Eel drifters were built locally, many at Hvide Sande. ULF was built at Sdr. Lyngvig. There was often a wet well under the vessel’s deck where the catch was kept alive until the vessel docked at the harbour.
The eel drifters on Ringkøbing Fjord differed from the eel drifters in other fjords as they were very broad and had a keel but no centreboard. They had only one mast with a large, wide gaff sail and a boom that extended as far as the stern. However, the earliest vessels had no boom.
The local people called eel drifters “slæbebåde” (drag boats) and, as elsewhere on the Danish North Sea coast, this eel fishing method was referred to as “dragging eel”.
Two eel drifters on their way out of Mamrelund Harbour at Hvide Sande in 1925. The vessel farthest away is most likely ULF.