Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-13
A GLANCE AT BILLINGsGATE.

A GLANCE AT BILLINGSGATE.
The Famous PiscatOrial BOurse Of Lon.
don-RefOrms which Have Been Made
In Language and Morals - Sanitary
Reforms Still Needed-SOme Points In
which America is Ahead Of England.
At the last session of the American Fisheries
Society at the National Museum, the other day,
Mr.. William Van Zandt Cox, Of the National
Museum, read an interesting paper giving a de-
scription of Billingseate, the famous London
fish market. After referring to the traditions
concerning the origin of the market, its former
celebrity on account of the coarseness Of the
language used by the women who sold fish
there, Mr.. Cox gave description of the present
| structure, which extends north and south from
the Thames river to Thames street, and was built
with the Idea of having not only ground space
In the base nent below and gallery overhead.
The basement part was intended for shell-fish
dealers, but it was not occupied by IL EN- very
long, for, being 20 feet below the level of the
that few buyers cared to 60 a there. several
deaths also occurred among its occupants, and
being 10
as place Of storage and for lobster-boiling
purposes The overhead space was for
ever, by few patrons, it was also aban-
doned, and its occupants went below and
squeezed in, as did the shell fish dealers from
the basement. The floors of the building are of
polished granite, concealed beneath which are
drains Of iron for carrying OF the dirt and
daily at the close Of the market hours. At the
present time there are 156 stalls and ID shops
on the ground floor. The former are located in
the center, while the latter are on the sides of
the building. There is also tavern where fish
is served as the leading article of diet. Avenues
cross the market at regular intervals, and from
necessity are very narrow. Great effort is
required to keep them open. Licensed porters
carry the fish into and from the market ir
ho in, foot in
kinds OF ways MIR. Cox said he was told that
the present conduct of employees in Billingsgate
due to rigid enforcement of strict rules.
PICTURESQUE PoRTERS.
The porter dress consists Of cotton overalls.
coarse cotton shirt, worn on the outside of the
trowsers, which from the begrimed and bespat-
tered appearance are very appropriately called
Stops. The head Is protected by porters
knot hat which has cushion in the crown,
very necessary padding, as the rough and
heavy trunks are either borne directly ON the
top of the head, or resting on the shoulders,
back and neck Wooden sandals are generally
shoes from contact with the sloppy surface
The porter receives on an average about IL pen
ny iarthing for carrying each box Of fish to the
to the conveyance of the buyer is an optional
charge depending upon the kinds of fish and
the building on the Thames street side, while
river-bOrne fish are brought into the market
through the south door facing the river The
boats bringing them to London are not permit
ted to come alongside the building to unload;
but for some reason are required to make fast
to fastenings provided for them adjacent to
floating pontoons and barges that Intervene
Ranks, mostly unprotected by side rails, ex-
tend from boat to market, a hundred feet dis
tant. Up and down and across these planks
the weary porters tramp with their heavy bur-
dens, each trunk weighing about 100 pounds,
iingsgae and the fleets in the North ses and
bring the bulk of the water-borne fish. The
unloading of these boats indeed all kinds of
craft, is al interesting sight.
oLD-FAsHIONED METHODS.
After quoting Salas description of the mar
ket and the "prodigious celebrity with which
the fish are handled, Mr.. Cox proceeds This
method of handling and carrying the fish may
strike the author of Twice Around the Clock
as one of 'prodigious CELEBRITY but to an Ameri-
can familiar with steam appliances and
It appears to
contrast to systems seen with us where u YES
sci puts in, unioads, packs up, and leaves the
not been adopted at Billingsxate, / am in
formed, because the fish would lie more rapidly
brought to the statesmen than they could be
handled, and SO the old system is chung to, and
porters with trunks on the heads approach the
salesman, stand in waiting, then deposit them,
only as rapidly as they can be sold and again
borne away. The salesman or au ctiOneer gets
five per cent on the sales made. Many fish
were formerly sold at Dutch auction where
drops to lower one, and so on until q bid is
made which is accepted, and the procedure is
quired to sell fish by Dutch auction, and this
method is still in great favor in many of the
"Durfng the whirl OF business" Mr.. Cox
wrote, all seems confusion and chaos. Porters
are seen rushing hither and thither with reek-
ing barrels, baskets and boxes Auctioneers
with long, narrow account books in their hands,
are bawling to buyers, who, with hand by the
side of their mouths direct back their shouting
bewidered in the midst, until he is recalled to
his senses by the exclamation, 'Hout the way
The only comparison can find for the aspect,
the sights and sounds of the place. says a well.
known writer, is a rush-;t rush hither and
thlther at helter-skelter speed, apparently
with business-iife and enrrossing nre-ccnn,s s
ton for fish and all things fishy. Baskets full
OF turbot borne on the shoulders of the tdcchini
of the place skim through the air with such ra-
gidityy that you might take them to be flying
THE CROWDED APPROACHES.
Language fails to convey to ones mind"
says Mr.. Cox, "the bewidered condition of
things In the congested approaches to Billings.
gate, where the stopping of a single shandry,'
for instance, will block the entire street. 1t was
shown in an investigation made by Spencer
Walpoe, II. NJ. Inspector OF fisheries, that ordin-
a raach TN not OILY t1oK hours ior 1sn vans to
was eleven days en- route, and all the time try
Ing TO get unloaded. vast amount of good
- very Naturally SpOllcu before IL reaches
the market, and afterwards, too, from the alb
sence of proper appliances for its preservation,
SO that when the fish reaches the consumer it is
so enhanced in price as to have become luxury
instead of an ordinary article of diet"
The Times, of October 80, 'S3, despondingly
asks: Gould not science have fish vaults where
the temperature was kept at 33o, at the market?
Could not science improve on the ice chest fish
mOngers use?' We answer unhesitatingly in
the affirmative. We cordially invite the editor
Of the 'Thunderer' to visit America and see the
fish markets in Boston, New York and other
methods of refrigeration to fish trade would be
seen.
Mr.. Cox concluded his paper by observing
that at Billingsgate there Is nothing for us to
learn, except how tar in advance Of them in
every respect we are on this side of the Atlantic
Lines ON Hon. Robert G. WinthrOp's
76th Birthday, May IL, 1855.