3-008-501 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Salmon-poaching on the Tweed: "Burning the Water", 1862. Illegal fishing in Scotland. Night poaching from boats, using leisters - a type of spear - was called "burning the water". Metal baskets on the boats were filled with fragments of tar barrel and rags steeped in pitch and were set alight, and the bright blaze attracted the fish to the surface of the water. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.