3-053-580 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Great take of herring at the mouth of the [River] Exe, 1873. 'The beach near Dawlish, towards the Warren Point, at the mouth of the river Exe, showed a very lively scene on Wednesday week, in consequence of the wonderful quantity of herrings taken by the fishing-boats. A hundred men, women, and children were busy, as soon as the boats could be unloaded, gathering the fish into hampers to he sent by the South Devon Railway to London for sale. The herrings were piled on the beach in heaps 2 ft. thick, while many were left floating dead in the water, as the nets had broken in drawing them ashore. People hastened from the village with their baskets, and from neighbouring places with donkey-carts, to procure as many as they were able to carry off; a large portion was taken by the farmers to be used for manure. We have to thank a lady at Starcross for the sketch we have engraved'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.