Carrickfergus Fishery in the 1830s

The fishery in the bay constitutes the chief employment of the poorer inhabitants of the suburbs, and the boats fitted out from the two quarters differ in their construction and the mode of working them: those from the Irish quarter, of which there are about seven or eight, with four men each, are smack-rigged and work by trawling or dredging; the fish generally taken is plaice, but skate, sole, and lythe or pollock are occasionally caught, and lobsters and oysters of very large size and good flavour are also dredged. The boats from the Scottish quarter are small and without decks, of not more than two or three tons' burden, rigged with a fore and main lug sail, and are occasionally worked with oars to the number of six in winter and four in summer: in the latter season from 16 to 20 boats, carrying four or six persons each, are generally employed, and both lines and nets are used; but in the former, when lines are principally used, the number of hands is increased to nine or ten: the fish chiefly taken by these boats are cod, ling, hake, lythe, and herring; lobsters are also caught and kept in traps or baskets.

The town derives also an accession of trade from its being frequented as a bathing-place during summer, and from the assizes, sessions, and parliamentary elections for the county of Antrim being held in it. From the privilege of importing merchandise at lower duties than were paid throughout the rest of the country, its commerce was formerly very extensive, and its returns were greater than those of any other port in Ireland; but this privilege was sold to the crown in 1637, and the trade was immediately transferred to Belfast, to which place even the produce of its cotton manufacture is sent for exportation. It is now a member of the port of Belfast, under which head the registry of its vessels and the duties paid at the custom-house are included. The trade consists principally of the importation of coal and the exportation of cattle and occasionally of grain.