Yawling

Atlantic Herring -  Scientific name - Clupea harengus

Conservation status

‘Yawling’ (or ‘yaulin') is an old term used to describe small herring. It's one of several local names for herring, often indicating size or condition, though many of these names are now less common. The term ‘yawl’ also refers to a type of fishing boat, particularly associated with herring fishing in some areas. 

See Herring for full conservation detail on Herring.

Overview

The earliest known use of the noun yawling is in the mid 1700s. The Oxford English Dictionary found it referred to in 1758, in the writing of R. Griffiths.

A Yawl is also a sailing vessel with two masts.

In the past, yawls were used to follow the herring migration, particularly from Hartlepool to Flamborough, and later to the Dogger Bank. 

Extract from "Once a Week" by Mackenzie E. C. Walcott in 1862

‘From July 15 to November 20 the yawls fish for herrings, following their migration southward between Hartlepool and Flamborough, until late in September, when they proceed to the Dogger Bank, which lies East by North, and while remaining at that point the herrings are salted, as the boats remain there for weeks at a time.

Between November and March the fishermen catch cod, skate, and turbot off the coast, using their cobles, or smaller boats, and lay up the yawls in Scarborough harbour during some ten or twelve weeks, at a cost of £1 for first-class boats. In looking for herrings, the ‘spouting’ of a whale, or ‘santallamant’,as the fishermen of Filey call them, or, according to the Cromer boatmen, the ‘blow-fish’, are certain indications of the presence of a shoal, or ‘skoal’. ‘

Source :- Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre - 

Source

Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre -  https://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/article.php?article=217#:~:text=From%20July%2015%20to%20November,shoal%2C%20or%20%22skoal.%22

Oxford English Dictionary - https://www.oed.com/dictionary/yawling_n-a?tl=true