europe, it is also ...
, skate
Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish
*Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae
* Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae
* Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...
and haddock
The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas where ...
, etc. By the mid-1960s the catches were greatly diminishing, particularly the herring. Consequently, the drifter fleet disappeared and many of the trawlers were adapted to work as service ships for the newly created North Sea oil rig
{{about, , the mnemonic OIL RIG, Redox
An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling.
Kinds of oil rig include:
* Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling
* Drillship, a floating apparatus for offshore oil drilling
* ...
s.
Some history of drifters is covered in Scottish east coast fishery
The Scottish east coast fishery has been in existence for more than a thousand years, spanning the Viking Age right up to the present day.
A brief history
The fishery has always been for both whitefish and herring. The Norsemen came to Scotland ...
.
Drifters preserved as museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
s include ''Lydia Eva'', a steam drifter of the herring fishing fleet based in Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
, Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, and ''Reaper'', a restored Scottish Fifie herring drifter at the Scottish Fisheries Museum
The Scottish Fisheries Museum is a museum in Anstruther, Fife, that records the history of the Scottish fishing industry and its people from earliest times to the present day.
Opened in 1969, the museum is situated on the harbour front in Anstr ...
.Naval drifter
A naval drifter is a boat built along the lines of a commercial fishing drifter but fitted out for naval purposes. The use of naval drifters is paralleled by the use of naval trawlers.
Fishing trawlers were designed to tow heavy trawls, so they w ...
s were boats built in the same way used by the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
primarily to maintain and patrol anti-submarine nets. They were either purpose-built for naval use or requisitioned from private owners.
Image gallery
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
drifter, c 1200 AD
Image:Groenewegen.D3.Buis.jpg, Dutch Herring Buss
A herring buss ( nl, Haringbuis) was a type of seagoing fishing vessel, mostly used by Dutch and Flemish herring fishermen in the 15th through early 19th centuries.
The buss ship type has a long history. It was already known around the time of th ...
drifter taking aboard its drift net, c. 1600
Image:Reaper in sail.jpg, The ''Reaper'', a restored fifie herring drifter, was originally built c. 1902
File:Leaving Port Seton - geograph.org.uk - 830836.jpg, The ''Reaper'' leaving Port Seton
Cockenzie and Port Seton ( sco, Cockennie ; gd, Cùil Choinnich, meaning "cove of Kenneth") is a unified town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is on the coast of the Firth of Forth, four miles east of Musselburgh. The burgh of Cockenzie was crea ...
. Fifies like this were used for fishing off the coast of Scotland from the 1850s until well into the 20th century.
See also
*Herring Buss
A herring buss ( nl, Haringbuis) was a type of seagoing fishing vessel, mostly used by Dutch and Flemish herring fishermen in the 15th through early 19th centuries.
The buss ship type has a long history. It was already known around the time of th ...
(Dutch precursor to the drifter)
* Fifie (widely used early drifter in Scotland)
* Manx nobby
The nobby is an inshore sailing boat which was used as a traditional fishing boat around Lancashire and the Isle of Man. The Lancashire nobby originated in Morecambe Bay about 1840 and around Southport. It subsequently came into widespread use dow ...
* History of fishing in the United Kingdom
* Tradewind (schooner)
''Tradewind'' is a Dutch topsail schooner. She was built in the Netherlands in 1911 as a herring lugger named ''Sophie Theresia''.
''Sophie Theresia'' was built in 1911 by Van der Vuijk shipyard, Capelle aan de IJssel, Netherlands.Clarke & Igg ...
* Wylde Swan
''Wylde Swan'' ( West Frisian for "Wild Swan") is a fast sailing vessel originally built in Germany in 1920 as a steam ship. She was designed to work with the German herring fleet, collecting the herring at sea and transporting the fish to market ...
References
External links
*http://www.lydiaeva.org.uk/ {{fisheries and fishing Fishing in Scotland Types of fishing vessels Nautical terminology