Harvest Gleaner BCK 120

Nice one, Ally. Capstan and a coiler. Old giving way to the new. Fleets past and present have one thing in common .. Adapting to change.

why did they always drop their foremasts?

At one time , the masts both foremast and mizzen,went down through the deck to the  keelson, as in the sailboats.. After they started stepping them on tabernackles on deck,and with the length of most of the masts then,there was concern for the strain on the deck,and as the stays were only held tight with block and tackle which meant the rope in the tackle would have slackened when dry, making the stays slack had the mast been left up..

cheers baggy, every days a schoolday!

The other reason the foremast was lowered,

The other reason the foremast was lowered, or "laid" (a term also used) was simply to improve the stability of the boat at sea; it was thought that the roll of the boat, when steaming, lying at the nets, or as in this, case seinenetting, was reduced when the mast was in that position, and therefore the extra work involved in lowering and raising the mast and shipping/unshipping the derrick, before and after landing, was worth the effort.
On the Harvest Gleaner the skipper has retained the capstan (almost certainly powered here by compressed air) as well as having a winch and coiler for the seine net. Many skippers preferred the capstan to the winch at the drift net; it's speed in hauling the leader could be controlled to exactly the speed the crew were hauling the driftnets, by the crewman on spell "forrit lowsin the stoppers." The speed of the winch could not be so accurately controlled, being dependant on what gear the winch was in and the idling speed of the main engine which powered the winch and whose control was in the wheelhouse.

the reason the drifters    keep their forward mast down at the drifting if they needed to switch to     starboard hawl with the nets that was     why    when i was herring drifting   was lots easer also you could    get good   lean on the masts while hauling the train   of nets for the silver   darlings.    so their you go      lads another    one   for to ponder.