CERTAIN METHOD OR METHODS OF CATCHING OR TAKING MACKABEL AND OTHER FISH
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir ISAAC
COFFIN, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Baronet, Admiral of the
White Squadron, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of July, 1823, in the fourth of
year
His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Sir Isaac Coffin, my exors,
adniors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Sir Isaac Coffin, my exors, admors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, an Invention communicated to me of a "CERTAIN METHOD OR
METHODS OF CATCHING OR TAKING MACKABEL AND OTHER FISH;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Sir Isaac
Coffin, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that the said Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall
utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation.
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Sir Isaac Coffin, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
:-
The Method or Methods of Catching or Taking Mackarel and other Fish,
consist in allowing the fishing vessel or vessels to drive under fore sails. A
quantity of bait is prepared in the manner to be described hereafter to throw
overboard, and to bring the school or shoal of mackarel or other fish around
the vessel or vessels; one or two boys are employed all the time in throwing the
bait overboard, and each man of the crew takes two lines with hooks affixed,
and as soon as they get to work while one line is sinking the other is pulled
in, and with a jerk the fish caught is thrown from the hook on the deck
without being touched with the hand; and as the hook is not to be baited, a
large number are taken in a very short time, for as soon as the hook is under
water it is seized by the fish. The line is small, and is dyed of a dark blue
_colour. It is about seven fathoms in length. The lead in which the hook is
enclosed is at times to be scraped to give it a bright appearance, the more to
resemble the bait. The book is called a jigger, and the piece of lead it is
sunk in is about four inches in length. Every vessel must have a mill with
knives (as shewn in the Drawing, which, as aforesaid, is affixed to this
Specification, and will be described hereafter), fixed at proper distances for
cutting the bait, and which said mill is turned by a crank or handle. One
person with this mill can supply all the bait required for a large crew.
Any kind of fish will answer for bait, such as cod, haddock, and the poorer
kind of mackarel; fresh bait is preferred, but that which has been salted a
few days is often used.
In Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawing A, A, is a section of the chest of the
bait mill, which is about thirty inches and a half high at one end, and thirty
at the other end of it; it is one foot wide, and twenty-six inches long. Fig. 2
is a cross section of it, and Fig. 3 a plan of it. B in all the Figures is a
wooden cylinder with knives driven into it all round and at a proper distance
apart, for cutting the bait as aforesaid, and having a neck or pivot at each end
which turn in half holes made in the sides of the chest A, A, and in the pieces
C, C, which are affixed to the ends of the chest by screws. D is a wooden block
secured to the end of the chest A, and having two rows of other knives E and
fixed into it at proper distances apart to allow the alternate rings of knives
upon the cylinder to come nearly into contact with them as it is turned round,
and as shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 3. G is a wooden plank 'turning upon

page_text: the screws H, H, as centres, and having at the end next to the cylinder B
caps or notches cut in it to allow the rings of knives to pass up them and to
clear them of any particles of fish which might adhere to them. The fish
to be cut are laid upon the plank G and pushed against the knives whilst the
cylinder B is turned round in the direction shewn by the arrow in Fig. 1,
and when cut they fall into the chest. And in order to get out the bait the
plank G is made to turn up, as shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, and has a
handle I to lift it up with. C, C, Fig. 4, is one of the pieces with a half
hole in it, before described. D, D, Figs. 5 and 6, a top and end view of the
block and its two rows of knives E and F, and J, Fig. 7, of the top or cover
of the chest, which is secured in its place by the gaps K, K, at each end of it
fitting upon the solid raised parts L, L, made at each end of the chest to
receive them.
Fig. 8 represents a part of one of the lines with a hook enclosed in lead
affixed to it by means of a bole made through the upper part of the lead.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Isaac Coffin, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.