LIBRARY

OF TIIK

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

/

Received ...
Accessions No. J

<)'/ Shelf No

-

UNITED STATES COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES

SPENCER B\ BA.IRD, COMMISSIONER

THE FISHERIES

FISHERY INDUSTRIES

OK THE

UNITED STATES

PREPARED THROUGH THE CO-OPERATION OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES
AND THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE TKM'H f'KXSTTS

GEORGE BROWN GOODE

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSOXIAN INSTITUTION

AND A STAFF OF ASSOCIATES

SECTION V
HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES

IN TWO VOLUMES, WITH AN ATLAS OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE PLATES

VOLUME I

fUKIVERSITTJ
^IPOB^

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIOB

1887

ASSOCIATE AUTHOES.

JorL A. ALLEN Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge.

TARLKTON H. BEAN U. S. National Museum, Washington.

JAMES TEMPLE. BROWN U. S. National Museum, Washington.

A. HOWARD CLARK U. S. National Museum, Washington.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH W. COLLINS Gloucester, Massachusetts.

R. EDWARD EARLL U. S. Fish Commission, Washington.

HENRY W. ELLIOTT Cleveland, Ohio.

ERNEST INGERSOLL New Haven, Connecticut.

DAVID S. JORDAN Indiana University, Blootnington, Indiana.

LUDWIG KUMLIEN Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

MARSHALL MCDONALD '. U. S. Fish Commission, Washington.

FREDERICK MATHER N. Y. Fish Commission, Cold Spring, New York.

BARNET PHILLIPS Brooklyn, New York.

RICHARD RATHBUN U. S. National Museum, Washington.

JOHN A. RYDER U. S. Fish Commission, Washington.

CHARLES W. SMILEY U. S. Fish Commission, Washington.

SILAS STEARNS Pensacola, Florida.

FREDERICK W. TRUE -.. u. S.. National Museum, Washington.

WILLIAM A. WILCOX — Gloucester, Massachusetts.

ill

LETTER OF T R AN S M I T T AL.

WASHINGTON, D. C., July 1, 1884.

SIR: I have tbe honor to submit herewith a report on the HISTORY AND METUODS OF THE
PRINCIPAL FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

This report constitutes Section V of the Special Report on the Food Fishes and Fishery In-
dustries of the United States, prepared through the co-operation of the Commission of Fish and
Fisheries and the Superintendent of the Tenth Census. Section I, the Natural History of Useful
Aquatic Animals; Section II, Geographical Review of the Fisheries and Fishing Communities;
Section III, Fishing Grounds; and Section IV, Fishermen, have already beeu completed.

This section is intended to be printed in two volumes, with an atlas of two hundred and fifty-
five plates of illustrations. In the first volume are discussed the fisheries for food-fishes and in
the second volume the fisheries for marine mammals and reptiles, mollusks and other inverte-
brates.

The following-named census agents and assistants of the United States Fish Commission
have taken part in the preparation of the present section: Dr. Tarletou H. Beau, Mr. James Tem-
pleman Brown, Mr. A. Howard Clark, Capt. Joseph W. Collins, Mr. R. Edward Earll, Mr. Henry
W. Elliott, Mr. Charles H. Gilbert, Prof. G. Brown Goode, Mr. Ernest Ingersoll, Prof. David S.
Jordan, Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, Col. Marshall McDonald, Mr. Newton P. Scudder, Mr. Silas Stearns,
Mr. James G. Swan, Mr. Frederick VV. True, and Mr. W. A. Wilcox. I regret to state that Mr.
James Templeman Brown died before the completion of his report upon the apparatus and
methods of the whale fishery; but the manuscript was in such condition that it could be made
ready for the press by one of my assistants.

Yours, very respectfully,

G. BROWN GOODE.

Prof. SPENCER F. BAIRD,

Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

VOLUME I.

Page.

List of illustrations (see also Atlas of plates) XI

PART I.— TOE HALIBUT FISHERIES:

1. The Fresh-Halibut Fishery. By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS 3-89

2. The Salt-Halibut Fishery. By N. P. SCUDDEU 90-119

PART II.— THE COD, HADDOCK, AND HAKE FISHERIES:

1. The Bank Hand-Line Cod Fishery By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS 123-133

2. The Labrador and Gulf of St. Lawrence Cod Fisheries. By G. BROWN GOODK and J. W. COLI.INS. 133-147

3. The Bank Trawl-Line Cod Fishery. By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS 148-187

4. The George's Bank Cod Fishery. By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS 187-198

5. The Cod Fishery of Alaska. By TAKLETON H. BEAN 198-224

6. The Gill-Net Cod Fishery. By J. W. COLLINS 225-233

7. The Haddock Fishery of New England. By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS 234-241

8. The Hake Fishery. By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS 241-243

PART III.— THE MACKEREL FISHERY. By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS:

1. The Mackerel Purse-Seine Fishery 247-272

2. The Spring Southern Mackerel Fishery 273-275

3. The Mackerel Hook Fishery 275-294

4. The Mackerel Gill-Net Fishery 294-298

5. Early Methods of the Mackerel Fishery 298-300

6. Legislation for the Protection of Mackerel 301-304

7. Statistics of the Mackerel Fishery 304-313

PART IV.— TEE SWORDFISH FISHERY. By G. BROWN GOODE 315-326

PART V.— THE MENHADEN FISHERY. By G. BROWN GOODE and A. HOWARD

CLARK 327-415

PART VI.— THE HERRING FISHERY AND THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. By B.
EDWARD EARLL:

1. The Herring Fishery of the United States ' 419-439

2. The Frozen-Herring Industry 439-458

3. The Pickled-Herring Trade with Magdalen Islands, Autico.sti, Newfoundland, and Labrador 459-472

4. The Smoked-Herring Industry 473-488

5. The Sardine Industry 489-624

vii

Vl'ii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART VII.— THE SHORE FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. By J. W.

COLLINS :

Page.

1. The Sqtieteague or Trout Fishery 527-533

2. The Spot Fishery 5:!3-538

3. The Rock and Perch Fishery... 538-540

4. The Sturgeon Fishery of Delaware Bay 540-541

PART VIIL— THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHERY. By R. EDWARD EARLL .... 543-552

PART IX.— THE MULLET FISHERY. By R. EDWARD EARLL 553-582

PART X.— THE RED-SNAPPER AND HAVANA MARKET FISHERIES. By SILAS
STEARNS :

1. The Red-Snapper Fishery 585-592

2. The Havana Market Fishery of Key \Vu.-t, Florida 592-594

PART XL— THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. By

FREDERICK W. TRUE 595-eio

PART XII.— THE RIVER FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES:

1. The Rivers of Eastern Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. By MARSHALL McDox.u.n G13-C25

2. The Rivers and Sounds of North Carolina. By MARSHALL MCDONALD 625-637

3. The Fisheries of Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries. By MARSHALL McUoxALD 637-654

4. The Fisheries of the Delaware River. By MARSHALL McDo^Ai.D 654-657

5. The Fisheries of the Hudson River. By MARSHALL MCDONALD 658-659

6. The Connecticut and Honsatouic Rivers and Minor Tributaries of Long Island Sound. l!y MAR-

SHALL MCDONALD 659-667

7. Rivers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. By FREDERICK W. TRUE and W. A. Wir.cox 667-673

8. The River Fisheries of Maine. By C. G. ATKINS 673-728

PART XIII.— THE SALMON FISHING AND CANNING INTERESTS OF THE

PACIFIC COAST. By D. 8. JORDAN and C. H. GILBERT 729-753

PART XIV.— THE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES. By LUDWIG KUMLIEN.. 755-769

Index .. 771-808

VOLUME II.

List of illustrations (see also Atlas of plates) six

PART XV.— THE WHALE FISHERY:

1. History and I'rrsent Condition of the Fishery. By A. HOWARD CLARK 3-218

2. Whalemen, W.ssi-ls. Apparatus, and Methods of the Fishery. By JAMES THMIM.KMA.X BuinvN.... 218-293

PART XVI.— THE BLACKFISH AND PORPOISE FISHERIES. By A. HOWARD

CLARK 295-sio

PART XVII.— THE PACIFIC WALRUS FISHERY. By A. HOWARD CLARK 311-318

TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix
PART XVIII.— THE SEAL AND SEA-OTTER INDUSTRIES:

Page.

1. The Fur-Seal Industry of the Pribylov Islands, Alaska. By HEXUY W. ELLIOTT 320-393

2. The Fur-Seal Industry of Cape Flattery, Washington Territory. By JAMKS G. SWAV 393-400

3. The Antarctic Fur Seal and Sea E'ephant Industries. By A. HOWARD CLAUK 400-467

4. The Sea- Lion Hunt. By HENRY W. ELLIOTT 467-474

5. The North Atlantic Seal Fishery. By A. HOWARD CLARK 474-483

6. The Sea-Otter Fishery. By HENRY W. ELLIOTT 483-491

PART XIX.— THE TURTLE AND TERRAPIN FISHERIES. By FREDERICK W.

TRUE ~ 493-504

PART XX.— THE OYSTER, SCALLOP, CLAM, MUSSEL, AND AB ALONE INDUS-
TRIES. By ERNEST INGERSOLL:

1. The Oyster Industry 507-565

2. The Scallop Fishery 565-581

3. The Clam Fisheries 581-615

4. The Mussel Fishery 615-622

5. The Abalone Fishery 622-626

PART XXL— THE CRAB, LOBSTER, CRAYFISH, ROCK-LOBSTER, SHRIMP,
AND PRAWN FISHERIES. By RICHARD RATHBUN:

1. The Crab Fisheries 629-658

2. The Lobster Fishery 658-794

3. The Crayfish Fishery 794-797

4. The Rock-Lobster Fishery 798-799

5. The Shrimp and Prawn Fisheries 799-810

PART XXII.— THE LEECH INDUSTRY AND TREPANG FISHERY. By RICHARD

RATHBUN 8n-8i6

PART XXIIL— THE SPONGE FISHERY AND TRADE 817-841

843-881

LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V.

[Engraved by the Photo-Engraving Company of New York City.]

(Page references to Volumes I and II of text.)

THE FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY.

Vol. Page.

1. Halibut schooner under jib, foresail, and double-reefed mainsail; nests of dories on deck amid-

ships; rigged for fall ami winter fishing I, 7

Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

2. Halibut schooner in summer rig, two topmasts up and all sails spread I, 7

Drawing by ('apt. J. W. Collins. (Engraved by Photo-Electrotype Company.)

3. FIG. 1. Sectional plan of halibut schooner. (See page opposite plate for explanation) I, 7

FIG. 2. Deck plan of halibut schoouer. (See page opposite plate for explanation) I, 9

Drawings by Capt. J. W. Collins.

4. Sectional plan of well-smack employed in the fresh halibut fishery on George's Bank, 1830 to 1845.

(See page opposite plate for explanation) I, 41

Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

5. FIG. 1. Bait chopper I, 12

FIG. 2. Bait slivering knife \ I, 12

FIG. 3. Halibut killer and gob stick I, 17

FIG. 4. Woolen hand nipper I, 10

FIG. 5. Halibut gaff I, 17

FIG. 6. Trawl buoy and black ball .• I, 11

FIG. 7. Canvas skate for section of trawl I, 11

FIG. 8. Dory scoop I, 10

Drawings by Capt. J. W. Collins.

6. FIG. 1. Hurdy-gurdy to haul trawls in deep water _• I, 10,11,16

FIG. 2. Dory showing mode of attaching and using the hurdy-gurdy I, 10, 11, 16

FIG. 3. Trawl roller attached to dory gunwale for hauling trawls in shoal water I, 10

Drawings by Capt. J. W. Collins.

7. Cutting bait and baiting trawls on halibut schooner at anchor on the fishing grounds I, 12

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

8. Dories and crew on the way to haul the trawls ; the schooner at anchor under riding sail I, 13-16

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

9. Halibut dory and crew hauling the trawl, gaffing and clubbing the halibut I, 16

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

10. Dory and crew caught to leeward in a storm while hauling the trawl ; trawl-buoy and line drifted

astern of the vessel for their rescue I, 16,80

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

11. Halibut schooner at anchor on the Grand Bank in winter, riding out a gale I, 84

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

13. Halibut schooner " ly ing-to" in a gale on the Bank, under riding sail and double-reefed foresail- I, 77

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

13. Halibut schooner tripped by a heavy sea '. 1, 71

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

14. Halibut schooner in winter, head-reaching under short sail I, 20

Drawing by H. w". Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

xi

Xii LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V.

Vol. Page.

15. Old-style halibut schooner, hand-line fisliiug from deck, 1840 to 1850 I, 29-43

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. \V. Collins.

16. Dressing halibut on deck of schooner for icing in the hold - I, 19

From photograph by T. W. Sniillie.

17. FIG. 1. Halibut cutting knife I, 19

FIG. 2. Scraping knife to remove muscle and flesh from backbone after cutting I, 19

FIG. 3. Sqnillgee for pushing ice in pen I, 19

FH;. 4. Oak mallet for breaking ice I, 19

FIG. 5. Oak broom for scrubbing halibut I, 19

Drawings by Capt. J. W. Collins.

18. General view of schooner discharging fare of fresh halibut at Gloucester, Mass I, 21

Drawing by Capt. J. \7. Collins.

19. Hoisting halibut from hold of schooner at Gloucester, Mass I, 21

From photograph by T. W. Sniillie.

20. Weighing and selling halibut on deck of George's Bank hand-line cod schooner I, 22

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott and Capt. T. W. Collins.

21. Handling fresh halibut at Gloucester, Mass. ; weighing, unheading, and packing in ice for ship-

ment by rail I, 22

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

22. Packing fresh halibut at Gloucester, Mass.; preparing ice with pick and grinding machine ; mul-

ing covers on the boxes; use of devil's claw I, 22

Drawings by H. W. Elliott.

THE BANK HAND-LINE AND TRAWL COD FISHERIES.

23. Old style Grand Bank cod schooner; crew at rails hand line fisliiug I, 125,126

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

24. Hand-line dory cod fishing on the Grand Bank I, 12(i

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

25. Deck plan of schooner Centennial, of Gloucester I, 119

Drawing by Capt J. W. Collins.

26. Dory and crew setting cod trawls on the Bank I, 152, 170

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

27. Underrunning cod trawls; two methods of setting trawl for undrrrnnning I, 177

Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

28. Newfoundland fishermen catching squid for sale as cod bait to United States vessels I, ir.2, If^t

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins:

29. Dory crew of cod fishermen catching birds for bait I, 152

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

(For illustration of cod schooners discharging cargoes see Section on I'n jiai alion of Fishery Prod-
ucts.)

THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY.

30. Gloucester schooner at anchor on George's Bank in winter; hand-line fishing for cod ; rigged with-

out topmasts for rough weather I, 190-193

From painting by Paul E. Collins, Boston, Muss.

31. Cod hand-line gear I, 192

FIG. 1. Lead sinker with brass horse and swivels.
FIG. 2. George's Bank gear with sling-ding, &c.
FIG. 3. Hand-line gear for shoal water.
Drawings by Capt. J. W. Collins.

32. George's Hank crew hand-line fishing, gaffing fish over the rail, cutting out, tongues * I, 194

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

33. Dressing cod on deck of fishing schooner I, 156, 180,

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins. 195

34. Discharging fare of George's Bank cod at Gloucester wharf I, 195

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1882.

35. Splitting and washing George's Bank cod at Wonson's wharf, Gloucester, Mass I, 195

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1882.

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA.

36. Natives in boats fishing with hand-lines I, 220

LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V.

THE GILL-NET COD FISHERY.

Vol. Page.

37. Method of banging cod gill-nets in Norway. (Explanation with plate) I, 227,228

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

38. FlG.l. Methoclof attai .'liin.c glass floats to top of nets I, 228

FIG. 2. Method of fastening sinkers to foot of nets. (Explanation on plate) I, 22rf

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

39. Norwegian metliod of setting gill nets at bottom. (Explanation on plate) I, 228

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

40. Norwegian methods of setting nets to get position of fish. (Explanation on plate) I, 228

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt J. W. Collins.

41. Norwegian method of attaching stone anchors and huoy lines to end of gangs of nets. (Explana-

tion on plate) I, 228

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission. Vol. I. Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

42. Way in which cod gill-nets are set at the hottoin on the east coast of Newfoundland. (Explana-

tion on plate) I, 230

From Bulletin TJ. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

43. The ordinary way in which cod gill-nets are set floating at Newfoundland. (Explanation on

plate) I, 230

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt. J. W. Collins.

44. Way in which cod gill-nets are set for underruuuing in Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts. (Explana-

tion on plate) I, 232

From Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission, Vol. I. Drawing by Capt J. W. Collins.

45. Underruuuing cod gill-nets in Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts I, 232

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

THE INSHORE COD FISHERY.

46. Block Island boat and crew hand-lining for cod

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

47. Pink stern schooner and boats hand-line tishing off Cape Ann, Massachusetts

From photogiaph by T. W. Smillie.

THE HADDOCK FISHERY.

48. Baiting trawls on deck of Gloucester haddock schooner Mystic, Captain McKinuon I, 237

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

49. Baiting trawls at night in hold of haddock schooner I, 237

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott, 1882.

50. Setting haddock trawls from schooner under sail ; set at right angles to course of the vessel I, 238

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

THE HAKE FISHERY.

51. Fishermen's dories on the rocks at Folly Cove, Cape Ann, Massachusetts I, 241

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

52. Fishermen in dory hauling trawl ; a dogfish caught I, . 242

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

53. Overhauling trawls in fish-house at Rockport, Mass I, 242

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY.

54. Mackerel schooner under full sail, bound out I, 248

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt, J. W. Collins.

55. The cabin of mackerel schooner John D. Long of Gloucester, Mass I, 247

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

56. Deck plan of mackerel schooner. (Explanation on plate) I, 248

Drawing by ('apt .1. W. Collins.

57. Seine boat; purse davit and blocks; oar-rests; purse weight and purse blocks; bow fittings I, 250

58. Seine boats in winter quarters at Gloucester, Mass I, 250

From photograph by T. W. Sraillie.

59. FIG. 1. Diagram showing the different sections of a purse-seine I, 252

FIG. 2, Diagram showing the form of a purse-seine when spread in the water I, 252

Drawings by Capt. J. W. Collins.

XIV LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V.

Vol. Page.

60. Mackerel schooner cruising in Massachusetts Bay ; lookont at foretop on the watch for schools .. I, 255

From photograph by T. W. Sniillie.
01. Lookouts aloft on schooner on the watch for mackerel I, 255

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

62. Mackerel seine-boat and crew "paving out the seine" I, 256

Drawing by H. W.Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

63. Mackerel seine-boat and crew pursing the seine I, 256

Drawing by H. "W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

64. Mackerel schooner with crew at work bailing mackerel from the purse-seine I, 258

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

65. Mackerel schooner with pocket or spiller shipped at sea I, 265

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

66. Mackerel schooner just arrived from cruise ; crew dressing and salting the fish I, 267

From photograph bv T. W. SrnilHe.

67. Culling and packing mackerel at Portland, Me I, 207

From photograph by T. W. Sniillie.

THE MACKEREL HOOK FISHERY.

68. Surf-fishing in boats for mackerel ... I, 275

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt J. \V. Collins.

69. Mackerel jigs and jig molds. (Explanation on plate) I, 278

70. Jigging mackerel over the vessel's rail I, 284

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt J W. Collins.

71. Gaffing mackerel over the vessel's rail I, 279

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt J. W. Collins.

7.'. FIG. 1. The old method of chopping mackerel bait I, 279-283

FIG. 2. The modern mackerel bait-mill I, 279-283

Drawings by H. W. Elliott and Capt J. W. Collins.

73. Throwing bait to toll mackerel alongside the vessel I, 284

Drawing by H. VT. Elliott and Capt J. W. Collins.

74. Deck scene on mackerel hand-line schooner; jigging mackerel, slatting in the barrel, throwing

toll-bait I, 284

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt J. W. Collins.

75. Mackerel-packing on shipboard I, 287

FIG. 1. Splitting, cleaning, and washing.
FIG. 2. Pitching, salting, and plowing.

Drawings by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

THE MACKEREL GILL-NET FISHERY.

76. Mackerel drag-nets set at night off coast of Maine I, 294

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J W. Collins.

77. Cape Cod mackerel drag-boat lying to at night I, 294

From sketch by J. S. Ryder.

78. Dory fishermen picking mackerel gill-nets I, 294

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

THE MACKEREL FISHERY— EARLY METHODS.

79. Old style Chebacco boats drailing for mackerel '.. I, 299

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

80. Angling with poles for mackerel from an old Noank, Conn., sloop I, 299

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt J. W. Collins.

STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

81. Diagram showing the catch of mackerel by citizens of Massachusetts between the years 1804 and

1881, i'nclnsive L, 312

From Itoport U. S. Fish Commission, Part IX, 1881.

LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V. XV

THE SWORDFISH FISHERY.

Vol. Page.

82. Sword fishermen in position for action I, 318

From Report U. S. Fish Commission, Part VIII, 1880.

83. Methods of swordfish capture in Ihe Mediterranean Sea I, 318

From Keport U. S. Fish Commission, Part VIII, 1880.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

84. Map illustrating geographical distribution and periodical movements of the menhaden; also

the locations of the fishing grounds and oil and guano factories in the year 1878. (No

factories now in Maine; many in Chesapeake Bay) I, 331,343

From Report U. S. Fish Commission, Part VI, 1878.

85. Menhaden steamer Joseph Church approaching oil and guano factory at Tiverton, K. I I, 3IM

From photograph by T. W. Siuillio.

86. Menhaden steamer William Floyd cruising for fish I, 334

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Couklin.

87. Lookouts at mast-head of menhaden steamer watching for schools of fish I, 338

From sketch by J. S. Ryder.

88. Fleet of menhaden steamers en route to fishing grounds on south side of Long Islaud, N. Y I, 338

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

89. Fleet of menhaden steamers on the fishing grounds; seining crews at work I, 338

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conkliu.

90. Crew of menhaden steamer surrounding a school with purse-seine I, 337-339

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

91. Pursing the seine around a school of menhaden I, 337-339

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

92. Menhaden crew at work ; pursing of the seine nearly completed I, 339

From sketch by H. W. Elliott, 1878.

93. School of menhaden surrounded with purse-seine and fish striking the net I, 339

From sketch by C-vpt. B. F Conklin.

94. Bailing menhaden from purse-seine into steamer's hold I, 337,340

From sketch by J. S. Ryder.

95. Menhaden steamer bailing in the catch I, 340

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

96. Haul-seine fishing for menhaden at Long Island, 1790 to 1850. Setting the seine I, 341,368,

371

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

97. Haul-seine fishing for menhaden at Long Island, 1790 to 1850. Hauling thes eine on the beach

by horse-power I, 341,368,

371

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

98. Haul-seine fishing for menhaden at Long Island, 1790 to 1850. Taking out the fish I, 341, 368,

371

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

99. Menhaden purse and mate boats and two carry-away boats starting for the fishing grounds I, 334,368

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

100. Menhaden pnrse and mate boats I, 334,368

FIG. 1. Going down to the fish.
FIG. 2. Working to windward of the fish.
From sketches by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

101. Purse and mate boats encircling a school of menhaden ; carry-away boats in waiting I, 334, 368

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

102. Menhaden boats and crew pursing the seine; the fish striking the net I, 334,368

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

103. Menhaden sloops cruising for fish. One of the sloops is for the crow to live on and to tow the

seine-boats; the others to carry fish to the factory I, 334,368,

375, 376
From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conkliu.

104. Menhaden sloops and .steamers in Gardiner's Bay, Long Island I, 399

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

105. Menhaden carry-away sloops bailing iii the catch I, 376,377

From sketch by Capt B. F. Conklin.

106. Menhaden fishermen signaling to shore-crows the approach of a school of fish I. 367

XVI LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V.

Vol. Page.

107. Crew of menhaden schooner, in old style seine-boat, throwing the purse-seine I, 330,338

108. Carry-away boat with haul of menhaden on the way to oil factory I, 373

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

109. Meudaden steamer discharging its catch at oil and guano factory, Tiverton, E. I I, 337

From photograph hy T. W. Smillle.

110. Gang of Portuguese, iu hold of menhaden steamer filling the hoisting tubs I, 337

From photograph by T. VT. Smillio.

111. Fish pens on top floor of meubaden factory; the fish are led through a trough to the cooking

tanks I, 337

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

112. Menhaden steamer discharging its catch at oil and guano factory. Incline railway to carry fish

to cooking tanks I> 337

From sketch by Capt. B. F. Conklin.

113. Menhaden floating factory. An old vessel lilted as an oil factory and moved from place to place

near the fishing grounds • I, 345,378

Drawing by H. L. Todd.

114. Slivering menhaden for bait

From Report TJ. S. Fish Commission, Part V, 1877.

115. Menhaden oil and guano factory at Milford, Conn. ; steamers unloading fish at the wharf ; incline

railway to carry fish to cooking tanks on upper floor of factory ; oil tanks and storage
sheds in foreground ; platform for drying scrap in rear of factory, connected with building

by elevated railway I» 342

From a photograph.
(Interiors of oil factories will be illustrated in Section on Preparation of Fishery Products.)

THE HERRING FISHERY AND SARDINE INDUSTRY.

116. Herring schooner bound for Wood Island, Maine ; outfit of salt and barrels on deck I, 426

From photograph by T. W. Sraillio.

117. Herring pinkey bound for the fishing grounds; nets hanging over bowsprit and stern ; not dories

on deck I, 426

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

118. Torching at night for spurling or small herring in Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts I, 428

From sketch by J. S. Ryder.

119. Torching herring at night near Eastport, Me I, 429

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

120. Fishermen mending herring gill-nets at House Island, Casco Bay I, 430

From photograph by T. "W. Sraillie.

121. Irish fishermen of Boston picking their herring nets in Gloucester Harbor. The typical " Irish

market boat" I, 430

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

122. Cape Ann herring fishermen landing their gill-nets after a night's fishing I, 430

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

123. Fishermen in quoddy boat hauling herring gill-nets I, 430

Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins.

THE SMOKED HERRING INDUSTRY.

124. Boat landing; fish houses; herring smoke-house ; fisherman's dwelling and farm I, 476

From photograph hy T. W. Smillie.

125. Old style herring smoke-house (without roof ventilators) at Lubec, Me I, 476

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

126. Herring "horse" loaded with smoked fish on sticks I, 478

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

127. Herring smoke-house at East port, Mo. ; smoke ventilators on roof ; sticks of herring inside I, 48G

From photograph by T. \V. Smillie.

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY.

128. Shore herring weir near Eastport, Me. ; the common form of brush weir I, 501

From photograph by T. W. Sinillir.

U!'J. Bar herring weir near Eastport, Mi1. : escape offish prevented by receding tide I, 500

From photograph by T. W. SuiilUo.

LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V. xvjj

130. Channel herring weir near Eastport, Me. ; controls channel between islands

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

'

131. Section of ballasted weir near Eastport, Me. ; for rocky bottom..

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ' 502

132. Pishing a herring weir at low tide, near Eastport;, Me ........

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ........... ' &&

133. General view of sardine cannery at Eastport, Me ................

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. .......... *' 508

134. View of sardine cannery at low tide, showing the employe's at work

From photograph by T. W. Smfflie. *• 508

135. Herring boat landing fish at a sardine cannery, Eastport, Me...

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ---- ' °09

136. Sardine steamer for collecting herring aud towing weir boats...

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. '

r. Children^ sardine cannery cutting off the heads and tails and cleaning small herring for cau-

Ftom photograph by T. W. Smillie. .................. '» ^10

138. Washing, draining, and flaking herring at sardine cannery, Eastport, Me T

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ' "**

139. Spreading herring on flakes for drying in the sun or in an oven .

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ---- ' °11

140. Herring drying on flakes in the sun ; landing, cleaning, washing, &c., at sardine cannery, East-

portj Ale ...... -,._„..,,

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ................. *' 513

HI. Fish-drying frames on roof at sardine cannery, Eastport, Me ..

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ...... '

142. Frying room in sardine cannery, Eastport, Me. ; herring frying in pans of oil T

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ' 514

143. Packing room at sardine cannery, Eastport, Me. ; packing herring-sardines in tin boxes . . I 515

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

144. Soldering room at sardine cannery, Eastport, Me. ; solderers seahng the cans I

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. '

>. Bathing room at sardine cannery, Eastport, Me.; bathing vats at the left ; men at right venting

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ................. *' *>17

146. Making sardine cans at Eastport, Me .................

From photograph by T. W. Smillie. ............... ' ^8

THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHERY.

147. Methods of setting Spanish mackerel gill-nets.

Fio. 1. " Straight set." ..... " *» ^

FIG. 2. Circle set.

FIG. 3. Crooked set.

FIG. 4. ' Hook set."

FIG. 5. 'Tset."

FIG. 6. 'Square set."

FIG. 7. ' Triangle set."

FIG. 8. ' Harpoon set."

From Eeport U. S. Fish Commiwion, Part Vm, 1880.

148. Chesapeake Bay Spanish mackerel pound-net

.....
From Eeport TJ. S. Fish Commission, Part VIII,

so

THE MULLET FISHERY.
149. Camp of mullet fishermen, North Carolina ..........

From a photograph.

* ""*

THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES.

150. Diagram of pound-net at Bald Head, Maine. (By Capt. J. W. Collins) • r «,„

151. Diagram of pound-net at Small Point, Maine. (By Capt. J. W. Collins) ..'.".".'!.".".' '"."" ..'.'.". J)

SEC V - II

Xviii LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V.

Vol. Page.

194. Whalemen's harpoons II, 250

FIG. 1. Improved harpoon or to^lr-ircm now in gcm-io.

FIGS. 2, 3. First form of toggle-iron made by Lewis Temple.

FIG. 4. One-fined harpoon with hinged toggle.

FlO. 6. One-flued harpoon.

FIG. 6. Two-flued harpoon.

FIG. 7. Toggle-iron invented by Provincetown whaleman ; not in use.
1.95. English harpoons II, 250i

FIG. 1. Old-style hand-harpoon ; now little used.

FIG. 2. Hand-harpoon in general use about 1857.

FIG. 3. Hand-harpoon now in general use on Scotch whalers.
Drawings by Capt. William Adams, Dundee, Scotland.

196. FIG. 1. English harpoon-gun and gun-harpoon now in use on Scotch whalers II, 252'

FIG. 2. An early form of English whaling-gun II, 252

FIGS. 3, 4,5. Mason and Cunningham mounting boat-gnn; a recent invention. (Explanation

with plate) II, 252

197. FIG. 1. Pierce and Cunningham darting-gun; a combined harpoon and lance used largely by

Arctic whalemen. (Explanation with plate) II, 254

FIG. 2. Cunningham and Cogan gun ; length, 33 inches; weight, 27 pounds; used by Arctic steam

whalers with bomb lance II, 253

FIG. 3. Brand muzzle-loading whaling-gun and bomb lance II, 253, 254,

255

198. FIGS. 1,2,3,4. Pierce homb-lance. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 254,267

FIG. 5. Pierce and Eggers breech-loading gun. (Explanation on page opposite plaiuj II, 253,267

199. Whaling rocket. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 254

200. Boat fastened to whale by harpoon and line; killing the whale with bomb lance II, 262,267

From painting by J. S. Ryder.

201. Natives harpooning the beluga, or white whale, at Cook's Inlet, Alaska II, 61

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

802. Aleuts planting glass, obsidian, and jade darts in a school of humpback whales at Akoon Island,

Bering Sea II, 61,62

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

203. Makah Indians whaling at entrance to Fuca Straiu II, 62

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

204. Cutting in the bowhead and sperm whales. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 277,286

Drawings by Capt. C. M. Scammon and Capt. W. M. Barnes.

205. FIG. 1. Boat spade to stop running whale II, 264

FIG. 2. Narrow cutting spade or thin boat spade II. 281

FIG. 3. Flat or round shank spade II, 281

FIG. 4. Cutting spade for scarfing blubber II, 281

FiQ. 5. Cutting spade for leaning up II, 281

FIG. 6. Half-round spade . II, 281

206. Cutting blocks and tackle.- (Explanation on page opposite plat o) II, 277-281

207. A ship on the northwest coast of America cutting in her last right whale II, 277

Drawing by H. W. Elliott from a French lithograpb designed by I'.. Knsscll, of Now Hcdfurd.

208. " Bailing in the case " of a sperm whale II, 277

Drawing by H. "W. Elliott from a French lithograph designed by B. Rnssell, of New Bedford.

209. FIG. 1. Blubber mincing-knife.
FIG. 2. Boarding-knife.

FIG. 3. Monkey-belt.
FIG. 4. Wooden toggle.
FIG. 5. Chain-strap.
FIG. 6. Throat-chain.
FIG. 7. Fin toggle.
FIG. 8. Head-strap.
FIG. 9. Blubber-hook.

210. Whale-ships at New Bedford wharf; ship hove down for repairs; oil-casks II, 289,290

From photograph by TJ. S. Fish Commission.

TIUC BLACKFISH AND POEPOISE FISHERY.

211. Capture of a school of blackfish in Cape Cod Bay II, 295,307

Drawing by H. W. Elliott from a sketch by -J. S. Ryder.

LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION \>.

VoL Page.

212. Indian porpoise hunters of Pnssamaqnoddy Bay. Canoe, rifle, and lance for capture of porpoise. II, 308

From photograph by T. W. SmilUe.

213. Passamaquoddy Bay Indians lancing and securing a, porpoise II, 308

.From photograph by T. \V. Smillic.

THE PACIFIC WALRUS FISHERY.

214. Innuits of Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska, surprising and harpooning a herd of walruses II, 313

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

215. The walrus "coup." Eskimo lancing the exhausted walrus, Saint Lawrence Island, Bering

Sea. Malilenmt dresses, bidarka, baidar, &c.^bf 3Ta~5fra II, 313

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

216. Innuits of Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska, hoisting a walrus II, 313

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA.

217. Map of Saint Paul's Island, Prihylov Group II, 322

Surveyed and drawn, ipril, 1873, to July, 1874, by Henry W.Elliott

218. Map of Saiiit George Island, Priliylov Group II, 322

Surveyed and drawn, April, 1873, to July, 1874, by H. W. Elliott

219. Profiles of the east coast of Saint Paul's Island II, 322,336

Drawing by H. W. Elliott v

220. Ordinary attire of men on the killing ground and of women and young children in the village. II, 320

Drawing by H. W". Elliott

221. The north shore of Saint Paul's Island, looking W.SW. from the summit of Hutchinson's Hill.. II, 336

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

222. The North Rookery, looking west to Starry Ateel, Saint George Island, village of Saint George. II, 348

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

^'23. Natives selecting a " drive." View over hauling grounds of " holluschickie " or bachelor seals at

English Bay, looking west from Tolstoi sand-dunes II, 363

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

224. Natives driving the •' holluschickie. " The drove passing over the lagoon flats to the killing

grounds, under the village hill, Saint Paul's Island II, 363

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

225. The killing gang at work. Method of slaughtering fur-seals on the grounds near the village,

Saint Paul's Island II, 365

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

226. Preparing fur-seal- ski us for shipment II, 369

FIG. 1. Interior of salt-house, Saint Paul's Island ; natives salting and assorting the pelts.
FIG. 2. The flensed carcass of a fur-seal and the skin as taken thcrufrom.
FIG. 3. A bundle of skins ready for shipment.

THE ANTARCTIC SEA-ELEPHANT FISHERY.

227. Sketch map of Herd's Island, Antarctic Ocean. Lat. 53° 10' S., Long. 73° 30' E II, 419

228. Working sea-elephants at northeast point, Herd's Island II, 419,435

Drawing by H. ~W. Elliott after Capt. H. ('. Chester.

229. Stripping sea-elephant blubber and rolling it in barrels to try-works; southwest beach, Herd's

Island II, 419,435

Drawing by H. W, Elliott after Capt H. O. Cheater.

THE SEA-LION HUNT ON PRIBYLOV ISLANDS, ALASKA.

•

230. Natives capturing the sea-lion ; springing the alarm II, 468

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1873.

231. Shooting the old males; spearing the surround ; the drive II 468,469,

471

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1872.

232. Natives corraliug sea-lions at the Barrabora, under Cross Hill, northeast point Saint Paul's

Island ; II, 469

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

233. Oil-pouches of sea-lion stomach; seal meat frame; bidarrah covered with sea-lion skins;

sealer's houses II, 471,473

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

XX LIST OI? PLATES TO SECTION V.

Vol. Page.

194. Whalemen's harpoons II, 250

FIG. 1. Improved harpoon or toggle-iron now iu general use1.

FIGS. 2, 3. First form of toggle iron made by Lewis Temple.

FlG. 4. One-flued harpoon with hinged toggle.

FIG. 5. One-flued harpoon.

FlG. 6. Two-flued harpoon.

FIG. 7. Toggle-iron invented by Provincetown whaleman ; not in use.

195. English harpoons It, 250

FIG. 1. Old-style hand-harpoon ; now little used.
FIG. 2. Hand-harpoon in general use about 1857.
FIG. 3. Hand-harpoon now in general use on Scotch whalers.
Drawings by Capt. William Adams, Dundee, Scotland.

196. FlG. 1. English harpoon-gun and gun-harpoon now in use on Scotch whalers II, 252

FlG. 2. An early form of English whaling-gun II,

FIGS. 3, 4,5. Mason and Cunningham mounting boat gun; a recent invention. (Explanation

withplate) II, -'•">•-'

197. FlG. 1. Pierce and Cunningham darting-gun ; a combined harpoon and lance used largely by

Arctic whalemen. (Explanation with plate) II, 254

FlG. 2. Cunningham and Cogan gun ; length, 33 inches; weight, 27 pounds; used by Arctic hic.nn

whalers with bomb lance -- II, 253

FIG. 3. Brand muzzle-loading whaling-gun and bomb lance II, 253, 254,

255

198. FIGS. 1,2,3,4. Pierce bomb-lance. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 254,267

FIG. 5. Pierce and Eggers breech-loading gun. (Explanation on page opposite plate; II, 253,^6?

199. Whaling rocket. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 254

200. Boat fastened to whale by harpoon and line ; killing the whale with bomb lance II, 262,207

From painting by J. S. Ryder.

201. Natives harpooning the beluga, or white whale, at Cook's Inlet, Alaska II, 61

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

202. Aleuts planting glass, obsidian, and jade darts in a school of humpback whales at Akoon Island,

Bering Sea II, 61,62

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

203. Makah Indians whaling at entrance to Fnca Straits II, 62

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

•204. Cutting in the bowhead and sperm whales. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 277,286

Drawings by Capt. C. M. Scammon and Capt. W. M. Barnes.

205. FIG. 1. Boat spade to stop running whale II, 264

FIG. 2. Narrow cutting spade or thin boat spade II, 281

FIG. 3. Flat or round shank spade '.... II, 281

FlG. 4. Cutting spade for scarfing blubber II,

FIG. 5. Cutting spade for leaning up II, 281

FlG. 6. Half-round spade II, 261

206. Cutting blocks and tackle. (Explanation on page opposite plate) II, 277-1Jfc'l

207. A ship on the northwest coast of America cutting in her last, right whaie II,

Drawing by H. W. Elliott from a French lithograph designed by B. Russell, of JS cw lii-dl'oid.

208. "Bailing in the case " of a sperm whale II,

Drawing by H. W. Elliott from a French lithograph designed by B. Russell, of New Bedford.

209. FIG. 1. Blubber mincing-knife.
FlG. 2. Boarding-knife.

FlG. 3. Monkey-belt.
FIG. 4. Wooden toggle.
FIG. 5. Chain-strap.
FIG. 6. Throat-chain.
FIG. 7. Fin toggle.
FIG. 8. Head-strap.
FIG. 9. Blubber-hook.

210. Whale-ships at New Bedford wharf ; ship hove down for repairs ; oil-casks II, 289,290

From photograph by 17. S. Fish Commission.

THE BLACKFISH AND PORPOISE FISHERY.

211. Capture of a school of blackfish in Cape Cod Bay II, 295,:!07

Drawing by H. W. Elliott from a iketch by J. 8. Ryder.

LIST OF PLATES TO SECTION V. Xxi

Vol. Page.

212. Indian porpoise hunters of Pussamaquoddy Bay. Canoe, rifle, and lance for capture of porpoise. II, DOe

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

213. Passaiuaq noddy Bay Indians lancing and securing a porpoise II, 303

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

THE PACIFIC WALRUS FISHERY.

214. Innuits of Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska, surprising and harpooning a herd of walruses II, 313

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

215. The walrus "coup." Eskimo lancing the exhausted walrus, Saint Lawrence Island, Bering

Sea. Mahleumt dresses, bidarka, baidar, &c., ofTtlaska II, 313

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

216. Innuits of Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska, hoisting a walrus II, 313

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA.

217. Map of Saint Paul's Island, Priliylov Group n, 333

Surveyed and drawn, April, 1873, to July, 1874, by Henry W.Elliott

218. Slap of Saint George Island, Pribylov Group n, 333

Sarveyed and drawn, April, 1873, to July, 1874, by H. Vf. Elliott

•J19. Profiles of the east coast of Saiut Paul's Island II, 322,336

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

220. Ordinary aitire of men on the killing ground and of women and young children in the village. II, 320

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

221. The north shore of Saint Paul's Island, looking W.SW. from the summit of Hutchinson's Hill.. II, 336

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

222. Tlic North Rookery, looking west to Starry Ateel, Saint George Island, village of Saint George. II, 348

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott

. Natives selecting a " drive." View over hauling grounds of " holluschickie" or bachelor seals at

English Bay, looking west from Tolstoi sand-dunes II 363

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

224. Natives driving the " holluschickie. " The drove passing over the lagoon flats to the killing

grounds, under the village hill, Saint Paul's Island II, 363

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

i!'2.r). The killing gang at work. Method of slaughtering fur-seals on the grounds near the village,

Saint Paul's Island jj 355

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

226. Preparing inr-seal-skius for shipment ... ji 359

FIG. 1. Interior of salt-house, Saiut Paul's Island ; natives sailing aud assorting the pelts.
FIG. 2. The flensed carcass of a fur-seal and the skin as taken therefrom.
FIG. 3. A bundle of skins ready for shipment.

THE ANTARCTIC SEA-ELEPHANT FISHERY.

Sketch map of Herd's Island. Antarctic Ocean. Lat. 53° 10' S., Long. 73° 30' E II. 419

22o'. Working sea-elephants at northeast point, Herd's Island II, 419,435

Drawing by H. "W. Elliott after Capt. H. C. Chester.

229. Stripping sea-elephant blubber and rolling it in barrels to try- works ; southwest beach, Herd's

Islaml II, 419,435

Drawing by H. \V. Elliott aft^r Cajit H. 0. Clwster.

THE SEA-LION HUNT ON PRIBYLOV ISLANDS, ALASKA.

230. Natives capturing the sea-lion ; springing the alarm ; n 468

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1878.

231. Shooting the old males ; spearing the surround ; the drive II 468, 469,

471
Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1872.

232. Natives corraling sea-lions at the Barrabora, under Cross Hill, northeast point Saint Paul's

Island II, 469

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

233. Oil-pouches of sea-lion stomach; seal meat frame; bidarrah covered with sea-lion skins;

sealer's houses II, 471,473

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

LIST OP PLATES TO SECTION V.

THE SEA-OTTER FISHERY OF ALASKA.

Vol. Page.

234. Aleuts sea-otter hunting soutli of Saanak Island ; the bidarkies waiting for the otter to rise

agaiu II, 490

Drawing by H. W. Elliott

THE TURTLE FISHERY.

235. Diving for loggerhead turtle; Morehead City, N. C II, 495

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1883.

THE OYSTER INDUSTRY.

23G. Oyster dredging steamer at work in Long Island Sunnd II, 523,535

237. Chesapeake Bay oyster dredges II.

From specimens In IT. S. National Museum.

238. Oyster tongs and nippers II,

239. FIG. 1. Inclosed dock for oyster vessels at Perth Aiuboy, N. J II,

FIG. 2. " The Creek " at Keyport, N. J., with oyster boats, skid's, and scows II, 546

Drawings by Ernest Ingersoll.

240. A Lake's Bay shipping-house and "platform" for freshening oysters, Smith's Landing, Lake's

Bay, New Jersey II, ^46

Drawing by Ernest Ingersoll.

241. Oyster-barges at foot of West Tenth street, North River, New York City II, 555

Drawing by Ernest Ingersoll.

242. Opening or shucking oysters in Baltimore packing-house II, 560

From a photograph.
24:!. Baltimore oyster-shucking trough. Oyster knives of diverse patterns, used in New England,

New York, and the Chesapeake region II, 559

'HIE CLAM INDUSTRY.

244. Clam- diggers' boats and shuoking-houses at Essex, Mass , II, 5^5

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

245. Opening or shucking clams at Essex, Mass II, 585

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

THE CRAB FISHERY.

246. Negroes trawling for crabs on ihe Virginia and North Carolina coasts II, C33

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

THE LOBSTER FISHERY.

247. Dory fishermen hauling lobster pots off Cape Ann, Massachusetts II, 666, 677.

773

From photograph by T. W. Sraillie.

248. Lobster fishing-boats of Bristol, Me II, 669,677,

759
Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. .T. W. Collins.

249. Lobster Cove at Lanesville, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, showing fishermen's boat-houses and gear. II, 606, 773

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

2">0. Summer villageof lobster fishermen at No Man's Land, Massachusetts II,

Drawing by H. W. Elliott, 1882.

251. Lobster fishermen's gear at No Man's Laud, Massachussetts. (Explanation on plate) II, 665,672,

781

Drawing by H. W. Elliott.

•252. Lobster-boiling apparatus at Portland, Me . . : II,

From photograph by T. W. Smillie.

THE FLORIDA SPONGE INDUSTRY.

253. Sponges as landed by the fishermen at Key West, Fla., and ready for sale II, 826

From a ph>>t<igraph.

254. Sponge-loft at Key West, Fla II- 828

From a photograph.

255. Sorting, trimming, and baling sponges at Key West, Fla II. 828

3PA.KT I.

THE HALIBUT FISHERIES.

1. THE FKESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. BY G. BROWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS.

1. General review.

2. The fishing grounds.

3. The fishermen.

4. Tlio halibut vessels.

5. A]>i>;ir;itn.s ;ni<l methods of fishing.

6. The manner of dressing and icing the catch.

7. The run for the market.

8. Disposition of the catch.

9. Financial profits and extent of the fishery.

10. History of the fresh-halibut fishery.

11. Historical notes and incidents of the fresh-halibut

fishery.

12. Journal of fresh-halibnt trips to the Grand Bank in

1878 and 1879.

2. THE SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. BY N. P. SCUDDEE.

1. General discussion of the fishery.

2. The fishing grounds.
Ii. Tho fishermen.

4. The vessels.

5. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

6. Dressing and salting the catch.

7. Tabular view of a season's work in the Davis Strait

fishery.

8. The halibut in its relations to tho fishing.

THE

\JHIVERSIT?

EIT-I.
THE HALIBUT FISHERIES.

1.— THE FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY.

BY G. BEOWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS.
1. GENERAL EEVIEW.

In tbe year 1879 tbere were forty vessels, of 3,108 tons, from Gloucester, Mass., employed
exclusively in the fresh -halibut fishery. Vessels hailing from New London and the eastern end of
Long Island were also employed, except during the winter months, in the capture of halibut,
which they carried to New York; these vessels, however, take a considerable quantity of codfish.
In addition to the Gloucester vessels already mentioned, which fish for halibut throughout the year,
there were eight vessels, of 647 tons, which fished for halibut in the winter season and engaged
in other fisheries, generally the cod fishery, from May to November.*

The vessels of the George's fleet, though their chief object is the capture of cod, catch consid-
erable quantities of halibut, which are brought to Gloucester fresh; a few also are sometimes
taken by the Western Bank cod fleet, and a still smaller quantity by the Boston Market fleet. In
1879, and probably in 1880, there were a few small vessels on the coast of Maine which engaged
in the fresh-halibut fishery for three or four months in the summer, carrying their fish chiefly to
Portland. The total catch of halibut on the New England coast for 1879 was estimated at 14,037,000
pounds, distributed as follows :

Pounds.

. Gloucester halibut fleet 8,300,000

Gloucester vessels fishing in winter only : 1,000,000

New York halibut catchers '. 3,000,000

Gloucester, George's fleet (incidental) 2,000,000

Western Bank cod vessels (incidental) 37,000

Small vessels on the coast of Maine and Massachusetts 300, 000

Total 14,037,000

In this chapter it is proposed to discuss in detail only the operations of the schooners engaged
exclusively in the capture of halibut.

* Since 1879, at which time the fresh-halibut fishery was at its greatest activity, there has been a very marked
decline in the quantity of fish taken if not in the number of vessels employed. The product of this fishery has sel-
ilom been larger than it was in the above-named year, but since that time halibut have gradually become scarcer
on all of the old and well known grounds, until now a " big trip '' — of 70,000 or 80,000 pounds of fish — is seldom made,
and 40,000 to 45,000 pounds of hal ibut constitute a " good fare." In I'i'io, at the time this paper is being printed, the
fresh-liaiibut fleet dors not probably include more than 40 vessels, and tho total catch is estimated not to exceed
5,000,000 pounds ; for tho first three months of tho year the Bank fleet lauded only 612,000 pounds.

3

4 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIE8.

2. THE FISHING GEOUNDS.

The fishing grounds frequented in 1879-'80 by the Gloucester fleet were (a) upon the outer
slope of Banquereau, in 100 to 400 fathoms of water; (6) on the slope to the south and west of the
Grand Bank, Green Bank, and Saint Peter's Bank, in 75 to 350 fathoms of water ; (c) upon the
southern and eastern slopes of Western or Sable Island Bank, and in the "Gully" between this
and Banquereau, in 70 to 350 fathoms of water; (d) on the southern slope of La Have Eidges,
in 100 to 400 fathoms of water ; (e) in the deep water to the south of the western part of New-
foundland, in 150 to 250 fathoms of water; (/) north of Saint Peter's Bank, in 130 fathoms of
water ; (g] on the west coast of Newfoundland, in the vicinity of Green Point, near Bonne Bay, in
10 to 15 fathoms of water; (h) on the eastern slope of George's Bank and on the southern slope of
Brown's Bank, in 200 to 275 fathoms of water.*

On the grounds mentioned under the letters/, g, and h, the fisheries are, comparatively, of much
less importance than in the other localities.

The New York halibut vessels fish on George's Bank and on Nantucket Shoals, in 25 to 100
fathoms ; also on Brown's Bank, Seal Island Ground, La Have, and occasionally, though rarely,
on the Western Bank, but in much shallower water than that frequented by the Gloucester schoon-
ers, seldom as deep as 150 fathoms.

Since the culmination of the halibut fishery on George's Bank, in 1848 to 1850, the halibut ves-
sels have been constantly changing their fishing grounds. At first they caught the halibut on the
shoaler parts of the several grounds visited, seeking the fish first upon the banks which were
nearest home, then upon those which were remoter, something in the following order : (1) The Seal
Island Ground, (2) Brown's Bank, (3) La Have Bank and La Have Eidges, (4) Western Bank, (5)
Grand Bank, (6) Saint Peter's Bank and the "Gully," (between Banquereau and Sable Island
Bank), the grounds oft' Flint Island and Scatari, Cape Breton, the Miquelou Beach, Pass Island,
Saint George's Bay, Eed Island, and other points on the south and west coasts of Newfoundland,
the coast of Southern Labrador, and Anticosti Island. At times in the past halibut have also
been taken abput Cape North.f

In 1873 and one or two succeeding years a few fares of halibut were obtained in the vicinity
of the Magdalen Islands. The following notice of the first trip taken in that locality was thus
referred to in the Cape Ann Advertiser of August 15, 1873 :

"New halibut grounds. — Schooner Notice, of this port, arrived here on Saturday, August 9,
with a fare of halibut caught off Bird Eocks, near the Magdalen Islands, Bay of Saint Lawrence.
The halibut were of good quality, and weighed off 32,000 pounds, her stock amounting to 32,400.
Not a bad four weeks' work."

A few good trips have also been obtained on various shoals between Western Bank and the
Nova Scotia shore; occasionally in the vicinity of Beyer's Island, which was for some time a favorite
fishing ground for the Connecticut vessels, and also at one or two points on the southern coast of
Nova Scotia, in the vicinity of Liscomb Harbor ; but fishing on these grounds is now and for
several years past has been abandoned by large vessels.

* Since the above was written, new halibut grounds have been discovered on the eastern slope of the Grand
Bank, between the parallels of 43° 30' and 44° 3<y N. latitude. In the summer of 1885 this locality was the one chiefly
resorted to by the fresh-halibut catchers, since fish were very scarce on other grounds. A full account of this dis-
covery is given in succeeding paragraphs.

tSome big halibut came from Cape North on Sunday. Three of these weighed 540 pounds.— Cop* Ann Adver*
liter, May 31, 1861.

FEESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 5

Considerable quantities of halibut tfere also taken in the vicinity of Cape North, Cape Breton,
as previously mentioned, chiefly, however, by the cod fishermen, who flitched and salted them.

Prior to 1874 the fresh-halibut fishery was, as a rule, carried on in water from 20 to 75 fathoms
deep, though the fish taken off Pass Island, Newfoundland, were caught in 160 fathoms.

In 1873 Capt. John Dago, while on a "salt trip," caught a large number of halibut on the
extreme southern part of the Grand Bank, in 160 fathoms of water. His vessel was anchored in
130 fathoms, in latitude 42° 5J' north, and longitude 50° 28' west. He had previously taken
halibut on the Flemish Cap, while fishing for cod, in a depth of 100 to 120 fathoms. He claims
to have been the first to fish for halibut in deep wateFon the Grand Bank.

In 1874 the schooner G. G. Kidder, as well as a number of vessels engaged in the salt-halibut
fishery, being anchored in about 70 or 80 fathoms on the, western slope of the Grand Bank, found
that the halibut shifted their position slowly, going in a westerly direction, and that, after a day
or two, the best fishing was obtained on the trawls which were set in the deepest water. This,
therefore, induced the captains to change their positions, so they moved out into 90 or 100 fathoms.
This was the beginning of a change in the method of fishing on the Banks. In the spring of 1875
the fresh halibut vessels were driven from the shoal water of the bank by drifting field-ice, and
one of them having anchored in a depth of 83 fathoms, found good fishing on trawls which were
set still farther out, and as a result the vessels in that vicinity anchored in a depth of water
varying from 110 to 140 fathoms and made excellent catches.

Although feres of fresh halibut had been previously taken at a depth of 160 fathoms near Pass
Island, in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, and Captain Dago had, during the previous season,
obtained part of a fare of flitches in a similar depth on the southern extremity of the Grand Bank;
this was practically the beginning of the deep-water fishing for this species on the banks, and
since that time the halibut fishermen have been setting their trawls farther and farther down upon
the edge of the continental slope, and fares have been caught in waters as deep as 400 fathoms, the
vessels being anchored in depths varying from 200 to 275 fathoms, and, in one instance, in no less
than 315 fathoms. There is no other food-fish fishery in the world in which fish are sought at so
great a depth, and for no other purpose are vessels habitually anchored in such deep water. An
extraordinary instance of deep-water fishing may be cited here, the case of the schooner Davy
Crockett, of Gloucester, which, it is said, on one occasion, in the winter of 1878, set trawls in 600
or 700 fathoms of water on the western slope of the Grand Bank, in latitude 43° 30', and caught
many halibut.

Prior to the extensive halibut fishery on George's Bank, which was carried on from 1830 to
1850, the species were very abundant in Massachusetts Bay and off Cape Cod, so much so as to be
sometimes regarded as a decided nuisance by cod fishermen, and before 1830 those who wished to
catch halibut had no difficulty in finding an abundant supply within a few miles of shore. They
were gradually exterminated in the bay, the history of which, together with an account of the
vessels betaking themselves to George's Bank for the capture of halibut, will be presented later,
in the paragraph upon the history of the early halibut fisheries.

Though a fleet of Connecticut vessels have long pursued the halibut fishery, they rarely have
gone to the distant grounds, north and east of La Have Bank, but for many years they have
engaged in fishing along the southern and western coasts of Nova Scotia.

3. THE FISHERMEN.

The fishermen employed upon the halibut schooners are chosen men, and a man is seldom
shipped on board of one of these vessels who is not well known or at least recommended as a good

6 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

fisherman and a reliable man. It is not a rare occurrence to find among the crew of a halibut
schoouer several men who have been masters of vessels. In the Gloucester fleet were employed,
in the census year, 646 men, a large percentage (187) of whom were of New England birth, with a
still larger percentage (393) of Provincials, a considerable number (103) of Scandinavians, and a
very few Portuguese, French, and Irish. Some vessels are commanded by Swedes and Norwegians
and manned almost entirely by men of the same nationality, men of these countries seeming to
take very kindly to this branch of the fisheries. A number of the most enterprising skippers are
natives of Maine. There is no branch of the fisheries which demands of the men employed iu it
more skill, endurance, and courage than the halibut fishery.

The crews of the Connecticut and Long Island vessels are made up, in large part, of men
from the ports to which the vessels belong, especially the three or four men who are sharesinen.
The remainder of the men are hired, and are less responsible, and, as a rule, less efficient and
daring than those employed in the Gloucester fleet.

4. THE HALIBUT VESSELS.

The schooners which are employed in the fresh-halibut business have always been choseu
from among the stauchest and swiftest iu the Gloucester fleet. Their average tonnage is from 75
to 80 tons, and they are, as a rule, better vessels than even those now employed in the George's
fishery. The smallest vessel employed in the fresh-halibut fishery in 1880 was the Alice G. Won-
sou, of 64 tons, while others registered nearly 100 tons. A writer in the Barnstable Patriot of
March 25, 1856, says: "The Gloucester vessels now engaged in the halibut fishery on the Banks
number forty-six. They are generally fine vessels of about 80 tons, and are manned by hardy,
experienced, and bold crews of about twelve men each."

A vessel engaging in this fishery is fitted out iu a somewhat peculiar manner. To enable her
to anchor in great depths of water and to ride out furious gales, which she is sure to encounter
in the winter, she is provided with a cable of great size and strength. This cable is of manila, Si
to 9 inches in circumference, and from 375 to 425 fathoms in length, spliced together iu "strings,"
each of which is usually 50 to 100 fathoms long. Most of the cable is coiled upon the port side, for-
ward, where it fills the entire space between the forecastle companion-way and the rail, the coil
being 6 to 7 feet in width, 9 to 10 feet in length, and having a height of about 3£ or 4£ feet. This
mass of rope seems immense, and would weigh, when wet, probably about 4 tons. A new cable
(dry) of 400 fathoms weighs 6,266 pounds. As a rule, 50 or 75 fathoms of this cable are coiled on
the starboard side of the companion-way, in order that it may be ready to bend on the starboard
anchor, which is rarely or never kept bent at sea.

The anchors are, of course, unusually heavy. They are the ordinary long-shanked anchors
carried by fishing schooners, with a wooden stock which passes through an eye in the end of the
shank. These anchors weigh from 525 to 725 pounds, according to the size of the vessel. A vessel
of 80 tons would carry three anchors averaging about 675 or 680 pounds in weight. One of the
three, which is taken for a "spare anchor," is kept ready for emergencies, being stowed upon the
deck. Some of the halibut vessels are provided with unusually large and powerful windlasses, for
use in very deep water.

The hold is fitted up in a peculiar manner, as shown in the accompanying diagram of the port
side of a halibut schooner, of which the following is an explanation:

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 7

DESCRIPTION OF SECTIONAL DRAWING OF HALIBUT SCHOONER, SHOWING PORT SIDE OP

SCHOONKR.

(1) Hawse-hole; C, knight-Leads. (2) Inside part or "heel" of bowsprit. (3) End view ol
the middle part of the windlass, between the patent and windlass-bit on starboard side, showing
position of the whelps on windlass. (4) Pawl-bit. (5) Position of the windlass beam. (6) Posi
tion of jib-sheet traveler. (7) Foremast. (8) Forward companion-way. (9) Fore-hatch; this is
used for the purpose of hoisting in and out water and provision barrels; in moderate weather it is
covered with a grating and serves the purpose of ventilating the forehold and forecastle. (10)
The forehold, where the stores and water are kept ; the water (28 to 30 barrels) is stowed in differ-
ent ways to suit the ideas of the cook or skipper, but generally on the stai board side — often-
times two large casks are carried amidships — and a pantry is built on the port side, where' the
"heavy stores" (flour, beef, &c.) are stowed on the head, that is, such as are open and being used,
while the "small stores" (butter, lard, sugar, &c.) are kept in firkins, half-barrels, &c., and secured
from being upset by setting in places built for them as shown in the drawing. A coal-pen is built
between the pantry and forward bulkhead to the ice-house. The coal-pen is sometimes built on
the starboard side next to the forecastle bulkhead. (11) Forecastle steps. (12) Cupboard, from
deck to locker; there is another of the same size on the starboard side, just forward of the fore-
mast. (13) After section of the table with the leaf turned up ; this also turns back against the
mast, the leaves folding alongside of the mast. (14) Locker on port side. (15) Forecastle floor.
(16) Forward section of table; this is stationary, the forward end fastening to the pawl-bit, and
the after end supported by an upright standard. (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22) Positions of the
upper and lower berths on port side; No. 22, being in the fore peak, is small, and is not used
for sleeping purposes, but is used for the storage of lanterns, kerosene-cans, &c.; there are only two
"•ows of sleeping bunks on the starboard side; the berths abreast of the after row are used by the
cook as lockers for putting his cooking utensils, &c., in. (23) The position in which the cook-stove
stands on the starbord side (the stove is always carried on starboard side). (24) Pawl bit, under deck.
(25) Forward pen in the ice-house, with pen -boards up. or shipped in place. (26) Forward bulk-
head 10 ice-house, built of double boards, with tarred paper between, from side to side of vessel.
(27) Stanchion and partition between the forward and second pen. (28) Second pen. showing how
the ice is stowed. (29) Shows how halibut are iced in a pen, always white side up, and lying
upon each other, so that they are slanting instead of flat in the pen; one-half of the tier is stowed
head towards the side of the vessel, and the other half out, as shown in the drawing, both forming
what is called a tier. (30) After pen in forward ice-house. (31) Bulkhead between the forward
and after ice-house, built same as the forward one. (32) Pumps. (33) Ballast under the plank
floor of the ice-house; this plank floor is laid on sleepers, which extend from side to side of the
hold; these sleepers are, or ought to be, supported by stanchions under them. (34) Forward pen in
after ice-house. (35) After pen. (36) Salt- pen; it is larger than this in some vessels. (37) Checker-
plauk. (38) Main hatch. (39) Checker-plank. (40) Break of the quarter deck. (41) Mainmast.
(42) After hatch; (a) skylight on top of house; (b) stovepipe. (43) After, or cabin, companion-way.
(44) Wheel. (45) Wheel-box. (46) Taffrail. (47) Vacant place aft of cabin, under deck; used for
the storage of gear, rope, &c. (48) Cabin stairs, called ''steps" by fishermen. (49) After berth.
(50) Partition between the berths. (51) Forward berth. (52) Locker, or seat, going around the
cabin. (53) Stove. (54) Position of trap-door in the cabin floor, by which the coal is reached.

The above is the general arrangement, though in the matter of the ice-house a few vessels may
have some slight differences of construction that are of minor importance.

8 HISTORY AND METBODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The ballast, of which a vessel of 80 tons would carry 28 to 40 tons, is usually stone or shingle,
though some vessels are partly ballasted with iron. In all cases it is covered with a plank floor
(2 to 2J inches thick) laid on sleepers, and firmly secured by stanchions, which extend from the
deck-beams to the ice-house floor, forming the frame- work of the pens. In the forward part of the
hold, and communicating with the forecastle by a door, is arranged the store-room for provisions,
fuel, and water (as shown in the diagram), and this is separated from the ice-house by a double
bulkhead of unplaned boards, having tarred paper between them. The store-room, which is also
the cook's pantry, usually has a floor just high enough to cover a tier of water-barrels stowed
each side the keelson, when larger casks are not used. In most, if not in all, halibut schooners the
ice-house is divided into two sections by a bulkhead running across it aft of the mainmast. By
this arrangement one portion of the ice-house can be kept closed while the other is being filled.

It is still further subdivided into "pens," a series of five or six of which are constructed on each
side of a passage-way in the center of the ice-house, which is called the "slaughter house," though
this specific name generally applies more directly to those portions of the passage-way immediately
beneath the hatch- ways. This "slaughter-house" is so arranged that it can be divided into pens,
five or six in number, corresponding to those on each side, and these are called "slaughter-house"
pens. This ice-house, with its compartments, fifteen to eighteen in number, will hold from 35 to
50 tons of ice in a vessel of 80 tons register, and from 75,000 to 115,000 pounds of halibut packed in
ice. While fishing is being carried on, the pens are, in succession, emptied of the ice, its place being
supplied by layers of halibut packed in ice, as will be described further on. The order in which
the pens are emptied of ice and filled with halibut varies upon different vessels, but as a general
rule the side pens are first occupied, beginning with the after ones in the forward section of the
ice-house. It should be stated that the slaughter-house is not often completely filled with ice ex-
cept on rare occasions in summer, since this is the passage-way by which access is gained to the
pens, on either side. By the arrangement which has just been described, the vessel is provided
essentially with two distinct ice-houses, called the forward and after ice-houses — the former reached
through the main hatch, the latter through the after hatch. The forward ice-house is usually filled
first, the after one being kept closed, and, when the forward ice-house is full, it is closed and the
after ice-house is opened. In many cases, however, it may be necessary to pack some of the hali-
but in the after ice-house before the forward one is filled, in order to keep the vessel in proper trim.

In common with the vessels engaged in the salt-halibut fishery and those trawling for cod on
the Banks, the halibut vessels have their main deck fitted up with an arrangement of planks called
th& checker-boards, dividing the deck into small pens or bins by planks crossing each other at right
angles. The space occupied by this construction, which is called the checker-board or "Checkers,"
is the whole width of the vessel, from 21 to 23 feet, and a length of about 20 to 25 feet forward of
the quarter deck, extending from the break of the quarter nearly to the fore-hatch. These com-
partments are divided by 2-inch plank set on edge. These planks are generally 8 to 10 inches
wide. There are also nailed to the top of the planks extending fore and aft (and on some vessels
on the athwartship planks also) other planks in a horizontal position 8 to 12 inches wide, forming
covers over the lateral edges of the bins. The object of these compartments is to prevent the fish
sliding from side to side as the vessel rolls in a sea way.

The top of the house is fitted up with bait planks. These planks are 2 inches thick and 10 to
12 inches wide, nailed round the sides and ends of the top of the house. The object of this is to
provide a place where the men can cut up bait without marring the wood work of the vessel.

The accompanying diagram, which shows a deck plan of a halibut schooner, will assist the
reader in a better understanding of the peculiar arrangement just described. The following is

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 9

tin explanation of the diagram : (1) Bowsprit. (2) Pawl-bit. (3) Starboard windlass bit. (4) Port
windlass bit. (5) Windlass. (6) Jib-sheet traveler. (7) Foremast. (8) Port cable tier. (9) Starboard
cable tier. (10) Forecastle companion slide. (11) Stove-pipe funnel, usually of cast iron, firmly
secured to the deck, with sheet-iron cap. (12) Fore hatch, showing grating. (13) Main hatch.
(14) "Break"of quarterdeck, or grub beam. (15) Mainmast. (16) Starboard pump. (17) Portpump.
(18) After hatch. (19) Trunk or cabin house. (20) Stove funnel. (21) Skylight. (22) Companion
slide. (23, 24, 25, and 26) Bait planks around top of house. (27) Wheel-box. (28) Wheel. (29 and
30) Bit-heads for belaying mainsheet, &c., to. (31) Taflrail. (A, A, A, A, a, «,&c.) Checker planks.
(b, b,&e.) Checkers, (c, c) Dotted lines showing position of dories when on deck.

The halibut vessels, like other trawlers, are provided with a "reefing plank," which is lashed
across the ends of the davits upon the stern. This is used by the fishermen to stand upon in reefing
the mainsail. When not in use the riding sail is tied up snugly, and generally lashed on top of
the reefing plank.

Like all vessels which carry dories upon deck, they are provided with dory tackles on both
sides, these being simple whip-purchases, with two single blocks, attached to the fore and main
rigging on each side. They almost invariably carry a jib-boom, excepting in the winter season,
and are always provided, like all other bankers, with a riding sail. A few of them, in the summer,
c&rry a fore topmast with foregaff-topsail and "balloon jib."

In the chapter on fishing vessels the general features of the fishing schooner are fully discussed,
therefore such description is omitted here.

These vessels are usually provided with more complete outfits of nautical instruments than
those in other branches of the fisheries, this being necessary from the fact that halibut are often
sought on small and isolated patches of ground, and that it is of special importance for the men
engaged in this fishery to make good land-falls when running for home. In other respects these
schooners are always fitted out as thoroughly as fishing vessels of any other class.

The Connecticut and New York halibut vessels used to have their ice-houses arranged in a
somewhat different manner from that just described.

The walls of the compartments of these were often sheathed with zinc, the fishermen of that
section claiming that the halibut would keep longer than on the Gloucester vessels. In former
years many welled sloops from Noauk, New London, and Greenport were engaged in the halibut
fishery, but at the present time only schooners are employed in this industry from those ports, these
being of a larger size than the other vessels of the New York fleet, though smaller than those of
Gloucester. The schooner Scotia, of New London, the largest of the Connecticut halibut fleet,
registers about 65 tons, while her companions average about 45 tons.

Mr. Charles P. Tripland tells us that previous to 1858 halibut were caught by the Connecticut
vessels wholly on hand-lines and only welled smacks were employed, the fish being taken to New
York alive. But with the introduction of the method of trawling, the practice of keeping the fish
in ice began, and tight-bottomed crafts were used, many of the old smacks having their wells
removed and their bottoms plugged up. For several years, he says, after the fishermen of the
ports on Long Island Sound began to ice halibut, they resorted to many schemes to keep the fish
fresh a long time. One method was to sheathe the ice pens with zinc; another to line the sides of
the pens with straw, packed in about two inches thick, this being held in place by laths nailed
over it. Some vessels also had a false ceiling beneath-the beams for the purpose, as supposed, of
preventing the heat striking through the deck upon the fish. None of these methods, however,
proved satisfactory, and after having been thoroughly tested they have all been abandoned. One
of the latest experiments, and one which seemingly has much merit, is to build the ice-house — plat-

10 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

form and all — of planed hard pine. The pitchy nature of this wood prevents it from becoming
water-soaked, as either white pine or spruce will, and consequently it does not absorb the bad
odors that tome from stale fish, and which, carried on from trip to trip, doubtless aid very much
in causing the rapid deterioration of fish packed in pens made of spruce or white pine. In other
respects the ice-houses of the Long Islaud halibut schooners do not, at the present time, differ
materially from those of the Gloucester fleet, though, of course, as they are smaller vessels than
the latter, they have a less number of pens and smaller space for cargo.

5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.
THE APPARATUS.

BOATS AND THEIR FITTINGS. — Every Gloucester halibut-catcher, with perhaps one or two
exceptions, carries six dories. Most of them are of Salisbury build, and are 15 feet in length 011 the
bottom. They are now sometimes made with an extra set of timbers and stouter gunwales than those
ordinarily used in the cod fishery. They are stowed in the usual manner, being '• nested" three
on a side, on the main deck. When the vessel is making a passage they are usually turned bottom
up and lashed, and this is frequently done iu heavy weather when the schooner is at anchor on the
Bank to insure the greater safety of the boats. In addition to the trawl-lines, each dory, when it
leaves the vessel on the banks to set a trawl, is supplied with the following articles : Painter, stern-
becket, stern painter, two or three pairs of woolen nippers, " hurdy-gurdy" or trawl-winch, trawl-
roller, sail (a sail is not always taken), compass, water -jug, thole-pins, two pairs 9-foot ash oars,
iron gaff, dory knife, one or two halibut killers, bailing scoop, dory plug, two anchors, two buoy-
lines, and two buoys. A sail is rarely carried except in summer; not always then. Some dories
are not provided with a compass or a water -jug, though most halibut fishermen carry one.

For description of articles which form the equipment of a dory, such as, nippers, hurdy-gurdy,
trawl roller, &c., see chapter on fishing apparatus, where also may be found descriptions of the
various apparatus used on the vessel which have not been mentioned here.

The New York halibut catchers formerly carried no dories, but instead three open, square-
sterned, clinker built, round-bottomed, keel boats of the yawl pattern, about 15 or 16 feet in length.
The term "yawl pattern," as used here, applies to the ordinary form of yawl boat carried at the
stern davits of coasting and fishing vessels. It is quite distinct from the "yawl" of British
writers, which is always a sharp-sterned boat. Two of these were stowed on the deck, one on each
side, and one was swung on the davits at the stern. Their construction renders it impossible to
nest them. The practice of carrying dories was adopted, however, iu 1874, according to Tripland,
and at this time he says they are exclusively used, each vessel carrying two or three of these boats.

TRAWL-LINES. — A trawl is composed of several parts: (1) the " ground-line," which is anchored
at each end and lies on the bottom; (2) the "gangings" (pronounced ganjings), which are about 5
feet long, have the hooks attached to one end of them, while the other end is bent into the " beck-
ets" on the ground-line ; (3) the beckets, made of short pieces of manila line, and are fastened to
the ground-line ; (4) to mark the position of each end of the trawl when it is set, a line, called the
"buoy -line," extends from the anchor at the end of the ground-line to a buoy at the surface of the
water.

The ground-lines are commonly tarred cotton, weighing from 28 to 32 pounds to the dozen.
The ganging-lines weigh from 14 to 16 pounds to the dozen. A section of line 25 fathoms in length
is called a "line." Fishing-lines are generally arranged in packages containing twelve of these,
or their equivalent, six " double lines," each of which is 50 fathoms long. Such a package is

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. H

called "a dozen lines," and the standard of size is determined by the weight. Manila lines, how-
ever, such as the buoy and becket lines, are exceptions to this rule.

The buoy-lines are G-thread tarred manila, and are somewhat larger than the ground-lines.
The becket-line is manila and about the size of the ganging line.

The ground-line is made up of several parts or lines, each of which is either 25 or 50 fath-
oms long. A wall knot is tied in one end of these lines, so that they will not unlay, and an eye-
splice is taken in the other end. The knotted ends are then bent into the looped ends of the other
lines. By bending a greater or less number of these sections together the trawl can be made of
any desired length, but the rule is generally to "rig" the trawl in sections, each of which is com-
posed of seven and a half double lines, or their equivalent, fifteen single ones.

The becket-lines are cut in lengths of a foot each. These are placed at intervals of 15 feet
apart on the ground-line by tucking their ends through the line and then hitching around, leaving
a bight or becket of 3 to 5 inches projecting from the gronnd-liue. Into each of these one end of
a ganging is bent, while the hook is fastened to the other end of the ganging with tarred twine.
Each skate of trawl has one hundred and fifty hooks attached to it. A full-length trawl is com-
posed of four of these sections, which are called "tubs of trawl," or "skates of trawl," these names
being derived from the receptacles in which the lines are coiled. The phrases "tub of trawl" and
"skate of trawl" are synonymous. Formerly halibut trawls were placed in tubs made of a section
of a flour barrel, but at present an article constructed of canvas and rope and called a "skate" is
u.sed for this purpose. A skate is a piece of canvas about 15 to 18 inches square, when it is
hemmed, with two small ropes each 9 or 10 feet long, crossed at right angles on the canvas and
fastened at each corner and in the center. The trawl is coiled on this, and is tied up with the
ropes.

The buoys are either common half-barrels or kegs, of uniform size, and made for the purpose,
sometimes of soft wood, at others of hard wood, and iron bound. A hole is first bored through
the center of the keg, large enough to admit the staff, which is 1 inch in diameter and about 6
feet long. This must be driven in as tight as possible to secure the buoy from leaking, leaving
about 18 inches projecting on the lower side of the buoy, the remainder going through and above
the upper side, to which a flag is attached, so that it can be seen at a distance. On the buoys
farthest from the vessel (commonly called the outer buoys) there is generally a supplementary
staff shipped, like a topmast, to the larger staff. On the top of this there is a circular black
flag, called a black ball, which has attached to it a wooden or metal swivel to allow it to revolve
with the wind around the staff. This flag can be seen for a considerable distance, and enables
the fishermen to find their buoys in a rough sea, when it would otherwise be almost hopeless
to look for them. Two parts of the buoy-line are next made fast to the staff — after it has been
driven through the keg and tightened — close to the buoy on the upper side, and are then brought
down around on each side and secured to the lower end of the staff, where a swivel is also fast-
ened for the buoy-line to bend into. This swivel allows the buoy to turn in the tide and sea-way
without kinking the buoy-line. The buoy-lines are generally cut in 50-fathom sections, bent
together in the same manner as the ground-lines, and as many of these are used as the depth of
the water may require.

The anchors need very little preparation — merely a strap in the ring with two bights, into
which the buoy- line and trawl are bent.

The trawls used by the New York halibut vessels are each provided with about 380 hooks,
placed 25 feet or more apart, with gangings 4 or 5 feet in length. When trawling was first
introduced inaiiila ground-lines and suoods were used, according to Tripland, and a line having

12 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

180 to 200 hooks was called a "big trawl"; now each dory has from 350 to 380 hooks. At first
the hooks were put 15 feet apart on the ground-line by the Long Island Sound fishermen, but at
present they are placed 25 feet apart. All of the ground-line is stowed in one tub made for the
purpose, instead of being divided into sections and coiled in skates. Lager-beer kegs were form-
erly used to some extent by the sound fishermen for buoys, but now iron-bound, hard-wood kegs
specially designed for the purpose are made for buoys.

BAIT.— A vessel starting on a fresh-halibut trip to the Banks generally carries a few barrels
of herring, mackerel, or menhaden, and occasionally, instead of these, 2,000 or 3,000 pounds of cod,
haddock, and hake. This is for bait to begin the trip with, and may be obtained at the home port,
or at some point on the Nova Scotia coast. Sometimes bait, especially mackerel, is bought from
vessels at sea. After fishing is begun such material as is caught on the trawls — cod, haddock,
hake, &c., and occasionally even halibut are used instead of herring, being cut into strips 5 or 6
inches in length and about 2 inches wide. This is called "gurry bait," and is preferred for Bank
fishing, although it cannot be used advantageously when fishing in shallow water near the land,
fresh herring being considered 'indispensable for that purpose.

Halibut, when in-shore, are generally much more difficult to please in the matter of bait than
when they are on the outer banks. They will not touch herring that are the least bit stale, and
some captains claim that the fish can discriminate between bait which has been caught in different
localities. The skipper of the Willie M. Stevens told us that it was his opinion, from what he saw
while on a northern trip, that halibut on the northwest coast of Newfoundland would not bite
nearly as well at herring caught in any other place besides Bay of Islands and Boone Bay. He
avers that he experimented repeatedly on the same ground with the trawls set side by side and
across each other, and saw others try it, and every time those trawls with the bay herring on them
got fair fishing, and the others, baited with herring from distant localities, got nothing or next
to it.

In winter, the bait taken from home is usually frozen herring which are packed in straw in one
of the ice-house pens, this method of packing being adopted to keep the frost in the fish. In
summer, however, the first installment of bait is generally obtained at some port in Nova Scotia
or on the coast of Maine, and this is carefully iced in one or more of the pens. It is never eviscer-
ated by the Gloucester fishermen. Formerly, the fishermen about Long Island Sound generally
dressed and sometimes soaked the " bony fish" (menhaden) before icing it for bait. Prepared in this
way the fish would keep hard and sweet much longer than if iced round with the viscera in them.
The Cape Ann men were frequently ridiculed for icing bait before it was dressed, but experience
proved that the latter is the best method, for bait that is iced round is by far the most attractive
to either cod or halibut, due, so the fishermen think, to the blood being -retained in it, and the
retention of the natural flavor which is lost when the fish are eviscerated.

The bait is cut up on the top of the cabin, with large, heavy knives. Thick planks are nailed
on the top of the cabin for this purpose, as has been explained, and the men who go in each dory
have their places for chopping chosen by lot. After enough bait is cut for the occasion the fish-
erman lifts a skate of trawl upon the cabin and, after untying the ropes, the skate is taken away
from the coil and spread out on the deck below. The fisherman then begins at the top of the coil,
and, baiting the hooks as he proceeds, recoils the trawl on the skate. The baited hooks are thrown
into the center of the coil. The trawls when baited and tied up are ready for the water, and, if the
set is to be made immediately, they are at once placed in the dories. Great expertness is shown
by the fishermen in baiting their trawls, but there is, however, a limit to the speed with which this

FEESH-HALEBUT FISHEEY. 13

can be done well, and, as a role, many of those who accomplish the task quickest are not always the
best fishermen, as they are apt to do their work in an incomplete manner.

METHODS OF FISHING,

SETTING TRAWLS. — The ordinary manner of setting a trawl is in a straight line, and is per-
formed'by two men, though in special emergencies three men may be required. When a set is to
be made the buoys, buoy-lines, and anchors are put in their proper places in the dories before the
boats are hoisted off deck. When the dory is in the water, one man gets into her, and another
reaches him the trawls that have previously been baited (and may be two, three, or four skates,
according to circumstances). When, however, the dories are out, and at the stern, as is usually
the case in the day-time, when a vessel is at anchor on the bank, the performance varies somewhat
from the foregoing, and is accomplished in the following manner :

First, the dory is hauled alongside on the quarter, and one man jumps into her, while his
dory-mate lifts the trawls upon the rail, and, watching the proper chance, lets them drop into the
middle of the boat. After the trawls are in, one man takes the oars and pulls, while, as soon as
the proper position is reached, the one aft throws out the buoy, then pays out the buoy-line, and
when he gets it all out, lifts a skate of trawl upon the thwart in front of him, unties the skate-
ropes, makes the end of the trawl fast to the anchor (the buoy-line is always, on the bank, made
fast to the anchor), which he heaves overboard, and then throws out hook after hook of the trawl
as he conies to them. When one skate is out another is lifted into its place, the ends of the line
are tied together, and the performance goes on until all of the trawl is out, when the end of it is
made fast to the second anchor, which is let go, the buoy-line is paid out, and lastly the buoy is
thrown overboard, which completes the operation of setting. If the trawl must be set to wind-
ward of the vessel, the method differs in this respect : both men sit down to their oars as soon as
they leave the schooner, and row until they reach a position about the length of their trawl to
windward, where they begin to set.

When trawls are set for the first time in a berth they are usually spread around the vessel in
the form of a star, as illustrated by the following diagram :

Since each of these lines is from 1 to 2 miles
or more in length, it will readily be perceived that
a large area of sea bottom, more or less nearly
approximating to the form of a circle, of which
the vessel is the center, is covered by the gear ;
and one set of the trawls made in this manner
usually determines whether or not there are
any halibut of importance within 1 J to 3 miles on
either side of where the schooner is lying at
anchor. This method is varied in seasons when
halibut are only found in deep water and the
schooner is lying at anchor on the edge of a
bank, perhaps in 150 fathoms. (There can be
no general rule laid down about the depth, as it
varies in different localities, from less than 100 to 250 fathoms, where the vessels anchor.)

The manner of setting trawls in such cases is commonly as follows : It is well known to be of
little use to try on the shoal- water side of the vessel, so they are set in the form of a fan, as in the
figure.

14

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

SHOAL WATER.

DEEP WATER.

These methods of setting trawla "try the ground," and it often happens that a good catch is
obtained on one or more of them, while only a few fish are taken on the
others. In that case, the next time all of the trawls are set for the
" spot," in parallel lines as shown by the figure.

If the "spot" is sufficiently large, and there is a favorable opportu-
nity to set the gear, it generally happens that good fishing is obtained
on all ,or nearly all of the trawls, though in some cases the ground
occupied by the halibut is so small that it is very difficult to set all the
apparatus fairly upon it.

It frequently happens that when a vessel has just arrived on the
bank, or is about to try for fish on a part of the ground where the re-
sults to be obtained are doubtful, a "flying-set," or "set under sail," is made. This method of
setting, which obviates the necessity of anchoring, maybe described as follows: As the dories
sit nested on deck, when under way, the trawls, buoys, and anchors are all put in the top boats,
that being the most convenient place for them, as they are ofi' from the deck and out of the way.
As the vessel nears the place where the skipper intends to set under sail, he shouts the order,
"Get the top dories ready." This sets all hands on the alert, especially the crews of the top
dories, who quickly take the surplus buoys and anchors out of their boats, and, having rigged
their "black ball" and arranged their buoy-line for running, they hook on the tackles and hoist
the top dories out over the rail, letting them hang on the tackles with the bow and stern made fast
and their bottoms just below the top of the vessel's rail. They are generally left hanging in this
way until the middle dories are ready, when, if the vessel is quite near the ground, they are
dropped into the water (the vessel being luft'ed to, to deaden her way, if there be a fresh breeze),
and as they drop aft on the quarter they are held there for a few minutes while one man jumps
into each dory and another hands him the trawls. When haddock fishing, the trawls are usually
put in the dories before the latter are hoisted out (when setting under'Sail), but halibut gear is so
heavy when baited that it is rarely if ever put in the boats until after they are in the water. As
soon as the trawls are in, the other man jumps in and the dory is dropped astern, the painter being
made fast to the davit. Meanwhile the middle or second dories have been hoisted out, and while
the men are getting their gear in, the two bottom dories are being made ready to hoist out.
These two last are usually left hanging on the tackles until some of the others have begun to set.
When the proper time arrives, and the dories are ready, the skipper shouts to one of the men in

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 15

the first dory, who are towing astern, "Heave out your buoy." He has previously told them on
which end of the trawl to put the " black ball." The vessel is now steered on a course parallel with
the edge of the bank (if the set is being made in very deep water), and as the buoy line is being
run out the skipper shouts again to the men and points out to them how they must pull while
setting the trawl. This is generally to leeward and in a direction abeam of or nearly at right
angles to the course steered by the vessel.

As soon as the buoy -line of the first dory is run out, her painter is cast off' and the men begin to
set, while the men in the next dory get the order to " Heave out your buoy," and theJr buoy-line is run
out in the same way as the others. Sometimes, however, when it is desirable to set the trawls close
together, the dories are cast off before all of the buoy -line is towed out. Finally, the last dories are
dropped into the water, and, the men having put their gear in, they take their places astern, the
cook standing by to cast off the painters at the right moment, and the skipper steering the vessel and
watching the boats to see when the men shall throw over the buoys, and when they are far enough
apart to begin to set, which is usually from 200 to 400 fathoms. Spread along the edge of a bank
in this way, a "gang of trawls" will generally cover 6 or 8 square miles, and sometimes much
more. As soon as the last dory is let go the course of the vessel is changed, and she runs for the
first dory that began to set, and, having picked her up, takes them in rotation, picking them up
in turn. After they are all aboard she generally works back to the weather-buoys (the first ones
put out), and lays to with her jib to windward, first on one tack and then on the other, keeping
the buoys always in sight until it is time to haul them, when the vessel is run along from buoy to
buoy, dropping each dory at or near her own trawl. After the dories are all out, and while the
men are hauling the trawls, the vessel lays by with her jib to windward, filling away occasionally
and running by all of the dories to see how they are finding fish and whether they need assistance.
When the boats get loaded, or have finished hauling their trawls, the men stick up an oar as a signal
for the vessel to come for them. When the oar is seen the vessel runs for the dory, and shoots to
or tacks close to the boat, lying with her jib to the windward until the gear is out and the halibut
discharged. If a dory has finished hauling, she is either taken in on deck or dropped astern and
towed until the rest are picked up; but if she has more trawl to haul, she is towed to her buoy and
dropped, while the vessel goes off to assist others that may need it.

As a rule, trawls are set under sail only during the day, but it is by no means uncommon for
the halibut fishermen in summer to put out their gear in this manner just before night, if the
weather is fine and promises to be clear. In this case a lantern is hung on a dory, which is fast-
ened to one of the trawl buoys and left out all night as a guide for the vessel to lay by until morn-
ing. The lantern is elevated 7 or 8 feet above the dory on a set of shears made by lashing the
ends of two oars together — the lower ends being braced against the sides of the boat — and which
are stayed by guy-lines on either side from the bow and stern of the craft. When setting under
sail over night great care is required on the part of the \?atch on board the schooner to prevent
the latter from getting too far from the dory upon which hangs the lantern. For, should the lantern
by some accident become extinguished, or should the weather grow thick, the whole apparatus
might be lost if the exact position of the boat could not be determined. But so hard is the labor
of heaving up an anchor in deep water, arid so great is the loss of time in doing it, that many skip-
pers choose to take considerable risks in setting under sail rather than anchor where they have-
little knowledge of the abundance of halibut.

When halibut fishing used to be carried on along the coast of Southern Labrador, and the ves-
sels frequently had to search over la^ge areas to find the fish (though fishing operations were always
carried on in shallow water near the land), they very often set under sail. In some cases, we are

16 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

credibly informed, a schooner would sail along, dropping her dories 2 or 3 miles apart, and in that
way a single set of the trawl-lines, set parallel with the shore, would stretch along 12 or 15 miles
of the coast. In this case the dories were provided with sails, and their crews, after hauling their
gear, would set sail and steer for the vessel, thus shortening the time of their arrival on board.

The fishermen from the ports on Long Island Sound have adopted somewhat different methods
from those just described, which apply more particularly to the Gloucester fishermen, who, par
excellence, are the halibut fishermen of New England. The former usually fish on George's Bank,
Brown's Bank, and the Seal Island Ground, where the tide is strong and the water not of extraor-
dinary depth. In these localities it has been found desirable for the. boats, after setting their gear,
to remain at its outer end until the tide slacks, which is the time for hauling. This practice,
according to Tripland, still continues.

HAULING TRAWLS. — The length of time which a trawl is allowed to remain out before being
hauled varies from two to fifteen or eighteen hours, in fine weather. In rough weather several
days may elapse before a fitting opportunity offers to perform this operation. If the chances are
equally favorable it is customary to begin hauling at the outer end of the trawl, although the
direction of the wind or current influences the fishermen in making their choice. The dories may
sail or row to the outer ends of the trawls, as circumstances may permit. If the wind is ahead, of
course the oars must be depended upon, and, as previously stated, sails are seldom carried in
winter. But in summer it is often a lively scene to witness the dories leaving the vessel's side
under sail, with a leading breeze, and all starting off on a race for their outer buoys. When the
buoy is reached the oars are "shipped" in and placed where they will be least in the way, or on the
side opposite to that on which the trawl is to be hauled ; sometimes the blades are tucked through
the stern becket and the handles shoved well aft.

The hurdy-gurdy or crank-winch for heaving up the trawls is then rigged in its place on the bow
of the dory, and the " roller" is placed in position on one side of the bow. A turn is taken with the
buoy-line around the barrel of the hurdy-gurdy by the man in the bow of the dory, who reaches
the buoy (to which the end of the buoy-line is fastened) to his dory mate in the stern. The latter
now takes his place in the after compartment, holding on the buoy-line, hauling and coiling it
at the same time, while the man at the bow kneels down, and grasping the handle of the winch,
turns it around, over and over, in a laborious manner, until all the buoy line (frequently 350 to SCO
fathoms) is hove in, and the anchor is at the bow. The turns are then taken off the hurdy-gurdy,
and the anchor pulled in over the boat's bow, and when a few fathoms of trawl are in, the latter is
unbent and the anchor placed on the side of the dory, with one arm over the boat's gunwale and
the stock resting against her side. The man standing aft now spreads a skate in the bottom of
the dory, between his feet, and the trawl, as fast as it is pulled in, is coiled on this skate. Unless
there is a very heavy strain on the trawl, it is hauled over the roller, though it often is necessary
to employ the hurdy-gurdy to heave in the line, which in many instances becomes so firmly
attached to the bottom that it breaks and is lost. No little skill is required in the use of the
trawl-winch in rough weather to prevent the dory from being capsized. When the boat has no
fish in and sits lightly on the water, she is rather crank, and at such times if she rises quickly on
the slope of a wave, with a heavy strain on the line, she is liable to turn over. The man who is
holding the line must watch every motion very carefully, for should he fail to slack the line at
the right instant, over goes his dory, gunwale under, and he and his companion are thrown into
the sea. It is altogether possible that lives have been lost in this manner, as well as by reckless
overloading of dories, though it may fairly be assumed that such accidents are rare.

What has been said of setting and hauling trawls (especially the latter) applies more particu-

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHEKY. 17

larly to the deep-water fishing along the outer slopes of the great fishing banks where halibut are
now chiefly sought.

The method of hauling in shallow water near the laud, where halibut are sometimes found in
summer, is quite different. The halibut, following in after the schools of capelin which visit the
shores cf Western Newfoundland, Southern Labrador, and the islands of Auticosti and Miquelon
to spawn, have often been found in great abundance in very shallow water, say not above 5 to 10
fathoms. Here it is frequently possible to notice the fish biting at the hooks, and, of course, no
hurdy-gurdy is required, and even the patent roller is_little needed. There is comparatively little
work in hauling the trawl unless there may be a considerable number of fish on it, in which case the
fishermen have a lively time. Halibut that are caught in shallow water are exceedingly active, and
frequently make a hard fight. When a fish of 100 to 200 pounds weight is raised from the bottom
on a trawl, he will usually start off at great speed, making the dory spin around in his effort to
escape. Of course he cannot run far in one direction, for the weight of the gear is too much for
him to drag over the bottom. After awhile he is sufficiently tired out to be hauled alongside of
the dory, and if the fisherman is expert enough to hit his fish two or three smart raps over the
nose with a "killer," the halibut succumbs and is pulled into the boat. It is often the case, how-
ever, that considerable difficulty is experienced in effecting the capture of a large fish, and it is by
no means an unusual circumstance for one to escape. One of the authors recalls such an episode,
which he witnessed in the shallow water near Miquelou Beach.

Two men were out hauling a trawl in about seven fathoms of water, a short distance from the
vessel. They worked along quietly for awhile, when suddenly the dory started off at a tremendous
speed, towed by a big halibut, which had been started from the bottom, and which, in his efforts
to escape, darted about wildly, pulling the boat alter him, and careening her at a considerable
angle. By dexterous management he was, after awhile, brought to the surface; the man aft
quietly pulled up on the ganging until the fish broke water, when an iron gaff was driven into its
head. The doryman had made the mistake of gaffing his fish before it was stunned, and as a
result 110 sooner was the gaff in the halibut than the latter made a tremendous splurge, twisted
the implement out of the fisherman's hand, and, getting a fair start, made a run to the bottom.
Another quarter of an hour was required to again get him alongside of the dory. This time there
was no gaff, and to serve in its place the doryman had cast off the trawl anchor from the buoy-
line. When he got the halibut's head above water, he drove the flue of the 10-pound anchor into
the fish, which he made sure he would hold that time. But he was mistaken. The halibut, as
before, escaped, taking with him the anchor, almost pulling the man out of the boat, which was
nearly capsized, and carrying away the hook, which this time he tore from the trawl.

Fishermen who have watched halibut near the land, being able to see them perfectly well
in the clear, shallow water, state that these fish exhibit marked peculiarities in biting at baited
hooks' on a trawl. The halibut will advance to the bait, apparently smell of it, and then retreat 4
or 5 feet from it, always lying on the bottom, head toward the bait, as if watching it. After
repeating this performance several times — generally three or four — the fish seems to make up its
mind to eat the bait, and, suddenly darting toward it, swallows it down with a gulp.

The George's hand-line fishermen believe that halibut often strike the baited hooks with their
tails. It is not uncommon on board a George's man to hear a fisherman remark, "There's a hali-
but around; I felt him strike my gear." When a halibut has announced his presence in this way
it is scarcely necessary to say that every effort is put forth by the fisherman to attract the fish to
his hooks, and if the man is sufficiently skillful he generally succeeds in capturing the fish.

UNLOADING THE DORIES.— When a load of fish is brought alongside of the vessel, two of the
SRC v 2

18 HISTORY AND .METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

crew, who are generally the captain aud the cook, hold the stem and bow painters. The niaii in
the bow of the boat jumps on deck, while the other hooks the fish with a gaff and hands them up
to his doryinate standing ready to haul them in over the vessel's rail.

The operation of pulling halibut from the dory over the schooner's rail is much facilitated by
the rolling of the vessel; the man who hauls in the fish watches the motion, and by a sudden ex-
ertion of strength at the right moment is able to take a fish on deck which a novice, unacquainted
with the " knack," could not raise at all. Should there be some heavy fish in the boat, the skipper
generally assists to pull them on deck. Sometimes the skipper chooses to haul the whole, or nearly
all, of the fish over the rail, and we have heard of a cook who made a practice of doing this work.

The methods adopted by the hand-line George's fishermen are, of course, radically different
from those just described. It may be remarked incidentally that the George's fishermen are paid
in accordance with the amount of fish which each catches, while the trawlers all share equally in the
proceeds. It naturally follows that, when halibut are bringing a high price, the hand-line fisherman
who catches a considerable quantity of these fish makes much more money than his shipmates.
Consequently there is much rivalry in a vessel's crew when it is known that halibut are on the
ground where she is lying, and every known device is adopted to entice the fish to bite at the hooks.
Strips of newly-caught haddock, with the fresh blood still on them, are considered the best bait.
These are usually about G to 8 inches long, an inch or so wide at one end, aud tapering to a point
at the other. Two, three, or more of these pieces are put on a hook, the latter being passed
through the thickest ends of the strips, while the pointed ends of the bait are left to float about
in the water. Where there is a tide running these closely resemble the movements of small fish.
The hooks are usually "pointed " with herring bait. After the bait is on the hooks, many fisher.
men add (as they believe) to its attractiveness by mopping it in the slime of a halibut, if one has
been previously caught. This is done by rubbing the baited hook back and forth over the fish.
The lure thus prepared the fisherman lowers his apparatus to the bottom, and by a skillful manip-
ulation tries to induce the fish to bite. Sometimes he will let the tide sweep his "gear" along the
bottom, and again he will endeavor to give his baits the appearance of life by slowly pulling them
up a short distance from the ground. If he finally succeeds in hooking a halibut, all his art is re-
quired to bring -the fish to the surface and land it safely on deck. If it be a large fish it almost
invariably makes a desperate fight to escape. It may, perhaps, come up easily for 10 or 15 fathoms,
when it suddenly takes a plunge downward. Surge! surge! goes the line through the hands of the
fisherman, who knows very well that he must " play " his fish or else his line will be snapped like
pack thread. This operation may be repeated several times, and it is not uncommon for a large
and particularly "wild" halibut to go almost to the bottom after having been hauled nearly to the
surface of the water. At last the fish is alongside, and the shout of "Gaffs! gaffs here!" brings
two or three of the nearest men to the side, armed with long-handled gaffs. If the fish is
exhausted the gaffs are quickly hooked into his head and he is dragged unceremoniously over the
rail and falls with a heavy thud on deck, which usually resounds with the strokes of his powerful
tail until he is stunned by repeated blows with a killer. On the other hand, if the halibut is still
active when he comes alongside, much dexterity is required to gaff him. He makes desperate
attempts to escape, and thrashes the water into foam with his tail. Sometimes, but not often,
halibut escape after being brought alongside.

When the fish is on deck and killed, his captor cuts his mark in a conspicuous manner, gener-
ally on the white surface of the halibut, which is the under portion when the fish is in the
water, but is invariably turned upward after it is taken on deck; this method being adopted to
prevent the blood from settling on that side and thus making the fish look dark colored or gray.

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 19

The George's fishermen 1'requeiitly bleed their halibut by making a cut across the tail. This is
aho done to make the fish look white, but we have not known of this method ever having been
adopted by the trawlers. The halibut are dressed and iced in the same manner as elsewhere; the
separation of the fish caught by each man takes place after the vessel reaches port, those belonging
to each "lot" being selected by their respective marks. The above methods of capture by hand-
lines, which are common to the George's cod-fishermen, who only catch halibut incidentally, have
been adopted by the handliners, which, about 1876-'77, engaged exclusively in the halibut fishery
off the eastern slope of George's Bank.

C. THE MANNER OF DEESSIXG AND ICING THE HALIBUT ON THE VESSEL.

THE GLOUCESTER METHOD. — A crew of men engaged in " dressing down" a deck of halibut are
always clothed in "oil-skins" or rubber jacket and trousers. Five of the men — the two "cutters,"
the two "blooders," and the "icer" — tie their oil or rubber jacket sleeves tight around their wrists
with rope yarns to keep their other clothing free from the gurry and slime. And in rough weather
(occasionally at other times) the oil trousers' legs are tied tightly around the boots to prevent the
water with which the deck- is often filled from wetting the feet and legs of the fishermen. Two of
them, with sharp knives, begin to cut. Grasping the halibut by the gills with the left hand, they
haul the fish's head up from the deck; one quick stroke of the knife separates the gills from the
head at the throat; another stroke severs the gills from the napes; another rips the fish down the
belly, and two more cuts and a quick yank with the left hand take the gills and entrails out. Now
the "blooder" grabs the halibut, and, sitting or kneeling on deck, hauls the fish toward him with
his left hand, while with his right, which is bare, he pulls the ovaries or spermaries from their
cavities and the blood from the back-bone with a quickness that would surprise a novice. Then
the "scrub gang" takes the fish in charge. There are two gangs and three men in each. One man
armed with two iron gaffs hooks one of these into the head of the fish and the other into its nape,
and holds it up and open while the scrubber, with a broom specially prepared for this purpose,
scrubs off any loose blood, slime, &c., which may be left on the backbone and in the spawn cavities
by the blooder. One man stands by with a draw-bucket full of water, and when the "scrubber"
sings out "water" he souses it into the fish and completely rinses him out. Now the halibut is
clean and ready to go into the hold, and directly the cry comes up from the ice-house crowd,
"Heave down your halibut!" In obedience to this order one of the deck gang, who is generally
known as the "idler," takes a gaff, and hooking one fish in the head and another in the tail, as the
case may be, hauls them over the hatch, letting them fall down. They strike with a dull thud on
the floor of the ice-house, where they are taken in charge by the men below and finally disposed
of. In the ice-house there are three men hard at work. One is pounding ice with a wooden beetle
or mallet; another, the "icer," is in one of the pens placing the halibut in tiers and filling the
cavities, where the entrails, gills, &c., were taken out, with fine ice. When ho gets, a tier prepared
in this manner he throws some ice, with a shovel, around their heads and the sides of the pen, but
none on top of the fish, and then begins another tier. The third man reaches him the halibut and
ice until the pen is full enough, when the fish are covered with from 6 to 12 inches of ice, according
to the season. A layer of pounded ice is put under the bottom tier of fish in each pen, the thick-
ness of this layer depending somewhat on the season, more ice, of course, being required in summer
than when the weather is cold.

THE NEW LONDON METHOD. — The New London halibut catchers have a somewhat different
method. "In the first place," said one of them, "we leave one tier of block ice in the bottom
of the pen, if the ice does not exceed 8 inches in thickness. The first tier of fish is laid on

20 mSTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

this, ami every layer of halibut is covered with 4 inches of fine ice, previous to which the bellies
and heads are also filled with the finest ice. The fish are packed in the pens in the same manner
as by Gloucester fishermen — half a tier heads out, the other half heads in toward the vessel's
side, and overlapping each other; but on these vessels more care is observed to prevent the tails
or any other portion of them coming in contact with the wood of the sides of the pens or the ceiling
of the vessels. After the pens are filled the fish are covered with ice varying from G to 12 inches
in thickness. All, or at least most, of the sound fishermen pack their halibut square, next to the
side of the vessel, and not to conform to the shape of the bilge, filling in behind the fish with ice."

It is claimed that halibut packed in this manner can be kept in good condition from three to
five weeks, and the New London men think there is considerable advantage in cleaning the fish
with scrubbing brushes or brooms that are made of coir, which they believe is far better for this
work than the hickory and oak brooms in common use by the Gloucester fishermen. The advan-
tages that might be derived from having different scrubbing brooms, and in adopting the method
(in summer) of putting a layer of unbroken ice in the bottom of a pen, is worthy of the careful
consideration of all interested in this business; but the experience of the Gloucester fishermen has
taught them that no beneficial results can be obtained by putting ice between tiers of fish ; indeed,
it is believed that halibut so iced will soon grow "sour."

EARLY METHODS. — The fishermen who first went to George's for halibut did not "blood" the
fish or scrub them, thinking it would be an injury instead of a benefit. Instances have occurred
where a full fare has been caught in one day on that bank,. and a fair and strong breeze springing
up about the time the day's fishing was completed, the halibut were thrown into the hold and taken
to market (either Boston or Gloucester) before they were dressed. At such times the passage was
usually made in less than twenty hours, and the weather was too rough to take the fish on deck.
In the beginning of the George's fishery the halibut were simply eviscerated and thrown in the hold,
on the stone ballast; but as it was found that those underneath, when treated in this manner, had
a "jammed up" appearance the fishermen next resorted to the expedient of driving spikes and
ring-bolts on the side of the hold, just under the deck, and to these the first fish were hung up by
their tails% The next expedient tried was to keep them alive in well-smacks, after which came the
ice and the present system of keeping fish by refrigeration. At first, however, no attempt was
made to ice halibut, as that term is now understood, they being simply thrown down on the plat-
form of the hold, the fishermen of that day belie.ving that a small amount of ice stored in one part
of the ice-house, to " keep the fish cool," was all that was necessary for their preservation. They
were firmly convinced that halibut would soon spoil if packed in ice in the style of the present day.

7. THE RUN FOR THE MARKET.

In the chapter on the dangers to which the fishermen and their vessels are exposed consider-
able space was devoted to describing the peculiar risks taken by the halibut fishermen in running
from the fishing grounds to the market, and in the logs of two voyages, which are appended to
this chapter, are mentioned a series of experiences such as are ordinarily met with every winter by
the crew of every Gloucester halibut vessel.

As has already been remarked, no class of fishermen take greater risks than those of whom we
are now writing. The vessel once loaded with fish everything is made subordinate to the desire
to reach home in as short time as possible. There is a strong emulation between the crews of the
different vessels, each desiring to get the biggest trip offish in the shortest time; the professional
reputation of the skipper and the crew as well as their profits depend upon accomplishments of this
kind. In addition to this motive there is the still stronger one of getting to market in advance of

FUESII IJAl.inUT KIB1IKUY. . 21

other vessels which may be on the bank at the same time, and thus be able to dispose of the cargo
of fish at a higher price than could be realized if several vessels arrived together. The average
length of a run from the Grand Bank to Gloucester, a distance of 800 miles, is, in the winter, about
eight days, excepting under specially unfavorable circumstances. Some winters there is a constant
succession of heavy northerly and westerly gales, in which case a vessel will take a longer time to
make the run. On one occasion, in the winter of 1875, the schooners Howard, J. S. Presson,.and
William H. Foye, were from fifteen to seventeen days making the passage, and many others were
fully as long in getting home; one vessel, the schooner S. n. Putnam, of Beverly, engaged in the
fresh halibut fishery that winter, took forty-two days to complete her homeward passage. One of
the shortest runs home from the Grand Bank, which is on record, occupied five days only, although
the passage to the bank from Gloucester has been frequently made in a little over four days, the
prevalence of strong westerly winds in winter favoring an eastern run, but retarding a vessel bound
home from the bank.

In summer, a few of the vessels carry two topmasts, and light sails to correspond. When there
is a leading wind all sail is crowded on, and there are few finer nautical scenes than that of a full-
rigged halibut schooner running for market in a brisk breeze.

8. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

UNLOADING AND PACKING FOR SHIPMENT.— On the arrival of a halibut vessel at Gloucester,
she is anchored in the harbor, and the skipper, having gone ashore, visits the offices of the several
halibut companies, taking offers for his fish at so much per pound for white, so much for gray, and
so much for sour. It often happens, though, that the fish are sold "right through," that is, for a
fixed price for all sweet fish, and occasionally the halibut are bought so that the dealers take all at
one price per pound, and assume the risk of any being unfit for market. Sometimes there is a
competition between the buyers, and then the cargo is sold to the highest bidder. At other times,
however, the companies pool their interests and fix a price which the fishermen must accept, since,
in such cases, nothing can be done but to submit to the dictation of the combination. Formerly,
the "hawkers," as the halibut buyers are called, when anxious to buy a vessel's cargo, were accus-
tomed to go off in boats and meet the schooners as they came in the harbor; at present this is
rarely done. The cargo having been sold the vessel is hauled up to the wharf.

The unlading of a halibut vessel is a very interesting operation to any one to whom it is novel.
The schooner having been hauled up to the wharf of one of the halibut companies, the hatches are
opened and a strong tackle is attached to the fore and main staysail-halyards and adjusted over
one of the hatches. Two or three men are stationed in the hold . The fish are " broken out of the
pens" and dragged beneath the hatch, and each one has a "strap" of buoy line fastened around the
slender part of its tail. This strap is about 3 feet long, with the ends spliced together to form a
ring. This is dexterously fastened to the tail in a kind of slip-noose ; by passing one bight through
the other and into the loose part a hook from the hoisting tackle is easily caught. Three or four,
or even more, fish are thus attached to the same hook, and then the pendant, slimy group is hoisted.
Now a similar hook attached to another rope on the wharf, called an " outhauler," is thrown
down and fastened into the eye of one of the fishes, which are both hoisted and hauled on to the
wharf at the same time. As the fish are lifted and pulled to the wharf the hoisters suddenly let
go and the halibut fall sprawling over the floor of the fish-house. Here a sturdy gang armed with
gaff hooks are waiting. The fish are culled into grades, and either the white or gray ones, as the
case may be, are tossed into a tray pendant from a pair of large steelyards. Their weight ascer-
tained, they are dumped again on the floor, their heads cut off, and then they are ready for pack-

22 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

iug. Other men with gaffs seize them and drag them over the slippery floor to the end of the
building. Here a stout spruce or pine box is waiting, standing on platform scales. One by one
the fish are lifted into the box, and a shovelful of ice is poured into the abdominal cavity. The
box is filled, its weight noted and marked in large figures in one corner, and then it is transferred
to wooden rollers and handed over to the carpenter, who nails the cover on, using a peculiar instru-
ment, very appropriately called a "devil's claw," if we accept the idea that the devil has an
unyielding clutch.

If, as frequently happens, the fish are taken from the vessel, weighed, and beheaded faster
than they can be boxed, they are dragged aside and thrown in heaps according to the several
grades. It is not an uncommon thing to see 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of halibut piled up on the
floor of a large packing establishment, and in some instances a much larger quantity is heaped
together.

When taking out halibut the average rate of progress is from 7,000 to 10,000 pounds an hour;
the speed depends somewhat on the height of the tide. " The best time we ever made," says Mr.
John F. Bickford, foreman of the Atlantic Halibut Company, " was in the summer of 1878 when
we took a trip of 103,000 pounds of halibut out of the schooner William Thompson in 9 hours and
15 minutes, and had an hour's nooning out of the time. The actual time at work was a little more
than 8 hours." These fish were bought " right through," arid, being in good order, needed no culling,
and consequently could be handled very rapidly.

A full working gang in the building is eleven men, all told These are divided as follows,
namely : A weigher (who is usually the foreman), the culler and assistant at the scale, the header,
a man to haul the fish away, three men boxing and weighing the fish, two men nailing the boxes
and wheeling them away, and one man grinding ice. One of the " boxers" assists the " ice-grinder"
in dragging away the baskets of ice, &c. With a gang like this at work boxing, the fish can be
put up ready for shipment nearly as fast as they are usually taken out of a vessel. The boxes
hold an average of 425 pounds of halibut.

Mr. B. W. Griffin, culler at the New England Halibut Company's establishment, and Mr.
Thomas Tarr, foreman of the same, gave the following information :

"We take out anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of halibut an hour, under ordinary
circumstances; generally more if the chance is favorable. The best we ever did was in 1878, when
we took a trip of 42,000 pounds out of the George P. Whitman in an hour and three-quarters.
With a full gang at boxing, which includes six men — three boxers, two nailers, and one ice-grinder —
we can box, ready for shipment, 40,000 pounds of halibut in four hours, but in some instances we
do even better than this. Some years ago, the schooner Win. T. Merchant came in with a trip of
halibut that had been sold to arrive, at a high price, and we were anxious to get the fish on the
market. She hauled alongside of the wharf at 5 o'clock p. in., and at 9 p. m. we had her trip of
50,000 pounds boxed and all on the steamboat wharf, ready for shipment."

It seems appropriate in this place to allude to the system of '; culling fish " which is in practice
among the merchants of Gloucester who buy fresh halibut from the fishermen. They have estab-
lished three grades of halibut, known as " white," " gray," and " sour"; the white halibut are those
which have their under sides immaculate, the gray halibut are those whose under sides are more or
less tinged with gray or drab, while the sour halibut are those which are slightly tainted in the
vicinity of the abdominal cavity. The largest halibut are almost invariably gray. The price allowed
to the fishermen for gray halibut is considerably less than that for " white," frequently not more than
one-half. The price of sour halibut, again, is considerably less than that of gray. For instance,
when white halibut sell for 5 cents per pound, gray will sell for from 3 to 3£ cents per pound,

FRESH-HALIBUT F1SUHUY. 23

aucl sour for from 1£ to 2 cents per pound. Tbe distinction between sour Lalibut and that which
is not sour is doubtless a valid one, but that between white and gray is of little importance, since,
in the hands of the retail dealers, there is seldom, if ever, any difference in price. There is no
reason why the gray halibut, as they are called, should not be exactly as firm in flesh and deli-
cate in flavor as the white. The distinction was first made by the Gloucester Halibut Com-
pany, established in 1848, in order to avoid the carrying out to the letter of their contracts with
the fishermen, and since that time it has uniformly been made use of, to the disadvantage of the
fishermen. It is not our intention to criticise the motives of the halibut merchants in this respect,
but simply to call attention to the fact that the existence of an arbitrary distinction of this sort is
extremely unfortunate, since it gives to the capitalists the opportunity of treating the fishermen
with great injustice. The cullings are made entirely by the purchaser and the fishermen have no
right to criticise their judgment, and no right to appeal. The manner of culling is varied arbitra-
rily, from time to time, in accordance with the necessities of the buyers. At times a very large
percentage of the catch of a vessel will be counted as gray, or even as sour, and paid for at reduced
rates. If the terms of the bargain previously made with the fishermen were justly carried out, the
value would be very much greater than that which was actually paid for the fish. We do not
deny that the buyers Heel some necessity for some such safety-valve as this in the present condi-
tion of the halibut fishery, since sometimes eight or ten large cargoes of fish are brought in at one
time, glutting the market to an uncontrollable extent;* at the same time some more equitable means
of regulating the price in accordance with the supply is very much to be desired. Under exist-
ing circumstances, perhaps the most desirable remedy would be the appointment of some inspector
who would cull the fish in accordance with some uniform rule, thus doing away with the feeling of
injustice which is constantly felt by the fishermen. In the winter of 1878 the feeling against this
system of culling was so strong among the owners and masters of the Massachusetts halibut ves-
sels in Gloucester, that an attempt was made to organize a company of fishing firms, which should
take the matter of handling the fresh halibut into its own hands. This, however, was unsuccessful,
owing to the lack of unanimity among the fishing capitalists. The manner of weighing the halibut
is also open to objection of the same kind. Fish are bought from the vessels with their heads on
and weighed, and 14 per cent, of the total weight is deducted, this being supposed to represent
the weight of the heads. This percentage, however, is considerably too large; then, too, the
weighing is done by the purchaser with beam scales, and the fishermen complain that undue advan-
tage is taken by the weighers. The employment of some impartial person as weigher would do
much to allay the dissatisfaction felt and expressed by the halibut fishermen.

9. FINANCIAL PEOF1TS AND EXTENT OF THE FISHERY.

THE LAY. — The " lay," or division of the proceeds of the voyage, is given in detail in the
chapter on " Lays and Outfits." Briefly stated it is as follows : From the gross receipts of money
obtained from the sale of the fish are deducted certain "stock" charges, these embracing expense
for ice, bait, towing by steaia-tug, woolen nippers, &c. The balance is called the " net" stock, and
this is equally divided, the vessel receiving one-half, while the other half, after charges for splitting
wood, filling water, medicine chest, tarring rigging, painting spars, and one-half of 1 per cent, for
widows' and orphans' fund, are deducted, is divided equally between the members of the crew,
the captain and cook included. In addition to his share obtained by this division the captain
receives a percentage on the net stock, this being usually 4 per cent., though in some cases a

* This statement applies more particularly to the fishery previous to 1881, at which time a larger fleet was employed
and more fish were taken than at present (1885); nevertheless what is said of the method of colling and weighing
halibut applies equally well now, and it is not less objectionable now than in former years.

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

higher rate is paid to favorite skippers. The cook also generally makes extra pay, since he is
entitled to half of any fish he may catch on a hand-line, or short trawl set from the vessel, and
also, in some instances, has been permitted to save and sell for his own benefit the 'swim-bladders
of the hake ( Phycis) captured on the trawl lines set for halibut. This latter privilege is now, how-
ever, rarely accorded.

The owners of the vessel must fit her with all material for the proper prosecution of the
voyage, including food, gear, &c., their profit being the difference between the expense so incurred
and their half of the proceeds of the voyage.

THE "STOCK" OF THE GLOUCESTER HALIBUT FLEET IN 1880. — The following list shows the
net stock of the vessels composing the fresh halibut fleet of Gloucester in 1880:

Vessels in the Gloucester halibut fleet in 1880, with a statement of thenet stock of each.

Name of Teasel.

Net stock.

Kame of vessel.

Net stock.

$14, 650 00
16, 600 00
16, 116 38
11,413 76
13, 708 84
13, 800 50
14, 487 24
17, 234 00
10, 003 84
12, 155 26
16, 500 00
19, 846 45

$19, 700 00
11, 300 00
11, 033 78
12, 000 00
10, 000 00
10,900 00
14, 322 00
9, 821 14
8, 136 73
15, 110 23
20, 959 06

Nathaniel Webster

Thresher

Din^ham

Willie M. Stevens*

* The gross stock of the last-named vessel; the amount her fish sold for, was $22,107.35; the crew shared to each man $706.06. As will
he seen, the Gloucester halibut fleet was much smaller in 1880 than in 1879, numbering only twenty-three vessels against forty-eight schooners
in the latter year.

An addition of about $1,000 to $1,200 to the net stocks given will show approximately the
amount obtained for each vessel's catch. The Procter Brothers and Thresher made only six trips
each for halibut, being employed elsewhere or hauled up the remainder of the year. The stock
given is that realized from the sale of halibut.

RECEIPTS OF HALIBUT IN 1878. — The following detailed statement of the amount of fresh
halibut landed at Gloucester, Mass., for the year 1878, by vessels engaged in the fishery from that
place, will give a fair idea of the catch and value of halibut during the several months of the year:

Month.

Gross weight.

Net or market
weight.

Average
value per
pound.

Total value.

Pounds.
347 694

Pound*.

299, 017

$. 0903

*27, 166 05

1 359 030

1 168, 766

.02:6

26, 475 82

March

1, 531, 258

1, 316, 882

.0287

37, 820 08

April

1,817,916

1,503,408

.0201

3a,474 62

Mav

817 075

702, 085

.0323

22, 687 36

1, 081, 022

929, 679

.0285

26, 505 32

July

1,261,330

1, 084, 744

.0228

24, 685 24

821 9d2

706, 836

.0257

18, 173 08

894 080

708, 909

. 0261

20, 047 52

718, 180

617, 640

.0317

19, 582 48

273, 872

235, 530

.0648

15, 266 46

318, 852

274,213

.0526

14,418 10

Xotal

11,242,218

9, 008, 307

.0294

284, 302 13

Add to the above quantity the halibut landed at Boston by Gloucester vessels, estimated at
1,125,000 pounds gross weight, and valued at about $28,500, and we have the total catch of the

K JfESII HALIBUT FISHERY.

25

Gloucester fleet 12,307,218 pouuds, gross, valued -at $312,802.13. The market weight is found by
deducting 14 per cent, for the heads.

HALIBUT PURCHASED BY THE NEW ENGLAND FISH COMPANY, 1873 TO 1878. — The fol-
lowing statement of the amount of fresh halibut bought, during a series of years, at Gloucester,
Mass., by one firm, the Slew England Fish Company, from vessels engaged in the fishery from that
place, is of interest in this connection :

Year.

Gross weight.

Net weight,
after deduct-
ing 14 Twr -
cent, for
heads.

Average
value
per pound.

Total value.

1873

Pounds.
3, 047, 142

Poundt.
3 136 542

.0612

$192, 141 94

1874

3 473,995

2 987 636

.059

176 226 19

1875

3 368,696

2 897 079

.0512

148,519 59

1878

3 988 811

3 430 378

044

152 148 27

1877.

3 302 112

2 839 817

0415

117 906 70

1878

6 216 492

5 346 184

0302

161 514 60

Each year ends March 1. This firm represented seventeen wholesale Boston firms and seven
at New York in the year ending March 1, 1878; previously Boston firms alone. Seventy-five per
cent, of the above shipments from Gloucester in 1877-'78 were to Boston and 25 per cent, to New
York. The shipments in the preceding year were mostly to Boston. In 1878, 2,112,581 pounds of
fresh halibut were sold by the New England Company to "cutters" in Gloucester for smoking.

LARGEST STOCK. — The Cape Ann Advertiser of March 24, 1882, contains the following account
of the largest halibut trip ever made, so far as financial results are concerned. It says: "The best
halibut fare received at this port for several years was landed Wednesday (March 22) by schooner
Grace L. Fears, Capt. Nathaniel Greenleaf. Her fare was taken by the Atlantic Halibut Company,
and she weighed off 98,825 pounds halibut and 3,000 pounds codfish, 101,825 pouuds in all, stock-
ing $6,010.00. Her crew shared $206.30. The cook's share was $253.94. She was gone five weeks
and one day, during which time she was frozen up for eight days at Canso. This is the largest
stock ever made on a halibut trip, although larger fares have been received several years ago."

SUCCESSFUL TRIPS IN 1874-'75.— We are indebted to Messrs. Clark & Somes, of Gloucester,
for the following detailed account of some of the most successful years' work accomplished by
schooners employed by them in the Bank halibut fishery:

SCHOONER F. W. HOMANS.

1874.

Gross
weight

Gross
stock.

1874.

Gross

weight.

Gross
stock.

January 21

Poundt.
20, 954

DMart.
1, 845 60

Pounds,

Dollars.

March 2

51, 859

2, 846 90

March 27

73,820

2, 850 82

April 30

55, 023

2, 836 72

May28

69 500

T«tal

399, 214

18, 702 88

August 10

39 603

SCHOONER LIZZIE K. CLARK.

January 22

23, 551

1 963 13

41 786

1 137 91

February 27

55 087

3 493 74

March 25

85 810

4 726 50

AprilSl

53 733

9 959 05

November "8

May 20

"9, 409

644 70

June 30

Total

418, 111

19, 088 82

26

HISTOUV AND MI'TriJODS OF THE FISHERIES.

SCHOOXER JOHN s. PEESSON.

1875.

Grosa
weight.

Gross
stock.

1875.

Gross
•weight.

Gross
stock.

Pounds.
62, 210

DoUan.
4, 144 99

Pounds.
•191, 206

Dollars.
5,814 90

March 19

97,313

3, 138 58

*141, 113

3, 735 67

April 28 ....

74, 189

2, 703 89

May25 ... .

85, 700

2, 247 96

SCHOONER LIZZIE K. CLARK.

24, 178

1,709 56

43, 348

3,481 98

18, 135

1 573 70

43, 606

4 469 49

March 21

40 957

2 953 64

7 970

703 47

April 29

20, 418

1, 022 43

19, 514

561 27

July 22

42 190

2 410 94

SCHOONER GEETIE E. FOSTER.

38, 110
113, 646
39, 965
64, 628
83,614
83,888

3, 363 18
3, 937 66
1, 667 40
2, 241 06
2,883 78
2, 767 10

86, 051
102, 906
29, 326
24,036

666,168

2, 912 37
3,496 59
1, 331 03

2, 860 36

27,470 53

Marchl4 . .

October 7 ...

April 20

May 19

June 15

August 11

SCHOONER CHESTER R. LAWRENCE.

February 5 . ...

21,722
130, 046
129, 688
*133, 887
*170, 144

2, 230 96
4, 708 29
3, 633 71
3, 824 97
4, 738 45

96,556
24, 090

3, 094 66
1, 893 12

March 16

May 6 :

JnnelD

Total

"Cod.

HALIBUT FAKES FKOM 1831 TO 1877. — The following items are quoted from Cape Ann news-
papers of various issues during the last half century :

1831. — " Oood Luck. — The schooner Nautilus, Wonson, of this port, in one week caught and
sold 136 halibut. Time occupied in taking them, twelve hours." — (Gloucester Telegraph, March
12, 1831.)

1839. — " The schooner Majestic, Edgar, of this port, returned on Saturday evening from a
cruise to the George's with upwards of 100 halibut. This is believed to be the first successful trip
ever made to the Banks, within the month of February, by any vessel belonging to Gloucester.
Since Sunday some dozen or more vessels have sailed and others are ready and actively preparing
for the spring business. Owing to the poor success which has attended the mackerel fishery for
several years past, it is probable that fewer vessels will be engaged in that pursuit the coming
season than Gloucester has had employed in it for the last quarter of a century."— (Gloucester
Telegraph, February 27, 1839.)

1846. — "Three vessels, schooners Mount Vernon, Oregon, and Clarissa Story, sailed on
Thursday for George's Bank after halibut. They are the first this season." — (Gloucester Telegraph.
January 17, 1846.)

1848. — "Fresh Halibut.— The first trip of halibut this season arrived ou Monday from George's
Bank in the schooner Centurion, Captain Bailey. Captain B. was absent ten days, and obtained
about 100 halibut and a quantity of fish (codfish). No vessel has ever been after halibut at so
early a period previous to this."— (Gloucester Telegraph, January 5, 1848.)

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 27

The remarkable increase in the importance of this fishery during the past eighteen years may
perhaps best be illustrated by quoting the following paragraph from the Cape Ann Advertiser of
January 1C, 1863, aud comparing it with what follows:

"The schooner Marengo, from Western Banks, arrived at Gloucester with 17,000 pounds of
halibut, which sold for $1,300. The schooner William Parkman, with 11,000 pounds, selling for
$900, and the Madame Bolland, with a trip amounting to $600, making a gross amount of $2,800
for the three trips. This," remarks the editor, " is what we call doing the thing up brown."

We will now compare the big trips above mentioned with, the following references to other
large fares during the last twelve years, as recorded iiTtlfe Cape Ann Advertiser:

"The schooner Daniel McFee arrived at Gloucester May 4, 1860, with 45,000 pounds of halibut,
which sold for $1,125.

" The schooner Cyuiska arrived May 10, 1860, from Western Banks, with 40,000 pounds.

" The schooner Mohenie arrived February 3, 1860, from George's Bank with 13,000 pounds of
halibut, which sold for $1,240."

In April, 1867, schooner Aphrodite arrived at Gloucester from Western Bank and landed one
of the most profitable trips ever made by a Gloucester vessel. She was absent twenty days, and
brought in 41,000 pounds of halibut and 2,000 pounds of codfish, the gross stock amounting to
$4,246.37. Xet stock, $4,126.72. The crew shared $171.51 apiece. There had been larger fares
brought in up to this time, but never so large an amount of money realized from the sales, halibut
then being very scarce and commanding a good price.

A trip of 80.000 pounds of halibut was brought to Gloucester in May, 1867, by schooner
Flying Fish.

The schooner James G. Tarr arrived at Gloucester in July, 1867, from the Grand Bank with
140,000 weight of halibut and codfish. There were upward of 100,000 pounds of halibut weighed
off, the largest amount up to that time ever landed from a single fare. The vessel stocked about
$4,000.

The Cape Ann Advertiser of May 29, 1868, says: "Schooner Mary G. Denn:s, which arrived
from Western Banks last week, brought in 75,395 pounds of halibut, and 9,950 pounds of codfish.
Her net stock amounted to $3,604.85, and the crew shared $143.85 each. Time absent, four
weeks."

The same paper for June 19, 1868, says: " Schooner Montana, Welsh, arrived from a four weeks'
cruise to the Grand Banks last week, with 95,773 pounds of halibut and 2,250 pounds of codfish,
the net stock amounting to $3,265. The Montana, in her two trips to the Grand Banks, has
stocked $0,000." And the Advertiser of July 24, in the same year, says: "Schooner Montana
arrived from her third trip to the Grand Banks on Friday last, with 65,227 pounds of halibut and
2,100 pounds of codfish, her net stock amounting to $2,329.02. The Montana has stocked in her
five trips $10,311.02, which is the highest net stock made this season by any Gloucester vessel."

The Cape Ann Advertiser of September 24, 1869, says: "Schooner C. B. Manning, of this
port, which arrived from the Grand Banks on Sunday, brought in 49,000 pounds of halibut and
14,000 pounds of codfish, having been absent but four weeks. The halibut were sold for $12 and
$8 per hundred weight, her net stock amounting to $4,033.44. Crew shared $116.06 each.

In 1869, the schooner Sarah P. Ayer, Captain Thurlow, owned by Dennis & Ayre, stocked
$1,251 from a trip of thirty-five days. This was one of the biggest trips of that time. In five
trips that year she stocked $12,000. In 1871 the schooner Mary G. Dennis, owned by Dennis &
Ayre, brought in 116,000 pounds of halibut, which sold for $2,400.

The schooner Lizzie K. Clark, of Gloucester, Capt. Edwin Morris, arrived in March, 1874,

28 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

with 85.810 pounds of Lalibut, and stocked $4,676. The time of the trip was seventeen days, the
shortest ever made to the Grand Bank.

The schooner Ossipee, Captain O'Brien, arrived at Gloucester from the Grand Bank April 6,
1874, with 90,628 pounds of halibut, the largest cargo of the season. Prices were low, and the
stock, which amounted to $2,533, was not so large as some made during the previous months.

Schooner Gertie E. Foster, Captain Morris, which arrived from her first trip to the Grand
Banks on Monday, September 14, 1874, brought 40,199 pounds of halibut, and sold for 12J cents;
stocked $3,340.20.

, The Cape Ann Advertiser, December 4, 1874, states that Capt. Edward Morris, who has fol-
lowed the Grand Bank halibut fishery in the Lizzie K. Clark and Gertie E. Foster, has stocked
$20,000, the largest stock but one ever made from this port. The largest was made by the Racer,
Capt. Walter M. Fait, who in 1866 stocked $22,000. In the three years 1873 to 1875, inclusive,
Captain Morris stocked $64,996.78 in the halibut fishery.

The Forest and Stream, March 18, 1875, prints the following:

" Schooner Edward Grover, Captain Wheeler, arrived from the Grand Banks on Wednesday
with 45,000 pounds halibut, having made the trip in three weeks, a remarkably short time consid-
ering the rough weather."

The Forest and Stream, March 25, 1875, states as follows:

"Schooner Chester E. Lawrence, Capt. Thomas F. Hodgdon, which arrived at Gloucester from
the Grand Banks on Monday, weighed off 126,506 pounds of halibut and 5,480 pounds of codfish,
the largest fresh fare cve'r landed up to that time at this port, and stocked $4,708.20, the fish sell-
ing for $6| and $3 per hundred-weight for white and gray. On both trips he has brought in
147,946 pounds of halibut and stocked $6,892.22."

The record of the Centennial while under the command of Captain Murphy is a very remark-
able one. She sailed from Gloucester on her first trip February 15, 1876, and between that time
and August 28 made six voyages to the Grand Bank, bringing home about 600,000 pounds 01
fish, caught in from 60 to 150 fathoms of water. She then stopped halibut fishing and went with
a load of herring to Gottenberg, Sweden. February 25, 1877, she again started halibut fishing,
and between that time and October made four trips, with the average fares of 100,000 pounds.

The Cape Ann Advertiser of March 3, 1876, thus records the largest halibut trip from
George's Bank :

" Schooner Pioneer, Captain Osier, from George's on Monday, February 27, 1876, weighed off
65,000 pounds of halibut, stocking $2,960.12, which is the largest trip of halibut ever landed from
George's. On her former trip she landed 30,000 pounds, stocking $1,107, making an aggregate of
$4,067.12 for the two trips. These -halibut were caught on hand lines in what is known as deep-
water George's fishing, which is from 100 to 150 fathoms in depth, and this is the first season in
which this kind of fishing has been pursued with any marked success. The cook's share was $167;
high-line, $181. Time absent, three weeks."

The Advertiser of April 28, 1876, says : " Schooner Epes Tarr, Eobert Grant master, left Glou-
cester, March 28, 1876, put into Halifax, March 31, and sailed April 1 for the Grand Banks. She
returned Wednesday, April 19, and landed 54,500 pounds of white halibut and 24,442 pounds gray,
the stock aggregating $3,161. The crew will clear $120 to a man. All her fhh were caught in
four days, and had it not been for the moderate wind on her homeward voyage, which occupied
nine days, she would have made the quickest trip on record."

The same paper of March 28, 1876, records the following: "Week ending April 28, 1876,

FEESH-BALIBUT FISHERY. 29

halibut trips from the Banks : Carrie P. Morton, 114,540 pounds; Davy Crockett, 99,980 pounds;
Edwin C. Dolliver, 93,000 pounds; Notice, 70,000 pounds; Howard, 95,000 pounds."

May 22, 1877, the schooner G. P. Whitman, Capt. Jerome McDonald, of Gloucester, arrived
from the "Gully," after four weeks' absence, with 137,510 pounds of halibut, which sold for
$3,254.54.

With the exception of the above, the largest cargo of fresh halibut ever brought into Glou-
cester, aud without doubt the largest ever taken, was that brought in by the schooner Centennial,
Capt. D. C. Murphy, in 1877. The fare amounted to 137,000 pounds, over 100,000 pounds of which
were white halibut. These fish were taken on the Grand Bank in latitude 43° 30' north, longi-
tude 52° 04' west, at a depth of 87 fathoms.

In 18G8, schooner William T. Merchant, Capt. Nelson A. McKenuey, stocked $4,200 on a fare
of 48,310 pounds of halibut, caught on a trip of twenty-six days. The same year the Merchant
caught a fare at Miquelon Beach of 103,450 pounds of halibut, being absent from home twenty-
five days.

The schooner Mary Carlisle, Capt. William Thompson, made nine trips to the Banks in 1871.
Her catch was 350,188 pounds of halibut and 58,759 pounds of codfish ; her net stock amounted
to $17,275.53 for about eleven mouths' work, from December 27, 1870, to November 21, 1871. On
one trip in the spring she brought in 58,553 pounds of halibut and 6,900 pounds of codfish, her
net stock reaching the sum of $4,738.75, and her crew sharing $236.25 each from a voyage of
thirty-four days. She had ten men in her crew, each of whom during the season shared $858.62. In
three years this vessel stocked a total of $46,871.53, divided as follows: 1869, $17,549; 1870, $12,047;
1871, $17,275.53.

The highest stock ever made from a single trip of fresh halibut, until recently, was that of
schooner N. H. Phillips, Capt. William McDonald, in the fall of 1871. She secured a fare of 47,650
pounds of halibut and 9,370 pounds of codfish. The gross stock amounted to $5,361. She was
absent five weeks, aud the crew shared $213.42 each. In two trips, both occupying nine weeks,
she stocked a total of $9,142, and the men shared $363.42 each.

"The largest amount of halibut ever received in Gloucester in a single week was for the
week ending February 10, 1881, when the receipts were 740,000 pounds from the Banks and
122,509 pounds from George's, 862,500 pounds."*

10. HISTORY OF THE FEESH-HALIBUT FISHERY.

THE EARLY HALIBUT FISHERY ON GEORGE'S. — In the early part of the present century
halibut were exceedingly abundant in Massachusetts Bay, and were considered by the fishermen
to be troublesome pests, as are dogfish at the present time. Their abundance, even as late as
1837, may be judged from the following account of a fishing trip in the bay quoted from the
Newburyport Herald by the Gloucester Telegraph of June 3, 1837: "Four men went out fishing
from Marblehcad a few days since, aud returned, after an absence of two days, with four hundred
halibut, for which they obtained $1.50 each, or nearly $600." The Gloucester Telegraph of March
22, 1837, contains the following, which is additional evidence of the occasional abundance of halibut
near the coast: "Our hardy fishermen," says the account, "have been unusually successful in their
pursuit of this noble fish [halibut] within the past week or two. One boat, we are informed, during
an absence of only two days, took 15,000 weight."

The fishiug vessels of Cape Ann at that period were mostly pinkies, or "jiggers," and chebacco
boats, or "dog-bodies," as they were then called; and it was the practice of the fishermen, when

"Fisherman's Own Book, p. 30.

30 HISTOUY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

halibut were troublesome, to string them on a line and hang them over the stern of the vessel.
Halibut were occasionally brought home, but they were generally thrown away. Before 1825,
however, a considerable demand for halibut sprang up in Boston, and small vessels were accus
tomed to carry cargoes to that market. The supply of fish on the inshore grounds slowly dimin-
ished, and about 1830 the announcement that halibut were abundant on George's Bank led several
vessels to make trips thither in their pursuit. The present George's cod fishery sprang up in
connection with the halibut fishery, the latter being the original inducement for vessels to visit that
region; and in early days, at the season when halibut occurred on the Bank, it is stated that it
was often impossible to catch many codfish, if desired, on account of the great abundance and
voracity of the halibut. The following account of the inception of the halibut fishery on George's
is taken from the Fisherman's Record Book, pages 77 and 78:

"It is claimed by a large majority of those interested in the fisheries that the schooner
Nautilus was the first vessel which ever ventured to George's on a halibut trip. There are others
who assert that the schooner Eomeo is entitled to the claim of being the pioneer schooner in this
branch of the fisheries. We have made the most careful inquiries, and from one of the crew of
the Nautilus we obtain the date of her sailing, and several interesting particulars of the trip. We
could not obtain any date of the sailing of the Eomeo, although we interviewed one of her crew.
He felt confident that there was not many days' difference in their time of sailing, and was rather
inclined to the opinion that the Nautilus was the first. Our informant is positive that he is correct
in his dates, and as he is a man of undoubted veracity, and in the absence of any contradictory
statements, we publish his narrative. The vessel was commanded by Capt. John Fletcher Wonson,
recently deceased, one of the most able and careful skippers among those of the olden time.

"In 1828, while coming home in the Nautilus from Wilmington, N". C., he noticed on the chart
used on board the vessel a picture of a halibut, under which were printed the words, 'Good halibut
grounds here.' This he remembered, and two years after concluded to give the halibut catching a
trial. On the 5th of March, 1830, the vessel started out of the harbor on her trip for halibut.
Among her crew were the following persons, all of whom but the last named are now living: John
W. Wonson, Nathan F. Wonson, Samuel G. Wonson, Daniel Douglass, and Benjamin Marble. The
result of this trip was twenty halibut, which were landed, but met with a dull sale. The schooner
Eomeo, Capt. Henry Pew, sailed soon after, and brought in a trip of upwards of 3,000 pounds,
which were sold for 3 cents per pound. Other vessels soon followed, but the business did not
amount to much until it had been prosecuted five or six years, when it began to assume consid-
erable importance and became established as a regular branch of the fisheries.

"This first trip of the Nautilus came very near being the last of one of her crew, Mr. Marble,
and gave a little foretaste of the dangers accompanying the vocation. The vessel was lying to,
the crew having succeeded in finding some halibut, when Mr. Marble launched the dory, and,
throwing over his anchor, commenced fishing by himself. It was quite moderate, and the vessel,
drifting with the current, was soon some distance off. This was thought nothing of in the excite-
ment attending fishing, until one of the crew remarked that Marble was about out of sight, and he
thought it queer that he didn't row for the vessel, especially as night was coming on and there
were indications of a storm. All hands then began to talk it over, and thought that something
must have happened to him. A man was sent aloft to keep the dory in sight, and a little breeze
springing up, the vessel was got under way, and they succeeded in reaching him just before the
darkness and storm came on. It seems that in the hurry of launching the dory he forgot the
oars, ami this accounted for his not attempting to regain the vessel. There lay the oars on the
vessel's deck, and not one on board had observed them. If they had, the mystery of Marble's not

FKESU HALIBUT FISHEliY. 31

atteinptiiig to rcgaiu the vessel would soou have been solved. Soon alter lie had been picked up,
the storm came oil in all its fury, a regular George's blow, with all the accompaniments, which
would have proved certain death to any one exposed to its fury in a dory."

The above paragraphs are supplemented by the following reminiscences of Mr. Samuel G.
Wonsou : " Before this time (1830) a good many halibut were taken between Gloucester and Cape
Cod, especially on the southeastern part of Middle Bank. They were taken to Charlestown, Mass.,
and traded off to the farmers for produce. Mr. George Wonson, father of Samuel G. Wonson, used
to take a good many in those early times. During the first of the season, before it was time for the
herring to come in, all fresh fish (halibut were sold fresh then) were taken to Charlestown and
traded off, alewives being brought back for bait; but later, when herring were plenty and they
were not obliged to go to Charlestown for alewives, the halibut were cut away, not being landed
at all, as there was no market nearer than Charlestown. After the first trip of the Nautilus to
George's, finding halibut scarce, she made two or three trips off Nausett (Cape Cod), and at times
found halibut plenty, the fish being sold, as before, to Mr. John Hareling, of Charlestown. Went
to George's again in June for cod, but found halibut so plenty that they took a trip of about 130
fish and run into Salem, where they disposed of part; another portion was sold to parties to take
to Marblehead, and the remainder thrown overboard, as they could not sell them. They fished in
from 20 to 50 fathoms, generally on bottom, but at times could take them up in the water.

"The first smack for bringing in halibut alive was owned by John F. Wouson, and went
first about 1835 or 1830. These smacks used to carry seven men and average a round trip a week,
a trip being what the vessel would carry alive, or about 12,000 pounds." The quickest time of tak-
ing a trip that he recalls was by anchoring at 10 a. m., and getting under way at sundown with
14,000 pounds (about 300 fish in number).

"About 1838," according to Mr. Wouson, " a little ice was taken by the smack Mount Vernou
to put in the napes of such fish as might be accidentally killed."

The following additional facts concerning the early George's fisheries have been obtained from
interviews with Captains William Tarr and John Pew, of Gloucester. These gentlemen, who
were formerly actively employed as fishermen, were two of the crew of the pinkey Romeo on her
first trip to George's Bank in the spring of 1830. This trip of the Borneo was the second made to
George's for halibut by a Gloucester vessel, that of the Nautilus being the first. While going out
of the harbor the former met the latter vessel coming in, having on board only a few halibut.
The Korneo cauglit a good fare, and may therefore be given the credit of making the first success-
ful voyage to George's for halibut.

During the first five or six years of the George's halibut fishery, that is to say, previous t.o
1836, the vessels never anchored on the Bank, but " fished at a drift," the men fearing the tide
would run them under if they should be unwise enough to anchor. When halibut were found
abundant, as was generally the case at that time, it was a common occurrence for a vessel's crew
to catch a full fare — 12,000 to 15,000 pounds— in one day's fishing. In some cases, when the fish
could be caught "pair and pair," a part of the men would not put out any lines, finding enough to
do in assisting their shipmates to gaff in the halibut which were hauled up. It often happened,
too, that halibut which were free would follow those which were hooked to the surface of the
water, and the fishermen with their gaffs frequently succeeded in catching them. Indeed, it is
stated by some of the old fishermen that it was not unusual for one-half of the fish to be taken in
this manner. After the day's fishing was over the halibut were eviscerated, washed out, but not
blooded or scrubbed. They were then thrown into the hold on top of the stone ballast, where they
remained until the vessel reached a market. Sometimes, owing to bad weather, the fishermen

32 HISTORY A;ND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

were unable to dress their catch, but had to throw the fish iu the hold just as they came from the
water. Mr. Pew relates an instance of this kind that happened on board of the piukey Paul Pry,
which he commanded, iu the spring of 1837. The vessel lay at anchor on George's Bank. Early
in the morning halibut were found to be very abundant, and, notwithstanding the prevalence of a
strong easterly wind and a thick snow storm, the men kept on fishing. The weather was so rough
that the fish were thrown in the hold as fast as they were caught. After the day's fishing was
over, a full fare having been secured, the vessel started for the land. The wind was free for the
little piukey, and she was driven along at her utmost speed. Since it continued, however, to blow
nearly a gale while the passage was being made, the fishermen were unable to take the halibut
on deck, and consequently carried the fish into Boston without being dressed.

From 1828, for a period of twenty years, the halibut fishery was carried on almost exclusively
upon George's Bank, but after the immense captures of 1847 and 1848, which resulted in the
establishment of the Gloucester Fishing Company, and its collapse on account of the great over-
supply of fish, the quantity of halibut on George's began to fall off rapidly, and after 1850 or 1852
the fishery ceased to be remunerative. From this time to 18C1 the fisheries were prosecuted chiefly
on the shallow parts of the Seal Island Ground, Brown's Bank, and Western Bank. More or less
halibut have, however, always been taken on George's by the hand-line cod fishermen from Glouces-
ter, even up to the present time, and this bank has been resorted to iu the spring by the halibut
trawlers from the ports on Long Island Sound.

The general character of the fishery upon George's Bank duriug the first decade of its exist-
ence may be appreciated from the following account of what was at the time considered a very
remarkable trip, as well as from others previously quoted:

"In March, 1833, Capt. Chester Marr went to George's Bank in the schooner Clarion. He left
Gloucester Harbor on Friday at 1 p. m., and on Sunday at 1 p. in. was again at anchor in the harbor,
with a fare of 17,000 pounds offish. From this trip he realized about $500. Two years later he
brought in a cargo consisting of 17,000 pounds of fresh halibut and 5,000 weight of salted flitches,
which he sold for $38. Captain Marr began halibut fishing on George's in 1832.

"We have succeeded," writes Mr. George H. Procter in 1873, "in obtaining a carefully compiled
statement of the doings of the winter fishing fleet on George's during the season of 1846. There is
such a contrast between the business then and now that we feel assured the details will be of interest
to the reader.

"The entire fleet which followed winter fishing at that time comprised twenty-nine vessels, as
follows : Schooners Mount Vernon, Clarissa Story, Oregon, Hosea Ballon, Huntress, Columbia, Ade
line, Champion, Union, William Wallace, Hannibal, Clarion, Alabama, Concordia, H. A. Holbrook,
Canton, Centurion, Constitution, Clinton, Pilot, Richmond, Sarah, Napoleon, Zanoni, William Peun,
Emerald, Revenue, Cinderella, and Science. Their average measurement was 62 tons [old measure-
ment]; average value, $2,800, and were considered the staunchest vessels belonging to the port.
The greater number of these vessels have either been lost or sold from this district. The first ten
of the above list left for George's January 5, and averaged five trips each during the season. TLcir
net stock amounted to [a total of] $11,870, and the average net earnings of the vessels were $151.50.
The largest fares brought in were the first two trips of the William Wallace, Capt. James Pattillo,
amounting, respectively, to $500 and $610. The arrival of these trips produced quite a sensation,
and was the theme of conversation in the stores, on the wharves, and on the street. The William
Wallace was the lucky craft, and to her captain and crew was accorded the honor of being high
liners of the Georgesmen. She stocked $2,135 for her season's work.

" The next eleven vessels of the list did not go so early in the season, but deferred their departure

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 33

till February 6. Their stock was $8,844, and each vessel averaged $128.36 net earnings. The
remaining eight started March 2 and netted $110 each. The total stock of the fleet to April 15
amounted to $25,106, and the average share of each man was $62.16.

" In those days halibut comprised the principal fish caught on George's, and the amount of
codfish caught was small. Now it is reversed, and codfish are the most plentiful." *

The following additional notes on the early halibut fishery may be of interest: " The schooner
Alabama, of Gloucester, arrived at this port this morning from George's Bank, with 140 live halibut.
— (Gloucester Telegraph, June 16, 1841.)

"A quick halibut trip. — A subscriber informs us that in 1848 the schooner Huntress, Capt.
Arthur Cain, made a much quicker trip than the one reported in our last issue. She left port on
Thursday at 11 o'clock, arriving in Boston on the following Monday morning, with 330 halibut,
having accomplished the trip in less than four days." — (Cape Ann Advertiser, July 6, 1866.)

HALIBUT FISHING IN MASSACHUSETTS BAY. — The following notes on halibut fishing in Mas-
sachusetts Bay were obtained from Captain N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown :

Captain Atwood was the first to undertake fishing for halibut in the gully between Race
Point and the Middle Bank. This was in 1840, and many very large fish were taken there. On
the first trip there were ten fishermen on the schooner. It was not good fishing weather, but they
tried for a short time, one man getting three, one getting two and several getting one fish apiece.
Altogether, in an hour they took 13 halibut, and finding they could fish no longer bore up and
went to Boston, where they found they had 2,043 pounds of the largest ever seen. In 1843 they
began setting trawls. These were 60 fathoms long and had only about a dozen hooks. The
" scrawl body," or ground line, was of 6-thread manila line, such as is called worm line, not much
larger than cod line, and the hooks were placed 4 or 5 fathoms apart on snoods 4 or 5 feet long.
One anchor was used at the farthest end of the trawl, while the end nearest at hand was kept
down by a heavy stone. la 1843 and 1844 Captain Atwood went in his little sloop-smack, the
Mars, on Nautucket Shoals after halibut. There were many New London smacks there at that
time. The New London fishermen were very careful to keep the halibut alive and handled them
with the greatest delicacy. When they had pulled them on deck they would throw a canvas over
them, and, lying down on them to hold them still, would carefully work the hooks out from their
mouths and then throw them into the well. When they were fishing in a skiff they would care-
fully reeve a rope through the gill of each fish they caught and tow them astern of the vessel until
they were placed" alive in the well. It was not convenient to do this way, so Captain Atwood
and his men killed the halibut, as they supposed, with their clubs and threw them into the well,
and when they came to dress them they were all alive. Always after that, when fishing in a well-
smack, they were in the habit of stunning the fish so that they were apparently limp, and dead,
but found that they never failed to come to life after they had remained for a time in the water.

Capt. Epes W. Merchant tells us that at the time of his first acquaintance with the fisheries
of Massachusetts Bay, from 1810 to 1830, halibut were so plenty that they were considered to be
an annoyance. Vessels lying in the bay or on the Middle Bank, fishing for codfish, would often
string up on a rope, at the stern, all the halibut caught on hooks and keep them there until they
were ready to go home, in order to prevent them from annoying the fishermen again. They were
never carried home except as a favor to friends on shore who wanted tbem.t They first came into

"Fisherman's Memorial and Record Book, 1873, p. 69.

tAt the present time, and, indeed, for many years past, halibut have generally been so scarce on the New Eng-
land coast, more particularly in Massachusetts Bay, that the capture of one or two has been considered a sufficient
novelty for the fact to be chronicled in the newspapers.
RKO V 3

34 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

demaiid about 1830. Capt. Harry Pew, in the piiikey Borneo, and Capt. John F. Wonsou, in the
Nautilus, went in the same year (1830), but he is uncertain which went first. At that time halibut
were beginning to be scarce in Massachusetts Bay, and as there was always a small demand for
them in the Boston markets, vessels began to go to George's after them. The first adventurers
went iu March, but others soon began to go in January. Quite a fleet grew up after two or three
years, and in 1848 there were sixty-five vessels which brought halibut to the Gloucester Halibut
Company, which was started in January of that year, and continued in business until the last of
April, when it suspended operations, the supply exceeding the demand a hundred fold. Sometimes
there would be twenty vessels, each with 30,000 or 60,000 pounds of halibut in its hold lying at the
halibut company's wharf, waiting to unload, while there was no possible sale for any. In warm
weather the whole fleet went after mackerel, starting about the 4th of July for the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence. There were certain favorite grounds for the halibut fishing. They used first to make
the shoals of George's and then run southeast until they struck the southern slope of the Bank
sounding, and "trying" as they went.

Captain Marr is of the opinion that the first trips to George's after halibut were made in 1828.
Capt. John F. Wonson, he says, went in March of that year, and Capt. Harry Pew went at about
the same time.

Captain Marr first went in March and April, 1832. As early as 1834, vessels were accustomed
to make their first trips to the Banks after halibut about the 1st of January. For bait they used
herring, which they caught in gill-nets on the Banks.

EAKLY HALIBUT FISHING BY NEW LONDON VESSELS. — Many New London vessels came to
George's as early as 1840. These were small sloops, each with a crew of four men. The following
statements relative to the early history of the halibut fishery pursued by the New London vessels
have been obtained from Mr. Tripland. He says that when well-smacks were first employed in
the halibut fishery from the sound ports the fish were caught with hand-lines from the decks of the
vessels and immediately put in the well. The halibut were gaffed carefully in the under jaw so
that they would not be injured enough to cause their death. A stout iron gaff (J inch iron) 2£ to
3 feet long, with an eye at the top, was used to gaff wild or large halibut, which were hoisted on
board by a tackle hooked into the eye of the gaff. Shovel-handled gaffs, he says, were also used
for pulling in halibut, as well as a few with long handles made of saplings.

The few halibut that died were iced, but little money was, however, realized from the sale of
these. While live fish brought 6 or 7 cents a pound in the market, those which were dead were
not worth more than 1 cent to 1£ cents a pound, and it frequently happened that a whole fish sold
for a very insignificant sum.

Twenty-five to thirty years ago a full fare of halibut could often be taken on George's in two
or three slack tides with a crew of five men, all told. A fare for the New London vessels of that
date would be about 150 to 200 fish, of an average weight of 80 pounds. Halibut were then also
abundant about Nantucket shoals in spring and early summer, say from March to July, in from 7
to 35 fathoms of water. On George's the sound vessels generally fished in 45 to 50 fathoms, except
when they tried about the Great Southwest Shoal anil the Cultivator Shoal, when they generally
fished in 10 to 15 fathoms. The halibut taken about the shoals were not so large as those caught
in deeper water, therefore the smackmen did not like to fish there, more particularly as more or
less danger was attached to being in too close proximity to those shoals.

When trawling began, about 1858, tight-bottomed vessels were substituted for the well smacks.
The smack George Moon was the last welled vessel employed in halibut fishing from the sound
ports and on her last trips her well was plugged up. But though tb e vessels exclusively employed

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 35

in the halibut fishery are tight bottoms, it not infrequently happens that a welled smack fishing
for cod off Nantucket may sometimes catch a number of halibut, which are taken to New York alive,
and, of course, bring a high price.

ME. JOHN FLETCHEE WONSON'S EECOLLECTIONS. — Mr. John Fletcher Wonson tells us that
the Gloucester vessels frequently went to New York with fares of halibut in early times, and that
this practice was kept up as late as 1849 to 1850. Speaking of the abundance of halibut, he also
tells us that at one time he saw ten of them follow the deep-sea lead to the surface, biting at it.
He remembers to have taken an ice-bird out of the stomach of a halibut, and at another time
some mackerel.

The New London vessels, according to Mr. Wonson, began catching halibut for the New York
market on George's somewhere between 1840 and 1845. The New London fishermen cared nothing
for cod, and the Wonsons often exchanged with them a few halibut for a boat-load of cod. The
New London fleet was first composed entirely of sloops. Mr. Wonson remembers to have counted
forty at one time in 1845 or 1846. In 1846 several schooners made their appearance.

In 1845, and until 1850, Mr. Wonson fished chiefly on the northwest part of the Bank in about
28 fathoms, though sometimes in 15 or 16 fathoms. One fare of fish was caught inside of the
breakers on the shoals. For bait, the early halibut fishermen used chiefly herring, caught on the
Banks.

RECOLLECTIONS OP W. H. WONSON. — Mr. William H. Wonson, of Gloucester, who was
engaged in the halibut fishery from 1838 to 1850, and has since been extensively interested in
halibut smoking, communicated to us the following facts regarding this fishery :

At that time the fleet was composed of vessels of 50 or 60 tons, many of them with pink sterns.
The favorite fishing ground was on the northern edge of the Bank in 30 fathoms of water. The
usual length of the trip was ten days. Mr. Wonson has been out and back in forty-eight hours.
Leaving Gloucester at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, he was back on Monday p. m. with
30,000 pounds of fish caught within 1 or 2 miles of the north shoal.

The year before the halibut gave out, fishermen used to find great pieces of halibut in the
throats of the cod ; nearly all the cod taken the last year had pieces of halibut in them.

Previous to 1848, when the vessels struck the southern part of the Bank, cod would last one
day, then the halibut would gather around and haul the codfish off the hooks. It was not unusual
for a vessel to anchor on the Bank at 11 o'clock in the forenoon and at evening heave up anchor
with 7,000 pounds halibut on board.

In 1838 10,000 or 15,000 pounds was a fair trip; never more than 20,000 pounds were taken.
At that time the fleet of fifteen or twenty sail used to start halibuting in February, run till April,
and then go codfishing until July, and after the 4th of July go mackereling. In the beginning
the practice was to catch the fish and heave them into the hold. The crew would clean them on
the way in. As early as 1840 or 1842 there were one or two well smacks in the business, after-
wards half a dozen. After icing was introduced some halibuters ran all summer. At first had-
dock were always used for bait, thirty or forty of them being taken from home. Subsequently
herring nets were carried, and there never was any trouble in getting an abundance of herring in
the winter on the Banks.

RECOLLECTIONS op CAPT. W. H. OAKES. — Capt. W. H. Oakes, of Gloucester, Mass., first went
halibut fishing in 1838. Halibut at that time were caught only on George's Bank. In the words
of Captain Oakes, "they were like sand on the beach, the more you catched the more there was."
He believes that at that time they were accustomed to strike the north side of the Bank at 75
fathoms and "follow it up" till 30 fathoms were reached.

36 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

Captain Oakes has laid to on George's Bank and caught 700 halibut in one place, while
there were twenty-two sail of vessels fishing around him, the least successful of which caught 22,000
pounds of fish.

In those days prices ranged low. In April, 1852, Captain Oakes sold 10,000 pounds of halibut
at the rate of $6 per hundred; this was an unusually high price. At that time no distinction was
made between gray and white halibut, only the "loggy fish" were thrown out. All the halibut, he
says, were in those days taken at a depth of from 35 to 45 fathoms. No cod were found on the
shoal portion of the Bank. The ground was pre-occupied by the halibut. Cod were sufficiently
abundant at the depth of 75 fathoms, and very few halibut were found in company with them.

In the early days of halibut fishing on George's the only bait he used was haddock. This was
found to be very good and continued in favor until 1841, when the vessels began to catch herring
on the Banks, and these were found to be better bait than haddock.

WELL SMACKS. — The early halibut vessels, according to Captain Merchant, were accustomed
to carry their fish in bulk, in the hold on top of the ballast. Well smacks had come into use as
early as 1845. In this year Mr. Merchant had the schooner Clinton, built in 1837, changed into a
welled smack, and for several seasons ran her to Boston market.

TBADE IN HALIBUT. — In or about the year 1849 Capt. A. W. Dodd began the business of
buying' halibut from the George's cod fishermen and carrying them to Boston, where they were
sold in a fresh state; his schooner was called the Neptune. In 1853 Capt. W. H. Oakes entered
the same business with the schooner Sarah. The average fare of halibut for George's cod fishermen
was about 3,000 pounds. The Sarah sometimes carried 20,000 pounds to Boston at one trip, and
never went with less than 8,000 pounds. The price realized at that time was about 2£ cents per
pound.

THE HALIBUT SEASON. — The George's halibut fleet was accustomed to begin operations in
March and continued until April or May. In 1838 they continued to the 10th of June. After the
close of the halibut season the vessels all went mackereling or to the Grand Bank after cod.
Captain Oakes once went to George's after halibut in February.

SALT HALIBUT TRIPS. — The practice of salting halibut on the Banks was initiated as early as
1850. Captain Oakes, who at that time was in the schooner Tremont, tells us that he salted a fare
of fish in May, 1850. They were " sold to arrive," to Henry Merchant. The schooner lay at anchor
for three days and caught a large quantity of enormous halibut, ranging in weight from 100 to
300 pounds. One of them weighed 347 pounds. The results of the trip were as follows: 19,000
pounds of flitched halibut, at $1.25 per 100 pounds; 22 barrels of salted fins, at $5 per barrel;
8,000 pounds of fresh fish, at 75 cents per hundred pounds. Many other trips were quite as suc-
cessful as this.

HALIBUT POOD. — Only once during his long experience did Captain Oakes see halibut swim-
ming at the surface. One day in April, 1845, he was on deck early in the morning and saw a large

•

school of halibut playing at the surface. He supposed that they were in pursuit of herring, which
were present in large schools at that time.

ABUNDANCE OF HALIBUT. — Captain Marr, of Gloucester, states that when, in the schooner
Scarlet Feather, he made the first trip to George's Bank after cod, he caught in 33 fathoms of
water, south and east of the north shoals, 10,000 pounds of halibut, besides 75 tubs (about 40,000
pounds) of codfish. This was in February. Before that time no vessel had caught any consider-
able quantity of cod in this locality because of the abundance of halibut, Some vessels had before
this time gone to George's for halibut in February, but none for cod.

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 37

Captain Marr also states that no large fares of halibut have been taken on George's since
1848. He thinks that the halibut at that time "shifted off" into deep water.

The following statement, communicated by II. A. S. Dearbou to the secretary of the State of
Massachusetts, was printed in the Boston Courier, and again appeared in the Gloucester Telegraph
of March 9, 1839:

" Before the construction of the Providence and Stoniugton Railroad the whole number of
halibut annually caught and brought into Cape Ann did not exceed 2,500, which were nearly all
sold fresh, for immediate consumption; for not having been in demand when cured in any manner
by salt for the domestic or foreign markets, but few were prepared for that purpose; in fact, so
worthless were they considered as salted fish that the owners of the vessels employed in the fish-
eries generally instructed the crews to cut adrift all halibut which were drawn up, and every year
many thousands had been thus turned back to the deep with a fatal wound. But such was now
the facility for transporting them fresh to the New York market, at least 16,000 were taken and
a large portion of them sent to that city by the railroads and steamboats. The average weight of
each being 50 pounds, the whole quantity amounts to 800,000 pounds, and as the common price
paid to fishermen is 2 cents per pound, this new source of revenue yields an income of $16,000.

"Formerly the halibut was only caught late in the spring and during the summer and autumnal
months, on the south shoals of jSTautucket, along the coast of Cape Cod, in Barnstable Bay, on
(,'ashe's Ledge, and some other places, where they were most abundant at certain seasons of the
year, and always in deep water, being considered, as it is termed, a bottom fish. But since the
demand for this American turbot, as it may with propriety be called (for it much resembles that
delicious fish in form and flavor), has so vastly increased, the fishermen have made explorations
in search of other haunts, and, to their great astonishment, found them in immense quantities on
George's Bank, early in March ; and what was still more surprising, and a fact wholly unknown
to them, they appeared in extensive shoals on the surface of the water like mackerel, and were
taken with 3 or 4 fathoms of line, instead of from 26 to 70, which they had been accustomed to use
time out of mind in the bottom fishing. The Cape Ann vessels take from 290 to 500 each trip,
weighing from 20 to 100 pounds."

In 1848, according to Capt. Epes W. Merchant, halibut were so abundant on George's Bank,
east of the Cultivator Shoal, in 25 to 40 fathoms, that they followed the hooks of the fishermen to the
surface. Persons on the deck of the vessel could touch them with their hands as they swam about
aud could gaff them from the surface without difficulty. Vessels could easily catch a fare of 50,000
pounds offish in two days. Captain Merchant had a vessel which caught a fare in forty-eight hours.

Capt Israel Friend, of Gloucester, tells us that in 1848 he was one of the crew of the schooner
Baltic, in which he sailed for George's in March. They fished with hand-lines, but found halibut so
plenty that four of the crew kept their lines on deck aud did not fish, but employed themselves in
assisting to gaff in the halibut that were hauled up by the others. In this way they caught a full
fare — 240 halibut in, number — in one day. The fish were then dressed and iced, and taken to Boston
for a market.

Captain Marr thinks that in early days halibut were exceedingly abundant on George's Bank.
IIn has seen a "solid school of them as thick as a school of porpoises" feeding on "lant." At
another time "the whole surface of the water as far as you could see was alive with halibut; we
fished all night and we did not catch a single codfish. The halibut would not let the hooks touch
the bottom ; we caught 250 in three hours ; the crews of some vessels would go and cut the fins ofl
the fish and let their bodies go. No wonder that they were broken up. We thought they were
always going to be so. Never made no calculations that we were goiug to break them up. The

38 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

southern side of George's was a kind of 'mother-place' for fishing halibut. All the halibut there
were large 'pea-halibut' of 200 pounds or so. On the north side thefe were small 'school halibut'
of 25 to 80 pounds." There was no great abundance of halibut on George's after 1848.

Captain Marr speaks of some remarkable halibut trips. On a patch of rocky bottom they
anchored at sundown in a little smack and the next day caught 570 halibut. He himself caught
80 that day. At another time (as has been mentioned elsewhere), when he was commanding the
schooner Clarion, Captain Marr left Gloucester on Friday at 1 p. m., and on Sunday, at 1 p. m.,
was back in port with a fare of fish. He got to the Bank at daylight Saturday morning and left
on the return trip at 8 o'clock in the evening. This cargo he sold in Boston for $500 to Mr. Eogers,
of New York, who shipped them in ice to the New York market.

FISHERMEN AFRAID TO ANCHOR ON GEORGE'S. — The first vessels which went to George's
Bank never anchored. The fishermen had an idea that it was not safe to do so, for when the
tide began to run the eddies were as great as those of another maelstrom. One man came into
port with a story that he had come to anchor on the shoal ground of George's and the tide ran so
fast that the water began rushing into both hawse-pipes of his vessel, which frightened him so
that he cut his cable and came home. The halibut vessels began to anchor in 1835 to 1837.

.FIRST USE OF PATENT WINDLASS. — Captain Marr was the first man to carry a patent wind-
lass to George's. This was about the year 1850, when he was skipper of the schooner Julia. The
old captain tells the story with a great deal of glee. Before then the vessels all used hand-spikes
for heaving up anchor. He had stood five hours at a time, hand-spike in hand, getting up anchor.
The patent windlass took his fancy and he determined to try one. His fellow-skippers laughed at
him, and said that it would be impossible to heave up anchor in rough weather with such a
machine. He was not to be discouraged and started for the Bank with his new apparatus. When
he had filled his vessel with fish and was ready to start home he instructed his men to work delib-
erately and not to convey the impression that they were in a hurry. They began, and, to his dis-
may, the cable slipped on the barrel of the windlass and the anchor refused to yield. They worked
for awhile, and it finally occurred to him that if he put ashes on the barrel it would overcome the
tendency to slip, so he sent one of the men to the forecastle for ashes and then the anchor came
up merrily, and within half an hour was swung upon the bow, one-tenth of the time usually occu-
pied. His fellow-skippers were very curious when they saw the preparations for a homeward start,
and dozens of them came around him to see him heave up his anchor. His triumph was complete,
however, and before many months every vessel from the port was fitted with a patent windlass.
The skipper would stipulate for them, and fishermen coming down to ship on board a schooner
would always first inquire whether there was a patent windlass on board, for the saving of labor
to the crew was immense. At one time there were twenty-seven vessels lying at the wharf of the
agent waiting to take their windlasses on board.

HALIBUT FISHING FROM MAINE PORTS. — In early days there was also a limited halibut
fishery from Southport, Maine, concerning which Mr. Earll has obtained the following information:

The first vessel from Sonthport to engage in the halibut fisheries was the schooner Pearl,
Capt. O. Harris, in 1844. The Pearl was a small square-sterned vessel of about 50 tons (old meas-
urement), carrying four or five men. They went in the fall and fished with hand-lines from the
vessel's deck, catching their fish usually in from 30 to 90 fathoms on the northeast edge of
George's Bank, generally hanging them up in the hold and spreading them loosely on the floor.
They usually could get a trip in from one to three days, when they would start for Portland to sell
what they could at from 2 to 3 cents per pound. It frequently happened that they brought in more
than they could sell, in which case they threw the balance away. They generally went during the

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 39

winter and spring, until time for mackerel hooking on the coast of Maine. Thus with halibutiug
and mackereling a greater part of the season would be used up. The Pearl was soon joined by
schooner Fair Play, Capt. William Harris, and they continued in the business about five or six years.

A third vessel, the schooner Nelson, engaged in the same business as early as 1850, going for
three years, after which she gave it up, owing largely to the want of a market for her fish.

No Southport vessels have fished wholly for halibut since that time, and no other towns from
this section have ever sent any, except the schooner Columbus, of Booth Bay Harbor, a few years
later, for a few trips.

The schooner Queen of the West went for haribnt from Georgetown. Me., during the winter
of 1857-'58, fishing with hand-lines and selling to Mr. Little, of Portland. She fished on Brown's
Bank and Banquereau mostly, in 60 to 90 fathoms.

FIKST ATTEMPTS TO CATCH HALIBUT ON TRAWL-LINES. — AS early as 1843, as previously
mentioned, Capt. N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, set trawls for halibut in Massachusetts Bay,
and even before that time had been accustomed to make use of a simple form of the apparatus
arranged by fastening two or three hooks at intervals along the "rode-line" of his dory close to
his anchor, and thus occasionally catching a fish or two when the anchor was pulled in. In 1843
he was in the habit of setting a regular trawl-line 60 fathoms long, with snoods of 4 or 5 feet fast-
ened to it at intervals of 4 or 5 fathoms. According to Capt. Sylvauus Smith, of Gloucester, the
dory-fishermen of Cape Ann were also accustomed to fasten two or three hooks to the "rode-
liues" of their dories as early as 1839 or 1840, thus occasionally securing a halibut or two in addi-
tion to the fish taken on hand-lines. This method of putting hooks on the anchor line was for the
express purpose of catching halibut (generally for home use at that period), which could commonly
be more surely captured in that manner than by hand-lines, while il; was usually desirable to avoid
getting a halibut on the hand-lines, which might be broken, and considerable time and labor
would, of course, be wasted in securing a fish of less value than cod. The accompanying sketch
shows this method of halibut fishing. .

Concerning the introduction of the trawl-line into the halibut fishery, which appears to have
been nearly at the same time as the introduction of the trawl into the cod-fisheries of the United
States, the following information has been obtained in interviews with Capt. Peter Sinclair, of
Gloucester :

Captain Sinclair was born in Scotland, and, in his boyhood, engaged in the fisheries from his
native place. There, he says, he learned to rig and handle a set-line, or, as it is known to Ameri-
can fishermen, a trawl. While still a young man he came to this country and engaged in the
fisheries, sailing from Gloucester. In May, 1849, he was in command of the schooner Brant, of
30 tons, old measurement. He concluded to try trawl fishing as he had seen it done in the " old
country." He therefore rigged a small halibut trawl, having only thirty-seven hooks, and set it
for the first time a short distance outside of Kettle Island, just off the month of Gloucester Har-
bor, in 7 fathoms of water. Five halibut were caught on the first set. Captain Sinclair continued
fishing on the shore grounds of Massachusetts Bay and vicinity during the summer, and, he says,
it was a common occurrence to catch halibut any day during the month of May.

Mr. Samuel Atwood, of Provincetown, who was one ot the crew of the Brant in the spring of
1849,* conceived the idea that trawls could be profitably employed on George's Bank, and, accord-
ing to Captain Sinclair, he shipped in the schooner Grace Darling the following year, making an
agreement with the skipper that he (Atwood) should have the privilege of using a trawl while on

" This was probably 1850, a year later than Captain Sinclair has put it, for according to his statement Atwood
was lost two years later in the Golden Fleece which foundered in 1852. This gives us a point from which to reckon.

40 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

the bank. Atwood went two trips in the Grace Darling, setting his trawl when the weather was
suitable, and fishing with a hand-line at other times. He did well, making twice as much money
as his shipmates.

The good success of Atwood stimulated others to try trawling, and the following spring three
of the fleet, one of which was the Grace Darling, fitted out with trawls. These were employed in
the same manner as Atwood had used his, being set only in fine weather, while hand-lines were
depended on when it was rough or stormy.

In February, 1852, Atwood sailed in the schooner Golden Fleece, taking with him a trawl and
dory of his own. His intention was to stay on George's all the spring, changing with his boat and
trawl from one vessel to another as fast as they were filled with fish and left the bank for home.
This daring and enterprising project was never carried out, for soon after the Golden Fleece
reached the bank she encountered a furious gale in which she was lost with all on board.

On the same day that the Golden Fleece sailed on her ill-fated trip the schooner Anna, com-
manded by Captain Sinclair, also started for George's, having on board two dories and two halibut
trawls. Each of the trawls had 100 hooks, placed, as now, 15 feet apart on the ground line.
These were managed in the same way as has already been described, being set only while the
weather was moderate. The fishermen of that period, according to Captain Sinclair, were not in-
clined to run much risk in dories, and, compared with the trawlers of the present day, might be
called timid about venturing out in rough weather. Nevertheless, a much larger number of hali-
but were caught on the trawls than on the hand-lines.

In May of the same year the Anna made a trip to the Seal Island Ground for halibut, carrying
three trawls and three dories; the trawls were double the size of those used on George's. She was
absent from home two weeks and caught a fare of 15,000 pounds of halibut, taking them on a spot of
ground about 3 miles northeast of the Lurcher Ledge, which lies off the western part of Nova Scotia.
At that time the trawls were stowed in tubs made of flour barrels sawed off above the upper
quarter hoops. Later, however, some of the halibut fishermen adopted another method. When
they wished to bait their trawls they hoisted the dories, trawls and all, on deck. They then pro-
ceeded to bait the gear, coiling the lines in the boat, and when everything was ready the dories
were hoisted out again. As may readily be supposed, this way of handling the boats and gear
necessitated a vast deal of hard work, and was never practiced to any great extent.

To go back to the Anna again: We are told by Captain Sinclair that, after the trip mentioned
above, she went to the Western Bank in June. She brought home 25,000 pounds of halibut, besides
a considerable quantity of codfish. She was absent three weeks. This fare of fish was caught on
two spots of ground, one of which bears west southwest a distance of 35 miles, and the other
northwest 40 to 45 miles from Sable Island. The depth of water in the latter place was 40 fath-
oms. The halibut were of large size, and mostly gray. That year, says Captain Sinclair, there
were five New London halibut schooners on the Western Bank. He can remember the name of
only one of these, the B. B. Colman.

This statement seems to conflict with that of Captain Ashby, of New London, who says that
the Connecticut vessels did not visit the Western Bank until a much later date.

The following year, 1853, there were three schooners from Gloucester and ten from New Lon-
don engaged in the fresh-halibut fishery on the Western Bank. Captain Sinclair claims to be the
first Gloucester fisherman to visit the Western Bank in pursuit of fresh halibut, though several
other skippers also make the same claim. There is no doubt of the sincerity of all these men, and
the only reason that can be assigned for so many claiming the same thing is that no one of them
knew about the others' going. The second year Captain Sinclair went there he began to fish off the

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 41

northeast bar of Sable Island ; anchoring in 60 to UO fathoms on both sides of the bar. He usu
ally went there in June for several years, but, at that time, it was thought to be exceedingly hard
and difficult to use trawls in such deep water. Notwithstanding the fact that good catches of
halibut were generally obtained, the crews were dissatisfied with the locality as a fishiug ground.
Patent line-rollers had not come into general use then, and hauling a trawl across the gunwale of
a dory, even in a depth of 90 fathoms, was a difficult task, involving much bard labor and fatigue.

CARE OF THE FISH. — As to the care of the fish at that time, we are told that the same methods
were employed as at present, though the work was not performed with so much skill and quick-
ness. A few years earlier, however, the process was quite different. Captain Sinclair remembers
that as late as 1845-'46 many of the George's halibut schooners (such as were not well smacks) had
no platform over their ballast, but were provided with ring bolts and spikes, which were fastened
alongside of the vessel's hold just under deck, these being so arranged for the purpose of " hang-
ing up" the halibut. The fish were suspended by their tails to the spikes and bolts, but in case
more were caught than could be hung up, the remainder were thrown on the ballast. In the
latter case many of the halibut came out in bad condition. Those which lay next to the rough
stone ballast would, of course, have the stones pressed into their under sides, and, if kept in the
hold a few days, they had a bad appearance by the time ihey reached the market. This method
was soon followed by the introduction of ice-houses, which quickly superseded all other expedients
for the preservation of halibut. The first ice-house that Captain Sinclair knew of being built in a
fishing schooner was one which was made on the William Wallace, C<tpt. James Pattillo, in the
spring of 1846. This had double bulkheads, separated 2 or 3 inches, the cavity between them
bl ing filled with tan-bark.

Other parties agree in placing the introduction of the ice-house on fishing schooners at an
t-arlier date, and giving the credit of the invention, or rather the conception of the idea, to Capt.
George Blatchford.

Among others, Capt. William Pulcifer, of Gloucester, states that the first ice-house used on a
Gloucester vessel was built in the pinkey Laurel, of which Capt. George Blatchford was master.
This ice-house consisted of a platform over the ballast, and three '-shifting planks" running fore
and aft in the hold, one of these being in the center and one on each side. A small amount of ice
was carried. This was not broken up and put on the fish as at present, but was simply carried to
keep the ice-house and fish cool. The fishermen did not at that time know that halibut would keep
longer by putting ice in and among them, but thought it would injure instead of preserving
the fish.

Captain Marr also remembers that the Laurel was the first Gloucester vessel to have an ice-
house. He tells lis that the first ice-house he had himself was in the schooner Emblem. This was
built forward of the mainmast, was only 14 feet long, and had no divisions other than those made
by the shifting planks; pens were not built in the ice-houses until they had been used two
or three years. At first Captain Marr carried only about 1,400 pounds of ice. He agrees with
Captain Pulcifer in the statement that at first ice was carried solely for the purpose of cooling the
ice-house, the impression being general among the fishermen that no good purpose could be gained
by putting it among the fish. Captain Marr says: "We put the ice in one corner of the ice-house,
away from where the fish were stowed."

In regard to the smacks that were used just previous to the introduction of ice-houses, Cap-
tain Marr says: " We used to build our wells about 4 feet deep, extending from just forward of the
main hatch nearly to the mainmast. The keelson and ceiling were taken out and about three hun-
dred holes bored in the bottom of the vessel. These wells would hold from 16,000 to 18,000 pounds

42 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

of live halibut, if the weather was cold, but not more than half that amount could be kept alive
in warm weather."

THE BAIT USED IN THE EARLY HALIBUT FISHERY. — In regard to the bait used by the George's-
men and halibut trawlers we have obtained the following statements : " Gapt. Ben. Rumby," says
Sinclair, "was the first to carry pogie bait in ice to George's Bank. This was in 1847. He
bought 1,000 of these fish (an amount then considered a large baiting) from two boats, each of
which had one net 14 fathoms long. I and William Gardner were in one of the boats which caught
and sold the pogies, and William Rowe and his young son in the other."

Captain Sinclair, while in the schooner Anna, usually carried several pogie gill-nets as part of
the outfit in summer. When starting out on a summer trip he would, with these nets, "sweep"
pogies for bait, rarely failing to get a full supply either off Cape Ann or along the coast of Maine.
For a halibut trip he generally carried about 7,000 pogies in number, and, while using them for
bait, caught nearly equal quantities of cod and halibut.

HALIBUT AT SAN FRANCISCO. — The following record of an attempt to prosecute the fresh-
halibut fisheries from that port was clipped from a San Francisco paper:

" When the large and abundant supply of this fish is considered, it is a matter of wonder that
so small a quantity is smoked or canned for market. There is a prejudice in favor of Eastern
halibut, which doubtless to some extent hinders the development of this branch of business. The
North Pacific Canning Company can some halibut at Klawack, Prince of Wales Island, and it is
said to be of good quality.

"The endeavor to bring fresh halibut to San Francisco from Puget Sound does not appear to
have been financially successful. A schooner load suddenly brought into market already fully
stocked with fish caused the price to fall to about ten cents per pound, and much of it could not
be disposed of at that price."

The Gloucester Telegraph of July 30, 1853, says: "Halibut, in California, is just double the
price of salmon — a pound of the sea fish exchanging for two pounds of the river fish. Halibut in
the San Francisco market are brought from the Russian settlements, and are similar to those on
our coast."

RECOLLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN MARKUSON. — The following statements of Capt. Knud M. Mar-
kuson, a veteran halibut fisherman, contain many facts interesting in this connection:

"I began halibut fishing," he says, "in 1861, at which time I was in command of the schooner
Silver Spring. I followed the fishery continuously in Summer until 1864. I used to go to George's
for cod in the winter, but in the spring wo would fit out for halibut trawling, and go to La Have
Bank, Brown's Bank, or the Seal Island Ground. In 1861 we carried only three dories ; the trawls
had only 150 hooks each, these being placed 3 fathoms apart on the ground line. We used to catch
an average of about 15,000 pounds of halibut each trip, which was considered a good take for the
times.

"During the seasons of 1865, '66, and '67 I did not engage in the halibut fishery. In 1868 I
took command of the new schooner Notice and went on a halibut trip to Saint Peter's Bank. The
schooners Scotland, Isaac Patch, James G. Tarr, and several others had fished for halibut the pre-
vious year on Saint Peter's Bank, generally on the northern part, and had met with great success.

"I succeeded in discovering a new halibut fishing ground on the southeast end of Saint Peter's
Bank, where fish were generally abundant. This particular locality has somewhat less depth than
the other portions of the Bank immediately surrounding it, and is known among the fishermen as
the 'Southern Shoal Water.' [This locality is of comparatively small extent, being a ridge about
20 miles long. The bottom is chiefly composed of coarse sand, gravel, and pebbles, among which

FKESH-HALIBDT FISHERY. 43

are more or less rocks, covered with reddish bryozoans. On most parts of this bauk the bottom is
generally rocky, the stones being invariably covered, to a greater or less extent, with bryozoans.]

"For four years I used to visit Saint Peter's bank regularly, usually going there between
May and September of each year. During this period (1868 to 1872) I generally made three
trips to the Shoal Water each season, and one summer I made five trips. Occasionally it would
take some time for us to search out the position of the halibut, but when we once found a school
of fish we had no difficulty in getting a fare, and rarely fished longer than a week. We averaged
about 30,000 pounds of halibut to each trip, though, of course, there was considerable variation in
the amount taken on different voyages. We carried twelve men, all told, including myself, and
five dories; had three hundred hooks to a trawl.

" During the four seasons I have spoken of no other halibut catchers learned of the abundance
of fish on the ' Southern Shoal Water,' or at least did not discover it until 1872. I therefore prac-
tically had had the field to myself during this time, and did exceedingly well. After the ground
was found out by others, and the halibut fleet began to go there, the schools of fish were soon
broken up. One season's fishing reduced the hab'but from abundance to such scarcity that the
'Shoal Water' rarely afterwards proved a profitable fishing ground.

" In the meantime I generally used to fish on La Have Bank and the Western Bank in the
winter, and commonly made a trip or two each fall to the 'Eastern Shoal Water' of the Grand
Bank. In the summer of 1868 I made my first halibut trip to the Magdalen Islands. I made two
trips each summer, for that and the two succeeding years, generally visiting the islands in July
and August. I went there the fourth summer (1872), but could catch no halibut, or, at best, so
few I was compelled to go elsewhere for fish. During the first three years I fished chiefly around
Byron Island and on the shoal between Byron Island and the Bird Eocks, the depths varying from
14 to 24 fathoms. The halibut we caught there were nearly all white fish, and as we obtained fares
ranging from 25,000 to 35,000 pounds, we made profitable trips."

As will be seen by a perusal of the notes which follow, the grounds visited by Captain Markuson
from 1868 to 1872, namely, La Have Bank, Western Bank, the " Eastern Shoal Water" of the Grand
Bank, and the grounds around the Magdalen Islands, soon became exhausted, and in place of hali-
but being in great abundance in those localities, they are now so extremely scarce that their occur-
rence, even in limited numbers, is looked upon as rather a remarkable event.

11. HISTORICAL NOTES AND INCIDENTS OF THE FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY.*

BY J. W. COLLINS.

This chapter is based upon observations made in the course of several years' experience in the
Gloucester halibut fishery. I have necessarily been obliged to refer to my personal experiences,
and this part of it should be read in connection with the appended logs of two actual voyages made
in the years 1878 and 1879, which have been selected to show the difficulties which often are met
with on a halibut trip, and which frequently prevent its successful issue. While the list of " big
trips" which has been given will show one side of the business, these notes are intended not only
to give an idea of the reverse, but to enable the reader to comprehend under what difficult condi-
tions this fishery is generally conducted in winter.

I shall endeavor to give as briefly as possible an outline history of the halibut fishery (so far as
I can do so from personal recollections and interviews with fishermen and skippers) since vessels first
went to the Grand Bank for fresh halibut. It is my opinion that halibut are being reduced in numbers

* All the vessels mentioned in these notes and in the logs of two trips which follow, belong to Gloucester, unless
it is otherwise stated.

44 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

very fast, and if the present style of fishing is pursued will in a few years become extremely scarce,
if not almost extinct. Of course, in the present stage of investigation there may be a doubt whether
the fish are driven from their old haunts by the fishing-gear, or whether their abundance is so far
affected by overfishing as to offer no inducement to fishermen to resort to the "old grounds" in
pursuit of them. '1 incline to the opinion that both causes have their influence, but I think that
the latter has emphatically the greater. The inshore grounds, George's Bank, Brown's Bank, Seal
Island Ground, La Have, and Western Bank having been fished over, about in the order named,
and the halibut on them reduced from plenty to comparative scarcity, the fishermen, who were
not then acquainted with the deep water fisheries, had to resort to other fishing grounds. In the
mean time Oapt. John McKenzie made a, successful trip to Scatari. His vessel lay in Menadou
Harbor, and he set his trawls in the narrow strait that divides Scatari Island from the mainland.
In this manner he obtained about 60,000 pounds of halibut. This trip I have not the exact date
of, but think it was in July, 1861. Since that time there have been a few fares taken in the sum-
mer at Flint Island and about Scatari, but as the appearance of halibut in that locality is somewhat
uncertain, it has never been a favorite fishing ground for large numbers of vessels. Many of the
fishermen doubted the practicability of bringing fresh halibut from the Grand Bank in good con-
dition, even after they were aware that those fish could be obtained there in large quantities. To
Capt. George Miner, of the schooner Hattie M. Lyons, belongs the honor of being the pioneer of
the fresh- halibut fisheries to the Grand Bank.*

At first the vessels resorted to the " Eastern Shoal Water," between the parallels of 44°
and 45° N. latitude and the meridians of 49° 30' to 50° 30' W. longitude, where they found
halibut in large numbers, bat after one or two years' fishing in this locality there was a marked
decrease in the abundance of these fish, in some cases amounting even to extreme scarcity, and
the result was that the fishermen were obliged to seek for new fields. Some new grounds were
found by accident or, at least, their discovery was owing to peculiar circumstances, in which there
was a certain amount of chance, while the finding of others was due solely to the enterprise of the
fishermen. Among the latter were Saint Peter's Bank, Miquelon Beach, and Pass Island, in
Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. Halibut were never, to my knowledge, found on Saint Peter's Bank
so numerous as at many other places, but as they were of superior quality and the fisheries on
that bank held out better than on many others., it was resorted to for several years, but finally had
to succumb to the fate of other fishing grounds. Halibut followed the capelin in on Miquelon
Beach about the 1st of June, and at first were found there in immense numbers close to the shore,
and iu water so shallow that frequently they could be seen biting the hooks. On one occasion, in
1868, the schooner William T. Merchant, Capt. Nelson A. McKenney, of Gloucester, caught 40,000
pounds there at one set of her trawls. She got a full fare (103,450 pounds of halibut) iu a few
days, and several other vessels, among which was the Carrie S. Dagle, met with good success.
Halibut were not nearly so plenty at the Beach the next summer, and after the second season it
has not been profitable to fish there, although occasionally a vessel has got one or two fair catches,

* First fresh-halibut trip from the Grand Bank; the biggest trip yet. — We have recorded some pretty big trips the
present season, but the schooner Uattie M. Lyons, Capt. George Miner, which arrived from the Grand Bank on Tues-
day, eclipses all others in this respect. She was absent but four weeks, and brought in about 75,000 pounds of halibut
and 6,000 weight of codfish, and will stock some $4,000. The crew will make from 8175 to $200 apiece. The fish were
caught on the eastern part of the Bank, and are the first fresh halibut ever brought from that locality. She was a
fortnight ou her outward passage, and was but five days catching the trip. The Hattie M. Lyons is owned by D. C.
Babson & Co. and Captain Miner, who has the honor of making the biggest trip ever brought into this port. — (Cape
Ann Advertiser, June 15, 1866.)

The gross stock of the H. M. Lyons, whose arrival we reported last week, was $3,6:24. — (Capo Ann A
June 22, 1866.)

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHEEY. 45

but I bave never known of one getting a full fare in the locality. In the early part of the
summer of 1879 the Alice M. Williams caught nearly 10,000 pounds of halibut at one set on the
Beach, but afterwards could get only a few, and was obliged to leave Miquelon and go elsewhere.

The fishing ground off Pass Island was about 8 miles southwest and southwest-by-west from
the island, in 160 fathoms. It was only a small "spot," not more than 2 or 3 miles in extent each
way, if so large. After two seasons this also was worthless as a halibut fishing ground; though
frequently visited since, I have never heard of a large catch being made there.

I will return to the Grand Bank and show what I think was, in a measure, the accidental dis-
covery of new fishing grounds. From the first it had been the general way for the halibut fisher-
men to run direct for the Eastern Shoal Water, never dreaming that they were passing over much
better grounds than any they had ever yet fished on. In March of 1870 the schooner C. B. Man-
ning, Capt. Charles Nute, the schooner N". H. Phillips, Capt. William McDonald, and the schooner
John Corliss, Capt. George Brown, all left Gloucester at or about the same time. I have positive
information that the two former were in company. These vessels had a fine run down as far as
the western edge of the Grand Bank, striking it north of 44° K latitude. About the time
they reached the western edge of the Bank the wind sprang up easterly and blew heavy. Captain
McDonald, whose vessel was new and the cable stiff and wiry, thought he would anchor and get
the kinks out of it, so that it would be in working order when there was a return of fine weather.
He was in CO fathoms, and had not the remotest idea, it is said, of finding halibut in that depth of
water, but after the vessel was anchored, and while some of the men were stradding the cable,
&c., one of the crew threw out a hand-line and caught a pair of .halibut. The rough weather
lasted two days, but after it was over a fare was soon caught. Captain Brown, in the Corliss,
anchored in about 50 fathoms on the western edge of the Bank to hold on until the easterly was
over. After the gale moderated, the trawls were set to get some bait and " try the ground." On
the first set only 4,000 pounds of halibut were caught, which was then thought to be poor fishing,
but the skipper determined to set again, although some of the crew opposed it. On the second
set between 45,000 and 50,000 pounds of fish were taken, and it was nearly two days' work to haul
the trawls and dress the halibut caught on them. On the third set the majority of the fish were
gone, so that not more than 3,000 pounds were taken. Captain Brown then started for home,
realizing about $4,000 from the sale of the fish. The facts of the catch were obtained from
Captain Brown, who is now dead. The schooners N. H. Phillips and John Corliss both got in
about the same time and stocked nearly the same amount. The C. B. Manning, instead of
anchoring as the other vessels did, kept on and carried sail to get to the eastward. She tried
over the old grounds, but when she had been from home three weeks she had only 5,000 pounds
of halibut, and taking a heavy gale about this time her dories were stove, and the prospect for a
successful trip looked discouraging. However, the dories having been repaired as well as the
circumstances permitted, the vessel worked to the westward and struck halibut on the western
part of the Bank in about 51° 20' W. longitude and 44° 10' K latitude (my informant, one of her
crew that spring, thinks the above is the right position, and probably he is correct), and soon
made up a fare of 86.000 pounds. After the first two seasons fishing for halibut on the western
part of the Bank, these fish, though plenty in the winter and spring, grew scarce in summer, but
in the fall good trips were got for several years on the Eastern Shoal Water. The scarcity of
halibut on the Grand Bank in summer obliged the fishermen to look elsewhere, and as they knew
very well that these fish were more or less migratory, but did not know that the species went into
deep water, many places were visited where, in former years, halibut had been reported plenty by
people who had caught them while in pursuit of other fish. In this manner the west coast of

46 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

Newfoundland, the southern coast of Labrador, island of Anticosti, Magdalen Islands, Virgin
Rocks on the Grand Bank, and other localities heretofore mentioned, were visited. More or less
halibut were found at all these places. Captain Johnson, in the schooner Ocean Belle (now in the
Augusta H. Johnson), caught a fare in the bay of Saint George, and another of 70,000 pounds at
Red Island, on the west coast of Newfoundland. Only a few fares have been caught at the Mag-
dalen Islands, and those were mostly taken on the shoal between the Bird Rocks and Byron
Island.- Captain Markuson, in the schooner Notice, got the best fare there that I have heard of;
he had about 40,000 pounds. The date of this trip was about 1869. The halibut were pursued
with more or less success on the shores of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Anticosti in summer,
until 1875, when the deep-water fisheries being discovered, and several vessels making unsuccess-
ful trips on the northern coasts, the fishermen became convinced that the schools were broken up,
and those fisheries were abandoned until last year, 1878, when the schooner Chester R. Lawrence
got two good fares, 80,000 pounds the first and 60,000 pounds the second, and the schooner G. P.
Whitman, one trip of 80,000 pounds, at Green Point, about 10 miles northerly from Bonne Bay,
northwest coast of Newfoundland. In the spring of 1861, while on a " salt trip " to Cape North,
Cape Breton Island, we found halibut plenty 10 miles northerly from the Cape in 75 to 90 fathoms,
but since then the catch in that region has been small, and recently it is a rare occurrence to get
halibut there. I have never known of a full fare of fresh halibut being taken there, though it is
possible such may have been the case. My brother, Capt. D. E. Collins, was there codfishing in
the spring of 1877 and 1878, and he tells me that he got very few halibut. Meanwhile, as early as
1869 or 1870, if not earlier, some of the halibut catchers resorted to the Gully between Banquereau
and Sable Island, generally about the first of April, and many good fares were taken there. But
as the fishermen seldom, if ever, ventured beyond a depth of 70 fathoms, they generally " lost the
run of the fish " after May.

Captain Nute, in the C. B. Manning, was probably the first to visit the Virgin Rocks on a
u fresh trip," going there about the 1st of July, 1870. He caught a fare of 83,000 pounds in a
week on the westerly side of the " main shoal." These fish, as well as those which visit Miquelon
Beach, Newfoundland, and other northern coasts, were in pursuit of capelin, which at that
season are abundant about the Virgin Rocks, and which is a favorite food for both halibut and
cod. The schooners Frank Butler, N. H. Phillips, and Eastern Queen all obtained good fares
there after the Manning left for home. The Manning got another fare of 46,000 pounds at the
Rocks in August; but when the Eastern Queen went there on her return to the Bank, about the
last of August, the fish had left, or were broken up, and she was obliged to go farther south, and
then secured only a small fare. In 1871 I was in the Alice G. Wonson, and about the 20th of
June we baited in Fortune Bay, after which we tried off Pass Island, in company with the schooner
Lizzie A. Tarr, at Miquelon Beach, with a fleet of six or seven other vessels, and also on the
northern part of Saint Peter's Bank. At all of these places we found halibut very scarce, not-
withstanding that they had been abundant in these localities one or two years earlier. Failing
to catch fish enough to warrant our going home, we returned to Fortune Bay, and baited the
second time on July 4. As soon as we got our bait we proceeded direct to the Virgin Rocks,
arriving there about the 6th or 7th of July. The schooners Mary G. Dennis, Capt. Randall Mc-
Donald, and Varuna, Capt. B. A. Williams, arrived there one or two days previous. They caught
a few halibut on their first sets, but the school was soon broken up, and by the time we arrived at
the Rocks fish were so scarce that, after making a thorough trial, all of the vessels left and pro-
ceeded farther south. Thus ended the halibut fishing at the Virgin Rocks, for none of any amount
have been taken there since.

FEESH HALIBUT FISHEBY. 47

For several years that part of the Grand Bank between 44° and 44° 40' N. latitude, and 51° and
51° 30' W. longitude, was a favorite resort for halibut catchers. At first, as has been stated, the
halibut were found abundant all the season, but after a few years they could be caught in large
numbers only in winter and spring, when migrating across the Bank from east to west. On this
ground Capt. William Thompson, in the Mary Carlisle, in March of 1871, caught the trip which gave
the largest share to each one of the crew that has ever been made in the fresh-halibut business.
The schooner White Fawn caught a fare of 44,000 pounds a few days later (starting from home
March 31) in 43° 30' N. latitude and 50° 30' W. longitude.

The vessels continued to fish on the Western Bank and Grand Bank in winter and spring,
changing to Saint Peter's Bank and the inshore ground about Newfoundland, Labrador, and Anti-
costi in summer, and back to the Grand Bank in autumn, until 1875, when the deep-water fisheries
along the borders of the outer banks became for the first time generally understood by the fisher-
men. In April of 1874 the schooner G. G. Kidder caught a good fare in 90 fathoms, about 44° 30'
N. latitude, on the western edge of the Grand Bank. The schooner Sarah H. Cressy was fishing
near her on a flitching trip, and found halibut very plenty for a few days; but when they grew
scarce, the vessels were not prepared with sufficient cable to follow the fish into deeper water,
even had it been known they were there, which may be doubted, for it was generally believed
then that when halibut passed beyond a certain depth they left the Bank.

I went on a fresh-halibut trip to the Grand Bank in the schooner Ocean Belle in March, 1864,
while the Howard was building. On that occasion we caught our trip of 55,000 pounds from 44°
08' to 44° 16' K latitude and from 51° 10' to 51° 20' W. longitude. We were absent from home
four weeks, and each man shared within a few cents of $100.

In the latter part of January, 1875, while in the Howard, I caught a good fare, for the season,
on the same ground. The weather was very boisterous while we were on the Bank and on our
passage home. A large part of our fare was caught by setting and hauling trawls at night. We
were seventeen days on the home passage, which was the longest, hardest, and most fatiguing I
ever made. We encountered on our way home a succession of westerly gales, which, with the
severe cold of that winter, made it extremely difficult to get to the westward. As an instance of
the great severity of the weather, it is only necessary to say that a first-class Beverly vessel, the
schooner Sarah H. Putnam, which went to the Grand Bank that winter on a "fresh trip," was forty-
two days making the passage home. That is the only instance of a Beverly vessel being engaged
in the fresh-halibut fishery of which I have any knowledge, and she made only one trip. We were
detained from sailing on our second cruise that winter by easterly winds for two weeks or more,
and when we reached the Grand Bank, about the 15th of March, the whole of it to the northward
of 44° 25' N. latitude was covered with heavy masses of field-ice. *

Two or three weeks previous to our arrival on the Bank halibut were very plenty in latitude
44° 20' to 44° 25', in 50 to 55 fathoms on the western part of the Bank. They were moving quite
fast to the westward, but nevertheless a number of the vessels got large fares in a very few days.
When we arrived in this locality the fish had left, probably being driven by the ice-floes which
slowly drifted to the southward, reaching at one time as far south as latitude 43° 40', in the middle
of the Bank, and causing the fishermen much anxiety and more or less loss of gear by unexpectedly
drifting on their vessels in the night. On one occasion a number of vessels tried to skirt the ice
and get around it so as to reach the northwest part of the Bank, but toward night of the day on
which the attempt was made a northeast gale and heavy snow-storm came on, and we all lay to
under the lee of the ice, which made the sea very smooth. The next day we found the floe had
been driven so far south by the gale that we did not again attempt to get by to the northwest of

48 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

it, but a little fleet of eight vessels having met together at the southern edge of the ice, all of the
skippers went on board of the schooner Augusta H. Johnson to talk over the situation. After
deliberating a while, each returned to his own vessel, aud while some of us ran to the southward
others lay by waiting for the ice to recede to the northward. Just after this, the schooner Noon-
day, which was one of the fleet referred to, caught 30,000 pounds of halibut in CO fathoms of water
on the western edge of the Bank in latitude 43° 40'. The ice did not drift so far south on the
western edge as in the middle of the Bank, and she was not troubled by it. After the consulta-
tion referred to above, we ran down to latitude 43° 30' N. and longitude 50° 30' W., but could
fiud no fish. We were there some days before the weather permitted us to try, and after we hauled
our gear and found no fish on it we got under way, with a southerly wind, and ran for the western
edge of the Bank, intending to strike it north of latitude 44° N. A careful lookout for ice was
kept. That evening we spoke the schooner Edwin C. Dolliver, at anchor in 70 fathoms, and lay
by her for the night. The next morning we made sail, spoke the Dolliver again, and also the
schooners Chester E. Lawrence and Eestless. The first two were lying at anchor in 60 to 70
fathoms of water and the Eestless lay in 49 fathoms. Neither of them caught any halibut.

The ice, driven by the southerly wind, had at this time drifted back to about 45° N. latitude,
and we worked to the westward, in company with several other schooners, among which were the
Eestless, Edwin 0. Dolliver, Alfred Walen, N. H. Phillips, and John S. Presson, all of them
setting trawls under sail in the day and anchoring and setting their gear at night. In this man-
ner the fleet beat slowly to the westward against a moderate breeze for several days, trying for
halibut in water varying from 48 to 70 fathoms in depth, but catching nothing. The water was
so intensely cold that the fr»zen baits on the trawls would scarcely thaw when set in 50 fathoms
of water, or less, and we were almost compelled to believe that the fish had been driven entirely
off the Bank by the great ice-field and straggling icebergs. The latter were occasionally seen in
the deep water off the edge of the Bank.

One day we passed by a large berg, about one-third of a mile distant from us. On one end ot
it a sharp pinnacle, resembling the spire of a church, ran up to a height of 75 or 80 feet; the middle
was quite low, but the other end rose in a bunch or hummock about 20 feet above the water. The
sunlight, playing on this huge mass of ice, throwing lights and shadows here and there, causing
the peaks to glitter and gleam for a moment, then darken to a greenish tint, and its constantly
changing aspect, as we sailed by it, made it an interesting aud impressive sight. But the thought
that it or some of its fellows might drive down on us some foggy and windy night, when we were at
anchor, caused us to look upon it with a sense of dread and apprehension instead of the admira-
tion we might have felt in watching such an object under different circumstances.

On the last day of March we all set our trawls as usual — some of the vessels being at anchor
and others under sail — but no fish were caught by any of the fleet, and before dark all of the
schooners which had been at anchor got under way. The wind was north-northeast, blowing a
fresh breeze, and knowing the ice was not far off in a northerly direction no one would have cared
to remain anchored, even had there been greater inducement to do so. We were then on nearly
the extreme northwest peak of the Grand Bank, and the question was where to go next, for I do
not think it occurred to any one then to try in deeper water than we had previously set in. The
schooner Edwin C. Dolliver went back to the eastward again, but others of the fleet lay by
speaking with each other, the skippers evidently uncertain in what direction to steer.

Having spoken the schooner Carrie P. Morton, which came driving along from the eastward
just at dark, and learned that no fish had been caught by the vessels farther east, I decided to
"hold our ground" till morning. We accordingly hove to alongside of the Alfred Waleu, -vhich

FEESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 49

was also lying to. As day broke on the following morning we saw a schooner at anchor and ran
down to her in company with the Walen. Finding the anchored vessel was the Eestless. we hove
to, and Captain Thompson (from the Walen) and I, each of us accompanied by three or four men
of our respective crews, went aboard of the Eestless for a chat with the skipper and crew. She
was anchored in 83 fathoms of water, and her crew were just setting their trawls when we ran
down to her. The skipper of the Eestless said he broke out his anchor the evening before and
let his vessel drift until the latter part of the night, when, finding deep water, he let it go again.
We stayed on board of the Eestless until some of her dories returned from hauling, about 10 a. m.,
when, seeing that they were getting fair fishing on-thegear that was in the deepest water, we both
returned to our own vessels and set under sail outside of the Eestless.

We were in 115 fathoms, which was then thought to be a great depth to fish in, but the Walen
went still farther out, in 135 fathoms. We caught about 4,000 pounds of halibut on a short set,
and anchored; and the Walen, as I afterward learned, got 8,000 pounds or more, and also came
to anchor. In the mean time the schooners John S. Presson, William T. Merchant, Lizzie K. Clark,
of Gloucester, and the George Peabody, of Salem, made their appearance on the scene of action,
and anchored at no great distance to the northwest and southeast of us. The Lizzie K. Clark
anchored a fair berth, about 2 miles, to the north- north west. The afternoon was fine, with a mod-
erate and decreasing northeast wind, and current setting to the northwest or north-northwest.
Knowing full well that the first vessel arriving home with a fare of halibut would be likely to
strike a "high market," and, of course, wishing to be first, we set twenty skates of trawl, the
whole string, in the evening, not for a moment suspecting that there was any ice in a southerly
direction from us.

The next morning was fine and calm, but cool. We had our breakfast before daylight, and
just as day was breaking an "iceglin"was noticed in the southern board; and when it grew
lighter an immense field of ice could be seen drifting toward us with the current, which still ran
north-northwest. Of course, the first thing to be thought of was to get our gear, if possible, or,
at least, as much of it as we could. We hoisted the dories out and started at once. One of the
crew, who had a fainting fit the evening before, was very ill, and I was therefore obliged to go in
a dory in his stead. Before leaving the vessel I gave the men orders to get all the gear they
could, and if the ice came on them to cut and go aboard. The trawl that we went to haul was off
the starboard quarter, four points abaft the beam. We pulled for the outer end, and on reaching
it began to haul as though our lives depended on our efforts.

We succeeded in getting a skate and a half of our trawl, about 500 fathoms, in the boat, when
we saw the flag in the rigging of our schooner, which we knew to be a signal for us to return to
the vessel, as the ice was nearing her fast. We instantly cut the trawl, put out our oars, and
pulled with all our might to reach the vessel before the ice did. Another dory, which was near
us, started about the same time, and we both met the ice about 600 feet astern of our schooner.
When the ice passed the vessel the men on board had the presence of mind to throw a buoy, to
which a line was fastened, on one of the leeward cakes of the floe. This buoy we got hold of and
made it fast to the bow of the dory, securing the bow of the other boat close to the stern of the
front one. The current was running at least 2 knots, and the buoy line being under the ice near
the buoy, we had a hard struggle for some time to make any progress toward the vessel and to
get the line on top of the ice. The men on the vessel held the line as taut as they dared to, not
to risk parting it, while we jumped out of the head dory upon the ice, sometimes hauling the boats
over the large cakes and again shoving the smaller pieces clear of the dories and line. The ice
was broken into sections of all sizes, from a piece of a few pounds weight to one of 50 feet in
SBO v 4

50 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

diameter and 6 to 10 feet thick. In this manner we worked, tugged, and pulled, never resting for
a moment, until at last we had the line clear and above the ice, when it became a comparatively
easy matter to reach the vessel.

After getting on deck we found one of the George Peabody's and one of the William T. Mer-
chant's dories aboard of our vessel, while one of our own boats, which had held on to her trawl
too long, had to seek a refuge on board of the Lizzie K. Clark. After our dories were taken in, we
had a better chance to view the scene, which certainly had a decidedly arctic appearance. As far
as the eye could extend from aloft, in a southern and eastern direction, an almost unbroken mass
of drifting field ice was all that could be seen. Here and there, however, a small streak or pond
of water added a little diversity to the otherwise monotonous appearance of the frozen ocean.

All of the forenoon and the first hours of the afternoon the ice kept drifting by us, being car-
ried along with the curreut. But our anchor held fast, though the strain was great on our cable
as the heavy masses of ice came up against the bows and went grinding, gritting, and groaning
along the vessel's side. After a while a moderately sized open space was seen ahead, and as it
approached us the men belonging to the Peabody and Merchant anxiously watched it, being very
desirous to reach their respective vessels, which were not far off; in this they succeeded.

A moderate breeze sprang up in the afternoon and the Lizzie K. Clark, getting into one of the
clear streaks, got underway and worked up abreast of us, when she forced her way through the
ice, passing close alongside, dropping our dory, which came aboard.

Meanwhile we had hove short on our cable, and seeing an open place to windward, were all
ready to break out our anchor as soon as the opening came near enough to us. We waited only
a short time before we got under way, after which we stood back and forth along the weather edge
of the ice, watching for the trawl buoys to make their appearance, and as fast as they did, sent ;•
dory to haul the trawl.

This area of clear water was of considerable extent, and, since the current did not run so
swiftly as before, we had a very good chance to work. However, the ice was down on us agnin
before we got all the gear, but the men stuck to their work without flinching, and since there was
a fine sailing breeze the vessel could force her way through the floe very well. It was nine o'clock
in the evening when the last dory came aboard; the others had finished hauling their gear before
dark. The ice was all around this boat during the evening, but we kept near her, though it
required close calculation to keep track of her in the darkness. The men in her got the whole of
their gear, and, notwithstanding the unfavorable appearance of things in the morning, we lost
only one skate of trawl. When, at last, all hands were safe on board and we were seated at the
supper table, the incidents and anxieties of the day became the subject of an animated conversa-
tion, and each one had a yarn to spin in relation to his experience during the day.

In the mean time the crews of the other vessels had not been idle; for, taking advantage of any
favorable circumstances, they had endeavored, like ourselves, to haul their trawls. Three of the
Alfred Walen's crew had a narrow escape from what promised much suffering if not death. The
work was so difficult that the three men went in one boat. When the area of clear water, which
I have before alluded to, came along they started out to get their trawl, the vessel still remaining
at anchor. They were caught in the ice, and although they held on to the trawl, which was the
only thing they could do, the floe carried them adrift, and their chances to reach their vessel again
were looking slim, when, late in the afternoon, the Lizzie K. Clark spoke the Walen, and the
skipper of the latter requested Captain Murphy, :is his (Murphy's) vessel was under sail, to go to
their assistance. The Clark immediately kept off', but as she had to force her way through the
ice, it was just growing dark when she reached the drifting boat, and past 9 o'clock when she got

FEE^H HALIBUT FISHERY. 51

back to the Walen. The dory was nearly three miles from the Walen when picked up, and such a
timely rescue must have been gratefully appreciated by men fatigued, hungry, and chilled to the
marrow.

After the Clark reached the Walen she made fast to the stern of the latter with a long warp
for the night; the only instance of one vessel lying fast to another on the Grand Bank I ever knew
of, and I think the only one on record.

We kept under sail during the night succeeding the day of which I have been writing, and
hold our position by observing the riding lights of the other vessels. The following morning we
anchored. We had foggy weather after this for the three days we staid there, which made
trawling somewhat dangerous; for, although the main floe had passed by, detached pieces and
long narrow streaks of ice kept coming along, and, oftentimes, when the dories were caught to
loo ward of these the men had great difficulty in working their way through or over them. Fre-
quently the boats had to be hauled over the ice for a distance of one or two hundred yards. This
trouble was increased by the denscness of the fog, which shut out from view all but the nearest
objects, and the fisherman leaving the side of his vessel felt that the thick mist, which hung like
a pall over the face of the sea, rendered his task more perilous and uncertain than ever before,
hiding as it might a vast floe of ice which would carry him away with it to drift helplessly until
lie succumbed to cold and hunger. Fortunately, however, no more serious adventure occurred
than that already mentioned, though the men comprising the crews of the entire fleet did not
hesitate to brave the perils incident to the occasion.

All of the vessels secured good fares of halibut and some made large stocks. The rough expe-
rionce of some of the fleet in the ice was apparent on their return home, when it could be seen that
the planking at the water's edge was badly chafed and cut, in some cases necessitating repairs.
The ground-lines of our trawls, being only 24 pounds to the dozen, were too small to stand the
severe strain of this deep-water fishing, especially where so many vessels were lying close together,
and setting their gear afoul of each other. We lost so much of our gear that, after fishing four
days, we could not muster enough for a set, and, all things considered, I thought best to start for
home with a fare of 22,000 pounds of halibut. As I had anticipated, few halibut had arrived in
Gloucester for the two weeks previous, and for ours we got 8 and 14J cents per pound for gray and
white. The "hawkers" were so anxious to obtain our halibut that they came aboard while we
\voro sailing into the harbor, and after our anchor was down they bid on the fish, the highest
bidder taking the trip. We shared between $79 and $80 to each man.

We did not go after halibut any more that year; but the trip of which I have given such a long
account may be said to have been the beginning of deep-water fishing for halibut, for it was the
first time, to my knowledge, that fresh-halibut vessels tried in more than 90 fathoms, on the Banks.
All of the spring and summer of 1875 halibut were found very plenty along the edge of the ground
between Grau:l Bank and Green Bank in CO to 200 fathoms. Capt. Nathaniel Greenleaf got 18,000
pounds from one set as late as October, but the fish were evidently moving fast, for when he set again
they had left.

In January, 1876, I was again engaged in fresh-halibut fishing on the Grand Bank, and tried
from 51° 35/ to 510 51 w. longitude and in about 44° 10' to 44° 15' N. latitude for the first week
on the Bank ; made several sets, but found few halibut, and finally started in company with the
schooner Edwin C. Dolliver, Capt. Nathaniel Greeuleaf, and worked southward to 43° 41' N. lati-
tude and 50° 52' W. longitude. The wind was southeast and breezing up smart when we anchored
and set our trawls, and the weather was so rough that they were out four days before we hadfi
chance to get them. We lost two trawls and set again in hopes to recover them, but another gale

52 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

came on in a few Lours and the gear was out that time three days before we could haul. In the
mean time halibut struck, and were very abundant in the vicinity of the vessel. The afternoon
before we hauled the trawls the second time, we caught 16 halibut on a "bull- tow" — a short section
of trawl-line with a dozen to twenty hooks, which is set from the vessel's stern, left out for an hour
or two and then hauled. There were few fish on the trawls, however, when we hauled them, for
they had been out before the halibut came along, but on our next set we got 10,000 pounds and
soon completed our fare, and went home.

We reached the Grand Bank on our second trip some time in the latter part of February,
running on in latitude 44° 25', where we found a number of halibut vessels that had been doing
fairly well in 55 fathoms on the western edge. We made a set under sail when we first got on the
Bank, in 55 fathoms of water, quite near some of the anchored vessels. When we set I saw a large
floe of field ice to the north of us which was drifting to the southward, and before we hauled our
gear was quite close. We did well on this set, and, as the wind had in the mean time changed to
the southward, and the ice began to drift northerly, we anchored where the best fishing was, and
set our gear out again. But when we hauled the lines, some three hours later, we got only 2 hali-
but, proving that the ice, or some other agency, made the fish move very suddenly. We now had
several days of heavy weather, during which we shifted out into 90 fathoms of water. The next
day after doing this it blew strong north-northeast so that we could not set any gear, but we ascer-
tained by setting a "bull- tow" that there were plenty of halibut where we lay. The second day
we lay there the wind was not so heavy, but the ice came down on us early in the morning. We
lay still, however, and getting into a clear place, set four skates of trawl in four strings, but got no
fish of any kind. By the time we had the trawls on board, the wind had changed and begun to
breeze up from southeast. We got under way and beat down to about 44° 6' N. latitude, where we
anchored in 70 fathoms, and rode out the southeast gale, as well as one that followed it from the
northwest. After the northwest wind began to moderate we got under way and worked to the
southwest about two miles, where the schooner Chester R. Lawrence lay at anchor in 110 fathoms.
Her men had just goneu)ut to haul their trawls when we spoke her, so we lay by, jogging around,
until I saw that her crew were getting good fishing on the deep-water side of the vessel. We gave
her a berth on that side, anchoring in 142 fathoms, just at dark, and set our gear that night. We
fished there four days, and got enough to make us up a fare of nearly 60,000 pounds of halibut.
As there was a fleet of 8 or 10 vessels fishing in company with us I decided not to wait to catch a
full fare, since we were liable to obtain more money for 60,000 pounds of halibut, if we arrived
home first, than for a much larger amount if we reached port with the fleet. We therefore got
under way for home in the night, notwithstanding it was nearly calm at the time. It was fortu-
nate that we started when we did, for a gale that sprang up a day or two later drove many of the
vessels adrift, and interfered with the successful issue of their voyages.

On our passage home we fell in with ice while running in a northeast gale, and our vessel was
"sprawled out" by heavy seas twice in one day, being knocked down so that her sails were in the
water, and the leeside completely buried. The night preceding the day on which we were knocked
down we had a tussle with the ice, immense floes of which, in the spring of 1876, were driven by a
succession of northerly winds nearly to the edge of the Gulf Stream. We were running under a
double-reefed mainsail, whole foresail, and jib with the bonnet out— all the sail we could stagger
under — when, a little after midnight, the watch shouted down the companion-way: "Hear the news
there below! rouse out; here's ice close aboard!" It reeded no second call to bring us out, for all
Realized the danger of meeting with ice while running at such a rate; for if the vessel should strike a
heavy piece her bows woul'l be crushed in like an egg shell. As for myself I hurried on deck in my

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 53

tmirt-sleeves, and jumping into the rigging, climbed far enough above deck to get a good view, and
clung there for nearly two hours, directing the wheelsman how to steer to avoid coining in contact
either with the floe or straggling pieces of ice. The latter, which were of various sizes, were really
the most dangerous, since they could not be seen so quickly. It was bright moonlight, however,
which was much in our favor, and by taking in the foresail we reduced the speed of the vessel, so that
we passed sai'ely by hundreds of isolated pieces of ice, any one of which would have knocked in our
vessel's bow had she struck it. With the wind blowing a northeast gale and sweeping down from
such a vast body of ice as lay to windward, the air was keen and biting, as may be easily surmised,
and when at last we had cleared all of the fine "lolly-ice," which strung out to leeward of the main
floe, and the increasing motion of the vessel gave evidence of open water to windward, I crawled
down out of the rigging, but was so thoroughly chilled that I could scarcely stand.

Since there was still possible danger of meeting more ice, and the wind had increased somewhat,
1 concluded not to set the foresail before daylight. When we cleared the ice we were nearly a
hundred miles south of the latitude of Sable Island, and were therefore obliged to steer west-north-
west, which brought us almost in the trough of the sea. Having warmed myself and ordered the
watch to call me if there were any indications of ice or increase of wind, I turned in. The sea
increased very much toward morning, and a little after daybreak we were tripped and knocked
down. The mainbooui went under nearly to the mast, parting the boom-tackle; one man in the
forecastle was thrown from a weather into a lee bunk, and another, who was lying in a berth on the
lee side, was scalded by the contents of the coffee-pot, which came tumbling on top of him from the
stove on the opposite side. Altogether there was quite a mixing up of things ; but almost before
we had a chance to realize the situation, the vessel was back on her bottom and tearing along on
her course again. Not caring, however, to repeat the performance if we could avoid ft, we set a
double-reefed foresail, took in the mainsail, and bent the riding-sail in its stead. Under this canvas
we kept along on our course, though such was the danger of being knocked down again that I
staid on deck all day directing the man at the wheel how to steer to escape the ugly cross-seas that
very frequently came along. It was anything but pleasant, to be sure, to run a vessel under such
circumstances, but nevertheless we kept her going, swinging off almost before it sometimes, and
hauling to on our course again, or a little to windward of it, when a chance offered. In this way
we went along safely until about sundown, when, being very hungry, I went below for a lunch, first
giving the man at the wheel the order to " watch her sharp; swing her off quick if you see a bad
one coming, and let her take it stern-to." I had scarcely seated myself on the weather side of the
forecastle table, with a piece of bread in one hand and a mug of tea in the other, when the vessel
was thrown completely on her beam ends.* Dropping whatever I held, I sprang for the companion-
way the instant I felt her going over. But the water, rushing over the top of the companion doors,
met me as I gained the top of the steps, and as the vessel was at that time lying flat on her side,
the prospect of her righting again before she filled looked rather dubious. There was a strong
probability, too, that the man at the wheel had been washed overboard or injured, and if such was
the case the vessel, should she right, would be in danger of broaching-to and having another sea
sweep over her. Fortunately, as in the morning, she soon straightened up again, and I jumped out
on deck and ran for the wheel. By the time I reached the main hatch, though it took scarcely an
instant, the wind struck into the sails, and the vessel, starting ahead with a rush, drew herself out
from beneath the water under which she was buried from the mainmast aft, and which went dash-
ing and splashing out over the stern and both rails as she once more rose buoyant on top of the
waves. So far under water had she been that the wheelsman (a six footer) was entirely submerged
when the vessel righted, though he stood on his feet, still retaining his grip of the wheel. The men

54 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHER.

in the cabin were nearly smothered by the steam and gas which was driven from the cabin stove by
a stream of water that ran down the stovepipe upon the burning coal. Barefooted, bareheaded, and
panting for breath, they were glad to get out on top of the house where they could breathe the
fresh air.

Although we had met with little or no damage from being "sprawled" out twice, it was,
nevertheless, too unpleasant an experience for us to encounter again, so we hove to for a few hours
until the moon rose, when, the sea having gone down somewhat, we started again on our course.

We struck the Grand Bank on our third trip that year in 44° 23' N. latitude, where we found
several vessels at anchor in 70 and 80 fathoms. They had been getting good fishing, but the
halibut were growing scarcer when we arrived there. We had a couple of sets, but not meeting
with much success ran to the northwest, near where wTe were the spring before. We made two
sets in that locality, but did not strike halibut. We therefore ran back to the southeast one night
to learn if the vessels were catching any fish along the western edge of the bank. The following
morning we spoke two or three schooners lying at anchor, after which we had a set under sail.
We caught only a few halibut, and when the dories were all aboard from hauling, the wind was
blowing smart from the southward; we kept off and ran 00 or 70 miles northwesterly again, in
company with several other vessels, to latitude 44° 56', where we anchored in 80 fathoms at 9
o'clock in the evening. It was blowing a smart breeze, when we anchored, with a sharp choppy
sea. Nevertheless, we hoisted out the top dories and set four skates of trawl, in two strings, to
try the ground, although I did not expect to get any halibut, for I thought the bottom was too
muddy.

The next morning it blew too hard to go out, but at 11 a. m. the wind modt rated and the men
went to haftl their gear. Before the men in either one of the dories had hauled a skate of trawl
they stuck up an oar for some one to come and take their fish.

We now had a busy time; some of us going to assist those who were hauling and others start-
ing off to set the trawls which were baited. We had but five dories then, and could set only six
more skates of gear, and on the ten skates of trawl, the four which we set at night and six in the
day, we got 20,000 pounds of halibut. We were hauling and setting gear all the afternoon and
evening. The last dory to come aboard arrived alongside with a load at 10 p. in., and it was sev-
eral hours after midnight before we got the fish dressed and iced.

The halibut were moving slowly to the northward and westward, and we had to shift our
position twice before we completed our fare.

We fished five days in that vicinity and got enough, with the 12,000 pounds we had before, to
weigh off 92,000 pounds, besides 4,000 pounds of "logy," or thin halibut. The schooners Polar
Wave, Carrie P. Morton, Davy Crockett, and Elisha Crowell, fresh fishermen, were in company,
and the schooners Mary E., Ocean Belle, and Wachusett, on salt or Hitching trips. All of them
did remarkably well.

On our fourth trip we went to Green Bank, about 25 miles farther to the westward, where we
got the last fish on the previous cruise, of which an account has been given. The fog was very
dense for several days after we arrived on the Bank, which undoubtedly was the reason that we
missed getting a good fare. We found few halibut, and I thought perhaps that they had not
worked so far to the westward, but had staid where they did the year before. I also heard the
sound of a vessel's cannon, fired as a signal for her dories, which I thought was to the eastward,
but in that I was mistaken. There was no indication of the fog clearing, so we got under way and
kept shifting to the eastward, trying the ground as we went.

When we were between Green Bank and Grand Bank, the schooner Hereward came along one

FEESH-HALIBUT FISHEEY. 55

evening from the westward, and Nathaniel Greenleaf said that he had been farther in that direc-
tion than we had, between Saint Peter's and Green Bank, but got no fish, neither did he see any
vessels. But as the weather had not at any time been clear enough to see more than three or four
miles, he, like myself, missed seeing the vessels which, as I afterwards learned, were on a large
school of halibut only a few miles farther to the westward than we had been. He ran to the south-
southeast down to 44° 20' north latitude, and in about 48 fathoms. We went the same way the
following day, and cruised up and down the Bank, seeing several vessels in the same predicament as
we were, .seeking for halibut and getting few or none. Finding halibut very scarce, and intending
to go after codfish on the next trip, I concluded to_go home and not lose any time looking for
them. We made a short trip and obtained only a small fare of 17,000 pounds. Some of the
halibut catchers found good fishing that winter and spring (1876) on almost the extreme southern
part of the Grand Bank, from about latitude 43° N. and longitude 50° 40' W. up to latitude 43°
30' N. and longitude 51° 52' W. The best fishing in that region was during March and the first
of April.

Late in the spring or early in the summer of the same year, Capt. Thomas F. Hodgdon, in the
Lizzie K. Clark, got becalmed on the Southwest Prong of Banquereau. He sounded, and having
got bottom in less than 100 fathoms, determined to anchor and have a set. He found halibut very
abundant in that locality all summer and autumn, and continued to fish at or near the same place
with uninterrupted success. After he had made a couple of successful cruises, however, other
skippers found out where he got the halibut, and the remainder of the year that ground was the
most generally resorted to of any. Excellent halibut fishing was also found that summer by
Capt. Thomas Goodwin, in the schooner Polar Wave, to the southward of Sable Island, in 150
fathoms, and near the longitude of 60° W. Captain Anderson, in the schooner William T. Merchant
(and who was lost in the great gale of December 9 and 10, 1876), caught some very fair trips to
the eastward of Sable Island, in latitude 44° 4' and longitude 59° 6', on the fall-off of the
Western Bank, in about 150 fathoms Halibut were also found in deep water on the northeast
part of George's Bank, and many of the hand-liners brought in good fares from that locality. One,
I think, got 60,000 pounds. Ther*> were also a few good fares of halibut taken on the eastern part
of Banquereau.

Previous to this, in 1875, and possibly the year before, Capt. Edward Morris, in the schooner
Gertie Foster, got one or more good fares on some small ridges or "spots" off Liscomb, Nova
Scotia. These grounds, which are about 20 or 25 miles from the land, are so small that they have
never been generally resorted to for halibut, and, with the exception of two years at the most, the
species has not been found abundant there.

After I returned from cod fishing, in the autumn of 1876, I went on a fresh-halibut trip. We
tried at first in company with the schooners Augusta H. Johnson and Chester B/Lawrence, on the
Western Bank, to tl-e southward of Sable Island, in about longitude 60° 20' W. We did not
find enough fish to induce us to stay, and as soon as the weather, which was very rough, permitted
us to do so, we ran to the eastward ; the Johnson went with us as far as the Southwest Prong of
Bauquereau. We afterwards learned that the Chester E. Lawrence shifted a few miles farther to
the eastward on the Western Bank, and found excellent fishing— much better than was obtained
on Bauquereau. We found the schooner Edward Grover on the prong when we got there, and
before the weather was fine enough to fish, the schooners Andrew Leighton and Daniel A. Burnham
came also. The weather was exceedingly bad and fish scarce ; besides, we did not have cable
enough to ride out a gale in the depth of water where halibut could be taken, and consequently
had to work at a disadvantage, setting almost wholly under sail, being able to fish only in the

56 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

day-time. While there we had the heaviest gale that I have ever encountered, and as an account
of it may possibly prove interesting, I will insert it here as an incident ef the halibut fishery. We
set under sail at noon of December 8, in 150 fathoms, in latitude 44° and longitude 5S° 30' by dead
reckoning. We had eight skates of trawl out, set in four strings, three men going in a dory. As
the weather looked threatening, we left the gear out only about two hours before we began to haul.
The wind blew so strong, just as the men finished hauling, that the vessel could not carry her three
lower sails, and I had to heave her to under mainsail and foresail. The dories came aboard safely,
however, bringing a good catch of fish (about 5,000 pounds), but it blew so hard that I knew it would
be of no use to attempt to anchor in deep water. We therefore took in the mainsail and jib, and
lay to for the night close by the Andrew Leighton, which was at anchor. The schooners Augusta
H. Johnson and Edward Grover, each of which had secured small fares of about 20,000 to 30,000
pounds of halibut, started for home that evening.

The wind, which was westerly in the evening, died out during the night, and on the morning
of the 9th began to breeze up from the southeast. We made sail (that is, set mainsail and jib)
before daylight, and got all ready to set our trawls, but before it was light it blew up smart from
the southeast and began to snow. We lay by for awhile around the Andrew Leighton and her
dories, some of which were out. After an hour or two, finding the wind increasing fast, we ran
in on the Bank until we reached a depth of 60 fathoms, where we anchored and got all ready for
a gale. The southeaster blew heavy, but was of short duration, being about what many winder
southeasters generally are.

The night of the 9th the wind jumped into WNW., and toward morning of the 10th blew
very heavy; so hard, indeed, that, fearing the riding-sail would go to pieces, we hauled it down.
The riding-sail, which belonged to another vessel, and which we had taken temporarily, was a new
one which had no reef in it, as did our own. The latter had been left ashore, as it was too old for
a winter trip.

The gale increased in fury, and after daylight blew extremely hard, while, to make matters
worse, the tide set out to run to the southward, hawsiug the vessel up in such a manner that she
lay almost in the trough of the waves. There was a heavy sea going, too, I think the worst I ever
saw, but we did not ship any heavy water before 8 o'clock a. m. Just before that hour I went up in
the companion-way and spoke to the man who had the watch, and who was busy aft by the wheel-
box clearing the log-line, or some other small gear which had been fouled by the water washing it
about. He was standing with his back to the sea, totally unmindful of his danger. As I went
below I said to him, "Keep a good lookout for yourself, George; keep your eye to wind'ard, for
there are some nasty seas coming along." "All right, skipper, I'll look out for myself," he replied
in a cheerful tone. His watch was just out, and the man who succeeded him was nearly ready to
go on deck as I went below.

I had not been in the cabin more than a minute, when a tremendous wave broke on board,
abaft, or about the main rigging, swept aft with resistless force, knocking the companion-way slide
to as though it was struck with a trip-hammer, ripping two boards off of it; also the bait planks
off the house; and last, and most appalling of all, sweeping the unsuspecting man, George Miller,
into the foaming and seething waters astern, so far away as to be beyond the reach of all human
aid. A feeling of horror, like an electric shock, passed through me as I heard the roar of the
breaking wave and the peculiar swishing sound of the waters rushing across the deck, and 1
exclaimed to the man who was standing by the steps ready to go on deck, "My God! Silas, I'm
afraid that sea has washed George overboard." Reaching up, he shoved the slide back, and wo
both sprang on deck. But what a sight met our eyes ! More than a hundred feet astern and drifting

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 57

with the current, every moment still farther away, we saw the poor fellow rise to the surface,
struggle for a few seconds, and then, buried beneath a huge wave, disappear forever from mortal
sight. Sad, indeed, were the faces of our crew when it became known that we had lost a man.

However, we had but little time to indulge in regrets or sorrow, for the gale, which had then
increased to a furious hurricane, compelled us to make extra endeavors for the safety of the vessel
and our own lives. She hawsed up so badly soon after the event just described that we were
compelled to set the riding-sail to keep her more nearly head to the sea. We reduced the size of
the sail as much as was practicable, by making a "bag reef" in it. This was done by tying up the
clew and lashing the bottom hoops together, which^ being done we hoisted it up a little before 9
o'clock a. m.

Shortly after the riding-sail was set we had a succession of tremendously heavy snow squalls,
which blew with a fury I never before saw equaled or even approached during an experience of thirty
years' battling with the Atlantic storms, while the snow was so dense that, when we were in the
hollow of a sea, the top of it could scarcely be seen. The vessel quivered and trembled like a
stricken dolphin, as she struggled witli great apparent effort up the steep sides of the mountainous
waves, which threatened to bury her beneath their curling crests. Even with the small sail which
we had set, a mere rag in size, and lying almost head to the wind, she buried her lee side nearly
to the hatches. To walk against the blast was out of the question, and all one could do was to
haul himself along by the life-lines or cling to the rigging for safety. She plunged so heavily
into the waves that the jib was soon washed loose from the bowsprit. While I was in the cabin
after a rope to secure the jib, a second heavy sea boarded us, breaking over the port bow, covering
our little vessel nearly out of sight beneath a deluge of rushing water and flying spray. When
the men on deck saw it coming they sprang for the rigging. Two of them, who got upon the
fore-gaff, held on to the peak halyards, clinging to the ropes with their hands and legs. The
sea broke so high that both of these men were nearly washed clear of their hold, although they
were eight or ten feet above the deck, which was filled with water nearly to the top of the rails,
compelling us to knock off some waist boards so that the vessel would clear herself.

Between the squalls we managed to secure the jib, though it was extremely hazardous going
out on a bowsprit in such a gale. The squalls had the most terrifying appearance that I ever
witnessed, as they came tearing down from to windward. Black as night and driving a line of
white foam before them, they were an awful sight, and enough to strike terror to the hearts of
those who never before had felt a sense of fear, and who, even then, when death was imminent,
bravely faced the storm, disdaining to flinch from the peril which duty and self-preservation called
them to meet.

Fearing the cable would part, and feeling sure that the vessel would be knocked down on her
beam ends if she fell off with the least bit of sail set, I stationed myself at the mainmast, when-
ever the squalls came along, ready to let the riding- sail run down if necessary. When the fourth
squall was coming I took my usual position, standing on the bitt-head of the fife rail with my right
foot, and grasping the riding-sail halyards with my right hand. While I was standing in this
position, and m the midst of a flurry of flying snow, a lightning bolt burst between the masts.
I was struck by it and knocked insensible to the deck. Others of the crew were slightly shocked.
As soon as they could, the men who were on deck picked me up, thinking I was dead, and carried
me below.

I would not speak of the intense suffering which I endured for four hours — hours of dreadful
agony — while I was being resuscitated, were it not to mention the conduct of my men, all of whom
showed great devotion and nobleness of spirit. Though in almost momentary expectation of death

58 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

themselves, they continued their efforts for my relief with extraordinary zeal and coolness. For-
tunately I could speak soon alter being taken into the cabin, and was thus able to direct what
should be done both for myself and for the safety of the vessel.

We had only three more squalls after I was struck by lightning ; those were not so heavy as
the previous ones, and after they were past, the wind soon subsided to an ordinary gale.

After recovering sufficiently to examine my injuries, I found that the lightning had plowed
along my right arm from the wrist to above the elbow, scorching it severely, while five smaller
burns were on my right leg below the knee, and mostly about the ankle. My right side was para-
lyzed, and I could not stand on my feet for several days.

We started for home as soon as the gale was over, but had a long, hard passage. My burns
were so painful that when we got as far as Liverpool, Nova Scotia, we went in there for medical
assistance, and arrived home on the 23d of December. The Augusta H. Johnson got in the same
day. We had only 17,000 pounds of halibut, but as we obtained a high price for them we made a
fair trip.

The Daniel A. Burnham was lost in this gale, being knocked down and dismasted. She was
abandoned after the gale, her crew being taken to St. John's, Newfoundland. The Andrew Leighton
was knocked on her beam ends and came near foundering, and the William T. Merchant was lost.
This alludes only to the vessels in our immediate vicinity when the gale came on. Several other
Gloucester vessels were lost or abandoned ; the total loss of life reached 100.

One of the men who had been with me for nearly two years now took charge of the Howard
for a trip, while I remained at home to recruit from the effects of the lightning-stroke.

Halibut were found extremely abundant in the winter of 1877, between the parallels of 43°
and 44° north latitude, in 60 to 90 fathoms, on the western edge of the Grand Bank. They were
taken from the middle of January until nearly the last of March, 1877, but were most numerous
during the last days of February and first half of March.

I took charge of the Howard again on her return, and went to the Grand Bank. We got a
trip of 70,000 pounds of halibut to the northward of latitude 44°, in 55 to 90 fathoms, on the
western edge of the Grand Bank. In latitude 44° 23' and longitude 52° 30', in 55 fathoms, we
caught more than 20,000 pounds of fish at one set with 15 skates of .trawl. The next set we got
only 5,000 pounds, which indicated that the fish were moving fast. This was the trip before I
began my daily journal, in which it is recorded that the following winter very few, if any, halibut
were caught in less than 140 fathoms on the Grand Bank.

Large quantities of halibut were found all along the southern edge of the Western Bank,
La Have Ridges, and Brown's Bank, and, in fact, as far west as George's, in the deep water, when
first resorted to by the fishermen; but in a short time the fish appeared to be considerably reduced
in abundance, and in the summer of 1879 I do not know of any vessel finding halibut plenty on La
Have Ridges or vicinity.

Ever since deep-water fisheries have been pursued, halibut have been found, just previous to
and during their spawning season, in July, August, and September, in large numbers on rough or
rocky bottom, most generally on rocky spots or patches of small extent which occur along the
slopes of the outer bauks. From my own observations, I believe that bottom where the rocks are
supplemented with a growth of corals is peculiarly attractive to halibut. The fish which frequent
these localities are generally large gravid halibut, called " mother fish," but among them are always
found more or less male halibut, invariably smaller, averaging about one-third the size of the
females. The males are called the "little bulls" by fishermen.

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 59

Halibut have a remarkable habit of remainiug on the spot which they have selected for their
spawning ground, and the natural result is that, when once a breeding- school is found, fare after
fare is caught at the same place, until the fish are so much reduced in numbers as to no longer
otter sufficient inducement to the fishermen to visit the locality. Sometimes, however, the fisher-
men lose so much gear on these spots, on account of the roughness of the bottom and other causes,
that after a few trips are made the area becomes so completely covered with old lines that it is
almost useless to set trawls, since there is small chance of getting them back. This liability to
loss, especially after the li.sli have been broken up and no longer can be caught in large quantities,
compels the fishermen to resort to other localities. ._

Where so many trawls are lost, of coarse the halibut that are on the hooks finally die and
decay, thus being destroyed without benefiting any one, but instead, it is believed that they
become, temporarily, an injury to the fishing grounds.

As previously mentioned, these spots are almost always small, and the boundaries of the schools
of fish fouud in such places are so sharply defined that, although sometimes, as the fishermen express
it, " the fish are four tier deep on the spot," 100 fathoms either side of it few if any halibut can be
caught.

It does not follow, as a matter of course, that halibut are found abundant in the same place two
seasons in succession, but the reverse is, perhaps, the rule, especially if many trips are caught in
any given locality the first season that it is resorted to.

The following is a brief account of the results obtained on a few of these small areas, and which
will serve to illustrate what has been written above:

In the summer of 1876, Captain Markusou, in the schooner Notice, fouud one of these places
on the Southwest Prong of Bauquereau. It was so small that he could get only two trawls on it,
and those had to be set very close to each .othei*.

But the halibut were so abundant, according to two men who were with him at the time and
have sailed with me since, that on each of the two trawls which were on the right spot they
used to get six and .seven dory-loads of fish (about 1,500 pounds to a load) every time the gear was
hauled, while on the other lines not more than two or three halibut, at most, were taken. After
making a few sets they marked the spot by anchoring buo^s, thereafter running only two or three
trawls, instead of six (the full complement), and in this manner they caught a full fare.

About July 22, iu the summer of 1877, the schooners Sultana and Fitz J. Babson struck a large
school of halibut on the Southwest Prong of Banquereau, in latitude 43° 55' and longitude 58° 45'.
The captain of the Sultana told me that the area covered by these fish was not more than three-
fourths of a mile in diameter, either way. Each of the above-named vessels caught a fare of 80,000
pounds of halibut at that place, and when they left their positions were taken by other vessels—
the Chester R. Lawrence, Augusta H. Johnson, and another, the name of which I cannot now
recall. There were probably more than 300,000 pounds of halibut taken from this place.

In the summer of 1878 halibut were found very plenty on the western side of the Southwest
Prong of Banquereau, in latitude from 43° 56' to 43° 57', and longitude 58° 55', dead reckoning.
The schooner Magic got a trip of 50,000 pounds there in July; returned again in August, but failed
to secure a full fare on account of her windlass breaking, which compelled her to go home. She also
got 45,000 or 50,000 pounds there in September. We caught part of a trip (18,000 pounds) there in
July. The schooner William Thompson got 98,000 pounds there in August, and the schooner Lizzie
also caught part of a fare, about 40,000 pounds. On the same spot, and nearly at the same time, the
Davy Crockett got part of a trip there also, and several other vessels took more or less halibut at the
same place; but at last there was so much lost gear on the bottom that it did not pay to set trawls

60 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

there. Probably there was as much as 400,000 pounds of halibut taken from this ground, besides
large numbers that remained on the lost trawls.

Iii the summer of 1879 there were comparatively very few halibut found at the above locality,
though the ground was very thoroughly tried over on several occasions. However, another breed-
ing-ground was found on the eastern part of the middle prong of Banquereau, in latitude, by
observation, 44° 14' N., longitude, by dead reckoning, 58° 04' W., in from 230 to 380 fathoms, on
pebbly, rocky, and coral bottom. It was of small extent, not much more than a mile in diameter
either way, when we were there.

The following vessels all got good fares on this small piece of ground. From the best infor-
mation obtainable, I think the fish were first found about the 10th of July:

The Andrew Leigh ton had 80,000 pounds; the Herbert M. Eogers, 50,000 pounds; the Bessie
W. Somes, 60,000 pounds; the David A. Story, 70,000 pounds; the Conductor, 55,000 pounds; the
Bellerophon, 55,000 pounds. We also caught about 55,000 pounds on my last halibut trip, and
when we left for home two vessels, the Addisou Center and Thresher, took our berth and each
of them secured fair catches.*

Thus it will be seen that more than 400,000 pounds of halibut had already been caught at
this point, which, added to those retained on the lost gear, which must at least equal 100,000
pounds more, makes a total of more than 500,000 pounds. That so many fish should be taken from
such a small area of sea-bottom seems almost incredible, but the facts admit of so much proof that
they are indisputable.

Only one result can be obtained by this system of fishing, and that is this: The halibut must
soon become reduced to scarcity, even if they were "four tier deep" at the beginning. But, not-
withstanding all this, the men feel obliged to catch as many fish as possible when they go after
them, and whatever the result may be on the abundance of halibut in future years, the present time
must be improved to the best advantage.

The schooner David A. Story arrived in Gloucester July, 1881, with a trip of 25,000 pounds of
halibut, which were caught off the southeast point of Auticosti Island in the month of June.
Nearly all of the fish were taken in two days, after which little or nothing could be done, owing to
the lack of the proper kind of bait. The trawls were set three or four times a day, being run along
parallel with the shore in depths of water varying from 5 to 10 fathoms.

Other vessels which were at Anticosti at the same time found halibut quite plenty for a few
days, but failed to secure full fares on account of having only a small supply of good bait.

In June and July, 18S1, the best fares of fresh halibut tbat were brought into Gloucester were
caught on the southern part of the Grand Bank in 150 to 250 fathoms of water. The best locality
was in about latitude !3° 12' N., though good catches were obtained a few miles north and south
of that poiut. The fish were two-thirds white and of a superior quality. The Alice G. Wonson,
the only vessel fishing off the eastern part of George's Bank, found halibut in considerable abun-
dance. On all the other " deep water " grounds, namely, the southern edge of La Have Ridges, and
the Western Bank, along the south and east borders of Bauquereati. and also off Saint Peter's
Bank, the catch of halibut was very small, and over a large portion of these grounds, once so
prolific, very few halibut can now be caught. The Josie M. Calderwood, while fishing for cod in
50 to GO fathoms, in the northwest part of the Gully, during the mouth of June, 1881, caught
17,000 pounds of halibut, which were brought iu fresh. Captain White, who commanded her,
states that the halibut were fairly plentiful and evidently many were lost from the trawls, owing

* The quantity of fish taken by each of the various vessels is given in rouutl numbers, but in no instance will it
vary much from exactness.

FBESH HALIBUT FISHEET. 61

to the gear being too small to hold them. The Mystic also found fair halibut fishing near the
same place, but in shoal water. The fish were of excellent quality, but evidently their occurrence
there was accidental, or at least very temporary. Had their presence in this locality been perma-
nent in the least degree, the region would have soon been covered by the trawl-lines of the halibut
fleet.

Two events of a remarkable character, and which seem worthy of particular mention, occurred
during the seasons of 1881-'82. These were (1 ) the discovery of a new fishing ground, and (2) the
occurrence, at a season when it was least to be expected, of halibut in almost unequaled numbers in
a well-known and long-freqnented region.

During most of the season of 1881, and particularly in the fall, halibut were scarce on most of
the fishing grounds along the edge of the outer banks. Consequently, the inducement was great
for the skippers to seek new and untried fields, where perhaps fish might be found in nndisturbed
abundance. With this end in view, Capt. George A. Johnson, of the schooner Augusta H. John-
son, in the autumn of 1881, crossed the Grand Bank and fished in the deep water on its eastern
slope, where, so far as I know, no systematic research had previously been made. I was told by
an acquaintance several years ago that a vessel had sought for halibut along the eastern edge of
the Grand Bank as early as 1877, but had failed to find any, the skipper reporting that the bottom
declined so suddenly that it was useless to attempt to anchor or set trawls. The recent researches
in this region have shown that the statement was entirely wrong, and give reason to doubt the prob-
ability of the vessel having visited the deep water on the east side of the Bank. Anchoring in 110
fathoms, latitude 43° 55' K, longitude 49° 8' W., Capt. Johnson found halibut plenty, and made
large catches on trawls set to the eastward of his vessel and in somewhat deeper water. In six
days' fishing he secured a fare of between 50,000 and 60,000 pounds of halibut, most of which
were large "gray" fish. It is somewhat remarkable that when halibut are found on grounds not
previously fished on a large percentage of the catch are generally "gray" fish, and with rare
exceptions these are above the average size. Instances are somewhat uncommon where medium-
sized "white" halibut have predominated on newly-tried fields, but occasionally such cases have
occurred. After several years' fishing in one locality the quality of the halibut generally im-
proves, the fish being of smaller size and in finer condition.

The same schooner on her next trip — this time commanded by another man — revisited the new
ground, but the winter season had then so far advanced that there was a constant succession of
furious gales. The prevalence of strong northerly winds caused an unusually rapid flow of the
polar current, which often sweeps down by the eastern side of the Grand Bank with such velocity
as to render fishing nearly impracticable, and in consequence of this combination of unfavorable
circumstances very little was accomplished. In the spring of 1882 Captain Johnson went to this
place again and had remarkable success. His good fortune was soon noised abroad, whereupon
many of the other halibut schooners made similar ventures, the result being that the eastern side
of the Grand Bank was pretty thoroughly tried over from latitude 43° 15' to 44° 30' north, in
depths varying from 100 to 300 fathoms. At many points along this stretch halibut were abun-
dant, but a strong polar current caused the fishermen much loss of gear, while the prevalence of
dense fogs, together with the proximity of numerous icebergs, rendered fishing in that locality so
hazardous that the majority of the skippers were glad to resort to other grounds, even where, per-
haps, the prospect of finding large numbers of fish was not so good. Several of the vessels lost
most of their trawls before they had secured a full fare, and few that fished on the eastern side of
the Bank returned to port without having met with some damage to their gear. Where strong
currents prevail in deep water the buoys which mark the position of the trawl-lines are dragged

62 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

beneath the surface of the water by the great strain on the buoy -line. These buoys, being gen-
erally soft-wood kegs, are broken by the pressure of the water when they have been submerged to
any considerable depth, and the result is that there being nothing to support the buoy-line, the
only means by which the trawl can be recovered, the apparatus is lost.

The icebergs sweeping down from the north, borne along by the swiftly-running currents,
were a source of great danger to the vessels lying at anchor. Huge mountains of ice would often
appear suddenly out of a dense fog, so close to the schooners that the startled crews were fre-
quently almost compelled to cut their cables to prevent collision. Captain Johnson told me that
on one occasion he counted twenty-eight bergs within sight of his vessel, and one of the number
lay grounded for nearly a week — all the time he remained at anchor — not more than a mile distant,
in water probably not less than 125 fathoms deep. It is scarcely necessary to say that iu a rough
sea one blow from such a monster would crush a fishing schooner as though it were an egg-shell.*

The fact, however, of halibut having been found in abundance off the eastern, or rather, per-
haps, the southeastern side of the Grand Bank, is a matter of more interest than would appear at
first glance, since it permits us to form a better idea of the winter habitat of certain schools of this
species, and also to judge more intelligently concerning the spring and fall migrations, about which
heretofore only indefinite and uncertain ideas could be formed. For several years previous to the
discovery of the deep-water fishing grounds it was noticed by the fishermen that during the winter
and early spring — from about the middle of January to the last of April — the schools of halibut
met with on the body of the Grand Bank, between 43° 30' and 45° north latitude, appeared to come
from the east or southeast side of the Bank, and almost invariably moved steadily, but slowly,
.across the ground in a westerly or northwesterly direction. A vessel might obtain remarkably
good fishing for two or three days, perhaps for a shorter time, but the halibut would suddenly
disappear, and none could be taken. It frequently happened that on such occasions a change of
position — the schooner moving 5 or C miles in the direction which the fish were known to be
going — might result in the school being overtaken again and the capture of a full fare. In some
instances a skipper might be able to "keep run" of the fish for several days, and while they were
passing over a distance of 20 to 30 miles, and many statements could be cited of a character to
verify this assertion. As it may be a source of wonder to many how any intelligent idea could be
formed by the fishermen of the direction in which the halibut were moving, the following explana-
tion should be offered. The custom is for the Grand Bank halibut schooners to fish with trawls,
each about 2 miles long. As has been explained elsewhere, these are set out from the vessel, from
which as a center they radiate in the form of a star. A school of halibut approaching from the east
would first be caught in great abundance on the lines set in that direction, while the trawls on the
west side of the vessel would get comparatively few fish. On the next set the catch might be
pretty equally divided, while succeeding hauls would show that the fish had moved so far that
only the "tail end" of the school could be reached by the farthest ends of the western trawls. As
soon as this occurred any intelligent skipper, understanding the habits of the species, could form
a tolerably definite theory as to how fast the halibut were moving, and also the course they were
pursuing.

Notwithstanding it was apparently well known that the halibut were migrating at such times;
only the most vague and indefinite ideas were formed as to the place from which they came or
whither they went. No one seems to have entertained the thought that they "hung around" the
edges of the Bank, in deep water, after leaving the body or shoaler portions of the ground. That

'During the summer of 1885, while this is being printed, (lie ninjorily of the Gloucester halibut vessels ;uc lisli-
ing on the eastern side of the Grand Bank,

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. (J3

the halibut came from some uiuliscovered baTik to the eastward and passed across the Grand Bank
on their way north and west toward Newfoundland, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Labrador, &c.,
was, I think, the general belief of the fishermen, at least of snch as took the trouble to formulate
nny theory. The discovery of halibut along the east side of the Grand Bank seemingly settles this
question, and it is undoubtedly a fact that the great schools of this species which for many years
hove been known to migrate northwesterly in the spring make their winter residence on the eastern
slope, in depths varying from 100 to probably 400 fathoms.

Fortunately, halibut were discovered in remarkable abundance in the early summer of 1882 on
another and well-known fishing ground, thus rendering it unnecessary for the fishermen to be
longer exposed to so many losses and perils as they had experienced on the east side of the Grand
Bank.

On the deeply-submerged plateau which extends in a northwesterly direction from the north-
west prong of the Grand Bank to Saint Peter's Bank, forming a sort of border to the southern ei;d
of Green Bank — by which name this area of bottom is usually called by the fishermen — in depths
varying from 112 to 250 fathoms, halibut of the finest quality and in extraordinary numbers were
found. This locality has been famous for the abundance of halibut in the spring of the year since
the discovery of the deep-water fishery in 1875. Since then, however, notwithstanding the fact
that large schools of this species have been found off Green Bank almost every spring, it has
appeared from the movements of the fish that they were migrating to more northern regions, and
that they were only passing over these grounds, pausing slightly, perhaps, in their course, or, at least,
moving slowly. On several occasions the movements of these fish have been pretty definitely traced
along the southwestern side of Saint Peter's Bank, and into the deep water between this Bank and
the shores of Newfoundland.

For a period of four to six weeks, generally in March and April, large fares were obtained
between the northwest prong of the Grand Bank and Saint Peter's Bank. After that interval,
however, the fish became scarce, and rarely did it happen that they were sufficiently plenty during
the summer for vessels to obtain good fares there. In this connection it may be well to mention
that in the summer of 1878 the schooner Gwendolen found a new fishing ground some twenty miles
in tin- southwest of Saint Peter's Bank in a depth of about 200 fathoms, where no soundings are laid
down on the charts. She succeeded iu taking several large fares, but other schooners learning of
her good fortune resorted in such numbers to the same grounds that in September of that year the
school had been broken up, nor was any large catch of halibut made on that ground afterward.
Allusion is made to this fact because the locality is not far from that region off Green Bank
now under discussion, and also because, with this exception, halibut were rarely found abundant
in the summer in its immediate vicinity from 1875 until 1882. That year was, however, a marked
exception to the general rule, and the fact of halibut being abundant at that point is all the more
remarkable, inasmuch as when the schools have been broken up on other fishing grounds, or the fish
forced to leave their favorite resorts during a portion of the year, they rarely return to stay in such
plentifulness. From early in June until late in October of 1882 the species occurred in almost
unprecedented numbers off the southern part of Green Bank in depths ranging from 100 to 250
fathoms; whereas, in former years, even when halibut have been most plentiful, a dearth has
usually occurred on all the fishing grounds in the latter part of September and in October and
November. During those months, however, of 1882, wonderful catches were made, several fares
of from 40,000 to 75,000 pounds having arrived at Gloucester. The following are a few of the many
instances of large captures made on Green Bank during that season. One of the first fares to
arrive from that locality — possibly the first — was brought in by the schooner Isaac A. Chapman,

64 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

which reached Gloucester on June 25, 1882. She had on board above 80,000 pounds, four-fifths
of which were "white." The following detailed account of the amount and value of her fare
appeared in the Cape Ann Advertiser of June 30, 1882:

"Schooner Isaac A. Chapman, Capt. Augustus G. Hall, arrived from a Grand Bank trip on
Sunday, bringing in 81,000 pounds of halibut and 5,000 pounds of codfish, stocking $4,303.66, the
crew sharing $145.30. She was absent nineteen days, of which time two days were spent in Nova
Scotia ports waiting for bait."

Captain Hall told me that these fish were caught at a depth of 112 fathoms in latitude 45° 04'
N., longitude 54° 59' W. He fished for eight days altogether, during the first two of which he
was in shoaler water and caught only 4,500 pounds of halibut, so that 76,000 pounds were taken in
six days.

September 11 the schooner Gertie E. Foster arrived home from Green Bank, bringing in a fare
of 78,625 pounds of halibut. Captain Olsen, who commanded her, told me that he had made sev-
eral unsuccessful attempts to catch halibut on the Western Bank and Banquereau during that
summer.

On the 4th of October the schooner Willie M. Stevens arrived with about 80,000 pounds of
halibut caught near Green Bank at a depth of 250 fathoms. The vessel, however, lay anchored
in 220 fathoms, her position, according to Captain Mclnnis, being latitude 44° 58' N., longitude
54° 33' W.

A few days later the schooner Grace L. Fears arrived with a " big trip" caught near the same
locality, the following notice of which was published in the Cape Ann Advertiser of October 13,
1882 : " Schooner Grace L. Fears arrived from a Bank trip on Monday, October 9, with 70,220 pounds
of fresh halibut, which were sold to the Atlantic Halibut Company for $3,606.61, her crew sharing
$119.39."

On October 28 the Augusta H. Johnson arrived in Gloucester from Green Bank with a fare
reported to be between 50,000 and 60,000 pounds of fresh halibut.

In conversation with the captains of several halibut schooners, I learned that many attempts
were made during that summer and fall to catch halibut along the southern edge of the West-
ern Bank and the Southwest Prong and eastern edge of Banquereau, but these were rarely
successful. The captains of these schooners were induced to make these trials because the greater
portion of the fleet had resorted to the vicinity of Green Bank, where the vessels lay close together,
fishing on a small area of sea-bottom. As a result of this crowding, there was much loss of gear,
which rendered the trips far less profitable than they otherwise would have been. With scarcely
an exception, however, so far as I have been able to learn, the vessels, after making the attempts
already alluded to, were obliged to go to Green Bank in order to complete their fares. It may be
interesting to note that, whereas in former years the halibut taken in the region under discussion
were nearly always of large size, the "gray" predominating, this year the reverse is the case, for
the fish caught there have nearly all been of medium size and of much finer quality, averaging
from two thirds to seven-eighths " white."

Mention should be made here of the capture of halibut along the southwest part of the Grand
Bank during the first part of 1882. Several fine fares were obtained on the western slope of that
Bank, in depths ranging from 150 to 30'J fathoms, between the extreme southern point of the Bank
and 44° north latitude. Much difficulty was experienced in fishing off the southern peak, as well
as on the eastern side of the Bank, from the strong polar current, though this is not generally a
source of trouble on the western side of the Bank north of latitude 43° 20'. It appears, however,
that halibut were scarce along the southwest slope of the Bank during the summer months, though

FEESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 65

occasional fares were possibly taken in that locality. From information derived from the most
reliable sources, however, it appears that nearly all the vessels engaged in halibut fishing resorted
to Green Bank after July. It is undoubtedly true that the small number of vessels engaged in this
fishery was favorable to their obtaining large fares throughout the season. Had the fleet, as
in 1878 and 1879, been composed of forty or forty-five instead of only fourteen or fifteen sail, there
is no doubt but that the school of halibut on Green Bank would have been broken up after two or
three months' fishing; and if not, it is certain that the accumulation of lost gear on the fishing
grounds would have rendered profitable fishing in that locality a practical impossibility.

12. JOURNAL OF FRESH-HALIBUT TRIPS TO THE GRAND BANK IN 1878 AND 1879,
IN THE SCHOONER MARION, OF GLOUCESTER, MASS.*

BY J. W. COLLINS, Master.

Friday, February 15, 18T8. — There was a moderate breeze N. by W. in the morning and during
the forenoon. This was a fair wind to start with. We had completed our preparations for the
trip on the previous day; everything was ready with the exception of a supply of frozen herring
for bait. As soon as the crew mustered in the morning — between 8 and 9 o'clock — two men were
sent off to the " baiter," a vessel loaded with frozen herring lying in the harbor, with her flag flying,
and they returned with some 5,000 stiffly frozen herring, which were hastily packed in one of the
ice-house pens, under straw to prevent their thawing. This having been done, and some other
minor matters attended to, we hoisted our sails, and as the city clock rang out the hour of ten we
cast off our lines and once more filled away for the Banks.

After passing Eastern Point, and getting the light sails set and, sheets trimmed to the best
advantage, the ordinary routine of setting the watch, lashing dories, cables, securing hatches,
putting out the log, &c., was gone through with.

The wind died away in the afternoon, and finally fell calm in the latter part of the day. At
7 p. m., however, a breeze sprang up from the southwest. With this wind we could run along on
an E. by S. course — which we were steering — with all sails drawing on the starboard tack, and
sheets well off.

Saturday, February 16, 1878. — The morning was fine and clear, with a light westerly breeze,
which continued with very little change throughout the day. As soon as breakfast had been eaten,
about 7 a. m., the hatches were taken off, the gear was passed on deck, and all hands were soon
busily engaged in preparing their trawls, buoy-lines, buoys, dories, and the various other apparatus
which they may ueed for use as soon as we arrive on the fishing ground. Moderate, pleasant days
are the exception in these latitudes in winter, and every one is eager to improve to the utmost the
opportunity thus afforded of doing work which must otherwise be carried on under much less
favorable conditions.

Longitude, by observation at 9 a. m., 69° 25' W. Latitude at noon by meridian observation
of the sun, 42° 42' N.

Sunday, February 17, 1878. — There was a very light northwest wind and clear weather in the
early morning. It was calm for a while in the forenoon, but at 10 o'clock it breezed up again.

"The accounts of halibut trips given here are selected from a series contained in a journal from April, 1877, to
Augnst, 1879, during which time the writer was constantly engaged in the fresh halibut fishery. In other chapters
are given the arrangement of the vessel, incidents connected with sailing, obtaining bait at home or in other
ports, and many other matters which give an insight into the daily life of the fishermen, and the manner in which
this fishery is prosecuted. The notes referred to may, at some future time, be published together.
SEC V - 5

66 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Latitude at noon 42° 45' N., longitude 68° 05' W. At 3 p. m. there was a light southwest breeze.
We saw a fisherman bound to the westward. It began to snow in the evening.

Monday, February 18, 1878. — The snow fell thick during the past night. The wind, however,
continued moderate, but veered around until at 8 a. m. it was NNE. The weather began to clear
at this time. Barometer 29.65. The wind steadily increased during the day until it blew heavy
in the afternoon. At 10 a. m. the main-staysail sheet parted and we hauled the sail down and did
not set it again. At 2.30 p. m. we clewed np the gaff-topsail. At 4 p. m. double-reefed mainsail
and took the bonnet out of the jib, and at 5 o'clock we double-reefed the foresail. We saw a
vessel at anchor at 4.30 p. m. The air grew cold in the afternoon, and the sky had a wild wintry
look. At 7 p. m. it blew a strong gale and there was a very sharp sea running. We took the
mainsail in, and furled it, and let the vessel run under her reefed foresail and jib. At 8 p. m.
shipped a sea which stove one of the dories.

Tuesday, February 19, 1878. — At 1 o'clock a. m. we took in the jib and furled it, and ran under
a double-ree'fed foresail. It was blowing a smart gale at this time. The cold had increased and
the vessel was making considerable ice. At 8 a. m. the wind had moderated, but still the tem-
perature was lower than it had been during the night. I think it was colder than I have seen it
before this winter. We set the jib and riding-sail at 8.30 a. m. At 2.30 p. m. the wind and sea
had decreased very considerably, though it still blew hard and was so cold that where any spray
struck it froze. We began beating the ice off the foresail at this time, and at 3 o'clock we shook
the reef out. After we got the foresail up, we pounded some of the ice off the rigging, sails, &c.
At 9 p. m. we set the mainsail, shot to, and sounded in 56 fathoms oh the Western Bank.

Wednesday, February 20, 1878. — This morning there was a fine northerly breeze. We began
to beat off the ice at daylight, and at 8 a. m. set the light sails. Our latitude at noon was 42° 13'
N., longitude 60° 14' W. Longitude, by observation at 4 p. m., 59° 34' W. The wind in the
afternoon and evening backed to KW. and, toward midnight, was light and puffy.

Thursday, February 21, 1878.— There was a light WSW. breeze during the first half of this
day, and the air was much warmer than it had been, so that the ice began to melt and fall off the
rigging and rails. The wind kept backing gradually until at 6 p. m. it was south. It began to
snow soon after noon and was quite thick all the rest of the day. We took in the gaff-topsail and
furled it at 5 p. m. The wind still continued to back against the sun, until 11 p. m. when it was
NNE., fresh and puffy.

Friday, February 22, 1878. — The wind in the first of the morning backed to north and blew
up heavy. We took in the mainsail and furled it at 4, and reefed the foresail at 5 a. m. At 8.30
a. m it blew a strong gale. We took in the jib and furled it and hove to. The barometer at this
time was on 30.15, which is higher than I ever saw it before when it blew a gale like this. At 3.30
p. m. the gale moderated some and veered to NNE. We loosed the jib and set it, and bent the
riding sail, so that we could keep on our course. The barometer at this time had risen to 30.40.
The wind blew very heavy, and there was a bad sea, in the latter part of this p. m.

Saturday, February 23, 1878. — At 6 a. m. it was still blowing a strong breeze, though consider-
ably less than during last night. The Marion behaved splendidly under her short sail, and made
an average of 4 knots, which is very good in such a gale, considering that we had to keep close to
the wind. At noon we shook the reef out of the foresail. At 3 p. m. we came to anchor in 100 fath-
oms on the western edge of the Grand Bank. It was rough, and still blowing strong, and the
weather was hazy and drizzly when we anchored. We repaired the dory which was stove on the
passage. I noticed that we came into white water 25 or 30 miles westward of the Bank, which is

FBESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 67

rather unusual; I think this discoloration so far from shallow water must somehow have been
caused by the late gale.

Sunday, February 24, 1878.— There was a light southeast breeze in the morning. We hove in
" slack cable," but did not set any gear, as I do not feel disposed to begin a trip on Sunday. I got
an observation in the forenoon and one at noon. Oar latitude is 43° 32' N., longitude 51° 57' W. I
saw a vessel at anchor to the SE. At noon I saw a schooner working up from to leeward, which
proved to be the Ada K. Damon, which vessel sails from the same firm that we do. The skipper came
aboard, and we exchanged our budgets of news. He reports halibut very scarce on the Bank. It
is ten days since he anchored on the Bank and he Eas~ taken only 2,000 pounds of fish. He went
adrift in the last breeze,* and has not anchored since. He says it blew nearly a hurricane where
he was. After he returned to his vessel he kept off and ran to the NW. We set four trawls this
afternoon, chiefly to catch some fish for bait. At 5.30 p. m. the Andrew Leighton spoke us. She
was working to the SE., and kept on in that direction. The wind blew up strong from the south
east in the evening, and we had to stick out some more cable.

Monday, February 25, 1878. — It was moderate, and very thick fog this morning and forenoon,
with indications of a sudden change of wind. We hove in our cable to a short scope. After dinner
the weather cleared up and our men went to haul the gear. They got only two of the trawls; the
other two I expect the tide, which runs very strong, has carried adrift. We spent all the afternoon
looking after them. The wind breezed up NW., and I concluded to wait till morning and have
a hunt for the missing gear in the vessel.

Tuesday, February 26, 1878. — The morning was dark and gloomy-looking, and there was a light
northerly breeze. The barometer was low and falling slowly. We .began to heave up the anchor
before daylight. After the vessel was under way we made short tacks to windward in the direc-
tion I thought the trawls had drifted, and, fortunately, we soon found them. There were only a few
codfish on them, and no halibut, so we kept off and ran to the SE., spoke the Andrew Leighton,
and still continued our course for about 18 miles farther, when we anchored in 70 fathoms and set 12
skates of trawl. Last year at this time halibut were very plenty in this vicinity. Although the ba-
rometer is down to 29, the weather still continues fine, with a light WNW. breeze in the afternoon.

Wednesday, February 27, 1878. — This morning the clouds had a wild, unsettled look, and as the
barometer was on 29.10, 1 expected it would blow before night. We hauled our gear, and as we
got no halibut on the trawls we hove up the anchor, set all sail, and stood to the NNE. The wind
was about NW. by N., a smart staysail breeze, t The Leighton, which was anchored about 5 miles
from us, got under way at the same time, and was on our weather bow, standing the same course.
Latitude at noon, 43° 31' N. We tacked in the afternoon and stood to the westward a while, and
at 5 p. m. we anchored in 47 fathoms and set 12 skates of trawl. The Andrew Leighton anchored
at the same time about 5 miles WS W. of us. Weather still fine and barometer rising — now on 29.30.

Thursday, February 28, 1878. — In the morning there was a fresh northwest breeze and cloudy
sky. We got nothing on our gear, hove up the anchor, set all sail, and began to beat to
windward. The Leighton hove up at the same time. We beat to windward all day until 3 p. m.,
when we fell in with the Alice M. Williams and I went on board. Captain Murphy reports having
found halibut very scarce. He has been on the Banks about five weeks, and has about 30,000

* Gloucester fishermen generally speak of a gale as a " breeze." The average fisherman seldom dignifies the most
furious tempest or storm by any other name than a breeze. "Were yon out in the breezeT" is equivalent to asking
if yon were exposed to some unusually heavy gale.

tThis means all the wind a fishing schooner could carry a staysail with, close hauled. This method of gauging
the force of the wind is very much in nse. For instance, a "double-reefed breeze" signifies that a vessel c»n carry
only double-reefed sails, while a " whole sail breeze " is one in which the three lower sails can be carried, and no mere.

68 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

pounds; nearly all of these fish he has caught quite recently. He said that the City of Gloucester,
which lays a berth south of him, has got a fair trip, and will probably go home to-morrow. We
gave the Williams a dory-load of ice, then we went a berth northward of her and anchored in 56
fathoms, and set twelve tubs of trawl after dark. The barometer has risen to 29.90, and the
weather is fine; wind W. by N.

Friday, March 1, 1878. — It was calm in the first part of the day. We got 3,000 pounds of
halibut on the morning haul, and a large part of them were white. We baited up our trawls, and
as it still remained calm we set them again at 10 a. m. The Mary F. Chisholm lays a berth WSW.
and the Bessie W. Somes a berth to the NW. of us. The City of Gloucester got underway at
noon and shifted to the westward into deeper water. At 2 p. m. there was a moderate breeze from
the westward. The Williams was under way at this time, standing to the northward under whole
sail. While our men were out hauling this afternoon we had a smart and very sudden squall.
Some of our dories were to leeward, and for a while I was afraid they would not get aboard; but
fortunately the tide set strong to windward, which assisted them very much, and after a hard pull
they all succeeded in reaching the vessel. The Williams was under whole sail when the squall
struck, and I think she went down pretty low before her crew lowered the mainsail. She was not
far from us at the time, and Captain Murphy, seeing that some of our men were to leeward, ran
down and kindly offered to assist them. In his quiet way he said to them, "Well, boys, do you
think you can pull up?" "Yes, I guess so," they replied. "I'll keep watch of you, and if you
need it will give you a tow," he shouted out as he passed by the dories. We got all our trawls but
one. That one parted on the outside end, and just as the men began to haul the inside end the
squall struck. We got only 1,000 pounds of halibut. The Williams kept on for home. Our posi-
tion is latitude 43° 52' N., longitude 52° 25' W.

Saturday, March 2, 1878. — This day began with a fresh and cold northerly gale, so that some
ice was making on deck. We set the dories amidships and cleared the decks, putting the gear
below and securing everything which was liable to be washed overboard. We had a smart gale
all day, with frequent heavy snow squalls. The barometer was on 30.10 at 8 p. m.

Sunday, March 3, 1878. — There was not more than a moderate whole sail breeze at daylight
this morning, so, while one dory went to haul the trawl that was out, the rest of us hove short and
beat the ice off the deck, rigging, and sails. We lost one trawl-anchor, buoy, buoy-line, and two
lines of trawl, and got about 500 pounds of halibut. The northwest wind died away in the fore-
noon, and in the afternoon the wind breezed up from the southward. We hove up our anchor and
ran to the NNW., where we fell in with and I went aboard of the Ada K. Damon. Afterwards we
ran 4 or 5 miles NNW. of her and anchored in 65 fathoms, and set eighteen skates of trawl. The
Damon broke her anchor out and ran this way, and anchored a short berth ESE. of us. The Bessie
W. Somes spoke us at 4 p. m., and ran to the NNW. a long berth,* where she anchored.

Monday, March 4, 1878. — At 2 p. m. I began to write the record of this day, which has been
a rather eventful and exciting one for us, and which came very near having a tragical ending
for two of our crew, James Abbott and George Mathews. The day began with a strong SSW.
breeze, and the sky had a"smurry, " windy look. I did not intend to send our dories out,
but as we soon saw the Ada K. Damon's boats out our men thought it was rather daring them,
and they declared that they could go if the Damon's crowd could. The competition in this busi-

*A "long berth" in halibut trawl-lirie fishing is between Sand 4 miles. The distance between two vessels is gen-
erally spoken of as a "short berth," which may be anywhere from three-fourths of a mile to double that distance; a
"fair berth," generally 2 to 2£ miles, and a "long berth," 3 to 4 miles. The position where a vessel lies fishing is
called a berth, and though she may drift some distance, as in mackereling, she is said to be in her berth. Also if a
vessel moves from one place to another it is called "making a berth."

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 69

uess— and especially between vessels from the same firm — is so sharp that skippers and men boiu
dare all dangers rather than be outdone. Our men were soon ready, and we hoisted out our
dories, and, jumping into them, away the men pulled for their trawls. Abbott and Mathews had to
pull nearly at right angles to the sea and wind, and when they were about half way to their outer
buoy a sea cockled up, and, catching the dory on the broadside, nearly threw her bottom-up. All
that saved her was that both men jumped, and threw themselves on the weather gunwale. As it
was, the dory was almost filled with water, and oars, thwarts, and kid-boards were washed out of
her. It fortunately happened that there was another dory near enough to the scene of the acci-
dent for the men in her to notice the mishap and see the signals for help. The crew of this boat
pulled up to those who had so nearly capsized, picked up their oars for them and placed
them in a situation once more to battle with the elements. But for this timely aid they must
have drifted helplessly to leeward, and doubtless to death. After they got their dory bailed out
they started for their outer buoy again, reaching which they began to haul the trawl, but,
unluckily, it soon parted, and, as a result, they had a very hard pull to reach the vessel. All of
the dories were several times nearly filled by breaking waves, and, since the wind kept increasing
while they were out, it was certainly rough enough before they got aboard again. We had two
dories astern, riding on long painters, while we were waiting for the others to come on board,
and a sea hove one of them across the other's bow, so that the weather one had a hole knocked
through her side. When this occurred the order was, " Hurry up, boys, and let's get the dories in
before they fill." This was successfully accomplished. We hauled four and a half trawls— four-
teen skates— and got about 2,500 pounds of halibut. The dories were all aboard at 11 a. m., by which
time it blew so hard that wo had to pay out some more cable. After that we got our dinner and
then dressed the fish. At 5 p. m. the wind had increased to a heavy gale. We cleared the deck,
reefed the foresail and ridingsail, and set the dories amidships before dark. When a gale is coming
on, the foresail is carefully reefed (though it is afterwards furled), so that it may be ready for any
emergency which may ai ise, such as going adrift or having to cut the cable to escape collision
•with a drifting vessel, which may drive down on one at anchor. The dories are moved amidships,
so that they may be less liable to injury from a sea breaking over the vessel's side. Since the
successful issue of the trip depends on keeping them whole, much care is taken of them.

Tuesday, March 5, 1878. — At 1 a. m. an "unwelcome visitor," in the shape of two or three
barrels of water — the top of a comber — came into the cabin. There was a general scramble to snatch
up the boots that lay on the floor, to keep them from being filled with water. Some of the men
were not quick enough, and their boots got wet, causing considerable growling, as a matter
of course. I said to the watch, "Haul that slide over when you see a bad one coming." Every-
thing was soon quiet again, and the men who were turned in all hauled the quilts over themselves
and rolled over and once more went to sleep, indifferent alike to the roar of the gale and the swish-
swash of the water on deck. At 5 a. m. the wind had moderated, so we turned out and hove in
the cable to a short scope. After breakfast — which we always have at daylight or before — we
began baiting up our trawls, but the wind, which was light at this time, increased so rapidly that
in less than half an hour it blew a gale and was raining and thick. We had to stick out cable
again, and thus our hopes of improving this day were utterly foiled. At noon it blew a heavy gale
SSW., but at 6 p. m. there was less wind, and it was veering to the westward. The weather was
still thick and raining. At 9 p. m. we hove in some cable.

Wednesday, March 6, 1878. — There was a smart northerly bieeze this morning. The sky was
overcast and the send was flying fast to leeward, as though it might blow hard again. We set 8
skates of trawl in the morning, but the weather looked so threatening that we did not attempt to

70 HISTOBY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

get those we had out. The wind blew strong all day, so we did not put our dories out again. I
never before have seen such a succession of strong winds and gales with the barometer so high.
It has not been below 29.70, in the open air, in any of the late gales.

Thursday, March 7, 1878. — Blow! Blow! At daylight it was still blowing strong, and I felt
utterly disgusted with the state of things in general, and the weather in particular. At 8 a. m. the
wind moderated a little, and we put out our dories, and the men went to haul the trawls. We
got 3,000 pounds of halibut, baited up and set again. Capt. Peter Mathewson, of the Solomon
Poole, came aboard in the afternoon ; he has been on the Bank but a few days. He said that
while he was at home the Howard came in from the Western Bank with a good trip. She was
gone only thirteen days from home. The Ada K. Damon hove up this afternoon and stood to the
northward. We got no halibut on our trawls in the afternoon, so we hove up and stood to the
NNE. 4 or 5 miles, and anchored in 58 fathoms, and set eighteen tubs of trawl at 10 p. m.

Friday, March 8, 1878. — There was a moderate southerly breeze in the morning. We got
5,000 pounds of halibut on the morning haul ; baited up, and set again. Three of the dories caught
nearly all of the halibut, so all of them set at 10 a. m. in the direction where the fish appeared to be
most abundant. The sun was out to-day, so that I got observations — latitude 44° 4' N., longitude
62° 30' W. Capt. Peter Dolliver, of the Lizzie, came aboard in the afternoon. He has not been long
out from Halifax, where he has been to refit, having lost cable, anchor, &c., in the heavy gale that
swept the Grand Bank the 4th, 5th, and 6th ultimo. He said he had himself tried, and had spoken
several others who had been fishing 18 miles northward of us, and the halibut were very scarce in
that region. We got only 2,000 pounds of halibut in the afternoon haul. Just as our dories were
getting aboard, the Ada K. Damon spoke us. She was running to the northward, towing her
anchor. It was then 5 p. m. We took in our dories, broke out the anchor, and shifted a long
berth, after dark, towing the anchor. We baited 12 skates of trawl and set them after we
anchored again.

Saturday, March 9, 1878. — There was a fresh whole sail southerly breeze in the morning, and it
looked like rain. We got very few halibut on the morning haul, and as soon as the dories were
aboard we began to heave up the anchor. The Carl Schurz spoke us at 7 a. m. She was running
to the NNW. While we were heaving up, the wind died away calm. We set only bank sail at
first, but at 2 p. m. the wind began to breeze up NW., and we hoisted the mainsail, and beat to
windward about 7 miles, where we anchored in 57 fathoms at 5.30 p. m., and set several skates
of trawl. It was foggy for a while at midday, but cleared in the afternoon and there was a fine
NNW. breeze, sky dark and overcast. Barometer 30 at 6 p. m. Every vessel in sight but one was
under way, so I conclude that they all find fish scarce, as we do.

Sunday, March 10, 1878. — This morning there was a light NNW. breeze, falling barometer, and
dark and cloudy sky. At 7 a. m., while our men were hauling, the barometer stood on 29.70.

Capt. Daniel McKinnon, of the Mary F. Chisholm, came aboard. He had set, under sail, a berth
WSW. of us. He staid till our dories came alongside, and then he went back to his own vessel.
He thinks he will start for home to-day.

We got only 3,000 pounds of halibut. We hove up the anchor and worked to the ~NNW.
under whole mainsail and jib. The wind had been breezing up since morning, and at this time, 2
p. m., it blew too strong for two men to pull a dory to windward. Therefore, after we got 3 or 4
miles from our last berth, we hoisted the dories out and set 18 skates of trawl to leeward ; I ran to
leeward in the vessel, and having picked up the boats we anchored at the lee ends of the trawls.
After McKinnon got his gear he started for home. There was a strong breeze and frequent snow
squalls iu the latter part of this p. m. The barometer remains steady. I turned in at 8 p. m., after

FBESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 71

giving the watch the usual order for the night: "Pass the word along to fleet the cable at 12
o'clock, and if the wind blows any harder, give me a call."

Monday, March 11, 1878. — At 2 a. m. the watch called me and said that " Old Boreas was tun-
ing his harp again." We called all hands and paid out some more cable, set the dories amidships,
&c. There were frequent heavy snow squalls from the KN"W. and rapidly falling barometer at this
time. At 7 a. m. it blew a gale. Barometer 29.30. At 2 p. m. it blew a heavy gale. Barometer
29.15. The gale continued without abatement during the remainder of this p. m.

Tuesday, March 12, 1878. — At 7 a. m. the gale still continued. Barometer 29.70. At noon
barometer 29.90, and no change in the gale. We hove~in the strad, and shifted it. Saw a topsail
schooner to windward lying to. I cannot help feeling disgusted and dissatisfied at the way things
have worked with us this trip. The wind has blown a gale most of the time, and when we have
had good weather we have found fish scarce. At 5 p. m. the wind had lulled a little, though it
still blew heavy and was as rough as ever. Later, the wind increased, and the latter part of this
p. m. blew a heavy gale, with a very bad sea running.

Wednesday, March 13, 1878. — At 2 a. m. our vessel shipped a sea over the bow that broke
some of the checker-planks and washed aft what cable we had on deck. At 6 a. m. there was
less wind. Barometer 30.25. We hove in some cable and repaired the checker-planks in the fore-
noon, and hauled the trawls in the afternoon. We got only eight or ten small halibut, and I felt
so disheartened, so tired and disgusted with constantly trying and getting next to nothing, that I
determined to start to the westward, and if we have a chance we will try on the Western Bank,
and if not we will go home with what few fish we have caught, rub out the old score, and begin
again. It will be better for us than to stay here any longer as the prospect now is. We hove up
and set all sail. At 7 p. m. it was nearly calm, but at 10 o'clock a light air sprang up from the
southward and we set the stay-sail and headed on our course W. by N. half N.

Thursday, March 14, 1878. — In the early part of this a. m. the wind backed to SE., and at
3 o'clock a. m. was blowing fresh and puffy. Called all hands and took in the stay-sail, turned the
dories over, and lashed them securely. We got through at 4 o'clock and all of the men went below
but the watch. I staid on deck myself, for these winter southeasters cannot be safely trusted,
though, at the same time, sail must be carried to the last extremity. It was raining lightly, and the
night, which was moonless and starless, was one of the blackest I have ever seen. All that could
be seen was the sparkle of the spray as it flew from the bow, and the luminous phosphorescent
wake of the vessel, as, with the sheets well off, she rushed through the water and darkness like a
wild horse flying from a pursuer. Every sheet and halyard fairly hummed with the strain upon
them. I called all hands. " Get on your oil-clothes and stand by the halyards," was the order.
Hardly had I begun to pace the deck again, when a squall struck into our sails with a force
which strained every thread of the bellying canvas, and threatened to carry away the spars or
drive our little schooner beneath the sea. Feeling the vessel settling I shouted to the man at the
wheel, " Let her come to I " and to his watch-mate, who was standing by the weather dories,
looking out, "Let go the mainpeak halyards, Jerry!" At the same time I sprang to the main
throat-halyards and tried to get them clear, but they were made fast in some unusual way, and in
the darkness I could not tell how. In the mean time our little craft came near going to the
bottom. She was under water from her cat-head to her taffrail on the lee side. The man at the
wheel had to get upon the wheel-box, the water was so high where he stood. When he first heard
my order he put the wheel down, but finding the vessel was going so low he became frightened,
and kept her off before it again, thinking that the safest thing to do. The man I sent to the peak-
halyards, though he was floated off his feet by the rush of water on the lee side of the mainmast,

ViJ HISTOBY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

managed to get the halyards clear and let them go by the run. This reduced the sail considerably,
and the first fury of the squall being past the schooner shook some of the water off her deck, and
though she was still running at an appalling rate she kept afloat until we could shorten sail still
more.

While all this was happening, which tooii but a few moments, finding I could not clear the
throat-halyards and, execrating the "peddler" who had made them fast, I jumped to the com-
panion-way and sung out to the men below, " Jump up here, boys! Jump for your lives, and let's
get the sail off of her! " Up they rushed, and we soon had the mainsail and jib down, and, under
her foresail, the Marion once more rose buoyantly over the waves. We double reefed the mainsail
and took the bonnet out of the jib and put them on her again, determined, of course, to make all
we could out of the fair wind. It was foggy at 8 a. m. At 10 o'clock the wind had hauled so far
to the westward that we could not head our course. At 11.30 a. in. the fog cleared off and the sun
came out, so that I got a meridian observation. Our latitude was 44° 13' N. At 12.30 p. m. there
was a moderate breeze W. and we turned out the reefs and set all sail. At 5 p. m. the wind was
backing to the SW., and the barometer, which had been falling slowly since morning, then stood
on 29.50. At 6 p. m. there was a smart southerly breeze. At 8 o'clock the wind changed very
suddenly to W., and blew so heavily that we reefed fore and aft. Feeling very much fatigued I
turned in after everything was set in proper shape, having first told the watch to pass along the
word for the men who came on watch later to keep their eyes peeled and if there was any change
in the wind, either in force or direction, or if it looked squally, to give me a call. "Ay, ay, sir,"
was the answer down the companion-way; and taking off my oil clothes but leaving my boots on
and my sou'wester within reach of my hand, ready for a quick jump on deck, I crawled wearily
into my bunk to get the rest I so much stood in need of, as I had got only one hour's sleep in the
previous thirty-nine.

Friday, March 15, 1878. — "Say, skip! it looks wild and squally, too, to wind'ard," was the
call that awoke me at 1 a. m. I sprang out, all standing, and grabbing my sou'wester in one
hand as I went, I started for the companion-way to take a look at the weather. The watch had
already gone on deck, and was standing on the quarter, waiting for my decision. To windward
were heavy masses of dark, inky clouds, that appeared to be driven and whirled around by the
wind. "Rouse 'em out forward; and then stand by the foresheet!" I shouted to the watch, while I
dodged below to call the after crowd, and to get my oil-clothes on. The squall was not so bad as
it looked, but it blew strong, though we took in no sail, since the men were stationed at the sheets
and halyards ready to let them run if necessary. The wind at this time was W. by N., blowing
heavy, but towards morning it backed to W. and moderated some. At daylight we shook the
reefs out of the mainsail and foresail. During the forenoon the wind was quite moderate, and we
set the staysail. At noon the sky was overcast, as it had been all the first part of the day, pre-
cluding the possibility of getting any observations. Our position at noon by dead reckoning was
45° north latitude and 57° west longitude. We tacked at noon and stood to the southwest. The
wind at this time still continued moderate, notwithstanding the barometer was down to 29.55. At
2.30 p. m. the wind hauled to about north. It was moderate at first, but later it blew up fresh. We
sounded on the eastern part of Banquereau at 7 p. m. We took in the staysail at 8, and reefed the
mainsail at 11.30 p. m. The air at this time was growing cold, and the wind backing westerly, blow-
ing heavy with strong puffs. In the squalls the Marion had all she could do to stand up under her
canvas and she went surging along, through the choppy head sea, with her lee side buried, and
showers of spray flying over her bow almost to the top of her reefed mainsail.

Saturday, March 16, 1878. — At 5 a. m. the puffs came so heavy that we double reefed the

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 73

foresail and took the bonnet out of the jib. We sounded at this Lonr on the southwest part of
Banquereau in 70 fathoms. After the jib and reefed foresail were set, we steered W. by S., and at
9 a. m. sounded on the Western Bank in 52 fathoms. It has been cold during the past night and
this morning, and the vessel has made considerable ice. At 10 o'clock a. m. we saw two vessels at
anchor to leeward. At noon we shook the reef out of the foresail. At 2.30 p. m. turned the reef out
of the mainsail and put the bonnet in the jib. The sky at this time was dark and overcast; barom-
eter 30. At 5 p. m. I sent a man aloft to lash the backstay outriggers to the after cross trees, and
then we set the staysail. An hour later we sprung the topmast, at the mast-hole below the cap,
and took the stay-sail in. At 7.30 it was rnoderate-aud we set the gaff-topsail. It still continued
cold. If I had thought, when we passed those vessels, that it would have moderated so soon, I
should have stopped and had a try for halibut; it is now too late to repent.

Sunday, March 17, 1878. — This morning was fine and clear, with a moderate breeze, which was
gradually backing to the westward, and with some indications of a southerly wind. At 9 a. m. we
tacked to the northwest, and having previously put a lashing around our topmast, where it was
sprung, we set the staysail. Our position at noon by observation was 42° 40' north latitude, and 61°
39' west longitude. Longitude at 4 p. m., 62° 05' W. There was a light breeze WSW. in the after-
noon, and St. Patrick's day has been the only fine one that we have seen since March came in.

Monday, March 18, 1878. — At 4 a. m. the wind was SE. by E., breezing up fast and accompanied
by rain. We took in the light sails. At 7 a. m. the wind was ESE., blowing heavy in the rain-squalls.
We took in the mainsail, reefed and furled it. At 11.30 a. m. there was less wind, and we set the
whole mainsail. At noon the wind veered some to the southward, but soon died away almost calm,
leaving the sea all up in heaps. All we could do was to keep right before the sea. Fortunately
we could do this and still be on our course. After 2 o'clock the sun caine out bright and clear. I
got a set of altitudes of the sun and worked them out by "Sumner's method." At 4 p. m. latitude
42° 42' N., longitude 65° 22' W. In the last part of this p. m. there was a brisk southwest breeze.

Tuesday, March 19, 1878. — At 3.30 a m. the wind came from the northward and there were
indications of a strong breeze. We clewed up the gaff-topsail. There was a good whole sail breeze
all the forenoon, but about noon it moderated and began to back to the westward. We set the
gaff-topsail at noon. Latitude by meridian observation, 42° 56' N. At 2 p. m. the wind was W.
and we tacked and stood to the northward. At 2.30 p. m. there was a moderate breeze W.
by S., and we set the staysail. Barometer at this time 29.70. At 4 p. m. I got an observation and
found our longitude to be 68° 12' W. During the latter part of this p. m. the wind was light and
variable.

Wednesday, March 20, 1878. — At 3 a. m. we made Matinicus Rock lights, and a few minutes
later we saw Monhegan light. At 6.40 we tacked between Matiuicus and Monhegan. There was
a fresh breeze NW. by W. at this time, and I noticed that the barometer had fallen considerably
since last night. At 9 a. m. we passed to the northward of Monhegan. There was a strong
whole sail breeze from NW. at this time. From Mouhegan to Cape Elizabeth, which we passed
12 miles to leeward of, the Marion had all she could " smother to," as some of our men remarked.
Sometimes in the flaws we had to " light her up," for a minute or two, to shake off the water, and
then we would give it to her again. At 3.30 p. m. we could carry it no longer, so we hauled down
the mainsail and double-reefed it, and at 4 o'clock, when just to the westward of Cape Elizabeth,
we had a very heavy white squall. There was a large coasting schooner to windward, and seeing
her douse her canvas gave us a good warning. From the top of the house I saw it coming over
the water, rolling up a feather white sheet of foam and spray before it. "Haul down the foresail
and put a double reef in it," I shouted out to the men who were waiting for the order. We had.

Y4 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

besides the reefed mainsail, the whole jib set, and I thought it would burst when the squall struck
into it. So I sang out at the top of my voice, " Leave the foresail and man the jib-downhaul, and
let's get the jib down before it goes to pieces." All being ready, the halyards were let go, but it
was a hard job to haul the sail down. The force of wind striking in the sail would send it surging
up and down the stay, as though it would tear itself clear off the hanks. After it was down we
took both bonnets out, and setting that and the reefed foresail, we let the vessel go to the westward
again under her double reefs, which were quite enough, for she frequently buried her lee rail and
filled the lee side with water. We passed Thatcher's Island at 9.30 p. m. Just before midnight
we came to anchor off the steamboat wharf, in Gloucester harbor, and having furled the sails, &c.,
we hoisted out a dory, and all the married men went home.

Thursday, March 21, 1878. — After breakfast, I went down to the fresh-halibut establishments
and tried to sell our fish. Halibut were very low, and the gentlemen who composed the halibut
firms did not seem inclined to make any offer, so I determined to go to Boston for a market. The
Howard, which got in this a. m., was going with us, but when the "hawkers" found we were about
to start, they came down and made us a more liberal offer, and we sold to the Atlantic Company
for 3J cents per pound right through for white and gray. We hove up our anchor and dropped
into the halibut wharf, but did not take any fish out to-day.

Friday, March 22, 1878. — We took our fish out this forenoon and hauled to our own wharf at
noon. We weighed out 20,000 pounds. Our net stock was $334.40, and share $11.44. It is quite
needless to make any comments on these two last trips. Let it suffice to say that we are not the
only ones who have made poor fares ; even moderately good trips, being an exception rather than
a rule this winter. Even with large fares of fish, as we had on our last trip before this, little could
be made owing to the low price.*

Friday, January 24, 1879. — It being understood that we should sail to-day, th« boys all put in
an appearance at the wharf between 8 and 9 a. m., many of them bringing under their arms a
small calico bag containing a supply of clean clothes for the trip, and nearly all getting a quantity
of tobacco and pipes at the store; the order to the clerk generally being as follows : " Say, Archie,
give us two pound terbaccer and a half dozen T. D.'s" (the common clay pipes with "T. D."
marked on the bowl.)

A noticeable absence of shore clothes, the hasty running for this and that article forgotten
until the last moment, and the pulling here and hauling there, gave evidence that a "start" was
contemplated.

In the mean time the cook built a fire in his cooking stove and began making preparations for
dinner.

All were ready at last, and just before noon the sails were hoisted and we filled away from the
wharf. As the city clock struck twelve we passed the " fort," beating out of the harbor with a
moderate southwest breeze.

After passing Eastern Point, at the harbor's mouth, we set the staysail and shaped our course
E. by 8. for the Banks, and so as to pass several miles to the southward of Cape Sable, Nova
Scotia.

In the mean time the ropes were coiled, dories turned bottom up and securely lashed, and the
vessel pumped out ; while our ears, as we turned the " Point," were pleasantly greeted by the

* The two trips made in the beginning of 1878, the second of which has been described in the foregoing pages,
were the most unremunerative I ever made. The one alluded to above will serve as an example of the extreme of
poor fares, not so much in the quantity of fish taken (for profitable voyages have often been made with no more) but
as showing both a limited catch and a low price. On the previous trip, though a large quantity of halibut was taken,
the finaucial results wore even worse than those given above, the men sharing only a little more than $8 apiece.

FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 75

clang of the cook's dinner bell, calling us away from " straightening up things on deck." The
crew is divided into two gangs for meals, the table in the forecastle not being large enough to
accommodate all. One of the second gang now came aft saying, "I'll keep her along, skipper,
while you get dinner;" whereupon I gave up the wheel, which I had held since starting, and
went with the first gang down to dinner. For dinner we had the usual first meal at sea, which,
hastily prepared, generally consists of boiled salt beef and potatoes, with biscuits, pilot-bread and
butter, strong tea, and fried beefsteak. This bill of fare is very much changed as soon as the
" doctor " (cook) has time to prepare a greater variety, and, though beefsteak or other fresh meat
is rarely seen after the first few days out, the tabte is well provided with plenty of good raised
bread, cakes, pies, doff, &c., and last, though not least, the finest fish are.served up in a manner
rarely equaled elsewhere.

After dinner the patent log was put out, a note made of the bearing and distance of the land,
and then everybody was called aft to " thumb the hat," in order that the watch might be set. All
hands stand around an inverted hat, taking hold of it so that their thumbs are on top of the
rim. The skipper then turns away his head, and, reaching over, touches one of the thumbs, and
then counts around from left to right any number previously decided upon. The first one that the
count reaches has the first watch. The counting then begins at the next thumb with "one," and
so on until each man knows his watch, and with the injunction, " Remember now, whom you call,"
the performance ends, and the one having the first watch takes the wheel.

On board of trawling vessels it is very common for dorymates to stand watch together on a
passage, and in this case only half of the crew "thumb the hat," they choosing their mates to
stand with them. After the watch was set most of the men turned in and took a nap, while one
or two busied themselves ganging hooks, &c.

At 3 p. m., the wind having increased to a smart breeze, we took in the staysail and gaff-
topsail. At 5 p. m., barometer 30.15 ; smurry -looking under the sun. The wind increased some
after 5, and the sea made up sharp.

A little before 7 o'clock p. m. our vessel took a heavy lurch to leeward, sending her lee rail so
far u^der that, when she straightened up, the deck was nearly full, and several bucketsful came down
the companion-way over the lower cabin door, which sets about 18 inches above the deck, wetting
the bed-clothes in the lee-bunks, and also the boots lying on the floor. This episode called forth
exclamations more forcible than polite from the occupants of the lee bunks, and shouts of laughter
from their companions who could see only the ludicrous side of the accident. The sea by this time
had risen sharp and choppy, and so frequent were the lurches — the main-boom often going under
to the slings— that we soon after double reefed the mainsail. This done, I went below for the
night) giving the usual order to " call me if there is any change in the force or direction of the
wind."

After the reefed mainsail was set we hauled the log and found that we had made an average
of 10 knots since we passed Thatcher's Island. Barometer at 8 p. m., 30.05. Strong breeze all the
latter part of this p. m.

Saturday, January 25, 1879.— The wind had moderated some at 7 a. m., and hauled to WSW.
Barometer at this hour, 29.70 ; sky overcast. We shook the reef out of the mainsail and set the
light sails.

Soon after breakfast the hatches were taken off and the men took the trawls on deck and
began rigging them up by bending the gangings, that had been unbent on the last passage home,
into the beckets on the ground line. Each hook before being attached to the trawl undergoes a
critical examination, and if dull must be touched up with a file, if crooked, straightened into

76 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

proper shape, or, if the hook cannot be fixed so that it will serve all purposes, it is condemned and
thrown aside; if a ganging is poor, the hook attached to it is also thrown aside to be regauged.
The trawls are marked in various ways with the number of the boat they belong to, and as they
are passed on deck each dory's crew stand by to select or claim their own gear. When the marks
happen to be indistinct on a good trawl, considerable discussion about the ownership frequently
takes place; as all who have to rig new trawls or have some that are nearly worn out are eager to get
it, and several will declare it is theirs and point out some peculiarity in the rig which they claim no
one else has but themselves. Some put in a claim, just for fun, to make the other claimants talk
more earnestly; and considerable amusement is occasioned in this way. the non-contestants always
urging on the others and laughing.

At last, all differences being satisfactorily settled, the men take up their stations on different
parts of the deck, and the work of "fixing up" the trawls goes briskly on, many of the workers
singing some ballad of the sea or telling their chums long stories of experiences which they met
with while last on shore.

At 9 a. m. the wind hauled so far to the westward that we took in the staysail and winged
the foresail. At 10 o'clock we jibed the mainsail, bringing the main-boom on the starboard side.
The wind was quite light after 10, and weather hazy. At 2 p. m. we made Seal Island, Nova
Scotia, bearing NE. by N., 8 miles distant. The work on the gear was completed at 4 p. m., and
the trawls were stowed below. At 7 p. m. barometer 29.40 ; wind WSW., and breezing up ; sky
overcast. The barometer continued to fall, and at 8.30 stood on 29.30 and vibrating very much.
The night was intensely dark, with "spitting" snow in the air. I considered the danger of being
struck with a squall so imminent that, notwithstanding the wind was light, we took in the gaff-
topsail and mainsail at 9 p. m. and furled them up.

Sunday, January 26, 1879. — This day began with a strong breeze WNW., and the barometer,
which was on 29.15, indicated still more wind. The night or early morning was exceedingly dark,
and having previously taken in and furled the mainsail and gaff-topsail, we double-reefed the fore-
sail at 1.20 a. m., and took the bonnet out of the jib. At this time the wind was increasing rap-
idly, blowing in sharp puffs, and hauling to NNE., while it grew cold very fast, causing the flying
spray to soon congeal into ice on the rigging and such portions of the hull as were not under water
when the vessel lurched. At 4.30 a. m. the wind had freshened to a gale, and the sea ran sharp
and high, causing our vessel, which was running with the wind abeam, to occasionally take a heavy
lurch to leeward. Fearing the dories might be injured if we continued on our course, we furled
the jib and hove to under the reefed foresail until 7 o'clock in the morning, at which time we kept
off again, the wind in the interim having changed to NNW., which was fair for us, though it was
blowing hard.* It was bitterly cold all the morning and ice made rapidly on deck and about the
rigging. Nevertheless, we set the jib and riding-sail soon after breakfast, and a half hour later saw
a vessel at anchor ahead, which, as we approached nearer, we knew was the Everett Steele. There
was no one to be seen on her deck, and as we passed close to her stern our men, most of whom hail
gathered aft on the quarter, joined in a general shout. This had the desired effect of frightening
her crew, and four or five of the Steele's men rushed up, bareheaded and stock in gfooted, to be
greeted by the laughter and shouts of our fellows as we went dashing by. At 10 o'clock a. m. we
passed a brig which was lying to under main-staysail. She was badly iced up, and appeared to be
laboring heavily, rolling her lee yard-arms nearly to the surface of the water.

* The schooner Howard, of Gloucester, iu which I had formerly sailed, was knocked down and came near being
lost in this galo; the Thresher, of the same port, also had hor deck swept, and it is believed by many that the Gwen-
dolen, which was also bound to the Banks, went down the same day, since she was never seen afterwards.

FEESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 77

To one standing upon the deck of our little schooner at this time, the scene, though grand aud
impressive, had a decidedly wintry and dreary look. The ice-covered hull and rigging, the dark
masses of snow-laden clouds driven to leeward by the gale, which shrieked and whistled through
the ropes and lashed into the wildest fury the foam-flecked waters, piling them into huge waves,
was a sight that, once seen, could never be forgotten. But on we went, now plunging down the
side of a great wave, again lurching heavily, filling the deck with water, which, as the vessel
straightened up again, went dashing over to the weather-side, often out over the rail, and some of
it finding its way, through the binnacle, into the cabin.

The remark of one of our boys that " any one who can't swim had better take a back seat" was
certainly very apt, but the gravity uf the situation, and the dangers incident to running in such a
gale, with the sea on the quarter, were better expressed by the order, frequently shouted to the man
at the wheel, " Watch her sharp, now ! Keep your eye to wind'ard, and if you see a big one coming,
swing her off and let her take it stern-to."

During the afternoon there was a nasty and dangerous cross-sea running, rendering it extremely
unsafe to continue on our course during the night. We therefore took in the jib and furled it before
dark, and at 5 o'clock p. m. hove to under double-reefed foresail and riding sail. At 7 p. m. the
gale still continued with undiminished force, but, like a gull with its head under its wing, our little
vessel rises and falls, safely breasting the foam-crested waves as they go seething by, leaving behind
them a phosphorescent track, which lights up the surrounding darkness,in a peculiarly weird manner.
Thus closes this day, the events of which I now sit down to write before turning in for the night.

Monday, January 27, 1879 —We kept off again at 6 a. m. At this time the wind still blew a
gale. The sky was overcast with heavy leaden looking clouds, varied occasionally by a wild-look-
ing black and scurrying raov squall, driving along to leeward. The barometer had risen to 30.00.
It still remained as cold as yesterday. We set the jib at 7, aud shook the reef out of the foresail
at 7.30 a. m. The wind had lulled some at this time, though it still blew heavy in the squalls.
When these struck in the sails, the Marion would tremble and quiver like a leaf, and, settling
down to her work, roll up the white water under her bows, sending sheets of foam and spray hiss-
ing off to leeward. At 10 a. m. we passed about half a mile to windward of a large brig rigged
steamship. She was heading to the westward and had fore and main trysails and close-reefed fore
and main topsails set; was badly iced up and going slow. As a general thing we go along first-
rate. Sometimes, however, our schooner takes a heavy lurch to leeward, sending the lee rail under
out of sight. When she straightens up again the water rushes to windward, often going over the
weather rail, but more frequently filling the binnacle, and thereby finding its way into the lee
bunks, and calling forth emphatic exclamations from those who are thus unfortunate enough to
have wet boots and bed-clothes. The clouds were broken at noon. I got a meridian observation
and found our latitude to be 42° 39' N. We made an average of ten knots this forenoon. The
wind decreased a little in the afternoon, and there was a decided change in the temperature, so
much so that the ice on deck grew softer. At 4 p. m. a "flopper" broke over the quarter, some of
which came into the cabin and wet the book in which I am writing my journal. This is a bad time
for writing, but I shall not soon get a better chance, and this one must therefore be improved.
The wind veered gradually to the westward in the afternoon, and at 6 p.m. was WNW.; bar-
ometer, 29.95. At 8.30 p m. there was somewhat less wind and smoother sea.

Tuesday, January 28, 1879. — The wind moderated gradually after midnight, and at 2.30 a. m.
called all hands, unbent the riding-sail, and set the mainsail and staysail. Light baffling airs and
calms at 0 a. m., with indications of an easterly wind. Barometer, 30.10. At 7.30 n. m. a light
breeze sprang up from SE. by E. We tacked, and headed to the eastward on the starboard tack;

78 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

set the light sails. All hands busy this morning clearing the ice off the deck and rigging. The
sky overcast all day. There was a moderate breeze all day from SE. to SSE., and the barometer
remained steady. Our position at 4 p. m. by dead reckoning was 42° 32' north latitude and 57° 2'
west longitude. At 7 p. m. the wind had increased to such a smart breeze that we took in the
light sails. The latter part of this p. m. there was a strong whole sail breeze, as much wind as our
vessel could swing her three lower sails to.

Wednesday, January 29, 1879. — There was a good whole sail breeze the first of this a. m. The
morning broke red in the east, but overcast elsewhere. Barometer falling ; on 29.85 at 6.30 a. m.
The wind at this time was SE. and freshening, and our schooner had all she could stagger under.
We double reefed the mainsail and took the bonnet out of the jib at 7.30 a. m. The wind blew steady
and strong all the forenoon, but lulled some at noon and backed a trifle to the eastward; rain and
hail showers. At 3.30 p. m. we changed the color of the water from dark blue to a whitish green.
We shot-to in the wind and sounded, but got no bottom with 150 fathoms out. The wind fresh-
ened again at 1 p. m., and all the afternoon it blew steady and strong, accompanied with rain and
hail. We tacked at 4.45 p. m. and headed to the southward, with our port tacks aboard. Barom-
eter at 8.30 p. m., 29.60. At 11 p. m., the wind having veered some to the southward, we tacked
again, and headed to the eastward on the starboard tack.

Thursday, January 30, 1879. — The first part of this a. m. there was little or no wind, but as
the barometer was down to 29.50 I expected a change to the westward ; therefore I concluded to
leave the reef in the mainsail until after breakfast, when, a light breeze having sprung up from the
SW., we set the whole mainsail and staysail. At 8 a. m. saw a four-masted steamer going to the
westward. Our position at noon was 44° 17' north latitude and 54° 30' west longitude. Barometer
at noon, 29.40. When the men learned the position they began sharpening their bait knives and
fixing other things preparatory to setting the trawls. Longitude at 3.20 p. m., 53° 46' W. Barom-
eter at 7.30 p. m., 29.55, at which time there was a fine southwest breeze, but later the wind mod-
erated. We sounded at 10 p. m. in 110 fathoms, bnt as there were no vessels in sight we hauled
to nearly by the wind and steered SSE., along the western edge of the Grand Bank.

Friday, January 31, 1879. — The early part of this a. m. it was calm. At 6 a. m. light
WNW. breeze. Barometer, 29.40. We sounded at 6 o'clock in 65 fathoms, and soon after we
saw two fishing vessels (one under sail and the other at anchor) to the SW. of us. We hauled aft
our sheets and steered for the one at anchor, which proved to be the Magic. I spoke her. The
skipper reported halibut very scarce on all parts of the Bank where he had tried or had heard
from. He told me that the schooner under sail was the William Thompson. We saw two more
vessels at anchor to the NNW., just in sight. We set the staysail and worked up to them ; they
were the Addison Center and A. M. Williams. I went aboard of the Center. She lay in 160
fathoms. The skipper told me that he got 7,000 pounds of halibut yesterday, but only 500 pounds
to-day, and he was going to get under way and shift his position. He says that there has been
plenty of fish here, and their present scarcity proves that they are on the move, as they usually
are at this season. He also said that all the fleet had left the southern part of the Bank, and
thinks many of them have gone farther to the northward. I had previously formed the same
opinions in regard to the movements of the vessels and fish. So after a brief stay I returned to
our vessel, filled away, and stood to the northward again. At noon we spoke the Alice M. Williams
at anchor in 170 fathoms, and soon after the Gatherer in 160 fathoms. Both of them had done very
poorly and were heaving up their anchors. These vessels were anchored from latitude 44° (where
the Magic lay) to about 44° 8' (where the Gatherer lay). We spoke the George W. Stetson at 1.50
p. m. in SO.fathoms, and about 44° 17' latitude. She was heaving up, too, not having taken any fish

FBESH-HALIBUT FISHEBY. 79

to-day. We saw the Laura Nelson under "bank sail" standing to the northward, but did not speak
her. We worked to windward all day until we got up to about 44° 25' north latitude. At 5 p. m.
we passed astern of the Polar Wave, but as it was getting late in the afternoon I concluded not to
speak with her. The wind, which had been increasing since noon, and was now NW., blew a stiff
breeze at this time, as much as we could carry the three lower sails to, and it looked wild and
squally. The barometer was down to 29.25, which, with the appearance of the sky, made me ap-
prehensive of a considerable increase of wind, therefore I thought best to anchor in shoal water. We
anchored a berth NNE. of the Polar Wave, in 90 fathoms. We also saw two more vessels at anchor
just in sight to windward. The A. M. Williams spoke _ns this evening, and later she anchored a
berth NNE. from us.

Saturday, February 1, 1879. — This day begins with strong west-northwest wind; sky overcast
with dark heavy clouds; barometer at 6 a. m. on 29.15. The clouds were broken at noon, which
enabled me to get an observation of the sun ; latitude 44° 25' N. By an afternoon "sight" I found
our longitude to be 52° 58' W. I have a different chronometer this trip from that I had before,
and I think it is a better one.

The wind blew steady and strong all day; not heavy, but still too much to send dories out.
There were some snow squalls in the forenoon, but at noon and during the afternoon the clouds
looked broken and fine, although the barometer still keeps low, as in the morning. The Gatherer
passed across our stern this afternoon, and later she anchored a berth to the westward of us. We
caught a halibut this afternoon on a " bull-tow." * Two of our men are on the sick list with very
bad colds, and as I have to be both nurse and doctor, I am busy most of the time.

Sunday, February 2, 1879. — The first part of this a. m. it was calm, but as the barometer was
falling instead of rising, we waited until daylight before we put our dories out. At daylight there
was a light southwest air and the weather looked clear and fine. Barometer 29.05. We set 8 skates
of trawl, baited with herring, in order to get some codfish, &c., for bait. Went to haul at 10.30 a. m.
The wind at this time was breezing up SSW., and it looked wild and threatening in the west and
northwest, and as the glass was so low I had some anxiety lest some of the dories would get caught
out in a squall. We got about 1,000 pounds of small halibut. About the time that the dories got
aboard the wind blew up smart, so we took them in on deck. Baited 12 skates of trawl at 1 p. m.
I saw the Gatherer's flag in the rigging for her dories to go aboard. It was blowing strong at that
time and looked very wild, but at 2.30 p. m. it was calm; such are some of the changes and un-
certainties of the winds and weather here. When the wind died away we hoisted our dories out and
set the 12 skates of trawl we had baited. The barometer has been down on 29.00 nearly all day.

The latter part of this p. m. the sky was cloudless. Since it was calm, and a bright moon
shining, it justified the remark of one of the men, who asked, " What in thunder ails that old barom-
eter? A finer night than this never shone out of the heavens." There is a heavy ground-swell,
however, which tells quite plainly that a gale is blowing at a distance.

Monday, February 3, 1879. — We had a rain-squall before daylight. At 6 a. m. there was a brisk
breeze SW. by S. The weather to windward looked dirty, and the barometer was down to 28.90.
The sick man was quite comfortable in the morning. He said he felt " first rate." I think with care,
he will come out all right in a few days, but he has had a narrow escape from a fever. Of course,
on account of his sickness, I had to go in a dory myself Wiis morning, and my parting injunction to

* "Boll-tow" or "boulter" is the Newfoundland vernacular for trawl-lino. Bull- tow with American fishermen
is a short piece of trawl (15 or 20 hooks) set from the vessel, with one end allowed to swing free with the tide; the
other made fast to an anchor. The bull- tow is lowered carefully down to prevent the hooks from fouling the buoy-
line. After it is on bottom the buoy-line is made fast somewhere on the after part of the vessel, and it is generally
allowed to remain out from two to four hours before it is hauled.

80 HISTOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

all hands, as we left the side, was : " Now, boys, you all know that the glass is low, and you must
make your own almanacs. If yon see a squall coming, or find that it is breezing up, you'd better
strike for the vessel." Our trawl was to windward of the beam. We pulled for the outer buoy,
but before we got out to it a wild-looking snow squall was coming down on us like a race horse from
the WSW. I thought by the looks of it that it would " make things hum" when it struck, and said
to Phil. Merchant, my dorymate, " I think we'd better slew around and scatter for the vessel. We're
to windward, and are all right ourselves, but if the squall strikes as heavy as it looks, those fellows
to leeward can never pull up in the world, and the best thing we can do is to get aboard as soon
as we can and pay our dory down to them." Accordingly we kept off and pulled for the vessel,
but before we got far the squall was upon us. It blew smart for awhile, but there was not as
much wind and snow as I had expected there would be. Three of the dories reached the side just
after we did, but there were two others out, one which was dead to leeward and one to windward,
the crews of which held on. The trawl which the men in the lee dory was hauling parted just as the
squall struck, and they tried to pull up. At first they could not gain any, but after it lulled a
little they made out to reach the dory which we had paid down to them and hauled up by the buoy-
line. The dory which was to windward got about a skate and a half of trawl, but as it began to
blow hard again after a little while, the wind also veering westerly, the men cut the trawl and
came aboard. One of the dories got a hole knocked in her side alongside of the vessel, which we
repaired after they were all in. We bent the ridingsail after all hands got aboard and hoisted it
up. At 8.30 a. m. wind W., blowing a smart breeze. One of the men is catching some kitty wake
gulls for a "pot pie." At 10 a. m. strong and very dense snow squalls. At 11 it was blowing
heavy ; we stuck out 100 fathoms more cable. At 1.45 p. m. it blew a gale W. by N., with a bad
sea running. We stuck out some more cable; put all the gear below; set the dories amidships;
reefed the foresail and ridingsail, and made all ready for a heavy gale.

A sea-hen (great skua gull) came quite close to the vessel to-day, but, although 1 was anxious
to obtain so rare a bird, it blew so hard that it would have been only useless cruelty to shoot it,
for it would be impossible to get it if I succeeded in killing it.

The wind gradually veered toward the NW., and at 5 p. m. was NW. by W., still blowing a
gale; barometer 29.10. At 9 p. m. wind W. by N. ; barometer 29.30.

Tuesday, February 4, 1879. — At G.30 a. m. a fishing schooner passed across our bow under
double-reefed foresail, ridingsail, and jib, with both bonnets out. At this time the wind was W.
and not blowing so hard as it blew yesterday. Sky overcast ; barometer 29.35.

After breakfast we began to heave in cable. It was a slow, hard job, but we managed to get
100 fathoms of it in at 10 a. m. There were frequent snow and hail squalls and some breaking seas
in the forenoon. After dinner the weather looked a little better and we went out and hauled our
gear. We lost one skate of trawl and got 2,000 pounds of halibut. We began to heave up at 3
p. m. I saw several vessels under way this afternoon. At 5 p. m. wind WSW.; sky overcast;
barometer 29.55.

We got our anchor up at 6.30 p. m., set bank-sail and staysail, and stood to the N W. on the wind.
We dressed our fish and baited twelve skates of trawl.. Our sick man was much better this after-
noon. He helped us heave up the anchor and baited his trawl. The wind was light in the evening
and in the last part of this p. in. nearly calm.

Wednesd&y, February 5, 1879. — Calm in the first part of this a. m., but at 2 o'clock it began to
breeze up, and at 6 a. m. there was a fresh northwest breeze and windy looking sky; barometer
29.85. We kept under way, working to the NW. all of the past night. At 7 a. m. we saw two

FKESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 81

vessels at anchor to windward, which were just in sight. At 8 o'clock there was a smart whole
sail breeze, with snow and hail squalls, sun dogs, and rainbows.

At 10 a. m., having worked up to the vessels we sighted in the morning, I went aboard of the N.
H. Phillips, Capt. Jerome McDonald. He was lying in 140 fathoms and was getting good fishing;
had 8,000 pounds of halibut, or thereabouts, on deck, and one third of his gear yet to haul. I
made only a brief stay. The Alice M. Williams lay a berth to the northward of the Phillips. We
worked up and passed across the bow of the Williams and anchored a berth W. by S. from her in
130 fathoms. We were then about a mile and a half from the Phillips. We set our gear at 1.30
p. m. The tide ran to windward, so we put three me» in a dory and set the trawls in four strings,
three skates in each, in that direction. By "doubling up" in this manner we had in each dory
two men to pull — that number being required — and one to throw the trawl. I went out in one of
the dories. By the time the trawl was all out it blew a strong breeze, and there were some very
sharp combing seas, which were bad for a dory. We all got aboard safe, but our dory came
near swamping, or upsetting, while we were pulling before the wind for the vessel. A combing
sea caught her on its crest and broke over and around her. For a moment she seemed like an egg-
shell amidst the great mass of snowy foam which seethed and whirled around us. Fortunately
she shipped but little water, and, thanks to steady, cool hands at the oars, she came out of it all
right. Two of the Alice M. Williams's crew were aboard of our vessel while we were out setting
the trawls. They had set their trawl about the time we put ours out, and, as their outer buoy
was very near our vessel, they came aboard of us and staid a few minutes. They said that they
got about 4,000 pounds of halibut to day, but I think they are in too shallow water to catch
many fish.

Our position by dead reckoning is 44° 31' north latitude and 53° 41' west longitude. At 8 p.
m., no change in wind or weather; barometer, 29.55.

Thursday, February 6, 1879. — This morning was dark and gloomy looking, with a fresh west-
northwest breeze and rough sea ; barometer, 29.60.

As soon as it was light we put the dories out. Five of them went to haul the trawls, while the
sixth one set three skates of trawl, which we baited yesterday afternoon after we had set the others.
Our sick man had so far recovered this morning that he was able to take his place in his dory
again. The wind died away soon after the men went out, and in the afternoon it was almost calm,
though the sea still kept up. The Williams got under way at noon, and anchored a berth NW.
from us at 5 p. m. We lost two skates of trawl, and another, which is afoul of the cable, I do not
expect is any better than lost. On the remaining twelve skates we got about 12,000 pounds of
very fine halibut, both as regards size and color. I think about half of them are white. Their
weight varies from about 30 to 80 pounds each ; very few go over 100 pounds. We set eighteen
skates of trawl this p. m. After the men returned from setting, we hove in 100 fathoms of cable,
and then dressed and iced the fish.

At 5 p. m. the wind breezed up NE., and later it hauled to ENE. We had light showers of
hail in the evening. At 8 p. m., wind light ; barometer, 29.55. We got through work at 9.20 p. m.

Friday, February 7, 1879. — This morning broke dark and cloudy, but, as there was only a mod-
erate northerly breeze and a fair prospect of getting our gear without any danger, I did not feel
like complaining (a rarity for a fisherman). Barometer at 6 a. m., 29.05. We got only 6,000 pounds
of fish to-day. Nearly all of those were on the western ends of the trawls, which leads me to think
that the halibut are working that way. We therefore began to heave up the auchor as soon as we
had eaten dinner (11.30 a, m.), and had it on the bow at 2.15 p. m. There were frequent snow showers
while we were doing this. The wind backed to NW., but still continued moderate. Under bnnk-
SKC v 6

82 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

sail aud staysail, we worked to windward of the Williams, aud at 5 p. in. anchored a berth NNW.
of her in 130 fathoms. I spoke one of her dories while we were beating up to our new berth. The
men told me that they got 15,000 pounds of halibut to-day. After anchoring, we set eighteen
skates of trawl. It was snowing when the men went out to set. Barometer at 5 p. in., 29.60.

I saw five vessels under way to day; one under whole sail beat up from to leeward, aud now
(5.30 p. in.) is up to the Williams; one to leeward 6 or 7 miles made a short berth; one to wind-
ward about the same distance made a short berth. I saw two others just in sight to \\iud\yard,
and I think they are running this way, but am not certain. The one I saw under whole sail proved
to be the Laura Nelson. She spoke us at 7 p. m., and said there were twenty -five sail of vessels
to the southward "doing nothing," which, in fishermen's vernacular, means getting no fish. She
anchored a berth NW. of us this evening.

Saturday, February 8, 1879. — The first of this a. m. we had frequent snow-squalls. The day
began dark and cloudy, with a strong north-northwest wind. Barometer at C a. m., 29.55. The
wind gradually increased, until at eleven it blew heavy and there were frequent smart snow-squalls.
We stuck out some more cable. The wind blew strong all the afternoon, and there was a rough
breaking sea. It is nothing unusual while sitting in the cabin for one to look out of the com-
panion-way and see the water dripping off the end of the main-boom ; for when the vessel's stern
falls in the hollow of a sharp sea the end of the boom is frequently immersed to a depth of two or
three feet. The cook set a short "bull-tow" (18 Looks) this afternoon and caught 6 fine halibut.
Barometer at 8.30 p. m., 29.70.

Sunday, February 9, 1879. — The wind blew a gale all of the past night, and at daylight this
morning it had abated very little. The wind was northwest, with a bad cross sea heaving from
the westward. Barometer at 7 a. m., 29.95.

I feel very anxious about the gear we have out. It is exceedingly trying to one'is patience to
know that there are plenty of halibut here and to have no chance to catch them. Since a few fine
days would, in all probability, enable us to get a good fare, we indulge the hope of soon having
better weather. It was colder to-day than I have seen it since we have been on the Bank. There
was little or no change in the wind until late in the afternoon, when it lulled a bit and hauled to
NNW. Barometer at 6 p. m., 30.15 ; at 8.30 p. m., 30.20.

The cook caught four halibut on his bull-tow this afternoon. At 7.30 p. m., though it still
blew a strong breeze, we began to heave in cable, and hove as short as we dare to do, since if we
got too short a scope the vessel might go adrift.

Monday, February 10, 1879. — At daylight this morning a southeast snow-storm was prevail-
ing— a most undesirable condition of the weather. The wind began to breeze up at 2.30 a. m. and
freshened very fast, while the barometer fell rapidly, and at 6 a. m. was on 29.85.

With the wind in this direction, all of our trawls were dead to leeward ; and as it was blowing
smart and rapidly increasing in strength, it was out of the question to try to get them. It is
nevertheless very discouraging to have trawls, which are worth hundreds of dollars (aud in all
probability as many hundred dollars' worth of fish on them), setting so long, with no chance to
get them. The longer they remain out the smaller the probability becomes of ever getting them
at all. It is difficult under such circumstances for one to muster philosophy enough to endure it
with patience.

At 7.30 a. m. it blew a gale. We gave her nearly the whole string of cable (about 375 fathoms
we have out), reefed foresail and ridingsail; set dories amidships, &c. Barometer at 8.30 a. m.,
29.CO. Ten a. m., smart SSE. gale and thick snow. At 10.35 the watch sang out, "Here's a
feller drifting down close to us." We were all on deck in a minute, but the first glance showed

FBESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 83

that the vessel was driftiug clear of us, and with the remark, "Oh, he's all right; he'll go clear
of us," the crew went below again, all except the watch and myself. I tried to make out what
vessel it was, but was unable to. The weather was so thick that, although she drifted by us not
more than 150 fathoms distant, I could only see the blur of her hull and spars showing indis-
tinctly through the snow and flying spray. I thought at first it was the N. H. Phillips, but
afterwards, when the snow lit up, I saw that it was the A. M. Williams, and one, which probably
was the Phillips, was also adrift about 2 miles to the eastward of us.

Barometer at noon 29.45, and indications of a sudden change of wind. At 12.30 p. m. the
wind struck in a squall from the westward, but it diil not last long. As soon as it moderated we
manned the windlass and began to heave in cable. We had in 100 fathoms of cable at 3 p. m., at
which time the wind began to breeze up again and the sky looked wild and squally. The Nelson
must have gone adrift, too, for when the weather cleared she could not be seen.

A little land bird (a snow bunting) came aboard this afternoon. As an evidence of the
strength of wing possessed by these little creatures it is only necessary to mention that the nearest
land is Cape Freels, Newfoundland, 128 miles distant.

The southeaster and westerly squall left the sea all up in heaps, which, with the squally
appearance of the weather, made it extremely hazardous, if not foolhardy, to attempt to get any
of our trawls. After we got the cable stradded up, &c.. at 4 p. m. we hoisted out a dory to go
and look for the inner buoys. Three men went in her, who were told to see how many inner buoys
they could find, and to lift them out of the water and see if the buoy -lines were chafed, &c. Strict
orders were also given to them not to go far from the vessel if they valued their lives, for it was liable
to blow a gale in fifteen minutes. They saw only two of the inner buoys, which were near the vessel.
They also saw some of the other buoys, and disregarding orders, as well as their own safety, pulled
out towards them and went quite close to them. They got back again just before dark in the midst
of a thick snow squall. Fortunately the wind did not blow very heavy, or in all probability these
men would have had a narrow chance to save their lives. It was taking too much risk for nothing,
and it can be said of them that they are of that class whose courage can be more commended than
their judgment.

At 6 p. m. it was nearly calm, and we hove in to a short scope, for I feared our cable might
chafe on the bottom. Just as we got through heaving a puff struck NNB., but lasted only a
short time. Barometer at 6 p. m., 29.25. The Williams spoke us at 7.15, and we ran down to where
she was this morning and anchored. I saw her riding light at 7.45. At 8 p. m. the wind struck
in a very heavy squall N. by W. This was what I had been expecting. We mustered on deck in
a hurry, and stuck out nearly the whole string of cable. By the time we had the cable out, the
wind, which was gaining in force, began to screech, and all the latter part of this p. m. it blew
a hurricane N. by E., with dense snow. We had two men in a watch, one stationed on the fore-
gafi' and the other on the main, so as to be out of the way if the vessel shipped a sea. In this
way the men kept the best lookout they could. But looking to windward is hardly possible in such
a gale^ with the snow, sleet, and spray driving furiously to leeward and nearly blinding whoever
turns his face to windward. But the attempt must be made, for in such a gale there is imminent
danger of some other vessels driving down across our hawse, and if these should not be seen in
time for us to cut the cable, and thus prevent a collision, both would sink. One or the other of the
watch occasionally comes below to look at the clock and ascertain how the time is passing, and
also to get his breath. As they brush the snow and' iV^zen spray from their eyes, hair, and beard,
they often remark, " I tell yer what 'tis, this is a toug£ xe. If this haint a regular old-fash-
ioned screamer I never saw on«." They are, hc^^cr confi<H^ r the ability of the vessel to ride

84 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF TOE FISHERIES.

the gale out hi safety, aud to the question of "How does she ride?" they reply, "Eide? Why,
she shames the gulls! But there's some wild seas going; some regular old tearers that give her
all she can do to climb over them." Barometer at 10 p. m., 29.45.

Tuesday, February 11, 1879. — This morning at 7 o'clock the wind still blew a heavy gale, but
its fury did not compare with that of last night. There was a high combing sea, but our vessel
rose bravely over the sharp waves. The air was as it has been, quite cold, and there was some
ice on deck. All the damage the vessel has sustained, so far, is one broken checker plank and
the cleats knocked off two others ; a damage so trifling as (o be hardly worth mentioning. The
barometer, at 7 a. m., stood at 30.05. There were no vessels in sight this morning, so it is
evident that the Williams and Phillips both went adrift again last night. The sky was generally
overcast in the morning, though here and there a patch of blue showed through the rifts in the
clouds. It was a wild scene around us, but one which has so often been described that a repetition
would be words wasted.

The little white gulls sit hovering on the water near the stern of the vessel, occasionally
rising on a wing to clear a breaking wave, or to pick up any fish ofl'al that may be washed from
the scuppers.

At 3 p. in. a brig-rigged steamship passed across our stern, going to the westward, and a half
hour later another of the same rig passed, going to the eastward. The wind blew a smart gale
until the latter part of the afternoon, when it began to moderate some. At 6 p. m., barometer 30.25.

The men have been variously employed to day, each to his own taste; some have been making
mats out of buoy-line; others patching oil-clothes, reading, &c. ; while one poor fellow with a pen-
chant for card playing has been coaxing some one to play a game with him. "Anything you like,"
he says; "state your game, only say you'll play."

At supper time I ordered the cook to get on his boilers and heat some water, so that we can
thaw the strad, and get the ice off the windlass, and later the order was given to the watch to
pass along the word to give me a call if it moderated any more. I was called at 10.CO p. m., and
we began to heave in cable. The wind at this time had backed to W. by N. and still blow a fresh
breeze, making it slow, hard work heaving in cable.

Wednesday , February 12, 1879. — At 1 a. m. we got the "slack" cable (100 fathoms) hove in,
went below, and all except the watch turned in again. At this time (1 a. m.) the air was milder,
and the ice began to soften up and drop off the rigging and" rails in some places. Before going
below I ordered the watch to fix up the checker planks, and to tell the next watch to clear the ice
off the dories.

The morning broke fine and clear, with a moderate westerly breeze. Barometer at 6 a. m.,
30.30. Having had breakfast, our fellows were off to look for their trawls as soon as it was fairly
light.

At 7 a. m. two vessels were in sight to the northward of us, under whole sail, heading this
way, but as they frequently changed their course it was apparent that they were looking for gear.
After awhile they both steered straight for us. They proved to be the Alice M. Williams ajid N.
H. Phillips. Both skippers came aboard to find out if we had drifted any in the gale, for they
knew rf we still held on they could find their gear by the bearings and distance from our vessel,
which they had observed before the gale came on. After shaking hands and the usual inquiries
about each others' welfare, one said to me, "Did you ride it out?" I replied in the affirmative,
when he continued, "What kind of a vessel have you got? I don't believe there's another vessel
on the Bank that rode it out, and I didn't think any could — not in deep water. We've come thirty
miles up the edge of the Bank, and (here's not a vessel at anchor." T inquired of the skipper of

FKESU HALIBUT FISHERY. 85

tlio Williams whcu he went adrift, and be replied that bis vessel held on only about fifteen or
twenty minutes after tbe squall struck. The two captains made a brief stay, but soon returned to
their own vessels, and went in search of their gear.

I got good observations to-day, by which I found our position to be 44° 33' north latitude, and
53° 40' west longitude.

The skipper of the Andrew Leighton came aboard at 2.30 p. in. His vessel went adrift in the
late gale, and in consequence he lost 18 skates of trawl, which were out, and these, together with
previous losses, make 27 skates he has lost this trip4 besides 75 fathoms of cable and two anchors.
He told me that every vessel that was near where he was went adrift. He reports his trip as
20,COO pounds of halibut, but as he could see co probability of finding his gear, he said he should
go home, which, under the circumstances, was about all he could do. The wind at this time (3
p. m.) was SSW., blowing a fresh breeze. After he returned to his own vessel he put the bonnet
in the jib and started for home under three lower sails.

We got about 9,000 or 10,OCO pounds of halibut to-day. Set twelve skates of trawl at 3.30 p. m.
While the men were out setting the gear the Edwin C. Dolliver spoke us and then ran a short berth
to the NNW., where she anchored. Soon afterwards the Phillips also spoke us and ran to the north-
ward, how far I don't know, as it came on dark a short time after she passed us. The wind blew
up smart at dark. We stuck out more cable and took our dories in before we began to dress the
fish. After the dories were in we shoved them up forward as far as we could, so that they would
be out of the way of our work. It was 9 p. m. \\hen we got the fish dressed and the dories placed
in their proper positions. At this time it was blowing strong and there were indications of a gale.
Barometer 30, and falling quite fast. Thinking it best to get everything prepared for a gale before
we turned in, I did not take off my oil-clothes, but sat down on the cabin floor to wait until the
men in the ice-house got the fish iced. Feeling somewhat fatigued after the work and anxieties of
the day, I soon fell asleep, but was awakened at 10.30 p. m., when the ice-house crowd came into the
cabin. By this time the barometer had fallen to 29.80, and it was blowing heavily and storming.
We manned the windlass, hove in the strad, and then stuck out some more cable and set the dories
amidships.

Thursday, February 13, 1879. — At 7 a. m. wind SW., blowing heavily, with rough sea, thick
fog, and drizzly rain. Barometer 29.60. At 9 o'clock the wind struck in a heavy westerly squall,
and, thinking it would continue to blow a gale, I turned in and went to sleep. I waked at 10
a. m., but not hearing the familiar roar of breaking waves, and howling of the wind, I knew at
once that it had moderated. I immediately turned out and inquired of the watch how long it
had been since the wind died away. "Only about half an hour or less," he replied. "Why
did you not call me before? You knew I wanted to be called if it died away," I said. "Well,
I didn't know but it'd blow agin soon ; it looks miff like it," he answered in a dogged sort of
manner. It could not be denied that it did look "nnff like it," nevertheless I told him to
call the men forward and we would heave in some cable, at the same time rousing out the after
crowd. We had hove in only about 30 fathoms before I knew by the bearings of the Dolliver
that we were adrift. After the cable was in we found that it was chafed off square as an ax
would cut it, and that we had lost 120 fathoms. It is probable that the cable was not on the
bottom more than half an hour, and it must have come in contact with a very sharp rock to
cut it off so quickly. Although the loss of cable is not an uncommon occurrence, I have gen-
erally been fortunate in that respect, never having lost so much before in the eighteen years
I have been master of a fishing vessel. This is a special misfortune to us, too, at this par-

86 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

ticnlar time, for the good prospects which we had for obtaining a fine fare of halibut are thus
ruined in an hour, since we have not cable enough left to ride in deep water. After we got the
cable in, we set bank-sail and worked back to our gear. There was not more than a whole sail
breeze at this time, but the sea still ran very high and sharp. As it was too late to haul the
trawls before dark (with such a rough sea the gear would be liable to part, even if the dories did
not upset), I concluded to keep under short sail through the night and "jog" around the Dolliver
and Williams, the latter of which lay a berth to the northward of the Dolliver. I did not dare
anchor for fear it might blow up; in which case we should certainly go adrift and thus lose all
chance of getting our gear. By keeping under sail we can, if it blows up, run on the Bank into
shallow water, only a short distance from our gear, and anchor. When it moderates we can then
heave ap and run back to it.

I went aboard of the Dolliver at 4 p. m. The skipper said he left home the 1st instant, was in
Halifax the 3d, where he saw the Howard, which was in there for repairs. She had been knocked
down in the gale of the 26th and 27th of January, had her deck swept, losing anchor and 80 fathoms
of cable, also some of her dories. The Dolliver went adrift in the late gale. 1 returned to the
Marion at 5 p. m. Barometer at 5.30, 29.90. Hazy looking in the WSW., but clear elsewhere.

Since there was a fresh breeze at this time we double reefed the foresail and took the bonnet
out of the jib, in order to have the vessel under easy sail for the night. At 8 p. in. it was very dark,
and we came near getting afoul the Doliiver's bow. Special orders had been given the watch
not to cross her bow unless it was at a long distance. They mistook the distance until it was too
late to keep off; the wind moderated just then, and the tide setting to leeward came near drifting
us afoul of her. As it was, we cleared her by about a vessel's length. We then set the whole
foresail, and giving strict orders to the watch not to cross her bow at all, I went below and
turned in.

Friday February 14, 1879. — The first part of this a. m. it was very moderate, wind backing to
the SW. Ihe wind, which was very light in the morning, finally died away calm at 9 a. m. We
had light showers of rain and hail in the morning; sky overcast, dull, and rainy looking.

At 5 a. m. called all hands, put the bonnet in the jib, and set the staysail. Barometer at this
time, 29.95. As soon as it was fairly light we "hove" out the dories, and the men started for the
trawls. We got all our trawls and two and a half skates that we had previously lost, on which
were 4,000 pounds of halibut, besides what we reserved for bait. The object of saving some for
bait was because if the weather looks favorable we shall make a set under sail to-morrow. The
last dory was aboard at 1.30 p. m., at which time there was a light southwest air springing up, so
we kept off to run to the northward, as it is my intention to go as far as Green Bank, if the wind
is favorable. The Dolliver and Williams both got under way and ran in the same direction.

The last part of the afternoon we had light westerly airs and calms. Since there were some
indications of an easterly wind, I was in doabt for a while what to do, whether to start for home at
once or stop longer on the Bank. At last I concluded to have another trial, and we baited twelve
skates of trawl for that purpose just before dark. Barometer, at 7 p. m., 30.00.

Saturday, February 15, 1879. — At 3 p. m. the wind, which had been out as far as E., backed to
N. by E., snowing very thick. We hove to for awhile to await developments. The N". H. Phillips
spoke us at 4.30 a. m. She was under bank-sail, heading to the NW. We stood along with her,
and just before daylight sounded in C5 fathoms, muddy bottom. Barometer, at 5 a. m., 29.90. As
soon as it was daylight the Phillips set her mainsail. We did the same, and headed to the west-
ward on a wind. Soon after that I saw another vessel about 7 miles to windward, under whole

FEESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 87

sail. The wind at this time had backed to K. by W. and began to freshen up. In the northwest the
sky looked squally and unsettled. Under such circumstances I did not dare set our gear, for fear
of losing it if the wind should blow up strong. Seeing the crew of the Phillips turning their dories
over, I concluded to do the same and start with her for home. All hands were called and we
swayed up the lower sails, and after having lashed the backstay out rigger to the after cross-tree,
so that the backstay would support the topmast and prevent it from being carried away, we set
the staysail. We were astein and a little to leeward of the Phillips when we set the staysail, but
soon caught up with her and passed to leeward of her. At noon she was nearly hull down astern.

I have rarely ever started for home feeling so much dissatisfied as now. I was confident of
getting a good fare of fish this time, and ain quite sure we would have succeeded in doing so if we had
not lost our cable. What influenced me to start for home to-day — aside from the loss of our cable —
is because I think we will probably reach there about the first of Lent, and may possibly get a
better price for our fish at that time than if we arrive later. The wind in the afternoon was puffy
and extremely variable, with snow and hail showers. At 5.30 p. in., began to have strong snow-
squalls, so we took in the staysail. At 6 p. m. the wind changed very suddenly, in a puff, from WNW.
to NJx'W. It struck our vessel a hard full (the sheets were flat aft), and before she came to the
wind it made her show her mettle, for she had all she could stand up under. After this we made
an average course W. for about two hours, when it knocked her off again. Barometer, at 8 p. m.,
30.30.

Sunday, February 10, 1879. — We had strong puffs of wind all of last night, and at times the
vessel had all she could stagger under. At 6 a. m. the wind was steadier and not quite so strong,
so all hands were called to sway up the lower sails and set the staysail. Barometer, 30.40 at G.

We could see the Phillips astern this morning. She was a little to leeward of our wake
and probably about 8 or 9 miles distant. Two steamships and a sailing ship passed us this fore-
noon going east. During the forenoon the wind was extremely variable, and we headed all the
way from SW. to NW. on the same tack. Latitude, at noon, 42° 45' N. Longitude, 56° 54' W.
Barometer, 30.50. Longitude, at 3.15 p. m., 57° 04' W. It was very moderate in the first part of
the afternoon and calm and fine towards evening. At 9 p. m. a light easterly breeze sprang up and
we squared our booms to make all the sails draw. At 11.30 p. m. the cry came down the gangway,
"Hear the news there below. The main halyards have parted, and you'll have to turn out and
fix 'em." All hands accordingly roused out and haultd down the mainsail. We then spliced the
halyards and put a mat over the copper on the jaws of the gaff, which had worn through, and being
"rucked up," cut the rope like a knife.

Monday, February 17, 1879. — At 1 a. m. we had the mainsail and gaff-topsail set again. At
this time there was a light southeast breeze, which, at 7 a. m., had increased so that we ran along
5 or 6 knots. The sky was overcast with, stormy looking clouds; barometer, 30.40. The wind grad-
ually backed to the eastward, and from that northerly until 10.30 a. m., at which time it was NE.,
blowing a smart breeze, and snowing. The snow cleared off toward noon, and, though the sky was
overcast, the weather was clear all the afternoon, with a fine, steady northeast breeze and smooth
sea. The barometer remains steady at 30.40. It has been more like summer sailing to-day than
anything else, but cue may expect that these mild breezes will soon be succeeded by gales that will
be anything but gentle in force or pleasant to encounter.

Tuesday, February 18, 1879.— At 2.30 a, m. the barometer had fallen to 30.25. The wind at this
time was veering easterly, and blowing a strong breeze accompanied with snow. We took in the
staysail and gaff-topsail. At 7.30 a. m. the wiud had increased still more and was so far to the

88 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

eastward that we could not run our course (WNW.) without danger of jibing (he foresail, which
would be liable to cany away the foremast head. Not wishing to run winged out when it was
blowing so heavy, we took in the mainsail, and having first double reefed it, furled it up and let
her run under the whole foresail. Barometer, at 8 a. m., 30.10. We had a very heavy fall of snow
this a. m., until 11 o'clock, when it stopped snowing and turned to sleet and misty rain. "Wind at
this time had increased considerably. Barometer, 30. At 2 p. m. the barometer stood on 29.90.
There was not so much wind at this time as during the forenoon, but the sea had made up high
and sharp. There was a fine, sleety snow falling. The wind was about east and, as we were run-
ning W., we were dead before it. At 3 p. m. we noticed that the fore throat-halyards were stranded.
We set the jib, and having first shook the reef out of the mainsail, we hoisted it up in order that
she would run fast enough to keep clear of <he sea. As soon as the foresail was in we let the
vessel come to, swayed up the mainsail, and then kept off again. We first furled the foresail and
then repaired the halyards. The wind backed slowly to the northward, but still continued to snow.
At 5 p. m., just after supper, a heavy northeast puff struck, and if I had not been ready to let the
mainpeak run she would have repeated the performance of last winter, when she came so near
going to the bottom in a squall. But this time we had daylight in our favor, which doubtless saved
us from disaster. We hauled down the mainsail, set the foresail, hauled down the jib and took the
bonnet out and furled it. At 5.30 the weather cleared so that we could see about half a mile, and
before dark we could see 2 or 3 miles. Set the jib at 9 p. m.

Wednesday, February 19, 1879. — At 1 a. m. we set the mainsail. The barometer at this time
had risen to 30.10. The wind still continued NE., decreasing slightly in force. There was a cold,
sleety rain that had coated everything on deck and above deck with ice. I judged we were well
up to Cape Sable, and hauled to W. by N., having previously been running W., to go well clear of
the cape. At 5 a. m. set staysail and gaff-topsail. It was very cold at this time; barometer had
risen to 30.20. At 10.30 a. m. there was a smart breeze NE. by N., and " spitting" snow. Barometer,
30.35. Our position at this time, by dead reckoning, was latitude 42° 55' K, and longitude G6° 41'
W. There was a good leading breeze all the afternoon, and we went along very smartly. Barom-
eter, 30.35 at 6 p. m.

Thursday, February 20, 1879. — At 12.15 a. m. (correct apparent time) we made Thatcher's
Island Lights a point on the weather bow, and, as we headed, we would have just about struck
Eastern Point. The wind at this time was veering easterly, with indications of snowing thick
very soon, and shortly after snow began to fall, though it did not immediately get very thick.
"Beautiful snow" may sound very pretty and poetical, but it certainly is not appreciated very
inuch by one coming on the coast in winter. I was kept in a constant state of anxiety concerning
the weather, as there was every appearance of a coming gale.* The lights kept disappearing and
reappearing as we neared them, being hidden most of the time, keeping me in suspense between
hope and fear; hoping that the snow would not shut down thick before we got in, and fearing it
might be so dense as to preclude all possibility of making the land until daylight, before which
time it might blow a gale, and compel us to haul off. At last Thatcher's Island Lights were entirely
shut in and we saw no more of them; but as it was not so thick to the westward and we had got
pretty well in, a glimpse of Eastern Point Light was obtained, and we steered straight for it. The
wind in the mean time had hauled out to SE., and began to breeze up smait. As the snow grew
thicker and thicker we barely kept sight of the Point Light, although, with every foot of canvas

* One of the most furious gales of the winter was then approaching the coast; the gale in which thirteen sail of
George's cod fishermen were lost on the Bank, with their crews of one hundred and forty-three men.

FRESH HALIBUT FISHERY. 89

spread, we were running toward it at least 9 or 10 knots an Lour. We lost siglit of it several times,
and when passing by it I do not think we could see objects more than a half-mile distant. We
anchored off Harbor Cove at 3 a. in., furled the sails and went ashore. At 9 o'clock this morning
there were seven vessels, besides ours, in with fares of halibut, which, with the Polar Wave in
Boston, makes nine cargoes on the market to-day. The Alice G. Wonson, Andrew Leighton,
George W. Stetson, and Gatherer all left the Bank the 12th instant (three days before we did) and
got in this morning. The Alice M. Williams arrived the same time we did, and the N. H. Phillips
at 9 a. m. The Nathaniel Webster also got in from the "Gully" last night. So many arrivals at
once causes a depression in the market, and as a natural consequence prices rule low. The Stetson
went to Boston in the forenoon; nil the rest, with the exception of the skipper of the Webster and
myself, sold in the forenoon for 3 cents per pound right through for white and gray alike, to take
out here. I was offered three cents, but would not sell. The dealers finally offered me 3% cents
per pound right through, and thinking no better terms could be obtained I sold the trip at that
price. We had previously let go our second anchor, and at this time (1 p. m.) it was blowing smart.

Friday, February 21, 1879. — It blew a heavy gale from the NE. last night; this morning there
was still a smart breeze and some undertow heaving in the harbor, which is usually the case after
an easterly gale. The "hawkers" wanted the halibut to send away, so we took a tug, which
towed the vessel into the Atlantic Company's wharf. The undertow made it very difficult to lie
at this wharf, the vessel surging back and forth considerably. She parted several lines, and we
had much trouble to hold her. Toward noon it was smoother. We finished taking the halibut
out in the afternoon, and towed down to our own wharf. We weighed off, heads and all, 36,855
pounds of halibut, all in splendid condition. Fourteen per cent, was deducted fcr the heads, for
which we receive nothing. This deduction leaves the net weight 31,691 pounds. Net stock,
. $970.26 ; share of each man, $33.48.

Monday, February 24,1879. — The William H. Oakes arrived to-day. She was from Green Bank,
and Lad a good fare of halibut. She had a rough time of it in the late gale; she came very near
sinking, and her crew had a thrilling experience. She was loaded so deep in the water that the
sea made a clean breach over her ; and to save her from going down, which they say there was
imminent danger of, the crew broke through the cabin bulkhead, and in this way got into the hold
and hauled out halibut and threw them overboard. They threw away several thousand pounds
(variously estimated from ten to twenty thousand), until she lay better and shipped less water.
The Bessie W. Somes also got into Massachusetts Bay during the gale. She ran to make the
land, but the snow shut down so thick and the gale blew so heavy that it would have been madness
to run longer. She hauled off, but as it blew too hard to carry sail enough to gain to windward,
she finally anchored on Middle Bank.* It was blowing very heavy at this time, and there was a
wild sea going. After riding awhile she pulled her anchor in two, breaking the shank, a result
which proves wLat a fearful strain tLere must have been on the cable and anchor. Fortunately,
the gale lulled shortly after this, and gave her crew a chance to set sail enough to hold off until
the weather cleared. All late arrivals report the gale very heavy, and one must feel thankful
to have got in clear of it.

* This is named Stellwagen's Bank on the charts, bat is always called "Middle Bank" by the Cape Ann fisher-
men, the latter name having reference to the position of the Bank between Cape Ann and Cape Cod.

90 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHEEIES.

2.— THE SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE

TO THAT OF DAVIS' STRAITS.

BY NEWTON P. SCTJDDEB.
1. GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE FISHERY.

The demand for smoked halibut maintains a fishery of increasing importance, in which the
vessels are employed exclusively in catching and salting these fish. The demand is at present
greater than the supply, and it seems probable that in the future this fishery will grow much faster
than it has in the past.

In order to understand this prospect of increase it is necessary to inquire from what fisheries
the " smoke houses" obtain their salt halibut for smoking. These are the salt-cod, the fresh-halibut,
and the salt-halibut fisheries.

Halibut caught by the salt-cod fishermen are commonly salted and sold to the smoke-houses.
In the fresh-halibut business, however, when the quantity taken is greater than the fishermen have
ice for preserving and there is danger of the fish spoiling before reaching a market, sometimes part
of the fish are salted for smoking, and when the market is overstocked with fresh halibut the sur-
plus is often sold to the smokers and salted. Were either of these two fisheries, or both combined,
able to meet the demand for smoked halibut, there would be no inducement to send out vessels on
purpose to catch and salt these fish. It is, however, a fact that though halibut were formerly very
abundant near the coast of New England and on the banks frequented by the cod-fishing vessels,
they have been gradually disappearing from these places, until at the present day the fresh-halibut
fleet finds greater and greater difficulty in supplying the market with fresh fish, and the cod fish-
ermen cure less and less every year.

The scarcity of halibut near the coast would at first seem unfavorable to the development of
a salt-halibut fishery, but in reality the contrary is true. The fresh-halibut fishery must ever be
limited by distance, for only those fish caught comparatively near home can be sold in the market
as fresh fish. All others must be salted. But this scarcity, by decreasing the amount of salted
halibut furnished by the cod and fresh halibut fisheries, and thus making the demand greater than
the supply, encourages vessels to engage in the salt-halibut fishery and to utilize distant fishing
banks where the halibut are more abundant. These banks must be more numerous than is at
present realized, for the halibut is a widespread species, and may be circumpolar in distribution.
It occurs off the Orkneys and to the north of Norway, has been caught in the Arctic north of
Siberia, is abundant off the coast of Alaska and British Columbia, supports an important fishery
in Davis' Strait, and is a nuisance to the cod-fishermen about Iceland.

In the autumn of 1881 over 432,000 pounds of salt halibut were brought from Greenland, the
principal source of supply, but by the following spring the supply had been exhausted, and smoked
halibut was out of the market.

We see, then, that the demand for smoked halibut is sometimes in excess of the supply; >liat
the salt-cod and fresh- halibut fisheries furnish less and less every year; and that the halibut,
though decreasing near the coast of New England, are very plentiful in northern waters. ' When we
consider that the fishermen, competent in all that pertains to their profession, are especially eager

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. 91

when encouraged by prospects of making money, what other result can be predicted than a con-
siderable growth of this branch of the fisheries.

OUTLINE HISTORY. — The salting of halibut was doubtless begun by the cod-fishermen as an
experiment, and then continued for the winter food of their families. These fishermen, though
finding the halibut so plentiful as to interfere considerably with the" catching of cod, did not prize
them much as a food-fish, and as there was no demand in the market for them, the quantity cured
was at first very small. So gradual was the growth of the custom that it would hardly be possible
to trace it back to its commencement or to state whenjsalt halibut first came into the market, but
from the practice of the fishermen of Marblehead and of other places of salting these fish for winter
consumption no doubt arose the market value of salted halibut.

We find that about 1842, before the introduction of ice-houses on board the fishing vessels, it
was customary to bring flitched halibut from George's Bank, and that from 1845 to 1850 the Grand
Bank cod-fishing vessels from Beverly, Proviucetown, and other places were in the habit of sending
flitched halibut to the Boston market, to be there sold as "dried halibut." Since 1850, however,
the demand for smoked halibut has been so great that all the salted halibut have been bought for
smoking, and there has been no dried halibut in market.

From 1850 to 1863 or 1864 the halibut brought in by the cod-fishermen, and by the fresh-halibut
fleet were sufficient to meet the demand of the smoked-halibut trade, and the fitting out of vessels
for salting halibut was resorted to in only one or two instances.

Perhaps the first trip of this nature was made by Capt. Chester Marr, in the schooner Grace
Darling. He says:

"I went on a Hitching trip to the Canadian shore about 1858. I had heard from the mackerel
fishermen that halibut were very plentiful about Magdalene Eiver in the summer. I was in the
Grace Darling, and I hauled the vessel into the river, moored, and fished in our dories, setting the
trawls along the shore in the vicinity for six weeks. I was induced to stay so long by the native
fishermen, who made exaggerated statements concerning the halibut. I got only about 100 quintals
of salt halibut, and gave up the trip and went to the Bay and filled up with mackerel."
The following is on the authority Of D. C. & H. Babson, of Gloucester:

"The first vessel that ever sailed from Gloucester on a flitching halibut voyage to the Grand
Bank was the schooner A. J. Chapman, 105 tons, that sailed May 19, 1864, commanded by Capt.
George W. Minor. Arrived home August 13, and stocked en the trip $4,933.05. Her crew was com-
posed of eleven men, and they shared $223.59 each; captain's share and commission was $420.82."
The practice of sending out vessels to salt halibut, once commenced, has continued up to the
present time, but the vessels engaged in this way have ever been few, and at no time, according to
Mr. Wonson, of Gloucester, has the number for any year exceeded ten.

Though the practice has been continued, the banks to which the vessels are sent have become
fewer and fewer, until for several years past the banks in Davis' Strait have been the only ones
visited by these vessels.

THE GROWTH OF THE GREENLAND HALIBUT FISHERY.— Eeports of the abundance of halibut
off the west coast of Greenland were first brought to Massachusetts by Provincetown whalers. The
first trip to Greenland after these fish was made in 1866, by the schooner John Atwood. She sailed
June 29 and returned October 14, stocking $5,500. Capt. G. P. Pomeroy, of New London, went
as navigator, and Capt, Averill L. York, of Gloucester, as fishing-master. Though she failed to fill
her hold only because of her late arrival upon the fishing banks, no enthusiasm was excited in this
fishery until Capt. John McQuiun, in 1870, brought from Greenland a trip of flitched halibut worth
over $19,000. Each of the two or three succeeding years five or six vessels, with hopes of having

92

HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

like success, were fitted out for the same place. But, for some reason or other, the fish were not
caught in very extravagant quantities, and a fall in the price of the fish rendered such a long trip
financially rather uncertain; Besides, as there was no reliable chart of Davis' Strait and the coast
of Greenland, the fishermen hesitated considerably before undertaking a voyage to such a precipi-
tous and barren coast, and no one can blame them. Once give them a good chart of the coast and
harbors of Western Greenland, and their greatest difficulty will be removed. No reliable survey
and chart of Greenland have been made.

Notwithstanding the need of large and accurate charts and the immense distance of two thou-
sand miles, so great are the probabilities of making a profitable catch that thirty-one trips have been
made from Gloucester to Davis' Strait after halibut. The following is a tabulated statement of the
vessels and captains engaged in the Greenland fishery from its beginning to the present time, show-
ing also the year and the weight of flitches for each trip. This gives a total of 3,283,765 pounds
of salt halibut brought to Gloucester from Greenland, or an average of 113,233 pounds for the
vessels that returned in safety :

Tear.

Vessel.

Captain.

Ponnds of
fish.

1866

60 000

1869 . - -

134 400

1870

Caleb Eaton

177 300

1871

1871

Caleb Eaton

1871

429, 200

1871

1871

"William S Baker

156 800

1871

Mary E ...

30 000

1872

112 000

1872

145, 600

1872

"William S. Baker

145 600

1872

134 400

1872

John G ask ill

112 000

1872

Caleb Baton . . .

134 400

1873

91 000

1873

"William S. Baker

75 700

1873

Caleb Eaton

62 500

1873

jobn Gaskill

51 000

1874

163 000

1877

Henry "Wilson

91 000

1878

60 000

1878

Canard (lost)

1878

Bellerophon

Thomas Scott

60 000

1879

140 000

1879

Banker Hill

140 000

1879

Mary E

75 000

1880

Mary E

70 000

1881

168 400

1881

Mary E

84 890

1881

Bnnker Hill

179 575

Total

3 283 765

Average for vessels returning. . . .

113 233

Two vessels were lost ; but one of th ese, the Cunard, after starting for home, went to the Grand
Bank and was lost there, leaving only one lost in the Greenland fishery. The Eiver Queen prob-
ably failed to reach home because too little care had been taken in properly arranging the salted
fish, thus throwing the vessel considerably out of trim. The last seen of her she was rather low
in the bow and sailing before a northeast gale, on her way home.

If we compare the Davis' Strait fishery with that of the Grand Bank we find much in its

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. 93

favor. The water is not so deep, and fogs are not so frequent as on the Grand Bank. Good
harbors are available in case of storms, which are not common. The climate is excellent, neither
very cold nor very warm. The continual light permits fishing at all times of the day, and does
away with much of the risk of 'the dories losing sight of the vessels. One great objection is the
long distance from home, and lack of opportunities of hearing from the outside world. The fish,
however, are plentiful, and, if the fishermen only had accurate charts of the banks of the west
coast of Greenland, and of the harbors of Sukkertoppen and Holsteinborg, the long distance
would be little thought of, as they would then be quite sure of a profitable catch. The harbor of
Holsteiuborg is usually open by the middle of May and. perhaps fishing could be commenced by
the 1st of June, but the ice, brought by the current down the east coast of Greenland, besides
blocking up the more southern harbors, will probably render the passage north too dangerous
before the middle of June. On this account and because of the change in the weather about the
20th of August, the fishing here will have to be done in July and August.

Besides the halibut, the Greenland cod is also caught on the trawls of the fishermen, but not in
sufficient numbers to warrant their being salted. The proportion of cod to halibut is about 1 to
15. The Eskimo fish for both, iu the bays and harbors, and the cod may be more plentiful there,
but they are smaller.

The fine salmon of the coast might afford profitable fishing. This opinion is founded upon
the quaulity of these fish the natives catch with their rude appliances, and sell for $i to $8 a
barrel to the Danish trade agents. If the American fishermen were acquainted with the deep
fiords, and should engage in this fishery with all the modern improvements for seine fishing, they
would probably meet with great success. There is, however, this probable limit: the fish are
caught mostly iu June and July when they visit the mouths of the fresh-water creeks. After this
they become scarce, but, if the fishermen do not succeed in securing a cargo of salmon, they have
at least a month, after the salmon season is over, during which they can set their trawls for halibut.

The average of 113,233 pounds of salt halibut for a trip does not represent fully what the fishery
may become in the future; for several of the trips were made the conclusion of cod fishing trips
to the Grand Bank, and the vessels were already partly filled with cod, leaving not enough room
for a full cargo of halibut. Thus the Mary E., in 1871, '79, '80, and '81, fished first on Flemish Cap,
and from there went to Greenland In 1871 she did not reach the Davis' Strait fishing ground
until August 20, and left off fishing August 28, but during these eight days she secured 30,000
pounds of halibut. In 1879 the Herman Babson had on board 00,000 pounds of codfish, which she
brought from the Grand B.ink. If we omit from our calculations the Mary E., which is compar-
atively a small vessel, the above average will be increased to nearly 121,000 pounds for each trip.

Again, since the fishermen first visited Davis' Strait, the methods of fishing in that region
have altered considerably, principally because the first fishermen were unacquainted with the
fishing banks, and were afraid to remain on them whenever the wind showed signs of increasing
to a gale. Because of this, visits to the harbor were frequent, and much time was lost iu regaining
the banks after the blow was over. The custom now is to remain on the banks as much as possible,
and to fish at every opportunity: had this method been employed from the start, the average catch
would have been considerably larger. The success of the Bunker Hill, in 1881, proves this beyond
a doubt. This vessel, though not arriving upon the banks until July 11, commenced fishing before
going into the harbor, and by persistent effort, in spite of unfavorable weather, secured the largest
fare of any vessel since the beginning of the fishery.

In the future, competition among the fishermen will become greater, knowledge of harbors
and fishing banks more definite and widespread, improved methods of fishing will be introduced,

94 H1S1OKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

and, as the demand for the fish and the confidence of the fishermen increase, the Greenland halibut
fishery will no doubt grow to be of considerable importance.

. Where the halibut are caught on the Grand Bank they are flitched and salted; but as the fresh
fish bring the higher price, the nearer the fishing grounds are to the market so much greater is the
probability of the fish being brought in fresh. On the other hand, fishing grounds at a long dis-
tance from home present so many difficulties to the fresh fishermen that no attempt is made to
carry home the halibut uncured.

Formerly, when the smoked fish were first coming into the market and the halibut were very
abundant on nearly all the fishing banks, the supply was easily obtained near home, but now the
halibut on George's, Grand, and other southern banks are no longer plentiful enough to encourage
a fishery devoted to salting these fish. These banks, however, yield a few salt halibut, brought in
by the cod-fishermen.

The reason the fresh-halibut fishery is still carried on with success where there is no encour-
agement for a salt fishery is that it takes only one-tenth the time to obtain a cargo of fish in the
former that it does in the latter industry. In the fresh fishery the fish in the hold of the vessel
occupy nearly as much space as when first caught, and they cannot be packed tightly together for
fear of spoiling, whereas in the salt fishery a large part of the bulk of each fish is thrown over-
board, and the parts saved are packed away as solidly as possible, not occupying nearly as much
space as the same number of fresh fish would. Again, in the fresh fishery much space is occupied
by the ice and ice-chest, which are not needed in the salt fishery. In this way it takes ten or more
times as many fish to make a cargo of salted halibut as it does to make a cargo of fresh halibut.

Thus if a fresh fisherman fills his vessel in five days it would take a salt fisherman, with the
same luck in fishing, fifty or more days to fill the same vessel. If the fishing were twice as good
the fresh fisherman could secure a cargo in two and one-half days and the salt fisherman in twenty-
five days. It is thus an inducement to the salt fisherman to spend part of these twenty-five days
sailing to and from grounds where the fishing is much better than nearer home. In the north the
scarcity of fish does not limit the fishery, but the slow discovery and utilization of banks where
the halibut are probably very abundant. These fish, circumpolar in distribution and very abun-
dant in the North Pacific and in Davis Strait, must abound in many places where we have no
knowledge of their existence.

ICELAND.

In 1872 Capt. John McQuinn attempted to secure a "trip" of salt halibut from the fishing
banks near Iceland, but did not catch a sufficient quantity to encourage a second attempt. Other
circumstances, however, would indicate an abundance of these fish near Iceland. The French and
other fishermen who catch cod in the vicinity of Iceland, but to whom the halibut are worthless as
a food fish, complain that the halibut are at times so very plentiful as to seriously interfere with
the codfishing in these waters. A few years ago a Danish Government vessel returned to Den-
mark with a quantity of salted halibut, caught somewhere between Greenland and Iceland, but
the crew refused to reveal the exact spot where the fish were taken, fearing lest England or some
other foreign power might develop a fishery in that region.

Considering the difficulties a stranger has to encounter when attempting to fish in unfamiliar
and distant waters, the failure of Captain McQuinn is not surprising, and is no indication of a
scarcity of halibut near Iceland.*

* The United States Fish Commission having called the attention of the American fishermen to the abundance of
lialibut at Iceland, three Gloucester vessels went there in 1864 and secured good fares, and the present summer (1885)
live Gloucester vessels are 011 a voyage there. A full report of the voyages in 1884 is published in Volume V, United
Stud's Fish Commission Bulletin.

SALT HALIBUT FISHEKY. 1)5

2. FISHING GROUNDS.
DAVIS' STRAIT.

(a) LOCATION AND CHARACTER. — The fishing banks are 15 to 40 miles from the coast, and, if
we can rely upon the Danish charts, extend from Disko Bay to within 3° of Cape Farewell; for
these charts give soundings all along the coast between these two points. Extensive as the banks
may be, only a small part of them, the part about Holsteiuborg and Cape Amalia, has been tried
by American fishermen. That the fish are to be found throughout their whole extent is more than
probable, for the species is identical with that taken on the Grand Bank, and we would naturally
iufer it would be found in all favorable situations within the limits of its distribution. It is also
reported that Capt. Rasmus Madsen, commonly known as "Captain Hamilton," who has been to
Greenland several times, set his trawls for these fish farther to the south (probably off of Godthaab)
and found them very abundant, but was unable to secure many on account of the numerous ground
sharks playing the mischief with his trawls.

At (/ape Amalia are the favorite fishing grounds of the natives, and a few of the Gloucester
vessels have visited them, but, as the fishing there is mostly by anchoring in the harbor and send-
ing the dories a distance of 2 or 3 miles, this place does not offer many inducements to our fisher-
men. The best luck has attended the vessels fishing off and to the south of Holsteiuborg.

Previous to 1872 the fishing grounds were 4 or 5 miles off Holsteinborg. That year, however,
some of the fleet went 30 miles off this settlement, and since that time most of the fishing has been
done on this latter ground.

In 1879 the fishing in July was on this ground, but in August better fishing was secured on a
new ground 20 miles south of this. In 1881 the best fishing was found in the vicinity of Victori
Island, some 15 miles from shore, in water from 14 to 28 fathoms deep.

Between the old ground off Holsteinborg and Victori ground there is a gully over 150 fathoms
deep and 15 or 20 miles wide, and there is probably another gully south of Victori ground.

The depth of water on the banks is from 15 to 90 fathoms, and, on this account, the fishing is
much easier than in the deep water of the Grand Bank. At the inner edge the banks have a
sudden slope, leaving a long submarine valley, the depth of which I did not ascertain, between
them aud the mainland. The surface of the banks is varied, though generally rocky, with here
and there sandy and clayey spots.

The character of the fauna varies considerably, and often abruptly, in places a little distance
apart, as the following extract from my diary of the 25th of July will show: "The fish caught
to-day and two preceding days have not been taken on all sides of the vessel, but in one particular
spot, where the bottom is more attractive than elsewhere. This spot is covered by tunicata, called
'sea-lemons' and 'sea pumpkins.' The moment the trawls strike the bottom covered by the stems
of Jrydrozoa, by the crew called 'trees,' the fish are no longer found in any quantity."

It will readily be seen from the preceding remarks that a careful survey of the banks, with the
view of determining their limits, character, and fauna, could not fail to be of great value to the
fishing interest, to say nothing o'f its immense" importance from a natural history and geological
point of view.

(b) Climate. — The climate on the banks for July and August is, ou the whole, very favorable
for fishing. In the tables which follow I have omitted observations made in harbors, in order to
avoid confusing the two climates together, for there is considerable difference. The climate on the
banks is more constant in temperature and absence of rain, but more variable in respect to wind.

96 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The temperature is very uniform. The lowest observed was 36° Fahr. and the highest 52°
Fahr. The extremes of surface temperatures were 3Sf ° and 43£° Fahr. There were no sudden
changes, as the tables will show. The temperature was thus very favorable for work, though per-
haps a little chilly in foggy weather, but uevertheless much better than the sweltering heat of
summer in our own latitude. The men found, on sunny days, even a temperature of 48° Fahr.
uncomfortably warm for work. On chilly days a fire was kept in the cabin, so that all could be
comfortable when not working.

A reference to the tables of the condition of the sky will show that we had very little rain on
the banks. Clouds were common and fogs not rare, but it only rained four or five times, and then
mostly in the shape of fine misty rain, lasting at the longest only four or five hours.

The tables of the wind need explanation. The directions expressed are those of the compass,
which here varies about 70°; for not knowing the exact variation, I thought this the best way of
expressing them. The estimate of the velocity is much of it guess-work, founded on remembrance
of former estimates and comparisons of the wind's velocity made by myself, and, on this account,
not much reliance can be placed on them except for the relative velocities of the winds observed.
The hardest blow was August 14, on which day I have put the velocity down as between 45 and 55
miles, and am well satisfied it could not have been any greater. Between this and a perfect calm
I have used six numbers to designate as many different velocities: 2 for air just perceptible; 5 for
a breeze of 3 to 10 miles an hour; 13 for a breeze of 10 to 15 miles an hour; 20 for a breeze of 15 to
25 miles an hour; 30 for a breeze of 25 to 35 miles an hour; 40 for a breeze of 35 to 15 miles an
hour; and 50 for a breeze of 45 to 55 miles an hour.

The temperature, sky, and winds were quite different in the harbor. The laud on all but the
sea side of the harbor rises abruptly, and not only protects it from the winds, but also permits the
sun to warm the surface of land and water more than in an exposed place. The thermometer is,
therefore, more variable than in the strait, and the wind is seldom felt. The mountains, by caus-
ing the condensation of the vapors of the sea breezes, make fogs and showers frequent.

I have also given tables of the height of the barometer, made from an aneroid belonging to
(he captain. This was hung up in the cabin, and I noticed considerable variation in the instrument
whenever a fire was built there. When this variation was very marked, I have indicated the
same in the tables by an asterisk.

The season of 1879 was, however, uncommonly mild for Davis' Strait, and the weather that
summer more favorable for fishing than it has been since. In 1880 the Herman Babson was started
for Greenland, but was turned back in 52° north latitude by immense quantities of icebergs and field
ice. The Mary E. succeeded iu getting through by going farther to the eastward.

In 1881 the three vessels which went to Davis' Strait skirted the ice 200 to 300 miles before sue
ceeding in getting through, and, even after reaching the fishing grounds, they were obliged several
times during the summer to change their positions on account of drifting bergs.

This ice is carried by the currents down the east coast of Greenland, and thence across to the
Straits of Belle Isle, and the fishermen will probably encounter more or less of it every year.

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY.

97

Table of Hie temperature for July and August.

JULY.

No observations made in harbor.
[Expressed by the Fahrenheit scale— all positive.]

Midnight.

a

4

rH

2 a. m.

a

c*

CO

s

«

«t

s

A
to

6 a. m.

7 a. m.

i

«

CO

a

es

as

a

M

S

a

es
i-*

1

a

P4

S

a,

<N

a

p.

m

2

P.
•^

a
P.

in

a

p.

<D

t

P.

t*

a
p*

00

s

ii
Ol

3
A

0

2
ft

July 1

0

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

0

O

0

O

o

o

o

o

O

O

o

o

o

0

2

37}

37?

38

37i

38

381

384

39

39

39

381

901,

3

384

39

4

38

38

38J

38

37

37

5

m

41

4?

45

44

43

44

431

42*

41*

40

6

374

38

3Ci

364-

7

36

39

391

901

411

391

001

8

45}

41$

41

40*

;;()!

3gi

38A

QQl

9

381

40

411

40)

10

11

45

44

46

12

461

13

1

49

481

48

461

441

41

38

14

42i

^94-

15

SOI

39$

39

391

39

39

16

43

42

17

18

19

40

40}

41

41

42

20

21

22

23

40

4C1

401

48

24

42}

49%

424

44

441

451

25

451

45

45

46

461

44

44

42*

42

41

26

39}

40

40

40

41

41

41

401

27

40

40J

41}

42i

43

414

28

41 i

40}

42}

432

! '-;

44}

43}

41}

29

4°i

421

42}

43

43

44

44

30

401

43

44

44

44A

31

AUGUST.

Aug. I

2

45

45

45

451

451

4K1

4*1

AKl

4«tl

44

3

43

44

441

46

461

461

451

45

431

44?

441

4

44

44

441

45}

46|

471

*50

*52

46

5

46}

46%

46)

461

46

46

46

46

45

t

46

46

47

47

*50

471

474

401

7
8

45

451
451

461

45i
AM

47

47
47

*48J

451

46

....

...

....

9

46

4BJL

40

451

441

43

10

44}

45

441

11

44

441

44

12

45

47

46

13

42

42

14

40

41

39

15

42

43

16t

171

18

38

39

42

19

* Affected by reflection of son's rays.

t Barrels lashed in front of thermometer so it could not be seen on the 16th and 17th.

8EO V-

98

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Table of the temperature for July and August — Continued.
AUGUST— Continued.

Midnight.

a

d

8
a

C4

a

a

M

a

i
*f

6a.m.

6 a.m.

7 a.m.

8a.m.

a

a
o>

10a.m.

11a.m.

1

a

c.

iH

a
A

C<1

a

A

CO

a
p.
•*

a

(i
»o

a
P.

CO

a
p,
c-

a

A

00

a
P.

O)

a

A

o

E
P.

Au" 20

43

47

21

42

42

42

2')«

23*

24

401

401

25

39}

40

39J

26

40

41

41J

27

41

28

29

42

30

401

40

38}

31

40

41J

* Thermometer wet with spray.

Table showing the condition of the sky for July and August.

b. Blue sky. f. Foggy. m. Hazy. r. Rain. c. Clouds, detached. g. Gloomy. o. OTercast.

tions made in harbor.

JULY.

k. Clearing off. No observa-

«s
ft
fcc

j

d

d

1

S

E
-.

2a.m

E
a
«

S
a
•*

a
t
\f.

a

4

CD

a

a!
t-

S

cj
00

a
d

•

a
d

o

S
rf

iH

sl

a

A

i-*

a

A

C9

a

A

CO

a

A

•<*

5
ft
o

e

A

CO

i

&
t-

a

A

00

a

A

0»

A

3

I
A

rH

July 1

2

o.

3

4

f.

t

o., m.

o.,n).

o., m.

5

b

b

g

C.

7

f.

k.

b.,c.

b.

0.

m.

0.

b.,c.

g

f

g

k.

b.

0.

r.

o., r.

10

11

b

b.

1)

b

b.

b.

b

b.

b.

•b.

b.

b.

b.

b.

f

f.

12
13

f.

f

t.
1,

b.

1,

b.
1)

b.

b.

b.

b.

b.

b.

b.

b.

b.

b

b.
b

b.
b

b.
b

b.
b.

b.
f.

b.
f

b.

f

b.

b.

b.

f.

14

f.

15

f.

f.

f.

t.

f.

t

f.

f.

f.

f.

f

f.

16

f

f

f

f

f

f

f

f

f.

f

f

f

f.

f

k

b.

b.

b.

17

18

k.

19

20

21

22

23

V

o.

24

t.

f.

25

k.

26

27

28

b. f.

b.

b.

b.

b.

b. f.

b. f.

f.

29

30

k.

31

B

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY.

99

Table thawing the condition of the sky for July and 'August — Continued.

AUGUST.

i

•a

1

£
a
—

1

;j

=

4

::

3
4

•*

=
d

•n

8

4
o

a

4
t-

B

ri

00

a
d

a

B

c*

0
^H

s

4

i-H
rH

fc

e
&

t

A

Cl

t

a.

P3

E
A
•4

a

&

in

a

P,

<o

s

a
t-

B
P.

00

S

A

o

s
p.

o

ft

H

Ang 1

2

0.

o.

o. r.

0.

o.

o.. r.

o., r.

o.f r.

3

c.,k.

b.,c.

m.

o.

c.

c.

c. f.

c. f.

O f

4

o.

o.

c.

^r,o7

b.

b.

b.

b.

5

c.

c.b.

b.,c.

b. c.

6

b

b.

b.,o.

c.

c.

b.,c.

b.,o.

c.

c.

o.

b.,c.

7

o.,£

o.,m.

g

o.

0.

"

9

b., o.

F.

f

10

o.

o.

f.,m.

11

o., m.

o.

o.

12

b

b

13

U

0.

15

o.

10

U.

1

b.

b.

17

18

19

o., r.

20

b

b.

21

b.

o.,f.

22

I).

b.

b.

23

b.

b.

o.,f.

24

o.,f

0.

25

b.

b.

b.

b.

26

b.

b.

b.

b.

27

o.

28

b.

b.

b

29

b.

30

r

r

r

b

b

31

Table showing the directions and relative velocities of the wind for July.

Calm, by 0. Just perceptible, by 2. 3 to 10 miles, by 5. 10 to 15 miles, by 13. 15 to 25 miles, by 20.

Xo obsf rrations made in harbor.

25 to 35 miles, by 30.

Date.

Midnight.

la. m.

2 a. m.

3a.m.

4 a. m.

Sa. m.

6 ft. m.

7 a. m.

8 a. m.

9 a. m.

10 a. m.

ll.i. m.

Jnly 1

2

J

B. by N.

E. by N.

S

"I

20

20

4

6

$

SB.

SSE.

SSE.

sw.

SW.

6

'"I

2

2

2

5

5

7

0

0

8

...\

SE.

E.

»...

•wsw.

\

I

6
...}

WNW.

I
10

20

$

0

0

(

11

12

13

0

0 {

NE.

}

14

\

5

5"

S

W.byS.

1 -

15

1

5

1

16

J

ENB.

}

17...

' 1

5

I

100

HI8TOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Table showing the directions and relative velocities of the wind for July — Continued.

Calm, by 0. Just perceptible, by 2. 3 to 10 miles, by 5. 10 to 15 miles, by 13. 15 to 25 milos, by 20. S5 to 35 miles, by 30.
35 to 45 miles, by 40. 45 to 55 miles, by 50. No observations made in harbor.

Date.

Midnight.

] a. m.

2a.m.

3a.m.

1 a. m.

5 a. m.

C a. m.

7 a.m.

8a.m.

9 a. m.

10 a. m.

11 a. m.

July 18

19

- \

SW.

WSW.

(...

-\

SW.

{...

20

\

20

20

5

\

>

21

22

23

0

24

0

0

25

0

0

J

NE.

26

-\

N.

NNW.

ssw.

NNW.

27

\

0

0 \

NW.

NW.

NW.

28

5

NE.

NE.'

NE.

\ J

ENE.

29

}
\

S. bv W.

13
S. by W.

13

!

5 <

S. by W.

30

I

5

5

> •••

0

0

31

Date.

Noon.

1p.m.

2 p. in.

3 p. m.

4 p. m.

5p m.

6 p. in.

7 p. m.

8p.m.

9 p. m.

10 p. m.

11 p. m.

July 1

2 J

E. by N.

NE.

NE.

NE.

NE.

NE.

NE.

|

"I

3

20

20

20
J

20

ENE.

20
ENE.

20
|

20

5

4 S

NNE.

NNE.

NNE.

5

NNE.

2
ENE.

ENE.

|

5 i

13
SW.

13

SW.

13
SW.

20
SW.

20
SW.

20
SW.

SW.

I f

WNW.

J

8

5

5

NE.

5

\ 5

5
NE.

5
|

5
5

2

NNE.

'

20

S

7

0 5

13
SW

'sw.1

5
SW.

SW.

I ]

5

5

0

...J

ENE.

g

|

5
f

5

NE.

5
NE.

5

NNE.

NNE.

NE.

J 0

J

SW.

} '

5

9 J

WNW.

I '

13

13

13
0 f

13

ESE.

13
i

i

i

13

5

" I

10

13

J —

J

13

I"'

n

12

13 f

WNW.

WNTV.

WNW.

WNW.

W.

W.

W. byS.

W.

W.

]

IS I
14

5

5

5

6

13

13

13

20
|

20

NE.

I

» {
18

NE.
13

NE.
5

NE.
5
5

NE.
6

NE.

NE.
5
I

NE.
5

NE.

13
$

NE.

13

NE.
5
NE.

} !

ENE.
5

1

17

I

13

J"

1

13

13

5

18

19

J

WSW.

1

20 . .

1

30

1

-

21

22

23

0

Q

{

SW.

}

0

24

\

2

Q

5 •"
o

25

SB.

NE.

(

f

NE.

N.

N

NNE.

}

26

5

NNW.

5

NNW.

NNW.

NW.

5
NW

13
J

13

13

i

27

13
I 5

5

N.

5
I

&
{

5

ENE.

I -1

28

ENE.

5

NE.

NE.

5

5

0

5

2

2

5

Q

Q

30

J

Q

|

Q

o

$

SW.

J

31

'"I

5

5 ••'

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY.

101

Table allowing the direction and relatirc velocities of lite wind for August.

Calm, by 0. Just perceptible, by 2. 3 to 10 miles, by 5. 10 to 15 miles, by 13. 15 to 25 miles, by 20. 25 to 35 miles, by 30.
35 to 45 miles, by 40. 45 to 55 miles, by 50. No observations made la harbor.

Date.

Midnight

1. a.m.

2a.m.

3a.m.

4a.m.

5a.m.

6a.m.

7a.m.

8a.m.

9a.m.

10a.m.

11 a. m.

2

J S.W.

S. W.

3

t

S.W.

] 5

WSW.

) 13
WSW.

13
WSW.

4

0 J

20

SE.

SSE.

20
S.

20

ssw.

13

sy- j

5

2
0

5

5

5
0 J

2 }

NNW.

8. ...

i

E.

E.

S. ?

...J

SW.

! «

0

7

I

2

WNW.

2 i

<

0

2

5

0

g

2

>
-.*

wsw.

W.

w.

T- I

B

I

5

5

WbyS.

WbyS.

5 S

10

\
5

5
S.W.

5

i

i

11

<

SW

• I

30

i

12

|

20
SW.

I

13

'

5
|

ME.

\

H

5

H.E.

{ *

ME.

I

30

S

16

1

50

5 )

50
WMW.

16 . .

)

30

5

HE.

\ .

17

j

MNE.

13

y

18 .

|

30
ENE.

i

19

.. J

WSW.

I

20

i

20

5

21

5

ME.

I ..

22.. ..

j

20

ME.

i

23

30
ME.

24

30

ME.

25

J

20
HE.

I...

26

}

HE.

i
I

27

\

20

J

28

29

. 5

sw.

I.

30

o I

EE.

\

I

13

y

31

i

5
N.E.

i
|

i

30

5

Date.

Moon.

1 p. m.

2p.m.

3 p. m.

4p.m.

5 p.m.

6 p.m.

7p.m.

8p.m.

9 p.m.

10 p. m.

11 p. m.

An gust 1

2

SW.

SW.

SW.

SW.

SW.

SW.

SW.

SW.

S.

{

3

13
WSW.

13
W.

5
W.

5
1 0

2
0

2

o

2
0

2
0

2

5

4

13

13

0

5
J

5

E.

E.

E.

E.

I

-

5

MMW.

M.

M. '

2

M.

5
I

5

5

0

5

ME.

i

6

13
< N W.

13
{ 0

13
0

13

>

0

0

I

2

>

7.

I 2

0

5

0

J

ME.

}

g

0

i

o

13

J —

9

J W.

} f

W.

J J

WbyK.

J ?

w.

J

10

( S

5 sw.

'

5

5 }

5

5 }

5
W.

J"'

11

) 30
f W.

j

I

30
W.

12

( 13
5 ENE.

5
I

1

EME

13

f ME.

J

ME.

}...

13

( 6
J HE.

J

I 13

I

30

I

) 40

5

102

HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Table showing the directions and relative velocities of tlie wind for August — Continued.

Calm, by 0. Just perceptible, by 2. 3 to 10 miles, by 5. 10 to 15 miles, by 13. 15 to 25 miles, by 20. 25 to 35 miles, by 30.
35 to 45 miles, by 40. 45 to 55 miles, by 50. No observations made ill harbor.

Date.

Noon.

1 p. m.

2 p. m.

3 p.m.

4 p.m.

5p.m.

6p.m.

7 p.m.

8p.m.

9p.m.

10 p. m.

11 p.m.

5 NE.

..J

NE.

{

15
15

\ 50
« N\V.

1

13

0

I

16

\ 20
5 NNE.

I

NNE.

1.

17

1 '3
( NNE.

)
-I

30

NE.

1

I-

IR

) 30
0

>

I

13

wsw.

I

19

J

20

$

20

J NE.

\

ENE.

I -

21

1 13
( NE.

I

I

5

NE.

5

22

i 20
J NE.

I
I

20
NE.

J

28

( 30
< NE.

30

NE.

J

24

} 30
( NE.

I

30
NE.

>

25

] 20

( NE.

. .}

20

NE.

5

26

I 30
< NE.

I
j

30

NE.

j

27

} 20

I

13

'

28

.1

NNE.

>

29

( SW.

»

J

13

sw.

j

30

) 30
<NNE.

I

J

20

NE.

i

31

I 20

C NE.

J

I

20

NE.

1

) 30

}

•

20

5

'

Table showing the height of the barometer for July and August.
JULY.

Date.

1
§

i

a

a

a

E

S

a

a

a

a

4

a
*

H

«

M

*

«

to

t-

00

O

0

I-t

rH

Jnl 1

2

30.23

30.23

30.22

30.22

30.21

3

4 ...

5

29.73

29.75

29.75

29.76

29.76

g .

7

30.28

g

30.19

30.18

g

30 05

30.37

10

11

30.41

30.40

12

13 ...

30.46

30 60

15 . .

30.43

16

30 37

30 37

17

18

19

80 25

•30 36

30.36

20

21

22

23

30.46

24

30.54

30.56

25

30.50

30.44

30.42

26

30 32

30.34

30.32

27

30 36

30 36

30.36

30.35

28

30 24

30 26

30 24

30.24

29

30 18

*30 30

30 28

30.26

30

30.12

81

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY.

103

Table showing the height of the barometer for July and August — Continued.
JULY— Con tinned.

D»te.

N

a
P,

S

A

M

a
P.

CO

a

P.
•*

S
P.
in

a

A

CO

a
A
t-

a
P.

00

a

A

0>

a

A

0

a

A

•H
l-l

July 1

2

30.21

30.20

30 20

30.19

30.16

30. 10

30.15

3

29.92

2!L93_

4

29.78

29 78

20 76

29.75

29.72

29.70

29.68

5

29 76

29.77

29 78

29.80

29.80

29.82

g

30.05

30.11

30.11

7

30 28

30 29

30 30

30.30

30.29

30.27

30.20

g

30.13

30.08

30.07

30.08

30.08

30 39

30.41

30.49

10

11

12

13

80.30

30.30

30.30

30.32

30.40

30.50

30.52

30.50

14

30.53

35.53

15

30.43

30 43

30.40

30.43

30.42

30.38

30.36

30.38

1C

30.24

30.26

30.24

17

18

30.38

30.33

30.26

28

21

22

23

30.44

30.43

30.48

30.48

24

30 57

30 5G

30 56

30 54

30 58

25

30 37

30 36

30 46

30 42

30 43

30 40

26

30 28

30 °8

30 26

*30 38

27

30.35

30.33

28

30 20

30 20

30 20

30 26

29

30.25

30.26

30

30 12

30 12

30 10

30 06

31

* Dne to building of fire in cabin.
AUGUST.

Date.

-
f,
'=.

£

rt

£

H
=•

rt

s

4

a

rf
to

a

t-

a

C9
00

a

d

0>

10a.m.

s

1

£

P.

fH

E

A
n

a
A

«

a

A

a

0.

m

a

A

•

a

A

t-

a

A

00

a .

Auz. 1 ..

2

30 02

30 04

30 04

30 05

30 04

30 04

30 04

10 06

30. 14

30. 15

30.17

3 ..

3\24

30 24

30 26

30 28

30 28

30 28

30 28

30 30

30 30

30.33

30.33

30.32

4

30 37

30 36

30 34

30 34

30 36

30 40

30 39

5

30 30

30 26

30 24

30 22

30 22

30 22

30 20

*30. 26

30.26

6

30 24

30 26

30 24

30 27

30 26

30 98

30 32

30 28

7

30 30

30 28

30 27

30 20

30.16

g

30 26

30 27

30 30

30 33

30.30

9

30 37

30 36

30 39

30 40

10

30 26

30 20

30.18

11

30 06

30 04

30.07

12

30 11

30 11

30.04

13

29 92

14

29 80

29 74

29 74

29.80

30 00

"29 84

17

29 90

29 94

29.96

18

30 00

30 06

29.95

10

20...

30.12

30.12

104

HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Table shouting the height of the 'barometer for July and August — Continued.
AUGUST— Continued.

Date.

Midnight.

6
a

4

ri

3a.m.

e

t
•*

e

ci
«5

6 a. m.

8
d
t-

S
•1

CO

9a.m.

10a.m.

e

ci

i-^

x

5
si

H

E

Pi
C1*

g
A

w

ri

&

*•

a

d

10

e

A

CD

e
P.

t-

s

A

00

4

Ang. 21

30.18

30.12

30.12

22....

29.92

23

24

30.09

30.14

25

30.12

30.12

30.11

28

30 00

*30 08

30 08

27....

30.02

28....

30 22

30 22

30.23

29

30 18

30 30

30 18

30....

30.06

30.28

30.22

30.22

31....

30.12

30 08

30 10

" Due to fire In the cabin.

(e) Tides and currents. — I had hoped to compile tables that would give definite figures regard-
ing the tides, but on account of the frequent changes of position and the remarkable complexity of
the currents near the edge of the banks this was impossible. The first peculiarity one would be
likely to notice is that the tide runs up the strait much longer and with greater velocity than in
the opposite direction. In fact, some days there was no tide at all down the strait, but correspond-
ing to it would be nearly slack water for seven or eight hours. The tide also, instead of changing
every six hours, would only do so twice a day. The observations made August 4 will show this.
The velocity is expressed in the number of feet a chip floated in a minute, and the directions are
those of the compass. As this varies about 70° toward the west, it will be seen that all the direc-
tions given are up rather than down the strait.

Tide August 4.

6a.m.

7 a. m.

8 a.m.

9a.m.

10a.m.

11a.m.

12m.

1 p.m.

2p.m.

3p.m.

4p.m.

5p.m.

6p.m.

NE.

NE.

NE.

NE. xE.

ENE.

E.

E xS.

SSE.

SE. x S.

SE. i S.

SE.

Slight.

Gentle.

169 feet.

179 feet

246 feet

168 feet

135 feet

96 feet

90 feet

60 feet

The greater velocity of the tide running north compared with that going south is probably
due to the existence of a current on the east side of the strait running up the coast of Greenland.
The slack water of six or seven hours at a time would then be when the current and tide just bal-
anced each other. The few icebergs we saw while fishing came from the south. The harbors of
Holsteinborg and Sukkertoppeu are open much earlier than the more southern ones, owing to the
ice that is brought round Cape Farewell blocking up these latter. The existence of this southern
ice will be a great barrier to the utilization of the southern fishing banks, making those about
Sukkertoppen and Holsteinborg the ones most accessible.

The combining of the tide and current often renders fishing impossible five or six hours at a
time, but, as the slack water is usually correspondingly long, the loss of time need not be very
great, for^'by careful observation the fishermen can time themselves so as to sleep while the tide is
strong and fish when it is slack water. It must be remembered that in this latitude it is light
enough in July to work all night without inconvenience.

The tides and currents are not, however, as simple as the preceding remarks would seem to
imply. Often a changing of our position a few miles would bring us into a different combination
of currents. The banks occasion variations in currents a few miles apart. The whole coast of

SALT HALIBUT FISHERY. 105

Greenland is indented by deep fiords, 3 or more miles broad and 50 to 100 miles long, and the tides
running out of these with great force have an influence miles from their mouths.

Temperature of Hie water, at every ten fathoms, on the Fishing Banks, off the west coast of Greenland, latitude 66° +. Time,

July and August.

July 6. Latitude 66° 25'. Taken between 3 and 4 p. m., during the slack, after the tide had
been running north.

°Fahr.

Temperature of air 38

Temperature of surface r..^_±... 38J

Temperature of 10 fathoms 37{

Temperature of 20 fathoms 36J

Temperature of 30 fathoms 35$

Temperature of 40 fathoms, bottom 35J

July 7. Same place and time of day.

OFahr.

Temperature of air 40|

Temperature of surface 3gj

Temperature of 10 fathoms 37J

Temperature of 20 fathoms 36J

Temperature of 30 fathoms >. 35J

Temperature of 40 fathoms, bottom , 35J

August 2. Taken between 7.30 and 8 p. m.

<>Fahr.

Temperature of air 44

Temperature of surface 431

Temperature of 10 fathoms 39^

Temperature of 20 fathoms 3gj

Temperature of 30 fathoms 38

Temperature of 37 fathoms, bottom 37j

August 5. Taken between 7 and 7.30 a. m. Tide very slack.

oFahr.
Temperature of air 46i

Temperature of surface 4ji

Temperature of 10 fathoms 3gi

Temperature of 20 fathoms . 391

Temperature of 30 fathoms 38

Temperature of 35 fathoms, bottom 37

August 8. Taken 6 p. m. The time of slack different in places a few miles apart ; likewise the
force and direction of the current.

°Fahr.
Temperature of air 45^

Temperature of surface ^ 431

Temperature of 10 fathoms 41

Temperature of 20 fathoms 32^

Temperature of 24 fathoms, bottom 37j

August 20. Taken between 8 and 8.30 p. m. Slight surface tide. About 40 miles WSW. from
Holsteinborg.

oFahr.
Temperature of air 44

Temperature of surface 43

Temperature of 10 fathoms 41j

Temperature of 20 fathoms 391

Temperature of 25 fathoms, bottom 38}

The preceding observations, though few, will show very well the temperature of the water on
the banks at various depths.

HAEBOES.— The harbors of greatest use to the fishermen will be those of Holsteinborg and
Sukkertoppen. Of the latter I can say nothing, except that it i.s reported, by those who have been
there, as a good harbor. Holsteiuborg, surrounded on three sides by the mainland and on the

106 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

by several islands, is completely protected from the rough water, and is only exposed to the
wind on the side towards the strait, from which quarter there is scarcely ever a violent blow. The
harbor is large, and has a depth of 10 to 25 fathoms. The harbors mentioned are ninety miles
apart, and, as the best fishing we had was about half way between the two, we could easily have
run into one of them, whichever way the wind might have been.

Previous to the summer of 1879, which was considered very mild, the fishing vessels went
. into harbor at least three times a month. This was due to the southwest and northeast winds,
which, combined with the strong tides and comparatively shallow water, would soon raise a "nasty
sea." These blows, though perhaps not extremely dangerous, would frequently occasion loss if an
attempt were made to ride them out, either by the breaking of some part of the rigging, or, if the
deck were filled with fish when the wind came, by the loss of a part or all of these.

Nor are winds and waves the only things causing the vessels to seek the harbor. It is fre- •
quently very convenient to leave some things on shore, so as to have more room on the vessel.
Thus the Bunker Hill left barrels of pickled fins on shore, and Captain Lawson left there, until
ready to return home, quite a cargo of codfish he had brought from the Grand Bank, but which
was in his way while fishing. New supplies of water must also be secured. The harbor of Hol-
steinborg is usually open by the middle of May, and perhaps fishing could be commenced by the
first of June, but the ice that is brought down the east coast of Greenland, besides blocking up
the more southern harbors, will probably render the passage north too dangerous before the mid-
dle of June. On this account, and because of the change in the weather about the 20th of August,
the fishing here mast be carried on in July and August.

3. THE FISHERMEN.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF CREWS AND FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS OF TRIPS. — In choosing
fishermen for a salt halibut trip particular care is taken to secure only those whose disposition
and ability qualify them for a long trip and continuous hard work. A quarrelsome disposition,
bodily inability to stand long, continuous hard work, ignorance either of the proper management
of a sailing vessel, or of the methods of fishing employed, are great drawbacks to the financial
success of the voyage.

The crew of the schooner Bunker Hill, during the season of 1879, consisted of 14 men, includ-
ing the captain and cook, and was considered one of the best that ever sailed from Gloucester.
They were certainly well acquainted with their business, and, as for disposition, there was no sign
of a quarrel during the whole summer. This last is especially remarkable, because of the absence
on board of the fishing vessels of the traditionally severe ship discipline. The captain was the
only ofiicer on board, unless the cook can be so called. The cabin was open alike to all, and as
the bunks, with the exception of the captain's and my own, were chosen by lot, each one of the
crew, providing he was sober when the lots were drawn, had as good a chance as his neighbor of
securing sleeping quarters there.

The explanation of this general freedom is probably to be found in the co-operative nature of
the trip, the financial plan of which was about as follows: The owners of the vessel were to receive
46 per cent, of the net stock, and, besides the vessel, furnished food, salt, and fishing tackle, while
50 per cent, of the net stock, after deducting the cost of tarring the rigging, refilling medicine
chest, pilotage, &c., was to be divided into fourteen equal parts, according to the number of the
crew, one part going to each. The captain was to receive, besides one of the fourteen parts, the
remaining 4 per cent.* The arrangement was thus, in some sense, a partnership, the owners fur-

* The captain's share is usually 4 per cent, of the net stock, but it may vary either one way or the other.

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. 107

nishing the capital and the fishermen the labor, the profits to be shared in certain proportions. This
general arrangement is not universal, for on some fishing vessels the men are paid a stipulated
sum for the trip, the ownt-rs running the risk of profit or loss, while on others the crews are com-
posed of both hired men and sharesmen.

EVEEY-DAY LIFE, SUPERSTITIONS, &o. — On the evening of the 9th of June, at 6 o'clock, the
steam-tug pulled the Bunker Hill from the wharf, so that her sails might catch the wind favor-
ably. We had expected to start several hours earlier, but the little unexpected delays common to
such occasions had prevented. Even as it was, on counting up hands two men were missing,
so that while we tacked back and forth at the mouth of the harbor, waiting, a dory was sent to
find the delinquents. Two hours passed before the return of the dory, and our number was com-
plete; but during this time the wind had died out, rendering it doubtful whether we would succeed
in leaving the harbor that evening. At nine o'clock, however, we were outside of the harbor,
headed in the direction of Nova Scotia.

The captain had his berth, and one had been assigned to me, but the rest of the crew had as
yet no settled sleeping place. The bunks to be chosen were in the cabin and forecastle. The cabin
had two double berths on^each side; but as the starboard (right hand) ones were reserved for the
captain and myself, only two of the berths were vacant. As the berths were large, there was room
in the two larboard (left hand) ones for four, making six to sleep in the cabin. The forecastle was
arranged with berths on each side and a table in the center, in front of the foremast, where we
took our meals.

The crew took their meals in two sets, the first of seven and the second of eight, and this
division was made in such a manner as least to interfere with the fishing arrangements. As
described below, the dorymates attended to the fishing arrangements of their own dory. Now,
many of these things, such as renewing hooks, baiting, &c., could be attended to by one man at a
time, and less time would be lost if only one went to meals while the other kept on working than
if both went together. On this account the division of the men at meals was made, with one
exception, caused by my presence, in such a manner that only one mau to a dory would eat at a
time. As for the captain and cook, who were exempted from fishing, the captain ate with the first
set, while the cook waited until the second.

Another important matter attended to the first evening was the setting of the watches. On
leaving the wharf at Gloucester, the captain had taken the helm and kept it until we were well out of
the harbor and on our course, when the- watches were divided. Two men stand on watch at a
time. Each watch is two hours long, and each man is at the wheel half of this time and forward
the other half. The captain and cook having no watching to do, this falls upon the other twelve
of the crew, who each have, out of the twenty-four, four hours of watching, two of which are spent
at the wheel. In order to prevent each man's watch coming the same hour each succeeding day,
one man each day omits his watch, and by this means all the watches are pushed backward every
twenty-four hours. The man who omits his watch is the one who otherwise would have his wheel
between six and seven in the evening.

12-1 p. m. ( a t b I a 6-7 p. m. ( h i i ij

.\b\

l-2]>.m.\b\c\d

2-3 p. m. ( c \ d ( e 8-9 p. m. i j I k i I

3-4 p. m. ) d\e \f 9-10 p. m. ) fc \ I \ a

4r-5 p.m. t « if t a 10-11 p. m. i I l a i b

5-6 p. in. \f) g\ h 11-12 p. m. \ a \ b \ c

Thus, for instance, in the table just given, if /'s wheel was between 5 and 6 p. m., jr's wheel
would naturally come between C and 7, but g omits his watch, and h, taking his place, has the

108 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

wheel an hour earlier tliaii the preceding day. The next day g has the wheel between 5 and 6, and
h omitting, t takes the wheel from 6 to 7.

The watches were arranged so that dorymates watched together every other day. Thus, in
the table, suppose that e and /are dorymates. The first day e and /watch together, the second
day /and g, while the third day e and /are together again. Each watch called the next watch.
The order of the watches was decided in the following manner: A hat was held crown down, one
man from each dory putting a finger upon the border of the opening, while one of the others, com-
mencing at random, counted the fingers in succession until he reached the number nine. Finger
number nine being withdrawn, the counting commenced again with one and continued to nine,
which was also withdrawn. This continued until no fingers were on the hat. The owner of the
first finger withdrawn, together with his dorymate, had the first watch, the owner of the second
finger withdrawn, with his dorymate, the second watch, and so on through the whole.

I have said that the watches were two hours long, and this was true while we were on the pas-
sage out and back, but not so the intervening time; for while we were anchored in the Strait no
watch was kept, because there was little or no danger. When, however, we shifted position, and
were expecting to anchor in a very few hours, the time would be divided into twelve equal parts,
each man taking one part at the wheel. Thus once or twice the watches were only ten or fifteen
minutes long.

The passage from Gloucester to Holsteinborg lasted twenty days, and was along the coast of
Nova Scotia through the Gut of Canso, northward in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, within sight of
the western coasts of Cape Breton and Newfoundland, and thence, through the Straits of Belle
Isle, into the Atlantic and Davis' Strait. The pleasanter days were occupied by the crew in fixing
the dories and fishing-tackle. The crew were very much like bees. On warm, pleasant, sunny
days, they were all activity; other days, when it was cold and rainy, they were in their bunks most
of the time from breakfast until dinner, and during the rest of the time, with few exceptions, they
did little or nothing. This was not on account of any disposition to shirk work, but rather because
of there being only enough to do to occupy them on pleasant days;. for. after the fishing commenced,
they showed themselves to be good, steady workers.

The duties devolving upon the men while on the way north were the sailing of the vessel, fixing
the dories, and rigging the trawls. The first was of course attended to principally by the differ-
ent watches, leaving much time for the others. The fixing of the dories did not take very much
time, as it only consisted in making thole-pins, three seats, and two vertical partitions for each
boat, and winding the oars with oakum to prevent them from wearing out. The vertical partitions,
like the seats, were movable, and were used to divide the dory into three parts. Typically, the
stern apartment held the trawls, the central one the fish, while the bow was reserved for the
anchors ; but whenever the fish were numerous they were put wherever room could be found for
them.

The rigging of the trawls, however, kept the men busy much longer than fixing the dories.
Four skates had to be rigged for each dory, and all of these were of new material, excepting a
large part of the lines to which the hooks are fastened. These short lines, called gangings, had
been for two years kept in bundles, with the hooks protected from moisture by a canvas or rubber
covering. These must, of course, be examined, in order to test the strength of each ganging, and
to free the hooks from rust. Besides this, most of the hooks had to be taken from the line and
refastened. This last operation is called " ganging the hooks."

The gangings finished, the ground-line next occupies the fisherman's attention. This being

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. 109

composed, as already stated, of 50-fathom pieces requires that each of these pieces should have a
loop spliced in one end, while the other is fastened by what the sailors call a "wall," so that it
will not untwist. The loops and walls finished, and six of the 50-fathom pieces tied together, the
ground-line is ready for the attachment of the gangings, which are then fastened to it at every 2
fathoms. Besides the ground-lines and gangings, the buoys, buoy-lines, and anchors had to be
made ready, but as these have already been mentioned they will need no further notice here. In
doing these things the men would sometimes be in the cabin, forecastle, or on deck, just as con-
venience and fancy inclined them.

The only difference between Sunday and any oth"er~day in the week was that no nail must bo
driven on that day, for they said that would " nail the trip." Their superstitions are a little curious.
The old notion that any enterprise commenced on Friday would be unlucky has, in a great measure,
disappeared, on account of the fishermen having read in the papers a long list of great events that-
had happened on Friday. The objection to hammering on Sunday was so strong that the captain
delayed fixing a part of the rigging from Sunday until Monday on this account.

The food during the trip was excellent of its kind. Fresh meat and vegetables were, from the
nature of the case, out of the question, but the salt meat could not have been better, and fresh
halibut and cod, while the fishing continued, were ever available. There was no milk of any kind,
and no canned vegetables. Only enough potatoes were taken to last a few days. A little variety
was noticed in the meals on Sunday, for on this day the cook added baked beans and brown bread
to the bill of fare. Pea soup was common. Tea was prepared for each meal, and coffee for break-
fast, and occasionally also for dinner, but both of these had to be taken without milk. Eice pud-
ding and the famous dish of "duff" appeared occasionally. Neither were we without our mince
pies, for the cook made some very fair ones out of dried apples and salt meat. Sugar, butter, and
molasses were only wanting the last two weeks. The water obtained in Greenland was excellent,
as well as that taken from Gloucester.

The most regular meal was dinner, which came about noon. The other meals were more or
less interfered with by the fishing, but while we were on the passage out and back breakfast came
about 6 a. in. and supper about 5 p. m.

The course taken coming home was the reverse of that going. Those who have been to Green-
land after halibut several years say that after August 20 the N eather will permit of but little fish-
ing. Our captain, however, having some salt left, decided to remain a little longer, so we did not
start for home until the 28th of August. Then followed the active preparations for going home.
The first thing was the bringing on board the barrels of fins, and the careful heading up of these.
Next came the repacking of the flitches. After flitches have been packed ten or twelve days, for
the first time, they are usually repacked in a more compact form and a little more salt added.
During the fishing the packing had been mostly forward of amidships, so that the bow of the ves-
sel was low down in the water, and to trim the vessel better the flitches were repacked farther
aft. The trawls were also unrigged and packed away in the hold, but the cleaning of the vessel
was left until we were south of the Straits of Belle Isle.

The decks being cleared, and the dories lashed in their places amidships, we started for home
August 28. For the first few days the wind favored us, but before reaching Belle Isle it died out,
and most of the time after that was unfavorable in direction or a dead calm.

Getting south of the Straits of Belle Isle we found the climate much different from that in
Davis' Strait. The captain had brought a bushel or so of very fine black sand from Holstcinborg,
and this was now used to scrub the vessel clean of fish slime which bad been collecting ever since
the fishing commenced.

110

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The passage home was uneventful, the crew being unemployed the greater part of the time.
Some read, others walked the deck, smoked if they could get tobacco, and lay in their bunks.
Most of the food gave out, until toward the last nothing but salt meat and bread were left. We
reached Gloucester the 17th of September.

4. THE VESSELS

A part of the salted halibut is brought into port by vessels not exclusively engaged in this
fishery. Vessels visiting the Banks after codfish are in the habit of salting the halibut they catch,
and even the fresh-halibut fishermen, when the number of fish taken is greater than they have ice
for preserving, often salt the remainder. But at present the larger part of the salted halibut is
obtained by schooners "fitted out" for catching and salting these fish. These schooners, in size,
speed, and sea- worthiness are among the best of fishing vessels. Remaining on the fishing grounds
months at a time they often experience heavy weather such as only the stanchest vessels could
possibly survive, and, as the grounds are at a distance from home, size and speed are very desir-
able.

The following table gives the names, the tonnage, and the date and place of building of vessels
engaged in the Davis' Strait fishery, which has for the last few years monopolized the salt-halibut
fishery:

Tonnage, date, and place of building of vessels that have been engaged in the Davit1 Strait fishery.

Kune.

Tonnage.

When
built.

Where built.

Aaron Bnrnham
Albert Clarence

Bellerophon

69
101

85

1870
1863
1873

Essex, Mass.
Portsmouth, K. B.
Essex, Maes.

Banker Hill

100

1875

Caleb Eaton

104

1866

East Boston, Mass.

Carrie Jones

H

1869

Chelsea, Mass.

74

1877

Grace L. Fears

88

1874

Gloucester, Mass.

Henry Wilson

93

1875

Essex, Mass.

Herman Babson

101
109

1876
1865

Essex, Mass.

Keuuebunk.

Mambrino Chief
MarvE

227
67

1871
1871

East Boston, Mats.

Kulli Secnudng

89

1874

Essex, Mass.

129

1853

86

1871

William B. Baker

103

1860

Essex, Mass.

101+

5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

The fishing is done by means of trawls. A trawl is composed of several parts. First, there
is the ground-line, which is anchored at each end and lies on the bottom. The hooks are attached
to lines 5 feet long, called gangings, which are in turn fastened to the ground-lino at every 2
fathoms, sometimes at every 2£. To mark the position of each end of the trawl, a line extends
from the anchor at the end of the ground line to a buoy on the surface of the water.

The main or ground-line is about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and is made up of parts
50 fathoms long. Each of these parts has one end fastened, so that it will not unravel, while the
other has a loop spliced in it. The end not spliced is tied to the loop end of the next part by
a knot, which is both strong and secure, though easily untied. The trawls can thus, by using

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. HI

more or less of these 50-fathom pieces, be made of any desired length, but, when not in use, six of
these parts are usually kept fastened together, and are then called a tub or skate of trawl,
according to the manner of keeping them. In fishing for cod and haddock, and formerly in the
halibut fishery also, they were kept coiled up in tubs, whence the name "tub of trawl," meaning
300 fathoms of trawl. But now, in the latter industry, they are kept in what are called skates.

A skate is a piece of canvas about a foot and a half square, having two pieces of rope, 6 feet
or so in length, so fastened across it that an end projects from each corner. Upon this canvas the
300 fathoms of trawl are coiled and firmly secured by the ropes, tied together above.

The phrases "tub of trawl" and "skate of trawl n are used interchangeably. Thus, on the
Bunker Hill, though no tubs were used to keep the trawls in, it was quite common to hear the
fishermen speak of setting two or more " tubs of trawl."

The buoys used on this trip were of two kinds, the "boat-buoys" and "keg-buoys." The boat-
buoys were blocks of wood, 3 feet long, cut in the shape of a round-bottomed row-boat, and coated
with tar. The buoy-line is attached by means of a swivel to the under part of the buoy, just in
front of the middle. Back of the middle is bored a hole from top to bottom, through which passes
the flag-pole. This pole fits in loosely so that it turns freely and can be taken out for easy packing
in the dory. In order that it may not slip too far through the hole, a piece of leather is nailed
round the pole above the hole, and, to keep it upright, a weight is attached to its lower end. The
flag is a piece of canvas painted black. These buoys are not, however, so serviceable as the keg-
buoys, which are small water-tight kegs, holding a little over a quarter of a barrel. Through the
keg runs the flag-pole, tightly wedged in to prevent leakage and strongly fastened by stout lines
to prevent its coming out. To this is fastened the flag above and the buoy -line below. The great
advantage of these last over the other kind of buoy is their greater buoyancy; for the boat-buoys
were continually being carried under by the force of the tide, so much so that it was frequently
necessary to use two of them in place of one. On the other hand, the keg-buoys were liable to
burst, an accident rendering them fit only for the fire. Unfortunately only ten keg-buoys were
brought on this trip; not enough for each dory to have one at each end of its trawl. The matter
was settled by using one of these for the outer end of the trawl, while one or two of the boat-buoys
were used at the inner end.

The typical manner of setting a trawl is in a straight line, across the direction of the tide;
for if the fish swim either with or against the current a greater number will cross the ground-
line Ij ing in this direction than in any other. Two men are necessary for the operation. One
man sits in the bow of the boat, rowing slowly in the required direction, while the other, in the
stern, sets the trawl, by first throwing out the inner buoy, with its attached buoy-line, to be
followed by the inner anchor. This, in turn, is succeeded by the ground-line, outside anchor,
buoy-line, and keg-buoy. The length of a trawl varies, according to circumstances, from one to
four skates, that is, from 300 to 1,200 fathoms.

As already stated, two men in a dory were necessary for setting a trawl, and as there were six
dories, three for each side of the vessel, twelve of the crew were required for the fishing, while the
captain and cook made the whole number fourteen. Each dory had by lot a particular position
assigned to it, and according to this was its relative place of setting the trawl. The vessel at
anchor would naturally have her bow toward the tide, and thus the middle dory, on each side, by
setting in a line at right angles to the length of the vessel, would set exactly across the tide, the
most favorable direction. In order not to be too close together, the dories in front of the middle
ones would set in lines running a little forward, while the stern dories would set in lines running

1 1 2 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

a little backward. This, the typical manner of setting, is varied, of course, by many circum-
stances— as winds, tides, position of vessel, or the narrow spots to which the fish may be confined.

Before speaking of the hauling of the trawls it will be best to consider the arrangements
about the dories and the baiting. Before starting, the crew, according as the disposition of the
men inclined them, had become divided up into pairs for dorymates, but not until we were well
on our way were lots drawn to decide upon their respective dories. Previous to the drawing of
these lots the dories, which were entirely without internal arrangements, such as seats, &c., were
kept amidships, three on each side of the vessel, firmly lashed, upside down, one within the other,
to the deck. The dories were numbered from one to six, and six slips of paper were prepared,
each having one of these numbers on it. These, being thrown into a hat, were drawn by one from
each pair of dorymates, each having the dory with the number corresponding to the one on his
slip. Boards had been brought for making seats, and, as might have been expected, different
degrees of proficiency were displayed by the men in working them up. The men in each dory are
expected to do everything pertaining to their own boat, such as taking care of dory, baiting, set-
ting, hauling, and keeping the trawls in good condition.

Two barrels of pickled menhaden were taken to use for the first baiting, or until enough fresh
bait had been caught for this purpose. Afterwards the cod and smaller halibut were employed,
and when these were not enough the napes of the larger halibut were used. The bait is cut up into
strips about six inches long and an inch square at the end. The cutting of this is done mainly on
the roof of the cabin, by large, heavy knives. Thick planks had been nailed on top of the cabin
for this purpose, and the men of each dory had their places for chopping (for the cutting is more
of a chopping than anything else) chosen by lot. There not being room on the cabin for all the
men, those of the forward dories used boards laid across the large Hitching tubs for cutting their
bait.

After enough bait is cut, the skate of trawl is placed on the cabin, and, being untied, the skate
is taken away from the coil and spread out on the deck below. The fisherman then commences at
the top of the trawl, and, baiting the hooks as he proceeds, recoils it again on the skate below
The baited hooks are thrown into the center of the coil. Both the chopping of bait and the bait-
ing are lively times, and wonderful stories are told about the speed with which some fishermen
can perform these operations. There is, however, a limit to the speed with which these can be
done well, and those who boast most of their quickness are, ten to one, not the best fishermen.

The skates, baited and tied up, are ready for the water, and, if the set is to be made immedi-
ately, they are placed in the stern of the dories. When the weather is favorable it takes about
fifty minutes to set four skates to a dory, but when either tide or wind is strong more time is
necessary. Two to four hours are allowed from the time of setting to the time of hauling.

The hauling is usually commenced from the outer end, so that the men may work toward the
vessel and have less distance to row should they be so fortunate as to secure a load of fish. When
the buoy is reached the oars are taken in and laid one side,, where they will be the least in the
way; a roller, whose wheel is four to six inches in diameter, with two or three grooves on its rim,
is fastened to the side of the dory near the bow ; the buoy is taken in, unfastened from the line,
and placed in the stern of the boat, and the hauling commences. The roller is almost indispensa-
ble. The line is hauled over this by the man in the bow, who does the hauling, and is then passed
on to the man in the stern, to be by him coiled up and put with the buoy in the stern. (The stern
is separated from the rest of the boat by,a cross-partition of boards.)

4fter the buoy-line and anchor have been taken into the boat comes the fishy part of the haul

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. 113

The hooks, whether with or without fish, are not hauled into the dory by the man in the bow, but
are kept over the side until, as they are carried along by the ground-line, they reach the other
end of the boat, and are there freed either of poor bait or of fish. The bait is easily shaken off by
striking the hook against the gunwale of the boat, but the fish are not so easily managed. The
large size of the fish necessitates the use of something besides the fishing-hooks for pulling them
into the dory. Accordingly large iron barbless hooks, with a loop on one end for the hand to
grasp, are used for this purpose.

But the fish must also be killed or stunned before taken into the boat or otherwise consider-
able inconvenience, to say nothing of danger, migHt be occasioned by their lively flapping. For
this reason killers are used. The "killer," which is also employed for unhooking the fish, is a hard
wood club about 2J feet long. The larger or striking end is round, while the handle is flattened a
little and has a notched end.

When the fish comes to the stern of the dory the fisherman hooks it in the eye, or some
firm part of the head, with the large iron hook, and, after stunning it by hitting it several heavy
blows over the snout with the killer, hauls it into the boat. Frequently the fish has swallowed
tbe hook, and its extraction, were it not for the killer, would require considerable cutting and loss
of time. The flattened and notched end of this instrument is run down the gullet of the fish, and,
after the line is secured to the other end so as to prevent slipping, the club is turned, until, by
the coiling of the line, the hollow of the hook fits into the notched end. Then by a sudden push
downward and a jerk upward the hook is loosened and hauled out.

The work continues on iu this manner, the man in the bow doing the hauling, while his mate
attends to the coiling of the line, shaking off old bait, and taking the fish into the boat until either
the boat is full or else the trawl is hauled. In the latter case a return is made to the vessel.
Should, however, the boat be filled before the hauling is completed, and any other fishermen be
through with the hauling of their trawls, an oar is raised as a signal for a dory to come and take
the fish already caught, that the hauling may be interrupted as little as possible, If, on the other
hand, all the fishermen are busy when the boat-load is secured, the ground-line is buoyed at the
end of one of the 50-fathom pieces, while the load is carried to the vessel. Believed of their load,
the men return to the buoy they have just left and continue the hauling.

Sometimes the trawl is caught in the rocks, so that it is necessary to break it and commence
at the inside buoy for the hauling of the remainder. Should it be caught and broken the second
time, there is great danger of losing the part which is still m the water, unless it can be caught by
the grapple. The grapple is a chain, with an iron bar at one end, and having, at several places
along its length, circles of iron points 3 or 4 inches long, directed away from the end to which the
bar is attached. It is used in the following manner : Three men go in the dory, two to row and
one to attend to the grapple, which, fastened to a line by the end toward which the iron points
are directed, is let down until the iron bar drags upon the bottom, but not so low as to permit the
whole chain to drag. The men row back and forth over the spot where they think the trawl is,
and, if they are right in their calculations, it is hard to see how they can fail to grapple it.

The fish are taken from the dories by the large iron hooks, already mentioned as being used in
the small boats. When a load of fish is brought to the side of the vessel, one of the fishermen
holds the stern and another the bow painter, while the man in the stern hooks the fish and hands
them up to his dorymate, who stands on deck ready to haul them on board.

The last set was made August 27, and was done while the vessel was under sail. Compara-
tively little fishing had been done since the 20th, for the strong wind had prevented the setting of
SEO v 8

114 HISTORY AND METHODS OF TUB FISHERIES.

the trawls, though the hand-line showed that the fish had not departed. The captain accordingly
decided to run into harbor and prepare for going home, but finding the wind near the shore rather
gentle and the water smooth, thought best to see how the fish wonld bite near the mouth of the
harbor. As this was the first time wo had set under sail, 1 was curious to see how it was managed.
The dories set in turns. First one is towed astern, while the outside buoy and buoy-line are
being thrown overboard, then it is set adrift and the rest of the trawl set at right angles to the
direction the vessel is sailing. The rest of the dories go through with the same operation in
succession, by which time the first dory has finished setting and is taken in tow by the vessel.
Some of the dories are left fastened to the buoy-lino to mark the place of the trawls while the
vessel sails back and forth an hour or two, until the time of hauling comes. The hauling is done
in the usual manner. This manner of setting is practiced quite frequently on the banks of New-
foundland to find out whether the fish are abundant. If the fihh are found in considerable num-
bers, the anchor is dropped, and the trawls run out again in the regular way. Only eighteen fish
were caught this haul, so we turned the bow toward the harbor.

6. DRESSING AND SALTING THE CATCH.

After all the trawls have been hauled the men usually attend to the dressing of the fish.
For this operation the men had prepared four legless tables, about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide,
which, in use, were inclined against the side of the vessel in such a manner that one end rested
upon the rail while the other remained on deck. Two men worked at a table, one on each side.

The knives employed were of different shapes and sizes, but the one seemingly the most in
favor has the blade about 8 inches long, an inch and a half wide, and not so thick but that it had
a good spring to it. All were sharp pointed, and most of them of good material.

Iron hooks, similar to but smaller than those used for taking the fish out of the dories into the
vessel, are used for fastening the fish upon the table. To the loop end of the hook a short rope
having a cross piece of wood is fastened. The fish is hooked in the small of the tail, and being
drawn up on the inclined table is secured there, head downwards, by placing the rope in a notch
cut in the top edge of the table, the cross-piece of wood preventing its slipping back.

It will be remembered that the halibut is shaped somewhat like our common flounder, or flat-
fish. The backbone, with its spines lying in the same plane with the body, leaves, on each side,
a thick layer of boneless flesh. These layers, called flitches, are what the men are after. After
the flaps of the dorsal and ventral fins have been cut off close to the body, a cut, deep enough to
reach the plane of the backbone and extending from the head to the tail, is made, about 2 inches
from and parallel to the dorsal line of the body, followed by a similar cut from the gills to the tail,
but on the ventral edge of the body. These two are then connected at the head by a cut parallel
to a gill plate and at the tail end by a straight cross-cut. For the better handling of the flitch a
slit, large enough to admit the hand, is made at each end. The flitch is then grasped at the
posterior part with one hand, and, as it is raised by this hand, is cut free from the backbone with
the other. The fish is then turned over and the other flitch taken off in the same manner.

The cuts made parallel to the dorsal and ventral edges of the body, being 2 inches or more
from these, leave strips of flesh and fat attached to the inner bones of the fins, which, when pickled,
bring a good price under the name of halibut fins. Accordingly, after the flitches, these strips are
cut off and pickled. The rest of the fish, consisting of the bones, head, and viscera, is then thrown
overboard and another fish is placed on the table.

SALT-FIALIBUT FISHERY. 115

After the flitches arc cut from the fish they are thrown into large tubs, called flitching-tnbs,
to be there riused free from blood and dirt, previous to being salted in the hold. It is one man's
duty to attend to the washing of the flitches and to the passing of them below, while three men are
salting. The hold is divided by plank partitions, into six large bins, three on a side, in some
of which the salt is kept until needed for salting the fish in the others. One man carefully
places the flitches in layers, one above the other; a second man, with a scoop such as grocers use
for flour and sugar, covers them with the salt, while a third shovels the salt within reach of the
second. The Bunker Hill left Gloucester with 270 hogsheads of salt, and out of this salted 9,000
fish, amounting to 140,000 pounds of flitches, havmg^ used a little over nine tenths of the whole
quantity. This salt, came from Cadiz, Spain, and cost $1.50 per hogshead, or $405 for the whole.

7. TABULAR VIEW OF A BUMMER'S WORK IN DAVIS' STRAIT FISHERY.

The following tables represent in a concise form the time of setting and hauling the trawls,
the number of fish caught at each haul, together with the depth of water, tides, weather, &c., while
the trawls were in the water. I have taken the time when the men left the vessel for setting and
hauling to represent the time of these operations. To set four skates of trawl usually took a little
less than one hour, while for hauling the same, especially if there were many fish, required three,
and often four, hours.

Since the outer end of the trawl was set last and hauled first, this would remain in the water
less time than that represented by the tables, while the inner end, set first but hauled last, would
be in the water much longer. Yet, as a rule, more fish were caught on the outer than on the inner
end. Many things are unfavorable for the trawls remaining long in the water. In the first place,
if the fish are present they will soon hook themselves, and more time than is necessary for this is,
of course, wasted. Then, again, the tide, fish, or both combined, are apt to entangle the trawls in
the rocks, if these are left too long in the water ; besides, the voracity of the little shrimp would
soon leave nothing but the bones of the halibut for the disappointed fishermen, were they allowed
many hours to satisfy their appetite. So plentiful are these little creatures in some places that they
could be scraped off the fish by the handfuls, and, when the trawls had remained in the water two
or three hours, they had left the branchiostegals hanging loosely, besides making a general assault
on the whole body.

There were three days of fishing before the 5th of July (the date first mentioned in the table)
of which I have no detailed notes, and have therefore omitted mentioning them in the table. The
fish caught during these days, together with those caught on the hand-line from the side of the
vessel, would certainly make the whole number taken during the trip over 9,000. Sixty-six hauls
are recorded in the table, by which 8,616 fish were taken, averaging 139 for each haul. The smallest
number taken at a single set was 4, the depth being 27 fathoms, and the largest number was 497,
the depth being between 25 to 30 fathoms. The depths expressed, owing to the irregularities of
the banks and the extent of surface covered by the trawls, are, of course, only approximate, but
whenever this was measured I have used the depth where the vessel was anchored in preference to
the rough calculations of the fishermen, for I have found them, in this respect, a little inclined to
overestimate. It will be observed that the depth in August was less than in July:

116

HISTORY A:ND METHODS OF THE FISHEBIES.

Table for July and August, representing the times of setting and hauling trawls, number of fish taken, depth of water, and

remarlcs on weather, tides, <f-c.

Date.

Set

Hauled.

Fish.

Depth.

Remarks.

Path.

July 5

2.30 p. m

4. 05 p.m

48

40

WindSW. Cloudy, -with slight mist. Tide slackening from running N. Shifted

position.

5

8. 15 p. m

11.40 p. m . . ,

M

40

Wind WNW. and increasing. Cloudy.

6

2.50 p. m

5.25 p. m

144

40

Wind NE. Hazy. Tide slackening from running X.

6

7.45 p. m

10.05p.m...

24

40

7

3. 15 p. m ...

6.55 p. m

90

40

Wind SW. and nearly calm toward the end. Partly cloudy. Tide slackening.

Shifted position.

8

4.05 p. m

6.45 p. m

56

50

Wind NE. Rain. Tide slackening from running N. Fish small. Shifted posi-

tion.

9

3.45 p. m

6.30 p. m

352

50

Calm at first, wind rising from ESE. Cloudy. Tide quite strong, but slackening

from running NNE.

10

5.50 p. m

8.45 p. m . . .

95

50

Wind WSW. Raining. Tide slackening from running N. Shifted position.

11

7.30 a. m

10.20 a. m . . .

cc

(?)

Calm. Sky clear. Tide slack.

11

2.50 p. m . . .

6 p. m

48

(?)

Calm. Sky clear. Tide running slight toward the SSW. Shifted position.

12

6am

10 a. KL

158

50-60

Calm. Sky cleap. Tide not strong • running N.

12

3.45 p. m

6.30 p.m

282

50-60

Wind slight, SW. Sky clear. Tide slackening.

13

8.30 a.m

11.43 a.m ...

157

50-60

Wind slight, WNW. Sky clear. Tide running W.

14

6.40 a. m

(!)

12

50-60

14

4pm

7 D. m

37

(')

Wind gentle NE. Foggy.

15

1.20 p.m

4.15 p.m —

93

55-60

Wind NE. Foggy.

15

7.55 p. m ....

1 a. m ..

65

55-60

Wind NE. and ENE. Foggy.

16

2.30 p. m

6p. m

14

55-60

Wind NE. Sky clear. Shifted position.

18

11.35 a.m ...

2.10 p. m

4

27

Wind SW. Clearing from fog. Tid« quite strong. Shifted position. Three

skates to a dory.

19

12.55p.m...

2. 15 p.m

54

40

Wind SW. Cloudy. After hauling ran Into Holsteinborg Harbor.

23

7.15 a. m

10.45 a,m ...

148

35-40

Calm. Cloudy. Tide running strong toward N. Two skates to a dory.

23

2.50 p.m

5.40 p. m

389

35-40

Calm. Cloudy. Tide slackening from running N. Four skates to a dory.

24

8.30 a. m

12.25 p. m . . .

328

35-40

Calm. Cloudy. Tide running strong to the NE. Four skates to a dory.

24

4.15 p.m

9p.m

127

35-40

Calm. Cloudy. Threatening fog from the W. Tide strong toward the W. Two

skates.

25

6a. m

9.20 a. m

305

35-40

Calm. Cloudy. Tide moderate at setting, strong at hauling. Four skates (u n

dory.

25

4.05 p. m —

7.45 p.m ..

257

35-40

Wind gentle, NE. and N. Cloudy. Tide strong. Four skates to a dory.

26

6.45 a. m

10.45 a.m ...

162

35-40

Wind gentle, N. Misting. Tide running strong to NE. Shifted position.

27

6a. m

9.30 a. m

24

55-60

Calm. Cloudy. Tide running northward. Four skates to a dory. On cdyo of

hank.

27

12.45p.m...

3.40 p.m

25

55-60

Calm. Cloudy and misting. Tide slackening. Two skates to a dory. Ou edge
of bank. Shifted position.

28

5.30 a. m ....

8.40 a.m ....

. 7

(?)

Wind slight, NE. low fogi clear above. Tide moderate. Two skates to a

dory. Shifted position.

31

5.10 a. m

8 a. m. .

76

40-45

Wind moderate, SW. Cloudy with rain. Tide strong, running NE. Two skates

to a dory.

Aug. 1

Noon

2.30 p. m

138

40

Two skates to a dory.

1

5.30p.m

7.15 p. m

61

40

Two skates to a dory.

2

5.15 a. m

7.15n. m

39

40

Wind SW. Raining. Tide strong. Two skates to a dory. Shifted position.

2

1.15 p. m

4. 15 p.m —

113

40

Wind slight, SW. Raining. Tide slackening. Two skates to a dory.

2

5.45 p. m

8.45 p.m ...

48

to

Wind slight, SW. Raining. Tide commencing to run. Two skates to a dory.

Shifted position.

3

1.45 p. m

4.45 p. m

305

40

Wind moderating, W. Cloudy. Tide strong, but slackening. Four skates to a

dory.

4

1.15 p. m

4.30 p. m

289

40

Calm. Sky clear. Tide slackening, running E. Four skates to a dory.

4

7.15 p. m

11 p.m

18

40

Shifted position.

5

2.30 p. m . .

Op. m

274

35

Wind gentle, N. Clear, with few clouds. Tide slackening. Four skates to a

dory.

6

3 a. m

5.45 a. m

84

35

Wind very slight, E. Sky clear. Tide nearly slack when hauled. Two skates

to a dory.

6

3.20 p. m

(D

172

(?)

Calm. Cloudy. Tide slackening. Four skates to a dory.

7

7.15 a. m ...

lOa. m

251

25-30

Calm. Cloudy. Tide commencing to run strong. Two skates to a dory.

it

2.15 p. m

6 D. m.

407

25-30

Calm Nearly clear. Tide slackening. Four skates to a dory.

8

2.15 p. m . . .

5p.m

407

25-30

Culm. Cloudy.

9

2.40 p. m

5.30 p.m

430

25-30

"Wind slight from the W. Hazy, followed by fog.

10

3 p. m ......

(?)

234

25-30

Wind moderate WSW\ Cloudy. Tido slackening. Four skates to ft dory.

11

4.15 a. m

7 a. m

61

25-30

^Viud modoruto S^^. Two skates to a dory.

11

1 10 p. m

5p.m

53

25-30

Wind W., moderating. Cloudy. Shifted position.

12

4.50 p.m

7.30 p. m

254

35

Wind gentle, ENE. Clear. Tide slack. Two skates to a dory.

15

4 a, m .

6.45 a. m

60

35

Wind NW., frosheniiig. Cloudy. One skate to a dory.

15

4.45 a. m .

7 T>. m . . .

63

85

Calm. Clearing, followed by Mne skv. Two skates to a donr.

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY.

117

Table for July and August, representing tlie times of setting and hauling (rawls, fo. — Continued.

Date.

Set

Hauled.

Fish.

Depth.

Remarks.

Aug. 16
16
16

6.30 a. m
2.30 p.m

8.10 a, m
4.45 p.m —

102
112
111

Path.
35

30
30

Wind gentle, NE. Sky clear. Tide strong, miming to windward. Two skates
to a dory. Shifted position.

Wind gentle, NE. Hazy. Tide moderate, running to the east. One skate to a
dory. Fish largo.

17

112

30

18
20
21

7.10a.m....
4.35a.m....
5.30 a.m

Noon
7.45 p. m

200
68
74

80
25
25

sition.

Wind light, EKE., becoming calm. Cloudy. Tide strong. Three skates to a dory.
Fish c»:eHriit. Holstcinborg.

Wind gentle, NE. by E. Clear. Tide running strong, SSW. Three slates to a
dory.

21
24

4.30 p. m . .

7.30 p.m
2 40 p. m

81

123

25

30

skates to a dory.
Wind moderate, NE. Foggy. Tide slackening. Shifted position.

27

7.15a.m ...

(»

18

sition.

Total

8 616

Average time between setting and hauling in July, 3 hours.

Average time between setting and hauling in August, 2 hours, 63 minutes.

Average depth of water in July, 45.5 fathoms.

Average depth of water in August, 33 fathoms.

Number of fish caught in July 8,764+

N umber of fish caught in August .... .. 4,852

Total 8,616+

8. THE HALIBUT IN ITS BELATION TO THE FISHING.

In the preceding tables, under the head of "Kemarks," quite frequently occurs the phrase
"Shifted position," which signifies, in this connection, a little more than merely changing the
position of the vessel; it implies that the fish, for some reason, are no longer to be caught where
they may have been, up to that time, quite abundant. Are the fish of a roving disposition, or do
the individuals remain within restricted limits t I shall not attempt to decide, but will merely
mention some facts which may have a bearing on the question.

The fishermen seldom expect to catch many fish near the vessel after the first Hitching. If
you ask for an explanation of this, they will tell you that the "gurry" drives the halifcut away.
By "gurry," they mean the refuse of the fish which is thrown overboard at the time of Hitching.
There is only a single case, that I know of, which would seem opposed to this explanation. It is
that of a large halibut which had eaten the head, backbone, and viscera of a fish that had been
flitched. It cannot be that the flesh of their own species is distasteful to the halibut, for this is
what the fishermen use for bait, nor can it be that they mistake the white gleam of the flesh for
sharks, for the sharks caught here were of a very dark color. Whether we know the cause or not,
it is none the less true that the fish cease to bite near the vessel after the first flitching, whereas,
if this operation be delayed, or if the tide at that time be strong enough to carry the gurry away
a considerable distance, the fish continue to bite freely. Considering, then, that the gurry has
this eifect, what is the result of remaining in one spot several days? Evidently the mass of
gurry will increase, and, being drifted by the tides, will cause the vessel to be the center of an
ever-increasing spot where the halibut will not bite. It is thus necessary either to set the trawls
at a greater distance from the vessel or else to move her to a new spot. The latter method, of
course, is the easier.

On the 23d, 24th, and 25th of July over 1,500 fish were taken from a limited area, at some
distance from the vessel, where the gurry did not reach, because the tide ran in the opposite direc-

118 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

tion, but there appeared little if any decrease in the numbers. The spot could be easily distin-
guished from the rest of the bottom by the absence of the tree-like stems of liydrozon. Ou the
26th only two of the dories succeeded in setting on this spot, and these two got fish, while the
others failed. The attempt to bring the vessel nearer failed so utterly that the trawls did not touch
the spot again. 1,700 fish had been caught in four days ou a spot not a mile square. I am inclined
to think that as fast as some were caught their places were filled by new arrivals, and were it not
for the gurry, a vessel once anchored in a favorable position would not have to move until a load
had been,secured.

But, it will be asked, will this gurry permanently injure the fishing? Probably not. There
are many carnivorous animals, besides the little shrimp already spoken of, which would soon eat
up everything except the bones of the fish, and it is hard to see what harm these can do. Never-
theless, there does seem to be some effect produced by the fishing of one year upon the abundance
of the fish in the same place the succeeding years; for the fishermen complain that the halibut off
the coasts of New England, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland must be sought in deeper and deeper
water year after year. If this be so, it is hard of explanation. For, if we consider the halibut as
of a roving disposition, why should they shun their former haunts because they have been fished
on, or if, on the other hand, they are not rovers, how can they, considering their great fecundity,
be so easily exterminated, as their disappearance from these haunts would imply?

Their fecundity must be very great. In a fish about 6 feet in length I calculated the ovary
had 2,782,425 eggs. This was done by counting the number of eggs in a straight row an inch
long and from this finding how many there were in a cubic inch. The number of cubic inches in
one of the boxes in which the codfish hooks came was calculated and the box filled with eggs.
These eggs were then weighed. The whole mass of eggs was next put on the scales and their
weight divided by the weight of one cubic inch, to ascertain the number of cubic inches of eggs.
This result, multiplied by the number of eggs in one cubic inch, would give the number of eggs in
the whole ovary. The estimate may be too large, though I cannot conceive how any error so great
as to make the number less than two millions could have crept in. I do not know whether all these
eggs would have been laid at one time or not, but as they appeared to be nearly of the same size I
judge that such would probably have been the case.

There was no way of determining accurately at what stage of the tide the fish were the most
voracious, but they appeared to take the bait best the latter part of the stronger tide, for it was
then that the hand-hue was most successful, and the men expected the best luck with the trawls.

Though the fish are of the same species as those caught on the Grand Bank, nothing was.
found in them, in the shape of hooks or food, indicative of a migration from any other place.

August 5th I made several observations upon the temperature of the rectum of the halibut,
when they were first taken by the hand-line, and found, with one exception, the temperature to
be 39° Fahr. These observations were made within an hour or two of the time the temperature
of the bottom was taken. The exception referred to was where one halibut showed a temperature
of 39£° Fahr., half a degree higher than the others.

The food of the fish was different for different places and times. Where we first fished it was
composed of crabs and other Crustacea, with now and then a fish of the genus Cyclopterm. But
when we shifted to a spot 20 miles or so south of this, we found some of the species of Crustacea
had disappeared, and the principal source of food was a small fish called "laut." There was also
a great difference in the condition of the fish in these two places, those of the last place being far
better and more vigorous. The males were above six to one female in the first place, whereas the

SALT-HALIBUT FISHERY. 119

females in the latter place predominated greatly over the males. I take the following from my
diary of August 8 to show the difference in the two places :

"The fish on this bank have none of the large shrimp in their stomachs that were found in the
stomachs of the halibut on the other bank. Here they have mostly lant, there mostly shrimp.
None of the common cod have as yet been caught." A few were caught after this. "Sharks and
catfish are likewise very few. There are no walruses or seals, few whales, and many birds. , The
birds are not as hungry as on the other bank, and it is harder to shoot them, for they do not fly
very near."

NW. from Holsteinborg, July.
Food, principally Crustacea.
6 males to 1 female.
Fish poor.
Fish in spots.

WSW. from Holsteinborg, August.

Food, principally lant.

1 male to 7 females.

Fish fat and vigorous.

Fish more evenly distributed.

The halibut do not always swim near the bottom. I saw one leap out of the water where the
depth was 40 fathoms, and have caught them on the hand-line when it was only half-way down.
Several have followed the bait to the surface, and one even followed the thermometer up twice
in succession. Feathers were pulled out of the mouth of one, and the skeleton of a gull, Larus tri-
dactylus, was found in the stomach of another.

P.A.KT II.

THE COD, HADDOCK, AND HAKE FISHERIES.

1. Early history.

2. The fishing grounds.

3. The fishing vessels.

1.— THE BANK HAND-LINE COD FISHERY.

4. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

5. The care of the fish.

6. The Marblehead hand-line fishery.

2.— THE LABRADOR AND GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES.

1. Early history.

2. The fishing grounds.

3. The fishermen.

4. The fishing vessels.

5. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

6. Former importance of the Labrador fishery.

7. Causes of the decline of the Labrador and Gulf fish-

eries.

8. Winter fishing hy Gloucester vessels on the west coast

of Newfoundland.

9. Early Labrador fishery from ports in Maine.

3.— THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The fishermen.

3. The vessels.

4. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

5. The care of the fish.

6. Financial profits.

7. History of trawling.

8. Report on a cod-trawling trip to the Grand Bank.
By Henry L. Osborn.

a. Itinerary of the cruise.

6. Meteorological observations.

o. Natural history of the cod.

d. The vessel and outfit.

«. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

/. The care of the fish.

g. Bait and baiting.

4.— THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY.

1. Origin and present importance of the fishery.

2. The fishing grounds.

3. The fishermen.

4. The vessels.

5. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

6. The care and disposition of the catch.

7. Financial profits and extent of the fishery.

8. The fitting out of the George's fleet.

9. History of the George's fishery from Gloucester.

5.— THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA.

1. Natural history of the Pacific cod.

2. History of the fishery.

3. The fishing grounds.

4. The vessels and the fishermen.

5. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

6. The care and disposition of the catch.

7. Capital invested in the industry.

8. Financial profits of fishermen and cnrers.

6.— THE GILL-NET COD FISHERY.

1. Introduction.

2. Construction and rig of the nets.

3. The Newfoundland fishery.

4. The American fishery.

7.— THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The fishermen.

3. The vessels.

4. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

5. The manner of caring for the fish.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The vessels.

6. Productiveness of the fishery.

7. Running for the market.

8. The manner of outfit.

9. The haddock fishery fifty years ago.

8.— THE HAKE FISHERY.

3. Apparatus and methods of the fishery.

4. The products.

121

:P.A:RT n.

THE COD, HADDOCK, AND HAKE FISHERIES.

1.— THE BANK HAND-LINE COD FISHERY.

BY G. BROWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS.
1. EARLY HISTORY.

Since the earliest days of the discovery of America there has been an extensive fishery with
hand-lines for cod upon the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and the neighboring banks. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and in the first half of the present century the fishing was
carried on from the decks of the vessels in the same manner as is now the common practice on
George's Bank. This method was continued to a limited extent until 1860, and there were in
1880 still a few vessels that followed this fishery. These were manned by old-fashioned fishermen
from the coast of Maine. Cod hand-lining, at the present time, is carried on almost entirely from
dories.

The introduction of the practice of hand-lining from dories on the Banks appears to have
taken place between the years 1855 and 1858, though these little boats had long been used in the
fisheries near the shore.*

The following history of hand-lining from dories in Maine was prepared by Mr. Earll :

The first vessel in this section to take dories for going out from the vessel to fish with hand-
liues was the schooner American Eagle, of Southport, Capt. Michael Read, in 1858. Mr. Daniel
Cameron says that they had been fishing with dories in Massachusetts only a year or two at this
time, and that the idea originated with the fishermen of Marblehead.

The American Eagle sailed about April 10, in company with the schooner Ceylon, for Banque-
reau, and by the 10th of June had a full trip of 900 quintals, while the Ceylon, fishing from deck,
had only ICO quintals.

On starting for home the American Eagle lent her dories to the Ceylon, which in turn began
filling up very rapidly, and arrived home July 4 with COO quintals.

The following season a number of the Southport vessels carried dories, and it was thought
that they averaged one-third more fish in the same time than vessels hand-lining from deck, while
the fish averaged about the same in size, about two-thirds large for each method.

In 1860, according to Mr. A. P. Hodgdon, North Booth Bay sent her first vessel with dories
for hand-lining, and Booth Bay Harbor began about the same time.

* The Barnstable Patriot, May 10, 1859, says: "It in becoming a custom quite general among the Grand Bank cod
fishermen to take dories with them upon the fishing grounds, and fish in them at a short distance from their vessels.
Codfish will often take a hook from a dory while they will not notice a hook from the vessel anchored within a rod
from the boat. * * * The motion of the boat, giving a quicker movement to the hook, renders it more attractive
to the fish than that from the vessel. It is a great change of habit in fish, thus to desert the vessel for the dory."

133

124 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Mr. B. F. Jewett states that Westport continued in the old way until 1872, when Capt. James
McCarty bought a set of dories for the Eastern Clipper, but the results did not seem to warrant
the extra expense, and the vessels of the island have not adopted the method very extensively in
the Bank fisheries.

The result of this style of fishing has not been very satisfactory, especially to the shoresmen,
who claim that the fish caught average much smaller than in the old way, and that the additional
expense of dories much more than counterbalances the extra weight of fish. They all strongly
favor going back to hand-lining from deck, but the crews object, and generally refuse to go in that
way. The fish taken in this way in 1879 averaged between one-third and one-half large.

2. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

Before the beginning of the present century the fishing was almost exclusively carried on upon
the Grand Bank, on its shallow portions, the early fishermen rarely attempting to fish in water of
a greater depth than 40 fathoms. At the beginning of the present century vessels fished to a
considerable extent upon Western or Sable Island Bank and Banquereau. A fleet also visited
Brown's Bank and Seal Island Ground. These vessels were from the coast of Maine, but it is
recorded that many of the Marblehead fleet used to fish on Brown's Bank previous to the Revolu-
tionary war, and this locality has been a favorite resort for the past thirty years, of the Gloucester
hand-line fishermen — the so-called George's-men — who often find it more profitable to go there than
to visit George's Bank.

Since the introduction of the use of dories in hand-lining, the favorite fishing grounds have
been the Grand Bank, more especially in the vicinity of the Virgin Rocks, the shoal water or
" rocky bottom " of Banquereau, and Western or Sable Island Bank.

There is no fishing for cod on the Grand Bank in winter, though unsuccessful trials have in
past years been made.

The Cape Cod vessels rarely leave home for the Grand Bank until April, May, or even June.
Occasionally, however, an earlier start is made.*

Captain Hurlburt thinks that cod spawn after May 15, on the the Grand Bank. The fishermen
find the fish on the southern and western edge of the Bank in April and May; later they are lost
track of, though many remain throughout the year. A smaller school goes up the shoal parts of
the Bank later in the season, following the schools of capelin.

3. THE VESSELS.

The vessels employed in the early history of the fishery were much smaller and less thoroughly
equipped than the modern fishing schooner. During the first century of the American fisheries
they were usually of the rig known as the "ketch"; occasionally, also, the old-fashioned vessels
known as "snows" were employed. In the eighteenth century there were employed in this fishery
a large number of schooners of 40 to 70 tons, old measurement. The "schooner" appears to have
been invented about the year 1714. The best records indicate that the first vessel of this class
was built at Gloucester by Andrew Robinson. t

* 1870.— "The schooner Storm King sailed from Provincetown for the Grand Bank on Tuesday of last week. She
is the first vessel that has sailed from that port for the Banks so early for many years. About the year 1835, Capt.
Godfrey Ryder started for the Banks about the middle of March in the schooner Godfrey. He encountered severe
weather and intense cold, the fishing lines freezing stiff as they were drawn in over the rails. This, however, did not
prevent his catching a full fare and returning home in time to make another successful voyage the same season to
Chaleur Bay."— Gloucester Telegraph, March 23, 1870.

tSabine, p. 130.

THE BANK HAND-LINE COD FISHEET. 125

Prior to the Revolutionary war Gloucester, Marblehead, Beverly, and other Massachusetts
ports had employed in the Bank fishery many square- sterned vessels of this rig, some of which
survived until the latter part of the first half of the present century. The square sterned schooners
of the olden time had high quarter decks, corresponding to the old fashioned poop deck, and, in
later days (when they had grown to be considered as antiquated in structure, and the lower quarter
decks had come into fashion), they were known as " heel-tappers," the name referring to the resem
blance of the high quarter decks to the heels of boots.

In 1731 there were 5,000 or 6,000 men employed in the fisheries of Massachusetts ; a large
portion of them undoubtedly in the Bank cod fishery. In 1741 there were no less than 400 fishing
vessels owned in Massachusetts — 160 in Marblehead alone. The average size of these vessels was
50 tons. There were also at least 400 ketches, shallops, and undecked boats.*

In the present century the vessels used for hand lining have been mostly of the same build
as those employed in other branches of the fisheries, and the change of methods and manner of fish
ing were generally not accompanied by any change in the structure of the vessels. In some
instances, however, the hand line cod fishing vessels have been built much larger than those
employed in other branches of the Atlantic food fisheries, and in a few cases these vessels have
been rigged as three-masted schooners. These large schooners are often employed in some branch
of the merchant carrying trade in winter and are somewhat fuller in the midship section, and have
proportionately greater carrying capacity than the average fishing vessel. The Lizzie W. Mathe
son, of Provincetown, one of the largest of the Bank hand-line fleet, is a three-masted schooner of
193 tons register, and has a carrying capacity of 5,000' quintals of fish.

This fishery is carried on entirely in the summer mouths, and, consequently, there are among
the dory haiid-liuers, as well as among the trawlers, many vessels below the grade of the average
Gloucester schooner. A vessel is fitted out for dory hand-lining in the following manner: Her
anchors are lighter than those of a halibut trawler, or even those of a cod trawler, weighing from
250 to 400 pounds for a schooner of 75 to 100 tons. To the anchor is usually attached a piece of
chain from 30 to 35 fathoms in length, by which it is connected with the manila cable. The cables
are lighter than those used on the halibut schooner, and their length, including that of the chain,
is about 200 fathoms. A chain is substituted for a hawser next to the anchor, in order to avoid
chafing upon the rocky bottom, upon which the vessels usually lie at anchor. To the upper end of
the chain is fastened a warp, a rope 2£ to 3 inches in circumference, which is of less length than
the depth of water, and is attached to a large buoy, usually a 50 or 60 gallon cask, -which is thrown
over when the vessel is at anchor. The object of this arrangement is to float up the lower end of
the cable and to keep it off the bottom. When a greater amount of cable is out other buoys are
attached at a distance of 50 or 60 fathoms apart, it being undesirable that any part of the hawser
•should touch the bottom.

Many of the hand-liners, especially those from Cape Cod, coil their " riding cable" upon the
starboard side of the forward coinpaniou-way instead of upon the port side, which is the universal
custom on Gloucester vessels. Hand-liners carry no ballast except salt, water, bait, and provisions.
The hold is divided into compartments, in which the salt is stowed and the fish are packed. The
miinner of fitting up these compartments varies in vessels from different ports and in different ves-
sels from the same port, and cannot be definitely described, some vessels having simply the bulk
heads extending from side to side of the hold, while others have the compartments between the

* Sabine, p. 131. Sabino makes a distinction between vessels and ketches or shallops. It is probable that by
vessels he means schooners, siuce there appears to be no other good reason. for not calling the ketches and shallops by
the common name of vessel.

126 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

bulkheads subdivided into three or four sections. The water is in the forward part of the hold,
and often on the Banks is taken on the deck to make room for the fish. The hold is almost entirely
filled with salt, and as fast as the pens are emptied the partitions are knocked down, and when
the hold is filled with fish there are no divisions left, the fish forming one great pile in the body of
the vessel from the keelson to the deck-beams.

The provisions, as in other fishing vessels, are stowed next to the forecastle bulkhead, but when
the vessel is well filled up they are often moved from this position and packed away wherever it
may be most convenient.

Many of the hand-liners of the present day have the deck provided with a set of checker-
planks similar to those already described as in use upon the halibut trawlers. The arrangement
on deck in other respects corresponds in the main to that on the halibut vessel, though most of
them have booby-hatches over those leading to the hold, the object of these being to prevent the
splashing of salt water into the hold when the vessel is rolling — this being much more necessary
with a load of salted fish than with a load of iced fish.* This arrangement, though very convenient,
is not practicable on board of the halibut-catchers during the winter season, and therefore it is not in
favor at any time. Another objection to their use on the halibut vessels is that the halibut cannot
be conveniently passed through a hatch protected in this manner, on account of their weight
and the difficulty of lifting them to the necessary height above the deck. The hand-liners require
no bait-boards on account of the character of the bait used in this fishery.

The old-fashioned deck hand-liners were accustomed to carry on each side of the deck several —
usually from three to four — "fish kids." These were boxes 7 or 8 feet long, and about 3£ or 4 feet
wide, and about the same height as the bulwarks. They were arranged along the rail on each side
of the vessel and divided into two compartments. When there were two upon one side of the ves-
sel's deck one was placed between the fore and main rigging, and the other one on the quarter be-
tween the main rigging and the taffrail ; when there were three, two of them were usually placed
on the main deck between the fore and main rigging and the other on the quarter. In the interval
between the "kids" stood two fishermen, each of whom were thus provided with a receptacle for
his fish.

The quantity of salt carried by a hand-liner is the same as that carried by a cod-trawler of the
same size. The supply of water is, however, very much greater, since, unlike the trawlers,
the hand-liners do not expect to visit any harbors during their voyage, after they have once reached
the Banks. The quantity of water carried is from 60 barrels to 120 barrels, while the trawlers
rarely carry more than 30 barrels.

4. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

BOATS. — The old fashioned deck hand-liners, like the George's-men, carried a single yawl boat
at the stern.

When dories were introduced, the vessels at once adopted the custom of carrying a dory for
every man in the crew except the skipper and the cook. The number at present carried will vary
from 8 to 20, according to the size of the vessel. The dories are generally 12£ to 13 feet in length
on the bottom and, at night or during rough days on the Bank, they are piled in two or three nests
on the quarter of the vessel, bottoms down. During the passage, the nests of dories are turned
bottom up and lashed down.

A dory fully equipped for fishing and ready to leave the vessel is fitted with the following arti-

*It is impracticable to have booby-hatches on halibut schooners, since it is often necessary, especially in winter,
to move the dories amidships during galos, when the vessels are at anchor on the Bank.

THE BANK HAND-LINE COD FISHERY. 127

cles: Anchor, anchor line or "rode"; one pair 8-foot oars ; one or two pairs of woolen nippers ; two
hand-lines on reels, with gear attached ; bait-bucket; bait-board; dinner-box; spare hooks; gaff;
bait-knife; water jug; bailing scoop; and gob-stick. If fishing in a locality infested by sharks a
shark-lance forms part of the outfit, and also, at certain seasons, when squid or birds can be
obtained for bait, squid lines and jigs, or bird-lines. The painter, stern-becket, thole-pins, and dory
plug may be considered to be parts of the boat since they are usually attached to it in a permanent
manner.

The tackles for hoisting the dories on the deck are attached differently from any yet described,
the forward tackles being fastened to the after maiir shroud, and the after ones to the main-boom
topping-lift.

FISHING GEAK. — The gear used in hand-lining from the deck resembled, in a general way, the
George's gear elsewhere described, except that the leads did not generally exceed 4 or 5 pounds in
weight, and the spreaders, or " sling-dings," had not been invented.

The gear used by the dory hand-liners of the present day, in some respects, resembles the
George's cod-gear, but is smaller. The lines are of the size weighing from 14 to 16 pounds per
dozen, and the leads are 3 to 5 pounds in weight, the heaviest being used on the Western Bank,
where there is considerable tide. The dory-lead, unlike the George's lead, has no tail, the line
being bent into a hole in the top of the lead ; the horse is usually made of line, though sometimes
of metal or wood, and is shorter than that in the George's lead. When two snoods are used the
spreaders are generally omitted, though sometimes they are employed, but frequently only a single
snood is used. This is usually the case in fishing about the Virgin Eocks or on the "rocky bottom"
of Banquereau, where large numbers of dories congregate together upon the same spot of ground,
hundreds of them frequently lying side by side. It is an unwritten law among the fishermen that
only one snood shall be used on these fishing grounds, and any infringement would be punished
in a summary manner. The objection against the use of two hooks on these occasions is that it
would tend to cause a snarling of the lines of the different fishermen. The hooks used are usually
about No. 12 in size.

Hand- lining from dories is rarely carried on in water deeper than 45 fathoms. Two lines, each
having 50 to 75 fathoms of line, are used by each fisherman, these being wound up on light wooden
frames called " reels." In the vicinity of the Virgin Eocks most of the fishing is done in the neigh-
borhood of 3 to 25 fathoms of water in depth, while on the shoalest parts of Banquereau the water
is but little, if any, over 15 to 18 fathoms.

BAIT. — The ordinary bait is salted clams (Mya arenaria) or squid, which are very extensively
used, but when capeliu or fresh squid can be obtained on the fishing grounds, these are used in
preference to any other bait. Birds are sometimes utilized for bait when they can be obtained in
sufficient quantities. The kinds principally used are the hagdon (Puffinus major), the noddy (Ful-
marus glacialis), and petrels, or Mother Carey's chickens (genera Cymochorea and Oceanites). These
are caught on hook and line and knocked down with clubs. Vessels ordinarily carry about 50
barrels of clams lor a trip of two and a half months to four months. These clams are obtained
very largely from the coast of Maine. Many of the vessels go to Portland, the principal depot for
bait of this description, and there obtain their supply ; again, large quantities are sent from Port-
land to the ports where hand-liners are fitted out. The price of bait in 1881 was about $5 to $6 per
barrel, which is not far from the average price each year. The Cape Cod vessels, and perhaps
others as well, often carry large quantities of salt squid, which are used instead of clams. Hand-
liners never visit the British Provinces for bait, this practice being confined to the trawlers. Sev-
eral clams are used every time the hook is baited, the hook being passed first through the soft parts

128 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

and then through the tough, muscular portions about the siphon. When baited, the hook is
entirely covered.

THE MODE OP FISHING. — A dory hand-liner having arrived upon the Banks and anchored, the
mainsail is usually unbent and stowed away below, its place being supplied with a riding-sail.
This operation the fishermen call "going to housekeeping." A vessel may remain for weeks in one
place if the fishing is good, though usually she makes occasional changes. Vessels fishing on the
Virgin Rocks or on the rocky parts of Banquereau frequently lay for several weeks in one berth.

Fishing begins at or before sunrise. The dories are put out on both sides of the vessel, and sup-
plies of bait and lines are placed in them. Each man takes his own dory and rows away in search of
a good place for fishing. Sometimes the dories scatter in various directions, trying here and there in
the hope of finding an abundance of fish. At other times, as in the vicinity of the Virgin Kocks, all
the dories in the fleet will gather in some favorite locality, crowding closely together side by side.
When hand-lining was more common than at present it was not unusual for 500 or 600 dories to
be fishing together about the Virgin Rocks or on Bauquereau. In other localities they are apt
to be more scattered. The direction in which they row from the vessel is, to a great extent, gov-
erned by the tide and force of the wind. When one of the fishermen is perceived to have good
success, his mates are apt to gather around him and try their luck on the same spot of ground.
While the dories are out fishing the skipper and the cook generally fish from the deck of the vessel.
The men continue their solitary employment until nearly noon, when they are recalled to the vessel
by a signal announcing that dinner is ready. In clear weather the signal is made by hoisting some
conspicuous object, generally a large basket ; in thick weather by the blowing of a horn. The
men return to the vessel, unload their fish, and after partaking of their meal again go out in their
boats, remaining at their work until they are again recalled by the skipper. The second recall is
usually about the middle of the afternoon. The men then go on board, get their supper, and pro-
ceed to dress their fish. A careful record is kept by the captain of the number of fish caught by
each man, and upon this record depends each man's share of the proceeds.

Even when men are working for wages, extra pay is given to the man who proves to be most
efficient. In this fishery, as in all others where record is kept of the achievements of individuals,
there is a strong emulation among the crew to be high-line.

When there is good fishing a man may get four or five dory loads a day, under which circum-
stances he will necessarily return to the vessel more frequently than he is recalled by the skipper.

On the old-fashioned deck hand-liners the men fished much as in the George's fishery, except
that they were stationed on both sides of the vessel and often fished " watch and watch." The day
and night were divided into watches of four hours each, half of the crew being thus constantly occu-
pied in fishing. While one watch was fishing the other watch was employed in dressing the fish
and then in sleeping until they were called. It has been stated that on the dory hand-liners the
skipper and the cook usually fished from the deck of the vessel ; in some instances there is a
dressing gang on board, consisting of the skipper, cook, and a boy, or "green hand," also in some
cases a salter. Under these circumstances the men on board do not fish, but devote their time to
dressing and salting the catch; and, if not hired, they draw a definite share of the proceeds of the
voyage.

The number of fish which may be caught by a crew of hand-line fishermen is shown by the
accompanying memorandum of the work of each member of the crew of the schooner Gertie Lewis,
of Portland, Me., on her first trip to the Western Bank in 1879.

THE BANK HAND-LINE COD FISHERY.

129

This list illustrates the ordinary variations in the catch of different men in the crew:

No. of share.

No. offish
caught.

No. of share.

No. offish
caught.

1 (high line)

4 657

10

3,080

2

4 036

11

8 070

3

4 000

12

S.01T

4

3,969

13

2,771

5

3 913

14

2,728

5

3 831

15 ...„

2,422

7

3,652

Total

62,068

g

3 474

9

3,450

The following extract from the Gloucester Telegraph of October 26, 1870, shows the result
sometimes obtained by dory hand-lining : " Schooner Lizzie Lee, of Trenton, Me., has had extraor-
dinary good luck thus far. She is about 90 tons measurement, and for the first and second years
she brought home 1,700 quintals of fish each year, and this year she has a fare of 1,800 quintals.
Captain Stubbs, of Bucksport, has had command of her for the three years." Some of the large
vessels from Provincetown have in several instances brought home fares of between 3,000 and
4,000 quintals.

The Expert, of Stonington, is said to have been the first "Bank fisherman" ever fitted from
Connecticut. She returned in 1815 with 1,000 quintals.*

5. THE CARE OF THE FISH.

The manner of dressing and salting the fish corresponds precisely to that on board the
trawlers.

A correspondent of the Cape Ann Advertiser, writing to that paper January 23, 1863, over the
signature of "Antiquarian," gives some very entertaining reminiscences of the fishing carried on
from the port of Gloucester at the beginning of this century. He says :

"There were about 70 sail of vessels engaged in the Grand Bank fishery at that time, all low-
decked vessels, very similar in model, built with high quarter decks, which extended nearly half
the length of the vessel, about 4 feet higher than the main deck, and reached by a flight of steps.
There were no bulwarks around the main deck, the waist, 14 inches high, being the only protection.
The rigging was not especially neat, the spars being short, with clumsy caps and cross-trees. The
bowsprit was pitched at an angle of 45 degrees, being lashed to a huge gammon-knee underneath.
The cabin was quite spacious, and contained an immense chimney and fire-place — stoves not then
being in use — while the entrance to the forecastle served the double purpose of chimney and com-
panionway. This was considered the most comfortable part of the vessel, but in very rough weather
the crew were obliged to put on the scuttle and retreat aft to safer quarters.t The vessels at that
time made usually three trips yearly, starting for the Banks about the 1st of March and ending
th« season by the middle of November. The crew consisted of seven men, who generally went on
their own hook, each man furnishing his own provisions, which consisted of hard crackers, salt
pork, molasses, &c. — fish being the principal dish while on the Banks.

"On their arrival in port 'washing out' was the first ceremony. This was effected by hauling;
the 'pound' alongside — a large square pen, half-filled with water, which was attached to the vessel

"Alexander Starbuck.

t The old Manchester is cited as the last of the old fleet. She was sold from Gloucester about 1843, and in 1863
was still employed in the coasting trade.

SEO V 9

130 HISTORY AND METHODS OF TBE FISHERIES.

by means of tackles, into which the fish were thrown, and, after being thoroughly cleansed, were
taken into a boat alongside and carried ashore, where they were carted to the flake-yard, at the
Cut, to be ' made.' After all had been cured, they were weighed off, and the price per quintal
which the crew were to receive was decided upon by disinterested parties and their proportional
parts paid them. After taking out the store bill there was not much balance left, and the conse-
quence was that there was much poverty among most of the fishermen of that time. The fish were
mostly sent to Bilboa and other foreign ports, where they generally sold for $6 and $7 a quintal.
It was not uncommon for some of the vessels to carry their fish to France before they were cured.

"At the close of the season some of the vessels were usually fitted out for trading voyages to
Virginia.

"The Bank fishery gradually died out, giving place to the mackereling business and the
George's fishery."

6. THE MAEBLEHEAD HAND-LINE FISHERY.

The following description of the cod fishery of Marblehead, published in the Boston Sentinel
of September, 1839, is of special interest, since it acquaints us with the methods of the Bank hand-
line fishery at the time of its greatest relative importance:

"There are about eighty vessels, all schooner-rigged, employed from Marblehead in the Bank
fishery, and are built, principally of oak, in Massachusetts. They make about two fares in a year :
the first fare commencing early in April, at which time they sail for the Bank of Newfoundland,
commonly called the ' Grand Bank'; the second fare commences early in September. The duration
of each fare depends, of course, on the degree of success attending it, but four months must be
passed each season in fishing in order to secure the bounty offered by the General Government for
the encouragement of the fisheries, amounting to $4 per ton on all vessels of 90 tons and under, no
allowance being made for any excess of burden. Each vessel takes from 120 to 130 hogsheads of
salt for a fare, at from $3 to $3.25 per hogshead. Cadiz salt is preferred, but occasionally other
kinds are used. More salt is now expended in curing the fish than formerly, and 100 quintals of
fish require about 13 hogsheads of salt. Occasionally, though not seldom, a 'spring fare' is made,
when the vessel is expected to return by old 'election day.' This fare is called 'spring fish,' and
usually consumed in the neighborhood, being a superior quality. The word 'fare' applies as well
to the cargo or lading of the fish as to the voyage.

"The 'shoresman,' as the title implies, and who is generally sole or part owner of the vessel,
superintends all operations on the shore relating to the fare. In addition to the vessel he furnishes
the salt and bait, the latter article being either salted clams or mackerel in barrels. He also sup-
plies the knives for splitting the fish, mittens for the crew while splitting and salting, and trousers
of oil-cloth or canvas for the 'salter.' This part of the outfit is called the 'great general,' three-
eighths of which is paid for by the shoresman and five-eighths by the crew (consisting generally
of a skipper and five men) at the final settlement of the fare. In contradiction to the ' great
general,' the ' small general ' is furnished by the crew, consisting of their sea-stores, the expense of
which is entirely defrayed by themselves; and each man provides his own fishing apparatus.
Barrels are provided by the shoresmen to contain their store of fresh water, but all subsequent
cooperage is paid for by the crew.

"A fair passage to the Bank is made in a week, and on their arrival there they generally 'lie
to and try for fish;' and when 'they strike a school,' as the phrase is, they anchor. The depths
at which they fish are various, from 30 to GO fathoms ; but generally from 35 to 50 fathoms. When
the fish are plentiful, the fare is made up in about six weeks — that is, when they have wet or expended

THE BANK HAND-LINE COD FISHEET. 131

all their salt. Fish caught with mackerel bait are larger than those caught with clams, for the
supposed reasou that a larger bait of mackerel can be put on the hook than of clam, and the largest
fish take the largest btrit. Whatever may be tie reason the fact is incontrovertible, and the pro-
portional difference is about thus: Fish caught with clam bait will average about 25 quintals to
1,000 fish, and those caught with mackerel bait about 40 quintals to the 1,000.

"This is a general result, but there are occasionally variations from various causes, the prin-
cipal of which is a different deptii at which the fish are taken, the largest fish being taken in the
deepest water. The flesh of a sea-bird called si ' hagdon ' is a fine bait for codfish, and is frequently
used.

" The equipment of a fisherman is singular and grotesque. Over their common dress they
wear a pair of 'petticoat trousers,' made very wide, and descending to the calf of the leg; gener-
ally they are made with an insertion for each leg, but sometimes like a woman's petticoat, with no
intersecting seam, and are of coarse canvas or oil-cloth. A pair of thick cowhide boots of a russet
color, and with soles an inch or more thick, reach quite to the knees, with tops to turn up and cover
the thighs. The barvel, or leather apron, extending from the breast to the knees, and a tarpaulin
hat complete the costume, which secures to the occupant perfect immunity from the assaults of
the element in which he procures his subsistence. The hands are preserved from the cutting of
the fishing-lines by a sort of digitless woolen gloves called ' nippers.' Each man tends two lines,
and they generally fish near the bottom of the sea, but sometimes the codfish will ascend to mid-
water, or even much higher, in pursuit of herrings, c.apelins, and other fish of that class, which '
swim in immense shoals near the surface; and in such cases the labor of the fishermen is much
lightened, and the fish are taken witli much greater celerity. In the day-time during the first fare
all hands generally fisb, and at night the crew is divided into watches that fish alternately; but
circumstances create variations in this mode, such as the scarcity or abundance of fish, the inclina-
tion of the skipper and crew, &c. During the season of the second fare the fish feed principally
in the night, at which time most of them are taken, and on the succeeding day they are prepared
and secured below. At any time, however, when the decks are full of fish, they proceed to cure
them, and this is the process : The operators being placed in juxtaposition before a bench or plat-
form, about mid-height, the ' cut-throat,' wielding a sharp two-edged knife, which bears the same
sanguinary and ominous name, seizes the fish, arid separating the connecting integuments between
the head and body he then passes his knife through from the nape to the vent and abstracts the
viscera. He then passes it to ' the header,' who by an adroit process, separates the articulation of
the spine at the shoulder and detaches the head from the trunk, which he passes to the ' splitter,'
who, commencing at the shoulders, proceeds to lay the fish open to the tail and detach the sound
boue. The fish being thus prepared is thrown into the hold to the ' salter,' who strews on the salt,
and stows it neatly away, in compact layers, with the skin down. And in this manner they proceed
daily until all the salt is wet, if they are so fortunate as to get a full fare. They are sometimes
obliged, however, by the scarcity of fish, by losing their auchor, by sickness or casualty on board,
or by other causes to return without wetting all their salt.

" Besides the bodies of the codfish and the bounty, there are other emoluments accruing to the
adventurers, such as the oil extracted from the livers of the cod, of which about 15 barrels to 800
quintals of fish is produced, and is sold at about 50 cents per gallon ; and halibut, which was
mostly thrown away formerly, and now constitute a considerable portion of the profits. It is
salted like the codfish, and sold green from the vessel on arrival, at about $2 per quintal, the
subsequent process of drying and smoking for the market being performed by the purchasers.
This article is mostly derived from the second fare, and about 15,000 quintals are annually brought

132 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

into Marblehead, and with the oil is divided in the same proportion as are the codfish and the
bounty. As regards the proportional proceeds of the fare, on return of the vessel to the port,
one- quarter part is considered to be the property of the shoresman and the other three-quarters
of the crew, but the shoresman is allowed one-eighth part more on articles that it is his province
to prepare for the market, such as drying the codfish, &c. The sounds or air bladders and the
tongues of the codfish, with the fins of the halibut, collectively called ' garney,' are the perquisites
of the crew, but of which the shoresman is allowed some proportion according to mutual conven
tion. From 20 to 30 barrels to a fare are saved, the fins selling for about $8 per barrel, and the
sounds and tongues from $6 to $7. When the vessel returns she is moored head and stern at
about a cable's length from the shore, and the crew proceed to ' wash out ' the fare, which is done
by unlading it into boats, taking it into 18 inches depth of water, when it is washed clean and then
transported to 'the fence,' as the inclosure is called, where the fish are dried. It is then placed
in ' water-horse,' that is, it is staked up in a pile, with the skin up, to drain ; from thence it is
taken to 'the flakes' to be dried. The flakes are a series of horizontal hurdles, at a convenient
height from the earth, for the shoresman and his hired men to spread, turn, and take off the fish.
the labors of the vessel's crew ceasing with the ' washing out.' "

The following notes in regard to the fitting of the hand-liners from Marblehead previous to
1850, the method of fishing, &c., have been obtained from an interview with Mr. John Ford, of
Gloucester, a former resident of Marblehead, and who was employed in the fisheries from that
place a few years later than the date mentioned above :

When a vessel was fitting out for the Bank, the owners or fitters supplied her with salt, bait,
beef, flour, beans, pork, tea, coffee, and one keg of molasses. In addition to the above list each
man carried a fit-out of his own, the variety and extent of this depending on his means and incli-
nation, as well as upon the expected length of the proposed trip. As a rule, however, each one
supplied himself with a sufficient quantity of hard bread, sugar, molasses, and gin (from 2 to 14
gallons of the latter was taken by each man). Butter was not carried, as a rule, though occa-
sionally the skipper might take a small quantity. In addition to food, each individual provided
himself with fishing gear — leads, lines, hooks, gaffs, and reels. In settling, the salt was consid-
ered as the "great general," and was deducted from the "gross stock," while the other provisions,
bait, &c., furnished by the fitters, were considered the " small generals." The value of the latter
is deducted from the crew's share.

About 1850 the custom was introduced of employing boys of twelve to fifteen years of age to
act as cooks, though previous to that time the fishermen usually took turns cooking, each man
having his day or week, as the case might be. There was, of course, little cooking to be done
compared with the present time. The diet, while on the Bank, consisted largely of fish, chiefly
halibut, prepared in various ways. Large numbers of birds, principally hags (Puffinus major),
were eaten. The fishermen relished these birds very much, and since they could be obtained in
large quantities they formed an important item in the bill of fare. It is related of the old Marble-
head fishermen, those who have not been to sea for many years, that they will exchange a turkey
for a pair of hags which the fishermen from this port often bring home from the Bank in the fall.
Almost with no exceptions, hard bread was the only kind used, " soft tack" being rarely cooked.
Duff was boiled once a week and " fat-cake" baked on Sunday, on which day no fishing was done.
The fat-cake was a sort of short-cake, without sweetening, composed of flour, water, pork, &c.
After being mixed, the dough was spread on one side of a barrel-head and patted down to about
one-third of an inch in thickness, after which it was baked in front of the fire-place.

Six men and the boy cook usually constituted the crew.

LABRADOR AND GULF OP SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 133

When fish were plenty, and could be caught equally well both night and day, the crew was
divided into two gangs, the men fishing watch and watch, each gang dressing its own catch after
the next watch took the deck. Sometimes, however, when the cod could be caught during only a
portion of the twenty-four hours, all of the men fished while it was most profitable to do so, be that
either night or day, and slept the rest of the time — always, of course, dressing the fish before
turning in.

Salt clams (Mya arenaria) and menhaden slivers were used as the principal bait, though bank
clams and hags, when obtainable, were also utilized for the same purpose, being preferred to salt
bait.

2.— THE LABRADOR AND GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE COD

FISHERIES.

BY G. BROWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS.
1. EARLY HISTORY.

This fishery, in years past participated in by various New England ports, is now of very slight
importance. In 1879 not a single vessel from the United States fished on the coast of Labrador,
though it is said that before the war of 1812 several hundred American vessels were engaged in
this fishery. In 1880 a single vessel from Newburyport visited this coast, returning with 1,000
quintals of cod and 400 barrels of herring. In 1878, also, a single vessel from Newburyport was on
this coast. In 1817 Newburyport had a Labrador fleet of 60 schooners, 1 brig, and 4 sloops ; in
1860, a fleet of 16 vessels; in 1870, 26 to 30 in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; in 1872, 2 on the coast
of Labrador. The Gloucester Telegraph of June 15, 1870, contained the following paragraph :

"Only two vessels, the Edward Lee and White Sea, have gone to Labrador from Newburyport
this season. They are in the employ of Messrs. Boardman and Sanborn, who have pursued this
business for the past thirty years, and although it does not pay as well as it should, they take a
pride in keeping alive this branch of industry which was once so prominent there. It is only a
few years since quite a large fleet went to Labrador, and codfish seemed more plenty then. Now
they depend upon herring to make themselves whole."

In 1820, according to the estimate of Captain Robinson, of the English navy, there were 530
sail of American schooners, with a few sloops and brigs, engaged in this fishery. The number of
men employed was estimated at 5,830.»

The aggregate catch of the United States fishermen was estimated at 530,000 quintals, and
the catch of English fishermen, in the same waters and about the same time, 134,580 quintals.!

The fishery in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence was also extensively prosecuted in years past, in part
by vessels going to or returning from Labrador and in part by a special fleet of vessels. At pres-
ent the number of vessels engaged in this fishery is very limited. In 1881 the number of these
hailing from Provincetown was 12, and few or none engage in this fishery from other New England
ports. In 1882 10,300 quintals of cod were taken in this fishery by 15 vessels from Provincetown
and other Massachusetts ports.

The history of the Labrador and Gulf fishery cannot now be presented in any detail. The
time at our command will not allow the necessary elaboration of the extensive material in the

* Journal of Geographical Society, 1834. t Hind, op. tit., p. i, p. 163.

134 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

archives of the Fish Commission, and we shall attempt only an outline, reserving the full discus-
sion for some future occasion.

2. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

The fishing grounds of Labrador and those of the west coast of Newfoundland, which were
also frequently visited by the Labrador fleet, are described as follows by Prof. Henry Youle Hind:
" The fishing grounds on the Atlantic coast of the Labrador, as far north as Sandwich Bay, have
been occupied to a greater or less extent for one hundred and twenty years. Those extending
from Sandwich Bay to Cape Harrison or Webeck have also been visited by fishing craft for a gen-
eration or more ; but north of Aillik, about 40 miles from Cape Harrison, the coast has only been
frequented by Newfoundland codfishing craft during the last fifteen years. A Quebec and Lon-
don house have possessed detached salmon-fishing stations as far north as Ukkasiksalik or Free-
stone Point (latitude 55° 53", longitude 60° 50"), for about thirty years, but these have all passed
into the hands of the Hudson Bay Company. Until the recent publication of Staff-Commander
Maxwell's surveys* our knowledge of the Labrador coast has been chiefly derived from the Mora-
vian missionaries and the surveys of certain harbors far removed from one another by the officers
of Her Majesty's vessels.

" A glance at Commander Maxwell's chart, when compared with any document published pre-
vious to 1876, shows how little is known respecting the geographical outlines of this extended
coast line, which, from its amazing fish wealth, promises to become a very important commercial
adjunct to Newfoundland.

"The leading characteristics of the coast northwest of Aillik are as follows:

" 1. The shore-line is deeply serrated by a constant succession of profound and narrow fiords
stretching from 30 to 50 miles into the interior.

"2. It is fringed with a vast multitude of islands, forming a continuous archipelago from
Cape Aillik to Cape Mugford, averaging 20 miles in depth from the mouth of the fiords seawards.

" 3. Outside of the islands, and about 15 miles seawards from them, are numerous banks and
shoals, which form the summer feeding grounds of large cod, while outside of the shoals there
appears to be a second range of banks and slopes, which are probably their winter feeding grounds.

"4. The island-studded area forms an immense codfishing ground, which covers between
Cape Harrison (Webeck) and Cape Mugford a boat fishing ground, exclusive of the shoals and
banks outside, nearly as large as the combined area of the English and French boat fishing ground
on the coasts of Newfoundland^

"For the sake of distinction I have styled the area under review, 'The Northern Labrador
Fishing Grounds,' beginning at Cape Harrison (Webeck), and, for the present at least, terminating
at Cape Mugford.

"Area of the Northern Labrador boat fishery. — The following table shows approximately the
area of the boat fishing grounds about the island of Newfoundland and the Northern and Southern
divisions of the Labrador. From this table it will bo seen that the area of the Northern Labrador
fishing grounds alone, exclusive of the Banks, amounts to about five-sixths of the entire area of
the British and French boat fishery on th« coast of Newfoundland. The area of the iuuuer range
of banks cannot be even approximately stated:

'See Colding " On the Laws of Currents in Ordinary Conduits and in the Sea," in Nature, December, 1871.
tSee paper by H. Y. Hind entitled "Notes on the Influence of Anchor Ice in relation to Fish Oft'al and the New-
foundland Fisheries," Parts I and II. Saint John's, Newfoundland, 1877.

LABRADOR AND GULF OP SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 135

Comparative table of Newfoundland fishing-ground area.

Area offish-
ing grounds
(geographi-
cal square

miles).
Northern Labrador boat fishery — Cape Harrison to Cape Mugford, 260 miles, averaging 20 miles deep (among

islands) 5,200

Newfoundland boat fishery, French shore — Cape St. John, via Cape Bauld to Cape Ray, 690 miles, by 3

miles deep (shore fishery) 2,088

South shore of Newfoundland boat fishery — Cape Race to Cape Bonavista, 294 miles, 3 miles deep (shore

fishery) 882

Northeast shore of Newfoundland boat fishery — Cape Bonavista to Cape St. John, 225 miles, 3 miles deep

(shore fishery) „ „ 675

Northeast shore of Newfoundland boat fishery — among the islands in Bonavista Bay and Bay of Notre Dame,

120 miles, 7 miles deep 840

Area of British Newfoundland boat fishery 4,116

Area of French Newfoundland boat fishery 2,088

Total area of Newfoundland boat fishery 6,204

Area of Northern Labrador boat fishery — Cape Harrison to Cape Mugford 5,200

Area of Southern Labrador boat fishery — Cape Harrison to Blanc Sablon, estimated, 5 miles deep 1,900

Total area of Labrador boat fishery 7,100

"Physical outlines of the coast. — As in Norway, so on the Labrador, the whole coast, from the
Straits of Belle Isle to Hebron, is deeply cut by profound fiords, penetrating the land from 30 to
70 miles. These fiords have been mapped so far as Hamilton Inlet by the officers of Her Majesty's
vessels, but beyond that point no surveys have been made and published, with the exception of
those before mentioned. As an illustration of one of the unsurveyed fiords, I append a sketch plan,
made this summer, of Kypokok Bay, the nest bay north of Aillik. It is 53 miles deep, estimated
from Aillik Head, and has an average breadth of 3 miles. Opposite the Hudson Bay Company's
post, 35 miles from Aillik Head, the water is more than 50 fathoms deep, although not above a
mile across. This bay or fiord has been excavated by glaciers, like all the other fiords on this
coast, and the innumerable islands of the coast are rocky eminences, which have escaped the gen-
eral glacial denudation. But the glaciers of Labrador have probably left even more valuable
records, in the form of moraines, of their early existence here than deep fiords or innumerable
islands. These are the shoals or banks which lie some 15 miles outside of the islands, and on
which icebergs strand in long lines and in groups. I have styled them the Inner Range of
Banks, to distinguish them from a supposed Outer Range in deeper water, where large icebergs
sometimes take the ground. The inner banks, as far as they are known, are stated by fishermen
to have from 20 to 40 fathoms of water on them. Commander Maxwell's soundings between Cape
Harrison and Gull Island, near Hopedale, and just outside of the island zone, rarely show depths
greater than 40 fathoms. In one instance only, in a distance of about 1 10 nautical miles, is a depth
of 59 fathoms recorded.

"Absence of islands on the Southern Labrador. — The Admiralty chart portrays a very impor-
tant confirmation of the Labrador coast line, from Saint Lewis Sound to Spotted Island. The trend
of the coast line between the Battle Islands, south of Saint Lewis Sound, and Spotted Island, Domino
Run, a distance of 65 miles, is due north, and, with very few exceptions, there are no islands off
the coast throughout this distance, excluding the group close inshore between Spotted Island
and Stony Island. As soon as the coast line begins to turn northwesterly, islands become
numerous and continually increase in number as far as Cape Mugford, and even towards Cape
Chudleigh. Between Cape Harrison and Cape Mugford ibe island zone may be estimated as hav-
ing a depth of 20 miles from the mouth of the fiord seawards. The cause of the general absence
of islands south of Spotted Island and Stony Island can probably be traced to the never ceasing

136 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

*

action of northern ice, driven on the coast line where it suddenly makes its southerly bend by the
influence of the rotation of the earth upon the arctic current. This current sweeps past the Labra-
dor coast with a speed of from 1£ to 2 knots an hour, and a westerly pressure, due to the earth's
rotation, which may be estimated at about 11 inches. That is to say, the mean level of the sea on
the coast of Labrador is supposed to be about 11 inches above the level it would assume if uninflu-
enced by the earth's rotation. As soon as the ice-ladened current reaches Spotted Island it is in
part relieved from this pressure by the trend of the coast from southeast to due south; hence the
current changes its course southerly and onto the land. But the effect of this sudden change in
the direction of the current near the shore is to throw the icebergs onto the coast from Spotted
Island to Cape Saint Lewis, where they may be seen stranded each year in great numbers. The
islands which doubtless once existed here have been removed by constant abrasion, acting unin-
terruptedly for ages, and with the islands the moraines lying seawards. We may thus trace the
cause of the vast difference between the distribution of stranded icebergs south of Spotted Island
and northwest of it. In one case they are stranded near the coast line, wearing it away and deep-
ening the water near it, assisted by the undertow ; in the other case they are stranded some 15
miles from the island fringe and continually adding to the banks the debris they may bring, in the
form of mud streaks, from the glaciers which gave them birth in the far north and northeast. It
is more than probable that this distribution of icebergs has a very important bearing upon the food
and feeding of the cod, which justifies me in referring here with so much detail to the action of
glacial ice.

" The inner range of banks. — The foundation of the inner range of banks consists, very prob-
ably, as already stated, of glacial moraines. In their present state they may reasonably bo assumed
to be formed in great part of remodeled debris brought down by the same glaciers which excavated
the deep fiords.

" The absence of deposits of sand in the form of modern beaches on every part of the Labrador
coast visited this season, except one, was very marked. The exceptional area observed lies between
Sandwich Bay and Hamilton Inlet, Cape Porcupine being the center. It is protected from the
northern swell of the ocean by the Indian Harbor Islands and promontory. Here large deposits
of sand are seen, covering many square miles in area. The reason why sandy beaches are not in
general found on this coast, notwithstanding that enormous quantities of rock are annually ground
up by coast ice and ice pans driven on the shore, arises from the undertow carrying the sand sea-
wards and depositing it on the shoals or banks outside of the islands.

" It may be advisable here to advert to a popular error which assumes that the depth of water
in which an iceberg grounds is indicated by the height of the berg above the level of the sea. It
is commonly stated that while there is one-ninth above there will be eight-ninths of the berg below
the sea-level. This is approximately true only with regard to volume or mass of the berg, not with
regard to height and depth. A berg may show an elevation of 100 feet above water, and yet its
depth below may not exceed double that amount, but its volume or mass will be about eight times
the mass it shows on the surface. Hence, while icebergs ground in 30 and 40 fathoms of water,
they may expose a front of 100 or 150 feet in altitude, the broad, massive base supporting a mass
about one-ninth of its volume above the sea-level.

" The climate. — Experience, now extended over twelve years, shows that the seasons are
sufficiently late and long to permit Newfoundland fishermen to come from their homes after spring
fishing is over there and their garden work attended to. They may arrive on the Northern Lab-
rador fishing grounds from the 10th to the 20th of July, or even later, if they go north beyond

LABRADOR AND GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 137

Nain. They may return in general by the 10th to the 20th of September to Southern Labrador
rooms, or even to their homes, with full fares of green fish.

" The extremities of many of the deep fiords from Cape Harrison to Ukkasiksalik, or Freestone
Point, a distance in an air line of 120 miles, contain timber fit for spars, for the construction of
' fore-and-afters,' and for all ordinary building purposes. The climate there, namely, at the bot-
tom of many of these deep fiords, permits of the cultivation of potatoes and other garden vegeta-
bles. Between Aillik and Ukkasiksalik there are at present about sixty resident settlers in the
deep fiords, most of whom have been in the service of the Hudson Bay Company or the fishing
firms already named, and some of them are married to Eskimo women.

" There are several other points of great interest in regard to the Northern Labrador which
are worthy of notice, but the details would swell this paper to dimensions far exceeding those of
a brief descriptive outline sketch of a comparatively new field for that kind of enterprise and
industry in which Newfoundland is so distinguished, and from which she annually derives so much
wealth.

" The expansion and preservation of her fishing grounds for the use of her own people appears
to claim, however, thoughtful and liberal consideration, and not only from those who may profit
by the industry, but from those also who may be able to assist in lessening the difficulties with
which it is beset, in ameliorating the hardships inseparable from its pursuit, and -in aiding the
development of the resources of the vast area it may yet be made to occupy."*

The fishing grounds in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence frequented by the vessels of the United
States were chiefly south of the line of Cape Ray and Cape Gaspe. In the spring the vessels have
of late years fished principally on the east and north coasts of Cape Breton, and in former years
there was a great deal of spring and summer fishing about the Magdalen Islands, but these grounds
have been but little frequented since the introduction of trawl fishing. Later in the season
fishing is carried on about Bradley Bank, Orphan Bank, Miscou Flat, off the mouth of Bay
Chaleur, and on Pigeon-Hill Ground, lying along the coast between Shippegan Island and Mir-
amichi. More or less fishing is carried on in other parts of the Bay of Saint Lawrence, as it is
called, "by our fishermen, including that part of the Gulf between Cape North and Cape Gaspe\

3. THE FISHERMEN.

These fisheries were carried on at a time when all the fishermen of the United States were
native born. At present there is nothing particularly distinctive about the men in this fleet. A
large percentage of the Provincetown schooners fishing in the Gulf of -Saint Lawrence hire part of
their crews on the Nova Scotia coast.

4. THE VESSELS.

The vessels are, with the exception of a few Gloucester vessels which make one trip to Cape
North in the spring, among the oldest in the off-shore fishing fleet. They are generally employed
only in the summer, and are equipped in the old-fashioned way. The arrangement of decks and
hold is much the same as that on the Grand Bankers. They carry no ballast, excepting the salt
which is to be used in curing the fish. Some of the Provincetown vessels carry on deck large
tierces, such as are used on the whaling-vessels for oil. In these the fish are "struck" or pickled
in brine previous to stowing away in the hold.

The vessels of the Labrador fleet always carried four or five boats of the pattern now generally

* H. T. Hind. The Effect of .the Fishery Clauses of the Treaty of Washington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of
British North America. 1877. Part II, pp. 68, 69.

138 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

known as the " Hampton' boat, but about Newburyport still known as the " Labrador" boat. These
boats were made at Seabrook, N. H., and were often called whale-boats. The average length was
about 19 feet on the keel and 23 feet over all, lap-streaked, very sharp forward and aft, and witli
a straight stern-post. They were generally provided with two masts and Jigged with sprit or
leg-o' mutton sails. These boats were stowed upon deck, two on each side, with one swung upon
the davits at the stern.

About 1815 a fishing company was established at Gloucester, Mass., for the purpose of carrying
on the Bank and Labrador cod fisheries. This company had a fleet of vessels built numbering 10
or 12 sail. Most of these were topsail schooners, the others being fore-and-aft rig. The former were
most generally employed in the Labrador fisheries, though they occasionally visited the Banks.
Their size varied from 50 to 80 tons, old measurement. The rig was peculiar on account of the
single square topsail on the foretopmast. They had full, bluff — almost square — bows, straight sides,
very round bilge (usually called "kettle bottom"), short, full run, square stern, and high quarter-
deck. The latter was usually elevated 4 to 5 feet above the main deck, and reached by step ladders.
Being so high, and quite short (as a rule but little more than one fourth the length of the hull), the
quarter-deck had much the appearance of the heel on an inverted shoe, and for this reason these
schooners were spoken of in later years as the old fashioned "heel -tappers." Top-sail schooners
were also employed in the Labrador fisheries from Newburyport and Provincetown, according to
Mr. Daniel Sayward, of Gloucester, who says that vessels of this class belonging at the above-
named ports often came to Gloucester to cure their fish.

These vessels were similar in all respects to those of the same class engaged in the coasting
trade of that period (1820 to 1850), varied in size from 130 to 150 tons, old measurement, and, as a
rule, were old schooners. The quarter-decks were not so high as those of the vessels formerly
sailing from Gloucester.

There can be no doubt, however, that the Labrador fleet was mostly made up of fore-and-aft
schooners, of the ordinary types employed in the fisheries at that period.

5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

TRAWLS. — Trawls are now exclusively used in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and have been
during the last twenty-five years or more.* The equipment of dories is similar to that of a Grand
Banker. In former years the fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence was carried on by hand-lining
from the deck of the vessel, in a manner now practiced in the George's fishery, excepting that the
leads were much lighter, weighing 4 to 5 pounds, and that the vessels often fished while drifting
with the wind and tide.

The trawls used in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence are similar to those used on the Grand Bank.

Captain Atwood states that before the introduction of trawling in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence
the majority of the fish were comparatively small, about seventy being required to make a quintal.
On Bank Bradley, for instance, the cod would usually be about as large as a common haddock.
Occasionally one would be taken as large as a porpoise, weighing 70 or 80 pounds, perhaps one or
two to every hundred. When trawling was introduced great quantities of these large fish were
taken, and for several years a considerable fleet of Provincetown vessels frequented these grounds.
The large fish were nearly all caught up in time, however.

* We learn that quite a number of our fishing-vessels are fitting out for a trip to the Bay for the purpose of trawl-
ing fish, which are said to bo quite plenty in the vicinity of Cape North. This is somewhat of a new field for our
fishermen. * * Several of the Marblehcad and Beverly fishermen have fished there in past yenrs and found fish abun-
dant. The vessels start about the middle of April, and will probably stay two or three months. — (Cape Ann Adver-
tiser, March 30, 1860.)

LABKADOK AND GULF OP SAINT LAWEENOE COD FISHERIES. 139

Large fish were taken in considerable numbers at least as late as 1879, on the fishing grounds
of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, especially in the vicinity of Miscou Flat, some 10 to 14 miles from
Point Miscou. A peculiarity of these great cod, many of which would weigh nearly 100 pounds,
was that they could be caught only in the night — they were "night fish." A trawl set during
the day would catch only small fish, while, on the same ground, a considerable number of large
cod, and only a few small ones, would be caught on a trawl set between sunset and dark.

The large cod appear, both in size and habits, to be a distinct school of fish from the smaller
kind. Among the latter it is rare to find an individual more than 35 inches long, so that there
seems to be no intermediate sizes between the day school of small cod and the night school of large
fish. Of the latter, one is rarely taken that would weigh less than 45 to 50 pounds. This is all the
more remarkable, since, on all the outer fishing banks, there appears to be a regular gradation
from the smallest to the largest cod.

HOOKS AND LINES. — The gear used by the Labrador fishermen in hand-lining from their small
boats was an ordinary boat-gear, with a single hook and a lead weighing about one pound and a
half. In former years a special form of hook, known as the "jigger," was used by the Province-
town fishermen, this being an implement made in the shape of a fish, with a cod-hook soldered to it.
This was used when bait could not be obtained, and to deceive and attract the cod by imitating
the movements of a small fish, it was drawn up and down in the water at a short distance from
the bottom.

NETS. — Vessels fishing on the Labrador coast were accustomed to carry seines for the capture
of capelin. Vessels fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence carry gill-nets, 2£ to 2£ inch mesh, from
15 to 20 fathoms in length and 2£ fathoms deep. When the vessel is on the fishing ground they
are set from her stern. Bait is sometimes sought at the Magdalens in the spring, and the nets
are then anchored near the shore.

BAIT. — On the coast of Labrador the bait chiefly relied upon is capelin, as will be shown in
the description of the methods of fishing. Herring and lant are also used when capelin are not to
be had. In the Gulf of Saint Lawrence herring is the principal bait ; mackerel also are often
used, and squid when they can be obtained.

METHODS OF FISHING. — The manner in which the codfishery is prosecuted on the coast of
Labrador is well described by Mr. Charles Hallock, who, in 1861, visited this region on a fishing
vessel. Mr. Hallock's notes are supplemented by extracts from the autobiography of Capt. N. E.
Atwood, who forty years before was engaged in this fishery as one of the crew of a Provincetown
fishing schooner.

Mr. Hallock writes : " This fishery is perhaps equally divided between the Provinces and the
States, though the number of men and vessels employed by the former is much the largest in
proportion to the population. * * * Little idea has the world of the populous community to
be found on the Labrador coast from the 1st of June to the end of September. Every little harbor
as far up as latitude 56° is filled with vessels, and fleets are constantly moving from place to place,
following the vagaries of the fish. * * * Many parties have salting rooms and dressing stages
on shore, but the majority of vessels cure their fish on board.

" When the fish bite sharp, all is activity and bustle throughout the fleet. Boats are constantly
leaving for the fishing grounds, or returning loaded to the 'gunnel,' and all day long is heard the
cheery song of the dressing gang on deck, and the splash of the offal as it falls from the ' splitting
table' over the side to the water below. At early evening, after the labors of the day, the seine
boats go in quest of capelan (bait), carefully searching the little coves and inlets and creeping along
the shores; three men pulling in the usual way, an oarsman in the stern standing up and pushing,

140 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHEEIES.

while he scans the surface of the water for the ripple of passing schools, and a lookout in the bows,
motionless as a figure-head, resting upon his elbows and peering into the depths before him. Now
one gives warning, and over goes the seine smoothly and noiselessly, and with a rapid circuit the
bait is impounded and quickly hauled on board. One cast is generally sufficient, for the capelan
swarm in millions, swimming so densely that often a dip-net can be filled from a passing shoal.
They keep near the shore to avoid their finny pursuers, and are left floundering upon the rocks by
every reflex wave. The cod often leap clear of the water in their pursuit, and at such times may
be taken by the hook almost the instant it touches the water. The capelan is a delicate fish, about
6 inches in length and not unlike a smelt; his back a dark olive green, sides of changing rainbow
hues, and belly silvery white. * * * Later in the season, after this bait-fish disappears, launce
are used for bait, and herring in their turn.

" Eeturning to the vessel the seines are hung to dry, and from every masthead flaunt like
gossamer veils swayed by the evening breeze. The boats float alongside, moored to outriggers,
and with their vessel seem like fledgelings nestling beside the parent bird. From many a deck
lurid fires flash and flicker in the gathering darkness, revealing dusky figures grouped around — the
fishermen preparing their hasty supper. They use no stoves, but build their fires in halves of
hogsheads filled with sand. Then follows a night of refreshing slumber, and at earliest dawn they
start for the ground again.

"At the stages on shore work goes briskly on. From the loaded boats the cod are thrown
upon the platform with pitchforks. There they pass respectively through the hands of the ' cut-
throat' and 'header,' who remove the livers, tongues, and sounds; thence to the 'splitter,'
who takes out the backbone, and thence, divested of the entrails, which are shoveled into the
water, below to the salter, who piles them in ' kenches,' head and tail, salting profusely between
the layers. After remaining thus for three weeks the water and ' gurry ' are absorbed, and they
are then placed upon the 'flakes' to dry. At the end of three days they are said to be 'made.'
After this they are piled in 'kenches' again for a day to ' sweat them' — that is, to remove remain ing
moisture — and are again thrown upon the flakes for a day. They are then ready to be stowed in
bulk in the vessel. Thus cured they bring from $2 to $3.50 per quintal.

" Woman, too, hath a part in this business, and in the recesses of the moss-roofed hovels her
voice may be heard singing gaily as she ' heads,' while the unceasing splash of the water beneath
fitly chimes in unison. These are wont to stand in tubs while at work, protected from the filth
and offal by long gowns — cod-liveries — of oil-cloth extending to the floor ; and when their task is
done they emerge from these like butterflies from their chrysalids, clean and intact, in statu quo.
An expert will split 8,000 fish per day, or head twice that number. The lodging shanties are con-
structed of spruce poles or sheds, generally boasting but a single apartment, and here both sexes
occupy in common, the only partition being that mathematical one which excludes all objects not
within the line of vision." *

Captain Atwood writes : " We sailed from Provincetown on June 6, 1820. We went to the coast
of Labrador, but, as it happened, we were unfortunate in getting codfish. Our men were not the best
of fishermen, so we got only a very small share. We carried 160 hogsheads of salt and brought back
about 30. I don't know how far north we went, but it was to the locality familiarly known to us as
Grosswater Bay. Our mode of fishing then was to let the vessel lie in the harbor and send the boats
out. At that time Provincetown had not a single vessel on the Grand Bank, and had two or three
small vessels which went to the Gul f of Saint Lawrence for mackerel. All the fishing vessels were on
the coast of Labrador. We carried four boats. We used one to get capelan for bait when capelan

* Harper's Magazine, nil, 1861, 595.

LABRADOR AND GULP OF SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 141

were plenty during the capelan school. The bait boat would seldom go fishing. The fishing boats
were baited out of her. We had one of the crew to throat, one to head, and one to split, and a salter
in the hold of the vessel salting them as they came down. On our arrival on the coast of Labrador
very few could be caught until the capelan came in, and then the capelan schools of cod came in also.
The capelan school lasted about three weeks. After they went away we picked up fish very slowly.
After the capelan had finished spawning the fish slacked off, and we used to say that the cod were
1 capelan sick.'

"In the spring of 1821 we started, about the 10th of May, for the coast of Newfoundland;
being ahead of the capelan school, we fished witfr dams about the Straits of Belle Isle and
Bonne Bay. When it was time to go north to meet the capelan school we left the Newfoundland
fishing and fished in Indian Harbor on the south side of Grosswater Bay. Here we remained
until we had consumed all our salt, excepting a few hogsheads. We got about 1,200 quintals of
fish, which was considered a good fare. Then we came down into the Straits of Belle Isle and went
to a place called Pinwire, where we washed our fish out and took them ashore to dry them on the
rocks. We had to turn and dry them on both sides. I think we staid here about four weeks.
We then took our fish aboard for home. On our arrival here, the fish were not dry enough for
market and we went to Gloucester and took them out and dried them over again, and then carried
them to Boston where we sold them.* My share of the voyage amounted to $83.

"In 1823 1 again shipped for the Labrador fishery in the schooner Favorite. I think we carried
160 hogsheads, or 1,280 bushels of salt. We sailed from Provincetown about the middle of May, and
proceeded first to the northern coast of Newfoundland, making a stop at the Bay of Islands where
we commenced fishing with clam bait, which we carried with us. We were too early for the capelan
school. After fishing here eight or ten days we proceeded and arrived at Indian Harbor, on the north
side of Grosswater Bay. Soon after we arrived the capelan came on the coast, and while they
remained we wet nearly all our salt. The school lasted about three weeks. Having some salt left,
we proceeded homeward, stopping at the Straits of Belle Isle at a place called Henley's Isle. The
capelan were gone, and we were compelled to fish with launce, or sand-eels. We used up all the rest
of the salt, excepting a few bushels; left the coast and proceeded on our voyage homeward,
arriving about the 20th of September.

" In 1824 I shipped on the schooner Independence, of Boston. We sailed for the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence on the 27th of April, but could not get into the Gulf on account of the ice. We first
harbored at Barrington, near Cape Sable; then we moved eastward and anchored in Liscomb's
Harbor. By the next move we got to Canso, where we remained several days, the northern part
of the strait being filled with ice. After some days of southerly wind the ice drifted northward,
and we made another move, harboring again at Port Hood, where we were detained a few days.
We were bound for the Magdalen Islands. A few days later the ice cleared away, so that we
could reach the Magdalen Islands, and we anchored in Gridley's Harbor. We went out into the
Gulf and brought back a part of a fare of fish, which was cured by a French fisherman on the
island. He received 10 per cent, for curing them. We then went over to Bank Bradley, fishing

* Mr. Daniel Say ward, of Gloucester, Mass., in describing the topsail schooners employed in the Labrador
fisheries, said : " Several of this class of vessels, belonging at Newbnryport and Provincetown, resorted to Cape Ann,
during the first half of the present century, to cure their fares of fish, which had been caught at Labrador. At first
the favorite locality for curing was at Wheeler's Point, on 'Squam River, but afterwards some of the schooners visited
Gloucester Harbor for this purpose. The vessels generally arrived home from Labrador about September. A flake
yard was hired, and the crew, who remained on board, 'handled' the fish and prepared them for market. The time
necessary for the proper curing of a Labrador trip was usually about five to six weeks." It would seem from this
that, as a rnle, the fish were not dried any before reaching Gloucester.

The crews of the vessels, according to Mr. Say ward, were hired.

142 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

also off North Cape, Prince Edward Island. "We didn't get more than two-thirds of a cargo
of fish when it was time to come home. We came home, notwithstanding the fact that there were
some 40 hogsheads of salt not used.

" In 1825 I shipped on the schooner President. This schooner measured 84 tons and carried
160 hogsheads of salt. This and the previous year we used mackerel exclusively for bait, and had
no trouble in catching as many as we wanted. The mackerel were caught with 'jigs,' the offal
which was thrown from the decks being sufficient to keep the fish at the surface. We used the
spawn of codfish as toll-bait with which to keep the mackerel at the surface. We fished, for the
most part, on Bank Bradley and at the North Cape of Prince Edward Island and along the west
shore from Escumenac Point to Point Miscou. We used up all our salt. We wet all our salt and
came home, arriving the latter part of September."

During the last thirty years the cod-seine has been used on the coast of Labrador, especially
by vessels from Newburyport. Fishing with the seine is thus described by Mr. W. A. Wilcox:
"A small boat is first sent to look over the ground, a water telescope being used — this being a small
box 8 by 10 inches square, with a glass bottom. By the use of the water telescope the cod school
may be seen moving through the water. When the fish are discovered the seine is set around
them ; the length of the seine is usually about 100 fathoms ; its depth, 55 to 75 feet, the mesh
ranging from 3J to 4£ inches. From 2,000 to 12,000 codfish have been taken at a haul. Herring
are also often taken in nets and salted ; these are brought home as part of the cargo. These are
caught near Bradore and Assizes Harbor."

6. FOEMEE IMPOETANCE OF THE LABEADOE FISHEEY.

Mr. Wilcox writes : " Since 1875 only one Newburyport firm has been engaged in the Labrador
fishery. This same firm has prosecuted this fishery for over thirty-five years, with from one to
four vessels each year ; and, until within the last five years, not one unprofitable trip was made."

The Labrador fishery is still extensively prosecuted by British Provincial fishermen. We quote
from Professor Hind the following description of the status of the Northern Labrador fishery in
1876:

"About 400 fishing craft, from 18 to 90 tons burden, are supposed to have passed Cape Har-
rison this season. Taking the average of the entire fleet, they carried each eight men, three
fishing boats, and one shore boat. Out of the 3,200 hands we may assume that 2,400 were actually
engaged in fishing. The estimated catch was 60 quintals per man, or in the aggregate 144,000
quintals. This work was accomplished in an average aggregate of twenty-four fishing days, and
to a large extent with the jigger, that is, without the use of bait. The average weight of the fish
is about 3 pounds fresh. Allowing one hundred and thirty fish to the quintal the number taken
would be about eighteen millions, the number wounded and lost about four and a half millions,
although some fishermen consider that one fish out of three is wounded by the jigger and lost
when the fish are very numerous.

" During the gale of the llth and 12th of September there lay next to us in Indian Harbor,
off Hamilton Inlet, a small craft of 30 tons burden, just arrived from off Nain. She had been
fishing about the islands near the Missionary station, in latitude 56° 40', about 600 miles north-
west of Saint John's, and in three weeks had taken 300 quintals. Her complement consisted
of six men and two fishing boats. She arrived, like all the fishing fleet this year; too late to take
advantage of the season. The cod had 'struck in' many days before she commenced fisliiug. Had
she arrived a fortnight earlier she might easily have taken 80 quintals to the man in place of 50,

LABEADOE AND GULF OF SAINT? LAWEENCE COD FISHEEIES. 143

but she had used all her salt, and the crew were satisfied with the result. Her fishing days were
eighteen in number, excluding Sundays, which are always observed by fishermen on this coast.

"Another craft, also lying alongside and hailing from Notre Dame Bay, was of 60 tons burden,
her complement twelve men and four boats. She reached the islands off Hopedale (latitude 55° 27')
on the 22d of July, fished for six weeks, and took 700 quintals of fish, or about 60 quintals per
man. She takes her green fish direct to Notre Dame Bay to make there. No fish are made or
cured on this shore, as yet, north of Long Island Tickle, some 25 miles northwest of Cape Harrison.

"Hitherto on the Northern Labrador coast the jigger, as already stated, has been almost
exclusively used; it is only lately that lauuce have been-tried as bait, and with marked success.
But it is well known that only the smaller sized cod come into shallow water, the larger fish
remaining to feed on the banks outside and in deeper water. Very few attempts have been made
to fish on the Labrador Banks, but when tried, I have been assured by trustworthy persons that
large fish have always been taken with bait.

"Larger boats than those used about the islands are required for this kind of fishing ; indeed,
a totally different organization and equipment will be necessary for the Northern Labrador bank
fishery, which appears destined to become, under proper encouragement and management, the
fishery of the future."

The Gloucester Telegraph of March 19, 1842, says :

" In 1807 four vessels fitted out at Newburyport for the Labrador cod fishery. These were the
first vessels from the United States that made their fares in Esquimaux Bay."

Lorenzo Sabiue, in his report on the American fisheries, published in 1852, gives the following
account of the Labrador fishery as carried on at that time:

" The first American vessel which was fitted for the Labrador fishery sailed from Newburyport
towards the close of the last century. The business, once undertaken, was pursued with great
energy, and seveial hundred vessels were engaged in it annually previous to the war of 1812. A
voyage to Labrador, unlike a trip to the Banks of Newfoundland, is not without pleasant incidents
even to laudt-mcn. The coast is frequented for a distance of 10 or 12 degrees of latitude. It
has been preferred to any other on account of its security, and a general certainty of affording a
supply of fish. Arriving in some harbor early in June, an American vessel is moored, and remains
quietly at anchor until a full 'fare' has been obtained, or until the departure of the fish requires
the master to seek another inlet. The fishing is done entirely in boats, and the number usually
employed is one for about thirty tons of the vessel's register. Here, under the management of an
experienced and skilful master, everything may be rendered systematic and regular. As soon as
the vessel has been secured by the necessary anchors, her sails and light rigging are stowed away,
her decks cleared, her boats fitted, and a day or two spent in fowling and sailing, under color of
exploring the surrounding waters and fixing upon proper stations for the boats, and the master
announces to his crew that they must try their luck with the hook and line. Each boat has now
assigned to it a skipper or master and one man. At the time designated the master departs with
his boats, to test the qualities of his men and to mark out for them a course for their future
procedure.

" The love of power, so common to our race, is exemplified even here, since the skippers of
these boats, though commanding each but a single man, often assume airs and exercise authority
which are at once ridiculous and tyrannical ; while their ingenuity in explaining the causes of a
bad day's work, really occasioned by idleness, or by time spent in shooting sea-birds, frequently
puts the patience and the risibility of the master to a severe trial. If fish are plenty, and not too
distant from the vessel, the boats are expected, in good weather, to catch two loads in a day.

144 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

Their return, if laden, is the signal for the dressing-crew, who are left on board, to begin a series
of operations which, when completed, leave the fish in the form in which the consumer buys them.
From the dressing-table the fish are thrown down the hatchway to the salter, who commences the
process of curing by salting and placing them in layers in the bottom of the vessel. If the master
intends to remain on the coast until his fish are ready for market, they are commonly taken on
shore as soon as caught, and there dressed, salted, and dried before being conveyed to the vessel.
If, on the contrary, it is his intention to dry them at home, as is now the common practice, the
Baiter's duty is the last that is performed aboard. The bait used in the Labrador fishery is a small
fish called capelan. This small but useful fish seldom remains on the fishing ground for more than
six weeks in a season ; a time which is long enough for securing a full supply, and which an
experienced and energetic master does not often allow to pass away without one. The average
produce of this fishery may be estimated at about 10 quintals to every ton of the vessels employed
in it, though the best masters are dissatisfied when they fail to catch a fourth or fifth more."*

Concerning the Labrador cod fishery from Newburyport, Mr. John G. Plummer writes us as
follows: "Capt. Charles Sandborn says that he went first in 1833, and there were then about
eighteen or twenty large vessels. One was a ship of 360 tons. They went down to Salmon Biver?
anchored in the river, and went down along the shore in boats and caught most of the cod with
nets or seines. They used those seines that were knit flat and gathered at the sides, so as to have
them bag some, and when they could not take all the fish in the boats they used to buoy up the
lead -line and leave the fish in the nets until they returned for them. Sometimes they used large
bags made of nets, which they would fill with fish and anchor them until the boats could return
for them. The vessels carried fine-mesh nets in which to catch capelan for bait.

"The voyage usually lasted about three months. The fish were dried at home and the cost
of drying, one-twelfth, .was paid in shares. They were packed in drums and shipped to the West
Indies, to Bilboa, Spain, and up the Straits.

"The vessels employed were not very high cost, and were fitted at low rates. They had a
codfish bounty from the Government, and so made good voyages, but after a while the Government
cut off the bounty, and the cost of vessels and expense of fitting, including wages, increased so
that there was no money in it. One after another the vessels were withdrawn, until November,
1881, not one is left. Last year there was one vessel, and this year none.

" The cod that were dried here in Newburyport and packed in drums brought the best price
in the West Indies of any in the world. They were not very salt and were thoroughly dry, so as
to stand the heat.

" Fishermen all say that even now, with good large vessels, and with little assistance from
the Government, they could compete with the French and English fishermen and make it pay ;
but where the French get a good bounty from the Government and we get none, and the cost of
fitting is higher than in France, it is impossible to make the fishing pay. These small Labrador
fish have to be shipped to the same market as the English and French fish.

" Our vessels carried mostly men and boys and taught them to be sailors. Some of these were
in our Navy during the war, and one or two in the Kearsarge when she sunk the Alabama j about
twenty of them, I think, were in the Navy.

" We used to have great times here when the vessels came in from Labrador. All the men
and boys we could scare up were employed in washing, hauling, drying, and packing the fish, and
shipping them to market. The oil was shipped mostly to Philadelphia, and the vessels usually
brought back coal, corn, sugar, and molasses.

* American Fisheries, pp. 170, 171.

LABRADOR AND GULP OP SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 145

"The first American vessel to engage in the Labrador cod fishery sailed from Newburyport
about the year 1794, and from that time until the year 1879 there was scarcely a year when one
or more Newburyport vessels have not visited the Labrador coast. In 1806 this fleet numbered
45 sail; in 1817, 65 sail; in I860, 60 sail; in 1874, 2 sail; in 1876, 2 sail; in 1879, none; in 1880,
one vessel.

"Captain Sandborn thinks there were not more than twenty or twenty-five Newburyport
vessels that engaged in the Labrador fishery when it was at its zenith, but I thought there
were more than that number. I can't tell of any cause for their leaving off except what Captain
Sandborn says, that if Government would help us ars t>ther Governments help the fishermen we
could beat them out of their boots."

In 1858 a vessel from Northern New York participated in the cod fishery on the coast of Labrador.
This was the schooner Charlotte, of Rochester, Captain Parubain, which fitted out in that city in
1858, and. proceeding down the Saint Lawrence River and through the canals made hardly a reason-
ably successful voyage, returning home in September. On the 2d of September she entered in the
Rochester custom-house with the following cargo, consigned to A. Wilder, esq. : 6,000 pounds
of codfish, 3£ barrels of salmon, 2 barrels of halibut, £ barrel of sounds and tongues, 300 pounds of
trout, 24 seal- skins.

Contemporary newspaper paragraphs stated that the Charlotte obtained 90,000 pounds of cod-
fish and a large quantity of salmon and seal-skins. An examination of the custom-house records,
made by Mr. W. T. Hornaday, shows that the cargo was small. It is, however, a remarkable cir-
cumstance that a vessel from this locality should have attempted to engage in the sea fisheries.

7. CAUSES OP THE DECLINE OF THE LABRADOR AND GULF FISHERIES.

The causes of the decline of the Labrador and the Gulf fishery are not thoroughly understood.
There appears to be no scarcity of fish in those regions. Two reasons for the abandonment of these
grounds by American vessels are mentioned, (1) the demand in American markets for larger
fish than can be found on the Labrador coast, the exportation of salt codfish, for which small fish
were formerly preferred, having fallen into the hands of the British Provinces and Norway ; (2) the
introduction of trawling upon the off-shore grounds, which has been accompanied by improvements
in the fishing vessels, the capture of larger fish, and in an increase of skill and daring on the part
of our fishermen, so that it is now unnecessary for oar fleet to go so far from home, or engage in
voyages where the vessels lie in harbor while fishing, since fares of higher-priced fish can be readily
obtained on the banks lying off the coast.

8. WINTER FISHING BY GLOUCESTER VESSELS ON THE WEST COAST OF NEW-
FOUNDLAND.

This fishery, though of no great importance, deserves mention. It is so different from the
summer fishery, which has just been described, that it seems more appropriate to make reference
to it in a separate paragraph. In the winter of 1861 and 1862 four vessels fitted out and started on
a cod fishing trip for the west coast of Newfoundland. One of these, the Ocean Traveller, was lost
on the passage. The others resorted to Bonne Bay and the Bay of Islands, but were not very suc-
cessful. Other vessels have since that time made occasional trips in the winter to the same locali-
ties, but on account of the extreme severity of the weather at that season, the results have rarely
been favorable.

SEC V 10

146 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

9. EARLY LABRADOR FISHERIES FROM PORTS IN MAINE.

During the first half of the present century, writes R. E. Earll, the Labrador fisheries were
extensively prosecuted from the towns of Westport and Booth Bay.

The first vessel engaging in the business of which we get any trace was the schooner Ruby,
115 tons (old measurement), Capt. James Seuuett, of Harpswell. The vessel was sent from North
Booth Bay about 1817, and was joined the next year by the schooner Union, 84 tons, Capt. Timothy
Kemp, from the same place. The next season (1819) there were two other vessels, the Dennis, 78
tons, from North Booth Bay, and one from Westport.

These vessels continued yearly to visit Labrador, but it seems that they were about the only
ones from this section to engage in the business for some years. They fished in and about the
Straits of Belle Isle and frequently farther north, to Cape Harrison, starting about the 10th of
June and returning by the middle or last of September.

The fish were generally very light salted, only 8 bushels being used to 10 quintals. The
vessels got full trips and frequently took a part of their fish out and spread them on the rocks to
partially dry them and thus lighten the vessel and save salt. They always brought full fares of
from 1,000 to 1,500 quintals, but the fish were small and brought a low price. Mr. Timothy Hodg-
don, an old man who was interested in curing at that time, is authority for the statement that in
those days no large fish were ever taken by these vessels, and that when thoroughly dried it took
one hundred and thirty in number to make a quintal. After being cured they were invariably
sold, to Boston parties for exportation to Bilboa, and came to be known as " Bilboa fish."

The business in later years began to grow, and about 1840 East Booth Bay began sending ves-
sels, while Westport sent a larger fleet. Mr. Daniel Cameron, of Southport, thinks that in 1844
Westport and East Booth Bay each sent four vessels, while North Booth Bay had a like number.
This seemed about the height of the business, and soon after it began to decline, so that by
1850 almost no vessels were sent, but through William T. Maddocks, we learn that his father sent
the Osprey as late as 1856 from Southport.

The vessels averaged about 100 tons, the extremes being 45 and 140 (old measurement), carried
yawl boats at first and always remained in the harbors while the men were fishing. The crew
were divided up into a dressing and fishing gang, the former remaining on board and dressing
the catch of the others. They were provided with small drag-seines and caught their bait each
morning before the fishing began. They used capeliu wholly, which were always found in great
abundance in the shoal waters along the shore. The crews fished in shoal water and usually very
near the vessel, fished at the halves, counting their fish as they were thrown aboard the vessel,
and generally averaged about $140 to $160 per man for the trip.

The fishing was always good, and we get no record of a vessel from this section returning
without a full fare, neither can we learn of either a man or vessel being lost. But, notwithstanding
the abundance of fish, they were so small that they brought even less than those classed as small
from other localities, and the firms were driven out of the business.

The following additional statements concerning this fishery are made by Capt. A. P. Hodgdon:

While fishing in the vicinity of Partridge Harbor in 1844 or 1845 the crew of the schooner
Dennis, Captain Hodgdon, caught 1,100 quintals in fourteen days. The fish came in great num-
bers after the capelin, and frequently the water would be filled with them for acres at the surface,
where they would make a good deal of noise splashing about in chasing their prey. They only

LABRADOR AND GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE COD FISHERIES. 147

remained a few days, and when they struck the fishermen had to work pretty hard to get their trip
before the fish left.

During the height of the season, fifteen to twenty -five days, the men would "turn out a little
after 2 in the morning and fish until about 11 at night." They used what they called "set lines,"
which were merely hand-lines tied to the side of the boat and reaching to the bottom ; and "jigs"
for fishing near the surface, made on something the same principle of the mackerel jigs. While
fishing at the bottom with uset lines" they frequently caught large cod, but with the jigs they
often got the small ones as fast as they could haul them^and had an arrangement for slatting them
from the hook to save time.

Among the first vessels to go to Labrador was the schooner Angler, Capt. Thomas Pinkham,
belonging to Wiscasset, while the smallest one that ever went from this section was the schooner
Frederick Reed, of East Booth Bay, being only 45 tons, old measurement.

Most of the fishing towns in Eastern Maine engaged in the Labrador fisheries to a greater or
less extent during the early part of the present century. The fishermen of Vinal Haven (one of
the Fox Islands) began to visit Labrador about 1805. They did not pursue this fishery with much
regularity, sending two or three vessels some seasons, and perhaps none for several years in suc-
cession. No vessels went after 1840. Lamoine, .Maine, sent two vessels, 65 and 67 tons respect-
ively, to Labrador in 1850, but has never at any other time engaged in the cod fishery of that
locality.

Capt. J. S. Mayo, of Tremont, Maine, says that the Labrador cod fishery was pursued by the
fishermen of Mount Desert and the adjacent islands as early as the beginning of the present cen-
tury. The fishery prospered until 1839, after which time it declined and was finally abandoned about
1845. The reasons that induced the fishermen of Mount Desert to give up this branch of the fishery
were (1) the shortness of the season, (2) the uncertainty of obtaining bait, without a full supply of
which it was impossible to procure a fare of codfish, and (3) the small size of the fish taken and
consequent low market value of the same.

The fleet belonging at Southwest Harbor and Cranberry Islands that fished on the Labrador
coast in 1839 numbered eight schooners, namely: the Brainard of 78 tons, Temperance of 56 tons,
(from Cranberry Islands); Four Sisters of 35 tons, Bannister, 68 tons, Eratus, 46 tons, James, 70
tons, Sea Serpent, 75 tons, and Leo of 56 tons, (from Southwest Harbor), the total tonnage em-
ployed being 484 tons, old measurement. These vessels were usually engaged in the Magdalen
herring-fishery in the spring; making one trip for herring before starting for the Labrador coast.

According to Capt. E. B. Stanley, of Cranberry Islands, the Labrador cod fishery revived
somewhat after 1845, and in 1857 three schooners owned at Cranberry Islands engaged in bringing
home a total of 2,100 quintals of codfish.

The fishery was kept up by two or three vessels until 1862, since which time no one at Mount
Desert has engaged in it.

Mr. W. E. Hadlock states that the first vessel which went to Labrador from the Cranberry •
Islands was a schooner of about 40 tons, under command of Capt. Samuel Hadlock. This trip was
made in 1810. The fish were cured at Cranberry Island, after which they were loaded on board
of the same vessel that had caught them, and carried to Spain.

The schooner Starlight, of Cranberry Island, made a cod fishing trip in 1862 to Bellesimore
Bank, off the coast of Labrador. She secured a good fare of large fish, but the prospects were not
sufficiently encouraging for her or others to engage in the same fishery afterwards.

148 H1STOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

3.— THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY.

By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS.

As Las already been stated m the chapter on the Bank cod Land-line fishery, an extensive
industry has for several centuries been prosecuted on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and
neighboring off-shore banks, the principal object of which has been the capture of cod, though of
late years a considerable quantity of halibut has been taken incidentally by the same fishermen.
Except in the George's cod fishery, the practice of hand-lining from the deck of the vessel, which
was formerly the only method, has been discontinued almost entirely within the last twenty-five
or thirty years, though a number of vessels are still fitted with hand-lines and dories. A very
large majority, however, of all the vessels fishing on the off-shore Banks use trawl-lines, these
being exclusively employed by the French fishermen and almost exclusively by the Canadian
fishermen.

The American trawl-fishery is so recent in its origin but little can be said about its history,
and this chapter will be devoted to a discussion of the methods in use at the present time which
are essentially the same as those introduced when trawling first became customary.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

The American trawlers frequent all the off-shore banks as well as those in the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence. The most important fishing ground is of course the Grand Bank of Newfoundland.
This great shoal throughout its entire extent is au excellent fishing ground for cod, though in
some seasons there are limited areas which are more or less barren. The gully called "Whale
Deep," having a muddy bottom, is never resorted to. The trawling vessels ply their lines over a
larger area than the hand-liners, which, for a greater part of the year, congregate in the shoaler
waters in the vicinity of the Virgin Eocks. From April to June the best trawling is usually
obtained on the southern part of the Bank, between the parallels of 43 and 45. From July to
October the fish are distributed over a much larger area, and fishing is carried on from latitude 44
to the extreme northern limits of the Bank.

In July and August a favorite locality for the trawlers is that portion of the Bank lying east
of the Virgin Eocks, a distance of 15 to 45 miles, and known as the " eastern shoal water." The
portion of the Bank lying between the parallels 44 and 45.20 is a favorite fishing ground for cod
at all seasons from April to October.

Next in importance to the Grand Bank, so far as the American fishermen are concerned, is the
Western Bank, on which Gloucester vessels can be found in nearly every month of the year, and
which in summer is resorted to by bankers from nearly every port. Large numbers of Canadian
vessels fish here during the spring and summer months, but the French vessels are excluded by
the provisions of the convention of 1818 from all grounds within 100 miles from the coast of Nova
Scotia, and therefore are never seen on any of the fishing banks south or west of Banquereau.
The Western Bank affords excellent fishing over its entire surface.

Banquereau is also extensively resorted to by American, Canadian, and French vessels, though
it is not so favorite a fishing place for the Gloucester trawlers as the Western Bank. Like the
Grand Bank fishery, that upon Banquereau is exclusively a spring and summer fishery.

Saint Peter's Bank is now almost abandoned to the French, though it was formerly a favorite
spot for the American trawlers, especially those of Gloucester.

THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 149

Green Bank, until very recently, has not been resorted to for cod, but the influence of the
halibut trawlers has carried the Gloucester trawlers thither, and it has proved to be an excellent
ground for cod as well as halibut. The former ignorance concerning this Bank is accounted for by
the fact of its proximity to Saint Peter's and Grand Bank, which were so well known to be good
that the fishermen had no disposition to leave them in search of uncertain luck elsewhere.

The other off-shore Banks frequented by trawlers are La Have Bank and La Have Ridges,
Brown's Bank, Roseway Bank, and banks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, especially that about
Cape North, for spring fishing. All these banks, however, are of slight importance to the trawl
fishery in comparison with those previously mentioned. _

Except upon the fishing ground off Cape North, cod trawls are rarely set at a depth exceeding
60 or 70 fathoms, the common depth being from 25 to 45 fathoms on all the banks. At Cape North
trawls are set at depths of from 75 to 110 fathoms.

The general character of the trawling grounds is more fully discussed in Section II, on fishing
grounds.

2. THE FISHERMEN.

Trawling for cod is carried on from Gloucester, Provincetown, Beverly, Hingham, and a few
other places in Massachusetts, and from several ports in Maine.

The crews are made up somewhat differently from those in other branches of the fishery. It
is true that Gloucester vessels fishing on the Western Bank carry picked crews which will compare
favorably with those in any other branches. Vessels going from Gloucester, Proviucetown, and
elsewhere on long trips to the Grand Bank carry a considerable number of inexperienced men —
young men trained up in the shore fisheries of the British Provinces and Maine, who have not yet
learned the routine of the vessel, and who can be hired at a low price. In setting the trawls two
men go out in each dory, one of whom, the "skipper of the dory," must be an experienced fisher-
man, while the other, the "bowman," needs only to possess courage and endurance and to be a
good boatman. In fitting out vessels from Gloucester four or five men, who are sharesmen in the
voyage, often get the vessel ready and take her down to the Canadian coast, where at some of the
ports they hire the remainder of their crew.

The trawling fleet has now become the training school for young fishermen, the introduction
of the purse-seine in the mackerel fishery having broken up the practice of carrying a number of
boys on each schooner. It is a feeling of old fishermen at Provincetown and elsewhere that the
introduction of this element into the fishing crews has had the effect of lowering their former
standard of intelligence and efficiency, the young men of fishing towns being unwilling to enter
upon careers as fishermen in competition with others so much their inferiors in capacity and social
position. This, however, is probably unavoidable, for the educated sons of the fishermen of the
last generation would naturally feel little inclination to enter upon the laborious livelihood in which
their fathers were engaged, even though they were not confronted by this particular objection.

In the chapter on the characteristics of the fishermen will be found a full discussion by Mr. H.
L. Osboru of the routine life and the characteristics of the crew of a Gloucester trawling vessel,
which may be regarded as fairly typical not only for this fishery, but for the other vessel fisheries
of Now England.

3. THE VESSELS.

The vessels used in the trawl fishery are of the largest class of fishing schooners, ranging from
60 to 125 tons in register. There were in 1880 about 200 schooners in the American trawling fleet,
one of them, which sailed from Beverly, being a three master andt he largest of all.

150 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

The trawling vessel is usually one of the stauchest class of fishing schooners of the ordinary
type, though there are a number of second-class vessels sent out from Provincetown, Beverly, and
Plymouth, the summer voyage to the Grand Bank not being a very severe one. The Gloucester
trawlers are all first class vessels, being employed, when not trawling for cod, in some branch of
the winter fishery, such as the Newfoundland herring trade, or in fishing for haddock or halibut.

In their general rig the trawling vessels have no peculiarities to distinguish them from those
in the haddock and halibut fleets.

The arrangement of the deck is very similar to that described elsewhere in the discussion of
the halibut schooners, the checker-boards, the bait-boards, and the manner of stowing cables and
dories being essentially the same. A few Gloucester trawlers carry a gurry-pen, placed forward
of the house, in the same manner as that described in connection with the George's schooner. This
is used for the storage of the spare gear and to give more room for cutting up the bait. The anchors
are precisely the same as those carried by other fishing vessels. The cables are of the same size
as those carried by the halibut fishermen, but shorter, their usual length being 200 or 250 fathoms.
The dories are the same size as those carried by the halibut fishermen. Vessels from other ports
do not generally carry such large cables and anchors as are taken by the Gloucester schooners.

The trawler carries on its deck from three to five "liver butts," which are ordinary molasses
hogsheads, with a capacity of 130 to 175 gallons. Three or four of them are stowed together in
chocks and lashed to ring-bolts in the deck, just forward of the house, and with their ends toward
it. Others are sometimes carried, stowed on their bilges in front of the main hatch, or standing
upright, lashed to the fore or main rigging. These butts remain in these positions during the
voyage, and are filled up with livers through the scuttle- holes in the tops, the water being drawn
off from time to time through the "spile-holes," bored in the heads or in the staves near the
bottom. The scuttle-holes are covered with canvas or boards to keep out the water.

The splitting tables and dressing tubs, which are used when the vessels are dressing fish on
the fishing grounds, will be described hereafter.

The interior fitting of a trawler is somewhat peculiar. As a rule these vessels carry no ballast,
the quantity of salt, provisions, and water carried for a bank trip being sufficiently heavy to serve
in its place until the vessels begin to fill up with fish. The greater portion of the hold is occupied
by salt-pens, which are built of single boards nailed to stanchions and extending along the sides
of the vessel, beginning at either side of the bait-pen, in the after part of the hold, and extending
forward nearly to the store-room, which occupies the forward part of the hold.

Amidships, between the after hatch and main hatch, the hold is completely filled with salt-
pens; these are called the "midship pens," in distinction from the others which are known as
"wing- pens." Under each hatch is a clear space called the slaughter-house. The forward slaugh-
ter-house, or that under the main hatch, is used in salting and kenching the first fish before the
pens begin to empty, while that under the after hatch serves as a storage for spare gear and also
as a passage-way. The pens, which vary from 12 to IS according to the size of the vessel, hold
from 15 to 25 hogsheads of salt each, the aggregate capacity varying from 180 to 300 hogsheads.

The bait-pen is built forward of the cabin bulkhead and between this and the after hatch. It
is 9 or 10 feet wide and 10 or 12 feet long, holding about 60 barrels of bait in addition to the ice
necessary for its preservation. The bottom of the pen is raised about a foot above the keelson,
and it has a center partition by which it is divided into two sections. This is necessary in order
that one pen may be kept closed and protected from the air while the bait is being used from the
other. The bait-pen is built double, the boards breaking seams to prevent the passage of air, and
in the forward bulkhead it has a door on either side of the partition opening into the after side of

THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHEEY. 151

the slaughter-house. The sills of these doors are about two feet above the bottom of the peu. When
the bait is being iced and stored the door openings are gradually filled up by boards slicing into
grooves to prevent the fish from falling out, and after the bin is entirely full the door, which is
not hinged, is secured in its place by means of a horizontal bar.

The store-room or forehold is connected with the forecastle by a door and is used as in other
vessels for fresh water and provisions, and also by the cook for a pantry.

As fast as the salt-pens are emptied they are knocked down; the space they occupied is filled
up with salted fish, so that when the fare of the vessel is completed the hold is entirely clear, with
the exception of the store-rooms and bait-pens, and is filled with fish, and even the latter are also
often filled with fish.

The supply of water for a trawler is much less than for a hand-liner, since the latter rarely
visits any harbor after they have once reached the Bank until the voyage is completed. The
trawler seldom carries more than 30 barrels, while the hand-liner carries from 60 to 120.

4. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

THE APPARATUS.

EQUIPMENT OF DORY. — The cod trawl-line is described in detail in another section of this
report under the heading "Apparatus of the fisheries."

Each vessel carries from 4 to C dories, which are in the main equipped as in the halibut fish-
ery, though with some slight differences. One of these dories ready to leave the vessel is fitted
with the following articles :

1. Painter, 5 fathoms of 2-inch manila rope. 2. Stern becket, 3 feet of 2-inch rope. 3. Stern
painter, 3 fathoms of buoy-line. 4. Two pairs of 9-foot ash oars. 5. Wooden scoop for bailing.
6. Gob-stick, 2 feet long. 7. Gaff in wooden handle, 2£ feet long. 8. Single-score trawl roller.
9. Two pairs woolen nippers. 10. Plug with becket and line. 11. Four thwart lashings, each 3
feet long, of buoy-line. 12. Rubber boot-heel bumper on stem. 13. Leather on forward ends of
dory ribband strakes. 14. Dory knife, 5J-inch pointed blade. 15. Brass dory compass in wooden
box (compasses are not always carried). 16. Four to six tubs of trawl. Each tub of trawl is rigged
in the following manner: Ground-line of 11 £ 25 fathom skeins of 18-pound tarred cotton line, 300
No. 14 cod-hooks (center-draught eyed), 5§ feet apart, on ground line, gangings 3 feet long, of
6-pound tarred cotton line. 17. One buoy, rigged with staff, swivels, and black ball. 18. Oue
buoy, rigged with staff, swivels, and small flag. 19. Two buoy-lines. 20. Two 16-pound anchors,
served in ring and part of stock with spun yarn and strap bent into ring. 21. One and a half
dozen thole-pins.

The tackle for hoisting the dories on deck is like that used on halibut schooners, rather than
those used in the hand-line cod fishery.

BAIT. — In the early part of the season the vessels trawling on the Western Bank bait with
frozen herring, generally that brought from Grand Manan and Newfoundland, and later in the year
use herring and mackerel which they obtain in the various ports of Nova Scotia and New Bruns-
wick. Mackerel are sometimes obtained from seining vessels encountered on the passage to the
Bank. Vessels going to the Grand Bank in April usually carry a few barrels of salted clams, but
rely chiefly upon herring obtained at Newfoundland in spring and capelin in June and the early
part of July, and squid, which are used for the remainder of the season, are obtained also at New-
foundland. Not infrequently a full supply of squid can be obtained on the Bank by the crew of
a vessel. From 150 to 200 barrels of bait are required by an ordinary banker for a season's work ;
sometimes the quantity is as great as from 300 to 350 barrels.

152 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

In the course of a season on the Grand Bank the vessels are accustomed to visit the Provincial
ports three or four times for bait, and sometimes much more frequently. These baiting trips
occupy, according to circumstances, from four days to three weeks, occasioning great loss of time
and more or less demoralization among the fishermen. One of the greatest needs of this fishery
is the invention of some method by which the necessary supply of bait can be obtained by the
bankers without interruptions of this kind. The salt which it is necessary to carry occupies so
large a part of the vessel's hold that there is no room for the great bulk of fresh bait which is
required for catching a full fare of fish. A still greater difficulty is found in the impossibility of
keeping bait fresh longer than from twelve to twenty-one days.

The vessels frequenting the Western Bank also make three or four baiting trips, though
occasionally, when fish are very plenty, the vessel is partially filled up at one baiting, and it is
found more profitable to carry in the fare while it is green and weighs heavy than to get a new
supply of bait and return to the Bank for an additional catch of fish.

The method of icing bait on a "salt trip" is as follows: When bait has been secured, the ice
is removed from the pens and taken on deck. Four or five men, with fish-forks, pick the ice up
fine in hogshead tubs, putting in a cake of 100 to 200 pounds at a time. Others of the crew are
engaged in passing the baskets of herring and fine ice to those who are icing the bait. There are
generally two men in the hold, one in the bait-pen and another at the hatchway. A layer of ice
is first put upon the floor of the pen, after which a thin layer of herring, then another layer of ice,
and so on, until the pen is nearly full. The whole is covered by a quantity of ice varying from six
inches to a foot in thickness, according to the season, the pen to be opened last having the largest
quantity.

MODE OF PISHING. — The Western Bank trawlers, as has already been implied, leave home in
February and March, and continue fishing until October, making on an average five or six trips a
year, while the Grand Bankers, leaving home in April, as a rule return home in August or Sep-
tember, having made one trip. The schooners of a smaller class fill up and return home sooner.
Occasionally a vessel makes two trips to the Grand Bank, but this practice is not so common as
in past years. The fish are now found to be scarce on the Grand Bank after the first of Septem-
ber, and there is often much difficulty in procuring squid for bait. Within the past year or two
fish have been scarce on the Western Bank in the fall months, and the trips among the Western
Bankers have been less.

The routine on a trawling vessel is very different from that on a vessel fishing with hand-lines,
for the former never " goes to housekeeping" in the old-fashioned way. The mainsail is never
unbent and stowed away, but is simply furled up whenever the riding-sail is hoisted. Years ago,
when the trawlers rarely went to Newfoundland for bait, and depended on " shack fishing," or
baiting with birds and refuse fish which they obtained while lying at anchor, they were accus-
tomed to remain for a long time in one berth, as do the hand liners now, and then they sometimes
unbent their mainsails, but this custom was abandoned about 1870. Life on a trawler is much less
regular and monotonous than on a hand-liner. The crew of the hand-liner rests on Sunday; that
of a trawler seldom or never. The trawl fishermen work with all their might — frequently day and
night — until their bait is used up, and then weigh their anchors and are off for port, where they
have an opportunity for rest and change of scene.

The day's work begins with breakfast, which is served at daylight or before, the first gang
being called out at 3 or half-past 3 in the morning in mid-summer. As soon as they can see, the
fishermen start out to haul their trawls, which have been set all night. From four to six dories are
rowed out from the vessel in different directions toward the outer ends of the trawl-lines unless the

THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 153

fog is so dense that there is no probability of finding their outer buoys, in which case they com-
mence at the inner ends and haul outward. Fishermen, however, become so expert in rowing
through the fog that they often succeed in finding the outer buoys when it is impossible to see
more than one-eighth of a mile through the fog. A row from 2 to 3 miles brings the dory to its des-
tination, and the line is hauled in the manner elsewhere described, the operation requiring from
three to six hours. The length of time depends upon the strength of wind and current, the number
offish on the hooks, and the dexterity of the fishermen. Sometimes the boat has to carry five or
six loads of fish to the vessel during the process of hauling a whole trawl. When it is necessary
to leave a trawl which has been partially hauled the anchor is kept in the boat and the end of trawl-
line is fastened to the buoy with the black ball and left swinging free in the tide. If the men are
hauling from the inner end of the trawl the inner buoy is used for the same purpose. At the
present time two or two and a half dory -loads from a string of trawl would be considered very fair
fishing. A fair average dory-load of fish would weigh from 1,500 to 1,800 pounds, though in smooth
water as much as 2,500 pounds might be carried. .

In using their trawl-lines the bankers, as a rule, pursue the method known as setting and
hauling, though the process of under running is not unusual. The manner of setting is thus
described by Capt. D. E. Collins : " One man sitting on the forward or midship thwart rows the
dory, while the other, standing aft, first throws over the buoy and then pays out the buoy-line until
he reaches the end which is fast to the anchor. He then lifts a ' tub of trawl' upon the thwart in
front of him, and clearing the end makes it fast to the anchor. He then throws out the anchor
and the trawl follows it, hook after hook being thrown over the side of the dory, the thrower seizing
each time the ground-line and heaving it out with a quick, nervous jerk. Considerable dexterity
is required to set a cod-trawl without fouling the line or getting the hooks in the clothing or
hands of the fishermen. When one tub is out the bottom end of its line is bent fast to the top
end of the next tub and the empty tub put aside, and so it goes on until the end of the last line
is reached. This is bent to the anchor, the anchor is thrown overboard, the buoy line paid out,
and last of all the buoy is thrown over : this, if the outer buoy, has a ' black ball' on it. Owing
to the small size of the hooks and baits the men are obliged to bait the hooks bare-handed, and in
cold weather they suffer severely."

The same expert describes the method of hauling the trawl : "A 'patent roller,' similar to that
used in the halibut fishery, is attached to the gunwale of the dory 3 or 4 feet from the stem, the
iron shank being shipped in a hole in a cleat which is fastened to the inside of the gunwale. This
apparatus is used to aid in hauling the trawl-line, which passes over it, and the new method is a
decided improvement over the old in pulling the line over the side of the boat. While hauling the
' first buoy -line ' the positions of the men are the same as when hauling a halibut trawl, one stand-
ing forward and the other aft. When, however, the anchor has been lifted and the trawl cast off
from it, the after man shifts his position farther forward. so as to stand just behind the man that
hauls. Placing his tub on the thwart in front of him he coils in it the trawl, 'slatting' (or jerking)
the fish off behind. Such as do not come off with a ' slat' he unhooks by using the 'gob-stick.'"
At the end of the process of hauling, the trawl-line has been coiled in the tubs to be carried on
board the vessel to be rebaited."

When fish can be caught, both at night and during the day, and the weather is suitable, two
sets are usually made each day. It frequently happens, however, especially on the Grand Bank
and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, that but few fish can be caught in the daytime. In such cases
the trawls are set only once in the twenty-four hours, being put out about sundown and hauled
the following morning. Owing to this peculiarity of the cod which frequent the Grand Bank,

154 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

the fishermen have of late years come to use much longer trawls than formerly, finding it to be
more profitable to set long strings of gear, and make but one set a day, instead of two, as was
formerly the custom.

On some of the banks where fishing can be carried on with equal success both night and day,
and where there is not too strong a current and comparatively shoal water, the fishermen find it
to their advantage to underrun their trawls, instead of hauling and setting. Captain Collins,
above quoted, says: "Under-running codfish trawls differs entirely from hauling, insomuch, that,
although the same results are obtained, the trawl is not hauled into the dory, but across her, coming
in one side and going out over the other, the fish being taken off and the hooks baited as the line
passes over the boat. The advantages of underruuning are: First, a larger amount of gear can be
handled, or the same trawl more frequently — for instance, a trawl can be underrun three times a
day easier than it can be hauled and set twice ; second, it requires only one-half the rowing, as it
is all baited and set when it is left, and the pull out and back, incident to setting a trawl, is dispened
with ; third, it being always in the water, it has more time to fish. Gas es have often occurred,
where there was good fishing, that the men would keep on uuderrunning, and getting a load of cod
each time, until fish enough for the day had been taken, which was sometimes as many as 75 or
80 tubs; the fourth reason is that the dories are not 'cluttered up' with gear, but have more room
to put fish in. Trawls cannot be underrun very well where there is much tide in more than 40
fathoms, and are not often set for that purpose, excepting where cod are abundant."

The different methods of setting trawls for underpinning are described in another section of
this report.

Each dory's crew has a station around the house for baiting their trawls which corresponds to
the berth they set their gear in — for instance, a dory's crew who set their trawls ahead of the vessel
bait on the forward end of the house, those who set lines on the starboard bow or beam bait on
the forward end of the starboard side of the house, and so on. These stations are secured by lot,
the crews belonging to the dories on each side of the vessel drawing their respective berths for
setting trawls as well as for their positions for baiting. Plank are secured to the sides and ends of
the house to protect it from being injured by the knives with which the bait is cut. When the
order is given to "bait up," one man from each dory goes in the hold and fills a basket with her-
ring, squid, mackerel, or whatever kind of bait they are using, and reaches this to his dorymate,
who empties the lot on top of the house in the berth where they stand to bait their trawls. As
soon as the bait is cut up (a herring making from five to eight pieces) each man begins on a tub of
trawl. The trawl is turned out onto the house near the edge, the tub set on deck (occasionally on
the house), and as fast as the hooks are baited the line is coiled in the tub, considerable care being
taken in placing the hooks around the edge of the tub so that they will not foul when the trawl
is being set. Only one piece of bait is put on a hook. The operation of baiting is very quickly
and dexterously performed, an expert being able to bait five hundred hooks in three-quarters of
an hour or less.

The operation of baiting consumes from an hour and a half to two hours, and is always deferred
until after the fish are dressed and salted, unless the men are in haste to make a second set of the
lines.

To dress the fish requires from half an hour to fifteen or twenty hours, depending, of course,
upon the quantity of fish taken, which may vary from one to one hundred tubs. Each tub contains
from 600 to 800 pounds of round fish, which, when salted and kenched, would weigh from 200 to 300
pounds. When there is a large catch the men are obliged to work all day and nearly all night.
From 1870 to 1874, when squid were very abundant on the Grand Bank, there were instances where

THE BANK ^BAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 155

vessels caught more than a hundred tubs of cod in a single day's fishing, and. in several cases such
fishing continued for several days. The schooner Ben : Perley Poore, of Gloucester, in one season
found fish so abundant that the men were kept constantly at work night and day for several days
in succession, until the vessel was entirely filled up. When the crew were heaving up the anchor
some of the men were so fatigued that they fell asleep with their hands on the windlass-brakes.
On an ordinary long trip to the Grand Bank a day's catch is likely to vary from one to forty tubs
of fish. The vessel seldom fills up from one anchorage, even if it does not go into port to bait.
Sometimes they do not change more than five or six times, and sometimes more than fifty times, as
they work after the fish.

The trawl-fishermen, of course, are subjected to the same inconveniences of fog and squalls
which have been alluded to in the chapter on the hand-line fishery. On foggy days horns are fre-
quently blown while the dories are out, in order that they may be kept informed of the position of
the vessel. The danger of loss is very much greater, however, than in the case of the hand-liners,
because of the longer distance which the trawl-line fishermen go from their vessels in thick weather.
But when a dory is hauling from the outer end of the trawl-line the danger of going astray is not
so great, since the fishermen gradually draw nearer to the schooner, and they are assisted by the
trend of the line, by which the direction of the vessel is indicated.

"The man who ventures on a trip in a 'trawler,'" writes Mr. George H. Procter, "finds little
of the 'pleasing content' described by the early voyager. For him at least there is little of romance
in ' the apostles' own calling.' Life on the Banks he finds a constant round of drudgery so long as
he is able to make his daily rounds. He must rise early and work late in order to visit his trawls,
remove his fish, rebait and reset the lines, and take care of the day's catch. Tossed on the waves
in his frail dory, at greater or less distance from his vessel, he is subject to perils unknown to the
fisherman of the olden time. His frail boat rides like a shell upon the surface of the sea, but in
experienced hands no description of small sea craft is safer. Yet a moment of carelessness or inat-
tention or a slight miscalculation may cost him his life. And a greater foe than carelessness lies
in wait for its prey. The stealthy fog enwraps him in its folds, blinds his vision, cuts off all marks
to guide his course, and leaves him afloat on a measureless void. Instances are on record of many
a wearisome trip, of days and nights without food or water, spent in weary labor at the oars, at
last to find succor from some chance vessel or by reaching a distant port; and imagination revolts
from the contemplation of the hardships experienced, the hopes awakened and dispelled, and the
torturing fate of the many 'lost in the fog,' of whose trying experiences nothing is ever known."*

Each dory being manned by two fishermen, only the captain and the cook ordinarily remain
on board.

The dories have usually all returned from their morning's task by 9 or 10 o'clock, but when
fish are scarce they are back much earlier. If the vessel is setting its trawls only once a day, as
is at present the ordinary practice on the Grand Bank, the dories do not go out again until near
sundown, when an hour and a half or two hours' work is sufficient for the laying out of the lines
for the night. When the weather is rough the task is a much longer one. Capt. D. E. Collins, in
his journal of April 9, 1879, writes: " We had 19 tubs of large fish to-day, and with such a good
prospect we feel like making extra efforts; so, although there was a smart breeze of wind, we hove
out the dories, and the men started to set at 4 p. m. It was rough enough, and some of those who
set to leeward had all they could do to get back to the vessel. To pull a light dory nearly two
miles against a fresh breeze and a short choppy head sea is not child's play, for the utmost strength
of two men is barely sufficient to force her to windward, and though the pull continues for hours

* Gloucester and its Fisheries, 1876, pp. 57, 58.

156 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

before the vessel is reached, every stroke of the oars must be as strong as the one which preceded,
or the boat goes astern instead of ahead."

On the Western Bank, where two sets are generally made daily, and on the Grand Bank,
when this is done, the dories make their second trip in the forenoon and haul in the middle of the
afternoon.

5. THE CAEE OF THE FISH.

The manner of dressing the fish is essentially the same as that practiced on the George's-men
and the dory hand-liners. It is graphically described in the journal of Gapt. D. E. Collins :

"First premising that a 'deck of fish' means the fish that are on the deck at one time, a good
catch being spoken of as a good deck, I will proceed to explain how a deck of fish is dressed down
and salted.

"Generally we 'rig up' two gangs on deck, though on special occasions we may have three.
A splitting-table is put up on each side of the vessel abaft the main rigging and held in its place
by shipping one of its ends on a cleat or a pair of pins in the rail, while the other is kept in posi-
tion by a board brace placed against the bottom of the waist. By this arrangement the tables can
be put up or taken down in a few moments. In rough weather they are stowed away to keep them
from being washed overboard. The dressing-tubs, which are halves of large molasses hogsheads,
are placed near the splitting-tables, abaft the one upon the starboard side and forward of that upon
the port. A tub partly filled with water is placed at the end of each splitting-table, and into this
the fish fall as they come from the knife. When there are two gangs, the crew is divided up so
that there shall be three men in the hold, and three men — the header, gutter, and splitter — in each
dress gang, and four idlers, whose duty it is to pitch the fish along and fill the tubs and also to pitch
the fish out of the washing-tubs into the hold. When there are three gangs, as is the case when
there is a good deck of fish, there is but one idler, who is, notwithstanding his name, the busiest
man of the crew. Of the three men in the hold two are salters and one, who is called the 'devil,'
has for his duty the filling of the salt basket and the passing of salt baskets and fish, if necessary,
to the salters.

"The tubs being filled, the header seizes with his left hand a fish by its nose, and hauling it
along so that the back of its neck lies across the edge of the tub, proceeds to head it. One quick
downward cut for the throat, a rip down the belly, a quick motion of the knife on either side of the
head, unjointing the bones, and a "yank" of the left hand, and the head is detached and thrown
overboard. The gutter grabs the fish by the nape with his left hand, removes the liver, which he
puts in a basket standing by his side, and throws the guts overboard, passing the fish at the same
time to the splitter. On Proviucetown vessels and on those of some other ports the head is broken
off by the gutter. The splitter, working at the splitting-table, cuts out the backbone and lets the
fish fall into the washing-tub.

"In salting-the fish we make the first kench across the forward part of the hold next to the
water barrels. Some vessels have a bulkhead, against which they salt the first fish. The kench is
built four or five feet wide fore and aft and wider at the bottom than at the top. Some salters
take the salt from the baskets and scatter it over the fish with their bare hands, but the majority
of tbern prefer to save their hands by using a scoop.

"No part of the work on a 'salt trip' requires so much care and judgment as the salting. The
salters must have a perfect knowledge of how to test the strength of the salt, know at a glance
just how much each fish requires and on what part the most is needed. Otherwise the fish either
come out 'slack' and strong-smelling for want of salt, or 'dry as a chip' from oversaving.

THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 157

"As fast as the salt is used out of the pens these are knocked down and additional kenches
formed, and so on to the end. When the fish settle, which they always do, they are 'packed up'
by removing a portion from the after kenches and packing them on the top of those which are
forward until the latter extend up to the deck. After this process has been two or three times
repeated the settling does not amount to much."

At the present time codfish-roe is never saved by the Bank fishermen, but all the livers are
carefully preserved in the "liver butts," already described. As the oil begins to make its appear-
ance at the top of the cask, or "makes out," as the fishermen describe it, it is dipped out into
water barrels and stowed away in the hold. Sixty 'barrels of liver yield from 20 to 24 barrels of
oil. The livers are fattest in midsummer and have least oil in winter.

The sounds are occasionally saved by the cook, and, less frequently, the tongues, and these
are the perquisites of the person who saves them. On some of the Western Bank trips, when hake
are abundant, the cook's profits from the saving of sounds often amount to as much as his share
of the voyage.

The manner of discharging the cargo of a banker is somewhat different from that customary
with other vessels and should be briefly referred to. The fish are first taken out upon the wharf
and weighed. They are then pitched into a tank of water, or very frequently into an old dory,
which serves instead of a tank. Men standing around with brushes clean off the slime and dirt
which remain upon the skin and flesh of the fish, and they are then thrown upon barrows and
wheeled into the salting building, where they are either packed in kench for " water-horseing"
or resalted in butts. The process of curing is described elsewhere.

6. THE FINANCIAL PROFITS OF THE TRAWL FISHERY.

The statistics of the Bank fishery from Gloucester are discussed in Section II, Geographical
Review of the Fisheries, pages 155, 156, and several examples of large fares are noticed, which
show the profits sometimes realized in this fishery.

The following statement shows the result and the manner of settling the proceeds of a trawling
trip on the schooner Victor, of Gloucester, sailed July 12 and returned October 13, 1879 :

71,200 pounds large cod, at 2 cents $1, 424 00

7,440 pounds small cod, at 1 cent 74 40

280 pounds halibut 3 50

Oil sold by captain 27 20

Livers landed iu Gloucester 20 00

1,549 10
Stock charges 236 57

1, 312 53
One-half to vessel 656 26

656 27
One-half of one percent, for widows' and orphans' fund 3 28

652 99
General charges 29 50

Balance to crew and skipper 623 49

This amount, $023.49, was shared among the crew and skipper, the twelve receiving $51.96
per man. In addition to his share as one of the crew, the skipper received 4 per cent, of the net
stock, $1,312.53, or $52.50.

158 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Tinder the head of stock charges are included the following items :

Bait and ice J234 15

Customs fees _ 2 42

236 57
The general charges include :

Water and extra provisions fl6 00

Nippers 7 00

Sawing wood 1 50

Medicine 3 00

Milk 2 00

29 50
7. HISTORY OF TRAWLING.

STATEMENT OF CAPT. N. E. ATWOOD. — It is said that in early days a treaty between England
and France forbade French vessels from anchoring on the Grand Bank, and in those days trawling
was, of course, an impossibility. The American vessels fishing on the Banks were in constant
terror of the great French ships as they drifted hither and thither over the fishing grounds. At
the time of Captain Atwood's first visit to the Grand Bank they were in the habit of setting
trawls from their shallops as at the present day. As early as 1843 Captain Atwood set trawls for
halibut in Massachusetts Bay. Before that he had been in the habit of putting two or three hooks
on the rode-line of his dory, close to his anchor, and would occasionally catch a fish or two when
he pulled in the anchor. As early as 1843 he was accustomed to set a regular trawl-line 60 fathoms
long, with snoods 4 or 5 feet in length, placed 4 or 5 fathoms apart. About 1845 the schooner
Oueco, Charles Aspley, a Welshman, master, went to the Grand Bank fitted out for trawling like
the French vessels. She made only about 5,000 fish, 150 quintals. When he had made a miss it
stilled the Provincetown fishermen on the subject of trawling. So they said nothing more about
this kind of fishing.

About 1851 or 1852 an old Irishman down at Swampscott bought an old dory and went to
work rigging a trawl as he had been accustomed to do in the old country. The Swampscott fish-
ermen laughed at him and the idea that he could catch any fish with his clumsy trawl ; but when
he went out they soon changed their tune, for he could catch two fish to their one. They then
fitted out trawls for themselves and went fishing with them, 'and thought it was nice. They soon
encountered another difficulty, however, for an entirely new class of fishermen, mostly Irish, were
called in, and their monopoly of the Boston market was destroyed. A great many Irishmen began
trawling, and they soon began to build little vessels, such as they had on their own coast. The
first one they got was a little boat called the Moby Dick, and they made money like shells. These
Irish boats rapidly increased in number, and they had the St. Patrick and the St. Mary, and the
Daniel O'Conuell and the Maid of Erin ; and in 1857 there were seventy -five Irish boats tending
Boston market. The Swampscott fishermen began to be alarmed, and petitioned the legislature
for laws forbidding the use of trawl-lines ; but they had leave to withdraw their petition.

In 1858 another petition was sent in by the Swampscott people, begging that trawling should
be forbidden within three miles of the shore. They thought if this could be passed the small fish-
ermen would be driven out of the business. Their petition was again refused. Captain Atwood's
account of this occasion is interesting as a matter of history, and particularly so, as it fixes the
time at which trawling became common at Provincetown. In 1856 the captain was at home
engaged in manufacturing cod-liver oil, and his brother, Capt. John Atwood, with three others,
entered into partnership for the purpose of buying the winter shore catch of fish, to send them to
Boston market. Captain Atwood consented to become the fifth partner and to be on duty at Cen-
tral Wharf. That fall he was elected to the State legislature, and was obliged to furnish a substi-

THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 159

tute at the wharf. This year trawls were just coming into general use, and an unusually large
quantity of haddock were caught. The enterprise was, however, fairly successful. He paid his
substitute $90, and made $90 in addition as his share of the winter's work. The following year
trawls were used by every one, and haddock, which had formerly been as valuable as cod, were so
abundant that the company was nearly swamped. Their agreement with the fishermen was that
both cod and haddock should be paid for at the rate of $1.25 a hundred-weight. This year had-
dock brought only 37£ cents a hundred-weight at Boston, and, though cod were worth $2.25, the
venture was a losing one, and the captain had to pay $90 back to the firm iu addition to the $90
which he paid to his substitute.

It was at this time that the second petition from the Swampscott people was brought up in
the Massachusetts legislature, and was referred to the committee of fisheries, of which Captain
Atwood was the chairman. The committee voted "that the petitioners should have leave to with-
draw;" but the bill was brought up by the Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, who made an
eloquent speech on the floor of the house in favor of the petition, stating that he had been told
that the custom of trawling was rapidly exterminating the haddock, and from present appearances
they would soon be as scarce as salmon, and that he was told that even at that time poor people
could not afford to eat them. When he got through, says the captain, most of the members were
apparently deeply impressed, and those that loved haddock evidently thought that they had eaten
their last one. Mr. Cushing closed by calling upon the chairman of the committee on fisheries,
who, he understood, was a practical fisherman, to state his own experience in the matter. This was
Captain Atwood's first speech, but, though he felt somewhat diffident, he felt sure of his ground.
He rose and said that it was necessary for him to speak somewhat in detail, and began to recount
the history of the haddock in Massachusetts Bay. He told how in the days of his boyhood they
had been extremely scarce, so that not more than one haddock was taken to every three or four
hundred cod; how they had increased gradually in numbers until at the present time they were
swarming in the waters in the greatest abundance. The gentleman from Newburyport had stated
that they would soon be as scarce as salmon, and that poor people even then could not afford to
eat them, and had asked him for his practical experience in the matter. " I would state, Mr.
Chairman, that I am one of a company of five fishermen in Provincetown who entered into
partnership for the purpose of buying all the fish which should be brought to the shore this
winter; that this very morning we received 4,000 pounds of haddock, for which we paid $1.25
a hundred, and which we were obliged to sell for 37J cents; not 37J cents a pound, Mr. Chair-
man, but 37=^ cents for a hundred pounds; and if any of the members will take the trouble to walk
down by Commercial Wharf they may see women going back .into the city with their arms full
of haddock, the small fish, which are called unmarketable, for which they had paid not more than
10 cents for all that they could carry. They might not be too plenty for the people, but they are
too plenty for the dealer and too plenty for the fishermen." The speaker's time had now expired,
but he was allowed by unanimous vote to continue his remarks; and at their close it was voted
"that the Swampscott petitioners have leave to withdraw."

HISTORY OF TRAWLING IN THE VICINITY OF BATH, WISCASSET, AND BOOTH BAY DISTRICTS. —
Mr. Daniel Cameron, of Southport, gives the following statements about the introduction of trawls
into this section:

"The first ever known of tiawling here was a report brought from Cape Ann of Peter Sinclair
using them on the schooner Anna as early as 1854 or 1855. He used them on the Cape shore and
Banks for cod and halibut, and was remarkably successful. In 1858 Booth Bay sent her first
trawler, the schooner Albatross, Captain Farmer, belonging to N. McFarland. She went to the

160 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Bay of Saint Lawrence and fished in from 15 to 30 fathoms around Bank Bradley and the Magdalen
Islands, bringing home about 900 quintals of very large fish that brought a much higher price than
large fish taken with hand-lines. The impression seemed to be at that time that trawl-fish were
better than those caught in the old way. She kept on in the business and in 1860 was joined by
the schooner Island Queen, Captain Orchard, belonging to Cameron and Orne, of Southport.

" This method was new to the owners at the time and they were afraid to risk the whole chance
of a trip, so they took a crew of Captain Cook and eight men, gave them material for two trawls,
each 1,000 fathoms long, with No. 9 hooks, one fathom apart, and hand-lines for fishing in the
usual way. They used manila six-thread line, about the size of the present buoy-line, for the
ground line, and had buoys at intervals of 100 fathoms, so that if the line parted they might get
it again. The boats taken were Hampton boats, 15 to 18 feet long, two men going in each.

"They were also provided with a bait-mill to chop bait for tolling the mackerel, which were
taken with hooks, to be used for bait, and with a string of eight herring nets, 40 yards each, to
catch herring for the same purpose. They sailed about June 15, after she had made a trip to the
Banks, for the Bay of Saint Lawrence, and began fishing in the vicinity of the Magdalens. She
soon found the fish so plenty that the hand-line fishermen on board gave up their fishing and spent
their time dressing the fish taken on the trawls and catching mackerel and herring for bait. The
closer they came to shore, especially in the vicinity of Dead Man's Island, the better, and fre-
quently one end of the trawl came nearly to the land. The average depth was about 5 to 10
fathoms.

" The fish taken were very large and averaged only ten to tfie quintal when dried. They saved
nearly 30 quintals of small cod that were taken from the mouths of the large ones, i. e., the small
ones would swallow the bait and get caught when a large one would bite at the small one and thus
the large and small would come up on the same hook. The vessel returned after an absence of
two and a half months, landing 750 quintals of large fish, averaging ten to the quintal, while other
vessels fishing in the same locality required seventy to eighty fish to the quintal.

"After curing, the fish were sold to Moses B. Nickerson, of Portland, at $4 per quintal, while
other large fish were bringing only $3.25. They were resold to Crowell, of New York. The success
of these vessels had a tendency to bring trawling into general use, and by 1862 most of the vessels
of the section used them and continued to do so up to a late date.

. "But a reaction has taken place since the fisheries have been paying so poorly, and owners have
refused to supply trawls for their Bankers owing to the extra expense and great loss of gear. For
fully eight years the tendency has been to do away with them among Bankers, and in 1878 and
1879 the same ideas are being advanced by the shore-fishermen, so that we now have but three
Bankers using trawls, and an occasional shore-fisherman hand-lining from deck and claiming to
make more money than the trawlers.

"The price has also been affected so that instead of trawl fish bringing more, as they did up to
1876, we find the fresh-fish market at Booth Bay refusing to buy them, claiming that they will
neither keep as well in ice, nor stand shipping as the hand-line fish do."

FRENCH METHODS OF TEAWLING IN 1843.— The Gloucester Telegraph, of October 18, 1843,
has the following description of the French method of fishing with set lines or trawls on the Grand
Bank:

" French vessels, it appears, mostly anchor in latitude 44° N. and longitude 50°.20' W., in
about 45 fathoms water, veer 90 or 100 fathoms of cable, and prepare to catch codfish with two
J-inch lines of 3,000 fathoms long each. On these a small cork is placed at every 12 feet, and while
metal hooks, baited with parts of small fish (by us called kiblings) [capelins are no doubt meant],

THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 161

are alternately fastened by snoods of 3 feet long, 6 feet apart, and the whole neatly coiled in half-
bushel baskets clear for running out. Half the number of baskets are then placed in a large, strong-
built lug-sail boat on each side, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon ; both make sail together at right
angles from the vessel, and when the lines are all run out straight, sink them to within 5 feet of the
bottom.

[This is probably a mistake of the writer, since the ground lines of the trawls were undoubtedly,
as now, sunk to the bottom.]

" The crew having rested all night, they proceed again the next morning at daybreak to trip
the sinker, and while hauling in lines, unhooking fishjj&c., the men left on board heave in the other
end with a winch. When in that manner 400 codfish are caught in a night, some are then employed
in line-clearing, fish-beheading, splitting, salting, and stowing them away in layers across each other
below; livers and refuse boiled to oil put in large casks on deck. Three months seems to be the
average time employed, arriving early in June aud departing again in October.

" As British fishermen are said to be continually holding lines in a perpendicular position over
the side in all sorts of weather, for the same purpose, owners of vessels, we conceive, should give
the above method some consideration."

8. REPORT ON A COD-TRAWLING TRIP TO GRAND BANK IN 1879.

BY HENKY L. OSBORN.
a. ITINERARY OF THE CRUISE.

A BRIEF ITINERARY OF THE SUMMER TRIP.— We ran out of Gloucester harbor with a light
northerly breeze at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, July 12, 1879. As we rounded Eastern Point
the wind died out and we lay in a flat calm until late at night. The following day, Sunday, was
clear and pleasant. Land had sunken out of sight aud we were moving very slowly east half
south. Had it not been the Sabbath the men would have begun at once to rig their trawls, but,
partly from respect to the day and partly using it as an excuse for not working, they did no
manner of work. Early on Monday morning they all turned out, and after breakfast began work
on their gear, continuing it steadily all day and all the day following. By Wednesday they had,
for the most part, finished this work.

On Tuesday night we saw a light on shore and decided that it was Sambro Light, off Halifax.
On Thursday morning, when I came on deck at half past four, we had rounded Cape Canso aud
were standing toward Arichat. It was blowing strong and the air was full of mist, moreover it
was very cold although it was the middle of summer, aud I found heavy clothing and an "oil-skin"
suit very comfortable. The treeless and barren hills seemed very inhospitable, and the few houses
nestled under them here and there did not seem very cheerful to one who had but just come from
the warm weather of New Jersey. A few miles off Arichat we put over a dory, and three or four
men jumped into her and pulled ashore to visit their homes in the vicinity, for a day or two. With
the rest of the crew we stood off for Guysborough, and, at about nine in the morning, dropped
anchor off the village.

We staid at Guysborough until the 20th, thus giving the remainder of the crew, except two
Massachusetts fellows, a chance to visit their homes. On 'that evening we dropped anchor off
Arichat. In the morning of the next day we picked up the rest of the crew, took ice for our bait,
and, at about 2 or 3 o'clock p. in., made sail for Cape Broyle, Newfoundland. The wind was fair
and strong and we flew over the water at the rate of 10 or 11 knots per hour. When I went
below for the night the land was no longer in sight and we were tearing through the water. All
day Tuesday we had the same strong and fair breeze aud sailing became really enjoyable. On
SEC v 11

162

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Wednesday tuoruiug the skipper judged from bis log that we must be neaving Cape Broyle, but
the land was wrapped iu a thick fog and he could not determine his position. In the middle of
the forenoon the fog lifted and there lay Gape Broyle on our port quarter ; we were just passing
it. He at once put about and we were soon in the harbor, having made the run, something over
4' 0 miles, in forty hours.

"We remained at Cape Broyle till the 25th, during which time we tilled the water barrels and
purchased the first baiting of squid, then made sail for the Grand Bank to try our luck with the
codfish. During this, the "first baiting," the skipper kept continually on the move, making a
new berth every day. The catch of fish was not large at any place and grew smaller every day as
the bait became more and more injured by keeping. The latitudes and longitudes given in the
following table of fish taken are those received from the skipper:

Table of fiiU taken.
FIEST BAITING.

Station.

Date.

Latitude.

Longitude.

Night
Bet.

Day
set.

1

July 27

o /
4G 39

o /

50 37

Tubs.
g

Tubs.

1

July 27

46 39

50 37

8

2

Jnly 28

46 43

50 34

7

8

July 31

46 47

51 30

7

4

Aug. 1

46 46

50 07

9

g

47 02

49 53

g

6

Aujr. 3

47 06

49 49

8

7

Au°- 4

46 50

49 33

8

8

46 49

49 37

1

9

Auff. 6

46 51

49 49

2

10

46 43

50 13

5

The weather during the first baiting was extremely unpleasant. At the very start the fishing
was interrupted by a storm of wind that lasted three days and made the sea too rough to allow of
the dories venturing out. After this the sea became more quiet, but the noted Newfoundland
fogs came down and were scarcely absent during the remainder of the baiting. The temperature
was very agreeable. The thermometer did not at any time fall below 50°, averaged about 56°,
and at times rose above 60°. The water did not vary much iu temperature from the temperature
of tlic air, averaging one or two degrees lower. A record of temperatures and the weather was
kept; the observations are tabulated at the close of this introduction.

After making 11 sets and capturing C7 tubs, or about 23,000 pounds of split fish, the bait
became exhausted, and we returned to the land for a fresh supply. We headed the vessel for
Cape Spear, near Saint John's, and "came to an anchor" in Freshwater Cove on August 9, a little
after midday. This cove is just round South Head, the left promontory as one is entering Saint
John's harbor, and is so convenient to the city that the skippers often avoid the high harbor fees
by anchoring iu it and rowing into the city for business. A heavy "easterly" was blowing, but
the skipper determined to row into the city in spite of the heavy sea and attend to his business.
From Saint John's we went to Tor Bay, Carbonear, and King's Cove in succession, in sea:ch of bait,
but could not find any. At last we made our way into Open Hall, a very small fishing hamlet in
Bonavista Bay, and, after lying there nearly a week, picked up a few squid and with them
returned to the Banks.

The second baiting was used in a single Ivrtli, latitude 45° 4', longitude 50° 33'. At this
place the fish bit well so long as our bait remained fresh. On the 30th of August a "breeze of
wind" broke us adrift from our moorings and favored our immediate departure for laud to obtain

THE BANK TKAWL-LINE COD FISHEEY.

163

a third supply of bait. Our luck during this baiting was fair ; we captured 85 tubs of fish, or
more than 28,000 pounds of dressed fish. The numbers taken on each day are shown in the
following table:

SECOND BAITING.

Station.

Date.

Latitude.

Longitude.

Niaht
Bet.

Day
set.

11

Aug 22

O 1

45 4

o /
50 33

Tubs.
15

Tubs.

11

Anff 23

45 4

50 33

12

11

Aug. 24

4J 4

50 33

11

11

Aug. 25

45 4

50 33

13

11

Aug. 26

45 4

50 33

14

11

Ang. 27

45 4

50 33

12

11

Aug 28

45 4

50 33

6

11

Aug. 29

45 4

50 33

11

45 4

50 33

2

The gale which had driven us from our moorings on the Bank, and with which we ran to Cape
Broyle, raged over the Bank for five days in so bad a storm that, as we afterward learned, it was
impossible to do any fishing. We rode through this storm safely, anchored in Cape Broyle harbor,
and on the 6th of September, finding no bait there, sailed for Bay of Bulls, hoping for better success
in that place. None were to be had there, nor in the adjoining harbor of Witless Bay, though we
staid three days. On Sunday and Monday nights the men varied the monotony of existence on a
fishing schooner by attending a native dance. It was the most remarkable hop I ever attended,
and is more fully described in another part of this report. From Bay of Bulls we coasted along-
shore, putting in at Tor Bay, and, on finding no bait there, we stood out again, and finally, at nine
in the evening, came to anchor in Portugal Cove, Conception Bay. Though it was dark when we
anchored, the instinct of the Newfoundlander sent numbers of the natives on board at once,
almost before our anchor had dropped, and we had purchased a good many squid before all hands
turned in for the night.

We remained at "Portugee Cove" until the llth, then sailed away for the Bank again. On
this, our third baiting, we did finely at first, and we were jubilant when seventeen tubs came on
board on the first morning. During this baiting we made fifteen sets in twelve different berths,
and captured in all one hundred and three tubs of fish. Our positions during this time and the
catch from each set are given in the following table.

THIRD BAITING.

Station.

Date.

Latitude.

Longitude.

Night
set.

Day

set.

12

Sept 15

o /
45 12

o /
51 00

Tubs.
17

Tubs.

12

Sept 16

6

2

13 .. ..

Sept 17

45 12

50 44

12

14

Sept 18

45 12

50 42

11

14

Sept 19

45 12

50 42

10

15

Sept 20

45 12

50 40

g

16

Sept 21

45 12

50 38

74

17

Sept 22

45 10

50 36

g

18

Sept 23

45 10

50 10

5

19

Sept 24

45 18

50 95

1

20

Sept 25

45 10

50 25

7

21

Sept 27

45 07

50 00

4

22

Sept 28

45 03

50 05

1

23

Sept 29

2

164

HISTORY AXD METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The weather during the second baiting was quiet uutil, toward the last of August, we had
perpetual fog, hardly a day passing when the sky was clear in every direction. The thermometer
marked on the average in the vicinity of GO0, with a little lower reading for the temperature of the
surface of the ocean. During September the weather was perfect; not only was the average tem-
perature warmer, but the air was clear from fog duriug a large part of the time. The suu shoue
brightly all day and set in splendor, and during the nights the moon shone in almost cloudless
skies. Once duriug the third baitiug the wind rose to a gale, and though the trawls were all out
the skipper did not think it prudent to risk going after them. Late in the day the sea went down
a little, and the dories ventured out. The trawls were very much injured from the rough usage
they had passed through, and more than half were entirely lost. I made thermometric observa-
tions during this time, until a heavy lurch of the vessel threw down my thermometer and broke it,
and during the third baiting barometric observations.

On the 29th of September the skipper gave the order to "give her the big mainsail." The
dories were all cleaned out and fastened securely in their places, the vessel was thoroughly
scrubbed, and the vestiges of two months' "gurry" removed in as many hours. Then the course
was laid for Saint Pierre, and away we sailed. On the 2d of October we called at Saint Pierre.
During the afternoon of that day we encountered a heavy gale between Saint Pierre and Scatari,
the southeastern point of Cape Breton Island. At first we ran before the fierce gale, but finally
were forced to "lie to;" we arrived at Arichat on the 4th. We ran to Guysborough the next
morning for a short call, thence, on Monday, October G, to Halifax. From Halifax we ran to
Gloucester, and, delayed by dead calms when little more than 100 miles from home, finally worked
in toward the land, made our way up the harbor, and anchored off the wharf belonging to the
owners of the vessel on the morning of October 12. For convenience I have prepared the following
condensed tabulated statement of the various movements of the vessels during the entire cruise:

CALENDAR OF THE CRUISE.

Date.

July 12 to 17

July 17 to 20

July 20 to 21

July21 to 23

July23 to 25

July 25 to 20

July 26 to August 7

August 7to9

August 9 to ] 1

August 11 to 13

August 13 to 14

August It to 20

August 20 to 31

August 31 to September 6.

September 6 to 9

Septembers to 11

September 11 to 13

September 13 to 29

September 29 to October 2 .

October2to4

October4 to 6

OctoberCtoS

Octobers to 12

Movements of vessel.

From Gloucester, Mass., to Guysborough, Nova Scotia.

Stay at Guysborongh.

To Arichat, Cape Breton Island, and stay.

Aricbat to Capo Broyle. Newfoundland.

Stay at Cape Broylo.

Cape Broyle to Station 1, north 40° 39', wist 50° 37'.

First baiting. Anchored in various places on Banks.

To Saint John's (Fresh-\Vater Cove), Newfoundland.

Saint John's to Tor Bay, Newfoundland.

Tor Bay to Carbonear, Newfoundland.

Carbonear to King's Cove, Newfoundland.

King's Cove to Open Hall, Newfoundland, and stay.

Open Hall to latitude 4j° 4', longitude 50° 33', and stay. Second baiting.

To Cape Broyle and stay.

Cape Broyle to Bay of Bulls, Newfoundland, and stay.

Bay of Bulls to Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, and stay.

Portugal Cove to Grand Banks, latitude 45° 12', longitude 51°.

Third baiting.

To Saint Pierre.

Saint Pierre to Arichat.

To Guysborough from Arichat, and stay.

Gnysborongh to Halifax.

Halifax to Gloucester; arriving at Gloucester at 3 a. m.

THE BANK TK AWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 165

b. TABLE OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING THE CRUISE.

Date.

Latitude.

Longitude.

Time.

Temperature.

Meteorological remarks.

Air.

"Water.

o /
42 37
42 53

0 /

70 06
67 30

9.16a.m.
4.30p.m.
12 m.
12 m.

65
58
74
53
56
55
50
55
53
56
55
54
59
59
55.5
57
56
62.5
57
63
63
60
55
56

64
45
55
43
51
50
50
50
51
54
53
52
53
53
52
52
54
54
56
60
57
60
53
54.5

Fine ; moderate breeze.

Cloudy ; fog in p. m.

Fog
Do.
Do.
Thick fog.
Fog.
Do.

Stiff breeze; cloudy.
Rain ; stiff breeze.
Clondy ; stiff breeze.

Fog; moderate breeze.
Clear; light breeze, WSW.
Fog; light breeze, SW.

Fog.
Cloudy.
Clear; light breeze, NE.
Clear; wind, NE.
Clear and pleasant; light breeze, E. by N.
Clear and pleasant ; light breeze, E.
Clear; stiff breeze, NE.
Rain; rough sea; blowing SE.
Clearing; fog; light breeze, SE.
Thick fog; mist; wind, SW.
Clear; light breeze, SW.

14

22

46 06

56 41

3.30p.m.
8 a. in.
12 m.
6 p.m.
3 p.m.
7 p.m.

27

46 43
46 43
46 43
46 43
46 47
46 46
47 02
47 06
47 06
46 50
46 50
46 49
46 49
46 51
46 51
46 43
46 43

50 37
50 34
50 34
CO 34
51 30
50 07
49 53
49 49
49 49
49 33
49 33
49 37
49 37
49 49
49 49
50 13
50 13

28

29

30 .

31

2

4 p. m.

9 :l. m.

3 p. m.
9 ii. m.
3 p.m.
9 a.m.
3 p.m.
9 a. m.
3 p.m.
9 a. m.
3 p.m.
9 a.m.
3 p.m.
3 p. m.
9 a.m.
3 p. m.
9 a. m.
3 p.m.
9 a.m.
3 p. m.
9 a. MI.
3 p.m.
9 n. in.
3 p. m.
9 a. in.
3 p.m.
9 a. in.
3 p.m.
9 a. MI.

3

3

4

4

5

5

g

6

7

7

g

8

23

45 04
45 04
45 04
43 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04
45 04

50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33
50 33

56
63

24

59

24

25

62

59

25 .

63
58
58
57
57
59
57.5
59
59
59.5
55

26

27

56
54
62
65
55
57
64
63
56

27

28

28

29

29

30

30

31

Date. Latitude.

Longitude.

Time.

Temperature.

•meter

Meteorological remarks.

Air.

Water.

O 1

September 13

O '

9a.m.
3 p. m.
9 a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9am.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3 D. m.

60
56.5
58
60
65
63
64
65
66
68
71
04

55
56.
58
60
60.
60
60
C3
62.
61.
63
61!

29.78
5

Fog; wind light, ESE.

Fog ; wind light, SE.
Do.
Light fog ; wind light, SE.
Do.
Clear; wind stiff, W.
Do.
Clondy ; strong breeze, SW.
Clear ; strong breeze, SW.
Clear; heavy breeze, SW.
Clear ; lieht breeze, W.

13

14

29. GO
29.60
5 2». 98
29.94
29.95

14

16 45 12

51 00
51 00
51 00
51 00
50 44
50 44
50 42
50 42

15 45 12

16 45 12

16 45 12

17 45 12

5 29.90
5 29.90
29.82
29.85

17 45 12

18 45 12

18... 45 12

166 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

1. TABLE OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING THE CRUISE — Continued.

Date.

Latitude.

Longitude.

Time.

Temperature.

Barometer.

Meteorological remarks.

Air.

Water.

0 '

45 12
45 12
45 12
45 12
45 12
45 12
45 10
45 10
45 10
45 10
45 18
45 18
45 10
45 10
45 11
45 10
45 07
45 07
45 03
45 03

o /
50 42
50 '42
50 40
50 40
50 38
50 38
50 36
50 36
50 10
50 10
50 25
50 25
50 25
50 25
50 25
50 25
50 00
50 00
50 05
50 05

9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.

1) U. 111.

3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.
3p.m.
9a.m.

64
61
62
64
63.5
60
60+

61
61
62
62
61.5
62

29.96
29.94
29.92
29.86
29.85
29.96
29.96
29.96
29.96
29.94
29.86
29.80
29.68
29.64
2D.86
29.90
29.98
30.18
30.18
30.06
30.00

Clear ; light breeze, S.
Fog ; light breeze, S.
Fog and rain ; light breeze, S.
Cloudy; light breeze, ESE.
Thin fog ; strong breeze, NW.
Clear; moderate breeze, NW.
Clear; stiff breeze, HE.
Do.
Do.
Cloudy; stiff breeze, SE.
Fog ; model ate breeze, SE.
Fog; light breeze, S.
Fog; light breeze, W.
Clear; stiff breeze, SW.
Cloudy ; heavy gale, N.
Cloudy ; heavy blow, If. by E.
Charming weather; light breeze, SE.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Fine ; moderate breeze, N.

19

20

20

21

21

22

22.

23

23

60+!
65+?
60+f
60»
COJ .
65+»
60+!
55+!
60+?
65+1
70+!
65+1

24

21 .

25

25

26..

26

27

27..

28

28

29

C. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FISH.

GENERAL APPEARANCE. — I did not notice that the Grand Bank cod presented any peculiar-
ities in appearance. In point of size they averaged larger than specimens I saw taken inshore
by the people in the various harbors of Newfoundland. I had no means of determining the weight
of fresh specimens, but took numerous measurements of specimens brought on board the vessel.
A few of these maximum, minimum, and average sizes are as follows:

Table of measurements (in inches').

Tip of enout
to end of
middle cau-
dal rays.

Tip of snout
to poste-
rior end of
supra-occip-
ital.

Greatest
girth.

Tip of snout
to vent.

31

7.

14}

Ml

25J

6.

12i

11

24

.6

12J

12

41

.10

21

20

63

.16

35

28

The average length of the fish brought on board the vessel was 45 inches ; some were caught
and rejected because too small to be worth bothering with. These were in some cases not much
over one foot in length. In the various harbors of Newfoundland I saw the people curing fish not
over a foot long, and they never caught any as large as the average Grand Bank fish.

MIGRATION. — It is the opinion of the fishermen that the fish migrate at regular seasons.
During October and later the catch of fish is very small. In December and January none are
taken. Toward March those who go thus early to the Banks begin to take a few, and as the year
advances the fishing steadily improves. Those who fish early in the year anchor their vessels on
the most southern and eastern edge of the Banks. Later, as the year advances, the fishing fleet
move further north and west, till finally in July most of the vessels are anchored in the neighbor-

THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 167

Lood of the Virgin Rocks, latitude 46° 27', longitude 51° G'. After this, as the year progresses, the
vessels begin a movement back again towards the south and east, until at last those who have
remained till November are again fishing on the very outer edge of the Bank.

This movement of the vessels aud the facts regarding the fish were furnished me by the skipper.
I believe they are correct. It is perfectly plain that, if they are true, there is a definite migration
among the cod of the Grand Bank. Early in the year, during the first of March or a little later,
a large school of fish moves in from the deep ocean waters and comes over the southern edge of
the Banks. This large school is followed by others jvbich drive the first comers further to the
north and west until the season reaches its height. These fish move over the Banks, feeding on
the places that are rich in the proper forms of life to suit the conditions of their existence. Later
in the year a movement toward the deep water is initiated and continues until finally the large
schools disappear.

To prove that the fish do migrate in this or in any other manner would require more observa-
tions than I could make. The men believe that they migrate in this manner, aud on it base their
own movements.

SCHOOL AND GURRY FISH. — The fishermen make a division among the fish, separating them
into two groups called "school fish" and "gurry fish." The school fish are supposed to move over
the bottom in large schools seeking fresh feeding grounds as fast as food became scarce in any of
the regions where they have been fishing. The fish we captured during the first and second bait-
ings were of this sort. They presented a plump appearance, looking very vigorous and healthy.
They were, moreover, in large numbers in any one spot, and could not all be "fished out" in a
single haul. The term gurry fish, on the other hand, seemed to be applied to the few stragglers
who remained on the Bank after the larger schools had migrated. These had a thin and hungry
look ; their flesh was almost flabby. Nor did they kick about in such a lively manner when
brought on board. It is supposed also that these fish will bite readily on gurry, or bait made from
the "pea" and other intestines of the fish, aud from this fact they have derived their name, while
it is averred that the school fish will not take any bait save the very best. These gurry fish are
thought by the men to be a body of stragglers which never leaves the Banks, but, instead of par-
taking in the usual migration, remain in small and scattered numbers, picking up a scanty living
on whatever they can obtain.

As I have mentioned, in the paragraphs referring to bait, it is at present the habit to use only
fresh bait until late in the year, when salt bait or gurry is used with some success. I saw this illus-
trated during our trip. In places where the fish had been biting well they fell off suddenly on the
introduction of salt bait and gurry. During the second baiting, fishing had been excellent. Wo
had been taking daily an average of 12 tubs when our bait became greatly deteriorated. The skip-
per then thought to try salt bait and gurry, and on the 30th day of August took only two tubs of fish.
The same thing happened during the third baiting. These facts show that during the early season
the fish are rather fastidious. I was told that later in the year, during October, they caught a few
fish with gurry, and the skipper had with him 10,000 salted squid to be used at that time if he
should remain so late.

SPAWNING. — The fish did not appear to be spawning daring any of the lime of my visit to
the Grand Bank. The ovaries were usually quite small, having a length of not more than 5 or
G inches, as a rule, aud, indeed, to find them so large as that was rare. The eggs were very imma-
ture indeed. In one case did an ovary appear that was large and more natural than any of the
others, but in this one case only were the fish anywhere near the time of spawning. That spawn-
ing at that time is infrequent I remember the better from the remarks of the men. When I inquired

168 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

for eggs in order to try eating some of them fried they replied that they never found the pea so late
in the year.

FOOD. — The food of the cod is extremely various, and on account of this fact collectors have
always paid much attention to an examination of their stomachs and been richly rewarded. The
fish is liable to swallow almost anything that comes in its way, so that stories are by no means
uncommon of jack-knives lost overboard returning to their owners again when the day's catch of
fish was dressed. Invertebrates of many sorts are a favorite food, and other species of fish are
often eaten. Of fish I noted only two species among stomach contents; the lant, Ammodytes
americanus, was very often found and seemed to be very much liked by the fish. One specimen of
Cottus spinosus was also observed. Among the invertebrates Eyas araneus was found in enor-
mous numbers, from fifty to one hundred specimens being obtainable from almost every haul.
Curiously the more common species of the genus H. coarctatus was not observed on the Bank
by any of the crew. Numerous other crustaceans were also found. Among mollusks two or three
species of Buccimtm were found, Fusus ventricosus, Pecten islandicus, Siliqua costata, and sundry
other species. Large numbers of Thyone elongata, sea urchins, and sea anemones also occurred
frequently.

KINDS OF BOTTOM. — The habit among the fish of frequenting certain kinds of bottom and.
keeping away from others seems quite well recognized among the fishermen. The fact is always
kept in view by a skipper when he is about to anchor, and when he does not know from his chart
or by experience the character of the bottom, he makes a sounding, and from the greased end of
the lead draws his own conclusions. Should this lead him to infer a bottom of bright sand, and
one almost destitute of invertebrate life, he would not come to anchor. If the indications led him to
expect hard rocks or shells, and hence the presence of " curios," he would regard it as a likely place
for fish, and bring the vessel " to an anchor." The charts are usually constructed so as to show
the character of the bottom at any part of the Grand Bank, and to the knowledge that he may
gain in this way the skipper adds the knowledge of places that were good in former trips. He
never anchored in a place blindly, in total disregard of the character of the bottom, and informed
me of it in every station in which we fished.

THROWING GURRY OVERBOARD. — It has often been affirmed that the practice of throwing the
gurry overboard had the effect of diminishing the daily catch. I did not observe that it had any
effect whatever. By a reference to the tabulated statements of the catch made by the Victor it
can be seen just how many fish were taken in eacL haul. It will be noticed at once, by a glance
at this table, that the vessel, during the second baiting, remained in Station 11 from August
22 till August 30, making eight successive sets in the same berth. It is true that toward the end
of this time the catch fell off. The same thing occurred in the first and third baitings, when
the vessel made a berth every day, and is to be accounted for by the poor bait. After having
remained several days in the bait pen, the lower layers become so much deteriorated as to be
almost worthless, and fail utterly of attracting the fish. In the second baiting, so long as the
bait held out, the fish were captured, and the table shows a fair average haul each day, with
such fluctuations as show that the gurry thrown overboard in the operation of dressing could
not have made much difference in the numbers of fish taken.

FRESH VERSUS SALT BAIT. — I have elsewhere alluded to the relative efficiency of fresh and
salt bait. I presume that it is not so much for me to say what are the tastes of the fish regarding
bait as what usages I observed among the men. It is a very well known fact that the practice
of using fresh bait is only a recent one among the Grand Bank fishermen. In former times salt
clams and salt herring were used, and with good effect. To-day, however, the practice is almost,

THE BANK TKAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 169

if not quite, universal, of buying fresh bait where it cau be most conveniently obtained and
usiug it fresh. It is the unanimous belu-f of the men that the fish won't bite on salt bait during
the summer and early fall. It is, henco, only fair to suppose that the fish at such times find so
much invertebrate life on the bottom that only a tempting morsel attracts them, and they refuse
salt bait because they are not hungry. That they do refuse the salt bait is an unquestionable fact.
Ou our second baiting, we averaged thirteen tubs of fish daily, until the number suddenly fell.
We tried salt bait, and, in place of thirteen tubs, took two. The same thing happened in one
or two other instances. As soon as the fresh bait was replaced by the salt, there was no decent
catch, even when, from past success, it was but fair to expect the ordinary success. Every
fisherman to whom I spoke upon the subject gave it as his opinion that no fish could be caught^
on salt bait until the very last thing in the fall, and that it was useless to try it.

As to the question, "Do the fish prefer one kind of fresh bait to another, as, for example, squid
to capeliu," I cannot say very much. I did not have any opportunity of observing the use of any
bait except the squid during my trips. Of the fact of the use of the different kinds of bait I have
spoken under the subject of bait. What might be the result if one vessel continued using herring
iu August, when vessels anchored on every side were fishing with squid, I cannot say; from what
I know of fishermen I don't believe that many would care to try the experiment, provided they
could have either kind of bait at the same expense and trouble.

d. THE VESSEL AND OUTFIT.

FORECASTLE. — The vessel was a schooner, built at Essex in 1874. Her dimensions were as
follows: Length, 76 feet 8 inches ; width, 21 feet 8 inches ; depth, 8 feet. Her tonnage was 70.91 tons,
and she cost, when built, $8,000, but the owner says she could be built to-day probably for $0,000.
In the extreme forward part of the vessel was the forecastle or living room of the greater part of
the crew. Its shape was that of a triangle with two sides curved, and was the same as the shape
of the bow of the vessel. On the sides of the forecastle were berths placed in two tiers, and six
in number on the port side. On the starboard side were four, the place of the two farthest aft
being used for an upright locker or dish-closet, and for some open shelves. On the inner sides of
the bunks ran a board about one foot wide. This, on each side of the apartment, was pierced
by a sort of trap-door, which, on being removed, allowed one to see quite an extensive store-room
or locker, used for potatoes and other stores of that sort. The ledge forming the top of the locker
was at such a height from the forecastle floor as to form a convenient seat, and, indeed was built,
I suppose, to serve just that purpose. Passing up through the apartment from the floor through
the deck above were the pawl-post and the foremast. Between these was placed a table so
devised as to furnish the greatest surface possible, when open, and to occupy the smallest space
when closed. In order to accomplish these ends it was made in two parts, the former of these,
extending from the pawl-post half-way to the foremast, was fastened securely, and was immovable ;
the other filled the remaining space from the forward half to the mast. When not in use it was
thrown up out of the way and folded around the foremast. The side of the table reached out toward
the berths, and parallel to them so far as to allow one sitting upon the lockers to eat from it con-
veniently; and to prevent dishes from sliding off in a rough sea its edge was protected by a ledge
extending all the way around it. The escape of dishes toward the table's center in rough weather
was further prevented by a piece fastened along the table parallel to the edge and leaving the
dishes in a sort of trough just wide enough to accommodate them.

These three concentric triangles — the berths, the lockers, and the table — occupy the largest
part of the forecastle ; some other points are, however, worth noticing. The after end of the room

] 70 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

is foiuied by the bulwark cutting it off from the foreho'd. Before the center of this stands
the companion ladder, which leads to the deck. On the right of the companion the stove was
placed; an ordinary large sized stove, peculiar only in having a low railing placed around its
top to prevent pots and kettles from sliding about in a heavy seaway. To the left of the com-
panion was a passage-way into the fore-hold. A sliding door was placed at this gangway, but it
was never used, so that I was ignorant of its existence until I had spent two months in the vessel.

For storage room in the forecastle the locker just aft the starboard bunks is used for dishes,
knives, forks, spoons, &c. Between this and the fore hold bulkhead were some open shelves, on
which some of the provisions, as beans, peas, tea, and coffee, were kept. The horizontal locker
spoken of as passing around inside the bunks was used for vegetables, as potatoes, turnips, &c.
Ou the starboard side aft this ran only as far as the upright locker, and before the shelves was
replaced by a low shelf pierced with holes, on which tea and coffee kettles were stood. Finally,
one more locker was placed upon the horizontal locker against the bulkhead and beside the door-
way into the fore-hold. This rose as high as the deck above, and was used for the temporary stor-
age of the food that had not been eaten at the regular meal. It was usually kept well supplied
with bread, cake, or pie, and meat, so as to furnish a lunch to any one who might be hungry between
meals.

FORE HOLD.— The gangway from the forecastle passed into the fore-hold. It was not a sepa-
rate part of the hold, but merely a small space divided from the hold by a tier of barrels reaching
one above another nearly to the deck. This little barrier of barrels, containing water, meat, flour,
kerosene, &c., left a sort of space clear for the storage of other supplies and for some of the opera-
tions of the steward. The right side of this space was occupied by a bin containing coal for the
galley stove. Against the port side of the vessel, were shelves for lard and butter tubs and sundry
other smaller stores, while barrels of pork, beef, and knuckles stood beneath the shelf. Just in
front of one as he passed through the gangway from the forecastle stood a barrel of flour and sugar.
A large bread-board placed across the top of one of these furnished him a table for making bread
or cake.

MAIN AND AFTER HOLD. — I have spoken of the fore-hold as if it were a distinct part of the vessel.
In one sense it is, though its separation from the other parts of the hold is not by any such clear
boundary as a bulkhead, but by a mere tier of barrels. The remaining space of the hold was
divided into the "main" and "after" hold by an imaginary line, which was not, so far as I ever
learned; generally agreed upon, but which practically cut the center of the mainmast. The main-
hold, entered from the deck by the main-hatch, was a large space, not subdivided by partitions into
compartments, and extending aft from the fore-hold as far as the mainmast or thereabouts. The
remaining space of the hold formed the after-hold. In its afterpart this hold was divided up into
pens for storage of bait and ice. A few partitions also extended from the sides toward the vessel's
center in the remaining part of this hold. These made very convenient little compartments for the
storage of salt during the outward voyage and later in the season were filled with fish. These
holds in the vessel, as in all the fishing schooners, occupy the largest available space possible, and
encroach so much upon the forecastle and cabin as to make them very much cramped up. The
hold of our little schooner — one of only 70 tons — could carry with ease one hundred and forty or
even one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of fish.

CABIN.— The extreme afterpart of the vessel was occupied by the cabin, an apartment 9 or
10 feet long by about 7 wide. The entrance to the cabin was by a companion ladder in the center
of the after end of the room. In the center stood a stove; directly in front of this and against the
bulkhead was a locker, used as a receptacle for tools and nails, and its top provided with a leaf

THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 171

that could be made to serve as a table. On the top of this tool-locker stood the medicine-chest.
On each side of the cabin were two bunks, and around the cabin in front of these bunks ran a low
locker seat, the interior of which was used as a receptacle for leads, hooks, and other fishing gear.
Under the two forward bunks was also a space devoted to the storage of rigging and fishing gear,
and still more room was obtained in a small space aft of the cabin, under the vessel's stern. In
order to make the cabin higher than would be possible otherwise, its ceiling is a sort of box placed
on the quarter-deck, called the house, and too well known in sailing vessels of every description to
need further notice. Under the cabin floor was a small coal bin, reached by a hatchway.

The furniture of the cabin was not extensive. Upon the forward bulkhead, in the center,
hung an octagonal eight-day clock, and to starboard of this an aneroid barometer. Below the
clock was a kerosene lamp depending from a nail, but so contrived that when set upon a table it
would swing upon pivots and maintain a vertical position despite the rolling of .the vessel. On
a couple of hooks above the aneroid usually hung the charts. On either side of the companion
way was a large mariners compass, so placed as to be visible to the man at the wheel through a
hole cut in the after-side of the house. One of these was less sensitive than the other and intended
for use in heavy weather. The starboard binnacle was the one most commonly used. This was
illuminated at night by a lamp, arranged for universal motion by swinging on gimbals.

Four men slept in the cabin, selected by lot. The captain gave up his bunk for my accommo-
dation, and " turned in" in the port bunk with one of the men, while the two after bunks were occu-
pied each by one man. To sleep in the cabin was not regarded as any sign of rank, and, indeed,
some even preferred to sleep in the forecastle. The cabin folks went forward to their meals, and
those from the forecastle came aft to chat when there was no work to be done and when they
couldn't sleep, and the greatest harmony prevailed at all times between the forecastle and the
cabin.

THE DECK. — In the extreme forward parts of the vessel's deck are placed the anchors, cables,
and windlass. Aft the foremast is the little house that covers the companion-way into the fore-
castle. On the starboard side of this is the funnel from the galley stove, while on the port side 200
fathoms of the strongest hawser are coiled. Placed on edge on the main deck are thick planks,
fencing off shallow compartments, and called "checker-boards." These serve to keep the fish,
when thrown on deck, from sliding back and forth with the rolling of the vessel and becoming
bruised. Two hatches pierce this deck: one just aft the forecastle companion leads into the fore-
hold, and in fine weather is always covered with a grating of wooden bars; the other, the main
hatch, leads into the main-hold. These hatches are usually open in order to furnish ventilation,
but in wet weather or heavy sea they are closed and made water-tight by tarpaulins fastened
securely over them. In the waist of the vessel, on either side, are piled the dories, one inside the
other, and the lower one always held in place by lashings fore and aft. Besides these belongings
to the main deck, several barrels, containing water or provisions, were placed between the fore
and main hatches and securely lashed. A small gun, called by the fishermen a " swivel," was also
placed between the main hatch and the starboard dories, and was used in foggy weather to signal
to the dories the position of the schooner.

On the quarter-deck was a row of large butts (ordinary molasses hogsheads), called "gurry-
butts," fastened in front of the house. These, three in number, were used for storing the fish
livers. The center of the quarter deck is taken up with the house, with a narrow space left on
each side for a gangway. On the house a very characteristic structure was observable. A thick
plank ran around the sides and after ends as far as the companion, scarred as if by innumerable
choppings with a knife. It was on this plank that the bait was cut into pieces of the proper size.

172 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

On either quarter-rail, just aft the main shrouds, two pieces of joist were fastened. These were
supports for the splitting tables. The steering apparatus was a wheel, which, with its box, was
placed exactly opposite the cabin companion-way.

ORDINARY FORM OF RIGGING. — In her rigging the vessel did not vary much from other fore-
and aft schooners. She carried fore and main sails, one jib, gaff-topsail, and staysail. Besides
these sails of ordinary type was a sail devised for keeping the vessel's head to the sea when riding
at anchor on the Banks, and hence called a "riding-sail." This riding-sail is triangular in shape,
and of the pattern known in some places as a " shoulder-of-mutton-sail." At all times, save when
the vessel is fishing, this sail is stowed in the hold. When the vessel is at anchor on the Banks
this sail is set in its place. The mainsail is furled iu the ordinary manner, and the head of the
riding-sail is hoisted to the head of the mainmast. The luff is secured by ropes passing around the
mast.

To the fisherman this sail is invaluable. Lying at anchor, as the vessel does, she must have
her head brought to the sea and wind in some way or the rolling is extremely inconvenient. While
on the Bank the riding-sail was not usually taken down, and, in case the skipper desired to shift
a berth, this sail, with the foresail and jib, were enough to give the vessel proper steerage way,
and, indeed, a respectable speed. When the mainsail was needed for any long passage the riding-
sail was taken down, unbent, folded up, and stowed away. When the vessel is anchored on the
Banks with her riding-sail set, she is sometimes said to " have gone to housekeeping."

SEAWORTHINESS AND SPEED. — Builders manage to make their models not slow and sure, but
often very fast. The secret of their speed lies in the enormous surface of sail they spread out
to the wind. Knowing how stiff a boat he has, the skipper is not afraid to cany sail in a strong
breeze, and often can make a record of which no yachting man would feel ashamed. Our sailing
last summer was often very exciting. The run from Arichat to Cape Broyle we made in forty
hours, and we logged 11 knots an hour during part of the first night; nor was this a very unusual
rate of speed, for we attained it on several other passages. I was told, also, of one vessel, which,
during the fall of 1877, iu a run from Canso home, logged 13 knots an hour during seven consecu
tive hours. .Nor is this high speed unusual among the fishing smacks, so that often they overtake
merchant vessels that happen to be running the same course, and leave them to drop out of sight
astern. Their best point of sailing, however, is generally by the wind, as they lay very close.

The navigating of the vessel is part of the skipper's duty, and is sometimes a very crude sort
of navigation. He has with him one or two charts, a pair of parallel rulers, a log, and sometimes a
quadrant. The chart covers the region from Cape Cod to longitude 40° or thereabouts, and, after
the plan of the best charts, is spotted with compasses on which the variation of the needle is allowed
for. By referring to these, in laying out his course, the skipper is saved all mathematical computa-
tion by doing all his reckoning by reference to the magnetic meridian. Our log was a patent one
and gave v«ry good results. The skipper always used this in reckoning his distances from laud,
and made occasional quadrant observations also for determining his position, but these latter did
not succeed as well as the log. One cause of the mal-success was, perhaps, that he referred to
almanacs, distributed gratis, for his declination.

Yet the skippers, though they run a good deal by guess, have coasted along shore and over
the Banks so much that they seem to find their way with comparatively little trouble. As we ran
in to Saint Pierre I saw an illustration of this. I was on deck at midnight, and the skipper said
the red light of Saint Pierre ought soon to appear. We kept on NW. some time longer, but the
light did not heave in sight. Finally, some two or three hours later, since the light did not yet

THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 173

come in sight, the skipper changed the course to north. In an hour or two after this the light
appeared on our starboard bow. A very little longer to NW. and we should have missed it entirely.

DESCRIPTION OP DORY. — The dory may fairly be said to be one of the safest forms of small
boats. It is a flat-bottomed boat, sharp at the bow, but with the sharp point of the stern trun-
cated, and with very flaring sides. In cross section it is a flat-bottomed letter V. In longitudinal
section it is elliptical, sharp pointed in the bow, and cut square across astern.

They are a lap-streak boat, provided usually with three seats, and having thole-pins in place of
stationary row-locks. To the bow and stern are fastened painters, to be used in retaining the
dories by the vessel's side or in securing them on_deck. The seats are not fastened in, but are
merely laid upon ribbands running round inside the dory and nailed to the ribs, in order that they
can be easily removed when the dories are to be placed on deck "spoon-fashion." In the bottom
of the dory is a plug, kept in the dory by a rope. This rope passes through the plug, and is held
from slipping by a large bight in its end. It is manifest that this bight is far more than is neces-
sary to keep the rope from slipping through the plug. It has another and more important purpose
than that. When the dory is overturned in the sea and her bottom lies upward, the smooth surface
presents nothing to which the struggling fishermen can cling. This bight is the only thing project-
ing through the bottom of the boat, and while not a very firm support, has doubtless formed the sole
dependence of more than one poor fellow. I heard of a narrow escape before this bight was thought
of. One dory was overturned in a hard storm ; one of the occupants was at once washed away
and drowned; the other managed to force the plug out of the hole, and then continued to hang on
all night by putting his fingers into the hole. In the morning he was rescued, his fingers worn to
the bone from the chafing.

SHIP-CHANDLERY.— In preparing for a voyage every want must be anticipated and prepared
for. Although the fishermen are not very distant from land, yet that land is not the place in which
to procure supplies at low cost, or, indeed, at times at any cost. All needs of rigging must be
supplied. The halyards and sheets must be strong, the sails looked to and their weak spots exam-
ined. Spare anchors, cable, extra blocks, ropes of various sizes, bolts, chains, and all the other
hundred things that belong to a vessel must be placed on board. The tool-chest must be looked
over, and a good supply of nails, screws, &c., taken on board. The medicine chest must also be
overhauled and the medicines ascertained to be present in the proper quantity.

GEAR FOR FISHING. — Besides providing a full set of the various ship chandlery, all the
lines, hooks, and other material necessary for constructing trawls must be taken, and a supply
of the implements used in trawling and in dressing fish. Three kinds of line were used in the
construction of the trawl; also hooks, small iron anchors, and buoys for indicating the end of tht
trawls. Dories, wood for dory plugs, thole pins, thwarts, and spare oars to supply broken ones,
hooks and lines of proper size for catching bait if a chance were offered, knives for bait-cutting,
dory knives, splitting knives, and throating knives, gaffs, gob-sticks and pews, tubs for trawls,
dressing tubs, splitting tables, nippers, rollers, powder for the swivel, a horn and a bell for fog,
are among the thousand things to be looked to before the vessel's departure.

SALT AND ICE. — For the preservation of the fish a large amount of salt was carried — in our
case 1GO hogsheads — stowed away in the hold, and there being very useful as ballast. This was
coarse salt, of the kind known as Trapani salt. This salt, the skipper explained, was of a better
quality than Cadiz salt, which is used somewhat, for he claimed it was coarser and stronger.

Besides salt, the vessel's outfit also included ice. This is purchased at home by vessels fishing
near Gloucester, but the Grand Bankers generally expect to obtain the ice that they will need either
at Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. In the former place we obtained a supply at the rate of $2.50

174

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

per ton, but were forced to pay for what we had in Newfoundland at the rate of $4 per ton. The
" baiting up" of fishermen has grown into such an enterprise, that in nearly every hamlet some one,
or often two, preserve ice to sell during the fishing season. As to the amount of ice used, 4 tons
is enough to preserve 40 barrels of bait during a period of from fourteen to eighteen days. The
melting of the ice is much hastened by the salt atmosphere in which it is kept, so that it would
seem that, were the ice-pen made tighter and so as to allow less ventilation from the hold, the
ice, and bait too, could be preserved much longer.

PROVISIONS. — In addition to these supplies were also the provisions, which must last the crew
during their entire stay. For, although it would be possible to purchase in Newfoundland any
provisions, they would be obtainable only at very great disadvantage. I append a list of the
stores furnished to the vessel as it was given to me by the steward :

Articles.

Quantity.

Articles.

Qnantity.

Articles.

Quantity.

5

4

1

Port barrel . .

1
1

Hops pound..

1

350

Essence lemon dozen bottles..

2
4

200

1

2

150

20

Salt bags

3

Flour barrels

8

35

2

Rice bushel..

1

i

Condensed milk dozen cans..

4
1

Cloves in M i ml

1
2

°0

10

1

1

1

4

12

I

i

ne appes

From a glance at this list one can see that a good cook could prepare excellent fare for our
men. Their fare was very good indeed, far better than I ever saw among the Newfoundlanders,
or even the Nova Scotians. Some fresh provisions were, of course, wanting, that landsmen could
have, but our bread and butter, and, indeed all our fare, was very much better than that of the folks
ashore. I was surprised to find our men living so well and spoke of it, asking if all the fishermen
fared as well as they. In answer to this I was assured that in our vessel the living was only average,
and that some lived even far better, because, being more inshore, they had more frequent chances
to obtain fresh provisions.

In addition to having the care of providing these provisions, the cook was also responsible for
securing an abundant supply of wood and coal and the further light stores included in the following
list, viz: Kerosene, 1 barrel; burners for lamps, £ dozen; burners for lamps to be used without
chimneys, £ dozen; wicks, 2 bunches ; stove-polish; matches.

WATER. — By far the most important store carried in the vessel is water. This is usually carried
in barrels stowed about the deck and in the hold, though in some cases a tank is built in the vessel
for its reception. On departing from home a vessel takes on board a supply large enough to last
several days, relying on Newfoundland for a general filling up. In Gloucester the water is purchased
from an aquariits, who plies about the harbor in a boat called the Aquapura. The hold of this boat
is one immense tank, filled from the city hydrants, and from it the water is pumped into the barrels
of the schooner. Judging from the taste of the water and the untidy appearance of the Aqua pura,
one might think that the waterman was not quite as neat about his water-tanks as could be desired.
In fact, to a landsman the water he supplied was absolutely disgusting, so that the thought occurred
to me that some arrangement in Gloucester for supplying that enormous fleet of fishermen with
good, pure, fresh water, and that, too, conveniently, was an imperative demand.

THE BANK TKAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 175

In Newfoundland the water is obtained directly from mountain streams tbat everywhere run
down over the rocks into the sea. The process of filling, which is somewhat interesting, is described
elsewhere.

€. APPARATUS AND MODE OF USE.

GANGING HOOKS. — In the early days of this fishery, and down to quite recent times, the modes
of fishing were very different from those in vogue at present. Trawling, the method now most
universally followed, was not till recently introduced, and the old fashion of hand-lining prevailed.
Of late, however, the idea of connecting a large number of hooks into one string and letting these
all fish at once has superseded the old method of one line, or at most two, to each man, and with the
best results. In preparing the trawl the crew usually worked together, sitting on the deck in any
convenient place during our beautiful July days in the Gulf of Maine. The helmsman at such
times lolled on the wheelbox and watched the busy fellows, lending a voice now and then to the
small talk and often spinning a yarn for the others' benefit. The first operation in trawl-making
was "ganging hooks." The day after our departure was Sunday, and the men abstained from
work, but early on Monday morning they brought out the "gear" and prepared for work. The
" ganging line" was first cut into pieces 3 feet in length. Provided with a supply of these gaug-
ings, and with a stock of No. 14 cod hooks, each man began fastening a hook to the end of
the line.*

The hooks, after being ganged, are "moused," to prevent them from catching into one another,
and then laid in a pile until the pile contains 300 hooks. They are then fastened in a bunch and
another pile is commenced. By mousing the hooks is meant winding the ganging line two or
three times round the hook toward its point.

FASTENING GANGINGS TO THE GROUND-LINE. — The share of each man in the ganging of
hooks was 750 hooks. This number most of the crew finished in a single day. On the following
day, which was Tuesday, the work of the crew consisted in fastening the ganged hooks to the
ground line. This was strong tarred cotton line. At intervals of every fa: horn the free end of a
ganging was joined to this ground-line. They parted the strands with a sort of small marline-
spike, called a "pricker," passed the ganging through the hole and then made the knot.

Though this method of attaching the gangiugs to the ground-line was used altogether by our
crew, they told me of another knot not unknown among cod-fishermen, but in common use among
"haddockers." In making this a bight is first formed in the end of the ganging and laid upon
the ground-line. The short end is then wound two or three times around both ganging and ground-
line and passed through the bight. Finally, a heavy pull on the long end of the ganging draws
the bight tightly over the short end and keeps the whole knot firmly in position. I was told that
the knot first mentioned was usually preferred, because it was impossible for this to slip along the
ground line, while the latter knot at times gave trouble in that manner.

The ground-line was in sections, each three hundred fathoms in length, and each dory was
expected to prepare as its equipment five of these "strings." For convenience, each one of these
sections was kept in a tub, made by sawing off a barrel at the first hoops above the middle. In
some cases two tubs were made from one barrel, when barrels were scarce, but it is the fashion to
make only one good, "high-toned" one from one barrel. From the fact of one section being always
coiled away in one tub, the terms "tub-o'-trawl" and "three hundred fathoms of trawl" mean the
same thing. Very often the fishermen used the term " tub-o'-trawl" as a unit of linear measure-
ment, estimating objects as distant " six tubs o'-trawl," &c.

* The method of ganging hooks for cod trawls is described in the chapter on Apparatus,

176 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

ANCHORS, BUOYS, &c. — In order to make the trawl complete it was DOW provided with an
anchor for each end, with a line running from the anchor to the surface, and with a buoy to float
there and mark the position of this line. The anchor was of iron one inch in diameter, and pro-
vided with two flukes and the ordinary stock of iron belonging to small anchors. The buoy-line,
of strong tarred uianila, was usually 10 or 20 fathoms longer than the depth of water in which
they were fishing, or from 40 to 50 fathoms in length. The buoys, of which there was one for each
end of the trawl, were kegs made for the purpose, of small size, and pierced by a staff that extended
two or three feet beyond the buoy on each side. To one end of the staff was usually attached
either a small flag of canvas or a " black ball," made of a circular hoop of iron or wood, covered with
canvas and painted plack. Each trawl had one buoy thus marked with a black ball, and this was
called the outside buoy. The other, furnished with a flag, was called the inside buoy. Of this
trawl the crew, by industriously working, prepared in two or three days 7,500 fathoms, or over 8
miles of trawl-lines.

MODE OF SETTING TKAWL. — The trawls were set in the evening, provided the sea was not
excessively rough, and left during the night to catch what fish they could. In addition to the
night set, the fishermen, when fish are plenty and the supply of bait good, often make a set during
the day-time, or some times, too, by a process called underrnnning. In our case, however, lack
of bait and scarcity of fish prevented day sets from being feasible oftener than on one or two
occasions.

Every night, immediately after all hands had finished their suppers, the dories were loosed
from the davits, whence they had been towing astern, and hauled alongside. They were held
there by the cook and skipper, while the two men belonging to each dory put into it the fire
tubs of trawl, the anchors, buoys, and buny-lines. Then, watching their chance, for the schooner
and dory both rock, and in opposite directions — one rising as the other falls — they tumbled into
the dory and grasped their oars. They now pulled straight away from the vessel, each one in a
given "berth," which he draws by lot. These berths were in lines running from the. vessel as !i
center in five different directions. When they had pulled a certain distance, far enough, they said,
so that their buoy-line wouldn't get "afoul of the cable," one man, the one in the after part of the
dory, shipped in his oars and fastened the line of the inside buoy to its buoy, then threw the buoy
overboard into the sea. The bowman rowed steadily away from the vessel, directing his course by
the direction of the wind or sun if it were clear, or in a fog by an instinct, or a knowledge gained
by long experience, which seems to guide the fishermen on the sea as a hunter is guided on the
prairie. The buoy-line is now thrown over as fast as possible, but at the same time carefully over-
hauled to guard against any "snarls" that might be in it. The end of this line was fastened to
an anchor, and the end of one tub of trawl was at the same time "bent on" the anchor. The
anchor was now thrown over and the trawl overhauled hook by hook and thrown after it. ~So two
hooks were allowed to "foul" or to catch into one another, and if they did they were hauled aboard
and separated. I was told that this was to prevent the ground-line from being parted. Two
hooks so caught must lie against the ground-line, and any shark or other animal in biting at the
hooks would be almost certain of snapping the trawl in two. At the end of each tub another
tub was bent on and finally the anchor and buoy-line. Last of all the black ball was fastened to
the staff of the outside buoy and then the buoy thrown over to mark the outer end of the trawl.

By the time all this had been done the dory was about two miles distant from the vessel. If
the night were a clear one the vessel could be seen low down in the horizon, her hull almost out
of sight. lu this case the row would be a delightful one. Very often I used to lie in the dory's
stern and watch the tossing blue water, and the play of colors reflected from the sunset on the

THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 177

spray trom our oars, for it was my habit to go out with the dories nearly always in order to watch
the men, to hear their talk, and to enjoy the excitement of a row in the little dory so far from any
vessel and from land. In case of fog, however, and this was very often the case, the prospect
was vastly different. At that distance nothing could be seen and nothing could be heard, but the
men seemed to know jnst where they were, and, iu the most perfect confidence, pulled lustily into
the thick fog-bank. During this time the skipper, on board, has been ringing a huge fog-bell.
As the dory drew near the vessel, within a distance of one or two tubs of trawl, this was heard as
a dull and very distant muffled sound ; by degrees, as they drew nearer, the sound became better
defined^ and finally the outlines of the vessel loomed dimly upward. At the first hearing of the
fog-bell the men were much puzzled to know from what point the sound proceeded, but by listen-
ing intently they were finally able to guess nearly, and by further rowing to take the right direc-
tion. When once alongside, the dory was hauled on board by tackles, hooked at each end, and
deposited in its place for the night. After this had been done the men took the bearing of the
outside buoy, not by seeing where it was, for at that distance the black ball was absolutely invis-
ible, but by an inference from the direction iu which they had returned to the vessel. The
necessity of this is apparent, as during the night, with changes of wind and tide, the vessel may
alter her position and by morning point to some other quarter. Then he, who on the evening
previous pulled away from the bow to set his trawl, may in the morning have to pull out from
the stern in order to find it.

.The time spent in setting the trawl and getting back to the schooner was usually one hour,
and on clear nights the dories came in and were hauled on board just as the sun was dropping
out of sight in the western ocean.

METHOD OF UNDERKTJNNING. — In the Report of the U. S. Fish Commission for 1871-'72 a
method of trawling is described which is not the one ordinarily followed on the Grand Bank, but
a variation from it used because of its convenience in certain cases. This method is termed
"under-running," and its advantage is that it permits the removal of the fish from the hooks and
the baiting up of the hooks in a single operation, thus saving a good deal of labor. But a very
slight change in the form of the apparatus is necessary for use in underrunning, and the set is
made iu the same way as the set for hauling. Instead of fastening the ground-line to the anchor-
ring the fisherman fastens it to a stone and this stone to a line running some distance and then
joined to the buoy-line. In hauling, the buoy-line is pulled up until this line running to the stone
is reached. This is then pulled and the anchor is not disturbed. Finally, when the trawl begins
to come in it is hauled over the side of the dory by one man who removes the fish and the hooks
baited up and thrown over by the other man. In this way they haul, bait up, and set the trawl in
one single operation. Underruuuing is used when the fish are abundant, but as this was not the
case during any part of the trip last summer, I never saw it employed and describe it only from
hearsay.

MODE OF HAULING THE TRAWL. — At an early hour in the morning the men turned out to
their breakfast and at sunrise hoisted their dories over the side and prepared for hauling. The
thwarts were fixed and the oars laid across them, the five empty tubs were placed in the stern, the
dory-knife and the roller and the nippers were looked to, also the gaff, the gob-stick, and the
bailer, and when all these were found to be present the men tumbled into their dories and pulled
away in various directions, according to the bearings of their outer buoys. After pulling about
one mile they usually began to look for the black ball, on a clear day, yet, even if it did not appear,
they continued to row in the same direction until it came in sight. Having reached the buoy the
bowman hauled it in, and, catching the buoy line, allowed the buoy to tow alongside. Throwing the
SEO V 12

178 HISTOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHEKIES.

buoy-line over the roller, a large wooden spool, that allowed the trawl to be rolled over it with very
little friction, it is hauled in steadily hand-over-hand and coiled up by the dorymate. During this
and all his other hauling the fishermen protected their hands by nippers, a sort of woolen ring, cov-
ering the palm of the hand and creased in the center to allow a firm grip on the line. The anchor
finally came up, was unbent, and then the trawl began to come in. This was now coiled away in the
tubs as fast as it was hauled aiid the fish taken off at the same time by the dorymate. As fast as
the fish came in they were disengaged from the hooks and taken into the dory. The manner of loosing
them from the hooks was very simple and easy enough for the fishermen, though somewhat uncom-
fortable for the captives, I should imagine. The fish was dropped into the boat and brought up
short with a sudden jerk, which in most cases tore the hook out of the mouth. In some cases,
however, the hook was swallowed and caught so that no amount of pulling loosened it. In this
case a "gob-stick" was brought into service. The cut in the end of the stick was placed over the
hook and the hook irressed downward and easily withdrawn. In some cases fish were so loosely
hooked that they escaped as they were drawn up to the surface. At such times the fishermen
seized the-gaff in great haste and often succeeded in hooking it into the fish's body and drawing
him on board before he had escaped.

Of useful fish, the catch of the trawls was mainly cod, though haddock and halibut were occa-
sionally taken. The haddock were sometimes made into a chowder, but save in this manner no
use was made of them. The halibut were usually salted down with the other fish, and of the small
ones some were cooked for our meals. I know scarcely any fish more delicious than a chicken-
halibut fresh from the water, and when we were fishing I consumed a couple of fine steaks every
morning for my breakfast. In addition to useful fish we caught also large numbers of skates and
"sand-stars." All these were objects of execration as often as they appeared on the hooks, and
•were usually unceremoniously loosened from the hook by an angry slat against the dory's gunwale.

Besides the fish observed, numerous invertebrates were also brought up from the bottom
upon the hooks. Of all these I made collections, which have since been studied, and the results
will be published in another place.

In case the fishing was good the dory would not be able to carry in at a single trip all the fish
that her trawls had captured. At such times of good fortune an anchor buoy -line and buoy were
bent on when the dory was loaded and left to mark the trawl, while the dory returned to the vessel
to unload.

When finally the dory had taken in her last fish and hauled in the inside anchor and buoy she
was pulled alongside the vessel. The cry of " Dory !" summoned the cook and skipper on deck,
one to hold each painter while the fish were thrown on deck. The men first unloaded their tubs
and other trawl gear, handing them aboard to the skipper at the stern, who slides them down the
quarter in a row against the rail. The men then pitch the fish on board with a "pew," a sort of
one-tined pitch fork. This was stabbed into the body of the fish, which were pitched on board
much as a farmer would toss hay, and with fully as much unconcern on the part of the fisherman.
After the fish were thrown on deck the dory was fastened astern, or, in rough weather, hauled on
board, to prevent its getting adrift.

It was the rule to haul from the outer buoy inward toward the vessel, and this rule was
followed when possible. The reason for this is evident. In some instances, however, the men
failed to find their outside buoy in the dense fog. These rowed back to the vessel and then began
to haul from their inside buoy. It was not often that this occurred — a really surprising thing when
one recalls how very small an object the black ball is to row for and how very easily missed in a
dense fog.

V
THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 179

After the evening set the dories were invariably hoisted ou board and stowed in nests, one
inside tie other. The dories were hoisted on board by tackles, the hook at one end being caught
into the bow-painter of the dory, while at the other end it was hooked into the stern becket.
During the daytime, in fine weather, the dories were allowed to tow astern, in order to save the
trouble of hoisting them aboard twice during the day.

ACCIDENTS TO THE TRAWL. — There are several ways whereby the trawl may receive injury,
and sometimes injury severe enough to compel the owner of it to make a new string. Of these
accidents one of the most common is to get the trawl " hung up." During a rough and stormy night
the trawl may be swayed about enough to entangle itself in the rocks on the bottom and to resist
all attempts at tearing it loose. In this case, the most common practice is to begin hauling from
the other end, in the hope that from the opposite side the trawl may be pulled clear from its obstruc-
tion. This is occasionally successful. Sometimes, however, the trawl is caught in two places, and
when this occurs the part between the obstructions cannot be easily reached. When the trawl is
thus hung up the fisherman is compelled to part it, which is done by pulling until it parts or by a
hack with the dory-knife.

If the trawl be out during a heavy storm, so that it is dragged about by the roughness of the
sea, it is frequently chafed badly, and in some cases actually broken, by the grinding upon the
sharp rocks. This happened to our trawls during our last baiting. The trawls were left out all
one stormy night and day. The sea was very rough, so that the trawls were washed about very
badly, and when they were finally hauled every dory found the trawls parted, and some had lost
two or three tubs.

Besides being cut up in these ways, the trawls also sometimes suffer from the attacks of
sharks or dogfish, which snap it in two with a bite of their sharp-teeth. To guard against any
temptation to this, the men never allow the hooks to go down fouled so as to lie upon the ground-
line, lest the fish, in taking the bait, cut the ground-line. Sometimes, where several vessels are
fishing near one another, one trawl will happen to lie directly across one from another vessel. If
then the owner of the under one should haul first he would bring up the upper trawl lying across
his own. When this happens he is very liable to take his. knife and cut his neighbor's ground-
line, unless he be an extremely kiud-natured fisherman.

Sometimes the vessel, in swinging around, gets the cable around the buoy line. As she farther
swings around something must give, and if the trawl be fast on the bottom in any way the buoy-
line is broken in two. To avoid this, the trawls are seldom set close to the vessel, the inner buoys
not being dropped till the dory is well clear of any place the cable can reach.

The men would always venture out in worse weather to haul their trawls than to set them, for
they feared in bad weather that the vessel might get adrift in some way, and then they might lose
the trawls entirely. I remember of one case where a vessel broke her cable and drifted some dis-
tance before the crew became aware of it. These men tried to find their old anchorage, but, though
they spent several days in cruising over the spot, they lost the whole of their gear.

/. THE CAEE OF THE FISH.

UNLOADING THE DORIES. — Usually between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning the loud cry
of "Dory!" brought the skipper and the crew from the interior of the vessel, often interrupting a
pleasant morning snooze. The dory from which this cry had proceeded was pulled alongside the
vessel amidships, and there kept in place by the cook's hold upon the forward painter and the
skipper's on the stern painter. Meanwhile the fish were thrown upon the vessel's deck by the
two men in the dories ; pitched up heartlessly over the side by a pew, and often falling heavily

180 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

upon the upturned edge of the plank forming the checker-boards. As a rule, most of the dories
reached the vessel at about the same time, and unloaded their cargoes as fast as there was a place
for them to haul alongside. In some instances, however, one dory, or two, might be unusually
delayed by a larger haul, or missing the buoy, or various other causes of detention. When a dory
was unloaded it was allowed to float astern, being made fast by a hitch of the painter around the
davit.

APPARATUS. — The operation of dressing began after all the men had returned to the vessel,
excepting, occasionally, when one dory might be unusually delayed. In dressing the fish the crew
were divided into two parts, each of which performed similar operations. Their apparatus was
extremely simple, consisting of a large tub and a table; also the requisite supply of knives to be
used in cutting up the fish. The tub was a large hogshead sawed off somewhat above the middle.
The table, which was capable of being removed at any time, was composed of several boards hold
together by cleats upon the lower side. This table, as well as the tub, was placed by the vessel's
side. At one end it was supported by the rail of the vessel, confined there by a piece of joist nailed
to the rail and fitting between two flat pieces of board securely fastened to the table, and sepa-
rated from one another by the width of the joist. The inner end of this table was supported by a
board which ran from its under side to the angle of the deck and the vessel's bulwark. On the side
of the table on which the tub was placed was a cleat, standing two inches high, which served to
prevent the fish and the viscera from falling while the dressing was being performed, and in the cen-
ter, toward the inner end, was a second cleat used to hold the fish during the work of the splitter.

In order to escape the inconvenience of left-handed movements the relative positions of the
tub and table, and positions of the men in splitting, were on one side the reverse of those on the
other. On the starboard side the two stood between the house and the bulwarks, the table just
aft the main rigging. On the port side the table occupied the same position, and the tub stood
just under the main rigging.

Two kinds of knives were used for the different operations. The throater was provided with
a sharp-pointed and strong keen-edged knife of fine steel. The splitter had a knife rounded on
tho end with curved blade and of very fine steel. These knives were different from the bait-knives,
the latter being of more varying kinds.

THE PROCESS OF SPLITTING.— When all hands are in readiness to dress the fish, the splitting
tables are taken from their perch on the liver-butts and fastened up in their places. The tub is
also put in its place ready for the header. One man, called the ''idler," now fills the tubs, and then
active work begins. The " throater," standing by the side of the tub farthest from the table, now
takes a cod from the tub, seizing the fish's jaw in his left hand. He lifts the fish up to the edge
of the tub and poises him there, belly upward, on the supra-occipital bone. With the well sharp-
ened and pointed knife in his right hand, he makes a transverse cut across the throat, just behind
the gills. Introducing the knife at this opening he cuts down the belly, laying open the abdominal
cavity, and making also one cut on each side downward he separates the head from the sides, and,
with another, separates all the viscera of the belly from those of the head. Finally, still holding
the fish thus poised, he presses with his right hand upon the fish's belly, and breaks off the body
from the head at the first vertebra. The fish then falls into the tub, and the fisherman cuts the skin
of the head through, when it does not break off of itself, and then throws it into the sea. The first
is followed by a second and a third, till all the fish in the tub have been beheaded and opened.

On the opposite side of the tub, between it and the table and close to the vessel's side, stands
the "gutter." He, taking the headless fi.sh from the tub, hauls them upon the splitting-table. With
his left hand he opens the abdominal cavity and with the other tears loose all the organs contained

THE BANK TE AWL-LINE COD FISHEEY. 181

therein. The livers he throws into a, basket placed to catch them and the stomach and reproduc-
tive organs quickly find their way into the ocean.

The fish is next pushed across the table and laid hold of by the splitter. He is armed with a
very sharp and somewhat peculiar shaped knife. The blade, -which is of very well tempered steel,
is somewhat curved flatwise. With the back of the fish braced against the cleat in the center of
the table he makes a long incision down the ventral surface, continuing the opening made by the
throater, and splitting the flesh close by the side of the backbone almost to the tail. The fish is
then opened as the leaves of a book, and the tail allowed to hang over the inner edge of the table;
with a sharp stroke he then cuts under the backbone and loosens it so that he can catch the end
in his fingers. Seizing this with his left hand he cuts under it toward the head of the fish, and
with a few strokes separates the backbone from the body, allowing the latter to drop to the deck
and throwing the former into a pile that is collecting for the cook.

SALTING DOWN. — When the idlers have collected a couple of dozen of dressed fish in the
checker-boards they wash them thoroughly by sousing pails of sea- water over them, and when they
have finished this heave them with»their pews into the hold. Here they are seized by the salter,
who, grasping a fish by the tail, throws it dexterously upon the pile or kench flesh side uppermost,
and then sprinkles over it a layer of, salt from a scoop in his other hand. The fish are built up
in very regular keuches, laid head to tail, always with the skin down and spread out flat. In our
vessel two men were in charge of salting — the skipper and one of the crew. Their business
requires considerable skill, for many a cargo has rotted from insufficient salting, and by too much
salting the flesh deteriorates greatly in flavor.

FURTHER CARE OF THE PISH. — Thus split and salted, the fish lie spread in kenches in the
hold until the vessel reaches home. While there they must be carefully guarded lest any water
should get upon them and injure them. The utmost caution was always used to shut the hatch
when any danger of rain menaced, and during a heavy sea, too, because the sea- water was not
briny enough to prevent injury, During the time the fish remain in the hold they are constantly
drying, the moisture being driven from those in the middle and lower part of the kenches by the
pressure from those above. The water thus pressed out ran down into the hold in such large
quantities that when the fish were being taken in any numbers it was necessary that the vessel be
often pumped out. It was for this reason that every man was expected, at the end of his watch,
to pump out the vessel.

The work of splitting kept the men busy until nearly eleven o'clock. The talk then was of the
number of tubs split that day, which was added to the count kept by some member of the crew.
The amount of fish on board at any given time was reckoned in units of tubs. Three tubs held about
1,000 pounds of dressed fish, and thus our cargo, which by count contained 255 tubs, weighed off
at Gloucester 78,000 pounds. By induction they could tell how large their cargo was at any time,
though they did not often reduce it, since by long use the amount in tubs has as definite a mean-
ing as the amount in pounds.

COD LIVERS. — Of the various viscera of the cod that are saved and preserved for sale at home
the livers are perhaps the most important. These are separated by the gutter from the intestines,
and while the latter are cast overboard, these are collected and placed in the liver-butts. These
liver-butts are characteristic of a fishing vessel engaged in this branch of the fisheries. They are
huge casks mounted on skids, lashed down by strong ropes, and always placed in front of the house.
They are open at the top by a large square opening, covered usually with a piece of tarpaulin a
little larger than the hole, and fastened down securely at one end. After a time these butts become
filled with livers, and the livers by this time, through their constant churnings with the vessel's

182 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

rolling, Lave partially "tried out" their oil. To make more room iu the cask the oil is partially
drawn off and stowed in barrels. If the skipper finds that he can get a good price for his oil at
Newfoundland or Saint Pierre, he will turn it into money at those places; otherwise it is carried
home and disposed of there. Oil from the "bankers" is not pure enough to be used as the great
" luug-strengthener," inasmuch as it is not nicely taken care of on board the vessel. It is made

•

into what is known as "tanner's oil," and is sold at the average rate of 38 cents per gallon.

SOUNDS. — The sounds of the fish are, on many vessels, regarded as one of the cook's per-
quisites. These, the swim-bladders, lying just under the backbone and in the roof of the general
cavity of the body, are of large size in the cod and well stocked with gelatine, though by no means
approaching the value of the sounds of the hake (Phycia) in this particular. The cook, who was
not expected to take part iu the operations of dressing fish, usually spent the time when the crew
were occupied in that work in cutting the sounds out from the backbones. As fast as he obtained
these he threw them into a pail of salt water, where they might soak until he was ready for the
further operation of scraping them. This he did most frequently at evening, when the dories were
distant from the vessel setting their trawls. In scraping sounds a bait-knife is used, and blood
and other dirty matters are scraped off, and the sounds are theu put to soak iu strong brine for a
few days. From the briue they are transferred to a barrel for permanent stowage, and then they
are heavily salted. At the time of final packing the sounds look white and clean, quite unlike the
bloody mass they were at first. On his reaching port the cook sells the sounds, commanding for
them a price varying from 2 to 6 cents per pound. Like the Grand Bank livers, Grand Bank
sounds are not regarded as first class; they are made very largely into a preparation called
ribbon isinglass, used chiefly for settling beer. The best sounds, obtained from the off-shore fish-
eries and the fresh fishermen, are made into the better grades of isinglass for refining and sizing
purposes, and are also used for food.

COD TONGUES. — In addition to livers and sounds the tongues of the cod are also often cut out
aud saved by the fishermen, these being likewise the normal perquisite of the cook. On the Victor
no tongues were saved, but I was informed that they are often taken and preserved iu salt. They
are sold at home, and find their way into the market as a great delicacy.

OTHER VISCERA. — I am not aware that any other viscera of the cod are saved for sale, though
in the halibut the fins are often saved, but the pea and the stomach, too, sometimes are saved to
be used as bait when other sorts of bait are scarce. This sort of bait was formerly very exten-
sively used in cod fishing, but of late years the fishermen believe they must have fresh bait, and,
to obtain it, will sacrifice a great deal. On the subject of " gurry fishing" I have spoken at
greater length in other places.

g. BAIT AND BAITING.

VARYING KINDS WITH SUCCESSIVE SEASONS. — During recent years a practice has been in vogue
among most of the Grand Bankers, aud, in fact, among all other cod fishing vessels, of using fresh
bait. Until the past decade, at most, fish were often captured with bait which had been brought
from home preserved by salt, or with the entrails and flesh of the cod itself, called in fisherman
phraseology "gurry." It seems, however, now to be the a common opinion that during the
summer months the fish will not bite at all at salt bait or gurry, aud it is a very general practice
to use some form of fresh bait. This bait is obtained from the land most conveniently acces-
sible, which, in the case of Grand Bankers, is Newfoundland. This baiting business has come to
be at that island a very important trade, and in the smaller hamlets, which are scattered along

THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 183

the entire coast, forms almost the sole occupation of nearly all the male inhabitants. When her
supply of bait is exhausted, the vessel, anchored on the Grand Bank 100 or 200 miles from the
land, runs for the nearest harbor for a replenishing. Should bait be wanting there at that time
the vessel would probably run to some other harbor, selecting one from which rumors of plenty
were gone out. In this way the bankers visit the island in large numbers, and bring into it a by
no means small amount of business. A vessel may take several baitings. If she has good fortune
two baitings will be enough to fill her, but she may have to take three, or even four or five. The
stay on the Bank during which ft vessel is using up her bait is known as a baiting. Thus the
question is very often heard, "Where did you use up your second baiting? How much did you get
on your second baiting?" The word is also very often used for a supply of bait, a sense in which
I have employed it just above.

FROZEN HERRING. — The kind of bait does not remain the same throughout the year. As the
year opens, one kind is employed ; this is later followed by bait of another sort, and finally, at the
close of the season, still others are used. Those vessels which seek the Banks very early in the
year, or as late as the latter part of March or first of April, take for their first baiting the herring
(Glupea harengus, Liu.). These they can obtain in Fortune Bay during the early part of the year
more readily than at any other portion of Newfoundland. The herring are taken in seines. The
natives ("liviers," as they are called) watch for a school to make its appearance in their harbor.
When seen they put out in their punts and surround the school with a net, and then take
them out with dip-nets. The herring are then sold to the bankers at a price varying from
twenty-five to sixty cents per hundred. While the weather is very cold the bait may be preserved
fresh a long while. This is done by freezing the herring and then keeping them in a vessel's hold,
from exposure to the air, so that they cannot thaw. In this way they are kept for three or four
weeks, until the weather has grown so warm that this method of preservation is no longer practi-
cable. From the fact that the herring are thus preserved frozen, this baiting is always known among
fishermen as a " baitin' o' frozen herrin'." I have spoken as though it was common for such a baiting
to be used on the Grand Bank. Such, however, is by no means the case. As a rule, very few
vessels visit the Bank during the early part of the year, but make their first inroad upon the codfish
on the Western Bank or on Banquereau. In that case they quite as frequently obtain their bait
in some Nova Scotia harbor in the Bay of Fundy as in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland.

ICED HERRING. — As the season advances, however, a large fleet of cod-fishermen from all the
various fishing ports of our coast run for the Grand Bank. These are very likely to visit For-
tune Bay or some harbor along the southern coast of Newfoundland for their baiting. This is
composed again of herring, but preserved differently, owing to the increased temperature on the
Bank during April and the succeeding months. The herring are now kept in ice in the bait-pens.
Ice bought at some harbor on the way from home, or obtained in the harbor where the bait is
bought, is cracked up quite small in the huge splitting tubs. A layer of the fine ice is then spread
over the floor of the bait-pen. Over this layer is spread a layer of fish ; then a layer of ice follows,
and a second layer of fish. In this way the fish and the ice are sandwiched in until the pen is
filled. This, which is termed "a baiting of herring," will in this way be preserved from fifteen to
eighteen days. For the baiting, the skipper pays about $25 or $30 and receives 40 barrels of
the herring.

(JAPELIN. — By the time two baitings are consumed, or by about the middle of June, the
next kind of bait begins to appear on the coast of Newfoundland. This is the capelin, a small boreal
fish (Mallotus villosus Cuv.), and quite closely resembling our well-known smelt (Osmerus mordax

184 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Gill). Tbe method of tbeir capture I had no opportunity of observing.* They are taken in immense
numbers by the "liviers" and furnished to the bankers. They are generally sold at a certain price
for the baiting, and for $16, 10 to 20 or 25 barrels are supplied. They are stowed away in the bait-
pens in the same manner as the herring, and can generally be preserved about the same length of
time.

SQUID. — Of all the different forms of bait that are sought by the American bankers none are
so popular as the squid (Ommastrcphes illecebrosa), and none so interesting in its capture. Their first
approach is watched by thousands of anxious "liviers," and news of the first capture is heralded in
a way that makes the man who sees the first one in any season quite a public character, and con-
fers considerable renown upon the hamlet where they are first captured. It is usually during the
latter part of July that the excitement begins, and frein that time till their disappearance in
October they form the principal topic of conversation in many a hamlet on the coast. Armed with
his squid jig the native fisherman leaves his home in the "wee sma' hours" of the morning and
putting out in his punt into the harbor stealthily lets his jig descend into the silent water and
dreamily awaits a bite. The squid jig is so entirely unlike any other form of hook that I will
briefly describe it: To one end of a cylinder of lead, 3 inches long, are fastened pins bent upward.
No bait is used with it, but it is simply let down among the squid, and kept in constant motion to
imitate the movements of a small fish and thus attract the squi I. When one grasps it with its
long tentacular arms the jig is quickly pulled in, and the squid thus entangled in the pins is
secured. When they are in the humor, or, in Newfoundland dialect, when the squid have
" struck," they can be caught very fast indeed. When once the squid strike in a harbor, if
the punts are not all out, anchored side by side, the news is communicated to those ashore
by the sight of activity among those in the punts. In an instant the word," the squid's struck,"
flies through the village like wild-fire, and in an incredibly short time all the men folks of the
village are anxiously waiting for a bite. During our second baiting, while we were anchored
at Open Hall, a very amusing instance of this sort of thing occurred. As a rule all the punts
in the village are anchored in the harbor during the whole day, but on this occasion the day
was exceedingly blowy, and, the squid not biting, the " liviers" had all sought their own warm
firesides. During the early part of the afternoon one man on board one vessel, in sheer lack of
any better occupation, threw a jig over the side and had a bite instantly. He hauled up and
threw in again and found that the "squid had struck solid." "Then there was mounting in hot
haste," and in less than a minute every man on board was actively running a squid jig and pulling
the squid in in a very lively manner. Hardly two minutes had passed when we saw a boat put out
from the shore. This was instantly followed by four, and in less than ten minutes twenty-eight
punts were strung along from us as a center, and all hands excitedly "jigging squid." Like all
other things, squid jigging is by no means all sunshine. The squid has one or two confirmed habits
which often lead to remarkably unpleasant consequences. As it is drawn from the water the squid
first discharges from his siphon a jet of salt water, which is very likely to strike the fisherman
in the face. Almost instantly the squid follows this by a second jet of dirty black ink. Unless he
be very quick and gets the squid off the jig aud safely lodged among others of his kind this second
less pleasant stream will strike the fisherman. I had, during the summer, the opportunity of
seeing men served in that way, and judge from hearsay that it is not at all delightful.

Squid are taken in enormous numbers in all the harbors of the island. During the first
few days they seem to abound most plentifully in the more southern harbors, while during the

* They are taken in small drag-seines, made specially for the purpose, and called " capclin seines." The iisli are
inclosed in a semicircle of netting and drawn to the shore, where they are bailed into boats with a dip-net. — .1. W.C.

THE BANK TRAWL LINE COD FISHERY. 185

last of the season they are generally sought in the northern ports. Ufteu so many are caught in
a single day that a vessel can secure an entire baiting of 30,000 or 40,000 squid without even
stopping in the harbor long enough to make it necessary to haul down her sails. They are gen
erally sold by the natives at prices varying between 15 and 40 cents per 100, and when possible
,'50,000 or 40,000 are purchased. 'They are preserved in ice in the same manner as the capelin and
the herring, and may be kept fit for use during a period of from 18 to 2~> days.

In former years, I am told, squid have been captured on the Banks by the vessel's side, and
made use of as bait. The giant squid of this same species, of which an arm or a beak are now and
then found, were also reported to me by one of the utea-to have been seen by him in previous years;
and he further states that from the body of such a one his own vessel and another had been fully
supplied with bait.

SALT BAIT AND GURRY. — After the disappearance of the squid, which occurs during October,
most of the fishermen leave the Banks and start for home. The few that remain use for bait salt
squid or other forms of salt bait, as menhaden slivers. These are brought, pickled, from home.
Besides these, gurry, or the viscera are also used for bait. Of these viscera the reproductive
organs appear to furnish the best forms of bait. In former times it is known that salt bait and
gurry were alone used. From experiments made repeatedly in these present years, such bait will
not catch fish till very late in the season. The cause of this change I cannot tell.

BAITING THE TRAWLS. — In regard to the manner of using the bait, very little need be said.
When the time for baiting up the trawls arrives the men, with baskets in hand, go down into the
hold and bring up from the bait pen such an amount of bait as they think sufficient. This is
thrown on the roof of the "house." The men then stand in a row around the house, and with
knives made for the purpose cut up the bait into pieces that are about 2 inches square. The trawl
is then turned out of the tub on the house, and hook after hook is baited and coiled back again with
the ground line into the tub. When salt bait is being used, as happens during the latter part of
the season, it is soaked for a time in water in order to remove the salt somewhat.

METHODS or OBTAINING AND PRESERVING BAIT. — One thing of which my summer's expe-
rience among the codmen most strongly convinced me was the enormous waste of time necessitated
by the present method of procuring bait and the loss from the present mode of preservation.
From the rugged condition of the island of Newfoundland and the primitive habits of the people,
any communication between hamlets not immediately contiguous is excessively difficult. It must
be for the most part extremely uncertain, because depending on chance vessels which may have
visited other ports. Owing to this fact, the banker is compelled to visit harbor after harbor in
search of bait, learning for himself where a supply may be had and not in any way being able to
know if bait is abundant at any place. The result of this is that of the hundreds of bankers which
annually visit Newfoundland for bait, each one of them spends from six days to three weeks in
entire idleness while on the lookout for herring or squid. At each place they visit they may hear
that the bait has been more or less abundant a few days before, but no vessels were in then, and
now the school cannot be seen. As may be seen by reference to the "Calendar of the Cruise,"
our vessel spent thirty days in Newfoundland harbors, an arrangement which to me personally
was extremely grateful, but which, as any one can see, does not pay owners or men financially.

This waste time could be almost or entirely saved by either of two plans -a telegraphic com-
munication between the harbors, or .some central office run by enterprising men as storehouse for the
bait and centers of purchase for the fishermen. In the former case the " banker " could learn where
to direct his course with certainty of success; in the latter case he could at once seek the central
office and there purchase his supply. But giving the island and its people, as they are at pres-

186 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

ent, the thought of their forming any such scheme seems useless, for the people are, as a rule, too
conservative to improve any on their present system. The only possible hope of improvement is
from some enterprising American. I feel confident that, with ice for the trawlers in the winter and
labor cheap, a person could preserve and sell in a single season enough bait to pay for his buildings,
and that he could after that make money rapidly. If he had such a depot, the fishing vessels would
soon learn where bait could be procured, natives would also know where they could have a steady
cash market for their catches, and the owner would doubtless both obtain and dispose of all the
bait he was able to handle. To me it seems remarkable that the Gloucester fishermen have not
long ago provided some better method of bait procuring, or that the vessel owners have not them-
selves instituted improved methods.

But not only do the fishermen lose a vast amount of time in bait-hunting, they also lose a good
deal of their bait from defective methods of preserving it. 1 have elsewhere described the present
method of preserving the bait in ice. Under this treatment the result is the almost utter worth-
lessness of the two or three bottom layers and the greatly deteriorated quality of much more. The
weight of ice and squid from above pressing down the lower layers and the melting of the sub-
stratum of ice, with also the water and filth from the upper layers added to the lower ones, make
in the course of ten or twelve days the undermost bait utterly unalluring to (he fish. As a result
of this the vessel can not take a large supply of bait and then remain fishing on the Banks, but
must after a brief interval seek the land for/res/t bait.

Now it seems to me that this defect could be profitably remedied by the introduction of some
inexpensive refrigerators in which forty or fifty thousand squid could be kept frozen during one
whole month or more if necessary. Such refrigerators, built into the places now occupied by the
bait-pens, would undoubtedly save enough in the time of the crew and in the waste of bait to pay
for themselves in a single year, or two at furthest. In our cruise we made three trips for bait, spent
thirty days, and obtained in total about 70,000 squid; by having refrigerators and arrangements
for preserving nearly this entire number at one time the vessel could have been saved at least
twenty-five days on her trip and several thousands of ruined squid.*

One of the most unpleasant and often most disastrous hindrances in the way of the fishermen,
when they are in search of bait, arises from the hostile feelings often entertained by the bait-
catchers. These, instigated by jealousy or by fears lest their own rights are to be infringed on,
have at many different times come to blows with the American fishermen, and by mere force of
numbers overcome them and driven them away from their shores.

The Fortune Bay people, during 1876, made an attack upon the American fishermen so violent
as to draw considerable attention to the incidents in the newspapers at that time. In 1878 the
schooner Concord, from Gloucester, entered Tor Bay in search of bait. She had scarcely come to
anchor when a squad of shoresmen boarded her, and threatened if she did not leave at once to cut her
cables. The captain, who was a man of considerable pluck, toM the men that he had no intention
of quitting the harbor with his vessel until he was ready. He then left the vessel with the angry

* Several years ago the question of freezing bait on lishing- vessels by such a system of refrigeration as that sug-
gested by Mr. Osboru, was pretty thoroughly tested on the Gloucester schooners It was found impracticable, even
for the vessels fishing on George's, and was abandoned by the fishermen, who, in many cases, had expended consider-
able sums of money to try the experiment. One of the chief difficulties in the way of using such a system on board of
a cod-fishing vessel ou the Grand Bank is the fact that the refrigerator, if large enough to hold and preserve 70 or 80
barrels of bait, would occupy so much room that there would be insufficient space left iorfi.sh and Hie requisite salt to
put on them. Then, too, the experiments tried by the Gloucester fishermen convinced them that bait frozen on board
of the vessels by refrigeration was not nearly so attractive to the cod as that iced in the ordinary manner — a result
which must always be a serious objection to the introduction of a method that otherwise might seem to have many
advantages, particularly to one not very familiar with the fishery and its varied requirements. — J. W. COLLINS.

THE GEOEGE'S BANK COD FISHERY. 187

native's still on board, and hastened to Saint John's for officers of the law. Saint John's is 6 miles
distant from Tor Bay. When the skipper finally reached his vessel with officers the invaders were
forced to go ashore. Beyond binding them to promises of no further violence their action was not
noticed by the Newfoundland authorities. The skipper could not obtain his bait from the people
of that harbor, but he. had escaped without any further injuries. This man I met, and heard his
story from his own lips.

Nor is the feeling of malice and hostility ended yet, for even this present year of 1880 has fur-
nished new instances. On August 4 the schooner and many of the crew with whom I had passed
the previous summer entered Conception Bay iu~search of bait. In the harbor 200 (?) natives
boarded the vessel, prevented by violence their taking squid, and finally compelled them to get
under way and leave the cove where they had anchored.

I will not say that the fishermen are not in part responsible for the temper of mind of the natives
toward them. Some of the more slippery fellows have, I doubt not, in past times dealt unfairly
with the Newfoundlanders. I have heard of some who obtained unfair measure, or who slipped
their cablts before the bills had been settled. The younger men among the bait-catchers are also
somewhat actuated by jealousy toward the fishermen, since the latter are great gallants ashore
among the young women, and the latter turn from their native beaux to the Americans, to the
infinite disgust and chagrin of the former and the ill-concealed and often unconcealed satisfaction
of the latter.

A further discussion of the manner of obtaining and preserving bait is given by Mr. Osboru,
in Section IV of this report, under the head of " Life of Fishermen on Shipboard."

4.— THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY.

By G. BROWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS.
1. ORIGIN AND PRESENT IMPORTANCE.

The George's Bank cod fishery, or, as commonly called, the George's fishery, was carried on to
some extent by vessels from Marblehead as early as the middle of the last century,* but there
is no record to show that it was long continued, nor is there any one now living who remembers
fishing vessels going there prior to about 1821.

This fishery is now carried on almost exclusively from Gloucester. Vessels from this port first
visited George's Bank in search of halibut about the year 1830, and in connection with the halibut
took considerable quantities of codfish. Since the decrease of halibut in that region there has
been a constant fishery there for cod. The George's fishery has not yet shown a tendency to

* William Douglass, in Vol. I, page ;i02, of his History and Political Summary of British Settlements in North
America, printed at London in 17GO, says:

"Marblehead, in New England, ships oft" more dried cod than all the rest of New England besides; anno 1732, a
good fish year, and in profound pence, Marblehead had about one hundred and twenty schooners of about 50 tons
burthen; seven men aboard, and man ashore to make the fish, is about one thousand men employed from that town,
besides the seamen who carry the fish to market ; if they had all been well fished, that is, 200 quintals to a fare, would
have made 120,000 quintals. At present, anno 1747, they have not exceeding seventy schooners, and make five fares
yearly; first to the Isle of Sable; the codfish set in there early in the spring, and this fare is full of spawn: formerly,
they fitted out in February, but by stormy weather having lost some vessels and many anchors, cables, and other
gear, they do not fit out until March. Their second fare is in May to Brown's Bank and the other Banks near the Cape
Sable coast ; these are also called spring fish. Their third and fourth fares are to Saint George's Bank, called summer
fish. Their filth and last fare is iu autumn to the Isle of Sables; these are called winter fish."

fUFIVERSITY

188 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

decline, being carried on quite as vigorously and as successfully at tbe preseut time as ever in its
history. Although Gloucester is the only port which has extensively engaged in this fishery, a
few vessels from other New England ports have from time to time participated in it. From 1859
to 1862 Southport sent several vessels ; and Vinal Haven, Me., Marblehead, Rockport, and other
Massachusetts ports have also had vessels engaged in it. Concerning the history of the George's
fishery from Southport, Mr. R. E. Earll obtained the following information of Mr. D. Cameron and
Mr. B. F. Jewett :

Hearing the favorable reports of the George's fishermen of Gloucester from time to time, the
owners of vessels in Southport decided to send their vessels instead of keeping them so long idle.
The first vessels started in February, 1859, and as there was some difficulty about finding men to
go at that season of the year, the crews were picked up not wholly from the island, but from
Westport and other towns in the vicinity. Schooner Mazeppa, Capt. W. E. Wells, was sent out
by Cameron & Orne about the 1st of February, and two others, the Atlantic and S. H. Cameron,
started shortly after. They provided themselves with ice for keeping their halibut fresh for the
Portland market. The fish seemed very scarce und the weather very stormy, so that their trips
were not profitable, but they continued in the business until about the 1st of July, and finally
abandoned it. In 1861 or 1862 the schooner Humboldt went during the greater part of the year,
but the rough weather and poor fishing caused them to discontinue. About this time William
Decker sent two vessels, the Willie G. and Archer, one season with same results. They were the
last.

In 1879 there were one hundred and four Gloucester vessels constantly employed in the
George's fishery, many of them making over a dozen trips each, and forty-eight other Gloucester
vessels followed the fishery a part of the season, the entire fleet aggregating one thousand trips
and landing 23,144,000 pounds of codfish and 995,000 pounds of fresh halibut.

In 1880 the Gloucester George's fleet aggregated one hundred and sixty-three vessels, one
hundred and seven of them engaging exclusively in that fishery, while the others were employed
for a part of the year iu other fisheries. The fleet made one thousand four hundred and thirty trips,
and landed 27,000,511 pounds of codfish and 1,125,450 pounds of fresh halibut.

In 1881 the fleet was the same size as in 1880, the catch aggregating 22,510,000 pounds of cod
and 1,087,400 pounds of fresh halibut.

The dangers and hardships of this fishery are so great that only the most daring and hardy of
fishermen care to continue in its prosecution. The system of mutual insurance, which has been so
successful in Gloucester, enables the owners to fa,ce the great risks of the George's fishery with
less apprehension than can be done by those of any other ports.

Like the fresh halibut fishery, the George's fishery is carried on throughout the entire year.
Until within a few years it was the practice of the Gloucester vessels to 4ihaul up" iu harbor from
November to the 1st of February, since they could not be insured until that date, but at present
they can be insured at all seasons, and the competition which exists has now compelled almost all
of them to keep at work twelve mouths iu the year. The fresh-halibut, haddock, and the George's
fisheries are the only fisheries carried on continuously winter and summer.*

The haddock fishery is carried on to a comparatively limited extent in summer, but it is pros-
cuted upon a large scale in winter.

The Gloucester Telegraph of January 4, 1859, contains the remark that "at one time the

*In 1874, at Christmas time, only four vessels were engaged in this fishery. The W. H. Raymond arrived
December 22 with 30,000 pounds of fish— a good fare, though the weather was rough. (Cape Ann Advertiser, Decem-
ber 25, 1874.)

THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY. 189

vessels were hauled up six months in the year, but that in 1859 some were not hauled up at all,
except when repairs were required. There was one arrival, January 2, from George's, and several
were at that time on the fishing grounds."

For twenty years or more it has been customary for the George's fleet to set out for the Banks as
early as the 20th or 25th of January; at present many vessels go as early as the 15th. They start
thus early with the idea of getting on the Banks before the first schools of codfish strike there.
They very often have to return before getting a full fare on account of the bait giving out. Some
seasons a single vessel will strike the fish early; the others then think they can do the same.
Vessels very seldom start before the 15th of January, and many of the best skippers rarely go
before February 1, by which date the main body of the fleet is usually prepared to sail.

In 1874 the early start of the fleet was delayed by the aqtion of the Mutual Fishing Insurance
Company, which refused to insure vessels leaving for the Banks before the middle of March. A
new company was formed that year, which insured vessels wishing to go in February, and some
forty sail started soon after the 1st of that month. The George's-men began to arrive from their
first trip before the 27th of February, and by the middle of March were coming in from their
second trip.

2. THE FISHING GEOUNDS.

The George's fishery is carried on for the most part upon George's Bank, though in De-
cember and January a large part of the vessels fish upon Brown's Bank and La Have; a few,
however, go to George's in January. The best time for fishing upon George's is in February,
March, and April, when the spring spawning schools of codfish appear on the Bank. During
these months the favorite fishing ground is upon that portion of the Bank which lies east of the
shoals, at a depth of 25 to 35 fathoms, this being called the "winter- fishing ground." At other
seasons of the year the vessels resort to the western part, or what is called "Clark's Bank" and
" South Channel," and also to the southeast part of George's Bank. In the fall they frequent the
northern edge of the Bank. Many of the vessels in summer and fall fish on Brown's Bank, Seal
Island Ground, and occasionally make trips to German Bank and other small grounds in the
B;»y of Fuudy. Trips have sometimes, though rarely, been made in winter to Sable Island or
Western Bank, and in summer to the south shoal of Nantncket and off No Man's Land.

After the spawning season of the cod, in February and early March, is fairly over there is a
great breaking up of the schools of cod and a scattering of the fishing fleet on the middle part of
George's Bank in 35 fathoms. Says Captain Martin: "You'll see 60 sail of vessels fishing on
George's in February and catching 30,000, 40,000, 60,000, and sometimes as much as 103,000 weight
of fish, and they'll go back in March; and it's like heaving your line into a well; there are no fish
anywhere." The vessels then scatter over the Bank to the South Channel, to the southeastern or
eastern parts of the Bank, or go off on Seal Island Ground or Brown's Bank.

In sailing from Gloucester for George's Bank vessels steer an east-southeast course, striking
the edge of the Bank to the northeast of the "North Shoal." Many vessels fish in midsummer in
25 to 40 fathoms east of the main George's Shoal, gradually working out into deeper water.

3. THE FISHERMEN.

The crew of a George's-inan consists of eight to twelve men. About twelve hundred fishermen
of Gloucester are employed in this fishery. About one third of the men are British Provincials,
one third Americans, and the other third about equally divided between Swedes and Portuguese,
with a few Frenchmen and other nationalities.

190 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

lii early days, when the George's vessels were smaller, the crew consisted of six to eight men.
The vessels now in the fleet carry ten or twelve, occasionally thirteen, though not more than twelve
or fifteen vessels carry so large a number as that last mentioned. In summer, when it is often
hard to obtain men, vessels sometimes go out with smaller crews.

The successful result of a trip to George's Bank for codfish is largely dependent upon the exer-
tions of each individual ; men are, therefore, required for that fishery in whose natures is combined
hardihood, doggedness of purpose, and bravery. Owing to the fact that each man's success
depends in a great part on his individual efforts, the Portuguese and Irish have a special fondness
for this fishery, though many others engage in it.

Many of the best fishermen and most capable skippers follow the George's fishery; but, as a
rule, the crews are considered intellectually inferior to those employed in the mackerel and halibut
fisheries. The results obtained depending so much on the individual efforts of the men, a vessel
may make a successful trip under the control of a skipper who would be totally incapable of com-
manding a halibut schooner or one employed in the Grand Bank cod fisheries.

4. THE VESSELS.

The George's vessels, like those in the fresh-halibut fishery, are the stanchest and best of the
Gloucester fleet.*

Their size is smaller, however, the average George's-mau registering about 60 tons. In the fleet
there are some vessels of 45 tons to 50 tons and a few of 80 tons and more. In the winter, as a
rule, the George's men carry no main-topmast and jib-boom, being rigged "snug." In summer the
regular George's-men carry main-topmast and staysail, but rarely, if ever, a flying-jib.

Until within a few years a peculiarity of the vessels of this fleet was, that when riding at
anchor they set a "balance-reefed mainsail" to steady the vessel and keep her as nearly head to the
wind as the tide would permit. When the mainsail was "balance reefed" only a small portion —
perhaps a fourth or fifth of its area — was exposed, and it then answered the same purpose as the
riding-sail used at the present time.f

The average outfit of charts and instruments is less complete than on board of a halibut
schooner.

The outfit of a George's schooner is in many respects very different from that of a halibut
schooner. The cable is shorter, since the vessels fish in shallower water, its ordinary length being
about 225 fathoms; the cable is generally also smaller, usually about 8J inches in circumference,
though some are 7f , 8, 8£, or even, though rarely, 9 inches. The cable is stowed in the same manner
as on the halibut schooner, but of course occupies somewhat less space. The anchors, of which
there are three, are of the same type, but usually lighter, weighing from 400 to 500 pounds.

There are no checker-boards on the deck, but instead two or three oblong bins, which are called
gurry -pens. These are made of 1J inch to 2-iuch plank, and are about 3 feet in height. They are
divided by transverse partitions into two or three compartments, and small sliding doors are placed

* No class of vessels are better calculated for a battle with the storm-king and no braver souls tread the deck,
but the contest is an unequal one, and many a stanch craft and gallant crew go down in the conflict. In a single
storm, on the night of February 24, 1862, 15 Gloucester vessels and 120 men were lost, leaving 70 widows and 140
fatherless children to mourn for the loved ones who would return no more. Last year 200 vessels were engaged in the
George's fishery at some time during the year; a large fleet followed the business the greater part of the year, and a
total of 1,348 fares were landed at Gloucester. (Gloucester and its Fisheries.)

t The peculiarity of a " balance reef" is this, that when the mainsail is " balance-reefed," the foot-stops are cast
off and the foot of the sail raised from the bootn, being attached to the boom only at the clew and tack, and by a reef-
strap passing through the reef-crinkle. In other respects it is like a three-reefed mainsail.

THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY. 191

ID the corners of these, so that water can run from one to the other or out upon the deck. These
gurry-pens are fastened to the deck by lashing-", the surface of the deck forming the bottom.

The gurry-pen forward of the house is usually the largest. Another is placed between the
main and fore hatches, while in the larger vessels a thiid is generally fastened forward of the
break of the quarter and between that and the main hatch. Planks placed on their edges run
between the gurry-pens, dividing that portion of the deck into little pens for the reception of fish.

Bait-beards arc arranged on the side of the house as in the halibut schooner, also upon the
ends of the gurry-pens.

The George's-men carry no dories upon the deck, Hnt-a single dory hoisted to the davits at the
stern. Formerly they carried square-sterued yawl-boats, but this custom is no longer in vogue,
though occasionally boats of this class are taken. The reeflng-plank is arranged as on the halibut
schooner.

These vessels also carry a peculiar arrangement upon their vessels by which they are distin-
guishable from other vessels. These are the fishing-rails, consisting of joists, 3 by 4, nailed upon
the rail of the vessel, and extending from the fore rigging to the quarter-rail and from the after
side of the main rigging to the davit on each side. Holes are bored at intervals of about 4 feet
in the fishing-rails, and in these are set hard-wood pins three-quarters of an inch to an inch in
diiimeter and 5 or 6 inches high, called "sogers," and used by the fishermen to prevent their lines
from slipping 011 the rail when the tide is running strong.

The arrangement in the hold is as follows : The quantity of ballast carried is usually large,
about 20 or 30 tons of stone or iron* for a vessel of 60 tons in burden. This ballast is planked
over as on the halibut schooner. The forward part of the hold is occupied, as usual, by the store-
room, and separated by a bulkhead from the ice-house. The ice-house is smaller than in the hali-
but schooners, generally consisting of two pens on each side and a double compartment in the
"slaughter-house," which is in the middle, and arranged to carry 12 to 15 tons of ice, though ves-
sels ordinarily carry only from 7 to 10 tons in the summer season and in winter not more than 3
or 4 tons. The ice-house is accessible from the main hatch. The after hold, which is reached
through the after hatch, contains the salt-pen — a bin placed against the cabin bulkhead and ex-
tending from side to side the whole width of the vessel. This bin occupies about 4 or 5 feet of the
length of the vessel and reaches nearly up to the deck. It is divided into two parts by longitu-
dinal partitions in the middle, and is sometimes still further subdivided. Doors from the after
hold upon either side of the center partition are closed by planks, which slide in grooves, and are
removed as the supply of salt diminishes. The salt-bin will hold from 300 to 400 bushels of salt.
The remainder of the after hold is left free for the packing of fish, which are also stowed in the
compartments of the ice-house. The after hold is first partially filled, then fish are salted away
in the ice-house to keep the vessel iu trim, and as a last resort, if the catch is a large one, the
salt-pen is also tilled with salted fish.

5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

FISHING GEAR. — The George's fishermen always fish with hand-lines from the vessel's deck, one
line to each man. Consequently no boats are carried, except the dory at the stern, and no trawls
are used.

The George's hand-line, with its appliances of sinkers and hooks, is peculiar to this fishery.
It may be described as follows : The line is 900 feet in length, composed of six 25-fathom lines,

*But comparatively little iron is used, the ballast generally being cobble-stones and shingle.

192 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

which are spliced together. The lines are of steam-tarred cotton, and weigh 18 pounds to the
dozen.*

The line is coiled in a tub, which is a flour-barrel sawed off an inch or two above the lower
quarter hoops, having holes in the bottom to let the water out. It is called a line-tub. The end
of the line is fastened through two of these holes to prevent its escape. The line-tub is about half
filled by the line when it is coiled.

The hooks are fastened to the line by means of a peculiar contrivance, which, together with
the lead, is called the "George's gear." This consists of (a) the "tail," which is an iron or brass
rod 12 or 15 inches long or more, three-eighths to half an inch in diameter, with an eye in one end,
to which the hauling-line is attached by a common hitch. Around the other end of the " tail" is cast
(b) the "lead," a long conical plummet of lead weighing 8 pounds, about 2 inches in diameter at the
bottom end, and about 8 inches in height, its apex embracing the lower end of the tail, the shank of
which projects above it 8 or 10 inches. From the front lower end of the lead, which is obliquely
truncated, emerges (c) the " horse," which is, in fact, sometimes a continuation of the tail. When of
metal, the horse is of the same diameter as the tail and projects from the lead 10 or 12 inches, at an
angle of 110 degrees with its axis. The horse is sometimes made of wood or, according to a custom
formerly universal, of several pieces of line tightly wound with smaller line. An improved form of
George's gear has lately been d.evised by L. D. Lothrop, of Gloucester, which is very popular among
the fishermen. It is in the main precisely like the one here described, except that it is more neatly
made and the lead has a rounded base and an attachment of brass on its lower end to prevent it
from being bruised by the bottom. In the end of the horse just mentioned is an eye, to which is
usually attached (d) a swivel of brass; to the swivel is fastened either (e) the "sling-ding gear" or
(/) the "spreader gear." The sling-ding (c) consists of a galvanized-iron rod about three-eighths
of an inch in diameter and from 15 to 20 inches in length, with an eye at each end. The "sling-
ding gear," when properly rigged, is provided with a piece of line, generally the same size as the
fishing-line, and about twice the length of the sling-ding, the two ends of which are fastened to the
eyes in the end of the sling-ding, and the bight is made fast to the swivel in the horse. The sling-
ding gear is then an almost equilateral triangle, two sides of whicli are composed of the line and
the base of the sling-ding, the object of which is to separate the snoods and prevent them from
fouling. The ends of this line, which forms the two sides of the triangle, are provided with
eye-splices or attached to swivels into which the snoods are bent. The spreader gear (/), the office
of which is the same as the sling-ding gear, consists of a flexible rod of metal, bow-shaped, and
about 15 or 18 inches long, the center of which is fastened to the swivel in the end of the horse,
the ends being provided, like those of the sling-ding gear, with eyes for the reception of the snoods.
Until within the past 10 or 15 years these spreaders were often made of two to four parts of cod-
line tightly wound around with stout salmon twine. The snoods (g), of which there are two, are
pieces of line smaller than the hauling-line,t one of them about 9 feet, the other about 10 feet long.
These are bent in the eyes of the sling-ding gear, and at the lower end are spliced into swivels (h),
which may be called " snood swivels." These are patented, and are made by L. D. Lothrop, of Glou-
cester. These swivels are so contrived, by means of "a slot with a large opening at one end, that
the gangings of the hooks may be slipped into them and held in place by means of a simple knot
at the end. The gangings (h) are usually made of hemp line, though sometimes of cotton line,
varying in size from that of the snood to that of the hauling-line. They are about a foot in length,
and at one end have a simple wall-knot, by which they are held in the snood swivel; at the other

* A dozen of these linos fastened together and sold in a bunch. The weight designates the »V/A',.
t A dozen of these snood-lines, each 25 fathoms long, will weigh from 10 to 14- pounds.

THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY. 193

eiid the hook is made fast, or ganged, in a very peculiar manner, which cannot well be described
except in technical phrase.* The hooks (i) are No. 10 center-draft hooks.

The object of the snood swivels, in which the gangings are so easily adjustable, is to save time
in removing the fish and in baiting the hooks. When a line with one or more fish has been brought
on deck the gangings are slipped from their swivels and are replaced by a pair of new gangings
with fresh-baited hooks. While the lead is going to the bottom the hooks are taken from the fish,
and are rebaited and ready for use the next time.

Each vessel usually carries a considerable amount of spare gear, and especially a large supply
of gangings.

BAIT. — The bait used by the George's fishermen is, in winter time, frozen herring, and in spring,
summer, and autumn, fresh herring, mackerel, alewives, and menhaden. In former days these fish-
ermen were accustomed to catch their bait upon the Banks by setting gill nets from the stern as
the vessel rode at anchor, or from the side when the vessel was lying to or drifting.! At present
this custom is abandoned, and supplies of bait are taken from Gloucester when frozen herring can
be obtained, and at other times it is sought here and there along the coast wherever there are
weir or net fishermen, from Greenport, L. I., to Eastport, Me., and even, in exceptional instances,
as far east as Western Nova Scotia.J When frozen herring were first brought from Newfoundland,
in 1854, 500 to 1,000 of these fish were considered an ample supply of bait for a, trip to George's,
but the custom of carrying a far more liberal supply is now in vogue. Longer trips are also made,
and the amount carried has increased, until now many of the vessels take on board 18,000 or 20,000
for a trip of two or three weeks. A somewhat smaller number of menhaden or fresh herring is
carried in summer, it being impossible to keep fresh so large a quantity as that until it is used.
From 15 to 25 barrels of fresh bait are usually iced in summer; these are placed in the ice-houses.
The price of herring varies from 75 cents to $1.25 per barrel. Twenty-one days is considered the
outside limit for which iced bait is available, though the vessels of the New York fleet, by a more
careful system of cleaning and packing the fish, are able to keep a supply for thirty days or more.
There was formerly a difference of opinion between the Gloucester and New York fishermen as to
the value of the bait preserved by the New York method, the former claiming that it is conipara
tively worthless. This claim has been practically conceded by the New York fishermen, who have
adopted New England methods.

In baiting the hooks the fish are slivered, steaks being cut from each side of the backbone ;
these are cut into three-cornered or square pieces, eight or ten to a fish, and are strung upon the
hooks. Six to eight of these are put upon each hook.

Many halibut are caught by the George's men, and in fishing for these "gurry-bait" is used,
this being the flesh of haddock or sometimes codfish. In baiting for halibut a long piece of the
side of the haddock is put on the hook, the end of it being usually split into two flaps, which
flutter in the current. On the top of these the ordinary bait of herring is placed.

METHOD OF FISHING. — Fishing on George's is carried on principally in the daytime, but on
some occasions both night and day. The custom of night fishing has been introduced within the last

* Take one strand of the line and hitch the bight of it round the shank of the hook ; then lay the two parts together,
taking a wall-knot in the end.

t The vessels that now sail for George's are supplied with nets for the purpose of catching their own bait.
(Cape Ann Advertiser, April 1, 1859.)

t The scarcity of bait has been a great drawback to the success of the George's fleet, a large part of the fleet
having been detained a fortnight at Capo Cod waiting for a supply, thus losing a trip in the best season. The weather
has been unfavorable for curing most of the season, and the last few pleasant days have given an impetus to the busi-
ness, and largo quantities have been shipped. The market continues firm at $6 per quintal, with an active market.
(Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph, April 25, 1873.)

SEC V 13

194 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEE1ES.

ten years. When fish are plenty the hardiest of the crew will fish night and day for three and four
days, being ambitious to be "high line," or to catch more than any of their mates; and when fish
will bite freely the men on watch at night usually pass their time in fishing. The greater part of
the work is, however, done in the day-time. The day's labor begins at daylight and lasts until
dark, the fish usually being dressed in the evening. When the tides run too strong for fishing
the fish are dressed in the day-time. The monotony of fishing is broken by breakfast at daylight,
dinner at 9.30 to 11 a. m., supper at 3 to 4 p. m., and a lunch in the evening.

The strong tides which prevail upon George's Bank and other grounds visited by these vessels
have necessitated the adoption of peculiar methods, such as are not practiced in any other fishery.
It is only by the use of extremely heavy leads that it is possible to keep the hooks near the bottom.
Fishing with these leads and the long lines is extremely laborious. As the vessel rides at anchor
the helm is put down and she sheers across the tide, so that the lines stray out from tbe side at a
considerable angle with the rail. The men take their position at the rail all upon the side opposite
to that upon which the tide current strikes. When the tide is running dead to leeward, or in the
same direction with the wind, it is impossible to sheer the vessel, and then the lines all stray out
directly astern. While they are fishing the course of the tide is constantly changing and the vessel
is veering in every direction, and it is frequently necessary to change from one side of the vessel
to the other in order to keep the lines clear from the side.

The best opportunity for fishing is on the slack tides. While the tides are running at the
greatest speed, or at the rate of about two miles or more an hour, the lines with their heavy weights
are carried out so that it is impossible to keep the hooks on the bottom. When fishing at slack-
water only a small portion of the line is used, while on the strength of the tide it is sometimes
necessary to use the whole 900 feet of tbe line. The fishing is then carried on by " sounding."
The line is slacked out as rapidly as possible until the lead touches the bottom ; it is then held for
a few minutes until the force of the current has raised it, and then it is again slacked out and
allowed to touch, and this operation is continued until a bite is felt. This is called "tending the
bottom." When the tide is flowing at a moderate rate, and there is no reason to believe that the
bait has been lost, the whole length of the line is let out before being pulled in on deck; and when
the tide is running moderately sometimes from seven to ten "sounds" are made. When the fish
are not biting and the tide is at half slack or running at a comparatively moderate rate, as happens
in the low course of tides, fishing in water 30 to 35 fathoms deep, it takes about twenty to thirty
minutes to run out the whole line, and fifteen or twenty minutes to haul it in if there is no fish on
it. Pulling up a pair of cod at the end of a whole line takes five or ten minutes longer, while to
pull up a halibut usually takes much longer still. In fishing with the tide running at a rapid
rate, making one or two sounds, the line will run out in ten or fifteen minutes.

When fish are very plenty it is a common occurrence to catch a pair, one on each hook, and
the men will catch from one hundred to one hundred and fifty, and sometimes nearly two hundred
cod, in a day ; at other times a man may fish all day long and only get three or four. When fish
are plenty a man may throw out and haul his line over the side seventy-five or one hundred times
in the course of the day; when scarce, not nearly so often, perhaps not more than ten or twelve
times.

The bite of the fish is quickly detected by the practiced hand of the fishermen, and he, when haul-
ing in, can usually tell whether he has hooked one or a pair. Expert fishermen often know when
they begin to haul in that there is only one, and they haul slowly, in order to give another a chance
to bite at the free hook. When the heads of the fish appear at the surface, if they are not well
hooked or are too large to lift over the rail with the ganging, the gaff is used ; when brought on

THE GEOKGE'S BANK COD FISHERY. 195

the deck tbe gaugiugs are detached, as previously described, and their place is supplied by a new
pair, the line being immediately thrown over again. The fish are then unhooked, the hooks
rebaited for future use, and the tongues are cut out and thrown into a compartment in the line
tub; in this manner the number of fish caught by each man is recorded; the tongues are counted
out at night, and the captain notes the record of each man's count on a slate or in a book, as will
be explained elsewhere. Each man marks the halibut he catches with some peculiar mark of his
own. The proceeds for each man depends upon the number of fish he catches. The George's
fisherman, however, rarely speaks of the number of fish^ie catches, but the number of tongues he
has caught. After the fish are unhooked they are thrown into the gurry-pens, where they remain
until a strong tide or nightfall gives the men an opportunity to dress them. A skillful crew, when
there is good fishing and other favoring circumstances, may catch from 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of
round-fish in a day. Seventy five thousand to ninety thousand pounds of round-fish is considered
an excellent fare, while 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of split-fish is also a good fare.

A round-fish is one which has simply been eviscerated, while a split fish has its head and
backbone removed and is salted.

Larger fares of fish have been obtained. In one instance 124,000 pounds of round-fish were
brought in by the schooner S. R. Lane. In the Fishermen's Memorial and Record Book and on the
files of the Cape Ann Advertiser may be found instances of extremely large fares of fish, many of
them, too, the result of only a few days' fishing.

6. CARE OF THE FISH.

At the present time the fish are usually brought in from George's split and salted, both in
summer and winter. Before 1875 it was generally customary to bring in the fish round in the
winter, splitting and salting them on the shore, but this custom has gradually been discontinued,
and but few trips of round-fish are now landed. When brought in round the fish are gutted with-
out splitting them, a handful of salt being put inside of each. A few of those last caught are iced.

The process of salting and dressing is precisely the same as that upon the Grand Bank, and
is described in the chapter referring to that fishery. The George's-men use less salt in curing than
the Grand Bankers, since it is necessary to keep the fish for a much less time on the vessel. The
gurry is kept in the middle compartment of the gurry-kid. It is thrown overboard as soon as the
vessel gets under way to shift her position or to leave the Bank.

The total amount of ice carried by fifty-eight schooners exclusively employed in the George's
fishery in 1870 was 3,478 tons. This gives an average of about 60 tons for each vessel, and,
assuming that the average number of trips would be ten, it would therefore appear that 6 tons of
ice is carried to a trip. The amount varies greatly with the season ; a vessel that would carry 3
or 4 tons in winter would require 10 or 12 tons, possibly more, in summer, since in the latter
season the ice no.t only melts more rapidly, but is used for preserving bait as well as fish. As the
total number of vessels engaged in the George's fishery was upwards of one hundred, it will be
seen that 0,000 tons or more of ice were consumed in this fishery for the year named above.

The return to port and the disposition of the cargo is in every respect similar to that of the Grand
Bankers. The vessels are in no special haste to gain the market, and consequently are not obb'ged
to take such risks as the halibut schooners and haddock catchers. The peculiar dangers of this
fishery have been described in the chapter on disasters. The lay in use in the George's fishery
and the manner of fitting out the vessels will be described elsewhere. From nine to thirteen trips
are usually made in the course of a year. The average number is perhaps eleven.

196 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

7. FINANCIAL PEOFITS.

The George's cod fishery generally yields good returns to the fishermen and vessel owners,
though terrible disasters sometimes result from the winter storms and eat up most of the profits.
The most notable George's fare was 123,115 pounds round cod and 802 pounds halibut, by
schooner S. E. Lane, Capt. Solomon Jacobs, in 1875. The vessel stocked on this trip $2,554,
and the crew shared $90.81. Another large fare was brought home by the schooner Triton, aggre-
gating 54,000 pounds split and 30;000 pounds round cod. On five George's trips in a recent year
the crew of the schooner Procter Brothers took 21,544 codfish in number. Of her crew of eleven
men Mr. George Williamson was "high line," taking 2,417 fish, while the " low line" caught 1,431.
The schooner Montana a number of years ago landed 100,162 pounds cod from a fourteen days'
trip, and in two trips secured 183,362 pounds, making a gross stock of $3,417.32. One of the most
valuable single fares was by the schooner Madame Eoland, in 1865, when $2,833.29 was stocked.
Eight vessels owned by Mr. George Steele, between January 12 and March 24, 1863, stocked
$17,237.17.

8. THE FITTING OUT OF THE GEOEGE'S FLEET AT THE CLOSE OF THE VVINTEE.

The Cape Ann Weekly Advertiser, of January 29, 1875, gives this graphic sketch of the
peculiar characteristics of the George's fishery on the occasion of the fitting out of the fleet at the
beginning of the year :

"The season is again at hand when the fish are about schooling on George's Banks, and the
fishermen are anxious to drop them a line and thereby obtain some returns which will relieve the
pressing necessities of themselves and families.

"To this end some fifty sail are now fitting away, and in another fortnight another fifty, and
perhaps more will follow. The crafts are being put in the best possible condition to stand the
rough weather which is almost certain to be met with at this season on these perilous fishiug
grounds. Down on the wharves you will witness busy scenes. On board the stanch crafts the
carpenters have put in the ice-houses and arranged the pens for the fish. The best suit of sails
have been bent; the rigging, cables, and anchors thoroughly overhauled and made as strong as
wood, iron, and rope can make them. The topmasts have been sent down, the vessels put in
thorough order below and aloft for the important part they are to take in the work of prosecuting
mid-winter fishing.

"The steward, who occupies a most responsible position, is getting his stores on board, not
forgetting a goodly quantity of fuel, and he will see to it that the fishermen, after their daily toil
in palling cod and halibut from so many fathoms down, have plenty of well-cooked victuals to eat
and a cup of hot coffee whenever they want it. They carry excellent provisions and live well on
board the George's-men, and a first-class steward prides himself on having a good quantity of
'grub' on hand.

"Now, all is ready. The good-byes have been said at home, the wife and little ones kissed,
the 'God bless and return you safe,' whispered into ears which will remember it through the
howling gale when danger is nigh, and the trim schooners, strong and saucy-looking, feel the
northwest wind oil their sails, and dashing boldly out by Eastern Point, the skippers shape their
course ESE., and with a whole sail breeze they arrive on the Banks after a run of some twenty
hours. Then they take their bearings, and choose what they think will be a good berth ; down
goes the anchor, everything is made snug, and as soon as possible they give the fish a try. The
pien ing cold and flying spray does not deter the fishermen ; it is a matter of business with them.

THE GEORGE'S BANK COD FISHERY. 197

They are used to exposure, and are warmly clad and well protected with their oil-clothes. A lands-
man would not like the position, with the vessel pitching up and down, and it would be difficult
for him to keep on his legs; but the fishermen seem to take to it naturally. There they stand at
the rail, hour after hour, pulling in the fish— halibut and cod — each anxious to do his best and to
be the 'high-line' man.

"So long as the weather is pleasant they pursue the even tenor of their way, each day adding
to the catch, and at night they are rocked to sleep in the cradle of the mighty deep. A feeling of
uneasiness pervades their hearts if the fleet draws near; in the excitement of getting a trip they
are apt to anchor near each other. There is danger~in~this, as the sad record of the past bears
mournful evidence ; or in case of a sudden storm, and the breaking adrift of one or more of the
vessels, which may always be expected, these drifting vessels become terrible messengers of
danger, coming in contact with others of the fleet, and they go crashing on their work of destruc-
tion in the darkness and the storm. This it is which has made the George's business so very disas-
trous, and now there has been awakened in the minds of the skippers a sense of the fearful risks
they run by so many anchoring together, and they are more cautious concerning it. If they will
remember ihis and continue to exercise prudence in this respect, the losses will be few in compar-
ison with those of the years gone by. Last year not a vessel was lost in the George's fishery, and
we hope that 1875 will result as fortunately.

"A week or ten days' fishing in the best of the season, when the fish bite sharp, will give them
a trip, and then homeward they come, and the fruits of the fishermen's daring gives an impetus to
business which is felt throughout the city. Coming as it does at a dull time, it is particularly
welcome, and all with one accord unite in giving their best wishes to the George's fishermen for
short trips and lucky ones."

9. HISTORY OF THE GEORGE'S FISHERY FROM GLOUCESTER.

Capt. Epes W. Merchant tells us that the first vessels went to George's after codfish in 1821;
these were three pinkies, commanded by Elisha Oakes, Robert Marston, and Samuel Wonson. "Fish
were very scarce that year. Several of the vessels went to the bay cod fishing. Some of the others
left off entirely. These three pinkies ran off to George's in June. The fishermen were very timid
about the trip, for they had an idea that there were very strong currents on the Bank, and that
they would risk drawing their vessels under if they were to anchor. One very fine day the three
vessels were alongside, and one of the skippers proposed : ' Let's anchor and try it.' They made
up their minds to double the crew on one of the vessels, taking two or three men out of each of
the others, and anchor. Well, after they had anchored and bit up, the tide commenced running
and she began to go through the water. They didn't know how fast the current would go, got
frightened, hove up, and came home without a fish. Nobody then went there after codfish until
after the halibut fishing was tried. The halibut vessels were the first to anchor. Mackerel ves-
sels began to go to George's in 1825 and have continued to cruise there ever since."

Capt. Chester Marr, one of the oldest skippers of Gloucester, claims to have been one of the
first to make a trip to George's Bank after cod in the mouth of February ; this was about 1835.
Describing the abundance of cod, he remarks in his quaint way that they were "solid from top
to bottom." In one night he caught 75 tubs of codfish and 15,000 pounds of halibut. This was
on the south side of the Bank, south and east of the North Shoal, in 33 fathoms of water. It was
a bright moonlight night, and the fish could be seen swimming along the side of the vessel "as thick
as mackerel." Before that time the vessels had never succeeded in getting fares of cod, because
the halibut were so thick. Some vessels had gone for halibut, but none for cod.

198 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Capt. W. H. Oakes, of Gloucester, tells us that be made a trip to George's Bank for cod in
1835, in the schooner Accumulator. "This was one of the earliest trips for cod to those fishing
grounds. If there was a previous trip it must have been made by Capt. George Watson, who
entered the George's cod fishery at about the same time."

When Captain Oakes first went to George's Bank, in 1835, it was considered dangerous for
vessels to lie at anchor. They were accustomed to heave up anchor with every fresh breeze.

As early as 1840, vessels went to George's for cod in January and February. They were laid
up only between November and January.

As early as 1845 Captain Marr remembers to have seen one hundred and forty sail of vessels
on George's at one time.

In good weather the vessels made a very quick trip. In or about the year 1860 the schooner
Bounding Billow went and returned within four and one-half days, bringing 65.000 pounds of cod
fish and 5,000 pounds of halibut. In 1856 the George's fishery was very successful.

In 1861, states the Cape Ann Weekly Advertiser, from fifty to seventy-five vessels sailed for
George's about the 20th of January.

In 1863, in February, according to the Gloucester Telegraph, about forty vessels were fitting
for the George's fishery.

In 1873 a writer in the Fisherman's Memorial and Record Book wrote: "There are now two
hundred and fifty sail engaged in the business, whose average valuation is $6,000. The trips
brought in during the best part of the season will average $700, and stocks of from $1,500 to $2,000
are not infrequent j while the Grand Bank fishery, comparatively a new branch of the business,
often discounts from $3,000 to $4,000 on a single trip; the result of the energy and pluck of our
fishermen."

5.— THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA.

By TAELETON H. BEAN.
1. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC COD.

THE SPECIES DISCUSSED. — The cod fishery of Alaska has nearly ended its second decade,* yet
it was not until the summer of 1880 that we knew positively what species of Oadus is the object of
the fishery. Most writers have referred to it under the name of Oadus macrocephalus, which was
bestowed by Tilesius upon the Kamtchatkan cod, the figure of which suggests that it was based
upon a deformed individual. Cope, in 1873, described the young of the common Alaska cod as a new
species, Gadus auratus, from specimens collected by Prof. George Davidson, of the TJ. S. Coast Sur-
vey, at Unalashka. Steindachner, in the Proceedings (Siteungsberichte) of the Vienna Academy,
LXI, 1, 1870, adopts the name 0. macrocephalus for a large cod taken in De Castries Bay (mouth of
Amur River), Siberia. In this example the length of the head is contained exactly three times in
the total length to the extreme end of the pointed caudal peduncle. The same proportion may, how-
ever, be found in any place where large numbers of Gadus morrhua are taken, and it can readily

•This was written in 1880.

THE COU FISHERY OF ALASKA. 199

be proven to be only a matter of individual variation. The U. S. Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, with a view to investigating the fisheries and fish of Alaska,
sent the writer to that Territory to collect specimens and statistics during the summer of 1880. In
this way an opportunity was gained for comparing the Alaskan cod directly with that of New
England and of Europe, and for determining beyond a doubt that the commercial cod of both oceans
is the Gadus morrhua of Linnaeus. I have not seen fresh specimens from the Okhotsk, but there
is no probability that it is different from the Alaskan. It is a matter of daily experience to find
long-headed and short-headed cod in the same school off the New England coast or wherever the
species occurs, as the length of the head is one of the most variable characters. 1 have just read
in the Zoological Eecord for 1879 (Vol. XVI, published in 1881) the following sentence : " Day re-
cords and notices a fish captured at the mouth of the Thames, and referred to Gadus macrocephalus
Tilesius, probably Yarrell's ' Lord Fish,' and considered to be distinct from G. vulgaris." This
agrees with my own idea of the macrocephalus form of cod. You can find it in almost any large
school of the common species. A series of cod illustrating the great amount of variation in this
respect has lately been received from Alaska by the U. S. National Museum.

Golden cod, red cod, and other algae forms are as well known at Kodiak and the Shumagins
as they are around Cape Cod and Cape Ann. Even the beautiful lemon yellow fish, which
occasionally are found in the Ipswich Bay schools, are duplicated in Alaskan waters. Nor does
the similarity between the commercial cod of the two oceans end with external characters which
are taken into account in determining specific relationship, for we find a wonderful resemblance
in their habits and food. Thus, the shore fish about the islands make their appearance in schools
similar to ours and similarly named : First, the "herring school;" next, the "lant school;" then
the "capelin school," followed by the "squid school" and the "winter school." Besides these
there is an abundance of Bank fish, which are larger than any of the schools here named. All of
the food-fish of the cod here indicated are exceedingly abundant. The herring is not identical
with the common sea herring of the Atlantic (Clvpea harengus), but it is very closely related to it,
and the differences which separate the two species are very slight. The commonest lant is the
same as the most abundant one of our New England species, and the capelin is identical with our
Eastern one. The squid or cuttle-fish is Octopus punctatus of Gabb — a species which reaches a
large size and forms one of the preferred baits for cod.

The cod come on the rocks in 25 to 30 fathoms about Kodiak, to spawn, in November and
December, just as they do in the Atlantic, and these spawning fish, like their Eastern relatives,
will sometimes lie perfectly still on the bottom and refuse to take the hook though it hangs
temptingly in front of their noses. Young cod swarm near the shores, precisely as they were
observed to do in Gloucester Harbor after the experiments of the U. S. Fish Commission with
artificial propagation. On the 13th of July, 1880, our seine took young cod at Saint Paul, Kodiak
Island. We dredged numbers of them near our anchorage at Belkoffsky, on the peninsula of
Aliaska, July 23, 1880, averaging 1J inches in length. On the following day young cod of the
same size were found in the stomach of a large one of the same species caught near Oleny Island
in 7 fathoms of water. On the 1st of October, in the harbor of Chernoffsky, Unalashka Island, the
cod fry were very abundant, and some of them had reached a length of 3 inches or more. At
Iliuliuk, on the north end of the same island, young cod of the same length were seined at various
times from October 6 to 18. They fairly swarmed around the wharves, eagerly biting at anything
in the form of bait and readily fastening themselves on hooks intended for much larger fish.

The resemblance between the Atlantic and Pacific cod-fishing grounds is strengthened by
the presence in Pacific waters of a genuine pollock — not the fierce, cod-devouring tyrant of the

200 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Atlantic, but a prettier, weaker relative, greatly loved and grievously persecuted by tbe cod. No
one has yet recorded the existence of a haddock (Melanogrammus), hake (Phycis), or of a cusk
(Brosmius), in Alaskan waters. The only members of the cod family definitely known are the true
cod (Gadus morrhua), the torn-cod (Microgadm proximus), the polar cod (Boreogadus saida), the
" wachna" (Tilesia gracilis), and the pollock (Pollachius chalcogrammm}. Wherever the true cod is
found occurs also the halibut (Hippoglossus vulgarls), the same species as that of the Atlantic.
These two prime fish are associated ; they come almost to the doors of the fishermen, and are
present now around the shores of Alaska in the profusion which attended the infancy of the Cape
Cod fishery.

DISTRIBUTION. — The cod seems to be entirely unknown as far south as San Diego, Cal.
A circular sent by the chief of the Bureau of Statistics to Mr. W. W. Bowers, collector of customs
at San Diego, elicited the following response: "I referred the circular to Dr. G. W. Barnes, the
president of a society of natural history, and to various fishermen, but cannot ascertain that the
codfish is known to exist in any of the waters adjacent to this port."

J. L. McDonald, in a book entitled " Hidden Treasures, or Fisheries around the Northwest
Coast," states that "cod are taken in very limited numbers off tbe Farallones; they are lean and
very poor and resemble the jaundiced cod on the Grand Bank.?'

The same author writes: " On the Heceta bank, NNW. from Cape Orford, Oregon, cod are
found. The Indians residing on that coast report this fish as quite abundant in the summer
months, and (they) are said to be large, solid, and delicious."

James G. Swan, in a report on the food-fishes of Cape Flattery, Washington Territory, informs
us that "the cod of the North Pacific is not found in abundance at Cape Flattery; occasionally it
is brought in, but it is by no means common. It seems to inhabit the deep water of Fuca Strait
and for that reason is seldom fished for, except occasionally some of the older fishermen will try
during very fine weather to take fish in 80 fathoms. Further up the sound and in Hood's Canal
and a few other localities the Oadus is taken, but it is small, evidently a young fish. Although it«
existence is well known to residents on Puget Sound, it is not taken in sufficient quantities to be
relied on as a food-fish." Professors Jordan and Gilbert brought from Puget Sound specimens of
the species, some of which have recently been distributed by the U. S. National Museum.

Mr. H. A. Webster, collector of customs at Port Townsend, Washington Territory, communi-
cates the following information : " The cod, I believe, is always present in the waters of Fuca Strait
and Puget Sound, but in such limited quantities that catching has not been pursued as a business,
and the knowledge of [its] habits is very limited. Toung cod, about the size of shad, have been
somewhat abundant in Puget Sound during the winter months; cod weighing from four to six
pounds have been taken during the summer months by Indians at Nee-ah-Bay. * * * The
presence of small cod in the winter months in Puget Sound and at the mouth of the Strait of Fuca
is an indication that large quantities may be found in the neighborhood of Cape Flattery — say
west of Tahosh light and south from Vancouver Island. * * * No efficient search has been
made off the coast of Washington Territory for this valuable fish."

To the cod fleet of 1866 British Columbia added two or three small schooners which were fitted
out at Victoria. These vessels fished on grounds immediately north of Naas River, where they
reported numerous banks as well as farther to the northward. At the same time cod were caught
in Barclay Sound and brought to the Victoria market.

At Sitka, Indians brought a few cod to our vessel in June, 1880. The cod were reported
abundant and readily caught, but the halibut, the many fine " bass" (several species ofSebastickthys),
and the " rockfish" (various species of \Hexagrammus} seemed to have greater popularity. Mr. A.

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 201

T. Wbitford told me that the cod spawn in the vicinity of Sitka in spring, and that they have a
remarkable number of eggs.

At Port Mulgrave, Yakutat Bay, we took but one cod in the harbor during the day spent
there, and this one was large but sick. Good fish are plentiful in the deeper water outside. Noth-
ing but hand-lines were used from the vessel.

Capt, J. Baley reports cod very abundant on the Hoochenoo bank in Chatham Strait. The
bank extends from Hoochenoo Point to Point Samuel. He also states that there is a bank off
Point Gardiner, and that there are banks on the east shore of Baranoff Island near Poghibshi
Strait. According to Captain Haley small cod are abundant in Prince Frederick Sound.

While on a visit to the Aleut village near Graham Harbor, Cook's Inlet, we were told by Mr.
Cohen that cod are present in the inlet throughout the year. On the 6th of July in Eefuge Cove,
Port Chatham, Cook's Inlet, a great many fine young cod were seined. It was in Port Chatham
that we first saw capelin schooling. Plenty of excellent cod were caught here with hand-lines from
the vessel.

Around the island of Kodiak cod are very numerous. On the 9th of July, while the Yukon
was lying at anchor in the harbor of Saint Paul, schools of these fish were seen swimming about
her. These were fine, lively fish, evidently the first of the summer run, which Mr. B. G. Mclntyre
informed me had not yet fairly begun. Young cod were seined on Wooded Island July 13. Between
Kodiak and Unalashka are the extensive and well-known banks, Portlock, Seminoffsky, and the
Shumagins, which have furnished the great bulk of the cod so far taken in Alaska.

There are cod banks in the vicinity of Unalashka. We had no difficulty in catching all we
wanted with a small trawl-line or with hand-lines late in July and early in October. In July native
fishermen at Iliuliuk were bringing in bidarka loads of beautiful fish, most of which were very
large, to dry them for use in winter. The wonderful abundance of young cod 3 to 4 inches long
was a feature here in October.

The species has been seen as far west as the island of Atka, of the Aleutian chain.

Cod have been reported abundant in Bristol Bay. They appear to be uncommon in Norton
Sound, though occurring again more abundantly further north, as far as the ice-line. The eastern
portion of Bering Sea may yet furnish important supplies of cod in suitable depths, since there is
an abundance of its favorite food, notably sand-launce, capelin, smelt, herring, and pollock, which
last is probably the " whiting" spoken of by Seemann as occurring abundantly in Hotham Inlet,
Kotzebue Sound.

At the island of Saint Paul cod are taken rarely, the fur-seal having a monopoly of the catch.

At Saint Lawrence Island Messrs. Maynard and Elliott caught cod on the 22d of August, 1874.

The great fishing grounds of Kamtchatka are in the Okhotsk Sea and the sea of Kamtchatka.

We were informed by one of the whaling captains in Plover Bay, last September, that he has
caught cod off the heads of Marcus Bay, East Siberia, in about latitude 64° north and about longi-
tude 1720 40' west. Off Indian Point (Cape Tchaplin), East Siberia, a little farther north than
Marcus Bay, we were told by Eskimo who came aboard the vessel that they sometimes take cod
at that point.

In the Arctic Ocean we saw no traces of the Oadus morrhua, its place being supplied to some
extent by myriads of small polar cod (Borcogadus saida], which, like the pollock, has the lower jaw
longer than the upper. On the 19th of August, 1880, in latitude 66° 45' north, longitude 166° 35'
west, we saw great numbers of young Borcogadus, from an inch to an inch and a half long, swim,
ming under the tentacles of a Ctyawea-like jelly-fish.

In general terms we may say that cod are found around the whole southern shore of Alaska,

202 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

and as far south as Puget Sound, extending westward along the Aleutian chain as far as Atka,
and not common on the western shore of the Territory much above Bristol Bay, though they have
been observed as far north as Saint Lawrence Island. They are said to penetrate only a short
distance into Cook's Inlet. We caught several large ones as far up the inlet as Chugachik Bay,
but they were not healthy fish. In Port Chatham, which is near the entrance to the inlet, we
found them common and good. Mr. Cohen told me that cod are present all the year near Fort
Alexander.

In Eefuge Cove, a small arm of Port Chatham, we took many young cod in brackish water.
At Chernoffsky, also, on the island of Unalashka, we again found them abundant in brackish
water, associated with young Oncorhynchus, Salvelinus malma, Ammodytes pcrsonatus, Lumpenus
anguillaris, and a species of Cottus. Several small streams flow into Chernoffsky Bay at this
point.

The young cod were taken in water varying from 3 feet to 1 fathom in depth, close to the
shore. Fish of considerable size, weighing several pounds, were taken from the wharves at Iliu-
liuk during our stay. Cod are quite abundant close to the shores of the Kodiak group of islands,
the Shumagins, and Unalashka Island. I have seen them taken in about 9 feet of water at Iliu-
liuk, and at a depth of at least 50 fathoms off Cape Cheerful. Mr. Devine, of Pirate Cove, says
they are caught as far as 30 miles off Seminoffsky Island, at a maximum depth of 45 fathoms, and
that on the middle ridge, in 60 to 70 fathoms, the best fish are taken with hand-lines.

Capt. H. R. Bowen states that cod are sometimes caught in 3 feet of water at the village of
Saint Paul; but these are always sick fish. Wherever there are soundings, good fish may be
caught. The cod of the Shumagins are generally taken at such short distances from the shores
as may be readily reached with dories. The fishermen go out in dories from their vessels, or from
the fishing station, in the morning, and return in time to dress the fish aboard or on shore in the
evening.

COMMON NAMES. — J. G. Swan writes that the cod is called "kadatl" by the Makah Indians.
The Sitkas call it "sacht." A Kodiak Eskimo, to whom I showed one of the fresh fish, told me
that they knew it as " ah-mo-doc." The Russian name for the species is " treska," a name pretty
widely known in the Territory. It is worthy of remark here that natives generally distinguish
closely the " wachna" from the " treska." To the fishermen generally the fish is known as the cod.
Men who have come to the Alaskan grounds from New England have brought with them the
terms "rock-cod" and "kelp-bangers" for certain individual varieties. "Rock-cod" are the
variously colored algae fish, exactly similar to those known by the same name at Gloucester.
"Kelp-bangers" are shore fish that frequent the kelp, as their name suggests. "Wachna" is a
term applied to a species resembling the torn-cod, but very different structurally from this.

SIZE. — From all reports, none but small cod occur in Puget Sound and Hood's Canal. I
measured several fresh ones at Sitka which were bought from Indians. One taken May 30 was
662 millimeters long; two others, secured June 12, were 435 and 542 millimeters, respectively.
Capt. J. Haley informed me that the average weight, when dried, of 10,000 cod purchased by him
on the Hoocheuoo Bank was 3 pounds, which is quite as much as the average weight of the Shu-
magin fish. The largest one he saw weighed 30 pounds. He saw a few young fish.

A cod caught by us in the harbor of Port Mulgrave, Yakutat Bay, June 24, measured 870
millimeters. It was stout and heavy, but sick. In Port Chatham, Cook's Inlet, two healthy fish,
among a lot taken July 5, measured 772 millimeters and 750 millimeters. One of these was a spent
female. Off Marmot Island (Portlock Bank) on the 8th of July we caught with hand-lines, in a

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 203

very short time preceding dark, tweuty-six cod, tine, plump, and healthy, averaging not less than
12 pounds.

Capt. D. C. Bo wen gave me the following information about the shore fish around Kodiak:
First comes the " herring school," consisting of medium-sized fish, continuing from May 1 to June
or July; then the "lant school," short, thick, well-meated, but not so large as the herring school,
occurring June to July. After this comes the "capelin school," of good-sized fish, about equal to
Newfoundland cod, July to September. Last comes the " squid school," averaging 12 pounds each.
All of these are shore fish. The bank fish are always larger.

Capt. J. C. Caton, who is well acquainted with the Shumagin fishery, says that in 1867 the
Sanborn took 60,000 fish, averaging 2£ pounds when cured and ready for the market. Now vessels
will average 80 tons (60,000 fish) of 2J pounds each. (The market returns show the average to be a
little more than 3 pounds to the fish at present.) Captain Caton remarked that none of the fish are
so large as the George's cod. Capt. Andrew Anderson informed me that when he was mate of the
Wild Gazelle, in 1873. she took, on Seminoffsky Bank, 93,000 fish, averaging 2£ pounds each when
dressed. In 1874 she caught 97,000 cod, averaging 3 pounds each. Capt. H. E. Bowen, of Saint
Paul, Kodiak, gives the average of the shore fish there as 6 pounds round, and says that the largest
weigh 14 pounds. Mr. Thomas Devine, in charge of McCollam & Co.'s fishing-station at Pirate
Cove, Shumagins, gives me as an average of the fish taken there something between 8 and 12 pounds
round, the largest weighing 50 pounds.

On the 19th of July I saw many fish brought into this station by dorymen. One of the men
had 157 for his day's catch, none of them being less than 26 inches in length, and many of them
weighing not less than 30 pounds. The smallest weighed about 8, according to my estimate. Prof.
George Davidson, assistant to the U. S. Coast Survey, in his report on Alaska, states that in north
latitude 53° 39', west longitude 164° 10', in 50 to 60 fathoms of water, many cod were caught from
his vessel, the largest being 37 inches long; several reached 36 inches. The finest was 36 inches
long, 23 inches girth, and weighed 27 pounds, was very fat, &c. In the New York Times of July
15, 1879, is found the following extract from the report of Captain White, of the United States
Eevenue Marine Service, who was on duty in the Alaska waters in 1878 : " One day, when sounding
south of Kodiak, wishing to lay in a stock of codfish, I ordered the sails set back, and prepared
twenty lines, with four or five hooks to each line. Puget Sound clams were used as bait, and in
two hours we caught 250 fish, weighing 30 to 40 pounds each."

From Dr. A. Kellogg, of San Francisco, surgeon and botanist of one of the Coast Survey
expeditions, I have the following memorandum : " I copy from my diary verbatim the very brief
note made on the spot relative to the cod caught on board the Lincoln, latitude 53° 30' N., longi-
tude 164° 30' W.— cod 18 inches girth, 30J inches length, 14J pounds ; 20J girth and 34 inches
long, weight 20 to 22 pounds; 3 feet long and 23 inches girth, 27 pounds."

We were in the harbor of Iliuliuk, Uualashka, from the 27th of July to August 3, and from
October 6 to 18, 1880. Between the first two dates we saw native fishermen daily bringing in cod
for winter use. The fish were caught near the village, and were uniformly good-sized, many of
them of 15 to 20 pounds in weight at least. Men were sent out from the vessel also to supply us
with fresh fish. They generally fished on the ridge at the entrance to Port Levasheff, and never
failed to secure a good supply of cod, averaging fully 12 pounds. In October there was no falling
ofi' in the supply, and the size was about the same. In deeper water, farther from the village, we
took larger cod.

I find in the notes of Prof. D. S. Jordan the following comparison between the Okhotsk cod and
that of the Shumagin Islands : " Okhotsk cod are larger and more numerous than Shumagin cod,

204 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

but they are thinner, less fat, and more pot bellied, and weigh rather less when dressed — 80,000
Shumagin fish, dressed, weigh 260,000 pounds ; 80,000 Okhotsk fish, dressed, weigh 220,000 pounds.
The latter are poorer, perhaps, because they are caught so early in the spring. They are fatter in
July. Fishing, however, begins in June." For the dressed Shumagin fish this gives an average
of 3£ pounds each, and for the Okhotsk 2J pounds. The average for the Shumagin fish agrees
substantially with that given by most persons who have furnished information about the Alaska
cod. Professor Jordan's information was obtained from the foremost fish merchants in San Fran-
cisco, and mine from captains of fishing- vessels. The average size of the Shumagin fish is higher
for 1880. There are many large fish averaging 6 to 8 pounds, or even more, when prepared for the
market.

SHAPE AND COLOK. — With reference to the Shumagin cod, Capt. J. C. Caton informed me that
most of them have black napes, but in some the nape (peritoneum) is white. Some of the fish which
we caught on Portlock Bank July 8, 1880, had the nape black, and in others it was white. Mr.Devine,
of Pirate Cove, Shumagin Islands, reports there black napes generally, with white or gray occasion-
ally. Capt. H. E. Bowen, of Kodiak, says " they very seldom find cod with white napes— they are
generally black." Capt. D. C. Bowen, of the same island, told me that white-nape and black-nrpe
fish both are caught, black-napes being most plentiful. He says that young cod generally have
white napes, and the big ones are almost always black-naped. Captain Haley informed me that
the Hoochenoo cod have black napes. These statements coincide with my own observations at
various points along the coast of Alaska, and it seems to be true that the peritoneum of the
Alaskan cod is generally dark. The two large ones already referred to as having been caught in
Port Chatham, July 5, 1880, had black napes.

The same variations in the external colors of the fish exist as are observed in the Atlantic.
The shore fish are generally darker than the bank fish, and a reddish tinge is very common. Rock-
cod are as well known as in the east. Mr. Devine states that very pretty yellow cod are some-
times taken. Capt. H. R. Boweu says that the deep-water fish are generally light in color. Mr.
Devine informed me that the winter fish are whiter than those of any other season.

The same gentleman mentions peculiarities of shape among the cod, as, for example, "bull-
eyed" fish, or those with very prominent eyes, probably due to their sudden removal from very
deep water, and "seal -head" fish, distinguished by a short snout and wide space between the eyes.
The shore fish which were brought to us by Indians from Old Sitka were always dark colored,
with long heads and eyes far apart, and with conspicuous blotches, in general appearance often
resembling the small cod taken in shallow water off South Greenland — the ogac form of the
common cod.

There are no differences as far as general appearances go between Alaskan and New England
cod. It would be impossible to tell one from the other if they were mixed in a tank without tags
or some other means of identification.

MIGRATIONS. — Mr. B. G. Mclntyre, Mr. D. C. Bowen, and Capt. H. R. Bowen all agree in
stating that cod remain throughout the year around the island of Kodiak. They were scarce last
winter on account of the extreme cold, and up to the time of our arrival at Saint Paul (July 9, 18SO)
the customary summer run had not yet begun. Between that date and July 14, however, we saw
schools of them around the vessel where she lay at anchor. According to Mr. Bowen, they made
their first appearance at Saint Paul May 7, 1880. Captain Bowen states that they are always
found in the same places. Mr. Mclntyre informed me that they were so scarce about Saint Paul
last winter that the natives could not catch enough of them for their own use — an illustration of
the influence of temperature in determining the movement seaward of cod.

THE COD FISHEKY OF ALASKA. 205

According to Capt. J. C. Caton, cod are present around the Shumagin Islands all the time,
but at some seasons they are very scarce. The best fishing is in February, commencing about the
10th and lasting to March 10. * At this time none of the vessels are engaged in the fishery; only
the Pirate Cove Station is prepared to use the opportunity, and I infer, from remarks of the
manager, that there is little activity in that quarter. Most of the vessels coming up to the islands
get their best fish and best fare in July. Sometimes they do well in May. The fleet come up late
in April or early in May and stay until the 10th or 15th of August.

Mr. Devine, who manages the permanent fishing station on Popoff Island (at Pirate Cove),
also informed me that cod are to be found all the year'round, but that they go off into deep water
during cold snaps and toward evening. He stated that the school fish leave in August or Sep-
tember and return in January and February. They seem to move off to the southward and to
return from the southward and westward.

With reference to the bank 20 miles east-northeast of Seminoffsky, Capt. Andrew Anderson
told me that the fishing is best in August and September. The "yellow fish" (Pleurogrammus
monopterygius) school there abundantly about the middle of August, and will follow the bait up to
the top of the water. Cod will bite at the yellow-fish in preference to anything else. A change is
now being inaugurated in the distribution of the yellow-fish which may affect the movements of
cod; the yellow-fish, which was a few years ago unknown or scarcely known about the Island of
Unalashka, occurred both at the southern and the northern end, on the west side, during the sum-
mer of 1880. At Chernoff'sky and Iliuliuk the species was observed in numbers, and if this habit
becomes fixed we may expect an increase in the abundance of cod where this choice food may
locate.

Mr. Marcus Baker has translated for me a note by Ivan Veniaminoff on the marine fishes of
the Unalashka region, in which occurs the following sentence : " Some of these, and especially the
cod, in the winter go offshore into deep water, but in summer time they are found along the shores
of certain bays and in shoal water."

SCHOOLING. — Mr. D. C. Bowen, of Saint Paul, Kodiak, distinguishes various schools of cod
about that island, which vary in size and other particulars and take their names from their
favorite food during the time of their stay. He gives them in the following order: First, the
*' herring school," consisting of fish of medium size, which come about May 1 and stay until June, or
even July; next, the "lant school," feeding on sand launce (Ammodytes personatus), and made up
of short, thick, well-meated fish, not so large as those of the herring school, and appearing in
June and July. Then follows the "capelin school," whose food is the Mallotus villosus, so well
known on the Labrador coast, in July remaining until September. These are good-sized fish,
about equal to the Newfoundland cod. The "squid school" comes on in August or September and
remains until October. The fish of this school average 12 pounds in weight. The schools so far
enumerated are all shore fish, and they are always smaller than bank fish. From October there
are winter schools in some places. These are generally composed of short, thick fish.

Capt. J. C. Caton says that they catch males and females together in the spawning season,
and that they do not school when spawning.

Mr. William J. Fisher has furnished the following information concerning the schooling of cod
around Kodiak, for which he acknowledges his indebtedness to Capt. H. K. Bowen : Cod associate
in schools generally from May to the middle of September, and they live independently the rest of
the year, the severity of the winter having much influence on their habits. At different seasons
and in different places there are different schools. Males, females, and young are found iv the

206 HISTOBY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEKIES.

same schools. The movements of the schools are affected by the presence or absence of food and
by the state of the tide, the fish taking the hook more readily at slackwater.

Mr. Devine, speaking about the Shumagin cod, told me on the 19th of July, 1880, that they
found the fish both in schools and independent. They were "picking fish" at the time, and there
had been "no great flush" of school fish this year. Different schools are found at different
seasons and in different places, just as about Kodiak. Mr. Deviue says that males, females, and
young are not found associated in his vicinity. The males go together at certain times, and the
females are associated. At the spawning-season there are more females than males. The move-
ments of the schools are very much affected by sharks, and, to some extent, by dogfish. Dogfish
are not abundant, but sharks are especially plentiful. The dogfish is identical with our Atlantic
spined dogfish (Squalus acanthias). We did not get a specimen of the shark, but the National
Museum has a couple of small ones from Sitka, which are very close to, if not identical with, the
"tope" (GaleorMnus galeus). As for the influence of the tides, Mr. Devine says that fishing is
best during the spring tides and poorest in slack tides.

Sometimes the cod have such a superabundance of food that they refuse to take the hook.
This is, perhaps, of rare occurrence; generally it seems that the more a cod has in its stomach
the more eagerly it bites, especially if the bait be something different from that previously eaten.
One would suppose that a 12-pound cod, after eating forty capelin, would not take herring bait, and
yet we had an illustration of that on Portlock Bank.

My own observations at various points along the Alaskan coast seemed to indicate that young
cod from 2 to 4 inches in length prefer to school near the shores, in sheltered coves, where the
water is shallow, and often where it receives a large admixture of fresh water. At Hiuliuk I found
myriads of such young fish playing about the wharves, eagerly seizing the hooks baited for larger
prey. Occasionally a larger cod, of about 16 or 18 inches in length, would be caught in the same
vicinity, but almost invariably we found the small fry unmixed with older fish.

The supply of food forms a very important motive for the presence of cod in particular places
at certain times. When we were in Port Chatham, for example, capelin were schooling there
abundantly, and we caught fine cod freely. On Portlock Bank again capelin were plentiful, and
nearly every cod examined had its stomach filled with them. At the Shumagins " England hake,"
or, more properly, pollock (Pollachius chalcogrammus), were abundant in July, and the cod were there
feasting on them. The " yellow-fish " (Pleurogrammus monopterygius) is one of the finest of all baits
for cod and will play an important part in the future history of the fishery. This yellow-fish is
said by Capt. Andrew Anderson to be very abundant about the middle of August on the off-shore
bank, 20 miles east-northeast of Seminoffsky Island, where it is found schooling like the mackerel,
and will follow the bait up to the surface of the water. It is to be noted that August and Sep-
tember are the best months for cod on this bank. The herring (Clupea mirabilis) also has a great
deal to do with a prosperous cod fishery. Capt. J. Haley told me that herring are wonderfully
plentiful on the Hoochenoo Bank at the fishing-season and that there are enormous quantities of
fine herring in Prince Frederick Sound, which serve to attract a great abundance of small cod
thither. The vast shoals of herring which are found in various parts of the Gulf of Alaska are
generally accompanied by hordes of cod. Elsewhere in this paper I have recorded the statement
of Captain Bowen concerning the magnitude of a herring shoal seen by him ; this will give a good
idea of the amount of sustenance awaiting the pleasure of the cod around Kodiak. The same
numbers are known to be present in many localities, and wherever found their influence on the
prosperity of the fishery must be recognized.

ABUNDANCE. — Before entering into an examination of the influence of modes of fishing and

. THE COD FISHEEY OF ALASKA. 207

practices of the fishermen upon the abundance of fish, it will be well to review the actual numbers
taken at different times and in various places. Captain Haley secured 10,000 fish in two weeks
from Indians on the Hoochenoo Bank, and could have got many more. The Indians caught these
cod with bark lines on barbless, bent-iron hooks, two of them going off in a canoe and bringing in
from 25 to 50 fish, which were quite enough to satisfy their laziness. They would not allow any
one else to fish, but if they had the number would have been readily quadrupled.

Mr. D. C. Bowen states that as many as 500 have been taken in a day by one hand-line fisher-
man on Portlock Bank, and that the average catch of the whole season per man is 75 per day.

Here may be repeated the statement of Captain White, of the United States Revenue Marine,
who reported the capture, south of Kodiak, of 250 fish, weighing 30 to 40 pounds each, with
twenty lines having four or five hooks each. This number was taken in two hours.

From the New York Times of July 15, 1879, 1 extract a sentence by William S. Dodge, formerly
mayor of Sitka, to the effect that "at Kodiak Henry Eichard and Thomas Bache, fishermen, caught
alone, with hook and line, within the last six months, 22,000 cod."

Capt. Andrew Anderson told me at Saint Paul that with a crew of ten men, on Seminoffsky
Bank, he has caught as many as 4,000 cod in a day, and that his average catch there was from
1,000 to 1,800 daily.

Mr. D. C. Bowen stated that John McCathrine and a man named Smith caught 1,700 cod in a
day on one trawl (a 12-line trawl of 600 or 700 hooks) in TJnga Straits. Their average catch was
1,200 fish.

.A correspondent of the San Francisco Post, writing of the season of 1876, says: "One man on
board the schooner Selma, which arrived the other day, had 13,000 fish to his credit," &c. These
were caught during a season of four months.

Capt. J. C. Caton, who has been familiar with the Shumagin fishery ever since the second year
of its existence, affirms that fish are plentiful enough to supply a large market when that is found.
The evidence of all the fishermen goes to prove that the great want is not fish, but demand for fish.
One such customer as Gloucester would whiten the Gulf of Alaska with hundreds of sails, where
now there are less than a dozen, and there is every indication that full fares would repay the
venture.

As for the influence of fishing and its accompanying practices, we have information from only
two points, Kodiak and Pirate Cove. Capt. H. E. Bowen, of Saint Paul, Kodiak, says that cod
are as abundant there now as they were when white men began fishing ; that their haunts and
habits have not been changed by the influence of man, and their numbers have not been diminished
by over- fishing. Trawls have never been used in that vicinity. He regards the practice of throw-
ing gurry overboard as injurious to the fishery ; the cod, he says, will leave and their place will be
taken by sculpins.

Mr. Thomas Devine, of Pirate Cove, said that cod are scarcer there now than they were five
years ago. He accounts for their decrease by the increased fishing, especially with trawls, the
injurious practice of throwing gurry overboard, and, to some extent, by the capture of the mother
fish, which will sometimes take the hook freely. The loss of gear resulting from trawling has a
bad effect upon the fishery.

FOOD. — The food of the cod in the Pacific is as plentiful and as varied as in the Atlantic.
Most other fishes of suitable size are liable to suffer from its voracity, while certain species for
which it has an especial liking are slaughtered in great numbers. There is a wonderful abundance
of invertebrate animals, such as squid, shrimp, holothurians, crabs, marine worms, sea-fleas, and,
in short, just such forms as are well known to every fisherman on the eastern grounds. The waters

208 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

of the Alaskan fishing grounds fairly swarm with this kind of life suitable to the wants of the cod.
The fish which constitute in large measure the food of the cod are herring (Clupca mirabiHs),
capelin (Mallotus villosus), lant (Ammodytes), halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris), whiting or England
hake (PoUachius chalcogrammus), sculpius (Hemilcpidotus Jordani and trachurus, also Cottus
polyacanthoccphalus), and yellow-fish or striped fish (Plcurogrammus monopterygius). Sometimes
young cod are swallowed by older ones. I have seen a species of Liparis from a cod stomach on
Portlock Bank. The yellow-fish is the best bait for cod, according to Captain Anderson and
Captain Caton. Another food-fish of the cod is worthy of mention here, because of the interest
which attaches to its common name of "cask" (Bathy master signatus), a species very different
indeed from the cusk which is so much eaten for cod in the Eastern States.

Mr. Devine says that sick cod are sometimes seen feeding at the surface, and sometimes
healthy fish will chase bait up. In this way yellow-fish will attract cod to the surface, and capelin
will also. I have counted forty capelin in one cod taken on Portlock Bank, July 8, 1880.

REPRODUCTION. — According to Mr. D. C. Bowen, cod about Kodiak come on the rocks in 25
to 30 fathoms, spawning in November and December. Capt. H. R. Bowen, of the same island,
states that cod, full of eggs, are caught in February. The eggs are very light straw color, and
about as large as No. 12 shot. He says that eggs and milt sometimes run from the fish after they
are caught.

Capt. J. C. Caton informed me that cod spawn around the Shumagins in February, on sandy
bottom in shore, and that they will bite freely when spawning. Mr. D. C. Boweu says that at cer-
tain times spawning cod will lie perfectly still on the bottom and not take the hook.

Mr. Thomas Devine tells me that the Shumagin cod spawn in from 10 to 15 fathoms of water
in January and February; the size and color of the eggs are the same as in the Eastern cod. The
wharf at the Pirate Cove fishing-station is sometimes covered with spawn which has run from the
fish after they were lauded. lie says that during the breeding season the males are long and s im
and the females are short and deep. The smallest codfish he has recognized as such were G inches
long, and they appeared in May or June. The smallest ones seen by Captain Bowen were, also,
six inches long; they made their appearance about July, and were in company with the old fish.

On the Gth of July, 1880, we seined many young cod in Refuge Cove, Port Chatham, Cook's
Inlet, where the water was less than a fathom in depth, and was largely diluted by fresh streams.

At Belkoffsky, on the peninsula of Aliaska, young cod about one and one-half inches long
were dredged on the 23d of July. On the following day, while lying on the west side of Oleny
Island, a cod 1£ inches long was found in the stomach of a large one.

On the 1st and 2d of October we seined many young cod at the head of Chernoffsky Bay,
Unalashka; from the 6th to the ISth of the same month we saw them in great numbers swimming
around the wharves at Iliuliuk, Unalashka, very active and wonderfully greedy. "We may, there-
fore, say that from May to October, at least, young cod are found in shallow water near the shore,
and that about the middle of the latter month they have reached an average length of 4 or 5
inches. At Iliuliuk, when a jig or a baited hook was let down into the water it would be at once
surrounded by a throng of nibbling fry, not at all frightened by the presence and antics of numerous
small boys. These small fish frequently succeeded in fastening themselves on the hooks, and were
pulled out on the wharf, either to be eaten or used as bait or thrown away.

DISEASES, PARASITES, ENEMIES. — As a rule all large cod caught in harbors, in shoal water,
are sick. On the 24th of June, 1880, one was taken in Port Mulgravo, Yakutat Bay, that meas-
ured 34J inches in length, and was stout and heavy, but sick and unfit for food. The gills were
not bright red as in a healthy fish, but dull and faded; the colors of the body were also dull.

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 209

Numerous parasites were present externally, and the abdominal viscera were infested with worms.
A very unpleasant odor came from the belly when it was opened.

On the 2d of July, in Chugacbick Bay, Cook's Inlet, three large cod were caught from the
vessel, all of which were sick, their abdominal viscera being lined with worms and giving off a
bad odor, yet the fish were quite heavy.

On the 5th of July a healthy cod 28f inches long and blind in both eyes was caught on a hook
in Port Chatham, near .the entrance to Cook's Inlet. The fish was entirely free from parasites.
Its stomach contained only the herring with which the hook was baited. Instead of the trans-
parent aqueous humor in the anterior chamber of the~eye, there was an opaque white substance,
the result, doubtless, of an old injury. A second fish taken here (about an inch longer than the
blind one) seemed to be perfectly healthy, but there were numerous small worms in the intestines.
In its stomach were an Ammodytes, a little wad of kelp, and a pebble.

In examining a fresh fish caught near Sitka I found the inside of its mouth containing many
lernaean parasites.

Capt. H. R. Bowen has never seen deformed cod in the vicinity of Kodiak, but diseased ones
are common. He has frequently noticed ulcerated sores along the body, and especially on the head.
Dead cod have never been seen to bis knowledge.

Mr. Deviue, of the Shtimagins, has seen cod sometimes with their backbone broken, causing
a deformity known as " rose bones," but he has never seen dead fish in any quantity at or near
Pirate Cove. In earlier years, he says, you could heave up hundreds of sick cod at the wharf.
Sometimes you would take cod long, thin, and gaunt, and after taking out the bone you might
" read the Bulletin through them." Mr. Devine mentions, as external parasites found on Shumagin
cod, " cuttle-fish, whelks, worms, and fish-lice." The commonest external parasites observed by
me were small Ierna3ans.

Around Kodiak seals and sea-lions prey upon cod, frequently taking them from the line,
according to Captain Bowen.

Mr. Devine tells me that sharks are very abundant about the Shumagins and very destructive
to cod. Dogfish (Squalus acanthias) also prey upon cod, but they are not abundant. We caught
comparatively few dogfish during the summer — one at Port Althorp, on e on Portlock Bank, and
many at Sitka.

2. HISTORY OF THE FISHERY.

In the speech of Hon. Charles Surnner on the cession of Russian America to the United States
(printed at the Congressional Globe office, Washington, 1867) is an abstract of the references made
by early navigators and visitors in Alaska to the fishes of its waters. The cod is among those
most frequently mentioned, appearing for the first time in the report of a Russian navigator in
1765. Mr. Stunner then quotes from Cook (1786), Portlock (1787), Meares, Billings (1792), Langs-
dorf (1804), Liitke, and Sir George Simpson (1841). All of these speak of the cod as being one of
the commonest fish.

It appears that the first cod brought to San Francisco were taken by the brig Tiuiandra off
the island of Saghalien in 1863. I quote the account of it from the San Francisco Commercial
Herald and Market Review of January 15, 1880: "The North Pacific cod-fishing grounds have
been regularly prospected for fourteen years. The first flsh ever brought to this market from that
section was in 1863 or 1864, by the brig Tiuiandra. While this vessel was lying becalmed off the
island of Saghalieu, the crew, for want of something better to do, commenced fishing. They were
astonished at their success on their first day, and continued their pastime from day to day until
SKO v 14:

210

HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

quite a quantity of fish had been caught. This was the origin of the business, which has since
regularly employed from half a dozen to a score of vessels, and from forty to two hundred and
fifty men during the season. * * * The North Pacific codfish fleet was organized in the spring
of 1865."

The Gloucester Telegraph newspaper of October 11, 1865, has a paragraph which is believed
to refer to the vessel above mentioned ; it reads thus : " Two years ago a single vessel wandered
off to the then unknown banks on an uncertain adventure and io three months brought in a
cargo of codfish that astonished everybody. * * * The fishing grounds are in the Ochotsk
Sea » « * .»

The San Francisco Commercial Herald and Market Review in its issue of January 15, 1880,
tells us that " the North Pacific codfish fleet was organized in the spring of 1865," in which year
seven vessels were engaged, and their combined catch was 469,400 fish. In 1866 eighteen vessels
were employed and the catch was 724,000 fish. In 1868 the number of vessels was reduced to ten.
The largest fleet in any year since the beginning of the fishery was that of 1870, when twenty-one
vessels were engaged. Small fleets were out in 1872, 1873, 1874, and 1875, as will be seen by the
accompanying table. The largest catch recorded is that of 1879, thirteen vessels having aggre-
gated 1,499,000 fish. The average weight of the cured fish during the earlier years was from 2 to
3 pounds ; but it ranges now between 3 and 4 pounds.

The total weight of the catch of 1879 is reported to have been 1,955 tons, or 4,379,200 pounds.
The amount of cod brought into Gloucester during the same year was not far from 50,000,000
pounds, so that the whole cod fishery of the Pacific United States amounted to less than one-tenth
of that of Gloucester alone, or less than one-twentieth of the entire catch of the Atlantic United
States. This is by reason of the smaller demand for codfish on the Pacific slope, and not because
of any scarcity of cod.

Table showing results of tlie North Pacific codfish fishery.

Tear.

Vessels.

Fish.

Year.

Vessels.

Fish.

1865

7

469 400

1873

7

550 000

}g66

18

724 000

1874

6

381,000

1867

IB

943 400

1875

7

504 000

1868

10

608 000

1876 .

10

758 000

I860 .

19

1 032 000

1877

10

750,000

1870

21

1 285 500

1878

12

1, 190, 000

1871

11

772 000

1879

13

1,499 000

1872 . .

5

300,000

1880

8

1, 206, 000

According to J. L. McDonald (Hidden Treasures, &c., p. 11) the Shumagin fishery dates from
1866 : " In the spring of 1866 Captain Turner sailed from San Francisco in the schooner Porpoise;
he pursued a northerly course, calling at Queen Charlotte's, Unga, and Shumagin Islands; around
the latter-named group he found safe harbors, fuel, water, and other facilities for prosecuting his
business ; while on the grounds fringing those isles he found large, plump, healthy codfish in such
numbers as to enable him to fill his vessel in a few weeks. After an absence of three months this
' hardy toiler on the sea ' returned to the ' Bay City,' having performed a successful voyage, the
honored pioneer of the northwestern salt fisheries."

I was informed by Capt. J. 0. Caton, who has taken part in the Shumagin fishery since 1868,
that the first fleet at the islands consisted, in 1867, of three schooners, the Sanborn, Captain Morse;
the Porpoise, Captain Turner; and the Sarah Louise, Captain Holcomb. Captain Caton said that
they caught most of their fish off Nagay ; they came up to hunt fish and discovered these banks;

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 211

the Sanborn took 64,000 fish, the Porpoise 36,000, and the Sarah Louise 36,000 ; the trips sold for
12 to 13 cents per pound. Captain Caton came up in the Porpoise in 1868 and tried to make two
trips, but got only half a fare on the second. In 1868 there were fourteen vessels at the Shumagins.
The best fare was brought by the Mandiago (Captain Haines) — between 80,000 and 90,000 fish; the
Sanborn took about 60,000 ; the Porpoise alone tried two trips and caught 63,000 fish. The prices
were the same as in 1867.

The influence of the discovery of these extensive fishing banks in the waters of Alaska upon
negotiations for the cession of Russian America to the United States has been declared consider-
able, as will appear from the following extracts from tEe work of Mr. McDonald, already quoted.

"In January, 1866, the author, while attending the session of the legislature at Olympia, the
capital of Washington Territory, determined to make another bold push for Alaska, by soliciting
the good offices of our Government for the purpose of obtaining a permanent foothold, and to open
the prolific fishing grounds in those regions to our ambitious fishermen. To this end we penned
the following memorial:

" To His Excellency Andrew Johnson, President of the United States :

" Your memorialists, the legislative assembly of Washington Territory, beg leave to show that
vast quantities of cod, halibut, and salmon of excellent quality are found along the shores of Russian
America. Your memorialists respectfully request your Excellency to obtain such rights and. privi-
leges of the Government of Russia as will enable our fishing vessels to visit the harbors and its
possessions, to the end that fuel, water, and provisions may be obtained ; that our sick and dis-
abled fishermen may obtain sanitary assistance, together with the privilege of taking and curing
fish and repairing vessels in need of repairs. Your memorialists further request that the Secretary
of the Treasury be instructed to forward to the collector of customs of this, Puget Sound district,
such fishing license, abstract journals, and log-books as will enable our hardy fishermen to obtain
the bounties now paid to the fishermen in the Atlantic States. Your memorialists finally pray
your Excellency to employ such ships as may be spared from the Pacific naval fleet in surveying
the fishing banks known to navigators to exist from the Cortez Bank to Behring Strait.

"This memorial, written by a fisherman in behalf of the fishing industry on the northeast coast,
passed both branches of our Territorial legislature with commendable unanimity and dispatch. In
forwarding a copy of the above-named memorial to the Secretary of State we imparted such infor-
mation touching the fisheries around the Russian possessions, and the impulse which the opening
of those resources to our fishermen would impart to the commercial development on the northwest
coast. In acknowledging our humble services the illustrious Secretary assured us that " in con-
summating the recent purchase, I was strongly fortified by the letters which you wrote to me
touching the valuable fisheries in those waters." The New York Times of April 1, 1867 (the
acknowledged organ of Secretary Seward), said " that a memorial from the Territorial legislature
of Washington Territory, dated January, 1866, asking the President to obtain certain rights for
the fishermen, was the foundation of the present treaty.

"On the 18th of October, 1867, the transfer of this vast territory from Russia to the United
States was officially consummated by the respective commissioners of the two Governments, at
Sitka, in the presence of the Russian population, who cheerfully welcomed the few Americans there
also present. The union has been very cheerfully accepted by the people of the Territory. Our
Government, on assuming possession, found numerous adventurers from the Pacific States domi-
ciled in various parts of the Territory engaged in trade and in developing the resources in those
regions; vessels laden with ware entered every harbor; stores were opened as by magic in every

212 H1STOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

acceptable roadstead along the southern aud western coasts; an active competition for furs, oil,
ivory, old copper, iron, and junk was earnestly inaugurated; commerce revived, the sails of our
vessels whitened every creek, bay, aud sound, and the staid Eussians very soon obtained an insight
into Yankee progress on the go ahead principle."

3. THE FISHING GBOUNDS.

The great bulk of the cod taken in Alaska are caught within easy reach of the shore, at such
distances as may be traversed in canoes and dories. This is true for every part of the Territory in
which the fish are found. While we were at Sitka (during part of May and June) Indians brought
them down occasionally from Old Sitka, only a few miles away. Mr. A. T. Whitford, of Sitka,
states that they are abundant in spring. "Lisiansky caught them with hook and line in Sitka
Sound."* Capt. J. Haley informed me that small cod are abundant in Prince Frederick Sound
Captain Haley gave me the limits of the Hoocheuoo Bank as Hoochenoo Point and Point Samuel.
As already stated, the fish brought to him here by Indians were caught from canoes; they were
very abundant, and their average weight dried was 3 pounds, which is about the average of the
Shumagin cod. According to the same authority, there is another bank off Point Gardiner, and
there are banks on the east shore of Baranoff Island, near Poghibshi Strait. "Cod have been
taken in abundance at Nootka, Sitka, Lituya Bay, Yakutat Bay, Chugach Gulf, Cook's Inlet, Bris-
tol Bay, and throughout the Kodiak, Aleutian, and Pribyloff Islands." t Portlock found cod abun-
dant at Port Etches, which is at the entrance to Chugach Gulf or Prince William Sound; Belcher
took them near Cape Chiniak, Kodiak island. I am indebted to Mr. William J. Fisher for infor-
mation about the shore fishing in the vicinity of Saint Paul, Kodiak. Mr. Fisher obtained this in-
formation from Capt. H. E. Bowen. Ten men are employed steadily from May to September,
inclusive, and besides these the natives lay up their winter supplies whenever opportunity offers.
The favorite grounds are on a pumpkin or clam bottom, in 15 to 20 fathoms of water. Dories and
skiffs are principally used, and they carry from one to three men. The average daily catch per
man is 200 fish. Within easy reach of Belkoffsky fine cod are taken freely. The fishing around
the Shumagins is done at short distances from the shore. The fishing station of McCollam & Co.
at Pirate Cove employs eight men, all of whom go out in their dories during the day and dress
their fish on shore in the evening. Those who come up in the vessels from San Francisco are gen-
erally within easy reach of North Harbor, Unga Island. Thus we have traced the cod along
the whole south coast of Alaska and found them abundant near the shore. The same is true of
the Aleutian Islands. Near Iliuliuk, at the entrance to Captain's Harbor, and on the ridge at
the entrance to Port Levasheff, cod are plentiful. I have been thus explicit in my details of the
shore fishing to give an idea of the large proportion it furnishes of the entire catch, and to supply
the opportunity of noting the great contrast with the New England cod fishery.

Extended areas of soundings on which cod assemble in great masses are present in the Gulf
of Alaska, but they have been little investigated, and their limits and characteristics are imper-
fectly known. I have already referred to the Hoochenoo Bank in Chatham Strait, the bank off
Point Gardiner, and those off the east shore of Baranoff Island, near Poghibshi Strait. These
grounds are scarcely known, except to Indians, and to some extent to Captain Haley. It is unlikely
that large vessels will seek cod there, because of the difficulties of navigation, but the time will
come when great stores will be secured by small craft, the quality of 'the fish taken there being
excellent and the size equal to the average of the Shumagin fish.

PORTLOCK BANK. — This is the most northerly of a series of banks extending along the Kodiak,
Shumagin, and Fox groups of islands, at varying distances from the shore. A series of soundings
* Call in Report Comm. Agrio., 1870, p. 377. t Ball, op. cit., p. 378.

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 213

made by the U. S. Coast Survey to the eastward of Kodiak and Afognak Islands shows the
following depths iu fathoms: 52, 52, 95 (no bottom), 90, 90, 55, 70, 45, 63, 75, 80. In the evening
of July 8 we were becalmed on this bank, off Marmot Island, and caught very fine cod in 35
fathoms, soon shoaling it to 30. The bottom is said to be sand and gravel, as a rule; one of the
soundings indicated mud. A sounding 20 miles to the eastward of Marmot Island, in 42 fathoms,
showed a rocky bottom.* Concerning this bank Davidson gives the following information: "The
soundings of Portlock, of Vancouver, and of this expedition prove the existence of a comparatively
shoal bank, extending along the southeastern coast of Afognak and Kadiak, with a deep pocket
of 90 fathoms, no bottom, 25 miles east of Saint PauT 7 The shoalest water obtained on this bank
by this expedition was 45 fathoms, in latitude 58° 10', longitude 149° 42'. It is fair to assume that
this bank extends along the southeast shore of Kadiak, as incidental and unconnected observations

indicate."t

BANK SOUTHEAST OF KODIAK. — I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Ball, of the U. S. Coast Survey,
for information drawn from the records of the office concerning this and all the banks which follow.
A sounding in north latitude 56° 13' and west longitude 153° 39' showed 22J fathoms. The bank
seems to extend in a southwesterly direction; 22 to 38 fathoms were the limits of soundings over
an extensive area.

SIMEONOFF OR SEMiNOFFSKY BANK. — Mr. Ball states that this ground was discovered by the
Minnie G. Atkins in 1>67. Soundings have been taken in north latitude 54° 45', west longitude
158°, and in latitude 54° 38', longitude 158° 30'. In the latter place Bavidsou records 40 fathoms.
His description runs as follows: "Thirty-five miles east from the south end of the island of Niuniak,
the southernmost of the Shumagin Islands, we obtained coral and sand bottom in 40 fathoms of
water. * * * Ten miles farther westward the depth of water was 50 fathoms."

Capt. Andrew Anderson informed me that Seminoffsky Bank was visited by the schooner
Shooting Star, formerly of Fox Island, Vinal Haven, Me., in 1870, and next by the Scotland and
Amanda Ager. He and Capt. J. C. Caton locate the bank at 20 miles east-northeast of Sirneonoff
Island. They have found from 26 to 40 fathoms with smooth sand bottom on the inner shoal part,
and big rocks outside. On the rocky portion many dory and schooner anchors have been lost. The
shoal water part is about 2 miles long and one-half mile wide. The whole bank is said to be 10 miles
long and from a mile and a half to 2 miles wide. There is deep water on the land side and seaward.
These areas are from Captain Anderson. Captain Caton thinks the bank about 40 miles long and
10 or 15 miles wide; and he supposes the 26-fathoin ridge to be 2 miles wide and 20 miles long. The
fact is, the limits of none of the grounds are definitely known and they will not be until accurate
surveys are completed.

It is on this bank that the "yellow-fish" (Pleurogrammtts monopterygius) is so abundant in
August and September and proves so attractive to the cod.

BANK OFF SANAK. — We have two positions for this bank : North latitude 54° 17, west longi-
tude 161° 55' ; latitude 54° 20', longitude 162° 30'. Davidson gives the latter position as about 9
miles southeast from the Sanak Reef, where, he says, " we got bottom in 35 fathoms, rock and
barnacles being brought up by the lead."

BANK OFF AKTJTAN PASS. — Mr. Dall gives one position in north latitude 53° 20', west longi-
tude 1640 30'.

*The series of soundings is from a Coast Survey chart, entitled "U. S. Coast Survey | Benjamin Peirce, Supt. |
Alaska | and adjoining territory | 1869. | The Yukon River, Ranges of Mountains, Shores of Norton Sound | and many
Features of the Interior, from a Reconnaissance by W. H. Dall, | Director of the Scientific Corps, of the W. U. Tel.
Expedition, 1865-1868."

t Alaska Coast Pilot, 1867, p. 44.

214 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Davidson has the following description of the bank in the Alaska Coast Pilot, 1869:

"The bank where trial was first made for fish was found on the 15th of September, during a
prevalence of thick weather. We fortunately seized an opening and obtained good observations
for longitude, with an approximate latitude ; the position is in latitude 53° 35', and longitude
164° 10', and near it soundings were obtained in 50 fathoms of water, the lead bringing up sand and
a small starfish. With thick, drizzly weather the vessel drifted to the northwest by compass, until
GO fathoms were struck, with sandy, pebbly bottom. Here the lead-line was baited, and while on
the bottom the first cod took the hook. The fish proved very plenty, fat, and bit eagerly ; fre-
quently two were brought up on a double-hooked line, and sometimes three were brought up on a
line with three hooks. The largest measured 37 inches in length, and several reached 36 inches.
The finest was 36 inches long, 23 inches girth, and weighed 27 pounds ; was very fat, and certainly
of as fine, if not finer flavor than cod we had eaten eleven months before, freshly caught on the
south coast of Newfoundland.

" The vessel drifted all the afternoon over this bank, with the same depth of water, and fish
biting well, although all appeared in capital condition and their maws full of food, such as squid,
halibut- head, fish the size of a herring, sea-lice, &c. We got no observations that noon or
afternoon, nor any all the next day, on account of thick, foggy, drizzling weather, but the vessel
could not have been far from latitude 53° 40', and longitude 164° 30', lying 65 miles ESE. true
from the middle of the Akoutan Pass, and 40 miles SSE. from the Unimak Pass. * * * The
50-fathom position is 40 miles broad off the nearest island of the Kriniatzin group, lying between
Unimak and Unalashka. Much deeper water, 104 fathoms, over a bottom of black sand, was sub-
sequently found in latitude 53° 38', longitude 165° 25', 43 miles westward of the a'bove cod bank,
and 25 miles broad off the islands."

BANK OFF UNIMAK PASS. — This bank, for which we have a position in north latitude 54°, and
west longitude 166° nearly, was first sounded on by the bark Golden Gate in 1865, then in the
service of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition. Forty fathoms was found.

BANK OFF SOUTH END OF UMNAK. — In latitude 52° 30' and longitude 168° 50', 30 fathoms
was recorded.

BANK SOUTH OF AMOHITKA. — We know nothing definite about this, but a bank is reported
there.

BANKS NEAR ILITJLITTK, UNALASHKA. — Cod are present here all the year, going off into deeper
water in winter. They are most abundant on two banks — one a short distance inside of the
entrance to Captain's Bay, and the other at the entrance to Port Levasheff. At the latter place
there is a ridge on which the bottom is hard and rocky, rich in mollusks, crustaceans, worms,
and small species of fish on which cod delight to feed. Here, in from 10 to 20 fathoms, we found
plenty of cod associated with Hippoglossoides elassodon, Bathymaster signatus, OymnacantJius
galeatus, Lepidopsetta bilineata, Hemilepidotus Jordani, Coitus polyacanthocephalus, Raia parmifera,
and the remarkable quill-fish (Ptilichthys Ooodei).

COD IN BERING SEA. — The statement of Captain Bryant has been often quoted to the effect
that : " Behring Sea is a mighty reservoir of cod and halibut, so that he never threw over his lines
without bringing up fish in whatever part of the sea he might happen."

" The soundings of this sea," says Davidson, " and of the Arctic Ocean north of Behring's
Strait, indicate it as the most remarkable submarine plateau of such great extent yet known. On
the eastern half of this sea soundings of less than 50 fathoms are found over an extent of 18,000
square miles."

I quote from Davidson again concerning Cook : " In Behring Sea, in latitude 55° 48', longitude

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 215

162° 42', about 20 miles broad off the northwest shore of the Alaska peninsula, he 'caught a good
number of fine codfish' in 30 fathoms. In Bristol Bay and River, emptying into the Behring Sea,
where salmon were in great abundance, he found that fish l in the maws of cod which he had caught.*
In the same bay, southeast (of ) Hagmeister Island, in water of 14 to 26 fathoms, he ' had tolerably
successful fishing, catching cod and then a few flat-fish.' In latitude 61° 48', longitude 180°, Saint
Thadeus Nose bearing NNW. about 23 leagues distant, he caught ' abundance of fine cod ' in 65 to
75 fathoms water. His successor, King, in September, 1779, in latitude 59° 38', longitude 177°,
about 150 miles west by south quarter-south from the island of Saint Mathew, ' got a great number
of cod in 78 fathoms.' "

I have already mentioned the capture of cod recorded by Maynard and Elliott at Saint Law-
rence Island.

There is, however, no important fishery for cod north of the Aleutian Islands ; whether or not
banks will be discovered and frequented in Bering Sea we are no better prepared to say than were
the Cape Ann fishermen with reference to George's Bank half a century ago. It is highly proba-
ble that fishermen will avoid the dangerous lee of the Fox Islands at least until the Shumagins
fail to reward their toil.

THE SHUMAGIN ISLANDS.— "These islands were discovered by Bering, in his second voyage,
on the 29th of August, 1741, and were named after one of his crew who died and was buried upon
one of them. They are situated in longitude 160° west and latitude 55° north, and comprise four
large and about a dozen small islands, with a total area of about 1,000 square miles. They con-
tain several Aleutian settlements, and Unga, the largest, has two fine ports, the north and south
harbors, where wood, water, bait, and fish abound. The banks already discovered exceed in extent
those of Newfoundland. * * * The voyage to the Shumagins and back occupies about one
hundred and ten days, a saving of two months and 2,000 miles in time and distance [as compared
with the Okhotsk fishery], in addition to the facilities for obtaining fresh provisions, wood and
water, and the proximity of good harbors of refuge in bad weather."*

" The winds about the Shnmagins * * * from June until the middle of August are from
the southeast, with rain and fog ; and from the middle of August to the middle of September from
tlie northwest, with fine weather and smooth water ; after which there are heavy southerly gales."t

The islands are generally high and to a great extent clothed with tall grass, scrub alder, and
a kind of wild apple. The soil is soft and yielding, and walking is usually attended with great
fatigue and vexation. The bluffs of Popoff Island show porphyritic rocks with varied hues — slate,
gray, and purplish, and here and there is seen a reddish cliff colored by the oxidation of iron
pyrites. Winds sweep down the slopes of these hills with great violence and caprice, sometimes
capsizing vessels taken unawares. The Nagai, one of McCollam & Co.'s little schooners, formerly
employed with the Uuga in fishing for the Pirate Cove station, was lost through the winds or
" woollies" in the summer of 1880.

One of the characteristic birds found about the shores of the islands in the fishing season is
the pretty little paroquet auk (Phaleris psittacula). Great numbers of gulls, cormorants, auks,
mnrres, guillemots, puffins, albatrosses, and jaegers may be seen hovering over the water or afloat
upon it where the surface schools of fish-food congregate.

In West Nagai Strait we saw the Page and the Wild Gazelle, which, besides the little Unga,
composed the Shumagin's cod fleet for 1880. They were lying at anchor near Sanborn Harbor.
Their dories were out, one man in each, hand-lining and trawling within easy reach of the vessels.
Trawls were little used, the men depending almost wholly on the hand-lines.

• Ball in Rep. Comm. Agrio. for 1870 (1871), p. 378.
t Davidson: Alaska Coast Pilot, 1869, p. 43.

216 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The permanent fishing station on Popoff Island was established in 1876 at Pirate Cove by T.
W. McCollam & Co. There are eight men engaged at the fishery, one of whom, Mr. Thomas
Dcviue, is in charge. Fishing is continued all the year, except when interrupted by severe weather.
When not fishing the men do nothing. Twelve dories are owned at the station. Both hand-lines
and trawls are used. The men furnish their own gear, but receive their boarding, house, and fuel
free. They are paid $27.50 per thousand for the cod, which must not be less than 26 inches long.
The greatest distance from shore at which they fish is on Henderson's Island grounds, 4£ miles
away. Besides the cod they catch plenty of halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris), "cusk" (Bathymaster
signatus), pollock or silver hake (Pollachius ohaloofframmus), "greenfish" (Hcxagrammm), yellow-
fish or striped fish (Pleurogrammus monopterygiua}, "Irish lords" (Coitus polyacanthocephalus), com-
mon sculpius (Hemilepidotus Jordani), "Frenchmen" (Hemilepidotus trachurus), and arrow-toothed
flounder (Atlierestlies stomias). The average daily catch of cod per man with hand-line or trawl is
about 100, and the catch for the year 20,000. The fish ate dressed on shore by the men after their
day's catch is landed. The small fish are then pickled and the large ones kenched. Mr. Devine
uses about a ton of Carmen Island salt to l,0(iO fish, and puts as many into a kench as he can get
in to save room. The cod here, according to Mr. Devine, seem to be more watery than the eastern,
some of them losing two-thirds in curing. I have observed the same thing occasionally, but the
fish were always small shore-fish. Individuals differ in this respect just as they do in the consist-
ency of their flesh. Mr. Devine notes a great difference in the ease of splitting fish, young school
fish being readily split, while some others are hard and tough. Besides the men who fish from the
station there is a schooner of 20 tons, the Unga, which carries five men, whose catch is brought to
Pirate Cove. The men are all foreigners. They catch their fish in Nagai Strait, Coal Harbor
Strait, Sanborn Harbor, Stepovakho Bay, and at the Pinnacle. They use hand lines and trawls.
The gear of the Unga cost $362 in 1879. For bait they use halibut, sculping, and cuttle-fish
( Octopus punctatus, Gabb). Their season lasts from April to October, the catch averaging 35,000
fish, which are salted in bulk and then resalted at the station. The crew of the Unga receive $30
per thousand for their cod and the captain $35. They furnish their own gear. The salt used at
the station costs $16 per ton there. The cost of bait is nothing. Besides the fish mentioned there
is an abundance of fine clams. The sounds of the cod brought to Pirate Cove are said to be thin
and tough. The heads are thrown away. Mr. Devine has a fine lot of pigs and chickens. While
there is no lack of substantial fare at the station, the variety of the menu is enriched by the intro-
duction of an entre called " Scotch dumplings," made by filling with chopped cod-livers and corn
meal the pokes or stomachs of cod, which are then tied up and boiled. Mr. Devine told me that
natives from Koroviu Island come over to a cove near Pirate Cove to fish for salmon. In 1877
they brought to Pirate Cove a silver salmon (Oncorhynchus chouiclia) 5 feet long. The largest cod
taken by his men would probably have weighed 50 pounds. Halibut have been known to reach
300 pounds there.

The fishermen of Saint Paul, Kodiak, use No. 12 Shanghai hooks. Their boat-anchors weigh
13 pounds ; the leads, for hand-lines, 5 pounds. The cost of bait is nothing ; halibut, squid, and
salmon, caught easily in the vicinity, being used. Six hundred fish in a day would be considered
a large catch for one man now, 200 being the average. All the fishing for cod is done within easy
reach of the shore or from the beach itself. The buyers of the fish furnish the lines and other
gear and pay $20 per 1,000 for them dressed.

I have elsewhere given a table showing the number of vessels engaged in the Pacific cod
fishery from 1865 to 1880, from which it will be seen that the fleet was at its minimum in 1872
when only five vessels were employed, and largest in 1870 in which year twenty-one were engaged.

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA.

217

The Shumagins fleet is made up of schooners, and these frequently of small tonnage, while the
Okhotsk vessels are large schooners, barks, and barkeutiues. Fishing about the Sbumagins is
done in the narrow passages, and harbors are to be made through these straits ; for this reason
small fore-and-aft schooners are employed in preference to large vessels, and for this reason alone,
it seems to me, the large craft go to the Okhotsk in spite of the established fact that the fish
secured there are not so plump and tender as the Shumagins fish when fresh and are vastly inferior
by reason of the treatment they receive on the vessels after being salted. Again, the round trip
to the Okhotsk involves two months of time and 2,000 miles in distance more than the trip to the
Shumagius. The Okhotsk fisherman is cut off fromTresh provisions and good harbors; he rides
out storms "hove to" or trusting to his anchors, and, in the end, brings back cod which ought not
to command as high a price as the Shumagin fish. .Why should vessels go to the Okhotsk at all?
If the Shumagiu cod are superior, which is admitted ; if bait, provisions, fuel, and good harbors
are present, and fish are plentiful, what is the motive for going farther? Small fore-and-aft
schooners are required for the island fishing, and the larger vessels, if they fish at all, must hunt
sea room. Is it because some men have formed the habit of going to the Okhotsk and simply
keep 011 going from force of habit ? There are certainly more than enough fish about the Shuma-
gins to supply the wants of the San Francisco dealers for years to come. The fishermen agree
that if the demand were larger plenty of fish could be found. Even with the large demand in
Gloucester and Boston the famous George's Bank did not become a great resort until iu 1850;
and at the Shumagius we have fine fish and favorable conditions for their capture and preservation,
so that w^ien the call comes for increased and accessible supplies we shall find the industry active
there.

4. THE VESSELS AND THE FISHERMEN.

THE FISHING FLEET. — The following tables show the name of each vessel, the rig, tonnage,
and other details of the Pacific Ocean codfish fleet for the years 1878, 1879, and 1880 :

San Francisco codfish fleet of 1878.

Name.

Rig.

Tonnage.

Built.

Place of build-
ing.

i

o

Outfit.

Where fish-
ing.

Sailed.

J3

"£
M

Disposition of
fish.

Number of
fish.

Alaska
Alfred Adams* .

Sch . . .
Sell

32
fit

1870
1851

Rogue River..

7

7

Shumagius.
do

Mar. 18
Apr 4

June 15

Lynde & Hough,
San Francisco.

34, 000

Ariel t

Sch . .

do

San Francisco.

45 000

ConiTiil Miller ...

Sch...

Sch .

108
79.99

1875
1851

San Francisco.

15
11

....do
..do

May 18
Apr. 9

Sept. 25
Aug 30

N. Bichard, San-
Franciaco.

23, 000
20 000

Sch

Mass.

do

Apr 3

sey, San Fran-
cisco.

Sarah §

Sch.

105

1807

17

do

Mar 29

Aug '24

Three Sisterat ..

Sch ..

62.08

do

San Francisco.

35 000

Wild Gazelle . . .

Sch . .

114

1868

K.ennebunk,

IS

do

Au<* 30

66 000

Bark

300

About 1852

Me.
Pittston Me

3'

Okhotsk

Apr 16

Oct 2

San Francisco.

Constitution

Bktn
Bktn

257
345

llelmilt about
1870.

Philadelphia ;
rebuilt in San
Francisco.

..do

30
T>

...do . ..
do

Apr. 11
Apr 20

Sept. 12
Sept 29

San Francisco.

N. Bichard, San
Francisco.

140, 000
250 000

Sch

125

1876.
1820 • rebuilt

East

15

do

Apr 9

Sept 10

San Francisco.

60 000

several times.

Francisco.

* A tender for the fishing-station at the Shumagins.
t Brought fish caught by others.
} Qnit. the business in 1K79.

§ Lost.

|| Wrecked at Wilmington, Cal., winter 1879.

218

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

San Francisco codfish fleet of 1879.

Name.

Big.

B

Bnllt.

Where built.

O

Cost.

Outfit.

Where fishing.

1

Disposition of fish.

Wild Gazelle

Sch

114

1868

10

$8 000

13 000

Sept. 20

Alfred Adams*

Sen..

61

1851

Me.

7

5 000

1 200

do -j

Apr. 25
Ang 25

Francisco.

I DO

Undaunted

Soh...

68

About 1872.

Monterey Bay

Ht

8 000

3 000

do*

Oct. 13

Sarah

Sch...

105

1867

17

!5 0001

4 000

do

Au01 4

'Francisco.
Do.

H. L.Tien! an
General Miller

Sch...
Sch...

145

108

About 1868..
1875

San Francisco.
....do

19
T>

[12, 000]
17 000

5,000
3 000

....do
do

Sept 10
Sept. 21

Do.

Alaska

Sch . . .

32

1870

7

8 000

1 200

do

Sept- 10

Francisco.

J.H.Roscoe
Adelaide Cooper

Sch...
Bk....

79.99
300

1851
About 1852..

Amesbnry,
Maes.

Pit tat on, Me..

13
3?

8,000
[10, 000]

2,000
6,000

....do
Okhotsk

Aug. 1
Sept 28

'Francisco.

Johnston & Veasey,
San Francisco.

Bktn

345

Francisco.

Constitution

Bktn

257

1876.
Rebuilt about

rebuilt in San
Francisco.

do

30

17 000

do

Page

Sch . . .

125

1870.
1820; rebuilt

East

in

5 000

3 000

do

Oct 8

Francisco.
Do

Glenooe
TTnga

Bg...

Sch...

180
20

several times.
About 1850..

1876

....do

24t

5J

[2,500]
3 000

5,000
1 000

....do

Nov. 7

John Molloy, San
Francisco.

McCollam & Co San

Nagay

Soh...

20

1876

5

3,000

1,000

do

Francisco.
Do.

Pirate Cove Station. . .

Established

Popofflsland,

8

1 000

do

Do

1876

* A tender for the Pirate Cove station. She brought its catch and that of the TTnga and the Nagay. The Nagay was lost in the spring
of 1880.

tNnmber estimated.
; All foreigners.

In Professor Jordan's notes the number of seamen engaged in 1879 is given as 247; of these
about one-third are Americans, more than one-half are Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, with a
sprinkling of Irish, English, Germans, Russians, and Portuguese. The nationality varies with
each vessel and cannot be more closely ascertained.

The number of dories per vessel varies from nine to twenty -five.

San Francisco codfish fleet of 1880.

Name.

Big.

Ton-
nage.

When built.

Place of building.

Crew.

Where fish-
ing.

Returned.

Disposition of fish.

Alfred Adams .
Wild Gazelle ..

Sch.
Sch.

64.00
114.00

1851

1868

Essex, Mass

7

Shnmagins..
do

May 8, June 25,
Aug. 16.

Aug 23 Oct. 2°

McCollam & Co., San Francisco.
Do

Page

Sch.

125. 00

1820; rebuilt

East

do .

Sept. 4

San Luis

Bktn.

290. 07

several times.

Okhotsk

Oct 4

Do

Constitution . . .

Bktn.

257.00

Rebuilt about

Philadelphia, and

....do

Oct 28

Do.

Glencoe

Be.

180. 00

1870.
About 1850

rebuilt at San
Francisco.

East

do

Oct 27

Arago

Sch.

185.76

do

Sept 20

Fremont

Bktn.

345. 00

Philadelphia and

do

Oct 10

Do

Sch.

20.00

1876.
1876

rebuilt at' San
Francisco.

Shumagins.

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 219

All of the above vessels are owned in San Francisco by a few men. The present value of the
fleet of 1879 is $105,300. These vessels are fitted out by their owners ; the outfit of 1879 having cost
$49,400 exclusive of the fishing-station and the curing establishments in or near San Francisco.

The fleet, or some portion of it, is constantly employed in the cod-fishery from April 1 to
November 1. During the interval between November and April some, at least, of these vessels are
engaged in other pursuits. One small vessel is employed exclusively in the fishery and winters at
the Shumagins.

The great bulk of the fishing is done by vessels owned in San Francisco, and we have little
information of any others ; but there have been, froni Time to time, small schooners from other
ports. We have already referred to the voyage of Captain Haley to the Hoochenoo Bank in 1879.
These fish were sold in Wrangell for $100 per ton. In the fleet of 1866 were two or three small
schooners fitted out at Victoria, British Columbia; these vessels fished with very fair success on
the grounds immediately north of Naas Eiver, on the coast of Alaska, where, and somewhat farther
to the northward, they reported numerous cod banks. There was, however, no home demand for
the catch, as an inferior fish, caught in Barclay Sound, had possession of the Victoria market. A
portion of it was sent to Portland, Oreg., and sold well.* I have just been informed by Major
Morris, special agent of the Treasury Department, that no vessels are now engaged in the cod
fishery except vessels owned in San Francisco.

THE FISHERMEN. — The captain of the vessel receives a fixed sum per thousand for the whole
number of fish caught. Each of the crew receives a stated price per thousand for the fish he
catches, the captain keeping each man's account separate. The Shumagin fleet of 1879, with a total
tonnage of 756, carried one hundred and fourteen men. The smallest number on any one vessel
was five, and the largest nineteen. There are no separate seamen — all take part in working the
vessel. The Okhotsk fleet of 1879 employed one hundred and thirty-three men for an aggregate
tonnage of 1,207. Of these two hundred and forty-seven men about one-third are Americans.
More than one-half are Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. The remainder is made up of Irish,
English, Germans, Eussians, and Portuguese. The proportions of nationalities vary with each
vessel, and have not been more closely ascertained. On the large vessels they have, besides the
fishermen proper, a dress-gang composed of headers, splitters, throaters, and salters. " The header
removes the entrails and the head ; the throater cuts the throat and rips the fish ; the splitter
splits the fish open, removing a portion of the backbone, while the salter salts them and piles them
in the hold."t This dress- gang receives a fixed sum per month in an ascending ratio from the
header to the splitter, and besides this they receive the regular price per thousand for any fish
that they catch in their moments of leisure ; the salter, however, has little time, and the splitter
none at all for fishing. At the Pirate Cove fishing-station the fishermen furnish their own gear
(not the dories, however) and receive their board, lodging, and fuel free. They are paid a fixed
price per thousand for the cod, none of which must be under 26 inches long, and they dress their
own fish on shore, four of them combining to dress their united catch in concert. The person in
charge of the station keeps an account of each man's fish as he gaffs them onto the wharf. At
Kodiak the same plan is followed with the exception that the buyers of the fish furnish all the
gear ; they, of course, pay a less price per thousand for the dressed fish. The rule is to make one
voyage annually, although the vessels which go up to bring cod caught for them by others make
two or three trips between San Francisco and the Shumagins. In 1868 the Porpoise attempted
two trips to the Shumagins, but she took only half a fare on the second.

* Cults : Fishing grounds of the North Pacific, p. 8.
t San Francisco Post, 1876.

220 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Besides those professionally engaged in the cod fishery there are at least two thousand adult
males in the Territory of Alaska who derive part of their subsistence from codfish either fresh or
dried. These men are estimated only for the parishes of Uualashka, Belkofl'sky, and Kodiak, and
the coast from Mount Saint Elias to Cape Fox, the number being based upon figures in Petroff's
preliminary report to the Census Bureau. There is at present no means of knowing how many
cod are consumed by natives of the regions in which they abound, but the number must be very
great. The bidarkas at lliuliuk, referred to previously, brought in daily from 15 to 25 cod
each. Skulls of this fish have been picked up on the beaches by hundreds at a time. My own
observation of the fish-drying frames was made in the height of the salmon fishing, and, of course,
salmon predominated over everything else. Wherever we went in the limits of cod we saw more
or less hanging up drying without salt. Wherever the native gear has not been superseded by
that of the white fishermen lines of bark or of kelp are used. The Indians of the Hoochenoo
region have barbless iron hooks and bark lines. Two of them go off in a canoe, each one having
for his portion all the fish he catches. The two will catch from 25 to 50 cod in the time spent in
fishing each day. So far as I know trawl-lines are not used by any one except the professional
fishermen.

5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

THE FISHING GEAR. — In the earlier years of the Shumagin fishery hand-lines alone were used
for catching cod. The use of trawls, according to Capt. Andrew Anderson, began there in 1869.
In 1874 one vessel used trawls. In 1875 the Dashing Wave was the only one fishiug with them.
Since that time they have been extensively employed, so much so that one correspondent declares
that they have made the fish less plentiful than they were five years ago. The Wild Gazelle uses
hand-lines altogether; the Uuga, hand-lines and trawls. The gear of the Unga and the Nagay,
20-ton schooners, for the season of 1879 cost $362 each. This includes dories, hand-lines, hooks
and leads, trawl-lines, hooks, buoy -lines, anchors, buoys, and tubs.

Some of the dories used in the cod-fishery were bought in the East; others are made in San
Francisco. The Beckwith dories are essentially like those of Cape Ann in shape and structure,
but the materials are different; sugar pine and fir are used, and the rails are oak. A 16-foot
Beckwith dory costs $27.50 without the oars. The average cost of dories in San Francisco is $25.
Hooks and all other outfit, except dories, hawsers, and food, come from the East.

BAIT. — The item of bait has never been an expensive one for the San Francisco fleet. In the
earlier years of the fishery salted herrings were the principal dependence, and a vessel of 100 tons
required about $100 worth of this kind of bait, according to Davidson. Cutts's estimate is $100
worth of herring for a vessel of 200 tons. As late as 1879 salt herring were still relied on to some
extent, but most of the bait was obtained on the fishing-grounds. In 1876 the fleet used salted
clams in part, the main supply coming from Puget Sound. Davidson, iu the Coast Pilot of Alaska,
1869, says that his party " fished with clams, the Sclilzotherus nuttallii, obtained at Port Simpson
on our way up; but there are plenty of small fish, herring, clams, &c., suitable for bait, in all the
harbors along the coast. The clam hangs best to the hook." There is no lack of fresh bait
throughout the fishing-area. Fine clams are exceedingly abundant at the Shumagius and at Sitka
and Cook's Inlet. Herring (Clupea mirabilis) are found in great numbers on the whole coast of
Alaska as far north as Hothain Inlet, being particularly abundant in Prince Frederick Sound,
Cook's Inlet, around Kodiak Island, and generally in all cod-areas; Captain Bowen told me that
on the 7th of July, 1880, off Ugak Bay, while sailing at the rate of about 4 knots per hour he
passed through herring-schools for four hours in succession. " Lant" (Ammodytes personatits) arc

THE COD FISHERY OF ALASKA. 221

exceedingly plentiful, and extend even as far north as Point Belcher. Capelin (Mallotus villostis),
as already stated, abound ; great quantities of their young were taken by us in Plover Bay and on
the Alaskan coast north of the Arctic Circle; in July the adults were swarming in Cook's Inlet
and in the vicinity of Kodiak. Squid, or cuttie-flsh (Octopus punctatus), form one of the commonest
and best baits for cod. Young halibut (Eippoglossus vulgaris) are everywhere abundant and much
used. Sculpins, too, are freely employed, the two species of Eemilepidotus being most used. At
the Shumagins the pollock, or, as it is called there, "England hake" (Pollachius chalcogrammus),
is a very taking bait in June and July. About this time also the "striped fish," or " yellow fish,"
(Pleurogrammus monopicrygius), is the favorite with The fishermen. This species schools in large
numbers, and will follow a baited hook up to the surface of the water; in itself an excellent table
fish, it is at the same time unexcelled as a bait for cod. Salmon are extensively used in the cod-
tishery, particularly around Kodiak, and I have been told that a kind of salmon trout is much
employed in the Okhotsk. This trout rnay be Salvelinus malma, which I know to be abundant in
Plover Bay, and which, on account of the large size frequently reached by it, must be very desir-
able for the purpose. The supply of bait comes, therefore, in small part, from San Francisco; but
the greater portion of it is readily obtained on the fishing-grounds.

In 1878 the average length of a trip to the Shuraagins was four months and three days; to the
Okhotsk, five mouths and seven days. The average of 1879 was about the same.

6. CAKE AND DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

Fisn CUEING. — Ice is not at all used in the Pacific cod-fishery, except occasionally mingled
with snow, by vessels for carrying fresh herring from Petropaulski to use them in the Okhotsk.

SALT. — All the fleet take as the greater portion of their outgoing cargo a supply of salt, allow-
ing about.l ton for 1,000 fish at the first salting on board the vessel. . They require, therefore, from
30 to 200 tons each. The fish, after being split and washed on deck, are salted in bulk in the hold
of the vessel and brought to San Francisco to be pickled in large butts and kept until wanted for
the market, when they are taken out and dried half a day or so on flakes, and are then ready for
sale. The resaltiug in San Francisco requires about 1 ton of salt for 5,000 fish. On their arrival
• from the fishing-grounds the fish are carefully washed, and the black peritoneum, or "nape," is re-
moved before putting them into the butts. The vats or butts hold from 1 to 14 tons each. At the
Pirate Cove station Mr. Devine uses about a ton of Carmen Island salt to 1,000 h'sh. The fish are
kenched in a large warehouse, as many as possible being put into a kench in order to economize
space. Some of the cod, according to Mr. Deviue, seem to be more watery than the average of the
Eastern, and lose two-thirds in curing. Only large fish are keuched here; small fish are pickled.
There is at least one place in Alaska where codfish have been successfully "made" — that is, fully
prepared to be put upon the market. The Western Fur and Trading Company of San Francisco
had prepared for them by Capt. H. E. Bowen, at Saint Paul, Kodiak, in the summer of 1880, 30
100- pound boxes of dried cod and 350 boxes of boneless cod of 30 pounds each. This was done by
way of experiment, lu conversation with Captain Bowen and his father, D. E. Bowen, I was told
that the cod can be made equal to the best Eastern fish if they are handled in the same way. Mr.
D. R. Bowen has had twenty-five years experience in the Cape Ann fisheries, and his opinion is
entitled to consideration. He says the cod dry bettor and more quickly at Saint Paul in a westerly
wind than they will in Han Francisco; they will dry without a bit of salt. Even the salmon will
dry without salt there. "Take the season through,'' said -Mr. Bowen, "I can take and make fish
as well here as in Gloucester. They will dry the same as stock-fish in Norway." There are Nor-
wegians aboard the vessel commanded by Captain Bowen who are thoroughly acquainted with tho

222 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

stock-fish. I have tasted boneless cod from Gloucester side by side with a similar article pre-
pared at Saint Paul, and I fully believe that the fish made at the latter place is equal in quality
to the Gloucester fish in its prime condition.

Up to 1877 the salt used in the Pacific fishery was principally, if not entirely, what is known
as bay salt, which was made by solar evaporation near Alvarado. From all that I can learn, bay
salt is principally used now, but the quality has been vastly improved. There has been much
complaint as to the presence of lime in the salt, which was believed to make the cod hard and
brittle. A correspondent of the San Francisco Post, who made a trip to the Shumagins in the
schooner Alaska in 1876, has this to say about the salt: "The cod brought into San Francisco for
the last few seasons was notably hard, and did not command a fair price in the market. This
hardness was given by the salt used in preserving them not having been properly refined. It con-
tained a quantity of sulphate of lime and other impurities, which dried and burned up the fish.
This season the fleet took out 1,200 tons of salt of a much superior character. That which we had
on the Alaska was fine enough for table use, the crystals being large, translucent, and beau-
tifully white." In 1879 about 800 tons of salt was used for 1,000 tons of fish, according to the
San Francisco Alta (quoted in Sea World, August 4, 1879). I quote from the San Francisco Com-
mercial Herald and Market Eeview of January 18, 1877, with reference to the preparation of cod:
" Previously it was thought best to dry the fish for preservation, but it is now kept in pickle until
the time for using it in market approaches, when it is dried in lots to suit. By this means a uni-
form article is offered from month to month, instead of the hard, dry, and tasteless stuff with which
the seasons wound up. The plan of using brine a number of times has been given up, as it was
found to cause the unpleasant odor peculiar to the poorly-cured codfish. Another cause of the
success attending this interest is in the improved quality of the salt used. An analysis of the
common bay-salt, that heretofore used, gave 40 per cent, of lime, soda, and magnesia, and these
ingredients made the fish hard and brittle. The salt now in use is manufactured mostly by the
Union Pacific Salt Company, and is guaranteed to contain 98 per cent, chloride of sodium and
equal to the best imported from Liverpool. Under these favorable changes we are now producing
an article equal to any the world can afford, and invoices of Eastern cod are falling off, only enough
coming in to meet the wants of a few who still persist -in using it."

The price of coarse salt is from $6.60 to $7 per ton. The salt used at the Pirate Cove station
costs $16 delivered there.

I conclude my account of the methods of the fishery with a quotation from the article in the
San Francisco Post, to which I have previously referred, which conveys a good idea of the manner
of handling cod when they are transferred from the vessels to the curing establishments :

" Over at California City, Lynde & Hough have built a yard at an expense of $10,000, for
curing and preserving fish. As the codfish arrive on the vessel they are packed as closely as
possible, one over the other, in layers, with strata of salt between them. At the yard the first
operation is to break cargo. The fish are then placed in a perforated wooden box, open on top,
and let into the water by tackle from the ship. Across the top of the box boards are put for two
men to sit on. They take the fish one by one, and by the aid of water and elbow-grease rub the
black inner skin off. Their feet are in the water, and, although it is rather rough on the hands,
especially to a beginner, we face it as Jeffrey faced the cat, and after a while one's hands get
callous and as insensible to pain as the hide of the " armed rhinoceros." The next operation is to
place the washed fish in pickle, for which purpose they are conveyed to the packing-house. In
the packing-house a long series of barrels are arranged in rows sufficient in number to pickle 500
tons of fish. The pickle consists simply of a strong solution of salt, made with pure spring water,

THE COD FISHEBY OF ALASKA.

223

conveyed from the heart of the canon above, and in it the fish are allowed to soak for about ten
days, when they are taken out and placed on the "flakes "to dry. The "flakes" consist of a
frame, with a number of laths placed at intervals apart rising from each side of the frame and
making an obtuse angle at the top. On these laths the codfish are spread to dry, and when night
comes on taken under cover. A great deal of care has to be exercised in the drying process, as
prolonged exposure to a very hot sun would result in the utter destruction of the fish. When
properly dried the fish are ready for market, and command from 6 to 7 cents per pound."

Under the present arrangement, it will be remembered, the fish are kept in pickle until they
are needed for the market, when they are dried on tbe -flakes only half a day or so. The climate
of San Francisco is said to be good for drying fish in summer, but not in winter.

7. CAPITAL INVESTED IN THE INDUSTRY.

CAPITAL IN VESSELS, APPARATUS, AND CURING ESTABLISHMENTS. — All the capital invested
in the Pacific cod fishery is furnished in San Francisco. The parties who were engaged in the
business in 1879 are the following — the names of their vessels being also given : Thomas W. Mc-
Oollain & Co., 208 Clay street, the Wild Gazelle, Alfred Adams, Unga, Nagay,* Pirate Cove
station. Lyiide & Hough, 416 Davis street, the Undaunted, Sarah (now lost), H. L. Tiernan,
Adelaide Cooper, Fremont. N. Bichard, 10 Howard street, the General Miller, Page, Constitution.
James Laflin, 37 Vallejo street, the Alaska.! Johnston & Veasey, Davis street, near Washington,
the J. H. Koscoe.f John Molloy, Clay street, the Glencoe.

The value of these vessels, as already stated, is $105,300.

Lynde & Hough have a warehouse 4 miles south of San Quentin, with wharf and tanks, which
cost $35,000. McCollam & Co. and Bichard have warehouses opposite Saucelito. McCollam & Co.
own the permanent fishing-station at Pirate Cove, Shumagins, where cod are kenched or pickled.

According to the information obtained in San Francisco from leading men in the cod trade,
by Prof. D. S. Jordan, the capital invested in 1879 was as follows:

Value.

$70 000

104, 300

48,200

The total expenses of all sorts were said to be about $225,000, and the total value of the
product as sold delivered in San Francisco, $234,000.

Following is a copy of the returns of codfish-curing establishments in Saucelito Township
California :

T. "W. McCol-
lam & Co.

Lvnde
&. Hough.

Capital ,

$6 000

$20 000

25

60

10

13

Hours in ordinary day of labor:

10

10

9

9

$2 500

$6 990

12

12

Value of material (including in ill- supplies and fuel)

$52, 500
$62 500

$25, 100

$42 000

$1 50

$0 75

* Lost at the Shvunagins in 1880.

t Sold ont and gone to Mexico.

\ Sold out

224

HISTORY AND METHODS OF TiiE FISHERIES.

S. FINANCIAL PKOFITS OF FISHERMEN AND CUEERS.

METHODS OF SHARING THE PROFITS. — The captain of the vessel receives about $8 per 1,000
for the entire catch. The dress-gang and salters get about $25 per month; good men, $30. As
already explained, most of these men have a chance to catch some fish, for which they receive $25
per 1,000. The fishermen are paid $25 per 1,000 each for his own catch. The captain keeps each
man's account separate.

In 187G wages were much higher; headers received from $30 to $35 per month; throaters, $35
to $40; salters, $45; splitters, $05. The first two also had some time for fishing, and received $25
per 1,000 for the fish. In this year "one man on board the schooner Selma" had 13,000 fish to his
credit, which, at $25 per 1,000, would give him $325, exclusive of any prize. As the Selma is a
small schooner like the Alaska and does not carry a " dress-gang," the pay is more likely to be
$30 per 1,000, which would give him $390, or over $97 a month— not bad pay for a sailor. In the
schooners the captains usually split their own fish and the men do the dressing. The captain is
sometimes paid by the mouth, receiving about $120, but more generally he has an interest in the
quantity of fish taken, and receives from $8 to $10 per 1,000. Where the vessel is very small, it
is usual to pay the captain by the month, because 28,000 or 30,000 would be a cargo, and at $10 a
1,000 that would bring him in only $280 or $300 for a cruise of four mouths.*

I believe the average pay of a fisherman in 1879 was small, judging from the table which
follows :

Vessel.

Number

Of ll.'.l).

Price,

]„•]•
1000.

Crow.

Cost of
cutchiii;;.

Average

sharn
per iiKiu.t

WildGazelle

85, 000

$25

16

$2 125

$142

63, 000

25

8*

1 575

71 000

25

17

1 775

111

H. L. Tiernan .

J)7 00 il

29

1!)

2 425

135

General Miller

80 000

25

15

2 000

143

10 000

7

250

49

5-J 000

•>-,

13

1 300

108

•„> T> 000

•T,

;i>

5 C'>5

181

240 000

25

3"

6 000

I9t

"05 000

•15

30

5 1"5

177

Pa"e

40 000

25

15

1 000

71

133 000

25

"4*

3 3°5

3ii 000

30

5

1 050

°10

35 000

SJO

5

1 050

210

* Number estimated.

t The captain, of course, is excluded, except in case of the last two.

Leaving out the exceptional cases of the Alaska and the Page, the average wages of the
Okhotsk fishermen was $36 per month for the season of five mouths, and the average of the Shu-
magin men was $32 per month for a season of four months.

The average annual catch of cod at the Pirate Cove station is about 200,000 fish, of which, in
1S79, the Unga and the Nagay together caught 70,000; the balance were caught by eight men,
each of them averaging, therefore, about 16,250 fish. ' At $27.50 per 1,000 the gross earnings of
each man were $446.87. Deducting all necessary expenses, each fisherman should have nearly
$400 for his season's work, and his board, lodging, and fuel free. In 1880 the returns from the
same station were 142,000 fish, of which the Unga took 35,000. Each man's share will therefore

* San Francisco Post.

THE COD FISHEEY OP ALASKA.

225

be about $307.81, whicb will leave bim perhaps $340, or an average of nearly $30 per montb tbe
year round, clear of necessary expenses.

At Saint Paul, Kodiak, tbe average daily catcb per man is 200 fisb, which are worth, dressed,
$4. Very little cod is shipped to San Francisco from that point, the major portion being dried by
the natives for their own use.

PRODUCTS OF THE FISHERY. — The greater portion of the Pacific cod are salted in the hold
of the vessel and brought to San Francisco to be kept in pickle until they are wanted for the
market, when they are "flaked" for a short time. The Pirate Cove fish are kenched in a building
put np for the purpose, except the small ones, which are^ pickled. Keuch-cured and pickle-cured
cod are therefore the principal products of the fishery. Cod sounds at the Shumagius are said to be
thin and tough and they are not put up. The heads are thrown away also. Tbe Western Fur and
Trading Company of San Francisco had put up for them, experimentally, by Capt. H. R. Bowen,
at Saint Paul, 250 pounds of tongues in kits of 25 pounds each, 3,000 pounds of dried codfish in 100-
pound boxes, and 10,500 pounds of boneless cod in 30-pound boxes.

Three sorts of codfish are usual in the market: Bundled, the common kind; boxed, the largest
selected, in 100-pound boxes; boneless, the skin and vertebrae removed, in 12- and 30-pound boxes.

One of the San Francisco firms brand their best fish "Extra George's Codfish," anchor trade-
mark.

In 1866 10,000 gallons of cod-liver oil were reported. In 1879 Lynde & Hough brought to the
San Francisco market 3,000 gallons said to have been of superior quality.

The following table shows the quantity and value of cod taken in the Pacific Ocean fishery
during the years 1S65 to 1880:

Tear.

Number
of fisb.

Average
price per
pound.

Weight,
in pounds.

Value.

1865

469, 400

Cents,
13

1, 314, 880

$170, 934 40

1866

724 000

13

2 020 480

262 662 40

18C7

943 400

121

2 649 920

331 240 00

1868

608 000

12

1 684 480

202 137 60

1MB

1 032 000

9

3 046 400

274 176 00

1870

] 265 500

H

3 543 680

230 339 20

1871

772 000

7

2 213 120

154 918 40

1872

300 000

913 920

63 974 40

1873

550 000

6

1 531 geo

97 977 go

1874

381 000

6

1 077 440

64 646 40

1875

504 000

7

1 429 120

100 038 40

1870

758 000

6

2 253 440

135 206 40

1877

750 000

5

2 627 520

131 376 00

1878 ...

1 190 000

5

3 097 9^0

154 S9i> 00

1879

1 499 000

4-1-

4 721 920

19G 870 00

1880

1 206 000

5

3 618 000

180 900 00

Total

37 845 200

2 752 293 20

To tbis yield must be added the value of the cod-liver oil, of which 13.000 gallons are recorded,
and of the tongues and dried and boneless fish prepared for the Western Fur and Trading Com-
pany at Kodiak. The figures given above relative to the number of fish taken each year are from
the San Francisco Commercial Herald and Market Review. They agree in the main with numbers
gleaned from other sources, but I have never seen any two statements that are exactly alike. The
yield is put down at probably less than it really was, certainly not greater. The comparative
results from tbe Okhotsk and tbe Shumagins for the years 1878, 1879, and 1880 appear in the fol
lowing table :

SEC v 15

226

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Number of codfah taken 1878, 1879, and 1880.

1878.

1879.

1880.

Okhotsk

66G 000

803 000

917 000

524, 000

696, 000

289, 000

It must not be supposed that the number of fish present at the Shumagins is decreasing ; fish
are plentiful enough there, but the greater part of the fleet in 1880 consisted of large vessels, which
make it a rule to fish in the Okhotsk.

In 1879, according to one of the prominent men in the business, the total cost of producing cod
ready for the salesroom in San Francisco was $63 per ton, or about 2£ cents per pound. This
dealer hoped to be able to reduce the cost for 1880 to $56 per ton, or 2£ cents per pound.

The selling price of cod in 1879 was lower than ever before, and the business was scarcely
profitable. This depression was due in part to overstocking the market. A glance at the yield of
the fishery will show that about 1,250,000 fish is the normal maximum demand, but in 1879 about
1,500,000 were brought in. Again, there was considerable rivalry between some of the dealers,
which led to cutting under the rates. The consequence of this rivalry, combined with the depres-
sion from natural causes, appeared in the small fleet of 1880, most of the smaller speculators having
given up the business.

In 1880 a combination was formed by the three principal houses, and prices are higher than
they were in 1879. The rates are: Choice large in 100-pound boxes, $5.50 per box; medium in 50-
pound bundles, 5 cents per pound; boneless in 30- and 50-pound boxes, 6£ cents per pound; in
quantities less than 5 tons, 6 per cent, discount is allowed ; and in lots of 5 tons and upwards, 7£
per cent.

6.— THE GILL-NET COD FISHERY.

By J. W. COLLINS.
1. INTRODUCTION.

Although gill-nets have long been used in Northern Europe, more especially in Norway, as an
apparatus for the capture of cod, and are considered indispensable by the Norwegians, they have
not until recently been introduced into the United States. It 1878 Prof. Spencer F. Baird, U. S,
Commissioner of Fisheries, knowing how profitably these were employed by the Norwegian fish-
ermen, decided to make experiments with them at Cape Ann, with a view to their introduction
among the cod fishermen of this country. He accordingly secured a number of the Norwegian
nets, which were sent to Gloucester and there tested by the employe's of the Commission.

Experiments were made when the winter school of cod were on the shore grounds, but
the results obtained were not satisfactory, owing chiefly to the fact that the nets were found
far too frail for the large cod which frequent our coast in winter. This was apparent from the
numerous holes in the nets, which indicated plainly that large fish had torn their way through,
none being retained excepting those that had become completely rolled up in the twine. The cur-
rent also swept them afoul of the rocky bottom, which injured them still more, so that they were
soon rendered nearly unfit for use. The nets were invariably in bad order when hauled from the
water, but even under such unfavorable circumstances nearly a thousand pounds of fish were

THE GILL-NET COD FISHERY. 227

caught on one occasion. This seemed to indicate that nets of sufficient strength might be used
to good advantage, at least oo some of the smoother fishing grounds along the coast.

These preliminary trials, therefore, having demonstrated that nets could be employed advan-
tageously in the American cod fisheries, Professor Baird availed himself of the first opportunity
that offered for obtaining definite knowledge of the methods of netting cod in Norway, with the
intention of disseminating this information among American cod fishermen.

The opening of the International Fishery Exhibition at Berlin, Germany, in the spring of 1880,
presented a favorable opportunity for accomplishing this purpose. Professor Baird having
appointed me as one of the commission to attend the exhibition on the staff of Prof. G. Brown
Goode, desired that a careful study should be made of the foreign methods of the deep-sea
fisheries as represented at the exhibition. The method of capturing cod with gill-nets, as prac-
ticed by the Norwegian fishermen, was mentioned as a subject which should receive especial con-
sideration, and it was suggested that it might even be desirable to visit Norway, so that the prac-
tical operation of this fishery could be observed.

It was the original intention of Professor Baird that a report of the observations made at the
Berlin exhibition should be published as soon after the return of the commissioners as possible,
but circumstances delayed its preparation.

The use of gill-nets in the cod fisheries at Ipswich Bay during the winter of 1880-'81 resulted in .
such complete success that there is probability that they may be, at some future time, introduced
into the bank fisheries, as well as those along the coast.

2. CONSTRUCTION AND RIG OF THE NETS.

NORWEGIAN METHODS. — The nets used in the Norwegian cod fisheries are usually made of
hemp twine, of two, three, or four threads, but occasionally of flax or cotton. The three-layed
hemp twine, which is the most common size, weighs a pound to 400 or 420 fathoms. It is made
chiefly on spinning wheels by the fishermen's families, and the nets are constructed almost exclu-
sively by the fishermen and their wives and children. Some of the hemp twine, however, is
furnished by the factories of Norway and Great Britain, which also supply all of the cotton and
linen twine.

The size of the mesh varies somewhat, according to the locality where the nets are to be used,
as it is necessary to make the mesh correspond to the size of the fish that frequent different parts
of the coast, or make their appearance at different seasons. The smallest mesh is about 5f inches
(2-fs inches square) and the largest 8 inches (4 inches square). Those exhibited at Berlin were 7
and S inch mesh.

The length of the nets varies from 10 to 20 fathoms, the average length of those used at the
Lofoten Islands being 15| fathoms, when hung, and they are from twenty-five to sixty meshes deep.
Nets about thirty meshes deep are generally used, while those of sixty meshes are employed only
where there is little or no current. The nets are hung both to single and double lines, and these
vary somewhat in size. Those exhibited were hung to double lines, each being ^ of an inch in
circumference, while Mr. Wallem says that 2-inch rope when single, and 1 inch rope when double,
is the size commonly used at the Lofoten Islands. Some of the nets are hung to lines only at the
top and bottom, having none across the ends, while others have them on the ends as elsewhere.
This last method is said to have been recently introduced, and is considered an improvement when
the line is a little short, so that the net will be a trifle slack or baggy. About one-third of the net
is taken up in hanging; that is, if a net is 30 fathoms loug, stretched out, before it is hung, it will

228 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

be about 20 fathoms long afterwards. They are hung with twine about the same size as that of
which they are made. The end of the twine is first made fast to the hanging line, then hitched to
the upper part of one of the meshes, the distance between the line and mesh being equal to one
side of the mesh; then back to the line again, around which a clove hitch is taken, thus forming
one-half of a mesh. This method of hanging is thought by the Norwegian fishermen to be superior
to any other for large mesh nets. The nets are generally prepared for use in Norway by tanning,
and will last, when so prepared, from one to five seasons.

The nets are supported upright in the water by floats of wood, cork, or hollow glass. At the
Lofoten Islands, where nets are more extensively used than elsewhere, the glass floats are preferred,
it being said that they replace to great advantage the old wooden ones, which failed to prevent the
nets from settling on the bottom. The fishermen from Sondmor, however, who fish on banks where
there is a strong current, prefer wooden to glass floats, since it is said that the latter are so much
more easily carried away by the tide, causing the loss of many nets, while the principal objection
to wooden floats is that they soon become waterlogged. But this is thought to be the lesser evil of
the two, since they can, at the worst, only sink to the bottom with the nets, whence they may easily
be recovered. From this experience of the Norwegian fishermen it may be inferred that while
glass floats are preferable for general use, they are not so suitable as either wood or cork buoys
where there is a strong tide. The glass floats are about 5 inches in diameter, with a covering of
tarred marlin or spun-yarn hitched over them, to which is attached an eye. In this eye is bent
the small rope that holds them to the net. When so prepared for use, these floats are very strong,
and break far less frequently than might be supposed. They withstand the pressure of water
when submerged better than anything else that has been tried, but are sometimes filled with
•water — "drunken" it is called— when set in 70 or 80 fathoms. The small ropes with which these
are held to the nets vary in length from 1£ to 6 feet.

Oblong-shaped stones from 3 to 5 inches in length are used for sinkers. By experience the
fishermen learn bow large these should be to sink the nets to the desired depth. From ten to
twelve are fastened to the bottom of the net at equal distances apart, being held in a double string.
Large stones are used instead of anchors to hold the nets to the bottom. These weigh from 72
to 144 pounds, the heavier one heading the current, and the smaller being on the other end of the
gang, containing twenty to thirty five nets. Besides these "mooring rocks" there are others of
smaller size, which are held to the nets by a foot line, one end being fastened to the stone which
lies on the bottom, and the other to the rope that connects the lower part of the nets together.
The larger stones are generally slung with rope, but sometimes with a band of iron around them,
with an eye or ring to which the foot line can be fastened. Iron anchors are not used, as the nets
are liable to be torn on them should they settle on the bottom.

Buoys of different kinds are used by the Norwegian fishermen, but, according to Mr. Wallem,
at, the Lofoten Islands glass buoys, having a capacity of about three to five gallons, are the most
common. These are generally egg-shape and are covered in the same manner as the glass floats.
Sometimes a buoy is made by fastening several of the latter around a staff. The glass buoys of
both kinds are employed in the trawl as well as the net fishery; they will rise to the surface again
after having been under water for several days— an advantage not possessed by other kinds— and
it seems that buoys of this description might be profitably used by our bank fishermen, who fre-
quently lose large quantities of gear on account of the wooden ones bursting and filling with water
when they are submerged to any considerable depth. Hard-wood iron-bound kegs are used by
some of the Norwegian net fishermen. From two to four glass floats, such as are on the nets, are
fastened to the bight of the buoy-line at different distances from the buoy, for the purpose of keep-

THE GILL-NET COD FISHERY. 229

ing the slack or scope from going on the bottom when there is no current. Where there is a strong
tide, and a probability of the large buoy being drawn under the surface of the water, a number of
the glass balls are attached to it with a line, these serving as "watch-buoys" for the other.

NEWFOUNDLAND METHODS. — The nets employed in the Newfoundland cod fishery are usually
made of hemp twine one size smaller than salmon-twine, which is also occasionally used. The size
of the mesh is generally about 6 inches (3 inches square), a large mesh not being required for the
small fish that frequent that coast. The nets vary in length from 50 to 80 fathoms and in depth
from 3 to 4 fathoms. They are hung to the lines iu the same way that the Norwegian nets are, the
foot-line being IJ-iuch rope, while small-sized double lines of opposite lays are the hangings for
the top and ends. Eope is used on the lower part of the net, because, when set close to the bottom,
small line would probably be bitten oft' by ground-sharks, thereby causing the loss of a portion of
the net.

To preserve the nets the Newfoundland fishermen make a mixture of tan and tar, which is
thought better than either used separately. The tan is commonly made from spruce buds, fir
bark, and birch bark (hemlock bark is not used), which are boiled together until sufficiently strong,
when the bark is removed, and tar added iu the proportion of 5 gallons of tar to 200 gallons of
tan, the whole being stirred wfcll together. Considerable care is necessary in applying this, or
else it will not be evenly distributed on the net. The custom of mixing tan and tar has doubtless
been introduced from England, as it is known that the Cornish fishermen do this, pouring out their
tunning liquor into large vats with coal tar, and this mixture is found to preserve the nets much
longer than simple tanning. The Newfoundland nets, when prepared in this manner, generally
last about four seasons.

The floats are made of the best bottle-cork, when obtainable. Before being used they are
dipped in hot pitch or tar, after which it is said they will stand for four weeks at the bottom in 50
fathoms before getting water-soaked. The fishermen have two sets of floats — one when soaked
being replaced by the other.

The sinkers most generally in use by the Newfoundland fishermen are made by tying small
rocks in a bag of old netting or cloth; but lead sinkers, similar to those on seines, are occasionally
attached to the nets. The sinkers weigh from 1 to 2 pounds, are about 13 feet apart, and are fas-
tened close to the bottom of the net.

Anchors, rocks, and stone killicks are used for moorings to the nets. The former weigh from
20 to 25 pounds each, while the killicks and rocks vary from 25 to GO pounds, the heavier heading
the current and the lighter being on tjae opposite end of the net or gang.

The buoys are generally made of dry fir poles, 6 to 8 inches in diameter, are usually from 3 to
4 feet long, and sharpened at one end, through which is a hole for the strap that the buoy-line
bends to. Kegs are also used for buoys.

AMERICAN METHODS. — The nets that were first tried iu Ipswich Bay were made of twine
about the same size as that used iu Norway; indeed, part of them were Norwegian nets which had
been lent to Capt. George H. Martin by the United States Fish Commission. These were found, as in
the previous trials made by the Commission, entirely too weak for the purpose, and were soon badly
torn ; not, however, before it had been proved that suitable nets could be very successfully used.
The nets that have since been constructed for this fishery are made of twelve thread Scotch flax
twine. The twine is very strong, and is found to be well adapted for the capture of large cod.
Tlie nets are 9 inch mesh (4.J inches square), that size having been found well adapted for taking the
large winter cod in that locality.

The size of the nets depends somewhat on the locality where they are used, and also oil the

230 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

movements or habits of the fish. In some places where the cod keep close to the bottom, long
shallow nets are probably the most suitable, while at other points, as at the Lofoten Islands, where
fish are often found in the greatest numbers some distance from the bottom, deeper nets are
required.

The nets made for Captain Martin were 50 fathoms long and 3 fathoms deep, but as nearly all
the fish were caught near the bottom, other parties have since had longer nets of less depth ;
many of those made for the shore-fleet are 100 fathoms long and 2 deep.* These were hung to
small double lines of opposite lays, and they are generally tanned or tarred before being used. It
maybe well to mention here the Dutch method of tanning cotton herring nets, which is thought
better than any other by those foreign fishermen, and may, perhaps, be applied with equal advan-
tage to other nets, when made of that material. The tan is made by boiling catechu in water in the
proportion of 1 pound of the former to 2£ gallons of the latter. When the solution is sufficiently
strong the nets are soaked in it for twenty-four hours, after which they are dried. They are tanned
and dried three times, and then soaked in linseed oil. A pound of oil is provided for each pound
of net, and they are allowed to remain in it as long as any will be absorbed. They are then well
drained and spread out on the ground to dry, after which the process is completed by tanning them
once more.

Glass floats, similar to those of Norway, have been used on the American nets.t These cost
about 30 cents each, when covered with coarse netting, and twenty-five of them are attached to a
50-fathom net. Bricks are chiefly used for sinkers, one of which is fastened to the foot of the net
directly beneath each of the floats, they being held in the same manner that stone sinkers are. It
is probable that suitable metal sinkers may soon be devised, and perhaps desirable improvements
may be made in the floats as well, though various devices which have been tried have not met
with the approval of the fishermen. The cost of nets 50 fathoms long, with floats attached, is
about $18.

Fourteen-pound trawl-anchors have been found suitable for Ipswich Bay, one being attached
to each end of a gang of three nets, but it is quite probable that heavier ones will be required
where there is deeper water and more current.

The buoys are common quarter-barrels, rigged in the same manner as for trawling.

3. THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERY.

Gill-nets have long been used in the Newfoundland cod fishery, especially on the east and
south coasts of the island, but the exact date of their introduction is unknown. It is asserted,
however, that this method of fishing has been pursued since early in the present century, and is
still carried on to some extent.

The coast of Newfoundland is indented with many large bays or fiords, which are favorite
feeding grounds for the cod. In the early summer they make their appearance in pursuit of the
capelin that gather in immense numbers along the shores to spawn, and generally remain from
three to five weeks. During this time the schools of cod usually keep near the surface of the water
and the nets are set floating, but later they are set at the bottom, for when the capelin leave the
shores the cod move into deeper water. The nets are set singly or in gangs of three to seven. Two
anchors are generally attached to a gang of floating nets, as represented in the plate, but where
there is a current one is sometimes found sufficient. They are usually set in the afternoon and

* These nets have been principally made by the American Net and Twine Company, and H. & G. W. Lord,
Boston, Mass.

t These aie made at the glass factories in Boston.

THE GILL-NET COD FISHERY. • 231

hauled in the morning- Owing to the comparative lightness of the anchors fewer men are required
to haul these than ill Norway, as a single fisherman will sometimes take in one or more nets,
though in most cases two or three go in a boat. The net-fishing is far less productive than that of
Norway, but sometimes a large catch is made. Captain Jacobs states that on one occasion he
took from four nets 2,000 cod, but says that this is rarely equaled. These fish are what are known
in the American markets as medium cod.

4. THE AMERICAN FISHERY.

Mention has been made of the introduction and trial of cod gill-nets by the United States Fish
Commission in 1878, but no attempt was made by the fishermen to use them until the fall of 1880,
when Capt. George H. Martin, of Gloucester, Mass., master of the schooner Northern Eagle, fitted
out with them for the winter cod fishery off Cape Ann and in Ipswich Bay. The immediate cause
which led to this trial was the difficulty of procuring a supply of bait, which is a source of con-
siderable trouble to our shore fishermen, and its cost, even when obtainable, is such a heavy tax
on this branch of the fishing industry that often the fishermen hesitate to engage in it, fearing
the result will be a loss rather than a gain. It was to obviate this difficulty and to render
our cod fisheries more valuable in consequence, that led Professor Baird to bring the cod gill-nets
to the notice of the American fishermen. The bait principally depended on by the shore fishermen
in the vicinity of Cape Ann, during the fall and early winter, is young herring (Clupea harengus),
known as the "spirliug." The appearance of these fish about the cape is somewhat irregular;
sometimes large schools remain for several weeks, and at other times but few can be taken. There
was so little probability of getting a supply of bait in the fall of 1880 that Captain Martin hesitated
about fitting out, fearing that the cost and difficulty of securing a supply of this article, which is
indispensable to the trawl-line fishery, would render the undertaking unprofitable. While the
matter of fitting out was under consideration, gill-nets were suggested by the father of Captain
Martin, an employ^ of the Fish Commission, as a means of solving the perplexities of the bait ques-
tion. He thought the idea a good one, and, together with several of his crew, visited the station
of the Commission at Gloucester, looked at the Norwegian nets that were there, and consulted with
the agent in charge as to the probabilities of success. The result of this interview was that Cap-
tain Martin decided to fit out and give them a thorough trial, and nets were therefore obtained
for this purpose, part of them being supplied by the Fish Commission.

Before the trial trip was made Captain Martin had an interview with- me at Gloucester, and I
briefly explained to him the Norwegian methods of using the nets. He thought, however, that
they might be "underrun," as trawls are sometimes, which would enable one man to handle a gang
of nets for which an entire boat's crew, six to eight men, is required in Norway.

Ipswich Bay, where the nets have been chiefly used, lies north of the prominent headland of Cape
Ann, which divides it from the waters of Massachusetts Bay on the south. A sandy beach extends
along the northern and western sides of the bay, and the bottom sinks gradually from this, only
reaching a depth of 25 to 30 fathoms at a distance of several miles from the land. The bottom of
the bay is a sloping sandy plateau, with only here and there small patches of rocks or clay, sup-
porting but a small amount of animal life that may serve as food for the cod. It is, therefore, a
spawning rather than a feeding ground for these fish, and large schools visit the bay during the
winter for the purpose of reproduction, and generally remaining until late in the spring. The nets
are usually set along the northern part of the bay, but a few miles from the shore, in about 15
fathoms of water, where there is less current than at some other points along the coast.

A peculiar habit of the fish taken in Ipswich Bay has been observed. The fishermen state

232 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

that a large percentage of tbe cod which have been caught in that region have been netted on a
small area of bottom, not exceeding three fourths of a mile in diameter. This "spot of ground"
appears to be swarming with cod for a considerable portion of the winter, while the adjacent bot-
tom seems to be almost entirely barren of fish. It is rather irregular in outline, the fishermen say,
judging from where the fish are taken, but so far as anything can be told of its physical conforma-
tion, it does not differ from the rest of the sandy elope immediately surrounding. It is said that
there is no "feed" on the bottom. The fishermen have a theory that there arc fresh-water springs
in this particular locality, around which the cod love to gather; nor, indeed, can they assign any
other reason, since there appears to be no special feature in the character of the bottom. So per-
sistent are the cod in clinging to this locality that, almost invariably, nets placed within its limits
come up well filled with fish, while gear set a dozen or twenty fathoms distant get very few, if any,
cod. The fishermen have been very much puzzled to understand how the fish get to this spot
and escape the walls of netting which surround it on all sides. They do not believe that enough
cod could be there at one time to fill the nets night after night for months, and they arrive at the
conclusion that the fish must reach the place during the day, at which time they are supposed to
rise above and swim over the nets that bar their progress at the bottom, and which, of course, can
be seen by daylight.

The common dory has been used for fishing the nets, each vessel having from seven to nine of
them, according to the number of the crew. The men go singly, one in each dory, and, while out,
either setting or underrunning, the vessel is generally kept under way, the captain and cook man-
aging her and picking up the crew when the work is completed. As a rule, each one of a netter's
crew, except the captain and cook, is provided with a gang of three or more nets, which are fas-
tened together at top and bottom when set, these forming a wall at the bottom of the sea 150 to
300 fathoms long and 2 or 3 fathoms deep, being held in position by an anchor at either end. The
anchor-lines are 50 fathoms long, and oue end of each is bent to the upper corner of the nets.

Under favorable circumstances, one man cau set a gang of nets by letting the boat drift with
the wind or tide and throwing them over as it moves along, but, as a general rule, two men can
accomplish' this much better. When setting for underrunuiug, the anchor is first thrown over, and
25 fathoms of the line paid out, when the buoy -line is bent to it.* The buoy and line are then
thrown over, and the remainder of the anchor-line, the end of the latter being made fast to the
nets, which are the next to follow. A middle buoy is attached to the center of the gang. When
the nets are all out, the other anchor-line, with the buoy-line attached, is veered out, and last of
all the anchor is thrown over, which finishes the work. The nets are usually set in the afternoon,
and allowed to remain setting for several days, unless for some reason the vessel leaves the fishing
ground. Even then, when forced to seek the shelter of a harbor during a storm, they have some-
times been left out. The distance at which the gangs of nets are set apart is said to be about 40
fathoms, but this is a matter to which no rule can be applied, as surrounding circumstances will
cause many variations. Fish are caught only at night, and consequently the nets are underrun
only in the morning, unless the men are detained by unfavorable weather until later in the day.
In underrunuing, the fisherman goes to one of the buoys on the end of his gang of nets, takes it in
the dory, and hauls away on the buoy-line, the buoy being thrown out on the other side, and the
line allowed to run out on one side as fast as it is hauled in on the other. When the anchor-line
(underruuning line, as it is sometimes called) is up, it is taken across the dory and the fisherman
hauls along towards the nets. These are underruu by pulling them in on one side of the dory,

* It is probable that a better way would be to fasten tbe buoy-liuo to the upper corner of the uet, where the
end of the anchor-Hue is attached.

TBE GILL-NET COD FISHERY. 233

ami, as fast as the fish are removed, allowing them to pass over the other side into the water, the
anchors, which remain firmly fixed in the bottom, holding them in position until the work is accom-
plished. When the end of the gang is reached it is thrown off the dory, and the nets remain setting
as before, needing no further attention until the next day. When underrunning, they may Le
taken across either the forward or after part of the dory, as circumstances may require.

The time occupied in underrunning depends somewhat on the smoothness of the sea, but moie
particularly on the amount of fish taken. When the catch does not exceed more than 4,000 to
5,000 pounds to the vessel, it is done in about two hours, but when 15,(JOO to 18,000 pounds are
caught, about four hours are required.

The success which has resulted from the use of nets in Ipswich Bay has been quite remarkable,
the catch being much more than that of the trawlers fishing on the same ground. The amount
taken for the first three trials, which were made in Massachusetts Bay, in unfavorable weather
and with inferior nets, was 4,000, 6,000, and 7,000 pounds, respectively.

On a trip ending January 11, 1881, 35,000 pounds of cod were taken by the Northern Eagle,
8,000 pounds of which were caught in a single morning. Two other vessels, which were absent the
same length of time, fishing at the same place with trawls, got only 4,000 and 8,000 pounds, respect-
ively. After that time she made another trip, taking the same amount, 35,000 pounds, in four days
fishing, 18,000 pounds of which were caught in one day. On this day the schooner Christie Camp-
bell, of Portsmouth, set ten trawls (each trawl having 1,000 hooks) close to the nets. The 10,000
hooks caught about 2,000 pounds of fish to the 18,000 taken in the nets.

The Northern Eagle began fishing with the nets November 27, 1880, and as early as the 20th of
January, 1881, had caught 111,000 pounds of cod. None of the trawlers took more than one-third
of that amount, though they were fishing at the same place. The netted fish are larger than those
caught on trawls, averaging, during the first six weeks' fishing, 23 pounds each. Among these were
individuals which weighed 75 and 80 pounds apiece, but no small fish, such as are frequently taken
on trawls, and can be sold only at a reduced price. This has been the invariable rule whenever
gill-nets have been used. No immature fish, such as are called "trash" by the fishermen, have
been taken. In addition to the advantages already mentioned, no bait is, of course, required for
net fishing, and not only is the expense for this article saved, but the loss of time and tiouble inci-
dent to securing it and also to baiting trawls is dispensed with. In consideration of these facts it
is not strange that a lively interest was manifested in the fishing communities because of this inno-
vation, and it is not surprising that many vessels have been supplied with this kind of apparatus
for the winter cod fishery. The advantages that may be secured by our fishermen from the use of
these nets can hardly be overestimated. It is possible that they may be profitably employed on
some of the larger fishing grounds. There is no good reason to doubt the practicability of under-
running nets on the Banks, especially on the shoaler parts. They surely may be set and hauled on
any part where cod are now taken. The use of these, if good catches can be obtained in them
on the offshore grounds, would obviate the necessity of leaving the Bank before a trip had been
secured, as must now be done by trawlers, in order to obtain a supply of bait. It is the general
custom of the trawl fishermen to use fresh bait, and since this will not keep longer than two to three
weeks, it is easy to see that much time must be lost in seeking for it. Indeed, the supply is at all
times so uncertain that some vessels are not actually engaged in fishing more than one-half of the
time, and it may be safely said that Bank fishermen do not spend much more than two-thirds of
their time on the fishing ground, the remainder being occupied in the search for bait. Again, a large
sum of money is paid for bait, and, all things considered, it is quite apparent that even if the daily
catch should be smaller than when trawls are used, the profits of the trip would be much greater.

234 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

G.— HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND.

By G. BEOWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS.

The winter fishery for the capture of the haddock, Melanogrammus ceglefinus, Is carried on
chiefly from the ports of Gloucester, Boston, and Portland, though participated in to some extent
by vessels from Portsmouth, Swampscott, and other ports. Although haddock are caught in large
quantities, from spring to fall, by numerous vessels and boats employed in the fisheries between
Portland and Philadelphia, the winter haddock fishery is far more important, and is peculiar in its
methods. It is of comparatively recent origin, dating back about thirty years. We are told that
in 1850 immense quantities of haddock were caught on the trawls in Massachusetts Bay, and that
a petition was prepared by the Swampscott fishermen asking for a law which should prohibit trawl-
fishing, on the ground that this method would soon exterminate the haddock. It is impossible to
trace with any degree of certainty the steps in the history of this fishery, since it is pursued only
for a few months in the year by vessels otherwise occupied a large portion of the time. The fish
have been disposed of in a fresh condition, and the catch has not been carefully recorded.

1. FISHING GROUNDS.

The winter haddock fishery is prosecuted, from October to April, on nearly all of the inshore
ledges and the nearest of the off-shore banks south of Sable Island Bank and north of Sandy Hook.
The principal haddock fishery is, however, located north of Cape Cod. The depth at which the
fish are taken varies with the locality, but is within the limits of 25 and 90 fathoms ; usually in
water deeper than thirty fathoms.

In the fall, when fishing first begins, the vessels set their trawls along the coast from Nan
tucket Shoals to Grand Menan, in 30 to 90 fathoms of water. On the outside of Cape Cod the
fishing is within 5 to 15 miles of the shore ; in Massachusetts Bay, principally on the outer slope
of Middle Bank and the southern slope of the shoal ground that lies to the eastward of Cape Ann,
usually called " the Southeast," the eastern part of the shoal water on Jeffries Ledge, and along
the coast of Maine within thirty miles of the shore, especially about Monhegau Fall, South-south-
west, and Western Ground. Fishing in this region continues until midwinter, and is kept up by a
smaller class of vessels, such as those hailing from Portland, throughout the whole season. The
larger vessels, comprising the major portion of the Gloucester fleet, strike farther out to sea, fishing
upon George's Bank, usually in 25 to 40 fathoms, near the localities frequented by the winter cod-
fishermen, and also on the western part of the Bank. They also fish on Brown's Bank, in water
about the same depth, and on La Have and about Cape Sable. The fishing on La Hatfe Bank
for haddock was first attempted in the winter of 1880-'81.* This fishery has been attended with
the greatest success. Fishing continues on these outer banks until the end of the season, when
it is time for the vessels to engage in other fisheries. A few large schooners follow the haddock
fishery during the whole year, often visiting the off-shore grounds, and marketing their catch at
Boston.

"Capt. S. J. Martin, of Gloucester, writes, under date of May 10, 1881, as follows: "The first vessel that went
to La Have Bank for haddock was the schooner Martha C., of this port. She made her first trip there last winter."

THE HADDOCK FISHEBY OP NEW ENGLAJST). 235

2. THE FISHEBMEN.

The fishermen -who take part in this fishery are usually picked men from the Gloucester fleet.
A large portion of them are engaged in the mackerel fishery in the summer.

This fishery requires as much skill, pluck, and endurance as the halibut fishery, and men are
selected in both of these fisheries on account of similar qualifications. Not infrequently the same
crew will remain with the vessel in the summer when she is in the mackerel fishery, and in winter
when she is employed in the haddock fishery. There is so much competition among those who
desire to ship with a good skipper that very often his entire crew list is made out five or six months
in advance.

3. THE VESSELS.

The vessels composing the Gloucester fleet are chiefly the stanchest and swiftest of those
which in summer engage in the mackerel and cod fisheries. The Portland fleet is made up of a
smaller class of vessels, averaging from 35 to 40 tons; these in summer are engaged in the
mackerel or shore fisheries. The few Swainpscott and Boston vessels which take part in the
winter haddock fishery are marketmen and mackerelmen in the summer. A few vessels of the
Boston fleet have been built specially for the haddock fishery. Some of these, built in 1884-'85,
are of extra depth and large size, and are specially adapted for heavy weather.

The rigging of the haddock catchers is precisely similar to that of the halibut catchers. Since
1879 many of the largest vessels of the Gloucester fleet have been employed in haddock fishing;
these generally carry riding-sails, and they usually have gaff-topsails. Formerly very few of them
carried gaff-topsails. Their outfit of nautical instruments and charts is, as might be expected, less
complete than that of the halibut vessels.

Since the haddock vessels are rarely, if ever, anchored on the fishing grounds, their arrange-
ment of cables and anchors is very different from that in use in the halibut and George's fleets.
They usually have a chain cable on their starboard side, and upon the port side a cable similar to
that used by the George's and halibut vessels, from 150 to 225 fathoms in length, which is stowed
in the fore hold. One end of this cable is bent to the anchor and the other passes down through a
hole in the fore batch and is coiled below in the fore hold. The anchors are like those used on
George's-men.

The deck is arranged in a manner different from any that has yet been described. There is
usually a single gurry -pen forward of the house, and the space between the sides of the gurry -pen
and the house, and the rail on either side, is so arranged that it can be divided into pens for the
reception of the fish. Three or four pens may be placed on each side.

The remainder of the deck is clear, but there is a booby-hatch over the main hatch, through
which access is gained to the bait-room.

The haddock-catchers do not ordinarily carry davits or a reefing-plank. The mainsail is pro-
vided with an ''out-hauler" or patent reef-gear, which answers the purpose of a reef-tackle and
earing, and facilitates the process of reefing from the deck. A few of the larger vessels, however,
are provided with davits and reefing-planks.

The arrangement of the hold is also peculiar. The space which in a halibut catcher is occupied
by the forward ice-house is here taken up by the bait-room. The bait-room is sometimes, but not
always, bulkheaded off from the fore hold. It is one large compartment, with rough board benches
all around, on which the men sit while baiting their trawls. In the center stands a stove. In this
room the fishing-gear is always stowed when not in use. The after hold is generally fitted up with

236 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

pens resembling those in tlie after hold of a halibut schooner. In these pens ico is carried when
the vessel is making long trips. When large fares are obtained, part of the fish are stowed in the.
bait room, which, on the larger vessels, is so arranged that pens can be bnilt in it by sliding boards
into grooves. The haddock schooners carry a larger amount of ballast than those of auy other
class; a vessel of 50 tons requiring 30 or 35 tons of ballast.

4. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF TDE FISHERY.

DOETES. — The larger haddock catchers carry six dories, the smaller four or five.* Most of the
dories used in this fishery are deeper and wider than those in any other fishery, and are' built spe-
cially for the purpose. The ordinary bank dory is also frequently in use. The so called "haddock
dories" are 14 feet in length on their bottoms. When on deck they are nested in the ordinary
manner, two or three on a side, and arc stowed nearly amidships on each side of the booby hatch,
not nested close to the rail, as is the practice upon other vessels carrying dories. A haddock dory
ready to leave the vessel in order to set its trawl is provided with the following articles in addition
to the trawl-lines : Trawl-roller, two pairs woolen nippers, dory-knife, gob-stick, gaff, bailing-scoop,
thole pins, two pairs of 9-foot ash oars, buoys, buoy-lines, anchors, and black balls.

TRAWLS. — The haddock trawls have the ground-line of tarred cotton, of 14 to 18 pounds
weight to the dozen lines of 25 fathoms each in length. Hemp is occasionally used, especially by
the Maine vessels and by some of the Irish vessels from Boston. The gangings are of white or
tarred cotton, in weight about 4 to 6 pounds to the 300 fathoms of line. They are about 2 feet in
length, and are fastened to the ground line at intervals of 3£ feet. The manner of fastening the
gaugiugs to the ground-line is different from that upon the halibut trawls.t The hooks are
numbers 15 or 1C, center draught, and eyed.f The hooks are fastened to the gangings in the same
manner as on the cod trawls. The haddock trawls are coiled in tubs, similar to those employed
in the George's fishery. A flour barrel, sawed off above the lower quarter hoops, is used for a
tub. Each tub of haddock trawl contains 500 hooks, or about 292 fathoms of ground line. Each
dory is provided with six or eight tubs of trawl, and two to eight of these tubs of line are set
at once, as the case may require. Sometimes only two or three tubs are set at a time, and several
sets are frequently made in a day, when the weather is suitable.

One of the anchors is similar to those used upon the cod trawls, while the second anchor is
often of the killick pattern. The buoy -line is the same as in the cod or halibut trawl, and its length
is 15 to 30 fathoms more than the depth of water in which it is used. The buoys are similar to
those used in cod-trawling. Each buoy at the end of the trawl has a black ball upon it, and a
middle buoy, without a staffer blackball, is also used§ when the whole length of the trawl is set.||
Instead of the regulation keg buoy, a "kit" is sometimes used by the haddock trawlers.

BAIT. — When it can be obtained, the principal bait used by the haddock catchers is salted men-
haden slivers. This is considered the best bait, and it is said that haddock will often bite at this
when nothing else will tempt them. The trawl-hooks, when this bait is used, may be baited days
or even weeks in advance, while the vessel is waiting for a chance to set. When fresh bait is used
the trawls can be baited only a short time before, indeed, only a few hours before they are to be set.

•The haddock-catchers of Ma'ne and some of tlie ports in Massachusetts, fishing with "single clones," carry one
for each man besides the skipper* and cook. These boats are 13 feet long, and managed by a single fisherman.

tThey are fastened either by tucking and hitching or by a simple hitch around the ground-line.

JThe Irish fishermen of Boston sometimes use a galvanized hook of the same size without an eye.

$ This is to aid the fishermen in recovering their trawls in case they are parted at either end.

B When the trawls are set in shallow water where there is a rocky bottom three or four middle buoys arc some-
times used.

THE HADDOCK FISHERY OP NEW ENGLAND. 237

Fresh herring is also used for bait, though to a comparatively limited extent, until within the
past five or six years, when they have been the only bait which could be procured.

Capt. S. J. Martin, of Gloucester, writes: "Five or six years ago pogie slivers were exclusively
used for bait by haddock fishermen, but for the past two winters none of these could be obtained,
and mackerel and herring have been the principal bait. The first vessels that started in October
(1880) took fresh mackerel for bait. When the herring came on the coast, or were brought to
Gloucester frozen, they were the bait depended on by the haddock catchers."

In cutting up menhaden slivers for haddock bait sections are made trapezoidal or square in form,
with a surface area of about a square inch. One of these pieces is placed on each hook, and as
the hooks are baited the line is coiled in the tub, the hooks being placed around on the side, points
up.* When the fisherman is ready to bait his trawl, he sits upon his bench, with the empty tub
between his legs and the trawl-line removed from the tub and turned right side up in front of him,
his bait being in a bucket at his side. In his left hand he takes eight or ten pieces of bait, and
with both hands he pulls the line toward him, coiling it in the tub after baiting the hooks; he
places them in the tub in the manner just described.

As is always the case where a number of men are working together at the same employment,
there is sharp competition among the men as to who shall be the first to get his trawl baited. The
average time consumed in baiting five hundred hooks is from forty-five to sixty minutes, though
the most skillful men have been known to accomplish the task in half an hour. It will be seen
that the labor of baiting three or four tubs, which falls daily to each man when the fishing is good,
occupies a considerable portion of the day, or rather of the night, since the baiting is usually done
at night. In baiting at night each man has a lamp of peculiar pattern, which is fastened to the
edge of his tub by a hook; sometimes the trawls are snarled, and the whole night is devoted to-
clearing and baiting them. A man will go into the hold to bait after the fish are dressed in the
evening and perhaps not finish his task until daybreak, when it is time to go out to set again.

METHODS OF PISHING. — As has been remarked, the Laddock catchers never anchor on the
banks when fishing. The usage in this respect has greatly changed within the last few years.
When the fishery was less extensive and was carried on entirely upon the inshore grounds they
were accustomed to anchor, set their trawls, and underrun them, but now the trawls are all set
while the vessel is lying to, waiting for the dories. This operation is called "setting under sail,"
and its successful performance is one of the most complicated evolutions performed by vessels and
boats, requiring a high degree of skill on the part of the men on the vessels and in the boats.

Let us imagine ourselves on the deck of a haddock schooner at daybreak approaching Jeffries
Ledge. The skipper, having first sounded and obtained the desired depth of water, decides to
make a set and gives the order, "Get the top dories ready!" at the same time indicating how
many tubs he thinks it is desirable for each dory to set. The four men to whom the two top dories
belong adjust the anchors, buoy-lines, and buoys which are already in the dories, and also place in
them the other necessary fishing-gear. The dory-tackles are then hooked on, and the boats are
swung over the side of the vessel. The middle dories are then equipped in a similar manner by
their respective crews, and as soon as these are ready the top dories are dropped into the water
and paid astern and the middle ones are swung over the side, the bottom dories being then pre-
pared for action in their turn. The middle dories are now dropped down and paid astern with the
others, and the bottom dories are swung upon the sides and are ready to be lowered at the proper
moment. Eight men take their places in the dories towing astern; perhaps, in fact, the four men
belonging to the top dories are already there and ready to set.

* The Irish fishermen of Boston place their trawls in baskets, coiling the line in one part and putting the baited
hooks in another division of the basket.

238 HISTORY AM) METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

The skipper now gives the order to one of the dories that was first put out, "Throw out your
buoy." This being done the dory tows astern of the vessel until the buoy-line runs entirely out;
the men in the dory then sing out, "Let go the painter!" The dory is cast off and they begin to
set their trawl in the ordinary manner, their course usually being to leeward, and nearly at right
angles with the direction of the vessel. This operation is repeated in succession with each boat:
the last dories dropping astern after the others have been let go. Sometimes when the wind is
moderate and it is practicable, all six dories are dropped down before the first begins to set. The
boats having been let go in the manner described, are thus left scattered along in the wake of the
schooner at intervals of 100 to 200 fathoms, the first and the last dory being from three quarters
of a mile to a mile and a half apart. As soon as the last dory has been dropped, the vessel keeps
oif and runs to leeward, and is ready to pick up the first one as soon as her trawl has been set, and
the others in regular succession. The time occupied in setting the trawls under sail varies from
half an hour to an hour.

When the dories are picked up, a part or all of them are taken on deck and the vessel imme-
diately begins to work back toward the weather buoys; as soon as the weather buoys are reached
the boats are usually dropped again in the manner a^eady described, and the men begin hauling.
This second evolution occupies from one hour to an hour and a half, according to the strength of
the wind and other circumstances. As the dories are dropped a second time they find themselves
at the very place where they threw overboard the first anchor and a mile or two to the windward of
the place where they dropped their last anchor. They are now able to haul to the leeward, which
is easier than hauling to the windward and is more advantageous to the fishing, since the tender-
mouthed haddock are less liable to drop from the hooks of a trawl when it is slack than when it
is taut.

For the dories to haul their trawls occupies from one to four hours, according to the length of
the trawl, the number of fish on the hooks, and the state of the weather. While the dories are
hauling, the vessel is lying-to with the jib to windward and drifting back and forth along the line
of boats, waiting for the men to finish hauling their trawls or signalize, by raising one of the oars,
that they have a load of fish and wish to be taken on board. After the lines have all been hauled
the dories are again taken on deck, unless another set is to be made on the same ground. When
the dories set the whole length of lines it is very unusual for a vessel to make more than one set
in a day ; sometimes, however, a smaller number of lines is set and the operation is twice per-
formed. In exceptional instances, after the whole string of tubs has been once set, a smaller
number, perhaps a tub to each man, is set in the latter part of the day.

The operation of shooting alongside of the dories and picking them up is one of the most diffi-
cult feats of seamanship which can be accomplished by a fishing schooner.

The haddock trawls are often set in rough weather and at times when there is what would be
called a strong, whole sail breeze, and, occasionally, when it blows hard enough to make it neces-
sary to reef the sails. After the trawls have been set and the vessel worked back to the weather-
buoys, if the weather looks at all threatening, it is customary to take the bonnet out of the jib and
put a reef in the mainsail, so that if the wind should increase while the trawls are being hauled
the vessel can be managed by the skipper and the cook — the only men left on board.

As might be expected, men are sometimes lost in this method of fishing, the losses being occa-
sioned by sudden snow-storms which cut the dories off from the view of those on board of the
vessel, or by heavy squalls which render it impossible for the schooner wit h only two men on board
to go through the necessary evolutions.

It should be stated'that the evolution of setting under sail is varied at different times and by

THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND. 239'

different skippers, but tb.it the differences in the mariner of performing the evolutions are not of
much importance, and that the most common method is that which is here described.

When fishing on George's Bank, the Gloucester haddock vessels are obliged by the force of the
tide to resort to another method of setting, which is called "double-banking the trawl." The tide
is so strong that the trawls cannot be set in the ordinary way, for the buoys would be carried
beneath the surface. Two dories are therefore lowered at once, and jointly perform the act of set-
ting; only two tubs are set by each pair of dories. The set is made in the folio wing manner: The
men in one of the dories hold fast to the weather-bouy, while the men in the other dory set the
trawl. After the trawl is out, the dory which sets it Folds fast to the lee buoy until by some sig-
nal, such as lowering the jib, the skipper of the schooner gives the order to haul. The trawls are
left on the bottom fifteen or twenty minutes before they are hauled. The men in the two dories
begin to haul simultaneously ; the anchors are thus first raised from the bottom and presently the
bight of the trawl and the two boats drift along with the tide, the distance between them gradually
narrowing as they haul.

Haddock are often found so plenty on George's that it is not necessary to set more line at a
time, even were it easier to do so, since a single tub of trawl will often bring up enough fish to fill
a dory. Several sets of this kind can be made in a day, when the weather is favorable.

Some of the Maine and Swampscott vessels send out only one man in a dory. This usage is
called " fishing single dories," and is, of course, practicable only in comparatively moderate weather.

5. THE MANNEE OF CAEING FOE THE FISH.

As the fish are brought alongside they are pitched into the pens already described. As soon
as the dories are discharged and taken on deck, and the vessel is under way, the men begin to
dress the fish. The process of dressing differs entirely from that of dressing cod. There are no
dressing-tables or dressing-tubs. The men distribute themselves among the pens. Four or five
men are engaged in ripping the fish, this operation being performed by seizing the fish by the
eyes or some part of the head with the left hand and ripping them down from the throat. The
remainder of the crew occupy themselves in taking out the liver and roes, which are saved in
barrels separately, and in removing the viscera. The fish are washed by pouring buckets of water
over them as they lie in the pens or on deck, and are packed away in the hold or left on deck, unless,
on account of distance from the land or mildness of the weather, it is necessary to ice them, in
which case two or three men go into the hold and stow the fish away between the layers of ice.
The fish are iced with greater or less care, according to the length of time expected to elapse
before the arrival of the schooner at the market. All the vessels going to La Have, George's, and
Cape Negro carry from 5 to 6 tons of ice each trip.

6. PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE FISHEEY.

The vessels of the Gloucester fleet, in the winter of 1880-'81, obtained, on an average 350,000
pounds of haddock, valued at $0,000. The schooner Martha C. obtained about 600,000 pounds,
stocking $11,500. The Edith M. Pew obtained 550,000 pounds, stocking about $11,000.

Capt. S. J. Martin, of Gloucester, Mass., writes under date of February 12, 1882: "The
schooner Martha C. arrived yesterday with 90,000 pounds of haddock ; she was gone eight days.
Schooner Josie M. Calderwood, 85,000 pounds, gone seven days. Schooner H. A. Duncan, 80,000
pounds, gone seven days. Four vessels left Gloucester on Saturday and were back on Wednesday,
each with 40,000 pounds of haddock, having fished one day and a half. That is good and quick
work."

240 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The Cape Aun Advertiser of February 10, 1882, says: "Schooner Mystic, Capt, John McKen
non, has stocked the year endiug February 8, 1882, $21,002. He claims high line of the shore
haddockiug fleet, and so far as \vo know this is the largest stock ever reported in this fishery.
The crew shared $780.00. In 1880 he stocked $17,765, the crew sharing $705.

" The New schooner Dido recently built at Essex, for Mr. George Steele, of this city, has been
engaged in the haddock fishery just one month to-day, during which time she has made three trips,
stocking $3,750. On her last trip she stocked $1,400. Her crew shared for the mouth $138 each.
The Dido is commanded by Capt. William N. Wells. Schooner Richard Lester, Capt. Ozro B.
Fitch, on a recent haddock trip stocked $1,100."

The same paper, on February 24, 1882, states that "the largest haddock fare ever landed was
that of the schooner Martha C., of Gloucester, Capt. Charles Martin, which arrived at Boston on
Friday [February 17] from a George's haddock trip, and weighed off 93,000 pounds haddock,
stocking $1,943, the crew sharing $91, the result of two and a half days' fishing. Absent ten
days. This was the largest catch and best stock ever reported in the haddock fishery."

The Martha C., in thirteen hours' fishing, in the winter of 1880-'81, caught 90,000 pounds of
cod and haddock. The total amount of haddock carried into Boston in 1870 was 17,000,000
pounds; of this amount probably at least 13,000,000 were obtained by the winter haddock vessels.
The total yield of this fishery does not, probably, fall below 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 pounds.

7. RUNNING FOR THE MARKET.

No class of vessels, not even the halibut schooners, take more risks in running for market than
do the haddock schooners. It is of the utmost importance to them to reach the market with their
fish in good condition, and, if possible, to be in advance of other vessels engaged in the same
business. In the stormiest of weather all sail that they will bear is crowded upon them, and har-
bors are made even in heavy snow and thick fogs. The trips are short, averaging frequently not
more than two or three days, and rarely longer than a week or ten days; they are, therefore, con-
stantly running for the land, and are more accustomed to making the coast than the halibut
vessels, and become so familiar with the hsirbors most frequently resorted to, especially with
that of Boston, that they are able to enter them when no other vessels, probably not even pilot
boats, would care to make the attempt. What has already been said abcut the dangers encoun-
tered by the halibut schooners will apply as well, in its fullest extent, to the haddock schooners.

8. THE MANNER OF OUTFIT.

In the winter haddock fishery every man supplies his own dory and outfit complete, besides
paying his share of the provision bill. In the settlement of the voyage the vessel draws one-fourth
of the net stock, or in the case of the older vessels, according to the old system, only one-fifth, after
certain stock charges have been deducted for bait, ice, wharfage, and towage. The remaining
three-fourths or four-fifths of the net stock is divided equally among the crew, the owner paying the
skipper's commission or percentage from the vessel's share. The average share of each man in the
Gloucester crews for the winter of 18SO-'81 was about $290. The most successful shared $500 to
$550. The largest stock ever made in one day's fishing in the winter's shore fishery up to 1880 was
that of the Eastern Queen, of Gloucester, which carried to the Boston market, in 1873, 25,000
pounds of haddock, and stocked $1.100. This vessel also made the largest stock of that season,
realizing in five months $10,250 clear of all expenses, the crew sharing $550 each. The crew of
the schooner David J. Adams, in March, 1881, shared $107 each in a ten days' trip in the haddock
fishery.

THE HADDOCK FISHERY OF NEW ENGLAND. 241

9. THE HADDOCK FISHERY FIFTY YEARS AGO.

A writer thus describes the haddock fishery from Gloucester Harbor in the early part of the
present century:

"The fitting out of the fleet for the haddock fishery commenced about the first of April. The
first move was to run the boats on the beach, or landing as it was then called, and have them
calked and graved. The latter process consisted in applying a coat of pitch to the bottom and
burning it down with a tar-barrel, which gave a smooth and glossy surface. Painted bottoms in
those days were very rare.

" The time occupied in makiug a haddock trip was from two days to a week, the fish being
mostly taken on Old Man's Pasture, Heart's Ground, and Inner Bank, about twelve miles off of
Eastern Point. The fish were taken to Charlestown for a market and purchased by the hawkers,
among whom were Johnny Harriden, Joe Smith, Isaac Rich, and others, who took them over to
Boston in hand-carts and retailed them at a good profit. The codfish were generally salted. The
smallest were cured for the Bilboa market, and the largest were made into dun fish, as they were
called, for home consumption. They were kept on the flakes several weeks, and thoroughly dried
until they became of a reddish color, and were highly esteemed as an article of food. The baking
season commenced in July, and the pollock fishery was prosecuted from September to the middle
of November. Each boat carried three men — skipper, forward hand, and cook, who went at the
halves, as it was called, the crew receiving one-half the gross stock, and the owners the balance."*

8.— THE HAKE FISHERY.

BY G. BROWN GOODE AND J. W. COLLINS.

The capture of hake is a branch of the shore fisheries, and is by no means as distinct an
industry as those which have been already described. It is generally carried on from June to
November along the New England coast north of Cape Cod, chiefly by small vessels of 20 to 40
tons, and which at other seasons of the year are often hauled up, though some of them engage in
the winter shore haddock or cod-fishery or in the fall herring fishery, and in the spring are more
frequently employed in the cod-fishery before the hake make their appearance. The hake fishery
is also carried on from small boats.

The men engaged in the hake fishery are of the class described in the chapter on fishermen
as the shore fishermen of Maine.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

The coast of Maine is a favorite region for the hake fishermen, almost every settlement along
its whole extent having some small boats or a few vessels engaged in this fishery. The fishing is
also carried on in Ipswich Bay by boats from Rockport, Pigeon Cove, Folly Cove, Lane's Cove,
Annisquam, and the Isles of Shoals.

About the mouth of the Bay of Fundy there is excellent hake fishing, and around Prince
Edward Island the hake are very large and abundant, and some of the Maine vessels occasionally
visit this region to engage in the capture of this species. In 1878 and 1879 several vessels from
Bristol, Me., were thus employed.

* Fisherman's Memorial and Record Book, Gloucester, 1873, p. 73.
SEC V 16

242 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The favorite fishing grounds are upon soft and muddy bottom in 25 to 75 fathoms of water, and
usually within 15 miles of shore. Frenchman's Bay is one of the favorite haking grounds, being
largely frequented by the smaller boats. As long ago as 1850 it was customary for the New
England fishermen to resort in large numbers to this locality.

Many of the grounds formerly considered very good are now thought by the fishermen to be of
little importance. The fishermen attribute the remarkable decrease which, in many instances, has
occurred in the abundance and size of the species, to the absence of menhaden from the coast
north of Cape Cod, which fish they believe formerly attracted the largo hake near the shore. Where
largo hake were formerly caught only small ones can now be taken.

2. THE VESSELS.

The vessels are the smallest class of fishing vessels, and the majority of them o'd fashioned,
and only used in the season of pleasant weather. Most of them are schooners, -a few are pinkies,
and quite a number of them are of the old-fashioned, round-bowed, square-stern model, long ago
abandoned by builders. Many of them date back to the first third of the present century. They
carry from one to four dories, according to the size of the vessel, and are provided with light cables
and anchors of no uniform pattern. There is no uniform method of fitting up the hold of the vessel
or its deck, none being required in this kind of fishing.

3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY.

The boats are of all patterns, from the dory to the Quoddy boat.

The fishing is carried on, for the most part, at night and chiefly with trawls. A f<w of the
boat fishermen still use hand-lines. The trawls are similar to the haddock trawls, though some-
times slightly heavier. They are coiled in tubs and are set in strings with 300 to 1,500 hooks each.
They are set from the boats or dories in the same manner as the trawls used in the shore cod fishery,
and are usually underrun twice a day — in the morning to remove the fish, and at night to bait the
hooks. Some fishermen, however, bait in the morning when they remove the fish. Others, again,
will remove the fish and rebait both in the morning and in the evening. The trawls are left down
until it is necessary to change their position, or until a fare of fish is obtained. It is not unusual
for a trawl to be left down, by a boat fisherman who carries his fish daily to the shore, for several
vreeks at a time.

The favorite baits are herring and mackerel, which are, for the most part, obtained from the
weir fishermen along the shores, though occasionally the bait is caught in gill-nets. In former
years, when menhaden or pogies were abundant on the coast of Maine, they were the favorite bait.
The hooks are baited as in the cod fishery.

4. THE PRODUCTS.

The hake vary in size from 1 to 20 pounds, and individuals of 30 or 40 pounds are occasionally
obtained. At the present time they are chiefly valued on account of their sounds and livers, the
former being used in the manufacture of isinglass (see chapter on isinglass), the latter for the
manufacture of oil. Until within thirty years the sounds had no value, but since that time the
isinglass industry has sprung up.

The fish are split and salted in the ordinary manner, and stowed in the hold of the vessels or
in fish-houses, by the boat-fishermen, by whom they are shipped to Gloucester, Portland, or Boston
in freight vessels as soon as the curing is completed, or, at latest, at the end of the season. The

THE HAKE FISHERY. 243

sounds are removed and dried. They are strung upon strings and hung either in the rigging or
in the cabin or forecastle of the vessel — wherever there may be a fire — or else, by the boat-fisher-
men, about the buildings on shore or on small hurdles or flakes made of old netting. The sounds
are sold to the agents of the isinglass factories, who make trips to all the hake fishing stations in
person, and ship their purchases to their employers by rail or steamer. The livers are sold to
persons at various points along the coast, who make a business of extracting the oil by exposure
to the sun or by the ordinary methods of boiling.

The total catch of hake for the United States is about 33,000,000 pounds in the fresh condi-
tion, 90 per cent, of which is cured by drying. On thejiajce-trawls are caught considerable quan-
tities of cod, haddock, pollock, and cusk, which are split and salted with the hake and disposed of
in the same manner.

According to Mr. A. Howard Clark, 25 per cent, of the boneless fish packed in Gloucester in
1880 were hake. In 1881 there was lauded in Gloucester from Eastport alone 180,000 pounds of
hake.

III.

THE MACKEREL FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES.

1.— THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHEET.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The fishermen.

3. The vessels.

4. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

5. The care of the fish.

6. Running for the market.

7. Landing the cargoes.

8. Financial profits of seining.

9. History of the use of purse-seines.

10. The attempted use of the purse-seine in Norwegian
waters.

1. Fishing grounds.

2. Early catches of mackerel, 1878 to 1881.

2.— THE SPRING SOUTHERN MACKEREL FISHERY.

3. The vessels, apparatus, and methods of fishing.

3.— THE MACKEREL HOOK FISHERY.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The fishermen.

3. The vessels.

4. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

5. The care of the fish.

6. Homeward passage and disposition of the fish.

7. Financial profits of the mackerel hook fishery.

8. Itinerary of a mackerel voyage to the Gulf of Saint

Lawrence.

4.— THE MACKEREL GILL-NET FISHERY.

1. Apparatus and methods. | 2. History of mackerel gill-net fishing.

5.— EARLY METHODS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY (1620 TO 1820).
1. Catching mackerel with drag-seines. | 2. Drailing for mackerel.

6.— LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MACKEREL.

Legislation in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies.

2. Protest against gigging and seining in the present
century.

7.— STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

1. Statistics of the fishing fleet and the products in 1880.

2. Statistics of the New England fleet in 1879, 1880, and

1881.

3. Statistics of mackerel fishing by American vessels in

the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from 1873 to 1882.

4. Statistics of inspection of pickled mackerel.

245

T III.

THE MACKEREL FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES.

BY G. BKO\VN GOODE ANB-X W. COLLINS.

1.— THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY.

The purse seine has come into general use since 1850, find with its introduction the methods
of the mackerel fishery have been totally revolutionized. The most extensive changes, however,
have taken place since 1870, for it is only during the last ten years that the use of the purse-seine
has been at all universal. As late as 1878 a few vessels have fished with the old apparatus in the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and also a few on the coast of New England. Such changes in the manner
of fishing for mackerel have brought about also a change in the fishing grounds. Vessels fishing
in the old style were most successful in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but the purse-seine can be
used to very much better advantage along our own shores between Cape Hatteras and the Bay of
Fnndy.

The mackerel fleet in 1879 and 1880 was owned almost entirely by Massachusetts and Maine,
a very few vessels from New Hampshire and Connecticut also participating. The distribution of
the vessels in the mackerel fleet, their tonnage, and the number of men employed are shown below
in the tables prepared by Mr. B. Edward Earll.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

In the spring, from March to the 1st of June, the mackerel seiners cruise between the capes
of the Chesapeake and the South Shoal of Nantucket. The mackerel are first encountered off
Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, from 20 to 50 miles from the land, and gradually move northward,
followed by the fleet. When oil' the coasts of New Jersey, Long Island, and Block Island, the fish
usually draw closer in to the land, frequently approaching within 1 or 2 miles of the shore. During
the summer and fall months the principal seining ground for mackerel is in the Gulf of Maine,
from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod; the immediate vicinity of Mount Desert Eock, Matinicns
Hock, Monhegan Island, Cape Elizabeth, Boone Island, and Massachusetts Bay being favorite locali-
ties. Good catches of mackerel are frequently made in summer on George's Bank, and, within the
past few years, near Block Island. Though mackerel have at times been taken in seines in the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence, so little, comparatively, has been done in this locality that it can scarcely
be classed among the grounds generally resorted to by the mackerel seiners. In a large majority
of cases the mackerel schooners which have gone to the gulf within the last six or seven years have
met with decided failures, and in 1880 several returned home from there without a single barrel

of fish.

2. THE FISHERMEN.

The mackerel fleet contains a larger percentage of American-born fishermen than any other.

The 113 mackerel vessels from Gloucester in 1879 were manned by 1,438 men, of whom 821 were

247

248 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Americans; 322 Provincials : 24 British, most of whom were Irish; 39 Scandinavians; GFrench; and
13 Portuguese. The mackerelmen belonging to ctber ports in Massachusetts and on the coast of
Maine have a still larger percentage of Americans in their crews, most of the vessels being manned
entirely by natives of New England. Many of the Gloucester fishermen engaged in the mackerel
fishery are in winter employed in the haddock fishery, in the George's cod fishery, or in the fresh-
halibut fishery. Many others, like those from Provincetown and Maine, do not go to sea in winter.
The winter herring trade is carried on almost entirely by the mackerel schooners and their crews
from Gloucester and Maine, and the winter oyster business is in the same manner monopolized by
the Cape Cod and Portland mackerel vessels, while some of them enter into the business of bring-
ing fruit from the West Indies to the United States.

3. THE VESSELS.

The mackerel fleet in 1880 was made up of four hundred and sixty-eight vessels, which
pursued this fishery to a greater or less extent. Of these, two hundred and thirty-five vessels were
employed exclusively in catching mackerel between March and November, though some of the fleet
did not start before June or July. A large number of these, the best fishing vessels of New Eng.
land, in winter are engaged in the haddock fishery, in the George's fishery, in the herring trade,
in the oyster trade, and in the West India fruit trade, as well as in the shore cod fishery.

There is a small fleet of vessels which, though, like their companions, designed for rapid
sailing, are seldom employed in the winter, except in the herring trade to New Brunswick, on
account ot the shallowness and sharpness of their hulls, which renders them unfit to encounter
the heavy winter gales in the open ocean.

The mackerel vessels are, as a class, swift sailers ; they carry, while engaged in this fishery,
all the canvas which their rig will allow. The manner in which their sails are managed, and the
amount of canvas which they carry, are fully described in the chapter on the fishing vessels.
The mackerel schooners, as a rule, spread more sail, in comparison with their size, than any other
vessels in the world, except, perhaps, the extreme type of schooner-rigged yacht, which is essen-
tially a development of the fishing schooner.

Vessels designed especially for the work of seining mackerel usually have a wide deck, much
deck-room being necessary for the proper handling of the fish. Many of the schooners of 60 to 80
tons have a beam of 21 £ feet to 23 feet. But, although plenty of deck-room is considered of great
importance to a mackerel vessel, even deck room is held to be less necessary than speed. In
consequence, every effort has been made by the builders to construct swift sailing schooners, and
the result is that many of the vessels composing the mackerel fleet are able to cope success-
fully with many yachts of the same size. The mackerel vessel is fitted for seining: (1) By
placing upon her a summer outfit of repairs and sails.* (2) By removing the heavy cables used in

* Whatever repairs are needed are first attended to, -while, in the mean time, the jibboom is rigged oat, the
foretopmast (if the vessel carries one) is sent up, the spars cleaned and painted, and the rigging tarred. This having
been done, the vessel is taken on the railway and thoroughly cleaned and painted. The work of cleaning and paint-
ing spars, tarring rigging, &c., was formerly done by the vessel's crew, but at tbe present time it is done by gangs of
shoresmen organized for the purpose, the expense for the labor performed being paid for by the fishermen. The
custom of hiring others to do this work began about 1863 or 1864. The fisheries were at that time very prosperous,
and many of the fishermen preferred to pay some one for tarring and such work rather than to do it themselves. At
first two or three men of the crew usually did the work, being paid for it by their shipmates, but in a short time it
passed into the hands of the longshoresmen to the general satisfaction of both owners and crews. The work of
cleaning the vessel's bottom, preparatory to painting it, is now often done by shoresmen, who are paid by the crew.
The practice of hiring men to do this kind of work is general, and the above remarks apply equally well to all first-
class fishing vessels sailing from Gloucester, though we are not aware that this custom has been so fully adopted else-
where.

THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY. 249

winter fishing, and substituting chain cables. This change is not necessary in the case of many
of the Cape Cod and Portland vessels which are employed in the oyster trade, or in the case of
most of the Gloucester vessels engaged in the herring trade, since these use only chain cables at
any season. (3) By the removal of gurry-pens, and all other incumbrances from the deck. (4) By
the rigging of a seine-roller upon the port-quarter rail. This is a wooden roller almost invariably
made of spruce, 6 inches in diameter, and 9 to 10 feet long, which revolves on pivots in its ends,
received into iron sockets in cleats, which are fastened to the rail. The forward end of the roller
is about 3 feet aft of the main rigging. The use of this. roller is to lessen the friction between the
rail of the vessel and the seine, as the latter is being hauled on deck or overhauled into the boat.*
(5) By the head-box being fastened to the forward end of the house. The head-box is a bin 10 or
12 feet long, and wide enough to receive the head of a fish-barrel. In this box are stowed the
heads of the barrels that happen to be on deck. (6) By placing the bait-mill on deck, and fastening
the bait-box (when one is used) to the main rigging on the starboard side. (7) By nailing boards to
the top timbers underneath the main rail, between the fore and main rigging ; these are about 6
inches iu width, and are provided with single ropes, or stoppers, 2 or 3 feet apart; the object of
these stoppers is to hold the cork rope of the seine when brought over the rail, preparatory to
bailing the fish from the seine upon the deck. (8) By taking on board an ice-grinder, these being
used only on vessels which carry their fish fresh to market. (9) By clearing the hold of all bulk-
heads, ice-houses, or other appliances, which may have been used in the course of the winter's
fishery. (10) By properly adjusting the quantity of ballast ; if the vessel has been in the haddock
or George's fishery, ballast must be removed; if in the herring trade, ballast must be added; a
mackerel schooner of 60 tons will carry from 15 to 20 tons of ballast, and in exceptional cases
somewhat more. (11) By constructing an ice-house on those vessels which intend to take their
fish fresh to market, somewhat similar to that on board the halibut vessels;! and (12) by taking
on board the necessary supply of barrels, f Vessels which take their fish fresh to market carry
from 175 to 250 barrels; those intending to salt their fish carry from 175 to 500 barrels, about
one third of this number being filled with salt, which is used in curing the fish, and serves in the
meantime as ballast.

*Capt. George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, Mass., states that purse-seines were used by the fishermen of that
port for six or seven years before "seine-rollers" were put on the vessel's rails. This useful implement was first
invented and used by Capt. Simeon Tarr, of Gloucester, about the year 1857, while he was in command of the pinkey
Andes.

+ The mackerel schooner's ice-house, as a rule, occupies the middle portion of the hold, extending from side to
side of the vessel one way, and from the grub beam to the forward side of the main hatch the other way. It is
separated from the other sections of the hold by bulkheads, and is divided into a number of pens similar to those in
the ice-house of a halibut schooner. Each of these pens is subdivided into three parts by shelves, which are con-
structed, when occasion requires, by laying some boards crosswise, the ends resting on cleats which are nailed to the
sides of the pens. The first shelf is put in about 15 inches above the floor of the ice-house, and a second shelf 15
inches above the first. The front of the pens are closed by boards which slide in grooves on the stanchions or bulk-
heads. The mackerel are iced 15 inches deep on the floor of the pen, after which the first shelf is laid and another
tier of the same depth is put on that. After the second shelf is put in, the fish are iced on it nearly to the deck, a
covering of ice being put over all. In this way the fish can be kept in a better condition than if they were packed in
a large bulk. If stowed in bulk the fish are jammed and soon become worthless. An average sized ice-house has a
capacity of about 200 barrels of fresh mackerel ; some ice-houses will hold 300 barrels.

Capt. Joseph Smith, of Gloucester, tells us that at present few of the mackerel vessels carry ice-grinders, since
the fishermen prefer to use the ice-pick instead. Each vessel employed in market fishing is provided with from two
to four ice-picks, and three men can pick up ice fast enough to supply a whole crew, even if they should ice 100
barrels or more an hour, which is about the average speed with which mackerel are taken care of. Captain Smith
thinks his crew, on one occasion, iced 300 barrels in an hour and a half. About 4 tons of ice are put on 100 barrels of
fresh mackerel.

t Vessels which carry a mackerel pocket or "spiller" are provided with outriggers on the starboard side and
other necessary arrangements for its proper management. All of the seiners also have an outrigger on the port side,
near the fore rigging, to which to fasten the seine-boat.

250 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Wellfleet has a three-masted schooner, the Carrie D. Allen, employed in the mackerel fishery.
Her burthen is 175 tons, and she carries 25 men.*

4. APPARATUS AND METHOD OF FISHING.

THE SEINE-BOAT AND ITS FITTINGS. — The boats used by the Gloucester fleet in the purse-seine
fishery are built after a peculiar model and solely for this purpose. The present form of the seine-
boat was devised about the year 1857 by Messrs. Higgins & Gifford, boat-builders, Gloucester,
Mass.t The seines had previously been set from square-sterued, lap-streak boats, about 28 feet in
length, and resembling in shape an ordinary ship's yawl.

The seine-boat, as now in use, resembles the well-known whale-boat, differing from it, however,
in some important particulars.

The seine-boat, according to Mr. Gifford, must have three qualities: (1) It should tow well;
consequently it is made sharpest forward. A whale-boat, on the other hand, is sharpest aft, to
facilitate backing after the whale has been struck. (2) It should row well, and this quality also is
obtained by the sharp bow. The whale-boat also should row well, but in this case it has been
found desirable to sacrifice speed in part to the additional safety attained by having the stern
sharper than the bow. (3) It should be stiff or steady in the water, since the operation of shooting
the seine necessitates much moving about in the boat.

The Gloucester seine-boat of the present day is a modification of the old-fashioned whale boat,
combining the qualities mentioned above. The average length of such a boat is about 34 feet, its
width 7 feet 5 inches, its depth amidship 33 inches. At the stern is a platform, measuring about
4 feet, fore and aft, on which the captain stands to steer; this is 6 to 8 inches below the gunwale.
Another platform extends the whole length of the boat's bottom, from the afterpart of which the
seine is set. In the bow is still another platform, on which stands the man who hauls the cork-
line. There are four thwarts or seats, a large space being left clear behind the middle of the boat
for the storage of the seines. Upon the starboard side of the boat, near the middle, is arranged
an upright iron support, about 18 inches in height, to which are attached two iron snatch-blocks
used in working the purse-ropes. J Upon the opposite side of the boat, generally near the bow

* The three-masted schooner Carrie D. Allen, of Wellfleet, Capt. Darius Newcomb, arrived at Gloucester June 18,
1874, with 900 barrels of mackerel. Ouly vessel of her class in the coast fisheries; 175 tons, carries 25 men. (Cape Ann
Advertiser, June 26, 1874.)

t Capt. George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, Mass., claims to have been the first to design and introduce the form
of seine-boat now universally employed in the mackerel fishery, and which has been used to some extent in the men-
haden fishery since 1857.

In 1856, while engaged in fishing for menhaden, he carried two boats, one of which was a whale-boat of the
ordinary type. The latter, which he used for a " second boat," proved very serviceable — rowing and towing easily, and
turning quickly — and was much better adapted for seining than the old-fashioned square-sterned seine-boats which
were in general use at that time. Captain Merchant therefore conceived the idea that a decided improvement could
be made in seine-boats by building them on the same general plan as the whale-boat, through making them somewhat
wider than the latter, especially towards the stern, so that they would be better able to bear up the seine. Having
decided on fhe dimensions required, Captain Merchant wrote to Mr. Higgius (now the senior partner of the boat-build-
ing firm of Higgins & Gifford, Gloucester, Mass.), who was then at Provincetown, desiring the latter to build a boat 21
feet long and according to the plan submitted, and which should be ready for the season of 1857.

Many of the old fishermen laughed at the idea of attempting to use a sharp-sterned boat for purse-seining, declaring
that it would upset while the seine was being "pursed up," that it would tow under, and making other unfavorable
predictions. Notwithstanding their croakings, they soon became convinced of the good qualities of the new boat, and
in the following years hastened to adopt the same kind themselves.

{ The first iron purse-davit (with wooden snatch-blocks), according to Captain Merchant, was invented and
used by Capt. Henry Blatchford in 1858. With the exception of the blocks it was essentially the same as the purse-
davit in use at the present time. Previous to this ft wooden davit (usually an old one), such as were in use on the
fishing vessels, was employed for the purpose of pursing up the seine. These davits were rigged out over the side of
the boat, a place being cut in them three or four inches deep, so that they might fit over the gunwale of the boat in
such a manner as to steady the outer end while the inner end was secured to the midship thwart by a grommet strap.

THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY. 251

and stern, but with position varied according to the fancies of the fishermen, are fixed in the gnu-
wale two staples, to which are attached other snatch-blocks used to secure additional purchase
upon the purse-ropes. In the center of the platform at the stern of the boat is placed a large
wooden pump, used to draw out the water which accumulates in large quantities during the haul-
ing of the seine. The steering rowlocks, with the peculiar attachment for the tow-rope and the
metallic fixtures described above, are manufactured especially for seine-boats by a firm at Middle-
town, Conn.

Until 1872 the seine-boats were always built in^the lap-streak style; since that time an
improved form of smooth-bottomed boats, built with battened seam, set- work, sheathed inside with
pine, and with oak frame and pine platform, has been growing in popularity. The advantages
claimed for this boat by the builders are: (1) Increased speed; (2) greater durability, on account
of the more solid character of the woodwork and tighter seams ; and (3) less liability to catch the
twine of the nets by reason of the smooth sides. It is not so stiff as a lap streaked boat of the
same width, but in other respects is superior.

Since the general adoption of the purse-seine in the menhaden and mackerel fisheries, an
account of which is given elsewhere, there has been a gradual increase from year to year in the
size of the seine-boats, keeping pace with a corresponding increase in the size of the seines.

In 1857 all boats were 28 feet in length ; in 1872 the length had increased to 30 feet, and in
the summer and fall of the same year an additional foot was added to the length ; in 1873 almost
all boats which were built had a length of 31 feet, a few of 32 and 33 ; in 1874 almost all were 33
feet, as they were during 1875 and 187G, although some were made 35 and 36 feet ; in 1877 34 feet
was the most popular length, though one or two 38-foot boats were then built. Seven, eight, or
nine oars, usually 13 or 14 feet in length, are used in these boats, besides a steering-oar of 16 or 17.

These boats last, with ordinary usage, six or seven years. At the close of the fishing season
they are always taken ashore and laid up for the winter in a shed or under trees, and are com-
pletely refitted at the beginning of another season.

The seine-boats carried by many of the "menhaden catchers" south of Cape Cod and by some
of tha steamers are shaped like ships' yawls, square-sterned, smooth-bottomed, and batten-seamed,
22 to 26 feet long and GJ feet beam. They are built at New Bedford, New London, Greenport, and
at Mystic River, and cost about $125 each, the finest $185. The New Bedford boats are preferred
by many fishermen.

The Cape Ann fishermen stow their seines in one boat, and in shooting the seine one end of it
is carried in a dory.*

The arrangement of the thwarts is especially adapted for the mackerel fishery. There is
some variation, however, as to the number of these in the different sizes of boats. In the size
most commonly in use at the present time (1881) there are six thwarts, five of these being forward
of midships and one 7f feet farther aft. The following are the general dimensions of the boat :
36 feet long over all ; 7 feet 7 inches wide ; 2 feet 8 inches deep. The bow thwart is placed 4 feet
from the stem, and there is a space of 2J feet between each of the five forward thwarts. The boat
is ceiled to the gunwales and platformed inside. In the bow she has a raised platform, which
comes up to the level, or nearly so, of the forward thwart, to which it extends, and is bulkheaded
on the after end. The stern is covered over on the top of the gunwales, forming the stern sheets,
this being 3 feet long forward of the stern-post, with a bulkhead on the forward side. Forward of
this again, and a little below the level of the thwarts, is another platform, 3 feet in length, also
bulkheaded on the forward side. On this the seine-master stands while steering the boat, and in

* Goode, History of the American Menhaden, p. 122.

252 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

it is placed the pump by which the boat is freed from water. The after portion of the boat
between the two after thwarts is used for stowing the seine, this being a section 7f feet long by
7J feet wide. There are five rowlocks on either side, corresponding to each of the five thwarts.
The purse-davit is placed on the starboard side and usually stepped in the midship thwart near
the gunwale. At present, however, an improvement has been made in placing the purse-davit by
stepping it in the thwart nearer to the center of the boat, it being placed at a distance of 18 inches
to 2 feet from the gunwale. It is said that by this improvement the seine can be more easily
pursed up, and the pursings taken over the gunwale of the boat without the use of a pry or lever,
and also that there is less probability of the boat being capsized. The boats of the most recent
construction have their purse-blocks on the port side, nearer the bow and stern than formerly, the
forward being 2 feet aft of the stem, and the after one close to the upper stern sheet, about 3J feet
from the stern-post. Galvanized iron plates, each provided with a projecting eye, are neatly fast-
ened to the gunwale, and the snatch-blocks are hooked into these eyes.

Until recently it has been customary to build these boats with a raised garboard, in imitation
of the whale-boat (whale-boats are constructed in this way by some builders), but in 1881 a
Gloucester firm of boat builders, the principal, if not the only constructors of this style of boat
in the United States, built them with smooth garboards, which have given better satisfaction
than the old style. They are remarkably well adapted for swift rowing and for towing. Both
of these qualities are very desirable, especially the latter, since they are frequently towed at a rate
of 10 or 12 knots. The thwarts are double-kneed but not dunnaged. The boat is steered with an
oar similar to the whale-boat. On the port side are two oar rests in which the oars are placed after
the seine has been shot. The after one of these is just forward of amidships, and the two are
separated 8 feet.

The seine-boat is usually towed astern by a warp, a 2£ or 3 inch rope, 20 to 50 fathoms in
length. When the vessel is making a long passage the seine-boat is hoisted upon the deck. Most of
the larger vessels carry two seine-boats and two seines.* On the largest schooners these boats are
both of a large size ; in other vessels, one of them is usually a small one. In addition to the seine-
boats, each vessel carries two dories. One of these is usually towed astern when the vessel is on
the fishing grounds; sometimes both. They are taken on deck in rough weather, when making
a passage, or when not required for use in fishing.t When a large catch is obtained at the last
set of a seine for the trip, and more mackerel are secured than the barrels on board will hold, the
dories are taken on deck and filled with fish. During the mackerel season it is a common occur-
rence to see, in any of the large fishing ports, vessels arrive with both dories piled full of mackerel.

THE SEINE. — Two kinds of seines are used. The large seine, used only in connection with the

•The steamer Novelty, built especially for the mackerel seine fishery, in the summer of 1885, carries four seines
and four boats. The latter, when the steamer is cruising, are hoisted to davits, two boats being taken up on each side
of the vessel.

tThe following is the price-list of a reliable firm of boat-builders in Gloucester, Mass., for 1880:

Seine-loafs, including pump, iron Ireast-Jiook, outside tow-iron, and iron stem-cap,

Smooth bottom, battened scam, 31 feet $186 00

Smooth bottom, battened seam, 32 feet 192 00

Smooth bottom, battened seam, 33 feet 200 00

Smooth bottom, battened seam, 34 feet 210 00

Smooth bottom, battened seam, 36 feet 225 00

Galvanized rowlocks, with brass sockets, per set (8) 6 50

Pursing-gear 8 50

Patent steering rowlock with socket 1 25

Pursing- blocks, per pair 6 00

Towing iron and pin.... 2 00

THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY. 253

largest kind of seine-boat, is 190 to '225 fathoms in length, and 20 to 25 fathoms in depth when it
is hung, being deeper in the center of the bunt than at the extreme wings, one of which, the "boat
end," is from 1 to 10 fathoms deep, and the other, the "dory end," varies from about 7 to 15 fathoms
in depth.* It is made of three kinds of twine. The "bailing-piece," which is a section of the net
occupying about 10 to 12 fathoms along the center of the cork-line, and having about the same
depth as length, is made of the stoutest twine. Beneath this, and composing the remainder of the
bunt and extending to the bottom of the seine, is a section knit of twine a size smaller. There is
also a band of large twine, 15 meshes in depth, extending along the cork-line of the seine ou either
side of the bailing-piece to the extremity of each wing. The remainder of the net is made of
smaller twine.

A seine 200 fathoms in length is usually about 1,000 meshes deep, both in the bunt and in the
wings. The strongest twine is placed at those places where the seine is subjected to the greatest
strain. On the cork-line are two or three sizes of corks, the largest being placed over the bailing-
piece, the smallest generally at the ends of the wings. The cork in the middle of the seine is much
larger than the rest, and is painted or covered with canvas in order that it may be easy to find the
center of the net either night or day. To one end of the cork-line at the upper corner of the wing,
which is first thrown out when the seine is set, is a buoy. The seine is hung to lines which are
called the hanging-lines. The lead-line is placed as in an ordinary seine, and is weighted with
sinkers about two ounces in weight, which are attached to it at intervals varying from a few inches
to several feet. The arrangement of the pursing rings and bridle is described elsewhere. In a
mackerel seine of 175 fathoms the bridles are about 15 to 18 feet in length, and the rings, which
weigh 1J pounds and are 3 inches in diameter, are fastened to the middle of each bridle. The
middle ring is on the bottom of the seine, opposite the middle cork already referred to, and is
usually made of different metal from the other rings, or is larger, so that the center of the bottom
of the seine can be easily found. Small galvanized-iron blocks or pulleys are now used to a consid-
erable extent instead of rings, and are found much better adapted for the purpose, since the purse-
line runs far easier through them. The purse-line extends through the rings; its center is marked
by a line tied around it or tucked through its strands, but more frequently now by a brass swivel,
into which the purse-rope is spliced, and which serves the double purpose of marking the center of
the line and preventing it from kiuking.t

* Capt. Joseph Smith tells us that the depth of the seine-ends varies a great deal, according to the fancy of the
fishermen. Some of the skippers prefer to have the ends of their seines " taken up" enough to make them very shal-
low, while others think a net with deep ends will fish the hest.

tThe following dimensions of an average-sized deep-water mackerel purse-seine have been supplied by Capt.
George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, Mass. :

Total length of seine when hung, 203 fathoms.

Depth, 1,000 meshes, or about 21 fathoms.

Size of mesh in all its parts, 2 inches.

Length of " bailing-piece " or "bunt," 500 meshes; size of twine, 12-9.

Depth of " bunt" or "bailing-piece," 500 meshes.

Length of "sides," each, 300 meshes; size of twine, 20-9.

Depth of "sides," each 500 meshes.

Length of " under," 1,100 meshes ; size of twine, 20-9.

Depth of " under," 500 meshes.

The central section of the mackerel purse-seine, that portion composed of the bailing-piece, sides, and under, is
generally spoken of as the "bunt," though the bunt proper constitutes only a small portion of it. Capt. Joseph
Smith, of Gloucester, says that at present the whole center of the seine (including the bunt, sides, and under) is made
of one size of twine, 20-12, this portion being 1,000 meshes square.

There is sometimes considerable difference in the length of the wing and'arm of one end of the seine from that of
the other, though some are constructed with both ends of equal length. Many of the seiners prefer to have the bunt
of their seines a little to cue side of the middle of the net. lu such cases the ends are, of course, of unequal lengths.

254 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

When the vessel is not searching for fish the seiue is stowed on a grating forward of the house,
between that and the after hatch. This grating" is a frame-work, about 8 to 10 feet square, made
of boards from 4 to G inches in width, crossing each other at right angles. The boarding is sup-
ported on a frame- work of joists. The top of the grating is 4 to G inches above the surface of the
deck. When two seines are carried, the grating must be wider. When the seiue is stowed in the
boat or upon the deck, it is always "salted down" to prevent it from rotting or burning. From
a bushel to a barrel of salt or more is used, according to the necessity of the case. When the
seine is thus stowed, it is often protected by a canvas cover.

When looking out for mackerel the seines are generally stowed in the seine boats upon the
platform arranged for that purpose between the two after thwarts. The cork-lines are stowed aft
and the lead-lines forward, the seine always being set from the starboard side of the boat.

As has been stated, the small seine diifers from the large seine only in its size, being from 150
to 175 fathoms in length and 10 to 12 fathoms in depth. These seines are used in shallow water,
and those vessels which have gone to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for the purpose of catching
mackerel by this method have generally carried them.

Many of the large schooners carry two seines whether they have two seine-boats or not, since
the deep seine cannot be used on rocky bottom in shallow water.

The seiue is always passed from the boat to the vessel, and vice versa, over the roller upon the
port side, which has already been described. To transfer the seine from the vessel to the boat
requires five or more men. The operation can be performed in from 15 to 30 minutes. To haul
the wet seine from the boat to the vessel is a somewhat laborious task, but as less care is required
than in stowing it in the boat, less time is usually needed to perform this operation.

BAIT. — Mackerel seiners usually carry a small supply of bait for the purpose of tolling the
fish to the surface and, incidentally, of catching fish with the jigs when they are not schooling.

It may also be mentioned that a border of stont twine (size 20-9), 15 meshes deep, extends along both the top and
bottom of the wings and arms of each end of the net.

Size of the first wing, 125 yards long in the web, 1,000 meshes deep ; size of twine, with the exception of that for
the border, 16-6, hawser-laid ; size of first arm on the same end of the net as the wing just described, 125 yards long in
the web, 1,000 meshes deep; size of twine, exclusive of that in the border, 20-C, hawser-laid. Si/e of wing No. 2, on
the other end of the net, 150 yards long in the web ; depth, 1,000 meshes ; twine, 16-6 hawser-laid. Size of arm No. 2,
150 yards long in the web ; depth, 1,000 meshes ; size of twine, 20-6, hawser-laid, exclusive of the border.

Captain Merchant writes : " We always use for hangings 6-thread manila right and left rope. In Boston factories
they pometimes use 9- thread mauila for bridle-rope, or ' loops,' as they are occasionally called." These loops, to which
the purse-rings are attached at the bottom of the seine, are one part of the hanging-rope, and are made three fathoms
long, the spaces between them being the same distance. Thus it will be seen that the purse-rings are about 6 fathoms
distant from each other. Captain Merchant adds: "We use the left-laid rope for loops and the right for the sinkers.
The loops are formed by separating the ropes at what are called the ' bridle hitches.' Only one ring is attached to a
loop. The net has attached to it, when completed, HOO No. 1 corks, 1,200 No. 2 corks. The No. 1 corks, which are the
largest, are placed in pairs in the center of the bunt of the seine, at a distance of 10 inches between the pairs. The
'middle cork,' however, is made of three, joined together and covered with canvas. This is for the purpose of
determining the center of the seine when it is being overhauled. The No. 2 corks .ire secured to the upper part of the
seiue upon the wings and arms, being placed 15 inches apart. From 65 to 75 pounds of lead sinkers, which weigh from
2J to 4 ounces each, are placed at the bottom of the seine. None of these are put in the bunt, but are scattered along
the foot of the wings and arms, being nearest together close to the ends of the net. The rings used at present are made
of galvanized 1-inch iron, and weigh about 2^- pounds each ; with the sinker-leads they make about KiO pounds weight
attached to the bottom of the seine. One and three-fourth inch hemp rope is used for the purse-line, the length of
this being generally about 25 fathoms more than that of the seine. In hanging the seine it is 'taken up' at the
ends, so that one end is 7 fathoms deep while the other is only 1 fathom deep, though the middle of the net will go
down 125 feet. The first or deepest end is called the ' dory end' or ' outer end,' and the other is known as the ' boat
end' or 'inner end.' As will readily be understood by reference to the preceding dimensions of the purse-seine, the
difference in the depth of the several sections of the net, when hung, is due solely to the 'taking up' in the process
of hanging it, since the webbing is of the same depth throughout. The purse-seines, like many other things, are being
improved. Those we are making now (for the mackerel fishery) are much lighter than we have been making them iu
former years, and can be handled with greater ease and rapidity."

T1IE MACKEKEL PUKSE-SEINE FISHERY. 255

Sometimes they toll the school alongside and spread the seine around the vessel, and after she
sails over the cork-rope and away to leeward, the net is pursed up and the fish captured. It is
often the case, too, when mackerel are moving rapidly, for the men in the dory to throw bait ahead
of the school, and while the fish are thus induced to stop, the seine-boat circles around them, the
net is thrown out and while yet engaged iu feeding, the fish are inclosed in the big purse. Many
good catches are obtained in this way. The favorite bait is slivered and salted menhaden, of which
each vessel carries 5 to 10 barrels when they can be procured. Most of the vessels, however, at
the present time, depend entirely upon small mackerel, which they catch and salt. The bait-mill,
bait boxes, and bait-throwers are similar to those used_in_the mackerel hook fishery, and are used
in the same manner.

METHODS OF SEINING BY DAY. — The following description of the method of seining mackerel
is mainly from the pen of Mr. J. P. Gordy : When a vessel is on the fishing grounds and there are no
signs offish, if the weather is favorable, a man is stationed at the mast-head on the lookout, while the
rest of the crew, excepting, of course, the man at the wheel, lounge lazily around, amusing them-
selves as they feel inclined. If a whale is seen blowing or a vessel is " putting out her boat," the
man at the wheel steers toward them. The skipper is usually on deck directing the evolutions of
the vessel, and is consulted before any change is made iu the course of the vessel. When signs of
fish begin to be numerous, and sea geese and gauuets are plenty, and whales and porpoises show
themselves frequently, the "fishy men" of the crew stop lounging and begin to survey the surface
of the water intently. At such times one can count half a dozen here and there in the rigging)
carefully observing the movements of other vessels, if any of the fleet are in sight. "There's
crooked actions, men," the skipper exclaims, meaning that some vessel in sight suddenly alters her
course, and that she is either on fish herself or sees another vessel that is. When one school ap-
pears, another is likely to be seen, and when a vessel has "crooked actions," those who observe
them bend their course in the direction in which she is sailing. When a man sees fish, he shouts,
" I see a school." "Where!" asks the captain. The direction is indicated. " How does it look ;
is it a good one?" He wants to know whether they are tinkers or whether the fish seem large. If
they are abundant he will wait until he gets a " sight" at a good school. Much attention is paid by the
lookouts to the mauuer in which the school of fish is moving. The seiners prefer those schools
which are "cart wheeling,"* or going round and round in circles in a compact body, in the act of
feeding. Fish which are " cart wheeling" can be surrounded with a seine much more readily than
those going straight ahead in one direction.

If the man who has found the school is not experienced, the captain examines it for himself,
and if satisfied that it is a good one he shouts, " Get in the seine-boat ; look alive, boys." As a
pack of school-boys jump from an apple tree when the indignant owner appears, so eleven men
leap into the seiue-boat one over another, as if they had meant to jump overboard but by accident
had reached the seine-boat instead. The captain takes his place at the steering-oar. Two men sit
on the forward part of the seine and one at the cork-line, ready to " throw out the twine" when the
captain gives the word of command. The remaining seven row swiftly and silently until the fish
disappear or the captain orders them them to " stop rowing." All the while the captain is eagerly
watching the fish, noticing which way they move and how fast. Before beginning to put out his twine,
he wants to get near enough to enable him to make the wings of the seine meet around the school.
He must, therefore, keep far enough away to prevent the head of the school from striking the seine
until it is nearly pursed up. He calculates the speed of the fish, and sets the seine in such a nian-
mer that by the time the school gets thoroughly within the circle of the net he will be able to come

"This habit of circling, which the mackerel performs, is also called "milliug" by the tishenuou.

256 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

rouud to tlie starting point and completely encircle them. If he fails in this, the wings of the seine
must be towed together before it can be pursed up, and in the time thus occupied there is a chauce
of losing the fish. A skillful skipper rarely fails in makiug the ends of the seine meet. In seining
on George's, or any other place where there is a strong tide, it requires much skill and judgment
to set the seine in such a manner that it shall not be tripped and thrown out upon the surface of
the water. Under these circumstances, to prevent " tripping," the seine should be so set that the
bunt of it will be in the direction from which the tide runs; the force of the tide then aiding the
act of pursing the net.

When the skipper is near enough to satisfy the conditions of the above problems he orders the
men at the seine to " put out the twine." They begin their work, the oarsmen in the mean-time
rowing as fast as possible. The skipper steers the boat around the school in such a manner that
when the seine is fully out the cork-line approximates more or less closely to the form of a circle.
Two of the men who did not get in the seine-boat now appear on the scene of action in the dory in
which they have closely followed in the wake of the seine-boat until the act of setting begins. As
soon as the first end of the seine has been thrown overboard they row up to it and seize the buoy
at the end of the cork-line, which they hold until the seine-boat has made a circle, merely rowing
fast enough to keep the end of the seine in its place and to prevent it from swagging. When the
seine-boat has completed its circle, it approaches the dory, which is holding fast to the buoy. When
the two ends of the seine meet, the men in the dory get into the seine-boat to assist in pursing;
sometimes, however, the ends do not meet, and in this case they are brought together by means of
a line, about 20 fathoms in length, which is always taken in the dory and is fastened by the men
in the dory to the buoy and carried to the seine-boat.*

The work of " pursing up " is now to be performed with all possible speed. Until this is begun
the seine is in the form of a hollow cylinder, and the fish, in order to escape, have only to dive down
and swim away under the lead-line. In pursing, the bottom of the seine is to be closed up, and in
this operation the saying of the men, "A man who won't pull every pound he can and an ounce
more is not fit to be a fisherman," is fully exemplified.

The men stand six in one end of the seine-boat and seven in the other end, holding the two
ends of the purse-line, which, having passed through the rings in the bridles on the lead-line of the
seine, pass round the two blocks of the purse-davit and through the snatch -blocks on the opposite
side of the seine-boat, one of which is forward and the other aft. One of the uses of the bridles
now appears. As soon as the men in the seine-boat commence pursing up the seine, the rings,
which before this have been banging downward below the lead-line, now extend the same distance
laterally from this line. We have only to remember that they all extend toward each other to see
that they considerably diminish the open area at the bottom of the seine. To be sure, the spaces
between the bridles are open, but the fish are not likely to escape through these, for in such an at-
tempt many of them would strike the bridles and finding such obstacles would turn, hoping to find
an outlet in some other direction.

The men stand, as has been said, when pursing up the seine, six in one end of the boat and
seven in the other. They are divided into three rows of three and one of four men. On the side

* Capt. Nelson A. McKeniiey, of Gloucester, states that two men usually go in a dory, one of whom pulls a little
while the other holds to the end of the seine. If the one having the oars is an expert (and as a rule only old hands
do the rowing), he will quickly and dexterously turn the dory as the seine-hoat approaches "close to," so that the
latter may shoot alongside of the former iii such a manner that the purse-line held by the man in the stern of the
dory may be easily transferred to the larger boat. As soon as this is done both of the doryuieu jump aboard the
gciuo-boat and assist iu "pursiug up" thu sumo.

THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY. 257

of the boat next to the seine are two rows of men facing each other, and pulling ; one row on the
end of the first line that passes over the blocks in the purse- davit nearest them, the other on the
other end of the purse-line passing over the other block of the davit. Each end of the purse-line
passes around another block, which changes the direction of the line, and two rows of men on the
side of the boat away from the seine stand back to back, pulling on the purse-Hue, its direction
having been changed by the pulleys.

As previously remarked, the seine before being pursed up is in the shape of a hollow cylinder.
A strong tide may make it take the form of a hollow frustum with a slit in its side. Its longer area
is at the bottom. In such a case the slit is wider at the bottom and grows narrower toward the top,
until it vanishes at a point where the two ends of the purse-line bring the seine together at the
purse-davit. Then the purse-weight comes into play. This is "reeved out" to the two end lines,
and its weight brings the two ends of the seine together, closing up the slit and destroying the
frustum shape of the seine. If this were not done the fish might escape at the side as well as at
the bottom.*

When the seine is pursed up it is in the form of a bag, the bottom of which does not hang
freely, for it is bent upward, having been drawn up by the purse-line near the side of the boat, and
during the operation of pursing up the boat is pulled nearly into the center of the circle made by
the corks on the upper edge of the seine. Occasionally, when there is a current, the boat is brought
up agaiust the corks in the bunt of the seine. The object is now to get the fish, if they have any,
into such close quarters that they may be taken on deck. To this end the larger part of the seine
must be pulled into the seine-boat, and this operation, called "drying up," now begins. The seine
is taken up entirely if there be no fish, partly if the school has not escaped, and the net is so drawn
up that the "bailing-piece" will inclose the fish at last. The position of this part of the seine being
marked by the central cork already spoken of in the description of the seine, it is of course not
difficult to bring it around the fish. The experienced fishermen can also quickly tell, either night
or day, when the bunt of the seine is reached in the process of drying up, since the difference in
the size of the twine of which the bailing-piece is made and that of the other parts of the net is
readily detected.

If any fish have been caught, especially if the school is large, the skipper and three or four
men go in the dory to the vessel to help the cook, who is the only man on board, to bring her
alongside of the seine-boat. If the school is very large the dory is rowed to the vessel as rapidly

*It should be stated that the large purse-weight is at present seldom used. The tide is rarely so strong as to
make it useful, and even then the process of "reeving " is likely to be so tedious as to make the loss of time more than bal-
ance the gain through its use. According to Capt. Joseph Smith the majority of the mackerel seiners now use two
purse-weights, each of 75 or 100 pounds weight, instead of the old-fashioned "Long Tom," which usually weighed 150
pounds. The two weights above mentioned, being so much lighter than those formerly employed, can be handled by
one man, and rove on the purse-line very much quicker than if the heavier, or "double weight," as it is called, was
used. These small purse-weights are provided with one block, and each weight has a line attached of sufficient
length to reach the bottom of the seine. The time occupied in reeving them on the purse-line rarely exceeds fifteen
or twenty seconds. One of the purse-weights is most commonly itscd on the "boat end," or the end of the seine last
thrown out, for the reason that this part of the net has not usually time to sink down to its full extent before the
pursing begins. A weight is more rarely used on the end of the seine which is first thrown out, and, consequently,
has had time to sink to its extreme depth ; though sometimes, on account of the current, or for some other reason, it
may be found necessary to put the purse- weight upon this end, as well as upon the other. In using one large weight
as formerly, it would be necessary, of course, to always put it on both ends of the purse-line of the seine, but in hav-
ing two weights one can be attached and run down on either end of the purse-lino as required. That sinks it and
keeps the net deep, and if both ends "purse high" a weight should be put on each end. The ends of the purse-line,
when the weights have been run down, in the manner above stated, will stand out from each other, something in the
form of the letter A, both parts coming nearly together at the purse-davit and being separated several fathoms at the
lower part of the net, as the first purse-rings are attached about 15 fathoms from the ends of the seine.

SEC V 17

258 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF TLIE FISHERIES.

as possible, aud the sccoud dory is rowed back to the seine for tbe purpose of holding up tLe bunt,
since a school of 500 barrels may sink botli seine and seine-boat if left without assistance. This,
however, rarely occurs, and it generally happens that the school either is small enough to be dipped
into the, dory and to be taken to the vessel, or that the seine boat without any assistance is capable
of managing them until the vessel is brought alongside.

While the fish are being caught the cook has charge of the vessel; if it happens to be about
meal time he attends to the cooking as best he can, but whether the cakes burn or not the vessel
must be cared for, and he generally divides his time between the forecastle and the wheel. If Lo
is preparing dinner and is able to, he continues his cooking, taking charge of the vessel at the
same time.

The vessel usually " lays to," with the jib to windward, not far from the seine boat ; aud perhaps,
as the cook sits at the wheel, he has a basin of potatoes before him, which he peels while he is
eagerly watching every movement of the seine-boat, trying to ascertain whether his mates are suc-
cessful, and, if so, to what degree.

When the dory has been rowed aboard, the men at once take measures to bring the vessel
alongside of the seine boat. The evolution of shooting alongside of a seine-boat (described else-
where) calls into play all the skill of the steersman. The vessel must approach so near that a
rope may be thrown to the men in the seine-boat, and in such a manner that she will move slowly
enough not to tear the seine as it is pulled along, before the schooner is " bowsed to the wind-
ward " and her motion ceases.

The cork-line is then taken over the side of the vessel and made fast by " stoppers" along the
rail. This having been done the process of drying up is resumed, and the fish are gathered together
in a compact body so that they can be dipped out upon the deck. When the fish are to be taken
on deck the men are distributed as follows: Three or four are employed in hoisting the fish by means
of a large dip net attached to the main and fore staysail halyards; the captain directs the move-
ments of the net, holding its long handle, and shouting "Hoist!" when it is about half full of fish
two men standing by the rail empty the dip net on the deck.

When all the fish have been bailed out the seine is overhauled and salted. In the mean time
most of the crew are making preparations to dress the fish. If the school is large, the crew, cook
and all, unless it is just at meal time, begin the work as soon as the fish are ready; if the catch
of fisli is small, and there is a prospect of getting another set that day, a part of the crew take
the seine out of the seine-boat to mend it, if necessary, and lay it back in an orderly form so that
it may be thrown out without difficulty.

The operation of setting a seine around the school and pursing it up usually occupies from tea
to twelve minutes, though it is claimed by some expert fishermen that they have done it in seven
minutes. Under unfavorable circumstances it may be nearly an hour from the time the first end
is thrown out until the "pursings" are on the boat. This delay is usually caused by a strong tide,
such as is generally found on George's. The catch of a purse-seine may vary from one barrel to
five or six hundred barrels. The seine may be set eight or ten times in the course of a day without
getting any considerable quantity, or perhaps no fish, the mackerel escaping by diving under the
"lead-line"; and then a more fortunate set will secure more fish than can by any possibility be
taken care of by the crew of the vessel. Under such circumstances it is customary to set a flag
from the main-topmast head or main peak. This is to indicate to vessels which may be in sight
that more fish have been caught than can be taken care of, and that the skipper is willing to dispose
of some of them. This is called "giving the seine away." Sometimes the fish are given away to

TI1E MACKEKEL PURSE-SEINE FISHEKY. 259

be dressed on shares, and at other times they are given away without expectation of return.* An
ordinary crew can dress and salt at one time about 100 barrels of small mackerel or 200 barrels of
large oncs.f

Very large quantities of fish can be taken care of in a short time. Vessels have been known
to leave New York on one day and return the next day with 200 to 300 barrels of fresh mackerel,
while some Gloucester vessels in the course of a week have caught and salted 500 or COO barrels,
landing two or three cargoes during that time.

It sometimes happens that, when a large school of mackerel Las been taken in a seine,
the fish press down so hard on the bottom of the net that the fishermen find it difficult, if not
impossible, to gather in on the twine sufficiently to "dry the fish up" enough to bring them to the
surface. It has been found, however, that by throwing coal ashes into the water alongside of the
seine the fish are caused to rise to the surface, being frightened by the whitish appearance which
the ashes give to the sea. When the mackerel rise the twine can be readily drawn in. The same
result is secured in another way by the menhaden fishermen when they have a large school of men-
haden in their seine alongside of the steamer. If the fish hang heavy on the twine, one or two
quick turns are given with the propeller aud the frightened menhaden rise quickly to the surface.
This method is called " whirling 'em up."

METHODS OF SEINING BY NIGHT. — The practice of fishing for mackerel — purse-seining in the
night-time — which has recently come into quite general use, was first attempted, so far as we can
Icaru, prior to 1874. Captain Merchant says that night seining for pogies was in practice as early
as 1SG4, but that up to 1874 no mackerel of any amount had been taken in this way. In 1874, and
up to 1877, a large quantity was taken. Since the latter date night seining has been the general
custom in the latter part of the summer au-1 fall. The honor of introducing this method of fishing
is assigned to a number of the more enterprising captains of the mackerel schooners, and, in con-
sequence, it is difficult to say here who should receive the credit for the innovation. As is well
known to all who are familiar with the sea, the water, on dark nights, frequently exhibits a remark-
ably brilliant phosphorescent display. At such times objects moving in the sea can be distinctly
traced by the illumination which they leave behind, and schools of fish rising near the surface can
be readily seen. Indeed, on some occasions so remarkable is the phosphorescence thrown out from
a large school of fish that it frequently seems to light up the surrounding darkness. From this
reason, and the fact that the fishermen, by long experience aud close observation, can accurately

* The schooner Oliver Cromwell, while on a mackerel cruise recently, had a curious incident befall her. Her
seine being out, a school of mackerel suddenly turned, and, making fcr the seine, took it down. A vessel in the
neighborhood immediately answered a call for assistance, and swept her seine under that of the Oliver Cromwell.
Twenty-three hundred dollars' worth of mackerel were secured, the two vessels dividing the catch, the fish selling on
au average at nine cents each. The bunt of the seiue belonging to the Oliver Cromwell was badly rent by the sudden
rush, of the fish or more would have been secured. This is the second time the seine of the Oliver Cromwell has
experienced similar treatment, losing all the fish at the first on account of the seine giving way aud there being no
help near. (New Bedford Mercury, 1875 (?).)

Captain Merchant writes us that " in ' giving the seine away to another seiner,' we never expect to get any re-
turn of fish, as it is supposed the receivers will do the same by us as we have done by them whenever they may have
the chance. We are therefore satisfied if proper care is taken of the seine. We expect those vessels to return a part
of the mackerel who are hook and line fishing and have no seiue to catch them with."

t A much larger quantity could be taken care of were it not for the fact that mackerel, after being kept a certain
length of time, grow "soft," and rapidly become unfit for food. This change takes place much sooner when the weather
is warm than at other times. The fishermen, however, are generally able to tell pretty accurately how many fish can
!»• dressed and salted before they spoil. When good catches are made for several days in succession the fishermen get
110 sleep, being constantly employed night and day in taking and curing the fish. The above remarks apply more
particularly to the methods in use prior to the gcm-i-al adoption of the mackerel pocket. At present all mackerel
vessels are supplied with a "pocket," and siuce the fish can be kept alive in this for a considerable length of time, it
follows, of course, that a part of the catch is seldom given away.

260 111STOEY AND METHODS Otf TLIE IMSI1E1J1ES.

determine the kind of fish which he may see sporting at night, he is thus often enabled to learn
the whereabouts of certain species, such, for instance, as the mackerel and their abundance, even
when they do not come to the surface during the day. The mackerel is a remarkably capricious
fish, and perhaps for many days in succession its presence cannot be detected in its favorite haunts
while daylight lasts, and the fishermen therefore seeks for it in vain, but as soon as the sun sets
and darkness appears over the sea the schools rise to the surface and the fish continue to disport
themselves in this manner until near daylight, when they again sink out of sight.

For many years after the introduction of purse-seines it was considered impracticable by the
fishermen to catch mackerel in the night, but at last some of the more adventurous skippers, hav-
ing a favorable opportunity for night fishing, and deeming it possible to catch the mackerel, made
an attempt and met with even better success than they dared to anticipate. Thereafter they fol-
lowed up this method of fishing whenever a good chance occurred, but as it usually resulted greatly
to their personal success, as well as increased their reputation among their fellow fishermen, on
account of the additional amount of fish caught, they were by no meaus anxious to tell that part
of their catch was made in the night, since, if they did so, all the other mackerel fishermen would
at once come directly into competition with them. As a matter of course, however, the fact of
mackerel being seined at night could not long be kept a secret, and the result was that one after
another began to adopt this practice until in the fall of 1881 it reached its climax, nearly every
vessel in the fleet engaging to a greater or less extent in night fishing.*

Previous to this time the public at large were not, it seems, aware that such large quantities
of mackerel were taken in the night, though it was on record that night fishing had-beeu previously
attempted, and with good results.t

The method of seining mackerel in the night is as follows: The vessel being on the fishing-
ground, if the night is favorable, she is allowed to sail slowly ahead while a man goes aloft to the
foremast-head and keeps a lookout for the fish. If the signs are peculiarly favorable, perhaps two
or more men may be aloft for this purpose. These lookouts are the men who have the watch on
deck, and, not infrequently, the skipper may be one of them, his ambition to succeed often impell-
ing him to remain up during the entire night, constantly keeping on the alert for fish and watching
the movements of surrounding vessels. The remaiuder of the crew — those having a watch below —
are thoroughly prepared and dressed in their oil-clothes ready to jump into the seine-boat at a
moment's warning. If the fish are not seen in the first of the night, the men off duty lie down on
the cabin or forecastle floors or stretch themselves on the lockers, and endeavor in this way to get
what sleep they can, unless, indeed, they may be busy on deck iu caring for the fish taken the

* Mr. A. Howard Clark, writing under date of October 28, 1881, says : " During the past few weeks the mackerel
fleet have taken some good hauls during the night, as the fish have been difficult to catch by daylight but have rarely
failed to show themselves on dark nights. When the moon shines it is impossible to see them, but when the night is
dark or starlight they can be plainly seen from the mast-head, and sometimes from the vessel's deck. Heretofore,- in
night fishing, the methods have been the same as by day, but recently, owing to the difficulty of seeing the fish from
the deck or the boat the lookout at the foremast-head lias given directions to the men while setting the seine. In
this method the seine-boat is towed astern of the vessel, and when ready to ' give 'em twine ' the dory is allowed to
drift astern with one end of the seine while it is being thrown out from the seine-boat. When ready to go around the
school the order is given from the mast-head to ' go ahead ; ' the seine-boat is cast loose from the vessel and the seine
brought together in the usual manner. Still another improvement in the methods is likely soon to be adopted in this
night seining, and that is in the use of large lanterns to show their position to tho men while setting for them. The
schooner Northern Eagle tried this new method last Tuesday night aud found it to work splendidly. It was probably
the first attempt to use lanterns for such a purpose. Two schools of mackerel were secured, one at 10 o'clock and the
other at midnight, both together yielding 1GO barrels. The lantern was the ordinary large signal light used by fishing
vessels."

tW« hear of one vessel with a catch of 100 barrels in one week, and of several with catches ranging from 30 to
CO barrels. Another vessel made a good haul in a seine, one moonlight night recently, a new feature in this fishery.
(Cape Ann Advertiser, October 19, 1877.)

THE MACKEREL PURSE SEINE FISHERY. 261

night or clay previous. Win n a school of fish is seen by the lookout, he at once shouts "I see a
school!" If it is the skipper who first descries them, he gives directions to the man at the wheel
how to steer in order to approach them. If not, the man who first reports the school is asked in
which direction it bears from the vessel. lie also directs how the course shall be laid in order to
approach close to the body of fish. In the mean time the men below, having been hurriedly
awakened, rush on deck and quickly take their places in the seine-boat and dory which are towed
alongside or astern. If the mackerel "show up" well and can be plainly seen by the men in the
boat, the latter is cast off as soon as the vessel approaches close to the school, and the seine is set
and pursed up in the same manner as has before been Described; though it frequently happens
that, owing to the darkness of the night, it is quite difficult to bring the ends of the net together
\\ith such a degree of certainty and success as it is generally done in the day-time. Of late,
however, the custom of carrying a light in the dory has been adopted in order that the skipper,
who steers the boat, may determine the position of the end of the seine first put out and there-
fore be enabled to make a circle with a great deal more accuracy than he otherwise could. It
often happens that fish can only be seen by the man at the mast head, and in such cases the vessel
is usually hove to near the mackerel, and the lookout directs the men in the boat how to row in
order to surround the school. Another method, we are told, has been occasionally adopted when
the chance for its success is promising. If the wind is sufficiently moderate the lookout at the
foremast-head may direct the course of the vessel in such a manner that nearly a complete circle
may be made round the school of fish. In this case the seine boat remains fastened to the stern
and is towed along by the vessel while the men in her throw out the seine in obedience to the
order given by the man at the mast head. At the proper time she is cast off and proceeds to close
up the circle by bringing together the ends of the seine. The dory is cast off and allowed to
remain at the end of the seine as usual until the other end is brought around to her. An evolu-
tion of this kind, of course, requires the most skillful seamanship for its success, and also remarka-
ble qualities of adaptability in the vessel.

Night fishing, says Capt. Joseph Smith, can only be carried on in reasonably moderate weather.
The boat is usually towed alongside of the vessel, the painter being fastened to the outrigger. When
a school is seen, the men jump into the boat, each taking his station, and at the proper time the
boat is cast off and proceeds to set the seine if the fish "show up" in a promising manner. Some-
times, however, the school of mackerel may sink suddenly after the boat leaves the vessel's side,
and, in consequence, the fishermen are not able to set their seine. As a rule the man on the look-
out aloft reports the school of fish and indicates the direction in which it is and tells about how far
it is distant. After the boat leaves the vessel's side, however, the captain, or seine-master, who
steers, takes charge of her, and when the boat approaches near the fish, which may be seen by the
phosphorescence in the water, he gives the order to put out the seine as his judgment may direct.
On special occasions this method may be somewhat varied, but the usual practice of setting a seine
in the night is the one described above. Sometimes a portion of the net is set from the boat while
towing astern of the vessel ; or, again, even while the boat is towing alongside. In the latter case
the towing rope is fastened to the boat some distance aft from the stem, so that she will keep from
the schooner's side some 10 or 15 feet. The oarsmen have out their oars ready to pull whenever
the man aloft gives the order- for them to cast off. These methods of setting the seine, however,
are only adopted when the fish do not slioic plainly, so that they can be seen by the men on the
vessel's deck, or in the boat ; it therefore becomes necessary for the man on the masthead to give
the requisite orders for throwing out the seine as well as to direct the wheelsman how to steer the
vessel until the boat leaves the side.

262 niSTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

Captain Smith has never known a vessel to make a complete circle around a school of mack-
erel while towing the seine-boat from which the net was being thrown out, but thinks it probable
that it may have been done.

A lantern is carried both in the seine boat and dory, the one in the former always being kept
darkened or out of sight until the seine is set, since a light would so blind the men in the boat
that it would be difficult for them to perform successfully the work of setting the net.

When a school of mackerel has been taken in the seine and the net is pursed up, a signal is
made by the crew of the seine-boat, who have a lantern, so as to attract the attention of the men
on board of the vessel, who immediately bring the latter near the seine boat. The skipper and
three or four of the crew then go on board the vessel in the dory and bring the schooner along-
side the seine-boat, performing this evolution in the same manner as it is done in the day time.
The lantern, which is always carried in the seine-boat, enables the skipper to find her without any
trouble. Much vexatious delay and difficulty, however, sometimes occurs in consequence of the
light carried by the seine-boat's crew being extinguished. In such case it is not only hard, but
sometimes impossible for the men on the vessel to find the seine boat, since on a dark, windy night
she cannot be seen more than a few rods distant.

It is claimed that the practice of using a large lantern to attract the fish nearer to the surface
of the water than they usually come, so that they can be more plainly seen, has met with decided
success, and it is believed that there is reason for anticipating considerable improvements in this
respect hereafter. In alluding to this matter a writer in the Cape Ann Advertiser, November 4,
1881, says:

"It would not greatly surprise us if the mackerel fleet, next year, were supplied with powerful
calcium lights, to be carried at the masthead, and that the fishery will be extensively prosecuted in
the night-time. Surely the signs of progression are manifested in almost every branch of the fish-
eries, and brains are rapidly coming to the front and making themselves manifest. A year ago who
would have dreamed of catching mackerel in the night-time? Now it is fast becoming a reality."

As may be readily inferred, this practice of night fishing is one which calls for great endur-
ance and hardihood on the part of the fishermen who engage in it. It frequently happens, when
good catches are made for days and nights in succession, that the men get no rest whatever until
they are thoroughly worn out by their constant labors and vigils and are scarcely able to refrain
from falling asleep even when engaged at their work. Nor is the work on the fishing ground all
they have to do. When a fare is obtained, all sail is made upon the vessel and she is driven as
swiftly as possible for the home port, where the fish are landed, new supplies taken on board, and
again the men go to sea without, in the mean time, having an opportunity of visiting their homes
or of securing the rest they so much stand in need of. So sharp is the competition in this fishery,
and so eager are the fishermen to " make hay while the sun shines," that is, to improve every op-
portunity during the short season while the mackerel can be taken, that the only limit to their
labors is when nature is no longer able to sustain the extraordinary drafts that are made upon it.
The following notes written by Capt. S. J. Maitiu will serve to give an idea of the continued labor
and consequent fatigue which the fishermen endure:

"Our mackerel fishermen have 'drove business' this season. I know a number of cases where
vessels have arrived in the morning with 300 barrels of mackerel, have landed the fish and gone
out again the same night. The schooner Fleetwing caught 210 barrels of mackerel; came into
Gloucester with them all on deck; hired twenty men who had the fish all dressed and salted at
two o'clock the following morning. The vessel's crew went horn&to sleep; went out again the same
morning at eight o'clock.

THE MACKEHEL PURSE-SEISE FISHERY. 263

"Schooner William M. Gaffney came in here with 450 barn-Is of mackerel, of which 150 barrels
were fresh on deck. The men had not been to sleep for two days and nights, and were nodding
while putting the mackerel in the barrels. They got the mackerel all salted at four o'clock in the
afternoon. Captain Smith then told the men to go home and rest till morning, but to be down the
first thing after breakfast, as he wanted to get the mackerel out and go to sea in the evening.
This they did."

The success of the night fishing was quite marked in the fall of 1881, as has been indicated
above, and as the following newspaper paragraphs will show :

"Several of the mackerel fleet have made night hauls recently, some of them securing as
high as 2CO to 300 barrels at one setting of the seine. The operations are conducted by a lookout
stationed at the foremast-head of the vessel, who gives the orders to the boat's crew in charge of
the seine, as in the night-time the motions of a school of mackerel cannot be seen from the boat in
pursuit of the fish, nor from the deck of the schooner."

''Schooner Henry Friend took 140 wash-barrels of mackerel at one haul Sunday night Octo-
ber 1C."

"Schooner Phantom went out Sunday morning, and about 11 o'clock p. m. discovered a school
of mackerel on Middle Bank, and getting her seine out secured ninety wash-barrels. The night was
very dark, and lanterns were found necessary to conduct the seining operations and find the way
back to the vessel."

In regard to the night fishing for mackerel in the fall of 1881, Captain Martin writes as follows:

" Seven eighths of the mackerel taken since the 10th of September have been caught in the night.
Catching mackerel in the night is done with great difficulty. Sometimes the vessel goes away from
the boat. There were two such cases this fall. Schooner Everett Pierce's boat went out and set
around a school of mackerel, and the seine was full of fish. At this time a squall of wind came and
blew the lantern out, and the two men on board of the vessel lost sight of the boat. The men were
in the boat from 11 o'clock at night until 5 o'clock the next morning. They were obliged to cut
holes in the seine in order to let the mackerel go out so as to save the net, for if the mackerel died
the seine would have been lost. The crew of the Minnehaha, of Swampscott, had a similiar expe-
rience the same night. The darker the night the better it is for seining, since the water will 'fire'
more. When watching for mackerel one man is on the mast-head. He caii see a school from the
mast-head when he could not see it from the deck of the vessel. Sometimes the fish may be seen
from the deck, but when the men get in the seine-boat they are not able to see them. A man on
the mast-head can see them all the time. He gives orders to the men in the boat which way it is
best for them to go. Captain Martin, of the schooner Northern Eagle, saw a school of mackerel
one night. They could not see them plainly, so the lantern was held up, when the mackerel could
be seen from the boat. They then set th eir seine and got 150 barrels of mackerel. When the fish
saw the light they came nearer the surface. Sometimes when the mackerel are close to the surface
it is not necessary to have a man on the mast-head since they may be seen from the deck and seine-
boat. It is not very often that the mackerel come to the surface during the fall of the year. Some-
times on a calm night in summer you can hear them rushing, but not often. Catching mackerel in
the night is hard work. Say, for instance, you get 200 barrels a night, and perhaps it is the latter
part of the night, it will take all day to dress and salt them, head them up, and get them below.
Thus if another dark night follows, all of the men are on the lookout for another school. After
looking for, perhaps, two hours, some one (most likely the man on the mast-head) gives the alarm,
telling those on deck where the fish are. The vessel is then kept in the direction of the school, and
as soon as they can be seen from the deck the men jump into the boat, shoving off from the vessel,

264 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE KLSUEIUES,

while the captain stands up with the steering oar in his hand, looking for the school. Soon ho
espies the fish, or the man on the mast-head sees them, and tells the men in the boat which way
to go. When the captain sees them he sings out: 'I see them, boys! Pull away! Pull hard, the
mackerel are going fast.' When the boat is in the right position the captain shouts, 'Give 'em
twine,' and away goes the seine, three men heaving it out as fast as they can. When they are
nearly around the school they sing out: ' Give them twine.' Sometimes they make a good circle so
that the seine-boat and dory will meet, but it is difficult to do this in the night. When the seine
comes together they haul in on the purse-line, and when the net is pursed up and they see the
mackerel, signs are made for the vessel, which comes alongside. The lines are hove from the boat
and the mackerel are 'bailed in' on deck and dressed."

SETTING A SEINE AROUND A VESSEL. — The following description of the manner of setting the
seine round the vessel is quoted from the Cape A nn Bulletin :

"It is a well known fact that at times, for days and sometimes weeks, no mackerel are to be
seen 'schooling' at the surface of the water, although that they are present on the fishing ground
can be easily proven by heaving a vessel to and 'throwing bait' for a short time, when the fish
will rise from the depths and remain alongside of the vessel as long as the operation of feeding is
continued. Again, when making their passage, in coming North or in returning to their winter
haunts, the fish are sometimes very difficult to catch, even though swimming near the surface of
the sea, for the reason that they generally travel at a rapid rate; but by scattering bait across
their line of travel and heaving the vessel to they can be stopped, though sometimes but for a few
moments. At such times seiners take care to keep the seine-boat in readiness on the port side of
the vessel (the leeward side when hove to), hauled up snug to the vessel, that no delay may be
had if mackerel rise in sufficient quantities to warrant the setting of the seine. It requires but a
word from the master, if they do rise, when away go the men into the boat, followed by the skipper
a spare hand or the cook taking the place at the bait-box, and continuing to throw the 'food for
the fishes.' The boat is in the meanwhile dropped around on the starboard quarter, and when
about 20 fathoms off overboard goes the end of the seine, with buoy attached, which is picked up
and held by two men in the seine-dory, and the boat is pulled to leeward, at right angles with the
vessel, as fast as the seine can be got out, as much depends on getting to leeward as far as possible,
as the vessel is constantly changing her position, driven by wind and wave. When the middle of
the seine is reached (usually marked by a double canvas covered cork), the boat is turned short
around and all possible speed made up to and across the vessel's bow, and, with another sharp
turn, straight to the dory. As soon as the operation of 'pursing,' or drawing the bottom of the
seine together, is commenced, the man in charge of the vessel quickly scatters several buckets of
bait into the water, in order to keep the unsuspecting victims of man's wants busy; then springs
to the fore sheet and hauls it in; up goes the jib; the wheel, which has been hard down, is righted;
the vessel pays off, and, gathering headway, is soon speeding over the cork-ropes out of the center
of the seine, the ropes and seine sinking and going beneath the vessel at right angles to the keel,
leaving the mackerel behind. If the operation of getting headway on the vessel is not skillfully
done, and she be allowed to drift broadside to the ropes, there is danger of catching the seine, and
then good by to the fish, for that time at least, with a prospect of mending to be done to repair
damages. When once outside of the seine the man in charge of the vessel has only to keep clear
of the boat and sail at his own sweet will and pleasure until the fish are 'dried up' (all the slack
twine being in the boat and the fish in close quarters in the bunt), which fact is learned by observ-
ing an oar upheld by some one on board of the boat. Perhaps at the last moment, before the com-
plete closing of the seine, the fish have escaped; with sore hands and tired body, we, remembering

TI1E MACKEREL PURSE SEINE FISHERY. 265

the old adage, prepare to 'try, try, again,' or mayhaps, as I have seen the case, from one barrel to
over two hundred of the shining beauties are secured, and are soon tumbling over the rail from
the big dip net, and the hearts of the fisher lads are made glad, even though the prospect of an
all night and day job at dressing and salting be in prospect."

THE MACKEREL POCKET OR SPiLLEE. — In 1877 the schooner Alice, of Swan's Island, had a
bag net made of haddock ganging-line, into which the fish were transferred when there were too
many to be cared for at once. This vessel began the season in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but
caught only 200 barrels of mackerel there, and later fished on the coast of Maine, where, up to
October, she had caught 1,400 barrels.

A development of this idea is the mackerel pocket or spiller, patented in April, 1880, by H. E.
Willard, of Portland, Me., an article long needed in the mackerel seine fishery, and which has
received from the fisheruien the name of " mackerel pocket" or " spiller." It was first used by the
patentee in 1878; and Capt. George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, Mass., invented and put into
practical operation an improved spiller in 1880, though it was not until the succeeding summer
that the advantages of its use was known to the majority of the mackerel fishermen, who have
hastened to adopt it, and now all of the mackerel vessels sailing from this port are provided with
one of the pockets.

The apparatus is a large net-bag, 36 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. It is made of
stout, coarse twine, and is attached to the side of the vessel, where it is kept in position, when in
use, by wooden poles or "outriggers," which extend out a distance of 15 feet from the schooner's
rail.

When distended in this manner, a spiller will hold over 200 barrels of mackerel, which can
thus be kept alive, as in the well of a smack, until the crew, who have captured them in the great
purse-seines, have time to cure their catch. As is well known, it frequently happens that several
hundred barrels of mackerel are taken at a single haul. Heretofore, when such a large quantity
of fish were caught, but a comparatively small portion of them could be cured by the crew of the
vessel to which the seine belonged. The result was, that when a large catch was made a consid-
erable percentage of the fish were generally " given away " to some other vessel, since if only a
part of them were removed from the seine to the vessel's deck, the remainder being left in the net
until the first lot were cured, the chances were nine to one that the fine twine of which the purse-
seines are made would be bitten in many places by the swarming dogfish (Squalus americanus),
that bete noir of the mackerel fisher. In addition to the injury to the net, the inclosed body of
fish were thus allowed to escape, and went streaming out through the numerous holes made by the
keen teeth of these voracious bloodhounds of the sea, which, in their fierce and ravenous pursuit
of the imprisoned mackerel, usually succeeded in robbing the fisherman of a large portion of the
fruits of his labors.*

The "spiller" is made only of coarse twine, and though not entirely exempt from the ravages
of the dog£sh and sharks, is rarely injured by them; and now when a large school of mackerel are
caught in a seine the fish are turned into the bag, from which they are "bailed out" on to the
schooner's deck only as fast as they can be dressed, and in this way it frequently happens that a
full fare may be secured in a single set of the net.

*Capt. S. J. Martin writes, that in the summer of 1881 the crew of one of the mackerel schooners endeavored
to save their seine from the depredations of the dog6sh by hauling the staysail underneath it, thinking that if they
could thus prevent the dogfish from seeing the mackerel inclosed in the net the latter would not be harmed. But
this did not succeed fully, since the sail was badly bitten and much injured by the dogfish, making this experiment
a rather costly one.

2G6 HISTOEY AND METIIODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The introduction of this simple net-bag undoubtedly saves to our fishing fleet many thou-
sands of barrels of mackerel each season.

The " spiller " invented by Mr. Willard is simply a sheet of netting 540 meshes square, bound
around with rope; it is made of five sheets of twine, each 108 meshes deep and 510 meshes
long. These sheets are laced together. This net, when in use, is suspended from its four corners
to the side of the vessel and the outriggers, mentioned above, and hangs something like a hammock.
From its shallowness, however, it was not so well adapted to the purpose for which it was designed
as was the deeper bag-shaped net subsequently devised by Captain Merchant, and which has been
described above.*

The mackerel pocket is hung to 1^-inch rope, and on the portion of this which comes next to
the vessel are strung egg-shaped wooden floats. These are only for the purpose of securing the
edge of the net-bag firmly to the rail of the vessel. The border of the pocket being drawn over
the rail, a board is laid on top of it and held in position by wooden pins passing through both
board and rail, the net being thus fastened between the two.

To the outer edge of the mackerel pocket, either Williard's or Merchant's, is attached a rope
bridle, the ends of which are fastened at a distance of about 9 feet from each outrigger; a thimble
is seized into the upper part of this bridle, and when the mackerel have been turned into the
pocket the fore and after staysail halyards are bent into this thimble, and the outer edge of the
pocket is supported thereby so as to take as much strain as possible oif the outriggers, which are
only 4 inches in diameter. The outer and upper corners of the " spiller" are supported by ropes
which run through single blocks attached to the farther ends of the outriggers. By means of
these ropes the outside edge of the pocket may be raised or lowered. When a school of mackerel
has been caught in the seine the pocket is slacked down to the surface of the water, and its outer
edge having been fastened to the cork rope of the seine, the fishermen gather in on the twine of
the latter, and, by dextrous management, turn the whole body of fish into the bag provided for
their reception, and where they can be kept alive, as previously mentioned, until such time as they
can be properly cared for. The mackerel having been transferred to the pocket, its outer edge is
usually raised slightly above the water. When the vessel is rolling and there are many fish in the
pocket there is often considerable strain brought to bear on the outriggers, which, however, being
supported by guys or tackles to the standing rigging, rarely break. It may be assumed, perhaps,
that the enormous catches of some of the mackerel schooners in the summer of 1881 and succeeding
years are due very largely to the use of this implement. Never within the previous history of the
fishing business of New England have so many fish been caught or so much money made by a
single vessel in the mackerel season as was the case in the season of 1SS1. The schooner Alice, of
Swan's Island, Maine, is reported by the secretary of the Boston Fish Bureau to have taken 4,900
barrels of mackerel, the value of which exceeded $28,000. The schooner Edward E. Webster, of
Gloucester, caught 4,500 barrels of mackerel, stocking more than $26,000. A long list of other
large catches might be added in proof of the efficacy of the mackerel pocket, but for obvious rea-
sons they rre omitted here.

5. THE CARE OF THE FISH.

The manner of c.\ring for the fish is very similar to that upon the mackerel schooners fishing
in the old way with jigs (described below), excepting that a larger quantity is likely to be taken at
once, necessitating much more haste in salting or dressing them. When haste is necessary, the
process of "plowing" is usually deferred until after the fish have been salted.

• The "mackerel pockets" constructed by Capt. George Merchant are 36 feet long, 30 feet deep, from 15 to 18 feet
wide across the mouth; 2-inch mesh, and knit of 12-21 half-patent twine.

THE MACKEREL PD USE-SEINE FISHERY. 267

The common method of dressing on a seiuiug schooner is as follows: The men engaged in
dressing are divided into gangs generally of three men each. Each gang has two wooden trays
about 3 feet square and 6 or 8 inches deep; these are placed on the tops of barrels ; one is called
a 'gib-tub,' the other a 'splitting-tub.'*

Except on the seiners, the mackerel, when caught, are put into the barrels, and the splitting
is done upon a board laid across the top of the barrel, rather than in a splitting-tub. One man of
each gang splits, the other two gib, or eviscerate, the fish. The tub of the man who splits, of
course, contains the fish to be split. With a scoop-net the splitter, or one of the "gibbers," from
time to time, nils the splitting-tub from the pile of. mackerel lying upon the deck. On the side of
the splitting-tray next to the "gibbers" is a board about 6 to 10 inches wide, called a "splitting-
board," on which the splitter places the fish as he cuts them open. He takes them in his left hand
(on which he has a mitten) round the center of the body, head from him, and with the splitting-
knife splits them down the center of the back. As fast as he splits the fish he tosses them into
the tray of the "gibbers." The "gibbers" protect their hands with gloves or mittens. As fast as
the "gibbers" remove the viscera, with a peculiar double motion of the thumb and fingers of the
right hand, they throw the fish into barrels, which are partially filled with water; these are called
"wash-barrels." If the men have time they "plow" the fish before salting them, making a gash
in the sides of the fish nearly to the skin with the peculiar knife, "the plow," provided for the
purpose.

Before the fish are salted the dirty water is poured out and clean water is added. About one
barrel of salt is used for every four barrels of mackerel. This is the first salting. When the fish
have been salted they are placed in uuheaded barrels until the weather is unfit for fishing, or the
deck is filled with them, when they are carefully headed up and stowed away below.

The speed with which a large deck-load of mackerel can be disposed of by the crew is some-
thing marvelous. A good splitter will handle from forty-five to sixty mackerel a minute. In one
well-authenticated case a man split sixty-seven mackerel a minute for three consecutive minutes, t
A good "gibber" can handle a barrel of large mackerel in from five to seven minutes. A smart
crew of fourteen men can dispose of a deck-load of large mackerel in from fifteen to eighteen
hours, salting them away properly in the barrels. The smaller the mackerel the longer it takes to
dress a barrel of them, the time required to handle a small or a large mackerel being precisely
the same.

When the fish are to be iced and carried fresh to market they can be disposed of much more
rapidly, it being simply necessary to stow them away in the hold without splitting. They are
usually washed before being placed in ice, and occasionally gibbed without splitting, the viscera
being drawn through the gill opeuings.f The most rapid way of caring for the fish is to place
them in barrels of ice-water. This is done for the most part in the spring or fall.

*Also called, especially in Gloucester, "gib-keclers" and " splitting-keelers."

t An expert can split mackerel nearly as fast in the darkest night as at any other time. The souse of touch
becomes so acute from long practice that the fisherman can tell (without seeing it) when he grasps a mackerel
whether its head is in the right direction or not, and also which side should be laid to the board in order to bring the
fish's back in proper position for the knife. The splitter holds the knife with his fingers, letting the thumb slide down
along the upper side of the fish, thus guiding unerringly the keen and swiftly moving blade. Whether the fish be
large or small it is almost invariably split with the utmost precision, the edge of the knife glancing along on the left
side of the vertebra, and scarcely a hair's breadth from it, while the point goes just deep enough and no farther.
But one must witness the operation of splitting mackerel in order to fully appreciate the skillfulness of the per-
formance.

f Fresh mackerel are never gibbed for the New York market in spring, but a law of Massachusetts compels the
fishermen to eviscerate all mackerel taken to Boston. In the first named port the cargoes of fresh fish are sold by
commission merchants, while in Boston the captain sells directly to the dealers.

268

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

6. RUNNING FOR THE MARKET.

Those mackerel schooners engaged in market fishing find it desirable to make their passages
with the utmost speed, but rapid passages in summer are, of course, much less dangerous than
those made in winter by the haddock and halibut vessels. Great expedition is used by all mackerel
vessels, since the season is short, and they feel obliged to take advantage of every opportunity.
In the case of salted fish, however, there is no such anxiety to sell, and the chief desire of the
skipper is to land his fish and to retm > to the fishing ground with no unnecessary loss of time.

It often happens that mackerel catchers who are not engaged in the fresh fish trade take a big
haul, 200 barrels or so, when they have but few barrels to put them in and scarcely any salt. In
such cases it is of the highest importance to reach home if possible, or at least some large fishing
port where barrels and salt can be obtained, and all the sail that can be spread or that the vessel
will carry is set.

7. LANDING THE CARGOES.

The mackerel are hoisted out on the wharf by a horse, the duty of the crew being to hook on
the barrels and to roll them to the proper places on the wharf, after they are landed, where the
barrels are generally stowed on their heads, ready to be opened. In seasons of abundance, and
when the men have become exceedingly fatigued from their labors in catching and dressing a fare
of mackerel, it is often the case that the skipper will hire a number of longshoremen to take the
fish out of the vessel. At such times, too, the shoresmen are employed to plow the fish, and also to
assist in packing them, since the fishermen find it more profitable to hire men to do this than to
remain ashore and do it themselves. For in the mean time they may be fortunate enough to catch
a fare of two or three hundred barrels of mackerel.

In the days of hook-and-line fishing, the landing and packing of mackerel was carried on much
more leisurely than at present. At first it was customary for the men composing a crew to hoist
the mackerel out on the wharf by tackles; but within the last fifteen or twenty years it has
been found more profitable to employ a horse for this purpose, since the work of discharging can
be carried on much more rapidly than before and with less tax upon the strength of the men. The
several processes of unheadiug the barrels, culling, weighing, and packing the mackerel are fully
described in another chapter, and need not be repeated here.

8. FINANCIAL PROFITS OF SEINING.

The following tables, copied from the annual reports of the Boston Fish Bureau, show the large
catches and "stocks" by the mackerel fleet in New England waters for the seasons of 1880 and 1881:

Vessels.

Barrels
cured.

Amount of
stock.

1880.

3,700

$19, 548 75

Schooner Edward E. Webster, Capt. S.Jacobs, Gloucester, Mass

3,969

19, 465 00
13 432 00

2,709

12,492 00

2,036

11,600 00

1,700

11,035 00

2,500

11, 000 00

Schooner Addie F. Cole

1,900

10, 500 00

1,875

10, 250 00

Schooner Cora Smith ..

2,150

10, 000 00

Schooner M. 0. Curtis ,

2,000

10, 000 00

Schooner Mary Snow

1,352

9,281 00

Schooner F. F. Xickerson

2,350
1 632

9, 730 00
9, 213 00

1 527

9,087 00

THE MACKEREL PURSE-SEINE FISHERY.

269

Financial profits of seining — Continued.

Vessels.

Bnrrela

cured.

Amount of
stuck.

1881.

4, 905*

$28, 055 23

4 500t

26 570 00

3 27G

15 500 00

2 GOO

15 000 00

3 005

14 138 00

2 280

13 €74 00

2 580

12 419 18

2 450

12 000 00

3 000

12 000 00

3 0^8

11 557 46

* 3,663 barrels pickled and 1,240 barrels fresh.
1 1,600 barrels pickled and 2,900 barrels fresh.
; The Heirick did not sail until July 22.

When it is taken into consideration that these vessels are employed in fishing barely eight
months at the longest, and some of them only four to six months, it will be seen that the business
is an exceedingly profitable one for many of the fleet, while the greater portion make fair returns.*

9. HISTORY OF THE USE OF PURSE-SEINES.

The earliest record of the use of the purse seine is the following, obtained from Capt. E. T.
Deblois, of Portsmouth, R. I. :

" The first purse-seine that was made, so far as I know, was made by John Tallman the first,
and Jonathan Brownell and Christopher Barker, in the year 1826. It was 284 meshes deep and 65
fathoms long. The purse-weight was a 56-pound weight, and the blocks were the common single
blocks, and they had to reeve the end of the purse-line through tl.e blocks before they put the
purse- weight overboard. The first time the seine was set there were fourteen men to help; they
set around what they called a 500-barrel school of meuhaden, and while they were pursing, the fish
rushed against the twine so hard that they twisted and snarled the net around the purse-line and
weight to that extent that the men could not gather the seine up or get her into the boat again as
they were, and after they had worked six hours, and quarreled over the matter, they decided to
tow or warp the seine ashore at high water, and when the tide left the seine they would be able to
unsnarl it, which they did the next day. It was a number of days before they could muster courage
to set her again, and when they did they set around a small school with better success."

There is a general impression among the fishermen of Northern New England that the purse-
seine was a development of the " spring-seine," elsewhere referred to, but this would seem to be a
mistake, since the spring-seine, which really appears to have been nothing but a large sheet-net

"Among the "fishing items" in the Cape Ann Advertiser of October 21, 1881, we find the following mention of
catches of mackerel made by some of the seiners, which may serve to show the energy and activity with which this
fishery is prosecuted: "Schooner Moro Castle sailed from this port on Thursday morning of last week, and returned
in the evening of the same day with 140 wash-barrels of handsome mackerel. Schooner Dreaduaught sailed from Port-
land after mackerel the other night, was gone twenty-one hours, and returned with 205 barrels. Schooner David A. Osier
sailed from Hull Friday evening, and was at this port next morning with 105 was-h-barrels of mackerel. Schooner
Wildfire, Captain McLain, has lauded and sold $3,200 worth of mackerel in the past foi (night, and has enough fish on
board to add another $1,000 to her stock. Schooner Fleetwing took 210 barrels sea-packed mackerel at one haul of the
seine off Plymouth on Saturday. Schooner Wm. M. Gaffuey took 140 wash-barrels at one haul Sunday, and schooner
Henry Friend 140 wash-barrels at one haul Sunday night. Schooner Madawaska Maid left Gloucester Sunday, turning
Eastern Point at 11 o'clock a. m., and arrived at Boston at 5 o'clock Monday morning, with 225 barrels sea-packed
mackerel. In five weeks the Madawaska Maid has landed 1,000 barrels of mackerel. The schooner Wm. M. Gaffney
landed 900 barrels of mackerel in twenty-one days."

270 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

with special appliances adapting it for use on board of a vessel, was not used in New England until
1853 or 1851. There is also another tradition to the effect that the purse-seine was invented about
the year 1837 by a native of Maine who had for some years been employed as a hand on a Glou-
cester schooner, and who conceived the idea of capturing mackerel in large numbers, aud invented
a seine substantially like the one now in use, which, finding the Gloucester fishermen unwilling to
enter into experiments, he carried to Ehode Island, where it was used in the vicinity of Seaconnct
for seining menhaden. This would appear to be a conglomeration of errors, partly imaginary,
partly based upon the circumstances already narrated by Captain Deblois.

Reference has already been made to the claim that the purse seine was invented in Rhode
Island as early as 1814. Another early allusion to this new instrument of capture is given in the
following paragraph, quoted from the Gloucester Telegraph of Wednesday, July 21, 1839:

"New Fishing Taclde. — We noticed, a week or two since, the fact that Capt. Isaiah Baker, of
Harwich, had recently commenced fishing with a seine of entirely new construction and with
remarkable success. It was stated in the Yarmouth Register that he had cleared about $3,000 in
one week by taking shad. A correspondent wiites us from West Harwich that the fortunate
captain still continues to make equally ' glorious hauls.' He is now in Provincetown with his seine
catching mackerel, and recently took 60 barrels at one ' shoot.' This new mode of fishing bids fair
to create an entire revolution in the mackerel and shad fisheries. Our correspondent says that the
Vineyard Sound will soon become a great fishing ground. It is well known that all the shad,
bass, mackerel, &c., which are found in Block Island Channel early in the spring pass through the
sound, and it is now ascertained that with proper seines they may be caught in great abundance.
With a purse-seine, when mackerel are schooling or shoaling, the fishermen may run around them
aud inclose 100 barrels. They will not bite at bobs, as in years past, but Cape Cod ingenuity has
devised something to outgeneral them."

The purse-seine was undoubtedly a development and extension of the idea of the drag seine
supplemented by that of the gill-net used at sea in sweeping around schools of fish.

The first seine used north of Cape Cod was that carried by Capt. Nathaniel Adams, of Glouces-
ter, in the schooner Splendid, in the year 1850. Capt. Nathaniel Watson, of the Raphael, began
using one the same year. According to Mr. Luther Maddox, the earliest experiments were at
Chelsea Beach. It is claimed by some that Gorham Babson, of Gloucester, had one in use as early
as 1847.

The early seines were about 200 yards in length, 22 fathoms in depth, and of 2J-inch mesh, the
bunts being about 250 meshes square. The twine was much heavier than that used in the present
seine; the whole net weighed COO or 700 pounds. The seine in its present form did not come into
general use until about 1860.

The rapidity with which this expensive form of apparatus Las come to be generally employed
in our fisheries seems almost marvelous. At the present time the total number of these nets used
in the mackerel fishery is not far from four hundred, valued at $160,000; in the menhaden fishery,
three hundred and sixty-six, valued at $138,400, The total value of the purse-seines with the
value added of the seine-boats, which really are parts of the same apparatus, cannot be less than
$440,000.

Capt. W. H. Oakes states that in early days a certain kind of net was used in catching men-
haden which reached to the bottom in shallow water and which was pursed by means of ropes.
Capt. George Blatehft rd used to go for menhaden in an old pinkoy, and used one of these nets.

Captain Oakes is of the opinion that Capt. William Ratcliff, of Rocky Neck, Gloucester, was
the first man who caught mackerel in deep water off-shore. He used some kind of a purse-seine,

THE MACKEEEL PUESE-SEINE FISHERY. 271

arid with it in two hauls caught about 90 barrels of mackerel off Monhegan in 90 fathoms of water.
Capt. George Merchant, jr., of Gloucester, writes as follows regarding the early attempts to seine
mackerel in deep water. He says: "Previous to 1862 the only mackerel caught in deep water in
seines were taken with the schools of pogies. From one to ten or twelve hundred in number were
often caught in this way, tbe seiners supposing that their being with the pogies prevented them
from trying to escape, since pogies seldom leave the seine after it is around them; but we never
set the seine for mackerel when in deeper water than 10 fathoms, our seines not being deeper
than that at that time. One day in July, 1802, 1 lay at anchor near Boone Island, it being calm at
the time. While lying there a school of mackerel came^up and began to play around at the surface
not far from us. Knowing that the water was 25 fathoms deep where the fish were, I did not go
after them right away, but after they had been schooling some time I concluded to go out and look
at them. I found the water to be as I had expected — 25 fathoms deep. I thought, however, that I
would try just to see what would come of it, although the men said it would be no use, as the
fish would soon disappear; but we threw out our seine and went around them with as little noise
as possible, and commenced to purse up, the men saying that the mackerel would soon go; but
they did not go, but continued to school in the seine until the latter was pursed up and the rings
on the boat. Then we thought we had done something never before heard of. We took 50 barrels
of large mackerel that time.

"After securing the fish I weighed anchor and ran to Richmond's Island. When I arrived
there I found fifteen fishing vessels at anchor. I told the skippers and crews that I had taken 50
barrels of mackerel in deep water, but they would not believe it, saying that if I had it would
never be done again. But it set them to thiukiug, and they soon found that mackerel could
be caught in deep water. The fleet of seiners began to increase from that time, and has kept
growing until the present, when it amounts to about two hundred sail.* I date the catching of
mackerel in deep water from the time and occurrence I have mentioned above. I was in one of
the first seven vessels that sailed on seining voyages from Gloucester, Capt. Samuel Blatchford
and Capt. Nathaniel Watson being the two first to try the business, and they both gave up seining,
as it did not pay them."

Wellfleet, Mass., had fifty-two mackerel seiners in 1877. Seines were first carried by the Well-
fleet vessels about 1857, but their use was soon abandoned. In 18G3 to 1865 the Mary B. Dyer had
a seine, and since that time more o: less seines have le?n in use. In 1873 all tli ves _'ls went into
this business.

The first purse-seine brought into Central Maine, writes Mr. Earll, was bought by Mr. Amherst
Spoflbrd and taken to Damariscove in 1859, and used with rather indifferent success until 1861; it
was 130 fathoms long and 12 fathoms deep; the parties kept it on the island and took it out iii
small boats whenever fish were seen schooling in the vicinity. It seems that Mr. Spofford did not
thoroughly understand setting it and caught but few fish.

In 1861 he sold it to Messrs. William Gray and Miles Pierce, and it was taken to Cape Kewagcn,
where it was successfully used by carrying it out in a small boat and landing the fish on a dressing
stage on shore in the same way. The next year it was put aboard a small schooner, the Leon, and
the fish landed as before in small boats to be dressed, the vessel being only large enough to carry
the seine.

In 1863 the seine was put aboard the schooner Dawning Day, 73 tons (old measurement), and
the fish were dressed aboard. This was really the commencement of deep-water seining in this
section, and the vessel did so well as to induce others to go into the business the following year.

* Sailing from Gloucester.

272 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The schooner Niagara was the first to provide herself with a seine in 18G4, and another was
bought and owned by two small vessels, the Wild Rose and the Neptune, one carrying the seiue
and the other salt and barrels for curing the fish. This plan did not work well and was soon
abandoned. The schooner Niagara did well from the start, and has always been high line of the
seiners for this region.

Georgetown sent one seiner, the Coquimbo, in 1865, and a little later the schooner Sunbeam,
Captain McMann, but they met with poor success, and no seiners have been sent since from that
port.

Westport has made two attempts at introducing seining, the first in 1872, by schooner Jennie
Armstrong, Capt. B. F. Jewett, and the second a three-masted schooner of 350 tons, the George W.
Jewett, Capt. A. M. Jewett, carrying two seines and crews, in 1875. Both vessels did very poorlj
and gave up the business after the first season.

10. THE ATTEMPTED USE OF THE PURSE SEINE IN NORWEGIAN WATERS.

In 1878 a Gloucester vessel essayed fishing for mackerel with a purse-seine on the coast of
Norway. In April the schooner Notice, Capt. Knud Markuson, departed on this mission, taking
a crew of twelve men and the most approved seining apparatus. It was remarked by a writer in
the Deutsche Fischerei Zeitung of July:

" The mackerel fishermen, who have till now been in the habit of plying their trade in open
but suitable boats, are, however, greatly agitated at the present moment in consequence of the
arrival at Risor, some three weeks ago, of an American fishing smack, direct from Gloucester, in
North America, understood to be followed by a whole fishing fleet from New England, to take part
in the mackerel fishery outside the Norwegian fishing territorium. As all these American smacks
are reported as provided with bag or purse nets, by means of which they are enabled to catch more
fish upon one single haul than ten Norwegian boats during a whole day, it is obvious that the
Norwegian fishermen will have to discard their old mode of fishing, and to have recourse to the
American fishing method, if they do not want to lose all the advantages enjoyed till now. The
mackerel fishery has always been of great importance to Norway, some 7,000,000 of these fish
being on the average caught annually, of which number about 70,000 centners, at a value of from
600,000 to 700,000 crowns, are exported. The Government is well aware of the danger threatening
the public weal, and has consequently taken every possible measure in order to prevent such
disastrous results as the loss by the Norwegian fishermen of the mackerel fishery. A most accu-
rate description of the nets used by the Americans has been printed, and, with a great number ot
nets of this kind, made to order by the net manufactory at Bergen, distributed among the fishing
population. Models of the different sorts of the fast-sailing American boats have also been obtained
through the Norwegian consul at Gloucester, Mass., direct from the manufacturers of such boats.
The well-known industry and activity of the Norwegian fishermen, combined with the efforts of the
Government, will, no doubt, enable them not oirly successfully to hold but to improve their owu
prospects as regards the mackerel fishery by the timely adoption of the American methods and
arrangements of fishing."*

The venture was, however, not a successful one. On his return home Captain Markuson
stated that he had been unable to use the seine advantageously, owing to the fact that the mack-
erel did not in those waters school together in large bodies, as they do along the New England
shores.

* Cape Ann Advertiser, August 9, 1878.

THE SPUING SOUTHEEN MACKEREL FISHEKY. 273

2.— THE SEEING SOUTHERN MACKEREL FISHERY.

The spring mackerel fishery is in reality a branch, of the mackerel-seine fishery, and the
methods employed in it are identical with those described in the previous section of this chapter.
In this place it is necessary only to add a history of this fishery, a description of the grounds
frequented by the southern fleet, and a few statistical notes.

1. FISHING GEOUNDS.

The fishing grounds frequented by the southern mackerel fleet lie between Cape Hatteras and
the South Shoals of Nantucket. The fishing season is in the months of April and May. The first
vessels go south about the middle of March or soon after; but until 1878 no mackerel were ever
taken before the 1st of April.*

2. EAELY CATCHES OP MACKEEEL, 1878 TO 1881.
The earliest results of the southern fishery in the years 1878 to 1881 were as follows:

FIRST CATCHES IN 1878.

March 30. — Schooner Lilian, of Noank, Coun., Captain Latham, off Chincoteague.

April 16. — Schooner Sarah M. Jacobs, of Gloucester, Capt. Solomon Jacobs, caught her first mackerel in latitude
36° 10' N., longitude 74° 45' W.

April 18. — Schooner Alice, of Swan's Island, Me., Capt. Hanson B. Joyce, master, caught her first mackerel 25
miles southeast from Cape May.

April 25. — Schooner John Sorues, of Swan's Island, Me., Capt. J. S. Staples, master, caught her first mackerel 50
miles southeast from Cape May,

FIRST CATCHES IN 1879.

April 12. — Schooner Sarah M. Jacobs, of Gloucester, caught first mackerel in latitude 36° 35' N., longitude 74°
50' W.

April 13. — Schooner Augusta E. Herrick, of Swan's Island, Me., Capt. William Herrick, caught first mackerel
(130 barrels) in latitude 37° 37' N., longitude 74° 23' W.

April 13. — A few fish taken by schooner S. G. Wonson, of Gloucester, 75 miles south-southeast from Cape
Henlopeu.

April 14. — Schooner Charles Haskell, of Gloucester, caught first mackerel in latitude 38° 08' N., longitude 73°
57' W.

April 19. — Schooner Alice, of Swan's Island, Me., caught first mackerel (140 barrels) in latitude 37° 50' N., longi-
tude 74° 03' W.

FIRST CATCHES IN 1880.

April 1.— Schooner Edward E. Webster, of Gloucester, Capt. Solomon Jacobs, caught the first mackerel of the
season in latitude 35° 30' N., longitude 74° 15' W.

FIRST CATCHES IN 1881.

March 20. — Schooner Edward E. Webster, of Gloucester, caught the first fish of the season, and the earliest on
record, in latitude 37° 10' N., longitude 74° 05' W. A second trip was caught by the same vessel on April 18 in lati-
tude 38° 38' N., longitude 74° 00' W.

May 16. — The schooner Alice, of Swan's Island, caught 30,000 mackerel off Block Island.

3. THE VESSELS, APPAEATUS, AND METHODS OF FISHING.

The southern mackerel fishery is participated in by thirty or forty of the Gloucester mackerel
schooners and a number of vessels from Cape Cod and Maine. The total number of vessels

•Schooners Edward E. Webster, Nellie N. Eowe, and Ivauhoe sailed for the south on Saturday (March 11) in
pursuit of mackerel, the Webster getting the start by sailing at 4 o'clock a. m., and the others following at 4 o'clock
p. m. This is the earliest start ever made in the mackerel fishery. Last year the Edward E. Webster sailed March
15, which was unusually early, and obtained a fare within a week thereafter. (Cape Ann Advertiser, March 17,

SEC V 18

274 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

engaged in this fishery in 1S79-'SO was sixty-four, of which twenty-three were from Maine ports and
the remainder from Massachusetts. These are among the swiftest and best of the fleet, and are
provided with the fullest amount of canvas for making a quick passage to and from the fishing
grounds. Nearly all of them have ice-houses arranged in the manner already described.

The apparatus is in every respect identical with that used in the summer fishery; the vessels,
however, carry, as has been stated, a much smaller number of barrels than when engaged exclu-
sively in salting the fish. The manner of fishing is the same as that already described, except
that the fish being much scarcer and their movements less regular than in summer 011 the more
northern fishing grounds, a greater amount of vigilance and perseverance is required on the part
of the fishermen. This is the season of the migration of the mackerel, and it is necessary that the
fishermen should understand how to follow the schools of fish as they make their way northward,
even if they are out of sight for days at a time. They cruise sometimes for weeks off the capes of
the Delaware and Chesapeake, sometimes venturing farther south to the latitude of Cape Lookout,
though they rarely find mackerel south of the mouth of the Chesapeake. Sometimes weeks elapse
before they find the fish. After the schools have made their appearance they follow them, and
when they are not visible, usually allow 5 to 15 miles a day for their northern progress, trying to
keep among them as they make their way northward. When among the fish it is a common
practice of the vessels to heave to and "jog" all night long in a northerly direction, to keep. pace
with the movements of the fish.

As soon as the first fare of fish is obtained, even if only a small one, the vessels make their
way to New York with all possible speed, for the earliest fish command much higher prices than those
brought in later in the season. After mackerel become more plenty the vessels seldom go to
market with less than 75 or 100 barrels, and it is not unusual for 250 to 300 barrels, the results of
one day's catch, to be taken in. The successful vessels often run into New York two or three
times a week, especially when the fish are most abundant off Sandy Hook.* This method of
fishing and marketing the fish is kept up until the schools have reached the shoals of Nantucket
and the spawning season in that locality begins. At the close of the spawning season, when the
fish again rise to the surface, or when the other schools are found on George's Bank and in the
Gulf of Maine, the vessels resort to the ordinary method of salting their fish, only a few con-
tinuing the practice through the summer of carrying their fish fresh into the markets of New York
and Boston. Occasionally, cargoes of fresh mackerel are taken in the spring and summer into
Philadelphia, and also, later in the season, to Portland.

The spring mackerel fishery, as just described, is of comparatively recent origin, not dating
back much before 1870. Twenty to thirty years ago New York was supplied with fresh mackerel
chiefly by Connecticut smacks, wliich caught the fish with hook and line and carried them to New
York alive in wells. A peculiarity of this smack fishery was that the men fished with lines fast-
ened to poles, as anglers fish for trout. The object of having poles was to enable the fishermen to
drop the captured fish alive, and without injury, into the smack's well.

Vessels belonging north of Cape Cod at that time rarely if ever sold their fish fresh, although
they often went as far south as the capes of Delaware. Their fares were salted and carried to
Boston or other ports in the ordinary manner.

* Dispatches received here yesterday announce the arrival of schooner J. J. Clark at New York on Monday with
150 barrels fresh mackerel, which sold at from 6 to 18 cents apiece according to size, and later of the arrival at the
same port of the schooners Seth Stockbridge, A. M. Terry, Smuggler, and T. M. Cromwell, each with 200 barrels ;
Moses Adams, 300; Maud and Effie, 250; Golden Hind, 75; Fleetwing, 65; H. A. Duncan, 20; and James A. Stetson,
50 barrels, which were sold at from 6 to 12 cents apiece. (Cape Ann Bulletin, April 17, l«7ei.)

THE MACKBEBL HOOK FISHERY. 275

The southern mackerel fishery was undoubtedly first prosecuted by vessels from Cape Ann
at least we have beeii unable to obtain reliable accounts of any fishermen from other ports engaging
in this fishery at an earlier date.

" Capt. John Parsons, of Bockport," writes Mr. A. Howard Clark, " says that he was one of
the first to go south after mackerel from that port. He went in 1817 in the schooner Defiance, of
35 tons. They went as far south as Cape May, and caught 60 barrels of mackerel, all of which
were taken by drailing. They had outriggers for towing their lines, and the lead sinkers weighed
from 4 to 6 pounds."

An item in the Cape Ann Advertiser of May 20, 1859, says :

" The practice of going south for mackerel has almost died out of late years, and this year
there are but three or four vessels in the business. Some of the vessels which go in quest of bait
take mackereling apparatus with them."

"The practice of going south for mackerel in spring," writes Mr. Earll, "was first begun in
Maine by a Georgetown vessel, the Queen of the West, Capt. Francis Low, in May, 1851. She
was gone but a short time (four to six weeks), and returned with a full fare, after which she pro-
ceeded to the bay. The next year the schooner Arcola, Capt. Warren Low, of Georgetown, joined
the Queen of the West on her southern spring trip, and in 1853 three went. Booth Bay sent none
south until 1867, when the Cynosure went, and Southport sent her first vessel south in 1868. In
1879 five or six went from this section."

3.— THE MACKEREL HOOK-FISHERY.

The mackerel fishery at the time of its highest development, from 1820 to 1870, was carried
on almost exclusively by the use of small hooks with heavily weighted shanks, known as " mack-
erel jigs." For many years there were from six hundred to nine hundred vessels, chiefly from
Cape Cod and northward, engaged in this fishery, and in the year 1831 the total amount of mack-
erel salted in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts was 450,000 barrels.

As will be seen by an examination of the diagram showing the yield of the mackerel fishery
from 1804 to 1881, elsewhere published in this report, the quantity of fish taken from year to year
has been extremely variable, but has at no other time approached the enormous quantity on record
for the years 1831 and 1881.

The jig has now been almost entirely superseded by the purse-seine, and this radical change
in the method of catching mackerel has caused the desertion by the mackerel fleet of the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence, and the practical futility — to benefit our fishermen — of the fishery clauses of the
Treaty of Washington. All attempts, with a very few exceptions, to use the purse-seine in the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence have been failures.

In 1880 the schooner Alice, of Swan's Island, caught 700 barrels by the use of a purse-seine in
the gulf, but not 10 per cent, of the other vessels which visited this region, then or within the four
or five previous years, paid their expenses.

The mackerel hook fishery is of the past, and this chapter must be regarded, in large part, as
historical. It is by no means impossible, however, in years to come, that the old method of fishing,
which had many undoubted advantages over that at present employed, will be revived.

276 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

1. FISHING GEOUNDS.

The grounds frequented by the mackerel-hookers, as the fishermen call them, were as follows:

THE GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE.* — In the early part of the season the favorite fishing
grounds were in the southwestern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, from Cape Gasp6 to the
North Cape of Prince Edward Island, especially off Point Escuminac, Pigeon Hill Ground, or the
west shore lying along the coast from Miramichi to Point Miscou, Bank Bradley, Bank Orphan,
and Bay of Chaleur. Later in the season, in July, August, and September, the principal fisheries
were carried on upon the grounds just mentioned, also around the Magdalen Islands and along
the north side of Prince Edward Island. Occasionally, too, in August and September, vessels
fished on the south side of Prince Edward Island from Georgetown to East Point. In September
and October fishing was carried on at the Magdalens, Prince Edward Island, in the Bay of Saint
George, between Cape Saint George and Port Hood, and on the northwest shore of Cape Breton,
from Port Hood to Cape North. Favorite localities were about Margaree Island and Cheticamp;
also, on the east side of Cape Breton, in Aspee Bay, and about Sydney. About 1858 and 1859
several successful fares were made in the estuary of the Saint Lawrence, from Cape Gaspe" to Cape
Chatte, and about the Seven Islands and Mingan Islands on the coast of Labrador. In the year
1877 a Gloucester schooner obtained 200 barrels of mackerel at Port au Port, on the west coast of
Newfoundland.! Bird Eock, situated east of the Magdalen Islands, has occasionally been a
favorite ground, since the mackerel taken there were almost always very large.

GULF OF MAINE. — From June to November there was excellent fishing in various parts of
the Gulf of Maine. Early in the season mackerel were taken all the way from Cashe's Ledge
to the Bay of Fuudy ; from the middle of June to September the favorite localities were in the
vicinity of Monhegan Island, Matiuicus Eock, and Mount Desert Eock. From about 1830 to about
1845 some fishing was done in the Bay of Fundy, north of the island of Grand Manan. When the
autumnal migration of the mackerel begins the vessels follow them as they proceed southward.
Favorite fishing grounds are then off Portland; later, about Boone Island, off Cape Ann, and the
waters of Massachusetts Bay, and along the outside of Cape Cod. the latest catches being gener-
ally obtained off Chatham and the eastern part of Nantucket Shoals. Fishing here continues
sometimes until the latter part of November.f

GEORGE'S BANK. — Mackerel were in some years very abundant on George's Bank, especially
on the southern portion from June to September. Later in the season the weather was generally
unfavorable for fishing in this region. The mackerel caught here were recognized, as now, to be
of very fine quality.

* Mr. Daniel Cameron, of Sonthport, Me., thinks the first American vessels went to the bay in 1833. This year
four -went, among others the schooner Galen, Captain Pate, of Freeport. These schooners averaged 60 to 70 tons,
carried about 250 barrels, and filled up in four or five days. The first vessel going to the bay from this section of
•which we learn was the pinkey Olinda, Capt. Joseph Maddocks, of Southport, in 1837. Captain Atwood states that
in 1834 the New England fleet in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence consisted of six vessels, three of them from Province-
town. The Cape Ann Advertiser of May 13, 1859, refers to "the custom which has grown up within a few years of
going to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for mackerel, where already the supply is lessening."

tA LUCKY STREAK.— The schooner William T. Smith, Capt. Henry O. Smith, the last of the bayrnen, arrived
home on Monday, bringing a good fare of mackerel, of which about 200 barrels were caught off Newfoundland, ;i.s
already mentioned in our columns. These fish are of good size and prime quality, and will command a ready sale.
Captain Smith struck a streak of luck when he ventured into untried waters in pursuit of mackerel, and his voyajjo
will prove a profitable one, which is au anomaly in this branch of the fishing industry the present season. (Cape Ann
Advertiser, November 23, 1877. )

tin the fall of 1849 one of the authors had the opportunity of seeing a fleet of mackerel schooners fishing off
Chatham. The number of vessels in the fleet was variously estimated from 500 to 700 sail— a beautiful and interesting
sight.

THE MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 277

SOUTH COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. — Of late years a small quantity of extraordinarily fine
mackerel Lave beeu caught in the vicinity of Block Island in summer and fall. In previous years
the mackerel fishery in this vicinity was chiefly carried on in the spring.

THE COAST OF THE MIDDLE STATES FROM MONTAUK POINT TO DELAWARE. — This fish-
ery was chiefly carried on in May, and in many respects corresponded to the spring mackerel fishery
described in another section of this chapter; this is now prosecuted with seines on the same
grounds, and the fish are mostly taken to New York for sale, principally in a fresh condition,
though formerly they were generally salted.

THE EASTERN COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA. — In tlifs region, although great quantities of mack-
erel are sometimes taken in pounds, nets, and seines, in the early summer and fall, they are very
rarely taken on the hook. About 1854 and 1855 several fares of extremely large mackerel were
caught at Sable Island by Cape Cod vessels.

2. THE FISHERMEN.

The men engaged in the mackerel hook fishery, especially in the period of its culmination,
were almost exclusively natives of New England. From 1850 to 1870 the provincial element in
the fleet gradually increased. When this fishery was most prosperous not less than 10,000 men
and boys were employed on board the vessels belonging to the American fleet. The vessels engaged
in this fishery carried very large crews; in fact, larger than have ever been carried by other ves-
sels. Not infrequently a schooner of 80 to 100 tons would carry twenty men, and, in some instances,
twenty -four. Among the crew were generally three or four boys, sometimes five, from ten to seven-
teen years of age. These boys fished from the extreme ends of the vessel ; they were frequently
very successful, and by the training in this fishery fitted themselves to assume responsibilities in
the fishing fleet at a much earlier age than otherwise would have been possible. At sixteen or
seventeen years of age many of the boys ranked among the first of the crew to which they belonged,
and it sometimes happened that the command of a schooner was given to the most enterprising
before they were out of their teens.

3. THE VESSELS.

Prior to 1848 the mackerel fleet was made up exclusively of the old-fashioned square-stern
schooners registering from 25 tons to 80 or 90 tons, old measurement, and of pinkies registering
from 20 to 60 tons. JSfewburyport had a large fleet of pinkies, registering, old measurement, from
40 to 60 tons. Most of them carried a flying jib.

From 1848 to 1850 the necessity for swifter vessels was felt, and various experiments, which
are described in the chapter on the schooner, were made. From this time on, all the vessels added
to the fleet were of improved model, approximating, more or less closely, to the modern type of the
fishing schooner. These vessels were in those days known as "sharp-shooters." As early as 1855
the character of the fleet had become very much modified, there being a large percentage of
modern-built vessels, and the pinkies and square-stern schooners were retained only by conserva-
tives and at the smaller ports, especially those on the coast of Maine. Many of these old vessels
had by this time been withdrawn from the mackerel fishery and employed in other branches of the
fisheries. As early as 1870 the old square-stern vessels and pinkies had entirely disappeared from
the fleet, most of them long before that date.

The mackerel hookers, when fitted out for fishing, had the decks clear. Upon the starboard
side of the vessel were arranged line-cleats. These were in early times small narrow cleats of pine
nailed to the inside of the waist, but after the introduction of finer vessels the fishermen became

278 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

more careful, and substituted a complicated, ladder-like arrangement, consisting of two long hori-
zontal strips, which were crossed by from eight ta twelve shorter vertical strips or cleats, with
projecting ends, an arrangement of this kind being secured between each pair of the top timbers.
On the top of the rail was nailed the bait-board, in which were cut grooves arranged for the
reception of a supply of jig bait, which was cut into bits ready for use; these grooves cannot be
easily described. Upon the bait board, or upon the edge of the rail, were fastened so-called
"snapper cleats," ingenious contrivances, of elastic wood or of metal, by which the lines were kept
in their places while the men were fishing.

The bait-boxes were fastened on the starboard side; these were wooden troughs, holding from
one to seven or eight buckets of bait apiece. There were three of these bait-boxes, the largest
placed outside of the rail at the foot of the main rigging, one on the quarter near the davit, the
third was placed at the fore-rigging. The forward and after bait-boxes were usually less than half
as large as the one amidships. The bait-mill was placed on deck, on the port side of the vessel,
near the main rigging. During the later years of this fishery many of the vessels carried on the
deck at the foot of the main rigging on the starboard side a bait-chest divided into two compart-
ments, the smaller one for the clam bait and the larger one for the ground menhaden bait. On
such schooners as were not provided with a bait-chest, the ground bait, or chum, was kept in bar-
rels. Two of these barrels were generally kept near the starboard main rigging, so that those who
threw out the toll-bait could refill the boxes with as little loss of time as possible.

The hold was left unobstructed by bulkheads; the ballast was usually gravel or pebbles and
was not covered by a platform. Some vessels carried part of their ballast in barrels, throwing it
overboard when the barrels were needed for fish. The number of barrels carried by a vessel would
vary, according to her size, from one hundred to six or seven hundred, part of these being filled
with salt and bait. The mackerel-hookers usually carried a single boat (of the yawl pattern) at the
stern. Occasionally vessels going to fish on the coast of Labrador, or at the mouth of the Saint
Lawrence, or even on the coast of New England, carried a number of dories or other boats, which
were used by the men when they fished in the harbors.*

4. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

THE MACKEREL JIG. — The mackerel jig is said to have been invented about the year 1815, by
Abraham Lurvey, 'of Pigeon Cove ; according to other authority by Mr. Thurlow, of Newburyport.i
It is simply a hook, round the shank of which has been cast a plummet of lead, pewter, or tin,
somewhat globular at its upper end and tapering down toward the bend of the hook. At the upper
end is a hole, through which a fishing line is bent. The weight of a mackerel jig has varied from
a quarter of an ounce to three or four ounces at different times during the history of the fishery.
At first they were made much heavier than they have been in later years. At present many fish-
ermen, when using jigs, prefer them very small. It has been stated that each fisherman has from

* In certain localities the mackerel could only be taken to good advantage among the rocks close to the shore,
and the men fished from small boats rather than from the side of the vessel.

t According to Captain Merchant, the " mackerel jig " was introduced at Cape Ann abont 1815. Mr. Abraham
Lurvey, of Pigeon Cove, was one of the first to use them, and was supposed to have invented them. The advantages
of this new invention immediately brought it into general nse. Before "jigs" were devised, the "gangings" of the
mackerel lines would frequently break when the fish was jerked or "slatted" off the book; when the jig is used
this rarely occurs. Before the time of the jig it was customary to bait the hooks, when mackerel were plenty,
with pieces of pork " as big as a fonr-pence-ha'penny."

According to Captains Daniel Cameron and John Grey, of Southport, Me., Edward Caiss, a fisherman of Hing-
ham, Mass., invented the mackerel jig between the years 1810 and 1814, and by 1829 it bad come into general use on
the coast of Maine. It was introduced into Maine some time before 1829, but by whom DO one knows. — [EARLL.]

THE MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 279

seven to twelve fishing cleats in his berth at the rail. On these cleats are fastened an assortment
of lines with jigs of various sizes, the heaviest being used when the mackerel are biting fast or
when the wind is blowing fresh; the lightest, when the water is very smooth, or when the mackerel
are "picking," or nibbling daintily.

The fishermen always made their jigs in molds of metal or soap-stone, this operation being
similar to the old-fashioned method of making bullets. In former days these molds were made of
iron, but many of the fishermen, being dissatisfied with the shape, constructed them for their own
use of lead. At present the soap-stone jig molds and the lead and pewter constitute a part of the
outfit of a vessel.

When jigs were first introduced, however, it was customary for fishermen to cast them for
themselves in molds improvised in buckets of sand or ashes, afterwards beating into shape the
rough castings, and boring the hole for the line. This custom was prevalent on some vessels as
late as 1850. In the later years of this fishery the fishermen became very critical in the matter of
jigs, and were not satisfied unless they were elegantly shaped and brilliantly polished. The lines
were six or eight fathoms in length, of cotton, being either hawser or shroud laid. Of later years
these have always been of cotton. In early days, when the heavier jigs were in vogue, much larger
lines were used than at a later period. Since 1860 it has been customary to use a kind of snood,
called "snapper-line," made of strong linen thread, and usually colored blue. The "snapper-lines"
are from 15 to 18 inches long, one end being bent to the jig, and the other fastened to the fishing-
line with what is called a " water-knot." During the voyage the lines are generally coiled up and
hung upon the fishing-cleats on the waist when not in use. Besides each man's stock of lines, with
jigs of different sizes, fastened to the cleats at his berth, a quantity of extra lines and hooks are
carried by the vessel.

THE MACKEREL FLY-HOOK. — The mackerel fly-hook, formerly very popular and introduced
before 1850, has been discontinued since 1860. This is an extra hook, on a ganging from 12 to 15
inches long, fastened to the jig-line 8 or 10 inches above the jig. Not being weighted, this hook
floats at an angle when the jig is sinking, and by using it two mackerel are sometimes caught at
once, one biting at the jig and one on the fly-hook. The fly-hook went out of favor because it was
liable to become entangled with the other fishing gear.

THE MACKEREL- GAFF. — The mackerel-gaff is an iron rod a quarter of an inch in diameter, 3J
feet long, having at one end two recurved sharp points about 2 inches long, and separated at the
extremities by an interval of one-half to three-quarters of an inch, returning in a line parallel with
the direction of the rod. The mackerel-gaff is fastened to a wooden handle about 10 or 12 feet
long, and was used when the mackerel were schooling thickly alongside of the vessel and were not
inclined to take the hook. Tiie gaff was thrust among the fish and rapidly drawn back, often
impaling one and sometimes two mackerel at a time. This implement has not been used since the
introduction of seines and but rarely during the last twenty years.

THE MACKEREL "BOB" OR "BOBBER."— Th is is an instrument resembling the mackerel-gaff
in the manner of its use. In its rude form the bob was a stick of wood, around the end of which
three or four cod hooks, with their barbs filed off, were fastened. The same idea has since been
developed in various ways. The bob is fastened to a string and drawn through a school of fish,
impaling them in the same manner as the gaff. This instrument was discontinued long before the
gaff, and, in fact, has never been so popular. These bobs were used only when the mackerel were
schooling in great numbers alongside of the vessel and refusing to bite.

BAIT AND APPARATUS FOR ITS PREPARATION. — Bait used in the mackerel fishery is of two
kinds, (1) that put upon the hooks and (2) that thrown into the water to attract the fish.

280 HISTOliY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

The method of baiting the jigs which has been adopted by mackerel fishermen is somewhat
peculiar, ami a description of the process may be of interest in this place.

As a rule, when a mackerel schooner first arrives on the flshing ground and is about to begin
fishing with hook and line, the jigs, which are to be immediately used, are baited with small circular
pieces of pork rind, two or three of these being put on each hook. Sometimes, however, no one
but the skipper uses pork-rind bait, the other members of the crew preferring to wait until some
mackerel are caught from which they can procure a supply of bait for their hooks. The favorite
way of baiting mackerel hooks is as follows, namely: Several thin strips, about a half inch wide
and 3 to 5 inches long, are cut either from the belly of the mackerel or from the lower portion of
the body on either side of the anal fin.* When a sufficient number of t'hese slices have been
obtained they are cut into sections, each of which is, approximately, a half inch square. A large
number of these pieces are put on the hook, completely filling the bend, after which the baits are
scraped with the back of a knife in such a manner as to remove everything but the tough white
skin, which, when distended in the water, forms a soft pulpy mass about the size of the end of
one's forefinger; but this can be contracted into a very sinall space, and thus afford the eager fish
ample opportunity to secure a good hold of the hook while seeking the tempting but yielding morsel
upon it. A bait of this kind will last more than an hour without being renewed, even when mack-
erel are biting sharply. When the fish are "picking" or less inclined to take the hook, a fisherman
is often not obliged to bait his jigs more than once in a whole day. Sometimes the fishermen cut
out a small circular piece from the throat of the mackerel, which they place on their hook above
the scraped bait. This throat piece is quite firm, and for awhile prevents the soft skins composing
the bait below it from being entangled on the point of the hook and thus preventing the latter
from easily catching the biting fish.

In the early days of the mackerel hook fishery the toll bait chiefly used was made of small
mackerel, and sometimes of large ones too when small fish could not be obtained. The viscera of
the mackerel were also frequently used in the absence of better. From 1835 to 1840 menhaden
came into general use, and were subsequently always in high favor. They had, however, been in
common use by Gloucester fishermen at the very commencement of the century. They were caught
in gill cets. It was the custom of the Gloucester people to leave home a little after tea, set their
nets off Kettle Island, and lie there till about midnight. They would then haul their nets, pick
out the fish, and start off to the mackerel grounds.!

There can be no question that the custom of chopping up small mackerel for bait was detri-
mental to the mackerel fishery in succeeding years, and that the introduction of menhaden was a
benefit to the fishery in more ways than one. As a "toll bait" for the mackerel, menhaden is
believed to be better than any other fish ; the mackerel seem to prefer it; and the presence in its
flesh of a quantity of oil renders it especially convenient for the use of fishermen, since in the
process of "chumming up," presently to be described, a small quantity of ground menhaden bait
will spread over a large area of water. In the Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries, Part V,
pp. 143 to 147, may be found a discussion of the comparative merits of herring and menhaden as a
bait for mackerel.

The quantity of menhaden bait carried by a mackerel schooner on a trip of two and a half to
three mouths to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence varied, according to the size of the vessel, from 25 to

•Strips for bait cut from near the anal fin are usually preferred, since they cannot so easily be torn from the
hook as can the fatter and tenderer strips taken from the nhdomcii.

t Mr. Earl] writes: " Daniel Cameron, of Sonthport, states that pogies were first used in Maine about 1844, and
by 1846 had come iuto general use. People of this section claim to have introduced the menhadeu or pogy, lii'evtortia
tyrannus, as mackerel bait, but with whom the practice originated I was unable to learn."

THE MACKBEEL-HOOK FISHEET. 281

40 barrels. In addition to this they were accustomed to carry 5 to 10 barrels of clams. Capt.
Sylvanus Smith, of Gloucester, stated to the Halifax Commission that a vessel fitting out for a
four months' trip to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence would need to be supplied with 40 barrels of pogy
bait, worth $6 a barrel, making $240, and 10 barrels of clam bait, worth $8 a barrel, making $89.*

Colonel Low's statement, copied from the trip-book of the schooner Oliver Eldredge, which
sailed to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence August 5, 1875, arrived at Gloucester November 2, 1875,
having been absent two months and twenty-eight days, obtaining 224 barrels of mess mackerel,
worth $1,771.83, shows that she fitted out with 55 barrels of slivered pogies, at $6.50 per barrel,
making $357.50, and 7 barrels of clams, at $6, making $42.

In 1867, when almost the entire mackerel fleet fished with hooks, the amount of menhaden
bait consumed by Gloucester alone amounted, by the estimate of Mr. Joseph O. Proctor, to 6,500
barrels, and the total consumption by the United States of mackerel bait must have exceeded
25,000 barrels. In addition to this more than 1,000 barrels of clams were used. In 1877 another
estimate was made of the quantity consumed by Gloucester. The purse-seiners were then in a
large majority. The whole amount consumed by a seining vessel does not exceed 5 or 6 barrels in
a season. Gloucester had, in 1877, about 50 "mackerel-hookers," using about 2,400 barrels of
slivers, while the seining fleet used about 600 barrels more. The entire amount of menhaden bait
consumed by the mackerel fleet of the United States in 1877 did not probably exceed 8,000 to 9,000
barrels of slivers, or 24,000 to 27,000 barrels of round fish.

The menhaden used for bait in the mackerel fisheries was formerly, when a larger quantity
was in demand than at present, obtained to a considerable extent from Gloucester vessels fishing
expressly for menhaden in the vicinity of Cape Ann and in the Gulf of Maine.

Capt. F. J. Babson, of Gloucester, whose account of the bait fishery of Cape Ann is quoted
elsewhere, states that in 1873 there were over 60,000 barrels of round menhaden taken in his
district, while in the same year vessels belonging to the Maine Oil and Guano Association sold of
bait 2,977 barrels; in 1874, 10,400; in 1877, 10,795. From the bait fisheries about Marblehead and
in the vicinity of Provincetown, according to Mr. Lowry, from 1,000 to 2,000 barrels of bait were
taken in 1873. At Chatham, from 1872 to 1877, the average catch was about 5,000 barrels. A
large portion of all of these fish, however, was sold to the vessels engaged in the George's Bank
cod fishery. Considerable quantities also were obtained about Salem, and in the Merriuiac Eiver,
a portion of which went to the mackerel fishery.

It was the custom of many of the vessels belonging to the spring mackerel fleet to devote a
considerable time to obtaining a supply of bait for their own use during the summer fishery. In
addition to this quite a number of vessels were fitted out each spring to go to Seacounet and other
places in that vicinity for the purpose of securing cargoes of menhaden slivers to sell to the early
fleet going to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Cape Cod vessels were accustomed to dress their bait
in a peculiar manner. They did not sliver them in the ordinary way, but salted them down
"round," simply eviscerating them, cutting off the heads and the thin parts of the belly, and
making slits in the sides.

These vessels obtained their bait from the pound-net fishermen at various points on the coast
of southern New England, especially in the vicinity of Seaconnet, Ehode Island, and also from
the various fishing gangs connected with the oil and guano factories.

In addition to the vessels which thus obtained supplies of bait for their own use, there was a
fleet of bait vessels which annually proceeded to the same localities in the spring to obtain bait for

* Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877, Appendix L, p. 334.

282 HISTOET AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

sale to the vessels of the mackerel fleet not otherwise supplied. The number of baiters was five
or six.

The price of menhaden for bait varied with their abundance. In Gloucester, in 1873, according
to Captain Babson, 60,000 barrels of round-fish made 20,000 barrels of slivers, worth $4 a barrel to
the producer. At Marblehead the price in 1876 averaged $1 for fresh and $6 for salt bait; at
Chatham, $1.50 fresh; at Nantucket, 50 to 75 cents; and at Martha's Vineyard, 50 cents. In
Earragansett Bay bait sold in 1871 for $1 to $1.50 per barrel, fresh. The regular price from 1867
to 1877 at the mouth of the Merrimac Eiver was $1 per barrel; probably 1,000 barrels of slivered
fish were prepared in 1876, which sold for $5 a barrel. Boston and Gloucester vessels were
accustomed to anchor at the mouth of the river and wait there for supplies of bait. At one time
in 1877 there were probably twenty-five schooners waiting.

The process of slivering and salting menhaden is described in the chapter on the menhaden
fishery.

The manner of preparing the slivered menhaden or other fish for toll-bait is very simple, and
is essentially the same as that employed in early days, when it was the custom to grind up small
mackerel for bait. Captain Atwood remarked in his testimony before the Fishery Commission at
Halifax: "We now use menhaden for bait, but when I first went fishing we did not do so; our
practice then was to grind up small mackerel for the purpose. Any quantity of these mackerel
were at that time to be had for the cost, and plenty are to be met there now. These fish were of
no account then, and so we ground them up for bait. And when we could not obtain them we
ground up what we call gurry, the inwards of the fish with the gills attached. American fisher-
men, when they fish with hooks, use menhaden bait almost exclusively. The superiority of this
over any other is proved by the fact that when they can't get menhaden they won't take any
other. At first mackerel fishermen were afraid of this bait ; it was a very bony fish, and they even
thought that if it was cut up for bait the mackerel would get sick of it owing to the number of
bones. There is a species of fish belonging to this family found on our coast which is exceedingly
fat; we call them blue- backed herrings;* and some prefer this fish for bait, as it is not so bony as
menhaden, but when the mackerel got to be worth having, about everybody adopted menhaden
for bait; it is the cheapest bait."t

To prepare menhaden for use in the mackerel fishery, the slivers are ground up into a mush
which is called " ground bait." The slivers are passed through a bait-mill, which is a machine
somewhat resembling a farmer's feed-cutter. The fish are thrown into the hopper, and, by the
agency of a roller operated by a crank at the side of the mill, are passed through a complicated
array of sharp knives arranged upon tbe sides of the mill, and in spiral rows upon the roller. The
bait is usually ground at night by the watch on deck. As a rule, the bait is run through the mill
twice in order to make it fine enough. When the vessel has no bait-mill, which at present is rarely
the case, the fish are cut up with a hatchet or scalded with boiling water in a tub. Bait-mills were
first introduced about the year 1822. Prior to the introduction of the bait-mill all the bait was cut
up at night with the hatchet, by the watch, upon a chopping-block, which was a large flat- topped
piece of wood resembling a butcher's meat-block. The veterans of this fishery relate with great
glee how they used to be kept awake all night by the pounding of the bait-cutter over their heads,
and contrast the present usages with those of former days. When there was leisure in the day-
time, three or four men would work at the block together, each chopping with his own hatchet.

* The Glut-Herring, Saw-belly, or Kyaok, Clupea cestnalis Mitchill.

tN. £. Atwood, Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, Appendix L, p. 42, September 19, 1877.

THE MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 283

In this way a constant snpply was kept on hand. Bait which had been ground was packed in
barrels full of pickle arid covered up.

The earlier bait-mills were very rude affairs, the teeth being common nails driven into the
barrel and into the sides of the mill and broken off, leaving jagged ends which tore the bait into
pieces. Later these were filed down to a point, while at the present time the teeth are arrow-
shaped, made of steel, and are attached to the wood by means of shanks made especially for the
purpose. Bait-mills are now manufactured by various mechanics at the different ports, those
made by Adolph Voss, of Gloucester, being considered among the best. The cost of a good bait-
mill is from $8 to $15.

According to Col. D. W. Low, the first bait-mill was made in 1820, of nails driven in lines
across two wooden cylinders and then sharpened. The first one made for grinding or cutting with
knives was made in 1822 by Gorham Burnham, and they were driven into cylinders in the same
manner. In 1823 he commenced putting in the knives in spiral form, which form has continued in
use ever since. He has made and sold in one year $1,600 worth at $10 each, besides making
anchors and other work.

The first bait-mill taken to Southern Maine was bought in Gloucester in 1827 by Mr. John
Cameron, of Southport, for use on the schooner Echo.*

The manner in which the labor of grinding bait was distributed among the different members
of the crew after bait-mills came into general use varied upon different vessels. Sometimes each
man had his " bait-day," upon which, in addition to his regular labor of fishing, he was expected
to grind bait for the use of the vessel.

When fish were abundant the quantity used might be as great as 5 or 6 barrels a day. The
bait-cutter was expected to have a supply of bait ready, and when there was promise of good
fishing the next day would grind what he thought would be needed for the next day's fishing
during his watch at night. When he was not forehanded and the fish were abundant he suffered
considerable loss, since he was obliged to work at grinding the bait while the others were fishing,
and thus failed to obtain his share of the fish.

On some vessels, in order to obviate this difficulty, it was customary for each man to grind a
barrel in his turn, the boys doing their share of the work by cutting the clam bait. The order of
their succession was determined by their position at the vessel's rail, the man farthest forward
taking the first turn. On other vessels, if a man was not on deck in the morning to help hoist the
sails, the penalty for his absence was the grinding of a barrel of bait, a task which required about
an hour and a half for its performance.

When the bait has been ground it is placed in barrels or in the bait chests. The ground bait
is an oily mass of yellowish color, resembling in consistency sausage meat. Before it is used
water is added to it, and it is then reduced to the consistency of porridge. It now becomes a
yellowish slushy liquid with an oily smell, and in this condition occupies about twice to three times
the space that it did before water was added. In this condition it is sometimes called "chum" or
" stosh."

Mode of fishing. — The present method employed by mackerel schooners of fishing with hook
and line while the schooner lies adrift was first practised in Massachusetts at the beginning of the
present century, and the use of toll-bait began about the same time. According to Capt. Epes W.
Merchant, the first man to introduce this method of fishing in Massachusetts Bay was John Story,
of Rockport, about the year 1804.

The method of " tolling" or " chumming up" the fish by the use of this ground bait resembles

* Statement of Daniel Cameron and Capt. John Gray, of Southport, Me., obtained by E. E. Kuril.

284 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

the process of calling up a flock of fowls by scattering corn over a large piece of ground. The
oily bait is thrown over the side of the vessel, and as the latter drifts along and the bait spreads
the fish are attracted by the floating particles most remote from the vessel, aud swim up toward
the source of supply.

The use of toll-bait originated with the shore fishermen, who crushed the oily menhaden under
foot with their heavy fishing boots, washing the pulpy mass of flesh and the oil with buckets of
water out through the scuppers of the vessel. Another statement, and perhaps the correct one,
is that at first the fishermen made toll-bait by boiling a codfish or haddock until it was nearly
cooked, when it was taken by the tail and beaten over the sides of the boat or vessel, causing the
fibers of the fish to separate in small pieces, which, because of their whiteness, made a very
attractive bait. This practice was still in vogue among the boat-fishermen of Maine as late as 1849
and 1850.

The process of throwing toll-bait, of late in practice, may now be described. Several buckets
of the ground bait are put into the boxes, the positions of which have already been described, and
to it several buckets of water are added, the mass being thus reduced to a proper consistency by
stirring it up with the bait-heavers, which are scoop-shaped contrivances made of tin on the ends
of wooden handles 2 or 3 feet in length. The vessel is "hove to" under mainsail and foresail, or
sometimes under mainsail, making a square drift to leeward. One man — generally the skipper —
stands forward of the main rigging with the bait-heaver and throws out the bait, something in the
manner of a man sowing seed broadcast, by a sweeping motion of his right arm, scattering it over
a space of 15 or 20 feet along the side of the vessel. The oily particles slowly sink and spread out
under the influence of the whirling eddies caused by the receding vessel. As the vessel drifts
away and one scattering of bait is on the point of disappearing from sight, another lot is thrown,
and so a succession of waves of bait is left in the wake of the vessel. In the mean time the man
who is throwing the bait puts out two lines and thus ascertains whether the mackerel have been
attracted to the sides. As soon as the fish begin to bite, the man sings out, "Here they are!" or
"Here they gnaw!" aud the crew rush to their places and begin fishing.

When the fish appear, they are sometimes in small numbers and bite daintily, but often they
coine in immense schools and bite as fast as the hooks touch the water.*

On these occasions the deck of the vessel presents a scene of great activity and excitement.

Let us try to imagine a scene in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. We are on the deck of a clipper
schooner from Gloucester, standing along with the four lower sails and the main gaff topsail set,
a fresh breeze blowing from the southwest ; the sky is overcast, and the sea comparatively smooth ;
within the plane of vision are the white sails of some 250 schooners, most of which are hove to, a
few tearing along under press of sail seeking new positions ; here and there among the fleet is a
vessel with flag set at her main peak or at her main topmast head; this is to indicate that she has

* "Jigging mackerel." — "Jigging mackerel" is a method peculiar to mackerel catchers that superseded the old
way, called "trailing," or taking them while the vessel was under headway. The manner of jigging is peculiarly
interesting to new beholders. The vessel is kept comparatively motionless; a large quantity of poor mackerel, chopped
into mince-meat, is thrown upon the water, which brings them to the surface. So much of this has been done that
it has, in a great measure, destroyed their appetites, and sharp-pointed hooks of a sufficient length to reach the fish
have been resorted to.

A line of the color of the water, called the jig-line, attached to a lead of a finger's length, say one-half inch in
diameter, diminished at the end towards the hook, which is solid iu the lead called a "jig-lead." Bait of such as is
thrown overboard is put on the hook and thrown also among the "floating bait," or more properly the floating fish.
Thus prepared, the fisherman has little else to do but to draw iu the line and snap off the fish in a tub, prepared for
that purpose, a little faster thaii can be easily imagined by the land fisherman. From 50 to 80 barrels have often been
taken on a good "fishing day" in this way by a crew of six or eight hands; oftentimes several boys comprise a p< rtion
of the company. (Barnstable Patriot, November 15, 1836.)

THE MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 285

completed her fare and is homeward bound. Some of these are lying to, and are still fishing, while
others have all sail set, and are heading for the Strait of Canso on their homeward way. A few
miles to the northeast looms up the rugged shore of the Magdalen Islands, its high outline here
and there broken by long stretches of sandy beach ; a train of great white gannets crosses our bow,
five or six of them rapidly flying close to the water ; suddenly the leader disappears beneath the
water, and his companions rise up for a moment and then plunge down head foremost after the fish
which they see. The movement is perceived by other gannets, and they flock in from all directions
and share the feast. As we speed along two or three of these birds, which have filled themselves
to repletion, are swimming in our course, unable to rise, and, iu order to escape, they disgorge their
stomach-loads of fish and flap away just before the vessel reaches them. We now approach tlie
fleet, and pass by the leeward vessels which are hove to, the starboard rails of which are lined
with men excitedly plying their lines. Our skipper stands on the quarter with his glass to his eye,
trying to determine which portion of the fleet is meeting with the best success. He selects a berth
near the middle of the fleet, and thither he directs the course of the vessel by word to the steers-
man. We thread our way in a zigzag course among the drifting vessels, sometimes escaping by a
few inches only the thrust of a jib-boom, and again almost snapping off the main boom of some
other vessel. At length we approach the selected position and heave to, coming up sharply to the
wind with the mainsail hard aback. The skipper takes his position at the main rigging and begins
throwing bait, at the same time putting out his lines for trial. After the vessel is hove to, the men
are lounging about the deck, yet in expectant attitudes. At a little distance from the rail stands
a row of barrels, one opposite the berth of each man. These are called " strike " barrels. The lines,
with the jigs attached, are coiled upon the cleats or lie upon the rails, each man having examined
his own and prepared them for immediate use. At last the skipper is seen to rapidly haul in his line,
pulling a glittering mackerel over the rail, and, by the peculiar motion known to the fishermen as
" slatting off," the fish is jerked over his right shoulder into the barrel, while the drumming of the
mackerel against the bottom of the barrel announces to the men that the fish have struck. The meu
rush to their positions, and a scene of great activity and excitement begins. The fish are now within
4 or 5 fathoms of the side of the vessel, but they soon come much nearer; looking over the rail we see
their mottled backs as they swim to and fro alongside the vessel. The lines are shortened up as the
mackerel rise, and now the time required for throwing over the jig and jerking it back with a mackerel
fast to it is only a few seconds. The men throw out their lines, pull them in, and, without glanc-
ing at the fish, dexterously " slat" them into the barrels, the jigs being torn out of their mouths
by the same motion which casts the line back into the water ; two twists of the wrist are sufficient
to accomplish this feat. The mackerel are large — " No. 1's" — and in fifteen or twenty minutes the
best fishermen have their barrels full. When a man's barrel is filled he springs from the rail, rolls
it back towards the center of the deck, and puts an empty barrel in its place. The fish may con-
tinue actively biting for ten minutes or for several hours, but usually the sharp biting is over very
soon, and the mackerel begin to " pick." Now the work is less exciting, though much more exact
ing upon the skill of the fishermen. When the fish are " picking," a high-line fisherman will catch
quantities, and the greenhorn will catch none, and even among the most skillful fishermen there is
a great difference in their success at this time.

It should be stated that all the time mackerel have been biting, four men have been actively
employed in throwing bait over the side, at the same time attending to their lines like the remain-
der of the crew. The cook heaves bait in the position farthest forward, and one of the boys in the

286 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

position farthest aft, while amidships the skipper and one of the most experienced of the crew
are similarly engaged.*

When the fish begin to "pick " the skipper reconnoiters for a better position, and finding that
other vessels are having good fishing, orders the crew to coil iu their lines and to make sail; away
we go in search of another " spurt of mackerel."

The excitement among the crew, when the mackerel are biting fast, can hardly be described.
When the fishing begins, the drumming of the mackerel in the empty barrels is inexpressibly
cheering to the fishermen, especially if they have been unsuccessfully hunting for fish on previous
days, and adds to their excitement. This sound ceases as the barrels begin to fill up, the reso-
nance of the wood being deadened by the accumulation of fish ; it is, however, from time to time
repeated as empty barrels are substituted for those which have been filled. Every man is striving
to the top of his bent to catch as many mackerel as possible while the "spurt" continues, and, if
possible, to catch a larger share than any of his comrades. The emulation to be "high-line" for
the day and for the season is extreme. The number of barrels caught by each man is carefully
noted, for upon his relative success depends his proportion of. the proceeds of the voyage and his
reputation as a fisherman. In a single day a high-line fisherman has caught from 10 to 15 barrels,
and since each barrel contains from 150 to 200 mackerel, the rapidity of the men's movements
throughout the day may be estimated. In seven or eight hours' fishing he has probably lifted over
the side 2,000 to 3,000 fish, to say nothing of throwing over his jig and bringing it back empty
almost as many times more. Such cases as this are exceptional, since mackerel rarely continue
biting long enough to allow such a number to be taken. At the same time, when a much smaller
number is caught, the activity of the fishermen is something to be wondered at.t

The confusion and excitement are increased by the frequent snarling of the lines and the
attempts to straighten them out again. As has been stated, each expert fisherman has ten or
twelve lines in his berth, and changes from one to the other according to the rapidity with which
the fish are biting or the strength of the wind. Much experience and skill are necessary to enable
the fishermen to make these changes understandingly. Little is said while the fishing is going on;
the men lean far over the rail in strange attitudes of expectancy with one or two lines in each
hand, the bauds moving up and down and constantly hauling in and throwing out one of the lines
at a time. When it is necessary to haul in one of the lines the others are allowed to drop upon
the rail.

We have described one phase of the life of a mackerel fisherman, but experiences like this
may occur only a few times during a season. Mackerel vessels are constantly under sail, cruising
hither and thither over great areas of water on the lookout for fish, heaving to and trying more
frequently without than with success, except in extraordinary seasons. At night they are hove to,
or when mackerel are scarce are making long passages from one ground to another. Information
a* to the location of the schools of mackerel is passed from vessel to vessel. As they meet, the
vessels almost invariably speak each other and compare notes upon the position and abundance
of fish.

When a vessel is seeking fish, and heaves to for the purpose of tolling them up, she will con-
tinue in (his position, as a rule, for about an hour, sometimes longer, when there is any prospect

* On the mackerel "hookers " the cook stood to fish just aft of the fore-rigging. The large schooners sometimes
had a boy forward of the fore-rigging, but this was not the rule by any means. Each man pr boy had a certain num-
ber of inches measured on the rail and assigned him as his berth. The length of a berth at the rail varied from 2J
to 3 feet.

t LARGE CATCH OF MACKEREL. — Schooner Bloomer, of Hiugham, with a crew of ten men, caught on Thursday
last, between 10 a. in. and 2 p. m., 5,700 mackerel with the hook and line. (Barnstable Patriot, May 28, 1861.)

THE MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 287

of success. Sometimes the mackerel, however abundant, will not rise to bait; they are very
capricious; at other times in the same day they will be exceedingly voracious. One of the com-
mon tactics of the mackerel fishermen was that of running round a school; when the fish could
be seen, the vessel would make a complete circle, surrounding them at the same time with the line
of toll bait. The effect of this maneuver was to keep the fish from moving away by placing the
bait in such a manner that whichever course they took the fish must invariably meet with and be
attracted by it to the vessel's side. It frequently happened, however, that the schooling fish took
no notice whatever of the toll bait, either because they_were not hungry, or were engaged in feed-
ing upon some form of Crustacea, of which they are exceedingly fond.

The practice of "lee-bowing," the method of which, so far as the management of the vessel is
concerned, has been described in another place, was simply to "heave to" to the leeward of
another vessel which was lying to and had a school of fish alongside, and, while so doing, to throw
a quantity of bait overboard; this bait passing under the bottom of the first vessel would attract
the fish, which would then follow the course of the new bait, passing to leeward under the first
vessel and appearing alongside and close to the vessel which was executing the maneuver of lee-
bowing. The success of this maneuver is sometimes thwarted by the crew of the first vessel
throwing over such a quantity of bait that the bait thrown by the second vessel is not noticed by
the fish. In this act it is frequently the custom to use a considerable quantity of chopped clams,
these being considered better to "hold" the fish alongside than the menhaden bait. The clam
bait is also used on other occasions to "hold" the fish, or induce them to bite more rapidly when
they are supposed to be tired of the ordinary bait.

A maneuver sometimes executed by the mackerel schooner is called "springing up." This is
done when the mackerel are so close to the shore that the vessel cannot lie to and drift for them.
It is accomplished by bringing the vessel to anchor and then putting a "spring" on the cable, the
latter, which is a stout rope, being taken to the port quarter, and the cable veered out so that the
vessel lies with her port side to the wind. The fishing is then carried on on the starboard side in
the same manner as with vessels lying to.

In former years, when an extensive mackerel fishery was prosecuted in the vicinity of the
Seven Islands and at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, much jig fishing was carried on by
small boats sent out from the vessels. Each of the boats carried a small quantity of ground bait,
which was used in the same manner as on the vessels. This method of fishing has also been
practiced to some extent on the coast of Maine even as late as 1879.

Vessels occasionally returned home from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to land their catch,
leaving a portion of their crew to fish from small boats until their return.*

The above description of jigging mackerel has been written with special reference to the
fishery in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, since it was there that the jig fishing was most extensively
prosecuted. The methods are the same, however, as those practiced on the New England coast.

5. THE CARE OF THE FISH.

CLEANING AND SALTING. — The manner of caring for the fish is essentially the same as that
described in the preceding chapter, except that (the quantity of fish taken being much smaller,
there was, of course, much more time for handling them) greater care was taken, and the fish were

•Schooner B. D. Haskins lately arrived from Bay Saint Lawrence -with mackerel; left five of her crew to con-
tinue the fishery in dories until her return on her second trip. (Cape Ann Advertiser, August 17, 18CO.) Instances
of this kind were rare. — AUTHOKS.

288 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

uniformly of better quality. Many of the Gloucester mackerel-hookers were accustomed to divide
their crew into dressiug gangs of two each instead of three, as at the present time on the seining
vessels, one of these men splitting and the other gibbing. It was the duty of the splitter to get
the barrels, fill them with water, and, when he had split more fish than the gibber could take care
of, to aid the latter in his work.*

On the seining vessel, as we have seen, the mackerel are, in most cases, heaped on the deck;
on the mackerel-hookers, the fish were already in barrels, and the order of proceeding was slightly
different. The splitting-board was placed on the head of one of the " strike" barrels ; the fish were
taken out of the barrels, split, and thrown into the gib tub, where they were handled in the ordi-
nary manner. The process of gibbing having been completed, the fish were " plowed" and put
into the second barrel, which was filled with clean water. From this barrel they were changed
into the barrel in which they were salted. The process of salting is as follows : A barrel of mack-
erel is emptied out on deck; a "gib-keeler" is filled with salt; one of the men now throws the
mackerel into the "gib-keeler," while the other man "rubs" them in the salt by taking one in each
hand; the back of one is then placed to the flesh of the other, and they are thrown into the barrel
with the flesh side down. They are thus salted and packed away into barrels in successive layers,
each (with the exception of the bottom tier) with the flesh side down.! A barrel of large mackerel
can be salted in from five to ten minutes.

In order to cure mackerel successfully very fine salt must be used, and every part of the fish
must be touched or it will spoil.! Careless salters sometimes leave "thumb-marks" where their
thumbs touch the fish during the process of salting, preventing the 'access of the salt. These fish
do not keep well.

It was customary on the "hookers" to let the mackerel remain on deck for several days after
being salted, the length of time varying to a considerable extent, as it depended very much on the
amount of fish taken. When the mackerel were well struck, or after they had been salted from
two to five or six days, the barrels were "topped up" with fish, to make up for the shrinkage from
the first salting, after which they were carefully headed up and stowed in the hold. If the men
kept their catch separate, each one cut a private mark on the head of the barrel containing his
fish. As a rule, the mackerel were " stowed down" whenever 40 or 50 barrels had accumulated on
deck, but when fish were abundant and took the hook freely for several days in succession it often
happened that more than a hundred barrels of fish would be caught before any were put below.

Capt. Epes W. Merchant, of Gloucester, informs us that the practice of salting mackerel was
inaugurated at Gloucester in 1818. Scituate fishermen had begun this practice somewhat earlier.
The methods of salting have not materially changed since that time. Previous to 1850 the vessels

* The most general custom, perhaps, on the Gloucester vessels was to have two men in a gang, though this was
varied a good deal on different schooners. Some crews preferred dress gangs of three men each, while others sorae-
tiiiien had four men working together, one of them "passing up" the mackerel to the splitter.

tTlie early method of packing them flesh up has been abandoned.

f This is the case when the mackerel are " rubbed," Liverpool salt being almost wholly used, since Cadiz salt,
owing to its coarseness, has a tendency to tear or "ruck up " tho flesh of the fish and give them a ragged appearance,
Many of the Cape Cod fishermen, however, preferred to use Cadiz salt, believing it to l>e better for curing the fish
than Liverpool. Their manner of applying it was quite different from that which has been described. Each man
salted his own catch. Placing a wash-barrel of mackerel at his left hand, an empty barrel in front of him, :md with
a bucket or basket of salt at bis right, the fisherman rapidly transferred the fresh fish into the proper barrel, placing
each flesh up, and scattering over it with the right hand a sufficient quantity of salt. An expert can thus take care
of many more fish than any one unacquainted with the method would believe possible, though it is safe to say,
mackerel can bo handled more expeditiously by the process of rubbing, and for this reason the Cape Cod style of
salting has never come into favor at Capo Ann and on the coast of Maine.

THE MACKEREL HOOK FISHERY. 289

engaged in mackerel fishing were generally accustomed to carry butts, in which the fish were
salted.

Capt. Chester Marr tells us that in the early days the mackerel fishermen made a practice of
salting the mackerel iu hogsheads, which were placed in the hold, standing on end, with stone
ballast stowed iu the "spaces" between them. When a vessel was loaded she would hold about
10 butts, or about 50 " wash-barrels." These butts were used until about 1850.*

MACKKRKL PLOWS. — The mackerel plows, to which frequent allusion has been made, are also
known to the fishermen by several other names, such as riminers, reamers, fatters, and fattiug-
knives, in the same and iu different localities. The original object of using these instruments may
be said to have been a " trick in the trade," although the fact of their being employed at the pres-
ent time is so well knowu that no one considers it any longer a secret, neither has it been for many
years. The quality of mackerel is determined not only by their size, but also by the richness or
fatness which they acquire as the season advances, and the opportunities for obtaining food are
better than during the spring. In the spring, when they approach the coasts of the Middle States
and Southern New England, they are in a poor and lean condition, and remain in such a state until
after they have deposited their spawn. After the spawning season is over the schools then seek
their favorite feeding grounds, and the fish soon begin to exhibit much improvement in their con-
dition. During the month of June this improvement is first noticeable, and by the last of August,
and sometimes even at an earlier date, the mackerel have arrived at their finest condition and re-
main so until they leave the coast in the fall. As the fish fatten, the belly, or that portion which
covers the abdominal cavity, increases in thickness, and the quality of the mackerel can be more
easily and certainly determined by noticing this particular portion of it than in any other manner.
The mackerel are invariably split along the back from the snout to the tail in such a manner that
they will lay open and flat after the viscera has been removed. It is a fact well known to persons
familiar with this fish that when they are in a fat condition the sides of the abdominal cavity will
crack open along the entire length when the fish are opened for the purpose of removing the
viscera. The depth of these cracks or "breaks" shows the relative fatness of the fish. As these
cracks occur about half way from the backbone to the center of the abdominal cavity, it will be
readily seen that by using an implement for making the cracks a little above or nearer to the back-
bone than where it would naturally be and where the belly is considerably thicker, it will give the
.fish the appearance of being much fatter than it really is. As previously stated, the depth of the

* The largest of the mackerel schooners bad sufficient capacity for stowing 20 or 25 butts, besides a number of
barrels alongside of them in the wings on each side of the hold.

When salting mackerel in these casks, the salters worked in the hold. A gib tub was filled with salt and set on
top of the butts near the hatchway, and one man threw down the mackerel from the deck into the salt box (or gib
tub) while two others standing alongside of the butts did the salting — one "rubbing" the fish and the other packing,
them away in the proper place. When the cask was full a large stone was placed on top of the fish to keep them
beneath the brine so that fhey would not get rusty. Each man usually had a hogshead of his own for the reception
of his fish ; that is, if each of the crew kept his catch separate. At that time, however, it was quite generally the
custom to "go on shares." This term, as then understood, differed radically from what is now meant by the same
expression, and may be described as follows : The crew were shipped as much upon their merits of good seamanship
and steady habits as for their skill as fishermen. Each man was provided with a "strike tub" — a half hogshead —
and for the first few days' fishing the skipper would note the catch of each of the men, and from this comparison
would decide what share every one should receive. Thus some half dozen, perhaps, in a crew of 12 or 14 men would
be assigned a full share. Though there might be some difference in the relative catch of these men, it was thought
fair to consider a capable and reliable man a full sharesman, though he caught somewhat less fish than another who
might not be so well experienced in other matters. The remainder of the men were allowed three-fourths or one-half
of a share, as the case might be, their expertness in catching fish and other qualifications always being taken into
account in settling their relative standing. Thus, if a vessel had a crew of twelve men, six of whom were full shares-
nicii, four three-quarter sharesnien, and two half sharesmen, there would be ten full shares, and a sharesmen would
receive one-tenth of the crew's half of the proceeds of the voyage, while those having a smaller "lay" would be paid
accordingly.

SEC V 19

290 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

"break" is the test of the fatness of the fish, and is the guide by which the inspectors cull them
into the different grades for market, provided always that they are of suitable size. Stringent
laws have in past years been enacted in most of the New England States to regulate the method
of inspecting mackerel, and the use of any artificial means to fatten them was for many years
strictly prohibited. The introduction of the "mackerel plow, like that of many other inventions,
was the direct result of a need long felt by fishermen. Previous to its adoption it was the custom
for the fishermen to attempt to improve the looks of their fish by increasing the natural break with
their thumb nails drawn along its entire length. This method was called " rubbing the mackerel."
Later, a few began to use the back of the point of their bait-knives or splitting-knives for this pur-
pose, by degrees venturing to place the cut a little higher than where it naturally belonged. The
use of knives led to the introduction of plows, which soon came into general use, though the fish-
ermen at first felt some hesitation about revealing the fact that their fish had been plowed.*

A comparatively poor mackerel would not open sufficiently in a natural way to pass for a No.
2, but the fishermen give them an inviting appearance to the buyer by the use of the plow, which
they handle with remarkable dexterity, running the blade longitudinally along each side of the
abdominal cavity with great swiftness, laying the sides of the fish open in such a manner that it
may pass for a No. 2, and, perhaps, if it is of large size, a fairly fat fish may be culled as a No. 1
mackerel. It is but fair to say here, that, since the general adoption of the mackerel plow as a
means of " fattening " the fish, the subject is so well understood by the dealers that they demand a
finer looking fish than formerly, and the consumer, therefore, actually gets as good an article as before,
and one that is much more attractive. This is especially the case when the size of the mackerel is
not sufficient to pass for the best quality, or No. 1. A fish whose length is 13 inches and "of suit-
able fatness" is required for a No. 1, but it is easy to see that a fish of fine quality, though not ex-
ceeding 12 or 12£ inches, is just as good for food, notwithstanding the fact that it must pass for a
lower grade and be sold for a much less price. For the past few years a very large portion of the
mackerel caught on our coast have been " undersized," that is, not long enough to pass for the best
quality, according to the inspection laws of New England ; nevertheless they are in all respects
quite as good as the larger and rarer grades.

As previously stated, the fishermen no longer make a secret of using the plow, and during the
summer season, when the wharves on the eastern coast are filled with mackerel, the operators may
be seen in the open air busily rimming the fish almost as fast as they can pick them up and throw
them into another barrel. There are many styles of this type of knife, their patterns and designs
being as varied as the fancies of those who make them. They are, with but few exceptions, made
by the fishermen ; some of them are exceedingly plain and rough, while others are artistically and
'elaborately decorated, often with imaginary uncouth figures or with fancifully carved leaves,
wreaths, &c.

There are several knives of this character deposited in the fisheries collection of the United

* From a circular addressed to the masters and crews of mackerel vessels by Hon. James Barry, inspector-gen-
eral of pickled fish for Massachusetts, dated May 2, 1832, we quote the following in relation to the use of the mackerel
plow : " It is a mischievous error that fishermen have fallen into by salting their fish too slack, as has been often the
case ; and another by using the plow, which has given to the fish a false appearance, and has been a source of morti-
fication to the fishermen, and they have in a great many instances found fault with the inspectors when the fault be-
longed to themselves in not taking care of the fish, which i.t was their duty to do, and which in many cases has been
a ruinous business to purchasers. By a law of the commonwealth the inspector is required to throw into an inferior
quality all mackerel which have been plowed, cut, or mutilated for the purpose of deception. It can be of no advan-
tage to the fishermen, and I trust will never again be done."

Capt. N. E. Atwood says that some of the fishermen made mackerel plows with "the ends tipped with pewter
and fine teeth on the edges so as to make the crease look rough, as though it were broken naturally; others had a
knife in the end which cut the mackerel smoothly."

TIIH MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 291

States National Museum, and among them is one factory-made rimmer, with a polished walnut
handle and a curved iron shauk about one-quarter inch in diameter; into the forward end of the
shank is fitted a small cutting blade about 1£ inches in length, tapering to a point at the heel, and
with a square-cut forward end. There are also other styles made by the fishermen, some having
steel and others having copper blades, and one specimen made of wood, in the form of a human
leg, the extreme end terminating in a thick-set flat foot, in the bottom of which is inserted or
driven a silver three-cent piece, ground to a sharp edge, to be used as the knife or plow.

G. HOMEWARD PASSAGE AND DISPOSITION OF THE FISH.

When one of the vessels in the fleet has obtained a fare of fish, or the skipper decides to go
home, sometimes with a partial fare, the flag is usually set at the maintop-mast or on the main
peak. This custom was not so common on our coast as in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The fish
being salted, the homeward passage was usually performed in a leisurely manner, unless, indeed,
the return was made during the fishing season, and the skipper expected to make another trip, in
which case the utmost expedition was used, and rapid passages were made. For several years it
has been a common practice for vessels fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to land their fish at
the Strait of Canso, or sometimes at Prince Edward Island, sending the fish home by steamer or
freight vessels. This was only done when the vessel had obtained a large fare and there was a
prospect of one or two more successful trips for fish that season. By this means vessels sometimes
filled up three or four times in the course of the summer, obtaining, in some instances, as many as
1,100 to to 1,200 barrels.*

7. FINANCIAL PROFITS OF THE MACKEREL HOOK FISHERY.

Old-fashioned vessels were employed as seiners for a number of years from Gloucester, it then
being thought by many of the fishermen that swift sailers were not so necessary for this branch of
the fisheries as for some others. In this respect, as in many other things, there has been a radical
change.

The expense of fitting out with seine, boat, &c., deterred many of the owners from sending their
vessels seining, and the more conservative clung to the old method of jigging until the failure of
mackerel in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence compelled them to adopt the seine or abandon the business.

•The influence exerted upon the settlements in the Strait of Canso in the period between 1850 and 1870, by the
trade thus derived from the mackerel fleet, was very remarkable. In many of the coves, on either side of the strait,
small villages sprang up, and large store-houses and wharves were built where the American vessels could secure
storage for their fish until they could be shipped, and also at the same time obtain supplies of salt, bait, provisions,
&c., which they required for the prosecution of their voyages. This, of course, brought a great deal of money to the
people of Canso, and many of the merchants who were not slow to take advantage of the circumstances became quite
wealthy. Those were lively times in the strait, and it was not an unusual thing to see ten or twenty sail of mackerel
schooners lying at Port Hawkesbury or at McNairt or some of the other coves discharging their cargoes and taking
on board outfits for another trip. This afforded much employment to local residents aud remunerative returns. Most
of the people who owned wood lands devoted their time in winter to cutting and preparing for use a lot of fuel which
they could readily dispose of the following summer to the American fishermen at good prices ; and whoever was
fortunate enough to have a small stream or brook running through his laird near the coves usually derived quite a
revenue from the American fishermen by charging 5 or 10 cents per barrel for the water which they were obliged to
fill there.

Of late years, however, since the general introduction of the purse-seine in the mackerel fisheries, and the conse-
quent failure of our fishing fleets to resort to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence during the mackerel season, a great chiinge
has taken place in the prosperity of the settlements at Canso. So much so, indeed, that many of the wharves and
store-houses have been allowed to fall into decay aud become nearly worthless from disuse. Most of the coves which
wore formerly the scene of busy life and activity during the mackerel season now have a comparatively deserted and
forlorn appearence. Many of the merchants have moved away to Halifax and other business centers of the Provinces,
while those who remain find their business much less remunerative than it was at the time when the Strait of Canso
was frequented by a largo fleet of American mackerel schooners, which were engaged in fishing in the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence.

292 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

As a matter of course such large stocks and enormous profits were not obtained by the seiners
years ago as they have made for the past few years, 1880, 1881, and 1>82. Nevertheless, many of
them did well. But a vessel's "fit out" for jigging costs comparatively little, and with a much
smaller stock more clear money would be left than if she went seining. This, together with the
fact that more or less risk is attached to seining — such, for instance, as losing the apparatus alto-
gether, having the net torn, the boats stove, &c. — served to deter the timid ones from engaging in
it until compelled to.

Eapid advances in the knowledge of using the purse-seine have been made within the past
few years, which no doubt has had a strong influence in changing the hook fishery into seining.
For a number of years it was believed that mackerel could not be taken except in shoal water,
where the seine would reach bottom, and as a result of this but comparatively little could be done.
More recently, the practice of seining in the night, tolling the fish alongside of the vessel and then
surrounding them, &c., have added much to the profits of the fishermen.

The large net profits which were sometimes made by the mackerel hook fishermen previous to
1870 bore no mean comparison to the money cleared by the seiners of the present day, though, of
course, the latter frequently get higher stocks. This, as mentioned above, is due to the difference
in the cost of fitting out a vessel for hooking and for seining, the expense for the latter often
being twice or three times as much as it would be for line fishing. The following account of
some of the large mackerel stocks made by vessels engaged in fishing with hook and line we copy
from the Fishermen's Memorial and Record Book :

"The largest stock made in the Bay of Saint Lawrence mackerel fishery was that of schooner
Colonel Ellsworth, Capt. George Robinson, in 1865. She was absent about five mouths, her net
stock amounting to $13,728.* The high-liner's share was $558; cook's, $582.

"Schooner General Grant, Captain Coas, in 1804, stocked in two trips to the Bay of Sainjfc
Lawrence $11,254.94 clear of all expenses.t The high-line made $502.24; cook's share $638.17.

"Schooner Nor' Wester the same year stocked $9,721.74 net in one bay trip; the high-liner
making $308.60 and the cook $486.61.

"Schooner General Sherman, in a three months' trip to the bay in 1864, packed 612 barrels of
mackerel, her net stock amounting to $9,696. High-liner's share, $575.06.

" Schooner Kit Carson, 1865, brought in 591 barrels of mackerel, having been absent about ten
weeks. He net stock amounted to $0,542. High liner's share, $260.

" Schooner James G. Tarr, in 1866, stocked $5,824 in a nine weeks' trip to the bay. Cook's
share, $331.76.

"Schooner Seddie C. Pyle, in 1871, packed 1,070 barrels of mackerel caught off this shore, f
in addition to 18,000 southern mackerel sold fresh in New York in the spring. Her net stock for
the year was $10,561.66. High-liner's share, $491.38 ; cook's share, $708.52.

" Schooner Eureka, in six mouths' mackereling off this [American] shore in 1868, packed 935
barrels, her stock amounting to $10,748.33. High-liner's share, $440.82; cook's share, $473.70."

8. ITINERARY OF A MACKEREL VOYAGE TO THE GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE.

BY COLONEL D. W. Low.

We go to Essex, a neighboring town on Cape Ann, 6 miles from Gloucester, or to the ship-
yards of Gloucester, where we see on the stocks, ready for launching, a schooner of 60 or 70 tons,

* Her gross stock — the amount her fish sold for — was doubtless about $16,000.
tHer gross stock would be between $13,000 and $14,000.
{Now England coast.

THE MACKEREL-HOOK FISHERY. 293

built in that thorough and stanch manner which makes the American fishing schooner celebrated
for her sailing and seaworthy qualities required in the hazardous business she was built for.

We next find the schooner alongside of the wharf in Gloucester, where she is made ready or
"fitted" for a voyage to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, called a "bay trip." Fifty-five barrels of
pogies and 7 barrels of clams, with 50 hogsheads of salt in 115 barrels, and 16 barrels of water,
are stowed by her crew in her hold, on top of which are stowed 335 barrels more with their heads
taken out and put inside, both head and barrel being numbered. After the provisions, lines,
hooks, &c., are on board the flag is hoisted and she is ready for sea, having cost to that time $7,700
for the vessel and $2,075 for her outfits. Had she been fitted for seining her outfits would have
cost $750 more, making her total cost with outfits $10,525.

Leaving Gloucester August 5, 1875, we proceed to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with seventeen
hands, shipped " by the "berth," according to their experience as fishermen, the best fishermen
getting the best berths, which are nearest to and on each side of the master. The master's berth
is forward of the main rigging on the starboard side, nearly in the center of the vessel. Formerly
the berths to fish, with exception of the master's and cook's, were sold at auction on board the
vessel after she had started, as high as $50 or even more being paid for first choice. The amount
of the bids, called " berth money," was equally divided among the sharesmeu, they paying the
amount of the excess of their bid over the average share. The cook fishes forward, so as to be
handy to his cooking. After each man's berth is decided upon, each one prepares the cleats for
his lines on the bulwarks under the rail at his berth. "Jigs" are run in the "jig molds," and the
lines, eight to twelve to each man, are neatly put upon the cleats ready for service. After passing
through the Gut of Canso (stopping there for a little wood) the vessel is ready for fishing. Lashed
on the "port" side of the schooner, opposite the skipper, stands the "bait-mill," at which each
of the crew, excepting the master and cook, take turns, commencing with the youngest, in grind-
ing bait. The slivers of pogies are ground up fine and clams are chopped with a long-handled
chopper, which are mixed with the pogy bait, and some of it put into a box called the " bait-
box," which is hung outside of the bulwarks, to the right of the master's berth, and water is
added to it. After the vessel is " hove to," and she commences to drift to leeward, the master,
with a " bait-heaver," throws the bait from the bait-box into the water fore and aft the vessel, to
attract and draw the mackerel alongside. Some of the crew are below and others looking on, or
perhaps put out a line with the skipper's to try for them. Soon the peculiar tapping of a mack-
erel's tail is heard on the bottom of a barrel, which, with the cry of " Here they are!" from the
skipper, brings every man to his berth, and for a time the " strike barrels " standing a little in the
rear and at the right of the fisherman, in which the mackerel are slat from the hooks, resound with
the lively occupants. The best fishermen fish with four and sometimes six lines each. The "spurt,"
however, is soon over, and after "picking" one once in a while the master orders, "Take in your
lines;" after which we haul in our mainsail, hoist the jib, and go on. The mackerel are then
dressed, generally by gangs of three, comprising a "splitter," one to pass up the mackerel to him,
and the "gibber;" the mackerel, after being split, are thrown into a "keeler," which is a shoal
square box about two by three feet square, which are put on board in nests of three; the "gib-
ber," with mittens on to prevent getting his hands sore from tLe bones, opens the mackerel, takes
out the gills and entrails (which are throwii overboard after dressing the catch), and throws the
mackerel into a barrel partly filled with water to soak the blood from them, which is called a " wash
barrel"; after soaking, they are thrown into a keeler of salt, a iew at a time, rubbed all over in the
salt, and packed in a " sea barrel," 1 barrel of salt (3£ bushels) being used in packing 4 sea barrels.
After the barrel is filled and the fish allowed to shrink it is filled up (sometimes there is not time

294 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

enough to allow it to shrink before heading up). The head of the barrel is put in reversed, on which
the private mark of the catcher is cut in to identify it when landed, after which the barrels of mackerel
are stowed hi the hold. Frequently, when mackerel are scarce and time hangs heavy, industrious
ones will "mess" their mackerel by scraping the blood from the backbone and cutting off the
heads and tails, losing by the operation 13 pounds on a hundred, but making the mackerel bring
more in the market for the labor.

During our voyage we sometimes tried for mackerel with others of the fleet one or two miles
from shore, and being "hove to" together, and occasionally "picking" a mackerel which, as it glist-
ened in the sun coming over the rail, no doubt led those on shore to suppose we were getting a
good catch of fish, when 15 wash barrels would cover the whole catch for the fleet in several hours'
fishing. The latter part of October finds us on the way home, at Georgetown, Prince Edward
Island, where we put in for a harbor, paying $1 for harbor dues, and on 2d of November arrived
at Gloucester, having been absent two mouths and twenty-eight days, and caught 250 sea barrels
of mackerel.

The mackerel are hoisted out by horse-power, the crew paying for the horse in preference to
doing the work by hand as formerly. After being landed each man's lot is stood upon the head to-
gether, with the marked head up. One of the crew unheads them, another pitches the mackerel as
wanted into a "culling crib," which is made about 3 feet wide and 4 feet long, with slat bottom, at
each end of which stands an experienced and careful "culler," who tosses the mackerel according to
their grade into " culling tubs," which hold a half- barrel each ; two of the crew then place the tubs,
when full, on the platform of a beam scale, where the "weigher" weighs them off, crying out "barrel
of one's," or whatever the weight or grade requires; two of the crew empty them into the "packing
cribs," while the master places the account of it under the name of the catcher, and the packer, with
a piece of red chalk, marks the head of the barrel or whatever package is used with the grade of the
mackerel. Half a bushel of salt to the barrel is used in packing, after which the cooper takes it,
and after putting in the head it is rolled out on the wharf by a laborer and there bored and pickled
off .by the "pickler." After being pickled off and bunged they .are stood upon their head and
branded with the deputy inspector's name and the grade of the fish; the trip is sold by the owner
with the master, he acting for himself and crew; the voyage is then made up in the ordinary man-
ner. When the mackerel are delivered to the packer the vessel and crew are done with them as
producers.

4.— THE MACKEREL GILL-NET FISHERY.

1. APPARATUS AND METHODS.

Considerable quantities of mackerel are sometimes caught in gill-nets at various points along
the New England coast, from Vineyard Sound to Eastport. For the most part, however, they are
taken west of Mount Desert. This fishery is carried on in two ways: The gill-nets may be anchored
and left out over night, as is the custom about Provincetown, or they may be set from a boat or
vessel. The latter method is called "dragging"; the vessels are called "draggers," or "drag-
boats," and the fishermen " mackerel draggers."

The mackerel gill-nets are 20 to 30 fathoms long, 2J fathoms deep, with a mesh varying from
2J to 3 inches. In Provincetown Harbor they are set in the following manner:

About the middle of November the fishermen of Provincetown Bay begin to put out nets for

THE MACKEliEL GILL-NET FISHERY. 295

the large mackerel on its return. On one occasion Captain Atwood had twelve nets out, 5 miles
irom land. On the last night of November he had taken nothing, but on visiting the nets the next
day he found they had sunk to the bottom filled with mackerel. He, however, succeeded in getting
up eight, and the nets as they came to the surface looked like a sheet of silver. Three thousand
three hundred and sixty mackerel were taken from these eight nets by nightfall. The next day
the remaining nets were dragged in and 1,700 more taken, making 5,000 fish netted at a single
catch. On another occasion a catch lasted three nights, when he alone caught mackerel enough
of the best quality to make 16 barrels when packed.*

In Gloucester Harbor and at other points on the coasl of Massachusetts and Maine they are
set in shallow water, one or both ends being anchored and their position marked by buoys on each
end of the gang. When set thus in protected harbors they are ordinarily placed across the direc-
tion of the tide, usually in a cove or bight of the harbor where the mackerel are known to occur,
and where they are out of the track of vessels.

The most extensive "drag-net fishery" is carried on by the vessels of Portland and Friend-
ship, Me. The method employed by these fishermen six years ago was somewhat as follows : The
vessels are small schooners of 15 to 25 tons. They usually run out from the harbor near the close
of the day, timing their departure sb that they will be upon the fishing grounds about sunset,
except when it is necessary to go a long distance out to sea, in which case, of course, the time of
starting is earlier. Beaching a locality where mackerel are supposed to be abundant the vessel ia
hove to, and a gang of ten to twenty nets is paid out. The nets are fastened together at top and
bottom, and the outer end is marked by a buoy, other buoys being distributed along the gang at
intervals, the junction between each pair of nets being generally -marked by a keg or spar. To
the last net is fastened a rope called a "net swing," corresponding to the "fleeth-rope" used by
the herring fishermen of Europe. This is a rope of 3 inches in circumference and 60 to 70 fathoms
long. It is paid out to its full length and made fast at the bow of the vessel. The foresail is then
lowered and furled, and the vessel lies head to the wind, drifting to leeward and dragging the
nets as she goes. If the wind is moderate the whole mainsail is kept up, but if the breeze is
fresh, or what is called a mackerel breeze, it is reefed. Under favorable circumstances the nets
are allowed to remain out all night, but the fishermen in the two dories row constantly along the
nets back and forth noticing the movements of the fish, and especially looking out for the approach
of dogfish. When a school of dogfish approaches the nets after any number of mackerel have been
gilled it is at once necessary to take them in less the dogfish should devour the mackerel, tear
innumerable holes in the twine, and roll themselves up in it until it is so twisted and tangled that
it takes the labor of days to get it in proper condition for setting again. If the fishermen are not
annoyed by dogfish the nets are allowed to remain down, as has been stated, all night long, and the
men in the dories constantly pick out the fish, frequently carrying their catch back to the vessel.
When the dogfish attack the nets they haul them in with the utmost expedition and bundle them
as hurriedly as possible into the bottom of the dory, and after they have lifted them to the deck of
the vessel take out the fish from among the meshes.

It is part of the duty of the men in the dories to keep a vigilant lookout for approaching
vessels. The gang of nets may be more than half a mile in length, and the keel of a large vessel
passing over it would be almost certain to cut it in two. When it is still weather they row toward
any vessel which they may see coming and ask the men on watch to steer clear of the nets; other-
wise they are obliged to stand by the nets and repair the damages as best they may. Sometimes
the approaching vessels are induced to steer clear of the nets by the dorymen, who hold up a lan-

* Captain Atwood, Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. Hist., x, 1865-'6(i.

296 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

tern for that purpose. The mackerel caught in this manner are always carried fresh to the shore,
and are intended chiefly for the supply of the markets of the large cities. They are packed in
barrels, and may or may not be gibbed through the gills before reaching shore. A vessel setting
a long string of nets may catch as much as 50 barrels of mackerel in a night, but ordinarily not
more than 5 or 10 barrels, frequently less. The barrels are carried on deck, and the fish are
put in them as soon as they are removed from the nets. When the weather is warm the barrels
are filled with ice-water. Besides the mackerel caught, considerable quantities of shad and ale-
wives are taken in these nets. On an excursion made by one of the authors from Portland in
1873, besides 6 barrels of mackerel there were caught with a small string of nets about 40 fine
shad, averaging 2 pounds each, and 300 or 400 of that species of alewives known to the Portland
fishermen by the names of "kyack," "cat-thresher," "saw-belly," or "blue-back," probably iden-
tical with the glut-herring (Clupea cestivalis) of the Chesapeake basin, the summer alewives occa-
sionally taken in New England rivers. On this occasion the mackerel were feeding extensively
on various entomostraca, with which the water was filled, and which imparted to it a vivid phos-
phorescence all night long. The presence of these animals, and of others more minute, causes the
water and the nets to "fire" in such a manner as often to render them so visible to the fish that
they successfully avoid contact with the twine.

The mackerel caught at Provincetown in gill-nets are brought in by the boats, and shipped
by the fishermen to Boston in vessels devoted specially7 to this business, the owners of which
receive a percentage upon the amount of their sales.

The crew of a Maine mackerel-dragger consists generally of two to four men, the vessels being
usually owned by the fishermen.

2. HISTORY OF MACKEREL GILL-NETTING.

The custom of dragging for mackerel, though practiced for centuries in Europe,* appears to
have been first used in this country at Provincetowu about the year 1841, where it is still prose-
cuted to a considerable extent in addition to the stationary gill net fishery which has been

* For convenience of comparison the following description of drift-net fishing for mackerel on the coast of Kiig-
land is quoted from Yarrell's British Fishes:

"The most common mode of fishing for mackerel, and the way in which the greatest numbers arc ta-ki-.u, is by
drift-nets. The drift-net is 20 feet deep by 120 feet long; well corked at the top, but without lead at the bottom.
They are made of small fine twine, which is tanned of a reddish brown color to preserve it from the action of the salt
water, and it is thereby rendered much more durable.

"The size of the mesh is about 2£ inches, or rather larger. Twelve, fifteen, and sometimes eighteen of these urts
are attached lengthways by tying along a thick rope, called the drift-rope, and the ends of each net to each other.
When arranged for depositing iu the sea, a large buoy attached to the eud of the drift rope is thrown overboard, the
vessel is put before the wind, and, as she sails along, the rope with the nets thus attached is passed over the stern
into the water till the whole of the nets are thus thrown out. The nets thus deposited hang suspended iu the water
perpendicularly, 20 feet deep from the drift- rope and extending from three-quarters of a mile to a mile, or even a mile
and a half, depending on the number of nets belonging to the party or company engaged in fishing together. When
the whole of the nets are thus handed out, the drift-rope is shifted from the stern to the bow of the vessel, and she
rides by it as at anchor. The benefit gained by the boats hanging at the end of the drift-rope is that the net is kept
strained in a straight line, which, without this pull upon it, would not be the case. The nets are 'shot' in the evening,
and sometimes hauled once during the night; at others, allowed to remain iu the water all night. The fish roving
in the dark through the water haug in the meshes of the nets, which are large enough to admit them beyond the gill-
covers and pectoral flus, but not large enough to .illow the thickest part of the body to pass through. In the morning
early preparations are made for hauling the nets. A capstan on the deck is manned, about which two turns of
drift-rope are taken; one man stands forward to untie the upper edge of each net from the drift-rope, which is called
casting off the lashings; others haul the net in with the fish caught, to which one side of the vessel is devoted; the
other side is occupied with the drift-rope, which is wound iu bj the men at the capstan." (The History of British
Fishes, first edition, 183(>, vol. 1, pp. 12G, 127.)

THE MACKEREL GILL-NET FISHEKY. 297

mentioned.* At first small open boats were used, such as the one described and figured in the
another part of this report under the name of "Province-town drag-boat." About 1845, Province-
town fishermen with their boats and nets essayed dragging for mackerel in the vicinity of Mon-
hegan, Me., and by their example this practice was introduced into Maine, and since that time it
has been carried on at various points on the coast. In 1873 twelve or fifteen vessels from 15 to 25
tons each were employed at Portland; at present the number at this port is eighteen, and quite a
fleet of the mackerel draggers also belongs to the vicinity of Friendship, Me.t

Along the southern coast of Nova Scotia, and about the vicinity of the Straits of Ganso, there
is an extensive gill-net fishery for mackerel carried on with stationary nets, and, in a smaller
degree, a similar fishery is prosecuted in some parts of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. J This fishery
on the Nova Scotia coast is prosecuted when the mackerel are traversing the coasb line in the
spring and fall.

" During the mackerel fishing season," remarks Mr. J. Matthew Jones, " the people along shore
appear to live in a state of much excitement, expecting every hour the 'runs' to come into their
bays. The traveler who may desire a horse and wagon to get on from place to place will find hard
work to prevail upon the people to hire one out to him with a driver. Lookouts are kept on some
elevated spot so that the schools may be seen some distance off, in order to give time for the fish-
ermen to get off in their boats with the net." As at Provincetown, these nets are anchored only
at one end, the other end being left free to swing with the current. They are sometimes set as far
as 10 or 12 miles from the shore, in water 20 to 50 fathoms in depth, care being taken to put them
as nearly as possible in those localities which are known to lie in the "track" of the mackerel.

The mackerel gill-nets are usually set with their upper lines close to the surface; sometimes,
however, as much as 2 or 3 fathoms below. The position of the net in the water is regulated by
the length of the buoy-ropes and the weight of the sinkers. As a rule, especially ou the coast of
Nova Scotia, they are, however, set close to the surface.

In this region, also, there has been for many years an extensive seine fishery for mackerel,
corresponding to that which is elsewhere referred to as having been formerly carried on, two hun-
dred and fifty years ago, on the shores of Cape Cod Bay. The principal points for the seine fishery
are at Margaret's Bay, west of Halifax, and at Chedabucto Bay, at the eastern part of Nova Scotia.

* Capt. N. E. Atwood, at Provincetown, writes as follows in regard to the introduction of the method of dragging
for mackerel at Cape Cod : "As early as I can recollect most of the mackerel taken along our coast were caught with
hook and lino. A few gill-nets were set at moorings in our harbor and along the Truro shore during the first part of
the mackerel season, or as soon as the fish came in. The mackerel which were then taken in nets were sent to Boston
market and sold fresh, sometimes bringing good prices. As the mackerel would not bite at the hook when they first
struck in, we would often get two weeks' fishing before a sufficient quantity of mackerel were caught on the hook to
glut the market. Boston market being at that time small and no ice used in packing, only a few fresh fish could be
sold there at any one time.

"In 1841 I went to Monomoy Bay (Chatham) to fish for shad ; we went out in the bay and put out onr gill-nets
and drifted with them all night if the weather would permit that mode of fishing, which we then and have always
since called ' dragging.' On my return home to engage in the mackerel net tishery, very few had been caught in nets
in our harbor, but large schools of mackerel had been passing in by Race Point and Wood End, and were going up
the bay. I took my mackerel nets in the boat and went out in the bay toward Plymouth, some 2 or 3 miles, and put
them out and drifted all night ; next morning I found I had a good catch. This occurrence took place about the 15th
of June, 1841.

"It did not take the other fishermen long to get into this new way of fishing, and since that time this method of
drag-fishing has been adopted along the coast of Maine and elsewhere."

t Friendship has twelve vessels, Cashing five, Waldoboro' two, and Booth Bay and Bremen one each ; the total
from Maine, including those from Portland, being thirty-nine ; the tonnage is 559.47; number of men, one hundred
and thirty-three.

t Schooner Yankee Lass, of Boston, arrived home last week from a season's mackereling trip around the Seven
Islands of Saint Lawrence River, with 300 barrels, all large No. 1 mackerel, taken in [gill] nets. (Cape Ann Adver-
tiser, September '30, 1881.)

298 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Perley, writing in 1852, remarked: "In those harbors of Nova Scotia which are within the
Straits of Canso mackerel have of late years been taken in seines capable of inclosing and securing
800 barrels, and in these seines 400 and even 600 barrels have been taken in a single sweep."*

In the same locality Perley refers to the use of the drift-nets, undoubtedly meaning the set
gill-net just described, remarking, however, that this mode of fishing is probably not so well under-
stood on the coast of Nova Scotia as in England. He however quotes from Yarrell an account of
drift-net fishing in England, which is altogether different from that used in Nova Scotia, and cor-
responds precisely with the drag-net fishing also described in the beginning of this chapter.

It is worthy of mention that mackerel as well as herring, on the coast of Europe at the present
time, are almost exclusively caught by the use of the drag-net, the only other method in use being
the equally old-fashioned one of "drafting," which was abandoned by our fishermen sixty-five years
ago.* The antiquated method of drailiug was, however, kept up by the fishermen of the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence until 1860, or perhaps even to the present time, for the purpose of obtaining
mackerel for bait to be used in the cod fisheries. .

5.— THE EARLY METHODS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY (1620

TO 1820).

1. CATCHING MACKEREL WITH DEAG-SEINES.

The method chiefly practiced by the colonists of New England for the capture of mackerel
was that of drag-seining, and we find as early as 1626 a record of the establishment, by Isaac
Allerton, of a fishing station at Hull, where mackerel were seined by moonlight. There can be
little doubt that the practice of fishing with baited hooks was also early introduced, and that in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries groups of boats might have been seen, as at the present
day, clustered together in the harbors or near the outer shores, their crews busily engaged in
hauling in the tinkers, and, occasionally, larger mackerel which, during the summer season, found
their way into these protected waters. It is not known when the custom of drailing for mackerel
was first introduced, but it was beyond question the common method at the close of the last and
the beginning of the present century.

In July, 1677, the records of the Plymouth colony show that the Cape Cod fishery was let
seven years, at £30 per annum, to seine mackerel and bass, to certain individuals who are named.
They were restricted to take in the Plymouth colonists with them ; and, if none offer, to admit
strangers. The profits of the hire which accrued to the colony were sometimes distributed to the
schools.

A writer in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections gives the following description of
these fisheries (vol. iv, 2d series, p. 232): "The aboriginal name of this fish (the mackerel) is Wawuu-
nebeseag, a plural term signifying fatness — a very descriptive and appropriate name. The mode
of taking these fish is while the vessel is under quick way and the helm secured, when all are
engaged at the long, veered lines, of which it is said, that one man will attend three, and it may be
more. The first manner of taking mackerel was by seining by moonlight. This perhaps was first

* Fisheries of New Brunswick, 1852, pp. 13-16.

tThough drailiug was abandoned so long ago by the professional mackerel fishermen of New England, we are,
nevertheless, told by Capt. Joseph Smith, of Gloucester, that this method of fishing is still practiced by the Block
Island boat fishermen.

THE EARLY METHODS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY. 299

practiced by Mr. Isaac Allerton aud his fishing company at Hull as early as 1626. After half a
century the mode of fishing was changed to that of drailing with long lines while the vessel was
under easy way; and this mode has been changed within these last twenty years (1811-1831). The
mode of fishing generally practiced now is to invite the fish around the vessel while lying to by
throwing out great quantities of fish cut in small pieces, and to take them with short lines held in
the hand and drawn in with a single motion of the arm. By this method it is thought that thrice
as many fish may be taken in a giveii time as by any other method. They are a capricious and
sportive fish. In cloudy and even wet weather they take the hook with most avidity. They are
very partial to the color of red ; hence a rag of that hue io sometimes a bait. A small strip of
their own flesh taken from near the tail is used with most success."

Seining mackerel with drag-seines is still practiced extensively in the British Provinces. That
the practice was in vogue in Massachusetts less than fifty years ago is shown by the following
item from the Gloucester Telegraph of June, 30, 1838:

" Last week twenty barrels of mackerel were seined at one haul at Sandy Point by Captain
Baker. His seine is 500 yards long. A few weeks ago he inclosed a multitude of fishes, princi-
pally menhaden shad. It is estimated that their number was 200,000."

In his History of Scituate, pp. 25-27, Samuel Deane writes : " In early times the shores of our
bays were skirted with forest trees quite near to the water's edge. In the month of June, when
all nature is in bloom, the volatile farina of the forest trees then floats in the air, and occasionally
settles on the smooth surface of the seas. Then it is that this playful fish, attracted by this phe-
nomenon, leaps and bounds above the surface of the water. So again at a later season, in July
and August, winged insects, carried away by the southwest winds, settle and rest on the bosom
of the ocean, a welcome herald, it is said, to the mackerel catcher. Such are the habits of many
fishes, and hence the use of the fly as a bait by the angler of the trout streams."

Douglas, in 1747, says : " Mackerel, split, salted, and barreled, for the negroes in the sugar
islands are caught either by hook, seines, or meshes. Those by hook are the best; those by seines
are worst, because in bulk they are bruised. Mackerel will not take the hook unless it have a
motion of two or three knots. If quicker, they will take the hook, but their jaw, being tender,
gives way, and the mackerel is lost. There are two seasons of mackerel — spring and autumn. The
autumn mackerel are the best. Those of the spring appear about the middle of May, very lean,
and vanish in two or three weeks."

2. DRAILING FOR MACKEREL.

Captain Atwood writes: "In my boyhood, when I caught my first mackerel, nobody thought
of jigging them. We then took them in the same way as bluefish are caught. My first experience
in mackerel fishing took place, when I was a little boy, about 1815. I went out with two old men.
One of them fished in the stern of the boat, and when it did not sail fast enough the other and
myself- — I was eight years old at the time — had to row, in order, by the more rapid motion of the
boat, to induce the fish to bite. They would not bite unless the line was towed. Two great long
poles were run out, one just forward, in such a manner that our vessel had the appearance of a
long-armed spider. The poles were straight, and one line was fastened at one part and another
line on the end of the pole, in order to have them separated. This style of fishing continued until
about the time when I began to go to sea, about 1820. Jigging for mackerel then commenced, bait
being thrown overboard, and the fish being thus attracted alongside of the vessel, and this soon
came into general use."

300 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

Capt. James Turner, of Isle au Haufc, Maine, who assures us that as late as 1815 the fishermen
drailed for mackerel, gives the following account of this method of fishing:

"While drailiug, the sails were trimmed in such a manner that, when the helm was partly
down, the vessel would 'jog' along slowly, making a little leeward drift, so that the lines would
trend off at a slight angle from the weather side. Each man had one Hue, the end of which was
attached to the end of a pole that was fastened to the vessel's rail, projecting out about 8 feet at
right angles with the side of the vessel. The fisherman held in his hand a hauliug-liue, which was
attached to the middle of the one fastened to the pole, so that he might know when a fish took the
hook and be able to haul it in.

''About a pound of sheet Jead was wound around the line, a foot above the hook. When the
vessel was engaged in fishing, the man standing forward threw over a small amount of fine bait
(which had previously been chopped with hatchets) occasionally, scattering it along in order to
attract the fish and keep them near the vessel."

The following paragraphs are quoted from an essay in the Fishermen's Memorial and Eecord
Book:

"Trailing was one of the means used to catch mackerel in the olden time, and one of our old
fishermen informs us that when a lad he distinctly remembers of being out in Boston Bay one day in
a boat with his father, when he saw a vessel which looked very strangely to his young eyes, and,
boy-like, he asked his father what sort of craft it was.

'"That's a trailer, my boy, and we'll speak with him,' was the reply.

"They sailed quite near, and they observed that the vessel had outriggers of long poles on
each side, commencing forward at about seventeen feet and tapering off to five feet aft. At the
ends lines were fastened, about twenty fathoms long, with a sinker of four pounds, and hook below.
To each of these lines was attached a bridle, reaching to the side of the vessel, where the fisher-
men stood to feel the bites. This particular vessel was from Hingham, and had been out four
weeks without receiving even a bite, and the skipper said he was going to give it up and go home.

"The present mode of catching mackerel by drifting and tolling with bait did not come into
general use until after 1812. The gear for catching previous to that was a white hempen bob-line,
as it was called, and the style of fishing was termed 'bobbing' mackerel. These lines were some
seven fathoms in length, with a leaden sinker two inches long, and shaped like a thin pea-pod.
At one end was a gauging about a foot long for the hook. Every few minutes off would go the
hook, and extra hooks were always in readiness to replace those lost. This mode continued until
the year 1816, when Abraham Lurvey, of Pigeon Cove, discovered a method of running lead around
the hooks, and which were afterward called jigs. This he kept secret for many mouths. The hooks
then in use were nearly as large as the haddock hooks of to-day. The small lines and fly-lines did
not come into use until about 1823. About this time the gaff was introduced, and was abandoned
after being used some ten years."*

It seems scarcely necessary to discuss more in detail the methods used during the first two
centuries of the mackerel fishery of North America. In the Report of the U. S. Fish Commission
for 1881 there is given a chronological history of the mackerel fishery from its inception to the
present time.

"The mackerel gaff was used to some extent, by the hook aud line fishermen, as late as 1865, and possibly even
since that time.

LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MACKEREL. 301

6.— LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MACKEREL.

1. LEGISLATION IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.

At ail early day in the history of the United States a failure of the mackerel fishery was
apprehended. The following notices of legislation, copies of laws, and newspaper extracts will
serve to give an idea of the state of public opinion at_different periods from 1660 to the present
time :

1660. — Early regulation of the mackerel fishery. — " The commissioners of the United Colonies
recommended to the several General Courts to regulate the mackerel fishery; conceiving that fish
to be the most staple commodity of the country. Few who have not investigated the subject
have at the present day an adequate conception of the importance of this branch of productive
industry."*

1670. — Prohibition of early mackerel fishing by laws of Plymouth Colony. — " Wheras wee haue
formerly seen Great Inconvenience of taking mackerell att vnseasouable times wherby there
encrease is greatly demiuished and that it hath bine proposed to the Court of the Massachusetts
that some course might be taken for preventing the same and that they have lately drawne vp an
order about the same this Court doth enacte and order that henceforth uoe makerell shalbe caught
except for spending while fresh before the first of July Annually on penaltie of the losse of the
same the one halfe to the Informer and the other halfe to the vse of the Collonie ; and this order
to take place from the 20th of this Instant June."t

1684. — Prohibition of mackerel seining. — "In 1680, Cornet Robert Stetson, of Scituate, and
Nathaniel Thomas, of Marshtield, hired the Cape fishery for bass and mackerel. In 1684, the
court enacted a law 'prohibiting the seining of mackerel in any part of the colony'; and the same
year leased the Cape fishery for bass and mackerel to Mr. William Clark for seven years, at £30
per annum.

"Subsequently to 1700 it is certain that the mackerel were very abundant in Massachusetts
Bay. It was not uncommon for a vessel to take a thousand barrels in a season. The packing, as
it is called, was chiefly done at Boston and Plymouth."!

1692. — Repeal of prohibitory laws in Massachusetts.— "And be it further enacted and declared,
That the clause in the act, entituled 'An Act for the Regulating and Encouragement of Fishery',
that henceforth no inackeril shall be caught (except for spending whilst fresh), before the first of
July annually, be and hereby is fully repealed and made void, anything therein to the contrary
notwithstanding. [Passed February 8, lG92-'3.]"§

1692. — AN ACT for the regulating and encouragement of fishery.

"Upon consideration of great damage and scandal, that hath happened upon the account of
pickled fish, although afterwards dried and hardly discoverable, to the great loss of many, and
also an ill reputation on this province, and the fishery of it —

"Be it therefore enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives, convened in General Court or
Assembly, and it is enacted by the authority of the same,

"[SECT. 1.] That no person or persons whatsoever, after the publication hereof, shall save or

•Freeman's Hist, of Cape Cod, Boston, 1862, vol. i, p. 239.

t Plymouth Colony Records, vol. xi, 1623-1682 Laws, p. 228.

J Deane's History of Scituate, Mass.

§ Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. i, 1692-1714, p. 102.

302 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

salt any sort of fish (that is intended to be dried) in cask or fattes, or any other way than what
hath formerly and honestly been practised for the making of dry fish, on penalty of forfeiting all
such fish so salted and pickled, whether it be green or drye; the one moiety thereof to the use of
the poor of the town where the offence is committed, and the other moiety to the person that shall
sue for the same.

"And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid,

" [SECT. 2.] That henceforth no mackrel shall be caught (except for spending whilst fresh)
before the first of July annually; and no person or persons whatsoever, after the publication hereof,
shall at any time or place within this province take, kill, or hale ashore any mackrel, with any
sort[s] of nets or sa'ens whatsoever, on penalty of forfeiting all such mackrel so taken or haled
ashore, and also all such nets or sa'ens which were so imployed; the one-half thereof to their majes-
ties towards the support of this their government, and the other half to him or them that shall
inform and sue for the same. And all justices are hereby impowered, and required to grant their
warrants for the seizing of the same and the aforesaid forfeitures, or the receiving of the like value
in current money of this province. [Passed November 26, 1692.J" *

1702. — Re-enactment of prohibitory laws.

"AN ACT for the reviving and re-enacting a clause in the act intituled 'An act for the regulating anil encouragement
of fishery' that hath been for some time repealed by the General Assembly.

"Whereas, in the second paragraph of the said act it is enacted 'that henceforth no mackerel
shall be caught (except for spending whilst fresh) before the first of July annually'; and whereas
the said clause, by an act afterwards made and passed by the general assembly [1692-3 Feb. 8.],
was repealed and made void, which said repeal and the unseasonable catching of mack[a]rel there-
upon hath been experienced to be very prejudicial to this province, — Be it therefore enacted by
His Excellency the Governour, Council and Representatives [convened] in General Court or Assem-
bly, and it is enacted by the authority of the same, That the said clause above-recited shall be and
is hereby revived and re-enacted, and that henceforth no person or persons whatsoever shall pre-
sume to catch or cause to be caught any mackfajrel, (except for spending whilst fresh,) before the
first of July annually, on penalty of forfeiting all the mack[a]rel so caught contrary to the true
intent and meaning of this act, and twenty shillings per barrel over and above for each barrel of
the same; the one-half of the said forfeiture to be to her majesty for and towards the support of
this her government, and the other half to him or them that shall inform and sue for the same in
any of her majesty's courts of record within this province. [Passed November 11, 1702; signed by
the Governor and published November 21, 1702.]" t

2. PROTESTS AGAINST GIGGING AND SEINING IN THE PRESENT CENTURY.

*

1838-9. — Protests against gigging. — " The Boston Journal protests strongly against the bar-
barous method of taking mackerel called 'gigging,'| and urges that it is not only liable to censure
on the score of humanity, but it is also impolitic, and that if this destructive method of fishing is
generally continued a few years longer it will break up the fishery. We have for a year or two
past enterta'ned a similar opinion, and probably the complaints now so frequently made by the fish-
ermen that, though mackerel are plenty, they 'will not bite,' is owing to the custom of 'gigging.'

" Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Vol. 1, 1692-1714, p. 71. Province Laws, 1692-3.
Chap. XXXII.

tl&id., p. 507.

JThe method of capture called "gigging"here is undoubtedly gaffing, since a fish-gaff is even yet called a"gig"
by some of our fishermen.

LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MACKEREL. 303

There is hardly anything which possesses life that has so little instinct as not to become very shy
under such barbarous inflictions. It is obvious that all which are hooked in this manner are not
taken on board; the gig frequently tears out, and thousands, millions of these fish are lacerated
by these large hooks and afterwards die in the water."*

The following protest appeared in the Gloucester Telegraph, Wednesday, August 7, 1839, it
being a quotation from the Salem Register :

"All the mackerel men who arrive report the scarcity of this fish, and at the same time I
notice an improvement in taking them with nets at Capo~Cod and other places. If this specula-
tion is allowed to go on without being checked or regulated by the government, will not these fish
be as scarce on the coast as penguins are, which were so plenty before the Revolutionary war that
our fishermen could take them with their gaffs? But during the war some mercenary and cruel
individuals used to visit the islands on the eastern shore where were the haunts of these birds for
breeding, and take them for the sake of the fat, which they procured, and then let the birds go.
This proceeding finally destroyed the whole race. It is many years since I have seen or heard
one except on the coast of Cape Horn. In 1692 the General Court passed an act prohibiting the
taking of mackerel before the first day of July annually, under penalty of forfeiting the fish so
taken. In 1702 this act was revived with additional penalties— besides forfeiting the fish and
apparatus for taking, 20 shillings per barrel, and none to be taken with seines or nets.

"A FISHERMAN.
"MARBLEIIEAD, August 3, 1839."

1859. — Protests against the use of seines. — "A petition is now before the committee on fisheries,
in the House, to abolish the catching of mackerel in seines on our coast. As mackerel can now
be caught only in this way, and many of our people are interested in this business, it becomes
highly important that any such stupid petition should be prostrated at once. Mr. Gifford has
asked for a delay in the petition, and Mr. Atwood has written to show the nature of the business
upon our coast. One thing is certain, if we do not take the mackerel in seines or nets we ehall
get none at all." t

1870-1882.— Opposition to tJie purse seine.— Since the general adoption of the purse-seine no
year has passed without a considerable amount of friction between fishermen using this engine of
wholesale destruction in the capture of mackerel and menhaden and those engaged in fishing with
other forms of apparatus. Petitions to Congress and State legislatures have been made from both
sides, and in some instances laws have been passed by State legislatures prohibiting the use of
menhaden seines within certain specified tracts of water, such as the Chesapeake Bay. These
laws, while especially antagonistic to menhaden fishing, were aimed chiefly at the purse-seine as
a means of capture, and would doubtless have been equally prohibitory of mackerel fishing with
purse-seines had this been attempted within the limits. In 1878 a delegation of fishermen from
Portland, Me., and Gloucester, Mass., visited Washington for the purpose of securing the passage
of a law prohibiting the use of purse-seines in the mackerel fishery. In 1882 the clamors of shore
fishermen, especially on the coast of New Jersey, led to the appointment of a committee of the
United States Senate, which took considerable testimony regarding the effect of the purse-seine
upon the menhaden fishery, and incidentally upon other fisheries of the coast. The labors of this
committee will probably result in the recommendation of some form of legislation which will apply,
in part at least, to the mackerel fishery.

In the summer of 1882 a serious commotion was caused among the mackerel fishermen by the

* Newburyport Herald, Gloucester Telegraph, September 23, 1838.
t Proviiiceton Banner, February, 1859.

304 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

announcement of the intention of a number of menhaden fishermen to employ their steamers and
nets in the mackerel fishery. It was the impression among these men that the mackerel were to be
used for the manufacture of oil and guano, but this has been denied by Uapt. David T. Church and
other representative men, who, reasonably enough, state that they could not afford to use so valu-
able a fish for this purpose, and who claim that they have an undoubted right to use their steamers
in the capture of mackerel for sale fresh in the markets and for pickling.

As a matter of record we reproduce the following paragraphs from an editorial in the Cape
Ann Advertiser, July 14, 1882 :

"It is not a difficult matter to anticipate the result if this class of steamers engage in this
branch of the fisheries. There is no reason to doubt their ability to catch almost or quite as many
mackerel as they have formerly caught menhaden. Several of them are large, capable of carry-
ing 2,800 barrels of fish in bulk. These carry a double gang of men, and apparatus to correspond.
During moderate weather, when mackerel generally school the best, and sailing vessels find it diffi-
cult to move, these steamers can play around the fleet of schooners, catch almost every fish that
shows itself, aud carry them away to be used, not for food-fish as they were intended, but for oil
and guano, to enrich a few men at the expense of many.

"If the steamers were to engage in the mackerel fishery, selling their catch for food, and were
obliged to spend the requisite time for dressing them, which would debar them from an overcatch
and carrying them to market, thus placing them on somewhat equal footing with the other
fishermen, there could be no reasonable objection to their employment; but it certainly seems, in
view of this startling innovation, that some decided action should be taken by ' the powers that
be' to prevent the catch of mackerel for the purpose of manufacturing oil and guano. They are
altogether too valuable for such a purpose, and the risk of breaking up the schools and driving
them almost entirely from our waters, as has been the case with menhaden, is altogether too great.

" Unless some action is taken, aud taken at once, and stringent laws enacted, we may confi-
dently look forward to the destruction in a few years of one of the important industries of New
England and the permanent and serious injury of large communities which now derive a consid-
erable part of their support from the mackerel fishery."

7.— STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

1. STATISTICS OF THE FISHING FLEET AND PRODUCTS OF THE FISHERY IN 1880.

BY K. E. EARLL.

From the earliest settlement of the country the mackerel fisheries have been extensively pros-
ecuted by a large number of people living along the New England coast, as well as by many of the
inhabitants of the British Provinces. The catch has varied greatly from time to time, and seasons
of extreme plenty have often been followed by those of remarkable scarcity. Various theories have
been advanced to account for this fluctuation. Many have been inclined to attribute it to overfis'h-
ing, or to the apparatus employed in the fishery, while others claim that the movements of the fish
are affected by natural causes, such as temperature, currents, the presence or absence of food, and
the like, over which man has little or no control. Whatever the causes that influence the move-
ments of the fish the fact of great variation in the abundance of the species from time to time
remains.

In 1804, according to the returns of the various fish inspectors, 8,079 barrels of mackerel were

STATISTICS OF THE MACKEKEL FISHEBY. 305

packed in Massachusetts, while in 1814 only 1,349 barrels were put up. In 1831 the quantity was
increased to 383,658, this being the largest amount ever inspected in the State. A period of scarc-
ity followed, and between 1839 and 1845 the inspection returns show an average of only 67,674
barrels annually. About 1860 the fish were again abundant, and for eight years the quantity
packed averaged 246,877 barrels. This period of plenty was in turn followed by one of scarcity,
which culminated in 1877, at which time only 105,017 barrels were inspected, and the fishery was
practically a failure, resulting in great loss both to fishermen and capitalists. Fortunately this
condition of affairs is at an end, and the fishery is again in a prosperous condition, the catch of
the New England fishermen at present, if we include the-fish sold fresh, being larger than at any
time since the origin of the fishery.

In 1880 the New England mackerel fishermen met with marked success, though those of the
British Provinces were not so fortunate. By the middle of March a number of the Maine and
Massachusetts vessels sailed for the South to engage in the spring fishery, and by the 20th of the
following month the last of the fleet, which consisted of sixty-four sail, averaging 65.66 tons each,
were under way. The season opened with a haul of 25,000 mackerel taken off the Virginia capes
on the 2d of April. These were carried to New York, where they met with a ready sale at good
figures. From that time mackerel were taken frequently, the fleet working northward with the
fish as the season advanced, reaching Long Island about the last of April, and Cape Cod a few
weeks later. The season was not a very satisfactory one for the Southern fleet, as the catch was
small, and the fish were of poor quality, a majority of the vessels engaged making comparatively
light stool s while many of them scarcely paid expenses. As the summer approached, the fishing
improved g eatly, the fish increasing both in number and quality, and the Southern fleet was
joined by a large number of vessels from the various fishing ports. Later, as the vessels arrived
from their trips to the codfish banks, many were fitted out to engage in the mackerel fishery, and
by the 1st of August the fishing was at its height, the fleet numbering four hundred and sixty-
eight sail, averaging a trifle over 50 tons apiece. Of this number three hundred and forty-three
were provided with purse-seines for engaging in the off-shore fisheries, while one hundred and
twenty-five fished with hook or net chiefly on the iu-shore grounds. The value of this fleet, includ-
ing the fishing gear and outfits, reached $2,122,360, and five thousand and forty-three men were
employed. A little later in the season about twenty -five of the vessels proceeded to the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence in the hope of meeting with better success ; but few fish were seen, and the ven-
ture resulted disastrously to a large majority of them, many failing to pay expenses, while a few
returned without having caught a fish. These vessels on their return at once joined the home
fleet, and, meeting with good success, most of them were enabled to make good the loss which they
had previously sustained.

About the 1st of July an unprecedentedly large body of mackerel entered the Gulf of Maine,
many of them visiting the shore-waters, entering the various harbors arid coves, where they
remained for some weeks. During their stay in these in-shore waters thousands of men and boys
engaged in their capture from small boats, and in many localities a majority of the male popula-
tion participated in the fishery to a greater or less extent. The pound-nets along the southern
coast of New England were peculiarly successful, while large quantities were taken in the traps
and weirs between Cape Cod and Penobscot Bay. Probably not less than 10,000 people along
various poitions of the coast of Maine were engaged in mackerel hooking during some portion of
the season, though many of them fished chiefly for pleasure, while others caught only limited
quantities for home supply. About 3,500 followed the business regularly for some time, many of
them realizing considerable profit from the work. In Massachusetts a similar condition of affairs

SEC V 20

30(3

I1ISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE F1SHEK1ES.

existed, and thousands of persons engaged in tbe fishery from small boats to a greater or less
extent, fully 2,000 fishing extensively for profit.

Most of the fish taken by both the vessel and boat fishermen were of uniform size and of excel-
lent quality. Few extremely large ones were secured, while there was also a notable absence of
"tinkers." Over two- thirds of the catch were branded as "twos," many of them going as "extras."
During the season, which lasted till the 1st of December, nearly 132,000,000 pounds of mackerel
were taken. Of this quantity the Massachusetts fishermen caught 95,000,000 pounds, and those
of Maine secured 31,000,000 pounds, the bulk of the remainder being taken by the citizens of New
Hampshire and Connecticut. Over 75 per cent, of the entire catch was salted, about 22,000,000
pounds were sold frcsb for food, nearly 5,000,000 pounds were used for canning, and the rest were
sold for bait or for fertilizing purposes. The value of the catch, as placed upon the market, was
$2,600,534.

A. — Table showing tjie number of vessels and men employed in the mackerel fishery.

Ports.

Total.

Vessels engaged in the mackerel fish-
ery only.

Vessels engaged iu tho mackerel and
other fisheries.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

t

•
t>

Value of gear
and outfit.

8

3

Vessels.

Tonnage.

t

1

Valoe of sear
and outfit.

1

Vessels.

Tonnage.

a

•

>

Value of gear
aud outfit.

d
9

*

Grand total

MAIN'S.

468

23, 551. 64

$1, 027, 910

$1, 094, 450

5,043

235

15, 489. 49

$675, 195

$699, 900

3,134

233

8, 062. 15

$352, 715

$391, 550

1,909

*1
1
2
4
1
3
18
1
1
14
3
3
1
3
14
5
1
3
5
13
4
2
1
G
13
5
1
46
1

52.49
18.11
41.79
178. 43
10.50
115. 82
454.01
57 95
11.43
664.40
52.84
06.73
20.48
161.54
451.99
52.22
30.84
95.45
64.55
217. 02
90.64
29.59
16.73
86.25
773. 89
305. 13
53.59
1,940.56
6.88

2,000
150
130
8,200
250
4,100
12,485
3,000
600
23, 500
1,300
1,000
375
4,000
17, 600
1,250
6,000
4,150
1,400
7,625
3,850
350
300
2,930
29, COO
13, 500
800
83, 000
250

2,900
1,100
2,200
8,000
650
4,250
19, 150
2,500
800
30, 500
2,100
2,300
700
8,500
22, 800
3,000
2,000
4,600
5,000
17, 000
5,150
2,100
1,100
5,850
37, 000
13, 400
2,800
98, 100
600

13
4
14
45
3
25
105
13
4
137
15
17
4
41
107
16
11
26
15
41
26
5
4
25
171
68
12
434
2

1

62.49

2,000

2,900

13

1
2
4

18.11
41.79
178. 43

150
130
8,200

1,100
2,200
8,000

4
14
45

C ranborry Island ...
Bluebill

1
1
5
1

10.50
67.66
262.61
67.95

250
3,000
8,900
3,000

650
2,900
12, 000
2,600

3
14
54
13

Brooklin

2
13

48.16
191. 40

1,100
3,585

1,350

7,150

11

51

Sedgwick

1
4
3
3

1

11.43

65.91
52.84
66.73
20.48

600
1,150
1,300
1,000
375

800
2,800
2,100
2,300
700

4
11
15
17
4

Swan's Island

10

598.49

22, 350

27,700

126

Belfast

Camden

3
6

1C1.54
338. 18

4,000
13, 500

8,500
18, 000

41

72

North Haven

8
5

113.81
52.22

4, liO
1,250

4,800
3,000

35

16

1
1
1
1
1
1

30.84
41.58
9.06
14.16
43.96
12.84

6,000
2,000
450
1,500
1,600
200

• 2, 000
2,200
1,100
2,500
2,000
1,050

11
11
2
2
10
2

2
4
12
3
1
1
6
6
4
1
28
1

115

53.87
55.49
203. 46
46.68
16.75
10.73
86.25
258. 51
244. 22
53.59
834. 58
6.88

2,150
950
6,125
2,250
150
300
2,950
8,000
12, 000
800
38, 000
250

2,400
3,900
14, 500
3,150
1,050
1,100

5, 8;o

11,000
Jo, 5CO
2,800
42, 600
600

15
13
39
16
3
4
25
58
55
12
205
2

Matinicus Island . . .

Bristol

Booth Bay

8
1

515. 38
60.91

21. 600
1,500

26, 000
2,900

113

13

Portland

18

1, 105. 98

45,000

55, 500

229

Kennebnnkport
Total

176

6, 122. 45

233, 715

306, 150

1,403

6t

:;, :;si. 1:1

i:i(i, «f,o

170, 400

729

2, 738. 32

96, 865

135, 750

1174

NEW HAMl-MIIUK.

11

567. 53

29, 300

25, 700

113

3

292. 09

15, 500

10,500

47

8

275. 44

13, 800

15, 200

66

* This vessel, though owned at Eastport, is chartered and run by Portland capitalists, and therefore more properly belongs to the Port-
land fleet.

STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

A. — Table showing the number of vessels and men employed in the mackerel fmlicn/— Continued.

307

Ports.

Total.

Vessels engaged in the mackerel fish*
ery only.

Vessels engaged in tlie mackerel and
other fishciies.

Vessels.

|

a

ri

d

3

I

Value of gear
and oullit.

d

V

%

Vessels,

Tonnage.

d

>

Value of gear
and outfit.

c
v
^.

Vessels.

V

tc

^

1
o
H -

i

>

Value of jrrar
and outfit.

d

5

N

MASSACHOF.l 1 >.

NV\\ Uuryport
Kssex

11
2
10
113
2
3
12
25
2

6
4
34
1
5
2

e

19
18
3
1

551.53
19ft, H

487. 17
0, 707. 79
141.29
107. 13
559. 85
1, 612. 28
140.53
443. 56
157.27
2, 509. 55
65.40
343.19
150.80
421.77
1,101.53
755. 24
142.58
5:.. 63

$24. 150

n, MO

27, 000
318, 745
5,200
8,300
30, 400
50, 700
5,400
22, 000
5,700
10!), 450
2, 200
13, 600
7,000
22,900
50,250
30, 500
5,400
2,500

$30, 500

e;ooo

26,900
310,900
6,000
7,800
31, 200
73, 400
6,400
19, 200
10, 000
102, 900
3,100
15, 000
6,200
18,400
43, 300
31, 200
6,400
1,000

123

30
111

1,394
26
31
142
336
28
86
36
470
14
74
29
89
244
185
28
12

6
2
3
60
2

351. 96
156. 91
191.26
4, 000. S2
141.29

$11, 650
9,500
10, 000
183, 345
5,200

$18, 000
6,000
8,700
190, 300
6,000

70
30
40
810
26

5

202. 57

$12, 500

$12,000

53

7
53

265. 91
2, 707. 47

17,000
135, 400

18, 200
120, 600

76

5S4

Salt-in

Mai lik-hcad

3

12
8

1»7. 13
.ViiP. X5
344. 51

8,300
30, 400
9,350

7,800
31,200
19, 000

31
142
91

Swampscutt

Boston
Hiugbam

17
2

6

1, 267. 77
140. 53

44::. :.«

41,350
5,400
22, 000

54,400
6,400
19, 200

245
28
86

Colinsset

I)uxbury

4

157. 27

5,700

10, 000

36

Wellrteet

34
1
5
2
5
12
12

2, 569. 55
65.40
34S. 19
150.80
376. 82
878. 80
547.42

109,450
2,200
13, 600
7,000
19, 800
43, 500
24, 850

102, 900
3,100
15, 000
6,200
16,0(0
37, 200
22, 800

470
14
74
29
79
191
132

Truro

',

Provincetou u
Orleans

Chatham

1

7
6
3
1

44.94
222. 73
207.82
142. 56
55.63

3,100
6,750
5,650
5,400
2,500

2,400
6,100
8,400
6,400
1,000

10
53
53

28
12

1,169

K:u n stable

F.iii Ilavrii

Total

CONNECTICUT.

New Loudou

7!l Hi,C73.98

750, 895

755, COO

i, 49.1

69

11,025.59

508, 845

512,200

,324

10 5,048.39

242, 050

243, COO

2

187. 68

14, 000

6,800

34

2

187.68

14, 000

6,800

34

B.— Table showing the mackerel fishing .fit <•/ of tin; United States, classified by States, according to fishing grounds."

State.

(Jape Hatteras to Gulf of
Maine, inclusive.

Cape Hatteras to Gulf of
Saint Lawrence, inclusive.

Block Island.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

Maine ,

20

1, 288. 70

264

3

215. 67

41

New Hampshire

38

2, 513. 02

528

3

178. 43

41

12

201. 82

59

Connecticut

Total

58

3, 801. 72

792

6

394. 10

82

12

201. S2

59

State.

Gulf of Maine.

Gulf of Maine and Gulf of
Saint Lawrence.

Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Total.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

Vessels.

Tonnage.

Men.

14G
11
180

4, 197. 09
567.53

11, 19.".. Hi

1,005
113

5

2S2. 9li

66

2

138. 03

27

11

279

6,122.45
567. 53
10, 073. 98
187.68

1, 403
113
3. 491!
84

New Han.j.sliire

24

2

1, 580. 59
187.08

308

16

1, 004. 52

201

Connecticut

Total

343

15, 960. 22

3, 474

31

2, 051. 23

408

18

1, 142. 55

228

468

23,551.64

5.043

•The figures for Massachusetts represent the condition of the fleet for 1879. The fleets for the other States arc shown for 1880. Dnriu"
the last-named year not over twenty-five American vessels visited the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, some of these remaining only a few weeks. "

308

HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

C.— Table showing the mackerel fishing fleet of the United States, classified by States, according to I'ind of apparatus wed.

State.

Total.

Vessels using Hue.

Vessels using net.

Vessels using line and
purae-seiue.

Vessels using purse-
seiue.

Vessels.

|

•

I

t

3

Vessels.

Tonnage.

d

V

a

Vessels.

<D

to

a
g
H

i

$

Vessels.

QJ

bfl

C3
P

n

0

H

d

%

Vessels.

«>
fcu

a
a
o
H

d

o

3

176
11
279
2

6, 122. 45
567.53
16, 673. 98
187. 68

1,403
113
3,493
34

51

773.63

205

40

562. 41

137

85
11
240
2

4, 7SO. 41
567. 53
15, 437. 67
187. 68

1,001
113
3,202
34

New Hampshire
Massachusetts

30

900. 06

211

4

78.61

28

5

257. G*

52

Total

468

23, 551. C4

5,043

81

1, 073. 89

410

44

611.02

165

5

257. 64

53

338

20, 979. 29

4,410

D. — Table showing, by States, the quantity of mackerel taken by the New England fishermen in 1880, and the value of the same

in the condition in which they were placed upon the market.

State.

Total.

Disposition of catch.

Pounds of round
mackerel taken.

Value of mack-
erel as sold.

Pounds used for
pickling.

Pounds used for
canning.

Pounds used
fresli for food.

Pounds used
fresh for bait.

3*

*£.

Hi

C £3

g*3

£

31,694,455
2, 573, 000
93, 528, 900
89, 000
1, 303, 900
750, 000

659, 304
48, 181
3, 858, 342*
1,669

24. 976
14, 062

27, 3-1?, 000
2, 379, GOO
72, 153, 900

1, 252, 455

3, 000, 000
19.'!, 400
18, 170, 000
89, 000
37, 000
75(1, 000

100, 000

New Hampshire

3, 705, 000»

1, 000, 000

500, 000

Bhode Island

1, 266, 900

(?)

Total

131, 939, 255

$2, 606, 534

103, 142, 400

4, 957, 455

22, 239, 400

1, 100, 000

500, UOO

•Including hoth the fresh and salt mackerel used for canning.

As already intimated, there was a great falling off in the Canadian mackerel fisheries during
the year, the bulk of the catch, which amounted to over 70,000,000 pounds, according to the
Canadian Fishery Eeport,* being taken by the shore fishermen of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward
Island. Of the entire quantity 233,669 barrels were pickled. In the Canadian report the average
price of the salt mackerel is given as $9.25 per barrel, but as the fish were much inferior in quality
to the American catch these figures are evidently incorrect. Statistics show that 105,730 bar-
rels of the above, equal to nearly one-half of the catch, were marketed in the United States (and
it is fair to presume that these were of average quality), where they were ordinarily sold at lower
figures than the fish taken by the New England fleet. If we suppose the Canadian fish to be equal
to those taken on our own shores (a supposition which is hardly warranted), the value of the catch,
as given by the Canadian authorities, must still bo reduced by $818,662, as the average price of
the New England fish during the season was only $5.75 per barrel.

* Supplement No. 2 | to the Eleventh Annual Report of the | Minister of Marine and Fisheries | for the year

1880. ===== Fisheries Statements | for the year | 1880. Ottawa: | Printed by MacLean, Roger &, Co., Wellington

street. | 1881.

STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

309

The following table shows in detail the extent of the eatch for the several Provinces :

Table showing the quantity and value of the mackerel taken in the Dominion of Canada in 1880, as shown by the Canadian

Fishery Report.

Grand total.

Pickled mackerel.

Canned mackerel.

s|

1

B

M

1 "

p<

'S

p.

1

s

s

1 i

II

Provinces,

2

5>

ID

1

e-i

a
ft

A

a
I

£

J!

&g«

C3

— C*

i* x a

s. a

e.^

•o

t

«g

o

&

53

'S

*~ A

^

S ~

i- — ^

«

6

s ^ « o

B

3

g

B

a

•a s o S.

•3 = a

g

a

*%

of is

h

^

>

Z>

^

s

•^

A

Ontario

292

Qnebeo >

1, 505, 100

40, 878

28, 818

5,017

8.15

40, 878

5

pp.53, 76,
100, 118.

i

37 990 080

1 270 368

731 184

126 432

10 00

40 390

15

6 048

165

5 994 640

206 464

119 906

19 650

10 00

66 497

15

9 964

215

Prince Edward Island

24, 781, 440

661 256

475 503

82 570

8 00

G60 560

6 960

10

696

249

British Columbia

269

Total

70, 271, SCO

$2, 178, 966

$1, 355, 441

233, 669

$9.25

$2, 162, 258

*113, 707

$0. 147—

$16, 708

* In estimating the pounds of fresh mackerel, required and the value of prepared products at New England prices the cans shown here
are regarded as 1-pound cans.

In the tables from -which the above summary has been compiled no allowance seems to have
been made for local consumption. A rough estimate of the amount used in this way would be
18,000,000 pounds, making a total catch for the Provinces of about 88,000,000 pounds, worth, at
prices current in the United States, not far from $1,620,000.

Mackerel are not abundant in the waters of the Newfoundland coast, and few are taken by the
fishermen. The returns for the year ending July 31, 1881, show that only 181 barrels were
exported. This quantity, which equals 54,300 pounds of fresh fish, doubtless represents the bulk
of the mackerel taken, as few are consumed locally. Allowing an equal quantity for local con-
sumption, we have only about 110,000 pounds, valued at $1,650, taken by the islanders.

By combining the catch of the New England, Canadian, and Newfoundland fishermen we
have the total product of the mackerel fishery for the Western Atlantic in 1880. This is found to
be about 220,000,000 pounds of round mackerel, valued at $4,228,000. This value represents the
fish as they are first placed upon the market. If the value to the consumer is desired the figures
must be nearly doubled, to include the transportation charges and the profits of the various mid-
dlemen who handle them.

2. STATISTICS OF THE NEW ENGLAND MACKEREL FLEET FOR 1879, 1880, 1881.

BY W. A. WILCOX.

Statement showing the number of vessels and their catch of salt mackerel in the Say of Saint Lawrence and American shore

mackerel fisheries for the season of 1879.
[Compiled from annual report of Boston Fiah Bureau for 1879.J

Torts.

Vessels.

Barrels of mackerel.

Bay.

Shore.

Total.

Bay.

Shore.

Total.

MASSACHUSETTS.

6

2

8
85
35
6
22
us vesse

8
8
111
39
6
22
la packe

721

870

1,599

26
4

7, 125
1,310

47, 085
48, 103
4,900
17,200
dition to 1

54,210
49, 413
4,900
17, 200
ome fleet.

Boston t

Cohasset

Wellfleet

* Vessels packed out away from home. t Numero

d out in at

310

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

nneut iliottiixj tlm number of vessels and their catch of salt mackerel, $~c. — Continued.

Ports.

Vessels.

Barrels of mackerel.

Bay.

Shore.

Total.

Bay.

Shore.

Total.

MASSACHUSETTS— Continued.

5
7
11
10
2

5
7
11
11
2

4 354

4,354
5,688
10,938
7,530
301

s, ess

10, 938
7,290
301

1

240

Total . . ...

37

193

230

9,396

146, 729

156, 125

M:\V IIA.'ll'SHIRE.

9

9

6,225

6,225

UAIM:.

3
3
6
9
60

:i

3

:

65

1,020
1,278
3,951

50, 600

1,020
1,278
3,951
52, 000

North Haven t

Booth Bay

Portland

5

1,400

Total

5
42

81

283

86

325

1,400
10, 796

5«, 849
209, 803

58, 249
220, 598

Total for New England

* Vessels packed out away from home. t Vessels mostly packed out away from home.

Statement showing the number of vessels and their catch of salt mackerel in the Bay of Saint Laioeiice, tlie Few England shore,

and the Southern mackertl fisheries for the season of 1880.
[Compiled from annual report of Boston Fish Bureau for 1P80.]

Torts.

Vessels.

Total number
of crews.

Barrels of mackerel.

EemarliS.

>>

«

m

4
1
15
5
1

£§£

•?"a§

^-

1

1

1

1

rs
fe|l

9!

A

1

J

1

MASSACHL'SHTTS.

5
5
61
31

3
1

34

6
20
3
5
6
3

12
7
110
36

7
31
7
C
11
10
2

110
96
1,650
530

100
450
105
87
180
160
30

738

738
756
129, 620
54, 002

6,846
29, 237
5,068
7,230
13,838
8,151
500

3, 885 barrels packed at other ports.
6, 269 barrels packed at other ports.
Includes other than home fieri.

Several vessels packed in addition to
home fleet.

All packed from home.
All packed from home.

Vessels partly packed away from home.
Many of them packed away from home.
Part packed from home.
1,240 barrels packed away from home.

Many vessels in addition to home fleet
included.

Tuspreted barrels.

50
2,189
2,158

390
30

706
124, 477
51.844

5,856
28, 707
4, 663
6,230
12, 838
7, 61)1
500

2,954

600
500
205
l.OCO
1,000
460

Well licet

6

5
4

1
5

7
2

Total

32

r.'6

81

239

3,498

4,817

244, 450

B,7U

255, 986

MAIM.

2

2
2
3
1
12
5

6
2

5

4

1

10
4
3
6
16
5
1
50

145
56
39

90
235
70
15

730

1 4°1

1,421
1,400
4,000
3,100

1,480
700

Booth Bav

3,300
3 100

Si-d"w'<-k

Portland

50

2,484

78,933

76 417

Total

2

75

18

95

1,380

L>,484

81, 75t

2,106

86. 338

NKW IIAMI-MIII.'!:.

4

4

8

110

6,750

600

7,350

Total for New England*

34

205

1U3

342

4,988

7, 301 332, 954

9,419

3lfl, 647

•The New England shore licet mentioned above arc only the vessels that fish nowhere else; to wliii-h maybe added I he Southern and North
leete after they returned from their unsuccessful cruise in those waters, making the total shore fleet three hundred and forty-two sail.
[In the annual report for 1881 some corrections are made in the returns of 1880: Shore fleet, 201 ; Southern fleet, 92 ; total fleet, 327 ; total

i I 77S 1

Bay fleets
[In
crews, 4,778.]

STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

311

Statement showini/ the number of vessels and their catch of salt mackerel in the Hay of Saint Lawrence, llie Xcw En'jlaix.'. shore,

and the Southern mackerel fisheries for the season of 1881.

[Compiled from annual report of Boston Fish Bureau for 1881.]

Port3.

Vessels.

Total number
of crewa.

Ban els of mackerel.

Eemarks.

§>

H

!*§£

SI!
s

.3
1

i

o
H

£

rt

B

New
England
shore.

South.

*«
"o
H

MASSACHUSETTS.

1

3

40
5

4
0
106
21
7
36
8

59
65
1,548
296
100
508
1'JO

—

-

»
; Total catch 3,590 barrels.
t
t

5 sail packed at Boston.
3 sail packed at Boston.
Weir caught.

6,100 barrels landed at Booth Bay addi-
tional.

1,536 barrels were caught.

{Southern catch landed at New York
and Philadelphia.

t

t
{6,100 barrels of those landed by Har-
wich sail.

t

t

:

Inspected barrels.

6

59
15

7
33
8

2&0
120, 597
63, 768
8,013
30, 977
6,175
170
8,940
4,388

2,646

220

290
129, 637
69, 6G9
8,013
31, 477
6,175
170
10, 410
9,888

3,546

220

1
1

40
290

9,000
5,611

"Wellfleet

3

500

Chatham

1

4
9

3

5
9

N«
1

75
146

45
13

1,470
5,500

900

1
130

Total

3

330

73

200

2,975

240, 184

22, 981

2C9, 495

MAINE.

10

1

3
5
4

8

1
35

2
1

5
9

12
2

3
10
13

8

1
35

180
28

39
120
185
120

15

490

1,700
223

1,700
2,503

2,280

Northhaven

500
14, 259
5,000

500
15, 059
5,000

Booth Bay

800

Southport

Sedgwick

Portland

140

91, 860

92, 000

Total

2,723

07

17

84

1,177

140

113,899

110, 762

NEW UAMrSUIllB.

5

3

8

106

3,700

1,700

5,400

Tut ,il for New England

3

202

93

298

4,258

470

363, 783

27, 404

391, 657

•None packed at home port, t Numerous vessels from other ports included. {Part of the catch landed at Boston and Portland.
Amount given packed at home ports.

NOTE.— The New England shore fleet mentioned above are only the vessels that fished nowhere else, to which may be added the
Southern and North Bay fleets, after they returned from their unsuccessful cruise in those waters, making the total shore fleet two hundred
and ninety -eight sail.

3. STATISTICS OF THE MACKEREL FISHERY BY AMERICAN VESSELS IN THE
GULF OF SAINT LAWRENCE, 1873 TO 1882.

By COL. DAVID W. Low.

The following statement shows the extent of the mackerel fishery as pursued by American ves-
sels in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for the years 1873 to 1881. The number of vessels and their catch
in the years 1873 to 1877, inclusive, is compiled from the reports of the collector of customs at Port
Mulgrave, Nova Scotia; the number of vessels in 1878 and 1879 is from the same authority; the
catch for 1878 and subsequent years and the number of vessels in 1880 and 1881 are from reports of
the Boston Fish Bureau. The estimates of value and the catch within the three-mile limit are from
authentic sources. The value includes the labor of crews "messing" some of the fish by soak-
ing, scraping, and cutting off their heads, thus increasing their market value. The quantity of
mackerel caught within the three-mile limit, one-third of the total catch, is considered by compe-

312

HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

tent authorities to be a very liberal estimate. The unusual number of vessels in the Gulf in 1878
was caused by false reports and telegrams of great quantities of mackerel there. American vessels
in the Gulf mackerel fishery must average 400 barrels of mackerel each at $10 per barrel to pay
the expenses of outfit, insurance, depreciation of vessel, crew's share, and master's commission.

The mackerel fishery by American vessels in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence during the years 1873 to 1881, inclusive.

Tear.

|

a

Catch in sea-packed
barrels.

Shrinkage in same,
one-eighth.

Packed barrels.

Value when sold in
United States per
barrel, packingoff.

Total value in
United States of
whnle catch when
suld.

Number of ban-els
caught inside
three-mile limit,
liberal estimate.

Value in United
States of macker-
el caught within
three-mile limit,
liberal estimate.

1873

254

88 012

11 001

77 Oil

$10 46

$805 535

1874

164

C3 078

7 885

55 193

6 95

344 956

18 398

114 987

1875

95

13 006

1 C26

11 380

14 18

161 368

3 793

53 785

1876

64

5 495

687

4 808

11 60

55 773

1 003

18 594

1877

60

8 365

1 046

7 319

11 10

81 241

2 439

27 072

1878

61 923

4 15

20 041

1879

44

10 716

2 50

26 990

1880

34

7 301

7 72

2 433

18 783

1881

3

470

8 50

3 995

156

1 326

1882

1

275

8 50

2,125

95

717

Total

!Hl2

136 IVii

1 795 3''7

78 827

598 4''9

..
7 59

Yearly average catch per vessel, 238.

4. STATISTICS OF INSPECTION OP TICKLED MACKEREL.
BY A. HOWARD CLARK.

The following tables show the quantity of pickled mackerel officially inspected according to
the requirements of the State laws of New England, and also a comparison with the production of
the Canadian mackerel fishery. The methods employed in packing the mackerel and a discussion
of the laws relating to the subject will be found in the section of this report treating of Products
of the Fisheries :

Table showing the number of barrels and rahte of pickled mackerel officially inspected in tlie United States for the years

1831, 1834 to 1838, 1£51, 1864 to 1881.*

•The figures
the State Inspection

Tears.

Massachu-
setts.

Maine.

New Hamp-
shire.

Total quantity and
value.

> 1864 to 1877, from

1831

Jtarrels.
283, 548J
252, 8791
174, 410
138, 157}
110, 740J
329, 244}
274, 357J
256, 796}

231, eoef,

210, 314 A
180, 058JJ
234, 210}

Rarreln.
44, 951 }
40, 661
25, 228
22, 462
24, 312
31, 472
49, 797}
54, 215}
44, 62?i
33, 675}
28.774J
37, 1COJ
52. 304^
48, 603ft
rteport on t
eports of th

Ilarrtls.
21,450
18, 200
9,450
6,225
3,420
8,073
300
45
200
572

Barrels.
449, 950
311, 740J
209, 088
165, 844}
138, 472J
363, 789}
324, 454}
311, 056}
276, 523,5
244,561ft
208, 830JJ
271,534}
374, 525,',
810, 091J
Fisheries ;
h Bureau.

Value.
$1, 862, 783
1,437,123
1, 520, 069
965, 214
1, 156, 243
2, 484, 679
7, 001, 098
5, 729, 851
5, 161, 281
3, 174, 130
2, 924, 987
3, 762, 985
4,400,563
2, 008, 851
for the year

1834 . .

1836 ..

1837 .

1838

1851 .

1864

1865

1866

1867

1868

1869

157
3,700
2,071
ic American
e Boston Fia

1870

318, 521 j
259, 416}
ni Sabine's
the annual ]

1871

'or the years 1834 to 1838 and 1851 are frc
returns ; for the years 1878 to 1881, from

STATISTICS OP THE MACKEREL FISHERY.

313

Table showing the number of barrels and value of pickled mackerel officially inspected in tlte Unitid States, <f'C. — Continued.

1
Tears.

ililSSHCllll-

sotts.

Maine.

New Iliinip-
shire.

Total qur

Vil

ntity and
ue.

1872

Barrels.

ISl/J.-.C,',

185, 7481
258,379't
130, 062JJ
225, 942J5
105, 097A
144, 205
156, 125
255, 986
269, 495

Barrels.
22, 173
22, lOSJg
43, 7411
9, 5021
22, 429J
224571
48, 263
58,249
86, 338
116, 762

Barrels.
1,878
2,398
5,519
3,415
5,351
643
4,000
6,225
7,350
5,400

Barrels.
206, 007,S
210, 350 S,
307, 640}1
142, 9SOf J
253, 722| J
127, 898,?,
196, 468
220, 599
349, 674
391, 657

Value.
$2, 205, 761
3, 167, 948
3, 163, 701
1, 439, 315
1, 853, 103
1, 384, 223
1, 408, 675
1, 268, 444
2, 393, 004
2, 447, 556

1873

1874

1875

1876

1877

1878

1879

1880

1881

Statement shoiving the number of barrels and value ofpicTfled mackerel produced l>y the fisheries of the United States and of the

Dominion of Canada from 1873 to 1881.

Tear.

United States.

Dominion of Canada.

Total.

Barrels.

Value.

Barrels.

Value.

Barrels.

Value.

1873

210, 850 jj,
307, 640H
142, 980| j
253, 722JJ
127, 898&
196, 468
220, 599
349, 674
391, 657

$3, 167, 948
3, 163, 701
1,439,315
1, 853, 103
1,384,223
1, 408, 675
1, 268, 444
2, 398, 044
2, 447, 556

159, 530
161, 096
123, 654J
104, 356
163, 916
183, 919
190, 076J
233, 669
105, 772

$1, 615, 552
1, 559, 551
1, 236, 545
992, 794
1, 639, 160
1, 766, 226
1, 745, 490
2, 162, 258
1, 046, 343

369, 880,^
468, 736Ji
266, 634J4
358, 07S|5
291,el4&
380, 387
410, 675i
583, 343
497, 429

$4, 783, 500
4, 723, 252
2, 675, 860
2, 845, 897
3, 023, 383
3, 174, 901
3, 013, 934
4, 560, 302
3, 493, 899

1874

1875

1876

1877

1878 .. . .

1879

1880

1881

Total 1873101881...

2, 200, 990gg

18, 531.009

1. 425, 989

13, 763, 918

3, 626, 979

32, 294, 928

IV.

THE SWORDFISH FISHERY.

By G. BROWN QOODE.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The vessels.

3. Apparatus of capture.

4. The manner of fitting the vessels. .

5. Manner of capture.

6. The perils and the romance of swordfishing.

7. Landsmen's descriptions of swordfishiug.

8. The capture of swordfish by hook and line.

9. Financial profits to fishermen.

10. History of the American swordfishery.

11. Products of the fishery.

12. Markets and prices.

315

:P^:RT iv.

THE SWORDFISH FISHERY.

BY G. BROWN Gcm»B.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

In the natural history of the swordflsli, in Section I of this report is printed a discussion of
the dates of the appearance of this species in our waters and of its local movements.

Early in the season the swordfish are most abundant west of MOD tank Point, and later they
spread over the shoal grounds along the coast even as far north as the Nova Scotia Banks. They
may be found wherever mackerel and meuhaden are abundant, as may be inferred from the almost
universal practice of carrying swordfish irons on board of mackerel vessels.

I quote the statements of three or four correspondents who have taken the trouble to inter-
view the fishermen of their respective localities.

Mr. E. G. Blackford writes: "The season first opens early in June in the neighborhood of
Sandy Hook, and continues along the coast as far east as Martha's Vineyard and Nautucket Shoals
until about the middle of September. They are said to have been caught as far north as Cape
Sable. At the first cold wind blowing ID September they disappear, and are not found again on
the coast that season. This information I received from an old New York swordfisherman, a man
whose statements may be relied on."

Capt. Benjamin Ashby, of Noank, Conn., informs me that the swordfish vessels of Noank
aud New London are accustomed to leave the home port about the 6th of July, and throughout
the month they find fit-h most abundant between Block Island and No Man's Laud; in August
between No Man's Land and the South Shoal light-ship. They first meet the fish twenty to twenty-
five miles southeast of Montauk Point. In August and September thej are found on George's
Bank. There is no fishing after the snow begins to fly.

A little farther east is the New Bedford fleet. Capt. I. H. Michaux, of the schooner Yankee
Bride, tells me that swordfish strike in about Block Island in the middle of June and stay in
that vicinity until the 15th or 20th of August. North of Cape Cod they are taken up to the 20th
of October.

Mr. John H. Thomson, of New Bedford, states that from May 25 to June they are found south
of Block Island, approaching the Vineyard Sound and the neighboring waters through June and
to the middle of July. A little later they are more abundant to the southeast of Crab Ledge, and
after August 1 to the southeast of Cape Cod aud George's Bank.

The schooner Northern Eagle, of Gloucester, Capt. George H. Martin, when engaged in sword-
fish fishing, is accustomed to leave Gloucester so as to be on the ground south of Block Island by
the 10th of June, and the fish are followed as far east as Portland. Mr. Earll ascertained that the
swordfish are mostly fished for on the coast of Maine from July 1 to September 1. Halibut vessels
ou La Have and Sable Island Banks occasionally take these fish upon their lines.

317

318 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Mackerel vessels on the New England coast are always prepared for swordfisb when cruising
among mackerel schools. I am not aware that they are ever seeii on the mackerel grounds of the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

2. THE VESSELS.

The vessels engaged in swordflshing are sloops and small schooners of generally less that 50
tons. The crew is also small, consisting of two or sometimes three men besides the cook and a
boy. Although many vessels are employed in this fishery for several successive years, there are
many others which fit out for a single season or for a part of a season. Others, on the south coast
of New England, divide their time between fishing for sea-bass and hunting for swordfisli, all
warm and quiet days being devoted to the latter pursuit. Six or eight vessels from New London
are thus employed, as well as others from Noank and Bridgeport. On the coast of Maine, as has
already been mentioned, many of the smaller fishing vessels fitted for the capture of mackerel and
cod devote a part of the season to taking swordfish. Other vessels, among them occasionally a gen-
tleman's yacht, enter the field for a cruise or two in the course of a summer. To do this is a favorite
recreation for old swordfishermen engaged in other work. Numerous mackerel schooners carry
the swordfish "pulpit" on their bows, and so do various coasters and packets.

It has therefore not been thought desirable to attempt to make a list of the vessels engaged
in this fishery, or even an exact enumeration of them. In 1879 estimates by careful men engaged
in the business fixed the number belonging in different ports as follows:

New York (hailing from New London) 2

Grcenport sloops 2

New London 8

Newport 1

Fall River 2

Ciitt.vlmiik 3

Westport 2

New Bedford l'-i

Dartmouth 2

South side of Cape Cod 5

Gloucester 1

Total 41

In 1874, according to Mr. Thompson, New Bedford had twelve vessels in this fishery. In 1877
the estimates of total number of vessels made by different men varied between thirty and forty.

To show how uncertain the continuance of vessels in this fishery may be I will refer to the
annals of Gloucester. In 1876, one schooner, the Meteor, was engaged; in 1877, the schooner
Champion; in 1878, the schooner Northern Eagle; while in 1879 and 1880 the field was abandoned
by this port.

3. APPARATUS OF CAPTUBE.

The apparatus ordinarily employed for the capture of the swordfish is simple in the extreme.
It is a harpoon with detachable head. When the fish is struck the head of the harpoon remains
in the body of the fish, and carries with it a light rope, which is either made fast or held by a man
in a small boat, or is attached to some kind of a buoy, which is towed through the water by the
struggling fish, and which marks its whereabouts after death.

The harpoon consists of a pole 15 or 16 feet in length, usually of hickory or some other hard
wood, upon which the bark has been left, so that the harpoouer may have a firmer hand-grip. This
pole is from an inch and a half to two inches in diameter, and at one end is provided with an iron
rod, or "shank," about 2 feet long and five-eighths of an inch in diameter. This "shank" is fast-
ened to the pole by means of a conical or elongated cup-like expansion at one end, which fits over

THE SWORDFISH FISHERY. 319

the sharpened end of the pole, to which it is secured by screws or spikes. A light line extends
from one end of the pole to the point where it joins the "shank," and in this line is tied a loop, by
which is made fast another short line, which secures the pole to the vessel or boat, so that when it
is thrown at the fish it cannot be lost.

Upon the end of the "shank" fits somewhat securely the head of the harpoon, known to the
fishermen by the names "swordfish iron," "lily iron," or "Indian dart." The form of this weapon
has undergone much variation, as is shown in the series of specimens in the National Museum.
The fundamental idea may very possibly have been derived from the Indian fish-dart, numerous
specimens of which are in the National Museum. However various the modifications may have
been, the similarity of the different shapes is no less noteworthy from the fact that all are
peculiarly American. In the enormous collection of fishery implements of all lands in the late
exhibition at Berlin nothing of the kind could be found. What is known to whalers as a toggle-
harpoon is a modification of the lily-iron, but so greatly changed by the addition of a pivot
by which the head of the harpoon is fastened to the shank that it can hardly be regarded as the
same weapon. The lily-iron is in principle exactly what a whalemen would describe by the word
"toggle." It consists of a two-pointed piece of metal, having in the center, at one side, a ring or
socket whose axis is parallel with the long diameter of the implement. In this is inserted the end
of the pole shank, and to it or near it is also attached the harpoon-line. When the iron has once
been thrust point first through some solid substance, such as the side of a fish, and is released
upon the other side by the withdrawal of the pole from the socket, it is free, and at once turns its
long axis at right angles to the direction in which the harpoon-line is pulling, and thus is abso-
lutely prevented from withdrawal. The principle of the whale harpoon or toggle-iron is similar,
except that the pole is not withdrawn, and the head, turning upon a pivot at its end, fastens the
pole itself securely to the fish, the harpoon line being attached to some part of the pole. The
swordfish lily-iron head, as now ordinarily used, is about 4 inches in length, and consists of two
lanceolate blades, each about an inch and a half long, connected by a central piece much thicker
than they, in which, upon one side, and next to the flat side of the blade, is the socket for the
insertion of the pole-shank. In this same central enlargement is forged an opening to which the
harpoon-line is attached. The dart-head is usually made of steel; sometimes of iron, which is
generally galvanized; sometimes of brass.

The entire weight of the harpoon-pole, shank, and head should not exceed 18 pounds.

The harpoon line is from 50 to 150 fathoms long, and is ordinarily what is known as " fifteen-
thread line." At the end is sometimes fastened a buoy, and an ordinary mackerel keg is generally
used for this purpose.

In addition to the harpoon, every swordflsherman carries a lance. This implement is pre-
cisely similar to a whaleman's lance, except that it is smaller, consisting of a lanceolate blade,
perhaps 1 inch wide and 2 inches long, upon the end of a shank of five-eighths inch iron, perhaps
2 or 3 feet in length, fastened in the ordinary way upon a pole 15 to 18 feet in length.

4. THE MANNER OF FITTING THE VESSEL.

The swordfish are harpooned from the end of the bowsprit of a sailing vessel. It is next
to impossible to approach them in a small boat, All vessels regularly engaged in this fishery are
supplied with a special apparatus for the support of the harpooner as he stands on the bow-
sprit, and this is almost essential to success, although it is possible for an active man to harpoon
a fish from this station without the aid of the ordinary frame-work. Not only the professional
swordfishermau bat many mackerel schooners and packets are supplied in this manner.

320 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

An illustration of the swordfish "pulpit" is given in one of the plates. It is constructed as
follows: The harpooner stands upon the tip of the bowsprit, outside of the jib-stay. At this point
is fastened a square plate of iron as wide as the bowsprit. In the middle of this plate is a mortise
2 inches square and extended 3 or 4 inches down into the wood, forming a socket for an upright
iron bar 2 inches square and 3 feet high. At the top of this bar is a bow of iron bent backward
in semicircular form to surround the waist of the harpooner, the cuds of the bow being separated
by a distance of perhaps 2 feet. In the ends of the bow-iron are holes, through which are passed
irons to hold the dart when not in use. Through these same holes are sometimes passed ropes, by
which is suspended a swinging seat for the use of the harpoouer when not in action. When not
in use the dart is lashed in a horizontal position to the top of the " rest." The lance is usually
allowed to rest against the jib-stay, to which it is secured by passing it through loops of rope
arranged for the purpose. Upon the tip of the bowsprit, at the base of the "rest," is a platform of
wood about 2 feet square, large enough to afford a firm foothold to the harpooner. The harpoon-
line is coiled upon the bow of the vessel, the buoy usually resting upon the bulkhead or close at
hand. A second harpoon-line, attached to the reserve or second harpoon, is coiled upon the other
side.

The structure above described is usually called the " rest," or the " pulpit." I have been unable
to learn when and by whom this peculiar piece of apparatus was devised.

5. MANNER OF CAPTURE.

The sword fish never conies to the surface except in moderate, smooth weather. A vessel
cruising in search of them proceeds to the fishing ground and cruises hither and thither, wherever
the abundance of small fish indicates that they ought to be found. Vessels which are met are
hailed and asked whether any swordfish have been seen, and if tidings are thus obtained the ship's
course is at once laid for the locality where they were last noticed. A man is always stationed at
the masthead, where, with the keen eye which practice has given him, he can easily descry the
tell-tale dorsal fins at a distance of 2 or 3 miles. When a fish has once been sighted, the watch
" sings out," and the vessel is steered directly towards it. The skipper takes his place in the
" pulpit," holding the pole in both hands by the small end, and directing the man at the wheel by
voice and gesture how to steer. There is no difficulty in approaching the fish with a large vessel,
although, as has already been remarked, they will not suffer a small boat to come near them.
The vessel plows and swashes through the water, plunging its bowsprit into the waves, without
exciting their fears. Noises frighten them and drive them down. Although there would be no
difficulty in bringing the end of the bowsprit directly over the lish, a skillful harpooner never
waits for this. When the fish is from 6 to 10 feet in front of the vessel it is struck. The harpoon
is never thrown, the pole being too long. The strong arm of the harpooner punches the dart into
the back of the fish, right at the side of the high dorsal flu, and the pole is withdrawn and fastened
again to its place. When the dart has been fastened to the fish, the line is allowed to run out as
far as the fish will carry it, and is then passed in a small boat which is towing at the stern. Two
men jump into this, and pulling in upon the line until the fish is brought in alongside, it is then
killed with a whale-lance or a whale-spade, which is stuck into the gills. The fish having been
killed, it is lifted upon the deck by a purchase-tackle of two double blocks rigged iu the shrouds.

The fishermen have a theory to the effect that the swordfish can see nothing directly in front
of him, on account of the peculiar location of the eyes, and there are instances of their having
bCvi) approached and killed by men in a skillfully-managed dory.

THE SWORDFISH FISHERY. 321

6. THE PERILS AND THE ROMANCE OF SWORDFISHING.

The pursuit of the swordfish is much more exciting than ordinary fishing, for it resembles the
hunting of large animals upon the laud, and partakes more of the nature of the chase. There is
no slow and careful baiting and patient waiting, and no disappointment caused by the accidental
capture of worthless " bait-stealers." The game is seen and followed, and outwitted by wary
tactics, and killed by strength of arm and skill. The swordflsh is a powerful antagonist some-
times, and sends his pursuers' vessel into harbor leaking, and almost sinking, from injuries which,
he has inflicted. I have known a vessel to be struck -by-wounded swordfish as many as twenty
times in one season. There is even the spice of personal danger to give savor to the chase
for the men are occasionally injured by the infuriated fish. One of Captain Ashby's crew was
severely wounded by a swordfish, which thrust his beak through the oak floor of a boat on which
he was standing and penetrated about two inches in his naked heel. The strange fascination
draws men to this pursuit when they have once learned its charm. An old swordfisherman, who
had followed the pursuit for twenty years, told me that when he was on Ihe cruising ground he
fished all night in his dreams, and that many a time he has bruised his hands and rubbed the skin
off his knuckles by striking them against the ceiling of his bunk when he raised his arms to thrust
the harpoon into visionary monster swordfishes.

7. LANDSMEN'S DESCRIPTIONS OF SWORDFISHING.

Mr. C. F. Holder, of New York, published in Forest and Stream February 17, 1876, the fol-
lowing description of a trip after ewordfish in Block Island Sound:

"Lying all night in the harbor of Wood's Holl, we bad ample time to prepare for sport, and
at three o'clock in the morning our little sloop was swinging around, and, gathering herself
together, headed for Gay Head. The vessel was a common sloop of about 60 tons, its only pecul-
iarity being a stanchion with a curved top, to hold the harpoouer, rigged on the extreme end of
the bowsprit. At 9 o'clock we were out of sight of the Vineyard. The wind settling, I was informed
that I could go aloft and look out for the game. We were slowly moving along, and I was
scanning the horizon for miles around, when the man at the bow uttered a sound, which was a
sort of a cross between a cluck and a groan, which I saw meant ' port,' and that something had
been sighted. The sloop fell lazily away, and I then saw two dark forms with their razor-like fins
out of the water slowly moving along ahead of us. The captain signaled at once for me to come
down, and as I reached the deck the work commenced. The man waited until we were almost
upon them, and as one of them turned, as if in idle curiosity, to see what the great shadow meant,
he hurled a harpoon, and the next moment the huge fish sprang from the water and with a furious
twist tried to shake out the iron. So great was the effort that it fell on its side with a crash, and
for a moment was still, but it was only for a second. The line jumped into activity and rushed
out so you could not follow it, now swaying to and fro, and making the water fly like rain. About
50 feet of line had gone out, when six of us managed to get a fair hold on the line. He would
undoubtedly have dragged us all overboard if the rope had not been sure and fast. His struggles
were kept up for about fifteen minutes, after which he perceptibly weakened, and the long rushes
to the right and left grew feebler aud feebler, until we ventured to haul in. At last we had the
brute alongside. A rope was rigged from the peak and fastened around the long sword, and the
monster was rolled on board the sloop. We measured our prize, which was 9 feet 6 inches long.

" We cruised about all day in the vicinity, and succeeded in capturing three more, varying in
SEC V 21

322 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

length from G to nine feet, and as we returned to Wood's Holl I felt that I had well earned my
experience."

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Times gives the following spirited account of spearing
swordfish off Cape May :

" ' Hey-o ! ' came from the man in the cross-trees.

"'Where away?' yelled the skipper, unhooking his booted leg from the wheel and glancing
around.

"'Right off the weather bow,' sang out the mate, who had sprung into the rigging.

'"Aye, I see him,' replied the skipper. A moment later all eyes on board were watching a
sharp glistening fin that was darting through the water in the same general direction as ourselves.

"The mate now took his place in the pulpit, and seizing the steel lily stood ready for the game,
while the rope was carefully coiled and the keg made ready to toss at the right moment. For ten
minutes the vessel and fish moved along gallantly side by side. The skipper, however, was grad-
ually hauling the vessel on the wind, and the two approached each other until the swordfish was
close alongside. Then came the supremo moment. The skipper wound away at the wheel, and
the little vessel shot into the wind, laying the swordfish right across the bows, and as it rushed
along amid the foam, the harpooner raised his weapon ; for a moment the steel lily flashed, then,
with a crushing sound, it entered the back of the fish.

"'Stand clear the line!' shouted the mate, as he sprang back upon deck and the schooner fell
away again.

"The warning was well heeded, as the rope was rushing over the side like a ' streak of greased
lightning,' as the skipper had it. It was soon exhausted, and as the end came the mate held aloft
the keg, and as the last fathom of rope rushed away, tossed it over, and away it went, followed by
a wave of foam and spray, to ultimately tire the gamey fish.

" We had now gained on the flying keg, and, as the dory was hauled alongside, two of the crew
and the writer as volunteer, tumbled in, and in a few moments had the keg alongside. The oars
were then pulled in, and in a moment later the bowman had seized the keg and the dory was rush-
ing along — a swordfish express. The work of 'taking in' now commenced, one man steering the
dory after the erratic steed, the other slowly hauling in on the rope. As the fish felt the strain it
renewed its exertions and started off at a furious pace that threatened to leave the vessel far
behind. But the spurt was of short duration, and the dory was rapidly hauled ahead, until finally
the sharp fin was seen close by, and with a rush the fish was laid alongside, one man holding it
while the rest got to the windward to prevent a capsize.

"Hauled partly out of water by the rope, the great fish gave a vicious cut to the left with its
sharp weapon that caused all hands to drop as if sent for, and for some time this lowly position
was the best, all things considered. The rope was kept taut, and the struggles of the game were
terrific. If a head was raised it seemed immediately to become the object of attack. Finally,
however, an oar was lifted and a violent blow upon the head placed the swordfish hors du combat.
The schooner now came alongside, a block and tackle was rigged, and the garney fish was hoisted
aboard."

8. THE CAPTURE OF SWORDFISH BY HOOK AND LINE.

One or two instances are on record of the capture of swordfish upon an ordinary hand-line,
and it is probable that this is much more common than has been usually supposed. Capt. George
H. Martin, of Gloucester, informed me that he had seen seven caught in this manner in one day
in the South Channel. They were caught in water 15 to 25 fathoms deep, on the old-fashioned

[UHIVERSITYJ

THE SWOEDFISH FISHEEY. 323

George's cod hook, with a 6-inch shank. Mackerel were used for bait. These were split down the
tail so that the shank of the hook could be entirely hidden in the gash.

I have been told that they are also taken in this way about Block Island, and a similar method
of fishing is described by Italian writers.

Within the past five years it has not been unusual for swordfish to become entangled in the
long lines of the halibut fishermen on the northern banks. The manner in which this occurs has
already been discussed above.

I have collected several instances. In 1877, in thejnonth of August, Capt. Daniel O'Brien, of
the schooner Ossipee, of Gloucester, fishing in 200 fathoms of water, between Le Have and Western
Bank, caught, in one voyage, five swordfish.

At about the same time Capt. E. L. Morrison, of the schooner Laura Nelson, fishing in 275
fathoms, on Sable Island Bank, caught three swordfish. Another vessel, in August, 1877, fishing
on La Have, in from 175 to 180 fathoms, caught twelve, as well as three or four more in September.
In August, 1878, Captain Greenleaf, of the schooner Chester E. Lawrence, of Gloucester, fishing in
140 fathoms, caught thirteen in one trip. I cannot learn that this manner of capture was ever
known before 1876, but it has since become so frequent that it excites no remark for a halibut-
catcher to unload several swordfish among its halibut. This manner of taking the swordfish is of
course purely accidental, and is rather a vexation than otherwise to the fishermen. It is probable
that the fish take the bait when the line is being set and they are swimming near the surface, and
they are involuntarily carried down by its great weight.

9. FINANCIAL PEOFITS TO FISHBEMEN.

I have before me record of a single schooner for the season of 1878, from which it appears that
in the season of four months eight trips were made, averaging about twelve days in continuance.
One hundred and sixty -three fish were taken between June 7 and September 20, weighing, in the
aggregate, in round numbers, about 47,000 pounds, dressed. These were sold at an average price of
3 cents per pound. The gross stock of the season would amount to about $1,300. From this must
be deducted the expense of living, the interest on capital invested, and the wages of the cook and
the boy. The remainder would probably not exceed $800 or $900. It is not probable that many
vessels stock as large a proportionate amount as did the Northern Eagle. And the profits are to
be divided among the two or three men composing the crew and the owner of the vessel. The
success of one New Bedford vessel in the season of 1878 was spoken of as extraordinary, the return
being $311 to each of the crew's share.

The"price of swordfish is low, and the success of the voyage is always somewhat precarious.
A few small vessels with experienced skippers apparently succeed in making a fair living, but that
the profits are not great is clearly indicated by the fact that there is no great increase in the
number of vessels engaged, and that so many are constantly undertaking and abandoning the
swordfishery.

10. HISTOEY OF THE AMEEICAN SWOEDFISH FISHEEY.

There are few data upon which to found conjecture as to the time when the swordfish were
first regarded as sufficiently useful to be sought for by fishermen. The earliest record of its use
for food is found in the Barnstable Patriot of June 30, 1841, in which it is stated that the fishermen
of the island south of Cape Cod take a considerable number of these fish every year by harpooning
them, and that about 200 pounds a year are pickled and salted at Martha's Vineyard.

Captain Atwood remembers seeing sword fish on the coast of Maine as early as 1826, although

324

H1STOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

up to the time of his retirement from active participation in the fisheries, in 1867, no effort was
made by the fishermen north of Cape Cod to capture them.

The fishery apparently sprang into existence and importance between the years 1840 and 1855,
upon the south coast of New England. Captain Ashby first engaged in it in 1859, when it was
apparently a well-established industry. In 1861 it is recorded that some thirty vessels from New
Bedford were profitably engaged in this business on the favorite ground, 15 to 20 miles southeast
of No Man's Land.

Mr. Earll ascertained that little attention was paid by the fishermen of Portland, Me., to
swordfish until within two or three years. This fishery is carried on at odd times by mackerel
gill net fishermen, and by cod-trawling vessels when their regular industry is interfered with by
the abundance of dogfish. The season for dogfish is also the time for swordfish, and at the present
time, when the price of swordfish justifies it, smaller fishermen, when they are driven from their
regular work by the dogfish, make trips for the express purpose of capturing swordfish. Mackerel-
seiners are beginning to carry swordfish irons, and are often very successful in killing the fish.

At the present day, arid for five or six years past, perhaps much longer, there has been very
little change in the number of vessels engaged, this varying from thirty to forty, approximately,
in different years.

Capt. Epes W. Merchant, of Gloucester, who has been familiar with the fisheries since 1804,
tells me that the first swordfish ever brought to Gloucester within his recollection was caught on
George's Bank about the year 1831, by Captain Pew, who brought it in and sold it at the rate of
$8 a barrel, salted. Fishermen had before that been very much afraid of them, but afterwards a
good many were caught.

11. PEODUCTS OF THE FISHERY.

As an example of the manner in which a season of swordfishing is passed, and of the yield of
arvery successful period of work, a record is here given of the trips of the schooner Northern Eagle,
of Gloucester, Capt. George H. Martin:

\

Trips of schooner Northern Eagle, Capt. George H. Martin.

No. of
trips.

Date of start

Length
of trip.

No. of fish taken.

Where sold.

Price.

Days.
10

16 (5 000 Ibs.)

Cmts.
I

2

7

22 (6, 600 Ibs.)

....do

4\

3

14

12 (3, 700 Ibs.)

Newport

•>\

4

July 12

11

20 (5, 800 Ibs.)

Boston

3

July 27

18

37 (9 000 Ibs.)

.. do

5

15

26 (6 500 Ibs.)

... do

3

7

10

1C (5, 600 Ibs.)

... do

('-)

g

14

14 (4, 500 Ibs.)

...do

(1!)

1C,3 (46. 700 Ibs.)

Capt. Benjamin Ashby went swordfishing in the schooner N. H. Dudley two successive years,
in 1859 and 1860. In July and August, 1859, he took 108 fish ; the next year 88.

The schooner Yankee Bride, of New Bedford, boarded in Provincetown Harbor, August, 1879,
had already that season taken 60 fish.

Mr. Earll reached Portland in the progress of the fishery census investigation, July 29, 1879.
On this day, he writes, 35 to 40 fish were brought in, and on the 1st of August 200 more were
lauded, 60 by one vessel.

THE SWORDFISH FISHERY. 325

Estimating the number of vessels regularly employed in wordfishiug at forty, and putting
estimating their annual catch at eighty fish each, which is only half the quantity taken by the
Northern Eagle, as shown in the preceding paragraph, the aggregate number of fish taken
would be 3,200.

Competent authorities estimate that each vessel in the mackerel fleet captures and brings in
an average quantity of eight barrels of pickled fish, or perhaps eight fish* each. The number of
vessels in the mackerel fleet is at least four hundred. Allowing four fish to each, there is an
aggregate of 1,600 fish. Estimating oue for each vessel in the halibut fleet yearly, we add fifty
more in the aggregate.

Mr. Earll judged that in 1878, as for several years previous, 2,000 swordfish had been brought
into Portland, Me. Allowing 1,000 of these to the regular swordfishermen and the mackerel
vessels, we have a remainder of 1,000 taken by the occasional fishermen of Portland already spoken
of, and to be added to the aggregate, which now amounts to 5,850.

Add 150 more for the coasters, sea-bass fishermen, and pound-tending vessels of southern
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and the sum is 6,000.

The average weight of a swordfish dressed is estimated by several persons, Captain Ash by, Mr.
Earll, Mr. Thompson, and others, to be 300 pounds, and that this is not far from the truth may be
seen by referring back to the records of the Northern Eagle. If the average weight is assumed to
be 250 pounds, the aggregate weight of a year's catch of swordfish amounts to 1,500,000 pounds,
valued at $45,000, the average price being estimated at three cents per pound.

To estimate the number of men employed is almost impossible, since the season continues only
four months, and 'many are employed for a much shorter period. The crews of the forty vessels
number from one hundred and sixty to two hundred ; the number of men employed for shorter
periods it seems scarcely necessary to estimate.

In 1874 the annual catch for the United States was estimated, by Mr. E. G. Blackford, at 2,000
fish, weighing 1,000,000 pounds.

In 1880 the yield of this fishery was 965,450 pounds, distributed as follows: Fisheries of
Maine, 50,000 pounds; New Hampshire, 20,000; Massachusetts, 731,950; Rhode Island, 90,000;
Connecticut, 73,500.

12. MARKETS AND PRICES.

Mi\ Thomson remarks : " Previous to 1862 the market for fresh fish was limited to New Bed-
ford, Fall River, Providence, and the adjoining towns, and a large proportion of the fish then
takeu was salted and shipped to the West Indies and the Southern States. This was especially
the case with those taken about Neman's Land and Martha's Vineyard. Now nearly all are con-
sumed fresh, and the average price is somewhat higher than formerly."

Mr. John H. Thomson writes : "At present the great bulk of the catch is sold fresh. Most
of the fish are brought to this port, and a few are carried to New London. Until within a very
few years nearly all were disposed of in this vicinity. About 1864 a few were sent to Boston on
trial, and the consumption of swordfish in that vicinity has since rapidly increased. Still, the
principal market for fresh swordfish may be said to lie between New London and the eastern end
of Massachusetts. Providence, R. I., consumes a large quantity."

Mr. Earll writes : "About 2.000 swordfish, averaging in weight 300 pounds dressed, have been
landed yearly in Portland for several years. Most of them are sent to Boston fresh, and the
remaiuder are cut up and salted here."

Mr. Eugene G. Blackford informs me that swordfish are not much esteemed in New York
market, and that in 1874 not more than 2,000 pounds in the aggregate were consumed.

326 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Regarding the price of fresh fish at New Bedford, Mr. Thomson remarks: " When the first fish
arrives here it is eagerly sought at 20 cents a pound, retail. lu 1873, within forty-eight hours of
the arrival of the first one, fifty-two were brought in, bringing the general retail price down to 8
and 10 cents. At this price, clear of boue, they are usually retailed throughout the season. The
wholesale price is about 12 cents for the first catch, falling rapidly to 2 or 3 cents. This is for
' clean fish,' without bead, tail, and viscera. Fish from George's Bank are sometimes brought
here from Boston. They then retail at 15 and 20 cents."

'According to the record of the Northern Eagle, the price in June, 1878, ranged from 2 to 4£
cents, in July from 3 to 5 cents, and in August from.2J to 3.

In July, 1879, Mr. Earll found the price in Portland, Me., 4 cents, but the arrival of 200 fish
on August 1 brought the price down to 1^ cents. He estimates the average wholesale price at 2
cents.

In New London, according to Captain Ashby, the price has varied within his recollection from
3 to 8 cents, the latter high price being paid in 1877.

According to Captain Martin, the price of salt swordfish in Gloucester is always about the
same as that of No. 3 mackerel. In July, 1878, there being no mackerel in the market, they were
valued at $7 a barrel.

PART V.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

By G. BROWN GOODE and A. HOWARD CLARK.

1. Natural history and commercial importance of men-
haden,
a. The fishing grounds.

3. The fishermen.

4. The vessels.

5. Apparatus and methods of capture.

6. Oil and guano factories.

7. Tho menhaden as a bait-fish.

8. Value of menhaden for manufacturing purposes.

9. Statistics of the fishery and of oil and guano manu-

facture.

10. The uses of menhaden oil ; the oil market.

11. History of menhaden oil industry.

12. Protective legislation.

13. The menhaden fishery at east end of Long Island from

1793 to 1880.

327

PART V.

THE MENHADEN-FISHERY.

BY G. BROWN GOODE AND A. HOWARD CLARK.

1. NATURAL HISTORY AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF MENHADEN.

The menhaden (Brevoortia tyranmts) is a fish of the family Clupeidse. It is known along the
Atlantic coast by numerous names. In Maine the common names are pogy, bonyfish, menhaden,
and mossbunker; in Massachusetts it has also the names hardhead and poggie; among fishermen
of Rhode Island it is called menhaden, mossbnnker, and bony-fish; in Connecticut it is known as
whitefish, bonyfish, menhaden, and bunker; New York fishermen call it bonyfish, mossbunker,
and menhaden; in New Jersey the common name is mossbunker; in Delaware we find the name
inossbuuker, old wife, and bugfish; in Maryland and Virginia the names are old wife, cheboy, ell-
wife, alewife, bugfish, greentail, bughead, and wife; in North Carolina it is known as fatback, bug-
fish, menhaden, and yellow-tail shad; in South Carolina the name is commonly menhaden, or moss-
bunker; in Georgia, menhaden, and in Florida, menhaden, mossbunker, and fatback.

In length the menhaden is about the same as the common sea herring, but is deeper and more
robust in appearance. Its weight, when full grown, is from two-thirds of a pound to one pound.
A large specimen, of which a cast is preserved in the National Museum, measured 20 inches in
length, while the average length is from 12 to 15 inches. At the menhaden factories, in estimating
the number of fish in a certain bulk, 22 cubic inches are allowed to each fish.

The geographical range of this fish is along the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Florida, its
northern limit of migration being the Bay of Fundy, while its southern limit is Mosquito Inlet, on
the Florida coast. It is found in bays and rivers as far inland as brackish water extends, and it
ranges oceanward as far as the Gulf Stream. Other species of menhaden occur in the Gulf of
Mexico, along the South American coast, and on the west coast of Africa, but none resembling it
are found in the Pacific Ocean. The fishery is limited to the Atlantic seaboard of the United States.

Schools of menhaden make their appearance in the coastal waters upon the approach of
warm weather and they remain until the cooling of the water drives them away, the temperature
most favorable for them being from 60° to 70° Fahrenheit. Along the coasts of the Southern
States they appear earlier and remain longer than farther north. In Chesapeake Bay they usually
appear in March and April, on the New Jersey coast in April and early in May, and along the
shores of Southern New England in the latter part of April and May; at Cape Ann about May
15, and along the coast of Maine in the latter part of May and the 1st of June. Since 1879 these
fish have not appeared north of Cape Cod, except in very limited quantities, though they were
formerly very abundant along the Massachusetts coast. In the autumn they usually begin to
leave the Maine coast in September, and, gradually working to the southward, or perhaps seaward,
disappear from Long Island Sound in November and December, from Chesapeake Bay in Decein-

329

330 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

ber, and from Cape Hatteras in January. They are found farther south in greater or less abundance
throughout the entire year. Not enough is known of the movements or habits of these fish to
determine the winter home of the great schools that summer along the New England and more
southern shores, but one of the most plausible theories at present advanced is that they remain in
temperate stratas of ocean waters known to exist under the Gulf Stream and between it and the
American coast.

As the menhaden appear in early spring in Chesapeake Bay and farther north they increase
rapidly in abundance until in some places the water is almost alive with them. They prefer the
shallow places along shore, and in some years crowd in great numbers into the brackish sounds
and inlets and ascend some of the larger rivers for a long distance, until the water becomes too
fresh for them. They are accustomed to swim in immense schools with their heads close to the
surface, packed side by side, and often tier above tier, almost as closely as sardines in a box.

The commercial importance of the menhaden has but lately come into appreciation. Thirty
years ago, and before, it was thought to be of very little value. A few millions were taken every
year in Massachusetts Bay, Long Island Sound, and the inlets of New Jersey. A small portion of
these were used for bait, and a few barrels were salted for home use or for export to the West
Indies. Large quantities were plowed into the soil of the farms along the shores and stimulated
the crops for a time, but in the end filled the soil with oil, parching it and making it unfit for tilling.
Since that time manifold uses have been found for this fish and its products. As a bait-fish it
excels all others. For many years much the greater share of our mackerel were caught by its aid,
while the cod and halibut fleets use it rather than any other fish when it can be procured. The
total consumption of menhaden for bait in 1877 was not less than 80,000 barrels. Ten years before,
when the purse-seine was not in general use in the mackerel fishery, the consumption of menhaden
bait was very much greater.

As a food resource the menhaden is thought to have great possibilities, large quantities having
been canned under the name of "American sardines" and "Shadines," but the superiority of small
herring for canning purposes has led to an abandonment for the present of efforts to introduce
menhaden "sardines." An extract of fish, said to possess all the properties of Liebig's " Extract of
Beef," was some years ago discovered by Mr. S. L. Goodale, and may open up a vast field for future
development. As a food for the domestic animals in the form of " fish meal" there may be a broad
opening.

The great value of the menhaden, however, at present is the oil and scrap produced by cooking
and pressing these fish. As a source of oil the menhaden is of more importance than any other
marine animal. The annual yield of this oil usually exceeds the production of the American whale
fisheries by about 200,000 gallons, and in 1874 did not fall far short of the aggregate of all the
whale, seal, and cod oil made in America.

The number of menhaden taken has, in some years, been considerably more than 1,000,000,000
fish. In 1880 the weight of the catch was 576,000,000 pounds, equivalent to about 700,000,000
menhaden in number. The quantity of oil produced in 1880 was 2,060,390 gallons, and of guano
68,904 tons, having a total value of $2,034,641. The capital invested in steamers and their outfit
and in factories was $2,362,841. As compared with previous years, the yield of oil in 1880 was
small. In 1874 the number of gallons was 3,373,000; in 1875, 2,681,000; in 1876, 2,992,000 ; in
1877, 2,427,000. In 1874 the value of the oil and guano was $1,809,000 j in 1875, $1,582,000; in
1876, $1,671,000; in 1877, $1,608,000; in 1878, $1,050,000.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 331

2. PISHING GROUNDS.

The menhaden fishery is carried on chiefly by. fishermen of New England, New York, and New
Jersey, along the coast, and by the fishermen of Virginia and a few from Maryland, in the waters
of Chesapeake Bay. Prior to the year 1879, when menhaden suddenly disappeared from the region
north of Oape Cod, the Gulf of Maine was one of the principal fishing grounds, and was resorted
to by a very large fleet of sail and steam vessels. Since 1879 the cruising grounds have been
south of Cape Cod, one of the best places being along the Long Island shore from Montauk Point
westward. Other important fishing grounds are in the waters of Long Island Sound, along the
New Jersey coast, and in Chesapeake Bay.

As soon as the fish make their appearance in spring, vessels start in pursuit of them and con-
tinue their capture until their disappearance in the autumn. Prom the menhaden oil and guano
factories along the Southern New England, New York, and New Jersey shores the fleets of steam
and sail vessels begin their cruises early in May, pursuing the fish along the shores and in the
sounds wherever they can be found.

The regular fishing grounds at present extend from Chesapeake Bay to and including Long-
Island Sound, and in some seasons extending into Vineyard Sound, on the southern coast of New Eng-
land. The vessels seldom cruise more than 10 or 15 miles from land. The total area of the grounds
is estimated at 5,350 square geographical miles, divided as follows : Long Island Sound and the
vicinity of Block Island, 1,200 square miles ; off the south side of Long Island, from Montauk
Point to Sandy Hook, with an average width of 15 miles, 1,575 square miles ; off New Jersey, from
Sandy Hook to Cape May, 1,575 square miles ; Delaware Bay, 150 square miles ; Cape Henelopen
to Cape Charles, with an average width of 2 miles, 250 miles ; Chesapeake Bay, from the Capes to
Tangier Sound, 600 square miles.

The absence of menhaden north of Cape Cod during the last few years has caused a great loss
to the capitalists interested in the numerous oil factories on the Maine coast and much distress
among the men who depended on this fishery. Mr. II. E. Earll thus describes the effects of this
scarcity in 1879 :

" The total absence of pogies along the coast of Maine is causing no little loss to all interested.
The shore fishermen have lost fully half of their time and over half of their usual catch from not
being able to get any pogies to fish with, while the ' George's-meu,' from Cape Ann, have been
driven far out of their way, going even to Ehode Island and Connecticut to obtain their usual sup-
ply of pogy bait. Some have ventured to seek bait here, in the ' hedges ' and traps of the river
fishermen, and have frequently taken river pilots and gone far up the Kennebec, often waiting
fully a week before getting their supply. The oil and guano factories had gone to considerable
expense in getting ready for the season's work, and their property is entirely idle. The factory
hands and steamers' crews have been thrown entirely out of employment, and are perhaps less
able than any of the other classes interested to bear such a loss. The general prosperity of the
pogy fisheries, for some years past, has drawn to them a large class of workmen from other occu-
pations. Some, in moving into this region, have built for themselves small houses and have been
depending on the summer's work for the means to pay for them or to complete them ; others have
spent their entire means in getting their families located, and almost none have money laid up to
carry them through the winter, and but little employment can be had from this time forward.
They were all on hand to begin work the first of June, and kept waiting, in hopes that the fish
would ' strike,' until late in August. .When they at last gave up the idea, it was too late to en-
gage in any other occupation. A few of them have gone out in small boats to ' hook ' for

332 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

mackerel, but have met with indifferent success. After waiting for a long time for the fish to
appear, a few firms allowed the crews to take their steamers south and sell the fish to factories
there."

Along the north coasts of North and South Carolina menhaden are abundant, but efforts to
establish fisheries in that region have not been successful. Mr. R. E. Earll, in another place,
discusses the possibilities of the menhaden fisheries of North Carolina. He says that an attempt
was made to establish an oil and guano factory at Charleston, S. 0., a few years since, but
the plan was abandoned after the first day's fishing, on account of the abundance of sharks.
Several efforts have been made to locate factories on the North Carolina coast, and some parties
have prosecuted the business with varying success for several years. Thus far, however, no one
has succeeded in making it profitable. It is, therefore, an open question whether this fishery can
be prosecuted in the State. The currents are so strong at the inlets that sail vessels are often un-
able to enter them when the tide is unfavorable, and they are thus frequently delayed so long that
the fish spoil before they reach the factory. Menhaden are quite abundant in the inner sounds,
but the water is usually so shoal as to interfere seriously with the use of purse-seines, and the fish
are so scattered that only a few barrels can be taken at a haul.

3. THE FISHERMEN.

The men engaged in this fishery are, as a rule, employed in agricultural or other pursuits after
the fishing season is over. Along the Rhode Island and Connecticut shores many of them pursue
the cod or other fisheries throughout the winter and the menhaden fishery in the summer, while
the crews of menhaden vessels in Chesapeake Bay are farmers when the fishing is not in season.
The number of men required to man a menhaden vessel varies from two or three on a carry-away
boat or tender, to crews of twenty-seven or thirty on the double-gang steamers. The fishermen
were formerly allowed a certain share in the results of a cruise, but most of them are now hired
at fixed wages. On the steamers the crew receive from $30 to $40 per month and their board ; the
mate has wages and a share in the profits, and the captain receives no regular wages, but a share
in the profits of the cruise. The owners of the vessel furnish provisions and all the requisites for
fishing. In 1879 most of the owners of vessels engaged their crews on halves, the factory issuing
printed regulations as to the price to be allowed for the catch. The prices paid in that year were
30 cents per barrel of 200 pounds, from the beginning of the season until August 1 ; from that
date till the middle of September, 60 cents per barrel ; and then 80 cents per barrel till the end of
the season in Maine. The increase in price was because of a corresponding increase in the fatness
of the fish.

One of the ordinary size menhaden steamers carries fourteen men, consisting of a captain,
mate, cook, engineer, fireman, and a crew of nine men. The captain must, of course, be an expe-
rienced fisherman, and, as an incentive to hard work, he is frequently allowed a large share in the
profits. He must be a good navigator, and have a pilot's license to permit his pursuing the fish
into bays and sounds, and to allow his entering a Larbor convenient for shelter. The mate also
must be an experienced fishermen and "have a good eye for fish "; for, as he is generally stationed
at the masthead to watch for schools, much of the success of the trip depends on him. A good
fisherman can sometimes see the fish swimming even 1 or 2 fathoms below the surface and deter-
mine whether they are herring, mackerel, or menhaden. As soon as they show themselves at the
top of the water he can judge the size and quality of the school. The duties of the mate are also
to care for the gear and to superintend the landing of the cargo. The cook is in many cases hired

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 333

and paid by the crew at about $40 per month. When the men are all out in the boats after fish
the cook acts as pilot, guiding the vessel alongside the seine full of fish.

The engineer must be always at his post in the engine room, except when taking in the catch,
when he tends the donkey engine, the vessel at that time not being under way. The engineer and
fireman are paid regular wages, the former generally a larger sum than the fishing crew.

THE RELATION OF THE MENHADEN FISHERY TO THE FISHERMEN.

In discussing the relations between the fisherui£n_and the fisheries, when the business was
carried on along the coast of Maine, Mr. Haddocks says:

" The steamers return every night, if they have any fare, and are hardly absent more than
two or three days. Operations are suspended in bad weather. The oil is manufactured at once,
and meets ready market. The men can thus be promptly paid; whereas in the mackerel and cod
fisheries the hands are sometimes obliged to wait until the end of the season for settlement; the
service is dangerous and comparatively full of hardships. The Menhaden Association has never
lost a man in its service, and not one of the steamers has ever burst a boiler. This is the more
important, since the cod and mackerel fisheries have been and are greviously oppressed, and
greatly reduced by the tariff regulation that admits English fish free to our markets. The Eng-
lishman can build his craft at less cost than the American, can fit and equip her cheaper, and can
therefore afford to sell his fish at a lower figure than the home fishermen, and at the same time
he pays none of our taxes while enjoying the benefit of our market. The menhaden fishery has
afforded no little relief in this condition of things to the unemployed fishing population on our
coast and elsewhere."

Mr. R. E. Earll thus describes the relations of the fishermen of Maine in 1879: ''The factories
have printed regulations as to the price to be paid for the fish, paying more toward the close of the
season as the fish get fatter. In 1879 the prices adopted by the Maine Oil and Guano Association
were 30 cents per barrel till August 1, 00 cents till September 15, and 80 cents till the end of the
season in Maine. Mr. L. Maddocks says that the average amount of oil for the season to a barrel
of fish is about 1 gallon from fish taken south of Cape Cod, and 2.J gallons from those taken later
on the coast of Maine.

" The men are almost wholly Americans, will average about thirty years of age, and are, as a
rule, the strongest and most energetic men of the section. The business being more remunerative
than other kinds of fishing, men are anxious to engage in it, and thus the captains have a large
list to select from ; and as there is much hard work that . at the same time requires quickness of
movement, skill, and good judgment, the crews are selected on account of their fitness for the place.
"The captain not only has an average share with the crew, but is paid an additional 5 to 10
cents for each barrel of fish landed, as an incentive to extra-exertions. He must be a practical
fisherman, have an accurate knowledge of the coast, and a pilot's license to enable him to follow
the fish into the rivers and bays of the coast and to take the steamer into any convenient harbor
for shelter. In addition to this, he must, to use the language of the secretary of the Maine Oil and
Guano Association, 'have a good eye for fish,' which means that he must have a sharpness of
vision that will enable him to see the fish schooling at a distance or to detect their presence under
water from a slight change of its color. Even when swimming at a depth of 2 or 3 fathoms an
experienced eye will distinguish between pogies, mackerel, aud even herring. The average cap-
tain will make $1,000 while the fish are on the coast of Maine, which is an average of $250 per
month. The practice of hiring the captain outright is coming into favor, and in 1878 probably 10
per cent, of those from Maine were working upon salary, getting an average of $1,500 for the season,

334 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

which begins in the vicinity of Long Island the 1st of May. The fish gradually work north to the
coast of Maine in June, where they remain until October, when they go south as far as Long Island
again, the season closing about the 1st of November.

" The mate must also 'have a good eye for fish,' as he generally goes to the masthead with the

*

captain to look for them. His duties are to look after all the gear, superintend the salting, and
mending of the seine, and tend to discharging the fish at the factory, keeping an accurate account
of the number of barrels landed. He gets from 1 to 3 cents per barrel on all the fish landed in
addition to his average share with the crew.

"The cook is hired outright at $40 to $50 per mouth, and is paid wholly by the crew. Formerly
he had au average share, but of late this practice has been given up. He takes charge of the
steamer when the men are out in the boats, and frequently brings it alongside the seine after it
has been pursed up.

" The engineer must have a license, and is expected to remain at his post all the time, except
when at meals and when running the donkey engine for hoisting tke fish into the steamer. When
the business first started he received $100 per month, but the wages have kept falling, until the
present season (1879) some of them get only $50. The fireman generally receives from $25 to $30.
Both are paid and boarded by the owners.

"The crew ' go at the halves ' and board themselves. They live probably the most extrava-
gantly of any class of fishermen, and in some cases go into foolish expenditures for the table.

"Mr. Maddocks cites instances of its costing them $10 per week for provisions alone, and he
estimates their average cost of living to be $6 or $7 per week, though, from what I learn from other
sources, I should say $4 would be nearer the figure. They also pay their cook's wages, thus bring-
ing the expense of living perhaps a little above the figures stated. They are expected to get the
steamer ready in spring, do the fishing, mend and care for the seine, and put steamer, boats and
gear iu order, to be left for the winter. They make on an average about $50 per month, leaving
a balance, after paying their expenses, of but little, if any, more than the ordinary fisherman."

4. THE VESSELS.

Schooners and sloops were the only vessels in this fishery until a few years ago, when steamers
were introduced, and as they have been found preferable to sailing craft they are now very gener-
ally employed on the northern grounds, though a large fleet of sailing vessels continues in the busi-
ness. In the year 1880 the menhaden fleet comprised eighty-two steamers and three hundred and
seventy-four sailing vessels, aggregating 12,905.71 tons, and equipped with six hundred and forty-
eight seine-boats. The value of the fleet, including seines and other outfit, was $1,357,304. The
average steamer is about 70 tons measurement, and costs $1G,000. They are about 90 feet long,
17 feet beam, 7£ feet depth of hold, and 7 feet draught aft. The largest steamers in the fleet
are more than 150 feet long; these carry from 27 to 30 men, and cost $30,000 and upwards. The
cost of running the average steamer is about $1,000 per month for wages, fuel and provisions.
They are screw steamers, and are rigged with one mast forward, which is fitted with a crane used
in taking in the catch. The quarters for the men are in the forecastle, under and forward of the
pilot-house. A little forward of amidships is the main hatch opening into the hold, where the fish
are stowed in bulk. The engine-house is astern the main hatch, with coal bunkers opening on the
deck on either side. Fitted to the bulwarks on either side, near the stern, are cranes for the
boats, and towing-chocks are set in the deck on either quarter aft. The steamers are built of hard
pine, with white-oak frames. The hold or tank for stowing the fish is water-tight, and is said to
make the vessels exceedingly safe. The menhaden steamer Jemima Boomer, while at sea in rough

THE MENHADEN FISHEEY. 335

weather, had 50 feet of her keel knocked out, together with eleven of the bottom planks, yet she
was run safely into port and taken upon a marine dock for repairs.

The steamers are so constructed that they are not fit for sea in rough weather, and they sel-
dom venture from harbor at such times. This frequently delays them from going to and coming
from the factory when fishing at a distance, though it does not interefere with the fishing in other
respects, as a seine cannot be managed in rough water, and the fish are then not apt to come to the
surface.

The sailing vessels are either schooner or sloop rigged, many of them being open boats of from
5 to 10 tons measurement, while the larger vessels are in some cases 80 or 90 tons.

Prior to 1879 fleets of vessels from Massachusetts ports were engaged in the capture of men-
haden to be used for bait. From Gloucester, forty schooners of from 20 to TO tons, employing four
hundred men, were thus kept busy throughout the menhaden season in supplying the cod and
mackerel vessels with bait. In the same employment there were also hundreds of boats fitted with
gill-nets. It is probable that this branch of the menhaden business will be renewed when men-
haden reappear on those shores.

With the advent of steam vessels the factories have increased their facilities for handling
large catches. The first factory could work up only a few hundred barrels daily, while the large
factories can now take from 3,000 to 5,000 barrels per day. The average catch of a steamer a few
years ago was not more than 5,000 barrels, while now 20,000 barrels are not infrequently taken in
a season.

The menhaden carry-away boat is a wide-beam, sloop-rigged open boat capable of heavy
burden, and is used, when fishing with sailing vessels, to carry their catch to the factory. Steamers
have no need of these boats, but take their fish direct to the factory.

5. APPAEATUS AND METHODS OF CAPTUEE.

Prior to 1860, when menhaden were of very small importance, the business of manufacturing
oil and guano being still in its infancy, almost the only use for the fish was as a fertilizer in its
raw state. This demand was then easily supplied by the use of haul-seines and gill-nets along the
shore. The fish then swarmed the bays and inlets all along the New England coast, and there is
good authority for a story that 1,300,000 were once taken with a single haul of a seine in New
Haven Harbor. Constant fishing on the northern coast has driven the fish out to sea, though in
the south their habits are much the same as of old. In New England the menhaden fishing has
become, to a very considerable extent, sea-fishing and is carried on by the fleet of steamers and
sailing craft.

The purse-seine is the most effective apparatus ever devised for the capture of either mackerel
or menhaden. It has almost entirely superseded all other forms of apparatus in these fisheries.
By its use, even in the open sea, immense schools of fish are easily secured in a small fraction of
the time required when the hook and line sud gill-net were chiefly employed. The purse-seine is,
however, not adapted for fishing in very shallow water, unless on smooth bottom, so that gill-nets
and haul-seines are still used in rivers and in hauling fish ashore. When set in the water the purse-
seine is a flexible wall of twine hanging from a corked line on its upper edge and extending from
75 to 150 feet beneath the surface and from 750 to 1,800 feet long. This wall is made to encircle
the school of fish, and then the lower edge is gathered up by a rope passing through rings, thus
forming an immense bag. The largest seines are for use in water 45 to 60 feet deep, and the
smallest in water about 20 feet deep. The usual size of mesh in the seines is 2£ inches, that is, 1J
inches square; some are only 2^ inches, and in Chesapeake Bay, where the fish are small, they are

336 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

only 1^-inch mesh. The seines of 145 feet depth are about 700 meshes deep. A seine with 2J-inch
mesh is the standard size for the average menhaden, which is estimated at 22 cubic inches.

The corks at the upper edge of the seine are strung on the cork-line at from 12 to 15 inches apart,
two corks, known in the trade as Nos. 2 and 3, being put together, and are 4 inches in diameter.
About 60 pounds of lead weights, each 2 ounces, are fastened along the bottom of the seine at
intervals of 4 inches apart at the sides and farther apart at the middle. The lower edge of the
seine is hung on six-thread manila line, and to this are attached the bridles, which are about 18
feet long and placed 18 feet apart. Upon each of these bridles slides one of the purse-rings, made
of iron or brass, weighing 1J to 2£ pounds and about 3J inches in diameter. Many of the seines
have less weight than that given above. In operating the seine a large, heavy weight, called
purse- weight or "Long-Tom," is used, which is placed upon the vertical ropes at the end of the
seine, by the use of snatch-blocks, and allowed to run down to the bottom of these ropes, thus
holding together the ends of the lead-line before the pursing begins.

The purse-lilies are arranged to pass obliquely from the last purse-rings which are about 6 feet
from the lead-line. This has the effect of leaving large triangular flaps of netting at the end and
closing the opening of the seine when it is pursed. The twine is of cotton, No. 20 to No. 12 thread,
except the middle or "bunt" of the seine, which is of stronger twine, No. 14 to No. 9 thread, to
prevent the escape of the fish when they are crowded into a small compass. The twine is pre-
vented from rotting by being tarred after the seine is knit and is preserved during the fishing
season by sprinkling salt over it after each haul. The number of menhaden purse-seines in use in
1880 was 366, valued at $138,400.

THE SEINE-BOATS. — The seine-boats were formerly square sterned, lap-streak boats, about 28
feet in length, and resembling in shape an ordinary ship's yawl ; but the boats now in use resemble
the whale-boat in shape, differing from it, however, in some important particulars. According to
Mr. Gifford, a practical seine-boat builder of Gloucester, the seine-boat must have three qualities :
(1) It should tow well; consequently it is made sharpest forward; a whale-boat, on the other hand,
is sharpest aft, to facilitate backing after the whale has been struck. (2) It should row well, and
this quality also is obtained by the sharp bow; the whale-boat also should row well, but in this
case it has been found desirable to sacrifice speed in part to the additional safety obtained by
having the stern sharper than the bow. (3) It should be stiff or steady in the water, since the
operation of shooting the seine necessitates much moving about in the boat.

The average length of the seine-boat is about 34 feet, its width 7 feet 5 inches, and its depth
amidships 33 inches. At the stern is a platform measuring about 4 feet, fore and aft, on which
the captain stands to steer. This is 6 to 8 inches below the gunwale. Another platform extends
the whole length of the boat's bottom, from the after part of which the seine is set. In the bow is
still another platform, on which stands the man who hauls the cork -line. There are four thwarts
or seats, a large space being left clear behind the middle of the boat for the stowage of the seines.
Upon the starboard side of the boat, near the middle, is arranged an upright iron support, about
18 inches in height, to which are attached two iron snatch-blocks, used in the working of the purse-
ropes. On the opposite side of the boat, generally near the bow and stern, but with position varied
according to the fancies of the fishermen, are fixed in the gunwale two staples, to which are attached
other snatch-blocks used to secure additional purchase upon the purse-ropes. In the center of the
platform at the stern of the boat is placed a large wooden pump, used to draw out the water which
accumulates in large quantities during the hauling of the seine.

Most of the steamers carry four seine-boats, two being used in setting the seine, one called
the purse-boat and the other the mate- boat.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 337

Mr. Earll thus describes the methods of seining for menhaden :

" The steamer is put in readiness for starting by the engineer and fireman as early as 2 to
4 o'clock in the morning, depending wholly on the distance to be run before reaching the fishing
grounds. When all is ready the captain is called and takes the steamer to the fishing ground.
In the mean time the cook is preparing breakfast, and when ready the crew are called, giving them
just time to finish their meal before reaching the grounds, which is generally about as soon as it is
light enough to see the fish. After breakfast the captain and mate generally repair to the mast-
head and keep a sharp lookout, while the steamer jogs slowly along in almost any direction. In
the mea>n time the crew are busily engaged in transferring the seine to the two boats, one-half in
each, and all is in readiness in a few moments.

" When a school is seen the crews take their places in the seine-boats, while two of the party
known as 'drivers' go out in advance in little 13-foot boats to learn the direction in which the
school is moving and to mark out its size. The captain generally takes his place at the inside
bow oar in one of the seine-boats, the mate a corresponding position in the other, and by the time
they reach the school the drivers give them information of the movements of the fish. They now
begin throwing out the seine, each boat going in an opposite direction around the school, the
drivers in the mean time doing what they can by splashing to check the fish in case they attempt
to run out of the seine. Soon the boats meet and the captain and mate take their places in the
middle of the boat, and with others begin hauling in the purse-line while the rest are hauling on
the net and cork-liue. The men from the drive-boats help in this, and after it is pursed up the
captain frequently goes aboard and brings the steamer alongside, while the other boats go to the
opposite side of the seine from the pursers and fasten their boats to the cork-line to prevent the
fish from escaping over it. In the mean time the men are hard at work drawing the net in and
bringing the fish nearer together. Four will pull corks, two bag or net, and the others lead.
After the fish are driven well together the net is fastened to the steamer's side, and they are bailed
into the hold by means of a large dip-net run by a donkey-engine.

"Mr. Maddocks says that 1,300 barrels were taken at one haul by the schooner Wave, Capt.
C. A. Esterbrook, of Bound Pond, while fishing off Muscongus Bay. in August of 1870 or 1871.

" After the fish are all taken from the seine, it is taken aboard the steamer to straighten (or
'clear,' as it is called), and again taken into the boats, when everything is ready for another set.

"Each steamer carries two seines — one 300 fathoms long, 20 fathoms deep, with a 3-inch mesh;
the other, 200 fathoms long, 15 fathoms deep, with 2i-inch mesh. The larger seine has about
5,000 corks, aud the smaller 4,000. Leads are not used, but in their place they have metal com-
position rings weighing about 2 pounds, through which the purse-line passes. The larger seine
requires about GO and the smaller 40 rings. A seine will last with proper care about two seasons.

"As soon as the steamer has been filled with fish, the captain generally takes the wheel and
heads her for the factory, or, if fishing at a long distance off, he goes for a harbor, whence he
ships his fish by a sailing vessel chartered for the purpose. In case few fish have been taken,
the vessel continues to jog about till nearly dark, and then either returns to the factory or makes
harbor in the vicinity for the night, but in very pleasant weather they will occasionally remain
on the ground instead of running in. As soon as the vessel is headed for home the mate sets the
men to salting and stowing the seine and putting things to rights. On reaching the factory, the
steamer is made fast and the captain goes below to turn in, and the engineer aud fireman, after
banking their fires, do the same. The mate now takes charge of the unloading, and sets the crew
to work taking out the fish at the rate of 250 barrels per hour, by means of a large hoisting-tub
worked by steam from the factory.

SEC V 22

338 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

" It is generally quite late when the last fish are out, aud, after washing down the deck and
hold, the crew lose no time in going to their bunks for the night."

MENHADEN FISHING ON A LONG ISLAND STEAMER.*

"Loitering in comfortable indecision, I was fortunate enough to get an invitation from Capt.
'Jed' Hawkins to take a fishing cruise in his 'bunker' steamer. The start was to be made at
earliest dawn — an ungracious hour — and I was glad to leave the hotel in the evening and avail
myself of a sofa in the captain's snug stateroom behind the pilot-house, so as to avoid the annoyance
of getting up in the middle of the night. It was Sunday, and the little wharf was utterly deserted
as I picked my way among the rubbish aud piles of merchandise down to the steamer. Standing
on the high deck, a picture of serene beauty spread before me. The air was perfectly still, the moon
just fairly risen, and no sound was to be heard save the ticking of that mighty time piece, the tide,
as its wavelets swung gently back and forth under the weedy piers or divided against the sharp
prows of the smacks. It was light enough to show the spars and ropes of every craft, and all lay
as motionless as though fixed in rock rather than floating in liquid, save the tremulous blue pennons
on the topmasts. Then I turned in ; and when I emerged, after an hour's pounding on my door
(as it seemed) by the chuggety-chugging engines, we were far down Gardiner's Bay.

" Last night the unruffled water was like bronze. Now, under the soft silvery haze of the morn-
ing, the dancing surface became frosted silver, opaque and white, save where the early sunbeams,
striking through the mist, were reflected from the crests of the ripples in glancing ribbons of light.
Shelter Island was an indistinguishable mass far astern; Long Reach light had ceased to twinkle;
Orient Point was hidden in haze; Plum Island, where eagles used to make their metropolis, and
many fish-hawks now live, nesting on the ground with the gulls, was only a low bank of blue;
Gull Islands could not be seen at all ; and I only knew that Little Gull, with its copper-bolted wall,
was there from the dot in the horizon made by its lonely light-house, and an occasional gleam,
imagined to be the surf, breaking on the reefs at the Race. All this was northward. Southward
the wooded bluffs of Gardiner's Island, with its natural breakwater and light-house, like a long
arm reaching out between the outer and the inner waters, limiting the view. But this was soon left
behind, and as the deep indentation of Napeague came into view the steamer's head was turned south-
eastward, toward Montauk, which, In the growing light, now stood out plain in every bleak feature
of sandy dune and treeless moor. Now a very sharp lookout must be kept for fish; and after the
substantial breakfast in the forecastle, I took my pipe and a place in the shrouds. Even then I
could not look across Moutauk, but could easily see two great ponds of fresh water, which nearly
served to make an island of the point. One of them, Fort Pond, was once a scene of sanguinary
warfare between the Montauks and Narragansetts, the latter being beaten only by help from the
Shelter Island Indians, who drove the invaders to their canoes.

"Oft" Oulloden Point the lookout excitedly announced, 'Fish off the port bow.' The captain
seized his glass and scanned the water. So did I. 'There's a big bunch,' he shouts. 'Watch
'em flirt their tails. Good color. See how red the water is.'

" 'Oh, yes; to be sure,' I cry. ' By Jove, that's a good color.'

" My vacant face must have belied my words, but he didn't notice it. He was shouting, ' Lower
away the boats ; stand by to ship the nets; ' furiously ringing signals to the engineer; giving hasty
orders to the wheelsman; ensconcing himself in a pair of oil-skin trousers, so capacious I half
expected he would disappear altogether ; and so, amid the roar of escaping steam, the creaking of

* From an article entitled "Around the Peconics," by Ernest Ingersoll, iu Harper's New Monthly Magazine for
October 1, 1878, pp. 719-723,

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 339

davit tackle, the laughing excitement of the crews, and the rattle of rowlocks, I tumble head-
foremost into a boat, and the steamer was left behind. Now the flirting of tiny tails was plainly
visible, but I must confess that I did not learn to distinguish the reddish hue which indicates a
school of these fish until much later in the day. The two large boats side by side were sculled
rapidly toward the shore where the fish were seen, the forward part of each boat piled full of the
brown seine, which extended iu a great festoon from one to the other. There were four men in
each boat, all standing up, and in our red shirts and shiny yellow oil-skin overalls we must have
made a pretty picture on that sunny morning. Close by was a pound-net, where a porpoise was
rolling gaily, notwithstanding his captivity; but by maneuvering we got the 'bunch' turned
away from it and well inshore, where the water was not too deep. At last we were close to them,
and now came a scene of excitement.

"'Heave it!' yelled the captain, and in each boat a sailor whose place it was worked like a
steam-engine throwing the net overboard , while the crews pulled with all their muscles in opposite
directions around a circle perhaps 100 yards in diameter, and defined by the line of cork buoys
left behind, which should inclose the fish. In three minutes the boats were together again ; the
net was all paid out ; an enormous weight of lead had been thrown overboard, drawing after it a
line rove through the rings along the bottom of the seine. The effect, of course, was instantly to
pucker the bottom of the net into a purse, and thus, before the poor bunkers had fairly appre-
hended their danger, they were caught in a bag whose invisible folds held a cubic acre or two of
water.

"This was sport. I had not bargained for the hard work to come, to the unsportive character
of which my blistered palms soon testified.

" None of the fish were to be seen. Every fin of them had sunk to the bottom. Whether we
had caught 10 or 10,000 remained to be proved. Now, lifting the net is no easy job. The weight
of nearly 10,000 square yards of seine is alone immense, but when it is wet with cold sea-water,
and held back by the pushing of thousands of energetic little noses, to pull it into a rocking boat
implies hard work. However, little by little it came over the gunwales, the first thing being to
bring up the great sinker and ascertain that the closing of the purse at the bottom had been prop-
erh executed. Yard by yard the cork-line was contracted, and one after another the frightened
captives began to appear, some folded into a wrinkle or caught by the gills in a torn mesh (and
such were thrown back), until at last the bag was reduced to only a few feet in diameter, and the
menhaden were seen, a sheeny, gray, struggling mass, which bellied out the net under the cork-
lines and under the boats, iu vain anxiety to pass the curious barrier which on every side hemmed
them in, and in leaping efforts to escape the crowding of their thronging fellows. How they
gleamed, like fish of jewels and gold. The sunshine, finding its way down through the clear
green water, seemed not to reflect from their iridescent scales, but to penetrate them all, and
illumine their bodies from within with a wonderful changing flame. Gleaming, shifting, lambent
waves of color flashed and paled before my entranced eyes; gray as the fishes turned their backs,
sweeping brightly back with a thousand brilliant tints as they showed their sides; soft, undefined,
and mutable, down there under the green glass of the sea; while, to show them the better, myriads
of minute medusae hurried hither and thither, glittering like phosphorescent lanterns iu gossamer
frames and transparent globes.

"All possible slack having now been taken in, the steamer approaches, and towing us away to
deeper water, for we are drifting toward a lee shore, comes to a stand still, and the work of loading
begins. The cork-line is lifted up and made last to the steamer's bulwarks, to which the boats
have already attached themselves at one cud, holding together at the other. This crowds all the

340 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

bunkers together in a mass between the two boats and the steamer's side, where the water boils
with the churning of thousands of active fins. A 20-foot oar is plunged into the mass, but will
not suffice to sound its living depths. Then a great dipper of strong netting on an iron hoop is
let down by tackle from the yard-arm, dipped into the mass under the guidance of a man on deck
who holds the handle, the pony-engine puffs and shakes, and away aloft for an instant swings a
mass of bunkers, only to be upset and fall like so much sparkling water into the resounding hold.

" 'How many does that dipper hold?'

" 'About a thousand.'

" ' Very well, I will count how many times it goes after a load.'

" But I didn't. I forgot it in looking down the hatchway. The floor of the shallow hold was
paved with animated silver, and every new addition, falling in a lovely cataract from far overhead,
seemed to shatter a million rainbows as it struck the yielding mass below, and slid away on every
side to glitter in a new iridescence till another myriad of diamonds rained down. If you take it in
your hand, the mossbuuker is an ordinary looking fish, like a small shad, and you do not admire it;
but every gleaming fiery tint that ever burned in a sunset, or tinged a crystal, or painted the petals
of a flower, was cast in lovely confusion into that rough hold. There lay the raw material of
beauty, the gorgeous elements out of which dyes are resolved — abstract bits of lustrous azure and
purple, crimson and gold, and those indefinable greenish and pearly tints that make the luminous
background of all celestial sun-painting. As the steamer rolled on the billows, and the sun struck
the wet and tremulous mass at this and that angle, or the whole was in the half-shadow of the
deck, now a cerulean tint, now a hot brazen glow, would spread over all for an instant, until the
wriggling mixture of olive backs and pearly bellies and nacreous sides, with scarlet blood-spots
where the cruel twine had wounded, was buried beneath a new stratum.

" ' How many?' I asked, when all were in.

" ' Hundred and ten thousand,' replied Captain Hawkins. ' Pretty fair, but I took three times
as many at one haul last week.'

" ' What are they worth?'

" ' Oh, something over $100. Hard a-starboard! go ahead slow.'

"And the labor of the engines drowned the spat, spat, spat of the myriads of restless little tails
struggling to swim out of their strange prison, while I climbed to the masthead to talk with the
grizzly old lookout, who had been round Cape Horn thirteen times, yet did not think himself much
of a traveler.

'< The cry of ' Color off the port bow ! ' brought us quickly down the ratlines and again into the
boats.

" That day we caught 250,000 fish, and made a round trip of 100 miles, going away outside of
Montauk Point, where it was frightfully rough after a two days' easterly gale. Great mountains of
water, green as liquid malachite, rolled in hot haste to magnificent destruction on the beach, where
the snowy clouds of spray were floating dense and high, and the roar of the surf came grandly to
our ears wherever we went. Yet the difficulties were none too great for these hardy fishermen,
who balanced themselves in their cockle-shells, and rose and sank with the huge billows, without
losing their hold upon the seines or permitting a single wretched bunker to escape."

CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS OP PURSE-SEINE FISHING.

METHODS OF HANDLING THE NET. — Much care and expedition are necessary in handling a
purse-seine full of fish. In the event of a very large draught, if the fish are left in the net too long
they are killed by the confinement and close pressure and sink. In such a case the only alterna-

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 341

tive offered the fishermen is to cut open their seine. Sometimes the dead fish carry the net with
them to the bottom. When there are more than enough fish in the seine to fill the vessel to which
it belongs, and there is danger that they may be lost, other vessels which are near often take the
surplus fish. In such a case, writes Mr. Babson, one-half the value of the fish is paid to the
captors.

In calm or moderate weather, fishing is carried on from dawn till dark, though morning and
evening seem most favorable. In rough weather the nets are not easily set, while the fish usually
swim farther from the surface and cannot be seen. Cold northerly and easterly winds seem to
affect the fish, causing them to sink toward the bottom. Southerly winds seem the most propi-
tious.

Mr. Dudley states that in the fall, during the southward migration, the fish play at the surface
with a northwest wind.

THE BEST TIMK FOE SEININO. — The early morning is apt to be the stillest part of the day, and
a large part of the fish are taken at that time.

So far as we can learn, the motions of the fish are not particularly affected by the tides, except
that, like the Clupeidw, they prefer to swim against strong tides and winds. An impression seems
to hold among the fishermen that rather better success attend s fishing on the flood-tide. This is
no doubt the case where gill-nets are in use, for in localities where the fish have not been fright-
ened off shore by constant fishing they like to play up into coves and bays with the rising tide, and
are then easily taken by the gill-nets and the pounds or weirs.

Where the purse-seines are worked in deep water off the shore, as on the coast of Maine, little
attention need be paid to the tides ; but where they are used in bays or channels where the tide
has much head, there is a practical difficulty in using them except at or near the time of slack
water. In a swift current the seine is liable to accidents from being caught on rocks or other
obstructions, or may be capsized or pulled out of position. In Narragansett Bay, the difficulties
of this kind appear to be particularly great. According to Mr. Church, it is not uncommon for a
gang to work all day without success, their net being capsized every time it is set.

GILL-NET FISHING.

Besides the purse-seine, which is the chief apparatus of capture, gill-nets, set-nets, and haul-
seines are also employed along some parts of the coast. On the New Jersey coast gill-nets are
shot ahead of the fish as they are swimming along and they are thus easily captured. This method
is called gilling. Sometimes an ordinary haul-seine is used, the fish being dragged ashore.

Before the introduction of the purse-seine, gill-nets were the chief means of capture. Until
within a few years most of the menhaden fishing east of the Penobscot Eiver, in Maine, was
carried on with gill-nets. These nets were usually of No. 12 to 14 4-thread twine, of 3£ to 4 inch
mesh, and from 30 to 180 feet in length by 10 to 24 feet in depth. Two men in an open sail-boat
could tend a dozen of these nets, which were set in the night by being anchored in favorite haunts
of the fish.

MENHADEN WEIRS.

In former years there were a few menhaden weirs along the Maine coast. In the pound-nets of
Martha's Vineyard and other parts of the coast large quantities of menhaden are sometimes taken,
but these nets are set specially for other species. The menhaden thus taken are generally sold for
bait. Col. Theodore Lyman has given a very graphic account of the capture of bait menhaden in
Vineyard Sound :

342 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

"The weir is hauled once a day, and always at slack water, because with a strong tide running
cast or west it is impossible to handle the bottom lines. The men pull out in two parties, of which
one in a large scow passes around the outside of the bowl, casting oft' the bottom lines, while the
other in a yawl-boat pushes inside the bowl, pulls up the sliding poles, and closes the entrances.
The slackening of the bottom line allows the bowl-net to hang free, and the crew inside begin to
haul up the bottom of this net in such a way as to work the fish toward one corner, letting the
net as it comes to the surface pass under their boat, which is thus slowly drawn across the bowl
toward the corner where the capture is to take place, and where the scow is already waiting
outside.

"The scene now becomes an exciting one. The menhaden in thousands begin to show the
upper lobes of their tails above the water; here and there darts a feverish mackerel like a blue
and silver flash; great leathery skates, looking like pigs rolled out flat, raise their snouts in slow
astonishment; here a shark suddenly works his way through the crowding mob; hundreds of
goggle-eyed squid, smothered in the press, feebly ply their force pumps; and there the murderous
bluefish, undismayed by imminent death, glares fiercely and snaps his savage jaws to the last.
All these, with flat-fish, sea robins, butterfish, and many more, are taken and rolled in a fluttering
mass, iridescent with changing colors, and shower their silver scales high in air. It moves even
the weirmen, in their oilskin clothes, with a slight excitement as they cull out from the menhaden
the choice and the oft'al fishes. There is Uncle Abishai smiting sharks with a spear, like so many
Sauls, and he smiteth them not twice ; and Captain Ed'ard endeavoring, with a swift scoop-net, to
capture a dodging shad, because Mrs. Asa has boarders and needs a fish dinner; and Captain
Charles, with the air of one who gets a toy for a good child, diligently striving after some of them
ere striped robins that the professor wanted. All this is strange and entertaining, even to a
commissioner, who, by the motion of a long swell and the evil piscatory odor, is somewhat afflicted
with what the local satire terms ' white-ears.'

"And now the menhaden, bushels on bushels, are scooped all quivering into the great scow,
for a little outside lies a mackereler who has just let go her anchor with a rattle, and a boat is
pulling in with the skipper to buy bait. 'What you got?' cries he, in an indifferent tone, 'Men-
haden,'retorts Captain Warren, as if speaking of a new and scarce fish. (A pause.) 'I don't
know but I might take a few barrels if they are low,' says the skipper. (No reply.) ' What do you
want for 'em?' 'Eighty-five cents,' shouts Captain Warren, and then (sotto voce), 'I don't believe
he's got a scale.' At this answer the man of mackerel pushes over the tiller and steers off indig-
nantly; but presently pauses, 'Give you sixty -five for seventy barrels.' 'Seventy-five cents is
the lowest,' replies Captain Warren. 'Call it seventy cents for seventy five barrels." 'Waal,
Waal.' And by this time the scow is full, and the weirmen pull for the vessel, whose numerous
crew is ready to hoist the bait on board and salt it down. Ihey stand with knives, barrels, and
chopping blocks, and rapidly cut off the heads and tails of the fish, and the thin parts of the sides,
then give a gash in the shoulder, and throw them into the barrel for salting. A mackereler will
take as many as 120 barrels of such bait, which is minced fine in a hand-mill and thrown over to
toll the fish."

The change in the method of taking mackerel has well-nigh done away with the use of toll-bait
so extensively employed in the days of mackerel hooking.

6. OIL AND GUANO FACTOEIES.

As stated in a previous paragraph, the chief products of the menhaden are the oil and guano,
to be obtained by a process of cooking and pressing. A limited quantity is used for food along

THE MENHADEN FISHEEY. 343

the New Jersey coast, aud formerly they were salted down in New England for export to the West
Indies. They are also used as bait in various fisheries.

The factories are located at various points along the coast, convenient to the fishing grounds.
At the eastern end of Long Island there are a large number of factories, fitted to handle great
quantities of fish. Oue of the largest and best-equipped factories is that of Joseph Church & Co.,
at Tiverton, E. I. Aloug the Connecticut and New Jersey shores there are several factories, aud
in Chesapeake Bay upwards of sixty, many of them, however, very small. The processes of man-
ufacture arc fully described in another part of this report.

METHODS OF OIL MANUFACTURE.

THE PRINCIPLES INVOLVED. — The manufacture of menhaden oil is simple in the extreme, con-
sisting of three processes — boiling the fish, pressing, and clarifying the expressed oil. The appa-
ratus absolutely needful is correspondingly free from complication, consisting, for the first process,
of a cooking vessel; for the second, a press; and for the third, a shallow vat or tank. These were
used twenty-five years ago by Mrs. Bartlett, the manufacturer of the first menhaden oil, who pro-
duced an article little inferior to the best now in the market. Very few patents for improved
methods of manufacture have been granted. Mr. W. D. Hall's patent for steam-rendering is the
most important. The principal changes have been in the introduction of labor-saving appliances,
which enable manufacturers to carry on their business with the smallest possible force of workmen.
Steam, is of course an important auxiliary in handling the fish and in working the presses, and is
also used to great advantage in heating the cooking-tanks, as well as for pumping the water and
oil. The hydraulic press has replaced the old-fashioned screw-press in most of the larger estab-
lishments, and the size, shape, and arrangement of the bleaching vats, as well as the methods of
drawing and pumping the oil from one to the other, have been perfected.

PROCESSES EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURE. — The process of oil-making at the larger works is
essentially as follows: The fish are conveyed to the upper story of the factory on wooden tram-
ways in cars containing about 20 barrels each, and are dumped into large reservoirs, from which
the cooking-tanks are replenished from time to time, or are emptied directly into the cooking-tanks,
whi ;h are filled to the depth of 6 inches with sea- water. From 50 to 75 barrels are placed in each
cooking-tank, and then steam is turned on and they are boiled for half an hour or more. In this
way about two-thirds of the oil is separated; the remainder is expressed by means of the hydraulic
presses, under a pressure of 50 to 150 tons or less, the fish having been placed in circular curbs of
half inch iron, perforated with holes an eighth of an inch in diameter, each curb having a capacity
of 3 to 10 barrels. The oil, mixed with water, is now run into the "drawing-off tanks" while it is
still hot, and is passed through several of them, the water separating and sinking to the bottom.
The oil is now drawn off into a "settling- tank" of 4,000 or 5,000 gallons capacity, where it remains
a few hours to allow impurities to sink to the bottom. Finally, it is pumped into " bleaching- tanks,"
containing several thousand gallons, where it becomes clearer and whiter in the rays of the sun,
and after one or two weeks of exposure is ready for shipment.

PROCESSES EMPLOYED IN REFINING. — Boardmau & Atkins make the following statements
about processes of refining:

"The oil and water running together into the receivers separate by the oil rising to the top,
whence it can be drawn or skimmed off. Great pains must be taken to separate the oil from the
water before the impurities contained in the latter begin to ferment, for if this happens the quality
of the oil suffers much. Moreover, in what appears at first to be pure oil there is a variable amount
of finely divided fleshy substance that must be allowed to settle, as it will after a while, and the

344 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

clarified oil drawn oft' before put refaction sets iu. In order to effect the separation the oil is com-
monly passed through a number of settling- vats, and a portion of the impurities deposited in each,
and finally, before barreling, the oil is, if practicable, exposed some hours to the sunlight in a broad,
shallow tank. If all these processes are successfully carried through, the oil is light-colored, sweet,
and of prime quality; but if it is exposed at any time to the influence of putrefying animal matter,
it becomes dark and 'strong.' The very strongest of oil is made from the 'gurry' or settlings of
the oil, after fermentation, by steaming or boiling it over.

"It naturally happens that every manufacturer makes several grades of oil, of very different
quality, of which the best is very sweet, fine oil, bringing 10 cents a gallon more than a strong
article. Notwithstanding this fact, it is said to be the common practice of dealers to pour all
grades into the same vat, and this has led manufacturers to take, less pains to keep them separate.
"It is a curious fact that oil made from early fish is not so good as that made later. It is
called ' weak,' and brings in market five cents per gallon less." *
Gurry oil is sold for one-third less than the other grades.

Perhaps the most satisfactory way of indicating the processes now in use will be to describe
three or four of the principal factories in detail.

THE FACTORY OF THE GEORGE W. MILES COMPANY. — The factory of The George W. Miles
Company at Milford, Conn., is said to have been the first one built after the model now universally
followed, with the cooking-tanks and oil-presses upon the second floor of the building.

When the fishing fleet comes in, the fish are hoisted from the holds of the vessels into cars, in
which they are carried over an inclined tram- way to the upper story of the factory building. Here
they are turned into tanks, 20,000 fish in each, and cooked by steam-power. Then the water is
drawn off and the cooked fish are placed in perforated iron curbs, which are so arranged upon rail-
ways that they can be pushed under a hydraulic press. Each curb-load of fish is subjected to a
pressure of sixty or seventy tons, by which the greater part of the oil is extracted. The scrap is
then dropped into the cellar below.

THE COST OF AN OIL-FACTORY. — The larger part of the cost of an oil-factory consists in the
machinery, as the buildings are always of wood, substantial but cheap. The amount invested in
factories by different manufacturers appears to range from $2,000 to $65,000. The average amount
invested in the fourteen factories of the Maine Association is $22,600, but the general average will
not probably exceed $12,000 or $15,000.

Mr. Church, of Tiverton, R. I., speaking of the establishments on Narragansett Bay, remarks
that a factory ready for business, including buildings, tanks, boilers, hydraulic presses, oil-room,
&c., of a capacity to cook and press SOO barrels (200,000 fish) in a day, costs not far from $14,000.
A hydraulic press costs about $1,200; in 1877, $700.

Mr. Miles, of Milford, Conn., states that boilers cost from $2,000 to $4,000, hydraulic presses
with curbs and fixtures $2,000; engines, pumps, shafting, and pulleys, together with the necessary
buildings, bring the cost of the factory to from $10,000 to $50,000.

Capt. B. H. Sisson, of Greenport, N. Y., estimates the cost of boilers, engine, piping, hydraulic
press worked by steam, steam drying machines, and steam hoisting apparatus, to be from $10,000
to $25,000 for each factory.

Mr. Dudley states that a factory running three or four gangs of fishermen costs from $20,000
to $30,000.

The capital invested in the factory is one-half of the whole amount. The fourteen establish-
ments of the Maine Association had in 1874 $316,000 in buildings and machinery and $390,000 in

* Op. cit., p. 27.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 345

"gear"; that is, in steamers, sailing vessels, small boats, and nets; aii average of $27,800 to each
for gear against $22,000 for factory. In Connecticut, according to Mr. Dudley, about the same
proportion holds.

ORGANIZATION OF THE FISHING GANGS. — "In the early days of the business," says Mr.
Dudley, "the manufacturers did not own the fishing vessels, nor were they interested pecuniarily
in the fishery; they bought the fish from independent fishermen. This method was found unsatis-
factory; the fishermen sold to the highest bidder, and the supply was uncertain. Of late years
the company owns the vessels which supply it with fish. The crew work upon shares, as in other
fisheries. In the settlement, at the end of the season, a sailing vessel, with seine and gear, draws
one-third of the net proceeds; a steamer, one-half; the remainder is divided by the crew, the cap-
tain receiving an ordinary share, in addition to which he is paid a salary by the company, either
fixed or proportionate to the success of the season's work. It is not uncommon for a successful
captain to receive a bonus of $500, or sometimes $1,000. In settling the season's account, the
total catch is paid for at a rate proportionate to the yield of oil. In 1870, the Quinnipiac Fertilizer
Company paid $1.25 per thousand. The company usually advances pay to the men to the extent
of $1 a thousand, and at the end of the season a final settlement is made. The crew of a sailing
vessel will average from $35 to $75 a month; the crew of a steamer somewhat more."

ADVANTAGES CLAIMED FOB FLOATING FACTORIES. — Floating factories were in use until
recently chiefly on Long Island Sound; in whose protected waters they operate to great advantage.
They have now gone out of use on ac'count of the introduction of steamers. They were usually
built upon the hull of some old vessel, and towed from point to point, gathering the fish from the
smacks and working them up into oil and guano as they moved. Some of them were fitted up with
machinery for very extensive manufacture. Two important objects were attained by the owners of
floating factories: The objection to their business arising from the offensive odor was to a considera-
ble extent removed; by following the movements of the fish time and expense were saved, for by
bringing the factory to the fish they obviated the necessity of having a fleet of lighters to carry the
fish to the factory, which might often require two or three days. There were five of these factories
in 1878; one owned at Milford, Conn., and four at Greenport, N. Y.

7. THE MENHADEN AS A BAIT FISH. •

THE USE OF MENHADEN FOR BAIT. — Menhaden bait, when obtainable, is extensively used in
the cod fisheries of New England. Its popularity is no doubt chiefly due to the ease with which
it may be obtained in large quantity, though its oily nature and strong odor render it particularly
well adapted for use as a toll bait for mackerel. "Slivered porgies"aie carried by the vessels
fishing for cod on the Grand, Western, and George's Banks. According to Capt. N. E. Atwood,
salted menhaden are good bait for haddock, but inferior for cod.

In the days of hooking mackerel thousands of barrels of menhaden were used for toll bait,
but the purse-seine has done away with the need of such bait, except in special cases.

The menhaden were said to be superior to all other mackerel bait. They were ground up
fine in a bait-mill and then thrown over with a bait-dipper. A great deal of testimony concern-
ing the use of menhaden as mackerel bait was given before the Halifax Commission.

THE TESTIMONY OF CANADIAN OFFICERS.— Mr. H. W. Johnson, of the Department of Marine
and Fisheries, wrote, in 1868, a "Special Eeport on the Distress among the Nova Scotia Fishermen."
One of the reasons assigned by him for the failure of the fisheries is that " the pogies, the only
real mackerel bait, is not caught east of Portland, and must all be imported for our fleet, the
increased cost of which, added to the American duty, the fisherman has to pay on his share of

34(> HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

fish, besides charges of transportation place him in the position that if he catches during the
season, to his own share, forty barrels of mackerel in one vessel, he has not made as good a season
by about $100, gold, as if he had been in an American bottom." *

Capt. P. A. Scott, R. N., commanding the marine police of the Dominion, reported, in 1870, to
the Commissioner of Marine and Fisheries: "For mackerel fishing the Americans use pogies and
clams, chopped fine, as bait. The pogies are found only on the coast of the United States, and
when imported into the Dominion cost about $6 per barrel." t

Capt. Charles (*. F. Knowles, R. N., commanding H. M. S. Lapwing, cruising on fishing sta-
tion No. 4, which includes the west coast of Cape Breton and the east coast of Prince Edward
Island, reported to Vice- Admiral Fanshawe, November 7, 1870, in these words: "The bait with
which the Americans are supplied is far superior to any which can be procured in this country,
to which may be attributed, in a great measure, the success of the Americans previously to the
recent restrictions, although even now the local fishermen complain that they have no chance while
an American schooner is fishing near them."|

Professor Hind, in his treatise on " The Effect of the Fishery Clauses of the Treaty of Wash-
ington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of British North America" (part 1, p. 75), remarks that its
value as a bait for cod is, in a considerable degree, superseded by the herring ; but as a bait for
"tolling mackerel" it is still in repute, although other fish, similarly treated and finely ground,
appear to be equally useful in this respect. The first part of this statement is undoubtedly true,
at least as far as the fishermen of the British colonies are 'concerned. In regard to the compara-
tive value of herring and menhaden for toll-bait, there is still room for difference of opinion.

An average of perhaps 250,000 barrels of mackerel were annually caught by the United States
vessels, using menhaden bait solely, against 110,000 caught by the Provincial fleet, which used
menhaden bait when it could be obtained, buying it at the rate of $6 a barrel in preference
to herring bait, which costs only the labor of catching and the salt for preserving.

SLIVERING MENHADEN. — The method of preparing menhaden for salting, to be used as bait,
is very simple. The head of the fish is taken in the left hand of the workman, and with a knife
held in the right hand he cuts a slice, longitudinally, from each side of the body, leaving the head
and vertebrae to be thrown away, or, occasionally, to be pressed for oil. The slivers (pronounced
styvers) are salted and packed in barrels. The knife used is of a peculiar shape and is called a
"slivering knife."

THE PREPARATION OF MACKEREL BAIT. — The use of menhaden bait for mackerel fishing was
inaugurated in 1835 or 1840; the bait is ground up into a mush and salted, to be used as a "toll-
bait," and to be thrown over the side of the smack to attract the school to the surface and keep it
alongside; this is called "chumming up the fish," and the bait is called "chum" or "stosh." To
prepare it for use the "slivers" are passed through a "bait-mill," which is a machine like a
farmer's feed-cutter; the fish are thrown into the hopper, from which the fish pass between a roller
armed with small knives in rows, and a series of similar knives arranged along a board which slopes
toward the bottom. The bait is usually ground at night, by the watch on deck; when the vessel
has no " bait-mill," the fish are cut up with a hatchet or scalded with boiling water in a tub.
Bait-mills were first introduced about the year 1824. In fishing for mackerel, one man throws over
the bait while the rest ply their lines. " Toll-bait" is also used by the smacks, which use purse-
seines and drift-nets, to attract the fish to the surface.

* Proceedings Halifax Commission, 1877, Appendix F, p. 67.
t Third Report Commissioner Marine and Fsheries, 1871, p. 312.
., p. 342.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 347

THE USE OF MENHADEN BAIT IN THE COAST FISHERIES. — Menhaden bait is also used in
the coast fisheries for sea bass, on the "bull-tows" or "trot-lines," and in the eel and lobster
pots. They are not much in favor for the latter use, however, for the oil of the fish is thought to
permeate the flesh of the lobster, imparting to it an unpleasant flavor.

Menhaden have also been used as bait for bluefish in the same manner as in the mackerel
hook-fishery, the menhaden being chopped up fine and thrown in the water to attract the schools
of bluefish. This method of catching bluefish is called " chumming."

EXTENT OF BAIT-FISHERY IN NEW ENGLAND.— Capjtaiu Babson, of Gloucester, whose account
of the bait-fishery of Cape Ann is quoted elsewhere, and who has given much other valuable
information, states that there were over 60,000 barrels of "round-fish" taken in his district in
187.'!. NYssels belonging to the companies of the Maine Oil and Guano Association sold in 1873
for bait 2,977 barrels; in 1874, 10,400; in 1877, 10,795. Prom the bait fisheries about Marblehead,
in the vicinity of Provincetown, 1,000 to 2,000 barrels were taken for bait in 1873, according to Mr.
Loring. At Chatham, for the past five years, the average catch has been about 5,000 barrels, a
large portion of which are sold to the George's Bank codfish vessels. There are some bait-fisheries
about Nantucket, which are, however, quite unimportant.

Most of the fish taken at Martha's Vineward are used for bait; in 1873, according to Jason
Luce & Co., there were 5,000 barrels.

At Gloucester, according to Capt. F. J. Babsou, the 00,000. barrels of round fish make 20,000
barrels of "slivers," worth $4 per barrel to the producer. At Marblehead it averages $1 per barrel
for fresh and $6 for salt; at Chatham, $1.50 fresh; at Nantucket, 50 cents to 75 cents, and at
Martha's Vineyard 50 cents, as I am told. In Narragansett Bay, according to Mr. J. M. K. South-
wick, bait sold in 1871 for $1 and $1.50.

BAIT-FISHERY IN MERRIMAC RIVER AND SALEM HARBOR.— Fisheries of some importance
were formerly carried on at the mouth of the Merriinac River. The menhaden thus obtained were
used chiefly to supply the Cape Ann fishing fleet with bait, although they were salted for food to
a considerable extent. Ten seines and about seventy men were engaged in this fishery during its
continuance, which usually lasted about one month — from the middle of June to the middle of
July. The seines were 100 to 200 yards long and 5 to 8 fathoms deep, requiring six to eight men
to manage them. The boats from which they were worked were light scows, about 25 feet in
length and 8 feet in breadth of beam. The seine was set from the stern of the scow, and was
worked from the shore by means of long warps.

Capt. Moses Pettingell, of Newburyport, to whom we are indebted for the above facts, states
that the seine-gangs have occasionally taken 2,000 barrels offish in a single day.

Boston and Gloucester vessels were accustomed to anchor at the mouth of the river and wait
for their supplies of bait. At one time in 1877 there were 25 fishing schooners waiting. Captain
Pettingell estimates that 500 supplies of bait from 10 to GO barrels were sold annually by the Mer-
rimac seine-gangs.

The regular price of fresh bait for ten years prior to 1878 was $1 per barrel. Probably 1,000
barrels of slivered fish were prepared in 1876; these sold for $5 per barrel. Captain Pettingell
estimates the catch for 1876 at 2,000 barrels to a boat, making an aggregate catch of 20,000 barrels,
or perhaps 6,600,000 fish. The returns were probably not far from $20,000 in a good season.

The following table is from the Report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries for 1877
(p. 65). It is possibly not complete.

348 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

TABLE. — Seine-fishery at mouth of the Merrimac.

Name.

Menhaden.

E. Thnrlow

R. Pierce . . ..

B. M. Perkins...

W. H. H. Perkins

2, 013, 675

N. Lattime . .

B. Stevens

A similar fishery, though of much less extent, was carried on by Gloucester vessels in Salem
Harbor. There being no considerable body of fresh water, the schools were small and easily dis-
persed. July 15, 1877, I observed six or seven gangs busily plying their seines opposite The Wil-
lows. After a day or two the menhaden were driven away, and the fishing ceased until the fol-
lowing week, when they returned and were soon followed by the same boats.

AN ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL CONSUMPTION OF MENHADEN BAIT. — It is not practicable to

make, from the data to which we have access, any very accurate estimate of the total quantity of
menhaden bait used in one year. We give below a number of estimates for individual ports or
fisheries ; 60,000 round barrels are thus accounted for. It is no doubt correct to estimate the total
consumption for 1877 at 80,000 barrels, or 26,000,000 of fish.

CONSUMPTION BY THE GEORGE'S BANK FLEET.— The George's Bank cod fleet is owned
entirely in Gloucester. There are about 130 vessels, making usually one trip every twenty days.
When they can get slivered menhaden they carry no other bait. Early in the summer they go to
Vineyard Sound for their bait, where they buy it from the pounds; later they have usually been
able to buy nearer home. Each vessel carries about forty round barrels of menhaden, iced. Mr.
Joseph O. Proctor estimates the annual number of trips made with this bait at COO. This gives a
total amount of 24,000 round barrels, or about 8,000,000 of fish ; 24,000 round barrels are equiva-
lent to 8,000 barrels of slivered fish.

Ten years ago, according to the estimate of the same gentleman, the George's-meu did not
carry menhaden bait on so many trips, nor did they carry so much. He estimates 300 trips, at 30
barrels, giving an aggregate of 9,000 round barrels, or about 3,000,000 fish.

CONSUMPTION BY THE GRAND BANK FLKET. — Mr. Proctor estimates that the Grand Bank
cod vessels of Gloucester use in all about 600 barrels of slivered menhaden bait.

Major Low's statement of the outfit of the schooner Madam Roland,"* copied from the trip-
book, shows that she was supplied with 5 barrels of pogy slivers, at $8 per barrel, making $40;
and 5 barrels of slack-salted clams, at $11, making $55. His model table, to show the cost of a
a new schooner fitted at Gloucester, 1875, for a four months' trip to the Grand Bank for codfish
and halibut, with 14 hands, estimates for 12,000 pogies or herring, at $100.

CONSUMPTION BY THE MACKEREL LINE-FISHERMEN. — Each mackerel vessel engaged in line-
fishing consumes during the course of the season about 20 barrels of salted menhaden slivers. In
1807, when the entire fleet fished with hooks, the amount consumed by Gloucester alone amounted,
by Mr. Proctor's estimate, to 6,500 barrels, and the total consumption in the United States of mack-
erel bait must have exceeded 25,000 barrels. In 1877 the purse-seiners are in a large majority.
The whole amount consumed by a seining vessel does not exceed 5 or 6 barrels in a season. Glouces-

* Sailed for the Grand Banks August 26, 1873; arrived at Gloucester October 10, 1873; time absent, one month
fourteen days ; gross stock, $2,758.27. Doc. and Proc. Halifax Commission, vol. iii, p. 2,600.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 349

ter had iu 1877 about CO " mackerel-hookers," using about 2,400 barrels of slivers, while its seining
fleet used about 2,000 barrels more.

Capt. Sylvauus Smith, of Gloucester, stated to the Halifax Commission that a vessel fitting
out for a four months' trip to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence would need to be supplied with 40
barrels of pogy bait, worth $6 a barrel, making $240, and 10 barrels of salt clams, worth $8 a
barrel, making $80.*

Major Low's statement, copied from the trip- book of the schooner Oliver Eldridge,t shows
that she fitted out with 55 barrels of slivered pogies, at $6.50 a barrel, making $357.50, and 7
barrels of clams, at $0, making $42. f

The amount of these outfits is much greater than that upon which the above estimate was
made.

The entire amount used in the mackerel fishery in 1877 probably did not exceed 8,000 or 9,000
barrels of slivers, or 24,000 to 27,000 barrels of "round fish." '

CONSUMPTION BY THE CONNECTICUT SMACKS. — In 1878 there were seven Connecticut smacks
fishing for the flounder (Chcenopsetta ocellaris) in Long Island and Block Island Sounds. Five of
these hailed from Noauk, one from Mystic, and one from New London. Captain Ashby states
that these smacks average one trip every tour or five days for five months (May to September inclu-
sive). They use only menhaden bait; about one barrel each trip, or perhaps 150 barrels in the season.

About sixteen Noank and four New London smacks fish for sea-bass. Each carries two or
three barrels of menhaden bait each trip, making an aggregate annual amount of about 1,000
barrels.

CONSUMPTION BY THE NEW YOEK HALIBUT FLEET. — The New York halibut fleet of eleven
vessels, owned at Noauk, New London, and Greeuport, uses only menhaden bait, which is iced
fresh in the vessels' holds. A vessel carries from G,000 to 10,000 fish on each trip, and makes
five or six trips. The aggregate number of menhaden thus used is perhaps 480,000, or 1,400
barrels. The usual price is $4 a thousand.

ANNUAL SALE OP BAIT BY THE MAINE MANUFACTURERS. — The Menhaden Oil and Guano
Manufacturing Association of Maine sold for bait :

Barrels of fish.

Iu 1873 2,977

In 1874 10,400

In 1875 10,752

In 1876 8,432

In 1877 10,795

THE CONNECTICUT METHOD OF ICING BAIT. — A peculiar method of preserving the unsalted
menhaden is made use of on board the Connecticut halibut-catchers. The fish, after being very
carefully cleaned and eviscerated, are packed with pounded ice in bins holding about 125 cubic
feet (about 5 feet in each dimension). A ground-layer of ice-blocks 12 inches thick is first laid,
then a tier of fish consisting of two layers and about 4 inches thick, then a layer of 4 inches of
pounded ice, and so on until the bin is filled, after which its sides are packed with pounded ice
and covered with canvas. Seven to ten thousand fish are thus stowed in one bin. The stowing
having been completed, the fish and ice freeze together in a solid mass, which is left untouched
until the fishing-banks are reached.

Their supply of bait being thus secured, the vessels are never obliged to make harbor in search

* Documents and Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877, Vol. Ill, p. 2547.

t Which sailed for the Bay of Saint Lawrence August 5, 1875 (absent two months and twenty-eight days), arrived
at Gloucester November 2, 1875, stocking $1,771.83, or 224 barrels of mess mackerel.
$ Documents and Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877, Vol. HI, p. 2602,

350 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

of a new supply. They often catch their fare upon La Have or Brown's Bank, and return home
without having anchored. The bait is good for three weeks. Captain Ashby states that he has
used it on the thirty-third day.

THE CAPE ANN METHOD OF ICING BAIT. — On board the Gloucester vessels the menhaden are
not eviscerated, nor are they packed with so much care; consequently they never last more than
three weeks. Since twenty-four hours or more are usually occupied on both outward and home
voyages, there is only a short time left for which the supply of bait can be counted upon. If by
any means this time could be doubled an important advantage would be acquired. Vessels would
often be able to complete their fares on the eastern banks without going to Newfoundland for
bait. Does the Connecticut method fulfill this requirement? Captain Hurlbert, one of the most
experienced fishermen of Gloucester, says no. He claims that neither cod nor halibut will bite
well at a fish which has had its blood removed. He says that a half-decayed fish, with the blood
still in it, is better bait than a perfectly sweet one kept by cleaning it. He says, still further, that
Gloucester fishermen formerly followed this method, but that it was abandoned many years ago,
as early as 1866.

THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF VARIOUS METHODS OF ICING. — The comparative value of the
different methods of preserving bait was discussed by Professor Baird in his testimony before the
Halifax Commission, which is quoted :

"Question. Now will you state what observation you have made respecting the method of
preserving fresh bait from the start all the voyage through? — Answer. As a general rule it is
now preserved either by salting or freezing. Of course they keep it as long as it will remain
without spoiling, and when you have to carry it beyond that time either ice it or salt it. Salting,
of course, is a very simple process, but it alters materially the texture and taste to such a degree
that fish or other bait that under certain circumstances is highly prized by the fish is looked
upon with a great deal of indifference when salted. Now, there are special methods of preserving
the fish or bait by some chemical preparation, which preserves the fish without giving the saline
taste. There are preparations by means of which oysters or clams or fish can be kept in solutions
for six mouths without getting any appreciable taste, and without involving the slightest degree
of deterioration or destruction. One process submitted to the group of judges, of whom I was
chairman, was exhibited by an experimenter, who placed a jar of oysters in our room prepared in
that way. I think about the 1st of August those were placed in our room, and they were kept there
until the middle of September, for six weeks during the hottest part of the Centennial summer,
and that was hot enough. At the end of that time we mustered up courage to pass judgment upon
this preparation, and we tasted these oysters and could not find them affected. We would have pre-
ferred absolutely fresh oysters, but there was nothing repugnant to the sensibilities, and I believe
we consumed the entire jar. And we gave the exhibitor, without any question, an award for an
admirable new method. That man is now using that process on a very large scale in New York for
the preservation of fish of all kinds, and he claims he can keep them any length of time and allow
them to be used as fresh fish quite easily. I don't suppose any fisherman ever thought of using any
preservative except salt.

"Q. That is entirely experimental? — A. It is experimental, but it promises very well. Now,
borax is one of the substances that will preserve animal matter a great deal better than salt, and
without changing the texture. Acetic acid is another preparation, or citric acid will keep fish a
long time without any change of the quality, and by soaking it in fresh water for a little while the
slightly acidulated taste will be removed. I don't believe a cod will know the difference between
a clam preserved in that way and a fresh clam.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 351

" Q. Now, about ice. We know a great deal has been done in the way of preserving bait in ice.
How far has that got? — A. It is a very crude and clumsy contrivance. They generally break up
the ice into pieces about the size of pebble stones, or larger; then simply "stratify the bait or fish
with this ice, layer and layer about, until you fill up a certain depth or distance. The result is that
if the bait can be kept two weeks in that method it is doing very well. They generally get a period
of preservability of two weeks. The ice is continually melting and continually saturating the bait
or fish with water, and a very slow process of decomposition or disorganization goes on until the
fish becomes musty, flabby, and tasteless, unfit for the food of man or beast.

" Q. Well, there is a newer method of preservation, -is there not ? — A. There is a better method
than using ice. The method described by the Noank witness, by using what is equivalent to snow,
allows the water to run off or to be sucked up as by a sponge. The mass being porous prevents the
fish from becoming musty. But the coming methods of preserving bait are what is called the dry-
air process and the hard- freezing process. In the dry-air process you have your ice in large solid
cakes in the upper part of the refrigerator and your substance to be preserved in the bottom. By
a particular mode of adjusting the connection between the upper chamber and the lower there is a
constant circulation of air, by means of which all the moisture of the air is continually being con-
densed on the ice, leaving that which envelopes the bait or fish perfectly dry. Fish or any other
animal Substance will keep almost indefinitely in perfectly dry air about 40° or 45°, which can be
attained very readily by means of this dry-air apparatus. I had an instance of that in the case of
a refrigerator filled with peaches, grapes, salmon, a leg of mutton, and some beefsteaks, with a
great variety of other substances. At the end of four months in midsummer, in the Agricultural
Building, these were in a perfectly sound and prepossessing condition. No one would have hesi-
tated one moment to eat the beefsteaks, and one might be very glad of the chance at times to have
it cooked. This refrigerator has been used between San Francisco and New York, and between
Chicago and New York, where the trip has occupied a week or ten days, and they are now used
on a very large scale, tons upon tons of grapes and pears being sent from San Francisco by this
means. I had a cargo of fish -eggs brought from California to Chicago in a perfect condition. An-
other method is the hard-frozen process. You use a freezing mixture of salt and ice powdered
fine, this mixture producing a temperature of twenty degrees above zero, which can be kept up
just as long as occasion requires by keeping up the supply of ice and salt.

"Q. How big is the refrigerator?— A. There is no limit to the size that may be used. They
are made of enormous size for the purpose of preserving salmon, and in New York they keep all
kinds of fish. I have been in and seen a cord of codfish, a cord of salmon, a cord of Spanish
mackerel, and other fish piled up jwst like cord-wood, dry, hard, and firm, and retaining its quali-
ties for an indefinite time.

" Q. Well, can fish or animals be kept for an unlimited period if frozen in that way ?— A. You
may keep fish or animals hard dried frozen for a thousand years or ten thousand years perfectly
well, and be assured there will be no change.

" Q. Have geologists or paleontologists satisfied themselves of that by actual cases of the pres-
ervation of animal substances for a long period ?— A. Yes; we have perfectly satisfactory evidence
of that. About fifty years ago the carcass of a mammoth, frozen, was washed out from the gravel
of the river Lena, I think, one of the rivers of Siberia, and was in such perfect preservation that
the flesh was served as food for the dogs of the natives for over six months. Mr. Adams, a St.
Petersburg merchant, came along on a trading expedition, and found it nearly consumed, and
bought what was left of it for the St. Petersburg Academy of Science— the skeleton and some por-
tion of the flesh— which were preserved first in salt and afterwards in alcohol. Well, we know the

352 H1S1OEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

period of time that must have elapsed since the mammoth lived iu the arctic circle must be very
loug. We know we can talk with perfect safety of ten thousand years. The geological estimate
of it is anywhere from fifty to a hundred thousand years; we cannot tell. There is no unit of
measure; we know it must have been some hundreds of thousands, and probably it would have
remained iu the same condition as much longer.

" Q. Now, to come to a practical question, is this a mere matter of theory or of possible use?
For instance, could this method be adapted to the preservation of bait for three or four months if
necessary ? — A. The only question of course is as to the extent. There is no question at all that bait
of any kind can be kept indefinitely by that process, 1 do not think there would be the slightest
difficulty in building a refrigerator on any ordinary fishing vessel, cod or halibut or other fishing
vessel, that should keep with perfect ease all the bait necessary for a long voyage. I have made
some inquiries as to the amount of ice, and I am informed by Mr. Blackford, of New York, who is
one of the largest operators of this mode, that to keep a room ten feet each way, or a thousand
cubic feet, at a temperature of 20° above zero would require about 2,000 pounds of ice and two
bushels of salt per week. With that he thinks it could be done without any difficulty. Well, an
ordinary vessel would require about seventy-five barrels of bait — an ordinary trawling vessel. That
would occupy a bulk something less than 600 feet, so that probably four and a half tons of ice a
month would keep that fish. And it must be remembered that his estimate was for keeping fish
in midsummer in New York. The fishing vessels would requiie a smaller expenditure of ice, as
these vessels would be surrounded by a colder temperature. A stock of ten to twenty tons would,
in all probability, be amply sufficient both to replace the waste by melting and to preserve the bait."'

CONFLICTS BETWEEN BAIT-FISHERMEN AND OTHERS.

EARLY FEUDS. — Some jealousy has naturally arisen at times between the bait-fishermen and
the manufacturers, as is shown by the following extract from Professor Johnston's "History of the
Towns of Bristol and Bremen, in the State of Maine :"

"A special branch of the fishing business has of late been undertaken quite largely here (in
Bristol), as at other places on the New England coast, called the 'porgey fishery.' The fish are
taken in seines, usually several miles from the coast, and are used for the oil they produce and for
manure.

"These fish, the common menhaden of the coast, have been caught for use as bait in the cod
fishery from the earliest times; and at first the new branch of industry, in which such immense
quantities are consumed, was viewed by the old fishermen with no little suspicion, as likely to inter-
fere with the important and older branch of the fishing business by depriving them of bait. Some
riots were at least threatened, and one oil factory was actually destroyed, as was believed, by the
old fishermen or at their instigation; but the opposition has ceased, and the general opinion seems
to be that it is best to foster such an extensive branch of business, giving profitable employment
for a part of the season, as this does, to so many men, even though it may be attended by some
disadvantages, which in the end may prove more imaginary than real."

THE PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE CONFLICT. — In 1877 and 1878 a determined effort was made
by the Maine line-fishermen to secure the passage of a legislative act forbidding the use of seines
near the shores. Their claim was that the present methods employed in the fishery interfered with
their legitimate privilege of catching menhaden for bait, and that their tendency was to drive away
all other fishes as well and to destroy the fisheries.

To this movement the manufacturers made strenuous opposition, claiming that the menhaden

* Proceedings Halifax Commission, Appendix L, p. 457.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 353

fishery is practically inexhaustible; that the habits of the species have not been changed by the
fishery, and that so far from making it difficult to obtain bait, the large fishery made it easier, cap-
turing it in great masses and selling it to the fishermen in any desired quantity cheaper than they
could obtain it for themselves.

The absence of the menhaden from the Maine coast has rendered protective legislation useless
there, though in New Jersey and other States there is still considerable opposition to the wholesale
capture of these fish by the use of steamers. A Congressional committee has recently investigated
the subject, and in their report recommend: "Firstjjthat the use of purse-seines and pound-nets,
fyke or weir, in the waters of the Atlantic outside of low-water mark, be absolutely prohibited
within 3 miles of the shore prior to the 1st day of June in each year south of a line drawn east
from the south cape of Chesapeake Bay, and prior to the 1st day of July north of that line, with
suitable penalties for any violation of the law in this respect; second, that the use of meshes in
such nets of less than 1£ inches in size, bar measure, should in like manner be prohibited at all
seasons, so as to prevent the taking of young and immature fish."

MENHADEN BAIT AS AN ARTICLE OP COMMERCE AND THE CONSIDERATION OF ITS VALUE, BY

THE HALIFAX COMMISSION OF 1877.

THE EXPORT OF BAIT TO THE DOMINION. — Allusion has been made to the extensive exporta-
tion of menhaden for use in the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada.

The evidence of several witnesses at the Halifax Commission shows that menhaden bait was
preferred to any other kind by the Provincial fishermen. It is said that a considerable number of
the vessels of the New England fleet fishing in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence were accustomed to
carry partial cargoes of salted menhaden to sell in the Straits of Causo. There are, however, no
satisfactory statistics of this exporting trade. This is doubtless due to the fact that every mack-
erel vessel carries twenty barrels or more of salt slivered fish, and there being no law requiring
their entry in the custom house or for reporting sales after the return of the vessel, no one has the
data upon which to found an estimate. More than 5,000 barrels of slivered menhaden, worth more
than $30,000, were carried to Dominion waters during the season of 1878. Many vessels doubt-
lesv expended all the bait which they carried; many others sold their surplusage to the Provincial
mackerelmen. It is probable that these sales amounted to not more than $8,000 or $10,000, and
very possibly they are even less extensive.

THE CLAIM OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.— The subject of the alleged trade in menhaden
bait was referred to frequently in the course of the proceedings of the Halifax Commission of 1877.
The subject was first introduced by the English counsel in the " Case of Her Majesty's Govern-
ment,"* as follows:

"The question of bait must now be considered, as some importance may, perhaps, be attached
by the United States to the supposed advantages derived in this respect by British subjects. It
might appear at first sight that the privilege of resorting to the inshores of the Eastern States to
procure bait for mackerel fishing was of practical use. Menhaden are said to be found only in the
United States waters, and are used extensively in the mackerel fishing, which is often successfully
pursued with this description of bait, especially by its use for feeding and attracting the shoals.
It is, however, by no means indispensable; other fish-baits, plentiful in British waters, are quite as
successfully used in this particular kind of fishing business, and very generally in other branches,
both of deep sea and inshore fishing, as, for example, fresh herrings, alewives, capelin, sandlaunce,
smelts, squids, dams, and other small fishes caught chiefly with seines close in shore. British fish-

'Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, Appendix A, p. 28.
SEO V 23

354 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

ermen can tbns find sufficient bait at home, and can purchase from American dealers any quanti-
ties they require much cheaper than by making voyages to United States waters in order to catch
it for themselves. It is a remarkable fact that for six years past American fishermen have bought
from Canadians more herring bait alone than all the menhaden bait imported into Canada during the
same period. The menhaden bait itself can also be bred and restored to places in the Bay of Fundy,
on the western coast of Nova Scotia, where it existed up to the time of its local extermination."

And again: "It is notorious that the supply both of food and bait fishes has become alarm-
ingly scarce along the United States coast. At Gloucester alone some thirty vessels are engaged
during about six months in each year catching menhaden for bait. They sell about $100,000 worth
annually, and, by catching them immoderately in nets and weirs for supplying bait and to furnish
the oil mills, they are rapidly exterminating them. The Massachusetts Fish Commissioners, in
their report for 1872, state that ' it takes many hands working in many ways to catch bait enough
for our fishing fleet, which may easily be understood when it is remembered that each George's
man takes 15 or 20 barrels for a trip, and that each mackereler lays in from 75 to 120 barrels, or
even more than that.' One of the principal modes for the capture of bait and other fishes on the
New England coast is by fixed traps or pounds on the shore. By means of these, herrings, alewives,
and menhaden are caught as bait for the sea-fishery, besides merchantable fish for the markets, and
the coarser kinds for the supply of the oil factories. There are upward of sixty of these factories
now in operation on the New England coast. The capital invested in them approaches $3,000,000.
They employ 1,197 men, 383 sailing vessels, and 29 steamers, besides numerous other boats. The
fish material which they consume yearly is enormous, computed at about 1,191,100 barrels, requir-
ing whole fishes to the number of about 300,000,000. These modes of fishing for menhaden and
other bait are, furthermore, such as to preclude strangers from participating in them without
exceeding the terms of the treaty; and even without this difficulty it must be apparent that such
extensive native enterprises would bar the competition and suffice to insure the virtual exclusion
of foreigners."

THE REPLY OF THE AGENT OP THE UNITED STATES. — In the "Answer on behalf of the United
States of America to the case of Her Britannic Majesty's Government,"* Judge Foster states:
<< Off the American coast are found exclusively the menhaden or porgies, by far the best bait for
mackerel."

This is well stated by Sir John MacDonald (in a debate in the Dominion Parliament, May 3,
1872), who says:

"It is also true that in American waters the favorite bait to catch the mackerel is found,
and it is so much the favorite bait that one fishing vessel having this bait on board would draw a
whole school of mackerel in the very face of vessels having an inferior bait. Now, the value of
the privilege of entering American waters for catching that bait is very great. If Canadian fisher-
men were excluded from American waters by any combination among American fishermen or by
any act of Congress, they would be deprived of getting a single ounce of the bait. American fisher-
men might combine for that object, or a law might be passed by Congress forbidding the exporta-
tion of menhaden; but, by the provision made in the treaty, Canadian fishermen are allowed to
enter into American waters to procure the bait, and the consequence of that is that no such com-
bination can exist, and Canadians can purchase the bait, and be able to fish on equal terms with
the Americans."

These statements were based upon the Canadian official reports previously published, which
say:

* Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, Appendix B, pp. 18, 19.

• THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 355

"For mackerel the Americans use ' pogies' and clams, chopped fine, as bait. The 'pogies'
are found only on the coast of the United States, and, when imported into the Dominion, cost
about $6 per barrel.

" The bait with which the Americans are supplied is far superior to any which can be secured
in this country, to which may be attributed in a great measure the success of the Americans pre-
viously to the recent restrictions, although even now the local, fishermen complain that they have
no chance while an American schooner is fishing near them."*

"The menhaden fishery has within ten years grewi^into an immense business. Formerly they
were taken only for bait, and were either ground in hand-mills, for mackerel, or used in what is
called ' slivers,' for codfish bait. There is now a large fleet of steamers and sailing vessels engaged
in this fishery. Large factories have been erected on shore for extracting the oil. As these fish
are not valuable until they are fat, which, is in August and September, they are not much taken
in their spawning time, and they will not therefore be exterminated. They are caught solely with
seines, near the shore, their food being a kind of marine seed which floats upon the waters; con-
sequently they will not take the hook. This fishery is one of the most profitable of all the fish-
eries, the oil being used for tanning and currying, extensively at home, and being exported in
large quantities. The refuse of the fish, after being pressed, is used for manufacturing guano or
fish phosphate, and is very valuable as a fertilizer. This fishery is purely an American fishery,
no menhaden ever being found north of the coast of Maine. It is entirely an inshore fishery, the
fish being taken within two miles from the shore."

THE REPLY OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT. — The "Beply on behalf of Her
Britannic Majesty's Government to the Answer of the United States of America" responds:

" The answer (pp. 18 and 19) lays much stress on the importance to Canadian fishermen of the
menhaden bait fishery on the coast of the New England States. The menhaden is here repre-
sented to be the best bait for mackerel, and is said to inhabit exclusively the American coast. An
entirely fictitious value has been attached to this fishery. British fishermen do not frequent United
States waters for the purpose of catching bait of any kind or for any other purposes connected
with fishing; consequently the privilege of entering those waters to catch menhaden is of no prac-
tical value. Any bait of that description which they may require may be purchased as an article
of commerce.

" There are not now, nor have there ever been, treaty stipulations to prevent British fish-
ermen from entering American waters to buy bait, if they prefer to do so. As a matter of fact,
whatever mendadeu bait British fishermen use is either purchased from American dealers or from
Canadian traders, who import and keep it for sale like any other merchandise. Eeference is made
in the Answer to the possible contingency of legislation prohibiting the export or sale of menhaden-
bait, the implied consequence being a serious disadvantage to Canadian fishermen in prosecuting
the mackerel fishery. It would, in such contingency, be necessary to use other baits equally good,
or resort to some other method of fishing, such as that described at page 10, enabling the fishermen
to dispense with bait. Moreover, it is well known that menhaden are now caught in the open sea,
many miles distant from the American coast. The Answer asserts, at page 19, that 'it is entirely
an inshore fishery.' It can be proved that menhaden are chiefly caught oft' shore, frequently 'out
of sight of land.'

" Mr. S. L. Boardman, of Augusta, Me., in an interesting report to the State Board of Agricult-
ure, of which he is secretary, published in 1875, at page 60, says :

"Parties engaged in taking menhaden now go off ten or twenty miles from shore, whereas they
* Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries for the year ending June, 1870, pp. 312, 342.

356 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

formerly fished near tbe coast, and they now find the best and ' most profitable fishing at that
distance.' This fish is included among the shore fishes described by Prof. S. F. Baird as having
suffered 'an alarm ing decrease' along the inshores of the United States, owing partly to excessive
fishing throughout their spawning time in order to supply the oil-factories.

" Chapter 5 of the Answer deals with ' the specific benefits which the treaty directs the Commis-
sion to regard in its comparison and adjustment of equivalents.' The admission of British subjects
to United States fishing grounds has been dealt with at length in the third chapter of the Case.
There is nothing in the Answer on this subject calling for any reply excepting the statement, at
page 20, that Dominion fishermen ' have in the United States waters to-day over thirty vessels
equipped for seining, which, with the American fleet, are sweeping the shores of New England.'
Leaving out of question the 'American fleet,' which has nothing whatever to do with the matter,
the correctness of the statement is directly challenged in so far as it implies that these thirty ves-
sels, or any of them, are British bottoms, owned by Dominion fishermen; and the United States
is hereby called upon to produce evideuce in its support."

8. VALUE OF MENHADEN FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES.

PRICES OP FISH AT DIFFERENT SEASONS. — The price of fresh menhaden cannot be definitely
stated, since it varies from week to week with the abundance and fatness of the fish and the needs
of individual manufacturers.

Many factories rely entirely upon their own "gangs" for their supplies; some others buy the
fish of the vessels engaged in the trade, though this practice is less common than it formerly was.
Still every factory buys fish in greater or less quantity, and the answers to question 47 of the cir-
cular are important in exhibiting the variations in abundance at different points on the coast.
Perhaps it may not be amiss to quote fully from the letters, it being quite impossible to tabulate
the facts.

In the report of the committee on statistics from the United States Association for the meet-
ing of 1875 the estimate was put at 3 barrels to the thousand fish, or 333 fish to the barrel.*

Captain Tuthill estimates 22 cubic inches to each fish, Captain Sissou 21, making 3£ barrels to
the thousand. In Long Island Sound the fish are sold by the thousand; farther east, always by the
barrel.

Mr. Condon, of Belfast, estimates the price for 1873 at 60 cents; Mr. G. B. Keuniston, of
Booth Bay, at 75 cents, stating that in previous years the price has ranged from 50 cents to $1.25.
Mr. B. F. Brightman says that in 1872 and 1873 the average has been 65 cents, but that when oil
was high they have brought $1. Mr. J. Washburn, of Portland, estimates the price at $1 for 1873;
during the war, much higher. Mr. Eben B. Phillips estimates the price at from CO to 70 cents in
1873, 56 in 1874, and about 60 in previous years. Fall fish, for trying, bring 40 to 50 cents in Well-
fleet, Mass., according to Mr. Dill. • At Nantucket, according to Mr. Reuben C. Kenny, the fish
are worth from 50 to 75 cents as taken from the nets ; only about half are used in the manufacture
of oil.

Mr. Church gives the average price on Narragansett Bay at 40 cents, and to this correspond
very nearly the estimates of the southern shore of Cape Cod and the Vineyard Sound, which find
market for their menhaden at the Narragansett factories.

"A "round barrel" is a barrel of undressed fish, and weighs about 200 pounds. The number of iisli in a barrel
necessarily varies with their size. Estimates range from 180 to 280 ; but that made l>y Mr. Fahrhild, at the meeting
of the "United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association," in 1874, is perhaps fair, putting 4 barrels to a thoii-
gand fish, or 250 fish to a barrel.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 35t

Captain Crandall, of Watch Hill, It. I., thinks $2 to the thousand a fair estimate for 1873 and
1874. Captain Beebe, of Niautic, Conn., agrees with this, giving $2.50 for previous years. Mr.
E. E. Inghain, of Saybrook, says $1.25 to $2. Mr. Miles says that in 1873 the prices ranged from
81 to $2.50, according to the yield of oil. Mr. F. Lillingtou, of Shattbrd, puts it for 1875 at from
$1.50 to $2. Captain Sisson, of Greenport, says that in 1873 the price was $2.25; in previous
years, $1.75 ; in 1S74 the price was lower. Collector Havens, of Sag Harbor, N. Y., estimates it
at 30 cents per barrel. In the vicinity of Atlantic City, N. J., M. A. G. Wolf gives the price at
$1.25 to the thousand; and Mr. Albert Morris, of Somers Point, at 39 cents per barrel (about $1.50
to the thousand). Mr. Hance Lawsou, of Crisfleld, Md., states that the Chesapeake factories pay
15 cents per bushel.* Mr. Dudley says that in 1877 the average price in the Chesapeake was 50
cents a thousand.

PRICES PROPORTIONATE TO AMOUNT OF on, CONTAINED IN FISH. — These prices are simply
those paid for fish used in the manufacture of oil and guano, the prices of those sold for bait or
food being given under other heads. No satisfactory conclusions can be drawn from these state-
ments except the very general one that the fish are more valuable on the eastern than on the south-
ern coast of New England; in Maine bringing from $2.40 to $3.20 to the thousand ; on Long Island
Sound, $1 to 82.25. As the expense of capture is necessarily as great in Southern as in Northern
waters, we must seek the reason of the difference in price either in the methods of manufacture, the
abundance of the fish, or in the intrinsic value of the fish for the purposes of the manufacturer.

OIL YIELD OF NORTHERN FISH PRIOR TO 1879. — On the first arrival of the schools in North-
ern waters the fish are thin and do not yield a large quantity of oil; but they rapidly gain until the
time of their departure in the fall, so that the late fishing is by far the most profitable. It is the
general opinion of fishermen that Northern fish yield a larger proportionate amount of oil than
Southern.

Mr. Sargent, of Castine, Me., says that 3 quarts of oil to the barrel is the smallest yield he
has ever known from the first school, and 6 gallons the most from the last school. When the fish
are very poor, about the 1st of June, it takes 250 to make 1 gallon of oil; when poor, in July,
200; when fat, in August, 150; when very fat, in October, 100. About 1 ton of scrap is obtained
in naking 3 barrels of oil. Mr. Condon states that when the fish arrive in the spring they will pro-
duce but 1 gallon to the barrel, while in October the yield is 4 or 5 gallons; the average for the
season being 3 gallons. Mr. Friend states that the least yield, in June, is 2 quarts to the barrel;
the greatest, in August, 4 gallons. Mr. Kenniston states that May fish yield 3 pints to the barrel;
October fish. C.J gallons. These are no doubt intended as the extreme figures. The average yield
is 2£ gallons to the barrel, an estimate in which Mr. Brightman concurs, though placing the lowest
at 3 quarts; the highest, in August and September, at 4 gallons. He estimates the yield of a ton
of scrap at 30 to 40 gallons, according to the season. Judson Tarr & Co. put the early fish at less
than a gallon, the September fish at 4 gallons to the barrel. Mr. Babson thinks that the early fish
yield about a gallon, the last 4 gallons; an estimate in which he is confirmed by Mr. E. B. Phillips.

Mr. Erskine Pierce, of Dartmouth, Mass., states that in 1877 the average yield at his factory
was 1£ gallons to the barrel.

According to Mr. Church, the fish are fattest generally in the fall, though after a warm winter
he has known them, after the first arrival, to yield 2£ gallons. After a cold winter the opposite is
true; and he has seen them so poor in the summer that out of 100 barrels of fish not a pint of oil
could be extracted. The first 18,000 barrels taken by Church & Co., on the coast of Maine, in 1873,
did not make over 14,000 gallons of oil (about 3 quarts to the barrel). On Narragansett Bay, in
1873, the yield was 1£ gallons less than on the coast of Maine; on Long Island Sound, half a gallon.

"About 50 cents per barrel, or $2 to the thousand.

358 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Mr. Reuben Chapman informed us that at his factory, on Mason's Island, opposite Noank,
Conn., the yield of early fish was sometimes as low as a gallon to the thousand, later in the season
reaching 14 or even 18 gallons; which would be equivalent to 5 or 6 gallons to the barrel.

Mr. Maddocks, writing of the Maine fish, states: "The yield of oil sometimes doubles, per
head, in thirty days after their coming. The fish taken on the coast of Maine yield a considerably
larger supply of oil than those taken at points farther south, around Long Island, off the Jersey
shore, &c. The amount of oil per barrel of fish is there about 1 gallon, against 2£ here, for the
whole season in each case."

And again: "The amount of oil realized varies from 1 gallon per barrel of fish early in the
season to 4 or 5 gallons in September. The scrap contains, on the average, as it comes from the
press, 55 to 60 per cent, of its weight in water, and sometimes more. This is, of course, worthless
for fertilizing purposes. It also contains from 12 to 20 per cent, of fat or oil, which is equally
worthless for manure."

Mr. Dudley considers that the first taken in Long Island Sound yield, on an average, about 4
gallons to the thousand. At Pine Island it is somewhat greater; one season averaged 3£, another
6J. In 1877 the average to June 12 was 5 gallons; to November 1, 3 gallons. On November 1 the
fat fish made their appearance, and the average has since doubtless greatly increased. There is
usually an increase in the yield of oil after July 1, but since 1874 this has not been the case in
Southern New England. Mr. Dudley has cooked fish which would not yield a quart of oil to the
thousand. Again, in November, the yield has been 18 gallons. It is the opinion of Mr. Dudley
that dark oil only is yielded by fish taken in brackish water; light oil by those taken outside.

The George W. Miles Company, of Milford, states that the largest amount made by them in
one factory in any one year was in 1871, when they produced 100,000 in about fifty working days;
the largest quantity in the shortest time was 21,000 gallons in seventy -two hours, or 7,000 gallons
to each day of twenty-four hours. In 1872 they produced 60,000 gallons, and in 1873 105,000 gal-
lons in their two factories, one factory not operating all the time on account of a pending lawsuit.

According to Capt. J. L. Stokes, of the Salt Island Oil Company, the average yield of oil is
4 gallons to the thousand, 9,000 fish making a ton of scrap. Captain Beebe and Mr. Ingham put
the highest for the region about the mouth of the Connecticut River at 8 gallons, or perhaps 3 gal-
lons or less to the barrel.

Mr. Miles writes: "All depends upon the quality of the fish, whether fat or poor. In July,
August, and September we only get fisli that come into the Sound to feed, and they fatten after
they get here. If they are poor, we have the largest catch in June and July. If they are increas-
ing in fat or yield of oil, we cannot capture them successfully until August and September. The
fat fish in the Sound .are usually wild and hard to take until late, perhaps owing to the fact that
their food is plenty and low in the water. When the season is unusually dry, the fish are sure to
be fat; but in a wet season they are found to be below the average in yield of oil. After the fish
get here, if their food is plenty, they grow fat very fast. In the past season (1873), in May and
June, 1,000,000 of fish would make only 800 gallons. In August the yield was from 8 to 10 gal-
lons per thousand; and in September, 10 to 12."

At Greenport, in 1873, the average yield, on Captain Sisson's estimate, was 8£ gallons to the
thousand; the smallest yield, half a gallon, in spring and late fall; the greatest, 22, in September
and October; 8,000 fish make 1 ton of green scrap. Hr. Havens puts the lowest yield at 1 quart
to the barrel ; the highest at 4 gallons, an estimate much below Captain Sisson's, which would
make over 6 gallons to the barrel.

Hawkins Bros, estimate the lowest yield at 1 gallon to the barrel in midsummer, and 4J in

THEV MENHADEN PISHEEY- 359

October and November, putting the average quantity offish to the gallon at one-third of a barrel
on Gardiner's Bay, one-half at Barren Island, and 85 gallons to a ton of scrap on Gardiner's Bay,
57 at the island.

At Atlantic City, N. J., according to Mr. A. G. Wolf, the average yield is 4 gallons to the
thousand, the greatest in November, 11 ; a ton of scrap corresponding to 40 gallons of oil.

On Great Egg Harbor, states Mr. Morris, July fish yield 1 quart of oil to the barrel ; those of
October and November yielding 4 gallons. A gallon of oil is the average to each barrel of fish,
and 45 gallons to a ton of scrap.

The yield to each barrel of fish was thus estimated by Khode Island manufacturers in 1877 :
Joseph Church & Co. and W. H. H. Howlaud, 1 gallon ; Charles Cook, Job T. Wilson, Isaac G.
White, and James Manchester, 1^ gallons; Isaac Brown & Co., IgV; and William J. Brightman, 1J.

Connecticut manufacturers estimated as follows: The George W. Miles Company,' 2£ gal-
lons to the thousand; Leander Wilcox & Co., 3 gallons; G. S. Allyn & Co., 3£ gallons; Waley &
Co. and Luce Brothers, 3£ gallons; the Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, 3£ gallons; J. H. Bishop,
3J gallons ; and Fowler & Colbnrn, 3f gallons.

New York manufacturers estimated the yield in 1877 as follows: The Barren Island Manufac-
turing Company, G. H. Clark, W. Y. Fithian & Co., 2J gallons to the thousand; Smith & Yaring-
ton, 2J gallons; S. Jones & Co., 4J gallons; eleven factories in Gardiner's Bay, 3 gallons.

New Jersey manufacturers estimated as follows : Morris & Fifield, 2 gallons to the thousand ;
James E. Otis, Grifl'en & Vail, Cyrus H. Smith, 2J gallons.

Maine manufacturers in 1877 were reported as follows : Albert Gray & Co., 1£ gallons to the
barrel; Gallup, Morgan & Co., 2-^ gallons; Fowler, Foot & Co., 2^ gallons; Suffolk Oil Company,
2J gallons; E. A. Friend, 2£ gallons; Gallup & Holmes, 2£ gallons; Loud's Island Company, 2£
gallons.

Mr. Maddocks declares that on the coast of Maine " 195 pounds of fish make a barrel. One
barrel yields about two and a half gallons of oil, or eighteen and three-quarter pounds. One barrel
yields about eighty pounds of chum or scrap."

OIL YIELD OF SOUTHERN PISH PEIOE TO 1879. — Mr. Kenniston makes the following state-
ment : " Corresponding with the successive appearance of the menhaden from South to North there
is a progressive improvement in size and fatness. When they arrive in Chesapeake Bay, in the
spring, they are thin and lean, and appear to be sluggish and stupid, so that they are easily caught —
can almost be taken out by the hand along the shore, which many of them follow closely. Between
Virginia and Maine the increase in weight is thought to be one-third. In the fall the increase still
continues, but the order of it is reversed, the fish appearing to grow larger the farther South they
go, and on reaching Virginia again are twice as heavy as in the spring, and have so gained in
strength, swiftness, and wariness that they are very hard to catch."*

Mr. Dudley says that from his experience of two years he knows that the first runs of fish
in the Chesapeake are fat. This is in March and April.

Mr. A. C. Davis states that the June fish at Beaufort yield from £ to 1 gallon, those in October
and November 4 to 5 gallons.

Mr. W. F. Hatsel, of Body's Island, states that the average yield is 1£ gallons to the barrel,
75 gallons to the ton of scrap.

COMPARISON OF YIELD IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES. — These statements indicate in a general
way that the yield of Northern is greater than that of Southern fish, though the disparity is not so
great in the latter part of the season. Mr. Davis's estimate for Beaufort is, however, not much

'Boardmau and Atkins, op. (At., p. 6.

360

HISTORY AND METHODS OK THE FISHERIES.

below tlio average of the coast south of Maine, and it is quite possible that the apparent disparity
of the yield on the Southern coast (of which we are iiot really entitled to .judge with the meagre
returns before us) would be in part explained by differences in the modes of manufacture. Florida
menhaden an- many of them very fat in the winter season, and there is no apparent reason why
the manufacture of oil and guano may not be successfully carried on on our Southern coast.

The official returns of manufacturers may add some additional facts in reference to the yield
of fish in oil and guano and the comparative advantages of location.

The following table and statement, quoted from Mr. Maddocks, give a comparative view of the
manufacture as carried on by the Maine Association and by all the rest of the United States for
the year 1876 :

Locality.

No. of
men.

No. of

vessels.

No. of
steamers.

Total capi-
tal.

Barrels
fish used.

Gallons oil
manufactured.

Tons crude
guano man-
ufactured.

Other States . .
Maine

1,629
" 1 129

291
29

3
43

$1, 767, 009
983 000

826, 885
709 000

848, 727
2 143 273

29,831
21 414

The most striking fact brought out in the comparison is that Maine realized, from 46 per cent,
of the fish, 71 per cent, of the oil. To this it may be added that from the use of $983,000 capital
Maine turned out a total product of $1,071,449 value, whereas the rest of the country realized
$637,600 from $1,767,000.

9. STATISTICS OF THE FISHERY AND OF THE MANUFACTURE OF OIL AND GUANO.

Tables showing statistics of the manufacture of menhaden oil and yuano in the United States in the years 1873 to 1*82.
[Compiled from the Annual Reports of the United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Associatinn. |

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

62

64

60

64

56

383

283

304

320

270

20

25

39

46

63

1 109

871

1 197

1 567

2 306

2 438

2 633

2,758

2,631

$9 3gg 000

$2 500 000

$2 650 000

$2 750 000

$2, 047, 612

397 700 000

492 878 000

563 3'7 000

SI0 450 000

587, 624, 025

2 214 800

3 372 837

2 681 467

2, 992, 000

2, 426, 589

36 299

.".il !!7li

53 625

,11, 245

M, 444

Number of gallons uf nil held by manufact-
urers at the end of the year.

Number of tons of gunno held by manufact-
urers at the end of the year.

484, 520
2,700
$819, 476

648,000
5,200
$1, 247, 950

125, duel
1,8M
$992, 140

264, 000
7, 275
$1,107,040

94,000
2,840

$907, 838

$399 199

$560 736

$589, 875

$503, 695

$009, 884

Total value of manufactured products

£1, 218, 675

$1, 808, 686

$1, 582, 015

$1,670,735

$1, 607, 722

1878.

1879.

1880.

1881.

1882.

56

60

79

97

97

279

204

366

286

212

64

81

82

73

83

3,337

2,296

3, 261

2,805

2,313

*767, 779, 250

637, 063, 750

776, 000, 000

454, 192, 000

346, 638, 555

3 809 233

2, 258, 901

2, 035, 000

J, 266, 549

2,021,312

Number of tons of crude guano made
Number of tons of dried guano made

83,719
19,377

$'' 350 000

67, 059

'.•!), 56:;

45, 000
26,000

7,592
25, 027

10,029
17, 552

P

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 361

CENSUS STATISTICS OF THE MENHADEN INDUSTRY FOR 1880.

In 1880 the total number of persons employed in tLe menhaden fishery and in the manufacture
of the oil and guano was 3,035; the capital invested was $2,362,841; and the value of the products
was $2,116,787. The detailed statistics for each State were as follows:

Number of persons employed.

State.

Fighennen.

Factory
hands.

Total.

251

20

271

416

192

608

504

127

631

New York

750

325

1 081

174

130

304

15

6

21

g

3

n

419

289

708

Total

2, 543

1 092

3 635

Capital invested, and apparatus employed.

State.

Vessels.

Boats.

Purse-seines.

Value of fac-
tories and
fixtures.

Total capital
invested.

No.

Tons.

Value.

Outfit exclu-
sive of net a
and boats.

No.

Value.

No.

Value.

Maine

5
35
61
72
147
31
3

320. 89
1, 269. 70
2, 188. 58
2, 304. 76
4, 053. 87
560. 68
71.20

$20, 000
106, 400
171, 050
191, 950
391, 750
35, 400
2,900

$279, 187
35, 000
77, 900
139, 000
315, 000
67, 500
8,000
1,500
84,450
2,000

$299, 187
179, 105
304, 300
392, 370
819, 990
129, 250
12, 775
1,700
222, 164
2,000

$17, 105
24, 600
27, 600
42, 600
12, 000
1,200

57
111
114
225
52
4
5
80

$7, 000
10, 750
11,820
20, 240
6,350
275
200
4,800

34
50
55
126
20
1

$13, 600
20, 000
22, 000
50, 400
8,000
400

New York

Delaware

102

2, 136. 03

90, 200

18, 714

80

24, 000

North Carolina

Total

4.36

12, 905. 71

1, 009, 650

143, 819

648

65, 435

366

138, 400

1, 009, 537

2, 362, 841

Quantities and values of products.

State.

Pounds of mcu-
liadcn taken.

Gallons of
oil made.

Value of
oil

Tons of guano
made.

Value of
guano.

Value of
compost.

Total value
of products.

Massachusetts

26 066 077

llhode Island

Connecticut ...

New York

New Jersey

Maryland

Delaware

Virginia

Total

_,_

•Includes $20,477, the value of menhaden sold to factories outside the State or used for bait.
A COMPARISON OF THE YIELD OF THE WHALE AND OTHER FISHERIES.— In 1875, the total

amount of sperm oil from the American whale fisheries was 1,000,951 gallons; of other whale oil,
1,414,186 gallons; in all, 2,505,137 gallons. The amount of menhaden oil for the same year was
2,018,487 gallons, an excess of 176,350 gallons. In 1874, the amount of menhaden oil was 3,372,837
gallons, exceeding that of whale oil by 1,115,597 gallons.

362

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

In 1876, 2,992,000 gallons of menbadeu oil were made, and in 1877, 2,426,589. For the year
ending June 30, 1877, the production of whale oil was 2,140,047 gallons, and for the year 1877,
2,151,765 gallons.

In the Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter for January 14, 1874, the following statement is made :

"It is asserted that while the amount of oil produced is equal to that derived from the whale
fisheries in this country, the menhaden interest is ahead of the whale ; for though the menhaden
oil sells at a less price per gallon, for every barrel of oil made there is three-quarters of a ton of
scrap, which readily commands $15 per ton at the factory."

This is not true. In 1874, for instance, the value of the sperm oil alone was $1,250,98T; that
of other oils from the whale fishery, $775,919. Total value of oils from the whales, $2,026,906; the
value of the total products of the whale fishery, $2,291,896.

By way of further comparison, the cod and seal-oil fishery of Newfoundland and Labrador
may be instanced. The latest figures at hand show the product of the seal-oil fishery to be 1.500,000
gallons, and of the cod-oil fishery 900,000.

COMPARISON OF YIELD OP NIT KOGEN FROM GUANO ISLANDS.— The refuse products of the oil-
factories, together with the fish used in a crude state for manure, are estimated to have yielded in
1875 over 10,000,000 pounds of ammonia in the best possible organic forms. This quantity of
ammonia is equivalent to at least 60,000,000 pounds of Chincha Island guano, formerly imported
from Peru, the gold value of which would be not far from $1,920,000.

In addition to ammonia, the phosphate of lime derived from this source and convertible
into agricultural products amounted to nearly 1,430,000 pounds, which is the equivalent of nearly
60,000,000 pounds of Peruvian guano.

ASSOCIATIONS OF OIL AND GUANO MANUFACTURERS. — The Association of the Menhaden Oil
and Guano Manufacturers of Maine was formed in the year 1870. The objects were such as are
usually sought by organizations of the sort — harmony of action on points affecting the common
welfare of the business, social acquaintance, and the communication of information as to improved
processes, &c. The annual meeting is held the second Tuesday in January of each year. The
United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association was organized in 1873.

Extent of the menhaden fisheries of Maine for Hie years 1873 to 1W8.
[Compiled from aunual reports of Maine Association.]

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

$278, 500

$316, 000

$397, 000

$431 000

$459 812

$467 812

$335 000

$390, 500

$482 000

$552 000

$6''3 800

$584 000

533

561

771

758

727

682

249

304

373

371

300

:t'i

38

37

36

29

13

17

22

31

43

48

48

Barrels of fish taken at the factories

429, 413

2 077

621, 861
10 400

635, 771
10 752

700, 000
8 432

557, 145
10 795

616, 851
14 100

1, 204, 055

1 931,037

1 514 881

2 143 273

1 166 213

1 714 384

12 065

19 295

19 395

21 414

16 G66

18 328

10. THE USES OF MENHADEN OIL ; THE OIL MARKET.

THE USES OF MENHADEN OIL. — The uses of menhaden oil are manifold. It is chiefly employed
as a substitute for the more costly and popular oils and to adulterate them. It is sold largely to
tanneries for currying leather. After the hide has been " dressed," i. e., after its coarser fleshy
parts have been pared oft', the oil, mixed with tallow, is applied. This is technically called "stuff-
ing," and results in qualifying any residue of alkali left from the "liming" process and in filling

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 363

the pores and softeniug the leather. Mr. L. C. d'Homergue states that this oil is largely used in
the tanneries of Eussia.

A considerable quantity is used as a burning oil iu coal-mines to fill the small lamps, one of
which is fastened to the cap of each miner. It is then mixed with paraflme or some of the heavier
oils. Some is also sold to be used in the manufacture of rope. A small quantity is used annually
for lubricating purposes, but on account of its gummy nature it is not much in favor among
machinists.* It is used in adulterating linseed oil, and is also sold as a substitute, its cheapness
and durability rendering it especially valuable for-rough outside work and for painting ships.
Mixed with other oils, it is found to be very serviceable for the painting of interiors, and its use is
attended with decided economy, its price being about one-half that of the best linseed oil. Some
of the most pure is said to be put into the market as olive oil.

Most of that which is exported is used in the manufacture of soap and for smearing sheep, after
they have been sheared, to keep off ticks. Mr. L. C. d'Homergue states in the Manufacturer and
Builder that a bright fish oil, cut with some alcohol and mixed with paint, forms a far more lasting
covering than linseed oil.

The Oil, Paint, and Drug Eeporter for October 21, 1874, implies that much of the whale oil
now sold is really menhaden oil. "It is well known that the chief use for menhaden oil is for
currying leather, but with the low prices ruling of late and the scarcity of whale oil it has found
new channels, and very much of the whale oil sold probably consists of two-thirds or more of men-
haden, for it comes when crude nearly as handsome as any whale, and in appearance when bleached
is quite equal. It is reported as a fact about the street that one concern alone sells more 'winter-
bleached whale oil ' than is caught of crude, and they do not by any means get all the crude."

The refuse from the cooking tanks and the settling tanks is dried and ground for sale to the
guano factories, where it is mixed with phosphates and other substances. The quantity of this
refuse, called scrap, amounted, in 1880, to 68,904 tons, valued at $1,301,217. A discussion of the
uses of this scrap and the methods of preparing it will be found in another part of this report. The
subject is also discussed by Prof. W. O. Atwater iu the Annual Report of the United States Fish
Commission for 1877. He says: "As a result of the profitable utilization of fish for the manu-
facture of oil, the use of the whole fish as a fertilizer has gradually and (in Maine) almost entirely
ceased, and given place to the refuse from which the oil has been expressed or otherwise extracted.
This is known in its crude state as 'fish scrap,' 'fish pomace,' or 'chum,' and, when more carefully
prepared, as ' dry fish,' ' dry ground fish,' and ' fish guano.' Still, farmers have been slow to avail
themselves of this more concentrated material. * * * It is worthy of note that in the European
fish guano factories the liquid coming from the steamed or boiled fish, and containing considerable
nitrogenous matter in solution, is utilized for the manufacture of a low quality of glue, while in
this country the practice is to throw it away. The Norwegian guanos have generally smaller
percentages of fat than occur in the menhaden guanos in this country."

THE MARKETS.— The principal market for menhaden oil is in Boston and New York; some
is also sold iu New Bedford, and considerable quantities are shipped to London, Liverpool,
Glasgow, and Havre direct.

GRADES OF OIL.— Several grades are recognized. The Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter usually
quotes under the heads of "select light strained," "select light," "choice brown," and "inferior to
dark," and " gurry."

THE PRICES OF OIL. — The highest price ever obtained for menhaden oil was $1.40 a gallon—

* Mr. Isaac Bow, of Springfield, Mass., devoted several years to experimenting, with a view to the preparation of
a good lubricating oil from menhaden oil, but the results were not satisfactory.

364

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

this was a war price. The following table shows the average prices of the different grades of oil
in the New York market for a period of seven years.

Table showing highest and lowest prices of menhaden oil for tite years 1871 to 1877.
[Compiled from Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter.]

Tears.

Select
light.

Choice
brown.

Inferior to
dark.

Garry.

Strained.

Pressed.

Select light,
strained.

Bleached.

53 to 55

50 to 52}

47J to 50

35 to 40

CO to 62}

1871 . <

40} to 41

39} to 40

35 to 38

20 to 25

58 to 60

62$ to 65

CO to62i

55 to 57}

45 to 50

60 to 65

64 to 66

1872 J

40 to42J

40 to 41

36 to 38

25 to 30

58 to 65

45 to 50

60 to 62

59 to 60

52 to 58

48 to 50

55 to 57}

1873. ... 5

32 J to 35

30 to 32

29 to —

45 to 47$

45 to 46

42} to 45

52} to 65

1874 J

32} to 35

35 to 35}

32 to 34

40 to 42

45 to 47}

43 to 44

38 to 40

49 to 50

55 to 56

1875 5

32 to 33

31 to 32

20 to 30

38 to

44 to 45

48 to 50

46 to 48

36 to —

50 to 52}

55 to 60

1876 5

32} to 33

32} to 33

34 to 36

40 to 41

45 to 47

46 to 47

45 to 46

40 to 42

48 to 50

53 to 54

1877 . . 5

33 toS4

33 to 34

30 to 32

38 to 40

42} to 45

REVIEWS OF THE MARKETS. — In January, 1874, the manufacturers composing the " United
States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association" had on hand 484,520 gallons of oil, or about 21 per
cent, of the amount manufactured in 1873 ; in January, 1875, 648,000 gallons, or about 19 per cent. ;
in January, 1876, 125,000, or over 4 per cent. ; in January, 1877, 264,000, or over 8 per cent. ; and
in January, 1878, 94,000, or over 4 per cent. These figures seem to indicate that the demand for oil
quite keeps pace with the supply.

The following editorial on the value of menhaden oil appeared in the Oil, Paint, and Drug
Reporter, October 21, 1874:

"Prices for menhaden oil have ruled very low this year, and it has probably been relatively
the cheapest grease in market. This fact, together with a poor run of fish part of the season,
caused several of the weakest of the manufacturers to close their works, and the natural result has
been less than an average season's production, except in Maine. The Maine season ended some
time since, and the fall catch of the other States, which is usually the best, has thus far been com-
paratively nothing, and, as it will soon close, cannot be improved much. To-day we should estimate
the stock in the hands of fishermen as fully one-quarter less than last year, and with one exception
the dealers in this city are almost without stock.

"The entire failure of the Arctic whaling fleet, the high price of all other grease, and the
advance in the price of Newfoundland cod oil point to advanced prices for menhaden. We said
early in the season that menhaden oil was cheap at 40 cents, and it ought not to have gone below
that price. At the present time some parties talk of 50 cents as the point the market will reach,
but we hope that manufacturers will not hold for such high prices. This would be as much too high
as 35 cents was too low, and as soon as you get an article above its real value something takes its
place and you cannot get it into the same channels until it becomes so low that it is forced back."

11. HISTORY OF THE MENHADEN OIL INDUSTRY.

THE CLAIMS OF MAINE TO THE DISCOVERY OF MENHADEN OIL. — The manufacture of men-
haden oil has been prosecuti-d tor a few yeans only. Several individuals claim the honor of having
been first to discover its value. About the year 1850 Mrs. John Bartlett, of Blue Hill, near Mount

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

365

Desert, Me., while boiling some fish for her chickens, noticed a thin scum of oil upon the surface of
the water. Some of this she bottled, and when on a visit to Boston soon after carried samples to
Mr. E. B. Phillips, one of the leading oil merchants of that city, who encouraged her to bring more,
The following year the Bartlett family industriously plied their gill nets and sent to market 13
barrels of oil, for which they were paid at the rate of $11 per barrel, in all $143.*

Mr. Phillips gave them further encouragement, furnishing nets and large kettles, which they
set up out of doors, in brick frames, for trying out the fish. It was thought that much oil was
thrown away with the refuse fish or scrap, and tm? idea of pressing this scrap was suggested.
This was at first accomplished by pressing it in a common iron kettle with a heavy cover and a
long beam for a lever; afterward by placing it under the weight of heavy rocks, in barrels and
tubs perforated with auger holes. Mr. Phillips subsequently fitted out some fifty parties on the
coast of Maine with presses of the model known as the "screw and lever press."

ERECTION OP FACTORIES IN MAINE. — The first factory in Maine was built by a company
from lihode Island, in 1864, at Blue Hill, and the next by another company from Rhode Island, at
Bristol, on John's Bay, the same season. Operations being successful, home parties in Booth Bay,
Bristol, Bremen, and South port went into the business. In the spring of 1866 eleven factories
were built, all using steam. This may be regarded as the beginning of the industry in Maine on
a scale at all in ratio with its capabilities.

The following table, taken from Mr. Maddock's pamphlet, gives the dates at which the factories
of the several firms named were built, and the cost of the same. The titles of some have since
been changed by incorporation with others, change of ownership, &c. Of the eleven factories
specified before as built in 18C6, one has been burned, and two absorbed by now exisitiug corpo-
rations; they have all been idle since 1879.

Date of building of factories in Maine.

Names.

When
built.

Where.

Cost of
buildings
and equip-
ment.

Gallup & Holmes

1866

Booth Bay

$15 000

1866

do

15 000

Suffolk Oil Works

1866

do

30 000

1867

do

15 000

White Wine Brook Company . . .

1867

do

12 000

1866

25 000

Bristol Oil Works

1866

10, 000

Albert Gray & Co

1870

do

12 000

18C6

Bristol

15 000

1866

do

15 000

1869

do

15 000

Jos. Church & Co. Works

1871

do

40, 000

Load's Island Works

1873

do

6 000

Brown's Covo Works

1874

do

10 000

Tuthill, French & Co

1868

do

10 000

Wells &Co

1864

do

12 000

Fowler, Foote & Co

1874

do

2 000

South Saint George Factory

1876

South Saint George

1 500

Total

260 500

* As this account is somewhat different from those hitherto published, we give the story in the words of Mr. E. B.
Phillips himself: "In about- 1850 I was in the fish-oil business in Boston. An elderly lady by the name of Bartlett,
from Blue Hill, Mr., came into my store with a sample of oil, which she had skimmed from the kettle in boiling men-
haden tor her hens. She told me that the lisli were abundant all summer near the shore, and I promised $11 per
barrel for all she could prod nee.. Her husband and sons made 13 barrels the first year, and the following year 100
barrels."

366 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

THE CLAIMS OP RHODE ISLAND. — Mr. R. E. Earll obtained from Mr. B. F. Brightman tbe
following account of tbe beginning of tbe menhaden industry in Rbode Island:

" During tbe war of 1812 paint oils became very scarce and bigb, and people in the vicinity of
Southern New England and Long Island conceived the idea of using fish-oil for this purpose. Among
the first, to go into this business was a family of Gardiners living at Mount Hope Bay, Rhode Island.

" The first method was to drag the pogies ashore "with seines and put them into large casks or
hogsheads brought down to the water for the purpose. After filling the casks with fish, salt water
was added to cover them, and boards, weighted with stones, put on top of the fish to press them
down. Tbe fish were then left to rot for a few days, after which they were thoroughly stirred with
a long stick daily to break up the fish and liberate the oil, so that it might come to tbe surface of
the putrid mass. This process was kept up for from two to three weeks, the oil being dipped off
daily, after which the barrels were emptied into tbe water.

"About 1820 they commenced boiling the fish in large kettles, stirring them frequently, and
skimming the oil off by hand. Among the first to do this was John Tollman, at Black Point, East
River.

" Soon the business reached such dimensions that the kettles were too small, and they were
obliged to build large cooking tanks, and with these steam was introduced for cooking, the pipes
being laid at the bottom, as now, but wholly unprotected. The fish were thoroughly cooked and
stirred, and, after standing for a time, the oil was skimmed off, and a plug pulled from the bottom
of the tank and the whole mass allowed to run off on the ground near by. Quantities of scrap or
chum accumulated in this way and found a ready sale for manure to the farmers. Tbe cooking by
steam was introduced about 1830, when John Tollman had works at Black Point, East River, John
Herreshoff at Prudence Island, and a number of parties on Long Island Sound.

" About 1835-'40 the chum was coming to be of such value that a false bottom made of wood
was introduced above the steam pipes to keep it in better condition, and after skimming it was
pitched out on an inclined platform and allowed to press itself by its own weight. Thus an addi-
tional amount of oil was obtained from the draiuings, and the chum was in better condition for
market. At this time the water was drawn off into a separate tank in drying the chum for pitch-
ing on the platform. Probably Mr. Herreshoff was among the first to introduce the incline-plaue
platform, though other parties at Greenport and Shelter Island used it about the same time.

" This gave a great start to the pogy business, as it utilized a far larger per cent, of the oil
and also saved tbe chum in a marketable condition.

" The next great improvement was the introduction of the press for taking the oil and water
from the chum. This came about in the following way: Between 1855 and 1860, Mr. Charles
Tuthill went from New York to Greenport for his health, and while there he visited tbe factory of
Mr. Wells and saw the scrap draining on the inclined platform, and it occurred to him to press the
chum. Accordingly he proposed the subject to Mr. Wells and built a small press or curb in the
following manner:

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

367

"The blocks were 5 inches wide on the inner face of the press, 4 inches on the outer, and
4 inches thick. The spaces between the pieces were one-half inch on the inside of the press. The
plan shows a top view. There was a large follower made to fit snugly into the press, and the power

was applied by means of a 20-foot lever. The press was found to work admirably, and Mr. Tuthill
at once built a larger one and arranged with one of the largest Long Island factories to press their
scrap for one-half of the oil obtained by pressing, he to furnish himself and press, and they to
furnish clium and the ba'anse of the labor.

"It is reported that he made $1,800 in five weeks in this way.

"Soon all the factories began pressing their scrap, and in 1858 the first steam-works with
hydraulic presses were built at Greeuport, known as the Atlantic Oil Works. In 1860 the Narra-
gansett Works were built on ISTarragansett Bay. At first they used very coarse mauila cloths or
blankets for pressing, putting a shovel of chum in a folding so as to make a sort of bag, and three
of these were placed side by side and pressed at once. They put about 80 to 100 tons pressure,
and got about the same amount of oil to the barrel of fish as now.

"One of the. first steam-factories on the coast of Maine was owned by Wells, De Blois & Co.,
and located at South Bristol, about 1863.

"At first pogies were taken by the farmers along the coast by means of drag-seines, and used
almost wholly for manure. They had a whale-boat to shoot the seine, and would row along looking
for schools of fish, or more frequently would wait for them on the shore, and, making one end of
the haul rope fast as the school came opposite the beach, would surround them with the seine
and haul them in by hand. When ro wing along shore with seine in the boat, they would, on see-
ing a school, land a man, who would make one end of the 60-fathom haul-line fast on shore; two.
would row the boat, and one man throw seine. Men living near the shore would often have three
of the "gang'' working on the farm, while one would stay on the shore and would call them when
a school put in an appearance.

"As early as 1S20-'30 a small schooner was used for carrying and shooting the seine, and the fish
were taken aboard instead of being hauled clear up on shore, and sold to the farmers at 15 cents
per barrel. These schooners were generally from 5 to 10 tons burden, and would carry from 50 to
150 barrels. They used seines from <><) to 100 fathoms long and 30 to 50 feet deep.

'•The practice of using schooners to carry fish to any point where the vessel could go for a

•

368 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

market soon threw this traue into tbe hands of the fishermen largely, and farmers all along the
coast began buying and using fish on their land.

"The introduction of the purse-seine by Mr. Benjamin Tollman, of Portsmouth, R. I., about
1845, (?) entirely revolutionized the pogy fishery, and from that time fish could be taken at any dis-
tance from shore. The first method, as with the drag-seine, was to row out from shore when fish
were seen, but it was not long before they began using a fleet of four small boats for catching them.
One was called the seine-boat, another the "mate," and the remaining two the "tenders," or "carry-
away boats." The four boats would start out together, and sail about near each other looking
for fish.

"As soon as a school was seen the seine-boat and mate would start for the windward side and
the tenders to leeward. The masts were unstepped, as soon as the seine-boat and tender reached
their position, and elevated above the boats. The boats were then fastened together, and one-half of
the seine transferred to the mate-boat, after which they rowed for the school, the captain standing
in the bow and keeping close watch of them. As soon as they reached the school the word was
given, the boats separated, and the captain and mate took the steering oar of their respective boats
and brought them around the fish as the net was shot, the tenders generally marking the leeward
boundaries of the school. As soon as they met, all hands got into one boat, and allowed the other
to drop astern out of the way. The fish were dipped into the tenders and carried to market.

"The next change was to introduce a schooner to carry the seine and afford accommodations
for the men. This method was first employed in Long Island Sound.

" The first pogy steamer built was the Seven Brothers, belonging to James Church, of Newport,
R. I., in 1870. Tug-boats had been engaged the previous year during calm weather to tow the
boats to and from the fishing grounds. L. Brightmau & Sons employed the steam tug Fairy for
this purpose in 1869,"

THE CLAIMS OF CONNECTICUT AND NEW YORK. — Others claim to have manufactured oil
at an early date.* It is said that as early as 1850 or 1852 there was an establishment for the
manufacture of whitefish oil near old Fort Hale, New Haven Harbor. Elisha Morgan, of Poquan
nock Bridge, Conn., is said to have made oil from bony fish previous to the year 1850. He owned
seines with which he caught fish to be spread upon land fresh. When he could not sell all bis fish
to the farmers he extracted their oil by boiling them.

Whether the value of the article and the methods of manufacture were first brought to notice
in Maine or not, the people of that State were slow to improve their opportunities and the trade
first assumed its importance on the shores of Long Island Sound. Whether the fisherman's wife
of Blue Hill is the sole discoverer of the properties of menhaden oil is not evident; perhaps the
facts were also known to others. At any rate the tradition of the Bartlett family is not current on
Long Island. In the year 1850, according to Captain Sissou, D. D. Wells and his son Henry E.
Wells started the first factory in the vicinity of Greenport, using steam for making oil and scrap.
"At that time there were some few pots (whalemen's try-pots) used by other parties iu boiling the
fish in water and making a very imperfect oil and scrap, but were not very successful. The first
oil made by D. D. Wells & Son was very black, impure, full of fleshy matter, and had a very offensive
smell. It did not come much into use, and for a long time the profits of the business were small;
but by persistent effort in perfecting machinery the quality of the oil was so much improved as to

"The manufacture of oil and of artificial guano from fishes has long been practiced in Franco, where the fish
called merlan (Oaflitu mcrJatir/un') is employed for the purpose, yielding If to 2 per cent, of oil. In France the fish
cake remaining after the extraction of oil is dried at a steam heat aud is then ground tine and packed in air-tight
casks for sale as manure.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 369

come into general use for certain purposes, such as paiutiug, tanning, man of act ore of rope, and
adulterating other oils. The scrap was also very much improved by grinding and drying, pulver-
izing, &c., so that during the war the business was quite remunerative. At that time quite a
number of factories were established and for a time the business was somewhat overdone, which
caused some to abandon it altogether, and others to consolidate; and at the present time there are
ten factories in operation, doing a fair business, giving employment to a large number of people
and bringing up a hardy race of boatmen and sailors."

Professor Baird, visiting this region in 1857, wrote : "Quite recently several establishments
have been erected on Long Island for the manufacture of oil from the moss-bunker. The fish, as
brought in, are chopped up and boiled, and the oil slummed oft'; a heavy pressure on the residuum
expresses the remaining oil, and what is left is still useful as a manure. The oil finds a ready
market. It has been estimated that a single fish will furnish enough oil to saturate a surface of
paper 18 inches square." t

Notwithstanding the fact that the coast of Maine was adapted for much -more profitable
prosecution of the oil manufacture, nothing of importance was done there until 18G5. The trade
grew rapidly for about four years, bat lias not augmented considerably since 1870. Twenty
factories were built in a short period, fourteen of which are still in operation, though several have
failed from the too sudden expansion of their business. As has been seen, the only points at
which the trade has had any statistical importance are _\vithin a limited area on the coast of
Maine, on Narragansett Bay, on Long Island, on the New Jersey coast, and in Chesapeake Bay.
Some of the factories are but half worked, and many of them have been abandoned. Efforts
have been made to establish factories on Cape Cod and on the coast of South Carolina.

Great improvement has been made in the processes of refining and clarifying the oil, and the
dear, yellow, nearly odorless substance now produced is vastly difl'ereut from the article manu-
factured in early clays.

The process of extracting oil by steam was patented in 1852 or 1853 by William I). Hall, of
Wallingford, Conn., the originator of the Quiuuipiac Fertilizer Company. Mr. Hall was engaged
in bone-boiling and tallow-rendering at Wallingford; he had a load of whitefish carted to his
factory from Bran ford, 1G miles distant. At night, after his men had left the factory, he cleaned
out his (allow tanks, steamed his fish, and extracted the oil; his experiment was satisfactory and
the process was immediately patented. The priority of his discovery is challenged by Mr. D. D.
Wells, of Greenport, who claims to have used the process for some years previous to this time
After seeming his patents, Mr. Hall visited numerous "pot works," which had by this time been
established, lor the purpose of introducing his new methods. At this time he also secured a
patent for the process of drying fish scraps upon platforms by solar heat.

THK iMH'sritY IN CHESAPEAKE BAY. — The menhaden fishery in Chesapeake Bay is said to
have been inaugurated in 1SC.5, by Mr. David G. Floyd, of Greenport, L. I. He bought a sail
vessel and put oil works on board it, and went down to Chesapeake Bay. The business was new,
and having no experience he did not do much.

The first persons to successfully engage in the Chesapeake menhaden fishery were Mr. E. W.
l!ced, of Maine, and Mr. G. Terry, of Long Island, together with Mr. G. T. Owens, of Fairport, Va.
These men, in the spring of 1809, put up a six kettle factory, using one seine to take the fish. The
first season they took 2,750,000 menhaden, averaging 3 gallons of oil to the 1 ,000 fish. The next year
Mr. Owens withdrew, and with a man from Long Island put up a second factory. The industry

t Fishes of tbo Now Jersey Const, 1855, p. 33.
SEC V 24

370 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

gradually grew in importance until in 1880 there were upwards of sixty large and small factories
in that region, that employed seven hundred and eight fishermen and factory hands, and that pro-
duced oil and guano valued at $303,829.

11. PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION.

The States of Maine and Massachusetts have enacted several laws for the protection of the
menhaden fishery. The most important law in Maine, passed in 1865-'60, prohibited the setting of
any seine within three miles of the shore for the purpose of taking menhaden, but "a net of no
more than one hundred and forty meshes shall not be deemed a seine."

In Massachusetts "fishing with seines in the Merriinac, when the menhaden stand in, is for-
bidden by law. The mouth of the river has, however, never been defined by the governor as
permitted by statute; and it was represented to the commissioners that valuable menhaden fish-
eries existed in this neutral ground of brackish water. Therefore, under the personal promise of
the fishermen to capture no shad or salmon, and with the guarantee of responsible persons in
Newburyport, the commissioners agreed to defer the defiuitiou of the river mouth, and to assume
that these menhaden were not positively included in the river proper."*

Since the general adoption of the purse-seine there has been considerable opposition to this
apparatus on the ground that it is destructive to the fishery. Congress and State legislatures
have been petitioned to prohibit the use of menhaden seines within certain specified tracts of water,
such as the Chesapeake Bay and the coast of New Jersey. During the winter of 1882 the legislature
of the latter State passed restrictive laws, but the governor of the State vetoed the laws as uncon-
stitutional, since, by the law, the, State claimed jurisdiction within three miles of the coast, whereas
the attorney-general of that State decided that no jurisdiction could be claimed beyond low-water
mark.

Congress having been petitioned to pass laws prohibiting the capture of menhaden during the
spawning season, a sub committee of the Committee on Foreign Relations was appointed by
Senate resolution of July 20, 1882i to examine, in conjunction with the Commissioner of Fish and
Fisheries, into the subject of the protection to be given by law to the fish and fisheries on the
Atlantic coast. This committee, during the season of 1882 and 1883, visited various parts of the
coast and took considerable testimony from fishermen and menhaden oil manufacturers. The report
of the committee,! submitted June 17, 1884, recommends (1) "That the use of purse aud pound-
nets, fyke or weir, in the waters of the Atlantic outside low-water mark should be absolutely pro-
hibited within 3 miles of the shore prior to the first day of June in each year south of a line drawn
east from the south cape of the Chesapeake Bay and prior to the 1st of July north of that line, with
suitable penalties for any violation of the law in this respect ; (2) That the use of meshes in such
nets of less than 1£ inches bar measure should in like manner be prohibited at all seasons so as to
prevent the taking of young and immature fish."

12. THE MENHADEN FISHERY AT THE EAST END OF LONG ISLAND; 1793 TO 1880.

The capture of menhaden for fertilizing purposes at Long Island, N. Y., began about a hun-
dred years ago. Mr. B. F. Conklin, of Jamcsport, N. Y., a veteran fisherman of more than fifty
years' experience, gives the following account of the early history of the fishery at the eastern end
of Long Island. He says :

"According to the best information I have been able to gather from old inhabitants, the use

'Report oi'lhf. Commissiotirrs of Inland Fisheries tor 1877, j>. (>.">.
t Senate Beport No. 708, 48tU Congress, 1st session, pp. xxiv,377.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 371

of menhaden for fertilizing purposes upon Long Island commenced about a century ago. At that
time they were taken near the head of Pecouic Bay, in short draw-seines, made from twine manu-
factured by the farmers' wives from flax grown upon the farms."

Mr. Couklin quotes the following extracts from the journal of Mr. David Warner, one of the
old fishermen:

"1793. May 29. — Left my bed early; went down to the nets and caught 14 fish. After school
went out with Mr. Payne gunning. Went to the ship-yard; saw Jason, who had made a draught
of bass." "Mr. Warner was at this time," says Mr^Couklin, "engaged in teaching school, and
used a set-net evidently on Saturday. When he went to the Point he used a haul-seine."

" 1S2G. May 15. — Went down to the fishing ground before daylight. Went over to Eed Creek
Point and made a haul of upwards of 100,000 [menhaden]. In evening came home with one boat.

l'May 16. — Attended to the fishing. Boated over the above haul. Got to the fish-house and
reeled our seine and shifted our clothes, when we discovered fish on the east side of the Point. In
a great hurry got the seine onto the boats and made a draught of 150,000 fish by estimation.

"May 17. — Attended to fishing. Spent the day in getting out the last- mentioned haul. I
acted as clerk, and had a very busy day. The weather extremely warm. The ground is becoming
very hard.

" 1827. May 4. — Up very early. Went down to the fish house on foot. All the seines out but
ours. Got the seine ou the boat, and rowed to Miamogue. When there discovered fish to the
eastward. Rowed ou, and soon put off the seine a great distance from tbe shore and were about
six hours a drawing. I labored hard at whipping the rope [to keep the fish from passing over
the seine]. We began to scoop out, and before sun-setting quit the seine and rowed up to Simeon's
Point. Retired about 9 o'clock and slept about foiii- hours.

"M«y 5.— Left our beds before day, rowed down to our fish, and carried out until almost high
wafer. Labored all day. The haul will amount to about 500,000, we judge. We shored the fish
at Old Mill. Came home about sunset greatly fatigued.

"1830. May 17, Monday. — Rain this morning and wind easterly, and like fora stormy day.
Shot one blackbird in defense of my corn, for the birds pull it up. Much water fell in the course
of the day. Carted three loads of fish from Old Mill landing. The draught of fishes made partly
on Saturday evening will amount to several hundred thousands, perhaps 500,000. The fishermen
have had a day of hard labor, and the weather has been uncomfortable.

" 1833. May 17. — Cloudy in the morning and a little misty. Rode down to Miamogue. Our
gang put their seine around a uutnber of porpoises and saved or got ashore 24 of them. A number
made their way through the seine and escaped. Rode home between one and two o'clock and took
dinner. Then rode down to Miamogue again and attended to the porpoises. Divided some of
them and sold some. It was in the evening when I got home. Clear all the afternoon. The
northern lights showed bright in the evening. [The fish-house, at the time 'Squire Warner was
fishing, was located at Simeon's Point, which is at the head of the bay. Miamogue is where the
village of Jamesport now stands, and Old Mill Landing is in the bend just east of Jamesport. —

CONKLIN.]"

" These fish," continues Mr. Gonkliu, " proved so valuable as a fertilizer that the business was
gradually enlarged, until, in my boyhood, nearly every farmer owned a right in a seine, and it was
a part of the yearly business to go or send a hand fishing from the first of April until haying
time, or about the middle of June. These seines at this time were made of cotton twine, and were
nearly a mile in length, with about the same length of rope on either end. They were used to
sweep largo semicircles of surface, and the lisli inclosed were drawn to the shore by means of

ii 72 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

capstaus. The capstans were formerly manned by men, but as they increased the size of the
seines they commenced using horses to draw them. Each fishing company comprised sixteen
men, and used four boats about 24 feet in length and 8 or 9 feet wide. These boats were propelled
by oars, and were- used for carrying the seine ropes and capstans, and also for carrying fish from
one side of the bay to the other when occasion required.

" Very large draughts of fish were sometimes taken in these seines. My earliest experience as
a fisherman was in assisting in making a haul of 1,200,000 fish. It was a pleasant morning, and
we were Ijing off Old Mill, just east of Jamesport. I was anxious to row and the steersman said we
might row as much as we liked; he would steer. So wo went off-shore about half a mile from
where our boats lay, and we discovered a large shoal of fish and hoisted a signal to our captain,
who immediately came to us, and I recollect asking one of the old fishermen how many ho thought
were in the bunch. He said about 300,000. Our captain concluded they were so far off-shore we
could not reach them with our seine and line and signaled another gang, when we joined staffs or
ends of seines together and laid the seine outside of them and went for shore with seines and lines.
I staid at the staffs with the steersman of the boat I was in and kept the fish away from the
seine, as the seines were narrow at the ends. The fish kept in a solid body all day. As near as I
can remember it was sundown before we had the staffs on shore. They divided the fish before we
shored them ; one seine had 600,000, and the other a few thousand over that amount.

" I fished on the haul-seines two or three seasons and helped catch a number of good hauls,
but no other as large as the above. The continued use of these shore-seines, as they were called,
had the effect to make the fish keep off-shore in the wider and deeper parts of the bay until it be
came difficult to reach them, and in the year 1848 or 1849 the first purse-seines were used in
Pecouic Bay by S. M. Petty and Joshua Cleves. This mode of fishing had been adopted in IJhode
Island a few years previous. In 1850 my father built part of a purse-seine. We knit it by hand
during the winter, and this first seine was about 30 rods long and 275 meshes deep. We used cedar
wood for corks, but used them only a few years when we exchanged them for cork. Our seine was
carried on two small skiffs, and we used a little sloop of about seven tons burden to tow the seine
and carry fish. The first few years of our fishing we cleared up the seine on the sloop. Our crew
consisted of four men. We commenced fishing the first of June, 1850, and I remember well my
first experience. We pursed the seine and got the sloop alongside to clear the seine, when the
wind rose suddenly and blew a gale from the southeast, and we were obliged to hoist the seine on
board the sloop the best we could and run for a harbor under a jib. We used this fishing rig for
several years."

Mr. Conklin's daily journal covers the period from 1852 to 1880, giving the record of the days
when he went fishing and when prevented from fishing by unfavorable weather, and omitting the
days when he remained ashore to hoe corn or to attend to other work. In 1852 he took charge of
the fishing himself. As the entire journal covers more than three hundred pages of manuscript it
is inexpedient to print it entire, but the following synopsis of the record of most of the years,
together with a tabulated statement of the results of each day's fishing during the entire period,
will indicate the seasons and growth of the fishery and some of the changes in methods during
those twenty-eight years :

1852.

May 27th, Thursday: Commenced fishing for the season; caught nothing. Saturday, Wth: Went fishing p. in. ;
canght none.

June 1st, Monday: Went dulling; saw none. Tuesday, 2d : Saw fish just at night, but caught none. Wednes-
day, '3d: Went fishing; caught uono; shower just at night. Thursday, 4th: Hainiug a. m.; p. m. caught 11,000 fiali;

THE MENHADBX FISHERY. 273

the first, of tlio season. Monday, 7lli : Wind blowing hard from southwest. Tuesday, 9th : Blowing and raining.
Wednexday, 9//i : Windy weather. Thursday , lOtk ; Windy. J-'riila//, llth: Caught 7,000 fish. (Our fishing was nearly
all done at this time in Great Peconic Day. above Robins Island, and when we go in the bay below it will be men-
tioned.) Saturday, 12th: Caught 1,500 lisli p. in.; tore the seine on a snag. Monday, I4lh : Caught 10,000 (ish p. in.
Thursday, 17th: Caught (i,(l(M) fisli ; very warm weather. Monday, 2lxt : Went out and about 1 o'clock p. m. saw a
shoal of drum-fish in about the middle of Peeonic Bay and put the seine around them. After pursing the seine we
found it impossible to raise the bunt of the seine to the surface, on account of the weight offish enclosed; wo hoisted
it up as we'll as we could with the throat halyards and commenced at one end of the seine and tried to take it on, but
could make no headway on account of the quantity of fish ; then we loaded the sloop with the fish that were in one
end of the seine, and with great difficulty we succeeded In emptying the seine of fish and getting it, on the boats. I
presume we let from 40 to 50 tons go; we saved one striped hass_and saw another in the seine, but were unable to
re it. It is saiil to be almost invariably the case that one or more bass are found in a shoal of drum-fish. Our
seine was so badly torn, or chafed, that it took several days to mend it, and our next fishing was on Juno 2rt. Mon-
day, ','.«/// : Went out in p. m. ; caught 8,000.

•fnli/ 1st, Thursday: Went fishing in p. m. ; caught I!, 000 ; we had to attend to haying and harvesting; did not
lish any more until the 9th. Friday, 9(ft : We caught 9,000 and spread them in the corn. Wednesday, Uth: Wo went
out fishing; caught none; getting in wheat, Air. 'I '< tln^day, 21st : Went fishing; caught 18,000. Thursday, 22d :
Caught 7,000 and carted them out. Friday, 23d : Went out : caught 12,000 fish ; sold a part of them and carted part.
We were busy with our farm work and did not fish any more until —

.Ini/iistSth, Monday: Went out; caught 3,500 fish. Tuesday, 10th : Went out; caught 21,000 fish. Wednesday,
llth: Wind cast : carted fish and plowed them under. Thursday, 12th: Went fishing; caught 11,000. Friday, 13th:
Caught 12,000 fish. Monday, 16th : a. m. windy ; p.m. went out; caught 8,000 fish. Tuesday, 17th: Went out; caught
17.000 iish ; landed them on shore for some farmers at Frankliuvi'le. Wednesday, Iftth : Went out; caught 8,000 fish.
Thiirxduy, ISV/i : Went fishing; caught 18,000 ; landed them for farmers in Frankliuville. Friday, 20th : Wind east;
came to Jameeport with sloop and seine. Monday, 23d : Went out fishing; caught 11,300; landed them just west of
Juinesport for a farmer. Tuesday, 24th: Went out; caugiit 2,500 fish ; they were very wild; we had great difficulty
in surrounding them. Thursday, 26th: Rainy day; we went ont fishing in p. m., but the wind blew hard and we
caught nothing. Friday, '27th: Went out fishing; caught 11,000; we joined seines; thought we could get arouud
them better, but made hard work of pursing. Saturday, 28th : We carted fish and mended seine ; came on to rain in
p. m. Xiiiiddy, 29th : An east storm. Monday, 30th : Wind continues to the east, so we did not fish. Tuesday, 31st:
Went out fishing; caught 13,000.

September 1st, Wednesday : Went out fishing ; caught nothing. Thursday, 2d : Went out ; caught 7,000. Friday,
'.',<<: Windy; did not lish. Saturday, 4th : Went ont fishing; caught 10,000. I have a sore foot and the fall work com-
ing on, potatoes to dig, <fcc., so we quit for I lie season.

1S53.

In 1853 they started out in search of lish on April 2ft, but none were taken until June 6. The fishing was aban-
doned each year when (arming was more important and when there was no longer use for manure.

1854.

In 1854 the season began on May 30 and ended September 27.

1855.

In the spring of 1855 the small sloop was sold and a larger one of about 12 tons was purchased.

V.'e now take another man to sail the sloop while we go to catch the fish. Previously we had been obliged to
anchor the sloop until we could purse the seine. And about this time we increased the width of the seine to 300 meshes.
On I he 2M of May got out and varnished the seine (up to this time we had used bright varnish on the seine), and on
May -39 went out to look for fish, bnt caught none.

1856.

In 1850 the seiue WHS again varnished and hung, and the fishing began June 2 and ended October 13.

The catch taken June 30, 1856, was sold at Jesse Terry's pot works. They were the first I ever carried to a fac-
tory. Mr. Ten y had put up a small pot works on Red Creek Point to try out the fish that he caught with his draw-
seine. Formerly we had boated most of them over to Jamesport and sold to the farmers. Mr. Henry Wells says
he commenced trying out fish in July, 1850, at Shelter Island, and some parties in Grec.nport commenced fishing with
a purse-seine about the same lime that Mr. I'elly and Cleves commenced in Peeonic Bay, which was in 1848 or 1849.

1857.

\Ve used tar on the seine this year, instead of bright, varnish, which we had formerly used, and have made the

Heine 3511 meshes instead of :!(in meshes deep.

374 HISTORY* AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

1858.

In 1858 tarred the seine again. Fished until September •J1.', :iml us the work :it the fiinn was urgent, wo went no
more until October 18, when we went out, but caught no fish. November 1 we started down bay with two sloops to
tish for the factory at Southold. They have just built a factory there and wish to purchase fish. Wo heard there
were plenty of fish in Gardiner's Bay, so we took two sloops, expecting the crew to live in one and have the other
to carry the fish to the factory. And it was calm nearly ail day. We arrived at Southold late iu the evening; came
to anchor, and before morning it was blowing a gale from the east; RO we came back to Jamesport. The wind blew
hard from the east for several days. And that ended our fishing for thi.s season. This factory had been taking iish
all the season, and a purse-seine gang from Connecticut had been fishing for them. I think it was the Luce Brothers.
They did not fish in small boats towed behind a sloop, as we did, but, used large double-end boats, and had to lower
the sails to the purse and mate boats some ways to windward of the tish, and haul half of the seine from the purse to
the mate boat while dropping down to the shoal of tish. They aiso used one or two boats, a trifle larger, to carry tish.
They had six men on seine and a man in each ear'away boat.

1850.

In 1859 tarred and hung the seine again, and went out for the first time on June 1. Sold the fish to the factory
at Sonthold for most of the season. October 24, took 20,000 fish.

I860.

In 1860 we had a much larger purse-boat built, as I intended to clear up the seine iu future on the seiue-boals
It is sharp at both ends, and 20 feet long. rsome of the fishermen laughed at me and said it will not work, bill in
two years they all cleared up on the seine-boats and now (1878) would think a man crazy who tried to clear the seine
as we used to the first years of my fishing; and when I commenced to purse fish they scooped them all on board the
sloop with hand-nets, but we soon thought of a better way. I was the first that used a largo net with a handle, the
same that is used at the present time.] I have enlarged my seine this year (I860) and now have it four hundred
meshes wide, and use six men instead of four, and have employed a small sloop, so that I can have a car'away. We
had the boats and seine ready, so that we were ready to fish on May 23, when we caught 7,200 fish ; on the 24th we
took 21,000; on the 26th, 5,000; on the 29th, 12.700; on the 30th, 10,200, and the 31st, 18,000. In the latter part of
July and first part of August fish were very scarce. August 9 took 28,000 fish otf Bridgeport, Conn. Had previously
fished nearly all the time in Peconic and Gardiner's Bays. August 13 tarred aud hung the seine. September 11 the
sloop I have had to use has started for home to-day, so I have only my little sloop now.

1861

May 31, 1861, I fixed up bunks and table in a small house wo have rented, as my little sloop is not large enough
for us all to live on board and carry the fish, consequently 1 will be obliged to confine our operations in Peconic Buy
fishing for the farmers.

July 25 aud 26 fishing at Cold Spring and Northport. July 30 took 66,000 fish otf Bridgeport, Conn., and August
2 took 70,000 at same place. August 24, ofT Milford, Conn., we saw fish in every direction as far as the eye could
reach, and good shoals. We went to work with a will, and we soon had the sloop loaded and then headed her for
Wading River. The farmers were looking for us, and we soon carted the fish out. We had 77,000 fish.

1862.

In 1862 we purchased a larger sloop called the Willium Hal Held, which will carry 20 tons; expect to have her to
tow th" boats and seine, and for the crew to live ; also to carry iish, using the little sloop, the Accordeou, for u eurr\ •
away. We have fixed and painted the sloops and boats ; tarred and hung the seine, and have everything ready to
commence fishing the 4th of June, but the wind came on to blow and wo had a violent east storm.

June 5th, Thursday: Wind continues east, so we did not fish, but fixed the deck boards ami bunks on board the
William Hatfield. Friday, 6th: Went down bay; wind continues east ; went in Noyack Bay, but caught no fish ; just
at night went up and anchored in the cove near New Suiloik. Saturday, Itli : Went out; caught 3,000 lisli : landed
them at Jamesport. Monday, 9th: Wind blows strong from the east ; we did not fish. Tamlay, Wth : Went out in
Pecouic Bay ; caught 6,500 fish; sent them to J. Applic's factory ; pleasant. Wt dnt «/«//, llth: Wind blew strong ; did
not fish. '1 hurt/day, 12th: Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 4,150 Iish ; sent them to Jamesport for the farmers; pleas-
ant. Friday, 1'Mli : Caught ir, Peconic Bay 18,9.",0 lish ; landed them at Jamesport ; pleasant. Saliinliii/, 1 Ml: : ('.-Might
in Peconic Bay 22,500 Iish ; landed them at Jamesport; pleasant. JJ/oiirfo//, 1C//1 : Went out iu I'ceonic Bay : caught
18,900 fish ; lauded them at Jamesport) pleasant. Tuesday, I'tli: Caught in Peconic Bay 23.050 fish ; landed at James-
port. Wcdncaday, IStk: Wind blew hard S\V. ; we, did not go fishing; we fixed the reel. Tliin-adny, 1'J/A: Went out
fishing; caught none. Friday, 20(/i : Went down through IVconic Bay, and were bound down into Gardiner's Bay,
-when, abreast of Greenport, we saw a good shoal of Iish; went around it, but, the water being deep, they dove the
seine and came up back side iu good shape ; we took the seine on as soon as we could and tried them again ; they
dove the second time, and while we were getting our seine on the bouts they had moved into shoaler water; we tried
them the third time, when we caught them ; we saved 27,5011 ; sent them to J. Applie's factory ; pleasant day. Satitr

THK MENHADEN FISHERY. 375

day, 21st: Came to Jamespoit. Monday, 23d: Started very early in the morning, intending to go into Gardiner's Bay,
but it was calm; so \vo caught 11,000 fish in Peconic Hay ; sent them to J. Applie's factory; pleasant day. Tuesday,
24th: An east storm; we made a harbor in Kirkle Harbor. Wednesday, 25th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; cau<*ht
31, 750 fish; sent them to J. Applio's factory; pleasant day. Thursday, 26th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 22,1)00 fish;
sent them to J. Applie.'s factory; pleasant day. Friday, 27th : Went fishing in Gardiner's Bay ; canght none. Satur-
day,28th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 44,000 fish ; sent them to J. Applie's factory ; pleasant weather. Mon-
day, 30th : Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 2(1,500 fish ; sent them to J. Applie's factory ; pleasant day.

July 1st, Tuesday: Went in Peconic Bay ; caught 13,500 fish ; sent them to Applie's. Wednesday, 2d: Went out in
Peconic Bay; caught 21,700 fish; landed them at, Jarnesport ; pleasant day. Thursday, 3d: Wind east and stormy ;
did not fi<h. Monday, 7th : Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 39,000 fish ; sent them to J. Applie's factory ; pleasant.
Tuexday, Htlt : Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 35,000 fish ; sent them to Jamesport in the Accordeon ; caught 23,000
more and carried them to tbe factory in the William HafficTfl ; pleasant day. Wednesday, 9tt: We caught 12,000 fish
and brought them to Jamesport in the William Hatfield ; the wind l>le\v quite hard. Thursday, \0th : Went in Peconic
B:iy; caught 22,000 fish; brought them to Jamesport ; pleasant weather. Friday, llth: Caught in Peconic Bay 32,000
fish ; sent them to J. Applie's factory ; pleasant day. Saturday, 12th : Canght in Peconic Bay 10,000 fish ; landed them
at Jamesport; pleasant. Monday, I4lh : Caught ia Peconic Bay 20,000 fish ; landed at Jamesport ; pleasant. Tuesday,
15*/»: Went down in Little Pecouic Bay; caught 40,000 fish; landed them at Clark's factory (small works in Noyack
Bay); J. Applie could not take them; pleasant weather. Wednesday, Wth: We made one set in Noyack Bay and
tried to sell thorn to the factories, bnt could not; so sent the Accordeon to Sag Harbor and sold them to the farmers;
at night we went to Greenport. Thursday, 17th: Went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 18,000 fish; landed them at
J. Applie's factory ; pleasant. Friday, 18th: Wind blew hard from the east, so we came to Jamesport. Monday, 21st :
The wind east ; so we did not fish ; I took a horse and went down to the Soutbold factory to see Mr. Brundred, and
lie engaged to take our fish, for we do not like to catch fish without knowing where we can dispose of them ; just at
night we started down bay ; loft the Accordeon at Jamesport ; we sailed all night, and in the morning anchored in
Orient Harbor. Tuesday, 22d : The wind continues to blow from the east; we got under way and beat down under
lee of Gardiner's Island ; caught 38,000 fish ; went to Brnndred's factory at Sonthold with them. Wednesday, 23d : Went
out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 22,000 fish ; landed them at factory ; pleasant day. Thursday, 24th : Caught in Gardi-
ner's Bay 8,000 fish ; factory; pleasant. Friday, 25th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 26,500 fish ; factory; pleasant. Satur-
day, 26th : Came to Jamesport. Monday, 28th : Went down in Gardiner's Bay ; caught a large haul, and while clear-
ing up the seine drifted so near Crow Island Shoal that the seine canght on the rocks ; we saved only 21,000 fish ; tore
the seine bad ; pleasant. Tuesday, 29th : Came to Jamesport with the seine and carted it up in the lot. Wednesday,
30th : Worked on the seine. Thursday, 3lst : Worked on the sloops and seine.

August 1st, Friday : Worked on the seine. We did not start out until Monday, 4th : We carted the seine down to
the boats, and started down bay ; pleasant. Tuesday, Mh : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 7,000 fish ; sent them to
factory at Sonthold ; pleasant. Wc/lncxflay, 6th : Canght in Gardiner's Bay 24,000 fish ; sent them to Sout hold ; pleas-
ant day. Thursday, 7th : Went below Gardiner's Island ; caught no fish ; at night came up to Greenport ; pleasant.
/•'riday, 8tli : We hauled the William Hatfield out on the ways and cleaned her bottom, corked, &c. Saturday, 9th : Had
t be William Hatfield painted. Monday, llth : Went down in Gardiner's Bay, canght about 2,000 fish, and anchored at
night just east of Fire Place Point ; pleasant. Tuesday, 12th : Wo went below Gardiner's Island and into Fort Pond
Hay ; caught none ; wind blew quite hard from the southwest ; went into Napeagne Harbor and threw the 2,000 fish
that we caught on Monday overboard, after which we went on shore and walked over to the surf. Wednesday, 13th :
\\V went out of Napteagne and went west of Gardiner's Island, in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 88,000 fish ; put them in
both sloops and took them to the factory at Sonthold ; pleasant day. Thursday, 14th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay,
caught 18,000 fish and f 6 worth of bl uefish ; wind blew quite hard. Friday, 15M : It rained in the morning; we went
to Jamesport and carted the seine in the lot. Saturday, 16th : Wo worked on the seine, mending holes; the bluefish
bit off a great many single bars, and it makes a great deal of mending. Monday, 18th : Started down bay early in the
morning, bnt did not get into Gardiner's Bay until most night. Anchored in Orient Harbor ; pleasant day. Tuesday,
19/ft : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 29,200 fish ; sent them to the Southold factory ; pleasant day. Wednesday,
20th : Went below Gardiner's Island ; caught 20,500 fish ; sent them to the factory at Southold ; pleasant. Thursday,
•2.1st: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 44,000 fish; factory; pleasant. Friday, 22d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay
30,000 fish ; wind blew very hard. Went to Jamesport with the fish. Saturday, 23d : Attended to the nsb ; laid the
William Hatfield on the shore to clean her bottom, and carted the seine out in the lot and mended it. Monday, 25tA :
We went down bay ; went around a shoal offish off Three-Mile Harbor, which is on the south side of Gardiner's Bay,
and caught the seine on the rocks, lost the fish, and tore the seine ; came to anchor, mended the holes, and lay there
through the night; pleasant day; light wind southwest. Tuesday, 26lh : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 17,000 fish; sent
them to the Southold factory; pleasant day. Wednesday, 27th: Went below Gardiner's Island, then came up in Gar-
diner's Bay and caught 20,000 fish off Three-Mile Harbor; pleasant day. Thursday, 28th : A. M. it rained; p. m. we
went out- in Gardiner's Bay ; caught a good haul of fish, but the sharks made holes in the seine and let them all out
except 0,000. Friday, 29//< : Wind bleu- hard from the northwest ; wo wont out and lay under the lee of Ram Head,
thinking the wind might die out, but as it continued to lilow we came up to Greenport and hauled the William Hatfield
on the ways to stop a leak.

September 1st, Monday : A windy day ; it rained in the morning; we did not fish. Tuesday, 2d : Went out in the
morning, but the wind came on to blow hard from the northwest ; so we anchored under Long Beach, and lay there
all day and night. Wednesday, 3d : Went out in the morning below Gardiner's Island ; caught about 15,000 fish ; staid
in Napeague through the night; pleasant. Thursday, 4th: Got under way in the morning; looked below Gardiner's

376 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Island; then went up In Gardiner's Bay ; caught 30,000 fish ; sent them to factory ; pleasant day. Friday, 5//i .- Went
down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 12,000 fish ; sent them to the factory and wo runic to Greenport ; pleasant. Satur-
day, 6th: Went down iu Gardiner's Bay, off I'lura Gut, but caught no fish ; then came to Jamesport with the sloops;
it took us all day, as the wind was southwest; we carted the seine up in the lot. Monday, Slli : We worked on the
sloops and seine; in fact we spent the whole week turrit';; and hanging the seine, and working on the faim a part of
the time; did not go out fishing until Monday, lath: When we went down bay; caught 5,000 fish; landed them
at the factory; pleasant day. Tm.'sdi,«, IGth : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 15,000 fish; sent them to the
factory; pleasant. Wednesday, 17th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay G,COO fish; factory; line, day. Thursday, ISlh:
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 15,000 fish; took them to the factory at Southold ; pleasant. Friday, 19</i : Went out in
Gardiner's Bay ; caught 10,500 fish ; factory; fine. Saturday, 20th: Came to Jamesport with the sloops. Monday, 22d:
We went down bay ; caught none; pleasant day. Tuesday. 23d: We went out very early iiuhe morning ; went below
Gardiner's Island ; caught 30,000 fish ; sent them to Southold to the factory ; pleasant. Wednesday, 241Ii: Went ov.t, but
the wind came on to blow very hard; so we went into Napeague Harbor and went beaeh-plurnming. Thursday, Zath:
A. II. the wind blew very hard from the east ; we went beach-pluiuming again; at noon the wind slacked down, so
that we thought it would do" to go out; went out east of Gardiner's Island and went around a shoal of fish; the
seine caught on a rock, and we saved only 3,000 fish and tore the seine, so we went into Napeagne and mended it.
Friday, 26th: Went out below Gardiner's Island; caught 10,500 fish ; we did not get to the factory until most daylight
next morning; very calm day. Saturday, 271h : Went to Jamesport; pleasant. Monday, 29(7i : Went down bay;
caught none; very fine day. Tuesday, 30th : We went out iu Gardiner's Bay ; caught 3,000 fish ; sent them to factory ;
pleasant.

October 1st, Wednesday: Wind east and stormy; did not fish. Thursday, 2d : East storm continues. Friday. 3d:
Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 17,500 fish; sent them to the factory at Southold; pleasant day. Saturday, 4th :
Came to Jamesport; the wind blew quite strong from the southwest; did not go out again until Wednesday, 8th :
Wo started down bay early in the morning; went down in Gardiner's Bay, but it was so late we caught none;
pleasant. Thursday, 9th : Went down in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 26,500 fish ; sent them to Sout hold factory ; pleasa n t
day. Friday, 10th: An east storm ; we lay in the basin at Grecnport. Saturday, llth: A.M. it rained ; did not fish.
Monday, 13th: A storm from the east. Tuesday, Uth : Wind continues; did not fish. Wednesday, I'M: Went out in
Gardiner's Bay ; caught 46, GOO fish ; sent them to Southold ; pleasant, but blew quite hard from the southwest in
p.m. Thursday, 16th: Went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 24, 000 fish; took them to the factory; pleasant day.
Friday, nth: Went out iu Gardiner's Bay ; caught 33,000 fish; sent them to the factory; we anchored under Gardi-
ner's Island ; fine. Saturday, 18th : In the morning we went around east of Gardiner's Island, but found no fish ; then
we went up to Sonthold with the William Hatfield, and reeled our seine on one of the haul-seine reels; got a team
and went home. Monday, 20th: Went to Southold, then went to Greenport with the William Hatfield; the wind
blew very hard from the northwest, so that we could not fish ; mended seine, &c. Tuesday, 21st : Went out in Gardi-
ner's Bay; caught 63,000 fish at one set ; seut them to Soufhold factory; the wind came on to blow southwest. Wed-
nesday, 22d : Started out of Greenport in the morning, but we had got no farther than Hay Beach when it commenced
to blow so hard from the northwest that we came back to Greenport ; it was as much as wo could do to get back ;
some of the double-end fish-boats (Rhode Island gangs) could not get back, but got under the land and anchored.
Thursday, 23d: Wind continued at the northwest; we laid in Greenport. Friday. 24/h : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ;
caught 51, 000 fish; sent, them to Southold factory; pleasant day. Saturday, 25th .- Wo went out in Gardiner's Bay;
caught 60,000 fish at one set ; the carry -away sloop did not get to us in time, so we took them on the William Hat field ;
it was calm all the p. m., so we did not arrive at Southold with them until eight o'clock iu the evening. Monday, '21 Hi:
Went to Greenport; it stormed, so we did not fish. Tuesday, 28th : A pleasant day, but some of my men have failed to
come; therefore we cannot fish. Wednesday, 29(A : Found two men in Greenport and went down below Gardiner's
Island; made one set just at night, and as it was calm came to anchor cast of the island and lay there until morning.
Thursday, 30th: In the morning it blew quite hard from the northwest, but as soon as it slacked we got under way
and soon found a nice red bunch; by the looks of 'it I should think it contained near 100,000 ; we set the seine around
it and commenced pursing, but we soon found it had caught on rocks and we could not purse it ; but as wo were out
of the tide, we took a boat and pulled the seine up, clearing it, and saved a part of the fish — saved, with the few we
caught the day before, 40,500 fish ; took them to the factory, and as I was bothered to get men to make out a crew,
thought I would lay up. Friday, 31st: Went to the factories and had a settlement, ai'd the next day went to James-
port and stowed boats and seines away.

1804.

As the business has increased iu importance, we have enlarged our capacity of catching and carrying the fish by
getting another carry-away sloop. Now we have the William Hatfield for to wing the boats ;rnd seine and for the fish-
ing-crew to live in, and if necessary can carry a few fish on deck ; the Accordeon, which will carry about 45,000 fish ;
and the Black Bird, which will carry about 40,000. Wo have fixed and painted the sloops and boats, and started out
fishing in Peconic Bay May 31, when we took 40,000 fish, and sent them to J. Applie's factory in the Accordeon.

June 13th : Sold §7.50 worth of fish to a smack ; most of our fish are now sold to the factories. June 15/ft : Sold
$26.75 worth of fish to a smack.

October 18th : The wind has slacked up so that we started out in the morning, ar.d as soon as 1he gangs were by
Long Beach they began to drop off, and when we were just by Long Brach, looking off toward where the sun had
just risen, we could see fish breaking as far as the eye could reach. I never saw such a show of fish. We dropped

THE MEKHADEK FISHERY. 377

oft' from the sloop with our boats and rowed down to where we saw them playing ; and they were playing to the west,
and to the oast, and to the south, as far as we could, see, just as fast as they were near us. So we rowed right iu
whore i hoy wciv playing and encircled as many as we could and caught about, 75,000 the first set, after which wo made
two more sets not so largo. We sent the Accordeo'n, with 41,000 fish, and the Black Bird, with 59,000, to ,T. Applie's
factory, and we put f 7,875 on the William Hatfield, which we took to the Atlantic Works, as they were nearer. Those
were largo eastern lish, and had just struck in the bay. There were about ten gangs fishing there that morning, and
I think they all loaded their boats before night. It was a pleasant day, but cool in the forenoon. October 26th : It blew
quite hard iu the morning from the northwest, but it soon died out and we made a set just north of Crow Island
Shoal, in Gardiner's Bay. We pursed them up without any trouble, but when we came to take on the seine wo found
we had something. We found the fish had made three large " cods" and twisted the seine so we could not clear them.
Wo worked a long time on them, and then we took the Black Bird alongside ; took a boat-hook and hooked into the
"cod," pulled it up on the sido of the Black Bird, and cut a~Targe hole iu the seine, and nearly loaded her out of that
"cod." We served another "cod" the same way, and while we were attending to this, "Mr. Shark" made a hole in
another "cod" and so saved us the trouble of scooping them. Then we cleared the seine and scooped what was left
in the bunt. Wo were at work on them nearly all day and saved 44,00 fish, which wo sent in the Black Bird, and
12,000 in the Accordeon, to J. Applie's factory. All the fish wo have caught, since the 18th of October have been fat
oasteru lish.

The fish brought us $2.50 per thousand this year. In the fall they run $3 per thousand, and a few as high as $5
per thousand. It was a hard matter to get a good cotton seine. I bought some for $1.35 per pound, and it was so
poor-ami the knitting so bad that we would not think of using it now (1876) if we could get it for nothing. [I don't
recollect just what menhaden oil was bringing at this time, but I think it was $1 per gallon, perhaps a little more.]

1865.

Tainted the sloops and got the seine ready and commenced fishing May 31. Jur.e 27tii: Sold 10,500 fish to a smack
for §31.50. July 21st to 2Slh: Fishing off Milford, Conn. September 2WA; Went to Boston to sec about getting a new
seine; it was impossible to get a cotton seino without paying a very largo price; so I bargained for a seine made of
llax or hemp, and it was to bo done so that I could have it soon, for our seine was getting very poor; got the seine
October 30.

1806.

fepti-iitlicr 25//i: We took off the sails and limed them. From that date to October 17 weather bad or fi#h
sea roe, so that there was no fishing.

1867.

As the Accordeon was getting old and wo saw the need of having a larger sloop, I have sold her and built a new
sloop that will carry about 60,060, which I have named the U. S. Grant. I had her built near my house and moved
her to the bay on big wheels. So now we have the William Hatfield to tow the seine and the U. S. Grant and Black
Bird for carry-away sloops. We have the sloops and boats ready, and on the 6th of May we put things on the William
Hatfield and bent the sails on the U. S. Grant. May ~th: I sent to Riverhead for the U. S. Grant's anchors, and took
the seine on board and had everything ready to go out fishing. We started out, thinking to go down to Greenport,
but when we had sailed about half way to Robin's Island we discovered a number of bunches of fish. They were not
playing much, but wo saw the color of them. Then wo prepared the seine as toon as we could and went to work at
them. Wo made three sets, and caught about 20,000 each set. We sent 45,000 fish in the U. S. Grant and 1(5,000 in the
Black Bird to Jamesport for the farmers. A pleasant day; wind' light, southeast. AlayUtlt: Went out in Peconic
Bay; caught 22,400 fish, which we sent in the Black Bird to Hallett's Works. We came into Jamesport and came to
anchor and hauled the seines out on deck, as we are in the habit of doing, to allow the tvir to come to, it to prevent its
heating. Wo had one of the greatest hail-storms I ever witnessed ; the hail-stones were four or five inches deep in some
places next morning. Saw no fish again till the 22d, but we caught none till the 27th of May.

October 15//I .- We started out of Gardiner's Bay; it was a pleasant morning.

There was one _gang a mile or two to the east of us; and about sunrise we saw them drop off and set the seine ;
when we came up to them the captain called out to me and said, "They are large eastern fish"; and about that
time the man at mast-head cried out, " I can see them off to the east, playing as thick as rain-drops"; and we could
soon see them from the dock (just after sunrise you can see fish a 'ong way off to the eastward). In a little while we
camo up with them. It was a large, solid body of fish and showed a good color. We dropped off from the sloop and
wont around just one end of the body and commenced pursing. We pursed the seine without much trouble and
took it on, running the fish all in the bunt; but when the carry -away came alongside, and wo tried to get them up,
so as to scoop, we found wo could not raise them. As the wind was light we got both sloops alongside and had carry-
away men to help us, but still wo wore not able *o bring them up ; then \ve lashed a polo on the scoop-net handle, but
the lish won- so far down wo could make no headway in hoisting them out. At last the wind breezed up from the
northwest, and the bunt, not being able to stand so heavy a strain, began to rip, when wo were obliged to slack the
seino down and let the fish out; there wore four or live good shoals went out. One gang came along and caught one
shoal and nearly loaded his boats. After all had run out that would, we raised up enough to make 49,100 fish, which

378 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

we sent to Hallett's Works. We were all of us about beat out; we Lad worked nnil pulled will, all our might for four
or five hours to try to save the fish, but we had too many for one gang to handle. I have no doubt but what we
pursed up between 300,000 and 400,000. The fish at this time, as I well remember, were selling for $3 a thousand.

1868.

We have tarred and hung the seine and got the sloops out of the creek and had them painted, and have everything
ready to commence work. May lath: Went out in Pecouic Bay, but caught none. May IGlh : Caught iu Peconic Bay
26,224 lish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport for the farmers. June Wth: I lu/ve purchased a part of
the Smith's Island Works at Norwalk Islands, and we are preparing to go there to fish. Arrived at Norwalk Islands
June 24. On the 29th we caught 33,18.0 fish in the mouth of the Saugatuck River.

1869.

April 26tli, Monday : We started up to the Smith's Island Works, with the U. S. Grant and Black Bird, to make
some improvement on the works, and also to set a pound that had formerly been used by the parties we purchased of.
Taking what help wo needed, we overhauled the works and put in the pound, but did not catch lish enough to
amount to much.

May 29<ft: Wo started for homo with the U. S. Grant; arrived at Mattituek next morning, and hired one of the
farmers to take us home; we had the William Hatfield prepared, and, carting the seine on board, started from
Jamesport.

June 2(7, Wednesday : Arrived at Greenport evening ; pleasant. Thursday, 3d : Wo laid in a store of wood, oar<,
and provisions, and had the sloop's papers renewed; then taking the reel on board, started for Norwalk Islands; in
the evening we arrived at Mattituek Creek, where we came to anchor, to wait until morning and to get the U. S.
Grant out of the creek ; weather pleasant ; light wind SW.

July 20th : We caught off Hog Island 7,700 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Luce's floating factory, which
is anchored behind Hog Island Point, at the entrance of Oyster Bay.

187O.

May 3d: Started out, but saw no fish. May 4tli ,: Saw no fish in shape to catch. May 9th. The wind continues
to the east, but does not blow very hard, so wo went ont in Peconic Bay and off Canoe Place. Saw a nice round
8hoal of fish that we judged might contain 30,000. We encircled them with our seine and pursed them n;> without
any trouble, and run them into the bunt ready to scoop, when we found we could not raise them. So another gang
came to our assistance. When we got them up enough to scoop we loaded the Black Bird. As the U. S. Grant did not
come out, we got the other gang's carry-away boat alongside. Many of the fish being dead, we could not hold them
up. They tore the bunt nearly iu two, and run out until we thought they were Dearly gone; then we succeeded in
getting up the rent iu the bunt so that we got G0,000 fish in the other gang's carry-away. We sent to Jamesport in
the Black Bird 42,390 fish ; so we saved over 100,000, and I presume we lost more than we saved.

October 28th : Was too windy to fish. We staid at Greenport waiting for weather suitable to fish until the 4tli of
November, but the wind blew hard every day, from the northwest most of the time, and on the 4th of November we
concluded we had better lay np.

1871.

I have made some changes; I am to fish for the floating factory, Algonquin, owned by C. H. Tuthill & Co. I am
to have a sloop called the Starlight, which is a larger and faster sailer than the William Hatfield, to live in and tow
the boats and seine. I have taken the forward house off and put in new ceiling, and given the William Uatficld a
thorough overhauling, and am expecting to use her for a carry-away instead of the Black Bird, and now I think we
have a pretty good rig. We have taken the sloops to Greenport and had them painted, and were prepared to start
out fishing on the 1st of May, when all hands came on board the sloops.

May Zd, Tuesday : We started down bay ; the wind was very light from the cast ; we saw a few fish above Robins
Island, but they were going before the wind, so that I could not catch them very well ; there was a sail-boat put off
from the north shore of the bay— where there is a haul-seine located— with a number of men in it, and followed us to
Robins Island ; I had heard that there had been a law passed in Albany prohibiting purse fishing in some part ol* the
bay, but was not able to learn whether it was Little or Great Peconic Bay; we caught on our way down 4,000 fish in
Noyack Bay, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant to Glover's Works, as our factory was not ready to take fish yet ; I went
to Greenport, and thought to find out for certain which bay we were not to be allowed to fish in ; so I went up to the
office of the Suffolk Weekly Times, and the editor told me he had just received a letter from our assemblyman at
Albany; he wrote that purse fishing was not prohibited anywhere in this State except Little Peconic Bay. If'ednm-
ilay, 3d: We went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 8,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo
works; pleasant day. Thursday, 4tk: A hard east storm ; did not lish. Friday, bill : The storm continues; we laj in
Greenport. Saturday, 6th: We came up to Jamesport with the sloops, and worked on the seine; wind blew hard.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 379

Miniduy, Sth: Wind blew luird, northwest; did not lish. Tuesday, 9th: Went out in Great Peconic Bay, which is the
biiy above Robins Island; we found fish scattered — a play here and there — all over; we made one set, but caught
none ; our friends in the sail-boat lay off in the bay watching us ; lint I paid no attention to them, as I thought the
law prohibited fishing in Little Peconic Bay, which i.s below Robins Island. (But I afterwards learned that our
assemblyman had made a mistake, and that it was Great instead of Little Peconic Bay, as ho had written.) Very
calm and fine. Wednesday, Wth: We went out in Great 1'econic Bay and found a good bunch of fish, and set around
them about sunrise ; pursed them up and had them scooped into the William Hatfield ; there were 51,000 fish, which
we sent to the Miamogue Works before my friends in the sail-boat could get to us ; it was quite calm ; they went imme-
diately to the district attorney and made a complaint against us; we dropped off a number of times during the day,
but, lish being so scattered, we caught no more; pleasant. Thursday, llth: Went out in Peconic Bay; caught none;
the fish continue in very bad shape for catching with ajnirse-seine ; the haul-seines are doing quite well; at night
we went to Greenport to get some things we needed ; fair. Friday, 12th : Went out fishing, but caught none ; weather
fine. Saturday, 1'Sth: Caught none; came home; weather continues tine; the sheriff came down to see me, and read
some papers to me that I suppose ho thought would interest me.

The full record from 1872 to 1880 is as follows:

1872.

I have purchased a small carry-away called the New York in the place of the William Hatfield, which I have lost.
1 let the man that was expecting to sail her for me during the fishing season take her and go to New York and get a
load of merchandise, and during a heavy squall, while reefing, a schooner came up from astern, ran into and sunk her off
the south point of Heart Island. The crew of the William Hatfield saved themselves by springing on board the schooner,
losing their clothes and effects, except what they had on their persons. I afterwards saw the owners of the schooner,
but could make no settlement with them, when I employed a lawyer and libeled the schooner, compelling them to
pay fur tin- sloop and cargo. We have the sloops painted, and commence fishing in May.

May l.',th, Monday : We went down bay ; caught in Noyack Bay 37,000 fish, which we sent in the New York to the
Algonquin; fine. Tuesday, Utk: We caught in Peconic Bay 47,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Algonquin; pleasant day. Wednesday, IMIi : Caught in Peconic Bay 29,500 fish, which we sent in the New York to
the Algonquin ; weather pleasant. Thursday, 16th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 36,300 fish, which we sent
in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin; fine. Friday, 17th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 27,500 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Algonquin; pleasant. Sa urday, ISIh : We came to Jamesport with the sloops; weather is pleasant;
have had no rain in some time and the ground is getting very dry. Monday, '20th : The Algonquin is to be fixed, so
we will have to take our fish elsewhere until they get her in readiness. We went out in Peconic Bay, caught 9,(9(i
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport for the farmers; pleasant weather. Tuesday, 21st : Caught in
Peconic Hay t'2,750 fish, which we sent in the New York to Jamesport; fine weather. Wednesday, 22d : We caught in
Peconie Bay ."i9,300 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport: fine weather. Thursday, 23d: Caught in
Peconic Bay 35,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 38,991 in the U. S. Grant, to Jamesport; weather con-
tinues pleasant. Friday, '24th: We caught in Peconic Bay 2.">;000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 19,540 in
the U. S. Grant to Jamesport; we are having very pleasant weather. Saturday, 25M : Caught in Pecouic Bay 34,786
lish, which we sent in the New York to Jamesport; pleasant day. Monday, 27th: We caught in Peconic Bay 49,541
lish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport; pleasant. Tuesday, 23th : Caught in Pecouic Bay 30,222 fish,
which we sent in the New York, and 31,000 in the U. S. Grant, to Jamesport; fine. Wednesday, 29(A : We caught in
IVenuic Bay 7,300 fish, which we sent in the New York to Jamesport; weather pleasant. Thursday, 30th: Caught, in
Peconic Bay 2'2,'JiH) fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jaraesport ; weather pleasant. Friday. 3lst: We caught
in Little Peconic Bay 31,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 16,371 in the U. S. Grant, to Jamesport ; weather
continues fine.

June I*/, Saturday: We did not fish; mended seine; pleasant. Monday, 3d: We caught in Little Peconic Bay
22,600 fish, which we sent in the New York to Jamesport ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 4th : We canght none ; the wind
blew hard from the east; we anchored in the New Suffolk Cove. Wednesday, 5th : The wind continued to blow hard
from the east; I went to New York to see about getting a now seine. Thursday, (>lh : We caught in Peconic Bay
41,338 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport; pleasant day. Friday, 7lli : Caught in Little Peconic
Bay 32,800 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 28,179 in the U. S. Grant, to Jamesport ; weather continues
line. Xatiirtlaii. *th : Did not fish; weather fair. Monday, Wth: Caught in Peconic Bay 13,196 fish, which we sent
in the New York to Jamesport; pleasant. Tuesday, llth: We caught in Little Pecouic Bay 51,000 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant, and 26,179 in the New York, to Jamesport; weather pleasant, Wednesday, 12th : Caught in
Pecouic Bay 57,577 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport ; weather fine. Thursday, 13th: We caught
in Peconic Bay 34,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 27,566 in the U. S. Grant, to Jamesport; weather
continues fine. Friday, 14th : Caught in Peconic Bay 36,043 lish, which we sent in the New York to Jamesport;
weather fine. Saturday, loth : Wo did not fish ; mended seine, &c. Monday, nth : Caught iu Peconic Bay 44,r.OO
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin, as she is now prepared to take fish again ; weather pleasant.
Tuesday, l$tli : We caught in Little Pecouic Bay 40,500 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 4,000 in the U. 8.
Grant, to the Algonquin ; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, W/h : Caught in Pecouic Bay 57,500 fish, which
we sent iu the U. S. Grant, and 36,200 in the New York, to the Algonquin, and 12,218, which we took to Jamesporc
in the Starlight; plenty of fish; pleasant weather. Thursday, 20th: We caught in Peconic Bay 57,000 fish, which

380 HISTORY AND METHODS OF TUB FISHERIES.

we sent in tbo U. S. Grant to the Algonquin, and 20,fi5C in tlie New York to Jamcsport; weather pleasant. Friday,
21st: We caugbt in Little Peconic Bay 3H.OOO fish, which we sent in (lie New York, and 61,000 in the U. S. Grant,
to the Algonquin ; weather continues pleasant. Saturday, "2rf : Caught in Peconic Bay 27,2158 fish, which we sent
in the New York to Jamesport; weather fine. Monday, 24th : Caught in Little Peeonio Hay 50,000 fish, which wo
sent in the U. S. Grant, and 24,000 in the New York, to the Miamogue Works, as the Algonquin cannot take fish for
a few days, owing to the fact that they are putting in a patent drier for drying scrap ; weather pleasant. Tuesday,
25th: Caught in Pecouic Bay 3,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport; weather continues line.
Wviliicsdau, 2(Wc Wo caught in Little Peconic Bay 13,500 fish, which we sent in the New York to the Miainogiic
Works; fine. Thurisdtiy,2~tli : We went to Grtenport and ripped out and tarred the seine; pleasant day. Friday,
2S(7i ; Hung the seine ; weather.fiue. Saturday, 29J/J : Didnotiish; came home.

July 1st, Monday: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 38,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miauiogue
Works; fine. Tuesday, 2d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 39,000 fish, which wo sent in the New York, and 58,000 in
theU. S. Grant, and took 27,000 in the Starlight, to the Miamogue Works; fine. Wednesday, 3d: The factories a r. all
full and the farmers are busy harvesting; we cannot sell any more fish at present, so we came to Jamesport with the
sloops, and wait a few days for the glut to get over; weather pleasant. Thursday , 4th : At home; very warm weather.
Friday, 5/ft : I worked around home a. in. ; went out among the farmers collecting fish money p. m. Saturday, 6lli : At
work about home; weather continues pleasant. Monday, 8Ui : We came down to Greeuport; pleasant day. Tuesday,
9'7i : We went in the sound and west as far as Norwalk Islands; saw plenty of fish but would not catch them, as we
did not know where the Algonquin was, or if she was prepared to take fish ; pleasant day ; wind SSW. Wednesday,
10th : We went over to Huntington Bay, but the Algonquin was not there, so we concluded that she was in New
Haven yet, where they took her to get the driers put in ; then -we came down to Milford to see if we could sell our
fish there until the Algonquin was prepared to take them ; caught 35,000 fish, which we sent in the New York to
the Welch Point Works, where we succeeded in selling them ; pleasant. Thursday, llth: Caught oft' Stratford Point
and Milford 48,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 22,000 in the New York, to the Welch Point Works;
weather pleasant. Friday, 12lh: Caught off Milford 16,800 fish, -which jve sent in the U. S. Grant to the Welch Point
Works; pleasant. Saturday, 1'Ath: We did not fish, but went to New Haven to see if the Algonquin was ready to
take fish, or was ever likely to be ready; pleasant day. Sunday, 14th: In New Haven ; very warm clay. Monday,
IMh: Caught off New Haven 36,000, -which we sent in the New York to the Welch Point Works; pleasant. Tuesday,
16<7t: Caught off Milford 18,300 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Welch Point Works; pleasant. Wetlnen-
day, 17th: We caught off Milford 26,500 fish, -which we sent in the New York to the Welch Point Works; pleasant.
Thursday, ISIh : We caught off Black Rock 42,400 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to George W. Miles's Works ;
pleasant. Friday, 19th: We caught off Southport 21,000 fish, which ^ve sent in the New York to the Welch Point
Works ; pleasant. Saturday, 20th : We came over to Northport, expecting to see the Algonquin anchored in Hunt-
ington Bay, as they calculated to be ready this week, but she is not here yet; we went into Northport and purchased
our week's stores, pnt the seine on the beach to dry, and improved our time by mending the holes ; fine. Monday, 22<Z:
The wind blew hard NNW. ; we went out in the sound, but came to anchor under the land off Sonthport. Tuesday,
23d: We caught off Southport 37,500 fish, -which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin, as she has arrived and
is anchored in Huntiugton Bay; pleasant. Wednesday, 24th: Caught off Glen Cove and Captain's Island 27,500 fish,
which we sent in the New York to the Algonquin; weather continues pleasant. Thursday, 25(7i : Canght off Cold
Spring 15,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin ; pleasant. Friday, 26th: Stormy day ; came
into Northport and hauled out the sloops on the railways. Saturday, 2"< th : Had the sloops painted; pleasant; the
fish do not seem to be very plenty in the sonnd, and Mr. C. H. Tuthill, who has charge of the Algonquin, hearing 1 hat
the fishing is good in Gardiner's Bay, has gone to Greenport, and, if the report is true, is to send me a dispatch early
Monday morning, and we are to start down. Monday, 29th: Early in the morning went to the telegraph office, and
had a dispatch to come; we sent word to the ship, and they sent a dispatch to New York for a tug to tow the Algon-
quin down ; we made a set in Northport Bay as we were going out and caught 16,200 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Algonquin ; then we went down the sound, had a good breeze SW., and arrived at Pluui Gut just after
dark. Tuesday, SOtli : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 50,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works, as the Algonquin has not arrived yet; pleasant. 'Wednesday, 31st: We went out in Gardiner's Bay, where
there appeared to be plenty offish; caught 58,000, which we put in the U. Si Grant, and just as we finished scooping
them in we saw the Algonquin, with a' tug ahead, coming through Plum Gut; they anchored her behind Cedar
Island, and about as soon as she was anchored the U. S. Grant was alongside of her, and we had 37,000 fish scooped
in the New York and going towards her; weather continues fine.

August 1st, Thursday: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 54,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 24,200 in
the New York, to the Algonquin ; weather continues pleasant. Friday, 2d: We went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught
56,300 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 42,500 in the New York, to the Algonquin ; weather fine. Satur-
day, '3d: They do not want any more fish this week, therefore did not go out, but went home; pleasant. Moinlni/,
5Wi : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 44,300 tish, which we sent in the New York, and 51,500 in the U. S.
Grant, to the Algonquin; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 6th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 44,000 fish,
which we sent iu the New York, and 32,800 in the U. S. Grant, to the Algonquin ; pleasant day. Wednesday, ~th :
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 44,300 fish, which we sent in the New York to the Algonquin; weather fine. Thursday,
«lli : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 52.000 fish, -which wo sent in the U. S. Grant to (he Algonquin; pleasant.
Friday, 9th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; made, two sets; caught 64,000 fish, which we put mi the IT. S. Grant,
and 19,500, which we took on the Starlight, to the Algonquin. The tish are so plenty that they do not want more
than 50,000 a day from a gang ; but if we make a large haul we take them in, as wo do not want to throw them

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. . 381

away after wo catch thorn. The fish have been so plenty in Gardiner's Bay, for a fo\v days, that we could have
loaded two or three sloops every day; pleasant weather; wind SW. Saturday, lOtk: We tarred a new seine;
pleasant. Monday, 12th : They have concluded to let us scud them as many fish as we can, the first of the week,
if wo will "light up" the last of the week, so they can get cleared up. Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught
56,500 fish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant, and 35,500 in the New York, to the Algonquin ; pleasant. Tuesday,
13th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 44,000 fish, which wo sent in the Now York, and 52,000 in the U. S. Grant, to
the Algonquin ; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 14(/« : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,500 fish, which we seat
in tho New York, and 43,e!00 in the U. S. Grunt, to the Algonquin; and we sold $40.50 worth of fish to a smack;
pleasant day. Thursday, 15i/i : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 39,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and
38,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Algonquin ; weather pleasant. Friday, 16th : They want no more fish at tho factory
this week, therefore we hung our now seiue ; pleasant. Saturday, 17th : Showery. Monday, 19th : We caught in Gardi-
ner's Bay 42,500 fish, which we sent in the Now York to~Thc~ Algonquin; fine. Tuesday, 20th: Caught iu Gardiner's
Bay 56,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 40,700 in the New York, to the Algonquin ; weather continues
pleasant and tho fish pleuty. They have been obliged to stop us from bringing fish to the Algonquin, as they aro
blocked up with scrap. The li-h have been pleuty ever since we came from tho sound. We go out in Gardiner's Bay
two or three miles and find all tho fish we want, and come back to Greenport, where we arrive by middle of p. m., if
we have a breeze of wind. As wo cannot sell our fish or dispose of them any way to tho fish works, we thought we
would catch a few and send them up bay and try to sell some to the farmers. Wednesday, 21st : Went out iu Gardi-
ner's Bay; caught 50,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 21,100 in the New York, to Jamesport; and we
went up with tho Starlight to see about selling them. Thursday, 22d : We attended to selling tho fish, and as there is
camp meeting at Jauiesportf we concluded to stay and attend that tho remainder of tho week. Monday, 26th: Wo
caught in Gardiner's Bay 50,000 fish, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant, and 24,300 in tho New York, to Jamesport ;
pleasant day. Tuesday, 21th : Sold the fish at Franklinvilla, laying the sloops ou shore. They have city boarders in
Jamesport and do not like to have fish lauded ou the wharf. After getting the fish out we went to Greenport.
Wednesday, 2~il!i : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,700 fish, which wo sent up to Jamesport in the New York; pleasant.
Thursday, 20//I : I left tho sloop iu Greenport and caine to Jamesport on the ears to try and sell the fish. We laid tho
New York ou the shore just west of Jamesport, and I sold the fish by taking a horse and wagon and driving three or
four miles among the farmers; pleasant day; evening I took the cars to Groenport. Friday, 30th : The ship is not
ready to take fish yet, and all the fish works have all they can do to take care of theii own gang's fish. So I cannot
sell to them, aud they do not want me to land fish on the wharf at Jamesport, as the boarders do not like it, so we
have concluded to quit for tho week.

September 2tl, Monday : The Algouquiu is not prepared for fish yet, so we lay iu Greenport. I tried to be patient,
but I think I Hid fret a little. Tuesday, 3d: We had word the Algonquin was ready for fish ; went out in Gardiner's
Bay; caught 55,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to tho Algonquiu; pleasant. Wednesday, 4th: Caught in
Gardiner's Bay 42,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 15,500 iu the U. S. Grant, to the Algonquin ; weather
continues pieman t. Thursday, 5th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,200 fish, which we sent in the New York, and
16,000 in tho U. S. Grant, to the Algouquiu; also sold $20 worth to a smack; pleasant day. Friday, Glh: Caught in
Gardiner's Bay 35,800 fish, which wo sent in tho New York, and 21,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Algouguin ; weather
fine. Saturday, 7tk : Wo hauled out the sloops on the railways aud scrubbed them ; pleasant day. Monday, 9th:
Went out iu Gardiner's Bay ; the wind came on to blow strong, so we went inlo Napeaguo. Tuesday, 10th : Went out
below Gardiner's Islaud ; caught 34,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, aud 46,000 in tho U. S. Grant, to tho
Algonquiu ; pleasant, ll'ednesday, llth: Caught below Gardiner's Island 43,000 fisb, which we sent in the New York
and 47,500 in the U.S. Grunt, to tho Algonquin; weather continued pleasant. Thursday, 12th: Caught in Gardiner's
Bay 3.'i,000 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 24,300 iu the U S. Grant, to the Algonquin ; weather continues
fine. Friday, 13th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,090 fish, which wo sold to a smack for $15 ; pleasant. Saturday,
14th: As they do not want fish ou Saturday, we went home; weather pleasant. Monday, IGth: A stormy day; did
not fish. Tuesday, nth: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught SO.COO fish, which we sent in tho U. S. Grant to the
Algonquin: fine. Wednesday, 18th: Wind east; caught none. Thursday, I9lh : East storm; lay iu Greenport. Fri-
day, 20ili- Windy; did not go out. Saturday, 2lst: Did not fish; went home. Monday, 23d: Went out in Gardiner's
Bay; caught 36,800 fish, which we sent in the New York, and 39,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Algouquiu ; pleasant
day. Tuesday, 24th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 35,800 fish, which we sent in the New York to the Algonquin ; pleas-
ant. Wednesday, 25(/t : Wo caught in Gardiner's Bay 59,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 16,500 in tho
New York, to tho Algonquin ; weather continues pleasant. Thursday, 26th : Stormy day ; Hauled out the sloops on the
railways. Friday, 27th : Stormed hard. Saturday, 26th: Tarred and hung tho seine. Monday, 30/h : Went out in
Gardiner's Bay ; caught 29,150 fish ; sent them in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquiu ; pleasant.

October 1st, Tuesday : Caught iu Gardiner's Bay 17,500 fish, which we sent in the New York to the Algonquin ;
weather tine. Wednesday, 2d : Wo quit for the week and attended the Sufiblk County Fair. Monday, 7tli : Went out
in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 32,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin ; fine. Tuesday, 8th : Caught
in Gardiner's Bay 6,500 fish, which we sent in the New York to the Algonquin; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 9th :
We caught in Gardiner's Bay £0,700 fish ; sent iu the 1 1. S. Grant to the Algonquin ; pleasant. Thursday, 10th : Caught
in Gardiner's Bay 7,600 fish, which wo seut in the New York to the Algonquin ; weather fine. Friday, llth : Wind
blew hard; caught none. Saturday, 12th: Did not fish ; I came homo. Monday, 14th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ;
caught 12,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin ; fine. Tuesday, 15th: Caught in Gardiner's
Bay 23,700 fish, which we seut iu the New York to tho Algonquin; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 16th ; Wind blew

382 HISTOiiY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

hard; we lay in Napeague. Thursday, nth: Went out below Gardiuer's Island; caught 41,300 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant to the Algonquin ; weather continues very pleasant. Friday, 18th : We caught below Gardiner's Island
12,300 fish, -which we sent in the New York to the Algonquin ; fine. Saturday, Wth : Caught none; went to Greeu-
port, then went home; fine. Monday, 2lst : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 28,100 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Algonquin ; pleasant. Tuesday, 22d : Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught none ; fine. Wediici-
day, 23d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 10,000 fish ; sent in the Now York to the Algonquin ; weather pleasant. Thurs-
day, 24th: An east storm; we lay in Greenport; the new three masted schooner Mary Frceland was launched to-
day, and she slid down into the water splendidly. Friday, 2slh : East wind continues ; did not fish. Saturday, 26tl< :
East wind continues ; we came up to Jamesport with the sloop. Monday, 28th : Wind blew hard from the east ; did
not go out. Tutsday, 29th : Wind still continues east; we went out in p. in. and anchored under the lee of Gardiner's
Island. Wednesday, 30lh : Wind continued cast ; we looked along under the lee of Gardiner's Island for fish, but could
find none ; then we went on shore at the end of Gardiucr's Point to see a schooner that had run ashore on the east
side of the point, and a steam cutter was trying to pull her off, after which wo went to Greenport aud got our things
and came up to Jamesport with them all, and stowed them away as soon as we could, aud the fishing season of 1872
has come to a close with us.

1873.

I have made arrangements to fish for the Hawkins Brothers, who own the Miamogue Works. Have made no
change in rig, except have purchased a carry-away, in place of the New York, which is a larger aud better boat, called
the North Star. We have the sloops painted, aud everything is in readiness to start.

May 6th, Tuesday: We put the seine in the boats aud started down bay; went to Greenport, put some ballast in
the North Star, and got things in readiness to fish. Wednesday, 7th : We went down through Gardiner's Bay, and below
Gardiner's Island, but saw no fish, when we came back to Greenport and purchased a new stove for the Starlight;
for we must have something to eat, and it is necessary to have a good stove to cook with; pleasant day. Thursday,
Sth: The wind was east, and wo came up to Jamesport with the sloops. Friday, Qth: An east storm; did not fish.
Saturday, Wth: Wind continued east; did not go out. Monday, 12th: We went down through Pecouic Bay, and Gardi-
ner's Bay, and below Gardiner's Island, but saw no fish; came to anchor east of Gardiner's Island, in what is called
Tobacco Lot, which is a little bend on the east side of the island; pleasant day. Tuesday, 13th : We saw no fish, so
we started for Montauk; the wind came on to blow very hard from the southwest, so we were obliged to turn back;
went into Napeague Harbor. Wednesday, 14lh: Wo went out, but could find no fish; went into Napeague again;
wind blew fresh SW. Thursday, 13Wi : Made a. set, and tore our seine on the rocks; then went to Greenport and
mended the seine ; pleasant. Friday, Wth : Went, down in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish ; then came up through
Peconic Bay to Jamesport; fine. Saturday, nth: As there seems to be no fish, we do not go out. Monday, Wth: We
wcut down through Pecouic Bay, and in Gardiner's Bay, but found no fish ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 20th: Went
out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught none; pleasant. Wednesday, 21st: Went down below Gardiner's Island; caught none:
fine. Thursday, 22d: Went out below Gardiner's Island; caught 9,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the
Miamogue Works; fine. Jf-'iday, 23d: Caught below Gardiner's Island 16,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works; then came to Jamesport with the sloops; weather fine. Saturday, 24th: I went up in the
pine woods and bought a large tree to make a new bowsprit for the U. S. Grant. Monday, 26th: We went down
through Pecouic and Gardiner's Bays, but saw no fish; then went below Gardiner's Island and started for Moutauk.
When down near Shagwarm Keef, saw fish, and caught 52,000, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue
Works; pleasant. Tuesday, 27th: We caught off Shagwarm and Fort Pond 58,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 28th : Caught, off Fort Pond 21,500 fish, which
we sent in the North Star to the Miamogne Works; weather iiue. Thursday, 29(/i : Wo found no fish; went down
nearly to Watch Hill; weather pleasant. Friday, 30th: We found no fish; looked up through Gardiner's and Pecoaic
Bays and came to Jamesport with the sloops; weather pleasant. Saturday, 3lst: We did not fish.

June 2d, Monday : We went dowu through Peconic, aud in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish ; weather pleasant.
Tuesday, 3d : Went below Gardiner's Island, but found no fish ; fine. Wednesday, 4th : We found no fish ; weather
continues pleasant. Thursday, 5(7t ; We caught, off Gardiner's Point, 3,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, to
the Miamogue Works ; then came to Greenport, and ripped out and tarred the seine ; weather very pleasant. Friday.
6th : We hung the seine, aud carted it down and put it in the water; then put it on the reel; had a shower at night.
Saturday, 7th : We looked up through Pecouic Bay, and came to Jamesport with the sloops ; we worked on the sloops
and seine boats; pleasant day. Monday, 9tli : We went down through Peconic and Gardiner's Bays, and below
Gardiner's Island, but, found no fish ; then carne to Greeuport ; weather continues fine. Tuesday, l( th : We started
out through Gardiner's Bay, and as we could see no fish we went in the sound, and went west as far as Charles Island,
but found no fish; fine. Wednesday, llth : We came down the sound and went east of Gardiner's Island, and came to
anchor in Tobacco Lot; pleasant. Thursday, 12th : We found no fish ; came to Greenport ; pleasant. Friday, 13 th .: We
came up iu Pecouic Bay ; caught 20,500 fish, which we sent in the Norf,h Star to the Miamogue Works; fine. Satur-
day, 14/A: We did not fish; pleasant day. Monday, 16th : Went down through Peconic and Gardiner's Bays and
down to Fisher's Island before we found any fish ; we made a set just south of Fisher's Island ; caught 24,000 fish,
which we sent iu the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day ; as many years as I have fished, I never saw
the fish so scarce as they have been this spring. Tuesday, I7tli : We eaiue to Gn-euport and got ready l<> go to Barren
Island to fish for Hawkins Brothers' Works that are located there. Wrditnday, l*th : We started up the sound; at
night came to anchor just west of Crane Neck; pleasant day. Thursday, 19th: Wo anchored at night at Astoria,;

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 383

weather pleasant. Friday, 20th : Arrived at Prince's Bay ; weather continues flue. Saturday, 21st : Caught in
Prince's Bay 10,700 link, which we sent in the North Star to Hawkins' Works, Barren Island ; pleasant. Monday, 23d :
Wind cast ; we caught none : we lay in by Coney Island. Tuesday, 24th : East wind, and rained ; did not fish.
Wednesday, 25th ; We caught, in Prince's Bay, 17,300 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 22,500 in the North
Star to Hawkins' Works ; pleasant day. Thursday, 26th : Caught in Prince's Bay 10,350 fish, which we sent in the U.
S. Grant to the Hawkins Works ; pleasant. Friday, 27th : Wo went outside of Sandy Hook, down the New Jersey
beach a few miles ; found some fish and made a set ; caught one arm of the seine on rocks and tore it very badly;
saved iu the other arm 2-1,300 fish, which we sent ill the U. S. Grant to the Hawkins Works ; we came in behind
Sandy Hook and took the seine on the shore just south of the wharf, and mended it ; weather pleasant, but wind blew
fresh S.W. Saturday, 2£th : Finished mending seine; then went in the Wreckers' Basin, Stateii Island; pleasant day.
Monday, 30th : Caught, iu Prince's Bay, 12,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star to Hawkins' Works ; weather
pleasant.

July 1st. Tuesday: We caught in Prince's Bay 43,650 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Hawkins
Works; pleasant. Wednesday, 2d : Went out in Prince's Bay ; caught 15,600 fish, which we sent in the North Star to
Hawkins' Works ; tine day. Thursday, 3d : We came homo with the sloops; the wind was fair and we made the run in
one day ; we came through Plum Gut about 8 o'clock p. m. ; good breeze in p. m. southwest. Friday, 4th : We sailed
all night and arrived at Jamesport in the morning; spent the fourth at home; pleasant. Saturday, 5th: I sold the New
York and launched her; fine. Monday, 7th: We went down through Peconic Bay and iu Gardiner's Bay, when I
went to the masthead and could see bunches offish deep down that could not be seen from the deck ; the U. S. Grant
was nearly a mile from us, and about this time we saw her jib go down, and the man that run her dropped off in his
little boat ; we knew at once that he had discovered a good bunch of fish and went towards him ; when we reached
him the bunch had separated, but we selected the best we could and caught 29,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant; and then we made another set as soon as we could and caught 31,500, which we sent in the North Star to the
Miauiogue Works; it was dark before we had the last set scooped out; these fish were the best I ever saw at this
season of the year; they were as good as any Eastern fish that we catch in the fall; pleasant day. Tuesday, 8th :
Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; could see fish from masthead, but could not see them in the boats well enough to catch
them ; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 9th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 6,000 fish, which we sent iu the
U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and $10.50 worth offish we sold to a smack; weather pleasant. Thursday, l(lth :
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 34,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works; fine. Friday, lllh :
Wo caught in Gardiner's Bay 15,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Saturday,
12th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught none; pleasant. Monday, Uth: We went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught
none; pleasant. Tuesday, 15 1* : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 12,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant lo the Mia-
mogue Works; fine. Wednesday, l(i//i : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 51,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star to
the Miamogne Works; pleasant. Thursday, l~th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 51,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Friday, 18th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 24,500 fish, which we
sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Saturday, I'M : Did not fish ; I went home ; pleasant day.
Monday, 2let: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 53,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works; weather continues pleasant. Tuesday, 22d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 54,000 fish, which we sent in the North
Star to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Wednesday, 23d: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 54,500 fish, which we sent iu
the U. S. Grant, and 18,500 in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Thursday, 24th : Caught
in Gardiner's Bay 41,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; also, sold $10 worth of fish
to a smack; pleasant. Friday, 25th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 46,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star and
20,500 in the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works; weather pleasant. Saturday, 2&h : We did not fish; hauled out
the sloops on the railways and cleaned them; weather pleasant. Monday, 2Sth : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught
42,000 tish, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works; weather fire. Tuesday, 29th: We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 25,000 tish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 30th:
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 45,000 tish, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works, and we sold 22,000 fish
to some smacks for $4 per M., amounting to $•«; the fish continue fat, and the factories are paying $s>.CO per M. ;
pleasant. Thursday, 3lst: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 21,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 21,000 in
the North Star, and the U. S. Grant coming out again we sent in her 26,500 fish; all to the Miamoguo Works;
weather line.

August 1st, Friday : Caught iu Gardiner's Bay 15,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ;
pleasant. Saturday, 2d: Wont out iu Gardiner's Bay; caught 14,000 fish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; weather continues pleasant. Monday, 4lh : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 9,500 fish, which
we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Tuesday, 5th: Looked through Gardiner's Bay,
but caught no fish ; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 6th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 13,000 fish, which we
sent in the North Star to the Miauiogue Works; pleasant. Thursday, 7th: Did not fish, but ripped out the seine
and tarred it ; weather continues pleasant. Friday, 8th : A. m. we finished hanging the seine ; p. in. we came up in
Pecouic Bay ; weather pleasant. Saturday, 9th : We caught in Pecouic Bay 9,000 fish, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Monday, llth : We caught in Pecouic Bay 17,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star,
and 7,500 in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasaut day. Tuesday, 12th : Windy ; caught no fish. Wed-
nesday, 13th: Hard east storm ; we lay in Groenport. Thursday, Uth: East storm continues; iu Greenport. Friday,
151 It : We went down us far as Gardiner's Island, then up in Peconic Bay. but caught no tish ; pleasant. Saturday,
10th: We caught in Pecouic Bay 5,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works. Monday, 18th:
Went down through Peconic Bay; caught none; stopped at Greenport; wind east. Tuesday, 19th: Went out in

384 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Gardiner's Bay ; caught none ; very calm. Wednesday, 20th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay, and as we could see no fish
we went into the .sound and went to Saybrook ; pleasant day. Thursday, 21st: An cast storm; we lay in Saybrook.
Friday, 22d : Went out iu the sound, and went west a lew miles ; saw no fish, then went in the bay, and around Gar-
diner's Island, but caught no fish; pleasant. Saturday, 23d: Did not fish, but went home; weather pleasant Monday,
2:. tli : Went down through the bay, but saw no lish; then went iu the sound and wont to Saybrook; fine. TMPM/II.V.
2Gth : Went out and went west, and just east of Faulklaud Island \ve caught 53,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works; weather line. Wednesday, 2~th : We caught just west of Faulklaud Island 28,500 fish, which
we put in the North Star and sent into Fowler's Works, at. Gnilford ; we made a harbor iu Sachem's Head ; weather fine.
Thursday, "8th : Wo caught near Faulklaud Island 12,0t!0 fish, which \ve Kent to Fowler's Works in the North Star ;
weather fine. Friday, 29th : We made a set near Faulkland Island; caught only 2,500 fish, which we put iu the U. S.
Grant, and steered for Gardiner's Bay ; caught no more ; sent the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and we went
into Greenport ; weather pleasant. Saturday, 30th : We hauled the sloops out oil the railways ; pleasant.

September 1st, Monday: Went dowii in the bay, but the wind coming on to blow hard we went into Napeague.
Tuesday, 2rt : Caught below Gardiner's Island 10,500 fish, which wo sen tin the North Star to the Miamogue Works; fine.
Wednesday, 3d: We went out below Gardiner's Island, but caught none; weather pleasant. Thursday, Mi : Caught
below Gardiner's Island 47,500 fish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works. Friday, 5//i : We
caught below Gardiner's Island 41,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the Mianioguo Works; weather still
continues pleasant. Saturday, Gth: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 20,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; fine. Monday, 8th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 14,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the
Miamogue Works; and as the fish were scarce in the bay we went into the sound, and came to anchor near the mouth
of Connecticut River ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 9th : Wont west ; found some fish near Faulklaud Island, and caught,
34,000, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Fowler's Works, at Guilford ; weather fine. Wednesday, Wth : Caught near
Faulkland Island 17,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star to Fowler's Works; pleasant. Thursday, llth: We
caught near Faulkland Island 50,500 fish, which we put in the U. S. Grant; and as Fowler's Woi ks are "blocked" we
all came in Gardiner's Bay, and sent the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Friday, 12th : Caught in
Gardiner's Bay 21,500 fish, which wo sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Saturday, 13th : We
caught in Gardiner's Bay 19,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the Mianioguo Works, and sold 4,000 for $!(>
to a smack; the fish are good yet, but not quite as fat as they were iu July and August ; weather continues pleasant.
Monday, Inth: Went out iu Gardiner's Bay; caught 32,500 fish, which wo sent iu the U. S. Grant to the Mianioguo
Works; pleasant day. Tuesday, Wth : Caught iu Gardiner's Bay 19,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the
Miamoguo Works, and sold 1,000 fish for $4 to a smack ; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 17th : Went out in Gardiner's
Bay; caught 31,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Thursday, 18th : We went
out, but caught no fish ; then went to Greenport; weather continues fine. Friday, Wth : We hauled the sloops out on
the railways; it rained a part of the day. Saturday, 20th : We tarred a now seine, and had the sloops painted; pleasant
day. Monday, 22d: We went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 15,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 15,000
in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Tuesday, 23d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 8,500 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 2Mi : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught
10,500 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 25//I : Caught in Gardiner's Bay
20,000 fish, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works; we also sold 1,000 fish for $4 to a smack;
weather fine. Friday, 26th : We hung the new seine. Saturday, 27th : Finished the seine and went home. Monday,
29th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught noue; fine. Tuesday, 30th: Wind blew hard; we caught none.

October 1st, Wednesday : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 12,100 fish, which we sent in t lie North Star to the Mia-
mogue Works; fine. Thursday, 2d: As the fishing was poor, we concluded to go to Jamesport with the sloops and
attend the Suffolk County fair, which was held at Eiverhead. Monday, Glh : Weut down through Peconic and into
Gardiner's Bay ; caught 6,000 fish, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. 'Sunday,
7th : Hard east storm ; did not fish. Wednesday, 8th : Windy ; did not fish. Thursday, 9th : Windy ; did not go out.
Friday, Wth : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught none ; came to anchor in Cherry Harbor, which is on the west side
of Gardiner's Island ; wind coutinues east. Saturday, llth : We went below Gardiner's Island and off Fort Pond ;
caught 33,000 fish, which we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Woiks; very calm ill p. m. ; we did not get to Green-
port until 10 o'clock p.m. Monday, 13th: We (vent down iu Gardiner's Bay ; found a shoal of fish close under Gardi-
ner's Point ; we set around them and caught 56,500, which we put in the U. S. Grant ; and as the North Star has not come
out, we put the remainder on the Starlight, 25,500, and took them into the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Tuesday,
14th : We looked through Gardiner's Bay, but did not have the luck to catch a single bunker; weather fine. Wednes-
day, 15/A ; We caught iu Gardiner's Bay 58,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 24,500 in the North Star to the,
Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Thursday, Utth : We went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught ouly 2,000 fish, which
we sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Friday, 17lh : We caught iu Gardiner's Bay
24,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and l:!,COO in the North Star, to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Saturday,
18th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 8,500 fish, which we sent, in the North Star to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day.
Monday, 20th: A hard east storm; did not fish. Tuesday, 21st: Windy; did not fish. Wednesday, 22d: Went down
to Fort Pond; caught none. Thursday, 23d: We looked for fish below Gardiner's Island, but found none that we
could catch; pleasant. Friday, 21th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay ;-caught 8,COO fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Saturday, 25(7i : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 12,000 fish, which ,vo
sent in the North Star to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Monday, 2~th : The wind blew hard Mnithwcst, and H
Btormed; we lay in Grocuport. Tuesday, 28th : Went out iu Gardiner's Bay ; caught 40,000 fish, which we sent iu the
U. S. Graut, and 30,000 in the North Star, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Wednesday, 29th ; Wind Wow hard

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 385

from the northwest ; could not fish. Thursday, 30th : Canght in Gardiner's Bay 42,000 fish, which we sent in the North
Star to the Miamogne Works, and sold 1,500 to a smack for $6 ; weather continues pleasant. Friday, 31st : Wind blew
hard ; we did not go out.

Novenibtr 1st, Saturday : Did not fish ; went home. Monday, 3d : Went out, but wind blowing hard we came
back to Greenport. Tuesday, 4th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 3,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; wind blew quite strong NW. Wednesday, 5th: We made a set to the west of Gardiner's Point;
and sailing along close to the point we saw a good bunch close to the point on the east side, when we sailed around
the end of the point and found the fish where we saw them, and caught a good haul ; we sent in the North Star 52,500
fish, and in the U. S. Grant 55,500, and took 30,000 on the Starlight, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant, but the wind
blew quite strong NW. Thursday, 6th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 28,500 fish, which we took in the Starlight, as the
carry-aways did not get to us ; pleasant. Friday, 7lh : JWind blew hard from the east ; we did not fish. Saturday,
8th : Wind blew hard ; did not fish. Monday, 10th : The wind blew hard from the northwest ; we did not fish. Tues-
day, llth : Wind continued to blow ; did not fish. Wednesday, 12th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no
fish ; went to the factory, and concluded to quit. Thursday, 13th : We came up to Jamesport with the sloops, seine,
and all the things ; wind blew very hard from the northwest, with snow-squalls ; the leach rope to the Starlight's
mainsail parted, and we had to mend the sail before we could proceed ; arrived at Jamesport just at dark. Friday,
14th : We carted out the seine, stowed away the boats, and put the sloops in the creek as soon as the weather per-
mitted ; this has been a remarkable season ; the fishing was very poor, but in July a ran of fish came in the bay larger
and fatter than I ever knew before or since ; we have not caught a very large quantity of fish, but the quality being
good, it has proved a profitable season.

1874.

I am having the North Star fixed over this spring.

May 12th, Tuesday : I went to work on the North Star in the morning, but word came to us that they were catching
fish in Gardiner's Bay ; then I sent word to all hands to come on, so as to start to-morrow morning, and got the things
on board the Starlight; launched the seine-boats, &c. Wednesday, 13th: We put the seine on the boats and went to
Greenport: pleasant day. Thursday, 14th : We went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 54,500 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Friday, 15th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 26,000 fish, which
we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Saturday, 16th : An east storm ; we came up to Jamesport
with the sloops. Monday, ISth : We went down bay ; caught no fish ; pleasant. Tuesday, 19th : Went out in Gardi-
ner's Bay ; caught 30,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant.
Wednesday, 20th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works;
fine. Thursday, 2lst : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 27,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works ; it rained and blew in squalls nearly all day ; rough weather. Friday, 22d : A windy day ; we staid in Green-
port and worked on the Petrel, a little sloop I have engaged to take the place of the North Star until they have her
completed. Saturday, 23d : In the morning we went down to Gardiner's Point, but found no fish ; then we came to
Jamesport with the sloops ; pleasant day. Monday, 25th : Stormy day ; did not go out fishing. Tuesday, 26th : We
went down through Peconic Bay, and just below Robin's Island we caught 20,000 fish, which we sent in the Petrel to
the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 2~th : We went down in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 30,500 fish, which we sent
to the Miamogue Works in the U. S. Grant ; weather fine. Thursday, 2Hlh : We went through Gardiner's Bay and below
Gardiner's Island, and off Fort Pond we found a good bunch of fish, and caught at one set 54,000, which we took in
the U. S. Grant, and 48,000 in the Petrel, and took 30,000 in the Starlight to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues
fine. Friday, 29th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 34,000 fish, which we sent in the Petrel, and 46,500 in the U. S. Grant,
to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Saturday, 30th: We started for Jamesport with the sloops; caught in Peconio
Bay 34,000 fish, which we sent in the Petrel to Jamesport ; weather good.

June 1st, Monday : Went out in Pecouic Bay ; caught 51,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 26,000 in
Petrel, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday, 2d : Caught in Peconic Bay 49,000 fish, which we sent in the U.
S. Grant, and 33,500 in the Petrel, to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Wednesday 3d : We caught in
Peconic Bay 30,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 4th : Stormy day ;
did not fish, but lay in Jamesport. Friday, 5th : Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 35,000 fish, which we sent in the
Petrel to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant. Saturday, 6th : Caught in Peconic Bay 20,100 fish,
which we sent to Jamesport in the U. S. Grant ; weather fine. Monday, 8th : We caught in Peconic Bay 40,000 fish,
which we sent in the Petrel, and 22,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; went to Greenport; pleasant.
Tuesday, 9th : Went down in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 37,000 fish, which we sent in the Petrel, and 45,000 in the U. S.
Grant, to" the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 10th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 33,500 fish, which we
sent in the Petrel to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Thursday, llth : We lay in Greenport ; fixed the bunt to the
seine ; wind east, and stormy. Friday, 12th : We started down to go into Gardiner's Bay, but it was so foggy and
calm we cou aid not get down in time to do any tlii ng. Saturday, 13th : The wind blew hard, northwest ; we came to James-
port with the sloops and hauled the seine on the beach. Monday, 15th : Went down through Peconic Bay into Gardi-
ner's Bay, where we caught 9,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday,
IGth : Caught iu Gardiner's Bay 11,500 fish, which we sent in the Petrel to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednes-
day, nth: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught none; came into Greenport; wind blew strong. Thursday, 18th :
We hauled the Starlight out on the railways and took her mainsail in the loft to be fixed; wind blew hard. Friday,
19th : Had the Starlight painted and fixed the center-board. Saturday, 20th :, I came home to Jamesport. Monday,
SEC V ii5

386 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

22d : We launched the Starlight, and caught in Gardiner's Bay 20,500 fish, -which we sent in the Petrol to the Mia-
mogue Works ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 23d : We came up in Peconic Bay ; caught 25,500 fish, -which we sent in the
Petrel to the Miamoguo Works; just at night had a heavy thunder shower. Wednesday, 24th: Wind blew hard north-
west, so we came to Greeuport, ripped out and tarred the seine. Thursday, '£>th : AVc hung the seine aud carted it
down just at night aud put it in the boat. Friday, 26th: We came up hay; caught 11,000 fish, which we sent to
Jamesport in the U. S. Graut ; and then we came into Jamcsport and helped put the mast in what was the North Star,
hut is now named the Flora; pleasant day. Saturday, 27th: We did not fish, hut staid in and helped launch the
Flora; weather continues fine. Monday, 29th: Went out in Pecouic Bay; caught 52,000 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Tuesday, 30f7t : We caught in Peconic Bay 34,500 fish, which we
sent in the Flora, and 9,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine.

July 1st, Wednesday: Caught in Pecouio Bay 56,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 1,500 in the Flora,
to the Miamogue Works; weather good. Thursday, 2d: Went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 38,000 fish, which we
sent in the Flora, and 9,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; then wo came to Jamesport ; have quit for
the week, so that the men at the factory can keep the Fourth; weather continues good, but had a thunder shower in
the evening. Friday, 3d : I mended seine ; have it spread on the shore. Saturday, 4th : We took out a sailiug party
in the Starlight ; had a thunder squall just at night. Monday, 6th : Wind east and blew hard ; did not go out. Tues-
day, 7th: Went out in Peconic Bay; caught 10,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; then we
•went down and came to anchor in by the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Wednesday, 8th : The wind blew very hard
from the west, so we conld not fish ; but went into Greenport and put a new piece of seine in our bunt. Thursday, 9th :
We went through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island nearly to Montauk; saw no fish, but saw two whales;
then we came up, and at night anchored just west of Shelter Island; pleasant. Friday, 10th : We came up in Peconic
Bay, above Robins Island, where we found some good bunches of fish; we caught 24,000, which we sent down in the
U. S. Grant, and 56,500 in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; a pleasant day, but the wind blew up quite strong in
the evening from the southwest; there was a sloop coming up through the bay with a sailing- party from Riverhead on
board; and just about the time we finished scooping in our last haul her mast went overboard, breaking short above
the deck. We went to their assistance, and, taking a line to the sloop, towed them into Jamesport. Saturday, llth:
In the morning went out in the bay, but the wind breezed up quite strong, and we came back to Jamesport. Mon-
day, 13th: Went out in Peconic Bay; caught 46,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 52,000 in the Flora to
the Miamogue Works, and sold $7.50 worth to a smack; the wind blew quite strong from the southwest. Tuesday,
Uth: We caught in Peconic Bay 35,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Wednes-
day, 15th: Caught in Peconic Bay 54,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; weather fine.
Thursday, 16th : We caught in Peconic Bay 24,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine.
Friday, 17th: Caught in Peconie Bay 8,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; we went into
Greenport to get stores ; weather continues fine. Saturday, 18th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught none ; then
started up bay, but it was nearly calm, and we did not get to Jamesport until dark. Monday, 20th : Went down
through Peconic Bay ; caught none; went to Greenport ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 2l»/: Went out in Gardiner's Bay;
caught none; pleasant. Wednesday, 22d: In the morning we tanned the seine; in the afternoon we went out in Gardi-
ner's Bay; caught 24,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold $1 worth offish *o a
smack; weather pleasant. Thursday, 23d: Went through Gardiner's Bay and then in the sound, and near the mou,lh
of Connecticut River we caught 26,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and sold $2 worth <\'
fish to a smack; pleasant day. Friday, 24th: We caught near Cornfield light-ship 52,500 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant, and 40,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; we caught nearly all at one set; we pursed the seine
without using the big lead— cutting under, it is sometimes called ; pleasant day. Saturday, 25th : We made a set in
Gardiner's Bay; caught 3,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S Grant to the Miamoguo Works, and caught at the same
time 400 bluefish, which we sold in Greenport for $21.40; weather continues pleasant. Monday, 27th: We went
through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island, but saw no fish; then went to Saybrook; pleasant. Tuesday,
28th: Caught near the mouth of Connecticut River 30,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works;
weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 29th : We caught near Faulkland Island 28,000 fish, which we sent in the U.
S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; we stopped in Thimble Islands. Thursday, 30th: We wont from Thimble Islands
to Saybrook; caught none; wind northwest. Friday, 31st: Caught off the mouth of Connecticut River 6,500 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; weather good.

August 1st, Saturday: We hauled the sloops on the railways to clean them ; weather continues good. Monday, 'Ad:
We went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 45,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 70,000 in the Flora, to
the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday, 4th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 56,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant, and 17,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Wednesday, 6th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ;
canght 28,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Thursday, 6th': Caught
in Gardiner's Bay 23,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Friday, 7th : Went out
in Gardiner's Bay, but the wind coming on to blow very hard, we came into Greenport. Saturday, 8th : Stormy; did
not fish ; came home. Monday, Wth : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 44,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant, and 37,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday, llth: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 12,000
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fair. Wednesday, 12th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay
3,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Thursday, l'3lh: We did not fish, but
tanned and mended seine. Friday, Uth: We canght in Gardiner's Bay 44,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Saturday, 15th : We came to Jamesport with the Starlight. Monday, 17th : We went
out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 55,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 4,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 387

Works: weather fine. Tuesday, ISth : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 44,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamogue Works; fine day. Wednesday, 19th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 29,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 20th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 15,000 fish, which we sent in
the Flora to the Miamogue Works; then the wind commenced to hlow hard, and we came into Greenport and dried
our seine. Friday, 21st : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 55,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 22,500 in the
Flora, to the Miamogue Works; a very warm day. Saturday, 22d: The wind was east, and storming; we came to
Jamesport with the Starlight. Monday, 2Mi : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 20,000 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 25tlt : We lay under the lee of Gardiner's Island, off
Bostwick Creek ; did not fish, as the wind blew harl from the east ; we went ou shore and picked a few blackberries.
Wednesday, 26th : Wo caught in Gardiner's Bay 54,500 fisli, which we sent in the Flora, and 32,000 in the U. S. Grant,
to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Thursday, 27lh : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 24,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Friday, 28th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 27,500 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather continues pleasant. Saturday, 29th : Did not fish; came
home; pleasant day. Monday, 31st : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught none; pleasant.

September 1st, Tuesday : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 29,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; weather good. Wednesday, 2d: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 14,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Thursday, 3d: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 11,500 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works; we tore the seine on the rocks and had to mend it ; weather continues pleasant.
Friday, 4/A: We hauled the sloops out on the railways and tanned the seine ; weather fair. Saturday, 5t/i : We had
the sloops paiuted ; weather good. Monday, 7th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 38,500 fish, which we sent in
the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues good. Tuesday, 8th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 8,500 fish,
which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather fair. Wednesday, 9th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay
41,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Thursday, Wth: Went out in Gardiner's
Bay; saw no fish, and the wind blowing up fresh southwest we came into Greenport. Fridtiy, llth: Caught in Gar-
diner's Bay 21,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Saturday, 12th : Wind east ;
we did not fish, but I went home. Monday, Uth : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 8,500 fish, which we sent ill
the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Tuesday, 15th: Looked in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish; fine. Wednes-
day, 16th: Went out, but it came on to storm in p. m.; we came into Greenport. Thursday, nth: An east storm; did
not fish. Friday, 18th: East storm continues; staid in Greenport. Saturday, 19lh: Wind continues east; did not
fish. Monday, 21st: We went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 15,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; a few we sold to a smack ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 22d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 27.500 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue works; pleasant day. Wednesday, 23d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 36,500
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather continues fine. Thursday, 24</i: We caught
in Gardiner's Bay 28,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and sold $10 worth of fish to a
smack; fine. Friday, 25th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 16,000 fish, which wo sent in the Flora to the Mia-
mogue Works; weather con tin nes fine. Saturday, 26th : Went out in the bay in a. m., but caught no fish; thenwecame
into Greenport; pleasant. Monday, %-tth: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 23,500 fish, which wo seutin the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 29th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 12,500 fish, which we
put in the Flora, and as the wind was blowing hard from the east and storming, I thought it would bo too rough to
unload into the Miamogue Works, so we sent the Flora to the floating factory Falcon, which was anchored in Orient
Harbor; we came up to Greenport. Wednesday, 30th: Windy; we did not go out, but tanned and worked on the
seine.

October 1, Thursday : Windy weather ; did not fish; we bent the new sail on the Starlight ; then went up to James-
port with her and spent the retnai nder of the week at home ; attended the Suffolk County fair. Monday, 5th : Went
down in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 6th: Looked through Gardiner's Bay, but
could find no fish ; pleasant day. Wednesday, 7th : The wind blew strong from the cast ; wo worked on the sloops, fixing
jib sheets, &c. Thursday, 8th : Wind continued to blow from the east; did not fish, but lay in Greenport. Friday,
9th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay, but could find no fish ; weather pleasant. Saturday, Wth : Went out in Gardiner's
Bay ; caught no fish ; pleasant. Monday, 12th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught none ; at night we anchored off
Ben's Point ; weather fine. Tuesday, 13th : Caught off Gardiner's Point 52,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Wednesday, Uth : We caught, in Gardiner's Bay, J7.500 fish, which
we sent in the- Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 15th : Went below Gardiner's Island ; caught 44,000
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works ; weather continues pleasant. Friday, Wth : Caught
below Gardiner's Island 42,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 60,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works ; pleasant day. Saturday, 17 th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 18,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Monday, 19th : Wind blew hard ; did not fish, but lay in Greenport. Tuesday, 20th :
Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 22,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; pleasant
day. Wednesday. 2lst : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 15,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ;
pleasant. Thursday, 22d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 12,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Mia-
mogneWorks; fine. Friday, 23d : Wentoutin Gardiner's Bay, butcanght none; fine. Saturday, 24th : Foggy; wedid
not fish. Monday, 26th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; thick and foggy ; caught no fish. Tuesday, 27th : We caught
a few fish, but did not send them to the factory ; made a harbor in Napeague ; pleasant. Wednesday, 28th : Went out
below Gardiner's Island ; caught 57,000 fish, with those we caught yesterday, and sent them in the Flora and 36,500
in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamoguo Works; pleasant day. Thursday, 29th: Caught below Gardiner's Island 36,000
fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; at night we stopped in Napeague ; pleasant. Friday,

388 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

SOtfi : We caught, below Gardiner's Island oft Fort Pond 39,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Mia-
mogue Works ; weather good. Saturday, 31st : Wo caught none ; came to Greenport.

November 2d, Monday : We went below Gardiner's Island ; caught a good haul of fish, but a whip-tail shark or
thrasher tore the seine and let most of them out ; we saved 24,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works ; pleasant. Tuesday, 3d : We caught none ; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 4th : We caught a very
few fat fish oft' Fort Pond, but did not send them np ; we stop in Napeague nights for a harbor ; calm, pleasant day.
Thursday, 5th : We caught a few, and, with yesterday's fish, sent in the U. S. Grant 23,000 to the Miarnoguo Works;
then we went to Greenport. Friday, 6<A : We went to the Miamogue Works and made arrangement!- to close for the
season ; went to Jamesport with sloops and stowed sloops and things away as soon as possible, and the fishing season
of 1874 is ended.

1875.

We have succeeded in gutting the sloops out of the creek, and were prepared to go out on the llth of May.

May llth, Tuesday : In the morning we succeeded in getting the U. S. Grant off the shore ; the wind had blown
hard and she had dragged her anchor; then we went down bay, made a set in Peconic Bay and caught 3,000 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; we went to Greenport ; fine. Wednesday, 12th : We went down in
Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island, but the wind coming on to blow hard we came back to Greeriport. Thurs-
day, 13th, : We went down below Gardiner's Island ; caught 8,000 fish, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works; and as we saw but few fish we came up, and at night anchored in Town Harbor, which is just above Green-
port ; pleasant. Friday, 14th : We came up through Peconic Bay ; saw a good many fish, but they were not in good shape
to catch ; so we caught none ; weather fine. Saturday, 15th : We caught in Peconic Bay 35,500 fish in a. m. , which we
sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather good. Monday, 17th : We went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 48,000
fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 18th : We caught in Little
Peconic Bay 13,100 fish, which we put in the U. S. Grant, and as the wind came on to blow hard from the east, we sent
her to Jamesport, and we came to anchor in the cove near New Suffolk. Wednesday, 19th : Wind continued to blow ;
we came up to Jamesport. Thursday, 20lh : The wind blew very hard from the southwest ; we went to Greenport.
Friday, 21st : We went through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island, but saw no fish; so we came up to James-
port; very pleasant day. Saturday, 22<J : Went out in Poconie Bay ; caught 33,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works, and 13,275 in the Flora to Jamesport, for farmers ; weather continues fine. Monday,
24th : We made a set in Peconic Bay ; caught 5,225 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport ; weather good.
Tuesday, 25th: Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 28,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works;
weather continues fine. Wednesday, 26th : Caught in Peconic Bay 9,250 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to James-
port, for fanners ; weather continues pleasant. Thursday, 27th : Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught none. Friday, 28th :
Saw no fish that were in shape to catch ; then carne into Jamesport and worked on the sloops ; painted the Starlight's
top, &c. ; pleasant day. Saturday, 29th : Worked on the sloops and boats ; weather fine. Monday, 31st : We went out
in Peconic Bay ; caught 7,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; we went to Greenport ;
weather good.

June 1st, Tuesday : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 36,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Mia-
mogue Works ; pleasant day. Wednesday, 2d ; We went down to Watch Hill, but saw no fish ; fine. Thursday, 3d : We
looked below Gardiner's Island, off Fort Pond ; then came into Napeague ; dropped our anchor and haiikcd the seine
out on deck to-day; pleasant day. Friday, 4th: We came up in Gardiner's Bay, but saw no fish; then came up
in Noyack Bay ; made a set and caught 9,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; we came to
anchor and stopped over night in Noyack Bay ; pleasant. Saturday, 5th : We caught in Peconic Bay 7,150 fish, which
we sent in the "U. S. Grant to Jamesport; weather fine. Monday, 7th; Went out in Peconic Bay; caught 5,500 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, Sth : We caught in Peconic Bay
8,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 9th : Caught in Peconic Bay
7,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather fair. Thursday, 10th : We caught in Peconic
Bay 6.500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Friday, llth : Caught in Peconic Bay
7,000 fish, which wo sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Saturday, 12th : We caught in Peconic Bay
12,150 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to Jamesport ; weather good ; through the week there has been but few
fish in Peconio Bay, and they have been so scattered we could do but little with them; but we could not learn that
they were doing much in the lower bays ; therefore concluded to fight it out on this line the whole week. Monday,
14th : Went out in Peconie Bay ; caught 8,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Tuesday,
15th: Went down in Gardiner's Bay; caught 47,000 fish, which we sent iu the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works;
pleasant day. Wednesday, 16th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 11,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 24,500 in
the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fair. Thursday, 17lh : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 29,000 fish, which
we sent iu the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Friday, ISth : We lay in Grernport ; stormy day. Saturday,
19th: Tanned and mended seine; then came up to Jamesport with the sloops ; weather good. Monday, 21st: We caught
in Pecouic Bay 17,500 fish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works ; fine. Tuenday, 22d : Went out
in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 54,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 31,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ;
pleasant day. Wednesday, 23d: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 7,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works; pleasant. Thursday, 24lh : We had the sloops hauled out on the railways and cleaned them, aud worked on
the seine ; fine. Friday, 25M : We hung the seine and had the sloops painted ; weather continues pleasant. Saturday,
26th : Came to Jamesport with the sloops. Monday, 28th : We caught in Peconic Bay 18,500 fish, which we sent in the

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 389

U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Tuesday, 29th : Wind blew hard ; caught none. Wednesday, 30lJi : Went
out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 39,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 9,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works ; pleasant day.

July 1st, Thursday : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 35,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works;
weather continues pleasant. Friday, 2d: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 35,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Saturday, 3d: We came up to Jamesport with the sloops. Monday, 5th : We did not fish;
staid home and kept the Fourth. Tuesday, 6th : Went through Peconic Bay into Gardiner's Bay ; caught 44,500 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and sold 90 cents' worth to a smack ; weather continues very
pleasant. Wednesday, 7th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 41,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works, and sold $3 worth to a smack ; weather fine. Thursday, 8th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 18,500 fish, which
we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Pr4day, 9th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 12,500 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold $3.50 worth to a smack ; weather pleasant. Saturday, 10th :
We tanned and mended the seine in a. m. ; came home in p. m. ; weather good. Monday, 12th : We went out in Gar-
diner's Bay; caught 47,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and sold $1 -worth of fish to a
smack ; pleasant. Tuesday, 13th : Canght in Gardiner's Bay 27,500 fish, which we sent in the U. 8. Grant to the Mia-
mogue Works, and sold $20.10 worth to a smack ; weather fine. Wednesday, 14th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 30,SOO
fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and sold $8.50 worth of fish to a smack; weather good.
Thursday, 15th : Canght in Gardiner's Bay 16,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and
sold $6.60 worth of fish to a smack ; pleasant. Friday, 16(ft : We caught in Gardiner's Baj 27,000 fish, which we sent in
the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Saturday, 17th: We went to Jamesport with the sloops, and took off
the Starlight's sails, spread them on the beach, and Kined them; weather pleasant. Monday, 19th: We went down
through Peconic and into Gardiner's Bay; caught none; weather fine. Tuesday, 20th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay,
then in the sound, and nearly to Faulkland Island ; caught no fish, so came back in the hay; weather continues fine.
Wednesday, 21st : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 18,000 in the Flora,
to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Thursday, 22d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 17,000 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold $13.50 worth of fish to a smack ; fine. Friday, 23d : Caught in Gar-
diner's Bay 54,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 18,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; weather
pleasant. Saturday, 24th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 31,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne
Works. Monday, 26th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 48,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 23,500 in
the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Tuesday, 27th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 53,000 fish, which
we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 28th : Canght in Gardiner's Bay 52,000 fish,
which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 35,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Thursday,
29lh : Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but the wind blew up quite strong, and we came into Greenport. Friday, 30th:
Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 12,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works, and sold
$10.50 worth to a smack ; in p. m. we came into Greenport and tanned the seine ; fine. Saturday, 3lst : We worked
on the seine in a. m. ; came home in p. m. ; fine.

August 2d, Monday: An east storm ; we anchored in Noyack Bay. Tuesday, 3d: We went down below Gardiner's
Island; it rained a part of the day, and some of the time it was foggy. Wednesday, 4th: We caught below Gardiner's
Island 54,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 33,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works, and sold $6
worth to a smack ; weather pleasant. Thursday, 5th : We caught off Fort Pond 55,500 fish, which we sent in the U.
S. Grant, and 56,500 in the Flora, and we took 13,500 in the Starlight, to the Miamogue Works; weather continues
fine. Friday, 6th: Caught east of Gardiner's Island 57,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works,
and sold $5.25 worth to a smack ; weather good. Saturday, 7th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 52,500 fish, which we sent
in the U. S. Grant, and 33,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; the fish were in good shoals and quite plenty;
we caught them at two sets ; had them caught and scooped in by 9 o'clock a. m.; we had the U. S. Grant loaded
before the Flora got to us, and were holding on to the fish waiting for her ; as soon as she reached us, the man that
ran her said that Captain Hawkins could take but one boat-load from us to-day; but as we had them caught I -would
not let them go, but sent them to the factory ; very pleasant day. Monday, 9th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught
51,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 43,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works, and sold $6 worth of
fish to a smack ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 10th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 41,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold $10.50 worth to a smack ; weather good. Wednesday, llth : We caught in Gar-
diner's Bay 12,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Thvrsday, 12th : We caught
in Gardiner's Bay 26,000 fish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works ; fine. Friday, 13th : We
hauled the sloops out on the railways to clean them, and worked on the seine ; weather good. Saturday, 14th : We caught
in Gardiner's Bay 54,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; then we started for James-
port, and in Peconic Bay made a set and caught 12,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to Jamesport; weather fine.
Monday, 16th : Caught in Peconic Bay 14,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ; weather good.
Tuesday, 17th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 48,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 21,000 in the Flora, to
the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 18th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 20,500 fish, which we sent
in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Thursday, 19th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 52,500 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant, and 17,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; weather continues pleasant. Friday, 20th:
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 52,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Saturday, 21st :
We tanned and mended the seine ; then went to Janaesport with the sloops ; weather fine. Monday, 23d : Went out
in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 53,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 59,000 in the U. 8. Grant, to the Miamogne
Works; weather good. Tuesday, 24th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 56,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 32,500

390 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogne Works; weather continnes fine. Wednesday, 25th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay
17,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant. Thursday, 26th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay
28,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works; pleasant. Friday, 27th: We caught in Gar-
diner's Bay 31,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works; pleasant. Saturday, 28th: Caught in
Gardiner's Bay 34,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Monday, 30th : Went
out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 24,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday,
3lst: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 31,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather fine.
September 1st, Wednesday: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 42,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works; fine. Thursday, 2d: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 56,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works; pleasant. Friday, 3d: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 38,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works; pleasant. Saturday, 4th: We did not fish, hut went home; weather fine. Monday, 6th: Went out in Gardiner's
Bay; caught 54,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 47,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogne Works; pleasant.
Tuesday, 7th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 59,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; pleas-
ant. Wednesday, 8th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 52,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 28,500 in the U. S.
Grant, to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant day. Thursday, 9th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 47,500 fish, which we sent in the
Flora, and 18,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Friday, 10th: Windy; did not fish, hut
mended seine. Saturday, llth : We hauled out the Flora on the railways, and went home with the Starlight; pleasant.
Monday, 13th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 53,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 23,500 we were obliged
to take on the Starlight, to the Miamogne Works, as the U. S. Grant did not come out; pleasant. Tuesday, Uth: We
caught in Gardiner's Bay 32,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 28,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works; pleasant. Wednesday, 15th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 42,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 32,000 in
the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; we also sold $3 worth to a smack; fine. Thursday, 16th: We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 54,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 23,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; quite
pleasant. Friday, 17th: Wind blew hard; we did not fish, but hauled the sloops out on the railways, and tarred a
new seine. Saturday, 18th: Painted sloops and seine-boats; pleasant. Monday, 20th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay;
caught 41,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 4,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogne Works; pleasant.
Tuesday, 21st: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 47,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 12,000 in the Flora, to the
Miamogue Works; weather fine. Wednesday, 22d : Wind blew hard; caught no fish. Thursday, 23d : We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 52,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Friday, 24th: We
did not fish, but hung our new seine; fine. Saturday, 25th': Finished hanging the seine in a. m. ; went home in p. m.
Monday, 27th: Wind blew hard; we caught no fish. Tuesday, 28th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 50,500 fish,
which we sent in the Flora, and 39,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogne Works; also sold $21 worth to a smack;
pleasant. Wednesday, 29th: Wind blew hard; could not fish, so lay in Greenport. Thursday, 30th: Caught ia Gar-
diner's Bay 16,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works; weather fine.

October I, Friday : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 11,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works; fine. Saturday, 2d: We did not fish ; we stowed away the old seine. Monday, 4th: Went out in Gardiner's
Bay ; caught 11,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday, 5th : We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 43,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 6th : An east
storm; did not fish. Thursday, 7th: East storm continues; lay in Greenport. Friday, 8th: Went out in Gardiner's
Bay ; caught 11,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; plcasan t. Saturday, Qth : Did not fish ;
I went home. Monday, llth: Caught none; the weather bad and fish scarce. Tuesday, 12th: Taught none ; the wind
continues to blow. Wednesday, 13th: We went below Gardiner's Island; caught 12,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Thursday, 14th: We looked below Gardiner's Island and through Gardiner's
Bay, but could find no fish, so we came to Greenport ; weather continues good. Friday, 15th : An east storm ; we lay in
Greenport. Saturday, 16th: Wind continues to blow; did not fish. Monday, 18th: We went out in Gardiner's Bay;
caught 50,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; it came on dark, and the man that had charge
of her rnn her on a rock off Little Ram Head and stove a hole through her port bow ; he ran her on shore; they
came with a sloop and plenty of help from the factory, took the fish out of her, nailed a canvas over the hole, took
her to Greenport, hauled her out on the railways, and had her fixed; pleasant day. Tuesday, Wth: We canght in
Gardiner's Bay 38,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 20th :
Canght in Gardiner's Bay 28,000 fish, which we sent in the Petrel to the Miamogue Works; they have let us take the
Petrel while the Flora is being fixed ; pleasant. Thursday, 21st : The wind blew hard ; did not fish, but lay in Green-
port. Friday, 22d: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 26,500 fish, which we sent in the Petrel, and 48,000 in the U. S. Grant,
to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Saturday, 23d : Canght in Gardiner's Bay 22,000 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Monday, 25th : Went through Gardiner's Bay below Gardiner's Island,
but saw no fish; came to anchor in Napeague Harbor; fine. Tuesday, 26th: Went out below Gardiner's Island;
caught 23,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 27th : Stormy day ; we lay
in Greenport. Thursday, 28th : Windy day ; we lay in Greenport. Friday, 29th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay, but
caught no fish. Saturday, 30th: Windy; did not go out ; it came on to storm in p. m.

November 1st, Monday : The wind blew so hard we did not go out. Tuetday, 2d : Went out in the morning, but the
wind sprung np and blew a gale from the northwest ; we came to anchor under the lee of Ben's Point. Wednesday,
3d: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 53,500 fish at two sets, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works; it was very cold ; wind northwest ; we had to whip our- hands to keep warm. Thursday, 4th: A stormy day;
did not fish. Friday, 5th: We came up to Jamesport with the sloops, and closed up for the season.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 391

1876.

We had the-sloops out of the creek, sails bent, and tops painted, ready for another season.

May 1st, Monday : We carried the stove and dishes, bed, and bedding ou board the Starlight, ready to fish ; quite
cold and blew hard from the northwest ; there was a little snow on the ground in the morning, but it melted away
very soon. Tuesday, 2d : We went down bay to Greenport, and fixed the deck-boards to the carry-away sloops; wind
blew quite strong from the northwest. Wednesday, 3d : We went down as far as Gardiner's Island ; saw two small
bunches of fish, but caught none; wind blew from the east and stormed in p. m. Thursday, 4(/i: We went out in
Gardiner's Bay ; found fish and made a set between Gardiner's Point and Plum Gut; caught 51,500 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant, and 37,500 in the Flora, to the Miarnogue Works; pleasant, but wind blew quite strong in
p. m. from west. Friday, 5tli : Went below Gardiner's Island; caught 20,500 fish, which -we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works, after which we came to anchor under Hicks Island, which is near the mouth of Napeague
Harbor; pleasant day; in p. m. wind southwest. Saturday, 6th: Stormy day ; came to Jamesport with the sloops.
Monday, Slh : Wo went through Pecouic and Gardiner's Bays, below Gardiner's Island ; caught none ; pleasant. Tues-
day, 9th : We caught east of Gardiner's Island 27,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; then
we went into Napeague Harbor; pleasant day. Wednesday, 10th: We caught below Gardiner's Island 38,500 fish,
which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works; at night we went into Napeague for a harbor; we caught
a number of codfish in the schools of menhaden ; they seemed to be chasing them ; it was rainy aud foggy most of the
day. Thursday, llth : The wind blew very hard from the northwest ; we staid in Napeague. Friday, 12th : We went
out, but caught no fish : it came on to blow and storm, so we went to Greenport. Saturday, 13/fe : In the morning we
went down in Gardiner's Bay, but saw no fish ; then came to Jamesport with the sloops ; pleasant day. Monday, 15th :
Went through Pecouic aud Gardiner's Bays, down below Gardiner's Island, nearly to Montauk; saw nothing but some
small fish ; weather flue. Tuesday, 16th : We saw no fish, so we went down to Shagwam Reef and tried to catch a few
codfish with hook and line ; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 17th : Could find no fish ; at night went up to Green-
port ; weather fine. Thursday, 18th : We could hear of no fish ; so in the morning we looked through Gardiner's Bay
and down nearly to Moutauk ; it came on to storm in p. m., and we went into Napeague Harbor. Friday, Wth: We
went down nearly to Montauk, then came up to Greenport; we saw a few fish in Gardiner's Bay, but they were not
in shape to catch ; pleasant Saturday, 20th : We came up bay ; saw a bunch of small fish, not much more than half
grown ; concluded we would catch them to find out just what they were ; we saved 7,500 fish, by measure, that did
not go through the meshes ; we took them to Jamesport aud I had them carted on my farm ; fine. Monday, 22d : We
•went down through Peconic Bay and into Gardiner's Bay, and came to anchor under the lee of Fire Place Point, as
the wind was blowing strong from the southwest ; but before morning the wind shifted to the northwest and blew
very hard, aud we had to shift our anchorage. Tuesday, 23d .- In the morning it blew hard northeast; so to make a
good lee we went under Gardiner's Island and came to anchor in Cherry Harbor, near Mr. Gardiner's house, and as
we had nothing that we could do we concluded to go on shore ; we went up to Mr. Gardiner's house and talked with
him, and then took a look at his race-course he -was having fixed, &c., after which we went up to the burying-ground,
and were much interested in the grave of Lyon Gardiner, and having a pencil and paper at hand I made a memoran-
dum of it on the spot, which reads as follows :

"In memory of Lyon Gardiner, and Mary Williamson, his wife, who came from Worden, in Holland, to London
July 10th, and arrived in America Nov. 28th, 1635. After commanding the garrison at Saybrook four years, he
removed to the Isle of Wight, which he purchased of the Indians, called by them Manchangonoc. Being the first
Englishman settled in the Stale of New York. He died 1663. She died 1665.

"David, their son, born at Saybrook April 29th, 1636. The first white child born in Connecticut.

"This monument was erected June, 1806, by John Lyon Gardiner, the seventh proprietor of the Isle of Wight,
or Gardiner's Island. Sacred to the memory of his ancestors."

The wind died out in p. m., and we went out in Gardiner's Bay, made one set, and caught 16,000 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogno Works, after which we went up to Greenport. Wednesday, 24th: Went out
in Gardiner's Bay; caught 19,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works; at night wo went in by
the works and anchored ; fine. Thursday, 25th : Wo caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogne Works ; fine. Friday, 26th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught none ; after looking until
we were tired, we came into Greenport; tine. Saturday, 27th: We came up to Jamesport with the sloops; pleasant.
Monday, 29th : Went down through Peconic Bay, and when we passed Jessup's Point, in what we call Noyack Bay,
we found a few fish; caught 1:3,000, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamoguo Works; fine. Tuesday, '30th: We
caught in Noyack Bay 18,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 31sl :
We caught in Noyack Bay 28,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue works ; fine.

June 1st, Thursday : Caught in Noyack Bay 8,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works;
then we went down in Gardiner's Bay, but saw no fish, after which we came up to Greeuport; pleasant. Friday, 2d:
We looked through Peconic Bay, but saw no fish that we thought were catchable, so went to Jamesport ; weather
good. Saturday, 3d: We laid the Starlight on the shore and cleaned her bottom and scraped the mast, and took off
and limed the U. S. Grant's sails ; weather pleasant. Monday, 5th: Went down through Peconic Bay, and in Noyack
Bay caught 35,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miarnogue Works; pleasant. Tuesday, 6th: We went down
in Gardiner's Bay ; caught none ; fine. Wednesday, 7th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 29,500 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Thursday, Slh : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 11,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora to the Miamogue Works ; tine. Friday, 9th : We were looking for fish in Gardiner's Bay, and the fishing yacht

392 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Dauntless ran into, stove, and sank our purse-boat. It was blowing quite strong, and the gang signaled the man in
the yacht to come and pick them up ; he lashed his helm up and went forward to hoist up the bob-jib, and before he
could get aft and cast off the tiller rope she had smashed our boat and came near striking the Starlight; we took the
Tom, oars, seine, &c., in the other boat ; lost nothing except one of the loggerheads ; after we had "the seine secured
we took and lashed the broken boat close to the sloop as we could pull her, and started for Greenport ; we took the
boat to the boat-builders, and they went immediately at work on it, and as we conld not fish while the boat was being
fixed, we thought we would haul the sloops out on the railways and have them painted ; pleasant day. Saturday, 10th :
We scraped and sand-papered the bottoms of the sloops, and the painters painted them; fine. Monday, 12th: It
stormed; did not fish, but lay in Greenport. Tuesday, 13th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 44,000 fish, which
we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works. Wednesday, 14th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 48,000 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Thursday, 15<A : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 57,000
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 18,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Friday, 16th :
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 43,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 8,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue
Works; for the last four days it has been foggy in the morning and cleared off in the afternoon, but we stopped
nights at Bunker City, where the Miamogue Works are situated, and by steering out in the morning east or east by
north we just ran into the fish ; the wind being very light, by listening we could hear them play, and when close to
them could see them. Saturday, 17th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 4,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; fine. Monday, 19th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 6,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to
the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 20th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 23,500 fish, which we went in
the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Wednesday, 21st: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 18,500 fish, which we
sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Thursday, 22d; Caught in Gardiner's Bay 7,500 fish, which we sent
in theTJ. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works; fine. Friday, 23d: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 23,000 fish, which we
sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Saturday, 24th: We came to Jamesport with the sloops;
pleasant. Monday, 26th: Went down into Gardiner's Bay ; caught 32,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 27th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 17,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora to the Miamogne Works, and sold $3 worth of fish to a smack ; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 28th: Caught in
Gardiner's Bay 4,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 29th : We caught
in Gardiner's Bay 22,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and sold to a smack $1.90 worth of
fish ; fine day. Friday, 30th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 10,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works; fine.

July lit, Saturday : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 27,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works;
are not expecting to fish any more until after the 4th ; weather fine. Wednesday, 5lh : We went out in Gardiner's
Bay; caught 25,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold to a smack $2.05 worth of
fish; weather continues fine. Thursday, tith: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught none; fine. Friday, 7th: We
caught iu Gardiner's Bay 57,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 20,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works; weather fine. Saturday, 8lh: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 34,000 fish, which we sent iu the Flora to the
Miamoguo Works ; pleasant. Monday, 10th : We caugnt in Gardiner's Bay 17,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Tuesday, lltli : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 48,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora, and 11,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Wednesday, 12th: We caught in Gardiner's
Bay 12,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works: fine. Thursday, 13th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay
33,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 16,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works, also sold 60 cents
worth to a smack ; weather fine. Friday, 14th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 35,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Saturday, 15(A : We tanned and mended the seine a. m. ; came home p. m. ;
weather pleasant. Monday, 17th : Went down in the bay ; caught a few fish and sold them to a smack for $3 ; weather
fine. Tuesday, ISt/t : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 24,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; sold
to a smack $15 worth of fish ; fine day. Wednesday, 19th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 57,000 fish, sent in the Flora, and
16,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant. Thnrsday, 20th : Wo caught no fish;
foggy. Friday, 21st: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 9,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works;
fine. Saturday, 22d: We did not fish; went home; weather pleasant. Monday, 24lh : Went out in Gardiner's Bay;
caught 50,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 12,000 in the Flora, to the Miamoguo Works ; weather good.
Tuesday, 25th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught none; the wind blew quite strong; we witnessed a yacht race
in Gardiner's Bay ; the Madeline (one of the yachts) passed within twenty rods of us ; it was a splendid sight ; they
had all the wind they wanted ; her lee-scuppers were under water, and she was passing through the water as finely
as anything I ever saw ; I will be obliged to say that she passed the Starlight, and we think she sails well. Wednes-
day, 26th : Went out in the bay, but caught none ; fine. Thursday, 27th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 26,500 fish, which
wo sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Friday, 28th : We caught 1,500 fish ; sent in U. S. Grant to
the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Saturday, 29th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Monday, 3lst: Stormy day; wind southeast; did not fish.

August 1st, Tuesday : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 37,000 fish, which were sent in the U. S. Grant to Mia-
mogue Works. Wednesday, 2d: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 47,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works ; fine. Thursday, 3d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Mia-
mogne Works. Friday, 4th : We hauled out the sloops on the railways and cleaned them and tanned the seine ;
pleasant. Saturday, 5lh : We limed the sails. Monday, 7th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 32,000 fish, which we
sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Tuesday, 8th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 32,000 fi»h, which we
sent in the U. 8. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 9th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,500 fish, which

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 393

we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ; there are plenty of small fish in the bay, but not very many large
ones; we are very much bothered to tell large from small fish, and often drop off in the boats and lay close to the
fish, and as they play watch to see if they are large or small, and sometimes while laying there we will see some plays
that we are sure are large, and so set for the bunch and get a few large fish, but the bulk proves to be small ones, and
onr seine will be meshed full of them, and it takes hours to shake them out and clear up the seine, but after a few
lessons of this kind we learn to be sure what they are before we set the seine ; pleasant day. Thursday, 10th : Went
out in Gardiner's Bay; saw plenty of small fish but no large ones ; they are about half grown, just right to mesh in
the seine ; in all my fishing I never saw so many small fish in the bay; in fact they have bothered us all the season ;
we were getting tired of looking at good shoals of fish and none that we could catch, so we went to Jamesport with
the sloops and attended camp-meeting for the remainder of the week. Monday, 14th : Caught 12,000 fish in Gardiner's
Bay, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue_W_prks; they were part small ones; weather pleasant.
Tuesday, lath : We thought we would take a cruise off to see if we could find some large fish ; went to Block Island;
weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 16th : When we "turned out" in the morning the wind was blowing a good
breeze from the east, so we came to the west again, and off Fort Pond we saw plenty of fish, but we dare not try them,
for they looked too small for our seine ; some of the gangs have small-mesh seines so as to catch them, but they are
not worth much, for there is but little oil in them; we went up to Greenport ; arrived about sundown. Thursday,
17th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 28,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Friday,
18th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 58,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; there were a
few small ones mixed with most of them ; pleasant. Saturday, 19th : We tarred a new seine ; we have been so both-
ered with the fish meshing nearly the whole season, that I have ordered my new seine 2^ instead of 2} inch mesh,
which I have been using. Monday, 21st : Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but saw no fish that we were certain were
large ones, therefore caught none ; fine. Tuesday, 22d : Saw no fish that we dare set for, so went down to Stonington ;
weather pleasant; in the p. m. wind blew hard SW. Wednesday, 23d: We saw no fish except small ones; came
to Greenport and worked on the seine; weather fine. Thursday, 24th : We lay in Greenport ; hung the new seine;
pleasant. Friday, 25th ; We went in the Sound and west nearly to Faulkland Island ; caught 44,000 fish, which we
sent in the Flora to the Miamoguo Works; pleasant. Saturday, 26lh: We caught between Faulkland Island and
Cornfield light-ship 56,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works ; weather fine. Monday,
28th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 57,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works; fine.
Tuesday, Wth: Caught iu Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island 54,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant,
and 20,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Wednesday, 30th : We caught off Fort Pond 54,000
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine day. Thursday, 31st: Caught off Fort Pond
32,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant.

September 1st, Friday : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Mia-
mogue Works ; most of the fish we have caught the past week have been large ones, but occasionally we get de-
ceived and get around some that mesh in our seine ; fine day. Saturday, 2d : Did not fish ; went home ; weather good.
Monday, 4th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 43,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 13,000 in the U. S.
Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 5th : Went out, but the wind blew hard, and we caught
none. Wednesday, 6th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 23,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works;
pleasant. Tliursday, 7th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 49,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ;
fine. Friday, 8th: It stormed a. m.; we lay in Greenport p. m.; we hauled out the sloops on the railways; fine day.
Saturday, 9th : Had the sloops painted ; weather good. Monday, llth : We went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 52,500
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 13, 500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; weather good. Tuesday, 12th:
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 43,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 35,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue
Works; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 13th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 7,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant, and sold $1.20 worth to a smack; weather continues pleasant. Thursday, 14th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay
58,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 58,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Friday,
15th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 56,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 36,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Mia-
mogue Works ; weather continues fine. Satu rday, 16th : An east storm ; did not fish. Monday, 18th : Wind continues
east; caught none. Tuesday, 19(A: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 20,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to
the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 20th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 52,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant,
and 46,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; wind blew from the east, but the fish showed good. Thursday, 21st :
We caught none; the wind blew from the east. Friday, 22d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 40,500 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; wind still east. Saturday, 23d : We did not get out ; the wind continues to
blow from the east. Monday, 25th: Wind east; caught none. Tuesday, 26th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught
51,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 4,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; weather good. Wednes-
day, 27th : We lay in Greenport ; the wind blew hard from the northwest. Thursday, 28th : The wind continued to
blow hard from the northwest; wo went down in Gardiner's Bay and came to anchor at a place we call the Springs.
Friday, Wth: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 57,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 18,000 in the U. S. Grant, to
Miamogne Works ; weather fair. Saturday, 30lh: In Greenport; did not fish ; weather continues fine.

October 2d, Monday : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 30,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works ; fine. Tuesday, 3d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 34,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue
Works ; fine. Wednesday, 4th : The wind blew hard ; we came to Greenport. Thursday, 5th : Went out in Gardiner's
Bay; caught 32,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to Miamoguo Works ; fine. Friday, 6th : Wind blew hard ; we
went into Napeague. Saturday, 7th : We came out of Napeague early in the morning, but the wind came on to blow
very hard from the NW., so we came to anchor under the lee of Gardiner's Island : it blew hard all day, so we went

394 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

back into Napeague Harbor just at night. Sunday, 8th : The wind continued to blow hard ; we spent the day in
Napeague. Monday, 9th : We went out to the east of Gardiner's Island ; caught 19.500 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 10th : We caughtin Gardiner's Bay 55,000 fish, which
we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Wednesday, nth: Wind blew hard; wo lay in Greenport;
tanned and mended seine. Thursday, 12th : We made a set southeast of Little Gull Island ; caught 19,000 fish, which
we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; we saw a number of bunches of fish near Race Rock, but did not like
to try them for fear we would catch the seine on rocks ; went into New London ; pleasant day. Friday, 13th : Started
out of New London ; went east of Gardiner's Island, and met a fishing-gang from Greenport that told me my child
was dead ; we came to Greenport and I went right home ; did not fish any more this week ; weather good. Monday,
16th : Wind blew hardNW. ; did not go out. Tuesday, 17th : Wind continued to blow ; did not fish. Wednesday, 18th :
Went down through Gardiner's Bay ; saw no fish, so went to Stonington ; weather good. Thursday, 19th : We came
orer to Fort Pond ; caught 21,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine.
Friday, 20th : We caught off Fort Pond 59,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; and
we put 39,000 in the Flora, which we sent to Luce's Floating Fish Works (which were at this time lying in Napeague
harbor), because we wanted a carry-away with us in the morning, and we did not think the U. S. Grant could get back
in time ; the fish we caught to-day were partly eastern fish ; weather fine. Saturday, 21st : Caught off Fort Pond 29.000
fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant. Monday, 23d : Went through Gardiner's Bay and
below Gardiner's Island ; caught 37,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant.
Tuesday, 24th : We caught off Fort Pond 19,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine.
Wednesday, 25th : Caught off Fort Pond 13,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ; fine day.
Thursday, 26th : Went out in the morning ; made a set east of Gardiner's Island ; caught 5,000 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and the wind blowing up strong we went in Napeague Harbor, came to
anchor, and hanked out the seine to let it dry. Friday, 27tli : We lay in Napeague, as the wind continued to blow
hard. Saturday, 28th : We caught below Gardiner's Island 25,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue
Works ; fine. Monday, 30t!t : We went through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Point ; we saw a good shoal of
fish and dropped off in the boats for them ; I knew it was very rocky east of the point, but I thought the fish were
clear of the rocks, so we set the seine around them, and no sooner was the seine out of the boats than the cork-line
went down ; I saw we had trouble, and went to taking the seine in the boats as fast as we could, but we did not get
in much seine before we found it was fast ; we would then pull until the seine either slipped over the rock or tore
loose, and thus we continued to work ; at last we anchored one of the carry-aways to the west of us, as the tide was
running strong ebb, and run a line from her to the seine, and tried to pull it clear of the rocks by heaving on the
windlass, which helped us very much ; after much trouble we succeeded in getting the seine, which was very badly
' torn ; proceeded to Greenport and spread it on the lot, and got the old seine out of the house, and put in the boats,
putting off the mending for windy weather ; a pleasant day. Tuesday, 3lst : Went below Gardiner's Island ; caught
10,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works; pleasant day.

November 1st, Wednesday: Caught off Fort Pond 43,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works;
fine day. Thursday, 2d: We caught east of Gardiner's Island 19,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and in
Gardiner's Bay 20,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, all to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Friday, 3d: We did
not fish, but are mending the seine which we tore on Monday. Saturday 4lh: We finished mending the seine. Mon-
day, 6th: I called all hands at 4 o'clock, and we went below Gardiner's Island ; made a set and caught 11,500 fish,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and as it was quite rough, the wind being east, the Starlight's
jib-stay parted, and we were obliged to go back to Greenport. Tuesday, 7th : A. cold, stormy day ; did not fish ; I went
home to vote. Wednesday, 8th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 18,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogue Works; pleasant. Thursday, 9th: Quit for the season ; went home with the sloops and stowed the things
away, and the fishing season of 1876 is ended.

1877.

We have the sloops out and ready.

April 30th, Monday : We got things on board the sloops ready to go out fishing ; pleasant day.

Man !**> Tuesday : We went down through Peconic and Gardiner's Bays, and below Gardiner's Island ; caught
11,000 fish ; sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamoguo Works ; fine. Wednesday, 2d : Windy and stormy ; caught none.
Thursday, 3d: Wind blew hard from the north ; we lay in Napeagtie Harbor. Friday, 4lh : Went out, but caught no
fish; went to Greeuport, then to Jamesport. Saturday, 5<7i: Worked on fishing things; pleasant. Monday, 7th: Wo
went down through Peconic and Gardiner's Bays, below Gardiner's Island ; caught none ; pleasant. Tuesday, 8th :
Went out below Gardiner's Island, and, as we saw no fish, we went down to Montauk, and caught a few cod with hook
and line; fine day. Wednesday, 9th : An east storm; we lay in Napeague Harbor. Thursday, Wth: Went out, but
caught no fish ; weather good. Friday, 1 Ith : We caught up by Gardiner's Point 16,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to
the Miamogue Works ; then we came to Greenport ; weather fine. Saturday, 12th : Did not fish ; I came home. Monday,
14th: We went down through Gardiner's Bay, and around Montauk outside of Long Island, but caught no fish; weather
pleasant. Tuesday, 15Z& : Caught none; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, Itifli : We saw a large bunch of her-
ring off Fort Pond ; we set the seine in them and caught a few, just to see what they were; weather fine. Thursday,
17th: We came to Greenport; ripped out the seine, and hauled out the sloops on the railways; fine. Friday, 18th:
We tarred and worked on the seine, and worked on the sloops ; weather continues fine. Saturday, 19th : We finished
hanging the seine and painting the sloops ; weather good. Monday, 21«« : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 45,000

THE MENHADEH FISHERY. 395

fish, which we sent in the.U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works; weather jjleasant. Tuesday, 22d: We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 24,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Wednesday, 23d: Caught in
Gardiner's Bay 6,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 24th: We caught
none; weather fine. Friday, 2oth: Caught none; weather continues tine. Saturday, 26th: We went to Jamesport
with the sloops ; pleasant. Monday, 28th: We went through Peconic and Gardiner's Bays: caught none; weather
fine. Tuesday, 29(/i : Went out below Gardiner's Island, and off Fort Pond ; caught 57,500 fish, which we sent in the
Flora, and 49,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Wednesday, 30th : We caught below
Gardiner's Island 16,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works; fine. Thursday, 31st: Went ont
below Gardiner's Island; caught none, pleasant day; some of the gangs did well outside of the island.

June 1st, Friday : We started early in the morning from Fort Pond, where we lay anchored through the night,
and went around Montank, outside of Long Island, whemrejbund a good bunch of fish that were laying perfectly
still with their fins out of water; we set the seine around them s;nd pursed them nearly up without putting on the
torn, and they never struck the seine until we had them all pursed; and when we commenced to take on the seine
they settled down and took the cork-line down, and came near upsetting one of the boats; some of the crew thought
the fish would all go out, and I think about half of them did go out before we could get the cork-Jine up; we saved
51,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 49,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; we had the fish scooped
in by 11 o'clock a. m., but it was so calm the sloops did not get to the oil- works until 9 o'clock in the evening; we
went to Greenport with the Starlight, where we arrived at 10 o'clock p. m. Saturday. 2d: We did not fish, bnt fixed
up the reel; pleasant. Monday, 41h: We went down through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island; caught
53,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 35,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Tuesday,
5th : We caught below Gardiner's Island 57,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 24,000 in the Flora, to the
Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Wednesday, 6th: Caught below Gardiner's Island 53,000 fish, which we sent in the
U. S. Grant, and 16,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Th tirsday, 7th : It was foggy and stormy ;
caught none. Friday, 8th: We caught below Gardiner's Island 53,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and
14,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Saturday, 9th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 42,000 fish,
which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogno Works; fine. Monday, 11th: We went out in Gardiner's Bay;
caught 14,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; fine. Tuesday, 12th: Caught in Gardiner's
Bay 24,000 fish, which were sent in the U. S. Grant to the Peconic Works; pleasant. Wednesday, 13th: We caught
in Gardiner's Bay 29,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Thursday, UtTi: Went out
in Gardiner's Bay; saw no fish, so went up sotind a few miles, but caught none; weather continues pleasant. Friday,
15th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 32,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works, and sold
$1 worth to a smack; pleasant day. Saturday, 16th: Stormy day; lay in Greenport. Monday, 18th: Went out in
Gardiner's Bay; caught 24,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Tuesday, 19th:
We caught in Gardiner's Bay 34,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Wednesday,
20th : We could find no fish in Gardiner's Bay ; so we crossed the sound and went into Say brook ; pleasant. Thursday,
21st: We made a set by the mouth of Connecticut River, and tbe wind blowing up strong we went into Saybrook and
came to anchor; and the carry-aways followed us, but the Flora's halyards caught, and the boy went aloft to clear
it and fell and broke his leg; I sent on shore for a doctor, who came and set it; then we took him in fhe Starlight and
took him home; sent the Flora to the Miamogue Works with 8,000 fish. Friday, 22d: We1 tanned and mended the
seine; pleasant. Saturday, 23d: Did not fish. Monday, 25th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught none; at night
we went into Sag Harbor; pleasant day. Tuesday, 26th : Looked through Gardiner's Bay; found no fish, so went into
the Miamogue Works and came to anchor. Wednesday, 27th: In the morning the wind blew hard from the east, and
we came to Greenport. Thursday, 28th: Went down through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island, and at
night anchored in Fort Pond; weather continues fine. Friday, 29th: We caught off Fort Pond 36,000 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine. Saturday, 30th: Caught below Gardiner's Island 17,500 fiah,
which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fine.

July 2d, Monday : We caught none ; the wind blew strong NW. Tuesday, 3d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,000
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Wednesday, 4th: Did not fish; at home.
Thursday, 5th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 3,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works, and
sold $6.75 worth to a smack; continues fine. Friday, 6th : As the fish were very scarce in Gardiner's Bay we con-
cluded that we had better take a look in Peconic Bay, so we went up above Eobin's Island, where we found plenty
offish, and caught 50,000, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 44,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works, and
put 19,500 on the Starlight, which we took into Jamesport for the farmers; pleasant day. Saturday, 7th : We caught
in Peconic Bay 30,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 28,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; con-
tinues pleasant. Monday, 9th : We went out in Peconic Bay ; made one set ; caught 56,000 fish, which we sent in the
Flora ; the Grant stopped at Greenport over Sunday and had not arrived yet, so we got the Starlight alongside of the
seine, but the fish began to die and we could not hold them, so were obliged to slack them down, for the bunt com-
menced to rip, and it was as much as we could do to get our seine from under them ; in fact, wo had to work quite
a while to do it, exerting all our strength, and the strain on the seine was so great that we tore it some; I do not
think there was over 75,000 in the seine when we came alongside with the Starlight, but the water was warm and
they began to die ; the Flora we sent to the Miamogue Works, and we had 1,500 on board the Starlight, which we
scooped out by lashing a pole on the big scoop-net handle before we had to let them go ; we took them to Jamesport,
where we went and hauled the seine on the beach to mend. Tuesday, 10th : Went out in Peconic Bay ; caught 29,000
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Wednesday, llth : Caught in Peconic
Bay 56,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 48,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Worksjweather fine.

396 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Thursday, 12th : Caught in Peconic Bay 6,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Friday,
13th : We caught in Peconic Bay 23,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold $1.25
worth of fish to a smack; fine. Saturday, \4th; We tanned the seine, and then went to Jamesport with the sloops;
pleasant day. Monday, 16th : Caught in Peconic Bay 54,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miarnoguo Works,
and 49,000 in the U. S. Grant to the Peconic Oil Works ; weather fine. Tuesday, 17th : We caught in Peconic Bay
56,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 44,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day.
Wednesday, 18th : Caught in Little Peconic Bay 58,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 51,000 in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Thursday, 19th: The wind blew a gale SW. ; we did not fish, but lay at
anchor close under the land in Indian Neck. Friday, 20th : We caught in Little Peconic Bay 59,000 fish, which we
sent in the Flora to the Peconic Works, and 56,500 in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. /Satur-
day, 21st : They have all the fish they want this week, so we went to Jamesport with the sloops ; pleasant. Monday,
23d: Went out In Pecouic Bay ; caught 18,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Peconic Works ; fine. Tuesday,
24th : We caught in Peconic Bay 50,500 fish, which we sent in the U. 8. Grant, and 20,000 in the Flora, to the Mia-
mogue Works ; fine day. Wednesday, 25th : Caught in Little Peconic Bay 38,500 fish, which wo sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Thursday, 26th : We caught in Noyack Bay 1 2,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora
to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Friday, 27th : We went down in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 53,500 fish, which we sent in
the U. 8. Grant, and 48,000 in the Flora, to the Miatnogne Works ; fine day. Saturday, 23lh : Caught in Noyack Bay
19,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and started for Jamesport, but on our way up
we saw a good bunch of fish, so we caught 30,000 and sent them in the Flora to Jamesport for the fanners ; pleasant
day. Monday, 30th : We caught in Peconic Bay 54,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 30,500 in the Flora,
to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 31st : Caught in Peconic Bay 48,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S.
Grant, and 46,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant.

August 1, Wednesday: Wind blew hard from the east; we tanned the seine. Thursday, 2d: Wind continues to
blow from the east ; we went up in the bay, and anchored in New Suffolk Cove. Friday, 3d : We caught in Little
Peconic Bay 42,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant day. Saturday, 4th : Caught
in Peconic Bay 19,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Monday, 6th : Went out in
Peconic Bay ; caught 50,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 45,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogne Works ;
fine day. Tuesday, 7th: We caught in Little Peconic Bay 44,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Mia-
mogne Works ; fine. Wednesday, 8th : Caught in Little Peconic Bay 27,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamogue Works ; fine. Thursday, 9th : Went down in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 32,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S
Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Friday, Wth : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 61,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora,
and 25,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; the Flora came out again and we put 20,500 fish in her, which
we sent to Jamesport to the farmers, as the factory has all the fish they can manage for this week ; pleasant. Satur-
day, llth: Mended seine, and went home. Monday, 13lh: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 57,500 fish, which we
sent in the U. S. Grant, and 49,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 14th : Ciiught
in Gardiner's Bay 42,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 15th : We
caught in Gardiner's Bay 42,500 fish, which we sent in the U.S. Grant, and 13,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue
Works; continues very fair. Thursday, 16th: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 17,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Friday, 17th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 44,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora,
and 19,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogne Works ; fine day. Saturday, 18th : We did not fish ; tanned and mended
the seine. Monday, 20th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 63,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 58,000 in
the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Tuesday, 21st : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 56,000 fish, which
we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 22d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 25,500 fish, which
we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; then we caught 13,000 fish which we sold to a farmer that was
out in the bay with a boat to purchase fish ; weather continues fine. Thursday, 23d: We caught in Gardiner's Bay
58,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 21,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather good. Friday,
24th: As they have as many fish at the factory as they care for at present, we concluded to go up to Jamesport and
attend camp-meeting. Monday, 27th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 29,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant
to the Miamogue Works; fine. Tuesday, 28th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 59,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora,
and 33,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Wednesday, 29th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 45,500
fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 49,500 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Thursday, 30th :
We caught in Gardiner's Bay 59,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 51,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works ; pleasant day. Friday, 31st : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 38,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogne
Works; fine day.

September 1st, Saturday: Did not fish; mended seine, &c. Monday, 3d: Went into Gardiner's Bay; caught 53,500
fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 7,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Tuesday, 4th : We
caught in Gardiner's Bay 3,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday, 5th :
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 52,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 33,500 in the TI. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works ; fine day. Thursday, 6th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 18,700 fish, which we sent to Jamesport ; then wo went
into Greenport and tarred a new seine. Friday, 7th: An east storm; did not fish. Saturday, 8th : The wind continues
to blow from the east. Monday, 10th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 47,500 fish, which we sent in the U. 8.
Grant to the Miamogne Works ; weather fine. Tuesday, llth: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 48,000 fish, which we sent
in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 12th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 42,500 fish, which
we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fair. Thursday, 13th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 29,000 fish, which
we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works, and sold 50 cents' worth of fish to a smack ; pleasant. Friday,

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 397

14th: We hauled out the sloops on the railways and worked on the new seine; pleasant. Saturday, 15th: Had the
sloops painted and finished hanging the new seine ; pleasant day. Monday, 17th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay ~, caught
5,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miainogue Works; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 18th: We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 52,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 40,000 in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works; fine
day. Wednesday, Wth : Caught in Peconic Bay 49,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works,
aud we pnt 45,400 ia the Flora, which we sent up to Jamesport ; fine day. Thursday, 20lh : We caught in Peconic Bay
51,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine. Friday, 21st: Wind blew very hard; we did
not fish. Saturday, 22d: Windy ; did not fish. Monday, 24th: Caught in Peconic Bay 44,500 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 25th : Wo caught in Peconic Bay 16,500
fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works. Wednesday, 26/A: We caught in Peconic Bay 20,500 fish,
which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works j_fiiie day. Thursday, 27th : We attended the Suffolk County
Fair. Friday, 28th: Canght in Peconic Bay 45,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works,
and 7,000 in the Flora to Jamesport ; pleasant day. Saturday, 29lh : Wind east ; did not fish.

October 1st, Monday : Went out iu Gardiner's Bay ; caught 49,500 fish, wiich we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamogne Works ; fine. Tuesday, 2d : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 46,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamogne Works ; fine day. Wednesday, 3d : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 33,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Thursday, 4th : A very hard southeast storm ; we lay in Greenport. Friday, 5th : The
wind in the night shifted from southeast to northwest and blew and rained very hard. We had to put on our "oilers"
and work to keep the boats from being injured alongside of the wharf. In the morning we heard the Massachusetts
was ashore abreast of East Marion, on the sound shore, and went up to see them land the passengers. The wind blew
hard from the northwest the remainder of the week, so we could not fish. Monday, 8th : Wind east ; we beat down to
Gardner's Island, but the wind blew hard and we came back to Greenport. Tuesday, 9th : East storm; lay in Green-
port. Wednesday, 10th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 33,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the
Miamoguo Works; fine. Thursday, llth: Caught in Gardiner's Bay 29,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the
Miamoguo Works; fine day. Friday, 12th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 4(i,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant,
and 15,500 in the Flora, to the Miamoguo Works ; weather fine. Saturday, 13th : Wind blew hard northwest ; did not
fish. Monday, 15th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 48,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant, and 9,500
in the Flora, to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Tuesday, IGth : Went below Gardiner's Island ; caught 35,500 fish,
which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works. Wednesday, 17th : Caught below Gardiner's Island 32,000
fish, which we sent, in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; continues fine. Thursday, 18th: We caught in Gardiner's
Bay 53,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works; fine day. Friday, IQth : Caught in Gardiner's
Bay 56,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works; fine day. Saturday, 20th: Wind east, and
stormed ; did not fish. Monday, 22d : It continued to blow from the east, so we lay in Greenport. Tuesday, 23d : Went
out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 28,500 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Wednesday,
24th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 27,500 fish, which we sent in the Flora to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Thurs-
day, 25th : Caught in Gardiner's Bay 43,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; fine day.
Friday, 2Glh : East storm; we lay in Greenport. Saturday, 27th: Wind continues to blow from the east ; I went home.
Monday, 29(A : We went through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island ; the wind did not blow hard in the
morning, but it gradually increased, so when we had arrived where the gangs ware finding fish it was blowing quite
strong SW. ; we found a very large body — I think I never saw a larger one — they were a reddish color, and
extended as far as my eye could reach ; we dropped off from the sloop and set into them, laying the seine narrow, for
the wind was blowing strong and I did not wish to get too large a haul ; we scooped 51,400 in the Flora, and it blew
so hard she came near filling ; I kept near her and told the man that sailed her to go into Napeague, and I sold them
at Green's Works in Napeague. Tuesday, 30th : Went out, and off Fort Pond we caught 48,000 fish, which we sent in
the U. S. Grant, and 31,500 in the Flora, to the Miamogne Works; weather fine. Wednesday, 31st : Went out below
Gardiner's Island ; caught 22,000 fish, which we sent in the U. S. Grant to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues
pleasant.

November 1st, Thursday : Caught below Gardiner's Island 32,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 41,500 in the
U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue Works ; weather good. Friday, 2d : Storm from the south ; heavy wind ; did not fish.
Saturday, 3d : Did not fish ; I went home. Monday, 5th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 48,000 fish, which we sent
in the Flora, and 58,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogne Works; wind blew quite strong SW. Tuesday, 6th:
Wind blew hard ; we lay in Greenport ; I went up to election. Wednesday, 7th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 55,000
fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 24,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamoguo Works ; fine day. Thursday, 8th :
Caught in Gardiner's Bay 50,000 fish, which we sent in the Flora, and 40,000 in the U. S. Grant, to the Miamogue
Works ; pleasant. Friday, Wh : Stormy ; did not go out, but lay in Greenport. Saturday, 10th : Went up to James-
port with the sloops; quit for the season and stowed the fishing things away soon as we could.

1878.

The Hawkins Brothers have been building a new steamer, which will make three, as they had two before. They
want me to go iu one of the steamers, which I have at last decided to do. They purchased my seines, and I will have
to dispose of my sloops, &c. I am to go in the steamer William Floyd, and we have brought her to Jamesport.

April 15th, Monday : The crew came on board. Tuesday, 16th : We got the seine out of the house and went to
Greenport ; wind blew quite strong NW. Wednesday, 17th : We lay in Greenport, fixing the hoisting-gear, big net,
&c. ; wind N.W. Thursday, I8lh: We went out on our first cruise in the Wm. Floyd; went around Montauk and

398 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

west as far as Amagansett, but saw no fish, so we came up to the Mimuoguo Works and coaled up ; weather pleasant.
Friday, 19th: We started out of Greenport early in the morning; went down to Montauk, but it being too rough to
go around we caine back to Greenport and hauled the steamer out on the railways and cleaned her bottoms; weather
good. Saturday, 20th: We sand-papered the \Vni. Floyd and fixed the reel; the painters painted her; continues
pleasant. Monday, 22d : We went around Montauk and caught outside of Long Island 55,200 fish, which we took to
the Miamogue Works. Weather continues fine; wind SW. Tuesday, 23d: An east storm; we lay in Greeuport.
Wednesday, 24th : The storm continues; we lay in Greeuport doing odd jobs on the Wm. Floyd. Thursday, 2»th:
We went out, but caught no fish ; at night we anchored off Hick's Island ; pleasant day. Friday, 26th ; We caught
at one set, off Fort Pond, 153,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; fine. Saturday, '27th: We caught in
Gardiner's Bay 4,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works ; it was foggy a part of the day. Monday, 29th :
We caught off Fort Pond, at one set, 182,000 fish ; we had a pretty good pull to raise them, but the steamer helped
us by turning first back and then ahead ; I do not think we could have got them up alongside of a carry-away ; aud
then hoisting them out by steam we get them out so fast they do not get smothered and die, as they would where we
hoist them by hand; we took them to the Miamogne Works; foggy in the morning, but clearing off pleasant.
Tuesday, 30th : We caught off Fort Pond 136,400 fish, at one set, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; foggy in
the morning.

May let, Wednesday : We went below Gardiner's Island and off Fort Pond, where we found a gang which had more
fish than they could handle, and they whistled for help ; so we went and helped them get their fish up so they could
scoop them; another gang whistled for assistance, and we helped them also; after which the fish appeared to be
scarce, aud we could find none ; pleasant day ; at night we anchored off Hick's Island. Thursday, 2d : We went around
Montauk and outside of Long Island ; we caught 141,500 fish, which we took to the Peconic Works, as the Miamogue
Works could not take them ; weather pleasant. Friday, 3d : We went around Montauk, outside ; made one set and
missed the fish, but caught some river shad; weather pleasant. Saturday, 4th: We did not fish. Monday, 6th: Went
down as far as Montauk; caught none; fine. Tuesday, 7th : Went around Montauk, and west as far as Bridgehamp-
ton; caught 184,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; it was a very pleasant day; there were about
eighteen or twenty steamers outside. Wednesday, Sth : Went outside of Long Island ; caught 132,800 fish, which we
took to the Miamogne Works ; fine day. Thursday, 9th : We lay in Greenport ; the inspectors came from New York
and inspected the William Floyd; pleasant. Friday, 10th : Went around Montauk and outside of Long Island;
caught 108,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Saturday, llth : We caught 40,800 fish east of Gar-
diner's Island ; took them to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Monday, 13th: We went around Montauk and outside
of Long Island, but found no fish ; pleasant. Tuesday, 14th : Went outside again, but found no fish ; fine. Wednesday,
15th : Wind east and storming ; we lay in Greeuport. Thursday, 16th : Went down as far as Fort Pond and Montauk ;
caught no fish ; weather pleasant. Friday, nth : Went around Montauk outside of Long Island ; made three sets and
put 256,800 fish on the William Floyd, but we were obliged to let some of the last haul go, as she was loaded, and
decks to the water's edge ; we took them to the Miamogue Works ; very pleasant. Saturday, 18th : Went down as
far as Fort Pond; caught none; fine. Monday, 20th: Went around Mouta.uk outside of Long Island, but caught
none; it was rough; wind SSE. ; we came back and anchored off Hick's Island. Tuesday, 2lst : It stormed in the
morning, bnt cleared off about 10 o'clock a. m., when we started and looked through the bay and went to the fish
works and coaled up; then went to Greenport. Wednesday, 22d : We went around Montauk and outside of Long
Island; caught 51,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day; wind N. Thursday, 23d: Went
outside of Long Island ; caught 110,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Friday. 24th :
We went outside of Long Island and went west as far as Southampton and caught at three sets 212,000 fish, which we
took to the Miamogne Works ; it was a beautiful day, but it is a long run to Southampton and back. Saturday, 25th :
We did not fish, but lay in Greenport mending seine, &c. ; pleasant day. Monday, 27th : We went outside of Long
Island; caught 164,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works; the wind blew a good breeze from the KW.
Tuesday, 23th: Went around Montauk and outside of Long Island again, but found no fish ; so we went to Stoniugton;
the weather fine. Wednesday, 29th : Went outside of Long Island, but could find no fish ; then went up through the
bay to the Miamogne Works and coaled up and went to Greenport for water ; pleasant day. Thursday, 30th : Went
in the sound and the wind came on to blow from the east ; we set the sail and steered west and anchored off the mouth
of Cow Bay in the head of the sound. Friday, 3lst : The east storm continued ; we went into Port Washington and
came to anchor near the village and purchased some stores.

June 1st, Saturday: The east storm continued ; we went in Cow Bay. Monday, 3d : In the morning it was foggy;
we started out of the harbor, but as it was so thick we came to anchor again off the mouth of the harbor ; about
noon it cleared off and we made five sets near Stepping Stones and Execution Lights ; started down the sound about
sundown, and before we reached Crane Neck the fog was so thick we could not see the length of the steamer ; we
run slow, blowing the whistle quite often, and went through Plum Gut about 7 o'clock p. m., without seeing land
on either side ; we saw no land from the time the fog came on until we made Little Ram Head, which is close to the
Miamogue Works ; we ariived about 8 o'clock; had 116,000 fish. Tuesday, 4th: After unloading the fish and coal-
ing up, wo went to Greenport and filled the tank with water, where we staid the remainder of the day, as it camo on
foggy again in p. m. Wednesday, bth : Went in the soundand west as far as Faulklaud Island ; caught 110,000 fish, which
we took to the Miamogue Works, where we arrived about sundown ; fine. Thursday, 6th : We went arouud Montauk
outside of Long Island : went around a shoal of fish, and just as we came together with the boats, there was a whale
came up and blowed in the middle of our haul ; we immediately took our seine on ; I suppose he must have gone under
the seine, for it was not injured ; the fish were quite, plenty, and wo soon found other bunches and caught 203,000,
which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weat her pleasant. Friday, 7tli : We went around Montauk outside of Long

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 399

Island, but found no fish, so we came back ; and east of Gardiner's Point caught 38,000, which we took to the
Miamogne Works; weather continues pleasant. Saturday, 8th: We did not fish; lay in Greenport. Monday, 10th:
Au east storm ; did not go out. Tuesday, llth : We went down through Gardiner's Bay, and below Gardiner's Island;
saw no fish, so went over to New London ; wind blew quite hard. Wednesday, 12tk : Went around Montauk, and west
as far as Bridgehamptou ; caught 49,800 fish, which wo took to the Mianiogue Works; very pleasant day. Thursday,
l'3th : We went outside of Long Island again ; caught 148,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; fine. Friday,
14th : Went around Montauk, outside of Long Island, but saw no fish ; and the steamers to the west, as far as we could
see, were finding none, so we turned back and came to Greenport, ripped out and tarred the seine ; weather fine. Sat-
urday, 15th : We huug the seine ; pleasant. Monday, 17th : The wind blew hard, so we did not fish, but fixed our deck-
boards, scoop-net, &c. Tuesday, IStk : We concluded it would be too rough outside of Long Island, so we went in the
sound, and went west as far as New Haven; caught 134,400_fish, and reached the Mianiogue Works with them about
9 o'clock p. m. ; a mild rain nearly all day. Wednesday, 19th: Went np the sound as far as Milford; caught
73,600 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works with them about 10 o'clock p. m.; pleasant day. Thursday, 20th:
Went up sound, and near Faulkland Islaud caught 18,000 fish ; reached the Miamogue Works with them about sun-
down; weather fine. Friday, 21st: We took a look up in Peconic Bay, but found no fish ; pleasant. Saturday, 22d:
Stormy day ; wind SE. ; we lay in Greenport. Monday, 24th : We went up in Peconic Bay ; caught 28,000 fish, and
took them to the Miamogue Works; wind blew hard from the NW. Tuesday, 25t,'t : Went up in Peconic Bay and
caught a few fish, but not enough to go to the works with, so we anchored off Jamesport ; the wind blew hard NW.
Wednesday, 26th: We caught a few in Peconic Bay, and went down to the Miamogue Works; had, with what we
caught the day before, 65,000 fish; weather fair. Thursday, 27th: We caught in Peconic Bay 17,500 fish, which wo
took to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Friday, 28th : Wo went up sound nearly to Faulkland Island ; caught
52,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; weather continues fine. Saturday, 29th: We went up sound
nearly to Faulkland Island; caught 11,000 fish, which we took to Miamogue Works ; fine.

July 1st, Monday : Wo went in the sound and weut west as far as New Haven ; caught 130,800 fish and arrived at
the Miamogue Works with them before sundown; fine. Tuesday, 2d: Went in the sound in a. m. ; it was thick aud
foggy, so we ran slow, aud about 10 o'clock a. m. the fog "lit up"; we were abreast of New Haven, and we saw fish
and weut to work ; caught 104,000, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather very fine after the fog clearr d
away. Wednesday, 'Ad: We lay in Greeuport; hauled out the Wm. Floyd on the railways; painted and fixed her; we
did not fish any more this week; pleasant. Monday, 8th: Went west as far as Norwalk Islands; caught none; at
night stopped in Black Eock Harbor; weather good. Tuesday, 9th: Went west as far as Norwalk Islands; caught off
Southport 90,800 fish, and came down to the Miamoguo Works ; had a heavy thunder squall in p. m., while we were
coming down sound. Wednesday, 10th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 94,400 fish and took them in to the Miamogue
Works; we had a shower jnsc at night. Thursday, llth : We caught in Gardiner's Bay and off Fort Pond 74,000 fish,
which we took to the Miamogue Works. Friday, 12th : We caught off Fort Pond 102,800 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works; weather pleasant. Saturday, 13th: Wicd east; did not fish. Monday, 15th: Went down below
Gardiner's Island and caught off Fort Pond 100,000 fish, which we lauded at the Miamogue Works; fine day. Tuesday,
16th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 11,200 fish, which we took to the Mianiogue Works; weather good. Wednesday,
ntli : Went up sound just west of Faulklaud Island ; we caught 46,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works;
weather continues fine. Thursday, 18th : Weut up sound and near Faulklaud Island we caught 92,000 fish, which we
took to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Friday, 19th : We caught off New Haven 149,600 fish, which we took to the
Miamoguo Works; very warm day. Saturday, 20th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 6,000 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works; pleasant. Monday, 22d : Went out in the bay, but the wind blowing cool from the NW. the
fish would not show, so we caught none. Tuesday, 2'3d : We caught off Fort Pond 216,400 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Wednesday, 24//I : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 102,800 fish, which we took to the
Miamogne Works ; weather flue. Thursday, 25th : Wo caught in Gardiner's Bay 109,600 fish, and the wind coming on
to blow very hard from the SW., wo started for and arrived at the Mianiogue Works at 3 o'clock p. m. Friday,
26th: The wind blew hard from the SW.; wo caught none, and soon came into Greenport. Saturday, 27th: Wind
blew hard ; did not go out. Monday, 29th : Wo caught in Gardiner's Bay 128,POO fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works ; very pleasant. Tuesday, SOIh : Au east storm ; we lay in Greenport. Wednesday, Slat : We weut below Gar-
diner's Island, and off Fort Pond caught 224,000 fish, which we took to the Mianiogue Works; weather fine.

August 1st, Thursday : Wo caught off Fort Pond 93,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant, but
had a sliower just at night. Friday, 2d : We caught below Gardiner's Island 102,800 fish, which we took to the Mia-
mogue Works ; after which we came to Greenport ; pleasant, except a heavy thunder shower just at night. Saturday,
3rf: Wo hauled out the William Floyd on the railways to fix the condenser, and we took the seine iu the lot, ripped
out, and tarred, and partly hung it in the lines; pleasant day. Monday, 5th: We finished hanging the seine and
launched the William Floyd ; pleasant. Tuesday, 6th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 30,400 fish and took them to the
Miamogne Works; weather fine. Wednesday, 7th : Went up in Pecouic Bay ; caught 77,600 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works ; pleasant ; wind light NW. Thursday, Stli : We caught in Noyack Bay 12,000 fish, which wo took to
the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Friday, 9th: Went down in Gardiner's Bay, but the wind blew hard from the
SW., go we caught none, and soon came into Greeuport. Saturday, Wth: Did not fish. Monday, 12th: We went np
sound aud caught off Faulkland Islaud 90,000 fish, which we took to the Miamoguo Works; fine day. Tuesday, 13th:
Went iu the sound, aud just west of Faulkland Island we, caught 52,000 fish, which we took to the Mianiogue Works;
weather continues fme. Wednesday, 14th : Wind E. ; w<> looked through Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish; so came
to Greenport. Thursday, 15th: Wind E., and we did not start out of Greenport until 8 o'clock a.m., when we
weut down through Gardiner's Bay; and below Gardiner's Island aud off Fort Pond we found some very good

400 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

bunches of fish, and caught 160,800, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; the wind died out and we had very
good weather. Friday, Kith : We caught off Fort Pond 14,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather
fine. Saturday, 17th : Did not fish. Monday, 19th : Wo went aronnd Moutauk and outside of Long Island, but found
no fish ; weather fine. Tuesday, 20th : Went in the sound, and went west as far as Faulkland Island ; caught 55,200 fish,
and took them to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 21st : Went up Long Island Sound, and
caught off New Haven 87,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; we had rain aud darkness to contend
with, but reached the works in safety. Thursday, 22d: Wind blew from the east; we lay in Greenport. Friday, 23d:
We went down through the bay to Fort Pond, where we caught 48,400 fish, which we took to the Miamoguo Works ;
weather good. Saturday, 24th : We caught off Fort Pond 29,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine
day. Monday, 26th : We went in the sound, and off Faulkland Island caught 66,000 fish, which we took to the Mia-
inogue Works; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 27th: We went below Gardiner's Island and caught 6,400 fish, which we
landed at the Miamogue Works; fine. Wednesday, 28th : Went up sound, and near Faulkland Island we caught 161,600
fish, and took down to the Miamogue Works ; very fine day. Thursday, 29th : Went in Long Island Sound ; followed
the south shore, and off Luce's Lauding we fell in with fish ; caught 66,400, which we took to the Miamogue Works ;
fine day. Friday, 30th: Went in the sound, and just west of Hortou's Point caught 36,603 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works ; continues very pleasant. Satnrday, 3lst: Went below Gardiner's Island, and off Fort Pond we
caught 27,200 fish, which we landed at the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine.

September 2d, Monday : Went down through Gardiner's Bay, and below Gardiner's Island caught 197,200 fish, which
we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 'Ad : Went down below Gardiner's Island, caught
183,200 fish, and took them to the Miamogue Works ; fish plenty ; fine. Wednesday 4th : Wind blew hard from the east,
so we could not fish ; wo came up to Greenport. Thursday, 5(7t : The wind continues to blow from the east ; we lay in
Greenport. Friday, 6th : We went below Gardiner's Island ; caught 95,600 fish, which we landed at the Miamogue
Works; fine. Saturday, 7th: In Greenport; wind E. ; I went home. Monday, 9th: We went out in Gardiner's Bay,
and near the end of Gardiner's Point we made two sets of about equal size, just loading the steamer, and started with
them for the Miamogue Works at half past eleven a. m. ; there were 253,600 fish ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 10th :
We caught in Gardiner's Bay 66,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works; fine day. Wednesday, llth: Went
below Gardiner's Island, and off Fort Pond we caught 76,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; the wind
is east, but does not blow very hard, and it has been in that direction most of the week. Thursday, 12th : Wind E,
and stormy ; we lay in Greenport. Friday, 13th : Wind continued to blow ; we did not fish. Saturday, 14th : We went
out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 61,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Monday, IGth :
We went down through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island to Fort Pond; the wind was blowing from the
east, and it was quite rough; but we could make alee in Fort Pond, so we made two small sets in Fort Pond; and
then the weather moderated, and we went off shore and made a good set ; so that when we had them scooped in we
had over 100,000 fish ; then we found another bunch and caught them, aud put all we could on the steamer, and had
enough left in the seine to nearly load another steamer, which we had to let go ; they handled easy ; we had no trouble
in raising them ; we had in all 236,009 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works, arriving there about 7 o'clock
p. m. Tuesday, 17th : Wo caught off Gardiner's Point 98,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant
day. Wednesday, 18th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 57,600 fish, when the grate-bars fell down and we were obliged
to burn wood to get to the Miamoguo Works ; fine. Thursday, 19th : We went in the sound and caught, off Horton's
Point, 114,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; we arrived at the works about 8 o'clock; fine. Friday,
20th : We went in Long Island Sound ; caught off Faulkland Island 158,400 fish ; and we arrived at the Miamogue
Works about 9 p. m. ; pleasant day. Saturday, 21st : We came into Greenport and mended seine. Monday, 23d :
We went through Gardiner's Bay, and below Gardiner's Island caught 23,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works; weather continues fine. Tuesday, 24th: We went in the sound, and caught off Faulkland Island 65,600 fish,
which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Wednesday. 2Jlh : We caught off Faulklaud Island 100,400 fish,
which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Thursday, 26th : Went in the sound, but the wind blew quite strong
from the southwest, so we followed the south shore in hopes the wind might die out ; we went up as far as Matti-
tuck, but the wind continued to blow, so we came back to Greenport. Friday, 27th : Wind blow quite hard NW. ;
went in the sound, and nearly to Faulklaud Island, but the wind continued to blow, so we turned back and went into
the Miamogue Works ; pleasant day. Saturday, 28th : We tarred a new seine ; pleasant. Monday, 30th : We went in
the sound and west as far as New Haven, where we caught 127,000 tish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ;
pleasant weather.

October 1st, Tuesday : We went in the sound, and off Luce's Landing caught 152,000 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 2d: Went in the sound, and off Eiverhead we caught 88,800
fish, which we took to the Miamoguo Works; weather continues fine. Thursday, 3d: Went in the sound, aud off
Luce's Lauding and Mattituck caught 111,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Friday, 4th :
Wcut in the sound ; caught off Riverhead 155,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Saturday,
bth: We did not fish; it has been a very pleasant week— just like summer. Monday, 7th: Went up sound, and off
Eiverhead and Wading River caught 119,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; fine day. Tuesday, 8th:
Started to go up souud, but the wind blew hard, and we were obliged to turn back and go into Greenport. Wednes-
day, 9lh: We went out in the morniug; went up sound a ways, but the wind blew hard, so wo turned back and came
to Greenport, and went to work on the new seiue. Thursday, 10th : We finished hanging the new seine. Friday, llth :
We attended the Suffolk County Fair. Saturday, 12th: An east storai. Monday, 14th: Went through Gardiner's Bay
and below Gardiner's Island, where we caught 42,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Tuesday,
15M: We caught ia Gardiner's Bay 44,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; fine day. Wednesday, 16th:

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 401

Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught noue ; pleasant. Thursday, 17th : Wind blew hard ; we lay in Greenport. Friday,
18lh: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 16,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine day. Saturday, 19lh:
Windy and cold; did not go out, hut lay in Greenport. Monday, 21st: We started from Greenport in the morning,
and went through the Bay down to Montauk, and then south of Block Island, after which we passed Point Judith
and Beaver-tail light into Newport ; as we passed into the harbor we saw Fort Adams and the man-of-war Minnesota ;
after we arrived in the town we went up and saw " Old Mill," as they call it, which was built ages before this country
was settled by the English. Tuesday, 22d : We started out of Newport in a. m. as early as we could see, and came to the
north of Block Island and Montauk, and looked in by Fort Pond and up through the bay, but could see no fish ;
reached Greeuport at 4 p. m. ; pleasant. Wednesday, 23d: A hard east storm ; we lay in Greenport. Thursday, 24t7i:
The wind blew very hard NW. ; lay in Greenport. Friday, 25th : Went below Gardiner's Island and under Gin Beach ;
just east of Fort Pond we caught at one set 160,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather good. Sat-
urday, 26th: Wo caught off Fort Pond 78,000 fish, which wa took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Monday,
28th: We went below Gardiner's Island; the wind blew quite strong from the north, so we anchored off Goose Pond
and stopped all night. -Tuesday, 29th: We caught off Fort Pond 60,400 fish, which we took to tlie Miamogue Works;
pleasant day. Wednesday, 30th: Stormy day; went to Greenport. Thursday, 31st; Wind blew hard, and we caught
no fish.

November 1st, Friday : Windy ; we lay in Greenport. Saturday, 2d : Wind continued to blow ; did not fish. Mon-
day, 4th : Went down to Fort Pond ; made one set and caught 35,600 fish, but the wind blew up so strong from the
northwest we were obliged to leave ; there were plenty of good bunches of fish, but close in on a lee shore ; some of
the gangs got large hauls and had a hard time, part having to turn their fish out, for the wind blew a gale ; I had as
much as I could do to keep our boats from sinking while on our way to the Miamogue Works. Tuesday, 5th : Wind
blew hard; did not fish. Wednesday, 6th: Went out; looked through Gardiner's Bay and Fort Pond, but could see
no fish ; it snowed aud rained by turns all day. Thursday, 7th : We found a bunch of fish close in-shore in Cherry
Harbor ; caught and took them to the Miamogue Works ; there were 97,800 ; pleasant day. Friday, 8th : The wind
blew hard from the northwest, and we came up to Greenport from the fish works. Saturday, 9th : Wind blew very hard
from the northwest; did not fish; I came home. Monday, l\th : Went down to Gin Beach; caught at one set 159,000
fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Tuesday, 12th : In Greenport, getting the boiler fixed.
Wednesday, 13th : Windy; did not fish. Thursday, Uth : Wind blew hard; we lay in Greenport. Friday, 15th : Pleas-
ant day ; we went out through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island, but saw no fish ; so we came up to Green-
port and on to Jamesport, and carted the seine up in the lot to dry it, and stripped the William Floyd ready to lay
her up ; and the fishing season of 1878 is ended.

1879.

April 22d, Tuesday : We brought the William Floyd up to Jamesport, and the crew came on board, and we com-
menced fixing her for business ; pleasant day. Wednesday, 23d : We carted the seine and put it in the boats in a. m.,
and got ready to go down bay ; p. m. we went to Greenport ; after we arrived we shipped the cranes, as they have
been presenting the William Floyd with a set of cranes, which she very much needed ; fine. Thursday, 24fA : We rove
the falls in the cranes and fixed the seine-boats, hoisting fall, and overhauled things in general ; some of the steamers
went out to-day, but saw no fish ; pleasant day. Friday, 25t& : I fixed my room, and we fixed the torn blocks and
pen, or deck boards, to the William Floyd, &c. ; some of the steamers went out, but saw no fish ; weather very good
for fishing, although it is cloudy. Saturday, 2Glh : We went down to the Miamogue Oil Works in a. m. and coaled up ;
p. m. I came home. Monday, 28th : Foggy, so that we did not go out. Tuesday, 29th : It rained in the morning, but
it lit up, and we started down bay about 9 o'clock a. m. ; went down as far as Gardiner's Point, but it was so thick
and foggy that we came to anchor close by the Point and waited for it to clear up ; but as it did not, we came back
to Greenport. Wednesday, 30th : Foggy in the morning ; we started out at 8 o'clock and went down as far as Shag-
warn Reef, but saw no fish, so we anchored off Goose Pond, Gardiner's Island ; pleasant.

May 1st, Thursday : Wind blew quite strong from the northwest; we went down as far as Montauk and saw some
of the steamers coming back ; so we went back and anchored off Goose Pond, Gardiner's Island. Friday, 2d : We went
around Montauk, and west as far as Amagansett ; saw no fish, and the steamers, as far as we could see, seemed to be
finding no fish ; so we came back, and came to the Miamogue Works and coaled up, and then to Greenport and blew
off the boiler; pleasant." Saturday, 3d: I went home on morning train. Monday, 5«/«: We went around Moutauk, and
west as far as Amagausett; caught no fish ; aud as it was quite rough we turned back and came inside and anchored
off Hicks' Island ; a part of the steamers caught a few fish to-day, which were the first caught this season. Tuesday, 6th :
We went around Montauk, and west as far as Bridgehampton; and, as it was quite rough, we turned back and came
inside ; aud close under Gin Beach, saw and caught 16,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather good.
Wednesday, 7th: We went around Montauk, aud west as far as Bridgehampton; fish quite plenty; made two sets;
caught 130,800 fish ; arrived at the Miamogue Works 9 o'clock p. m. ; pleasant day ; wind NW., which made it smooth.
Thursday, 8th : Went around Montauk, and west as far as Southampton ; caught a few fish, and stopped outside through
the night as the weather was fine. Friday, flth : We went west of Pond Quogue light; made two sets, and then came
to the Miamogue Works; had 92,000 fish; pleasant day. Saturday. 10th: Wo caught below Gardiner's Island 24,800
fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Monday, 12th : Foggy in the morning ; went down to Fort
Pond, but saw no fish ; so we came to Greenport and had a little work done on the steamer. Tuesday, 13th : Foggy in
the morning ; we went down to Montauk ; made one set, and caught 125,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works ; fine day. Wednesday, Uth : We went around Montauk, but caught no fish ; fine. Thursday, 15th i Went
SEC V 26

402 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

around Montauk, and west as far as Bridgehampton ; caught 152,400 fish and started for the Miamogue Works, but
before we arrived at Gardiner's Point it came on a thick fog, but we found our way into the works without much trouble ;
if there is anything I dread it is a fog. Friday, IGth : Foggy; we went down and anchored in Fort Pond, and as it
continued thick in p. m. we went up and came to anchor off Hicks' Island. Saturday, 17th : We caught below Gardi-
ner's Island 32,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; it continues foggy most of the time. Monday, 1'Jlh :
We caught just west of Gardiner's Point 36,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; foggy morning andnight.
Tuesday, 20th : Fog continues ; we caught iu Gardiner's Bay 149,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogiio Works.
Wednesday, 21st: Foggy in a. rn. ; we went down as far as Fort Pond, but caught no fish ; then came up to Greenport.
Thursday, 22d : We went around Moutauk, and west as far as Easthampton, where we caught 68,800 fish ; and as it was
getting rough wo started for the Miamogue Works, where wo arrived at 9 o'clock p. m. Friday, 23d : We went below
Gardiner's Island, but the wind blew so hard from the northeast that we came to Greenport ; bent new sail, &c. Sat-
urday, 24th: Did not fish. Monday, 2Gth : Started early in the morning; went around Montank, and when about 5
miles west of Montauk found the George F. Morse (which is one of Hawkins Brothers' steamers) broke down, so we
took a line from her and towed her to New London; pleasant, wind north. Tuesday, 27th: Went outside of Long
Island, and west as far as Southampton, where we caught 92,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; lino
day. Wednesday, 28th : Went outside of Long Island, and west as far as Fort Pond, where we caught 36,800 fish,
which we took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Thursday, 29th: Went outside of Loin; Island, and west is far as
Pond Qnogue Light, where we caught 205,600 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works 11 p. m. ; a very pleasant day.
Friday, 30th : Went outside of Long Island, and west as far as Amagausett ; caught 208,800 fish, and arrived at the
Miamogne Works at sundown; it was very fine weather in a.m., but iu p.m. it blew up quite strong from the south-
west, so that it began to be rough. Saturday, 31st : Did not fish, but mended seine, &c.

June 2<J, Monday : We went outside of Long Island and west as far as Southampton ; caught none ; it was quite
rough; we came back around Montauk and anchored off Hicks's Island. Tuesday, 3d : An east storm ; we caiue to
the Miamogue Works and coaled up, and then to Greenport ; in p. m. it rained and blew very hard. Wednesday, 4th :
It stormed in a. m., but before noon it broke away and we went up in Peeonic Bay; caught 18,400 fish, which
we took to the Miamogue Works. Thursday, 5th: We went around Montauk, but it was very rough, and we came
back and anchored off Tobacco Lot, Gardiner's Island. Friday, Gth : We looked off Fort Pond, east of Gardiner's
Island, and through Gardiner's Bay ; caught none ; pleasant. Saturday, 7th : Did not fish. Monday, 9th : Went out-
side of Long Island and west as far as Napeague ; caught 218,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; very
pleasant day. Tuesday, 10th : We went outside of Long Island ; saw no fish, so came back and went to Greenport ;
pleasant. Wednesday, llth : We went up ill Peeonic Bay ; caught a few fish, but not enough worth going to the works
with, so we stopped into Greonport and let a farmer have them. Thursday, 12th : We hauled out the William Floyd on
the railways and cleaned her bottom, ready for painting, and ripped out and tarred the seine; it rained a part of the
day. Friday, 13th : We hung the seine, and the painters have painted the steamer, fixed the condenser, &c. ; pleas-
ant day. Saturday, Uth : We carted the seine down in a. m. and put it in the boats and salted it ; in p. m. wo launched
the William Floyd, and I came home. Monday, 161ft : We went in the sound ; the wind was east and it was foggy ; we
went west as far as New Haven and went in for a harbor. Tuesday, 17th : We caught in the sound, off New Haven,
36,000 fish, and reached the Miainogue Works before sundown; weather continues pleasant. Wednesday, 18th : Went
up sound as far as Bridgeport, but caught no fish until we got to the east of New Haven, when we caught 2." ,000 fish,
and reached the Miamogue Works with them at 10 p. m. ; pleasant. Thursday, 19th : We went to Greenport, reeled
the seine, and, taking what help I wanted, wenj to New London to get the William Floyd's boiler fixed. Friday, 20th :
We lay in New London, getting the work done as fast as possible ; weather fine. Saturday, 21st : We got the work
done and steam on about 1 o'clock; arrived in Greenport about 4 o'clock p. m. ; weather fine. Monday, 23d: Went
down to the Miamogue Works and coaled up; then looked through Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish; weather
pleasant. Tuesday, 24th : Went up sound and caught off Faulkland Island 109,(iOO fish, and arrived at the Miamogne
Works at 9 o'clock p. m. ; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 25th : Went in the sound and the wind came on to
blow hard from the east, and stormed, so we went into New Haven for a harbor. Thursday, 2fith : Went out in the sound,
but the wind blew quite fresh SW. and made it rough, so we came into New Haven again; the English steamer
Norman Monarch lay close by us, and we have had a good opportunity to look at her, as the officers were kind
enough to take us through her and show us all that was of interest. Friday, 27th : We went out in the sound and
made six sets; caught 84,800 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 9 o'clock p. m. ; very pleasant day. Satur-
day, 28th: Wo went up to Greenport and mended seine; I went home in p. in. ; pleasant day. Monday, 30//I : We
went to New London and had the new grates put in the William Floyd ; then went up sound and caught a small set of
fish off Faulkland Island; then anchored behind the light in the mouth of New Haven Harbor; weather fine.

July 1st, Tuesday: Made two sets off New Haven; then came down to the Miamogue Works; had 34,800 fish;
pleasant. Wednesday, 2d: Went up sound; caught off New Haven 60,400 fish, and arrived at the Miamogne Works at
12 o'clock in the night ; weather good. Thursday, 3d : We came to Greenport, as they want no more fish this week at
the oil works ; the men want to keep the Fourth ; we went home on the ears. Monday, 7th : We went outside of Long
Island; caught 13,400 fish off Eastbampton ; it was quite rough; some of my crew are troubled with seasickness; I
never was bothered myself; wo came back and took the fish we had to the Miamogue Works. Tuesday, 8th : It was a
stormy, windy day ; we came up to Greenport. Wednesday, 9th : We went around Montauk outside of Long Island ;
caught 55,200 fish, and took them to the Miamogue Works ; it was very rough, but pleasant weather. Thursday, 10th :
We went up sound, and off New Haven we caught 96,600 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at midnight; it
was a pleasant day, but we had a heavy thunder shower while on our way to the works. Friday, llth: Wo went up
sound and caught off New Haven and Faulklaud Island 56,000 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 11 p. m. ;

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 403

weather good, bnt before morning it rained and blew hard from the east. Saturday, 12th: We came up to Greenport
in the wind and rain ; in p. m. it cleared off and I went home. Monday, luth : We went down in Gardiner's Bay and
then up into Noyack Bay, where we found plenty of fish ; we caught 187,200, and arrived at the Miainogue Works at 4
o'clock p. m. ; pleasant. Tuesday, 15th : We went up bay again, and caught in Noyack Bay and Little Peconic Bay 232,000
fish, which was all we could put on, and reached the Miamogne Works at C o'clock p. m. ; fine day. Wednesday, Kth :
We went up in Little Peconic Bay ; caught 87,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day, but wo
had a hard thunder shower just at night, and it rained nearly all night. Thursday, I7tji: Went up bay, but the wind
was XW. and the fish would not show ; one of the men was taken sick, and we took him to Greenport and looked up
a man to take his place, and as the day was so far spent we concluded not to go out again. Friday, 18tli : We went up
bay and then down bay, and caught but 20,000 fish, which we took in to the Miamogue Works;, weather pleasant.
Saturday, 19th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish; so went to Greenport and I went home; fine day.
Monday, 21st: We went up sound as far as Luce's Landing ; cauglit 52,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works;
weal her continues fine. Tuesday, 22d: Went in the sound and went west as far as Cold Spring, where we stopped;
pleasant ; wind SW. Wednesday, 23d: Went ont in the sound and east ; we found some fish off Mattituck, and caught
59,600, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Thursday, '24th : We went up sound as far as Faulkland
Island ; caught 126,400 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 9 o'clock p. m. ; weather fine. Friday, 25th : Went
up sound as far as New Haven ; the wind breezed up from the east, so we went in and came to anchor behind the light
in the mouth of New Haven Harbor. Saturday, 26th: Wind east and stormy ; we came out and came to Greenport.
Monday, 28th: Went up sound, and off Faulkland Island caught 129,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works;
v< ry fine day. Tuesday, 29th : We went up sound ; caught off Faulkland Island 9,600 fish ; they did not appear to be
very plenty to-day; we took them to the oil works; very warm. Wednesday, 30th : Went up sound; caught just east
of Horton's Point 37,600 fish; arrived in to the Miamogue Works at 6 o'clock p. m. ; a warm day. Thursday, 31st: Went
up sound ; caught 57,600 fish just west of Horton's Point, and took them to the Miamoguo Works ; pleasant day.

August 1st, Friday : It was foggy in the morning and we had to grope our way along through the gut and up
sound, running slow so as not to run any vessels down ; one of the steamers ran into a schooner just after going
through the gut, but did not do much damage ; the fog soon lit up and we caught 52,000 fish near Faulkland Island,
which we took to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant after the fog lifted. Saturday, 2d : Did not fish ; a very, very warm
day. Monday, 4th: We went up sound as far as New Haven ; caught 102,400 fish, which we took down to the Mia-
mogue Works ; weather very fine. Tuesday, 5th : W,ent up sound as far as Charles Island ; caught 60,000 fish, which
we took to the works; fine. Wednesday, 6th : We went up to Greeuport to fix the boiler. Thursday, 1th: Went out in
the morning and the boiler commenced to leak, so we went to New London and had a soft patch put on. Friday,
Sth : We came out in the morning and started west in the sound, but the wind was cast and commenced to storm, so
we came to Greenport. Saturday, 9th: Went out in the bay in a. m.; saw no fish, so went into thp fish works and
coaled up, and to Greenport; thus ends the week. Monday, llth: Went up sound as far as Stratford Point; caught
a few fish just at night and went into Black Rock aud anchored ; fine day. Tuesday, 12th : Fished off Stratford until
noon, then started for the Miamogue Works ; arrived just before sundown ; had 129,600 fish ; weather continues fine.
Wednesday, 13th : We went up sound ; the wind blew quite fresh SW. ; we went in behind Norwalk Islands and came
to anchor. Thursday, 14th : Went out in the sound; caught a few fish off South Port, and at night, as we did not
have enough to come down with, we went into Bridgeport ; fine. Friday, 15th : Went out in the sound and went
east and saw some fish, and we set around them — four different bunches — on our way down, and caught not a single
one; they went under the seine; divers we call them; we took to the works what we caught the day before, 16,800
fish ; weather fine. Saturday, 16th : An east storm ; we lay in Greenport. Monday, ISth : Went out in Gardiner's Bay
and made one set, but caught none ; it stormed hard nearlj all day, and at night I went up to Greenport, and before
we arrived at the wharf it was blowing a gale from the NE. ; we made fast to the wharf, using all the lines we
had, and oh ! how it did blow ; during the night there were about twenty fishing yachts and sloops dragged and went
ashore, and two or three steamers had a pretty hard time ; one little smack anchored off Bostwick, Gardiner's Island,
foundered, and two men that were in her were drowned ; the wind, some time in the night, shifted to NNW. ; that
was when it blew the hardest. Tuesday, 19th : Wind blew quite hard NW. ; we did not go out ; some of the steamers
went down bay and towed up disabled yachts and sloops — some with bowsprit gone, some with boom or mast broken,
»fec. W(dn(sday, 20lh : We went below Gardiner's Island ; caught 169,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogne
Works; fine. Thursday, 21st: We caught just east of Gardiner's Point 59,200 fish, which wo took to the Miamogue
Works; fine. Friday, 22d : We hauled out the William Floyd on the railways, to paint and fix the condenser, and we
took the seine in the lot to put some new corks on the bunt; wind blew strong SW. Saturday, 23d: We saw the
scull race ill a. m. ; I went home in p. m. Monday, 25th : We went down below Gardiner's Island and as far as Fort
Pond; caught 41,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; wind east. Tuesday, 26th: The wind was east and
it was storming ; we lay in Greenport. Wednesday, 27th : The wind continued to blow east ; did not fish. Thursday,
28th: We went up in Peconic Bay in a. m., bnt saw no fish, so we came back to Greenport. Friday, 29th: We went
down in Gardiner's Bay; made four sets; caught 27,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day.
Saturday, 30th : We did not fish ; I went home.

September 1st, Monday: We went up sound as far as Mattitnck, where we succeeded in catching 141,200 fish, and
arrived at the Miamogue Works at 8 o'clock p. m. ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 2d : Went up sound, and off Stratford
we caught three small sets, and then went in to Bridgeport for the night; pleasant day. Wednesday, 3d: We went
out in the sound in the morning and caught a good haul of fish off South Port; then the wind breezed up from the
east and we started down sound ; we arrived at the Miamogue Works at 4 o'clock p. m. ; had 113,600 fish. Thurs-
day, 4th : It was foggy in the morning, and we did not start out until 10 o'clock a. m. ; then we went up in Little

404 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Peconic Bay and down in Gardiner's Bay, where we caught 46,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works;
pleasant after fog lifted. Friday, f>th : We went down through Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island to Fort
Pond ; caught only 10,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather good. Saturday, 6th : Went out in
Gardiner's Bay ; caught 2,000 fish, and as there was not enough to pay for taking them to the works, we let a farmer
in Greenport have them ; weather continues fiue. Monday, 8th : Wind blew hard ; did not fish, but lay in Greenport.
Tuesday, 9/ft : We went around Montauk, outside of Long Island, and west as far as Pond Qnogue Light ; caught
36,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant ; wind north, and blew fresh in a. in. Wednesday, 10th :
We went up sound as far as Luce's Landing; caught 90,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant
day. Thursday, llth : Went in the sound and caught near Faulkland Island 129,600 fish, which we took to the Mia-
rnogue Works ; weather continues fine. Friday, 12th : Went in the sound and up as far as Faulkland Island ; caught
72,000 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 8 o'clock p. m. ; weather fine. Saturday, 13th : We went up to
Faulklaud Island, but the wind blew too hard for the fish to show, so we came to Greeuport. Monday, 15th : We went
in the sound and west as far as New Haven, where we caught 118,000 fish, and reached the Miamogue Works at 10
o'clock p. m. ; fine. Tuesday, 16th : We went up sound, but the wind blew a good breeze from the east, and the fish
did not show very well, so wo went in to New Haven. Wednesday, 17th : The wind blew very hard from the west ;
we lay in New Haven. Thursday, 18th : We went out in the sound and west as far as Norwalk Islands, but the wind
blew too hard for the fish to show ; so we went in to Bridgeport and filled our tank with water. Friday, 19th : Went
out in the sound and went east; the wind was blowing quite strong from the northeast, hut when we had arrived off
Faulkland Island the wind began to die out, and we saw a bunch of fish and went to work at them; made four sets
and caught 95,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works. Saturday, 20th : We went down below Gardiner's
Island to Fort Pond, but saw no fish, so came to Greenport. Monday, 22d: An east storm; we lay in Greenport.
Tuesday, 23d : We went up sound as far as Faulkland Island ; caught 64,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works ; pleasant ; wind southwest. Wednesday, 24th : Went np sound as far as Luce's Landing ; made a set and
caught 9,600 fish, and as the wind blew strong southwest we came down and took them to the Miamogue Works ; then
went to Greenport. Thursday, 25th : The wind blew quite strong from the northwest, so we concluded we would go
up to Jamesport and rip out the old seine, as we want the corks and some of the lines to put in the new seine ; on our
way up we picked np two men, who were clinging to a capsized boat ; they were nearly exhausted, and would not
have been able to hold on much longer; they said they had been in the water since midnight ; there were three in the
boat when it capsized, but one left the boat and tried to swim ashore and was drowned; his body was found after-
wards ; we then proceeded to Jamesport and got the corks and lines; then went to Greenport and tarred the new seine.
Friday, 26th: We went down as far as Fort Pond, but could see no fish, when we came back to Greenport and took
out the old seine and went to work on the new one. Saturday, 27th : We finished hanging the new seine. Monday, 29th :
Went below Gardiner's Island to Fort Pond, where we caught 24,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works.
Tuesday, 30th : We went around Montauk, outside of Long Island and abreast of Fort Pond ; caught 93,600 and took
them to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues fine.

October 1st, Wednesday : Went outside of Long Island; caught 178,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works;
fine day. Thursday, 2d: Went outside of Long Island, and went west as far as Pond Quogue Light; saw no fish, so
turned back; some of the gangs went on west farther and found fish. Friday, 3d: Windy; we went up to Greenport.
Saturday, 4th : Did not fish. Monday, 6th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 15,200 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works; wind east. Tuesday, 7th: Went below Gardiner's Island to Fort Pond and saw no fish; therefore
we went in the sound and west as far as Now Haven, where we made one set and then went in to New Haven ; pleasant
day. Wednesday, 8th: Went out in the sound; the wind blew so strong the fish did not show, so we went down and
took our fish to the Miamogne Works; had 24,000; then coaled up and went to Greenport. Thursday, 9th: Went in
the sound and west as far as Faulkland Island; made five sets and caught 138,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogne
Works; fine day. Friday, 10th: We took a schooner out from the works in a. m.; then went down far as Gardiner's
Point; but the wind blew from the E. and looked like a storm, so we came to Greenport. Saturday, llth: Did not
fish. Monday, I'M : Went up sound as far as Faulkland Island ; caught 128,HOO fish, and took to the Miamogue Works ;
fine day. Tuesday, 14th : Went np sound, but saw no fish, and at night went in to New Haven ; pleaSaut. Wednesday,
15th: Went out in the sound; made two sets just east of New Haven; caught 54,400 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Thursday, 16th : We went in the sound and west far as New Haven ; made two sets
and went in to New Haven. Friday, 17th: Wind was E., so we came to the Miamogue Works with our fish; had
100,000; coaled up and went to Greeuport. Saturday, 18th: We did not fish. Monday, 20th: The wind blew quite
strong from the NW., so we did not go out until noon, when we went down to Plum Gut, and saw some large
bunches of fish working down Oyster Pond Point; we waited for them to get through the gut, as there are rocks on
the sound side; at last a large bunch came through and we set for them, but caught our seine on a wreck and tore it,
and lost nearly all the fish ; then we came to Greeuport aud mended the seine. Tuesday, 21st : Went below Gardiner's
Island to Fort Pond, and then in the sound nearly to Hortou's Point; caught 124,800 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works; fine day. Wednesday, 22d; Went up sound; found fish all the way from Morton's Point to Matti-
tuck; caught 176,800 fish ; pleasant. Thursday, 23d: Went up sound; caught off Mattituck 62,400 fish, which we took
to the Miamogue Works; pleasant. Friday, 24th: The wind blew hard NW. ; we lay in Greenport. Saturday, 2~>th:
Did not fish. Monday, 27th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay; caught 4,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works;
fine day. Tuesday, Wth: Went out in the sound and west as far as Fanlkland Island; caught 92,000 fish, which we
took to the Miamogue Works; weather continues fine. Wednetday, 29th: The wind blew hard from the NW.; we
came into Greenport. Thursday, 30th- We went out in Gardiner's Bay, but the wind came on to blow aud we
came into Greenport. Friday, 31st: Wind blew heavy; we lay in Greenport.

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 405

November 1st. Saturday: The wiiid continues to blow from the NW. Monday, 3d: Went out in Gardiner's Bay
and found Cherry Harbor alive with fish ; caught 140,000 ; and the wind blew up strong, so we came in to the Miamogue
Works. Tuesday, 4th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay £4,400 fish, and took them to the Miamogue Works; we did not
go up to election this year; pleasant. Wednesday, 5th: A very cold morning; the wind was N. ; we caught in Gar-
diner's Bay 84,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; weather fine. Thursday, Gth : Went out in Gardiner's
Bay ; caught 12,000 fish, and went to the Miamogue Works about noon, when Captain Hawkins informed me that he
was going to close the works, so we went to Greenport, then to Jamesport. Friday, 7th : We carted the seine out in
the lot to dry in a. in., and took out what things we wanted to leave at Jamesport; we took the William Floyd to
Greenport and laid her alongside of Tuthill's Wharf in p. m. ; so ends the fishing season of 1879.

1880^

I have been transferred to the steamer E. S. Newins.

April Kith, Friday : I went to Greenport, and we brought the E. S. Newins up to Jamesport. Saturday, 17th : I
went to New York to have my license renewed, and had to be examined to see if I was color blind. Monday, 19th .• I
went on board theE. S. Newins early in the morning, and started down the bay ; went to the Miamogue Works to
carry some men for Captain Hawkins ; then to Greenport to get things in readiness for fishing ; pleasant. Tuesday,
20th : We spent the day in fixing the fishing things ; some of the gangs caught a few fish to-day in Gardiner's Bay ; it
was foggy and showery a part, of the day. Wednesday, 21st : In the morning we went down to the fish works to coal up ;
then went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 54,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; fine. Tuesday, 22d : We
went out in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish ; weather continues pleasant. Friday, 23d : We went below Gardiner's
Island ; caught 11;!, 600 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works ; something gave out to the boiler, and the en-
gineer was obliged to blow it off, and the steamer Peconic towed us from the Miamogue Works to Greenport ; weather
pleasant. Saturday, '24th: Wind east and stormed a part of the day; did not fish. Monday, 26th: Went out in
Gardiner's Bay ; it was foggy and we caught no fish. Tuesday, 27th : Went down to Fort Pond ; saw a few fish, but
caught none ; then came up in Gardiner's Bay, and then to the Miamogue Works and coaled up ; wind NW. Wednesday,
28th : Went down below Gardiner's Island to Fort Pond ; caught 120,800 fish at one set, which we took to the Miamogue
Works ; after unloading the fish we went to Greenport to get water ; weather pleasant, but blew strong southwest in
p. m. ; the barkentine Wandering Jew was launched to-day, and we helped pull her to the wharf as we came up
from the oil works. Thursday, 29th : Went down to Fort Pond; saw no fish; then came to Greenport; wind blew
hard SW. Friday, 30th : Went up in Peconie Bay, but saw no fish, and the wind blowing hard WNW. we came back to
Greenport ; the fishing steamer Narragausett is ashore off Easthampton.

May \st, Saturday: Wind blew hard NW. and cold ; did not fish; I went home. Monday, 3d: Wen t below Gardi-
ner's Island; made one set off Tobacco Lot and one near Plum Gut, and went to the Miamogne Works with 117,800
fish ; weather pleasant, but blew fresh SW. in p. m. Tuesday, 4th : Went out, but caught no fish ; at night we anchored
off Hicks's Island ; wind blew hard SW. all day. Wednesday, 5th : We started out early ; it was a calm and beautiful
morning, and off Fort Pond we found plenty of fish ; we made two sets and caught 193,800, and part of my men were
taken very sick, and we had to come to Greenport and get a doctor to attend to them ; then went to the Miamogue
Works and unloaded the fish. Thursday, 6/ft : We did not fish, but lay in Greenport ; fine. Friday, 7th : Went down
to Gardiner's Point ; caught 120,000 fish at two sets and took them to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant.
Saturday, 8th: Went below Gardiner's Island to Fort Pond, but caught no fish ; then came back to Greenport; fine.
Monday, 10th : We went around Montauk, and went west as far as Promised Land ; found no fish ; then came back and
looked through the bay; saw a few fish, but caught none; a pleasant day, but the wind blew fresh SW. in p. m.
Tuesday, llth : Wiud blew hard SW. in the morning, and we lay anchored off Hicks's Island until 9 o'clock a. m., when
the wind slacked and we started out, and east of Gardiner's Island we caught 68,000 fish ; then we helped a gang raise
a large haul offish ; after which we went to the Miamogue Works; it was foggy part of the p. m. Wednesday, 12th:
Wind NW. ; we went around Montauk ; outside of the island saw a good bunch of fish and lowered the boats, when
the engineer called to us and said one of the socket bolts had given out ; so we hoisted the boats up and made signals
for help, when the steamer J. W. Hawkins took us in tow and carried us to New London to get it repaired ; we arrived
there about noon. Thursday, 13th: We lay in New London having the boiler fixed. Friday, 14th: We started out in
the morning and went nearly to Montank ; and as the wind blew quite strong NE., and one of the bolts they put in at
New London was leaking, we turned back and went to New London again to get it fixed. Saturday, 15th : We went
out and around Montauk, outside of Long Island, and west as far as Pond Quogue Light ; made two sets and caught
90,000 fish, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 8 o'clock p. m. ; very pleasant day. Monday, 17th: Went around
Montauk, outside of Long Island, and west as far as Easthampton ; caught 172,800 fish at one set, and were obliged
to get help to raise them, as we could not get them up enough to scoop ; but we had them scooped in about noon, and
started east and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 5 o'clock p. m. ; pleasant. Tuesday, ISlh: Went around Montauk
outside of Long Island ; saw no fish ; then went to New London and put soda in the boiler to clean it, and blew it off,
as the tubes were leaking ; wind light E. W ednesday, 19th : We lay in New London, and they are at work expanding
the tubes to the boiler ; wind light SE. and cloudy. Thursday, 20th : We lay in New London, and they are at work on
the boiler; foggy in the morning, but cleared off about 9 o'clock a. m. Friday, 21st: We went around Montauk, out-
side of Long Island, but it was rough, so we came inside, and off Fort Pond we caught 7,400 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works. Saturday, 22d: Went out in the morning, but saw no fish; so we came into Greeuport and I went
home ; wind SW. Monday, 24tli : We went around Montauk, but it was foggy outside, so we turned back, and caught
east of Gardiner's Island 202,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 25th : Very

406 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

foggy; we went below Gardiner's Island; caught 141,600 fish, and arrived at the Miamogne Works before sundown;
fog lit np before noon; p. in. fine. Wednesday, 26th: Went around Montauk, outside of Long Island, and west as far
as Eusthainpton; we made three sets and caught 161,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; very warm,
pleasant day, with light wind NW. in a. ra. and SW. in p. m. Thursday, 2~th: Went around Montauk, outside of
Long Island, and west as far as Westhampton ; caught 67,200 fish ; arrived at the Miamogue Works at midnight ;
pleasant weather. Friday, 28th : Went outside again and west as far as Pond Quogue Light, but caught no fish ;
weather pleasant. Saturday, 29th: In Groenport; blew off boiler and fixed things in general. Monday, 31st: It rained
in the morning, so we did not start out until 7 o'clock a. m., when we went down to Fort Pond and then up bay ;
caught 16,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant.

June 1, Tuesday : We went down to Montauk and met some of the steamers coming back, so we turned about and
went up in the sound as far as Fanlkland Island, where we caught 53,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works; pleasant day. Wednesday, 2d : Wind east and stormy; we came to Greenport. Thursday, 3d: We went in
the sound and west as far as Execution Light ; made three sets, and at night anchored in Cow Bay ; pleasant weather.
Friday, 4th: We made two sets off Execution Light in a. m., and at noon we started down sound, reaching the Mia-
mogue Works about 9 o'clock p. m. ; had 87,200 fish ; weather continues good. Saturday, 5th : In the morning we
went up bay ; canght 6,400 fish just east of Robin's Island, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; ther went to
Greenport ; very pleasant weather. Monday, 7th : We started a little before 4 o'clock a. m. ; went in the sound and
west to Execution Light; made two sets just at night, small ones; then anchored near City Island; fine. Tuesday,
8th : In the morning the wind blew quite fresh from the northeast ; we went east and went into Cold Spring, then
went to Bridgeport to make a harbor for the night, as the wind continued to blow from the east ; there we heard that
Garfield was nominated for President. Wednesday, 9th : Went out in the sound, and as the wind continued to blow
NE., and no fish showing, we went to Geo. W. Miles' Works atMilford and sold our fish, 19,000, after which we started
east, but before we arrived at Faulkland Island the wind died out, and in the p. m. we made six sets and caught
94,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works. Thursday, 10th : Went in the sound and went west as far as
Faulkland Island ; caught 43,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather pleasant. Friday, llth : Went
in the sound and west as far as Faulkland Island; the fish were scarce, but we caught 18,000, which we took to the
Miamogue Works ; weather continues pleasant, but it came on thick and foggy in the night, and the steamer Narra-
gansett was sunk on Cornfield Shoal and a number of people were drowned ; I was up in the night and heard the
whistles. Saturday, 12th : We lay in Greenport ; did not fish. Monday, 14th : We went around Montauk and west as
far as Napeague, but seeing no fish we turned back and went in the sound ; we found no fish, but saw great quanti-
ties of drift stuff from the Narragansett ; wind NW. ; at night we went into New Haven. Tuesday, loth : Went out
in the sound ; wind blew from the east and looked like a storm, so we came to Greenport ; hauled the E. S. Newins
on the railways and carted the seine in the lot. Wednesday, Ifith : We ripped out and tarred the seine and partly hung
it; the painters have been pain ting the steamer, and we are having the condenser fixed. Thursday, l~th: We finished
hanging and carted the seine down and salted it in the boats; the steamer is painted, but we have not got the con-
denser on yet. Friday, 18th : We worked on the condenser ; got it nearly on and were obliged to take it off and fix it
over again. Saturday, 19th : In the morning we put the condenser on and launched the steamer; then I went home.
Monday, 21st : The water-tank leaked, so we had to have that fixed in the a. m. ; p. m. we went out in Gardiner's Bay ;
caught 4,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works, and then coaled up. Tuesday, 22d : Went in the sound and
west as far as Faulkland Island ; made one set and caught 7,200 fish ; but the condenser leaked, so we came down to the
works, and then to Greenport to haul out again ; the condenser is a regular bother. Wednesday, 23d : Hauled out on
the railways at work on the condenser ; we have had no rain for some time and the ground is getting very dry.
Thursday, 24th : We succeeded in getting the condenser on, and launched oft' just before noon ; p. m. we went down
bay and south of Gardiner's Island and east of Block Island, and went to the wharf behind the breakwater ; a very
pleasant day. Friday, 25th : Started out from Block Island and went west, but found no fish until we reached the
mouth of the Connecticut River, where we fonnd a few small bunches, and canght 39,000, which wo took to the Mia-
mogue Works ; pleasant day. Saturday, 26th : We did not fish. Monday, 28th : We went below Gardiner's Island to
Fort Pond, where we caught 20,000 fisb, which we took to the Miamogue Works; the fish were wild; weather good.
Tuesday, 29th : Went down to Fort Pond, but the fish were so wild we could not catch them, so we went up sound as
far as New Haven; made three sets just at night and caught about 15,000 fish, after which we went in behind the
light and anchored; weather pleasant. Wednesday, 30th: Went out in the sound ; made two sets and then started to
the eastward, but the wind breezed up so that we caught no more ; we arrived at the Miamogue Works about 3 o'clock
p. m., and had 43,600 fish.

July 1st, Thursday : Went up sound and just at night made two small sets off New Haven, then we went into
New Haven; weather continues good. Friday, 2d : We started out of New Haven in the morning and looked along to
the eastward; made two sets off the mouth of Connecticut River and then went to the Miamogue Works; had 48,800
fish ; weather continues pleasant and fish scarce. Saturday, 3d : We did not fish ; carted the seine in the lot and
shortened the cork line and had one of the seine-boats fixed. Monday, 5th : Did not fish ; at home. Tuesday, 6th :
It rained in a. m. ; went out in Gardiner's Bay in p. m. ; canght 47,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works;
pleasant in p. m. Wednesday, 7lh : In the moruing we went up in Peconic Bay ; made four sets, but the bunches were
very small ; we went down in Gardiner's Bay in p. m. ; made one set and then went in to the Miamoguo Works ; had
56,400 fish; weather fine. Thursday, 8th: Went in the Sound and went west as far as Old Man's Harbor; made five
sets; caught 68,400 fish, and arrived at the Miamoguo Works at 9 o'clock p. m. ; very pleasant day. Friday, 9th:
Windy ; the fish did not show good and we caught only 8,800, which we took to the Miamoguo Works ; the steamer
gave out in p. m. Saturday, 10th: Wo luy in Greenport in a. m. ; I made out the fish commissioner record; I went
home in p. m. ; warm day, Monday, 12th : We went down to Fort Pond ; saw no fish ; then went up in Peconic Bay

THE MENHADEN FISHERY. 407

nod made one set; caught 9,iOO fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works; fine. Tuesday, 13th: We went in the
sound ami went up to the head ; caught a few fish just at night and anchored in Cow Bay ; weather continues pleas-
ant. Wednesday, Ulh : We went out in the morning and worked at the fish until 3 o'clock p. m., when we started
down sound, reaching the Miamogne Works about 12 o'clock in the night; we made six sets altogether and had
110,000 fish ; weather good. Thursday, 15th .- We went up sound and made two sets off Crane Neck ; then went up to
Execution Light where we made three more sets and came to anchor for the night in Glen Cove ; weather good.
Friday, 16th : Started out in the morning and made six sets; after which we started down sound and arrived at the
Miamogne Works at 9 o'clock p. m.; had 155,600 fish; weather continues good. Saturday, 11th: Went up to Green-
port and I went home. Monday, 19th : We went in the sound and to the west ; reached Execution Light at 4 o'clock
p. m., when we made a set and caught about 50,000 fish; then went up in Little Neck Bay and made another set
about as good as the first, and by the time we were through with them it was dark, so we dropped the anchor
where we were and salted the seine (we salt the seine every night after we get through fishing, since I have been in
a steamer, instead of hanking it out as we used to do in a sailing gear) ; very pleasant day. Tuesday, 20th : Windy and
stormy; fish did not show in the morning, so wo started down sound, reaching the Miamogue Works about 4 o'clock
p. m. ; had 101,600 fish ; pleasant in p. in. Wednesday, 21st : We went up to the head of the sound, arriving there about
4 o'clock p. m. ; made two sets ; caught about 15,000 fish, and anchored in Little Neck Bay ; we saw afew small bunches
on our way up, but did not think them large enough to bother with ; a very pleasant day. Thursday, 22d : In the
morning we started down sound, but we saw no bundles of fish large enough to set for until we arrived off South-
port, where we made a set and canght about 15,000 fish ; then we went on to the east, and when abreast of New Haven
we saw a large bnuch driven by porpoises ; we made three quite fair sets and started for the Miamogue Works, where
we arrived at 9.30 p. m., after having a stormy passage, for it rained and blew NE. and we were bothered to find
our way through Plum Gut; we had 115,200 fish. Friday, ~23d : We went over to New London to get a stay-bolt
fixed; in the morning the wind was NE., afterward it came around SE. ; some of the steamers found plenty of
fish to-day east of Gardiner's Island. Saturday, 24th: We looked east of Gardiner's Island and through the bay, but
conld find no fish ; they were not here to-day ; so we came to Greenport and went home. Monday, 26th : We went out
in Gardiner's Buy ; canght 78,400 ftsh, which we took to the Miamogue Works; pleasant day. Tuesday, 27th: Went
up sound and made two sets just east of Stratford Shoal Light ; caught about 35,000 fish ; had a heavy thunder
squall ; went into New Haven at night ; it was a calm, warm day. Wednesday, 28th : We came out of New Haven in
the morning and made one set; caught a few fish, but the wind blew quite strong from the north, so the fish wonld
not show ; so we came down sound and in Gardiner's Bay, where we made one set ; then we came into the Miamogue
Works ; had 62,400 fish. Thursday, 29«A : We fished in Gardiner's Bay ; canght 53,600, which we took to the Miamogue
Works; weather pleasant. Friday, 30th: We made three sets in Gardiner's Bay in a. m. ; then went up in Peconic
Bay and made two more sets and came to the Miamogue Works ; had 30,400 fish ; weather pleasant. Saturday, 31st :
Did not fish; I went home.

August 2d, Monday : In the morning we went down in Gardiner's Bay; made one set ; then went up in Noyack
Bay where we made two more sets; the wind blew very hard SW., so we went down to the Miamogue Works; had
48,800 fish. Tuesday, 3d: Went up in Peconic Bay; saw a small bunch of fish that was not worth setting for; then
we came down in Gardiner's Bay and made one set ; caught 10,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; fine.
Wednesday, 4th : It stormed in the morning, so we did not start out very early ; then went in the sound and off Hor-
ton's Poiut ; made one set, but did not catch them, as they went under the seine ; then some part of the engine brok«
and wo went to New Haven and had it fixed. Thursday, f>th : We went west as far as Southport ; caught a few fish,
but they were small ; at night went into New Haven again ; pleasant day. Friday, 6th : In the morning we came out
of New Haven and went east ; made a set off the mouth of the Connecticut Eiver, then we went to the Miamogue
Works; had 32,400 fish, and after getting them out and coaling up, we took a look up in Peconic Bay, but saw no
more ; so went to Greenport. Saturday, 7th : We went over to Cornfield Light Ship, then to Horton's Point ; and as
we saw no fish came to Greenport ; pleasant weather. Monday, 9(A : In the morning we went down to Fort Pond,
then up sound to Smithtown Bay, then crossed the sound to Southport, where we saw some steamers at work ; we saw
a few fish, but it was so late we did not set/ for them, but went into Bridgeport; pleasant; wind SW. Tuesday, 10th :
We went out in the morning ; made nine sets, but the bunches were small ; at night we anchored behind the light,
east side of New Haven Harbor; pleasant day. Wednesday, llth: In the morning it rained, but we started down
sound very early, and arrived at the Miamogue Works at 8.30 o'clock, and had 81,200 fish; we coaled up and started
back in the sound, as it had cleared off and bids fair to be a pleasant day ; we made four sets, just east of Faulkland
Island, and caught 57,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant in p. m. Thursday, 12th : We went
to Fort Pond, then up sound in p. m ; we caught about 50,000 fish, just east of New Haven, and stopped in New Haven
through the night. Friday, 13th : Went out in the sound ; made three sets, just east of New Haven, then made a small
set off Faulkland Island; alter which we hoisted our boats and started for Plum Gut; we had gone about 5 miles
when we discovered a good bunch of fish, so we stopped, lowered the boats, and filled the seine full ; I did not expect
that we could catch them, for the water is deep out in the middle of the sound, and we were all surprised when we
threw the big lead, for it struck bottom before half the lino was out ; I did not know there was a shoal like that
so near the middle of the sound ; the fish could not dive the seine and we saved about 75,000, the largest haul we
have made in a long time ; after scooping them in we hoisted our boats again, and started for the Miamogue Works,
where we arrived about sundown; had 148,400 fish ; fine day. Saturday, 14th: Did not fish; cleaned the boiler, and
put anew piece in the bunt of the seine; weather continues good. Monday, 16th : Went in the sound and fished from
Saybrook to Faulkland Island ; made five sots and three ' ' stabs ; " caught 48,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works ; weather pleasant. Tuesday, 17th : In the morning we went up in Peconic Bay, but saw no fish that would
pay us to stop for ; so went up sound and fell in with fish just east of Faulklaud Island ; caught 46,800, which we took

408 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

to the Miamogue Works; weather continues fine. Wednesday, 18tk : Went up sound, but caught no fish ; went around
a number of good bunches, but they would dive the seine every time; a very fine day. Thursday, 19th: We fished
in Gardiner's Bay ; caught only 12,000 ; the wind blew quite hard from the SW. ; after we had been to the works and
put the fish out we went up to Greenport and saw a three-masted schooner burn, which was loaded, in part, with
benzine ; it was a magnificent sight, but quite a loss to somebody. Friday, 20th : We fished in Gardiner's Bay ; made
six sets and canght 57,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; weather fine. Saturday, 21st : We went down
near Gardiner's Point, and a hard shower came up ; we waited awhile, and then came up to Greenport. Monday, Z2d :
Went out in Gardiner's Bay ; caught 98,400 fish ; but one of the tubes to the boiler gave out, so we went into the Mia-
mogne Works about 2 o'clock p. m. ; it was foggy in the morning, but pleasant the remainder of the day. Tuesday,
24th: Went out in Gardiner's Bay, and made two sets; then went below the island, off Fort Pond, and made two sets
more; caught, in all, 41,600, which we took to the Miamogue Works; fine day. Wednesday, 25th: We made two sets
in Gardiner's Bay in a. m., and in p. m. we had a squall, and the wind came out NE. and blew quite strong; so
we caught no more ; went into the works; had 8,800 fish. Thursday, 26th: Wind blew quite strong from NE. ; we
caught no fish. Friday, 27th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 24,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; wind
east. Saturday, 28th : Went up in Peconic Bay; caught 56,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works ; pleasant.
Monday, 30th : A storm from the east ; we lay in Greenport ; I went to Jamesport and got a man to take the place of
one of my crew who was sick. Tuesday, 31st : Went down to Gardiner's Point, but saw no fish, then np in Peconic Bay,
where we made two sets; caught 31,200, and took them to the Miamogue Works; wind east.

September 1st, Wednesday : Went down below Gardiner's Island; made one set off Tobacco Lot; then came up in
Gardiner's Bay, where we made another set, after which we came to the Miamogue Works with 16,800 fish ; fine.
Thursday, 2d : Went up sound as far as Mattituck Creek ; canght 60,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ;
weather continues pleasant. Friday, 3d: Wo went down in Gardiner's Bay, but caught no fish ; then went into the
fish works and coaled up, and went to Greenport. Saturday, 4lh : Did not fish ; very warm day. Monday, 6th : Went
down in Gardiner's Bay, and off Gardiner's Point we made three sets ; caught 35,600 fish, which we took to the
Miamogue Works; warm day. Tuesday, 7th : We caught in Gardiner's and Peconic Bays 35,600 fish, which we took
to the Miamogne Works ; cloudy and stormy, with wind east. Wednesday, 8th : Wind blew hard from the NE. ; we
went in Noyack Bay, made one set and caught 39,200 fish, and went down to the works with them ; then we came to
Greenport. Thursday, Qth : We went up in Noyack Bay and Peconic Bay in the morning ; but the wind blew hard
from the NE., so we came to Greenport and carted the seine in the lot and took a piece of bunt out of one seine and put
it In the other ; stormed hard in p. m. Friday, 10th : Wind NE. and storming ; at 9 o'clock a. m. the wind shifted
and blew from NNW. ; we did not go out ; I knit on the big net. Saturday, llth : We went out and made one set in
Gardiner's Bay, then went below Gardiner's Island and made one set, and came up south way and made a set off Payne's
Works; caught in all 49,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works, arriving there at 2 p. m., and Greenport at
4. and I went home ; weather good. Monday, 13th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay, but saw no fish, so went up
sound as far as Mattituck Creek, where we made five sets and caught 72,000 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works : fine. Tuesday, 14th : We went out in Gardiner's Bay, but the wind blew hard and we saw no fish ; so came
into Greenport. Wednesday, 15th : We caught in Gardiner's Bay 9,200 fish, which we took to the Miamogne Works;
wind blew hard. Thursday, 16th: We caught in Gardiner's Bay 14,000 fish, and took to the Miamoguo Works;
pleasant, but wind blew. Friday, 17th : Went in the sound, and west as far as Riverhead, where we made six sets ;
caught 106,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works; very pleasant day. Saturday, I81h: In Greenport,
cleaning boiler; I went home; very warm day. Monday, 20lh : Went down in Gardiner's Bay; made three small
sets, and just at night we found a large body of fish between Little Gull Island and Gardiner's Point, which we set
into and caught about 50,000, then we went into the Miamogne Works ; had 74,800 fish ; it was foggy in the morning,
but soon came off pleasant. Tuesday, 2lst: Wont out in Gardiner's Bay and below Gardiner's Island; caught onlv
2,400 fish and took them to the Miamogue Works ; pleasant. Wednesday, 22d : Went up to the head of the sound, and
as we did not see very many fish we went through the Gate and past New York and anchored just inside of Coney
Island; wind NW. all day. Thurnday, 23d: We fished off the Hook, and in Prince's Bay; made six sets, and went
into Hawkins Brothers' Works at Barren Island ; had 37,600 fish ; pleasant. Friday, 24th : We started out from Barren
Island as soon as we could see, and went over to Sandy Hook, but saw nothing worth stopping for ; so we came through
Hell Gate again into the head of the sound, and off Glen Cove we found fish and made two sets; then we went east as far
as New Haven, where we stopped over night ; wind blew fresh in p. ra. Saturday, 25th : Started out of New Haven,
and steered SSE. for Long Island; made one small set on our way down and caught 38,000, which we took to the
Miamogue Works ; weather good. Monday, 27th : Wind SW. ; went np sound as far as Glen Cove, where we made
two sets, and caught about 25,000 fish, and came to anchor off Glen Cove. Tuesday, 28th : We went out of Glen Cove,
and as the wind blew too strong for the fish to show, we went through Hell Gate to Sandy Hook, where we made three
sets and caught 94,500 fish, which we took to Barren Island to Hawkins' Works ; the wind in a. m. was S. by E. ;
p. m. it was WNW. Wednesday, Wth : Went out early ; went fi*st to Sandy Hook, then east a few miles, then west
as far as Coney Island, where we found some very good bunches of fish ; we made three sets and canght 126,500 fish,
which we took to the works ; pleasant day. Thursday, 30th : Went out from Barren Island, and went over to the
Hook ; then went up by Coney Island, where we made five sets and caught 114,000 fish, which we took to the Hawkins,
Barren Island ; wind west, but pleasant.

October 1st, Friday : Went out in the morning and went through Prince's Bay, and then went, east a few miles,
then back, and by Coney Island and through Prince's Bay again ; we saw plenty of small bunches of fish, but nothing
that we thought would pay us for lowering the boats and washing the salt off the seine ; then we went up to Jersey
City and coaled up ; a pleasant day. Saturday, 2d : We lay in Jersey City ; cleaned boiler, &c. ; I wrote np my record,
&c. ; weather good. Monday, 4th : Three of my crew were quite sick, so that it was impossible for me to fish, conse-

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

409

quently I started for Greenport ; we had a strong breeze from the SW. ; set the sail aud arrived at Greenport at
4.30 p. m. Tuesday, 5th: A stormy day; we carted the seine in the lot; it cleared off and we tarred the new seine
in p. m. Wednesday, 6th: We hauled the E. S. Newins out on the railways in a. m.; we worked on the seine in
p. m. Thursday, 7th: A part of the crew went to the Suffolk County fair, but those of us that staid in Greenport
worked on the seine and helped put on the condenser. Friday, 8th: We finished the new seine and carted it down,
and stowed the old one away in a. m. ; we launched the steamer and went down to the oil works and coaled up in
p. m. Saturday, 9(A : Did not lish. Monday, llth: Went out in Gardiner's Bay and caught at three sets 54,400 fish,
which we took to the Miaruogue Works ; weather good. Tuesday, 12th : We went up sound and off Mattituck Creek ;
made two sets ; caught 18,400 iish, and a squall of wind and rain came up, eo we started for the oil works, where we
arrived just after sundown; wind blew hard from the N. Wednesday, 13th: We hauled out the steamer to fix the
condenser again. Thursday, 14th: We went out and worked at the fish in the deep water off Gardiner's Point; set
the seine six times and caught none; they dive the seine; a pleasant day. Friday, 15th: We went out, but could find
no fish, except in the tide-way where the water was deep ; we set the seine twice and caught none; weather good,
but we were in bad humor. Saturday, Kith : Did not go out ; I went home. Monday, 18th: The wind blew hard from
the NW. ; we made one set in Gardiner's Bay and caught 16,400 fish, which wo took to the Miamogue Works ; weather
continues pleasant. Tuesday, Wth : We went down to Watch Hill and then through Fisher's Island Sound; made one
8et just west of the Dumplings, but the wind breezing up strong from the SW. we went into New London. Wednesday,
20th : Went into Gardiuer's Bay; made three sets and one "stab;" caught 83,600 fish, which we took to the Miamogue
Works; light wind from the E. Thursday, 21st: Went out in Gardiner's Bay; made one set, then went to Fort
Pond, then up sound as far as Faulkland Islaud, then to the oil works; had 12,800 fish; wind SSE. and looks like a
storm. Friday, 22d : Wo went out in Gardiner's Bay ; wind E. and storming ; made two sets and caught 39,200 fish,
and went to the works with them early ; got them out and arrived at Greenport about 3 p. m. ; the wind blew and it
stormed hard. Saturday, 23d : We went down as far as Fort Pond ; wind blew quite hard from the W. Monday,
25th : Went down to Fort Pond, but saw no fish ; then came up to the Miamogue Works and coaled up ; wind blew
quite strong from the NW. Tuesday, 26th : The fire-box to the steamer has cracked and they are putting a patch on
it. Wednesday, 27th : In Greenport at work on the fire-box. Thursday, 28th : Went down to Fort Pond, then up sound
to Morton's Point, then back in Gardiner's Bay; made one set, but caught none; pleasant day. Friday, 29th: Went
out, but caught none. Saturday, 30th: I went home; it stormed in p. m.

November 1st, Monday: Went down around Gardiner's Island, then up to Plum Gut; made one set, but caught
none; weather fine. Tuesday, 2d : Did not fish; attended election. Wednesday, 3d: Went out in Gardiner's Bay;
made two sets and caught 42,400 fish, which we took to the Miamogue Works ; a pleasant day. Thursday, 4th: Went
down as far as Fort Pond, but saw no fish; then came to Jamesport ; wind ESE. and cloudy. Friday, 5th: Wind
east, and stormy; we lay in Greenport. Saturday, 6th: Foggy; we went down in Gardiner's Bay and caught, at
three sets, 52,800 fish, which we took to the Miamogue .Works. Monday, 8th: We went down in Gardiner's Bay;
made one set aud caught about 1,000 fish; then went to Fort Pond, but could find no more, so came to Greenport;
the wind blew strong from the NW. Tuesday, 9th : Went out in Gardiner's Bay and then to Fort Pond, but could
find no fish; so went to the Miamogue Works and decided to quit for the season; then went to Greenport and
stripped sail and rigging from the steamer. Wednesday, 10th: We started very early in the morning for Jamesport,
and left boats and seine, and most of the crew to cart the seine in the lot to dry ; I went back to Greenport with the
E. S. Newius and fixed her for the winter, and came home on the cars, and the fishing season of 1880 with us is ended ;
two or three gangs staid out about two weeks longer, and had a few days of good fishing about the middle of Novem-
ber, and caught some fat fish.

CATCH OF MENHADEN BY A LONG- ISLAND FISHING CREW FROM 1852 TO 1880.

The following table shows the number of menhaden taken by Captain Conkliu and his crew
during each year from 1852 to 1880, as recorded in the preceding journal. It will be seen that in
the early years of the fishery the season began later and ended earlier in the year than during
recent years. In 1878 and 1879 a few fish were taken in April, as follows : In 1878, April 22, 55,200
fish ; April 26, 153,600 ; April 27, 4,000 ; April 29, 182,000 ; April 30, 136,400. In 1879, April 21,
54,800 fish; April 23, 113,600; April 28, 120,800.

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1800.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

180C.

May 23

7,200

5,000

24

21,000

24, 000

25

12, 000

26

5 000

24, 000

27

28

29

12 700

30

23 000

10 300

£2,440

tl

18, 000

(5,000

40,000

12,800

44,800

410

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Date.

1867.

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

May 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

4 000

141, 500

117, 800

89, 000

20, 500

193, 800
120, 000

16, 800
130, 800

60,000

184, 800
132, 800

100, 000
13,600

38,500

92 000

81, 658
12,000

51, 000

24, 800

3,000

16, 000

40, 800

68,000

7,000
22,400

37 000

125, GOO

11, 000'

47, 000

54,500

29,500
36,300
27, 500

20, 000

35, 500

152, 400

26,224

44,100

48, 000
13,100

256, 800

32, 000

172, 800

7,800

26, 800
32, 000

10, 000

30,500
40,500

36, 400
149, 200

7, 500

27, 000

40, 275

45,000
24,000
6,500

7,400

10,000
12, 800
5,300
18, 000
42, 200
11,500

59, 300
74, 000
44,540
34,800

9,000
16, 500

51,000
110, 000
212, 000

68, 800

16,000

16,000
19, 000
6,000

5,225
28, 000
9, 2JO

202, 800
141, 000
161, 200
67,200

4,800
2,000

52, 000
58,000
21, 500

20, 000
30, 500
132, 000
80,500
34,000

3,000

49,541
30,222
7,300
22, 900

47, 371

164, 000

92,800
36, 800
205, 600
208, 800

8,300

42,000
29,500
53,200

7,500

13,000
18, 000
28,000

107,000
16, 000

16, 000

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

1866.

June 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

21,000

33,000
32,800
64,000
30, 000

24, 000
30,000

65,200
21,800

21,000
7,000

10,000

9,000
21,000

24,000
10,000

9,500
15,000

3,000

10, 000
5,000

4,000

6,500

51,000
5,600
18, 800

! 1,1100

10,000

14,000
4,500
4 000

9,000

19, 600
10, 000
24 000

56,000
12, 500
43, 000

10, 000
18, 000
10, 000

7,500
17,600

25, 000
6, 000
25, 500

9,000

3,000

27, 100
6,500

12,000
40, 000
13, 000
15, 000
10,000
20, 000

26,000
7,800
10,000
42, 000
34, 000

24,000
22, 000
16, 000

6,500

16,500
32, 700
7,100
12, 000
14,000

6,500

20,000

9,500

25, 000
29, 000
15,000
31,000
8,400

24,600
37,000

8,000

28, 000
20,000

1,500

11, 000
3,000
12, 000
11,000
15, 000

4, ICO
18, 950
22, 500

45,600
13,600

12, 000

2,000

7,500

18,750
41, 000
37, 138
62,144

10,000

22, 000

10, 000
1,700
33, 000
30 000

21,200
40, 000
14,000
15, 000
15,400

25,000

20,000
18,000
76, 000
7 000

20,000

5,000
66, 000
8,000
6,000
8,000

18,950
23, 050

6,000

5,600

18, 100
16, 175
21, 630
29, 100
26, 000
43,500

4,000
1 000

6,000
17,600

15, GOO

5C, 000
40, 000
40,500
36, 000
38, 000

27,500

13, 000
27, 000
25, 000
25, 500
19, 000

5,300
11,000
43,900

12, 800
11,000

35, 100

11,000

31,750

22, 500

4,000

27,550
22, 100
33, 825

13,000

42,000
31,000

12,000

32, 600
44,500

2,000

36, 000
1,000

14, 000

20,500
7 700

4,800

28,800

8,000
9,400
2,000

25,800

27 600

17 200

42, 550
06, 100
10, 190

10,500
7,000

8,000

35, 000
37, 000
32, 000

52, 000

44, 000

22, 400

35,000
47, 000

29,000

26,500

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

411

Date.

1867.

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

June 1
2
3
4
6
6
7
8
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

19, 200

78, 064
17, 900

57, 300

77, 000
82, 500
30, 500

36, 000

8,000

97, 000

53,800

16, 531
15, 662
25, 740
8,525

22, 600

88, 000

3,000
12, 600
15, 000

18,400

87,200
6,400

28V500
45, 500
18,500
11, 000

3,000

35, 000
20, 100
66, 000

7,150

35, 000

81, 000
69, 500

110, 000
208, 000
38, 000

41, 338
60, 979

5,550
8,000
7,000
6,500

7 000

29, 500

5,550

67 000

1,000

82

000

500

11, 000

42, 000

218, 000

4,400

13,196

77 179

33,

19, 000
43, 200
18, 000

9,000

14, 500
24, 000
29,500

9,100

57 577

I9 150

49, 800

61,568
36, 043

20,500

40,000

8,000
47, 000
35, 500
29 000

48,000
57, 000
51, 500

24, 630

20, 500
2,000

9,500
11, 500

32, 000

47, 741

44,500
44, 500
105, 918
77 656

36, 000
25, 600

10, 100
15,843

22,800

63,200

4,500
6,500
23,500
18, 500
7,500
23, 000

24,500
34, 500

134, 400
73, 600
18,000

16, 800

E9, 000

69, 600
28, 800

5,000

99, 000

10, 700

17, 500
86, 000
7,500

4,800
7,200

20,500
25, 500

16,500
39, 500
70, 500

27, 238
74,000

9,600

28, 000

109, 600

39, 000

3,500
13, 500

17, 300
10, 350
24,300

•

39,000

93,100
4,400
73, 500
65, 000
64, 000

11,000

32, 000
17, 060
4,000
22, 000
10, 500

65, 000
17,500
52, 000
11, 000

18,500

84,800

20,000

3,000

33, 180

32, 000
21, 000

52, 000
44, 000

36, 000
17, 500

48,000

43, 600

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1883.

1864.

1865.

1866.

July 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

3,000

12 000

1,000
35, 000

30, 000
16, 000

30, 000

13, 500
21, 700

25, 500
20, 000
10, 000

28, 500

15,500

41, 260
20, 4CO
27,580

1,600
9,400

35, 000
14, 000
36, 000
14, 000

22, 000

12, 000
39, 000
35,000
23, 000
22, 000
32, 000
10, 000

20, 000
80, 000

8,000

10 500

9,000

5,000

22, 250
24,160
5,100
64, 000

10, 000
14 400

53, 000
24, 000
10, 600

8,200

9,800
25, 000
12, 800
50, 100

22, 900
29, 800
16, 000

6,000
8,000
50,000
4 000

5,000

35,600

20, 000
40, 000

32,000

12, 000

65, 000

5,000

1,200

18, 000

27,400
77, 600
60,800

18,000
4,000
24, 000
8,500

24 000

9 500

69 000

18, 000
7,000
12, 000

50,000

26, 800
18, 000

38, 000
22, 000
8,000
26, 500

19,410
36, 000
21, 000

10, 500
59, 380

80, 875
51, 500

17, 000
69, 000

12, 000

20, 000
33, 000

18, 000
21,200
1,700

54, 480
84,300

97, 800
22, 500

17, 000

21, 000

18,000

66,500

80,000
72, 500

412

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Date.

1867.

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

July 1

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

64,380
53, 680

15,500

16,000

38, 500
124,000

4,1,650
' 15,600

57,500
47,000

35, COO
35, 500

27, 000

130, 800
104, 000

34,800
60, 400

48,800

71, 000

6,000

5,000

115, 500
29,500

25, 000

117, 500

44,500
41, 000
18, 500
12,500

47,200
56,400
68, 400
8,800

10,000

77,500
84,000

48, 000

13, 400

86,000

29, 000
6,000
34,000
15, 000

73, 160
18, 000
18, 300
36, 200

131,000
29,000
104, 000
6,000
23,000

90,800
94,^00
74,000
102, 000

55, 200

4,000

21,000

35,000
70, 000
16, 800

80,500

17, 500
59,000
12, 000
49,000
35, 500

120, 000
95, 000
70,000

35,000
13,000

47,500
27,500
30, 500
16,000
27,000

9,200

12, 240
5,000

33,000

96,500
35,000
54,500
24,000
8,500

187, 200
232, 000
87,200

110, 000

30,100
78,300
33, 300
39, 780

50,000

36,000
18, 300
26, 500
42, 400
21 000

12,000
51, 500
51, BOO
24,500

100, 000
11,200
46, 800
92,000
149,000
6,000

103, 000
100, 500
109, 000
115,500

155,600

2,500

19,2*0
22,500

27,540

24, 500

24, 000
73,000

20,000

29,000
7,700
55,000
60, 500
31, 500
17, 50C

50,000
101, 600
15,000
130, 200

31,000
18, 000
16, 800
10, 180

11, 500
31, 500
24,000

18, 000
4,000

53,000
54,000
73, 000
41,000
67, 000

24,000
26,000
92, 500
3,000

58, 500
17,000
73, 000
31, 500

9,000

52,000

42, 080
33, 660
90,880
84,520
40, 000

37,500
27,500
15,500

18, 000
70,500
38,500
101, 500

216, 400
102, 800
109, 600

59, 600
126, 400

24,000
28,500
54,400
51,500
83, 200

62,000

79,000

60,500

18,000

71,500
53, 000
87, 000

26,500
1,500
6,000

78, 400
85, 000
62,400
63, 600
30,400

42, 000
25, 000
22, 000
68,500

30, 000
28, 000

49,500

129, 600
9,600
37,600
59,600

60, 000
27,000

12, 000
55,500
8,500

38, 500
12, 000
24, 000

16, 200
50,000
95,000

128, 000

12,500

80,500
84,000

53,000

6,500

224,009

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

1866.

Aug. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

11, 000

67, 000
70,000

30,950
13,680

33, 000
55, 400
32,000
28, 600
36,600

16,000

8,000

29,000

15,000

22, 000

7,000
24,000

33,000

24,000

45, 000

45,000

12, 000
8,000

25,200
75,600

2,500
16,000
9,700
1 600

35, 580
44,700
10, 950
20, 700
17,200

30,000
37, 600
53, 600
40, 800

3,500
21,000

20,000

32,000

28, 000

15, 000

16, 000

50,0(10
2,700
43, 000
9,314

17, 200
21,600

24,000
31,000
43,400
31, 000
26, 000

7 000

2,000

11, 000
12,000

8,000
26, 000

15, 000

16, 000

6,000

3,500
15,000
8,000
13, 000

88, 000
18, 000

45, 000

4,000
22,000
9,000

35, 000
45, 000
28,000

37, 600
31 000

28, 600

8,000
17,000
8,000
18,000
11, 300

6,000
4,000
5,000
10, 000
23,500
22,400

27 000

28,000

18, 000

20, 000

4,200
40,000
44, 000

21, 200
72,500

48,000
62, 600

8,000

14, 000

27,000
16,000
8,000
4,000
6,000
10,000

9,000
10, 000
20,000

27, 000

38, 000
21,000

29,200
26, 500
44, 000
30, 000

40,000

76, 000
57,200
17, 200
43, 200
40,000

25,400

36, 800
58,700
21,500
58, 600
42, 200
23, 200

15,000
8,000

23, 000
20,000

27,000
24,000
13,000
7,400

19, 400

22,950
25, 411
17, 650

2,500

18,000
9,400

17, 500
19,000
8,000

34,000
23, 000
12, 000
26,000
30, 000

77,000

25,000
43, 400
21,145
62,000
20, 600

15,200

14, 000
30, 000
5,000

12,000
26, 000

17, 000
20, 000
6,000

11,000

7,400
12,800
40, 800

10, 500
51, 100
11,400
12, 400

18,000
21,000

12, 000
9,000
12, 000

7,000
19, 000

29, 000
16, 000

3,000
10,000

15,000

29, 000
14,000

25, 000

23,850
37,000

13,000

3,000

30,200

THE MENHADEN FISHERY.

413

Date.

1867.

1868.

1S69.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

Aug. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

23, 000
35, 500
44,500
54, 800
°5 000

30, 500
28, 400
38, 000
10, 500

78, 700
98, 800

15,500
14,000

37, 000
47, 500
6,500

93, 000
102, 800

52, 000

22, 500
24,000
40, 000
44 750

48,800
10, 800

3,500
15, 800

4E, 000

42, 500
19, 500

9,500

73, 000
28, 500
23, 000

77, 000
123, 500
57, 500
86,000

102 400
60 000

60, 000
33, 300
29,500
12, 840

95, 800
76, 800
44,300

85, 000

13, 000

85,000
44, 000
27,000
32, 000
87, 000

30, 400
77,600
12,000

32, 400

46, 000

32,000
32,000
6,500

17, 000

16, 000
40,500
46, 000
38, 000
15, 000

52,000
83,500

9,000

94,500
41, 500
12,500
26, 000

4 560

61, 000
28, 000
48, 000

8J, OHO
12, 000
3,000

63,000

24,500

138,400

33,660

27,540
66,700

92, 000
96,000
84 300

90,000
52,000

129,600

35, 500
51,000

107,000
42,000
56,000
17, 000
63,000

223,400

44,000

66,500

12,000

45, 000
25,000
39, 500

77,000

160, 800
14,400

16,800

29,500
68,500
31,500
38,500

5,500

14,000
69, 000
20,500
69,500
52,000

48,800
46,800

26,500
20,300
9,000
87, 000
76, 280

59,000
44,000
29,500
15,000

78, 000

28,000
58,500

9,000

8,800
8,700
52, 800
42,400
60,000

42,500
96,700
71,000

12,000
57, 200

30,500
16,000

121, 000
56,000
38, 000
79,500

55, 200
87,600

169,200
59,200

22, 500
12, 000
3,000

112, 000
88,500
17, 000
28, 000
31,500
34, 500

48,400
29, 600

98,400
41,600
8,800

89. 700
31, 600

62,000
25,000

20, 000

41,600

20,000

74, 300

53,500
28,500
12, 000

86, 500
24, 000
27, 500

56, 500

66,000
6,400
161, 600
66, 400
36,800
27, 200

29, 500

14,000

29, 500
93, 000
95, t)00
110, 000
38, 500

24, 800
56,000

19,600
40, 800

40, 700

57, 500
74, 000
54, 000
32, 000

53, 500
73, 200
70, 500

27,200

9,000

62, 000
64,000

24,000
31, 000

66, 000

31,200

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

1866.

Sept 1
2
3
4

5
6

7
8
»
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

24, 000
8,800
11,500
3,300

15,600
18, 000
5,000

20,000

28,900

30, 400

7,000

28,200
21, 325

22,000

18, 000
14,500

15,000
30, 000
12,000

23,300

34,000
25,600
30,500
47,200
16,000

42,100

6,300
54,600
10,600

10, 000

3,000

15, 000
1,000
11,000
16, 400
33,000
4,000

9,600

40,000
13, 000

10 000

20,000
30, 500
22,000
26,000

26,000
36,150
64,000
21,000
9 OQQ

9 000

12,000
6,000

21,500

44,000
26,000

14,200
33, 400
24,200

9,600

20,000

3,000
5,000

'26,500

22,000

29,000
35, 800
13,000

4 000

5,000
15,000
6,000

16,000
8,200
12, 250

16, 700

48,725
28, 550

25, 400
50,600

4,000

23, 000

4,800

20,000

10,500

42, 740
17, 000
43,900

14, 800

14, 000
24,000
20,000
25,000

14, 000

30, 000

9,000

24,000

9,000

8,000

23,000
22,500

8,000
10,500

21,500

23,600
9,000

5,000

12,000

5,000

7 500

15, 550

22,000

3,000

15,000

414

HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Date.

1867.

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

Sept. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

29, 000
27,540

45, 500
50, 200

29, 500
14, 000
11, 500

42,500
50,500
38,000

40,500

141,200

16, 800
60, 000

9,000
38, 900
33, COO
24, 000
35, 200
25,600

56,500

55,000
57,500
56, 200
5(i, 800

10,500

197, 200
183, 200

53,500
3,000
96, 300
18, 700

113, 600
46, 600
10, 600
2,000

23, 500

76, 300
37, 200
55, 200
48, 750
25, 800

47, 500
41,500
20,500

56, 000

12, 000
14, 000

38,500

101, 000
59,000
80, 500
47,500

23,500
49, 500

95, 000

35,600

22,600

14, 000
34,000
17,500
50,500
21,500
23,000

8,500
41,500

39, 200

52, 400
65, 600
33, 200
40, 000

88,500

253, 600
66, 400
76, 800

36,600
90, 000
129, 600
72, 000

97,600
59, 580

25, 200

34, 000
90,500
60, 300
6,000

47, 500
48, 000
42,500
29, 000

21, 000

66,009
78, 500
7,500
116, 500
92, 000

49, 200

76, 500
60, 000
74,000
77,500

72, 000

31, 400
11, 000

14, 000

8,500

61, 600

32,500
19, 000
31, 000

118, 000

9,200
14, 000
106, 400

25, 600
57, 000
32,000
12, 800

6,520

34,500

236, 000
98, 000
57, COO
114,800
158, 400

23,300
39, 800

50, 500

5,000
92, 500
94,400
51,500

84,000

48, 300

20, 000
98, 000

95, 200

49, 400
53,500
18, 400
28, 000
25,600
37, 800

41, 000
59.500

52, 000

124, 800
2,400

38,000

30, 000

15,500
27, 500
36, 500
28,000
16, 000

30, 000
8,500
10,500
21, 000

40,500

31, 200
2,400
12,000

51, 000
40, 500
82,000

36, 800
35, 800
75,500

23, 200
25, COO
100, 400

64,200
9,600

37, 600

44,500
16, 500

20, 500

38, 000

56, 500

36, 000
21, 000
6,000

25, 000
94,500
126, 500
114,000

21, 200
33, 200
54,500

23,500
12, 500

50,500

52, 500

75, 500

24,800
93,600

39, 600

29,150

16, 500

127, 000

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

1866.

Oct. 1
2
3

4
5

e

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

14,400

.

30 000

18, 000

8,000

10,000
11 000

17,500

9 000

11, 200
28, 800

4,000

20 000

9 000

40 000

30 000

7 000

25,000

17 500

32, 000

32,000
6,000

15 200

7,000

2,000

27 000

17 600

46 600

24,000
33, 000

3,000

24, 000
41,600
45, 000
24, 000

157 875

13,800
90, 000
34,000
32,000
30, 000

54,050
38, 500
40, 000
91, GOO

20, 000
26,000
3,000

63, 000

8,400
16, 600
11, 800

82, 000
4,500
8,600
9,600

20, 000

51,000
60 000

53, 500

103, 000

56, 000
88,000

75,200

36, 500

40, 500

6,000
3,200

71, 500

14, 700

THE MEXHADEN FISHERY.

415

Date.

1867.

18G8.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

18T8.

1879.

1880.

Oct. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
11'
13
14
15
10
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

36, 000
2,500

17,500

12, 000

11, 000

30,500
34, 500

49, 500
46, 500

152, 000
88, 800
111 200

178, 000

39, 200
30, COO

11,000

155, 600

15,000

43, 5oO

32, 000

6,000

15, 200

36, 000
6,500
20, 700

119, 600

9,800

11, 500

24 000

39 000

19,500
55, 000

138.400

24,000

7,600

33,500
29 500

33, 000

54,400
18,400

14, 000

29, 000
34,000

26, 000
16, 500

39, 500

24, 300

46, 000

82, 000

52, 000
17, 500
44,000
102, 500
18,000

12,500

5,800
17, 600

54,150

12,000
23, 700

42, 400

49, 100

58, 500
2,000
37, 500
8,500

48, 500
35 500

54,400

16, 400

22, 500

31, 800

41, 300
12, 300

32, 000
53,000
56, 500

3,200

50,500
38, 500
28, 000

26,500
22, 000

16, 800

21, 500
98, 000
29, 000

15, 500

20, 000
15,500
12,000

83,600
12,800

25,600
16, 300

27 000

21, 800

124, 800
176, 800
62,000

32, 200

89,500

37,500
59,500

10,000

37, 000
19, 000
13,500
5,000

28,500
27, 500
43, 000

52, 800
25,000
20,800

8,500
12,000

160, 800
78, 000

•

2,500

23, 000

48,200

4,800
92, 000

33, 500

10, 300
33, 500

76,000

57, €00
36,000
39, 500

25,000

51, 400
79, 500
22, 000

66, 400

42,000

77, 600

10, 500

Date.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858. 1859. 1860. 1861. 1862.

1863.

1864.

1865.

1866.

Nov. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

39,000
79,000
73,000

12, 800

41,800

59, 370
10,600
*30 250

12,800

53,900

•

Date.

1867.

1868.

1869.

1870.

187L

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

Nov. 1
2
3

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

43, 500
39, 500

73,500

35,600

24 500

48, 400
75,400

53,500

140, 000
84 400

42,400

30,500

3,500
82,500
28,500

23,000

106, 000

84,400
12, 000

52, 800

34,500

11 500

83,200

79, 000
90,000

97, 800

18,500

39 500

21,800

159, 000

PA.'RT VI.

THE HERRING FISHERY AND THE SARDINE INDUSTRY.

Bv R. EDWARD EARLL.

1.— THE HERRING-FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The vessels and their crews.

3. The lay and share.

4. Methods of capture.

5. Disposition of the catch.

6. Statistics of the herring fishery.

2.— THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY.

1. Origin of the trade.

2. The fishing grounds.

3. The vessels and their crews.

4. The fishermen of Newfoundland

Brunswick.

and New

5. Methods of capture.

6. Preserving the fish.

7. Markets.

8. Extent of the trade.

3 THE PICKLED HERRING TRADE WITH THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS, ANTICOSTI,

NEWFOUNDLAND, AND LABRADOR.

1. History of the fishery.

2. The fishing grounds.

3. The vessels and their crews.

4. Apparatus and methods of capture.

5. Lay of the fishermen.

6. Methods of preserving the fish.

7. Extent of the fisheries and the export trade.

4.— THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY.

a. Hard herring.

1. Origin of the smoked herring.

2. Location of the industry.

3. The fishermen and curers.

4. Methods of the fishery.

5. The smoke-houses.

6. Methods of smoking and packing.

7. Markets and prices.

8. Further preparations of smoked herring.

9. Statistics of the business.
o. Bloater herring.

10. The origin, methods of preparation, and statis-

tics of the bloater-herring industry.
c. Statistics of the industry.

11. Statistics of the smoked-herring industry of

Maine in 1880.

5.— THE SARDINE INDUSTRY.

1. Origin and development of the business.

2. Location of the fisheries.

3. Apparatus and methods of capture.

4. Preparation of the fish.

5. Extent of the business.

8EO V-

-27

417

T VI.

THE HERRING FISHERY AND THE SARDINE INDUSTRY.

BY E. EDWARD EARLL.

1.— THE HERRING FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

GENERAL MOVEMENTS OF HERRING. — The natural history of the herring has, perhaps, been
less thoroughly understood than that of any other of our important food-fishes.

Pennant was the first to construct a theory with reference to the movements of the herring.
His theory, which was based largely upon the traditional ideas of the fishermen, was that the
herring lived in the Arctic seas during the greater part of the year. Here he claimed they found
an abundance of suitable food, and were entirely free from the ravages of the numerous enemies
which preyed upon them in the more southern latitudes. He stated that at certain seasons of the
year large schools gathered from the surrounding waters and soon started on their annual migra-
tions to the shores of Europe and America. The division of the army that was to populate the
European seas was supposed to be so extensive as to occupy a surface greater than that of Great
Britain and Ireland combined. It was further claimed that as the schools proceeded southward
they naturally subdivided into smaller schools or battalions five or six miles long by three or four
broad. The particular schools that were to visit the waters of Great Britain in summer arrived at
Iceland in March, and next appeared at the Shetland Islands, where they divided, one portion
passing directly southward, between Scotland and the Continent, while the other was turned to
the westward, and after passing Cape Wrath followed the western shore of the island. It was
thought that each school was led by herring of "unusual size and sagacity," claimed by some to
be the alice or ticaite shad. This theory, though now amusing on account of its absurdity, was
generally accepted for many years, and it was not until 1854 that it was overthrown by a more
rational one. At this time Mr. Cleghorn, of Wick, Scotland, published his ideas of the movements
of the herring. These were so wholly opposed to those of Pennant as to attract universal atten-
tion, and to call forth considerable discussion, which has resulted in the addition of much infor-
mation regarding the movements of the fish.

Mr. Cleghorn's theory, briefly stated, was as follows: First, that the herring is a permanent
resident of the waters which it inhabits, and that it never migrates to any distance from a given
locality; second, that distinct races exist on different portions of the coast; third, that although
the quantity of netting now in use is much greater than that formerly employed, yet the catch is,
generally speaking, much smaller; fourth, that the yield of the fisheries gradually increased up
to a certain point, after which it began to fluctuate, and soon decreased rapidly, so that many
stations that were once prosperous have been abandoned; fifth, that the fisheries were soonest
exhausted in the vicinity of the larger cities, and among the smaller bays and islands, where the

fishery could be extensively prosecuted, and that the supply was least affected in the open sea.

419

420 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

From these premises he reached the conclusions that the former fluctuations and recent decrease
in the yield is due to overfishing.

Numerous other ichthyologists have written extensively of the movements of the herring in
later years, and others have devoted considerable attention to the classification of the genus
Clupea; but even now the whole subject is in confusion. Many of the leading European authorities
claim that there are a number of distinct species inhabiting the European seas, and some of them
have gone so far as to assign special names to the different schools. Mr. J. M. Mitchell says that
different schools of herring have a different look, and that such peculiarities are noticeable that
practical men can distinguish between them. Mr. Bertram, in his Harvest of the Sea, says:

"It has been deduced, from a consideration of the figures of the annual takes of many years,
that the herring exists in distinct races, which arrive at maturity month after mouth; and it is
well known that the herring taken at Wick, in July, are quite different from those taken at Dunbar
in August or September; indeed, I would go further and say that even at Wick each month has
its changing shoal, and that as one race ripens for capture another disappears, having fulfilled its
mission of procreation." *

Most American writers, on the other hand, recognize but one species of herring, this being the
Clupea harengus, the common herring of both Europe and America. Some of the American fisher-
men, however, claim that though the large fish are all undoubtedly of the same species, the small
herring, which are in some localities called " brit," and in others " spurling," are quite different,
and that they never grow to any considerable size. Others, on the contrary, insist that these small
fish are but the young of the common herring, and that there is no more difference between them
than is noticeable between the young and adult of any other species.

In America, the herring occur from the coast of Labrador on the north to Cape Cod, and
occasionally even to New Jersey on the south, and there are extensive spawning and feeding
grounds for the species along various portions of the coast; while immense schools of them are
often seen by the fishermen at different seasons of the year on many of the outer fishing banks.
It is claimed, however, that they invariably resort to the inshore grounds for the purpose of
spawning, though the fact is not yet fully established.

THE SPAWNING SEASON. — In America, as in Europe, there is considerable uncertainty as to
the time of spawning. The Fish Commissioners of Scotland, after having collected a largo
amount of valuable information, arrived at the conclusion that " herrings spawn at two seasons
of the year, viz, in spring and autumn. They have no evidence of spawning during the solstitial
months, viz, June and December, but in nearly all the other months gravid herring are found,
and the Commissioners assert that the spring spawning certainly occurs in the latter part of
January, as also in the three following months, and the autumn spawning in the latter end of
July, and likewise in the following months up to November. ' Taking all parts of the British
coast together, February and March are the great mouths for spring spawning, and August and
September for the autumn spawning.'" In America, also, the herring spawn at various seasons
of the year. On the south coast of Newfoundland they spawn between the middle of May and
the first of July. They usually approach the shores of the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence, during the last week in April. They visit this locality wholly for the purpose of
spawning, and leave as soon as the eggs have been deposited, which usually requires from three
to five weeks.

About the time of their departure from the Magdaleus, schools of spawning fish make their
appearance at the western end of Cape Breton Island. They are first seen in the vicinity of Port

* Harvest of the Sea, page 164.

THE HERRING FISHERY. 421

Hood, and from this point they gradually work toward the Strait of Canso. These remain but a
short time, frequently leaving in less than two weeks from the time they are first seen.

At Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, the herring strike in, in June, and the spawning
season continues from the first of July to the middle of September.

At Boisbubert, Castine, and Crabtree Point, in the eastern part of Maine, the spawning-time
is from the latter part of July till the first of September.

At Wood Island, Maine, and at Cape Ann, Massachusetts, they usually arrive about the 20th of
September, and the spawning is at its height from that time till the middle of October. According
to Professor Baird, the spawning season occurs even later as we proceed southward.

It is claimed, however, and is doubtless true, that the spawning season for the winter schools
in the vicinity of Eastport is in March and April, and that they frequently spawn in St. Andrews
Bay as late as the middle of May.

From these facts it will be seen that it is difficult to construct a theory as to the laws that
regulate the spawning conditions of the fish.

HERRING ON THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. — But it is not our purpose to go into any general
discussion of the herring fisheries as they exist on the coasts of Europe and America, nor even to
treat of the fisheries of the British Provinces of North America, any further than is neces-
sary to show the extent of the business in the United States. Confining ourselves, then, for
the present, to the coast of New England, we find that although there are numerous spawning-
grounds where the fish are taken in considerable quantities, yet the herring occur in greater or less
numbers in almost every harbor and cove between Cape Cod and Eastport, and that they are fre-
quently observed at a considerable distance from the land. In the spring they usually make their
appearance along the southern shores of this district during the latter part of April, and are taken
a few weeks later along the coast of Maine. Great schools of them are also seen on George's and
other outer fishing-banks as early as February, though with the exception of the school visiting
Eastport they are not known to occur in the shoal waters along the coast during the winter months.

The young and the old usually go in schools by themselves, remaining separate from each
other during the entire year. Some localities are visited only by young fish, others only by those
that are fully mature; while others still are frequented by both young and old at different sea-
sons, or the two may occasionally be seen in the same region at the same time, though even then
they seldom mingle to any considerable extent.

FISHING-GROUNDS IN THE VICINITY OF EASTPOET. — The principal fishing ground for small
herring is in the vicinity of Eastport. These immature fish appear in the early spring, and are
abundant among the numerous islands and ledges throughout the summer, often remaining as late as
the middle of December. The fishing ground extends from Beaver Harbor, New Brunswick, to
Cutler, Me., a distance of thirty-two miles. Along this stretch of coast the herring are chiefly
taken in brush weirs, and are used for smoking and canning, any surplus being frequently made
into pomace and oil. This region is also the center of the winter herring fisheries of New Bruns-
wick, and is much resorted to for bait by American fishermen in the spring.

• Most of the fish taken in the early spring are locally known as "brit," being but three or four
inches long. A little later larger individuals appear, and by midsummer those taken average five
to seven inches in length. Later still even larger herring are taken, the bulk of them at this sea-
son being smoked and shipped to Boston for distribution to the consumers.

Formerly large numbers of herring visited Cobscook Bay, where they remained during a
greater part of the season, but when brush weirs came into general use the passage between
Campobello Island and Lubec was almost completely closed by the building of particularly large

422 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

weirs, which often extended well out into the channel, frequently nearly meeting from the opposite
shores. The bulk of the fish having been turned from their usual passage, they seemed to move a
few miles to the eastward, and the center of the fishery is now at the eastern end of Campobello
and in the vicinity of Deer Island, New Brunswick, though considerable numbers of small fish are
still taken at Lubec, and even as far west as Cutler and Cross Island.

The fisheries of this region, though extensive, are not yet fully developed, for the small fish,
prior to the establishment of sardine canneries in 1875, were of little use, and fishing for them was
not considered profitable. On account of the small size and the supposed worthlessness of the
fish, little or no attention was paid to their capture, and until recently many fishermen have been
wholly unaware of the immense quantity of herring in the region.

The catch being sold almost exclusively to the sardine canneries, the subject will be treated
more fully in the chapter on the sardine fisheries.

THE FISHING-GROUNDS OF JONESPOKT AND BOISBTJBEET. — The next important herring
ground as we proceed westward is that in the vicinity of Jonesport, or in and about Moos-a-bec
Beach. According to Mr. M. P. Chandler, of Jonesport, large schools of herring have visited
these waters regularly since 1830, and probably for a much longer period. He claims that schools
of small fish arrive about the last of April and remain till the middle of June, when they are
driven farther out to sea by schools of full-grown herring that visit the waters along the shore.
Vessels from the surrounding fishing ports resorted to this locality with gill-nets as early as 1840,
and the fishery continued until 1872, when, owing to a depreciation in the value of the fish, the
business was wholly discontinued, and no vessels have visited the region since that date. During
the height of the fishery a fleet of twenty- five sail often anchored in Head Harbor, and the fish-
eries were prosecuted from small boats in the surrounding waters Though the vessel fishery
ceased some time since, the herring are reported as abundant as formerly, and considerable num-
bers of them are taken in nets and weirs by the local fishermen, the greater part being used for
bait, while the remainder are employed as a dressing for the land, or sold to the sardine canneries
established at Jonesport in 1880.

Lying to the southward of the towns of Millbridge and Steuben, between the mainland and
Petit Manan light, is the small rocky island of Boisbubert. This island is about two miles long
by half a mile wide, and the waters lying off its southern head are a favorite resort for the herring
during the spawning season, which extends from the middle of July to September. The spawning-
grounds are located within a radius of two or three miles of the southern head of the island, and
include a number of small rocky islands and ledges, the principal ones being Egg Eock and Jor-
dan's Delight. The bottom of the ocean in this region is covered with large stones and bowlders,
to which large quantities of alga? are attached. During the spawning season the entire bottom is
often covered to a depth of several inches with the eggs of the herring.

This has been a favorite spawning-ground for the species from the earliest recollections of the
oldest inhabitants, and, according to Mr. Sanborn, of Millbridge, a brush weir was built in the
mouth of the Naraguagus Eiver, near the village of Millbridge, as early as 1820. Though herring
were taken in considerable numbers, the weir fisheries increased very slowly, owing to a limited
demand for the fish, the supply being used only for bait by the few local fishermen and tor fertiliz-
ing the land. About 1850 parties from Lubec came to the region and built large weirs on Bois-
bubert Island and other places along the mainland, and then, for the first time, the herring fisheries
became important. The business continued to increase, and each of the weir-owners built large
smoke-houses and presses for utilizing the catch. The fishery was at its height between 1858 and
1863, when twelve to fifteen weirs were fished regularly and 75,000 to 100,000 boxes of herring were

THE HERRING FISHERY. 423

smoked annually, the greater part being shipped to Boston for a market. Large quantities of fish
were also pressed for the oil, the pomace being used locally as a fertilizer. The pressing of fish
was discontinued fully ten years ago, and, owing to the low price of smoked herring, the weir
fisheries have constantly decreased, so that in 1880 only 500 boxes of fish were cured in Millbridge
and the fishermen of Steuben had entirely discontinued their work. Eight small weirs were occa-
sionally fished during the season of 1880, and it is estimated that considerably over 2,000 hogsheads
of fish were taken ; but the greater part of them were turned out for want of a market, a few being
sold to the lobster and boat fishermen for bait, and others were carted upon the land.

About 1868 the vessel fishermen of the surrounding islands, on learning of the abundance of
the herring on the spawning-grounds of Boisbubert, began to resort to the region in small vessels
to engage in the fishery. A larger number came each season, until, in 1875, there were from
twenty to twenty-five sail, averaging five men each, anchored in the harbor at the southern end of
the island. These vessels arrived about the last of July and remained till September, some of them
securing only one and others two trips before the fish had left the grounds.

From that time the business declined until during the summer of 1880 there were but nine
vessels engaged in this fishery, the total catch being from 700 to 800 barrels. The fish were salted
in barrels and carried to Portland and Boston for a market.

MOUNT DBSEKT AND VICINITY. — The waters in the vicinity of Mount Desert and Blue Hill
Bay are favorite feeding grounds for the herring from May to October. Different schools visit
this region, and the fish are usually very abundant about the smaller islands in the vicinity.
They are of medium size, and, with the exception of those at Cranberry Islands, are taken
exclusively in weirs. Those visiting the shores of Cranberry Islands are quite large, and are
taken by the local fishermen in gill-nets, the catch being salted or smoked for the different markets.
At other points, especially at the various islands in Blue Hill Bay, there are numerous smoke-
houses for curing a portion of the fish, but the bulk of the catch is sold to the vessels from Cape
Ann and other places that resort to the locality for the purchase of bait. A number of weir-
owners have built large ice-houses, and do an extensive business in supplying ice and bait to the
New England fishing fleet. This trade is of recent origin, being the result of the absence of the
menhaden from the coast of Maine. Formerly the fishermen used menhaden almost exclusively in
the suuimer, but within the last few years these fish have entirely deserted the region, and herring
have been substituted for them. The result is, that a considerable number of large weirs have been
built, and the inhabitants are just coming to know the value of the herring fisheries in their own
waters. The principal islands where the fisheries are prosecuted are Stave Island, off the western
shore of Gouldsborough ; Bar Island, on the northeast coast of Mount Desert ; Cranberry and
Gott's Islands, two small groups lying to the south of Mount Desert, and Long Island, Tinker's
Island, and Flye's Island, in Blue Hill Bay.

The catch is very often extensive, several of the larger weirs stocking upwards of $2,000 during
the short season.

PENOBSCOT BAY, ISLE ATI HAUT, AND CASTING. — Different portions of Penobscot Bay are,
also, frequented by schools of herring at different seasons. Though the fish are fairly abundant
in almost any part of the outer bay, the fishery is extensive at only a few points. The principal
fisheries are located at Isle an Haut, at the eastern entrance of the bay ; Castine Harbor, about
30 miles farther north ; Crabtree Point, at the western entrance of Fox Island Thoroughfare ; and
about Matiuicus Island, lying 15 miles to the southward in the mouth of the bay.

According to Capt. J. W. Collins, small herring are abundant about the shores of Isle au
Haut from May to October, and a school of larger fish makes its appearance along the southern

424 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

portion of the island about the middle of July, remaining from three to four weeks. A little later
another school arrives, and remains about the same length of time. Formerly, a considerable
number of herring were taken in nets by the local fishermen, and vessels have occasionally visited
the region, securing full fares. For the past few years, however, the business has not been
prosecuted to any extent, and the fishing has been confined to the capture of bait by the local
fishermen.

Though herring have been taken in small numbers in the vicinity of Castine for many years,
little seems to have been known of their abundance prior to 1874, when the bait fishermen engaged
in their capture with gill-nets. Spawning herring were found to be quite plenty, and two years
later the first vessels from the surrounding islands resorted to the region, securing full fares, which
were carried to Boston. From this date a fleet of four or five vessels have visited the locality
yearly, and they have invariably found fish fairly abundant. In 1880, according to Mr. George
Morey, of Castine, there were six vessels engaged in the fishery at that place. The fish are of
large size, averaging from twelve to thirteen inches in length. They arrive about the middle of
July and pass up the harbor for a distance of one to two miles above the village, where they
remain until the middle of August for the purpose of depositing their spawn. They are sometimes
so abundant that the water is literally filled with them as far down as the village; and instances
are on record where nets set just abreast of the wharves have been sunk by the weight of the fish
taken in them.

Mr. Morey states that as soon as the school of spawning herring has disappeared, a large num-
ber of smaller or "sardine" herring are noticed in the harbor, where they remain till late in
the fall.

According to Mr. S. T. Meeker, of North Haven, the first herring fishing of any note at
Crabtree Point was in 1870, but even then the fishery was of little importance, and for several
years it was carried on only by the local fishermen. In 1873 the fish were unusually plenty, and
during the height of the season they were taken in such numbers that many of the nets were sunk
as fast as they were put overboard. During this year one small vessel engaged in the fishery,
and met with such success as to warrant others in visiting the region the following season. By
1875 the fleet had increased to twenty or twenty-five sail ; but in 1878 the herring arrived in such
small numbers that the fishermen lost heavily, and no vessels have visited the region since that
time. The absence of the fish in 1878 was exceptional, as shown by the catch of the local fisher-
men during the subsequent years.

MATINICTJS ISLAND AND EBENCOOK HARBOR. — Gapt. J. W. Collins, who visited Matinicus
Island in the fall of 1879, says that the waters about its shores are among the best in the State for
the summer herring fisheries, and that vessels from various fishing towns between Cape Cod and
Mount Desert resort to the locality to obtain their supply of bait, which they buy from the local
fishermen, and from the small vessels that make a specialty of this fishery during the height of the
season. Herring were formerly peculiarly abundant, but for the past ten years the catch has been
considerably below the average. The fishery is prosecuted wholly by means of nets about the
smaller islands in the locality, and a considerable number of the resident fishermen spend a greater
part of the summer in netting the fish. Captain Collins estimates that in the summer of 1879 about
2,000 barrels of herring, in addition to a quantity of small mackerel, were taken in the region.

Ebeucook Harbor, situated in the northwestern part of the island of Southport, is said by Mr.
William T. Maddocks to be a favorite feeding-ground for small herring from August to December.
According to the same authority, the fishery began at this point as early as 1806, when a number
of local fishermen made large catches by the use of torches and gill-nets. The fishery gradually

THE HERRING FISHERY. 425

increased in importance, and most of the residents built smoke-houses for curing their catch. A
little later small vessels began to engage in the fishery, and soon twenty-five or thirty sail, includ-
ing several of the larger crafts, were often anchored in the harbor at the same time.

The development of the Magdalen herring fisheries had a depressing effect upon the fisheries
of this region, and as the supply from that region increased the local fishermen were obliged to
turn their attention to other branches of the business. From 1850 the decline of the local fishery
was quite rapid, and for a number of years no vessels have visited the harbor, though a few of
the boat-fishermen still net a small quantity of herring, which are reported as still abundant in
these waters.

OASOO BAY AND SOUTHWARD. — Though considerable numbers of herring are taken about the
numerous islands in the mouth of Casco Bay, and at Richmond Island near Cape Elizabeth, the
principal herring fisheries of the western coast of Maine are confined to the waters in the vicinity
of Wood Island, lying near the mouth of Saco River, 12 miles to the southwest of the city of
Portland. This is one of the principal spawning grounds for the herring within the limits of the
United States, and the fishery is more extensively prosecuted in this vicinity than at any other
point, except Eastport, where not only large but immature fish are taken.

Wood Island is the largest of a group of small rocky islands and ledges lying just off the cape
which forms the southern boundary of Casco Bay. It is about half a mile long by less than a
quarter of a mile wide. Inside of the island is a harbor, which, though it offers fair anchorage, is
exposed to easterly gales, while farther in is a shoal- water cove affording excellent shelter for the
fishing fleet.

The herring visit this region solely for the purpose of spawning. They arrive in small numbers
about the 20th of September and gradually become more abundant until, a week later, the water is
literally filled with them. The great bulk of the fish remain but a few days, after which they
disappear.

The accounts of some of the early voyagers mention the fact that herring were very abundant
in this region, and it is probable that the fishery has been more or less extensively prosecuted from
the earliest settlement of the country. For the last twenty years the locality has been the favorite
resort of many of the smaller vessels of the various fishing towns between Cape Cod and Penobscot
Bay, and, though the fleet has varied considerably from year to year, it has gradually increased,
until in the fall of 1879 there were, according to the statements of the leading Portland packers,
fully one hundred and fifty sail, with from two to seven men each, engaged in the fishery, the catch
amounting to nearly 20,000 barrels. The greater part of the vessels are owned at Gloucester, Mass.,
and at Portland, Booth Bay, Bristol, and Friendship, Me.

About the time the herring leave Wood Island a large school makes its appearance among
the numerous rocky ledges just south of Cape Ann. On their arrival the principal fishing is at
Norman's Woe, at the entrance of Gloucester Harbor, but a little later the herring are more abundant
off Marblehead, and later still near Boston Light, at the entrance of Boston Harbor.

Many of the vessels that have been fishing at Wood Island proceed to Cape Ann, and other
vessels and boats from the region join in the work, so that the water is soon well filled with nets,
and the catch sometimes reaches upwards of 12,000 barrels during the two or three weeks that the
fishing continues.

It is claimed by some that the herring taken here belong to the school that visited Wood Island
earlier in the season, and that they could readily be followed from one place to the other, a distance
of over 50 miles. Others insist that the schools are wholly distinct, and that those leaving Wood
Island have thrown all of their eggs and milt, while the school that visits Cape Ann is "full-roed"

426 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

on its arrival. No careful study has been made of this subject, as the opportunity has not yet
presented itself; but it seems more than probable that the whole coast from Seguin Island, at the
eastern entrance of Casco Bay, to Boston will prove to be one continuous spawning ground for
enormous schools that remain at a considerable distance from the shore, and approach it only in
the fall for the purpose of depositing their spawn, after which they return to the deeper water
outside, and that there are particular relations between currents and temperature and the move-
ments of the fish that cause them to visit the northern portion of the ground nearly two months
earlier than they do the waters about Boston.

The theory advanced recently that the herring, unlike the shad and alewife, spawn on a falling
temperature is very naturally suggested by the habits of the fish in this locality, but when we
remember that the herring spawn in April and May at Magdalen Islands, in midsummer at Grand
Manan, and probably in March at Eastport, Me., there is abundant reason why this theory should
be rejected.

South of Boston there are no extensive herring fisheries, and there is no particular locality
where the fish are known to be abundant. According to Mr. F. W. True, a few are taken in the
weirs along the shores of Cape Cod, and Mr. W. A. Wilcox reports an occasional catch in the weirs
of Narragansett Bay. Both of these gentlemen, however, state that no one makes a business of
catching the herring, and that most of those taken while fishing for other species are used for bait
by the local line-fishermen or sold to the Cape Ann vessels that resort to the region in spring to
purchase menhaden and alewives to be used in the George's Bank cod fisheries.

2. VESSELS AND CEEWS.

THE VESSELS AND OUTFIT. — As has already been stated, there is not a single vessel belonging
to the United States that is engaged regularly in the herring fisheries throughout the year, since
they are not considered sufficiently remunerative to warrant the fishermen in devoting any consid-
erable portion of their time to them. During the spawning season, however, a large number of
small vessels of an inferior grade, that have been engaged in shore trawling, or to a limited extent
in the coasting trade, arc fitted out for this work. These proceed carefully along the shore from
harbor to harbor until they reach the fishing grounds. Some are considered nearly unfit for the
other fisheries and lie idle during the greater part of the year, their trip for herring in the fall
being their principal work. The poorer class of vessels, though scarcely seaworthy, can be
employed to advantage in the herring fisheries, as they remain constantly in or near the harbor,
where they can be securely anchored during stormy weather, while the fisheries are prosecuted
from small boats that go daily to the fishing grounds. The vessels serve principally as a home
for the fishermen and as a storehouse for receiving their catch; and they are also used for carrying
the fish to market at the close of the season.

These vessels range from 5 to 40 tons, the larger ones going a distance of more than a hundred
miles from home either for the purpose of catching or marketing their fish. Even the smaller
vessels frequently go from 50 to 73 miles away, though their captains are very careful to wait for
a favorable opportunity, often anchoring in a convenient harbor a number of times on the passage.
The value of these vessels depends upon their size and condition, the price varying from $150
to $1,000.

In preparing for this fishery the vessels lay aside their trawls and other fishing gear and
supply themselves with gill-nets, after which they proceed to some of the principal fishing ports,
where they are supplied with barrels and a sufficient quantity of salt for preserving the catch.

THE HERRING FISHERY. 427

The herring-nets are 15 to 20 fathoms long, 2 to 3 fathom's deep, and have a mesh varying
from 2£ to 2f inches. Each vessel usually carries from 8 to 15 of these nets, which, together with
the anchors and hangings, are worth $10 to $15 apiece. The webbing is usually purchased from
the various factories in the larger cities, and, after being' hung by the fishermen, the nets are
tanned with catechu or dipped in tar for the purpose of preserving them.

Each vessel is also provided with small open boats, varying from 14 to 18 feet in length, oue
of these being carried for every two members of the crew, with the exception of the cook, who
usually remains on board to care for the vessel whilejthe others are tending the nets.

THE FISHERMEN. — The greater part of the men engaged in the herring fisheries are those
who have been employed iu some branch of the shore fisheries during the summer months. With
few exceptions, they are native-born Americans, though a considerable percentage of the Boston
fishermen are of foreign birth, the majority of these being Irish. The crews vary in number,
according to the size of the vessel. The smallest vessels usually c^rry two men and a boy, while
the larger ones carry as high as seven or eight men. Taking the entire herring fleet, a fair average
would be four or five men to the vessel.

3. THE LAY AND SHARE.

SCOTCH METHODS. — It might be interesting, under this head, to give an idea of the relations
between the fishermen and dealers in Scotland, where the fisheries are very important. Mr. James
G. Bertram says :

Commerce in herring is entirely different from commerce in any other article, particularly in Scotland. In fact,
the fishery, as at present conducted, is just another way of gambling. The home "carers" and foreign buyers are the
persons who at present keep the herring fishery from stagnation ; and the goods (». «., the fish) are generally all bought
and sold long before they are captured. The way of dealing m herring is pretty much as follows : Owners of boats are
engaged to fish by cnrers, the bargains being usually that the curer will take two hundred crans of herring — and a
crau, it may be stated, is forty-five gallons of ungutted fish; for these two hundred crans a certain sum per cran is
paid, according to arrangement, the bargain includiug as well a definite sum of ready money by way of bounty, per-
haps also an allowance of spirits, and the use of ground for the drying of the nets. On the other hand, the boat-owner
provides a boat, nets, buoys, and all the apparatus of the fishery, and engages a crew to fish ; his crew may, perhaps,
be relatives and part owners, sharing the venture with him, but usually the crew consists of hired men, who get so
much wages at the end of the season and have no risk or profit. This is the plan followed by free and independent
fishermen who are really owners of their own boats and apparatus. It will thus be seen that the curer is bargaining
for two hundred crans of fish months before he knows that a single herring will be captured ; for the bargain of next
season is always made at the close of the present one, and he has to pay out at once a large sum 'by way of bounty,
and provide barrels, salt, and other necessaries for the cure before he knows even if the catch of the season just
expiring will all be sold, or how the markets will pulsate next year. On the other hand, the fisherman has received
his pay for his season's fish, and very likely pocketed a sum of from ten to thirty pounds as earnest money for next
year's work. Then, again, a certain number of curers, who arc men of capita], will advance money to young fish-
ermen in order that they may purchase a boat and the necessary quantity of netting to enable them to engage in the
fishery, thus thirling the boat to their service, very probably fixing an advantageous price per cran for the herrings
to be fished and supplied. Curers, again, who are not capitalists, have to borrow from the buyers, because to compete
with their fellows they must be able to lend money for the purchase of boats and nets, or to advance sums by way of
bounty to the free boats; and thus a rotten, unwholesome system goes the round — fishermen, boat-builders, cnrers,
and merchants all hanging on each other, and evidencing that there is as much gambling in herring fishiug as in
horse-racing. The whole system of commerce connected with this trade is decidedly unhealthy, and ought at once to
be checked and reconstructed if there be any logical method of doing it. At a port of three hundred boats a sum of
£145 was paid by the curers for "arles" and spent in the public houses! More than £4,000 was spent in bounties,
and an advance of nearly £7,000 made on the various contracts, and all this money was paid eight months before the
fishing began. When the season is a favorable one ami plenty of fish are taken, then all goes well, and the evil day
is postponed; but if, as in one or two recent seasons, the take is poor, then there comes a crash. One falls, and, like
a row of bricks, the others all follow. At the large fishing stations there are comparatively few of the boats that are
thoroughly free ; they are tied up in some way between the buyers and curers, or they are in pawn to some merchant,
who " backs" the nominal owner. The principal, or at least the immediate sufferers, by these arrangements are the
hired men.

This "bounty," as it is called, is a most reprehensible feature of herring commerce, and, although still the preva-
lent mode of doing business, has been loudly declaimed against by all who have the real good of the fishermen at

428 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

heart. Often enough men who have obtained boats and nets on credit and hired persons to assist them during tho
fishery are so unfortunate as not to catch enough of herrings to pay their expenses — the curors for whom they
engaged to fish having retained most of the bounty money on account of boats and nets; consequently the hired
servants have frequently to go home, sometimes to a great distance, penniless. It would be much better if the old
system of a share were reiutroduced. In that case the hired men would at least participate to the extent of the
fishing, whether it were good or bad. Boat-owners try of course to get as good terms as possible, as well in the shape
of price for herrings as in bounty and perquisites. My idea is that there ought to be no engagements, no bounty, and
no perquisites. As eacli fishing comes round let the boats catch and the curers buy day by day as the fish arrive at
the quay. This plan has already been adopted at some fishing towns, and is an obvious improvement on the prevailing
plan of gambling by means of "engagements" in advance.*

AMERICAN METHODS. — In New England the relation of vessel owners and dealers to the
fishermen is very different from that already described. The vessels are usually owned by the
captain, who selects his crew from among his friends on account of their supposed fitness for aud
experience in the fishery. The owner furnishes the vessel in a condition ready for sea, and receives
in return from one-fifth to one-seventh of the first value of the catch. The crew, on the other hand,
provide all the apparatus for the fishery, including boats, nets, and other fishing-gear. They are
also expected to provide themselves with provisions, and to arrange with one of their number to
act as cook. The cook is, in most cases, the son of the captain, or of some member of the crew,
whose services are obtained for a small compensation. He is expected to remain constantly on
board to care for the vessel while the men are tending their nets, and, in addition to preparing
the food, must assist in salting and packing the fish.

The vessel is generally taken to one of the larger ports in the vicinity of the fishing-grounds,
where an arrangement is made with a fish-dealer to supply barrels and salt for packing and curing
the catch. The dealer usually supplies the provisions necessary for food, and in some instances
furnishes a portion of the fishing-gear, it being understood that he shall receive the fish at a stated
price. The fishermen seldom pay for the outfit when it is received, but on the contrary run an
account with the dealer, who depends largely upon their catch for his money ; and it often hap-
pens, when the fisheries are poor, that he loses heavily. There is a disposition among certain crews
to avoid the payment of their obligations, and it frequently occurs that, unless carefully watched,
they will carry the greater part of their catch to other places for a market, selling for cash and
pocketing the money. The dealers have lost so heavily in this way that they are now very can-
tious as to whom they will trust, and the skippers who for any reason are not considered responsi
ble, experience considerable difficulty in finding a dealer who is willing to advance them the neces-
sary outfit. Many of them are thus placed at a disadvantage, as they seldom have sufficient funds
to pay for their goods until they have disposed of their catch.

After the catch has been marketed the vessel's portion of the money is set aside. All bills,
including the cook's wages and the cost of salt, barrels, provisions, &c., are then paid out of the
general stock, after which the money is divided equally among the different members of the crew,
the captain sharing equally with the others. The amount of money realized by the men engaged
in the herring fisheries varies exceedingly ; some vessels are very successful and secure large trips,
while others may fish the entire season with only moderate success. The average share to the
fishermen would be, perhaps, $30 to $50 per month.

4. METHODS OF CAPTURE.

TORCHING. — There are three principal methods of catching the herring on the coast of the
United States. The oldest, and in early years the most common method, was that known as
"torching." Later, brush weirs were introduced, and these are now extensively employed in

•Harvest of the Sea, pp. 183-185.

THE HERRING FISHERY. 429

the capture of small herring along the eastern part of the coast of Maine. The spawning herring
are usually taken in gill-nets, a method which has been employed for many years on different
portions of the coast.

The well-known instinct of herring to follow a light was observed by the Indians prior to the
settlement of the country by the whites. The discovery was doubtless the result of their exten-
sive camp-fires, which were built along the shores in the principal fishing districts. The method
of torching is also said to be in use by the fishermen of other countries. Torching is a very sim-
ple method. For this purpose the fishermen usually_select a medium-sized boat, which can be pro-
pelled rapidly through the water by means of oars. The boat is provided with a small iron frame
called a "dragon," which projects from the bow. In this dragon a fire of birch bark and other
highly combustible materials is kept constantly burning while the fish are being taken. The fish-
ermen usually go to the shore late in the afternoon and time their departure so as to reach the
fishing grounds shortly after sunset. As soon as it becomes sufficiently dark the fire is lighted,
one man takes his position in the stern to steer the boat and another stations himself in the bow,
armed with a dip-net for securing the fish as they gather in little bunches just in front of the light.
The remaining members of the crew row the boat rapidly through the water, while the man in the
bow is busily engaged in throwing the fish into the boat by means of his dip-net. Great numbers
of herring are attracted by the light and it is not uncommon for fifteen or twenty barrels to be
taken in a few hours.

Where the current is strong it is often customary to row out into the channel, and then grad-
ually work in toward the shore, thus bringing the fish into shoaler and stiller water where they
can be more easily secured.

Torching is the method commonly employed at Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts; it is also practiced
to a considerable extent at Eastport, Me., these being the only points where it has been generally
adopted ; but the method is occasionally employed on a smaller scale by the fishermen of other
portions of the New England coast.

POUNDS, TRAPS, AND WEIRS. — Pounds, traps, and weirs are also used for the capture of her-
ring. These are all built upon the same general plan, having a "leader" or "wings," which direct
the fish to one or more "pockets" or "pounds," which retain them until they can be secured. They
vary greatly in size and shape, according to locality and the peculiar character and shape of the
shore and adjoining ocean bed. The material of which they are constructed also differs. In one
region netting will be exclusively employed, in another the traps will be built largely of lath and
boards, while in another still the entire weir will be built of brush and poles. At Cape Small
Point, near Portland, Me., and at Bristol, the pounds, which are quite large, are composed chiefly
of netting; and, owing to the rocky character of the bottom, the poles, instead of being driven
into the ground, are secured by means of large flat stones, in which they are inserted, or poles are
entirely dispensed with and the pounds are held in position by means of anchors and ropes. In
this case the bottom of the netting is weighted with lead or stones and the top is supplied with
large floats to keep it at the surface. Some of these floating traps are very successful in the cap-
ture of large quantities of fish.

About Gape Cod, according to Mr. F. W. True, the traps usually have leaders of netting and
pockets of board or lath. Though fished for other species, they often take considerable numbers
of herring at certain seasons.

The brush weir is extensively used in the herring fisheries of the coast of Maine. It is pecu-
liarly adapted to the capture of small herring, which are used in the preparation of sardines at
Eastport and other places along the eastern shores of the State. Being the principal method by

430 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

which the "sardine-herring" are secured, it will be described in detail in the chapter on the ear-
dine industry.

FISHING WITH GILL -NETS. — The gill-nets used in the herring fishery are from 15 to 20 fathoms
long, 2 to 3 fathoms deep, and have a inesh varying from 2| to 2f inches. They are usually made
of cotton twine, the weight varying considerably in different localities. Hemp nets were formerly
extensively used, but cotton is found to answer the purpose equally well, and is much cheaper.
The nets to be used on the principal spawning grounds, where the fish are known to occur in
immense schools, are usually made of strong and comparatively coarse twine, as they are liable to
be so heavily loaded with fish that those of light weight would be ruined in a single night. Along
other portions of the coast, where the fish are less abundant, nets of finer material are often
employed.

In former years the webbing was usually knit by the wives and children of the fishermen, and
this is done to a limited extent at the present time, though most of the fishermen have come to use
machine-knit webbing, which they buy from the net factories of the principal cities.

When the webbing is ready it is hung to small doable lines of opposite lays, about one-third
of the length of the net being taken up in hanging, so that a piece of webbing 30 fathoms long
will make a net of 20 fathoms when hung. After the net has been properly tanned or tarred and
hung to these double lines a heavier cork-rope, supplied with egg-shaped wooden floats or with
corks, is made fast to the upper margin. The floats are placed at distances varying from 2J to 4
feet, according to their size and the strength of the current in which the nets are to be used. Small
leaden sinkers are sometimes attached to the bottom, but more frequently oblong stones are used,
these being more readily obtained and as easily fastened by means of small loop-lines. In the
vicinity of Eastport iron anchors varying from 20 to 50 pounds are generally employed. On some
parts of the coast the fishermen use stone killicks. These as a rule must be considerably heavier
to answer the same purpose.

Several nets are usually fastened together and set in one string, though in some instances
they are set separately. Where the current is strong they are usually anchored at only one end,
the other being allowed to swing with the tide, but in still water an anchor is ordinarily placed at
either end of the string. Large buoys are attached to either end of each net to assist in holding
it up and to mark its position in the water. In addition to these, larger watch-buoys are attached
to either end of the string, to provide against the loss of the nets in case they should be carried to
the bottom by the weight of the fish. The watch-buoys have lines of sufficient length, so that if
the nets should be sunk the buoy will still float on the surface and enable the fishermen to secure
them. The buoys in general use are made of spruce or other light wood, and, on account of their
shape, are known as " spar-buoys." Those to be placed at the end of each net are usually 3£ to 5
feet in length and from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, while the watch-buoys are proportionately larger.
Where the current is weak and a large catch is expected pine kegs are frequently employed.

Toward the close of the afternoon a busy scene is presented at Wood Island. The men are
now engaged in transferring the nets to the small boats, and soon after they may be seen making
their way out of the harbor, some sailing and others pulling vigorously at the oars. After reaching
the fishing ground, which is some 2 or 3 miles distant, the fishermen select their berth and begin
setting their nets. One man rows the boat in the desired direction, which may be either with or
across the tide, while the other throws out the nets. There is frequently a lively competition
among the fishermen as to who shall secure the best berth, and it is not uncommonly the case that
they will row about for a considerable time in search of " signs of fish " before deciding exactly
where to locate for the night.

THE HEEEING FISHEEY. 431

The nets are set at varying depths ; they are at times placed on the surface, and at others
sunk to a depth of 1 or 2 fathoms, in which case heavier sinkers are attached to the bottom of the
net, and the " tail ropes " of the buoys are increased to the desired length. As soon as the nets
have been properly set the fishermen return to the vessel.

If a large catch is expected the nets are visited abont midnight for the purpose of " under-
running." By this method the net is not removed from its moorings. The fishermen proceed to
one end of the string, raising the net, passing it over the top of the boat, and returning it to the
water on the opposite side as fast as the fish are removed. In this way only a few feet of the net
are out of the water at a time, while the balance is fishing as usual. The fish are either shaken or
picked out of the nets, as is most convenient. The time required for underrunning depends wholly
upon the size of the catch and the number of nets that are out.

One object in underrnnning the nets at midnight is to secure an additional quantity of her-
ring ; another is to remove a portion of the catch, and thus prevent the nets from being so heavily
loaded as to injure them by the weight of the fish.

When there is no indication of a large catch the nets are not visited till morning. At the
approach of dawn the work of the fishermen begins, and soon the glimmer of lights may be seen
in all directions, as they move to and fro about the decks of the vessels making their preparations
for " a start." A little later they enter their boats and are off for the fishing grounds. The nets
are usually reached by daybreak, when they are at once loosed from their moorings and hauled
into the boat with the fish still hanging in the meshes. If the berth is a good one, the moorings
are left in the water to mark the position and to retain it for another set. The boat, with its load,
at once returns to the vessel. The nets are then taken on deck, where the fish are removed. They
are then carefully examined and mended, if need be, after which they are placed in the rigging of
the vessel or carried to the adjoining shore to be thoroughly dried.

GILL-NET FISHING FOR BAIT. — For many years prior to the introduction of frozen herring into
the American markets the vessels engaged in the cod fisheries of George's and Brown's Banks and
other fishing grounds in the Gulf of Maine usually carried from three to six herring nets, to be
used in the capture of herring for bait. These were sometimes set from the vessel's stern as she
lay at anchor on the fishing grounds, but quite as frequently the vessel proceeded to the deep
water off the edge of the bank, where she was hove to under her mainsail and foresail in such a
manner that she might drift in a direction at right angles to that in which she was headed. The
nets were then put out, their inner end being attached to the mainmast by means of a long rope
called a net-string. As a rule, the vessel was hove to in the evening and allowed to drift during
the greater part of the night.

When the nets were to be taken in all hands were called to assist in the work. The nets were
at once hauled on deck, after which the fish were removed. When the catch was small the fish
were usually placed in barrels or tubs, to be used during the day's fishing ; but when a large
quantity were secured, the greater part were transferred to the hold of the vessel, where they were
iced or lightly salted, to be used later in the fishing. After the fish had been stowed away, the
nets were washed and hung upon the stern to dry.

It frequently happened that enough fish were taken at a single set to last until a fare was
secured. At times when the fish were large and fat the surplus was often sorted and carried to
market. Occasionally, however, herring were found very scarce, and vessels had great difficulty
in securing a supply, a longer time being required in catching the bait than in using it. It was
largely due to this fact that the frozen herring met with such general favor when they were first
introduced.

432 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES,

Another method, knowu as " sweeping," was frequently employed. By this method ordinary
gill-nets were used in the daytime. When the fish were seen schooling at the surface they were
at once surrounded by a wall of netting, and driven into the meshes by means of rocks or oars,
which were thrown or darted into the water. This method was extensively used by the vessel
fishermen in former times, and is still employed to a greater or less extent by the shore fishermen
in various localities along the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts.

SEINES. — Seines, though extensively employed in the herring fisheries of Newfoundland and
other places, are seldom used in the capture of these fish on the coast of the United States, as
traps and weirs are found to be less expensive and answer the purpose equally well.

Large catches of herring are often made in the purse-seines of the mackerel fishermen. These
are used at a considerable distance from the shore in the capture of mackerel, and it occasionally
happens that schools of herring are taken by mistake, or that both herring and mackerel are
taken at the same set. The fishermen claim that the two species seldom mingle freely in the same
school, and they explain the fact of their being taken together by saying that the herring have a
habit of following the mackerel and of swimming beneath them in the water. There seems no
sufficient evidence to substantiate or to disprove this theory. Captain Collins, who has been
extensively engaged in the mackerel fisheries, gives it as his opinion that the purse-seine can be
used to great advantage in the herring fisheries off the American coast whenever the price of the
fish will warrant the fishermen in engaging in their capture. At the present time, however, the
demand for them is so light and the price is so low that no attention is given to the capture of
herring by the mackerel fishermen, and when a school is accidentally taken it is at once turned
out, the men not considering the herring worth the time and trouble required in curing them.

5. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

STATISTICAL, SUMMARY. — The total catch of herring by the fishermen of Maine in 1880 was
^4,695,192 pounds, which entered into consumption as follows : 4,300,000 pounds used fresh for
food, 8,819,875 pounds used for pickling or brine salting, 6,138,942 pounds used for smoking,
6,496,375 pounds used for canning, 7,000,000 pounds used for bait, and 1,940,000 pounds used for
fertilizer.

In New Hampshire the catch was 108,750 pounds of herring, about 60,000 pounds being used
for food and the remainder for bait and fertilizer.

In Massachusetts the catch in 1879 was 7,794,780 pounds, of which quantity 3,827,124 pounds
were consumed fresh (2,610,514 pounds for bait and 1,216,610 pounds for food) and 3,967,656 pounds
were used for pickling.

CARE OP THE FISH ON THE VESSELS.-^AS shown above, very many of the herring taken
by the American fishermen are used for bait in the shore and bank cod fisheries and in the
fresh-halibut fishery. Many more were salted for the market in former years than at the present
time. The greater part of those now prepared by American fishermen are salted without splitting,
and are known in the market as "round herring," in distinction from those that have the gills and
viscera removed, which are known as "split herring."

In the vessel fisheries the greater part of the herring are salted in barrels before being landed.
After being taken from the net they are heaped upon the deck and water is thrown upon them for
the purpose of washing off the loose scales and the blood that has collected. A quantity of salt is
then sprinkled over them and thoroughly mixed among the fish. They are then placed in barrels,
when a little more salt is added, and they are rolled aside, where they are allowed to settle, and
are again filled up with fish. As soon as the fish have become properly "struck" the barrels are

THE HEEEING FISHEEY. 433

headed up and stowed iii the hold until such time as the vessel shall arrive at the market where
they are to be sold. The fish in this condition are known as " sea-packed" herring, and bring about
two-thirds of the price of herring that are properly packed.

HEEEING-CUEING PN SHORE. — On reaching the market the fish are sold to some of the prin-
cipal dealers, who at once dump them out of the barrels and thoroughly wash them. They are then
weighed iii lots of two hundred pounds, each lot being carefully packed in a barrel by itself, care
being taken that the herring may be placed in such a position as to show to the best advantage. A
quantity of salt is sprinkled among them as they are packed. When the barrel is full it is headed
up and a hole is bored in one side, through which a quantity of strong brine is poured upon the
fish. After being allowed to settle for a number of hours, more brine is added, care being taken
that the barrel shall be completely filled. The hole is then plugged up and the fish are ready for
market.

In many cases the fishermen in the vicinity of the larger fishing ports dispose of their herring
before they have been salted. As soon as the nets have been hauled they set sail and proceed to
the harbor, where, unless some contract has been previously made, the catch is sold to the highest
bidder. The fish are at once thrown upon the wharf and salt is sprinkled upon them. They are
then shoveled into boats or hogsheads, and strong brine is added until they are completely cov-
ered. Here they are allowed to remain for a number of days or weeks, until they are thoroughly
cured, when they are packed as above described.

Another brand known as "split" or "gibbed" herring is frequently put up. The split fish
differ from the round herring in that the gills and entrails have been removed. The gibbing is
usually done by the fishermen before the herring are salted. A rough method of gibbing, which
is occasionally employed, is to tear the gills from the fish by means of the thumb and fore-finger,
and to remove the entrails through the opening thus made. The more common practice, however,
is to split the fish down the belly with a knife, in order that the viscera and gills may be more
easily removed. The blood is also scraped from the backbone, and the fish are thrown into a tub
of water to be soaked before salting. When the blood has been sufficiently removed to give the
herring a light color they are carefully packed in barrels, with enough salt to preserve them. The
roe-bags of spawning herring are usually left in the fish, as these are considered a great luxury by
the Irish. Most of the gibbed herring are among the best quality of fat fish taken on the coast,
and fish of inferior quality are generally salted without splitting. The market price of split her-
ring is usually from one to two dollars more than that of fish prepared in the ordinary way.

It is claimed by many that the American methods of curing are very inferior to those employed
in other countries, as the fish are often allowed to remain a considerable time before they are salted,
and they are also washed and new pickle is used for repacking them. By changing the pickle, or by
soaking the fish, they are thought by many to lose much of the rich and delicate flavor for which
the herring are so highly prized by the herring-eating nations of Europe. In Holland and other
countries where herring are regarded with great favor the fishermen aim to salt the catch as soon
as possible after the fish have been taken, and the herring are seldom allowed to stand more than
two or three hours before they are cared for.

HEEEING-CTJRING IN SCOTLAND. — The method of curing in Scotland is described by Mr. Ber-
tram in the following manner :

" At stations about Wick the quantity of herrings disposed of fresh is comparatively small,

so that by far the larger portion of the daily catch has to be salted. This process during a good

season employs a very large number of persons, chiefly as coopers and gutters; and as the barrels

have to be branded, by way of certificate of the quality of their contents, it is necessary that the

SEO V 28

434 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

salting should be carefully done. As soon as the boats reach the harbor — and as the fishing is
appointed to be carried ou after sunset they arrive very early in the morning — the various crews
commence to carry their fish to the reception-troughs of the curers by whom they have been en-
gaged. A person in the interest of the curer checks the number of crans brought in, and sprinkles
the fish from time to time with considerable quantities of salt. As soon as a score or two of baskets
have been emptied, the gutters set earnestly to do their portion of the work, which is dirty and
disagreeable in the extreme. The gutters usually work in companies of about five — one or two
gutting, one or two carrying, and another packing. Basketfuls of the fish, as soon as they are
gutted, are carried to the back of the yard and plunged into a large tub, there to be roused and
mixed up with salt; then the adroit and active packer seizes a handful and arranges them with
the greatest precision in a barrel, a handful of salt being thrown over each layer as it is put in, so
that in the short space of a few minutes the large barrel is crammed full with many hundred fish,
all gutted, roused, and packed, in a period of not more than ten minutes. As the fish settle down
in the barrel, more are added from day to day till it is thoroughly full and ready for the brand.
On the proper performance of these parts of the business the quality of the cured fish very much
depends."

LAWS REGULATING HERRING CURE. — Many of the European countries have laws describing
in detail the exact manner in which the herring shall be prepared, and great care is taken that
the fish shall be properly cured in every particular. In America, on the contrary, little care is
taken in the preparation of the fish, and though there are laws relating to the subject they refer
more to the quantity of fish which a package of a given size shall contain, and to the amount
of salt used in packing the fish, than to the quality of the fish. At one time the laws of all the
States having extensive herring fisheries required that all of the pickled herring should be
inspected before they were sent to market. A law to this effect is still in force in the States of
Maine and New Hampshire. According to section 7, chapter II, of the Laws of Maine for 1875 :

" Every inspector who inspects pickled alewives or herring, packed whole or round, shall see
that they are struck with salt or pickle, and then put in good casks of the size and material
aforesaid, packed closely therein and well salted, and the casks filled with fish and salt, putting
no more salt with the fish than is necessary for their preservation ; and the inspector shall brand
all such casks with the name of the inspected fish as aforesaid, but in no case shall the inspector
brand the casks unless the fish contained therein shall have been packed and prepared under his
immediate supervision."

Section 8 of chapter XI of the Revised Statutes of Maine for 1871 gives the following
description of the barrels in which fish are to be packed:

"All tierces, barrels, or casks, used for the purpose of packing pickled fish, shall be made of
sound, well seasoned white oak, white ash, spruce, pine, or chestnut staves of rift timber, with
headings of either of such kinds of wood, sound, well planed, and seasoned, and the heads, if of
pine, free from sap ; the same to be well hooped with at least three strong hoops on each bilge,
and three also on each chime; the barrel staves to be 28 inches in length, and the heads to be 17
inches between the chimes, and made in a workmanlike manner to hold pickle, and branded on
the side near the bung with the name of the maker or owner thereof. The tierces shall contain
not less than 45 nor more than 46 gallons each, the barrels from 29 to 30 gallons each, and the
aliquot parts of a barrel in the same proportion."

The laws of the State of Maine, as recently amended, do away with an inspector-general, but
require the secretary of state to appoint deputy inspectors in the various fishing towns, these to
receive their commission from him and to be obliged to report to him the quantity of fish inspected

THE HERRING FISHERY. 435

by them each season. The law is practically of little value, as many of the inspectors fail to
report on their work, and a considerable quantity of herring salted at Eastport and elsewhere are
never inspected.

In Massachusetts the inspection of herring intended for pickling is not required by law,
though the fish are often properly packed and branded before being placed upon the market.
Section 3C of chapter XLIX, of the General Statutes of Massachusetts for 1859, says :

"Under the supervision of the inspector-general and his deputies, respectively, .ill kinds of
split pickled fish and fish for barreling, except herring, and all codfish tongues and sounds,
halibut fins and napes, and swordfish, whenever said articles are intended for exportation, shall
be struck with salt or pickle," &c.

THE MARKETS. — The principal markets for salt herring along the New England coast are
Portland, Boston, Gloucester, and Eastport. Portland probably takes the lead in this trade,
receiving the bulk of the herring taken about Wood Island, as well as those caught in Penobscot
Bay, and on the spawning grounds off Boisbubert. This port also secures a considerable portion of
the fish caught off Cape Ann. Boston is more of a distributing center for the fish, and many of
those bought and packed by the Portland dealers are shipped there for distribution to the trade.
Gloucester affords a fair market for the catch taken about Cape Ann by the local fishermen; and
when the export trade will warrant it sometimes buys largely from the herring dealers of other
cities.

Eastport, being situated in the center of the principal herring fisheries of the United States,
necessarily handles a large quantity of these fish. The fisheries are prosecuted chiefly in winter,
when the herring can be frozen, and the merchants have come to make a specialty of this trade,
and they now, in connection with several Boston companies, control the frozen-herring trade of
New England. During the spring and fall, and at such times during the winter as the weather
will not admit of freezing the fish, a limited quantity are pickled and sold to the Eastport
dealers for shipment to Boston and New York.

Prior to the rebellion the bulk of the pickled herring were consumed by the negroes of the
Southern States, but the liberation of the slaves had a decided influence on the trade, which has
since come to be of little importance. At the present time a majority of the herring are shipped
to the mining districts of Pennsylvania, though considerable quantities find their way to the West,
where they are consumed largely by the poorer classes, noticeably by the Germans, the Scotch, and
other foreigners.

HEEEING FOE B.AIT. — Mention has already been made of the extensive herring fisheries in
different localities for the purpose of supplying bait for the New England fishing fleet. Those
vessels engaged in the various branches of the codfishing, as well as some of those employed in
the fresh halibut and winter haddock fisheries, are dependent almost entirely upon herring for
their bait. The whole question of the use of frozen herring as bait will be found in the chapter on
frozen herring, but the bait used by the vessels in summer will more properly be considered in this
connection.

For the last twenty years few vessels, with the exception of those employed in the shore
fisheries, have carried nets for the purpose of securing their own bait, as they have found it more
desirable to purchase their supply from the weir, net, or seine fishermen at different points along
the shore. A portion of the fleet depended largely on the catch of menhaden in the Gulf of
Maine, and these in a measure took the place of herring. Since 1879, however, the menhaden have
been almost wholly absent from these waters, and the fishermen have been seriously inconvenienced

436 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

on this account, as the shore herring fisheries have not been sufficiently developed to furnish them
vith an abundance of fish.

A portion of the fleet engaged in the George's cod fishery visit the southern shores of Cape
Cod, or even go as far as Long Island Sound, to secure a supply of menhaden a,nd alewives, rather
than run the risk of finding herring on the coast of Maine. In the winter, when frozen fish can
be obtained, there is usually an abundant supply in Gloucester ; but when these are no longer to
be had the George's-meu must depend wholly on fish bait and must secure their supply before
starting for the fishing banks. For this purpose they usually proceed to the nearer herring
grounds on the coast of Maine ; but if fish cannot be obtained in these localities they work
eastward, stopping at the various bait-stations until a supply has been secured. It frequently
happens that from ten to twenty -five vessels may be seen in the same harbor waiting their turns
to secure a supply, and those coming last are often obliged to wait four or five days or even a
week before a sufficient quantity can be obtained.

The vessels engaged in the George's cod fisheries range from 50 to 75 tons, the average being
a trifle over 60 tons. These carry from nine to twelve men, and are fitted for an absence of four or
five weeks, though the average trip does not exceed twenty days. A fair catch is 25,000 pounds
of split fish, or 50,000 pounds as they come from the water. In the hope of securing a full fare a
"George's-man" usually carries as much bait as will be needed under ordinary circumstances. An
average quantity is from 25 to 30 barrels for a trip. The price of the herring varies according to
supply and demand, the average being from 75 cents to $1 per barrel.

When the fish have been caught they are brought at once to the vessel, where they are care-
fully packed in ice in one of the bait-pens located in the forward part of the ice-house. The method
of packing is similar to that employed in " stowing the bait" in the vessels engaged in the Grand
Bank cod-fisheries, a description of which will be given farther on.

Herring as ordinarily packed will keep in good condition for two or three weeks, after which
they become so soft that they will not remain on the hook for any length of time, and are therefore
of little value.

The greater part of the bait used by the George's fishermen during the summer months is pur-
chased from the various weir and net fishermen of the coast of Maine and Massachusetts, though
in the spring and fall a few vessels visit the fishing grounds of New Brunswick to secure their
supply, and in seasons of peculiar scarcity vessels have gone as far east as Pubnico, Nova Scotia.
In the Western and Grand Bank cod-fisheries most of the vessels measure between CO and 100
tons, the average being about 75 tons. A few of larger size are also employed, some of them
measuring upward of 120 tons.

The vessels frequenting the Western Bank are gone from five to ten weeks, while those
visiting the Grand Bank are absent from three to five months. The number of men carried by these
vessels depends largely upon the method of fishing. Those using trawls average from twelve to
fourteen men each, while the largest of those engaged in " hand-lining from dories " carry twenty
or more men. The last-named vessels are provided with salt clams, and seldom use any herring in
the fishery. Most of the trawlers, on the contrary, depend almost wholly upon fresh herring,
with the exception of the summer months, when capelin (Mallotus villosus) and squid (Ommastre-
phes illecebrosa) are used. The entire supply, with few exceptions, is obtained along the coast
of the British Provinces, the greater part being secured at Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, though
considerable quantities are purchased from the fishermen of New Brunswick. The vessels fishing
in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence usually obtained their supply in that region.

As soon as the vessel js fitted out for the fishery she proceeds to one of the "baiting stations,"

THE HERRING FISHERY. 437

where a supply of 40 to GO barrels is purchased. Ca.pt. D. E. Collins, iu his manuscript journal of
a fishing trip to the Western Bank, in the spring of 1879, gives the following account of the
method of icing the bait on a vessel engaged in the Bank fisheries : " Our bait-pen is built forward
of the cabin bulk-head, between it and the after-hatch. It is 9 or 10 feet wide by 10 or 12 feet
long, and holds about 60 barrels of bait in addition to the ice necessary for preserving it. The
bottom of the pen is raised a foot or more above the keelson. There is a partition in the middle,
dividing the pen into two parts, so that all the fish of one may be used before the others are dis-
turbed. This arrangement is important, as the fish do not keep well after they have been once
disturbed. The pen is built of double boards, having a door on either side at the forward end.
The lower part of the door is raised about 3 feet above the bottom. When bait is being iced
boards are shipped into grooves in the opening as fast as they are needed to prevent the fish
from falling out, and, when full, the door is put up on the outside and held in place by means of
a horizontal bar. When the bait has been secured the ice is at once removed from the pens and
taken on deck. As the work proceeds one cake after another is placed in a large tub, and four or
five men, armed with fish-forks, are engaged in ' picking it up fine7 until the necessary quantity has
been broken. Others of the crew are engaged in passing the baskets of herring and fine ice to those
who are stowing the bait. There are generally two men in the hold, one in the bait-pen and an-
other at the hatchway. A layer of ice is first put upon the floor of the pen, after which a thin
layer of herring is added, then another layer of ice, and so on until the pen is nearly full. The
whole is covered by a quantity of ice varying from 6 inches to 1 foot in thickness, according to
the season, the pen to be opened last having the largest quantity."

Bait iced in this manner will keep about three or four weeks, after which the vessel must return
for a fresh supply. The fishermen of Long Island Sound have a practice of "gutting" a portion
of the fish, and claim that in this way they are enabled to keep them for a much longer period.

When bait is scarce the vessel frequently sails without having secured a full supply, as it is
desirable to reach the fishing ground as soon as possible.

The vessels fishing on Western Bank use herring almost exclusively, and make from one to
three trips to the land to purchase a fresh supply while securing their load of codfish. The ves-
sels engaged in the Grand Bank fisheries frequently make five or six "baitings" during the season;
but they depend largely upon capelin for four or five weeks, beginning with June 15, and on
squid from the middle of July to the 1st of September, as these are abundant during their respect-
ive seasons, and the cod are thought to prefer them.

Captain Collins states that there is often considerable competition between the captains of the
vessels that are in search of bait. When a number of them reach a harbor at the same time, be-
ing anxious to secure their bait at the earliest possible moment, underhand methods are sometimes
resorted to, and the price is often carried far beyond what the fish are actually worth. On April
23, 1879, he was obliged to pay $2.25 a barrel for herring, and three days later it sold as high as
$3.25 at Ketch Harbor, Nova Scotia. The Provincial fishermen are fully aware of the dependence
of the Americans upon them for their supply, and they frequently take an undue advantage of it.
They are certainly greatly benefited by the trade, and those engaged in the capture of bait are
reported as more successful than those engaged in any other branch of the Provincial fisheries.

6. STATISTICS OF THE HERRING FISHERY.

The following table shows the number of vessels and other details of the herring fleet from
New England ports in 1880. It does not include the hundreds of small boats employed in the
fishery, but only decked vessels over 5 tons burden.

438

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Herring fleet of New England for the year 1880.

Towns.

Nnmberof
herring
vessels.

Tonnage.

Value.

Nnraberof
men,

Towns.

Nnmberof
herring
vessels.

Tonnage.

Value.

Numberof
men.

KUO.

10
2
6
2
1
1
1
1
2
6
6
1
3
18
1
1
9
1

104.35
42.13
81.42
64.37
18.42
11.33
26.94
7.65
48.33
93.77
94.97
6.86
60.41
390.79
17.27
43.20
184.08
25.85

$6, 375
2,500
1,900
1,700
600
400
350
150
1,000
1,425
2,300
150
1,300
4,985
500
500
4,150
500

51
16
2G
14
5
3
5
3
8
25
24
2
14
80
2
6
41
6

MAINE— continued.

6
23
2
3
4
9
1
2
14
6
8
1
2

101. 20
429. 63
19.06
65.96
52.95
202.38
18.93
15.33
186.84
48.63
103. 57
30.64
15.09

$1, 800
13, 375
850
1,050
1, 075
4,375
200
800
7,750
3,050
6,150
2,000
550

25
76
6
14
14
42
4
5
52
23
35
9
6

Steuben .. .....

Bristol

Sullivan

Booth Bay

Portland

Biddeford

Bine Hill

York

Kittery

Total for Western Maine . . .
Total for Maine

89

1, 416. 15

48, 925

340

Sed<*wick

161

2, 818. 29

79, 710

671

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Portsmouth

1

iau

400

6

Total for Eastern Maine
Belfast

72

1,4UL>. 14

30, 785

331

MASSACHUSETTS.

22
2
5

309. 75
71.26
66.44

19, 820
1,200
1,300

102
18
15

1
1
1
2
1
1
2

7.76
20.92
8.32
30.86
6.82
31.00
20.20

100
3,250
250
550
500
700
550

2
3
2
7
3
5
7

Camden

North Haven

Hull

Total for Massachusetts —
Grand total

Bear Island

29

447. 45

22, 320

135

191

3, 283. 88

102, 430

812

The following tables show the yield of the herring fisheries of New England and of the Domin-
ion of Canada in 1880, and include the catch of vessels, boats, and weirs:

Table showing the quantity and value of herring taken in New England in 1880.

Maine.

New Hamp.
shire.

Massachu-
setts.

Total.

Fresh herriny.

4, 300, 000

18,750

1, 216, 610

5, 535, 360

7, 000, 000

30, 000

2, 610, 514

9, 640, 514

1 940,000

1, 940, 000

Pickled herring.

8 819 875

60,000

3 967,656

12 847,531

32 830

200

15 870

48 900

$102, 473

$600

$47, 612

$150, 685

Smoked herring.

6 138 942

6 138 942

Bon f mokedherrin reduced &

370 615

370 615

$99, 973

$09, 973

Canned herring (tardinei).

6 496 375

6, 496, 375

Poui s of canned horrfn rodnced

2 377 152

2 377, 152

Value when canned

$772, 176

$772, 176

Total number of pounds caught

34, 695, 192

ItM, 7 MI

7, 794, 780

42, 598, 722

$1, 043, 722

$1, 200

$85,812

$1, 130, 734

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY.

439

Table showing the quantity and value of the herring taken in the Province of Quebec in 1880.

Divisions.*

Fresh or pickled herring.

Smoked herring.

Page o
Report of

Canadian
Minister
of Marine
and
Fisheries.

Barrels.

Price
per

barrel.

Value.

Boxes.

Price
per box.

Value.

1 10, 743
t4, 021
17, 644
1 1,472
217218

$5 00
5 00
5 00
5 00
4 00

$53, 715
20, 105
88, 220
7,360
84,872

552

$0 25

$138 00

53
76
100
100
118

Xorth shore of Saint Lawrence (Manacouagan to Blancs Sablons)

10

25

2 50

55, 098

4 (ill

25 1, 272

562

0 25

140 50

* The divisions of the Province of Quebec— /rom the city of Quebec to Sersirnis and the Saint Lawrence above Quebec (see pp. 119 and 123,
Report of Minister of Marine and Fisheries)— are omitted, having no mackerel or herring,
t Pickled.

Table showing the quantity and value of the herring taken in the Dominion of Canada in 1880.

Province."

Pickled herring.

Smoked herring.

Page of
Report of
Canadian
Minister
of Marine
and
Fisheries.

Barrels.

Price
per
barrel.

Valne.

Boxes.

Price
per box.

Value.

7,066
55, 098

136, 543
125, 552
18, 020
J10

$4 00
4 61*

4 00

4 00
t4 00
M 00

$28, 264
254, 272

546, 172
502, 208
72, 080
40

292

53, 76, 100,
106, 118

165
215
249
269

562

60, 020

477, 340

$0 25

25
25

$140 50

15, 005 00
IIS, 335 00

1, 750 00

Total

342,289

1,403,036

537, 922

136, 230 50

"The inland Provinc* of Manitoba, which of course has no mackerel or herring, is omitted. t Not given in official report. } Pickled.

2.— THE FROZEN-HEBRING INDUSTRY.

1. ORIGIN OF THE TRADE.

NEWFOUNDLAND FROZEN-HEERING TRADE. — The island of Newfoundland has, from its earliest
discovery, been a very important locality for the herring. Different schools have appeared upon
different portions of the coast at various seasons of the year. For any particular locality, however,
the time of arrival and departure of the different schools has been quite constant, and, in some
places, the herring have remained but a few weeks. On other portions of the coast, and particu-
larly along the southern shores of the island, they remain during the greater part of the year, and
at Fortune Bay can be taken in considerable numbers for fully eight months.

As early as 1837 a Gloucester fishing vessel visited the island for a trip of salt herring, and
other vessels from the same port went occasionally a few years later. The salt-herring fisheries,
however, did not become important for many years.

In those early days the fresh-fish trade of the United States was of little importance, and the
present methods of iciug, freezing, and shipping were little known. The present trade in fresh
fish is of recent growth and is the result of a series of experiments in different methods of icing
and refrigeration. In those days, when ice was not used, the fresh-fish trade was confined largely
to the locality where the fish were taken, and if any shipping was done it was confined to a radius
of a few miles at the most. The idea of engaging in an extensive traffic in fresh fish did not, there-

440 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

fore, present itself in the early history of our fisheries, and it was only through the experiment of
a Cape Ann fisherman that the trade in frozen herring originated.

The Cape Ann Advertiser of February 23, 1877, gives the following account of the origin and
growth of this trade on the coast of Newfoundland :

The frozen herring trade of Gloucester, the foundation of the prosperity of our extensive Bank fisheries, like many
another important feature of our leading industry, had its origin in that spirit of adventure which is ever a charac-
teristic of the men who man our fishing fleets and shrink at no hazard which promises profit to self and prosperity to
the husiness community.

Previous to 1854 fresh herring found no place in the fishing industry of this port. Newburyport and other fishing
towns were engaged on a small scale in the Magdalen Islands herring-fishery to supply the demand for smoked her-
ring, but in this branch of the business the Gloucester fleet did not participate. Though an occasional trip of pickled
herring was brought from Newfoundland before 1850, the idea of bringing fresh herring from that locality, " for bait-
ing purposes and family use," was not thought of until the winter of 1854-'55.

In the fall of 1854, from representations of Newfoundland fishermen that large quantities of halibut 'caught on
the shores of that island were annually cut up and barreled, Capt. Henry O. Smith, now a veteran skipper, conceived
the idea that it would be a profitable venture to make a trip to Newfoundland and bring home a cargo of frozen hali-
but. Accordingly he sailed from this port in the schooner Flying Cloud some time in December, but after arriving in
Newfoundland and lying in port about a fortnight, during which time he secured only about 2,000 pounds of halibut,
he found that his venture would be a losing one unless he turned his attention to some other cargo than that of which
he was in quest. Codfish being plenty, he concluded to obtain a quantity, and soon succeeded. The catch of her-
ring was also large that season, and it occurred to Captain Smith that on one of his trips to George's he had brought
in some herring left over from his bait, which, on account of the extreme cold weather, had become frozen stiff, and
remaining in that condition had proved serviceable on the nest trip to the Banks. At that time the George's fleet
were obliged to rely upon the schools of herring found on the Banks for their supply of bait, first catching the bait,
sometimes requiring two or three days, either on the Banks or by drifting into deeper water, before commencing to
fish. The advantage of starting out with a good supply of bait suggested itself to Captain Smith, and he felt that now
was the opportunity to test an experiment which might prove of inestimable importance to the fisheries of Glouces-
ter. Accordingly he took on board about 80,000 frozen herring of prime quality, and with his assorted cargo of cod,
halibut, and herring, sailed for home.

On arriving in Gloucester, in February, 1855, about 20,000 herring were sold to Mr. George W. Floyd, who took
them on sleds for distribution around the Cape to bait the shore fishermen, then pursuing a profitable industry.
Captain Theo. Parsons was the first to see the advantage of frozen herring for George's bait, and took 1,000 fish,
while another skipper was willing to try the experiment and took 500 more. The balance of the cargo, not finding
sale for bait, was taken to Boston for a market. » « * Captain Parsons sold one-half of his lot to another skipper,
so that out of the herring brought by Captain Smith, three George's-men were baited, each taking 500 herring, which
proved sufficient bait in those days. * * * The three vessels made speedy trips, and after eight or nine days
arrived home again, one with 90,000 and the others with over 80,000 pounds each of codfish— the crack voyages of the
season. The anticipations of Captain Smith were more than realized, and had there been a cargo of frozen herring
then in port there would have been no need for seeking another market for the bulk of the stock.

Later, the same season, Captain McKinnon arrived from a halibut trip, bringing about 40 barrels of fresh herring
on a venture; but the herring had spoiled before reaching port and were not marketed.

Gratified with the success of this venture, and unmindful of the peril attending the enterprise, Captain Smith
resolved to make a second trip the same season, and sailed for Newfoundland in March, 1855, but was caught in an
icefield, where his vessel was confined for a period of nineteen days, with no clear water in sight from the masthead.
She was finally released, with a broken rudder, and arriving at Newfoundland took on board a cargo of oil, and
returned home in safety.

The experiment having proved a success, Captain Smith determined to prosecute the business on an extensive
scale the following winter. Accordingly, in copartnership with George Garland, four vessels were fitted out for
trading trips to Newfoundland, Captain Smith going down in the schooner John to take charge of the business,
accompanied by Captains James Ayer in schooner Mary Hart. Stephen Smith in the Flyiug Cloud, and John Welch in
the Diadem. A Marblehead schooner was also chartered by the firm, but threw up the charter before proceeding on
the voyage. The same season Capt. Andrew Leighton embarked in the business in the schooner Queen of Clippers.
The Mary Hart was first laden with about 20,000 pounds frozen codfish and some 350 barrels frozen herring, and
arrived home in due season, being the first to arrive, and Captain Ayer the first skipper to land a cargo of frozen
herring at this port. Her arrival was hailed with joy by the George's fleet, who saw in her cargo the hopes of a repe-
tition of the big trips of 1855. As she rounded Eastern Point she was recognized by Capt. Jesse Lewis, who was
bound out on a George's trip, and who at once returned and was the first to take bait from the new stock. Before
the Mary Hart's cargo was fully disposed of Captain Leighton arrived with a full cargo, and after disposing of some
30,000 herring for bait sold the rest of the cargo to Messrs. Garland and Smith, who marketed it in Boston. The
Flying Cloud's fare was disposed of here. The Diadem brought a cargo of salt herring and frozen fish, which were sold
in New York, and the John came home in April with cargo of fish oil, &c.

From this humble beginning may be traced the success of the herring business, which was developed into a leading
business industry, and employs many of the finest vessels of the fleet. For the first dozen years the business was con-

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 441

fined to Newfoundland voyages, but of late years an extensive herring business lias grown up witli Grand Manan, and
a few cargoes are brought annually from Nova Scotia. This herring industry enables our vessels to prosecute the
Bank fisheries in February and March, when immense schools of fish resort thither, and the largest fares are brought
in. It furnishes a valuable article of nourishing food for the New York, Boston, and other markets at low price.

NEW BRUNSWICK FROZEN-HERRING TRADE. — From the beginning of the present century
Grand Manan is known to have been a favorite resort for the herring, and the waters off its
southern head have been one of the principal spawning grounds on the entire coast. Mr. M. H.
Perley, in his report of the fisheries of New Brunswick for 1850, describes these grounds as of
peculiar importance, and speaks of the herring as " striking in " in such vast quantities as to com-
pletely cover the, sandy spots, while immense numbers were compelled to drop their spawn on the
rough, rocky bottom beyond these limits. It seems that the fisheries of this region early became
mportant, and, according to the same authority, there were in 1849 one hundred and twenty ves-
sels engaged in the herring fisheries of the region. A part of this fleet came from Nova Scotia,
while the remainder belonged to the various fishing ports of Maine and Massachusetts.

The fisheries soon became so extensive that laws were passed to protect the spawning fish,
and vessels were limited to the use of nets of 30 fathoms each, while the boats were not to have
them more than 15 fathoms in length. These laws were soon changed so as to entirely do away
with the fishing in the vicinity of the spawning grounds between the 15th of July and the 15th of
September.

Though the fish were peculiarly abundant about Grand Manan, and also appeared in consid-
erable numbers along the shore at different seasons, they were not known to frequent the shore
grounds in any considerable numbers during the winter months prior to 1850. Mr. Perley speaks
of their appearance at this time as something extraordinary. He says :

" In November last fine cod, averaging about thirty to a quintal, were taken by the hand-line
fishermen between Musquash and Le Preau. At that time fine herring made their appearance,
requiring nets with 2J-iuch mesh. These continued to increase in numbers until January. While
this report is being written (February, 1851,) they are taken daily in considerable quantities. The
appearance of large bodies of herring so close to the shore during the depth of winter is an unusual
circumstance. In general they do not approach the coast until the latter part of winter or in early
spring, and then in only moderate quantities."

Notwithstanding these statements, it does not seem improbable that the fish might have been
abundant in these waters during the winter months for many years, and that the fishermen failed
to learn of their presence on account of the lack of a market and the cold, stormy weather, which
interfered to a great extent with the prosecution of the fishery. However this may be, little was
done in the capture of herring in this locality prior to I860, and even then the business was so
small as"to attract no attention, the greater part of the catch being used for bait by the local fish-
ermen. Gradually, however, as the Newfoundland fisheries developed and the value of frozen
herring became more generally known, the fishermen engaged to a limited extent in their capture,
freezing the fish and selling them to Eastport dealers, who distributed them by wagons to the
towns in the vicinity, and shipped them by steamer to the principal fishing ports, to be used for
bait and food.

The shipping began in a small way as early as 1864, and in 18G6 the first Gloucester vessel
visited the region to engage in the fishery. Up to this time the fishery had been so unimportant
that little was known of the abundance of the fish and of the extent to which the business might
be prosecuted. It soon became apparent, however, that immense numbers offish could readily be
taken, and that the business could be made a very profitable one. Some vessels from Portsmouth,

442 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Portland, and other towns began to come regularly to the region, though the Gloucester fishermen
engaged in the frozen-herring trade hesitated to visit this region on account of a prejudice against
the net herring, the higher price demanded by the fishermen, and the smaller size of the fish when
compared with those taken in Newfoundland.

The extensive fleet engaged in the frozen herring trade soon found it more profitable to make
short trips to the Bay of Fundy than to visit the more distant grounds at the island of Newfound-
land, and in a few years the New Brunswick fisheries had grown to be more extensive than those
of Newfoundland. The expense of a long trip to Newfoundland, together with the additional risks
and exposures of the voyage, more than counterbalanced the difference in the price paid for the
fish. In addition to this, there was some uncertainty as to the supply of fish in Newfoundland, as
vessels had occasionally failed to secure full cargoes, while, at Grand Manau, no such scarcity of
fish had occurred, and, besides, trips from Grand Manan would reach the market nearly a month
earlier.

About 1868 the business may be said to have been properly inaugurated, and, from this date,
it grew with surprising rapidity until in the winter of 1879-'80 it had quite supplanted the trade with
Newfoundland ; 8 cargoes being brought from Newfoundland, while 102 cargoes, in addition to the
large quantity shipped by steamer, were brought from Grand Manan.

2. FISHING GROUNDS.

NEWFOUNDLAND. — The principal localities for frozen herring, as has already been intimated,
are the island of Newfoundland and the southern coast of New Brunswick.

This fishery for Newfoundland is confined almost exclusively to the southern shore of the
island, which is of peculiar formation, being exceedingly high and rocky and indented by numer-
ous long and deep arms of the sea, which are frequented by immense schools of herring during the
winter and spring months.

The first trip of frozen herring taken to the United States was obtained at Rose Blanche, a
small harbor about 20 miles east of Cape Ray, the southwestern point of the island. Cargoes have
frequently been secured at other points along the shore ; the principal fishing ground, however, is
at Fortune Bay, a large bay 65 miles in length, situated about midway of the southern shore of the
island. This bay is irregular in shape, having a width of 35 miles at its mouth and gradually nar-
rowing toward the center, where it varies from 10 to 20 miles in breadth. It is separated from
Placentia Bay by a long peninsula, which forms its southeastern shore. This shore, though high, is
comparatively regular, and, in various portions of its length has low and sloping banks. The
northern shore of the bay, however, is peculiarly rough, rugged, and barren, being composed of a
series of steep, rocky peninsulas intersected by deep and narrow bays, which are the favorite feed-
ing and spawning grounds for the herring. Long Bay, or " Long Harbor," as it is locally called, has
for several years been the principal fishing point of the region. This bay is about 16 miles long by
a mile and a quarter wide, and during the winter months is usually covered with ice through a
greater part of its length. The lower portion, however, is open, and affords an opportunity for
seining and netting the fish.

Other harbors, including Saint Jacques, Bay the North, and Rencontre, were formerly impor-
tant points in connection with this fishery, and vessels occasionally visit them at the present day.

NEW BRUNSWICK. — When the frozen-herring trade of New Brunswick began, the principal
fishing was at Grand Manau.

This is a small rocky island, 13 miles long by 7 wide, lying about 6 miles southeast of West
Quoddy Head, which is the nearest land. Vessels have regularly visited this island and obtained

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 443

full fares, and, at certain times, the principal fisheries of the region have been prosecuted from the
various harbors and coves along its eastern shore.

Gradually, however, the fisheries of the main shore have become more important, and the bulk
of the catch is taken there, few, if any, of the vessels going to Grand Manan for their cargoes.

The fish arrive off the southern head of Grand Mauan during the month of July, where they
remain until the middle of September. Late in October other schools gradually approach the
shore of the main land, in the vicinity of Campobello Island, just opposite Eastport ; as the season
advances the numbers increase, until, in midwinter, the waters between Eastport and Le Preau
are literally filled with herring, great numbers of them entering and remaining in Saint Andrews
Bay until late in the spring.

The fishing begins in a small way as soon as the fish arrive, but it does not become extensive
until the weather is sufficiently cool to freeze the catch. During the first of the season the bulk
of the herring are usually taken in the vicinity of Deer Island and Campobello ; later they are
more abundant about Beaver Harbor and Point Le Preau, while in the spring the fishing is often
extensive in Saint Andrews Bay. This rule is not constant, however, as the fisheries of the differ-
ent localities vary greatly from time to time, one particular section being much less important in
one season than another.

Herring also occur in considerable numbers along other portions of the coast, and trips have
been taken at various points along the shores of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, but there is no
extensive fishery in these places.

3. THE VESSELS AND THEIR CREWS.

The vessels engaged in the frozen-herring trade are those that have been employed in the cod
and mackerel fisheries during the summer months; many of these are among the largest, strongest,
and swiftest of the fleet. In visiting Newfoundland vessels are obliged to encounter the roughest
weather, and to be exposed to the strongest winter gales. In addition to this they often encounter
vast fields of ice, and are frequently detained for weeks at a time. For this reason only the largest
and most able vessels have been engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries, the average of these
ranging from 80 to 100 tons.

In preparing a vessel to engage in this fishery it is usually brought to the wharf, after which
the fishing gear and salt are removed and the hold is thoroughly cleaned. After this is done, from
20 to 50 tons of dirt or stone are usually placed in the hold for ballast and properly secured.
Those vessels which have been engaged in the mackerel fisheries, however, retain their summer
ballast, but usually put in a few tons additional.

After the vessels are ballasted the owners purchase a large amount of provisions, including
flour, beef, and pork. In addition to this they usually carry a considerable quantity of kerosene oil,
oil clothing, rubber boots, and other articles worn by the fishermen. These goods are exchanged
with the natives for herring, the bulk, or even all of the cargo, often being paid for in this way.
After the goods are properly stowed, it frequently occurs that the vessel takes a considerable
quantity of fruits or vegetables to be sold along the coast of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.

THE NEWFOUNDLAND FLEET. — Vessels visiting Newfoundland usually start by or before the
middle of December. Those sailing first secure their cargoes and return home during the latter
part of January, while those sailing later are sometimes detained until the middle or last of March.

The crews are usually hired at $20 to $25 per month to sail the vessel. The captain is some-
times hired outright, but more frequently he has an interest in the trip. Only enough men are taken
to manage the vessel on the voyage, six to eight able-bodied seamen being a fair average. These

444 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

are usually men who have been engaged in other branches of the fisheries during the summer
season.

On account of the rough weather and dangerous passage it is customary for vessels to "hug
the shore" on the outward passage, so that they can "make a harbor" in case of bad weather, and
also to obtain a market for their cargo of fruits and vegetables. They usually make several stops
on the coast of Nova Scotia, and later enter the harbor of Louisburg to wait for a favorable chance
for crossing the gulf between Cape Breton and Newfoundland. They usually touch at St. Pierre
if the weather is unfavorable for continuing their passage up the bay. The most dangerous part
of the entire trip is the passage in or out of Fortune Bay. The water is so deep that anchorage
cannot be found at any distance from the laud, and good anchorage can only be secured in a few
of the smaller harbors. The weather is also very changeable, and vessels are frequently overtaken
by snow-storms, accompanied by severe gales, in which case it is next to impossible to make the
land.

Formerly, after securing their cargoes, the captains came cautiously from harbor to harbor,
watching for a good opportunity to leave the bay; but, as the competition increased, the first fish
arriving in market came to bring a much higher price than the later arrivals; the result has been
a peculiar rivalry between the different vessels, and many of them have run great risks in order
to be first at the market. Many of the more reckless captains have attempted to leave the bay
when the weather was unsuitable, and many have narrowly escaped destruction, while a number
have been lost in this way. Other vessels are lost on the homeward passage by coming in contact
with the ice while under a heavy press of sail.

From the origin of this trade until the spring of 1877, according to the Cape Ann Advertiser,
twenty-three vessels, valued at $214,500, and fifty-seven lives were sacrificed.

THE NEW BRUNSWICK FLEET. — Owing to the nearness of the fishing grounds the vessels
engaged in the frozen-herring trade of New Brunswick are usually smaller and inferior in size
and build to those employed in the Newfoundland trade. Many shoal-draught swift-sailing vessels
employed in the summer mackerel fisheries, though unsuitable for the Newfoundland trade, are
well adapted for this business; while vessels of 30 to 40 tons, from various fishing ports along the
shore, are regularly engaged in it during the winter months.

The vessels going to New Brunswick seldom carry any goods to exchange with the fishermen,
but buy the fish outright, paying cash on delivery.

The first of the fleet reach the ground about the middle of November, or as soon as the weather
becomes cold enough to freeze the catch. From this time until the following March vessels are
constantly arriving and leaving with their cargoes. Those engaging in the New Brunswick fish-
eries usually proceed at once to Eastport, where they obtain full information of the abundance of
the fish and their market value. Some of them then proceed to the smaller harbors in the vicinity
of the fishing grounds and buy their catch directly from the small boats; while others remain at
Eastport and take such fish as are brought to them by the small vessels engaged in the fishery.

The first arrivals from this region in the principal markets occur during the first week in
December, and the business reaches its height by the 1st of January, and continues as long as
the weather will warrant.

As in the Newfoundland fishery, the captain usually hires only a sufficient number of men to
handle the vessel on the voyage and to receive and stow the cargo, buying the fish directly from
the local fishermen. Occasionally, however, the crews of some of the smaller vessels catch their
own herring, and after properly freezing and stowing them set sail for Boston or Gloucester to
market them. The crew is usually hired at from $20 to $30 a month, while the captains, with few

THE FROZEN HERRING INDUSTRY. 445

exceptions, have a direct interest in the voyage, either from their share in the vessel, or by special
arrangements with the owners.

4. THE FISHERMEN OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND NEW BRUNSWICK.

NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERMEN. — The island of Newfoundland is settled only along the coast
line, the interior being a rough and rocky region, wholly incapable of cultivation. At occasional
points along the shore there is a small amount of arable land, which is cultivated to a certain
extent; the bulk of the produce consumed on the island, however, being imported from Prince
Edward Island and other points in the Dominion. With their limited resources these people are
almost wholly dependent upon the fisheries for a livelihood, and many of them are living in the
most abject poverty.

The principal fisheries of the island are for seal, cod, and herring; while considerable money
is obtained from the sale of capelin and squid for bait in the summer season. In the section
visited by the American vessels, however, the fishery is confined largely to the capture of cod and
herring, and when these fisheries fail there is often a vast amount of suffering.

The Cape Ann Advertiser of January 24, 1862, gives the following with reference to the
suffering caused by the scarcity of fish at that time:

" Recent news from Newfoundland reports a sad case of destitution among the inhabitants,
especially in the vicinity of Placentia Bay. The unsuccessful summer fishing is the principal
cause of this state of things, but it is much aggravated by the want of that winter employment
which the herring fishery in Fortune Bay has afforded for some years past. The civil war in the
United States, in its mischievous influences, has for the present almost if not entirely put an end
to the traffic which this business produced. The Government is making every provision possible
for the relief of these destitute people."

A few of the more energetic fishermen, by incessant labor and careful economy, have succeeded
in accumulating a small amount of money, and some of them have been enabled to buy vessels
and to build themselves suitable homes. The ones who have been most successful are those who
have catered most largely to the American trade, spending the summer in the cod fisheries and the
winter and spring in supplying the American and French vessels with herring and capeliu for
bait. Many, however, have only the rudest houses, and are deprived of even the ordinary com-
forts of life. Mr. Augustus Dower, who visited the island in the winter of 1879-'80, on one of the
vessels engaged in the frozen-herring trade, writes in his log-book, under date of January 11 : "I
went into a fisherman's house to-day for the first time this winter. It was full of half-naked
children, and had every indication of poverty in the extreme." This is no exceptional case, but,
as we are assured by those familiar with the region, is a common occurrence in different portions of
the island.

When we consider the illiteracy of these people and their extreme poverty, together with the
fact that many of them are almost wholly dependent upon the fisheries for a livelihood, it is
natural to suppose that there would be a peculiar prejudice against any participation in their
fisheries by the people of other countries ; as the capture of fish by the crews of foreign vessels at
anchor in the Newfoundland harbors means simply the depriving the natives of the chance of
obtaining money from the capture and sale of the fish which these vessels require. On account of
this feeling the American fishermen have usually abstained from the capture of herring, and have
bought their supplies largely from the native fishermen ; but, as the apparatus and methods of
capture employed by the Newfoundlanders have been very crude, our fishermen have been greatly
inconvenienced both by the unnecessary expense and the additional time required in securing their

446 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

cargoes. For these reasous the Americans have for some time been interested in the introduction
of better methods among these people. Many of the New England fishermen have recently carried
purse-seines on their trips to the island in order that the herring could be readily taken in any
depth of water and at any distance from the shore. They have usually placed them in the hands
of the natives, hiring them to catch the fish and paying them a liberal amount for their labor.
They did this, not because they could not catch their own fish, but because they did not care to
antagonize these people; in fact the Newfoundlanders had threatened violence in a number of
cages provided any attempt should be made by the crews of the American vessels to fish their own
seines.

INTERNATIONAL DIFFICULTIES AT FORTUNE BAY.

THE FORTUNE BAY DIFFICULTY. — Such a condition of affairs existed for a number of years,
and the feeling between the fishermen of the two countries became stronger with each succeeding
season. The Americans, accustomed to prosecute the fisheries by means of the more modern and
expeditious methods, were greatly annoyed at the inconveniences to which they were subjected in
Newfoundland. Learning that the commissioners, who had been in consultation at Halifax, had
just decided that the United States should pay the sum of $5,500,000 to the British Government
for the privileges granted them under the treaty of Washington, they decided that they had a right
to free themselves from these restraints and to enjoy the privileges for which their Government
was to pay so large a sum. An attempt to carry these ideas into practice during the winter led
to the serious disturbance at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, known as " the Fortune Bay outrage,"
which has caused so much trouble between the two Governments.

As the difficulty occurred in connection with the herring fishery, and most seriously affects
the trade in frozen herring, a brief review of it and the steps that led to its final settlement may
not be out of place in this connection, though an extended discussion of the matter in all its impor-
tant bearings would lead us too far from our subject.*

It seems that in the fall of 1877 twenty-six American vessels were sent to Newfoundland for
the purpose of securing cargoes of frozen herring to supply the principal New England markets.
Extensive preparations were made for this trade, and after the vessels had been put in order and
properly ballasted many of them took on board a quantity of merchandise to exchange with the
natives for herring. Most of them were also provided with purse seines for use in catching the
fish. By the middle of November many of them were under way, and three weeks later the last
one had taken its departure. This entire fleet proceeded to the southern shores of Newfoundland,
and one after another of them reached Fortune Bay and proceeded to Long Harbor, the principal
fishing ground of the region. A number arrived early in December, and others came a little later,
but as the herring bad not yet put in an appearance in any quantities, the captains were obliged
to anchor and await their arrival.

A few of the captains had succeeded in purchasing small quantities of herring from the native
fishermen who lived in the region or who came hither in small "jacks" to engage in the fishing
with nets and haul-seines; others had, as formerly, hired some of the Newfoundland fishermen to
take charge of and fish their seines, paying them a definite sum for their labor. By January 5 no
less than twenty-two American vessels were lying at anchor waiting for herring, and as no vessel
had succeeded in getting more than a few barrels, the outlook was not very encouraging.

On Sunday, January 6, bubbles could be seen rising to the surface of the water, an unmis-

*A11 of the correspondence on the subject between the two Governments, together with the affidavits of the fish-
ermen on both sides, appear in the Foreign Relations of the United States for 1879, 18HO, and 1881.

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 447

takable sign that the fish had arrived. Later in the day they became more abundant, and the
captains of some of the American vessels decided to " man their own seines " and thus secure
their cargoes immediately. Accordingly four vessels sent their boats to lay out their seines, and
others were preparing to follow, when the enraged Newfoundlanders (some of whom it is said had
on the same day been fishing with nets and seines in the vicinity), seeing that all of the American
vessels were likely to secure full cargoes before dark, and knowing that this would destroy their
chance of finding a market for their catch, gathered on the beach and demanded that the seines
be taken up, giving as a pretext that it was unlawful to fish on the Sabbath. At the same time
the Americans were assured that if they did not comply with the demands that their nets would
not only be opened and the fish turned out but that the seines would be destroyed.

The captain of the schooner Frank A. Smith, after a vigorous protest, decided to accede to
their demands, and at once took up his seine and returned with it to his vessel. John Hickey, an
Englishman, living near Fortune Bay, who had set his seine and was threatened in a similar way,
followed the example of the Smith. The other American captains, however, continued their
fishing and refused to desist. Captain Jacobs, of the schooner Moses Adams, had made a haul
and had emptied his catch into the seine of one Thomas Farrell, a Provincial fisherman then in
his employ, when the mob, for such it had come to be, attempted to liberate the fish and to tear
up the seines, but Captain Jacobs, armed with a revolver, determined to protect his property.
The natives, seeing his firmness, turned their attention to the two remaining seines belonging to
the schooners New England and Ontario, respectively. These had been joined, and an enormous
school of herring, containing upwards of 2,000 barrels, an ample quantity to load both vessels,
had been surrounded, and the fishermen were fully determined to secure their fish. Finding that
threats would not avail, the infuriated mob seized the seines and, after liberating the fish, tore
them to pieces and divided them up among themselves as trophies of their victory. No less than
sixty men were engaged in the onslaught, while fully one hundred and forty more stood by and
urged them on with shouts and cheers.

This attack very naturally put an end to the seining, as no one dared to jeopardize his life
and property by longer opposing the frenzied crowd. Finding that they had carried the day, the
Newfoundlanders returned to their own vessels or gathered in crowds upon the shore and gave
themselves over to general rejoicing. In describing the scene Captain McAulay, of the schooner
Ontario, says they "made a jubilant demonstration, filing guns, blowing horns, and shouting, as
if celebrating a victory, to impress upon the masters of the American vessels present that they
were prepared to stand by and justify what they had done, and that the Americans might expect
to be treated in future in the same manner should they attempt to catch herring in the Newfound-
land waters."

On the following morning the herring had disappeared and most of the vessels were obliged
to go home in ballast or with the few fish that they had already purchased. It is said, however,
that several remained for a time in the hope of buying fish from the natives with which to fill up
their vessels, but in this they were disappointed, for herring continued scarce and they too were
compelled to return home with only partial fares.

It was not pleasant to the Americans to submit to such abusive treatment and to be deprived
of the privileges for which our Government had paid the enormous sum of $5,500,000, and,
though it was doubtless the proper course, yet our knowledge of these men leads us to believe
that had they not been so hopelessly in the minority they would have insisted upon their rights.
As it was they decided to give ,up the voyage as a losing one and to return home and lay the

448 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

matter before their Government, and ask that steps be taken, not only to make good their loss,
but to secure to them the enjoyment of their rights under existing treaties.

The testimony of many of the fishermen was taken by the proper authorities, and the owners
on whom the loss came most heavily, on account of the expense incurred in fitting the vessels,
made up their claims for damages and loss amounting in the aggregate to $105,305.02. These
were at once forwarded to the Secretary of State, who, after examining into the evidence, promptly
instructed our minister at London to lay the matter before the British Government. An extended
correspondence ensued between the two Governments and the subject was under discussion for
several years.

It was at first maintained by Her Britannic Majesty's Government that the complainants had
violated the provisions of local laws in three particulars: (1) The use of seines at a forbidden time;
(2) fishing on Sunday; (3) "barring fish." Sections 1 and 2 of chapter 102 of Title XXVII of the
Consolidated Statutes of Newfoundland, passed in 1872, on Ihe ground of which the first and third
charges were made, are in the following language:

" SEC. 1. No person shall haul, catch, or take herrings by or in a seine or other such contriv-
ance on or near any part of the coast of this colony or of its dependencies, or in any of the bays,
harbours, or other places therein, at any time between the 20th day of October and the 12th day
of April in any year, or at any time use a seine or other contrivance for the catching and taking
of herrings except by way of shooting and forthwith hauling the seine: Provided, That nothing
herein contained shall prevent the taking of herrings by nets set in the usual and customary man-
ner, and not used for in-barring or inclosing herrings in a cove, inlet, or other place.

"SEC. 2. No person shall, at any time between the 20th day of December and the 1st day of
April in any year, use any net to haul, catch, or take herrings on or near the coasts of this colony
or of its dependencies, or in any bays, harbours, or other places therein, having the mokes, meshes,
or scales of such net less than two inches and three-eighths of an inch at least, or having any false
or double bottom of any description; nor shall any person put any net, though of legal-size mesh,
upon or behind any other net not of such size mesh, for the purpose of catching or taking such
herring or herring fry passing a single net of legal-size mesh."

The assertion of the illegality of Sunday fishing was based upon section 4 of chapter 7 of an act
passed April 26, 1876, entitled "An act to amend the law relating to the coast fisheries," which
provided that —

"No person shall, between the hours of 12 o'clock on Saturday night and 12 o'clock on Sunday
night, haul or take any herring, capclin, or squid with net, seines, bunts, or any such contrivance
for the purpose of such hauling or taking."

Secretary Evarts, in his instructions of August 1, 1879, to Mr. Welsh, the American minister
at London, claimed that, by virtue of the provisions of Articles XVIII and XXXII of the treaty of
1871. the fishermen of the United States had an unlimited and unlimitable right to prosecute the
fisheries in the waters of Newfoundland and other North American British provinces during the
period therein specified; that such was the intent of the two Governments at the time of its pro-
mulgation, and that it was for this privilege, which Great Britain had asserted to be more valuable
than the equivalent offered in the treaty, that the immense sum of $5,500,000 had been paid by -the
United States under the Halifax award. To substantiate her position our Government brought
forward extracts from the statement of Her Majesty's case presented to the Halifax Commission,
and from the arguments of British counsel before that body, which showed their interpretation of
the terms of the treaty to be substantially identical with that now maintained by the United States.
He claimed that the American fishermen bad not interfered in any way with the rights of British

THE FROZEN-HEKRING INDUSTRY. 449

subjects or gone beyoud their treaty privileges, and refused to admit the competency of municipal
legislation to nullify or diminish aught from the privileges granted by the Imperial Government.
He held, moreover, that, even if the local laws could in any case have such an effect, they certainly
were not so intended in the present instance, and, in support of this position, cited section 18 of
the Newfoundland law alleged to have been infringed, which is as follows :

" Nothing in this chapter shall affect the rights and privileges granted by treaty to the subjects
of any state or power in amity with Her Majesty."

Regarding the amount of the claim against Great Britain, Mr. Evarts said :

" The evidence in this case shows that the catch which the United States fishing fleet had on
this occasion actually realized was exceptionally large, and would have supplied profitable cargoes
for all of them. When to this is added the fact tLat the whole winter was lost and these vessels
compelled to return home in ballast; that this violence had such an effect on this special fishery
that in the winter of 1878-'79 it has been almost entirely abandoned, and the former fleet of twenty-
six vessels has been reduced to eight, none of which went provided with seines, but were compelled
to purchase their fish of the inhabitants of Newfoundland, the United States Government is of
opinion that $105,305.02 may be presented as an estimate of the loss as claimed, and you will con-
sider that amount as being what this Government will consider as adequate compensation for loss
and damage."

The British Government finally acknowledged that local legislation passed after the ratifica-
tion of the treaty of Washington ought not to affect the American fishermen in any of their rights,
but it claimed that any laws existing prior to 1871 should be considered as binding upon our fish-
ermen. Lord Salisbury, thereiore, in his letter of April 3, 1880, omits the question of " Sunday
fishing," but bases the case of his Government on an act passed by the colonial legislature of New-
foundland on March 27, 1862. He shows that section 1 of that act forbids the taking of herring
with a seine between the 20th of October and the 12th of April, and further prohibits the use of
seines at any season for the purpose of barring herring. In this letter he claimed that the fisher-
men of the United States had no right to use the shores of Newfoundland for purposes of actual
fishing, and (2) that they had no right to use a seine for herring at that particular season of the
year, and, indeed, that they could not use one for barring herring at any time. Ho states that the
evidence in the case shows that " on 1 he day in question a large number of the crews of the United
States fishing vessels came on shore and from the beach barred the herring, the ends of their seines
being secured to the shore." This fact alone, he thinks, would warrant his Government in refusing
to pay the claims for losses sustained by our citizens.

In commenting upon the language of the treaty, he said:

" Thus, while absolute freedom in the matter of fishing in territorial waters is granted, the
right to use the shore for four specified purposes alone is mentioned in the treaty articles from
which United States fishermen derive their privileges, namely, to purchase wood, to obtain water,
to dry nets, and cure fish.

" The citizens of the United States are thus, by clear implication, absolutely precluded from
the use of the shore in the direct act of catching fish. This view was maintained in the strongest
manner before the Halifax Commission by the United States agent," &c.

The American vessel-owners in their claims for damages had included not only the actual
expenses of the voyage, but also the profits that might have accrued to them from the sale of the
fish, these last being figured on the basis of profits in former years of vessels engaged in the same
business.

SEC v 29

450 HISTOKT AND METHODS OF THE FISHEKIES.

Finally, in tbe spring of 1881, a compromise was suggested by which each Government should
make certain concessions. By the terms of this compromise the British Government were to pay
the actual losses incurred by the various vessels, which amounted to $52,977.26, the vessel-owners,
in turn, agreeing to withdraw their claims for the additional $50,000 representing the probable
profits of the business. A settlement was made on this basis, and during the following summer the
money was received by our Government and paid over to the proper parties.*

NEW BRUNSWICK FISHERMEN. — The New Brunswick fishermen are, as a class, far superior to
those of Newfoundland. They are very much less dependent upon the fisheries than the people of
Newfoundland, and many of them only engage in the business during the winter months, when
there is a scarcity of employment at their various trades, or when little can be done about the small
farms of the region. They manifest a disposition of friendliness toward the American fleet, and
do not seriously object to Americans engaging regularly in the work of catching the herring.
The bulk of the catch is taken by the various islanders and people living along the shore, but
perhaps a quarter of the entire catch is secured by the American fishermen living in the vicinity
of Eastport or by those coming in small vessels from the fishing towns in the eastern part of
Maine.

5. METHODS OF OAPTUEE.

METHODS AT NEWFOUNDLAND. — The vessels on reaching Fortune Bay usually proceed to
Long Harbor, where they are securely moored, head and stern, and, in addition, two lines are put
out and made fast to objects on the shore. Owing to the lack of a. market the fishing does not begin
until the American vessels arrive, though the natives from other portions of the coast often come
to the harbor and make full preparation before the vessels arrive.

When the fishing began gill-nets were almost exclusively used, but, as the work became exten-
sive, some of the more provident of the Newfoundland fishermen provided themselves with large
haul-seines. The seine-owners are usually the masters of small vessels locally known as "jacks."
The first vessels owned were quite small and of an inferior model and rig. These, however, have
gradually been replaced by those of larger size, until the fleet, at the present time, average from
20 to 40 tons. These vessels are employed in summer for running the catch of herring and capeliu
to the island of St. Pierre, where it is sold to the French fleet engaged in the cod-fisheries. These
vessels are also a great convenience in the winter herring fishery, as they enable the men to follow
the herring from harbor to harbor and transport the fish to other localities in case no market offers
where the fish are taken.

* The following quotation includes those articles of the treaty of Washington which bear upon the points under
discussion :

" XVIII. It is agreed by the high contracting parties that, in addition to the liberties secured to the United States
fishermen by the convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed at London on the 20tb day of
October, 1818, of taking, earing, and drying fish on certain coasts of the British North American colonies therein
defined, the inhabitants of the United States shall have, in common with the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, the
liberty for the term of years mentioned in Article XXXIII'of this treaty, to take fish of every kind, except shell-fish,
on the sea-coast and shores, and in the bays, harbors, and creeks of the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New
Bruswick, and the colony of Prince Edward Island, and of the several islands thereto adjacent, without being
restricted to any distance from the shore, with permission to laud upon the said coasts and shores and islands, and also
upon the Magdalen Islands, for the purpose of drying their nets and curing their fish : Provided, That in so doing they
do not interfere with the rights of private property, or with British fishermen, in the peaceable use of any part of the
said coasts in their occupancy for the same purpose.

It is understood that the above-mentioned liberty applies solely to the sea-fishery, and that the salmon and shad
fisheries, and all other fisheries in rivers and the mouths of rivers, are reserved exclusively for British fishermen.

XXXII. It is further agreed that the provisions and stipulations of Articles XVWI to XXV of this treaty, inclu-
sive, shall extend to the colony of Newfoundland, so far as they are applicable. *

XXXIII. • * • The said articles shall remain in force for the period of ten years from the date at which
they may come into operation, <fec.

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 451

In seining the fish the captain usually takes his position in the bow of the seine-boat while the
crew are employed in rowing the boat along within a few rods of the shore. The herring are de-
tected by means of small bubbles rising to the surface. As soon as these are seen, one end of the
seine is made fast to the shore, after which it is "shot" around the fish and the other end is again
brought to the land. The net is often hauled across the mouth of a small cove and the fish are
readily confined until such time as the market offers or until the weather becomes cool enough for
freezing them. Again, after the ends of the seine are brought to the shore it is frequently anchored
and the fish confined within its walls for several daysyuntil they can be satisfactorily disposed of.
The fish are seldom if ever hauled upon the beach, but the seine is hauled in until the fish are
confined in a small space, after which they are dipped out and boated to the vessels or to the
shore, as the case may be.

The catch is often very large, sometimes reaching upwards of a thousand barrels at a single
haul.

The fish "strike in" in great numbers at certain seasons, and, unless taken at once, are apt to
pass up under the ice out of reach of the nets, and many are thus frequently lost.

Many of the poorer fishermen who do not own seines, and who are not hired by the seiners to
engage in the fishery, provide themselves with gill-nets, setting them at night in the ordinary way
and visiting them early in the morning, sometimes securing a large catch in this way.

The fish taken are sometimes mixed, several sizes being found in the same school. Such fish
are seldom bought by the American vessels if large fish of uniform size caii be obtained — the diffi-
culty being in finding a market for the smaller fish — and a vessel bringing a cargo of mixed fish to
the United States finds it difficult to dispose of them except at reduced rates.

METHODS AT NEW BRUNSWICK. — In the New Brunswick fisheries the herring are taken ex-
clusively in gill-nets, no seines of any kind being used. The fishermen gather from different places
along the coast of New Brunswick and from the nearer fishing towns on the coast of Maine,
remaining in the locality until the close of the season. Most of them have small vessels, which
serve as a home and on which they dry and mend their nets. These are usually anchored in some
cove convenient to the fishing grounds or in the lee of some island, where they remain until
enough fish have been taken to be carried to Eastport or elsewhere for a market. The vessels
engaged in this fishery vary in size from -5 to 40 tons. They are among the poorest vessels
engaged in the fisheries of the American coast, a portion of them being only partially decked,
with small cuddies forward for eating and sleeping. Others are the old-style sharp and square
stern ed vessels that have practically become worthless for the other fisheries.

Many of the New Brunswick fishermen live on the shores in the immediate locality, and use
only small boats for engaging in the, work.

The vessels are provided with the ordinary reach-boats, 15 to 20 feet in length. These are
locally known as net-boats, and are worth about $40 each. The number varies from one to five,
according to the size of the crew. The crews of the vessels average only four or five men, though
they vary from two to ten. In the larger vessels one man remains on board to keep things in
order and to do the cooking, while the remainder are engaged in catching the fish. In the smaller
vessels all are engaged in fishing, and each takes his turn in cooking the food. Two men go in the
same boat to set, tend, and haul their nets.

They usually leave the vessel about three in the afternoon for the purpose of setting, and on
reaching the grounds set their nets in 8 to 25 fathoms of water, sinking them to a depth of several
feet below the surface. The nets are allowed to remain until the following morning, when they are
visited, hauled, and carried to the vessel, where they are picked and dried. Formerly several nets

452 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

were usually set in a string, but with tbe strong tides it has been found more desirable to set
them separately. The depth to which they are sunk is regulated by straps, attached to a wooden
float, which are placed at short intervals along their entire length and vary from a few feet to 6
fathoms. These floats hold the net in proper position, and, by shortening or lengthening the
strings, it can be set at any required depth. Anchors are also attached to each end to hold the
net in position, and, in addition, each is provided with a watch-buoy having a long line attached, so
that if the net should be carried to the bottom by the weight of the fish this will still float at the
surface and enable the fishermen to haul it up.

Each fisherman usually supplies himself with two nets. These are usually 2J-inch mesh, 30
fathoms long, and 150 meshes deep. The webbing costs about $9, but when properly tanned, hung,
and provided with buoys and buoy-lines a net costs little short of $20. The man is then said to be
properly " geared," and is ready to ship in one of the vessels for the fishery.

The catch is very irregular, and no estimate could be given of a day's catch, for at times
almost no fish are secured, while at others the nets are so heavily loaded that they sink to the
bottom and are not strong enough to hold the weight of the fish in bringing them to the surface.
Men have been known to catch nothing for weeks together, while a crew of five men have made
$500 in a single night. The average season's work for two men is said to be from 120,000 to
250,000 fish to the boat, selling at 25 cents per hundred, which would be a fair average for several
consecutive years. The best fishermen can make $250, while the average, after taking out the
vessel's one-seventh loss of nets and material for mending, is said to be only $150. The nets
usually last two and, with care, three seasons ; but a large catch of fish injures them greatly, and
they are often lost altogether, so that one must allow $25 each season for replacing them.

6. PEESEEVING THE PISH.

METHODS OF FREEZING AND PACKING THE FISH. — As soon as the vessel has been properly
moored in one of the many coves convenient to the fishing grounds, part of the ballast is
thrown overboard, the remainder being retained until it becomes certain that a full cargo can be
secured. The hold is then sheathed up around the sides to prevent the frozen fish from being
injured by coming in contact with the salt plank which forms the ceiling of the vessel ; or, occa-
sionally, it is thoroughly dried by the use of lime. A platform is built in the bottom of the hold,
being raised from a few inches to a foot above the keelson, so that the fish may be out of the way
of injury from any water that may be in the hold. Two bulkheads or partitions are placed across
the forward part of the hold to separate it from the forecastle. These are about five or six inches
apart, and the space between them is carefully packed with sawdust or straw to prevent the heat
of the stove from entering the hold and injuring the fish. If the fish are to be frozen on the ves-
sel, which is frequently the case at Newfoundland, a large scaffold of rough boards is built for the
purpose.*

* Capt. D. E. Collins, in an unpublished letter, describes the erection of the scaffold used in freezing herring on
shipboard in the following language :

"In the first place the tacks of the foresail and mainsail are come np with, and the lace-lines on the boom are
unreeved and the sails furled to the gaffs. They are then hoisted so as to be above the scaffold, when it is built,
about six feet. The scaffold is placed six feet or more above the deck. To build the scaffold a piece of scantling or
joist is lashed from the fore to the main rigging on each side, and another extends on each side from the main rigging
to the end of the davits. These are blocked up forward, if necessary. This being done, the fore and main booms are
raised so as to form a middle support. From these side pieces small joists, generally two by four inches thick and
about twenty feet in length, are laid to the booms, overlapping them about five feet. These pieces are placed all
along, with about two and one-half feet space between them — the whole width of a scaffold, on a large-sized vessel,
being about thirty feet — and the ends of the joists projecting over the vessel's side about three feet. These being

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 453

The lumber is usually purchased in some convenient harbor along the coast on the outward
passage, and as soon as the vessel reaches the harbor the work of building begins, and as the crew
are usually unskilled mechanics it is generally three or four days before the scaffold is ready for use.
The journal of Mr. Augustus Dower, of the schooner Victor, of Gloucester, gives the following
description of its construction :

" Strong scantling are selected, and, after being carefully spliced together, are propped up and
securely lashed to the shrouds of the vessel about seven feet above the deck. These scantling
extend from bow to stern on either side of the vessel. Shorter scantling are now laid across these
stringers, on which the boards are nailed. After the platform has been made, boards are put up
along either side to prevent the fish from sliding off, and, after being thoroughly propped from
beneath, the scaffold is complete."

The scaffolds vary considerably, according to the size of the vessel, the average dimensions
being ninety to one hundred feet long and twenty-five feetwide. As soon as the trip has been secured,
the platform is taken down and the lumber is sold to the islanders, who usually contract for it as
soon as the vessel arrives. The quantity of fish to be placed on the scaffold varies considerably,
according to the weather. When the temperature is little below the freezing-point the fish must
be spread very thin in order that those underneath may be thoroughly frozen ; but, with a lower
temperature, the fish can be heaped together to a depth of a foot or more, though in such cases it
is necessary to turn them every few hours.

When the scaffold has been filled the remainder of the catch is often spread upon the deck of
the vessel, where it remains until frozen. The greatest care is necessary in this work, and parties
must be constantly watching the weather, day and night, to guard against loss from a sudden rise
of temperature or a storm of rain or snow. The watch usually turns the fish with shovels or stirs
them with his feet every few hours, and during storms of snow it becomes necessary to work con-
stantly among them to keep them from being covered up and injured. This process is called
"picking."

When the weather becomes warm, so that the fish would be thawed by exposure, it becomes
necessary to "heap" them or shovel them into piles and carefully cover them with canvas or other
material that will protect them from the weather. When the change comes suddenly all hands are
sometimes kept busy for several hours in placing those below that are thoroughly frozen and in
carefully covering the others on the scaffold or on deck.

It frequently happens that fish that have not been thoroughly frozen are placed in the hold for
protection against continued warm weather. In such cases they must bo again taken out and
refrozen as soon as the weather is suitable for the purpose. The fish treated in this manner are
considered inferior to those frozen during the first exposure.

The usual method of ascertaining whether a fish is sufficiently frozen is by breaking. If the
herring bends at all in the hand it is not frozen sufficiently ; but if it breaks short, like a dry stick,
it is considered ready to be packed in the hold.

In New Brunswick and, to a certain extent, in Newfoundland the fish are frozen by the fisher-
men who catch them. After being taken from the nets they are brought to the shore in baskets

down, boards are laid over them, fore and aft, openings being left over the hatchways through which to shove the her-
ring into the hold. Indentations are also formed in the sides of the platform abreast of the hatchways to allow the
herring to bo hoisted np from the boats. For additional support to the scaffold, tackles are attached to the main
boom topping-lift and jib-stay. During gales or heavy storms the sails are lowered down, so that they rest on the
scaffold, thus preventing it from being blown away. The fore gaff and sail, when hoisted up, are secured to the main
rigging by a guy from the after end of the gaff. As many as one hundred and twenty barrels of herring have been
frozen at one time on the schooner Centennial's scaffold."

454 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEKIES.

and are spread out upon the land to the depth of a few inches to a foot, and occasionally stirred or
kicked about by the fisherman who may chance to be on watch for the purpose of noting the
weather and calling all hands in case it becomes necessary to take in the fish. The place selected
for freezing is usually a clean gravelly beach above high-water mark, or a surface of crusted snow
and ice, or, in case no such spot can be found, clean grassy land is occasionally used. If the daj
is cold they can be frozen at once, but if warm they must be kept on the vessel till night before
spreading, or, in case of a continued thaw, they must be salted or thrown away. Herring kept
over three or four days before they are frozen are not considered equal to those frozen immediately,
as the scales of the former are apt to come off, which very much injures their appearance, while
the latter remain constantly fresh and bright.

There is often a lively competition between the trading vessels as to which shall secure the
largest amount of fish in the shortest time. This generally results in a rise in the price, as one
vessel will frequently outbid another, and it sometimes occurs that much more is paid for the bait
than it is actually worth. Another method adopted by the captains is that of winning the favor
of the fishermen. This is especially noticeable by the vessels visiting the Newfoundland coast.
In this region the captain who is kindest is the one who will have the preference of the fish taken
by them. The Newfoundlanders are not slow to improve the opportunity of asking and accepting
favors, and in the bait as well as the herring fishery many of them often board the vessel as soon as
she reaches the harbor. Capt. D. E. Collins, in speaking of a visit to Newfoundland in the summer
of 1879, says : " It is customary in most of the baiting-places of Newfoundland for the fishermen
to flock aboard of an American vessel as soon as she anchors, and it is not unusual to see a dozen
or twenty on deck at once, all eager to gather and retail the fishing news and to make arrange-
ments for baiting the vessel. If near meal-time they may also be attracted by the hope of getting
an invitation to eat, and thereby a ' square meal,' for there is a great difference between the food
of American fishermen and that of the average Newfoundlander." In another place, while
speaking of the competition between the vessels in securing a supply of bait, Captain Collins
adds: "There being twenty-five sail of bankers here (Carbouiere, Concepcion Bay), and all wild
to get it with as little delay as possible, it follows, as a matter of course, that every possible effort
is put forth by each. The price having reached 40 cents per hundred none of them felt like
going beyond it, but every other artifice has been resorted to, and the Newfoundland fisherman,
who was fortunate enough to have a good catch of squid, has been the subject of more attentions
than were ever lavished upon a belle of society, and, for the time being, the bait-fisherman is
master of the situation. The cook, too, with a full appreciation of the influence of a good dinner
upon a hungry fisherman, keeps a well-spread table below always ready, and takes care to invite
the fishermen below for a 'bite.' It is scarcely necessary to add that generally they are in no
way loath to accept the invitation, and they rarely fail to do justice to the occasion."

This same fact is noticeable to an equal or even greater extent in the frozen-herring fisheries
during the winter months, and we learn of instances where twenty to twenty-five natives have
been fed at one time, the cook being kept constantly busy preparing food for them during the stay
at the island.

In return for this kindness some of the fishermen improve the opportunity of their visit to
steal certain articles belonging to the vessel, and, unless they are carefully watched, a good many
things are lost in this way.

Mr. Augustus Dower, who visited Fortune Bay in the winter of 1879-'80, says in his journal
of January 9 : " We bought sixty-nine barrels of frozen herring from a Bay-the-North schooner,
the crew of which stole two shovels, a bucket, and a pair of oars. We searched their vessel

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 455

thoroughly and found one of the shovels, the remainder of the goods having probably been thrown
overboard while we were below."

The herring are carefully packed loose in the vessel, the hold, and even the cabin, being
completely filled, the crew usually living in the forecastle on the homeward passage. Formerly
the fish were packed in frozen snow, or a considerable quantity of snow was placed around the
sides of the hold and the fish heaped together in the middle ; but, for many years, this practice
has been wholly abandoned, as it is found that the fish will keep equally well without the use of
snow. A quantity of straw, however, is sometimes placed around the sides of the hold, and is
scattered among the fish to a limited extent.

The quantity carried by the vessels engaged in the trade varies considerably. The largest
schooners often carry cargoes of five or six hundred thousand fish, while the smaller ones engaged
in the New Brunswick trade often carry less than a hundred thousand. The average cargo for the
entire fleet would be 250,000 to 300,000.

At Eastport, a large trade has sprung up between the dealers and the local fishermen. Many
of the dealers have large wooden platforms at some convenient point near the harbor, where the
fish are spread and frozen, after which they are stowed in buildings lined with sawdust, to be
kept until a market offers. They are then packed in rough barrels and shipped to different portions
of the country, some going as far west as Cincinnati or Chicago.

7. MARKETS.

FROZEN HERRING FOR BAIT. — As has already been said, the frozen-herring trade originated
with Capt. Henry O. Smith, in the winter of 1854-'55, his object in making the experiment being
to supply the vessels engaged in the George's Bank cod fishery with bait. At this time the vessels
engaged in the spring fisheries were provided with gill-nets for catching their own bait, and it was
customary for them to proceed to the outer edge of the bank, where they remained for several
days setting their nets to secure a supply, after which they proceeded to the shoaler parts of the
bank to engage in fishing. It frequently happened that herring were scarce at this season, and
more time was consumed in catching the bait than in using it.

Captain Smith succeeded in selling 500 fish to each of three vessels that were about to sail,
and in addition sold a few to the boat-fishermen of the region. He was, however, obliged to carry
the remainder of his catch to Boston for a market. The three vessels thus provided with bait
secured large fares and made quick trips, and frozen herring at once came into general favor in
this fishery. For many years, however, the fishermen took only a limited quantity, depending
largely, or in part, upon their nets for their supply. They continued to buy more herring each
season and to depend less upon their nets, till about 1804, when nets were wholly thrown aside
and the entire trip was secured with frozen bait.

At this time from 5,000 to 8,000 fish were taken by the average George's-man for a trip of
two to three weeks. Gradually the quantity of bait Las been increased, and the vessels have
remained longer upon the fishing grounds, until now the average George's-man takes from 15,000
to 18,000 fish for a "baiting," while an occasional vessel will use 20,000.

If the fish are to be sold for bait the vessel anchors in the middle of the harbor on her arrival,
and hoists her flag in the rigging as a signal that bait may be secured. The captains of the dif-
ferent vessels soon come aboard to examine the fish and to arrange for purchase. If several
" baiters " are in the harbor at the same time a lively competition is apt to occur, and prices are
lowered accordingly. To avoid this reduction they usually agree upon a definite price, but it fre-
quently occurs that, though they charge according to agreement, they give the captain or owners

456 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

of the vessel from $15 to $25 as a bonus for the privilege of supplying them with bait, though the
item appears in the vessel's bills at regular market rates, and the crew of the George's-man are
obliged to settle on this basis. This bonus was formerly paid to the captains who arranged for the
bait, but of late years the owners have come to take the matter in hand, and the baiting vessels
make their arrangements directly with them, paying the bonus to the owners rather than to the
captains.

Probably one-third of all the frozen herring brought to the United States each season is sold to
the Gloucester fishermen for bait. According to Mr. A. Howard Clark, Gloucester used in the
winter of 1879-'80 9,954,000 frozen herring, and in the winter of 18SO-'81 10,265,000. The price
varies according to the scarcity of the fish or the competition in the market. When the supply is
large the price sometimes falls to 25 or 30 cents per hundred, but at the beginning and close of the
season, or during periods of scarcity, it sometimes reaches $2. The average price for the past two
or three winters has been from 50 to 75 cents.

FROZEN HERRING- FOR FOOD. — When frozen herring were first taken to Boston there was a
peculiar prejudice against them, and it was with difficulty that a market could be found. The
Cape Ann Advertiser of February 23, 1877, after speaking of the small quantity sold for bait to
the Gloucester vessels, gives the following account of Captain Smith's experience in introducing
this fish into the Boston market:

"The balance of the cargo not finding sale for bait was taken to Boston, when the fish mer-
chants and hucksters refused to have anything to do with them, believing that the people would
not buy and eat such fish. The captain, however, succeeded in inducing some Irish fish-peddlers
to take a few at 75 cents per hundred, and soon after they commenced retailing them (at 2 cents
each) it was found that a profitable vein had been struck, and the crew of the Flying Cloud had
all they could do in counting out herring, the price soon advancing to $1 per hundred, until the
whole was disposed of, and as many more could have been placed on the market without diffi-
culty."

The same difficulty was experienced in disposing of the first cargo of frozen herring in the
New York market. The first fish taken to that city were carried by Capt. Sylvanus Smith, in the
whiter of 1857. " The fish dealers were shy of the new enterprise, but finally the cargo was dis-
posed of, and from that time fresh herring in a frozen state have been an important feature of the
New York market during the winter months."

From the introduction of this fish into the leading markets frozen herring have become a
favorite article of food among the laboring classes of the larger cities, and are distributed to a
considerable extent among the people of the smaller country towns. They form a cheap and
wholesome food at a season of the year when other fresh fish are obtained with difficulty and
usually bring a high price. They have a great advantage over the ordinary fresh fish in that they
can be packed in barrels and shipped to a considerable distance without danger of loss. With the
exception of those sold in Gloucester for bait, nearly all of the frozen herring are carried directly
to Boston and New York by the vessels, two or three cargoes being carried to Philadelphia each
season. At these places they are packed in barrels for distribution, and sent as far south as Wash-
ington and as far west as the Mississippi River. Some of them after reaching their destination
are thawed and salted by the dealers and sold as pickled herring, while others are salted and
placed in the smoke-houses, where they are cured for bloaters or hard herring. Fish once frozen
are not particularly desirable for either of these purposes, as they become very soft and their flesh
is of a peculiarly dark and unattractive color.

THE FROZEN-HERRING INDUSTRY. 457

In Boston the fish are usually sold by the hundred, while in New York they are almost invaria-
bly sold by weight.

Of the 30,875,000 herring brought from New Brunswick in the winter of 1879-'80, about ten
millions were sold for bait to the Gloucester fishermen, eleven millions were brought to Boston,
and two millions were sold to New York, the remaining quantity being landed in Portland, Phila-
delphia, Portsmouth, and the other principal cities along the coast. The price varies according
to the supply; the wholesale dealer charges from 75 cents to $2 per hundred, while the retail price
averages from 4 to 6 cents per pound.

8. EXTENT OF THE TEADE.

STATISTICAL BEVTJEW OF THE TEADE, 1854 AND 1880. — From the time of their first introduction
into the American markets for bait and food, frozen herring have continued to grow in favor and
have found a ready sale. The number of vessels engaged in the Newfoundland trade, though
varying considerably from year to year, owing to various causes, steadily increased until, during
the winter of 1866-'67, the United States sent 44 vessels to Newfoundland and imported 14,000,000
herring. The business of this region was most prosperous about this time, as, owing to the Rebel-
lion, the market price of the herring was unusually high and the demand often exceeded the supply.
The vessels were of large size, carrying from 300,000 to 400,000 fish each, and some of them stocked
for as much as $4,000, or, in exceptional cases, even $5,000 on a trip. There were some drawbacks,
however, as the fishing ground was a long way off, and the business had to be prosecuted at a
season when the weather was particularly unfavorable. In addition to these, the herring fisheries
of the island were not always as successful as could be desired, and vessels were at times obliged
to return home with only partial fares. As the expenses of the voyage were necessarily large, a
failure to secure a full cargo often resulted in serious loss to the parties interested.

Until the winter of 1866-'67 the trade had been confined exclusively to Newfoundland, and
only the largest and stanchest vessels could engage in the business. At this time the trade with
New Brunswick began, and on account of the nearness of the fishing grounds to the American
markets and the diminished risks to the vessels from storms and other causes, a large fleet soon
engaged regularly in the business, many of them making two trips during the season. The markets
soon came to be well supplied with fish from this source, and the Newfoundland fleet gradually
diminished until, in the winter of 1873-'74, but fifteen vessels visited the island. From this time
it again increased, but the belligerent attitude of the natives in Fortune Bay and other places has
had a decided influence in causing the American fleet to abandon the Newfoundland fisheries and
to turn their attention to the trade with New Brunswick. The result is that in the winter of
1880-'81 only three American vessels visited the island, and the business seems to be practically
at an end.

The trade with New Brunswick, on the other hand, has rapidly increased. Mr. D. I. Odell,
in a letter to Professor Baird dated Eastport, Me., January 22, 1873, gives the statistics of the
frozen-herring business of that region as fifty vessel loads, in addition to 500,000 fish that were
packed in barrels and shipped by steamer. If we allow 225,000 fish for each cargo we have a
total of 11,750,000 herring, which, at $5 per thousand, the price stated by Mr. Odell, would have a
value to the fishermen of $58,750. Other authorities place the number of cargoes for the same
season at 44, and the total quantity of fish at 10,900,000.

A careful investigation of this fishery in the summer of 1880 showed that the shipments
during the previous winter had reached 102 cargoes, averaging 230,000 herring each. In addition
to these, 9,500 barrels, containing about 475 fish each, making a total of 28,175,000 herring. These,

458

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

at 30 cents per hundred, the average price paid to the fishermen, would have a value of over
$84,500. If we add to this the cost of the barrels and the labor in handling it would bring the
first cost of the fish up to nearly $90,000.

According to Mr. R. C. Green and Mr. Thomas L. Holmes, two of the principal herring dealers
of Eastport, about twenty-five American vessels and eight or ten large boats, with one hundred
and thirty men, were engaged in the capture of the herring. During the season, which lasts from
late in November to the 10th of March, these fishermen caught about 8,000,000, the remainder
being taken by the fishermen of New Brunswick.

According to the statement of Capt. Henry B. Thomas, published in the Eastport Sentinel,
there were shipped from Eastport and vicinity during the winter of 1880-'81 32,630,000 herring,
which, including labor and barrels, had a value of $98,700 to the producers.

The following table, compiled from the files of the Cape Ann Advertiser, the Eastport Sen-
tinel, and other sources, shows approximately the number of cargoes of frozen herring, together
with an estimate of the number of fish brought to the United States each year since the origin of
this trade.

Season.

|l
fel

f

Number of cargoes from
New Brunswick and
Nora Scotia.

Total number of cargoes.

Estimated number of
herring from New-
foundland.

Estimated number of
berring from New
Brunswick and Nora
Scotia.*

Estimated number of
herring from all
source*.

U64-'55

1

1

80,000

80, Ott

1855-'56

4

4

730 000

730 MO

1856-'57

6

6

1, 500, 000

1, 500, 000

1857-'58

11

11

3, 300, 000

3, 300, 000

1858-'59

13

13

3 900,000

3, 900, 000

185»-'ttO

16

16

4 800 000

4 800 000

1860-'61 .

19

19

5 700, 000

5, 700, 000

1861-'62

15

15

4 500,000

4 500,000

1862-'63

28

28

8 400 000

8 400, 000

1863-'64

39

39

10 700 000

10 700 000

1884-'05

21

21

6 800,000

6, 800, 000

1865-'66

29

29

9 600 000

9, 500, 000

1866-'67 . . .

44

1

45

14, 200, 000

200, 000

14, 400, tOO

1867-' 68

29

8

37

9, 400, 000

1, 600, 000

11, 000, OtO

1868-'69
1869-70

32
24

12
20

44

44

10, 400, 000
7 800,000

2, 700, 000
4 500 000

13, 100, OtO
12, 300, 000

1870-71 ....

23

36

59

7, 500, 000

8, 600, 000

16, 100, 000

1871-72 .

18

26

44

6, 300, 000

6, 500, 000

12, 800, 000

18

44

62

6 300, 000

10,900 000

17, 200, 000

1873-74
1874-75

15
23

34
33

49
56

5, 250, 000
8, 000, 000

9, 650, 000
8, 400, 000

14, 900, 000
16, 400, 000

1875-76

20

52

72

7, 000, 000

13, 700, 000

20, 700, 000

1876-'77

28

57

85

9, 300, 000

15, 000, 000

24, 300, 000

1877-78

26

70

06

6, 300, 000

18, 500, 000

24, 800, 000

1878-79

10

90

100

3, 400, 000

23, 700, 000

27, 100, 000

1878-'80

8

102

110

2, 700, 000

28, 175, 000

30, 875, 000

1880_'81

3

118

121

1, 000, 000

82, 630, 000

33, 630, 000

* Including the quantity shipped by steamer from Eutport.

THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE. 459

3.— THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE WITH THE MAGDALEN
ISLANDS, ANTICOSTI, NEWFOUNDLAND, AND LABRADOR.

1. HISTORY OF THE FISHERY.

ORIGIN AND GROWTH. — From the earliest settlement of the country, as is well known, the
American fishermen have been accustomed to catch herring along the shores of New England,
and in former years, when the demand was much greater than now, they often pickled or smoked
considerable quantities for shipment to the larger markets, and quite a profitable business was
developed. Before the close of the last century a number of American fishiug vessels were
engaged in the Grand Bank cod fisheries, and a little later some of them were accustomed to fish
in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and along the coast of Labrador.

Prior to the Revolution our fishermen had perfect freedom in common with all other subjects
of Great Britain to catch and cure fish in any of the British North American waters, and the
treaty of 1783 restored to us the right to engage in the fisheries of any part of "His Britannic
Majesty's dominion in America, and also the liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled
bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador so long as the same
shall remain unsettled." The convention of 1818, while it took from us the right to fish within
three marine miles of the shore in many localities, retained for us the right to visit the western
and a portion of the southern shore of Newfoundland, the Magdalen Islands, and Labrador.
While engaged in the capture of codfish in these waters the crews of the American vessels came
into intimate relations with the resident fishermen, and from them, as well as from their own
observations, learned of the abundance of the various species at different seasons.

One of the principal fishing grounds for cod was about the Magdalen Islands, where a large
fleet of vessels resorted each spring and spent a greater part of the summer in catching their
trips. The fishermen soon learned that the shores of these islands were favorite spawning-
grounds for the herring, and that they "struck in" regularly each season about the 1st of May
and remained in enormous numbers for several weeks.

Though some of the fishermen had talked of making trips to the Magdalens, especially for
herring, nothing seems to have been done toward the inauguration of the trade prior to 1822,
when, according to Mr. William Webb, of Deer Isle, Me., the first cargo of Magdalen herring
was brought to the United States by Capt. Jonathan Carleton, of Isle au Haut, Me. He arrived
at the Magdalens in the early spring for a fare of codfish, but finding them scarce it occurred to
him that it would be an excellent time to try the experiment of carrying home a load of herring.
He therefore secured 350 barrels, which he landed at Isle an Haut, to be smoked for the Boston
market. His venture proved a very profitable one, and the following year two or three sail were
sent from the locality to the Magdalens for the same purpose. A year or two later vessels were sent
from Deer Isle, Fox Island, Mount Desert, Lubec, and Eastport, and within a few years the business
had spread so as to include a large number of the principal fishing towns between Eastport and
Cape Cod. From 1858 to 1865 the business was particularly prosperous, and a fleet of about fifty
vessels went annually to the region , bringing home full fares, which were sold to good advantage.

The Labrador herring fisheries were probably developed in a similar manner to those of the
Magdalen Islands. By the beginning of the present century a small number of American vessels

400 HISTOET AND METHODS OF THE FISHEKIES.

were engaged in the Labrador cod fisheries, catching their bait, which consisted of capelin, herring,
and sand-lant, in the vicinity, by means of nets which they carried with them for that purpose. In
this way they came to know of the abundance of herring, and found that they were present during
the greater part of the summer, at which time they were very fat. There being a good demand for
them in the home markets, whenever the fishermen failed to secure a full fare of cod they usually
took a few barrels of them on board to fill out their trips. Mr. Lorenzo Sabine, writing in 1853,
describes the herring fishery of Labrador as of little importance, being at that time confined to the
capture of small quantities by vessels engaged in the cod fishery, showing that there were no ves-
sels engaged exclusively in the Labrador herring fisheries. From that date to the present time
most of the herring brought from that region have been by those employed in the cod fisheries,
though a few vessels have engaged exclusively in the capture of this species from time to time.

According to the Cape Ann Advertiser, the American fleet did not engage in the Newfound-
land herring fisheries until 1837, when Capt. James Pattillo, of the schooner Tiger, left Gloucester
about November 28, returning home in the following May with a cargo of 130 barrels of pickled
herring, which were sold " at $7.50 per barrel, being the first Newfoundland herring imported into
the United States." The schooner Amazon, of Gloucester, Mass., engaged in the fishery about the
same time.

For some years from this time almost no vessels went to Newfoundland for this purpose, and
it was only during seasons of scarcity at the Magdalen Islands, or at times when the demand was
particularly good, that vessels resorted to the region in any numbers or with any regularity. Even
now the business, as far as American vessels are concerned, is of little importance, and the bulk
of the fish received are taken by the natives and shipped to the United States for a market.

It is said by fishermen familiar with the fisheries of Anticosti Island that the American her-
ring fisheries of that region resulted from the failure of the fisheries of the Magdalen Islands.
Some of the fishermen failing to secure their cargoes in the above locality, knowing of the abun-
dance of herring at Anticosti, set sail for that island, and succeeded in loading up with fish of
excellent quality. Prior to 1870 no vessels visited the region, and it is only recently that the
fishery has been at all important, and even now the fleet is quite small.

2. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS. — The Magdalen Islands are situated about midway of the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence, in latitude 47° 30', longitude 61° 45'. The group is composed of eight small
islands, separated from each other by shoal channels varying from a few rods to half a mile in
width. Their greatest length is 36 miles in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction, while
their greatest breadth is but 5 or 6 miles. The shores are quite irregular, some portions being
very bold and rocky, while others are formed by long stretches of sand. Amherst Island, the
southernmost of the group, curves to the eastward, inclosing Pleasant Bay, the principal fishing
ground for herring. The shores of the bay in its northern portion are bold and rocky, but at other
points they are low and sandy. The bay varies in depth from 3 to 8 fathoms, the bottom being
composed of white sand. Coffin's Island, the largest of the group, is 25 miles long, but very narrow.
The other islands are named Grindstone, Allright, Grosse, Bryon, and Entry Islands. The prin-
cipal fisheries are for cod, herring, mackerel, lobsters, and seals. The spring herring fishery is
sometimes a failure because of the ice blockade, as in the season of 1882, when Pleasant Bay was
full of ice during the entire month of May. The average annual catch of herring at these islands
from 1861 to 1876, according to Mr. H. Y. Hind, was about 29,000 barrels.

THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE.

461

The fish arrive about the 1st of May and continue in great numbers through the spawning
season, entirely disappearing about the 1st of June.*

ANTICOSTI. — Auticosti is an island about 30 miles wide by 120 miles long, lying in the month
of the Saint Lawrence River, about 90 miles north by west from the Magdalens, with good fishing
grounds along almost any portion of its coast. The principal herring grounds, however, are about
East Cape, the eastern extremity of the island. The fishing is at its height during the month of
June, and vessels failing to load up at the Magdalens can reach this island in time to secure their
fares. On account of an abundance of herring Jit jjther and more convenient places, few of the
American vessels visit this locality.

NEWFOUNDLAND. — Various portions of the coast of Newfoundland are visited by herring, and
they are taken, to a greater or less extent, in all of the larger bays and harbors. The principal
fishing grounds, however, are Fortune Bay, on the southern side, and Bonne Bay and Bay of
Islands, on the western shore, these being almost the only ones visited by the American vessels in
search of pickled herring.

Bonne Bay is situated on the western shore of the island, about midway between the Straits
of Belle Isle and Cape Ray. It is a small, deep-water bay, with two arms, the southernmost of
which is frequented by the herring in the largest numbers.

Bay of Islands is situated about 25 miles further south, and is not only a larger but a more
important fishing ground. This bay also has several arms extending 15 or 20 miles into the inte-
rior, and, like those of Bonne Bay, they are very deep. The principal fishing is in the southern
arm, locally known as the " Sou'west Arm."

The fish are found in this region during the greater part of the year, visiting it in early spring
for the purpose of spawning and remaining through the season to feed upon the numerous small
Crustacea that are so abundant in these waters. When they arrive in the spring they are quite poor,
but with such quantities of food they soon become very fat, and those caught in the fall are consid-
ered superior to those taken on the American coast.

The vessels occasionally visit Bonne Bay and Bay of Islands in the spring when failing to secure
fares at the Magdalens, but the principal fishing occurs in the fall. The fleet usually arrive in
October and leave about the last of December, though they are frequently obliged to leave
somewhat earlier to prevent being frozen in by the ice that forms in the bays. Vessels remaining
too long have frequently been caught in the ice and have been detained until the following spring.

Fortune Bay, though occasionally visited by the pickled-herring fleet, is more frequently
resorted to by vessels engaged in the frozen-herring trade, and will be more properly considered
under that head.

•The following, taken from a table published by Mr. H. Y. Hind, gives the time of arrival of the herring at the
Magdalen Islands each season from 1861 to 1876, inclusive :

Year.

Date of
flrstappear-
ance of
herring.

Year.

Date of
first appear-
ance of
herring.

1861

May 1

1869

1863

May 2

1870 . . .

April 15.

1663

May 17

1871

May8.

1864

May 1.

1872

May3.

1865

April 27

1873

April 27.

1866

April 25

1874

May 2.

18fl7

May 7

1875

May 6.

1868

1876

May5.

462 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

LABRADOR. — The shores of Labrador are rough and barren, and with the exception of the few
families gathered about the principal harbors they are almost uninhabited. The fisheries, though
only partially developed, are known to be very valuable. The region is visited annually by com-
panies of fishermen from Newfoundland, and in former times a large fleet of American vessels
fished from some of the larger harbors each summer for cod. The herring are very abundant
along various portions of the coast, but, though valued for their enormous size and great fatness,
they are taken, in limited quantities only, by vessels engaged in the capture of other species. The
fishing is confined largely to the region lying between the Straits of Belle Isle and Cape Harrison.

3. THE VESSELS AND THEIR CREWS.

THE VESSELS. — A large portion of the vessels engaged in the Magdalen herring fisheries in
former times were those that went to Labrador for cod later in the season. The large schools of
codfish visiting the Labrador coast did not usually arrive until the middle or last of June, or some
times till the first of July, and it was customary for vessels engaged in this fishery to make a trip
for herring before the cod-fishing season began. These vessels varied in size from 40 to 80 tons,
the average being about 65 tons. A vessel of this size would carry 700 to 800 barrels of herring.
Later, as the fisheries became more important, other and larger craft visited the locality, and
during the height of the trade the largest fishing schooners and several topsail schooners and
brigs, measuring from 150 to 175 tons, engaged in the work, carrying large cargoes to the different
markets.

The herring fisheries of the west coast of Newfoundland have been confined chiefly to the
Gloucester, Boston, and Eastport vessels of the largest size, these usually going in the fall, after
returning from their summer trips to the offshore fishing banks.

Vessels engaged in the pickled-herring trade carried from 100 to 400 hogsheads of salt, and
had large salt-pens, located near the center of the hold. They fitted with provisions for a three or
four months' trip, and were absent from a few weeks to several months, depending largely on the
locality visited and the abundance of the fish.

THE FISHERMEN. — The crews varied considerably, according to the method by which the
cargoes were to be secured. In some cases the herring were caught by the vessel's crew, and in
others they were bought from parties fishing in the locality. When the fish were to be purchased,
only enough men were needed to salt and care for them and to sail the vessel on the passage ; but
when provided with an outfit for taking their own fish, a crew of ten men were needed.

4. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CAPTURE.

GILL-NETS AND HAUL-SEINES. — When the fishing began, each vessel carried gill-nets with
which to take its load of herring, but as the business increased it was found desirable to introduce
seines for the purpose of catching larger quantities of fish and of loading in a shorter time. These
were either brought by the vessels and fished by the crews, one seine answering for four or five
vessels, or they were owned by Nova Scotia fishermen who came regularly to the island each season
and made a business of catching fish and selling them to American vessels at a stated price. The
vessels also brought gill-nets, to provide against loss in case the fish did not approach near enough
to the shore to be taken by the seines. They very frequently took the greater part of their trip in
this way. The usual method adopted by the American fleet was to buy the fish, as considerable
time could be saved and a smaller number of men were required for the work.

If the vessels were to catch their own fish, on reaching the islands they usually anchored in
Amlierst Harbor and at once started out with their seines in search of the fish. Owing to the

THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE. 463

whiteness of the sand of the bay, the presence of the herring, if in shoal water, was readily
detected by the contrast between their color and that of the bottom. In case the herring remained
in deeper water and failed to "show up," their presence was often known by the numerous bubbles
that rose to the surface above them. It often happened that one or more of the fishermen were
stationed on the top of a high hill overlooking the bay, where they could more easily detect the
presence of the fish. If any were seen, the seining-masters of the vessels were at once notified,
the lookout indicating by signal or otherwise the exact location of the school.

Whenever a school came within half a mile of Jhe land it was at once surrounded by a seine,
and lines made fast to either end were taken to the shore, where the hauling was commenced by
some twenty-five to thirty men. While the seine was being landed, one boat was usually rowed
back and forth across its mouth to prevent the fish from escaping, and whenever they attempted
to swim out, oars were thrown into the water to frighten them back. The ends of the netting
having been brought to land, the seine was gradually hauled in until the fish were confined in a
small space, after which the seine was made fast and the dipping began.

The catch was often enormous, sometimes reaching four or five thousand barrels at a single
haul. At such times it was very difficult to get the ends of the seine to the shore. When only a
small haul was made, a smaller and lighter seine was occasionally shot inside of the large one, so
that the fish could be more easily handled.

The extensive fishing is said by some to have caused a diminution of the supply, and it fre-
quently happened that the bulk of the fish remained in the deeper water at a considerable distance
from the shore, and consequently could not be taken in sufficient quantities to supply all the ves
sels, and many that had not provided themselves with nets were compelled to return "light" 01
with only partial fares. To overcome this difficulty the Gloucester vessels began bringing their
purse-seines which they used in summer for catching mackerel. With these they were enabled to
fish in the deeper waters of the bay, at any desired distance from the shore, and they were often
very successful when the haul seines secured almost nothing.

PURSE-SEINES. — The first purse-seines were carried by Gloucester fishermen about 1865, and
from this date to 1872 the large part of the herring was taken in this way. Many of the fisher-
men of other towns, including Eastport, Lubec, and Lamoine, soon began to use purse-seines, and
all were for a time very successful.

For various reasons, principal among which were cleanliness and convenience of handling,
the herring were never landed on the beach, and even when the fish had been inclosed in a haul-
seine they were simply drawn towards the land until they were brought into a compact mass, after
which they were taken out by means of dip-nets into small boats and carried to the vessel. The
boats used are usually the ordinary "Hampton" build, 20 to 25 feet in length. Each vessel
carried from two to four of these, for transporting the fish from the seine to the vessel. Some-
times the crews of twenty or more vessels would be engaged in dipping from the same net, each
vying with the other in securing the largest possible quantity before the supply should be exhausted.
The competition has at times been so great that some in their greediness have loaded their boats
so heavily that they have been swamped in the rougher water on their way to the vessel. Large,
long-handled dip-nets were used in transferring the fish to the boats, one man handling the net and
the other assisting in "rolling in the fish." As soon as the boat had been loaded it was rowed at
once to the vessel, which usually Ipy in the harbor, from 1 to 4 miles distant. On arriving
the fish were thrown upon the dock, to be cared for by those on board, and the boat returned for
another load. From three to seven loads could be taken by a boat in a day, the number depend-
ing, of course, upon the distance to which the fish must be carried and the condition of the weather.

464 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The purse-seines are used in a manner exactly similar to that of the mackerel and menhaden
fisheries, and they have a great advantage over the drag-seines, especially as they are set in the
deeper water at a considerable distance from the shore, where the vessels can be brought alongside
and fastened to them ; and the herring can be lauded directly upon the deck by means of large
dip-nets. This is a great saving of time and labor, as no men are required for boating, and the
trips are, as a rule, much more easily and quickly secured.

METHODS AT NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR. — On the west coast of Newfoundland, accord-
ing to Captain Collins, the fish are taken almost exclusively in gill nets, as they usually remain in
the deep arms of the bays, where they cannot be seined. The fishing is carried on wholly by the
natives of the island, who seriously object to the use of nets or other apparatus by American fisher-
men. For this reason the Americans seldom attempt to catch their own trips, but buy them from
the jack (small vessel) and boat fishermen of the islands. The vessels engaged in this trade usually
proceed to some convenient cove or harbor, where they remain until a trip box has been secured,
the fishermen bringing the herring to the vessel as soon as they have been taken. When for any
reason the fish are scarce in the locality first visited they proceed to another harbor, and are some-
times obliged to visit several before securing full fares. The captains before starting from home
often purchase a considerable quantity of provisions, such as flour, pork, and beef, besides various
articles of clothing, and an assortment of trinkets. These articles are taken to Newfoundland and
given to the natives in exchange for their herring. In fact the American fisherman often becomes
a trader, having his stock of goods on his vessel, where he is visited by many of the islanders, who
frequently purchase considerable quantities. The practice is of great advantage to both parties,
as one is enabled to make a fair profit on the goods and the other secures necessary articles of food
and clothing, which otherwise it would be almost impossible to do on account of the absence of
any resident in the region. At one time the method of barter was almost universally adopted in
the trade with the herring-catchers of the island, but of late years a good many captains are paying
cash for their cargoes.

On the coast of Labrador the herring are usually taken in ordinary gill-nets carried by the
vessels for this purpose. A few, however, are taken by means of small haul-seines owned by the
natives of the various harbors or by the Newfoundland fishermen who spend their summers in
this country.

6. LAY OF THE FISHERMEN.

When the fishery began the vessels carried nets for catching the fish, and the crew fished on
shares. In this case the owners provided the vessels with the necessary outfit, including pro-
visions, while the fishermen furnished their time and labor, receiving one-half of the net proceeds
of the trip for their services. This was also the case when the vessels carried purse-seines. When
they bought their fish, however, it was customary for the owners to hire a sufficient number of
men to handle the vessel on the passage and to hire men and boats at Canso, or some other point
along the shore, to transport the fish from the nets to the vessel, paying them a definite sum for
their services and leaving them at their homes on their return. In other cases a contract was
made with the foreign fishermen to furnish the fish on the vessel's deck, where the crew were of
course in readiness to receive and care for them.

In the fall and winter fisheries of the Newfoundland coast the fish are purchased, as already
stated, a larger number of men being required to sail the vessel on account of the storms that
frequently occur at this season.

THE PICKLED HERRING TRADE. 465

6. METHODS OF PRESERVING THE PISH.

SALTING IN BULK AND IN BAKRELS — Various methods have been adopted by different parties
in the same and different localities for salting the fish and stowing them in the hold of the vessel.
A common method, known to the fishermen as " salting in bulk," is often employed. By it the fish
are thrown upon the vessel's deck as they come from the water, and a quantity of salt is sprinkled
upon them, after which they are thoroughly stirred with large wooden shovels, made expressly for
the purpose, that the two may be thoroughly mixed. From 4 to 5 pecks of salt are required for
each barrel of fish. When properly salted the herring are shoveled into the vessel's hold, a wooden
shoot being usually arranged in the hatchway to carry them in any direction desired. They are
then shoveled against the bulkheads and sides of the hold until it has been completely filled, or
till a sufficient quantity have been secured.

The "salters" are men detailed expressly for the work, and it is their duty to see that proper
care is taken in mixing the salt evenly among the fish, and that a sufficient quantity is used to
properly cure them. These frequently prefer to salt the fish in the hold, in which case the herring
are shoveled down the hatchway, a few at a time, and the salters add the requisite amount of salt
as the work goes on. The fish are then thrown to one side and stowed loose as before.

The method of salting in bulk, although extensively adopted, is very crude, and the work is
generally done in a hurried and careless manner; the result being that the fish often reach the
market in poor condition, aud are sometimes even unfit for food. This more frequently occurs
with the fish taken at the Magdalens, where the fishermen are obliged to work very rapidly in
order to care for the fish as fast as they are secured. At Newfoundland and other places, however,
the catch is not so large, and the salters have ample to cure them properly.

Even when carefully salted, the bulk herring, when transferred to barrels and covered with
brine, are said to be inferior, both in color and flavor, to those that have been put in pickle while
fresh ; for smoking purposes they are, however, as good as those prepared in other ways, and dur-
ing the height of the Magdalen trade the greater part of the bulk herring were sold to the smokers.
On account of the difficulty of making good pickled fish out of the bulk herring many of the ves-
sels were formerly provided with a quantity of barrels and hogsheads, which were arranged in the
bottom of the hold so that the fish would fall in and around them as the hold was being filled.
The barrels thus served to retain the moisture that drained from the fish above, and those con-
tained within were in this way kept constantly covered with pickle, and when the cargo was
landed they were sold as pickled fish, while the others were used for smoking.

There are several advantages in the method of salting in bulk, the principal one being the
saving of the cost of the barrels required for holding the fish. Again, the quantity that a vessel
will carry is greatly increased by this method; for though the vessel maybe loaded "scupper
deep " in the water before starting, the moisture soon begins to drain from the fish, and can be
pumped out in sufficient quantities to lighten the vessel sufficiently for the voyage. Some time
is also saved on the voyage, as the fish can be handled so much more rapidly.

Herring are also salted in barrels in the ordinary way, each package being filled with pickle
before it is stowed in the hold. This method has been frequently employed in the Magdalen fisheries,
but it is much more common among the fleet visiting Bonne Bay and the Bay of Islands.

Nearly all of the herring brought by this fleet are known to the trade as "round herring";

that is, they are fish that have been salted just as they came from the water, without even being

cut open. A few, however, more particularly of the Newfoundland fish, are cut or torn open and

the gills and entrails are removed before salting. These are called " split," or gibbed, herring. The

SEC v 30

466 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

wives and children of the native fishermen are usually employed for this work. They sometimes
work on shore, but as frequently they board the vessel and work on her decks on account of the
convenience of handling the fish. Many of them have become very proficient in this work. In
most cases the knife is dispensed with, the gills being removed with the thumb and forefinger, and
the entrails are drawn out through the opening thus made.

When the vessels arrive home those fish intended for pickling, whether previously packed in
bulk or in barrels, are at once taken out and thoroughly washed. They are then packed in barrels
with strong ne\v brine, and inspected or not, according to the laws of the State where they are
landed, after which they are ready for the market. Those intended for smoking, however, are taken
out gradually as they are needed, and soaked from 24 to 48 hours, after which they are strung
and again washed before being placed in the smoke-houses.

The fish from Labrador and Newfoundland, being of superior quality, are usually pickled and
bring a high price in market. Those from the Magdalens, on the contrary, being taken during
the spawning season, are of an inferior grade and are chiefly used for smoking. During the height
of the trade the pickled fish from that region were sold to the poorer classes in the Southern
States, or were shipped to the West Indies.

SMOKED HERRING. — Formerly, many of the vescel-owners engaging in the Magdalen fisheries
had a number of smoke-houses where they prepared the fish before sending them to market.
After smoking, they were packed in boxes and shipped to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
for exportation. On account of their large size and poor condition they always rank lower than
any other brands and have never been extensively used by the people of the Northern States, the,
bulk being consumed by the laboring classes of the South. Some of the firms extensively engaged
in the smoked-herring trade had no interest in the vessels, and it was customary for these to
contract with the vessel-owners or masters for cargoes at a stated price ; and they sometimes even
chartered the vessels outright, and assumed the responsibility, making their own arrangements
with the fishermen.

7. EXTENT OF THE FISHERIES AND THE EXPORT TRADE.

THE FORMER IMPORTANCE AND THE DECLINE OF THE FISHERIES. — As has been said, the
first vessel visiting the Magdalen Islands for herring went from Isle au Haut, Me., in 1822.
From this date the business spread rapidly to other fishing towns of the New England coast,
and within a few years a large fleet was engaged in the business.

Mr. Lorenzo Sabine, referring to the Magdalen herring fisheries in 1853, gives the following
statement with reference to the extent of the fisheries in 1839, together with his comments upon them :

"Capt. R. Fair, in command of Her Majesty's ship-of-war the Cham pion, visi ted these islands
officially in May, 1839, and after the commencement of the fishery. He found the ' quantity of
herrings very great, exceeding that of any former year ; and the expertness and perseverance of
the American fishermen' to be 'far beyond that of the colonists.' 'About one hundred and forty-six
sail of American fishing schooners, of from 60 to 80 tons, and each carrying seven or eight men,'
were engaged in it, be continues, and caught ' nearly 700 barrels each;' making for the number
stated, ' a presumed product of 100,000 barrels, of the value of £100,000 ; the tonnage about 10,000,
and the number of men about one thousand.' Whatever the statistics of the year in question, the
average quantity of herrings caught by our vessels is not probably 40,000 barrels ; while the
price — a pound sterling the barrel — is quite fifty per cent., I suppose, above that generally received
in any market in the United States for the article of ' Magdalene herrings."7*

* Sabine's Report on the Principal Fisheries of the Amer ican Seas, 1853, pp. 195, 196.

THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE.

467

Mr. Sabine, though thoroughly posted on various branches of the fisheries, seems to have less
positive information as to the extent of the Magdalen fisheries of this time, for we have it from
good authority that the fishery was much larger than would be supposed from his statements.

The Barnstable Patriot of June 21, 1859, says:

"A writer from Eastport states that no less than 30,000 pounds of Magdalen herring have
already been brought to that place the present season and are now ready for market. They will
find a quick sale, thus bringing into the small place $00,000 for a few weeks' labor in one depart-
ment of the fisheries."

A letter from the Magdalen Islands, printed in the Halifax Express of April 30, 1860, says:

"One hundred sail have already arrived for herring, but the bulk of the fleet are detained in
Causo by head winds."

Mr Fox, the collector of customs at Magdalen Islands, testified before the Halifax Commission
that in 1861 he counted five hundred American schooners engaged in fishing near the island. It
is probable, however, that the majority of them were engaged in the mackerel rather than in the
herring fishery.*

No records have been kept of the interest of the United States in this fishery, and it is difficult
to show its extent with any degree of exactness. The height of the business occurred between 1855
and 1861, when it is claimed that between two hundred and three hundred American vessels were
engaged in this trade each season, including the small fleet engaged in the Newfoundland and
Labrador fisheries. The cargoes varied from 500 to 1,200 barrels, according to the size of the
vessel, the average being about 800. The price received for the fish in the American market
varied from $1.75 to $2.50 per barrel, according to the demand.

In addition to the American fleet a few vessels from Nova Scotia and other of the British
provinces were engaged in the fishery, smoking their fish before bringing them to the United
States for a market. Other of the British Provinces probably caught or purchased considerable
quantities of herring in the same locality each season.

From 18G1 the fishery as far as American vessels are concerned has rapidly declined. Various
causes have operated to bring about this result. The quantity of fish, according to some authori-
ties, has greatly decreased from overfishiug, and during certain seasons the catch has been
insufficient to supply the fleet. At such times the vessels have been obliged to return home with
only partial fares. Instances are cited where the fisheries have either partially or wholly failed.
In 1862 the catch is said to have been small. In 1870 the fishery was a total failure, and 1873 was
a repetition of 1870. Others claim that the fish are still nearly or quite as abundant as formerly,
and that other causes have operated to reduce the catch.

"The following table, published by Mr. H. Y. Hind iu his communication to the Halifax Commission in 1877,
purports to show the total catch of herring at the Magdalen Islands for each season from 1861 to 1876, inclusive:

Tear.

Number of
barrels of
bt'rring
taken.

Year.

Number of
barrels of
herriug
taken.

1861

41 500

1869

70, 800

1862

9 195

1870

2,915

1863

26 500

1871

52, 575

1864

3 000

1872

17, 822

1865 . . .

29 640

1873

4,847

1866

10 893

1874

12, 137

1867

1868

15, 620
39 000

1875
1876

49, 951
77,443

468 HISTOET AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

With these conflicting opinions it is impossible for us at so great a distance to arrive at any
positive conclusions as to the varying quantities of herring that resort to the islands each spring,
but it is certain that the size of the fleet has been greatly reduced by the loss sustained by natural
causes, such as storms and encounters with ice.*

The great decrease in the demand and the uncertainty of reaching the grounds have also
played their part in reducing the fleet. The expense of fitting for the trip is considerable, and the
loss of time of both vessels and men when they could be profitably employed in other branches 01
the fisheries caused the parties interested to avoid uncertainties as far as possible. The loss sus-
tained by the owners on several occasions was so great as to cause them to exercise considerable
caution lest a repetition of the same should occur. The Gloucester Telegraph of May 25, 1870,
gives the following account of the fisheries in the spring of that year :

" Five vessels of the Magdalen Island herring fleet arrived home on Monday and two yester-
day ; the balance of the fleet will soon be along. This fishery has proved an entire failure this
season, the vessels being unable to find herring, and returning home virtually empty. The failure
of this branch of the fisheries this season entails a large loss upon Gloucester, as an unusually
large fleet fitted away in this business, all of which have lost the time consumed on the trip, as
well as the considerable expenses of the voyage. The vessels are all of the first class, and might
have been profitably employed elsewhere.

" The herring made their appearance on the coast and in the rivers fully a month earlier than
usual, and had disappeared before our vessels put in an appearance at their regular haunts at this
season. The fleet from the other fishing towns of New England, though much smaller than the
Gloucester fleet, met with the same ill success. Lamoine, Me., had ten vessels in this fishery, all
of which together did not secure enough to make a single full fare. Newburyport had two vessels
in the fishery, both of which have arrived home, one with 50 barrels of herring to show for a
month's work, and the other without a single herring."

* "These islands [Magdalens] were visited on the 23d August by one of the most terrific hurricanes which have
ever yet swept the gulf, aud lasted till the 26th. At the beginning of the gale there were 83 vessels anchored in
Pleasant Bay. Of this number 48 broke away from their moorings and were stranded (10 on the shores of Pleasant
Bay and 38 in Amherst Harbor), and 26 were able to make the harbor and anchor in safety, while 9 rode out the
tempest with their anchors and cables. From what I have heard it must have been a fearful sight to witness these
little vessels struggling against the gale, and, finally conquered by the contending elements, strike against the rocks
during the cruel hours of darkness. It seems almost incredible that three persons only were drowned when we look
at the deep cliffs on which some schooners grounded. The unfortunate men belonged to the E. J. Smith, of Wellfleet,
United States, which vessel came ashore during the night under the cape at the entrance to Amherst Harbor and went
to pieces two hours afterwards. Some other vessels, such as the Diploma, Helen C. Woodward, and Emma L. Rich,
after tossing about and losing their anchors, ran ashore on a solid ledge at the foot of the Demoiselles Hill, where the
sea was breaking 100 feet high! The crews of these vessels would most probably have been lost had not two of the
islanders, Aime" Nadean and James Cassidy, seen them coming ashore. These hardy fellows let themselves down the
side of the cape by a rope, and were saved with the help of Cassidy's Newfoundland dog, which plunged into the surf
and seized the men, bringing them all on shore. Had it not been for this courageous behavior on their part, thirty-
one more lives would in all probability have been lost.

"Among the stranded vessels was a Jersey bark, the Swift, Captain Le Selleur, who had onboard one hundred
and thirty fishermen from the islands, all returning from Blanc Sablons. Most luckily for her passengers she was able
to be guided to a sand bank at the entrance to the harbor when she lost her moorings. Had she gone a little to leeward
there would have been a fearful loss of life to chronicle. A steamer, the Commerce, from Boston, with the agent of
the insurance offices, Captain Proctor, and all the appliances on board necessary to haul off vessels, was sent by the
interested parties to give what assistance she could. Several schooners were got afloat, but I doubt if all will be as
lucky. The United States Government also sent a vessel, the revenue cutter Woodbury, Commander Barr, to render
what assistance he could in the way of transporting distressed fishermen back to their homes. Most of those ship-
wrecked men had, however, left in the schooner before she arrived. The gale will long be remembered by all
seafaring men, not only for its duration but for the destruction it caused to life and property all throughout our
gulf — many are the families left fatherless and with scanty means of subsistence. Let us hope our shores will never
again witness such a storm, or at least that a great number of years will elapse before its occurring again." — Sixth
Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada, 1872-73, Appendix B, pp. 53,54.

THE PICKLED-HERRING TRADE.

469

N. Lavoie, in his "Report of the Cruise of the Government Schooner La Canadienne in the
River and Gulf of Saint Lawrence for the Season of 1870," gives another and more detailed account
of the fisheries, from which we learn the extent of the catch at the islands for two seasons and the
exact size of the American fleet. He says :

" The yield of the first part of the season in herring fishing was much below an average, if we
can call fishing a catch of 2,100 barrels of fish divided between one hundred and nineteen schooners
and the whole of the islands fishermen. The same fishery yielded in 18G9 75,000 barrels. The
failure is in nowise to be attributed to a want of fish in the waters of Pleasant Bay. They resorted
thither as usual to spawn, but owing to an early"spring and the early disappearance of the ice, the
fish struck in three weeks earlier than usual, thus disappointing the expectations of foreign as well
as of our own fishermen. At the date of our reaching Magdalen Islands we found one hundred
and nineteen schooners from the United States in Amherst Harbor and Pleasant Bay. They were
expecting new shoals of herring, but they waited in vain ; the fish did not come! The first schoon-
ers of the spring fleet arrived on the 27th, the second and third on the 28th April. A few herring
were still near shore when these fishermen arrived. They managed to catch about half a cargo on
their first arrival, but next morning the fish were all gone.

" It is useless to remark here that the owners and outfitters of these vessels must have suf-
fered heavy loss from the disappearance of herring. On the 18th of May, thirty schooners, which
had been detained by the ice, reached the islands for the same fishery, but on finding out that it
was over they immediately left. Mr. Painchaud, of Amherst Island, is the only one who has been
provident enough to supply himself with seines and salt. He caught 1,100 barrels in two hauls,
which pays him a hundred fold for the cost incurred. This improvident spirit displayed by our
people is the more to be regretted, as, when they repair to the coast of Labrador again for herring
fishing, they are still at the mercy of foreign fishermen, and often return empty-handed after
undergoing great hardships and danger."*

Again, in his report for 1873, Mr. Lavoie, in referring to the herring fisheries, shows that though,
fish were plenty, the fisheries were almost a total failure owing to the abundance of ice that caused
most of the fleet to abandon their voyage and return home. He writes as follows :

" Herring made its appearance along the shores of this coast several days sooner than last
year, and on the 27th of April Pleasant- Bay was full of them. As I have said before, the greater
part of the herring fleet were unable to reach the islands, and had to put back to their respective
ports on account of the large quantity of ice they met with in the straits or gulf. Four schooners,
however, were able to make their way to Amherst Harbor, and to complete their loads in a few
days. The following gives their names, tonnage, &c. :

Bate of
arrival.

Name of vessel.

Port of registry.

Master.

Tons.

Men.

Boats.

Nets.

Seines.

Barrels.

May 13

A. B. Higgine

A. B. Higgins

42

8

2

1

800

May 14

J.Walker . .

19

4

2

2

300

May 23

29

3

1

500

Mav 23

10

4

I

50

.

Total

100

19

e

3

1,650

" On the 27th of April some fishermen from the islands had a cast of the seine, which brought
in about 300 barrels of herring. Only a few barrels were, however, saved, as with their usual
negligence they had not thought of procuring last year the means of pickling their fish this spring.
Salt was too dear and the price of fish too low to allow them to take advantage of their good luck.

* Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada, 1869-70, pp. 222, 223.

470

HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

" Owing to the above-mentioned causes the herring catch of 1873 is much inferior to that of
1872. In that year 14,806 barrels of it were caught by foreign vessels, while 2,956 barrels were
prepared by the inhabitants.

" From what I have heard herring was not much more abundant this season than last."*

From that time the fleet has been so small as to be quite unimportant, and during several
recent seasons no vessels have visited the Magdalens for herring. We know of but one vessel that
engaged in the trade in 1879, and in 1880 it is said that none were employed. According to Mr.
A. Howard Clark, herring were plenty at Magdalen Islands in the spring of 1881, when two Glou-
cester and four Boston vessels brought home 2,500 barrels salted in bulk. They were taken in a
haul-seine carried by one of the fleet, all of the fishermen assisting in the work of capture. Nearly
all of the fish were landed in Boston.

The Newfoundland and Labrador herring fisheries are so wholly different from those just
described that it is difficult to give any statistics of the quantity of pickled herring brought home
by American vessels. The fish being present during a greater part of the year, the fleet visiting
these localities for other species often bring home partial cargoes of herring, and no vessels can be
said to be regularly engaged in the pickled-herring trade with either place, though a few vessels
fit out for trips to some of the principal harbors whenever they chance to be otherwise occupied,
provided, of course, that the condition of the herring market will warrant such a venture. From
our limited information on the subject we would say that from six to ten cargoes, aggregating
3,000 to 4,000 barrels, would be landed yearly by American vessels. This represents, of course,
only a small part of the herring brought to the United States from these places, as the various
transportation lines bring considerable quantities and a number of cargoes are brought by the
fishing vessels of the provinces. In addition to these, American vessels are engaged in running
frozen herring during the winter months. The following table, compiled from those given under
oath before the Halifax Fishery Commission, by James S. Hayward, assistant collector of Her
Majesty's customs at St. John's, Newfoundland^ shows the quantity of herring imported into the
United States from that island each year from 1851 to 1876, inclusive :J

Year.

Herring.

Tear.

Herring.

Barrels.

Value.

Barrels.

Value.

1851

2,538
9,259
6,640
2,166
8,904
6,652
18, 478
21,247
30, 123
27,460
22,550
13,251
35, 736

$6,134
15, 000
18, 326
4,939
29,968
22,824
55,430
63, 730
72,299
65,904
55, 120
31, 800
120,072

1864

22, 512
34,633
40, 957
37,418
40, 199
37, 651
19, 833
31,863
26, 551
35,664
26, 701
45, 208
28, 875

$81, 043
121, 216
122, 871
112, 254
120, 597
112,953
79, 332
95,589
79, 653
106, 992
63,503
106, 724
96,647

1852

1865

1853

1866

1854

1867

1855

1868

1856

1869

1857

1870
1871

1858
1859. ..

1872

1860

1873

1861

1874
1875

1862

1863

1876

EXPORT TEADE. — For many years the fish dealers of several of the larger cities have been

* Sixth Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada, 1872-'73. Appendix B, pp. 55-50.

tSee Documents and Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877. Vol. II, pp. 1509-1518.

{In the original tables no mention is made of fresh or frozen herring prior to 1872, but they were probably in-
cluded with the pickled fish tip to that time. Since 1872 the pickled fish have been separated from the others, but we
have combined them so that the table given here may represent all of the herring imported during the period men-
tioned.

THE PICKLED-HEEEING TEADE. 471

accustomed, when sending cargoes of dried and pickled flsli to the West Indies and other countries,
to include a quantity of herring, though they have seldom sent cargoes composed exclusively of
herring. This has been particularly true of Boston, and more herring have been sent from there
than from any other port. There seems to have been no well-established trade in this particular
fish, however, and the quantity sent has varied considerably from year to year, depending largely ou
the catch and the price, and none of the merchants seemed to exert themselves to secure a supply.

Our market has as a rule been restricted to our own continent, as most of the European
countries have large and prosperous herring fisheries, which not only furnish an abundance for
their own people, but supply many of the other countries with all that their markets require.

We can, therefore, not expect an extensive European trade so long as our own fishermen give
so little attention to the fishery, unless the failure of some of the herring fisheries of Europe shall
create a demand that will warrant our merchants in importing herring in considerable quantities
from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Such a condition presented itself recently, when
the failure of the spring herring fisheries of Norway for several consecutive seasons gave a favor-
able opportunity for our merchants to engage in the trade. The Norwegian herring fisheries are
among the most important in the world, and her fishermen not only catch fish for their own coun-
try, but they supply Sweden with enormous quantities and send a good many to the countries
farther south. The "summer herring," it is said, still put in an appearance along the north coast,
but the supply is much below the requirements of the home and export trade.

The Gloucester merchants saw this opening, and with characteristic energy decided to try the
experiment of sending cargoes of pickled herring to Sweden, Ireland, and even to Scotland.

The first cargo of herring exported to Europe from this great American fishery port was sent
by Messrs. D. C. & H. Babson, who have from the first been more largely engaged in the trade
than any other parties. The schooner Nulli Secundus, formerly of Gloucester, was the first vessel
to sail. Having been sold to Capt. Caleb Lindahl, of Gottenberg, Sweden, in January, 1876, for
the cod and halibut fisheries of Greenland, and being about to sail to Gotteuberg to fit out, it was
decided to load her with herring. She cleared from Gloucester on the 1st of February and from
Halifax on the 14th, arriving in Sweden March 8. The venture proved a profitable one, and a
new vessel, the Herman Babson, left Gloucester for the Magdalen Islands on the 27th of April to
load with herring for the Gottenberg market. Other vessels followed in rapid succession, some of
them belonging at Gloucester and others being chartered from other places on Gloucester's account
until, by the 1st of February, 1877, thirteen cargoes had been shipped, Messrs. Babson alone,
according to their statement before the Halifax Commission, having bandied 28,208 barrels, of
which 16,063 were caught ou the American shore, and 12,145 came from the Provinces.*

"The statement of Messrs. Babson was as follows: We have been asked to make a statement of the number of
barrels of herring caught in American waters on the coast of the United States, and the number of barrels of herring
caught in foreign waters during the last year handled by us, and to state the relative value of each barrel in its green
state, as it is when taken from the water. We find upon examination of our books that we have taken in onr business
during the last year 28,208 barrels of herring. Sixteen thousand and sixty-three barrels were caught on the coast of
the United States between Eastport, Me., and Provincetown, Mass. The herring cost us for those caught on the coast
of the United States from $2.25 to $2.75 per barrel; that is, for the herring, not including the barrel, salt, labor, &c.

Twelve thousand one hundred and forty-five barrels were caught on the coasts of Newfoundland, Cape Breton,
Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, as follows:

Caught at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland \ 8,587

Caught at Port Hood, Cape Breton 200

Caught at Nova Scotia (coast) 348

Caught at Magdalens 510

Caught at Bay of Islands, Newfoundland 2,500

12, 145

472

HISTOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

More than ordinary care was taken in packing the first two or three cargoes, which met with
a ready sale; but the fishermen soon became negligent, and not only gave little attention to their
preparation, bat even bought and shipped fish of inferior quality. The result was that the Swedes,
who have always surpassed us in the methods of preparing herring, and who not only know good
fish, but will use no others, on seeing the condition of the herring offered for sale, refused to buy
them, and our vessels were obliged to seek a market in other countries at a greatly reduced figure.

The parties interested lost heavily, and as the American brands had come to be regarded with
suspicion, the business was suddenly terminated, and for over a year no one ventured to make a
shipment. In March of 1879, however, the Babson Brothers chartered the British brig Lapwing
and loaded her with herring for Sweden. Again in the fall of 1880 the same parties chartered the
Norwegian brig Triton and shipped by her 3,000 barrels of herring to Queenstown, Ireland.*

As already stated, on account of the limited extent of our own herring fisheries most of the
stock for shipment necessarily comes from the Provinces, and our vessels have as frequently
loaded in the Provinces as in our own country. Mr. Clark informs us that in the spring of 1880
Mr. Horatio Babson visited Newfoundland and bought several cargoes of herring for the European
trade, chartering vessels in that locality for the work.

It is difficult to say just how fully this trade can be developed, but it is perhaps safe to assume
that until our fishermen give more attention to the capture of the species and take more care in
salting their catch the home business cannot become important, and if carried on to any consid-
erable extent our merchants must either go to Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and the Magdalen
Islands to buy and ship the fish, or they must import them from those regions and ship by their
own vessels.

Those caught at Fortune Bay in-paid 75 cents (gold) per barrel; at Port Hood, $1 per barrel; Magdalens, 75 cents
per barrel; and at Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, $2 per barrel. These prices include what is paid for the fish, and
does not include the barrels, salt, labor, &c.

All the herring which we put up in the provinces, as stated herein, we bought from the fishermen and paid them
at prices as stated, and in no case whatever did we catch any in nets or seines, but always purchased the fish from
the natives.

The above number of barrels does not include any herring which onr vessels bought in the provinces during .
the year for bait.

We have taken from onr books the number of barrels packed.

D. C. & H. BABSON.
Witness: CHAS. H. BROWN.

•

GLOUCESTER MASS., U. S. A., October 17, 1877.

— Documents and Proceedings of tlie Halifax Commission, 1877, Vol. Ill, pp. 3344, 3345.

* Mr. G. Brown Goode has kindly furnished data from which we are enabled to compile the following list showing
vessels engaged in the export trade, exclusive of those sent from Newfoundland by Gloucester parties in 1880:

Name of vessel.

Date of
departure.

Destination.

Remarks.

Feb., 1876
Apr., 1876
Apr., 1876
May, 1876
Jnne, 1876

July, 1876
July, 1876
Oct., 1876
Oct., 1876
Nov., 1876
Dec., 1876
Jan., 1877
Feb., 1877
Mar., 1879
Nov., 1880

Gottenbnrg, Sweden —
do
do
do
do

Sailed from Gloucester.
Secured her fish at the Magdalen Islands.
Cleared from Boston.
Cleared from Gloucester.

Went from Gloucester to fishing gronnds ; arrived In Gottenburg
July 27.

Cleared from Gloucester.
Do.
Met with disaster and changed her destination to Jamaica.

Chartered on Gloucester account.
Do.
Sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Gloucester account.
Cleared from Gloucester.
Do.

Schooner Herman Babson
Schooner Dora S. Prindle
Barkentine Ada G. Pearl

Schooner Setagawa
Schooner Centennial

do
do

Bark Friarff

Gotteubarg, Sweden
do
do
do ...
do
do
Queenstown, Ireland . . .

Barkentine Christiana Keedman. ..
Schooner Eva L. Leonard
Barkentine Alice C . Dickeraun
Bark Norway
Brig Lapwing
Brig Triton

THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY. 473

4.— THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY.

a. HARD HERRING.
1. ORIGIN OF THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY.

Nothing is definitely known of the man who smoked the first fish ; in fact, so meager are the
records that we cannot state with certainty either the country or the century in which he lived,
and the origin of the method now so common throughout the world must forever remain a mystery.
A recent writer, in referring to the herring fisheries of Norway, accounts for their small commercial
importance prior to the fifteenth century by saying that the people were ignorant of the art of
pickling and contented themselves with either smoking their fish or drying them in the air. The
method of pickling fish in brine is thought to have originated in the fourteenth century, and
smoking was practiced at even an earlier date. There seems little doubt that the preservative
qualities of smoke were discovered independently in different countries, and not alone by civilized
nations, but by savages as well. According to Webster, the word barbecue was coined by the
Indians of Guiana to denote the frame on which the flesh of beasts and fish was roasted or smoked,
showing that this people must have been familiar with some method of smoking. The different
tribes of Central and Southern Africa are said to cure flesh by means of smoke. All civilized
nations smoke fish and meats either to be stored away for future use or to give them the character-
istic smoky flavor.

The methods of smoking vary endlessly, though the principle is everywhere the same. In
some countries the smoky products are so black and hard as to disgust a person of ordinary
taste, while in others such care is taken in the preparation and such a delicate flavor is imparted
to the products that they are in great favor with the epicures. Thus, though a comparatively
simple process, great care must be exercised in smoking in order that the desired results may be
secured ; for two commercial products so wholly unlike as to command different prices, to sell under
different names, and to be consumed by entirely different classes, may be made by the same
person from similar individuals of the same species. The hard or red herring and the bloater —
products totally unlike in flavor and in keeping qualities — are both made from our common herring
(Clupea harenyus).

Many kinds of fish are smoked, though some species are more desirable for this purpose than
others. The principal requisite is that the fish should be fat and oily, as species of firm, coarse
flesh when smoked are usually hard and poorly flavored. The various herrings are perhaps more
generally smoked throughout the world than fishes of any other family, and next in importance
come the mackerel. Salmon and haddock are also extensively smoked in different countries.
Some fishes, however, though frequently smoked in one country, may, either from their restricted
geographical range or the lack of information as to their value, be nearly or quite neglected by the
inhabitants of other regions. Thus the "finnan haddie" trade was for some time peculiar to
Scotland; smoked halibut and whitefish are prepared only in America; and codfish bellies
(rogerump], as we are informed, are smoked only by the Norwegians.

Fish have probably been smoked in America for many centuries, and the first European
colonists being familiar with the method of smoking at home, doubtless found it a very convenient
way of curing fish on their arrival in this country when salt was not easily obtained. But the
limited commercial demand naturally rendered the business of little importance, and for many

474 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

years it was carried on only in a small way, the work being done chiefly by fishermen who had
rude smoke-houses near the shore, in which they prepared a sufficient quantity for local use. The
New England, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia fishermen smoke the sea-herring, and those .along
the southern coast smoke the alewife, or fresh-water herring, as it is more frequently called. As
the northern fisheries grew in importance a trade sprung up with the West Indies, and large quan-
tities of dried fish were exported yearly, a market being thus found for small quantities of smoked
herring. A few of the Massachusetts aud Maine fishermen, as well as those of the British Prov-
inces, became interested in the work, and small smoke-houses might be seen here and there along
almost any portion of the coast, though in no locality was there any extensive business.

2. LOCATION OF THE INDUSTRY.

The first town on the continent to become noted for its smoked herring was Digby, Nova
Scotia, where a Scotch fishermen located about 1795, and turned his attention to the preparation
of the fish by a method similar to that employed in his native country. His fish, being much su-
perior to the ordinary brands, met with considerable favor in the markets of both Nova Scotia and
the United States, where they soon came to be known as "Digby chickens," a name which they
retained for many years. Later, some of the fishing-settlements along the coast of Maine became
extensively interested in the smoking of herring, large quantities being put up annually and sent
to Boston for distribution. The principal towns engaged in this work during the first half of the
present century were Eastport, Lubec, Millbridge, Deer Isle, Lamoine, Booth Bay, Southport, and
Westport. Some of these, after continuing in the business for a number of years, found that the
margin of profit was so reduced that if they continued the business it must be done at an actual
loss. One after another the fishermen of these places turned their attention to other branches of
the fisheries, and since the Rebellion the business has been practically controlled by the towns of
Eastport and Lubec; the latter at the present time putting up fully half of the smoked herring
prepared within the limits of the United States.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRY AT EASTPORT AND LUBEC. — As these towns have from
the first taken a leading part in the smoked-herring industry and are now the principal ones
engaged in the work, it seems proper to give a more detailed account of the origin aud development
of the industry among their people. The historical facts relating to the smoked-herring business
in this region were obtained during an interview with Mr. Jacob McGregor, who was among the
pioneers in herring smoking at Lubec. As early as 1808 parties in the vicinity of Eastport, then a
trading post of considerable importance, engaged extensively in the herring fisheries, smoking each
season considerable quantities of herring, which they sent to Boston for a market. About 1812 the
region came to be more thickly peopled, and a settlement was formed at Lubec Narrows for the
purpose of trading with foreigu vessels that came to the region. These narrows were at the time
the favorite path of the herring on their way from the sea to the large salt-water bays, farther
in. Finding large quantities of fish at their very doors the inhabitants engaged extensively in
catching them, and occupied a considerable portion of their time in smoking and salting the fish.
The year 1812 may then be properly considered as the time of the origin of the herring smoking
at Lubec, from which time this place has taken the lead in this branch of the fisheries. In 1821,
according to Mr. McGregor, there were about twenty smoke-houses, each curing 2,500 to 3,000
boxes of herring annually. The business gradually increased until 1845, when it occupied the
attention of a majority of the inhabitants, and from this date to 1865 not less than 500,000 boxes
of herring were cured annually within the limits of the town.

Owing to the increased demand, and to the difficulty of securing an abundance of fish at home,

UFI7BRSIT7

THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY.

Eastport and Lubec vessels, as well as those from other portions of the coast, visited the Magdalen
Islands and secured cargoes of herring, which were salted in bulk, as described in the chapter on
the Magdalen herring fisheries, and brought home to be smoked. During the war of the rebellion
there was an unusual demand for smoked fish, and Magdalen herring came to be an important
brand in the market. Since 18CG the herring have failed to visit these islands regularly, and ves-
sels resorting thither have frequently failed to secure cargoes, and many that formerly made yearly
trips to the Magdalen have filled their vessels from the other fisheries. The demand for herring has
also greatly diminished, so that the market isjsatisfied with a much smaller quantity than for-
merly, and the price has been proportionately lower. These facts have had their influence upon the
smoked hen ing industry of the entire country. Many of the towns have suffered heavily, East-
port and Lubec being perhaps less seriously affected than the others, though the smoking of Mag-
dalen herring has even there been practically discontinued.

3. THE FISHERMEN AND CUREES.

As already stated, herring smoking was, at first, confined to no particular class, for many of
the fishermen living in the locality where the fish were a.bund ut caught and smoked small quan-
tities in the fall for their own tables. As the business increased certain ones became more exten-
sively interested in the work. Some of these were professional fishermen, who followed hand-lining
from small boats or vessels during the summer months and devoted their attention to herring
smoking only in the fall, after the weather had become so stormy as to make their former occupa-
tion both dangerous and unprofitable. In many localities the farmers also engaged extensively in
herring smoking; and, after spending their summers in tilling the soil, they resorted to the inner
bays for the capture of herring, continuing the work till the close of the season. Some of them
built smoke-houses and carried on the business independently, while others worked together,
catching and smoking their fish in common, dividing them equally after the work had been com-
pleted. In some localities the business was followed chiefly by the professional fishermen, who
secured extra help during the height of the season, the laborers taking herring in pay for their
services. At the present time the smoking of herring is done chiefly by the semi-professional fish-
ermen. These usually-own small farms on which they raise sufficient produce for their own tables,
and in addition a small surplus which they dispose of in the locality. Tlw-y give some little atten-
tion to fishing during the early part of the season, but do not follow the business with any regu-
larity until the time for herring-smoking begins. The herring are present in some localities during
a greater part of the year, and the weirs are put in order about the last of May and fished occa-
sionally from that date, though the fishing does not practically begin till September.

From this time till late in December the men give their entire attention to this work. Several
of them usually own and fish a weir in common, dividing equally the herring, which they smoke on
their own premises. In case a man is so unfortunate as to have no smoke-house of his own he
usually arranges with one of his neighbors to share his, giving a certain quantity of fish in pay-
ment for its use.

4. METHODS OF THE FISHERY.

TORCHING. — Three methods are employed by the fishermen of the various localities for secur-
ing their supply of herring for the smoke-houses, namely, torching, weir fishing, and netting. The
first mentioned has been fully described in the chapter on the shore herring fisheries. It is the
oldest method and practically the only one employed to any extent prior to 1828.

BRUSH WEIRS. — The second and most important apparatus is the brush weir. This is also

476 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

described below in detail in the chapter on the sardine industry. It is thought to have been intro-
duced into the fisheries of Quoddy River by Nova Scotia fishermen about 1828, since which time
it has been quite generally adopted, and weirs have been built at various points along the entire
coast of the State, though they have always been more extensively used in the region lying east
of Penobscot Bay.

GILL-NETS. — Gill-nets are said to have been used in the fisheries of Digby, Nova Scotia, as
early as 1795, but owing to the small size of the fish used for smoking they were not extensively
employed along the coast of the United States until very recently. Most of the herring put up in
early days were fish ranging from C to 9 inches in length, these being so small as to readily pass
through the nets of ordinary mesh. Fish of this size have always been thought more desirable
than larger ones, and have commanded a better price in the markets. The first large fish
smoked were those secured at the Magdalen Islands, and it was not until this fishery had ceased
to be important that the large herring along our coast were utilized for smoking. When these
fish came to be used nets were very naturally employed in their capture, and the gill-net is now an
important apparatus in the fishery.

5. THE SMOKE-HOUSES.

HERRING SMOKE-HOUSES. — The houses used for smoking herring vary greatly in size, accord-
ing to the locality and the amount of business to be done. At first they were very small, some of
the fishermen using ordinary barrels or hogsheads for preparing a sufficient amount for their own
tables, while others used some old shed or other small building for the purpose. Those engaged
more extensively in the business had larger houses, but as a rule these were mere huts made of
coarse material and in the rudest manner. They were often so loosely put together as to be
seriously injured or entirely destroyed by heavy winds.

It is not necessary that the houses should be at all elaborate or expensive, and few of the
fishermen care to put much money in them as there is much danger of loss from fire, houses being
very frequently burnt through the negligence of the person in charge. Some ofLthe fishermen of
late are building houses of a better class, but even now a majority of them are quite crude. As a
rule a site is selected on the shore in the vicinity of some boat-landing, but the fishermen occa-
sionally build on their own land near their homes on account of the greater convenience in caring
for the fish. The houses are without floors and consist simply of rough board walls with a
gabled roof of the same material, every crack being battened with slabs or sheeting, both to
render the building water tight and to prevent the smoke from escaping. As a protection against
fire, many of the larger houses are lined with brick or mud on the inside to a height of several
feet. Each house is provided with board windows or longitudinal openings on either side, while
in the more modern ones an opening is also made along the ridge-pole and covered with boards so
arranged that they can be raised or lowered by means of cords attached to levers. These answer
as ventilators, and it is often necessary to keep most of them open to prevent the fish from being
ruined from excessive heat. The interior construction is very simple. It consists merely of a
series of rows of " two by four" pine stringers or scantlings, one above the other, extending from
near the ridge-pole to within 6 to 8 feet of the floor. These scantlings are 13 to 14 inches apart
and are 38 inches distant from the rows on either side. The space between two adjoining vertical
rows is called a "bay," and the size of the smoke-house is reckoned by the number of "bays" that
it contains, these varying from 5 to 12. The capacity is in proportion to the size, small smoke-
houses holding only 1,000 or 2,000 boxes, while the largest contain 8,000 or even 10,000. A smoke-
house of average size is about 18 feet wide by 30 feet long, with the ridge-pole 25 to 30 feet from

THE SMOKED-HEEEING INDUSTEY. 477

the ground. Such a house holds about 4,000 boxes of herring. A fisherman will frequently own
two or three smoke-houses, separating them from each other by a sufficient space to prevent the
loss of all in case one should be burned. Where an extensive business is done requiring several
buildings it is customary to have a small landing or wharf to which the boat containing the
herring may be fastened. One or more small sheds are also necessary for the work of salting and
stringing the fish and, in addition, a larger building is erected where the boxes are made and the
fish are packed and stored until such time as they can be marketed to advantage. Single smoke-
houses usually have a small shed attached, but they are seldom provided with packing-houses, the
fisherman almost invariably using some portion of his own dwelling for this purpose. An ordinary
snioke house, if we include the boat landing, costs, when new, about $200, but if provided with
salting and stringing sheds and packing-houses it has a value of fully $400, which is increased to
$450 or $500 if the land occupied is considered.

6. METHODS OF SMOKING AND PACKING.

The small fish used for smoking are taken either by torching or in weirs, as already mentioned,
while the larger ones are caught in gill-nets. Several fishermen usually visit the weir at low tide
and secure the catch by means of a small seine, which is hauled either on the "shore side" or in
the "bunt" of the weir, the fish being transferred to the boat by means of large dip-nets made
expressly for the purpose.

SCALING. — As soon as the herring have been secured the fisherman fastens his oil-trousers
tightly about his boots and begins scaling the fish, or " treading them out," as he calls it, by moving
his feet briskly back and forth through the mass without raising them from the bottom of the boat.
By the motion of the fish upon each other, as well as by contact with the legs of the fisherman, the
scales are readily removed, four or five hogsheads being easily scaled in half an hour. Another
method of scaling is to move the fish among each other by means of a stirring stick, locally known
as a "spudger." This instrument is simply a piece of board about a foot in length and 4 or 5
inches wide, which has been securely fastened to a long handle. By means of this the mass of
h erring is stirred until the scales have all been loosened. The scaling must take place at once upon
the removal of the fish from the water, as when they become dry the scales set, and can then be
removed only with the greatest difficulty. According to Mr. McGregor, no herring were scaled
prior to 1820, when Mr. Samuel Myers, of Lubec, noticed the deciduous character of the scales and
began an investigation of the subject, which led to the methods already described. He found that
the appearance of the fish was greatly improved by removing the scales, and that scaled herring
brought from 20 to 30 cents more per box in the market than those put up in the ordinary manner.
From this time he scaled all of his fish before smoking them, and although he attempted to. keep
the process a secret, the fishermen watched him until they discovered his method, which was soon
universally adopted. Great care must be exercised in scaling, as when the fish are not sufficiently
stirred numbers of scales will remain, making an undesirable contrast with the scaleless portions
of the body. Again, if the fish are stirred too long the texture of the flesh is injured, and they are
less saleable, many of them being "belly-broken" and worthless.

SALTING. — As soon as the scales have been loosened the fish are washed in dip-nets for the
purpose of properly cleaning them, after which they are transferred to large tubs, barrels, or
hogsheads, where they are carefully salted. The amount of salt required varies with the size and
condition of the herring, large and fat fish needing more than small or lean ones. The average
quantity used varies from 1J to 2 bushels to the hogshead. The small fish are allowed to remain
in the pickle from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, while the larger ones, in order to be thoroughly

478 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

"struck," must reiuaiu about forty-eight hours. A good deal, however, depends upon the season,
as the fish usually "strike" quicker in warm than in cold weather. It is also found that fish just
from the water require a longer time in the pickle than those that have been caught a number of '
hours.

STRINGING. — When properly salted the fish are again washed and transferred to large
stringing tables, where three to six persons are engaged in stringing or "spittiug" them, as it is
frequently called. The stringing sticks are bought at the saw-mills in the vicinity in a partially
manufactured condition. When purchased they are simply long strips of wood ^ of an inch
square. They are cut into pieces 3 feet 4 inches in length by the fishermen, after which the sharp
edges are taken off and one end is pointed. When ready for use they are worth from $3 to $4
per thousand, according to quality. In stringing the stick is held in the left hand by the blunt
end while the fish is clasped by the right hand and held with its back away from the stringer.
The left gill-cover is then raised by a movement of the thumb and the pointed, stick is inserted
and passed out through the mouth, the fish being moved down to its proper position. It requires
some time to become expert in this work, but after one has the knack he can work very rapidly,
as only two movements are necessary to complete the operation. The most rapid workers will
string 1,000 sticks in from eight to ten hours, while an average day's work for a professional
stringer is from 500 to 700. Each stick holds from 25 to 35 fish, according to their size, while a
hogshead (5 barrels) of herring will make 80 to 90 boxes of herring when smoked. The stringing
is usually done !>y boys and girls who are hired for this purpose, though when the fishermen have
leisure they frequently string their own catch, or, in some cases, they hire men for the purpose.

DRAINING.— When properly strung the fish are again dipped into a trough of water for the
purpose of removing the blood and dirt that has gathered upon them, after which the sticks are
placed in position upon a rectangular frame or "herring-horse," as it is called. When the frame,
holding from 25 to 30 sticks, has been filled it is carried to the open air and allowed to drain for
several hours, the time depending upon the heat and dryness of the atmosphere. The object in
exposing the fish in this manner is to dry and harden the gill-covers, as when tender they often
give way, allowing the fish to fall from the stick, thus rendering it worthless for smoking purposes.
When the sun is shining the moisture evaporates quite rapidly, and the gill-covers very readily
harden ; but during rainy or foggy weather a good deal of difficulty is experienced in drying them,
and great quantities of herring drop off and become worthless. At such times the usual method
is to allow them to drain for a few moments, after which they are at once hung in the smoke-house,
all the doors and windows being opened to give a free circulation of air, while a good fire is kept
burning beneath. In this way the gill covers soon dry, and they are ready for smoking.

HANGING. — When ready for "hanging" the herring are brought to the smoke-houses, where
two men are engaged in putting them up, one passing them to the other, two sticks at a time, the
pointed end being held upward, so that the fish shall not slide off. The fish are placed in the
bays already described, the ends of the sticks resting on the stringers, each being separated from
the other by 2 or 3 inches, so as to prevent the herring from touching each other, as well as to allow
a free circulation of smoke. The upper part of the smoke-house is usually filled first, though,
when the house is to be but partially filled, one bay is often entirely filled before another is com-
menced. Two men can hang about 2,000 boxes a day, if the fish are brought to the smoke-bouse ;
but half that quantity is a fair average if they are obliged to go out for their supply. It seldom
happens that the house can be completely filled in a day, as only a few fish are secured at a time,
and these must be cared for at once to prevent them from spoiling.

As soon as the first lot has been placed in the smoke-house, the fires are started and the smok-

THE SMOKED HERRING INDUSTRY. 479

ing begins. When another lot is to be hung, the fires must be extinguished and the windows and
ventilators thrown open to allow the smoke to escape and enable the fishermen to remain in the
bays for the purpose of hanging the balance of the catch. This process is continued until the
smoke-house is full, when the fires are again lighted and usually kept burning until the fish are
thoroughly smoked.

FIRES. — The fires are differently arranged in different smoke-houses, their relative position de-
pending largely upon the ideas of the particular fisherman that is interested in the work. The
usual plan is to collect logs, 4 to 8 inches in diameter and 3 or 4 feet long, and arrange them, with
the proper kindling, in heaps at equal distances from each other and a few feet from the side of
the building. From six to twelve of these heaps are arranged in the average smoke-house, two or
three logs being placed together with a quantity of smaller material. When all is in readiness the,
fii t-s are lighted and kept burning day and night until the fish have been considerably affected by
the smoke. Owing to the closeness of the air the fires burn very slowly, it being found desirable
to keep the fish as cool as possible, and if allowed to burn briskly the heat generated by the
Hames would destroy every fish in the smoke-house in a few hours. When there is a tendency to
burn freely the fishermen separate the logs and cover them with ashes, to a greater or less extent,
to smother the flame; but ordinarily they are allowed to remain near together, some one visiting
the smoke-house every few hours to care for them. At times some or all of the fires are allowed
to go out, as, after the fish are partially smoked, the absence of fire for a day or two is not thought
to effect their quality. Generally, however, the fishermen are anxious to smoke them as rapidly
as possible, in order that the house may be cleared for another lot.

WOODS.— Different woods are used for smoking in different countries. Some claim that the
selection of particular kinds is an important matter, while others insist that the quality of the
wood has little if anything to do with the flavor or value of the products. In France, white birch
is commonly used; in England, Scotland, and Holland, the chips and sawdust of oak are said to
be favored; in Norway, heather and juniper are extensively used, though birch and alder are em-
ployed to a limited extent. In the United States various kinds are selected, pine logs that have
been soaked in salt water being preferred by a majority of the fishermen. These are usually
picked up along the beach by the fishermen, and are claimed to be superior to other wood, as the
salt absorbed while in the water renders them less inflammable, causing them at the same time to
last much longer and to give off a greater volume of smoke. When the smoking process is nearly
complete some of the fishermen build a fire of oak, for the purpose of giving a higher color to the
fish. In most localities, however, the question of woods is not considered important, the only point
being to have a kind that will buru slowly and at the same time yield a large amount of smoke.

TIME REQUIRED FOR SMOKING. — The time required in smoking varies considerably, depending
upon the size of the smoke-house, the size and condition of the fish, and the weather. Small fish
in dry weather can be cured in two weeks, while large herring often require fully six weeks, and
those put up tor exportation to warmer countries are smoked for even a longer period. The time
of curing is also affected by the position which the fish occupies in the smoke-house. Those nearest
the fires and about the sides of the building, where there is a better circulation, are cured first,
while those in the center are cured more slowly. It sometimes happens, when the fish are hung
very closely, or when it is desired to hasten the curing, that the lower and outer fish are removed
us soon as cured, thus exposing the central mass to the direct action of the smoke. Many claim
that the best fish are those taken from the upper bays, as these are farthest removed from the fire
and the smoke is thoroughly cooled before reaching them.

MAGDALEN HERRING. — The Magdalen herring, already referred to, are larger and, at the same

480 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THF FISHERIES.

time, in poorer flesh than those taken along the American shore. Owing to the distance of the
fishing grounds, they must necessarily be salted before being stowed in the vessel. They are
usually salted in bulk, as already described in the chapter on the Magdalen herring trade, and on
arriving at their destination are placed in floating cars or crates beside tho wharf, where they are
allowed to soak for some hours to remove the surplus salt which they have taken up. When
sufficiently freshened they are strung and smoked in the ordinary manner, the only difference being
that the time required in smoking is greater than for the smaller and fresher fish taken on our own
coast.

KEEPING IN SMOKE-HOUSE. — If, for any reason, it is not thought desirable to market the fish
as soon as they have been cured, they are usually allowed to remain hanging in the smoke-house,
where a fire is built under them every two weeks to dry off any moisture that may accumulate.
They keep better in this way than when packed in the ordinary herring-boxes.

PACKING. — When the packing-time arrives the fish are carried to the "shop," or packing-house,
where they are removed from the sticks and placed in boxes made expressly for them. At the
close of the eighteenth and the early part of the present century they were marketed in kegs
holding about a bushel each.* Later, as the trade increased, boxes were substituted, their shape
and dimensions being regulated by special legislation, that there might be a uniformity in size.
The quality of the fish was also regulated by law, and an inspector was appointed to visit the
smoke-houses in person or to send a deputy to cull the herring into grades and see that they were
properly boxed and branded. The first boxes, known as the "half- bushel boxes," were 18 inches
long, 9 inches wide, and 7 inches deep, inside measurement. When purchased they cost from $8
to $10 per hundred; but the fishermen frequently made their own supply, visiting the forests, felling
the trees, and rifting out the material by hand. Later, as the saw- mills became more numerous,
the sawed boards were purchased by the fishermen and cut into the proper lengths. Of late years
the material for herring-boxes is usually made from refuse lumber and short pieces at the various
saw-mills along the coast, and shipped in the form of shocks. These are made up by the fisher-
men during their leisure hours, and cost, when ready for use, about 1$ cents each. The best work-
man can make five hundred of them in a day, while the average is not far from three hundred.

Certain States have repealed their laws regulating the size of the boxes, and in some others,
though the laws still remain upon the statute-books, they are practically a dead letter, as they are
seldom, if ever, enforced. Notwithstanding these facts, the boxes used in the various localities
are still of nearly uniform size, being usually 15£ inches long, 7£ inches wide, and 4 inches deep,
inside measurement. At Eastport, however, where large herring are extensively smoked, the boxes
for the brand known as " lengthwise herring" are 15 inches long, 1\ inches wide, and 3£ inches deep,
holding about the same weight of fish as the other.

The first law relating to smoked herring established two brands, namely, fish of the "first"
and " second" quality. About 1822 this was modified to accommodate the newly -introduced scaled
herring, thus making three brands; the scaled, number ones, and number twos. The scaled herring
included all the best fish of medium size that were well scaled. The number ones were a good
quality of fish, of small size, and such unsealed fish as were in good condition and of good color,
while the number twos were the poor fish of various sizes, including those from the Magdalen
Islands. Mr. M. H. Perley, in speaking of the smoked herring of Maine in 1851, at which time the
laws had been again modified, says : " When sufficiently cured, the herrings are packed in boxes of
the legal size in Maine— that is, 17 inches long, 8J inches wide, and 6 inches deep, measured on the

* It is said that kegs are still used by the French for marketing their fish, and that such care is taken in packing
that each layer of herring is separated by a thin board.

THE SMOKED HERRING INDUSTRY. 481

iiiside of the box. The best quality of smoked herrings are called ' scaled herrings.' These are the
largest and best fish. Those called ' number one ' are herrings not scaled and small fish. A
scaled herring must be 7 inches long, fat, and good. The number one must not be less than 6
inches in length, and larger but poor fish are also branded of this quality. All other descriptions
of fish are considered refuse."

Sections 10 and 11, of chapter XI, of the Revised Statutes of Maine, passed in 1871, read as
follows :

" SEC. 10. All smoked herring shall be sorted-bj: the inspector, according to their quality, as
follows : Scaled herrings shall consist of all the largest, fattest, and best-cured fish of not less than
7 inches in length; number one of well-cured fish not less than 6 inches in length; and in both
cases all those shall be taken out as refuse which are belly-broken, tainted, scorched, slack salted,
or not sufficiently smoked.

" SEC. 11. All boxes for packing smoked herrings shall be made of sound boards sawed and
seasoned; the top, bottom, and sides, of boards not less than three-eighths of an inch thick; and
the ends, of boards three-quarters of an inch thick, securely nailed, and 16 inches in length, 8
inches in breadth, and 5 inches in depth by outside measurement : Provided, That any change in
the dimensions, above named, shall not operate to reduce their capacity, which shall not be less
than 464 cubic inches in the clear for each box ; and each box shall be filled with the same kind and
quality of fish ; and if the box contains Magdalen herring, that word shall be abridged if considered
convenient; and no fish shall be considered merchantable unless salted and smoked sufficiently to
cure and preserve them, which shall then be packed in boxes in clear dry weather."

Sections 6 and 7, of chapter GXXIV, of the General Laws of New Hampshire, approved
August 6, 1878, give the following, governing the smoked-herring interests of that State:

" SEC. 6. All herrings or alewives intended to be smoked and packed shall be sufficiently salted
and smoked to cure and preserve the same, and afterward closely packed in the boxes in dry
weather.

" SEC. 7. All smoked alewives or herrings shall be divided and sorted by the inspector or some
deputy, and denominated, according to their quality, ' first sort' or ' second sort.' The ' first sort'
shall consist of all the largest and best-cured fish; the 'second sort' of the smaller, but well-cured
fish ; and in all cases all fish which are belly-broken, tainted, scorched, slack salted, or not suffi-
ciently smoked shall be taken out as refuse.

" SEC. 8. Each box of alewives or herrings so inspected shall be branded on the top by the
inspecting officer with the initials of his Christian name and the whole of his surname, the name
of the town where it was inspected, with the abbreviation of ' N. H.,' the quality, whether < first
sort' or ' second sort,' and the month and year in which they were so branded."

Sections 48 to 52, inclusive, of chapter XLIX, of the General Statutes of Massachusetts for
1859, regulate the brands and boxes of herring in the following manner:

"Alewives or herrings intended to be packed for sale or exportation, shall be sufficiently
salted and smoked to cure and preserve the same, and afterwards shall be closely packed in boxes
in clear and dry weather.

" SEC. 49. Smoked alewives or herrings shall be divided and sorted by the inspector or his
deputy, and denominated according to their quality, number one and number two. Number one
shall consist of all the largest and best cured fish; number two, of the smaller but well cured fish:
and in all cases those which are belly-broken, tainted, scorched, or burnt, slack salted, or not
sufficiently smoked, shall be taken out as refuse.

" SEC. 50. Boxes made for the purpose of packing smoked alewives or herrings, and containing
SEC v 31

482

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

tbe same, shall be made of good sound boards sawed and well seasoned, the sides, top, and bottom
of not less than half inch, and the ends of not less than three-quarter-inch boards, securely nailed,
and shall be 17 inches in length, 11 inches in breadth, and G inches in depth, in the clear, inside.

"SEC. 51. Each box of alewives or herrings inspected shall be branded on the top by the
inspecting officer with the first letter of his Christian name, the whole of his surname, the name of
the town where it was inspected, with the addition of Mass., and also with the quality of number
one or number two. Herrings taken on the coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, or
Magdalen Islands, and brought into this State, shall also be branded with the name of the place
or coast where taken.

" SEC. 52. The fees for inspecting, packing, and branding shall be 5 cents for each box, which
shall be paid by the purchaser; and the inspector-general may require from his deputies 1 cent
for each box inspected, packed, and branded by them."

As has been already stated, many of these laws, though never repealed, are not regarded by
the fishermen, who suit their own convenience as to the size of the boxes and the quality of the
fish put up. Few are ever examined by the inspectors, and the returns of these officers are so
incomplete as to render the statistics obtained from their reports utterly worthless. Few of the
fish now seen in the markets are branded, but smoked-herring dealers have adopted various trade
names for fish of different size and quality.

The following table gives a list of the names recognized, together with th« number of fish con-
tained in a box of average size.

Herring to
the box.

150

120

Scaled

80-100

33- 40

25

30

30

80-100

The principal brands are scaled, tuclctails, lengthwise, number ones, and Magdalens, the others
being less generally recognized.

7. MARKETS AND PRICES.

MARKETS. — When the Magdalen fishery was at its height the smoked herring were marketed
by the same vessels that brought them from those islands. On arriving home the vessel proceeded
to her wharf to unload her cargo, remaining until the fish were smoked and boxed, after which
they were stored in the hold and she set sail for market. The principal dealers at that time resided
in Boston, these handling the greater part of the fish prepared within the limits of the United
States. Many of them were engaged in the export trade, and in addition sent large quantities of
herring annually to the different portions of the South, a majority of those consumed there being
purchased by the large planters for distribution among their slaves. The trade continued to
increase until the close of the Rebellion, when the emancipation of the negroes interfered seriously
with it, and for a number of years parties engaged in the business lost heavily, owing not only to
the decreased demand, but also to the improper method of curing and the poor quality of the fish
placed upon the market. During the abnormal demand the fishermen became anxious to realize
the high prices, and for this reason they often put their fish upon the market in a half cured con-

THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY. 483

dition, the result being that many of them spoiled before reaching their destination. This in many
cases resulted in a direct loss to the fishermen and dealers, as country purchasers refused to pay
for them. But a greater injury to the trade was found in the fact that the former customers find-
ing the herring so inferior in quality sought other articles of food as a substitute.

Several years of depression followed, many who had formerly engaged extensively in the busi-
ness allowing their smoke-houses to remain idle rather than incur the risk of loss. Within the last
lew years, however, the trade has been somewhat revived, and a better feeling exists among the
dealers, while the demand in New England ani in certain portions of the West is gradually
increasing. Boston, however, has lost much of her former influence, and New York now ranks as
the important market, handling over half of the herring smoked in the Quoddy River region.

PRICES. — In the early part of the century, according to Mr. McGregor, the price realized by the
fishermen for the regular half-bushel boxes varied from $1 to $1.25. From 1830 to 1850, according
to the same authority, the average price was about $1.10 for scaled herring, 80 cents for number
ones, and 35 to 40 cents for number twos. From this time the price was gradually reduced, though
perhaps not in proportion to the size of the box, for during the " war-period " boxes no longer than
those employed at present sold as high as 30 to 40 cents. From this date the price (taking the
paper currency as a standard) decreased rapidly for a number of years, and fish of good quality
often sold as low as 7 and 8 cents per box. Later, with the revival of the trade, it again improved,
until, in 1880, it ranged between 12 and 25 cents, according to the quality of the fish, good scaled
herring averaging fully 22 cents, while the lower grades usually sold at 15 or 16 cents.

8. FURTHER PREPARATION OF SMOKED HERRING.

EUROPEAN METHODS. — Most of the smoked herring are eaten with no further preparation than
that received in the smoke-house at the hands of the fishermen; but recently attempts have been
made by enterprising European houses to render them yet more palatable before finally placing
them upon the market. In several European countries smoked herring are now packed in oil in
small tin cans which, when properly filled, are at once hermetically sealed.

In Finland, according to Mr. Wallem, the round fish are salted just enough to give them flavor,
after which they are lightly smoked. The heads, tails, and entrails are next removed, the roe
being left in. They are then placed in tin boxes, just long enough to receive them and large
enough to contain about twenty small fish, and covered with olive oil. When filled, the boxes
are carefully sealed and sent to the bath, where they remain in boiling water for some time, and
after venting and cooling are ready for the market. As far as known, nothing is done in this
line within the limits of the United States, though other kinds of smoked fish are sometimes
canned.

A less praiseworthy innovation, and one which we are glad to say is unknown among the
dealers of the United States, has been made by European ingenuity, which, not content with the
slow process of smoking, has at last discovered a way by which- the fish can be prepared without
the aid of smoke. Mr. Wallem alludes briefly to the subject, saying:

" There are manufacturers who injure the smoking business by manufacturing smoked herring
which have not been near smoke. The mystery or humbug consists in covering the herring with
a specially prepared yellowish-brown varnish or oil which imparts to the herring a little of a
smoky flavor, and sometimes the imitation is so good as to -deceive even experienced persons."
This imitation, however, can hardly represent the hard herring of our country. It must rather be
intended as a counterfeit of the bloater, which is discussed below in this chapter.

AMERICAN METHODS. — Little is done in the further preparation of the herring within the

484 HISTORY. AND METHODS OF THE F1SHEK1ES.

limits of the United States after they leave the smoke-honse. As far as known, but one attempt
has been made in this direction. This was brought about by the growing demand for products iu
a state in which they could be placed upon the table. The idea occurred to Mr. George T. Peters,
of New Jersey, that the herring might be skinned and boned, and arranged in neat and attractive
packages before they were put upon the market. Accordingly, in 1878, he proceeded to Eastport,
Me., and conducted a series of experiments that led to a methoa which he covered by a patent
dated December 10, 1878. The following extract taken from his letter of specification will give a
sufficiently accurate idea of his invention :

"The object of my invention is to pack herrings in such a way that they can be eaten directly
upon their removal from the package — namely, without any further preparation; also, so that
their flavor and moisture are preserved, and so that they are convenient for sale in small bunches
or packages without weighing or counting the fish separately.

"It consists in salting, smoking, skinning, and boning the herrings, then tying them in
bunches, and, finally, putting them up in a box, as hereinafter fully set forth.

" The box may be made of wood or metal, and I prefer to introduce a pane of glass in one of
its sides, so that its contents are rendered visible from the outside thereof.

" In carrying out my invention, I salt and smoke the herrings in the usual way, then remove
the skin therefrom and extract the bone in any suitable manner.

"By first smoking the herrings the subsequent operations of skinning and boning the same
are greatly facilitated. I then arrange the same in bunches of one dozen each (more or less) by
tying that number together with a cord, and pack a half dozen (more or less) of such bunches into
a box of the proper size and shape. The herrings are thus packed up in such a condition that no
further preparation thereof is needed, except, perhaps, to cut the same up on their removal from
the package, wherefore they form a very useful article for tourists or travelers.

"By skinning the herrings and putting the same up iu bunches their raw flesh is brought in
close contact, and by this means their inherent moisture and flavor are preserved in the best
possible manner, the effect thereof being also increased by packing the bunches in a box, and
another advantage of the bunching being that no time is lost in counting the herrings singly,
when a dozen or more are sold.

"I am well aware that the practices of salting, smoking, skinning, and boning fish have long
been known, and I therefore do not claim any of them as my invention.

" What I claim as new, and desire to secure by letters patent, is —

"The new commercial package, consisting of salted, smoked, skinned, and boned herring, tied
together in bunches, which are packed together in a suitable box, substantially as described."

In 1879 Mr. Peters engaged quite extensively iu boning and packing the fish after the manner
described, employing between twenty and thirty hands at his Eastport factory. For some reason,
however, the fish did not meet with as ready a sale as he had expected, and it was found desirable
to discontinue work at Eastport, though the same method is strtl carried on in Massachusetts and
New York, where it is meeting with better success.

9. STATISTICS OF THE BUSINESS.

If we were to confine ourselves to trade statistics it would be difficult to give the exact quan-
tity of herring smoked in the United States, for the different market reports include many fish as
American that have been prepared by the fishermen of the British Provinces. According to Mr.
W. A. Wilcox, Manager of the American Fish Bureau, there were 443,697 boxes of herring handled
in Boston in 1880, 262,482 of which were received from home ports; the remainder coming from the
Provinces. This statement is misleading, as shown by the statistics of Maine, which practically

THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY. 485

produces all the smoked herring put up in this country. These statistics prove that only 307,300
boxes of hard herring were put up within the limits of the State during that year, over half of
which were shipped directly to New York, while considerable quantities were sent elsewhere, leav-
ing Boston a very much smaller quantity than is reported. The apparent discrepancy is easily
explained when we remember that Eastport is located in the very center of the herring district,
and that the dealers purchase annually many thousand boxes of fish directly from the New Bruns-
wick fishermen. Besides this, many of the foreign fishermen land their fish at Eastport, where
they are taken in charge by the steamboat officials, who treat them as domestic products. Others
still ship their fish direct by the trading vessels of the locality that always find it convenient to
clear from an American port, the fish carried by them being naturally considered as domestic prod-
ucts, though they may never have touched our territory until landed in Boston. Eastport is thus
very naturally credited with all the herring received from the Passamaquoddy region, while
actually producing only a small portion of them, the bulk, as has been said, being put up on the ad-
jacent islands belonging to the Province of New Brunswick. In 1879, according to the New
Brunswick Fishery Report, ninety-nine weirs were fished, 74,260 barrels of herring were pickled,
and 683,530 boxes were smoked in the district tributary to Eastport, which includes the coast and
islands lying between Beaver Harbor, New Brunswick, and the coast of Maine. A majority of these
are sent to the United States, and are credited in the market reports as American fish. It is an easy
matter to get from the herring smokers of New England the statistics of their business ; but a trade
has recently sprung up in smoked herring prepared from frozen fish after they have reached the
markets of consumption. Of this business no exact statistics are obtainable, and the quantity
prepared in this way can only be estimated. It seems that during the winter months when any
market happens to be glutted with frozen herring, parties are in the habit of purchasing them at
a low figure, and, after thawing, salting, and smoking them, place them upon the market. There
is no regular business in this line, as the smokers engage in the work only when the price is pecu-
liarly low, wholly neglecting the business when fish are scarce. Fish are prepared in this way in
most of the larger sea-port towns and also in many of the principal cities of the interior, where
one would scarcely expect it. Even in Washington, D. C., the business is carried on to a consid-
erable extent, and in 1880, according to Mr. Gwynn Harris, city market inspector, the fish dealers
of that city smoked 45,000 herring which they received from the north in a frozen state. The fish
are also smoked to a limited extent by the retail dealers, who thus utilize any surplus that might
otherwise spoil. Frozen fish, however, make an inferior quality of smoked herring, as the fiber of
the flesh is injured, rendering it brittle and giving the herring a dull, bluish color along the back.
These herring are much larger than the ordinary smoked herring, and, owing to a lack of suitable
smoke-houses, they are only partially cured, thus resembling more nearly the bloater than the hard
herring of Maine.

The smoking of hard herring proper is, as has been said, confined wholly to Maine, the fishery
census returns of New Hampshire and Massachusetts failing to mention any products from either
of these States. A careful investigation of this branch of the fisheries for Maine shows that there
were, in 1880, 202 smoke-houses, valued at $33,700, and that 229 persons, exclusive of the weir-
fishermen, were engaged in preparing 307,300 boxes of bard herring (in addition to 51,700 of
bloaters), valued at $55,320. A detailed table of these facts will be found on page 488.

To form a correct impression of the smoked-herring business, it would be necessary to include
those made from frozen herring, which may be as well considered here as with the bloaters ; esti-
mating these at 75,000 boxes, which is probably not far from the actual quantity produced, we
have a total of 383,000, valued at $68,320 (exclusive of bloaters), put up in the United States.

486 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

6. BLOATER HERRING.

10. ORIGIN, METHODS OF PREPARATION, AND STATISTICS OF THE BLOATER-
HERRING INDUSTRY.

ORIGIN AND GROWTH. — Smoked bloaters were prepared as early as the sixteenth century, for
Shakespeare mentions the bloater in his writings. Just where the method originated is not known,
but Scotland has certainly developed the business to a greater extent than any other country, and
the town of Yarmouth has been the leader in this industry for more than a century. Bertram, in
speaking of the herring fisheries of Scotland, says :

" There has always been a busy herring fishery at the port of Yarmouth. A century ago
upwards of two hundred vessels were fitted out for the herring fishery, and these afforded employ-
ment to a large number of people, as many as six thousand being employed in one way or another
in connection with the fishery."* He also claims that the origin of the name is derived from the
peculiar roundish or bloated appearance acquired during the process of curing.

Notwithstanding the fact that the bloater has been generally known as an important article
of commerce throughout Europe for many centuries, it was not known to the American dealers
till within the last half century, and, according to the statements of prominent dealers, it is only
thirty-five years since the first bloaters were put up in the United States. Mr. Wilcox informs us
that Boston was the first city to engage in the preparation of bloaters in this country, and that they
were first smoked about 1859. At this time considerable quantities of large fat herring were
brought to the Boston market from the Bay of Islands, Newfoundland. Many of these were utilized
for smoking, and the bloaters prepared from them were said to be of excellent quality. When it
was found that there was a demand for the bloater in the markets, one of the enterprising Boston
dealers attempted to secure a patent on the process of curing ; but in this he was unsuccessful, as
his opponents, by quoting from Shakespeare, showed conclusively that the idea was not a new one,
and that bloaters were known hundreds of years earlier. The Boston business developed gradu-
ally, until, in 1868, as high as 10,000 barrels of herring were annually smoked and put upon the
market as Yarmouth bloaters.

Shortly after the introduction of the bloater into the Boston market, parties in the vicinity of
Eastport began preparing the fish in the same manner. The introduction of the method into this
region is, according to Mr. J. F. Buck, of Eastport, the result of measures taken by the Dominion
government to encourage its subjects in the careful preparation of fishery products. It seems that
a thorough examination of the fisheries in 1849 revealed the fact that the larger part of the sea-
products were improperly cured, and that, consequently, much of their value was lost to the fish-
ermen on account of the low price realized for them in the different markets. Accordingly, a
series of local fish-fairs were inaugurated and kept up for some time. These were usually held in
the fall, and the people of the vicinity were induced to place their best cured products in competi-
tion for money prizes that were given as premiums. Considerable interest was aroused, and the
contest in many sections became quite exciting, the fishermen giving careful attention to the
preparation of their fish. It was certainly an ingenious method of educating the people in a line
in which they were sadly deficient. This rivalry led to the preparation of fish in different ways,
and bloater herring were at this time first prepared by Scotch fishermen, who had been familiar
with the method in the mother country. When first introduced into the region these fish met with
little favor, and the business was consequently small, nothing of importance being done for same

" Harv.-sl of the Sea, p. 194.

THE SMOKED-HERRING INDUSTRY. 487

years. lu 1867, as we are informed by Mr. R. C. Green, Richard Young, a native of Leith, Scot-
land, but lately residing in Portland, Me., removed to Eastport for the purpose of smoking had-
dock. Finding herring abundant, and knowing of the extent of the bloater business in Boston, he
began curing them for shipment, practically on account of the lower price at which he secured
his fish, driving the Boston dealej s out of the field and compelling them to purchase their supplies
from him and other parties who soon built smoke-houses in the locality. The business of the
region has gradually increased from that time, until now Eastport puts up the greater part of the
bloaters prepared in the United States. Several fishermen from three or four other towns have
engaged in the work from time to time. A few hundred boxes were put up annually at Jonesport,
Me., between 1872 and 1875, and the fishermen of Button's Island, near Mount Desert, smoked a
few bloaters about the same time. Portland dealers soon began curing bloaters, and they have
continued the business, until now they rank second to Eastport in the quantity prepared. The
people of Lubec are just turning their attention to the business. These three towns are the only
ones at present engaged in the preparation of bloaters in the State of Maine, and, as far as we
have been able to ascertain, none are put up in other parts of the country.

METHODS OF PREPARATION. — We are indebted to Mr. R. C. Green, of Eastport, for the fol-
lowing description of the methods employed in the preparation of bloaters in that locality. Dur-
ing the months of October and November the supply of herring for bloaters is taken largely by
the net-fishermen off the southern head of Grand Manan. Later the fish are secured in the same
manner along the New Brunswick shore, between L'Etete and Point Lepreaux. They are usually
brought to market as soon as they have been taken from the nets, but when not convenient to
make the journey the fishermen salt them in bulk in the vessel until such time as it may be con-
venient to market them. The 'bloaters prepared from the fresh fish are known as " fresh-water
bloaters," and are considered far superior to the others, which are known as "salt-herring bloat-
ers." On reaching the shore the salt fish must be soaked for some time to remove any surplus
of salt that they have absorbed, after which they are at once strung and hung in the smoke-
house. The fresh fish on reaching the shore are immediately placed in strong pickle, where they
are allowed to remain for two to three days, after which they are washed and strung on ordinary
herring-sticks and placed in the bays with the others. Fires are then built and the fish are smoked
for three to six days, according to the distance of the market for which they are intended. The
method of smoking is similar to that employed in the preparation of hard herring, with the excep-
tion that the bloaters, though salted a little more, are smoked for a much shorter period. Hard
wood sawdust and chips are mostly used as giving the best color.*

When the smoking is over and the fish have become cold, they are packed in boxes holding
100 fish each, equal to 30 to 35 pounds in weight, and shipped as soon as possible, it being neces-
sary to market them at once, as they are so lightly smoked that they will not keep for any consid-
erable period.

The box at present used is made of pine. It is 21 Inches long, 11£ inches wide, and 6 inches

"According to Mr. Wallem, the French bloaters are smoked for a much shorter period than the American. His
translator represents him as saying of the French fish :

"After the herrings have been 12 hours in the smoke, they are ready, and are in the north of France called
'bouffi;' they do not keep long, and are intended to be eaten soon. After they have been smoked 24 hours they keep
better, and are called 'prct,' i. e.,' ready;' but for (he distant markets they are not yet 'ready;' they must be
smoked 36 hours, and are then, strange to say, called ' half-ready' (demi-pt(t), because after they are 'ready' they are
moved higher up and smoked for a while longer. These last-msntioned fish can from the north of France be sent to
the south, whilst the pret herrings are principally intended for the Paris market. If the 'bouffi' herrings do not have
a ready sale, they are again put in the smoke-house and are made into 'prf.t' herrings."

488

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

deep, inside measurement. Half boxes are also used to a limited extent, these containing 50 fish
in number.

STATISTICS OP THE BUSINESS. — The price of bloaters has changed considerably from time to
time. The fish prepared in Boston in 1859 sold at $1.25 to $1.50 per hundred. In 1865 the price
had increased to $1.80, but since that time it has gradually decreased, until in 1880 it ranged
from 60 to 75 cents. The majority of the bloaters are consumed in New England, though a few
find their way to the Middle and Western States. Boston receives fully two-thirds of those pre-
pared in Eastport, distributing them to its trade in different parts of the country. Portland deal-
ers received about 7,000 boxes of bloaters from Eastport in addition to the 7,000 prepared at home,
giving that place a total of 14,000 boxes yearly. Two-thirds of this entire quantity are sold in
Canada, the remainder going to different parts of New England and to New York.

When first introduced the Americans seemed to care little for the bloaters, not having acquired
a taste for them. The bulk of the products were at that time sold to the Scotch and English. Oi
late, however, the Americans are coming to consume a fair proportion of the products, though even
now a majority of the fish are consumed by foreigners.

As has been remarked, the only towns engaged in the preparation of bloaters are Eastport,
Portland, and Lubec, named in the order of importance. According to Mr. Green, there were
twelve firms engaged to a greater or less extent in the preparation of bloaters at Eastport in the
winter of 1879 and 1880, these smoking 41,000 boxes, valued at $29,190. During the same period
Lubec put up 3,000 boxes, worth $2,100, and according to Weir Brothers, the largest dealers in
Portland, there were 7,000 boxes, valued at $4,900, prepared in that city, making a total of 51,700
boxes, valued at $37,800, prepared in the State of Maine.

c. STATISTICS OP THE SMOKED-HEKKING INDUSTRY.

f

11. STATISTICS OF THE INDUSTRY IN MAINE IN 1880.

The following table gives in detail the entire products of the smoked herring and bloater
industry for the State of Maine in 1880 ; this being equivalent to the production of the entire
country if we neglect the frozen fish that are smoked in the larger cities farther south :

Table showing the extent of the smoked-herring biisinexs of the State of Maine in 1880.

District.

Persons employ-
ed, exclusive of
weir-fishermen.

Smoke-houses.

Additional cash
capital.

Barrels of herring
nsei for smok-
ing.

Quantity of smoked herring put up.

Hard herring.

Bloater herring.

Total.

Number.

Value.

Boxes.

Value.

Boxes.

Value.

Boxes.

Value.

180
3
22

106
19
62
3
1
5
6

$18,460
1,380
4,980
SOU
80
500
8,000

$6,000
300
1,000
200
75
100
2,000

26,562
420
3,687
666
80
267
1,750

230, 800
6,300
55,000
10, 000
1,200
4,000

$41,550
1,135

9,900
1,800
215
720

44,700

$32,900

275,500
6,300
55,000
10,000
1,200
4,000
7,000

$74, 450
1,135
9,900
1,800
215
720
4,900

Belfast district

24

7,000

4,900

Total

229

202

33,700

9,675

33,412

307,300

55, 320

51,700

37,800

359,000

93, 120

THE SARDINE INDUSTEY. 489

5.— THE SARDINE INDUSTRY.

1. OEIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS.

THE WORK IN FRANCE. — The idea of packing small fishes in oil under the name of "sardines"
seems to have originated in France, where for many years the people have been accustomed
to catch and prepare small fish that would be nearly valueless for other purposes. But though
the business began in a small way many years ago, it is only within the last few years that it
has assumed important proportions. Mr. Frederick M. Wallem, of Norway, in his Eeport of the
French Fisheries, as exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1878, states that in 1850 France produced
only 3,000,000 cans of sardines, and that eight years later the quantity had increased to but
10,000,000. At the time of writing (1878) he states that the business developed rapidly, and that
there were between fifty and sixty establishments engaged in the work, quite a number of them
producing several millions of cans each during the season.

THE BUSINESS IN OTHER PARTS OF EUROPE. — Seeing the advantages to be derived from this
business other countries have interested themselves in the work, and at the present time many of
the principal countries in Europe utilize some one or more of their small fishes for packing and
sale under the name of sardines. According to Mr. Wallem, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, in 1878,
produced considerable quantities of sardines in oil in addition to their large trade in " pressed
sardines," and Sweden and Norway have for some time been exporting small herring in oil under
the name of sardines. Japan also has recently begun to develop a sardine industry which seems
destined to assume important proportions. Germany has also for some time been extensively
engaged in packing small herring in barrels with various spices, and now exports large quantities
of them under the name of " Eussian sardines." From the above it will be seen that though France
still leads the nations of Europe in the business she has by no means a monopoly of the trade;
and it is only a question of a few years when some of the other countries will, on account of the
abundance of some particular species and the readiness with which they can be secured, become
formidable rivals in the business.

FIRST EXPERIMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH HERRING WERE USED. — The Case

with the United States is very different from that of the European countries. The latter have,
from their nearness to France and their intimate relations with the French, been constantly coming
in contact with the various phases of the sardine industry, and have had no dimculty in watching
the new developments that have been introduced from time to time, while they have been more or
less familliar with the methods and details of the business. Americans, on the contrary, have had
little knowledge of the work beyond that obtained from the manufactured goods imported by the
trade, and it was only recently that our people came to understand that fishes different from those
used by the French were being put up in other countries under the name of sardines.

Having learned this much, the Americans were not slow in examining into the subject to see
if some of our own fishes could not be utilized for the same purpose. The first to act in this matter
was Mr. George Burnham, of the firm of Burnham & Merrill, of Portland, Me., who are among
the largest packers of canned goods in the United States. In answer to a letter of inquiry Mr.
Burnham replies :

" The idea of using the small herring as a substitute for the sardines occurred to the writer

490 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

in 1865. It was well known to me that myriads of little herring were annually caught at East-
port, Me. These were too small to be of use for smoking or pickliug, and I thought that as they
belonged to the same family as the sardine they might be used with profit as a substitute, and that
if properly prepared they would be equally good. Acting upon this thought I visited Croissett,
on the coast of France, where there were several canneries for the packing of sardines, and made
a careful examination of their works. I also studied the methods of taking the fish and the
different processes to which they were subjected before being placed in the cans. Later, I pro-
ceeded to Nantes, on the river Loire, for the purpose of inspecting the canneries of that region.
Having made myself familiar with the French methods, I purchased a quantity of olive oil and
other articles to be used in the packing of herring and returned home.

" In the fall of 1867 I proceeded to Eastport and secured suitable buildings for the work and
began a series of experiments. I put up the fish in cans similar to those used by the French and
used only the best quality of olive oil in preserving them. Great difficulty was found in properly
drying the fish, and after a loss of considerable time and money I was obliged to abandon the
business on account of my inability to get rid of the herring-oil flavor."

This failure to prepare a suitable article was but a single step in the line of progress toward
an important industry. Had Mr. Burnham pushed his experiments a little further he would
doubtless have been rewarded, as he well deserved, by the discovery of a suitable method of
drying the fish, after which his way would probably have been clear. As it was, his failure had
its effect upon those who were interested in the work and the result was, that parties began
looking about for other fishes which did not possess the " herring-oil flavor."

AN ATTEMPT TO UTILIZE THE MENHADEN FOE THIS PURPOSE. — An attempt was soon made
to utilize the common menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) for canning purposes. The parties engaged
in this work met with fair success, and the canned menhaden were at first received with consid-
erable favor, but for some reason the business is now of little importance, if, indeed, it has not
been wholly abandoned.

Prof. G. Brown Goode, in his History of the Menhaden, gives the following account of the
manufacture of sardines from menhaden :

"On the coast of New Jersey, near Port Monrnouth, are several factories, which carry on an
extensive business in canning menhaden in oil and spices. Mr. F. F. Beals, of New York, gives
the following description of the methods in use in one of these establishments :

" ' We aim to have our catch of mossbunkers in by 6 or 7 o'clock a. m., as the fish seem to be
strongly impregnated with phosphorus and soon spoil in warm weather. As soon as the fish arc
landed, we put our entire force of men to cleaning, cutting, and scaling, for which we have
machines adapted. When the fish are cleaned, they are at once put in hogsheads, and salted just
sufficiently to keep and to remove their extreme freshness. They are then packed in cooking
cans, which are a little larger than the packing cans, and put into the tanks, where they are
steamed for* the space of about two hours. After the fish are taken out, they are placed in the
regular market cans, which are then laid upon zinc covered tables, where they are filled with
salad oil. They then go to the tinners, who solder on the lids, after which the can is again
steamed and vented, and passed up into the cleaning and labeling room. Each day's work is
piled up separately, each can being thoroughly tested to see that it is perfectly air-tight. For
this we have an experienced hand. Not a can is packed until it has stood for at least a month.
At the expiration of this time, after being again tested, the cans are packed in wooden cases
containing two dozen each, and are then ready for the market. As we make all our tin cases, wo

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 491

are able to secure good results, and it is a rare occurrence to have a swollen can. If there is one,
it is at once thrown aside.

"'Our company was incorporated April 21, 1871, under the laws of the State of New York.
Seeing the magnitude of the sardine business on the other side of the Atlantic, we were impressed
with the idea that there was a large field for operations in this country alone. We at once set
about to find a fish which would supply the place of the European sardine. After many experi-
ments, we at last found one to suit the purpose, viz, the niossbnnker, and commenced a series of
experiments to find a means of extracting or softening the bones without the use of acids of any
kind. After over a year of experiment, we at last found the desired process, which we secured
under United States letters patent, dated May 21, 1872. This process consists of various modes
of steaming until the bones become so soft that they can be eaten, like the flesh of the fish,
without the slightest inconvenience. The first two years most of our time was consumed in
experimenting, so that it was not until a year ago that we really commenced to manufacture,
though prior to that we put up some goods. Last year, 1873, we packed and sold about 30,000
dozen whole cans or boxes. We have now capacity to turn out double that amount and we
expect to be obliged to do so, as our trade is rapidly increasing. Our goods have received various
awards, including a medal of merit at Vienna in 1873, and a silver medal at Bremen in 1874.'

"During the season of 1877, the works of the American Sardine Company were not in
operation. Mr. Beals, the secretary, informs me that the manufacture will be pressed strongly in
1878. * * *

" There are other establishments near Port Moumouth which prepare menhaden in spices and
vinegar under the trade names of 'Shadine,' < Ocean Trout,' and 'American Club-Fish.' I have
been unable to obtain statistics of this branch of manufacture. Hoope & Coit, of New York,
contributed samples of these preparations to the Centennial collection of the United States Fish
Commission, and I suppose this firm to be engaged in the manufacture."*

In speaking of the quality of these fish Professor Goode remarks :

" Many persons are incredulous with regard to the possibility of manufacturing sardines of
good quality from the menhaden. It need only be said that they have been carefully tested by
many unprejudiced judges in the city of Washington, and that the verdict has always been that
they were almost equal to French sardines of the best brands. There-can be no reasonable doubt
that if olive oil of good quality were to be substituted for the cotton-seed oil now used in the
preparation of American sardines, they would be fully equal to similar articles imported from
abroad."!

EXPERIMENTS IN THE USE OP HEREING FOR "RUSSIAN SARDINES" LEADS TO THEIK USE
FOB OIL SARDINES. — About the year 1872 the small herring that were being imported from Ger-
many under the name of "Russian sardines" suggested the idea of using the herring taken at
Eastport as a substitute, and experiments were soon underway. The "home-made Russians"
were found superior to the imported ones, and their manufacture soon became an important busi-
ness. This led to a better knowledge of the abundance of the small herring in the locality, and in
the fall of 1875 Mr. Henry Sellmann and Mr. Julius Wolff, of New York, began experiments in
putting up the herring in oil, under the direction of the Eagle Preserved Fish Company, of which
they were both members. They were successful in finding a method by which a superior quality
of sardines could be put up. As the result of their labor these gentlemen have had the satisfaction

* Report of U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Part V, 1877, pp. 137-138.
tI6W., p. 138.

492 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

of seeing the industry gradually develop to such an extent that it now constitutes the principal
business of Eastport, and is rapidly spreading to other portions of the State.

ME. SELLHANK'S ACCOUNT OF HIS WORK. — Mr. Sellmann has furnished the following very
interesting account of the causes that led to the experiments and of the methods employed in the
work :

" The Franco-German war in 1870-'71 was the approximate if not the immediate cause of the
origin of the American sardine industry, and it was brought about in the following manner : For
about ten years previously there was imported from Hamburg, Germany, by a firm in New York,
an article of merchandise known as ' Eussian sardines.' These were put up in kegs of three dif-
ferent sizes, weighing, respectively, 4, 7, and 11 pounds gross. The fish used for this purpose were
small herring taken on the coast of Norway, and were prepared as follows : After being suitably
salted the heads and entrails were removed ; the fish were then thoroughly washed, and, after
draining in baskets, packed in layers in kegs, every other layer receiving a definite quantity of
whole spices, such as cloves, pepper, mustard seed, bay leaves, allspice, red peppers, and capers.
A pickle of slightly salted vinegar was added after the package had been filled up with fish. From
a small beginning this article grew rapidly in favor, principally among the German population,
and the demand for the goods became so extensive that by 1870 the importation amounted to not
less than 50,000 kegs per annum, mostly of the larger packages. The price up to that time ranged,
upon a gold basis, at from $1.10 to $1,25 for the larger, and at from 50 to 80 cents for the smaller
sized kegs. When in the early part of the Franco-German war, in consequence of the blockade of
German ports by the French navy, the importation of the article from Hamburg had to be aban-
doned for the time being, the price of the article advanced 50 per cent, in New York, owing to the
small supply in market. It was under these circumstances that the writer, who for many years
previously and at that time was engaged in the importation of other kinds of preserved fish, con-
ceived the idea of finding a suitable fish taken in American waters for the purpose of producing
the so-called Russian sardines in this country. The small smoked herring that are put up in boxes,
and known in our markets as No. 1 and scaled herring, furnished a basis for investigation as to
suitability of the fish under a different mode of curing and preparation for the purpose mentioned.
As these fish were principally prepared at Eastport, Me., an order was transmitted to Messrs.
Griffin Brothers, of that place, for a sample shipment of small salted herring, with full instructions
as to the manner of salting and preparing the same. The shipment came to hand in due time, and
the quality of the fish proved satisfactory. In the further development of the work considerable
difficulty was experienced in procuring suitable kegs at a moderate price for putting up the fish ;
but this was finally overcome by Messrs. Kellogg & Ives, of Fair Haven, Conn., who were engaged
in the manufacture of oyster kegs. This firm succeeded in making a good imitation of the foreign
keg at a reasonable price. Next, the fish were put up carefully and in good style, and offered for
sale to the jobbing trade. Notwithstanding, however, the continued great scarcity of the imported
article, in connection with the high price asked for it, there was much prejudice and negative
shaking of heads on the part of the dealers against the new domestic article, and the difficulty of
finding a market for it was subsequently increased by the raising of the German blockade, thus
restoring former facilities for importation.

"A further difficulty in the fight against prejudice and odds was encountered in the fact that
it was late in the fishing season, and suitable fish were scarce at Eastport. However, with a mod-
erate supply of material, the writer succeeded after awhile in interfering to a considerable extent
with the foreign article, and in making valuable friends for the ' home-made Russians.' Objections
were, however, soon made by some of the trade against the better appearance of the American
machine-made kegs than of the hand-made imported ones. Stimulated by increasing success, the

TilE HAUDINE INJDUST1JY. 493

writer decided to overcome this objection by putting up the fish in square and oblong tin cans,
holding two pounds each, hoping at the same time that by ornamenting the cans with an attract-
ive label they could be more readily introduced to the trade. It was by such and other means and
devices that the domestic article was soon well introduced, and it took but a few years, on account
of the excellent quality of the goods and the lower price at which they could be sold, to establish
them so firmly in the market that the importation from Germany had to be abandoned by the
parties who up to that time had made it a well-controlled specialty and had grown rich at the
business.

" It may be well to add that a powerful help in the introduction of the domestic sardines pre-
sented itself in the fact that their keeping quality was found to be far superior to that of the
imported sardines, which were very liable to spoil in a comparatively short time, especially in the
summer season, during which and in the early fall the demand for Eussian sardines is greater
than at any other time. For years dealers had been much annoyed and in many instances had
lost considerable money by the spoiling of the imported sardines after they had been shipped to
the trade. Tour correspondent took good care that the fish were immediately and thoroughly
salted upon being taken from the water. The care taken in the preparation of the fish placed their
keeping qualities beyond question, and justified the packers, after stipulating a reasonable time
during which the guarantee should hold good, in making the following offer to the trade : ' War-
ranted to keep sound ; if not so found, money will be refunded.' No such guarantee was given in
regard to the imported sardines. This proved a great stumbling-block to the importers ; it was,
indeed, the death-blow to the imported article.

" The firm of Hansen & Dieckmann, of New York, who had so far controlled the importation
of the article, at this stage of the introduction of the domestic article began to realize the fact
that the importation of Eussian sardines was a thing of the past ; and they at once turned their
attention to the preparation of the home-made goods in order to retain their hold on their American
trade. Their efforts in the introduction of the domestic article had a very beneficial effect, and the
sales were greatly increased. Later, when the supply of fish was found to be practically inexhaust-
ible, other parties engaged extensively in the work, and the competition greatly reduced the
price of the manufactured article. Fishermen and dealers in fish at Eastport were not slow in
profiting by the demand for small salted herring, and they soon began to put up quantities of
them. It was found profitable now to prepare the fish at Eastport and to extract the oil from the
heads and entrails by means of presses, and to convert the residuum into pomace for manuring
purposes.

" During my first visit to Eastport I had an opportunity of examining the quality of the little
fishes before they were salted, and it at once occurred to me that they would answer other purposes
than those for which they were then used, namely, for smoking, pressing, and preparing as Eussian
sardines. I dressed a few of them after the manner of French oil sardines, and, after frying them,
was satisfied that the fish, if properly prepared, would be a good substitute for the imported oil
sardines, and that by their use a new home industry of great promise might be opened up. For
the purpose of personally conducting careful experiments, I found it necessary to temporarily
locate at Eastport, after having associated myself with the firm of Wolff & Eeessing, of New York,
and with them, under the firm name of the " Eagle Preserved Fish Company," pushed the experi-
ments very vigorously. I made it my business to inform myself as thoroughly as possible on the
methods employed by the French in the preparation of sardines, and for this purpose spent many
hours in the public libraries of New York in search of such information, with but little success. I

494 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

finally got hold of the French Encyclopedic — Roret on ' Conserves Alimentaires' — which contained
a description of the process.

"The following is a translation of the article above referred to:

" 'As soon as the fish are brought in by the fishermen the heads are cut off and the entrails are
removed, and in some instances even the bones are taken out. They are then promptly salted. A
skillful person may prepare a thousand fish in this manner in an hour. After the fish have been
in contact with the salt for twelve hours they are washed clean in fresh water or in clean salt
water, the latter being preferable. In order to prevent any deterioration of the fish the process is
reversed by some manufacturers by first salting the fish for twelve hours and then removing heads
and entrails. Whatever may be the most suitable process, immediately after the fish are washed
clean they are spread out on willow or wire-work frames for the purpose of drying the same suit-
ably in the open air, if the weather permits, or in a properly constructed drying-room, by means
of an artificial current of dry and warm air. After they are sufficiently dried they are put into
wire baskets and immersed for two or thiee minutes, according to the size of the fish, in olive oil,
heated to 250 degrees centigrade. After the fish are thus cooked they are placed horizontally in
the well-known little tin boxes, which are packed full, the fish being packed as snugly as possible,
after which a fine quality of olive oil is added, enough being used to fully cover the top layer.
This done the cover is put in, and the can is carefully sealed up with a soldering iron ; after which
the cans are placed in perforated low iron pans, and subjected to a water bath heated to 100
degrees centigrade, in which they remain from one and a half to two hours, according to their size.
This process has the effect of expanding the air in the cans, which, upon being taken out, are con-
vexed on top and bottom in consequence of the air-pressure from within. The cans are then vented
by a sharp-pointed instrument, and the vent hole is promptly soldered up as soon as the air has
blown out. The cans are then allowed to cool, after which, if found to be tight, they are rubbed
clean with sawdust and packed in wooden boxes for shipment.'

"The instructions of the French encyclopedia appeared explicit at first sight, but when it
came to carrying them out it was found that they were rather general. The apparently simple
method of drying the fish 'suitably' I found to be a matter of extreme difficulty, and the problem
bas only been satisfactorily solved after many and patient experiments. The advantage in this
respect of the Mediterranean climate as compared with that of Eastport, Me., is very great, and
it is a matter of much importance in this industry. Fine drying weather at Eastport during the
season of packing sardines is the exception, while on the Mediterranean it is the rule. Fish dried
by an artificial current of dry warm air are far inferior to those dried in the open air in favorable
weather. At times the percentage of moisture of the air at Eastport, resulting from the great
fog factory of the Bay of Fundy, is so great that even our modern drying-rooms, provided with
powerful blast blowers which supply a current of dry warm air, prove inefficient. I found that
the most approved drying-rooms in use for drying wood, fruit, and other material were not suited
to the purpose of drying the little fishes properly. The instructions of the French authority for
salting the fish for sardine purposes, if applicable to the sardines of the Mediterranean, are cer-
tainly not suited to the nature of our small herring, experience having demonstrated that instead
of salting the fish for twelve hours it is all sufficient to give them one hour's salting here, and if
the fish are small one hour even is too much. Excessive salting of the fish not only spoils their
flavor and deteriorates their quality generally, but it increases the difficulty of drying them
promptly and properly. Now as the fish should be salted but slightly, it is a matter of much
importance that the drying process should occupy as little time as possible in order to prevent
decomposition. I learned at Eastport that an attempt had been made ten years earlier by Messrs.

THE SARDINE INDUSTBY. 495

Burnham & Merrill, of Portland, Me., to pack oil sardines, bat that the enterprise had been aban-
doned owing to the fact that they failed to put up a merchantable article, even though the best
materials, including first quality olive oil, were used, and that the firm had informed themselves
thoroughly of the French methods, a member of the company having personally investigated the
modus operandi in France. From my experience I am led to believe that this failure resulted from
no other cause than that of prolonged delay in the drying process. The time for drying should
not exceed two hours if the fish are but slightly salted ; beyond that time they decompose very
rapidly, and will then vitiate the finest quality of oil, while difficulty is experienced in properly
frying them after decomposition has begun, as they are apt to break in pieces under the influ-
ence of the hot oil. The same effect also results from oversalting. For frying the fish I adopted
strong sheet-iron pans about 6 feet in length, 2£ feet wide, and 6 inches deep. These proved per-
fectly suitable, and have been generally adopted by the different packers, with but slight devia-
tions from the given dimensions. The wire baskets in which the fish are placed for immersion in
the oil are nearly square and suited to the width of the pan, which rests over an open fire, while
it is protected from the direct action of the flame by a piece of sheet iron of proper length and
thickness. Wood is used for fuel in the furnace, which is built of common brick. The fire-place
underruns the whole length of the pan. The oil for frying, when of proper heat, will evaporate
the water from the fish, which will rise to the surface when sufficiently cooked.

"In the early spring of 1879 I dissolved my connection with Messrs. Wolff & Eeessing, and
associated myself with Messrs. Martin & Balkam, of Eastport, and with Messrs. Eosenstein
Brothers, of New York. The new firm was known as the American Sardine Company, and property
was at once purchased at Eastport, where our first factory was put up. I make mention of this
change simply because under this new firm a very important change was made in the manner of
preparing the little fishes for sardines by a method not previously employed in this country. This
method, which has proved thoroughly satisfactory, is vastly superior to the old process of first
drying the fish and then frying them in oil. It differs in many particulars from that employed by
the French, and we have secured a patent for it. By our method the fish are placed on frames of
wire-work and subjected to the action of live steam in a steam-box and then baked or broiled on
the same frames in an oven furnished with a revolving reel. By this process, it will be perceived,
we do away with the drying process altogether. The steaming requires but a few minutes, and
can be performed as soon as the fish have been washed from the salt or pickle and spread on the
wire frames. The whole process of steaming and baking the fish takes only 10 to 15 minutes, and
we are thus enabled to pack fish perfectly sweet and fresh, while by the old process the drying of
the fish takes up from 5 to 20 hours, according to the state of the weather and the character of the
drying-rooms. The fish as taken from the weirs vary greatly in size, and generally but a small
portion are of suitable size for oil sardines, although at times they run quite uniform for that pur-
pose, while again, particularly in the spring, they run rather too small even for oil sardines. For
the purpose of utilizing the larger fish, which, on account of their size, are not suitable for oil sar-
dines, larger cans are made, and the fish are put up in a mustard or spiced sauce in handsomely
decorated cans, and sold as mustard and spiced sardines. They are prepared in exactly the same
manner as those to be packed in oil up to the time when they are ready for the cans. The demand
for these fish preparations has so far rapidly increased, and they form quite a relish for the family
table, picnics, excursion parties, &c. They, no doubt, if properly put up, will find their way to
foreign markets; in fact, a few are now being exported."

OTHER. SPECIES USED FOR CANNING PURPOSES. — From the beginning of the experiments in
1875 to the present time the different firms engaged in the sardine industry have kept constantly

49G HISTOllY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

at work and have succeeded in placing the business upon a permanent basis. But while they have
been thus engaged they have not wholly overlooked the other fishes that are so abundant along
our shores. When for any reason the supply of herring has not been regular, some of the more
energetic parties have turned their attention to the preparation of eels and mackerel. They have
been remarkably successful with their experiments in this line, and have succeeded in producing
goods that find great favor with the trade.

THE CANNING OF EELS. — The canning of eels has thus far been carried on only to a limited
extent by one firm, namely, the American Sardine Company, for the simple reason that eels are
not sufficiently abundant on the coast of Maine to warrant any extended business. This firm has
willingly taken all of the eels that could be secured, and even then have failed to fill their orders.
By their process the fish, after being strained, are fried in the oven and packed in boxes, either
plain or with a sauce made of vinegar and spices. The cans, which are similar in shape to those
in which sardines are packed, after being neatly decorated with a pretty label, are placed upon
the market as "Fried Brook Eels." It seems probable that with a cannery located on some portion
of the coast where eels are more abundant, and where the demand for them is limited, an im-
portant business could be easily developed with profit to all concerned. The mouth of the larger
rivers emptying into Chesapeake Bay would probably be found an excellent location for a cannery
of this kind.

THE CANNING OF MACKEREL. — The canning of mackerel by different methods has been car-
ried on by American capitalists for some time. The principal business in this line was formerly by
parties engaged in the canning of lobsters. By their methods the fish are neatly dressed, and after
their heads and tails have been removed they are placed in cans, which are at once carefully sealed.
They are then immersed in boiling water and allowed to remain for about two hours. After cooling,
the cans are branded and packed in cases for shipment to the trade.

Another method has been practiced to a considerable extent for several years. It consists
simply of the packing of the ordinary salt mackerel in tin cans of a size convenient for family use,
the object being to present the fish to the trade in attractive form, and by sealing the can to keep
them in excellent condition until they reach the consumer.

The parties engaged in the sardine business have hit upon two new methods for the prepara-
tion of mackerel, either one of which is far superior to those formerly employed. The business
began in the summer of 1880, at a time when mackerel happened to be plenty for several days
about Eastport. The first method originated with Mr. Julius Wolff, of the Eagle Preserved Fish
Company. By it the fish are treated in a manner exactly similar to that employed for the sardines.
The mackerel are first carefully cleaned and dried, after which they are fried in oil and packed in
cans with vinegar and spices.

The second method originated with Mr. Henry Sellmann, of the American Sardine Company.
Fearing that the increased number of canneries at Eastport would result in a scarcity of herring,
Mr. Sellmann established a branch cannery at Camden, Me., on the western shore of the Penobscot
Kiver, where small herring were reported abundant. Here, owing largely to the lack of interest
on the part of the local fishermen, he failed to secure as many herring as were needed and was
obliged to turn his attention to the mackerel, which are usually very abundant in the locality during
the summer months. By careful experiment he found that the fish could be prepared by a method
quite similar to that employed for sardines. The mode of treatment is almost identical to that
already described for the preparation of eels. The fish are first eviscerated, after which the heads
and tails are removed and the bodies, after being thoroughly washed, are placed in strong brine for a
few minutes. When they have absorbed a sufficient quantity of salt they are taken out, and after

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 497

another washing are spread upon wire frames and placed on a revolving frame in a large oven, where
they are allowed to remain until they are well broiled. They are then packed in large oval cans,
holding about 3 pounds each, and covered with a sauce of tomatoes and spices. They next go to
the sealers and later to the "bathing-room," after which they are labeled 'as "fresh broiled mack-
erel " and packed in wooden cases for shipment. These fish are far superior to any of the brands
of sardines on account of the delicate flavor of the mackerel. From the first the demand was
greater than the supply, and at the close of the busy season the firm began looking for a more suit-
able location for the erection of a larger cannery— They at length selected Gloucester, Mass., and
in the spring of 1881 made extensive preparations in the way of buildings and apparatus, and
during that season employed upwards of one hundred and fifty hands in the work.

For many years the mackerel fleet have been catching great quantities of fish which, on account
of their size, are usually rejected by the fresh-fish dealers, and for the same reason are nearly
worthless for salting. For lack of a market these fish were formerly thrown away after they had
been taken. For canning, the small fish are preferred, and should the business become as exten-
sive as present indications would lead us to believe, a market will soon be found for these fish.
This will result in a great saving to the fishermen and will be a benefit to the masses, as it will
render available for food small-sized mackerel which the fishermen have usually turned back into
the sea.*

2. LOCATION Of THE CANNERIES.

EASTPORT AND VICINITY. — Eastport was the only American town engaged in the packing or
canning of small herring, under the name of sardines, prior to 1880. The fish selected for ascer-
taining whether herring could be utilized in the manufacture of " Russian sardines," were purchased
at Eastport and shipped to New York, where the experiments were made. When it was found
that they could be made to answer the purpose the business was at once transferred to Eastport.
There were several reasons that necessitated this change: In the first place, it was found that her-
ring salted in the ordinary way for shipment were not all that could be desired for making a
superior article, and it was therefore desirable to buy the fish fresh, and to prepare them expressly
for this trade; it was also found that fish of a certain size and quality were best suited for the pur-
pose, and these could only be secured by making the selection before they were salted ; again, the
saving in freights by the shipment of the manufactured article instead of the raw material, was
an important item, and the saving in rent and labor was considerable.

When the preparation of sardines in oil began there was another and more important reason
why the canneries should be located in the vicinity of the fisheries. Only the small fish can be used
to advantage for canning, and these are so delicate that they must be used within a few hours, at
most, after they are taken from the water. When sailing vessels are employed, as is usually the
case at present, the fishery cannot be prosecuted at a distance much exceeding 8 or 10 miles from
the cannery, and it often happens during the calm warm weather of mid-summer that the fish are
spoiled on the passage. Steamers have recently been employed in towing the sardine boats to the
cannery, or in gathering and transporting the catch, and in this way the distance to which the fish
may be carried is proportionately increased. The first parties to use the steamboat for this work
were Messrs. Wolff & Reesaing, of Eastport, who, in the summer of 1879, bought a small tug for
towing the fish-boats.

OCCURRENCE OF SMALL HERRING IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES. — The fact that the business

* Since the above was written (in 1881) mackerel-canning factories have been established at Boston and at sev-
eral places on the coast of Maine, and the industry has greatly increased.— A. H. CLARK.

SEO V 32

498 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

was limited to a single locality up to 1880 is readily understood when we remember that this was
the only district within the limits of the United States where small herring had been extensively
taken during any considerable part of the year. True, herring 5 to 7 inches in length, locally
known as " spurling," were caught in large numbers in Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts, for a few weeks
in the fall, and they were also taken to a limited extent at various points along the coast of
Maine. Still, the business had never been fully developed in any locality aside from Eastport,
and many of the fishermen in various sections were ignorant of the abundance of the fish at their
very doors, while others, though aware of the presence of the small herring, did not consider them
of any value.

METHOD OP INTRODUCING THE GOODS. — The business was wholly under the control of New
York parties, who had long been engaged in the sardine trade. These were doing an extensive
business in French sardines, and were among the heaviest importers in America. Having a large
business already established, it was not necessary for them to direct public attention to their home
canneries, as it was thought that there would be a foolish prejudice against the American pro-
ducts. For the same reason it was thought necessary to disguise the herring under a French
label, a practice that has been continued to the present time. Instead of calling attention to their
growing business, it was natural that the interested parties should keep the matter as quiet as
possible. It was for this reason that the value of the small herring for canning purposes did not
become generally known, and that the business was so long confined to a single town.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS IN OTHER LOCALITIES. — Until 1880 only five canneries
were in operation, and the preparation of the fish had been kept secret as far as possible. In the
mean time, some of the Eastport merchants who controlled good fishing privileges had become
thoroughly interested in the business, and, finding that the trade was fully established, a number
of them decided to build canning establishments, and others soon followed their example. Dur-
ing the summer of 1880 eight additional canneries were located at Eastport. Fearing that the
catch of herring would not be large enough to supply the additional demand created by these
establishments, some of the original packers began to look about for new fishing grounds. On
examination it was found that there were many localities along the coast of Maine where small
herring were remarkably abundant, and before the close of the season canneries were established
at Eobbinston, Lubec, Jonesport, East Lamoine, and Cainden.

Camden is situated on the west side of Penobscot Bay, considerably over 100 miles in a direct
line from Eastport. This distance is increased to upwards of 500 miles if we follow the shore-line,
which is very irregular, owing to the numerous bays, harbors, and coves that occur on this portion
of the coast.

The region already described is thus far the limit of the sardine fisheries, and many of the
localities within this district abound in herring during the entire summer, while others are fre-
quented by large schools at certain seasons. To the westward of the above region small herring
are known to occur in considerable numbers. In Ipswich Bay, Massachusetts, on the north side
of Cape Ann, several thousand barrels are taken every fall, and among the small islands of Casco
Bay they are reported to be very abundant. From our knowledge of the extensive spawning
grounds between Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and Seguin Island, Maine, including those in the
vicinity of Wood Island, and from the quantities of fish taken about Matinicus Island, we feel
confident that, when the condition of the market will warrant it, large sardine interests may be
developed at almost any point between Cape Ann and Eastport.

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 499

3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CAPTURE.

HERRING TAKEN BY MEANS OP LIGHTS AND DIP-NETS. — Two methods are now employed
in the capture of small herring for supplying the sardine canneries of the United States. The
first is the ordinary method of torching or "driving," as it is often called. This has already been
described in the chapter on the shore-herring fisheries. Driving seems to have been extensively
employed by the inhabitants in the vicinity of Eastport from the earliest settlement of the region,
and up to 1828 it was the principal method for taking small herring to be used for smoking. It
has always been more or less successful, though it involves considerable labor and exposure, At
present boats frequently drive for herring to a limited extent during the summer and fall mouths.
From twenty to thirty of them are said to be engaged in taking herring to supply the sardine
canneries at Eastport or for smoking. In this locality a crew of four or five men frequently dip
three or four hogsheads of fish in a single night.

As mentioned elsewhere, torching is extensively carried on in Ipswich Bay, where small her-
ring called "spurling" are taken for supplying the shore fishermen of Gloucester with bait. From
eighty to one hundred men are regularly employed in this work for about two months, beginning
with the middle of October.

Torching is also carried on to a limited extent at various points along the coast of Maine,
especially in the western portion of the State.

THE FISHERY WITH BRUSH WEIRS.
THE BRUSH WEIR PECULIARLY ADAPTED TO THE CAPTURE OF HERRING. — Wherever the

brush weir has been introduced it has been found to be peculiarly successful in the capture of
herring, and has largely superseded torching, as it is found to take a larger quantity of fish than
can be secured by the use of lights, and with much less labor and trouble to the fishermen.

At the present time the typical brush weir is used within the limits of the United States only
on the coast of Maine, though modifications of it are employed in the river fisheries of numerous
localities in other parts of the country. The weirs are more numerous in the vicinity of Eastport
than in any other place.

THE TYPICAL BRUSH WEIR INTRODUCED FROM NOVA SCOTIA. — According to Mr. D. I.
Odell, of Eastport, and Mr. Jacob McGregor, of Lubec, the fishermen of the United States owe
their knowledge of the brush weir in its present form to Nova Scotia, where it was in use before
the beginning of the present century. According to these parties, the date of its introduction
into the United States was about 1820, when two or three small ones were built near the western
end of Campobello Island and along the shores of North Lubec for the capture of different species.
These were not sufficiently successful to warrant their extended use, and after one or two seasons'
fishing they were abandoned. The first large weir exclusively for herring is said to have been
built in 1828, by Mr. John McGregor and his son Jacob, at North Lubec. Mr. McGregor was a
native of Digby, N. S., and had become thoroughly familiar with the brush weir as employed in
the fisheries of that region before his removal to the United States several years earlier. Thus far
during his stay in Lubec he had been engaged in the smoking of herring, depending wholly upon
torching for his supply ; but he soon found that the movements of the herring were very similar
to those of the school that visited Digby, where the weir was successfully used. He therefore
decided, on account of the labor and exposure in torching and the comparatively small quantity
of fish taken, to build a brush weir for the capture of the fish. Accordingly he selected Rogers
Island as a suitable location, and proceeded at once to construct his weir. It was built in shoal

500 HISTORY AND METEODS OF THE FISHERIES.

water and was much smaller than the weirs of the present day. It proved very successful in the
capture of herring, and other parties soon built weirs of similar size for the same purpose.

GROWTH OF THE WEIR FISHERY. — From this small beginning the weir-fishing gradually
spread to the adjoining section, and Campobello, Grand Manan, and the various settlements along
the American shore soon had extensive weir fisheries. In 1835 the weir was introduced into the
fisheries of Grand Manan Island by Lubec parties. In 1836 the first one was built in West
Quoddy Bay, which soon came to be the principal fishing-ground on the American shore, and
within fifteen years from that date there were 30 weirs between Lubec and West Quoddy Head, a
distance of three or four miles at most.

In 1849, according to Mr. M. H. Perley, there were 27 weirs at Grand Manan, 21 at Campobello
Island, and 7 on the West Isles. We find no printed record of the number on the American shore
at that time, but the older fishermen of the region informed us that there were about 45 in the town
of Lubec, with 20 additional at Eastport and along the Maine shore between Lubec and Calais.
This would give 65 for the American shore and 55 on the English islands, making a total of 120 at
that time.

In 1878 there were, according to the New Brunswick Fishing Report, 86 weirs, valued at
$25,740, in the British territory above described. In 1879, according to the same authority, there
were in the same region 99 weirs, distributed as follows :

St. Croix district - '- 6

Inner Bay district 1

Lepreaux, Beaver Harbor, and L'Etete districts 11

Deer Isle 32

Campobello Island . 24

Grand Manan Island 25

During our visit to Eastport in the summer of 1880 we found that the American fishermen
were still exclusively engaged in the fishing with weirs, located as follows:

Outer shore of Lnbec 4

American shore of West Quoddy Bay 10

English shore of West Quoddy Bay (owned by Lubec parties) 7

North Lubec 10

Eastport, and the small islands in the vicinity 17

West shore of Saint Croix River, between Eastport and Robbinston 12

Above Robbinston ti

In addition to these, there were 7 weirs not fished during the season of 1879.

Prior to 1865 all weirs were built on the flats along the shore, some of them being dry at low
tide, while the largest had but 2 to 5 feet of water at most. About this time the fishermen began
building in deeper water, and within a few years their weirs were so arranged as to have 12 to 14
feet of water at low tide.

PRINCIPLE ON WHICH WEIRS ARE CONSTRUCTED AND THE DIFFERENT KINDS. — As the brush
weir is so extensively used in the capture of sardine herring, it may be desirable to give a more
detailed account of its construction. It is built on a principle similar to that employed in all the
weirs, traps, and pounds along the shore, the plan being to direct the fish towards the bow] by the
use of long leaders and funnel-shaped openings, and to prevent them from escaping by means of
projecting curves or hooks that carry them beyond the opening or by stretching the net across
the mouth of the weir after the fish have entered.

Several kinds of weirs are employed in the fisheries at Eastport. These have names depend-
ing largely upon their shape and the character of the shore and adjoining bottom on which they
are built.

A "bar" weir is one that is located near a rocky ledge or bar that is usually exposed at half

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 501

tide. It is so arranged that the fish shall pass over the bar and into the pocket at high water, and
shall be effectually prevented from escaping by its exposure as the tide falls.

The "shore" weir is usually built very near the land, which answers as one side. It has a
long leader running obliquely out from the shore, which directs the fish to the entrance of the
bowl or pocket.

A "channel" weir is built between two ledges or islands in such a way that all the herring
passing between them are obliged to enter it.

The patent weir has recently been introduced^ into the Eastport fisheries, and is rapidly coming
into favor among the fishermen of that region. It is much more effective than those formerly used,
as the fish are readily taken during either flood or ebb tide. In shape it is similar to the ordinary
pound-net. It has a long leader extending from near high-water mark to a depth of 12 to 18 feet
at low tide, with an opening on either side of its outer end leading directly into the pocket, so that
the fish may enter regardless of the direction in which they are moving.

A PROPER LOCATION FOR A WEIR. — Many fishermen devote considerable attention to the
proper location of their weirs, aiid those poorly situated are usually unsuccessful. The best loca-
tion is at the extreme end of some point of land that extends well out into the water or in a
channel between two or more islands and ledges. It is usually desirable that the weir shall be
placed where the tide runs with considerable force, as the fish are known to remain most fre-
quently where the current is strongest, and they are often carried by it into the weir.

Many of the weirs are built so as to fish only when the tide flows in a certain direction, and
are accordingly known as flood or ebb tide weirs, as the case may be. Most of them are so arranged
that the mouth or opening is toward the west, as the best fishing is usually in the early morning,
when, it is said, the herring, being attracted by the light, are moving toward the sun.

CONSTRUCTION OP THE WEIR. — The brush weir, as the name implies, is built exclusively of
brush and poles. After the site has been selected, posts 6 to 12 inches in diameter are driven firmly
into the mud at distances varying from 6 to 7 feet, to mark the outline of the weir and to hold it
in position. Other smaller posts 2 to 4 inches in diameter are next selected, and after the lower
ends have been pointed they are driven into the ground, the upper end being secured to a ribband
of wood extending between the larger posts near the line of low water. These small posts are
placed about 3 feet apart, and are carefully interwoven with fine brush placed horizontally, the
branches passing over the first, under the next, over the third, and so on, each alternating with
the next above or below it. The entire frame is woven with brush to within a distance of 3 feet
of the pointed end of the stake, and in this way the frame is made very strong.

This frame of small poles and brush must be made on thfrshore, as it is to go below the surface
of the water. The posts are therefore secured to the ribband, and the brush carefully woven in,
and the completed section is taken out and placed in position between two of the larger posts, the
lower side being firmly embedded in the mud, so that the brush shall reach to the bottom, after
which the whole is carefully secured to the posts. The fishermen then return to the shore and
build the next section in the same manner and place it in position as before. When all of the
spaces have been filled the lower portion of the weir is complete. This extends from the bottom
to low-water mark, and is much more carefully constructed than that higher up, as it must retain
the fish at a time when they are most anxious to escape.

The upper portion, or that part lying between tide-marks, is more easily constructed. For
this purpose small poles are placed horizontally between the larger posts, about 2 or 3 feet apart.
Brush is then woven vertically among them to fill up the opening. It is not necessary that the

502 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

branches should be very close together, as the herring seldom attempt to escape unless the open-
ing is large.

Formerly spruce posts were used in the construction of the weir, but these would last only
two or three years, as they were soon attacked and badly damaged by the worms. At the present
time white birch is extensively used, and if protected by bark it is said to last fully ten years.

It often happens that the site selected for the weir has a rocky bottom, into which the posts
cannot be driven. In this case it becomes necessary to make a platform of heavy material, to
which the posts and smaller poles are securely fastened. The whole is then placed in its proper
position and carefully weighted with stones, which are lowered upon the platform. These weirs
require considerable labor in their construction, and often many tons of stones are used in properly
ballasting them.

COST OF BUILDING WEIRS. — The weirs vary greatly in size and strength, according to their
location and exposure to the sea. Some are very small, and can be built of light material, so that
the entire cost will not exceed $40 or $50, while those that are most exposed must be made of the
heaviest material, and securely fastened, at a comparatively greater cost. The value of the average
size mud weir is from $200 to $250, while that of the largest ballasted weir sometimes reaches
$800 or $900. The posts and ribbands cost from 20 to 25 cents each — from three to four hundred
of them being required. The brush averages from three-quarters to a cent a " spear," and for the
ordinary sized weir 4,000 are needed. The spikes or nails cost from $10 to $15.

The labor forms a considerable part of the cost of construction, as it will take four men nearly
a mouth to complete a weir under ordinary circumstances, though the time varies from two to
eight weeks, according to the size and the condition of the bottom. The cost of labor is frequently
neglected by the fishermen, as several of them usually own a weir in common, and build it during
their spare hours; or, again, a number of "gangs" will assist their neighbors in building one
without making any charge for their labor; they, however, expect their neighbors to return the
compliment by assisting them whenever it becomes necessary to rebuild or repair their own weirs.
Where help is hired, it usually costs from $20 to $30 a month for each man, making the total cost
for labor about $100.

FISHING SEASON FOR THE WEIRS. — The fish taken in the early spring are usually quite small
and have little value for smoking or for bait; they are also in such poor condition that they yield
but little oil, and it therefore seldom pays to press them. For these reasons, during the early
years of the fishery, the weirs were seldom put in order before the first of June, and frequently
few fish were taken prior to the beginning of September, when the fishing began in earnest and
continued till the close of the year. Now, however, owing to the demand for small fish by the
sardine canneries, the weirs are usually repaired in the early spring, and the fishermen tend them
regularly from the first of April till the following January.

THE WEIR PECULIARLY ADAPTED TO THE CAPTURE OF HERRING. — The SUCC6SS of the Weir

is largely due to the habits of the fish in feeding. The shores are quite abrupt in most places,
and the weirs can therefore extend but a short distance into the channel, and at low tide a
greater part of each is often exposed. During the hours of low water the herring usually remain
in the channel, where the tide is strong, but at high water they approach the shore in search of
the small Crustacea that are so abundant in the region. The strong tides of the Bay of Fundy
carry these minute forms from place to place, and the herring need simply remain with their
heads toward the current and sift them from the water as it passes.

The weir owners claim that when feeding the herring usually head toward the current, and
that they move forward or backward according as they swim faster or slower than the tide. In

THE SAED1NB INDUSTRY. 503

swimming rapidly they often enter the weirs against the tide, when they are said to "stem in;"
but when swimming slowly they are frequently carried or drifted into the weirs, when they are
said to "drop in." On entering they are very apt to swim slowly about in a circle, keeping several
feet from the brush, seldom attempting to escape through the numerous openings, which are often
2 or 3 feet in diameter. Many of the openings in the lower part of the weir are partially or wholly
closed by the muscles and alga? that grow very rapidly in these waters and soon nearly or quite
cover the brush, making it much more compact than it would otherwise be.

THE CATCH AFFECTED BY THE TIDES AND MOON. — All agree that the fishing is best at night,
as the fish seem somewhat timid about entering the weir in the day-time, or even when the nioon
is full. The best fishing is therefore during the new moon or when the nights are peculiarly dark,
and the fishermen speak of "the darks" as something particularly desirable.

The time of night during which the weirs will fish is thoroughly understood by the fishermen.
For some weirs it occurs when high water is between 8 p. m. and 2 a. m., and for others when it is
between 1 and 4 a. m. Others still fish best when high water occurs about sunrise.

When the conditions are favorable the tides "serve" or "the tides are on," as the fishermen
say. At other times " the tides are off," and the fishermen frequently neglect to visit the weirs, as
they expect nothing. On this account the catch is very irregular.

METHOD OF FISHING- THE WEIR. — The services of three to five men are required in fishing a
weir. Just before low water one of the number rows out to see if there is a sufficient quantity of
fish to pay for the trouble of seining. If it is night a torch is lighted and held over the edge of
the boat in order that the fish may be drawn to the surface, where they may be readily seen.
From one to two hogsheads are considered enough to warrant them in using the seine. If the
weir is to be fished the men arrive at low water with two or three boats, one of them proceeding
to the reel near by, where the seine is kept. This is usually from 15 to 25 fathoms long, 10 to 20
feet deep, and when new is worth about $50. Two men enter the boat to stow the seine, while
one remains on the platform to unreel it. The gate of the weir is now opened wide enough to
admit the seine boat, after which it is again closed and securely fastened, that the fish may not
escape. This gate is built in the pocket or "bunt" of the weir, for the purpose of admitting the
boats and of liberating any small or worthless fish, or any surplus catch that for some reason
cannot be utilized.

Two methods of seining are practiced by the fishermen of Eastport, as follows:

By the first method the fish are drawn by the net into shoal water near the beach, after which
they are "rolled" into the boat and secured. It is not desirable to land them upon the shore on
account of the dirt that would adhere to them, but when they are confined within narrow limits
they are easily taken by means of large dip-nets.

By the second method the fish are drawn together in the "bunt" of the weir where the water is
deepest, and secured in a similar manner. In seining, one end of the net is fastened to the side of
the weir and the net is "paid out" within a few feet of the brush, until the "hook" is reached,
when a small boat is sent to drive the fish into the bunt. This is done by splashing, or by strik-
ing the side of the boat with the oars. After the fish have been driven in, the seine is rowed back
to the weir on the opposite side. The herring are thus confined in a space bounded by the weir on
one side and by the netting on the other. One end of the net is now fastened to the bow of the boat
and slowly carried along the weir until it meets the other, after which the staffs are firmly planted
in the mud. The circle inclosed by the seine is now slowly reduced until the mass of fish is suffi-
ciently compact, when the dipping begins. The dip-net, which is 3 or 4 feet in diameter and 5 or
6 feet deep, will hold about 5 or 6 barrels of fish. It is attached to a short wooden handle, by

504

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

means ot which it is slowly moved about among the fish until it is nearly full, when the lower rim
is brought oxer the gunwale of the boat; it is then "righted up" and two or three men begin pull-
ing on the upper part of the net, until the fish are brought out of the water, and begin sliding into
the boat. The process is called " rollin' 'em in." When fish are plenty two men can easily roll 20
hogsheads, or 100 barrels, in an hour. If the catch is large several boats are brought alongside
and quickly loaded by their respective crews, but when few herring are secured all are taken into
one boat and the others return to the shore empty.

The boats used for this purpose vary both in size and number, from two to five belonging to
each weir. These are from 18 to 25 feet long, 7 to 10 feet broad, and are valued at from $75 to
$300. The more expensive ones are used for general purposes at other times, and are therefore
much better than would be necessary for ordinary fishing purposes unless the weir happens to be
in a position where it is exposed to the sea. The average boat is valued at about $150.

QUANTITY OP HERRING TAKEN IN WEIES. — The catch is very irregular and uncertain. The
fish are not caught every day, and sometimes an entire month, or even more, may pass during
which not a herring may be taken. Again, when the " darks are on" and "the tides serve" they
may sometimes be caught in immense quantities for several consecutive nights.

The following tabulated statement, kindly furnished by Mr. Benjamin Green, of Eastport,
shows the catch of his weir, located at Flye's Island, during the seasons of 1878 and 1879:

SEASON OF 1878.

Month.

If amber of
days in
which fish
were taken.

Total
quantity.

2

Hogshead*.
3

10

40

20

90

10

104

October

10

123

g

36

7

144

2

32

Total

09

572

SEASON OF 1879.

Mav . . .

7

17

5

7

July

2

?

10

47

11

95

October

4

7

6

T2S

Total

45

303

We learn that enormous quantities have been taken at different times. Four hundred hogs-
heads, equal to 2,000 barrels, were secured at one tide by one of the weirs on Grand Marian, and
frequent catches of 200 to 250 hogsheads in a day are reported to have been made at Treat's Island
weir, near Eastport, in former years. During our stay at Eastport, a weir at Flye's Island is said
to have taken 150 hogsheads at a single tide. The largest quantity taken by any weir in 1880 was
secured by Mr. McLain from his weir, located at L'Etete Passage. Prior to the middle of Sep-
tember, he had realized over $5,000 on fish sold fresh, while large numbers of small fish had been

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 505

"turned out" during the early part of the season, and frequent lots of larger ones were liberated at
intervals during the summer, when the catch was greater than the demand. The best part of the
fishing season still remained, and it was thought that the weir would stock as much more before
the end of the year.

The instances already cited are, of course, exceptional, and the average catch is very much
less. It depends largely upon the location of the weir and the character of the surrounding bot-
tom. Some weirs may be very successful, while others within a few rods of them will take almost
nothing. There are, however, certain places that-herring seem to frequent in large numbers, and
in such localities most of the weirs, if properly constructed, are fairly successful. At Lubec, accord-
ing to Mr. Jacob McGregor, the catch averaged fully 300 hogsheads yearly for each weir prior to
1865. At the present time the largest quantities are taken at Grand Manan Island, where, accord-
ing to Mr. J. W. Fisher, the catch in 1879 averaged about 225 hogsheads, and in 1880 it was fully
as large. Deer Island, New Brunswick, ranks next to Grand Manan in the quantity of fish taken,
and according to Mr. J. K, Wetmore the catch at that place was about 100 hogsheads to the weir in
1879, and a trifle larger in 1880. The American fishermen seem to have been less successful, and
from a careful examination of the subject it seems probable that the average weirs along the
American shore will not secure more than 75 hogsheads, and at Lubec, where the herring were
formerly so abundant, only 60 to 65 hogsheads will be captured.

DIFFEEENT WAYS IN WHICH THE WEIR CATCH is UTILIZED.— Until 1855 a larger part of
the catch was "turned out," and most of those saved were smoked for shipment to the principal
markets of the United States and to the West Indies. From that date to 1876 about half of the
fish were pressed for the oil and pomace, and thousands of barrels were smoked annually. Since
1876 a large percentage of the herring taken have been sent to Eastport to be put up as sardines.

Before the practice of pressing the fish for the oil was adopted the greater part of the catch,
as has just been mentioned, was turned out; but as soon as it was found profitable to utilize the
herring in this way, the majority, especially of those taken in the summer and fall, were saved for
this purpose. The business was found to be a very remunerative one, as with oil at $9 per barrel
the fish would pay an average of $3 per hogshead after deducting the cost of labor in pressing.
During the spring months, according to Mr. Green, it requires 5 hogsheads of fish to make a barrel
of oil ; but in the fall the fish are much fatter, and 2J or even 2 hogsheads will yield an equal
quantity. It is said that during a single season Mr. U. S. Treat, of Treat's Island, near Eastport,
made $24,000 worth of oil and pomace from herring taken in his weirs. About that time nearly
all of the more thrifty fishermen owned screw presses and made a regular business of cooking
their fish, and not less than 10,000 pounds of pomace were marketed in Eastport yearly.

AEE THE SARDINE-HERRING BEING EXTERMINATED? — For a number of years prior to the
establishment of sardine canneries the weir-fishing was less important than formerly. This was
by some thought to be due to the scarcity of fish, but it seems more probable that it was owing to
the low price both of oil and smoked herring, which made the prosecution of the fishery unprofit-
able. Many fishermen claim that the herring are rapidly decreasing, and they cite the large
quantities taken in former times, and the present small catches at Lubec, as proving their theory.
The fish are undoubtedly less abundant in the vicinity of Lubec and in the waters of Cobscook
Bay than formerly ; but this seems to be explained by the peculiar method of fishing at that place.
Though the weir-fishing had been extensively prosecuted for many years, the catch had not per-
ceptibly diminished up to 1865, when the building of deep-water weirs, which extended so far out
into the channel as to nearly meet from the opposite shores, effectually shut out the herring from
their usual entrance to Cobscook Bay, which seems to have been a spawning ground. The herring,

506 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

thus practically debarred from this entrance, seem to have moved a few miles farther east, and are
now more abundant in the vicinity of Deer Isle. In other sections there is no sufficient evidence
to show any permanent decrease, though the catch of one year, for various reasons, may vary
considerably from that of the following or preceding one.

LAY OF THE FISHERMEN. — The financial arrangement between the owners of the weirs and
the fishermen varies with the locality. Several methods are commonly adopted for regulating this
matter. Many of the weirs are built and owned by a number of men, who fish them in common,
all sharing equally in the proceeds of the catch. Others are owned by a capitalist and tended by
the regular fishermen. This is the case at Grand Manau, where, according to Mr. Fisher, the weir
is built and kept in repair by the owner, who also furnishes the seine ; as a return for this he
receives one-fifth of the smoked herring after they have been prepared for market. The fishermen
furnish the boats, dip-nets, scoop-nets, wash-nets, smoke-houses, boxes, and the labor in catching
and preparing the fish, and receive four-fifths of the products of the weir, which in this region
average about 16,000 boxes of herring annually.

In the vicinity of Lubec the weirs are owned by the men who fish them. These have an
agreement among themselves whereby only those who are on hand to help fish the weir on any
particular occasion shall have a share in the catch. Thus a man who absents himself when his
services are required loses his portion of the catch as long as he continues to be absent.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE BRUSH WEIR IN ITS RELATION TO THE SAR-
DINE INDUSTRY. — In order that the apparatus may be adapted to the herring fisheries of Quoddy
River it should be strong, inexpensive, easily kept in repair, and capable of retaining the smallest
fish ; it should also fish at all seasons and with regularity. Most of these conditions are met by
the brush weir, which, though seemingly primitive, answers the purpose for which it is intended
better than any apparatus with which we are familiar. It resists the strong tides of the Bay of
Fundy and the pressure of the drift material that is frequently abundant in the region. It costs
little in proportion to its durability and can be easily repaired at a slight expense, though repairs
are seldom needed other than those required for putting it in order for the season's work each
spring. It retains the fish admirably, and even the smallest will not attempt to escape through
the openings in the brush, which soon becomes well covered with muscles and alga3 ; on the con-
trary, they seem to avoid the brush and do not approach within a foot or more of it unless they
are frightened, and even then they will seldom attempt to escape. In this particular the weir is
far superior to a net, for unless of the smallest mesh most of the fish would pass through or become
gilled and by their weight tear it from the posts and carry it to the bottom.

In the canning of sardines it is found vei-y desirable that there should be a constant supply
of fish ; and as the business increases the question of a regular supply will be one of the greatest
importance. The thirteen canning establishments at Eastport already employ over one thousand
hands when running, and this entire number thus become wholly dependent upon the daily catch
of herring, and any lack of fish therefore occasions much loss. The total capacity of these can-
neries when working on full time is 375 barrels, equal to 62 hogsheads, daily ; and it is quite
important that this supply should be constant ; otherwise a large amount of capital remains idle
and hundreds of people are thrown out of employment.

ADDITIONAL WEIRS BUILT TO INSURE A REGULAR AND CONSTANT SUPPLY. — To overcome
this uncertainty of daily supply, many new weirs have been built, in the hope that some of them
might be successful in taking fish each day ; but when one has good fishing nearly all are apt to
be equally successful, and when one fails most fail, so that there is usually either an over-supply
or there are no fish. Even with these additional weirs the canneries often lose from one-fourth to

THE SABDINE INDUSTRY. 507

one-third of their working time in the spring and early summer and an occasional day in the fall,
and they are often obliged to run day and night when the fish can be obtained, in order to supply
the trade.

The men fishing for the canneries must be able to make enough when " the tides are on" to pay
them for waiting when " the tides are oft'" ; and for this reason the canneries are often obliged
to buy a larger quantity than can be put into cans, the surplus being cut into Russian sardines.

The weir, as has already beemnentioned, is not fished with any regularity, as there are weeks
and even months together when there are notlrsbr enough to pay for hauling the seine. The
herring seemingly avoid them in the day-time, and even oil light nights, fishing being best when it
is darkest. Again, they enter the weir in considerable numbers only at or near high-water. We
have, therefore, two varying conditions that greatly affect the catch ; it being largest when high-
water occurs at a particular time and the night is peculiarly dark. The record furnished by Mr.
Green shows that during the season of 1879, which lasted one hundred and seventy-three days,
herring were taken forty-five times, or an average of one day in four, the total catch being 303
hogsheads. In 1878 the same weir was fished about one day in three.

Formerly the daily irregularity of the supply was no serious drawback, and if the total catch
of a season was good the fishermen were satisfied. Now, however, since the sardine business
has grown to such large proportions, it is important that the fish should be taken regularly, as
they cannot be kept from day to day, but must be used within a few hours after they come from
the water, and when there are no fish the cauners must stop work.

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE POCKET FOR RETAINING THE FISH TILL NEEDED. — Another

method of overcoming the seasons of scarcity is proposed by Mr. McLain, who owns a large weir
at L'Etete. He intends building a pound or pocket just outside and connected with his weir, into
which he can turn any surplus to be kept until needed. This seems an excellent plan and deserves
to come into general favor.

THE INTRODUCTION OF SEINES INTO THE FISHERY. — A fisherman at Deer Island recently pur-
chased a 75-fathoin haul-seine for surrounding the fish and hauling them upon the beach, but he
found the herring so scattered that the seine could not be used to advantage in this way. He has
since cut the seine in pieces of 25 fathoms each, these being set across the mouths of small coves
to retain any fish that may chance to have entered at high-water. In this way he is meeting with
only moderate success.

PROFESSOR BAIRD'S SUGGESTION THAT FISH EGGS BE EMPLOYED AS BAIT IN THE FISH-
ERY.— Knowing of the use made of fish eggs as bait in the French sardine fisheries, Professor Baird
suggested that they might be employed in the herring fisheries at Eastport, and that the difficulty
of obtaining a constant supply might be overcome in this way. He requested the writer, while
conducting his investigations at Eastport, to make a number of experiments in this line to ascer-
tain whether the spawn of fishes could be successfully employed in this fishery. Accordingly, a
quantity of salt cod-roes were obtained in Gloucester, and in company with Capt. J. W. Collins
I visited the localities most frequented by the fish and made such experiments as were thought
necessary for settling the question. From these experiments* it seems probable that fish eggs

"The youug herring are occasionally seen at the surface, but seldom in schools of any considerable size, except
during the calmest weather. They are, however, often seen " breaking" in small numbers in the numerous tide eddies
and in places where two currents meet. This is most noticeable on the " young flood," when the fish are most fre-
quently in the channels. Accordingly, the flood-tide was selected as a suitable time for testing the matter, and when
the desired locality h;id been reached the boat was "hove to" and allowed to drift with the tide while the bait was
being thrown. The eggs separated nicely and sank slowly as they were carried away by the current until they were
• finally lost to sight. The work was continued for nearly an hour, but the fish refused to "rise to the bait."

Thinking the locality unfavorable, Casco Bay Eddy, a favorite resort of the herring, was visited, and another

508 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

cannot be successfully used in the sardine fisheries of the United States, as the herring refuse to
follow them to the surface, so that they cannot be attracted in large schools and secured by means
of the purse-seines, which would, of course, be a very desirable way of catching them. Again,
the observations made during the experiments lead us to believe that the fish give so little atten-
tion to this food that it could not be profitably employed in connection with gill-nets, the method
commonly employed in France. Some other method must therefore be adopted for overcoming the
difficulty already mentioned.

THE LACK OF CONSTANT SUPPLY DUE TO DEFECTIVE METHODS OF FISHING RATHER THAN

SCARCITY OF FISH. — Small herring are undoubtedly abundant during a greater part of the year
in the principal channels, but weirs cannot be built for them on account of the deep water. The
difficulty then is to find some way of taking the herring there, or of drawing them into the coves
and harbors along the shore. If they could be attracted by bait and the purse-seine could be used
in their capture there would be no difficulty, and the supply would be regular. Our sardine inter-
ests would then be on an equal footing with those of France. The experiments with fish-eggs, if
properly conducted, show that herring will not rise to bait. Furthermore, the tides are so strong
about Eastport that the purse-seine would be wholly unmanageable, except "in the slacks" or in
the coves, and dip nets to be used without seines, in order to be serviceable, must be so large that
the fish would be frightened away before any considerable number could be secured.

THE USE OF ELECTRIC LIGHTS SUGGESTED. — The method of torching suggests to the writer
an idea that might be made practicable. The herring have long been known to be attracted by
and even to eagerly follow a bright light. Perhaps an electric light, or some other of great bril-
liancy, might be made to answer the place of bait ; it would certainly be less expensive, and would
affect as large or even a larger area of water. After the fish had been drawn together they might
easily be led toward the shore, where they could readily be surrounded by haul or purse-seines
and secured, or, on the slacks, purse-seines- could be successfully used in the channels. By the use
of this method, together with the pocket suggested by Mr. McLain, there seems no reason why the
seasons of scarcity may not be fully overcome and a regular and constant supply be furnished to
the canneries, thus rendering the business more profitable, and enabling the manufacturers to give
steady employment to their help.

4. PREPARATION OF THE FISB.

THE BUILDINGS. — The canneries are located on some convenient wharf, where they may be
easily reached by the herring boats. They are usually large two-story wooden structures, built of
ordinary material, and finished off only in so far as is necessary for the work. Each has a large

attempt was made as the boat drifted about, but with no better success. Again, in passing among the numerous
small islands, with weirs on every hand, another trial was made, but with like results.

By this time the tide was nearly full, and leaving the vessel we proceeded in a small boat toward the shore, where
herring were "breaking." Here the fish could occasionally be seen swimming about under the boat, apparently giv-
ing no attention to the bait that was being thrown. At high-water a large weir was visited. Here herring could be
distinctly seen swimming about near the bottom, but they seemed quite indifferent to the bait, and, if they ate it at
all, could not be induced to follow it to the surface.

The following day the ebb-tide was selected for the experiments, and proceeding in another direction from that
previously taken we kept throwing the bait while under sail, and while lying to, both in the channels and near the
shore. In neither case were the fish induced to " rise."

An hour before low water, one of the weirs, where several hogsheads of herring were confined, was visited, and
the boat was " dropped down" over them by means of a long painter fastened to the shore, after which the bait was
thrown out. Though the herring undoubtedly ate more or less of the food when they came in contact with it, they
would not follow it to the surface, and even refused to remain long in its path as the tide carried it through the
brush. In order to be positive that they had swallowed some of the food, a number were examined after the weir
had been seined, and a small number of eggs, together with small Crustacea and other food, were found in their stomachs.

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 509

platform on the grounds near the building, where the fish may be exposed in pleasant weather,
and is also provided with a room for drying the herring by artificial heat when it is damp and
rainy outside.

Some have several buildings, where the different branches of the work are usually kept sep-
arate ; but the best arranged have all under one roof, with separate rooms for each particular class
of workmen. The cutting, salting, pressing, and bathing rooms are usually on the first floor, while
the drying, frying, packing, and soldering rooms are on the next above. The drying room fre-
quently forms a third story, situated just below tlw roof, with one or more large ventilators, through
which the damp air passes out ; or in some cases a small addition is made above the main roof,
which is in turn used as a place for spreading the fish during pleasant weather. With most firms
it is customary for the boxes and cans to be made at the cannery, in which case there is usually a
carpenter-shop and several tinshops — either in separate buildings or in some part of the cannery —
in which this work is carried on.

The cost of the canneries depends wholly on the amount of machinery used and the extent of
the business done. Those built at Eastport vary from $2,500 to $15,000, including apparatus and
land, the average for each being about $4,000.

THE TRANSPORTATION BOATS. — The boats employed for carrying the fish to the canneries are
usually small open sail-boats, 18 to 30 feet long and 10 to 12 feet wide. Each cannery has from
two to four of them. They generally start out at half-ebb, visiting the weirs in the different local-
ities to see what ones have fish in them, and these are visited at low water to get the herring when
they have been seined.

As the fish are very delicate, it becomes ne'cessary that they should be brought to the cannery
within a few hours, at most, after they are taken from the water, and it is therefore desirable that
no time should be lost, and the boats are usually on hand as soon as the fish are seined.

Care must be taken that the boat shall not be overloaded, for if too many herring are put in
they are apt to heat and spoil, while the lower ones may be bruised from the pressure of the mass
above, and when in this condition they soon turn red and become soft and worthless. It is also
desirable that the fish should be distributed through different compartments, so that they may not
slide about as the boat lurches in the trough of the sea. The largest boats carry about 10 hogs-
heads, while those of average size carry only 5 hogsheads. The quantity for each varies consider-
ably with the weather, for when warm the load must be proportionately lighter.

The fish must also be carefully protected from the sun during the summer months, and for
this reason the boats are usually supplied with a covering of canvas for the protection of the fish.
In some cases the compartment that holds the fish is made light, and has a covering of boards in
place of the canvas, thus giving a more uniform temperature.

The mode of transportation is still very crude, and it is very important that some one should
build a boat that shall be adapted to the work, as many times the present quantity of fish can easily
bo brought in one that is suitably arranged. Large shallow trays would be very desirable for this
purpose. These could be arranged on either side of the boat or in the bottom, so that the air
would circulate freely among them. They could be filled full of fish, and in this way the weight
of those in the upper trays would be kept from the ones below, and a much larger quantity could
be carried than in the ordinary way, while the tendency to slide about as the boat labored in the
sea would be entirely overcome.

As soon as the fish have been taken aboard the sail is set, and the boat starts for the cannery,
but it often happens during the calm weather of summer, especially when the tide is unfavorable,
that they are detained for many hours, and the fish frequently spoil before they reach the can-

510 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

nery. To overcome this difficulty, several enterprising firms have purchased steamers, which are
used for gathering the fish or for towing the boats to the factory during the warmest weather.
This gives a decided advantage in many ways. By the use of steamers the fish can readily be
brought to the canneries in better condition, and the territory from which the fish can be gathered
is greatly enlarged. By the ordinary sail-boat the fishery is limited to 12 or 15 miles, while there
is often considerable difficulty in carrying small herring half that distance. With a steamer prop-
erly constructed with trays for holding the fish, we see no reason why the fishery cannot be ex-
tended to 25 or even 30 miles on either side of the canneries, and the quantity obtainable be pro-
portionately increased. The herring taken at Grand Manan Island would thus be available for
the canneries at Eastport, and the business could be carried 011 with a far greater degree of cer-
tainty. A firm at Oamdeu already sends its steamer 20 or 30 miles to secure its supply, carrying
the herring in barrels that have been filled with water. In this way the fish in the lower portion
of the barrel are in a measure relieved from the weight of those above them ; but it seems doubt-
ful if fish that have remained in water for any length of time after they have been taken will have
as good a flavor as those brought in a dry state.

The men owning their own boats are paid so much per hogshead for the fish taken, and they
are, therefore, quite anxious to secure as many as possible. Those sailing the boats owned by the
canneries are paid by the month, receiving an additional percentage on the fish secured as an in-
centive to extra exertions. In some cases the weir-owners own boats which they use for carrying
the fish to market.

PBIOB OF THE FISH. — The herring are purchased by the hogshead, which, according to the
dealers, should hold 5 barrels. In most localities, however, the measure has been enlarged so that
it is equivalent to 6 barrels, or to 15 baskets holding upwards of a bushel each. The price paid
varies greatly, depending, not only on the supply, but on the amount of competition and other cir-
cumstances. When the business started, the herring were bought for $1 per hogshead, with 50
cents additional for bringing them to the canneries. Later, as competition increased, the price ad-
vanced to $5 and $6, and for a short ,time during the fall of 1879 it reached $10, and even $12.
During the season of 1880, the price paid by the Eastport dealers averaged about $4.50 per hogs-
head, with $1 additional for "running" the fish. At other points, the price was very much less;
in some cases being as low as $1 to $1.50, and contracts were made in the summer of 1880, with
the fishermen of Millbridge, Me., to cover all fish taken by them during a period of five years, the
price agreed upon being $1.90.

There seems to be a natural limit to the price for which the herring may sell ; this being gov-
erned largely by the price of pomace and oil on the one hand, and by the demand for sardines on
the other. The fish ought seldom to have a value of less than $3 at the weir, for the fishermen can
realize that price for them, even in the spring when the fish are poor, by boiling and pressing
them, and selling the oil and pomace. During the late summer and fall, when they are usually
very fat, they are worth $4.50 per hogshead for the same purpose. Again, every hogshead of the
larger sized herring caught in the weir is worth $10 to $14 when smoked, and if the fisherman has
any leisure time he will prefer to prepare his fish rather than to sell them at too low a figure. The
average price to be paid by the canneries must, therefore, under present conditions, range from
$4.50 to $5 per hogshead at the weir, in order that a full supply may be insured.

THE METHOD OF CUTTING AND DRESSING. — When the boat uears the wharf, the cannery
whistle or bell is sounded as a signal for the cutters, who are usually boys and girls from eight to
fifteen years of age. These are presently seen brandishing their large knives as they rush through
the street on their way to the building. On entering the cutting-room, each seizes his oil-cloth

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 511

apron aud is soon at his place ready for work. The fish are at once " hoisted out" of the boat and
emptied upon the cutting table. A lively scene now presents itself, as all are anxious to cut as
many as possible, since they are paid in proportion to the amount of work done. Each is provided
with a box, holding a little more than a peck, into which the fish are thrown, while the heads, entrails,
and tails are put into a barrel at one side.

The fish is taken in the left hand, while the knife is held in the right, and, beginning on the
back at some distance behind the gills, the blade is driven downward through the body and the
head is severed. The intestines do not cut so readily as the flesh, and therefore usually remain at-
tached to the head, and are removed with it by one or two lateral strokes or scrapes of the knife.
By a movement of the hand the fish is then reversed, and the tail is severed by a quick blow,
and after being washed the body is ready for salting.

The children become very proficient in this work, and handle their knives with great rapidity.
They will usually cut 3 or 4 barrels of ordinary-sized fish in a day, while a few of the most expert
will cut fully a hogshead.

The price paid for cutting is 5 cents per box. When one has been filled it is removed and an
empty one put in its place, a man being regularly employed for this work. The child receives a
ticket or 5-ceut check for each box cut. These are redeemable at the company's office on Saturday
of each week, but it often happens that they are carried regularly to the stores of the town before
pay-day arrives and exchanged for candy, fruits, or merchandise, the merchant presenting them
for redemption when the proper time arrives. As it is desirable to have the fish cut as soon as pos-
sible, a large force is employed and the work is completed in a few hours, after which the children
return to their homes. A smart boy will often earn over $1 a day when he has steady employ-
ment, but, on account of the small number of hours during which he has work, the average wages
do not exceed $3.50 per week.

THE MANNER OF SALTING.— As soon as the heads, tails, aud entrails have been removed the
fish are emptied into a small car, which is rolled into the salting room. Here they are thoroughly
washed and placed iu the strongest brine. The time required for salting varies greatly, being de
pendent on the size of the fish, their freshness, and the weather. Large and fresh herring should
be salted for fully an hour, while smaller ones, and those that have been kept for some time, will
be sufficiently "struck" in thirty to forty minutes. In cold weather, owing to their firmer flesh,
they must be salted longer than in summer. When a larger quantity is received than can be used
for canning, the balance are at once salted in large hogsheads aud allowed to remain until such
time as they can be cut into Russian sardines. These have no value for canning, as they"become
so salt as to injure their flavor.

FLAKING. — As soon as they have been sufficiently "struck" the herring are taken from the
salting troughs and thoroughly washed in spring water. They then go to the "flaking" rooms,
where boys and girls, and occasionally grown people, are engaged in arranging them upon frames
made of wood or galvanized wire. These frames, technically known as " flakes," are 30 inches
square, and hold about 175 fish each. The " flake " is simply a square frame, with small triangular
strips of wood, or small galvanized iron wires, stretched across it. These are separated from each
other by 1 or 2 inches, so as to give a free circulation of air, and to touch the fish at only a few
points, in order that evaporation may go on from all parts of the body.

The fish are arranged in rows with their tails in the same direction, so that when placed in the
drying room the anterior portion shall be lowest, in order that the moisture may the more readily
drip from the herring.

THE VARIOUS DRYING PROCESSES. — Up to this point the fish go through the same prepara-

512 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

tiou in all the different canneries, but the next, or drying process, is managed differently in differ-
ent places. The object is simply to remove the moisture from the herring before placing it in the
oil. The prompt drying of the fish is a matter of great importance, and in the moist atmosphere
of Eastport it is a much more difficult operation than in France. The small herring, being so deli-
cate, require considerable attention during the drying process, and unless great care is taken they
soon begin to decompose ; and experience proves that if they remain until the first stages of decom-
position begin, 'the oily matter of the fish will turn rancid and destroy the flavor of the oil in which
they are packed.

The most desirable method for drying is to place the fish in the sunlight in the open air, where
the moisture readily evaporates in a few hours ; but, on account of the prevalence of fogs and the
great humidity of the atmosphere in the region where the sardine industry is prosecuted, drying
in the open air cannot be depended upon. When the weather is unfavorable for sun drying the
moisture must be removed by artificial heat.

Drying rooms are usually located on the second floor or near the roof of the cannery, with
racks arranged for holding the "flakes" obliquely, so that the moisture will readily drain from the
fish. The racks in which the " flakes" are inserted are movable skeletons or frames, so constructed
as to hold forty to fifty " flakes" each, these being placed about 3 inches apart and directly over each
other. The room is supplied with a constant current of warm, dry air, which is brought from
stoves or furnaces in the lower part of the building by means of large pipes, and after passing up-
ward among the fish is allowed to escape through a ventilator in the roof. It usually requires
twelve to twenty-four hours to dry the herring in this way under favorable circumstances. Dur-
ing the dampest weather a considerably longer time is required, and the fish frequently spoil in
the process, while their flavor is often greatly injured and they are rendered nearly worthless.

To overcome this difficulty a number of different plans have been resorted to. One company
has secured a large patent fruit drier, in which the "flakes" of herring are placed. The hot air is
carried through a long pipe from the furnace room to near the roof, where it terminates in a funnel-
shaped opening situated just above the top of the fruit drier. The drier, or box, as it might be
called, is a tight compartment, about 4 feet square, extending from the ground floor to the top of
the building. It contains a series of endless chains, with cleats at regular intervals of 3 or 4 inches.
The chains are made to revolve slowly by means of machinery, and the flakes, after being covered
with fish, are put in at the bottom and carried slowly upward, being taken out a half an hour later
at the top. The hot air from the pipes is drawn down through the box and carried away by means
of large fans worked by machinery, the temperature of the current being regulated by means of
dampers in the air pipe.

In the fall of 1879 Eastport parties decided to construct a large oven in which to dry the sar-
dines. A description of this, in the Eastport Sentinel of December 10, 1879, is as follows:

" The oven is 18 feet high, 14 feet wide, and 16 feet deep, with walls from 2 to 2J feet in thick-
ness. Its capacity to retain heat, which can be raised to above 600° Fahrenheit, is such that it will
bake articles thoroughly two days after all fire has been withdrawn from the furnace. The whole
is inclosed by a two-story building, the lower part of which is used as a boiler and furnace room,
while in the upper story the process of preparing the fish is carried on. The flues and dampers
are constructed to regulate the fire and heat to a nicety, and the heat can be reduced or increased
more than 200° in a few minutes, according to the requirements. The machinery consists of eight
skeleton iron frames attached to a cylinder, and remaining in a horizontal position while revolving
in the oven. Notwithstanding the ponderous weight of the machinery, it works so accurately that,
although arranged for steam-power, it may be revolved by a mere hoy without difficulty."

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 513

The oven above described is simply an ordinary baker's oven of large size. It serves the pur-
pose of not only drying, but at the same time cooking the fish. After the herring have been cut,
salted, and thoroughly washed they are placed on "flakes," when they are taken to the oven room
and placed in a small chest, where they are subjected to the action of steam for several minutes.
This opens the pores and breaks up the fiber of the flesh, so that evaporation will go on very rapidly.
After being steamed for two or three minutes the "flakes" are transferred to the revolving arms in
the oven, where the fish are subjected to a heat of about 250° Fahr. for from five to twenty minutes,
according to circumstances. As soon as they have -been removed and allowed to cool they are
ready for the cans without the additional cooking which is required by the other methods. The
process of steaming has been patented by the American Sardine Company of Eastport, which
originated the idea.

By the method above described the time necessary for preparing the fish is greatly reduced,
and it often happens that the herring are placed in the cans within two hours after they are brought
to the cannery, while by the old method during foggy weather they are not unfrequently kept two
days. Another advantage of the new process is found in the reduction of expenses; as boiling in
oil, which is a large item in the expenses of the other canneries, is entirely done away with. The
baked fish are considered equal in every particular, and by some they are even pronounced superior,
to those prepared in the old way.

In France, various methods of drying have been resorted to, the principal one being that of
exposing the fish to the sun and drying them by natural heat ; but though this method is preferred,
when the weather will not permit of sun-drying, the moisture must be evaporated by artificial
heat. The driers used in that country are different from those employed at Eastport; from
descriptions which have been seen of them it would appear that they resemble, in some par-
ticulars, the fruit-dryer, and, in others, the regular baker's oven.

Mr. Frederick M. Wallem, of Norw ay, gives the following description of the drying process
employed in the sardine fisheries of France :

" When the weather does not permit of drying them in the open air, an oven especially con-
structed for this purpose is used ; but this way of drying sardines does not answer the purpose so
well and is more expensive. Sometimes, however, it cannot be avoided, and the point is to furnish
a sufficient quantity of warm air which can be brought to bear upon the sardines quick enough to
make them dry rapidly.

" The drying ovens which are commonly used resemble a long and narrow brick baker's oven,
with a fireplace at both ends and a drying place along its whole length. It depends on the heat
and dryness of the atmosphere how long the sardines must be kept in the oven, and, in order to
regulate these two essential conditions a special drying apparatus has recently been invented.
The model of this apparatus, which has been patented, has been exhibited in the French Depart-
ment of Cooking and Distilling. It looked like five large closets placed side by side. The end
closets contained ventilators and fans for distributing the warm air. The center closet was
closed and the sardines were put in and taken out through the second and fourth closets. From
the patentee I learn that this apparatus is constructed on the principle of the American cooling
apparatus used in the slaughter-houses of the West ; the main difference being that in the latter
dry cold air is used, whilst the former requires dry hot air. Just as the fanning apparatus first
pumps the warm air out of the bodies of the hogs and then exposes them to a strong current
of cold air, thus in the French sardine drying apparatus a current of hot air is brought to bear
upon the sardines after the cold damp air has been expelled. The sardines are kept on frames set
SEC v 33

514 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

on a movable stand, and are thus rolled into the apparatus through door number two. They are
kept there for a certain time under a certain degree of -warmth, are rolled through the center
closet, and finally out through door number four. As the stands move on rollers the whole process
is done quickly and with great regularity."*

FRYING THE PISH. — After the fish have been dried to a suitable degree they are taken to the
frying room and arranged on small wire trays or baskets before they are immersed in the oil. The
frying pans are made of sheet-iron and are five or six feet long, two feet wide, and six inches deep.
Two of these are usually placed on a large brick furnace, being protected from the direct action of
the fire by sheet-iron plates. Oil is poured in the bottom of these pans until it covers them to a
depth of about two inches. After it has been raised to a temperature of a little over 200° the wire
frames on which the fish have been arranged are immersed in it. These frames are made of
galvanized iron wire and have long handles on either end by which they can be readily lifted.

The frying requires from one to two minutes, according to the dryuess of the fish. During
the frying any water that may remain in the herring is readily converted into steam, when it at
once ascends and escapes, its place being supplied by particles of oil.

The oil generally used for frying is a superior grade of cottou-seed oil, though in some cases
the oil of different species of nuts is used. It can be used only a short time, as small particles of
fish are apt to remain in it, and these soon settle on the bottom of the pan, where they form a crust
which largely destroys the action of the heat, and by burning also injures the flavor of the oil.
On this account the pan must be frequently scraped to remove the coating, and a greater or less
quantity of new oil must be introduced.

When the fish have been sufficiently cooked they are taken out and emptied on a table, where
they are allowed to drain and cool before they go to the packing room. In some instances they
are allowed to remain on the frames on which they have been fried until a greater part of the oil
has dripped from them, as the drainage is more perfect when they are left in this way.

BOILING IN CLOSED VESSELS WHERE ADDITIONAL HEAT is OBTAINED BY THE USE OF
SUPERHEATED STEAM. — The method of frying employed by the French in their sardine canning-
is very similar to that already described; but a new method of boiling where steam is employed
has recently been introduced and deserves mention in this connection. Mr. Wallem, after describ-
ing the methods of boiling in open pans, gives the following:

"In order to save oil, and at the same time to accelerate the boiling process and make it pass
off in a cleaner and more even manner, new apparatus have recently been constructed, which are
heated by steam of an atmospheric pressure of 14 (in some even of 25). In this way the oil can
be kept at an even degree of temperature (+1GO°— 170° C.), and about 9,000 sardines can be boiled
in an hour in thirty to forty-five boilings. The quality of the sardines of course depends on a
careful and clean way of boiling them and on the quality of oil used. * * * In using the steam
apparatus a great deal of oil is saved, but only if the manufacture of 'sardines in oil' is carried
on on a large scale, for otherwise the expense for apparatus, boiler, &c., will swallow up all that
is saved in oil, and modern apparatus, with drying apparatus, steam-boiler, &c., having one to
forty kettles for boiling, costs 3,500 to 9,400 crowns [$938 to $2,519.20]. If, as is the case in large
factories, 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 of sardines are boiled yearly, a steam apparatus will save GO to
70 per cent, of oil. Instead of using 2-& kilograms of oil per 1,000 sardines, only 850 grams are
used, which, for 15,000,000 sardines, would be a saving of 20 kilograms of oil, valued at 19,000 to
21,000 crowns [$5,042 to $5,628J, not counting the higher price obtained for a better article."

•Rapport fra verdcDsudstillingen 1H?8 i Paris. | Oin do fransko iiskorier | og | noglo fiskcri -industrielle for-
holdo | hsiint | .skilisfarisuWelingen pfi udstilliiigeu. j At' Frcdrik M. Wallem. | Kami, jur. Rapporter for Norge ved
verdensudstiUengen i Paris 1878. | Christiania, | 1880. ] Translated by Horuiau Jacobsou.

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 515

SORTING AND PACKING. — On reaching the packing room the fish are emptied upon long zinc-
covered tables, with sides sloping toward the center, iu order that any oil that may drain from
them or that may be spilled in filling the boxes may collect and pass out through a small opening
into a receptacle to be again used in the frying process. The table is surrounded by a number of
girls and women who sort the herring into sizes, packing the smallest in the small-sized cans, and
the larger ones in those of proportionately larger size. All of the fish having been treated exactly
alike there is no difference in quality between the large and small, the rule for sorting being simply
that those of like size shall be placed together in Tans of suitable dimensions.

Nearly all of the smaller fish are packed in oil in small-sized cans, known to the trade as
"quarter cans." These are 4| inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1 inch deep, and hold from 9 to 12
herring, according to their size. The fish most suited for this purpose measure about 6 inches
when whole, and when cut they have a length of from 3£ to 4 inches.

Fish measuring 8 to 9£ inches in length when whole are usually cut so that they shall have a
length of 4 to 4.J inches. A small percentage of these are canned in oil; but by far the greater
portion are put up in mustard, spices and vinegar, tomato sauce, or other condiments. The cans
used for these fish are known as "half cans," usually holding from 10 to 1C fish each. They are
4J inches long, 3J inches wide, and 2 inches deep.

A few full-grown herring, measuring from 10 to 12 inches in length, are put up in vinegar and
spices iu large oval cans and sold under the names of brook-trout, sea-trout, or ocean-trout. There
is only a limited demand for these fish, however, and the quantity packed is usually very small.
Under these brands the canneries utilize the few large fish that may be found among the others,
though they seldom purchase any lots of uniformly large herring for canning purposes.

As the fish are being sorted they are packed in boxes of proper size. The oil in which they
are packed is usually flavored to the taste by adding lemon, sugar, and various spices. Some
canneries adopt the practice of supplying the cans with a definite quantity of oil before the fish
are introduced, while others pack the fish first and then pour the oil over them until the box is
completely full. Some of the firms which have adopted the latter method immerse the cans iu a
bath of warm oil as soon as they have been filled and the cover has been placed in position,
allowing them to remain until they go to the solderers in order that they may be completely
filled; others do not consider it necessary that the can should be absolutely full. As the price of
the oil is usually greater than that of the fish there is no disposition to pack light-weight goods,
but the caus are filled as full as possible without subjecting the herring to too much pressure.

KIND OF OIL USED FOR FILLING THE CANS. — The oil used for canning varies greatly in
quality in the different establishments. Occasionally the best olive oil is used. This usually
comes from Bari, Italy, and costs about $1.40, with $1 additional duty, per gallon. A common
practice among the packers is to mix a small quantity of olive oil with a larger amount of cotton-
seed oil; and for several years, since the competition has been considerable, the use of olive oil
has been largely done away with, and cotton-seed oil has been secured from the manufacturers at
Providence, R. I., and Cincinnati, Ohio, at a cost of about 52 cents per gallon. Some of the
canneries are now using other oils made from various seeds and nuts of foreign countries. The
question of the quality of oil used is one of growing importance, and it seems likely to seriously
all'cct the trade in the home-made products. We are not prepared to discuss the relative merits
of the different oils or even to say that cotton-seed oil, carefully prepared from the best material,
is inferior to the average grades of imported oils; but when so much depends on the flavor of the
oil used, and the tendency to reduce the cost of the manufactured products under the pressure of
competition is so great, it seems highly important that some parties shall take a decided stand in

516 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

this matter and put up a superior quality of goods which shall be sold upon their merits. The use
of poor oils is perhaps the greatest drawback to the extension of the sardine business in the
United States ; but we are treated little better by the French canners, who have for a number of
years been using the cheaper grades of oil in the preparation of those goods that are intended for
exportation. Nearly all of the larger French establishments have certain brands which are put
up in the very best quality of olive oil, but most of them also put up inferior and cheaper brands
in which they use only the poorer grades of olive oil, and others pack in oil from the seeds of
plants of that and other countries. Very few of the best brands of French sardines are imported
into the United States, so that the fish obtained from abroad are little, if any, superior to the
average grades packed in this country.

SARDINES IN VINEGAR AND SPICES. — Besides oil sardines a large quantity of herring are put
up in vinegar and spices under the name of sardines royales and sardines marine's. Before the
vinegar is poured on the fish it is boiled with spices of various kinds. In addition to the liquid,
mustard seed, cloves, peppers, bay leaves, and frequently a small piece of lemon, are placed in the
can. A good many fish are also put up in mustard, which is mixed with the best quality of vine-
gar that has been spiced to suit the taste. The spiced sardines and those put up in mustard are
received with great favor by the trade and are coming into general use in certain portions of the
country. By many they are preferred to the ordinary oil sardines. They are usually sold at a
much lower figure for boxes of the same size. A few herring are also packed in tomato sauce,
but thus far the demand for them has been very limited, and as there has been some difficulty
about their keeping qualities the dealers and even the manufacturers are a little shy of them.

BONELESS SAEDINES. — Thus far no one in this country has attempted to put up boneless sar-
dines after the French method, though the imported goods are said to find ready sale in the
American markets. We see no reason why some enterprising firm should not begin experiments
in this line, as there would probably be no more, if indeed as much, difficulty in removing the bones
from the herring than from the smaller fish used by the French. The method of preparation after
the bones have been removed is exactly similar to that to which the ordinary sardine is subjected,
and it will only be necessary to describe the boning process. Mr. Wallem gives the following
account of the method employed by the French in this work :

"The so-called boning process, which by many people is considered very difficult, is, in reality,
very easy. When the sardines are about half dried in the sun (if dried in an oven they can only be
boned with great difficulty and loss), they are subjected to the following treatment. With one
crack the backbone is broken close to the root of the tail. Then, by evenly and tightly squeezing
it with the fingers it is loosened along its entire length. During this manipulation the whole bone
system is loosened, and, commencing at the neck, the backbone and all the bones with it can be
pulled out with two fingers or with a pair of small pincers. For breaking the backbone near the
tail a pair of pincers is also sometimes used. When the bone has been taken out the sardines are
set in the sun to dry in the usual manner."

THE SOLDERING PROCESS. — After the cans have been filled with fish and the proper condi-
ments, and the cover has been inserted, they are sent to the soldering-room, where they are her-
metically sealed by men who make a specialty of this work. In the Eastport canneries each man
has a small revolving stand, which is turned by means of a treadle and leather belt. The top or
surface of the stand has a small groove for holding the box, and as the soldering proceeds the
whole is gradually turned so that the work may be more conveniently done. Soldering- wire is
used for this purpose. In other places the revolving stand is entirely done away with, and a large
board with longitudinal strips for holding the cans is substituted. This, when filled, holds 100

THE SAKDINE INDUSTRY. 517

cans. By the use of tbe board it is thought that the work can be done more rapidly, as the men
do not have to lay aside their iron and wire, as soon as a can has been sealed, for the purpose of remov-
ing it and inserting another, but they can continue their work without interruption, stopping only
occasionally to change irons and, again, when all have been sealed, for the purpose of emptying
and refilling the board.

The sealers working on wages receive from $1.50 to $2.50 a day, while those working by the
piece usually get about forty cents per hundred cans for their work. At Eastport the ordinary
workmen will seal from 500 to 600 small cans, or about 400 of the larger ones, in a day of ten
hours. At Lamoine it is said that 1,000 cans is considered a fair day's work.

Great care must be taken that the cans are perfectly tight, as any leak causes no little trouble
and often occasions considerable loss. "Where the men are doing "piece-work" they often work so
hurriedly that many of their cans are not properly sealed. To guard against loss from this source
most of the firms hold each solderer responsible for his work and require him to scratch his num-
ber upon the cans which he has sealed. In case of leakage he not only does not receive any pay
for the faulty can but must pay two cents to make good the loss occasioned by his negligence.

There are several methods of heating the irons, the principal ones being the ordinary charcoal
pot and the gasoline burner. By both of these methods tbe iron must necessarily be quite large
in order to retain a high temperature for any considerable time. But in the sealing process, where
a large iron is used, especially if the work is slowly done, the sardines are frequently considerably
heated, and in this way, it is said, their keeping qualities are affected to a greater or less degree,
and their flavor is often considerably impaired. The methods employed in the French canneries
are much superior to those adopted by the American packers. There the irons are heated with
gas supplied by means of a rubber tube which passes through the handle and is introduced into
the inside of the iron near its pointed extremity. Another tube connected with a bellows furnishes
air to the flame. By this arrangement the heat is rendered very Intense, and, as the flame is kept
constantly burning at the exact point where it is needed, the tip of the iron is always very hot and
the other parts are proportionately cooler. The iron can thus be used continuously, and the heat
being applied to so small a surface the fish are only slightly heated during the soldering process.

BATHING AND VENTING. — When properly sealed the cans are sent to the bath-room, where
they are placed in small iron frames or baskets, which are lowered into and lifted out of the bath
by means of ropes and pulleys. The time required in boiling varies considerably, according to
the size of the cans and the kind of bath used. Other things being equal, small cans are
cooked more quickly than those of larger size. A good deal depends, however, upon the contents ;
for fish prepared with spices require considerably more cooking than those put up in oil, in order
that their keeping qualities may be the same.

The common method of boiling is by means of the "open bath," or by ordinary boiling water
in an open vessel. This is the oldest and by many it is considered the best method, the principal
objection to it being that by it a considerably longer time is required than by the other methods.
The medium-sized cans are subjected to the influence of boiling water in the open bath for from
one and a half to two hours, while the larger ones must be boiled considerably longer.

Another method of boiling recently adopted is that known as the chemical bath. This con-
sists simply in the raising of the boiling point by the use of chloride of lime or other chemicals,
and if a proper quantity is used water can be heated to upwards of 250° in the open air. By sub-
jecting the fish to this increased heat they are cooked much more quickly and considerable time is
saved, while any life-germs that might remain to pollute the mass are more easily destroyed.
Another way of accomplishing the same results is by means of the closed bath. In this case the

518 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

steam is coufiued in a tauk, and the fish are subjected to any temperature desired by its pressure
upon the surface of the water, which raises the boiling point. By these last-named methods the
time of boiling is reduced to about half an hour.

When the can comes from the bath its sides are usually bulged out by the pressure of the
expanded air within. A small hole is at once made through the tin for the purpose of allowing
this super-heated air to escape, after which it is immediately closed by a drop of solder, and the
process of bathing and venting is completed. If the can is perfectly tight the sides become con-
cave as soon as it has cooled. The fact that the can does not "concave" is considered sufficient
evidence that there is a defect in the soldering, and it goes at once to the mending room for exam-
ination. When the hole is found it is closed, after which the can must be reboiled and vented
before it can be packed. Where the bathing is not properly done a can will keep but a short time,
and it often happens that many swell and spoil within a few months. Those properly packed,
however, should keep for three or four years at least. Some of the importers of French sardines
claim that the loss from "blowers" or spoiled cans received direct from the French canneries is
very considerable, showing that they are as careless in their work as the Americans.

CLEANING AND BOXING. — After the fish leave the bath-room they must be carefully wiped and
cleaned, to prevent them from rusting before they are boxed. In some canneries each can is han-
dled separately, being first rubbed in sawdust and then wiped dry with a cloth. In other canneries
the work is satisfactorily accomplished by inclosing the cans in a large barrel, which has been
partially filled with sawdust. The barrel is fastened to a frame, and is made to revolve on a longi-
tudinal axis by means of a crank. In this way the cans are thoroughly dried by contact with the
sawdust as they are tumbled about by the motion of the barrel. They are then packed in common
wooden cases, the size of which varies with the different brands of fish. For the small sizes cases
holding 100 cans are invariably used, but for the medium size 50 can cases are employed. A case
differing in size from either of the others is made for the sea-trout and other brands that are packed
in the larger cans. These usually hold about two dozen cans each.

As soon as the cans have been properly packed with a quantity of sawdust in properly-branded
cases they are shipped at once to New York parties, who handle them on commission for the can-
neries. The object in sending immediately is that the agents may be drawn upon for a portion of the
value of the shipment. An arrangement of this kind between the agents and the canners enables
the latter to carry on their business with much less capital than would otherwise be required.

RUSSIAN SARDINES AND ANCHOVIES.

DEVELOPMENT OP THE AMERICAN RUSSIAN- SARDINE INDUSTRY. — The various brands of
sardines already mentioned are the only ones put up in cans in the United States; but another
grade of goods referred to by Mr. Sellmann as Russian sardines, under which name they are known
to the trade, are extensively packed by the Germans, and fish prepared in a similar way are put
up in France, England, and other countries. As will be seen by referring to Mr. Selltnan's account
of the origin of the sardine industry in the United States, the entire business as it at present exists
in this country is the outgrowth of experiments to find a fish that would answer as a substitute for
the Russian sardines that were being imported in large quantities from Hamburg. From the time
that the home-made "Russians" were first well introduced, they have grown in favor among the
foreign population residing in the United States, and the trade has increased so rapidly from year
to year that the importation has long since entirely ceased. As has already been mentioned, the,
first herring used for this purpose were salted at Eastport and shipped to New York, where they
were packed in kegs for distribution to the trade. As the trade increased it was decided to transfer
the business to Eastport, since it was found necessary to select a certain grade of fish for the purpose,

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 519

and a considerable saving could be made in the shipment of the manufactured goods instead of the
raw material. When this change was first made the herring were put up in small kegs ready for
the trade, after which they were packed in crates and shipped to New York for distribution. Later
it was found desirable to simply salt and cut the herring at Eastport and to pack them in barrels
for shipment to the dealers in New York, who in turn should repack them in small kegs before
they were put upon the market. This method has given excellent satisfaction, and has been uni-
versally adopted.

METHOD OF PREPARATION. — The manner of preparing the Russian sardine is very simple.
The fish utilized for this purpose are similar in sizelo those packed in mustard and spices, under
the name of marines, royales, and sardines in mustard. They vary in total length from six to nine
and a half inches, and when cut measure about five to six inches. Being of proper size for canning,
and having a greater value for this purpose, they arc, of course, canned when practicable; but
when the catch is too large for immediate use at the canneries the surplus must necessarily be
salted at once if they are to be preserved; and after a sardine has been salted for any length of
time it becomes unfit for canning. The natural result is that nearly all of the surplus fish are pre-
pared as Russian sardines.

As soon as they have been landed from the weir they are at once salted in large butts or hogs-
heads, where they are allowed to remain in strong pickle for several days or until they are thor-
oughly "struck," after which they are taken out and their heads and entrails are removed by
children employed for this purpose, in a manner exactly similar to that employed in the preparation
of sardines for canning. This method has already been described and need not be repeated. After
the fish have been cut they are thoroughly washed in fresh water, and are carefully packed in fish
barrels, each layer being well sprinkled with dry salt. After the barrels have been filled new
brine is added and they are set aside and allowed to remain for several days, in order that the fish
may settle. More fish are then added in order that the barrels may be well filled, after which they
are headed up and are ready for shipment. In shipping long distances it is found desirable,
especially during the summer months, to remove the pickle from the fish, because, when this
becomes heated, it often sours and injures their flavor.

After reaching their destination the barrels are at once opened and the fish are then packed
in kegs of uniform size. These are neatly made of a good quality of poplar or bass-wood, each
holding about four or five quarts. As the fish are being packed each layer is well covered with a
variety of whole spices, including cloves, peppers, mustard seed, and allspice, together with a
quantity of bay leaves, to give them a rich flavor. When the keg has been filled a pickle of vine-
gar is added, after which the package is headed up and is ready for the trade. It is desirable to
have the fish prepared some time before they are eaten, in order that they may be well flavored by
the seasonings with which they are packed. For this reason old stock is preferable to that recently
packed.

THE USE OF HERRING AS ANCHOVIES. — As soon as it had been ascertained that the herring
could be utilized in the preparation of Russian sardines, certain houses who had beeli engaged in
this line of trade thought it possible to prepare anchovies from the smaller individuals of the same
species, and for several years many of the small herring were utilized for this purpose. The first
fish that appear in the spring, locally known as brit, are usually too small for canning purposes,
and as many of these are taken in the weirs each season, considerable numbers of them have been
salted from time to time to be prepared as a substitute for the anchovies that had been formerly
imported from Sweden and Norway.

After numerous experiments, it is said that the business is not as successful as had been

520

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

expected, and most of the firms have already given up the idea of utilizing the herring in this
way. Very few fish are now put up, and during the season of 1880 the total quantity did not exceed
200 barrels, many of these being spoiled in preparation. This business, however, should not be
pronounced a failure until it has been more thoroughly tested, and future experiments may prove
that under proper treatment the herring may be used for this purpose and that the anchovy trade
of the United States may become an important one.

5. EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS.

STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION OF THE INDUSTRY FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT
TIME. — From the time of the first experiments in 1875 the American sardine industry has gradu-
ally increased in impoitance, though, as has just been stated, it was confined within comparatively
narrow limits till 1880. At this time many of the Eastport merchants went into the business and
canneries were built at various other points along the eastern coast of Maine. By the close of
the season there were 18 canneries in operation, with a total capital of $484,950 dependent on
the business, including that invested in fishing apparatus -by the New Brunswick weir fishermen,
who market their catch at Eastport. The business furnished employment to 1,328 factory hands,
and to 196 American and 372 Provincial fishermen.*

The following list of the sardine canning establishments in the United States in 1880, with
their location, date of establishment, and city agents, has been carefully corrected by correspond-
ence with Mr. Sellmann and Mr. Wolff, who have added a list of some of the new canneries that
were to engage in the business in 1881 :

Kame of firm.

Location.

Date.

Agents.

1875

Wolff fc Reeaaing New Tort City.

P M Kane

do

1876

Hanaen & DeickmaDn, New York City.

do

1877

Wolff & Reesaing Now York City.

do

1878

do

1879

Roaenatein Brothers, New York Citj.

do

1880

Wolff &, Reeasing New York City.

F. S. Back

do

1880

Do.

do

1880

Do.

do

1880

Do.

do

1880

Roaenstein Brothers, New York City.

dq

1880

Hanaen &. Deickmaun, New York City.

do

1880

Do.

.. do

1880

Do.

1880

Roaenatein Brothers New York City.

Lubec Packing Company

Lnbec, Me

1880
1880

Wolff & Reessing, New York City.

1880

1880

1881

Wolff & Reesaing New York City.

do

1881

Do.

McCulloch A Co

do

1881

Hanaen & Deickmann, New York City.

A. W. Brown

Pike & Gillls

Lubec, Me
do

1881

1881

Wolff & Reeasing, Now York City.
Do.

do

1881

Do.

Jonesport, Me

1881

Do.

do

1881

Hanaen & Deickmann, New York City.

Millbridge Me

1881

Wolff & Reesaing, New York City.

* A petition from the sardine packers of Eastport and Lubec to the Secretary of the Treasury, praying for relief
from certain customs duties, under date of May 28, 1885, states that this industry employs an invested capital of not
less than $1,000,000, of which a large proportion is in factory buildings, machinery, fixtures, tools, and implements.
There are said to be 18 factories in Eastport and 4 in Lubec now wholly engaged in sardine packing, and employing
several thousand operators. — A. H. CLARK.

TDK SARDINE INDUSTRY.

521

Mr. Wolff, who, from his intimate knowledge of the business from its beginning to the present
I tine, is peculiarly fitted to do so, has kindly furnished an estimate of the quantity of sardines
put up in the United States from 1875 to 1878 inclusive, which, though only as an estimate, is
sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes. Adding to this the amount packed during the two
subsequent years we have the following table showing the extent of the business from its origin
to the year 1881 :

Size
-el -

187

5.

187

6.

187

7.

can.

Quantity.

Value.

Quantity.

Valne.

Quantity.

Value.

Sardines in oil cana ..

50 000

$5 000

500 000

$50, 000

1 000 000

$90 000

Do do...

10 000

2 800

25 000

6 GOO

5 000

800

25 000

4 000

75 000

10 500

5 000

800

25 000

4 000

75 000

10 500

10 000

2 200

2 Ib

12 000

4 000

3 Ib

4 800

1 400

12 000

3 000

Mackerel (prepared by a similar process) do...

3 Ib

3 000

9 000

4 000

12 000

5 000

17 500

200

600

200

600

300

900

60 000

6 600

564 800

62 200

1 209 000

126, 700

Total ..

\ barrels

3 200

9 600

4 200

12 600

5 300

18,400

Size

1871

L

187

L

188

).

can.

Quantity.

Value.

Quantity.

Value.

Quantity.

Value.

|

1 600 000

$135 000

1,468 500

$132 165

6, 141 400

$552 726

Do do...

i

25 000

6,500

39 500

5 135

142 900

18 577

i

100 000

14,000

180 950

27 143

579 850

86 978

i

100 000

14 000

96 700

14 505

638 650

80 797

i

25 000

5 500

22 250

4 450

22 700

4 540

2 Ib

24 000

8 000

9 600

2 000

24 000

6 500

Sea-tront (large herring) do...

3 Ib

12 000

3 000

16 440

6 137

50,584

22,058

Mackerel (prepared by a similar process) do. . .

3 Ib

50 784

16, 400

Russian sardines barrels . . .

7 000

28 000

4 400

17 600

8 165

28 578

A n ch n vies do...

500

1 500

265

795

200

500

c cana —
Total <

1, 786, 000

186, 000

1, 833, 940

190, 535

7, 550, 868

788, 576

(barrels..

7,500

29, SOO

4,665

18, 395

8,305

29, 078

Messrs. Wolff & Reessing, Rosenstein Brothers, and Hansen & Deickman have thus far, with
a single exception, handled the products of all the canneries in the country, and have also sup-
plied a greater part of the capital. These parties have kindly furnished full and accurate infor-
mation of the business from their books. Many of their statements have been given in detail;
but, as there are good reasons why the business of individual firms should not be made public, it
has been thought best to include all of the facts in one general table, which shall represent the
entire sardine industry of the United States as it was in 1880. This table, though it exposes no
private interests, will be found to answer all purposes for which it is intended.

THE DANGER THAT THE SUPPLY MAY EXCEED THE DEMAND. — Some of the manufacturers are
already becoming alarmed at the future prospects of the industry on account of the large cumber
of new canneries that are being erected and the enormous extent of coast-line along which it has
recently been found that small herring may be taken. Mr. Sellmann writes: "There is much
danger that the business may be greatly overdone. A considerable portion of the goods put up
in 1880 remained unsold on January 1, 1881, and the combined capacity of the various canneries
is already much greater than the present demand. Under the strong competition that must neces-

522

HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

sarily follow, many of the smaller firms must go uuder, margins of profit will he reduced to a min-
imum, while the investment of capital under an accumulation of stock will involve much risk. As
a result of this condition the standard of excellence will be lowered and many worthless goods will
be placed upon the market at a low figure, and it will become simply a question as to the brands
of one cannery or another." The above view of the situation is perhaps a trifle overdrawn, but it
is still quite certain that the time has arrived when something must be done to increase the
demand for the home production.

That the people of the United States have consumed large quantities of sardines and ancho-
vies yearly for many years is clearly shown by the following table, kindly furnished by Mr. C. W.
Smiley, under whose direction it has been compiled from the annual reports of the Bureau of
Statistics:

Table showing the yearly importations of sardines and anchovies from 1858 to 1880.

For the year ending
June 30 —

Value of
tlioM* brought
from France.

Value of
those brought
from all other
countries.

Total value.

For the year ending
June 30—

Value of

those broii^li!
from Frame.

Vnlne of

those brought
from nil other
countries.

Total valnr.

1858

$273, 109
245, 090
293, 434
222, 757
170, 59*
368, 745
472, 122
257, 497
744, 439
454, 149
450, 577

$1, 028
6,188
6,245
3,867
15, 82S
14, 478
31,957
9, !>.">
193, 481
24, 470
21, 130

$274, 137
251, 278
299, 679
226, 624
186, 417
383, 223
504, 079
267, 452
937. 920
478, 619
471, 707

1872

1252, 612
617, 359
864, 052
445, 022
498, 864
685, 164
587,834
796, 706
786, 890

$370, 923
f.M, 345
126, 978
81, 157
97, 037
88, 167
00, 076
115,685
315, 520

$623, 535
1,172,704
991, 030
526, 179
595, 901
773, 331
877, WO
912,391
1,102,410

1859

1873

1860

1874

1861

1875

1862

1876

1863

1877

1864 :

1878

1865

1879

1866 ...

1880

Total .

1868*

9, 487, 016

2, 169, 510

11, 656, 526

* Kinds and quantities offish not given from 1869 to 1871.

From this table it will be seen that the United States imported from 1858 to 1880 $11,656,526
worth of sardines and anchovies exclusive of those received between 18G9 and 1871, of which we
have no record. It is further noticeable that though the quantity has varied considerably from
year to year yet it has gradually increased; the value of those received during the year ending June
30, 1880, being considerably greater than that of the goods put up in this country during the same
period. Even if we place the total products of the American canneries for the entire season of
1880 against those imported for the year ending June 30, it will be seen that the imported goods
exceed those of home manufacture, by $284,756. It will be further seen that of the entire importa-
tion of sardines and anchovies during the period covered by the above table, over 81 per cent, came
directly from France, and without doubt a considerable portion of the remainder were put up in
France and sold to other countries, which, in turn, sent them to America. If we consider only the
sardines put up in oil it may be safe to say that over 95 per cent, of the entire quantity are pre-
pared in France.

RELATIVE MERITS OF THE DIFFERENT SPECIES FOR CANNING PURPOSES. — II is often claimed
that the American manufacturers are imposing on the people by putting up the common herring
under the name of sardines, and that they are concealing the fact by using French labels. It is
true that the fish commonly used in France are not the same as those used by Americans, but
the two species are closely related to each other, and though they differ in many points, each
having a flavor peculiar to itself, we are by no means willing to give the preference to the foreign
fish. The mere fact that the French were the first to utilize small fish for this purpose, and that

THE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 523

they Lave always used a particular species simply because it chanced to be abundant in the waters
contiguous to that country, is no proof that it is the only, or even the best, fish for the purpose.

Mention has already been made of several different species of fishes of even widely separated
families, that have been prepared in this way, and some of them are considered superior to either
the herring or the sardine. This is particularly true of the mackerel, which has a peculiarly rich
and delicate flavor. But mackerel are usually too large for canning in oil, and, though prepared in
a somewhat similar manner, the products are so different as to answer a very different purpose,
and their manufacture will interfere but little with the demand for fish preserved in oil.

In order that a fish may be suitable for use in the sardine industry, it is only necessary that
it should be of small size and of tender flesh ; it should also be destitute of thick scales or of a
tough skin. Little account need be taken of the natural flavor of the fish, unless this be much
stronger than is usual with small fish, as the methods adopted in the preparation of oil and spiced
sardines are such as to impart an artificial flavor, the quality of which depends in a great measure on
the quality and kind of materials used, and the treatment to which the fish is subjected in canning.

THE QUALITY OP SARDINES LARGELY DEPENDENT ON THE OIL USED. — That French Sar-

diues of certain brands are superior to those put up in this country cannot be denied, for a few of
the French manufacturers refuse to use inferior oils and take particular pains that their goods shall
be first class in every respect. Many others, on the contrary, buy inferior and cheaper grades of
olive oil, or are even doing away with this altogether and substituting in its place oil made from
various indigenous seeds and nuts.

For some time the American packers used only the best imported oils, but on account of the
cost of the same they soon came to use cotton-seed oil for cooking the fish. A saving of 80 per
cent, on their oil bills was no small matter, and in a abort time some of them, like their French
brethren, began using the cheaper oils for packing also, and the quality of their goods has been
proportionately impaired.

The average brands of imported sardines are in no way superior to those put up at Eastport,
but there is a large class of consumers who insist on using only the best goods, and they are willing
to pay the extra price charged for certain well-established French brands. In this way the impor-
tat ion of these goods continues, and with them come a large quantity of the cheaper grades, which
find a ready market simply because they come from France.

AMERICAN PACKERS NOW IN CONDITION TO COMPETE WITH THE FRENCH NOT ONLY IN THE
UNITED STATES BUT IN OTHER COUNTRIES. — Thus far the American goods have been put up
with a French label, but the people are coming to learn that they are not only put up in this
country but that when properly prepared they are equal in every respect to the best imported ones.
The use of French labels might have been a help to the first introduction of the goods, but the
time has now unquestionably arrived when the manufacturers should come out boldly with English
labels, and, by the use of superior oils and additional care in preparation, win for their own brands
a reputation that cannot but result in an increased demand. By adopting this course the imported
goods can soon be driven from the American market, and when the supply shall have exceeded
the demand there will be little difficulty in establishing a trade with other countries.

The question of our ability to compete with the French for the trade of other countries is one
in which our packing-houses are especially interested. We are placed at a great disadvantage on
account of the higher wages paid to American laborers. In the United States the sealers and can-
makers receive $50 per month, and the average factory hand is paid $L%0. France also has an
advantage in the saving of duty and freight on the olive oil used, while she is much nearer the
principal markets for the manufactured products. The American packers, on the other hand,

524 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

have a decided advantage in the abundance of fish and the inexpensive methods of catching them.
In France the fish are taken chiefly in gill-nets, which necessitates the handling of each fish sepa-
rately, and in addition a large quantity of bait must be used in "tolling" them to the surface and
in keeping them near the nets. The cost of the bait used for this purpose is equal to a large per-
centage of the value of the catch, and the price at -which the fish sell is necessarily much greater
than that paid by American packers. Again, the supply of fish on the French coast is by no means
regular, and there are seasons when the fishing is a failure. Such was the case in 1880, when all
parties interested in the business lost heavily.

That we may easily have the home market wholly to ourselves without fear of competition,
provided our packers put up a quality of goods equal to the best French brands, seems quite cer-
tain, for our Government has levied a duty of $4 per case on all sardines brought into the country.
It also seems quite probable that we will be able to compete with the French for the trade with
other countries. At present the packers must pay $1 per gallon duty on all olive oil imported by
them ; but it may be possible that in the hope of benefiting a large number of its people, and of
placing our sardine interests on a more substantial footing, the Government may be induced to
remit the duty on that part of the oil used for the preparation of sardines, as they have already
done on the salt to be used in the curing of fish in the cod and mackerel fisheries.

P.A.RT VII.

THE SHORE FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE.

By J. W. COLLINS.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The fishermen.

1.— THE SQTJETEAGUE OE "TROUT" FISHERY.

4. Disposition of the catch.

5. Financial profits and share.

3. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

2.— THE SPOT FISHERY.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. The fishermen.

4. Disposition of the catch.

5. Financial profits and lay.

3. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

3.— THE ROCK AND PERCH FISHERY.

1. General review.

2. Fishing grounds and fishermen.

3. Apparatus and methods of fishing.

4. Disposition of the catch.

4.— THE STURGEON FISHERY OF DELAWARE BAY.

t. Sturgeon fishery at Bowers' Beach.

T VII.

THE SHORE FISHERIES GF-SQUTHERN DELAWARE.
BY J. W. COLLINS.

1.— THE SQUETEAGUE OR "TROUT" FISHERY.

Squeteague or "trout" (Cynoscion regale and C. maculatum) are taken along almost the entire
length of the Delaware coast, between Little Creek Landing on Delaware Bay and Feuwick's Island
at the southern extremity of the State, but the special fishery for this species is confined to the
locality between Cape Heulopen and Mahone's Creek light. South of the cape there is no organized
fishing for trout, the few that are taken being captured incidentally in the seines and gill-nets of
the fishermen which have been set for other kinds of fish. Thus we find that, in 1880, while only
10,000 pounds were caught south of Cape Heulopen, 2,608,000 pounds were taken by the fishermen
along the shores bordering Delaware Bay. The trout fishery begins from the 20th of April to the
first of May, and is generally pursued with great ardor for five or six weeks; in some places it is
continued until the first of July; and at Lewes it is carried on to a greater or less extent until
August, when the spot makes its appearance along the shores, and the fishermen then turn their
attention to the capture of the latter species. Toward the latter part of Juue the schools of fish,
which, previous to that time, have remained close to the beach, begin to move off into the deeper
waters of the bay, where the temperature of the water is not so high as it is close to the shore.
Alter this time the trout seldom approach close enough to the beaches to be taken in seines except
at Lewes, and in consequence comparatively little is done after the first of July; occasionally a
few fishermen go out in the bay in July, August, and September to fish with hook and line; but
it rarely happens that many trout are taken. During the height of the fishing season the farmers
of this region, as well as the professional fishermen, resort to the beaches nearest their homes to
engage in the work, which is carried on both during the night and day, as circumstances may
demand. With the trout are taken, in the seines and nets, more or less perch, rock, mullet, and
flounders, and occasionally other kinds of fish, though it may be said that all of these form only a
small portion of the sum total of the fish captured during the months of May and June, since it is
estimated by the most competent authorities that from 90 to 95 per cent, of the fish taken at the
various beaches along the Delaware Bay at this season are trout. The importance of this fishery
to the State is considerable, a large portion of the farmers aud laboring classes being thus supplied
with food which is both cheap and wholesome.

1. FISHING GKOUNDS.

The fishing grounds are the shoal waters bordering the numerous sandy beaches along the
shores of Delaware Bay. These beaches are ridges or hammocks, varying from one half to two

miles or more in length, slightly elevated above the surrounding and intervening swamps, and

527

528 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

with shores sloping gradually down to the water of the bay. The slope is so gradual in many
cases, as, for instance, at Bowers' Beach, that the depth of water does not exceed 6 feet even at a
distance of a mile from the shore. The different species of fish found in this locality approach
close to these beaches in the spring, and can easily be taken by the fishermen, who set their haul-
seines and gill- nets in depths of G to 8 feet of water.

The most important of the upper fishing stations are Kitt's Hammock, 25 miles northwest of
Cape Henlopen (and 4£ miles south from Mahone's Creek light), and Bowers' Beach, situated
between Murderkill and Jones' Creeks, some 2£ miles farther down the bay. Between Murderkill
and Mispillion Creeks are the fishing- stations of Shirley's Bar, the "Pier" and "Big Stone," while
near the mouth of Broadkiln Creek is Slaughter Beach, another excellent fishing ground, 4J miles
distant from Lewes. The beach at Lewes, though secondary in importance as a fishing ground,
so far as trout-fishing is concerned, is, nevertheless, taken altogether, the principal station along
the bay, since the fisheries are carried on during the entire summer and autumn for the various
species which can be found in this locality. The fishermen usually resort to the beaches nearest
to their homes, all other things being equal. Thus, Kitt's Hammock is the favorite place for the
Dover fishermen, as well as a portion of those from Lebanon and Magnolia. A few men from the
two last-mentioned places, however, generally go to Bowers' Beach in the fishing season, which is
also resorted to by the fishermen from Frederica ; these, together with the local residents at the
beach, making up the sum total of men employed in trout-fishing at that point. The residents of
Milford Neck divide themselves between the two stations of Shirley's Bar and the " Pier." Some
of them formerly carried on fishing at the "Big Stone," but so few fish have been caught in late
years at this station that it was abandoned in 1880, no seines being set from the beach. The chief
part of the fishermen from the village of Milford resort to Slaughter Beach, where also may be
found, in the fishing season, the men who belong at Milton ; the residents of Lewes, of course, being
near one of the best fishing grounds in the State, have no occasion to go elsewhere to pursue their
work. By this arrangement the men are enabled to go to their homes during the " slack spells,"
and when the weather is unfavorable for fishing operations. As a rule, they visit their homes tit
least once a week. After the trout leave the shoal water bordering the beaches and strike off into
the bay, on Oyster Rock, so-called, the outlying shoals are the fishing grounds, where a limited
number of this species is taken with hook and line, though it is but fair to say that no systematic
fishery is carried on after the end of the seining season.

2. THE FISHERMEN.

The fishermen of Delaware are principally men who engage in other pursuits during a large
portion of the year. Among their other employments agriculture may be reckoned as the chief.
They engage in fishing, as a rule, only when it offers better returns than can be obtained elsewhere;
but when the fish grow scarce, or the market dull, they return to their farms; or if they have no
farms of their own they hire out with some one else, unless, indeed, they may be mechanics, in
which case they seek such employment as they are best fitted for. Many farmers of this section
own boats and fishing apparatus with which they procure supplies for their own tables, and fre-
quently secure a surplus, which they sell ; others belong to crews or gangs regularly organized
for seining. These are the men who manage the large drag-nets. During the fishing season it is
not at all an uncommon thing for the farmers to hire colored men to work on their land while they
themselves engage in fishing. We are told by Mr. Hill, of Milford Neck, that many farmer fisher
men of that section make it a rule to do their planting first, after which they engage in fishing for
trout, thus filling up the time which otherwise might be unoccupied. According to Mr. M. S. Van

FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. 529

Burkalow, of Magnolia, many of the fishermen at that place and adjacent towns work in the fruit-
canning establishments from July to September, but in the spring nearly all of the farmers in that
section catch fish, at least for their own use. At Milton, says Mr. J. Dl Morris, the trout fishery
lasts about five weeks, and during this period the men pursue it with ardor, devoting all their time
to handling seines. Those who own farms hire some one, generally a colored man, to do the farm
work while they are fishing. At Lewes thirty men make a business of fishing for trout from
.May 1 to July; in addition to these there are fifty others, one-fourth of whom are colored, who
fish for pleasure or profit at odd jobs. Taking them altogether these semi-professional fishermen
are employed about one half of their time in catching trout, using for this purpose seines, gill-
nets, and, rarely, hook and line. Those fishing with hook and line in the spring do this only for
pleasure, or to secure a supply for their own table. After the rush of the trout fishery is over the
semi professional fishermen, as we have seen, engage in other pursuits, leaving the professional
fishermen to continue the work on a more limited scale. The latter, as a rule, peddle their fish in
the villages and surrounding districts during the period between the 1st of July and November.
The catch of trout, however, as has been previously stated, is very small after the 1st of August.
A few colored men are engaged in the trout-fishery in the towns above Lewes. So far as we learn
it would be a liberal estimate to say that more than five or ten per cent, of the fishermen were
colored.

3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

BOATS AND THEIR FITTINGS, — The ordinary sharp-bowed, wide-sterned, flat- bottomed skiff,
or batteau, known in other sections of the country as the sharpie, is the style of boat almost uni-
versally used in the Delaware Bay fisheries. These vary in length from 12 to 20 feet, and in value
from $10 to $20. They are almost exclusively built by the fishermen themselves, with few excep-
tions propelled by oars, and are employed both in the gill-net and seine fisheries, the larger ones
being used for carrying out the haul-seines. At Bowers' Beach, however, there are a few round-
bottomed boats, such as are elsewhere described as the "gill-net shad-boats; " and at Lewes, also,
there are a few of these, as well as a limited number of the New Jersey surf-boats, such as are in
use at Long Branch. A full description of the various forms of boats may be found in the report
on fishing vessels. It may, however, be well to say here that the sharp-bowed boat is propelled
both by sails and oars, but the New Jersey surf-boat rarely has a sail.

SEINES, NETS, AND LINES. — There are several kinds of seines used in the trout-fishery by the
fishermen of Delaware Bay, differing principally in length. They may be classified under three
general heads : First, the large haul-seine, ranging from 75 to 150, or more, fathoms in length,
chiefly employed in the trout-fishery, and managed by a crew of four to seven men. Second, the
small haul-seines, from 40 to 70 fathoms long, frequently used both in fresh and salt water fishing,
and managed by a crew of two to four men. Third, the " wade-seines," 30 to 40 fathoms long,
operated by oue or two men who have no boat, but wade out to the depth of 3 to 5 feet, setting the
seine as they go, after which it is hauled on the shore. The large seines range from 6 to 9 feet in
depth, while the smaller ones are rarely deeper than 7 feet. The mesh varies from 1£ to 2 inches.

According to Mr. D. R. Tomlinson, of Dover, the fishermen of that place use small seines, 40
to 45 fathoms long and 6 to 7 feet deep, for the capture of various species of fish, such as trout,
shad, herring, rock, and perch. For the management of these seines they are each provided with a
"shore-line" 50 fathoms long, and a "water-line" 100 fathoms in length. In addition to these
nets the fishermen use, during the trout season, from May 1 to July 1, a number of large seines
which are 150 to 175 fathoms long, 7 feet deep, having 2-inch mesh. These nets are provided with
SKC v 34

630 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

a "shore-line," 75 to 100 fathoms long, and a " water-line," 200 fathoms in length. The average
length of the seines used by the Dover fishermen is 75 fathoms, and the average value $50. We are
told by Mr. Samuel Wyatt that the large seines used at Bowers' Beach are 150 fathoms in length, 100
meshes deep, the mesh being 2 inches in length, and that they cost about $150 each. For the man-
agement of these a crew of seven men is required. A smaller net is used in the trout fishery,
averaging about 50 fathoms in length, and costing from $50 to $60; these have a crew of four
men. At Milford the large seines average 100 fathoms in length. There are, however, here, fifty
small seines, averaging 30 fathoms in length, and requiring from two to four men to handle them.
Many of these are of the kind known as " wade-seines," and are owned chiefly by the farmers who
use them to procure a supply of fish for themselves, selling any surplus they may obtain. The
trout-fishermen of Milton, however, we are told by Mr. James D. Morris, of that place, rarely use a
net larger than 60 fathoms in length, 100 meshes deep, the mesh being 2 inches, while the small
seines are 25 fathoms long, 80 meshes deep, and cost $20, and the larger ones are valued at
$60. The swiftness of the current at the lower end of Slaughter Beach, near the mouth of Broad-
kiln Creek, where the men from Milton carry on their fisheries, prevents them from using so
large a seine as is employed by the fishermen farther up the bay. The largest haul-seines used at
Lewes, according to Mr. J. A. Marsh, a fisherman of that port, are 65 fathoms long, 100 meshes
deep, the mesh being 2 inches in length. The average value of these nets is $40, the small nets
varying in length from 20 to 30 fathoms, and are worth about $40 each.

Gill-nets are used for the capture of trout along the shores of Delaware Bay, though very
much less so than drag-seines. Mr. Tomlinson tells us that the Dover fishermen have (stake) gill-
nets for the capture of trout, pike, mullet, catfish, perch, and rock. These nets are 25 fathoms
long, on the average, about 6 feet deep, the mesh varying in size from 2J to 3 inches. At Lewes,
gill-nets are used quite extensively during the first weeks of the trout fishery. These are the same
kind as those employed for the capture of spot, being from 13 to 20 fathoms in length (mostly 15 or
16 fathoms long), 15 to 40 meshes deep, the mesh measuring 2J inches. A more detailed descrip-
tion of these gill-nets is given in the chapter on the spot fishery.

It has been stated that trout are only taken incidentally south of Cape Henlopen, principally
in gill-nets. These nets, which are used chiefly for the capture of perch, bluefish, menhaden, spot,
and other species, are from 15 to 40 fathoms long, about 4 feet deep, and usually a mesh of 3 inches.
The hand-lines used in Delaware Bay for the capture of trout are exceedingly simple in construc-
tion. A small sinker of 2 to 4 ounces in weight is fastened to the end of a small line of suitable
length ; above the sinker are attached to the main line, at distances varying from 8 to 10 inches
apart, two or three gangings about a foot in length ; fastened to their outer ends are small-sized
hooks similar to those used for catching mackerel.

METHODS OF FISHING. — The appearance of the trout is the signal for the assembling of the
fishermen at the different fishing-stations to engage in the capture of this species of fish. This
fishery, beginning, as has been mentioned, about the first of May, is actively prosecuted until the
end of June, and in some localities continues until August. It has been stated that from four to
seven men are required to manage a large seine. When the seine is to be set one of these men
stands on the shore holding the end of a rope — the "shore-line" — which is attached to the end of
the net that is first thrown overboard. The remainder of the crew go out in the boat with the
seine to a distance equal to the length of the line, which may vary from 50 to 100 fathoms. They
then set the seine in a semicircle, working down stream and gradually keeping farther away from
the land. By this means the end of the seine farthest down stream is gradually reached. From
this lower end a rope is run ashore and then the men land on the beach, dividing themselves into

FlSHEKIEti OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. 531

two gangs, each hauling on a line until the seine is drawn to the shore and the fish are lauded.
The smaller-sized nets are set in a similar manner, though fewer men, of course, are required to
handle them. The small "wade-seines" are usually set by a single man (sometimes by two), who
wades out from the shore to a depth of three to five feet and places the net in a semicircle around
the place where he supposes the fish to be, and then returning to the beach, draws the net to the
shore, securing such fish as may have been encircled by it. As a rule, the fishermen set their appa-
ratus by guess, rarely, if ever, seeing the fish in the water before putting out their seines. This is
especially the case, perhaps, with those who use wtute-seines, since they can be employed to ad-
vantage only when the water is turbid or after nightfall. According to Mr. James Lowry, of
Milford, many of the farmers of that town who own seines go out in the evening, after finishing
their work on the farm, and make a set with a wade-seine for the purpose of catching a supply
of fish for themselves; though, in the event of their obtaining any more than they need for their own
use, they usually sell them either to their neighbors or to parties who come from a more remote
distance to supply themselves with this fish. The method of handling the seine all along the shores
of Delaware Bay is essentially the same, though, owing to the strong current in some localities,
the fishermen are obliged to use shorter nets than are employed at other places. Captain Fowler
says that at Lewes three or four men compose a seine-gang, and usually these at the same time
have both seines and gill-nets, working with the former during the day or when circumstances
are favorable, and setting the gill-nets at night. In the vicinity of Kitt's Hammock the nets
are " staked out," but farther down the bay, at Lewes especially, where gill-nets are principally
employed during the first weeks of the trout fishery, they are set in a peculiar manner, which will
be fully described under the head of the spot fishery. According" to Mr. William T. Gray, of
Blackstone, a common way of setting gill-nets for trout and other species in Indian River is to fasten
their ends to stakes, which are driven in the muddy bottom of the river. The nets are separated
from each other 15 to 20 fathoms, and are placed longitudinally to the stream. They are over-
hauled each morning. In fishing for trout with hook and line the fishermen usually anchor their
boats on some favorite spot in the bay ; and, having baited their hooks with soft crabs, which are
very attractive to these fish, they lower the lines to the bottom, and, if the trout are at all
abundant, it is but a little while before the fish begin to bite rapidly, and of course are quickly
pulled in.

At Kitt's Hammock, Bowers' Beach, and contiguous fishing stations the large seines are put
away after the last of June, though the smaller nets are occasionally used for the capture of trout,
but at that season most of the fishermen are at work at other employments and there is but little
systematic fishing done.

Mr. J. A. Marshall, of Lewes, says that the trout fishery begins there about the first of May,
being carried on with gill-nets for nearly a month. At the beginning of June, and sometimes
sooner, the fishermen commence hauling trout with seines, carrying on their operations principally
during the night, though more or less fish are taken in the daytime, especially if the water is
muddy or turbid. The principal part of the fishing is over by the beginning of July, though
occasionally hauls are made with the seines until August, at which time the spot fishery begins,
and trout are rarely taken thereafter. Large numbers of trout were caught in the pound which
was built at Lewes in 1873-'74, but as a rule the fish were either let out or else thrown away after
the sounds or air-bladders had been removed.

532 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

4. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

At the beginning of the trout season many of the farmers from the interior of the State,
residing in some cases a distance of 30 or 40 miles from the nearest fishing stations, drive to the
villages nearest the shores of Delaware Bay, and frequently even to the beaches where fishing
is being carried on. Here they remain until they are able to purchase a supply of trout, which
they buy fresh as the fish are taken alive from the water. Having obtained a sufficient amount
for their purposes at least for the day, they proceed to dress and salt them. In doing this they
cut off the heads and tails ; the viscera and air-bladders are removed, and the fish are then split,
washed, and salted.

It is estimated by Mr. M. S. Van Burkalow, of Magnolia, who is interested in the fisheries and
is an extensive buyer of trout sounds or air-bladders,. that three-fourths of a pound of dried sounds
may be obtained from a bushel of trout, and as sounds sell at a price ranging from 75 cents to $1
per pound, it is evident that the cost of the fish to the farmer is merely nominal, since he rarely
pays more than 50 cents a bushel for the fish.

Having secured enough fish to last through the year, the farmer packs them on his cart and
hauls them away to his home. In addition to the trout that are sold in the manner above described,
many are disposed of to peddlers who resort to the fishing stations to purchase their supplies,
which they hawk about through the villages and adjacent farming districts.

Mr. Samuel Wyatt, of Bowers' Beach, says: "In the spring the fishermen sell their catch of
trout to farmers from the interior towns, who, after buying their fish, dress and salt them for their
own use. There are also twelve peddlers who buy trout and hawk them about the villages and
farming districts. The average price for which the fish are sold is 40 cents per bushel."

It is estimated by a number of the most intelligent observers at the fishing stations that about
three-fourths of the catch of trout is sold in a fresu condition to the farmers, and it is said that
this species of fish constitutes an important part of the food supply of the rural population of
Delaware. A comparatively small amount of trout is shipped to Philadelphia and other large
towns, and a considerable percentage of the fish which are not sold in a fresh condition to the
farmers and peddlers are salted by the fishermen and retailed to the country trade during the fall
and winter. According to Mr. Tomlinson, 60 per cent, of the trout taken by the Dover fishermen
are salted and disposed of in this manner at prices averaging $6 per barrel. Those that are sent
away are generally packed in boxes with ice. In some of the larger villages ice is put up in winter
if any can be obtained. At Milford, Mr. J. Lowry has two ice-houses, with a capacity of 1,000 tons
each. In 1879 50 tons were sold to fishermen and fish peddlers, but in 1880 no ice was obtained.

Mr. Van Burkalow says nine-tenths of the trout are sold to farmers and peddlers, mostly in a
fresh condition, and one-tenth shipped to Philadelphia.

Mr. J. A. Marshall, of Lewes, estimates the catch of trout by the fishermen of that place at
250,000 pounds for 1880. Of this amount, he says three-fourths are sold fresh to peddlers and
farmers, and one fourth salted by the fishermen, being afterwards sold to residents of the interior
towns.

He also tells us that the men employed on the railroad at Lewes buy a good many fish, which
they sell at the towns along the route. The price received for the fish is variously stated to be
from 25 to CO cents a bushel for those which are sold in a "lump" to farmers; but for such as are
retailed by the fishermen themselves in the villages near the fishing grounds, the price is frequently
4 or 5 cents a pound.

FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. 538

5. FINANCIAL PROFITS AND SHARE.

As a rule, large seines are owned by the merchants of the different towns and by the wealthy
farmers, but in some cases belong to the captains of the fishing gangs. The crews are shipped
to manage these seines and receive a certain share of the profits, which vary considerably in the
different localities, and also with the size of the seine. Mr. Van Burkalow tells us that the largest
seines used at Kitt's Hammock and Bowers' Beach draw 40 per cent, of the gross proceeds. Accord-
ing to Messrs. Samuel Bethards and J. W. Sparry, oTFrederica, one-half of the proceeds of the catch
goes to the boat, seine, and captain of the seine gang, while the remainder is divided among the rest
of the meu, who, from the amount thus received, provide themselves with food. The average share
of a man engaged in seine-fishing for trout for the four weeks between the middle of May and the
15th of June is $32. The average stock of one of the large seines at Kitt's Hammock and Bowers'
Beach, during the trout season, is about $500, according to Mr. Van Burkalow ; though we are told
by Mr. Wyatt, who is engaged in fishing with a seine at Bowers' Beach, that the average stock of a
seine is $800, of which the net draws two-fifths, and the remainder is divided among the captain
and crew, who "find" themselves. There is usually no rule for the division of the catch of the
smaller nets, since the men fishing with them share the proceeds equally, though in most cases a
certain percentage is paid for the use of the net. At Milton the seine draws an equal share with
the men; that is, if there is a crew of four men, the usual number fishing with a net, the owner
of the latter, who is usually the captain of the gang, receives for its use one-fifth of the proceeds
of the catch. Mr. A. Hill, at Milford Neck, informs us that the fishermen rarely make more than
$18 in the four weeks during which they are employed in trout fishing, and thinks they have not
exceeded that for the past ten years. This estimate, however, is so much smaller than that of the
men actually employed in the fisheries that it is altogether probable it is far below the actual facts.

2.— THE SPOT FISHERY.

The second sea fishery in importance in Delaware is that for the capture of spot (Liostomus
xanthurua), which are found along the entire coast-line from Dover to the southern limit of the
State, though in some localities they are rarely taken. Mr. Van Burkalow, of Magnolia,
states that spot have occasionally been caught as high up Delaware Bay as Kitt's Hammock,
though never do they appear there in abundance, nor are they found at all plenty anywhere
in the waters bordering the bay shore above Slaughter Beach. The fishermen of Milford,
Milton, and Lewes engage in this fishery to a considerable extent from the first of August
until the last of September, and, in some instances, we are assured that small numbers of this fish
have been caught at Lewes even as late as the 10th of November. Farther south the spot are, as
a rule, taken incidentally in the apparatus which is set in those waters for other species. An
exception, however, may be made of the spot fishery of Ocean View, which, next to Lewes and
Milton, has the largest catch of any town in the State. This place is favorably situated for the
capture of this fish, which appears to be quite abundant from July to November in the lower part
of Indian River. Though no systematic fishing is carried on at this season, there are still a num-
ber of meu who go out with haul-seines once or twice a week, and nearly all the residents of the
town find time for more or less fishing.

534 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

It has already been stated that spot occur in greater or less numbers along the Delaware coast
from Kitt's Hammock to the southern limit of the State, but the fishing grounds proper for this
species may be confined to narrower limits. Slaughter Beach, the beach at Lewes, the waters of
Rehoboth Bay, Indian River and Bay, and the Isle of Wight Bay, may be said to constitute the
fishing grounds where spot are taken by the residents of Delaware, though it may be here men-
tioned that the fishermen living in the southern part of the State sometimes go farther south, to
Sinnepuxent Bay, or even, perhaps, to Assateague Bay. The fishing grounds north of Cape Hen-
lopen have already been described in the discussion of the trout fishery. It needs, therefore,
only to add here that south of Cape Henlopeu the Delaware coast is composed of low, narrow,
sandy beaches, which inclose the shoal-water of the lagoon-like bays, the names of which have
already been given. But little fishing is done in Rehoboth Bay, though it is the largest in the
State, being about 4 miles in the direction of the shore-line, and having an average width of 3
miles. Just south of Rehoboth Bay, however, and connected with it by a channel, is Indian River
Bay, which is 6 miles long, east and west, and has an average breadth of 1 mile. A narrow inlet,
having a depth of 6 or 7 feet, connects these sheets of water with the Atlantic, and through this
opening large quantities of anadromous fishes and a somewhat smaller number of sea fish annually
pass to and from the shelter of the bays.

2. THE FISHERMEN.

The fishermen who engage in the capture of spot are generally the same men who have been
employed in the trout fishery in the spring, though the numbers are perhaps less. In the vicinity
of Lewes and Milton a considerable portion of the men are professional fishermen. This is espec-
ially the case at Lewes, while at Milton, we are told by Mr. J. D. Morris, that of the forty men
engaged more or less regularly in catching spot at Slaughter Beach one-half of them are farmers, who
fish only for their own use, as a rule, selling any surplus they may obtaiu, while the remainder of the
men fish rather irregularly, being employed alternately in fishing and other pursuits. The summer
fishermen, south of Cape Henlopen, are usually semi-professional, or farmers, the latter fishing, as a
general thing, only to obtain a supply for their own tables, while the former carry on their work in a
somewhat erratic manner, engaging in fishing once or twice a week, or perhaps for one or two
weeks in succession, and then being occupied the remainder of their time in other employments.
According to Mr. William J. Parkhurst, of Dagsborough, all of the fishermen of that place engage
in fishing at " odd jobs " during the summer, catching trout, spot, and other less common species,
which they peddle through the towns in the immediate vicinity. We are told by Mr. H. H. Hick-
man, of Roxanna, that many of the farmers of that town own small "wade-seines," and that when-
ever they have time in the summer they go down to Indian River and catch some fish for their own
use. If, however, they succeed in getting more than they need for themselves they load the sur-
plus on a team and peddle it through the rural districts. Although there is a considerable quan-
tity of fish taken in this manner by the twenty-eight men from Roxanna, who are thus occasionally
employed, nevertheless they can hardly be considered as fishermen in the strict sense of the term,
especially spot fishermen, since we are told that the latter species is not taken by them in large
quantities, but rather incidentally with other fish in gill-nets and wade-seines. The same may be
said of spot fishing at Williamsville, in the lower part of the State; a few are taken during the
summer by the fishermen wlio follow gill notti-ng, and who are generally such men as depend
wholly on fishing.

FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWAKE. 535

3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

THE BOATS. — The boats used in the spot fishery are essentially the same as those used in the
trout and other fisheries of the State, being almost wholly of the flat-bottomed sharpie pattern,
varying in length from 12 to 20 feet, and almost without exception propelled by oars alone. These
boats are simple in construction, and are usually built by the fishermen themselves at little cost.

SEINES AND NETS. — Wade-seipes, varying in length from 16 to 25 fathoms, are used by the
farmer-fishermen of Milford for the capture of spot. - The haul seines used at Millsborough, and
in which spot are taken in connection with various other kinds of fish, range in length from 45
to 75 fathoms, are 12 feet deep in the bunt and 8 feet deep at the wings, and have a 2£-inch mesh.
The average length is about 50 fathoms, and the average value of nets in use — estimated by Mr.
G. W. Johnson, of Millsborough — about $30 each. The largest seines used at Ocean View for the
capture of spot and other fish are from 40 to 50 fathoms in length, while the wade-seines are from
15 to 20 fathoms long, 5 feet deep, and 2-inch mesh. The nets used for the capture of spot at
Slaughter Beach by the Milton fishermen average 15 fathoms in length and 50 meshes deep, the
mesh being 2f inches stretch -measure. We are told by Mr. J. A. Marshall, of Lewes, that during
the season in which the fishery is carried on, there are in use at the Beach 250 gill-nets. These,
as a rule, are about 15 or 16 fathoms long when hung, though a few of them are 20 fathoms
long. The depth varies from 35 to 50 meshes, the latter being 2£ inches. The average cost of
these is about $3. Mr. C. T. Burton, of Lewes, says : "We use white Northern pine floats on the
spot gill-nets, these being placed 6 feet apart on the cork-line ; the lead sinkers, which are at-
tached to the foot of the nets, average 1 ounce in weight, and are placed 16 inches apart." The
spot fishermen use two nets at a time, but they usually have four nets or more during a season, as
one "fleet" of two nets will last only about a month.

The nets are injured very much at Lewes by crabs during the month of August. These crus-
taceans, known locally as the "cushion crabs," are very abundant at that season, and frequently
become so badly entangled in the fine twine of which the nets are composed that the latter are
often badly damaged and torn in the process of removing the crabs. The fishermen of Blackstoue
use gill-nets ranging from 15 to 40 fathoms in length, 4 feet deep, and a mesh of 3 inches. Vari-
ous species of fish are taken in these, among which is the spot. The gill-nets in use at Williams-
ville for the capture of the various species of fish taken in that locality, among which a small
quantity of spot are found, are 25 fathoms long, from 3 to 6 feet deep, and have a mesh varying
from 3 to 6 inches; only the smaller-meshed nets are used in summer, principally for the capture
of mullet and spot.

METHODS OF FISHING. — The methods of fishing with gill-nets for spot at Lewes and Slaughter
Beach, 4^ miles farther up the Delaware Bay, are quite novel, and so far as we have been able to
learn are not practiced in any other part of the United States. At Slaughter Beach stakes are
driven into the muddy bottom of the bay at a distance of about 65 to 70 yards from low-water
mark ; these stakes being long enough so that their tops are above water even at high tide. To
the upper end of each stake is fastened a single block through which is rove a line, the ends of
the latter being bent together so that it will not uureeve. When the fisherman desires to set his
net he bends one end of this line to the outer end of the apparatus and the other end of the rope
is made fast to the opposite end of the net. By pulling on the rope the net is hauled out from the
shore into the water until it reaches the stake, and the line now being hauled taut and fastened
the net remains secure and straight in its proper place. When the fisherman desires to take the
net on shore he simply slackens away on one part of the rope and hauls in on the other, thus

536 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

dragging the net to the beach and with it whatever fish may have been caught in its meshes. As
soon as one net is taken in another is hauled out to take its place, unless, indeed, owing to the
presence of daylight or other causes, it should not be necessary to continue fishing any longer.
The same result is arrived at in a different manner by the fishermen at Lewes, who make use of
an anchor instead of a stake for fastening their block to, but who haul their nets to and from
the beach iu precisely the same manner as here described. According to Mr. Morris, of Milton,
the men fishing at Slaughter Beach with gill-nets join together in gangs of two for mutual help.
When fish are abundant one of the men spends a considerable portion of his time in peddling the
catch, which he carries iu a wagon to the rural districts and villages, while the other man stays at
the beach to prosecute the fishery, which he carries on night and day if circumstances are favor-
able, though, generally speaking, but little is done in the daytime. The nets are set on the fall of
the tide, being put out three times before low water, on an average, but if fish are plentiful they
are sometimes set as many as four times; if a scarcity of fish prevails, not more than once. The
spot during its season is the principal fish taken, though at the same time bluefish, perch, aud
several other varieties of fish are caught, but usually in small quantities. At Lewes the fishermen
generally form themselves into parties of four or five for mutual assistance. During the night
they will go back and forth along the beach, from station to station, hauling in regular rotation the
nets of each one of their number. When the net at one station has been drawn ashore, another
set in its place, and the fish removed from the first and cared for, the men then move on a short
distance to the next fishing berth, where the operation is repeated. When there is good fishing, and
it is possible to do so, the nets are hauled every half hour or thereabouts. It frequently happens,
however, during the month of August, that large numbers of crabs get entangled in the meshes
of the nets, compelling the fishermen to spend hours in clearing these crustaceans from the fine
twine, which is often much injured during the operations.

According to Mr. 0. T. Burton, the best results are obtained immediately after easterly winds,
which usually disturb the water sufficiently to make it thick and turbid with mud and sand; when
it is in this condition the fish can be more easily captured than at other times. The fishery with gill-
nets is carried on even when there is a strong wind and considerable surf on the beach. The nets
are set chiefly at night ; the first of the ebb tide being a favorable time for putting them out.
The fishermen, having no camps or shelter of any account on the beach, when not busy in hauling
and setting their apparatus, generally build a fire on the sand and lie down beside it. When the
tides are not favorable for fishing or when the fish are scarce, the fishermen sleep by their fires,
awakening whenever the proper time arrives for prosecuting their labors to advantage. Each man
is provided with two nets for the '-'fleet," one of which is set in the water while the other remains
on the shore to take its place at the proper time.

Some seven or eight of the Lewes fishermen, after spending the night in fishing for spot on
the beach, frequently go to the breakwater and other parts of the bay where they catch blackfisli,
sheepshead, trout, and occasionally bluefish, with hook and line. For these fish they usually
obtain a high price. South of Cape Henlopen the common method of setting gill-nets for spot and
other species of fish is to " stake them out" ; that is, to fasten them between stakes which have been
driven into the muddy bottom of the bays and rivers. The nets are usually separated 15 to 25
fathoms from each other, and are set parallel to the course of the stream or current. They are
overhauled each morning and the fish removed, though they may be left for days or weeks together
to continue fishing. Excepting at Lewes and Slaughter Beach this style of setting gill-nets is
quite general throughout the lower part of Delaware, from Dover down to Fenwick's Island.
Nearly the same result has been obtained, so far as fastening the net is concerned, by the method
adopted by the spot fishermen, though the details of handling the net differ very radically.

FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWAEE. 537

The method of setting the haul-seines in Indian Eiver and Bay is as follows : The eud of the
first line, the "land rope," is left with one man on the shore and run out its entire length by the
men in the boat, two of whom pull away with the oars, the other one paying away on the rope,
which is from 150 to 200 fathoms in length. After the line is out the seine is set in a semicircle up
or down the stream or bay as the tide happens to run; the last end of the seine being always
carried out somewhat farther from the land than the end first set. The net being out, the "water
line" is then run to the shore and the men divide themselves up, two pulling away on the "land-
rope" and two on the " water-line." After the ends«f the seine have been drawn to the shore, two
men take hold of the lead-line and two others pull in on the cork -rope. The net is then gathered
in slowly, the foot-rope being hauled in more rapidly than the cork-line; hence when it reaches
the dry beach the fish are finally turned out on the sand. The fish are rarely if ever seen before
the seine is set, the fishermen putting their apparatus where they think the best results may be
obtained. The wade-seines are set in precisely the same manner as has been described in the
notes on the trout fishery.

4. DISPOSITION OF THE OATCH.

The fishermen of Milford occasionally take the spot, principally for their own use, but when
a larger quantity than they need is caught they peddle them through the villages and rural dis-
tricts in their immediate vicinity. The fishermen of Milton, who engage regularly in the spot fish-
ery, as has been stated in another paragraph, form themselves into gangs of two each, one of
these men making a specialty of peddling the fish which are caught by his partner. In this way
two-thirds of the fish taken are sold in a fresh condition, while one-third is'salted. According to Mr.
Morris, the average price of the fresh fish at Milton is two cents per pound, while those which are
salted bring $10 per barrel. All of the latter are sold to the country trade. It takes about
600 of these fish to make a barrel when they are salted. They are dressed in much the same
manner as our common mackerel, being first split and then soaked in water for a considerable
length of time until all the blood is removed, after which they are salted. At Lewes, Mr. Burton
tells us, the fishermen take their catch to the village in the morning and peddle the fish out during
the day, selling as many of the fresh ones as they can. When they get a surplus and cannot sell
them fresh, the fish are salted down. Mr. Marshall, of Lewes, estimates that one-third of the catch
at that place is shipped in a fresh condition to New York and Philadelphia, one-sixth sold fresh
at Lewes and adjacent towns, and one-half salted and sold to the country trade. He gives the
average price as eight cents per pound. The spot which are taken iu the towns south of Cape
Henlopen are either consumed by those who take them or are sold to the residents of the region
near which they are caught. A small quantity are sold to the summer residents at Rehoboth
Beach. The chief part of those which are peddled are disposed of in a fresh condition, but most
fishermen and farmers salt down a quantity sufficient for their own use, which may vary from one
and one-half to three or four barrels.

5. FINANCIAL PROFITS AND LAY.

The financial profits of the fishermen engaged in the spot fishery are difficult to determine,
since the capture of the different species is so interwoven with each other that no reliable or accu-
rate data could be obtained. We are told by Mr. Marshall that the average yearly stock of the
professional fishermen at Lewes is about $175, and that of a man fishing at "odd jobs" would aver-
age about $50. It is perhaps safe to say that one half or one-third of this amount would be earned
in the spot fishery. As the fishermen own their nets, that is, those who use only gill-nets in

538 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

this fishery, they, of course, receive all the money which their fish may bring; therefore there would
be no "lay" in the matter. Those, however, who employ seines, as some of the men do in Indian
River and Bay, go on a lay something similar to those who engage in the trout fishery. In this
case the seines are generally owned by merchants or by one of the fishermen, and the owner
receives one-fifth of the proceeds for its use.

3.— THE ROOK AND PERCH FISHERY.

1. GENERAL REVIEW.

The fishery for rock and perch in Delaware, between Dover and the southern limit of the
State, though unimportant in comparison with the great commercial fisheries of the other sections
of the country, is, nevertheless, one of considerable consequence to the residents of this region,
since this fishery is carried on almost wholly in the winter season, when the men who engage in it
would otherwise be unemployed.

In former times, both rock and perch were much more abundant than at present; and above
all, the fishermen, while agreeing in a general statement as to the abundance of fish in other days,
look forward to the future with considerable apprehension, predicting a still greater decrease in
the number of the fish than has already taken place.

Mr. G. W. Johnson, of Millsborough, says that about 1840 the fishermen used to haul large
quantities of rock and perch in their drag-seines, frequently getting more than they could possibly
find sale for. In such cases pens were built of pine logs on the banks of the river, in which the
fish were kept alive until they could be sold. When a purchaser could be found, the fish were
disposed of for any price that could be obtained. He also says that, about the year 1860, he has
seen 7,000 pounds of these fish taken at one haul of the seine, the net being of the same size as
those now in use by the fishermen at Indian River. The average winter's catch for a gang of four
men, at that time, he thinks, would have been about 20,000 pounds.

Mr. E. W. Houston, also of Millsborough, states that there has been a decided decrease iu the
abundance of rock and perch in Indian River. In the winter of 1868 he knew of a catch of 20,000
pounds of these fish being made in one day.

Mr. Johnson tells us that weirs were formerly used to some extent on Indian River, for several
years previous to 1873, but since that time there have been none built. These were made by
weaving oak splints through stakes, forming a sort of basket-work when completed ; the stakes
were driven into the mud, thus forming a weir. These weirs were placed in about 6 feet of water at
their outer ends, and the fish caught in them — among which perch and rock formed a considerable
part — were taken out with a dip-net.

The catch of rockfish from Dover to Williamsville, in 1880, was 147,000 pounds, this amount
being pretty evenly divided between the section bordering Delaware Bay from Dover to Cape Hen-
lopen and that situated south of the cape between the latter and the boundary of the State. The
total catch of perch in this region was 326,500 pounds, and of this quantity there was little differ-
ence in the catch between the two sections named above, there being, however, a few more taken
south of Cape Henlopen than north of it. With the exception of Dover, the catch of rock and
perch north of Cape Henlopen is comparatively small, these fish being taken incidentally in the
seines and nets, which are also used principally for the capture of other species.

FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. 539

The season at which these fish are most abundant is from November to May, though there
seems to be a considerable difference in regard to this between Delaware Bay and the region south
of Cape Henlopeu.

We are told by Mr. Tomlinson, of Dover, that rock and perch are taken there chiefly in the
season from the middle of November to the 20th of March, but only few perch are caught in the
early winter.

According to Mr. Houston, of Millsborough, the season for rock and perch begins in Indian
River about the last of November and continues until the first of March, at which time, or soon
after, herring " strike in," and the fishermen turn their attention to their capture. He says that
rock and perch can be caught only during the most severe winter weather, at which time they move
in bodies up the rivers and creeks; and, in consequence, the fishermen take them in considerable
quantities.

Mr. D. B. Wilson, of Magnolia, says that perch come about the first of November and "school
up" the creeks as soon as the weather gets cold.

2. FISHING GROUNDS AND FISHERMEN.

FISHING GROUNDS. — The fishing grounds for rock and perch are along the shores of Delaware
Bay and the numerous streams emptying into the same below Dover, the waters of Rehoboth Bay,
Indian River and Bay, and Isle of Wight Bay.

THE FISHERMEN. — As a rule, the majority of the fishermen are semi-professional, men who
are employed in agricultural pursuits during the greater portion of the year, and who find time in
the winter season to engage in this fishery. One authority tells us that the fishermen are nearly
all farmers, who are engaged but very little in fishing during the spring and summer, simply to
obtain a supply for their own use, but in winter they are more steadily employed in catching rock
and perch, and also herring in the early spring. Mr. D. B. Wilson, of Magnolia, says that when
there is a good prospect for catching fish the farmers go out on the river with their seines and nets,
which they set as circumstances may determine. At other times they are idle or employed in
working on their farms.

Five professional fishermen from Lewes go to Rehoboth Beach in the winter and fish in Reho-
both Bay for rock and perch, as well as eels, shipping the entire catch to New York.

3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF FISHING.

BOATS. — The boats — of the ordinary flat-bottomed type — employed in the rock and perch
fishery are the same as those which have been mentioned in the preceding chapters.

NETS AND SEINES. — The nets and seines in which rock and perch are taken having been fully
described in the notes on the fisheries for spot and trout, it seems unnecessary to repeat the
description here. It need only be said that rock and perch are taken in the same apparatus that
is used for the capture of various species of fish which frequent this region.

METHODS OF FISHING. — The methods of setting and hauling the seines described in the notes
on the trout and spot fisheries are essentially, in almost all cases, the same as are practiced in
fishing for rock and perch. There seems, however, to be sometimes a slight difference made when
the fish are found in narrow streams. In such cases the seine is stretched across the creek, from
bank to bank, one end being somewhat farther up the river than the other; the ends of the net
are then fastened to stakes on the banks of the river, and the fishermen go up stream, " whip-
ping the fish" down by splashing with oars, and using other means of frightening them. When
they have succeeded in driving the fish down against tho seine the end farthest np stream is

540

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

loosened from the stake and carried to the opposite bank, and whatever fish have been inclosed
are hauled to the shore.

The almost invariable rule for setting gill-nets has also been described in the notes on the
spot fishery. When setting the seines it rarely, if ever, happens that the fishermen see the fish
schooling. Long experience has taught them where and when it will be most desirable to use
their apparatus. It frequently happens, therefore, that they make " water-hauls," but at the same
time they are liable to obtain a considerable capture.

4. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

North of Cape Henlopen a large percentage of the rock and perch taken are gold locally or
disposed of by peddlers, or by the fishermen themselves to the inhabitants of the interior towns ;
the remainder is shipped to Philadelphia and New York. In the region south of Cape Henlopeu,
however, the reverse is the case, a large percentage being shipped to the city markets. A t Mills-
borough, Williamsville, and some of the other towns, the catch is bought up by local dealers, who
pack the fish iu boxes, and send them away by rail to their agents and commission merchants in
New York and Philadelphia.

Mr. E. W.Houston, of Millsborough, in 1880, handled 2,000 (?) pounds of rockfish, and 1,000
pounds of perch ; all of which he shipped by rail.

Through the kindness of Mr. Custis Burton, the railroad agent and express agent at Mills-
borough, we have been enabled to state the exact amount of fish sent from that station for the dif-
ferent months, from December 1, 1879, to December 1, 1880 :

Dates of shipment.

Pounds.

December, 1879

5,715

January 1880 . ...

4 075

4 130

March, 1880

5,755

AprU 1880

8,020

October 1880

176

November, 1880

9,137

Total

37 007

The first shipment in the fall of 1880 was made October 28. The fish thus sent to market are
rock, perch, herring, and eels. From October to March they were nearly all rock and perch, and
in March and April mostly herring. No shipments of any kind of fish are made from April to
October, as a rule. Sometimes the people send a small lot by express to their friends in the cities
and towns along the line of the railroad, but none go to the markets. The shipments in winter are
pretty equally divided between Philadelphia and New York, and a smaller amount goes to Wil-
mington and Chester.

4.— THE STURGEON FISHERY OF DELAWARE BAY.

1. STURGEON FISHERY AT BOWERS' BEACH.

According to Mr. Samuel Wyatt, a resident of Bowers' Beach, there is no one engaged
in fishing for sturgeon from that place. There are, however, during the month of April twelve or
fifteen vessels, ranging from 16 to 20 tons each, employed in the sturgeon fishery in that locality.

FISHERIES OF SOUTHERN DELAWARE. 541

Five of these vessels, he says, belong to Philadelphia, four to Chester, and two to Penn's Grove.
The hailing ports of the others are not known.

The sturgeon fishery off Bowers' Beach usually begins about the 1st of April, and continues
until May, after which the vessels move farther up the bay. Each one of these vessels carries a
crew of about six men, who, as a rule, live on board of their crafts, although some of them live in
rough cabins built on the shore. The fishery is carried on wholly with gill-nets, which are set out
in the bay across the tide, and allowed to drift with the current up and down the stream, as seems
most desirable.

The average catch, Mr. Wyatt thinks, is about 1,000 fish to a vessel for the month of April.
These are dressed, iced in boxes, and shipped in boats to Philadelphia, or sent across to Bayside,
in New Jersey, where they are shipped by rail to New York. The roe is prepared on the vessels.

PA.ET VIII.

THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHERY.

By R. EDWARD EARLL.

1. The fishing grounds.

2. Apparatus and methods of capture.

3. Fishing season for the different localities.

4. Disposition of the catch.

5. Statistics of the fishery.

543

THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHERY.
By R. EDWARD BAELL.

1. THE FISHING GROUNDS.

Spanish mackerel may be taken with trolling-hooks along almost any portion of the Atlantic
coast between Key West, Florida, and Long Island, New York ; but as this method of fishing is
practically restricted to a few localities the troll-line catch is quite unimportant. Enough are
caught, however, to show that the species occurs, and to indicate that the fishing grounds may be
considerably extended in the future.

Professor Goode states, upon the authority of Thaddeus Norris, that in the Gulf of Mexico
they are sometimes taken by means of hook and line with shrimp bait, at the ends of the long piers
where the steamboats land in going from Mobile to New Orleans, and that they are so abundant
on the Gulf coast of Florida, as to be shipped in considerable numbers from Cedar Keys. Since
the statement by Mr. Norris, a careful study of the fisheries of the Gulf has been made by Mr.
Silas Stearns, of Pensacola, Fla., under the direction of the United States Fish Commission and
the Census Office. The reports forwarded by him lead us to believe that, whatever may have been
the catch of the past, that of 1880 was so small as to be of little commercial importance, though
this is perhaps due te a lack of suitable apparatus of capture rather than to any scarcity of the
mackerel.

Off the eastern coast of Florida a few are lauded by a smack fishing for the Savannah market.
Off Charleston small numbers are secured by the crews of the vessels employed in the blackfish
fishery, who claim to see occasional schools of mackerel, and think that in case they should make a
practice of fishing for them considerable quantities could be secured.

On the" North Carolina coast there are no summer vessel fisheries, and but few boats fish along
the outer shore, none using methods suited to catching the mackerel. Parties fishing with seines
along the inner bays caught few of these fish prior to 1879. During this season they are said to
have been quite plenty for a short time, and many were taken by the fishermen, who, being unac-
quainted with the species, did not recognize its value, and, instead of saving their mackerel, threw
the greater part of them away. Some, however, were taken to Wilmington, but the dealers refused
to purchase them, thinking them to be a species of horse mackerel, which they supposed to be ot
little value for food.

Chesapeake Bay has by far the most extensive fishery for Spanish mackerel in the United
States ; the other fisheries, in order of importance, being those of Sandy Hook, Southern Long
Island, and Narragansett Bay. Few are taken on the southern coast of New Jersey, as little

fishing is done along the outer shore. Some are, however, secured by the vessels trolling in the
SEC v 35 545

546 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

vicinity of Barnegat lulet, and the menhaden fishermen of Tuckerton occasionally catch them iii
their purse-seines.

The commercial fishery is of recent origin, and it is only within the past few years that any
considerable quantities have been taken for market. The fishery practically began off the New
Jersey coast in 1873, and the mackerel were first extensively taken in Chesapeake Bay in 1875.
This fact has little or no significance in its bearing upon the abundance of the fish, for the increased
catch is almost wholly accounted for in both localities by the change in the methods of fishing.

2. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CAPTURE.

Three kinds of apparatus are used in the Spanish mackerel fishery, namely, the troll-line, the
gill-net, and the pound-net. The troll-line is more extensively employed otf the Long Island coast
and along the shores of Northern New Jersey than in any other locality. It was introduced into
the region at an early date, and for some time was the most important method in the fishery. It
has been less extensively used during the past ten years, and is now chiefly employed by parties
fishing several miles from the shore. Large open boats and small sloops, carrying from two to five
men each, are used for trolling. The trolling-hooks, or "squids," as they are frequently called,
differ greatly. Some are made of bright metals in the form of a fish, while others more nearly
resemble the body of a squid, these being usually painted in brilliant colors. The number of hooks
varies from one to three according to the kind of squid used. In the absence of a manufactured
squid the fishermen frequently improvise very good ones by attaching a piece of red or white cloth
to ordinary fish-hooks. In fishing, the hooks are attached to lines several fathoms in length, four
or five of these being towed behind the boat, which spreads enough canvas to drag them through
the water at a speed of two to four miles per hour. The fishermen are often successful in catching
large numbers of mackerel in this way.

At Sandy Hook gill-nets were first employed in the capture of mackerel in 1866, but being
"set taut," they were not very successful, the fish usually detecting their presence and refusing to
enter them. When it was found that, although abundant, the fish did not gill readily, schools of
them were often surrounded by the nets, after which the fishermen attempted to frighten them
into the meshes by splashing with oars in the center of the circle. The majority, however, would
pass under the lead-lines, or jump over the cork-lines, and escape, so that comparatively few were
taken. Still the nets continued to be used with varying success, though the bulk of the catch was
taken by trolling. About 1872 or 1873 it was accidentally discovered that the mackerel would gill
more readily in nets set in such a way as to present sharp angles, quite a number having been
secured in a net that had become twisted and tangled by the currents. This fact suggested a
change in the manner of setting, and various experiments were made by the fishermen of Seabright
with good results. The first "sets" were somewhat crude, but experience enabled the fishermen to
improve upon them from year to year.

The figures in the accompanying illustration represent the principal methods of setting the
gill nets for the capture of Spanish mackerel off Sandy Hook from I860 to the present time. Fig.
1 shows the first method, locally known as the " straight-set." The other figures represent, in their
order, the more important methods that have since been introduced. At the present time the nets
are set in pairs, and the three "sets" shown in Figs. (>, 7, and 8 are most commonly employed.

These are locally known as the "square set," "T-set," and "harpoon-set," the names describing,
to a certain extent, the shape of the nets as they appear in the water. In the square-set, Fig. 6,
one of the nets is placed perpendicular to the shore to form a leader, while the other is set in
the form of a square at the outer end, openings of 3 or 4 feet being left on either side of the

THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHERY. 547

leader to allow the fish to cuter. The T-set, shown in Fig. 7, somewhat resembles the oue
already described, the chief difference being that the ends of the outer net, instead of being bent
at right angles, are turned inward to form a triangle at the outer extremity of the leader. In
the third set, Fig. 8, the two nets are so arranged as to form a harpoon, from which the set takes
its name.

The gill-nets of this region are worth from $90 to $100 apiece. They are about 100 fathoms
long and 100 meshes deep, the size of the mosh varying from 3i to 4 inches. The men fish in
" gangs," one net being owned by the crew of each_boat. The nets are set on the best fishing
grounds at daybreak, and are left for several hours, while their owners fish with hand-lines in the
vicinity. The catch is divided equally, the share for a single net being sometimes as high as $1,000
for a season, which lasts from six weeks to two months.

Gill nets were introduced into the Spanish mackerel fisheries of Chesapeake Bay in 1877, and
proving fairly successful, they soon came into general favor among the fishermen of the Eastern
Shore, though they are even now seldom employed by those living on the opposite side. There
are at present about one hundred and seventy-five men engaged in "gilling" for mackerel between
Crisfield, Md., and Occohannock Creek, which is 30 or 40 miles from the capes. The nets were at
first set only in the night, but during 1880 the fishermen of Tangier Island obtained the best results
by fishing from the middle of the afternoon until midnight. The nets range from 75 to 100 fathoms
in length, and have a similar mesh to those already mentioned. The catch varies considerably, as
many as 500 mackerel having been taken at one set, though the average is only 20 to 40 to the net.

The pound net is now the principal apparatus for the capture of mackerel in all localities where
the fishery is extensively prosecuted. According to Mr. R. B. Chalker, of Saybrook, Conn., pound-
nets were first, used in the fisheries of New England at Westbrook, Conn., in 1849, and from that
locality they spread rapidly to other portions of the coast. They were first introduced at Sandy
Hook, N. J., by Mr. George Snediker, of Gravesend, Long Island, about. 1855. Mr. Snediker has
probably done more to develop the pound-net fisheries of the United States than any other man in
the country. It was from him that the fishermen of New Jersey, as well as those of Chesapeake
and Delaware Bays, obtained their first idea of pound-nets, he being the first to introduce them
into the fisheries of each of these regions. He has also engaged in the pound-net fisheries of
Albemarle Sound, though he cannot claim the credit of introducing the net into those waters.

The first pounds fished in New Jersey were very small, and, being placed along the inner shore
of Sandy Hook, they were hardly a success, as the fish are much less abundant there than
along the outer shore. The same style of pounds were, however, fished with varying success until
about 1873, when larger ones were placed along the ocean shore ; and then, for the first time, their
importance in connection with the Spanish mackerel fishery was discovered. The majority of the
mackerel secured about Sandy Hook are now taken in this way. One hundred fish in number was
considered an average daily catch for the fishing season of 1879, and 100 to 140 for 1880, though
much larger catches were occasionally secured. The best day's fishing for a pound-net in that
locality occurred in the summer of 1879, when Mr. Robert Potter took 3,500 pounds, valued at
$700, at a single lift,

An effort was made as early as 1858 by Captain Henry Fitzgerald to introduce the pound-
net into the waters of Chesapeake Bay, but his net was not properly constructed, and was so unsuc-
cessful that it was soon taken up. No other attempt was made to fish with pound-nets in this
region until about 1870, when Mr. Suediker and Charles Doughty, of Fairhaven, N. J., came to
the region, and located on the banks of the James River a few miles' above its mouth. They
fished chiefly for shad and alewives, continuing their work for about three years, after which they

548 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

disposed of their property and returned to the North. In 1875 Mr. Snediker went to New
Point, Va., and built a large pound in the waters of Mobjack Bay for the capture of shad and
other species. The fishermen of the neighborhood, being wholly unacquainted with the pound-
net, were very jealous of the stranger that came among them with such destructive apparatus.
They watched Mr. Snediker's movements closely for several weeks, and, after seeing the enormous
quantities of fish taken by him, at once informed him that he must take his " traps" and leave
the country. Refusing to comply with their demands, a number of them sawed off the stakes of
the pound eveu with the water and carried the netting to the shore, assuring Mr. Snediker that if
he attempted to put it down again they would destroy it. Seeing it was useless to continue the
fishery here, he decided to seek some more favorable locality. Before leaving he sold the stakes
that remained in the water to a resident fisherman, who obtained from them a pattern of the pound,
and in a short time had one properly arranged for fishing. This was also destroyed by the fisher-
men, but not until enough had been learned to convince them that pound-nets could be used with
great profit, and within a year from that time 12 pounds were fished in Mobjack Bay. In 1879
the number had been more than doubled, and on our visit to the region in 1880 we found that
every available site was taken up, and often three, or eveu four, nets were placed in line, the
leader of one being attached to the outer end of another, for the purpose both of economizing
space and of securing the fish that chanced to be passing at a distance from the shore.

Mr. Snediker, on leaving New Point, proceeded to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, and
associated with himself one of the most popular fishermen of the region, hoping in this way to
prevent any organized opposition on the part of the resident fishermen against the use of the
pound. By this means he was successful in avoiding any open hostilities, and it was not long before
others became interested in the use of pounds. Though the pound-net was introduced into the
Chesapeake against the prejudice of the fishermen, it has entirely revolutionized the fisheries of
Virginia. Prior to 1870 the fisheries of the region were of little importance, the business being
largely in the hands of the farmers, who fished with hand-lines and drag-seines for a few weeks in
the spring and fall, their chief object being to secure a supply of fish for themselves and their
neighbors ; while to-day the Chesapeake is the center of one of the most important shore fisheries
in the United States. The pound-net has not only more than doubled the catch of ordinary fishes,
but it has brought to the notice of the fishermen many valuable species that were previously
almost unknown to them, the most important of these being the Spanish mackerel. In 1880 162
pounds were fished in Virginia waters, with two others located at Crisfield, Md.. just above the
Virginia line.

As the pound-net is such an important apparatus in the Spanish mackerel fishery, a brief
description will not be out of place. In the accompanying diagram, Fig. 9 represents the particular
kind of net used on the shores of Northampton County, Virginia. All pounds are constructed on a
similar principle, though they differ considerably in size and shape in different States. Few are
provided with pockets, and many have only one heart.

The leader and hearts are vertical walls of netting, extending from the surface to the bottom,
and simply answer the purpose of directing the fish into the pound, which has not only sides, but
also has a bottom made of netting, there being but one opening (A B) through which the fish can
enter or escape. This opening is rectangular in shape, it is about 3 feet wide, and extends from
top to bottom, the netting being so arranged that the aperture can be entirely closed before the
pound is lifted. The poles M, N, A, 0, D, &c., to which the netting is attached, are from 4 to 8
inches in diameter, each being driven from 5 to 8 feet into the mud or sand of the bottom by means
of a maul or pile driver.

THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHEET. 549

The hearts and bowls are placed in water 15 to 18 feet. From these the leader extends to
within a few yards of the shore. It varies greatly in length, according to the slope of the bottom,
the average being about 150 fathoms. The netting is of ordinary material, with a 3-inch stretch-
mesh. The hearts are made of stouter twine, having a mesh of 2£ inches. The opening to the
"Big Heart" is 25 feet across, while that to the " Fore Bay" is only 8 feet. The pound or bowl is
a rectangular inclosure 45 by 60 feet. The netting of which it is composed is of heavier material
than that used for either the leader or the hearts, the mesh being an inch from knot to knot. The
pocket is simply a bag of netting, 15 to 30 feet square and 6 to 8 feet deep, in which the fish are
placed when, for any reason, it is found desirable to keep them alive for some time before marketing
them. In many localities where the bottom is level or slopes very gradually two, three, or even
four pounds are placed in a line, one outside of the other, in order to intercept any fish that may
be swimming beyond the reach of the first one. The fish, striking the leader in their migrations
along the shore, at once attempt to swim around it by going into deeper water, and are naturally
lead through the hearts into the pound, their habit of moving in curves rather than by angular
turns making their escape quite difficult. If, however, the pound becomes well filled with fish
and they are allowed to remain in it for a considerable time some of them succeed in finding the
opening A B, and others soon follow them into the inner heart, from which they find less difficulty
in escaping. It is known that many fish pass out in this way, for large quantities are sometimes
seen in the pound before the hauling time arrives, which, when the net is lifted a few hours later,
are found to have made their escape. Another proof that the fish often escape from the nets is
found in the fact that nets fished twice a day will stock a third or a half more than those that are
visited but once in twenty -four hours. In properly constructed pounds, however, only a small
percentage of the fish are successful in reaching the outer waters ; for even though they may pass
out of the bowl, they are apt to be led into it again before they succeed in running the gauntlet
of both hearts.*

The pound, as described, costs about $1,000, if we include the second set of netting, which must
be used when the first is taken out to be dried and repaired. In the warm waters of this region
the netting cannot remain down more than two or three weeks without being seriously injured.

* The nets are usually fished at slackwater, as at this time they are more easily lifted. As the hour of low water
approaches, a boat with a crew of three or four men is rowed out from the shore to the pole P. One man at once unfastens
the Hue that holds the bottom of the pound to its base; after which the boat is pulled to the poles G, Q, R, F, K, E, &c.,
until a circuit of the pound has been made and the lines that hold the bottom of the net in position have been loosened.
The top of the net at C is theu lowered into the water and the boat passes over it into the pound, after which the
netting is again raised and fastened. The boat then proceeds to the mouth of the pound, and two men, by means of
ropes attached to the lead-line at the bottom of the opening A B, raise this portion of the net entirely out of the water,
placing the weighted line, which forms the lower side, over the gunwale of the boat, thus effectually cutting off all
means of escape. The men then take position in either end of the boat, and gradually raise the net toward the poles
P and C, driviug the fish around toward G and D. This work is continued in the same manner until the fish have
been driven past Q and I, when the netting is pulled up on the opposite side of the boat and the fish are thus confined
in the small basin between it and the outer side of the pound. The weighted line at the bottom of A B is now thrown
off, and the boat is gradually pulled towards the outer end, the basin growing constantly smaller until the fish are
brought into a limited space at K, when they are at once transferred to the boat by means of dip-nets. When there
is a large run of " scrap-fish," or when the catch is large, a signal is given and a flat-boat or scow is sent out from the
shore to receive the surplus. It is taken to the point K on the outside of the net, and the worthless fish are thrown
into it as fast as the marketable ones are sorted out. Frequently both boats are loaded and the fish are culled after
reaching the shore.

After the fish have been secured the netting is thrown off, and the fishermen proceed to re-set the pound, drawing
the bowl into place by means of ropes which extend from the top of the stakes through rings at their base to its
lower corners aud sides. The boat first proceeds to the opening A B, and after this has been properly secured it passes
out of the pound and visits the different stakes in their order until all the lines have been fastened. The pound is
now ready for fishing, and is left to itself until the next slackwater, while the fishermen are icing and boxing their
catch.

550 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

Three or four men are required for fishing a pound-net, though by adding one or two to the force
several nets are frequently tended by the same gang. The average stock for marketable fish
during the season for this locality is about $4,200 to the net ; the species, named in order of value,
being Spanish mackerel, tailors, trout, sheepshead, porgies, and mixed fish. If the value be
neglected and the number of individuals taken be considered, the order should be changed so as
to read : trout, tailors, mackerel, mixed fish, porgies, and sheepshead ; in addition to the refuse
fish, which are either thrown away or used for fertilizing purposes.*

On the western shore of the Chesapeake the pounds are much smaller and the catch is pro-
portionately less, while the fishing season is also different. Here the pounds are put out in time
for the run of shad, which begins early in March and continues till the last of May. After the
shad season is over many of the nets are taken up. Almost none remain down throughout the
summer, though a number are fished in the fall for trout and other species. On the eastern shore
the law allows pounds to be fished only between the 25th of June and the 1st of October, during
which time they are lifted regularly every day when the weather will permit.

3. FISHING SEASON FOR THE DIFFERENT LOCALITIES.

Owing to the enormous extent of sea-coast over which Spanish mackerel are taken and to the
variation of the fishing season with the locality, these fish may be seen in the New York markets
during a greater part of the year. According to the report of the Fulton Market dealers, their
first appearance in 1879 occurred in April, when 98 pounds were received. The quantity gradually
increased till July, during which month 114,309 pounds were handled. From this date the catch
fell ofi' rapidly until in November only 657 pounds were received, and in December but a single
mackerel was seen in the market.

The fishing season for Long Island and New Jersey extends over several months; but the
bulk of the catch is taken between the 20th of August and the 20th of September; and, allowing
for Sundays and stormy weather, there are ordinarily only 20 good fishing days, though small
quantities are taken almost every day during the stay of the fish on the coast.

In the Chesapeake the fishing season is somewhat longer, owing perhaps to the warmer tem-
perature of the water in the early spring. It begins late in May, and is at . its height from the
10th of June to the 1st of September, when the mackerel start for the ocean.

4. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

Almost the entire catch of Spanish mackerel is consumed in a fresh state. A few are salted
by the fishermen of North Carolina, who, owing to their ignorance of the value of the species in
the Northern markets, as well as to the lack of suitable shipping facilities, .seldom market their
catch in a fresh state. Those salted are not considered very valuable, and the inhabitants are
seldom willing to pay more than $5 or $6 a barrel for them, placing them on a par with the blue-
fish and other common species. It is doubtless true that the fine flavor of the mackerel is very
much impaired by salting, and that as a salt fish it is inferior to the common mackerel (Scomber
scombrus), with which every one is familiar.

In 1879 the cannery at Ocracoke Inlet purchased small quantities of mackerel and put them
up in two-pound cans, but the business was very limited, and no extensive trade was developed,

•According to the best-informed fishermen, 100,000 trout, 40,000 bluefish, locally known as tailors, 30,000 Spanish
mackerel, 10,000 mixed fish, 3.000 porgies, and 1,000 sheepshead represented the catch of the average pound for 1879.
The money value of the catch was estimated as follows : Mackerel, 36 per cent. ; tailors, 24 per cent ; trout, 21 per cent.;
sheepshead, 6 per cent. ; porgies, 5 per cent. ; mixed fish, 8 per cent.

THE SPANISH MACKEREL FISHERY. 551

only a few hundred cans having been prepared. Recently, at the suggestion of Professor Baird,
experiments were made in canning the Spanish mackerel at Cherrystone, Va., for the purpose of
ascertaining their relative value as compared with other kinds of canned fish. The report from
the canneries is to the effect that they were no better than fish of ordinary grades, though there
seems to be a difference of opinion on the subject. However this may be, there is certainly no
prospect of an extensive business either in the salting or canning of the species, as the demand
for the fresh mackerel is sufficient to offer an outlet for all that can be secured; while the price
ranges so high as to make their canning or salting entirely impracticable.

As a fresh fish, the Spanish mackerel has few equals. It is one of the most valuable species
taken in the United States, and is a great favorite with epicures. The price paid for the species
in the different markets is often extravagant. Instances are not uncommon where the wholesale
price has exceeded $1 per pound. The first fish sent to Few York in the spring usually sell as
high as 75 cents a pound, and the price does not fall far below 60 cents for some time; but as the
quantity increases the price is gradually reduced, until, at times of oversupply, when the market
becomes glutted, they occasionally sell as low as 6 or 7 cents a pound. The average wholesale
price in New York in 1880, for all grades, is said to have been about 18 cents a pound. Mr. C. W.
Smiley, who has made a careful study of the Philadelphia market, puts the average price for that
city at 16J cents per pound during the same period. The fish taken in the northern waters reach
the market in much better condition than those shipped from a distance, and for this reason they
sell more readily and at better figures. They are, as a rule, much larger and fatter than those
taken in Chesapeake Bay ; this fact alone making considerable difference in their value. While
the Virginia fish are selling in New York at 15 cents, the larger ones from Sandy Hook and Long
Island frequently bring more than twice as much.

Many of the fishermen of the lower Chesapeake do not ship their own fish, but sell to the
dealers in Norfolk and other places at 7 to 10 cents apiece. Others pack in ice and ship directly
to Baltimore by steamer, but as their facilities for packing and shipping are limited, the amount
realized, after deducting the numerous expenses, is little, if any, in advance of that received by
parties selling in Norfolk.

The principal markets, in their order of importance, are Baltimore, New York, Norfolk, and
Philadelphia; from these points the catch is distributed to the larger cities of the country, where
the fish are consumed by the wealthy classes, few going into the country towns of the interior.
Few cities keep any accurate statistics of their fish trade, and for this reason it is impossible to
give the quantity of mackerel handled by their dealers. No figures can be given for the Baltimore
trade, though it is safe to say that the dealers of that city handle fully three-fourths of a million
pounds annually. The report of the New York Fish-Mongers' Association shows that 274,913
pounds were handled in that city in 1878. This quantity, according to the same authority, was
increased to 309,168 in 1879, and to 390,000 pounds in 1880. Mr. Smiley, in his report on the
Philadelphia market for 1880, places the quantity of Spanish mackerel handled at 65,880 pounds,
valued at $10,870. Mr. W. A. Wilcox, secretary of the Boston Fish Bureau, estimates the quantity
handled in Boston in 1879 at 15,865 pounds, while that in 1880 was about 20,000 pounds.

5. STATISTICS OF THE FISHERY.

It is not possible to state the exact quantity of Spanish mackerel taken by the fishermen of
the United States during any season, but a careful study of the fisheries in the interests of the
Fish Commission and Census enable us to give the following table, compiled from the preliminary
statistical reports prepared by Col. Marshall McDonald, Mr. A. Howard Clark, and the writer, for

552

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

publication by the Census Office. The catch for New York is obtained from the manuscript notes
of Mr. Fred Mather, while the figures for the Gulf of Mexico are gathered from data forwarded
by Mr. Silas Stearns.

Table showing 1>y Stales the quantity of Spanish mackerel taken in 1880, and the total catch for the United Stales.

State.

Pounds of
mackerel taken.

60

Rhode Island

2 000

1,200

HewYork

25 000

200 000

Maryland

18, 000

Virginia-

1, 609, 663

10 000

1 000

Eastern Florida

500

Gulf of Mexico . .

20, 000

Total

1, 887, 423

From the above table it will be seen that Virginia produces 85 per cent, of all the mackerel
taken, and that New Jersey fishermen catch over two-thirds of the remainder. This, as has
already been remarked, is largely due to the ignorance of the fishermen of many localities, both
as to the abundance of the species and to the proper methods of catching them. That the fishery
will soon be extensively developed in other places seems quite certain.

PA.KT IX.

THE MULLET FISHERY.

By R. KDWARD EARLL.

1. Distribution and habits of the mullet.

2. Origin of the fishery.

3. Fishing grounds.

4. The fishermen.

5. Apparatus and methods of the fishery.

6. Lay of the fishermen.

7. Disposition of the catch.

8. Extent of the fishery.

9. Markets.

10. Possibilities of the future development of the
mnllet fishery.

663

T IX.
THE MULLET FISHERY.

BY E. EDWARD EAKLL.

1. DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF THE MULLET.

In Section I of this report may be found a discussion of the natural history of our east coast
mullets, Mugil albula and M. brasiliensis. In the above-mentioned article much valuable informa-
tion is given regarding the mullet fisheries from notes taken by Professor G. Brown Goode during
a vist to Florida, and the statements of other observers from different portions of the coast are
added, so that all localities where mullet occur are fairly represented. The main object of the
article, however, is to put on record what is known of the distribution and habits of the species,
and much material on the mullet fisheries was omitted as irrelevant. Having visited the various
localities along the Atlantic coast where mullet are extensively taken, I have been requested
to prepare an account of the mullet fisheries, and in doing so find it necessary to repeat much
that has been already said in the article referred to in order that the account of the fisheries
may be complete. I am under obligations to Professor Goode for many of his original notes on
the fisheries and for placing in my hands the replies to the circular of inquiry regarding the habits
of the mullet sent out by Professor Baird in 1875. I would also express my thanks to Mr. Silas
Stearns, of Pensacola, Flu., to whom I am indebted for all facts of whatever kind bearing on the
mullet fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico.

On the coast of the United States one or both species of mullet are found in all localities
between Cape Cod and Texas, but in most places the fishermen fail to recognize the difference
between them, calling them simply mullet, and supposing the two kinds to be identical. In de-
scribing the fishery, then, no attempt will be made to separate the species, for their habits are quite
similar, and, where both occur, they are taken by the same apparatus and in a similar manner.
The Mugil albula is much the larger and more important of the two, and the statements may be
considered as referring chiefly to this species.

In the district north of Sandy Hook, N. J., large individuals are rare, but small ones are quite
abundant at certain seasons. According to Professor Goode, great numbers of mullet about an
inch in length have been observed along the Connecticut shores, where they are known to the
fishermen as "bluefish mummichogs."

Along the New Jersey coast they are more plentiful and of larger size. The majority of them
nieasuie from 5 to 6 inches in length, but late in the fall larger individuals, weighing about a
pound, make their appearance. These are called "bull-mullet," and are highly prized for food.
Along the ocean shores of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and in the lower waters of Chesa
peake Bay, individuals of similar size are quite abundant.

At Oregon Inlet, in North Carolina, there is a perceptible increase both in the number tind"

555

556 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

size of the fish. In the waters of Core and Bogue Sounds, 50 to 75 miles farther south, they are
more abundant than any other species.

The sounds and bays along the entire coast from Oape Hatteras (which seems to be the northern
limit for the mature fish or roe-mullet, as they are called) to Texas have been visited annually by
immense schools of mullet for many years. Early voyagers refer to them as occurring in almost
inconceivable numbers, and the records from that time to the present warrant us in assigning to
the species the first place on the list of edible fishes of the South.

A large majority of the fishermen consulted report that the species has not decreased in num-
bers during their recollection, though several think the reverse to be true for the localities in which
they live, where they claim that the catch is much smaller than in former years. These assign
various causes for the decrease, chief among which is the excessive use of seines or nets.

Mr. Moore, of Swansborough, B . C., thinks only one-third as many are taken now as ten years
ago in that locality, owing to the small mesh of the nets used ; while Mr. Masters, of Saint Aug-
ustine, attributes the decrease at his home to the use of gill-nets in the Saint John's Eiver. There
is no evidence, however, to show that a general decrease has occurred, though for various reasons
the catch fluctuates within certain limits from year to year.

MOVEMENTS OF THE MULLET. — Probably no species is so little understood as the mullet, and
the greatest confusion exists concerning almost every phase of its natural history. This is espec
ially true of the migrations of the fish and the causes that govern their movements in different
localities. Some of the most intelligent fishermen claim that they spend the summer months in
the fresh and brackish waters of the bays and rivers along the coast, and go to the ocean in
the fall for purposes of reproduction. Others insist that they sometimes spawn in fresh water,
though as a rule they visit the large lagoons along the coast for this purpose, and that they
seldom, if ever, deposit their eggs in the ocean. Again, it is asserted that they are present in
any given locality during a portion of the year only, and that in the early winter they leave the
northern waters, passing southward to their winter quarters, where they remain till the following
spring. Others believe that their migrations are merely local, and that they stay in the same
locality throughout a greater part of the year, accounting for their seeming absence by the sup-
position that they remain in the deeper holes of the creeks and marshes until the spawning time
arrives.

From a careful study of the subject, we are led to believe that the young fish, at least, are
present in all locaMties between Beaufort, N. C., and Texas throughout the entire year, though
they are unquestionably more abundant from August to December. As a rule, the large fish are
seen only at this time, and with the exception of the Saint John's Eiver, Florida, we know of no
place where large mullet are taken in any considerable numbers at other seasons.

During the spring and early summer the schools seem entirely broken up, but small-sized indi-
viduals are scattered about on the feeding grounds in the grassy bays and marshes bordering the
coast. Here they remain till late in July, when they proceed to the deeper channels of the larger
bays, where they gather in schools of small size. Little is known of the whereabouts of the large
mullet at this season. Later the migrations begin, the fish of medium size moving southward.
Their places are soon filled by large fish known to the fishermen as " fat mullet," the reproductive
organs of these gradually developing until the fish come to be known as "roe mullet," when it
is claimed that immense quantities are taken with the eggs and milt running freely from them.
These remain until the first cold storm occurs, when they start for the south, moving rapidly along
the outer shore, or through the inland passages, as is most agreeable. They probably spawn on
the journey, and entirely disappear as soon as the eggs have been deposited. These fish are fol-

THE MULLET FISHEBY. 557

lowed by smaller individuals known as "frost mullet," which remain throughout the greater part
of the winter. The movement seems to be general along the entire coast, all fish along the Atlan-
tic seaboard being reported as traveling southward, while those rounding Florida Keys continue
their coastwise migrations, gradually working northward and -westward towards the Texas line.
No return movement is reported at any season along the Atlantic, though in the Gulf, after the
spawning season is over, the fish are said to return toward Key West.

The movements of the fish are thought to be considerably affected by tides, currents, and
storms ; and in many localities the fishermen assert _that the schools often remain in considerable
numbers about the inlets of the bays on the flood-tide and pass out on the ebb. This is doubtless
true to a considerable extent before the migratory season begins, but when this occurs the mullet
seldom remain long in one locality.

During stormy weather, when the sea is rough, the fish seek the inland channels for protec-
tion, but during pleasant weather they are equally or even more abundant along the outer beach.
They are said to move most rapidly during the continuance of heavy northerly winds, the signal
for a southerly movement being a cold storm from this quarter. When the weather moderates
they slacken their speed and become more scattered, many of the fishermen contending that they
are then swimming about in search of food. During pleasant weather they swim at or near the sur-
face, when their presence can be readily detected by the ripple caused by their movement through
the water, or by the constant splashing and jumping. Their approach is frequently heralded by
the flocks of water-birds that hover over them, and by the sharks and porpoises that gather to
feed upon and destroy them. Mr. Stearns, in referring to this subject, says: "During the fall
they move in such immense schools that the noise of their splashing resembles distant thunder,
and to persons living near the bay this noise, kept up day and night, becomes very annoying."
"These schools," he continues, "are followed by large numbers of 'sharks, porpoises, and other
destructive fishes, as well as pelicans and similar sea-birds, that eat mullet until they can eat no
more and have to make way for fresh arrivals."

In New Jersey waters the mullet make their appearance in schools about the 1st of September,
gradually working southward and entirely disappearing by the last of October. The same is true
for the coast between Cape May and Cape Henry, including the waters of Chesapeake Bay.

The small fish are seen in June on the North Carolina coast, these gradually increasing in
numbers until the first of August, when the schools have attained considerable size, but thus far
no tendency to migrate is noticeable. A little later a southern movement begins, and school after
school passes, the size of the individuals constantly increasing till the first of September, when
the old or roe-mullet arrive. These often weigh from 3 to 4 pounds, and measure upwards of 20
inches. If the weather continues pleasant they remain about the shores until the eggs have be-
come well developed before moving southward, but at the approach of the first cold storm they are
off and other smaller individuals follow in their wake, so that by the first of January the greater
part have disappeared. Comparatively few are seen from that date till the following June, though
scattering ones may be taken at any time. They run best and most rapidly during stormy weather,
but will not move much against a head wind or sea. The schools vary greatly in size, the average
containing from 20 to 25 barrels of fish, though schools of 1,000 barrels are reported as not uncom-
mon, and 600 barrels were landed at one haul of the seine, near Beaufort, in 1849.

At Wilmington small mullet are occasionally taken at any season, though they are abundant
from June to September only, and large ones are seen only in the fall. As at Beaufort, the mi-
grations begin about the middle of August. The first schools are composed of fish of medium
size, known to the fishermen as " If -inch mullet," from the size of the mesh in which they are taken.

558 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

By the first of September these have entirely disappeared, and their places have been taken by
the "fat mullet," which are said to weigh about a pound and a half. These are very abundant for
several weeks, the roe mullet arriving about the middle of October, before they have entirely dis-
appeared. The last-named are by far the largest fish that visit the coast, many individuals, accord-
ing to the statement of the fishermen, attaining a length of 28 to 30 inches, some of the largest
weighing from 3 to 5 pounds. These schools are made lip of mature fish of both sexes, with the
roe bags well advanced ; and it is reported that many are taken with eggs and milt running freely.
"Frost" or "inch" mullet, as they are sometimes called, follow in large, compact schools, the last
disappearing about the middle of December. Smaller fish, called " winter mullet," are abundant
till spring, and are taken by means of seines and gill-nets in the inner sounds.

At Charleston the run is somewhat similar to that at Wilmington, though, for various reasons,
the fishermen engage exclusively in their capture for only a few weeks, beginning about the last
of August; most of them stopping before' the roe mullet put in an appearance. The Charleston
seine fishermen secure considerable quantities of small mullet while fishing for "trout" ami other
species in the tide-channels and creeks of the locality during the winter months. Fully one-third
of the seine-catch between December and March is composed of this species.

In Eastern Florida, especially in the Saint John's River, fish of all sizes may be seen at any
time. They ascend the Saint John's to Lake Monroe, a distance of 240 miles from the sea,
and small specimens are taken even beyond this point. At Lake Monroe the fishing interests are
limited, as the resident population is small and the demand for fish is proportionately light. This
demand is supplied during the winter months by three or four Northern fishermen, who haul a
seine for shad at one end of the lake, selling their catch to the hotels that are for several months
filled with Northern visitors. Two gill-nets are owned by residents of Melonville for the capture
of mullet, the catch, in these being suflncient to meet the demand. Lake George, situated 150 miles
above the sea, is the prettiest and clearest expansion of the Saint John's River. It is 12 miles
wide by 16 to 20 long, and abounds in fish of various kinds, being seemingly the summer home of
immense quantities of mullet. Several salt springs open into the lake, and the local fishermen
think that many of the mullet enter them to deposit their eggs instead of taking the long trip to
the sea. It is known, however, that many of the fish make yearly trips to the ocean, thus affording
excellent mullet fishing along the entire course of the stream. The first fish arrive at Jacksonville
from the upper waters early in June, the number gradually increasing till the middle of August,
when the fishing becomes extensive, continuing till December, the size of the individuals increasing
until the close of the season. The fishermen of Mayport, at the mouth of the river, claim that the
spawning fish pass out into the ocean and proceed southward along the shore to Matanzas and
Indian rivers and Mosquito Lagoon (which are said to be the spawning grounds for these
fish), and there deposit their eggs. The same theory is held by the fishermen of Saint Augustine,
one of whom assigns as the cause of a supposed decrease in the catch at Saint Augustine the exten-
sive gill-net fishing of the Saint John's.

In the Gulf of Mexico it is claimed that the mullet are even more abundant than along our
Atlantic coast, though the statistics of the catch for North Carolina would indicate that they are
nearly as plenty in that region. Mr. Stearns writes that these fish are more abundant in the shore
waters of West Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi than any other species, and that they are about
the only fish taken by the fishermen during several mouths of the year. They are never entirely
absent; though, as on the Atlantic coast, they are much more abundant in the fall than at any
other season. In referring to the Pensacola region, Mr. Stearns mentions a run of mullet in the
spring, saying, "There is a spring run of mullet composed of various sizes of young, which are,

THE MULLET FISHERY. 559

iu part, no doubt of the previous year's hatching. The first school of this run appears on the
coast in April or in the first part of May, and they continue to come for two or three weeks, when
they are all inside and scattered about the bay shores. In September," he continues, "there is a
run of large fish which come, as the young one does, from the eastward, swimming at the surface
of the water and making considerable commotion. Some years there is but one large school in
the run, and at others many small schools, and it is thought that the fish are more abundant when
they come in the latter form. At Ghoctawhatchee Inlet, where the spawning grounds are near
by, the fish come in with the flood tide and go out again with the ebb tide; and at Pensacola Inlet,
where the spawning grounds are far away, they come into the bay and stay until the operation is
over. * * * The many lagoons of Choctawhatchee Bay are almost blocked up with spawning
mullet in October, and they are very abundant at the head of Pensacola Bay, near the mouths of
the fresh-water rivers, at that time."

In another place, Mr. Stearns, in referring to the run of mullet, says: "In the latter part of
October and November the mullet are running, and the fishermen are then busy. Sometimes two
or three weeks are passed in watching for the fish to come along, but if the station is a good one
the fishermen do not go away or lose confidence in their arrival sooner or later. When they
arrive they sometimes come in such numbers that one or two hauls constitute the catch for a
season. From 20 to 150 barrels are caught at one haul of the seine, and with larger seines twice
or three times that amount could be taken, for the fish often come in schools 1 to 3 miles long and
400 to 500 yards wide."

From the evidence at hand it is clear that the mullet fisheries for different parts of West
Florida continue from the middle of August to the first of January, though the height of the season
for most localities is in October and November. Farther west there seems to be less tendency
to migrate, the fish remaining more constantly in any given locality, and on the Texas coast it is
said that there is no special time of abundance, but that mullet are equally plenty at any season.

2. ORIGIN O!V THE FISHERY.

The mullet fisheries of the United States began with the first settlement of the country, and
the early colonists of Saint Augustine took sufficient quantities for their own tables by means of
the primitive cast-nets which they brought from their foreign homes. Later the residents of the
Carolinas took and salted small quantities each season for family use, and ere long some began
putting up a few barrels to exchange with their neighbors for produce. Thus the fishery has
gradually increased to the present time, though it is still far below its natural limit. In the Gulf
of Mexico small vessels have frequently been employed in the mullet fisheries, the crews being
provided with seines with which to secure the fish, while the vessels served as homes for the
lisliermen, and were also of service in marketing the catch. Several New England fishing vessels
visited the west coast of Florida for (he purpose of catching mullet, groupers, and red-snappers
forty years ago, and the fishing for the last named species has been continued to the present time.
Several Gulf smacks, in addition to the large fleet belonging at Key West and other Florida ports, .
engage regularly in the grouper and snapper fishery each season. Mr. A. Howard Clark informs
us that in the fall of 1842 the schooner Nautilus, of Gloucester, Mass., was fitted out with a drag-
M'ine, and after shipping a crew of eight men started for Florida to engage in catching and salting
mullet to be sent to Savannah. Mr. Charles S. Stewart, of East Gloucester, one of the crew, told
him that the Nautilus, and the Yorktown, another Gloucester schooner that went to Florida the
same winter, were the first vessels to engage in the mullet fisheries of that region. Mr. Stewart
says: "The Nautilus proceeded to Apalacuicola, and from thence to Saint Ann's Bay, where 40

560 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

barrels of mullet were secured and shipped by vessel to New Orleans, no returns ever being re-
ceived for them. At this time the customs officer of Pensacola took the vessel's papers — regular
fishing papers issued at Gloucester — claiming that they did not grant the privilege of fishing for
mullet. These papers were kept for about two months, and when returned the fishing season was
over, so that the vessel was obliged to set sail for the North, with nothing to show for her voyage.
The Yorktown had secured 16 barrels of fish, when her captain, hearing of the action of the cus-
toms officers in regard to the Nautilus, was afraid to continue the work." Mr. Stewart further
adds that there were no commercial fisheries on the coast at that time, nor had there been much
fishing for any purpose except by the Indians. He says : "The winter fishing fleet of Apalachicola
consisted of two small boats, maimed by four resident fishermen." There were certain places,
however, in Eastern Florida where the mullet fisheries were of considerable importance, and par-
ties at the mouth of the Saint John's River and elsewhere were engaged in drying and salting the
species for shipment to the West Indies.

3. FISHING GROUNDS.

Owing to the peculiar habit of the mullet of following the shore in their migrations, it may be
said that the fishing grounds extend without interruption throughout the entire range of the
Atlantic species, with a limited fishery for the M. mexicana at San Diego, Cal. The fish are present
in all bays and coves along the outer beach from Sandy Hook, N. J., to Mexico. From North
Carolina to Mississippi they are peculiarly abundant, and within these limits they could undoubt-
edly be taken at almost any point, in case suitable apparatus was used, during the proper season.
There are, however, certain regions or stretches of coast which, owing to their physical character-
istics, are the natural feeding and spawning grounds of large schools of mullet, and when these
chance to be near settled districts the fisheries are always developed to a greater or less extent.
When in addition the region has rail or steamboat communications with the larger markets, or
when it is tributary to a thickly-settled agricultural region, the fishing becomes extensive, and
many persons devote their entire attention to the fishing for several months.

In New Jersey there are no important mullet grounds, though about Sandy Hook limited
quantities of small fish and ''bull-mullet" are taken for home use and for shipment. A few are
taken at various points between Long Island Sound and Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, the latter
being the most northern fishing ground of importance on the coast.

The fish are found in the mouths of all the rivers of Pamlico Sound, and indeed they often
ascend well up into fresh water. They are not uncommonly seen a few miles above New Berne,
on the Neuse. They are often taken at Blount's Creek, 8 miles below Washington, in the Tar,
and occasionally at Leedville, at the head of navigation on the Pungo River. They are also found
in considerable numbers along " The Banks " as far north as Oregon Inlet. The waters above this
point are usually quite fresh, and no large mullet enter them ; but the young are seen in the lower
portions of both Albemarle and Currituck Sounds, while specimens are occasionally taken at
Edenton and Poplar Branch, near the head of these respective waters. The fishing for the species
is wholly to the southward of Roanoke Island. Oregon Inlet is thus practically the northern limit
of mullet fishing for profit in the United States. All portions of the coast between Ocracoke Inlet
and Little River, the southern boundary of the State, are visited by numerous fishing crews, who
spend several months each fall in catching mullet, which they salt for shipment to the interior.
Some crews have no regular fishing station, but move about from day to day, hauling their seines
at any point along the inner channels or on the outer beach, where the fish chance to be most
abundant. Along certain portions of the coast, however, especially in the waters of Core and

THE MULLET FISHERY. 561

Bogue Sounds, there are regular seining beaches that have been visited each season for many
years. These are fished by the parties owning the land, or are rented out to fishermen, the price
paid for the privilege depending largely upon the record of the shores in the past.

Charleston, S. C., is the next point where mullet are extensively taken. Here during the
migrating season the fishing is chiefly along the southern shores of Sullivan and Long Islands,
but when the weather is rough the fish seek the inside passages, and the seines are hauled at any
point where the character of the bottom will admit. In winter smaller individuals are taken in
the deep holes of the numerous creeks, some miles front the ocean.

Though the fish are taken in considerable numbers farther south, there are no important mullet
stations until the Saint John's Eiver is reached. Here, as already stated, the fish ascend to Lake
Monroe, -40 miles from the sea, and their yearly migrations to and from the ocean give opportunities
ior extensive fisheries along the entire course of the stream, though, owing to the swampy character
of the banks and to the limited population of the region, comparatively few are taken except at and
near the mouth of the river, where the fishermen of Jacksonville, New Berlin, and Mayport secure
large numbers. In the Matanzas, Halifax, and Indian Rivers, still farther south, the fish are abun-
dant, and many are taken for local supply. In the Gulf of Mexico, according to Mr. Stearns, the fish-
ing grounds are confined largely to the Florida coast, comparatively few mullet being taken else-
where. Within the limits of this State the fisheries are widely distributed, though the bulk of the
fish are taken by the fishermen of Apalachicola, Pensacola, Cedar Keys, and Saint Marks, in the
larger bays of central Florida.

In California, according to Prof. D. S. Jordan, the only fishing grounds are at San Diego.

4. THE FISHERMEN.

Along the New England coast we find a class of professional fishermen who follow fishing
for a livelihood, deriving their entire support from this source. These parties, being wholly
dependent upon the fisheries, which they follow during a greater portion of the year, naturally take
a deep interest in their work, and give considerable thought to the apparatus and methods for
catching the fish, as well as to curing and marketing the products. In order that a man may be
successful in the fisheries of this region it is necessary that he be fully equipped with the apparatus
best suited to that particular fishery in which he is engaged. New kinds of apparatus are fre-
quently introduced, and if these are found to be more suitable than the old they are soon quite
generally adopted. In this way the fisheries are being rapidly developed, and they become more
profitable to all concerned. Many of the fishermen of the Middle States also may be regarded as
professional fishermen, and, though they are decidedly below the New England fishermen in the
amount of energy and skill displayed, many of them are provided with the most modern appa-
ratus and manifest considerable energy in their work, and are rewarded by large profits. Along
the southern coast for half a century prior to 1870 the fisheries remained almost stationary; but
with the change wrought by the Rebellion they have more than doubled in importance. Even
now, however, if we except the States of Maryland and Virginia and the shad and alewife fish-
eries of Albernarle Sound, the increase is due rather to the greater number of persons engaged
than to any improvement in the apparatus employed in fishing or to improved methods for the
preparation of fishery products. With a few notable exceptions, as at Beaufort, Charleston, Key
West, and Cedar Keys, the coast fishermen of the South make fishing a secondary matter, some
fishing merely a few months each season, and others only when necessity compels. At Saint Au-
gustine, Fla., the primitive cast-net introduced by the early Spaniards is still used, to the exclu-
sion of all other methods except the hook and line. Thus waters that, if properly fished, would
SEO v 36

562 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

yield abundantly, furnish scarcely enough fish to supply the local demand. In most localities,
owing to the peculiar abundance of the mullet at certain seasons, the farmers and laborers engage
in their capture long enough to secure a supply of fresh and salt fish for their own tables. These
usually have little idea of conducting the fishery on business principles, and take little pains in
preparing the products. They are often provided with only the crudest apparatus for the capture
of the species, and many fish are lost for lack of salt and packages for curing them, while a large
percentage of those dressed are so poorly salted as to render them almost unfit for food.

The mullet fishermen, then, are, with few exceptions, farmers or laborers, who, after arranging
with the owner of a seine and boat, go to the fishing grounds in the fall, assisting in the work of
catching, dressing, and salting the fish, receiving in pay a certain percentage of the products. The
owners of some of these seines are experienced fishermen, and, as such, are quite successful in
directing the labors of the ''green hands," so that the fishery is carried on quite systematically. In
many cases, however, the men in charge are farmers, with no better knowledge of the methods of
fishing than the landsmen whom they employ. Where the former condition exists the fisheries are
often quite remunerative and are carried on with commendable energy ; but where the latter occurs
a shiftless set of men gather at the fishing stations, idling about the beach, living in the most
uncleanly and disgusting manner, greatly preferring the idleness of camp life to the activity of the
industrious fisherman.

Along the Atlantic coast a majority of those engaged in the mullet fisheries are resident whites,
though a good many negroes are also employed. On the Gulf coast, according to Mr. Stearns, a
majority of the fishermen are foreigners, the crews being made np of Cubans, Spaniards, Baha-
mans (called Conebas), and Creoles. Some of these visit the region for the express purpose of
fishing, returning to their homes when the season is over, while others have settled in the locality
and content themselves by eking out a miserable existence, working just enough to supply scanty
food for themselves and their families. In speaking of the fisheries of La Fayette. Taylor, and Jef-
ferson counties, Mr. Stearns says : " The men who carry on the fishery — owning the boats, nets, salt,
and provisions — are the most thrifty class of planters living along the rivers. They fish throughout
October, November, and part of December. Their object is mainly to get a good supply of fish for
their own use and a few over for sale. The crews are of the poorer classes, generally white, these
being quite ready to work a couple of months to secure a small supply of salt fish for their families."

In referring to the Ocklockonee Bay district, Mr. Stearns says that a number of sponge fishermen
engage in the capture of mullet for a few weeks, and that many of the farmers of the region also
give considerable attention to the fishery. "These farmers," he says, "are the genuine 'Florida
Crackers,' and, with but few exceptions, are a wretched lot of men. They are lazy, ignorant, and
unhealthy, not having proper food or taking proper care of their persons."

5. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY.

The mullet are taken in various ways along different portions of the coast. Large quantities
are captured in haul-seines wherever the fishing is extensive. In many localities gill-nets, or
"drift-nets," as they are sometimes called, are used to great advantage, while cast-nets, both of
the Spanish and American patterns, are used for local supply from North Carolina to Texas, the
fishermen of Florida employing them m ore extensively than those of any other region. These three
kinds of apparatus are the principal ones employed in the fishery, and by means of them the great
bulk of mullet are taken. Small quantities have been secured in a pound-net in the Gulf of Mexico,
and we are informed by various parties that they are occasionally tempted to take a baited hook,
though no one thinks of fishing for them regularly in this way.

THE MULLET FISHERY. 563

FISHING WITH SEINES. — Seines are perhaps more generally used than any other apparatus.
These vary endlessly in size and arrangement, and the fishermen of the different localities have
peculiar methods of shooting and hauling them. Some are but a few yards in length, and are
easily handled by two or three men, while the largest are 300 or 400 yards long, requiring a crew
of twenty or thirty men to handle the net and care for the catch. Most of the fishermen purchase
their twine from some local dealer, and tie their own nets during their leisure hours, which, by the
way, are very numerous. Others send to Boston and New York for the prepared webbing, hanging
the nets and supplying them with such floats and sinkers as they may think proper.

As has already been stated, the mullet fishermen are mostly farmers, who devote a greater
portion of the year to agricultural pursuits, turning their attention to fishing for a short time only.
Many of the farmers interested in the fall fishery live some miles from the salt water; but when
the fishing season arrives they leave their homes and proceed in gangs of four to thirty men to
the seashore under the leadership of a " captain," who controls their movements. A seine 75 to 100
fathoms long, two or three boats, material for splitting tables, barrels, salt, and a limited amount
of provisions, with the necessary cooking utensils, constitute the outfit. On reaching the shore
they at once build rude huts or cabins, in which they eat and sleep until the close of the season.
The most rigid economy is practiced during their stay on the beach, and no outlay of money is
made unless absolutely necessary. This economy is especially noticeable in the style of buildings
which are erected for their own use as well as in those used for salting and storing the fish. It is
again noticeable in the food with which the men are supplied, the average fisherman bringing
simply a few pounds of meal, some salt pork, and a supply of sweet-potatoes, his chief food during
his stay at tlie shore being composed of fish caught from day to day.

When n suitable location for the fishing station has been selected, which, as a rule, is on some
sandy beach, or at some prominent point where the fish are known to pass in considerable numbers,
all hands turn their attention to erecting the necessary shanties or huts. These differ considerably,
according to the locality. In the vicinity of Beaufort, N. C., they are usually built of rushes and
poles, and are, indeed, strange-looking pieces of architecture. When a building site has been
selected, some of the men start for the woods in search of poles, which are to answer as a frame-
work, while others go to the marsh to gather rushes, which are to serve as a covering. The
ridge-pole is first placed in position, its front end resting in the crotch of a forked stick, while the
other is supported by two poles that cross each other at the proper height, their bases being
imbedded in the grouud, to locate the corners of the building. Smaller poles are now placed in
rows at an equal distance on either side of the ridge-pole. These answer the purpose of studding,
each being notched at the point where the eaves should come, that they may be easily bent inward to
the ridge-pole to support the roof. In some cases spikes are used to fasten the ends of the poles, but.
owing to their cost or to the difficulty of obtaining, they are frequently dispensed with, strings of bear-
grass being substituted in their stead. l( Laths," consisting of small poles or sticks, are now tied to
the studding in horizontal rows about 18 to 24 inches apart, and the framework is complete. A ditch
is then dug along the outside of the frame, into which the base of a thick layer of rushes, is placed-
Other long sticks, called "liggers," are now placed on the ontside of the rushes, directly opposite
the laths, the two being sewed or fastened together by means of threads of bear-grass, in order
that the rushes may be held in position. When the bottom tier has been fastened another row of
rushes is placed higher up, overlapping the first like shingles on a roof. These in turn are fastened
to the laths in the same manner, care being taken that the line formed by their lower ends may be
even. The same process is continued until the ridge-pole is reached and the entire structure has
been inclosed. The layers of rushes are sufficiently thick to shed water and to break the force of

564 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

the wind, though for better protection against cold the fishermen frequently "bank" their houses
with sand. The only openings in the house are a small hole at the rear gable, to allow the smoke
from the camp-fire to escape, and a square aperture 2 or 3 feet in height at the front, which
serves as a door. Two tiers of berths are now put up on either side of the shanty, and each
fisherman gathers grass or leaves, out of which he makes his bed. During pleasant weather the
cooking and eating is usually done outside, each man keeping his supply of food separate, though
four or five usually mess together, taking turns in preparing the food, which consists largely of
corn meal and fish.

About Wilmington the fishing districts are more thickly 'settled, and many of the mullet
fishermen return to their homes every night; but those coming from a distance are obliged to build
shanties of rough boards or rush houses similar to those already described.

According to Mr. Stearns, the buildings used by the mullet fishermen on the Gulf coast vary
considerably. Some are well built and nicely arranged for the purposes for which they are in-
tended, while others are of a low grade, being rude palmetto-thatched huts. In speaking of the
fisheries of Sarrasota Bay, he says : "The building in which the fish are cured and stored is about
30 feet long by 12 feet wide, and is built out from the shore on pilings. There are two other build-
ings; one, made of boards, is used as a kitchen and dining-room and dwelling for the captain's
family, and the other, a palmetto-thatched shanty, is used by the men as a sleeping apartment.
Amongst the apparatus owned here are seines, reels, frames on which to dry mullet roes, and
machinery for hauling up the boats from the water." In speaking of the mullet fishermen of Ock-
lockonee Bay, Mr. Stearns remarks: " These fishermen live in small, roughly-made sheds, occa-
sionally provided with a chimney and fire-place, with no other floor than the dirty sand on which
it is built, no table on which to eat, no bunks or other arrangements for sleeping, no dishes or
other conveniences which give the slightest suggestion of comfort. These dwellings are merely
shells in which there is a confusion of barrels of salt, barrels of fish, fishiug gear, and a lot of unin-
viting-looking men. The fleas can be both seen and felt. The food of the men is of the poorest
quality, and not as abundant as they desire." He has seen them " take a few raw sweet potatoes
out in the boat with them as a luncheon."

When the camp has been put in order, the seine is "stowed" in the boat, which is placed in
position on the beach just out of the reach of the surf. In order that the fish may not pass unno-
ticed, and that sufficient time may be given before their arrival for setting the seine, it is necessary
that a lookout station be established. This is usually located on the top of some sand-dune about
a quarter of a mile above the camp. In case the shore is level, a-fraine-work is built to a height
of 20 or 25 feet, on the top of which the fisherman on watch remains for the purpose of discovering
and announcing the approach of the mullet. At Beaufort the frame is simply a tripod composed of
two medium-sized and one large pole, the last-named having pegs inserted by means of w hich the
man climbs to the crow's-nest in the crotch. On the Gulf-coast, a rectangular frame is built, the
top being covered by a platform on which the lookout stands, while on one side is a ladder by means
of which he ascends. The various members of the crew take their turns at the lookout station,
though some are " ruled out," as they have " no eye for mullet" or, in other words, do not readily
detect their presence, and thus often allow schools to approach unnoticed.

The presence of a school is usually detected by the ripple on the water or by the jumping and
splashing of the fish, though they sometimes "swim deep," being detected only by their dark
color contrasting with the lighter sand of the ocean. When a school is seen it is carefully watched
by the lookout, who leaves his post, walking down the beach toward the camp, keeping directly
opposite to the fish, and indicating their movements to the other members of the crew by a

THE MULLET FISHERY. 565

peculiar motion of his arms. Many schools pass the camp at so great a distance from the shore
as to be beyond the reach of the average net, and, for this reason, no attempt is made to catch
them, but when running close to land the fishermen, at the proper signal from the lookout, proceed
to launch the boat. This, along the outer beach, is not always an easy task, for, owing to the bar
which skirts the shore in most localities, there is usually considerable surf. The fishermen,
however, watch their chance and shoot out between the breakers, returning in the same way. The
work is not only difficult but very dangerous, requiring the utmost dexterity and unity of action,
and the meu must spring into their places at once when the boat reaches the water and hold them-
selves in readiness to obey the captain's orders. Often several trials are made before the boat is
gotten out through the surf and not unfrequently it is capsized or filled with water in the attempt.
When the seine has been shot the same care is taken in landing, and as the boat grounds the crew
jump into the water, and, seizing it by the gunnels, carry it beyond the reach of the waves. Five
men constitute a crew, four manning the oars, while the other, usually the captain of the gang, does
the steering. One end of the net is connected with the shore by means of a rope, and as the fish
approach this end is drawn rapidly to land by men on shore to prevent them from passing. Even if
not quite in, the fish are readily turned back by a rapid movement of the line. The boat at this time
brings the other end of the net to the shore and the movement of the fish in this direction is thus
shut off. When they find themselves surrounded, the mullet usually sink and make a circuit of the
bottom for an opening through which to make their escape. When a large school is inclosed the
pressure of the fish against the seine often lifts it from the bottom, and many pass under the lead-
line ; but failing to get out at the bottom, they rise to the surface and begin to jump over the cork-
line with a rapidity that is truly surprising. Frequently a larger part of the fish escape in this way,
the air being at times completely filled with mullet. When the water is calm, boats are placed
behind the seine to catch the "jumpers," these often being completely filled in a few moments.
As soon as shoal- water has been reached, some of the fishermen wade out to hold up the back of
the.seine and thus keep the fish from escaping. They are obliged to turn their backs to the fish
that pelt against them in such numbers as to make their position anything but a pleasant one. In
some instances a second seine is hauled behind the first to secure the runaways. The method of
using a second seine, or of placing boats behind the first to intercept the escaping fish, is called
"backing" the seine; and men frequently agree to assist in the regular work of cleaning and salting
for the privilege of keeping such fish as they may take in this way while the water is still too deep
to permit the men to wade out and hold up the cork lines.

At the permanent fishing stations along the gulf coast the method is somewhat different.
Here, during pleasant weather, there is little surf to interfere with the shooting and hauling of
the seine, and better arrangements can be made. In Ocklockonee Bay only one seine is used at
a station, and that is so arranged as to be hauled directly in front of the fish-house. "This hauling
place," writes Mr. Stearns, "is called a 'seine-yard,' and in fine weather, when the fish may be
expected to move in the shoal water along the shore, the seine is kept half set in the water, the
netting being shot straight out from the shore until the bag is reached and the boat containing
the other half is fastened to the buoy which is moored there for the purpose. When a school of
mullet approaches and comes within reach of the seine, the seine-boat is quickly unmoored and
rowed around them to the shore. If the 'throw' is successful the next operation is that of hauling
the net and fish upon the beach."

The seines used are somewhat similar to the large ones employed for shad and herring in the
northern waters. They are, necessarily, made of heavy twine on account of the strain to which
they are subjected when a large school of fish is being landed. Those employed along the outer

566 HISTORY AND METHODS OF rI!CE FISHERIES.

shore of the North Carolina coast range from 150 to 200 fatboms iu length, and arc from 12 to 18
feet deep. The mesh varies somewhat, the bar averaging about 1£ inches. Nets of this size cost
from $150 to $200, from 15 to 20 men being required to handle them. Those used in the inner
waters on the Carolina coast are a trifle smaller, averaging perhaps 100 fathoms in length, being
manned by 8 to 12 men, according to circumstances.

Some of the nets used along the gulf coast, according to Mr. Stearns, are made in Boston and
New York of strong cotton twine, and shipped by freight to merchants living in the vicinity of
the fishing grounds. Each fisherman prefers to hang his own net, the manner of mounting and
forms of floats and leads being similar to those in use along the Atlantic coast. These seines are
from 100 to 120 fathoms long and 16 to 20 feet deep at the bunt, the wings at their extremities
being, of course, much shoaler. One of these nets, when complete, costs about $1.20 per fathom,
and if properly cared for will last from three to four seasons.

Seine-boats are sometimes made expressly for the mullet fishery, though ordinarily any
boat large enough to hold the seine answers the purpose well enough for fishing in sheltered bays.
Along the outer coast, however, a strong and seaworthy boat is necessary. But even here the
size and shape varies considerably. The style having the preference in the Caroliuas is known a.s
the " pilot skiff," which may have either a square or sharp stern. These skiffs are round bottomed,
lap-streaked keeled boats, from 25 to 28 feet long, 4 to 6 feet beam, and 20 inches deep, costing
from $100 to $150. They are steered by means of oars rather than rudders, as they can by this
means be more readily handled in the surf. The men engaging regularly in the fishery become
very expert in the use of these boats, and are among the best surf-men along the entire coast.

On the Gulf coast the boats differ greatly according to locality. In some places excellent
boats made of light but very durable material are used. These are about 26 feet long and 7 or 8
feet wide, and though still retaining the form of round-bottomed boats, they are quite flat, in order
that they may not ground in shoal water. The bow is, as a rule, very sharp, while the stern is
wide and overhanging, the shape being calculated to give great carrying capacity, making them
especially adapted for the work for which they are intended. In other localities the boats are
of inferior quality, somewhat smaller, and so roughly built that they last but one or two seasons.
These are usually made of pine or spruce boards and are neither calked nor painted, a coating of
tar taking the place of both. They cost, when new, from $10 to $12.

Another class of boats is used by the Apalachicola fishermen for marketing the fish after they
have been properly salted. These, according to Mr. Stearns, are similar to the dinghy boat used
in the sponge fisheries, but are much larger, being often 20 to 22 feet long, with 6 or 7 feet beam.
The forward part is decked over, and washboards are run aft to the stern on either side to keep out
the water. These boats are propelled by oars or sails, as is most convenient. The sail used is a
triangular one of the lateen pattern, arranged with a long yard and a very short, stubby mast.
Rigged in this manner the boats are very fast sailers and are easily managed.

Small vessels also are employed, to a limited extent, in the Gulf fishery, these enabling the
fishermen to visit the more distant grounds and affording shelter to the crews during the fishing
season. They are, however, more frequently used as freighting vessels, to carry the salt fish to
market. Quite a number of fair sized vessels are employed in this way, some of them running to
the larger markets of Florida, while others go directly to Havana and other points in the West
Indies.

The catch for the season, which usually lasts during two or three months, ranges from a hundred
to a thousand barrels. In some localities the fish usually move in small schools, and consequently
only a few barrels are taken at a time. In others the schools are often of enormous size, and the

THE MULLET FISHERY. 567

bulk of the catch for the season may be taken in a few days. Alocg certain portions of the Gulf
coast there are weeks together when the mullet do not come into shoal water, and not unfrequently
two weeks pass at the height of the season without any considerable number of fish being taken;
again, with a change in the weather they come within reach of the seine in such numbers that,
owing to the limited facilities for handling them, only a small percentage of the fish that could be
taken are preserved. This large run usually lasts for a short time only, and when it is over the
fishing season may be said to have closed.

At Beaufort, N. C., the catch varies according to the location of the fishery and the energy of the
fishermen. Some crews stock large amounts, while others realize almost nothing for their season's
work. A fair average catch to the seine between Beaufort and Wilmington would be from 300 to
350 barrels, containing 100 pounds each of salted fish.

At Charleston the seines are considerably smaller than those in use further north, and the fish,
being sold fresh, are never reckoned in barrels. The catch for the average seine in this locality is
about 2,500 strings, or 11,250 fish in number. In Sarasota Bay, Florida, 10,000 pounds were taken
at one haul, and the catch is frequently so large that all of the fish cannot be saved. In one case
so many were inclosed that the fish carried away the seine, the men being unable to hold them.
At Robert's fishery, in the same locality, as Mr. Stearns informs us, "several hauls have proved
larger than 22 men could split, in consequence of which large numbers were spoiled. One haul
contained at least 20,000 fish in number." Mr. Mcllvaine reports a single catch of 40,000 mullet in
number at Cedar Keys, and 200 to 500 barrels are said to be an average catch for a seine manned
by 8 to 10 Apalachicola fishermen, in a season which practically lasts from the middle of October
to the last of November. These are, perhaps, exceptional instances, as they occurred upon the
best fishing grounds. In other localities less frequen'ed by the mullet the catch will average less
than 50 barrels to the seine during the season. The average catch to the seine for the entire Gulf
is placed by Mr. Stearns at about 250 barrels of 200 pounds each.

FISHING WITH DRAG-NETS. — A peculiar form of seine, extensively used in the capture of trout
(Cynoscion maculatum) at Beaufort, K C., is employed to a limited extent in the mullet fish-
eries also. This seine, locally known as the drag-net, is found only in North Carolina. It is 80 to 110
yards long, 3-inch mesh, and from 6 to 12 feet deep. It is used only along the inner sounds, where
the water is shoal enough to allow the men to wade about. Two men are required for fishing the
net. On leaving the landing they usually proceed to some shoal-water bank along the main chan-
nel of the sound, when one jumps into the water, holding a shore-line attached to one end,
while the man in the boat "shoots" the seine in the form of a semicircle, so as to inclose as
much of the channel as possible, bringing the other end to the shoal at a point some rods distant
from the first. The fishermen gradually bring the ends together, thus completing the circle and
cutting off all means of escape for the fish. The staff of the first end is now securely imbedded in
the mud to hold it in position, while the men gradually draw in the netting, thus lessening the
circle and bringing the fish within narrower limits. When the circle has been considerably reduced
the hauling proceeds more slowly, one man handling the cork-lines while the other pulls on the lead-
line, passing it beneath his feet to keep it close to the bottom. The fish are thus forced into the
"bunt" near the stationary end, when, by a quick movement on the part of the fishermen, the staff
is pulled up, and the net, with its contents.!, s quickly transferred to the boat.

The channel fishing is carried on only when the mullet are more or less scattered. When they
begin schooling the fishermen move about from place to place until a school of fish is seen, when
they proceed to surround and secure them. In this case the fishing is necessarily confined to the
flats, where the water is shoal enough to allow the fishermen to wade about.

568 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

FISHING WITH GILL-NETS. — Owing to iho jumping propensities of the mullet, the drag-seines
are little used after the fishing becomes extensive, and are gradually replaced by gill nets,
which are much more successfully employed. Gill-nets are extensively used in all localities where
the mullet are taken. The local name of the net for the different regions depends largely upon the
form and methods of use. In many places ordinary floating gilt-nets, or "drift nets," are used.
These are allowed to drift with the current, the fish entering them only when they happen to
come in their path. In other regions "stake-nets" are employed, these being set across the prin-
cipal channels and held in position by means of poles.

"Sweep-nets" have been quite generally introduced among the fishermen of the different
States. They are in common use among the fishermen of North Carolina, and are found in con-
siderable number along the Gulf coast. Those used in Carolina waters are 75 to 100 yards long
and 4 to 6 feet deep, with a mesh varying from 2^ to 4 inches. The twine of which they are made
is purchased in Norfolk, at $1.20 per pound. The nets, which are tied by the fishermen and their
families during their leisure hours, usually cost, when complete, from $12 to $30 apiece. Two
men usually own a net in common, going out together in a small boat on their fishing trips. As
soon as a school has been surrounded by the net, the fishermen proceed to the inside of the circle
and, by pounding on the gunwale, splashing the water with oars, or, when shoal enough, jump-
ing overboard and running about within the circle, drive the mullet into the meshes. If left to
themselves, many of the fish would see the net and avoid it, but in their effort to escape from the
noise and splashing they soon become entangled in the twine. When all have been gilled, the net
is hauled into the boat and the fish are secured.

A common methQd is for three to six crews to join forces, setting their nets together in such a
way as to include the largest possible area. This method is found much more profitable for all con-
cerned than setting separately, as, owing to the increased number of nets and the greater dispatch
in setting them, only a small percentage of the fish escape while they are being inclosed, and
much larger schools cau easily be surrounded. When a school of mullet is seen, two of the boats
are brought together a short distance in front of them, and the others take their position a net's
length apart. At the proper signal a man from each boat jumps into the water, holding the staff
of one end, while the net is being shot toward the man who is holding the staff of the adjoining
net. They are shot simultaneously, and when all are out they form a large circle, which completely
incloses the mullet. The remaining men now get overboard, and after the ends of the adjoining
nets have been properly secured the fishermen proceed to the inclosed area to frighten the fish
and drive them into the meshes. Frequently the space inclosed is so large that it becomes neces-
sary to lessen it, and the men take the ends of their respective nets and draw them toward
the center of the circle, care being taken that no opening shall occur through which the fish may
escape. In this way loops or pockets are formed, into which the fish are obliged to enter. When thus
inclosed, if any are seen swimming about, the area is still further reduced by drawing in the nets
until every mullet has been gilled. The nets are then taken into the boats, and after the fish
have been removed are at once put in order, and the fishermen start in search of another school,
which is surrounded and captured in the same way. At the close of the day they gather and
divide equally the catch. The average yield to the net in this locality for the season, which lasts
from June to November, is about 20 barrels of salted mullet, though the quantity could be greatly
increased by diligence on the part of the fishermen.

The methods employed in the Gulf of Mexico differ only slightly from those already described.
The gill-nets used in this region are said to have been introduced by Northern men about six or
eight years ago. They are of Boston or New York manufacture, and are made of hand-laid, six-

THE MULLET FISHERY. 569

thread cotton twine. They are from 50 to 100 fathoms long, C to 12 feet deep, and have a mesh
varying from 2J to 3£ inches. When properly hung they are worth about 50 cents per fathom.
The fishing with gill-nets at Cedar Keys lasts about six months, beginning with September. The
nets are usually set at high water, the night tide being frequently utilized. Two nets are usually
fished in common. When a school of mullet is seen the boats take such a position as to bring the
fish directly between them. The nets are then shot in opposite directions, the ends of one meeting
or overlapping those of the other. The catch is equally divided.

A method known as "stop-fishing" is frequently employed in the small creeks tributary to
the sounds and bays. The mullet frequently enter the creeks in considerable numbers on the
flood-tide, and at high water the nets are stretched across the mouths to prevent their escape. As
the tide ebbs, many, attempting to get out, are gilled in the meshes, while the others remain in
the deeper holes and channels, where, at low water, they are easily secured by means of a small
haul-seine. By this method all of the fish that chance to be in the creek when the net is set are
easily secured.

The average catch to a gill-net at Saint Mark's, according to Mr. Stearns, is 100 pounds daily
or 15,000 pounds per annum. At Ocklokony Bay he estimates the catch to be 100 to 300 fish at a
tide, oi- 15,000 to 20,000 for the season.

FISHING WITH CAST-NETS. — Another kind of apparatus extensively used in the mullet fisheries
of both Eastern and Western Florida, and to a limited extent by the fishermen of other States, is the
cast-net. This is, perhaps, next to the hook and line, the apparatus earliest used in the fisheries of
the United States. It is said to have originated in Spain, and was doubtless introduced into this
country by the Spaniards who came to Saint Augustine in 1565, since which time it has been in con-
stant use in that locality. A superficial examination of the cast-net by one who had never seen it in
actual use would lead to the belief that it was a very crude affair, and could hardly be successful in
the fisheries ; but a more careful examination shows that it is fairly adapted to the fisheries in which it
is employed, and that by long use the fishermen come to be very expert in handling it. The cast-net,
briefly described, is a circular piece of netting, 8 to 16 feet in diameter, with a stretch-mesh varying
from 1 to 2 inches. It has a hole at the center, through which pass 20 to 30 brails or cords, which
are attached to the circumference at points equally distant from each other. The inner ends of
these are secured to a long line, by means of which the fisherman handles the net. On every second
or third mesh of the circumference is a sinker, usually of lead. The number of sinkers varies,
according to the diameter of the net, from 100 to 200, ea«h weighing about an ounce. During the
fishing season the fisherman takes the net in his boat and starts for the shoal-water fishing grounds
of the inner coves, bays, or lagoons, where the net is most successfully used. When a school of
mulbt is seen he at once rows or paddles up to it, and, after fastening the line to his arm, seizes
in his left hand the ring which lines the aperture at the center, and with the other proceeds to throw
the net over the fish. In throwing, one of the leads at the circumference is held between the teeth
and a number of others are gathered in the right hand; then, by a swinging motion of the arms
and body, the net is thrown to a distance of 8 to 10 feet from the boat, in such a way that it spreads
out and falls flat upon the surface of the water. The leads at the circumference at once carry this
to the bottom, the central portion of the netting forming a bag, into which the fish rise as they find
themselves surrounded. The sinkers keep the rim of the net well down, and, by a slight jerking
motion of the line which connects with the brails, the circumference is gradually drawn inward till
the leads are together in one bunch at the center; and as they are raised from the bottom the net-
ting drops over them, the fish being retained in the folds until they can be lifted into the boat.

Two styles of cast-nets are in common use, the Spanish, or "bag-net," as it is sometimes

570 ITISTOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

called, differing from the English, or "brail-net," in that 8 inches of the outer part of the netting
is doubled inward and upward, being attached to the body of the net at every eighth mesh, thus
forming loops or pockets into which the fish drop when the net is being lifted. In these nets the
sinkers are placed at the bottom of the fold, which thus really marks the circumference. Nets of
this form cost about $7.50. They are preferred to the "brail-net" by the fishermen of Saint
Augustine, Clearwater Harbor, Cedar Keys, and Saint Mark's, as well as by those of the entire
coast between Apalachicola and the Mississippi Eiver. In other localities the English net, which
costs about $6.50, is more generally used.

Fifteen to twenty-five large mullet are often taken at a single throw of the cast-net, while
twice that number of small ones are frequently secured. In 1876 Mr. H. S. Williams, a fisherman
of Indian Eiver, Fla., secured about 400 pounds from a single school in less than an hour.

POUND-NET FISHING. — The pound-net has not yet been fairly tested in the mullet fisheries. It
is a form of apparatus used principally by the Northern fishermen, being almost unknown to those
fishing south of Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. Two or three were set in the waters of Core
Sound, near Beaufort, N. C., but not being properly arranged they took but few fish, and were soon
taken up and transferred to the Neuse Eiver. One can reach no definite conclusion as to their value
for the mullet fisheries from these experiments, and must wait until they have been more thoroughly
tested. Many of the Beaufort fishermen, however, state with a good deal of positiveness that the
mullet will not enter them, assigning as a reason that on striking the leader they will turn directly
back rather than attempt to get around it by following it into deeper water. This impression
arises from the fact that the mullet are so readily turned from tLeir course by the seine-rope, even
before the netting has been drawn to the shore. Mr. Stearns, in his examination of the Gulf
fisheries, found a crude trap somewhat resembling the pound net in the waters of Tampa Bay,
Florida. This was made of piles, small poles, and boards, the leader being 100 yards long, with
a V-shaped bowl or heart 20 yards across and 30 yards long, having a small pocket at the outer
corner. On consulting with the owner he learned that "when the pound was first set fish would not
approach it, but after the stakes had become covered with barnacles and oysters the fish collected
about it in considerable numbers." The owner assured him that "all the common fish in the bay
now enter his pound." The largest catch made by him consisted of 300 mullet in one night, all of
them being found in the pocket. An average night's catch brings him a dozen or two fish of various
kinds. Sheepshead, redfish, and salt-water trout seem to be taken in greater numbers than any
other species.

FISHING WITH HOOK AND LINE. — As already stated, mullet are occasionally tempted to take a
baited hook, though no one fishes regularly lor them in this way, the few secured being taken while
fishing for other species. They are sometimes caught by parties fishing with hook and line in the
deeper holes of the tide-creeks about Charleston, and we learn of other localities where they are
occasionally secured. Professor Goode, in his article on the natural history of the mullet, says : "It
does not readily take the hook, but is sometimes caught with a bait of banana, or one manufactured
of cotton and flour."

LAY OF THE FISHERMAN. — The financial arrangement or lay of the men engaged in the mullet
fisheries varies greatly. It depends somewhat on the locality, but more particularly upon the kind
of apparatus used. The simplest arrangements are found among the gill-net fishermen who work
together for the more successful prosecution of the fisheries. In such cases the men usually own
their own boats and nets, and the fish are either divided equally among the different crews or each
fisherman keeps the mullet taken in his net, be the quantity large or small. Exceptional cases occur
where capitalists furnish the boat and net and take one-third of the catch. In the seine fisheries,

THE MULLET FISHERY. 571

where the apparatus is expensive ami the number of meu interested is much larger, the lay system
becomes much more complicated. It depends somewhat upon the financial condition of the fisher-
men, as affecting their relations with fishing capitalists; though in many localities the arrangements
framed in early times have been handed down to the present generation with scarcely a change, for
there is certainly no class of people that cling so tenaciously to the methods of their fathers as the
fishermen.

We will consider the principal lays only, for these, though differing somewhat with the locality,
vary only within narrow limits.

At Wilmington the average catch is about 350 barrels to the seine. Of this quantity the owner
of the seine and boat draws one-third, the remainder being divided equally among the members of
the crew, with the exception of the captain, who receives twice as much as any of the others. At
Beaufort, where larger seines are employed, and the shores are owned by farmers, who exact a large
price from the fishermen for the privilege of using them, the financial arrangement is as follows:
The seine receives from six to ten shares; the boat takes one; the beach three to ten, according to
its relative importance as compared to other shores in the vicinity; one share is given to the man
who supplies the camp with wood; and the remainder is divided equally among the members of the
crew, including the captain. We thus find the season's catch divided into twenty-two to forty
shares, the average being about thirty. During the season of 1879, which lasted from the middle
of August to the 1st of November, the catch for the different seines averaged about 300 barrels each,
a share thus consisting of 10 barrels.

In certain parts of Western Florida the men, as a rule, own their own nets, but as the fishing
stations are some distance from their homes, they usually provide themselves with salt and the
necessary outfit and remain at the fishing shores during a greater portion of the season. Owing
to a scarcity of money they are frequently obliged to obtain their outfits on credit, and the man
who furnishes them agrees to take the fish at a stipulated price in payment for the goods. This
arrangement usually works to the disadvantage of the fishermen, as they are thus largely under
the control of the merchant, who often charges exorbitant rates for the outfits, while he pays a com-
paratively small price for the fish. In speaking of the fisheries of Hunter's Point, Fla., Mr. Stearns
says: "At this fishery, as at all others engaged in supplying the Cuban markets, the lay arrange-
ment, with slight variations, is as follows: After all bills have been paid, such as duties, tonnage
fees, provision bills, salt bills, &c., the owner of the fishery apparatus receives 15 per cent, of the
gross stock, the owners of the vessels employed in taking the fish to Cuba 20 per cent., and of what
is left each fisherman receives one share, the boys, if any, being allowed only half a share, while the
captain receives a share and a half. The general complaint is that there is no money to be made
in the business and that the fishermen always come out in debt. The vessel's -expenses are quite
heavy and are paid out of the common stock, but unquestionably more profit is made by the vessel
than by the men engaged in the fishery or by the owner or owners of the apparatus. The continued
political troubles in Cuba have injured these fisheries, for the Cubans have no money, and so to
save themselves from being worsted impose heavy duties upon all imports." Occasionally all of
the gear and outfit and the vessels engaged in marketing the fish are owned by the same parties.
Under such circumstances a slightly different lay is generally adopted. At Gasparilla all of the
gear and the carrying vessels belong to one company, who, having provided the outfit, receive 35
per cent, of the catch and pay 35 per cent, of all the bills. The other 65 per cent, is divided equally
among the two captains and the crew, who pay the remaining 65 per cent, of the bills.

Prior to the rebellion, farmers living along the Alabama coast frequently owned seines and hired

572 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF TEE FISHEEIES.

fishermen to handle them. Usually regular wages were paid, and the fishermen always succeeded
in making more money than could have been made in the ordinary way. This system is now prac-
tically abandoned, as the division of the catch into shares is found to work more satisfactorily.

7. DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH.

METHODS OF PRESERVING THE FISH. — If we except Beaufort and vicinity, few mullet are
salted along the Atlantic coast, as there is in the markets of the larger towns a fair demand for the
fish in a fresh state, and the fishermen usually prefer to dispose of them in this way. In former
years nearly all of the fish taken to Beaufort were salted and packed in barrels for home supply or
for shipment to the interior. Within the past few years, however, the trade in fresh fish has opened
a market for a small percentage of this catch, though the majority, especially of the large fish, are
now salted as formerly. The same is true, to a certain extent, for the Wilmington district. Here
the entire catch was formerly salted, but of late the fishermen prefer to sell their fish fresh when
they can get 7 or 8 cents a bunch for them. Each member of the crew receives his share of a haul
as soon as the seine is landed, and is, of course, at liberty to dispose of it as he may think proper.
If in poor circumstances, he is usually anxious to turn his mullet into money at once, and he thus
sells the bulk of his fish at Wilmington, regardless of the price paid by the dealers.

South of Little Eiver, which marks the boundary between North and South Carolina, almost
no mullet are salted for market, although each fisherman puts up a limited supply for his own use.
The remainder taken by those fishing for the larger markets are at once sent to the principal fish-
dealers. In the thinly populated regions any surplus is sold to farmers, who salt the fish for family
use. Many of the fishermen of this region, especially those of Georgia and Eastern Florida, are
wholly unacquainted with the methods of salting as employed in other localities, and owing to their
ignorance of the proper methods of curing their fish they often lose most of those put up by them.
This has led many of them to entirely discontinue the salting of mullet, and during our visit to the
region we met quite a number who insisted that no mullet taken during the warmer weather could
be salted so as to keep sweet for any length of time. About Charleston, S. C., and at Jacksonville,
New Berlin, and Mayport, on the lower Saint John's, though considerable quantities of mullet are
taken, the entire catch is sold fresh.

On the Gulf coast, where the fisheries are extensive, most of the mullet are salted. The methods
vary considerably with the locality, some of the fishermen "kenching" or dry-salting their fish,
while others salt in brine in the ordinary way. Kench-curing is, perhaps, more generally prac-
ticed in Southern and Southwestern Florida than elsewhere, and three-fourths of all the mullet
prepared on the Gulf coast of that State are treated in this way, although in Apalachicola and
vicinity salting in brine is the favorite method.

The method of dressing is similar to that employed for other species in the same localities.
As soon as the boat containing the mullet arrives at the station the fish are carried to the salting-
sheds, where suitable arrangements have been made for preserving them. The men are arranged
in gangs, each having his particular work to perform. Several persons, known as splitters, take
their positions on one side of the table, while the others, known as gillers, scrapers, and spawners,
stand on the opposite side. The splitter takes the fish in his left hand, while in his right he holds
a knife, with which he cuts it open from nose to tail along the back. It is then thrown to the giller,
who removes the gills and entrails and cuts a gash along the side containing the backbone, in order
that the salt may the more readily penetrate the flesh. This done, he tosses it to the scraper, who
removes the blood and the black membrane that adheres to the nape. When roe-mullet are taken,

THE MULLET FISHERY. 573

the giller, after performing his work, passes the fish to the spawner, that the roe-bags may be
removed before it goes to the scraper. When the dressing process is complete the fish are thrown
into a trough of clean salt water, in which they are allowed to remain and soak until all are split,
after which they are thoroughly washed before salting. Much of the blood is taken out in this
way, and the fish thus become lighter and of a more desirable color. Usually all the fish are dressed
before the salting begins, but when the catch is large the dressing and salting are carried on at the
same time, several additional men being employed for the work. As the salting requires care,
the captain usually superintends the work in person, seeing that all are properly treated. After
they have been washed they are rubbed in salt, and if they are to be pickle-cured they are at once
placed in pork-barrels or other tight packages, with the fleshy side up, an additional quantity
of salt being sprinkled between the alternate layers, the fis-h in each layer being placed at right
angles to those in the layer next above and below. They are allowed to remain in this con-
dition for several days, until they have been thoroughly struck and the moisture which they
contain has passed out of the flesh to form a pickle, which nearly or quite covers them. They are
then taken out, and the pickle, which contains considerable blood and dirt, is placed in large kettles
and boiled, after which it is allowed to cool and carefully strained. The fish are then again placed
in barrels with additional salt, and the clarified brine is poured over them. After a barrel has been
headed an additional amount of brine is added through the bung-hole, so that the barrel may be
entirely filled. In many localities the heads of the mullet are removed before the fish are split,
but in a majority of cases they are left on. This latter method is commonly employed in prepar-
ing fish for the Cuban market, as the people of that island prefer mullet dressed in this way.
Some of the fishermen have the habit of scaling their mullet and removing both head and back-
bone before salting them. Fish prepared in this way bring a little higher price than the others.

The kenching process, as already stated, is more extensively employed in Southwestern
Florida than elsewhere. The fish are dry-salted and packed in boxes or tied up in bun-
dles for shipment. They are dressed and salted in the ordinary manner, after which they are
corded up in piles, an additional quantity of salt being introduced between each layer. The scaly
surface of the fish is placed downward, to retain the salt that is dissolved by the moisture of the
body. In some cases, after the fish have been split, they are covered with salt and the sides are
again brought together, so that the body cavity is entirely filled. Mr. Stearns, in describing
the kench-curiug at the Hunter's Point fishery, says that the fish, after being cleaned, pass to
"the salting-tables, where they are rubbed with Liverpool salt, after which the insides are filled
with it and closed up, leaving the natural shape of the fish. Men or boys are employed in pack-
ing the fish away as soon as they have been salted. They are packed in rows or tiers, heads out,
in one corner of the house, and when the pile becomes large they present a most peculiar appear-
ance, resembling a work of masonry more than anything else. * * * The first fish thus care-
fully put up," he continues, "are in a first-class condition for any market; it is only in the warmest
weather of August or September that the mullet are known to rust or turn red."

No uniform size or style of package has been generally adopted by the mullet fishermen, and
considerable annoyance is experienced by the dealers from this source. In many places ordinary
pork-barrels are used, while in others barrels, or in fact any water-tight packages, regardless of
size, are utilized for packing and marketing the pickled fish. In North Carolina all kinds and
sizes of barrels were formerly used indiscriminately, but the quantity of fish contained in them
varied so much that no uniform standard of price could be adopted, and much hard feeling arose
between the fishermen and the merchants. This led to the passage by the legislature of that
State in 1879 of a law requiring that mullet should be put up in barrels having

or THP,

[TJHI7ERSITT

574 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

in length aiul a head 13 inches in diameter. The capacity of this barrel is about half as great as
that of the common fish-barrel, holding, when properly packed, about 100 pounds of mullet;* but,
as the law does not specify the exact weight of fish, some of the fishermen who are inclined to
dishonesty pack their mullet in such a way that the side of the fish containing the backbone shall
come in the center. By packing in this way, 90 pounds of fish will fill a barrel. Mr. Stearns says
that the packages now used for putting up pickled mullet at Apalachicola "are of white pine,
either barrels, half barrels, quarter barrels, or kits. These come by freight from Boston. Form-
erly cypress packages were used, but they were discarded because they were not so neat or cheap
as the ones just mentioned. With the freight included, those white pine barrels, half-barrels,
quarter- barrels, and kits cost, respectively, $1, 65 cents, 45 cents, and 30 cents." In other portions
of the Gulf home-made barrels are in general use. though a portion of the supply is usually
obtained from the North.

In the shipping of kenched or dry salted mullet ordinary wooden boxes are frequently em-
ployed. In many localities the fish are simply bundled up in such a way that the fleshy side of
the mullet may be turned inward and kept clean while in transit, or, again, the outside of the bundle
is covered by a single layer of matting or palmetto leaves.

As already stated, only young mullet are found in New Jersey ; these being too small to sell
when salted in the ordinary way, most of them are used fresh, though a few of the larger ones are
sometimes salted for family use. We learn indirectly that a few of the small mullet are put up
in vinegar and spices, though we have never seen any fish of this kind in the market.

At New Smyrna, Fla., and in a few other localities, according to Mr. J. F. McCarthy, mullet
are smoked to a limited extent for family use, though none are prepared for market in this way.

METHODS OF PREPARING MULLET EOES.— The roe of the mullet, which consists of two
cylindrical masses of eggs an inch or more in diameter and 4 to 8 inches long, is considered a
great delicacy, and many are saved by the fishermen, who find a ready sale for them. They are
obtained from the schools of roe or spawning mullet that are so abundant in all of the bays and
coves along many portions of the coast between the middle of September and the 1st of Decem-
ber. The marketable ones are taken from gravid females which, though full-roed, have not yet be-
gun spawning. At this time the ovaries, though large, are still compact, and the eggs are hard and
firmly held together by means of a membrane that surrounds them. As the spawning season ap-
proaches, the eggs gradually soften and expand until they burst the membrane and fall into the
ovarian duct, slowly passing toward the opening, through which they are excluded. When in this
condition the roes are too soft to be of value, and are hence usually thrown away. At most of the
larger fisheries one man usually gives his entire attention to gathering and preparing the roe.

Fresh roes are in good demand in the larger fishing towns, and they are highly prized by the
fishermen, who consume quite a quantity of them during the season. A large percentage of those
saved, however, are cured for shipment to the commercial centers. In some localities they are salted

*We publish the following letter received from Messrs. Hall & Pearsall, of Wilmington, N. C., in reply to our
inquiry as to the quantity of mullet contained in a barrel of regulation size :

JULY 16, 1881.
E. E. EARLL, Esq., Asat. U. S. 1'ish Com., TFasMnijton, D. C. :

DEAR SIR: Yours of the 14th to hand. Having no good fish in stock, we took to-day a barrel of the regulation
dimensions named and filled it with pickled fish which had partially dried. Wo then covered it with the usual
quantity of salt pickle, and subsequently reweighed it, with the following result: Barrel, fish, and pickle (gross), 166
pounds; fish, 95 pounds: pickle, 41 pounds; barrel, 30 pounds. As these had lost some weight in partially drying,
we estimate that a barrel of this size should contain 100 pounds net of pickled lish.
Yours, respectfully,

HALL & PEARSALL.

THE MULLET FISHERY. 575

iu kegs and kits in the ordinary way; in others they are slightly salted, after which they are thor-
oughly dried and packed in boxes for shipment. Along certain portions of the coast the practice of
smoking them prevails to a limited extent.

If the roes are to be dried they are immediately on removal from the h'sh placed in brine,
where they are allowed to remain for several hours, after which they are spread upon boards and
placed in the warm sunlight until all or a greater part of the moisture has been evaporated. In
some localities the roes are pressed, in which case the partially dried ones are placed between
boards, where they remain, subjected to a slight_j>ressure, until thoroughly dried. In pleasant
weather the time required in drying and pressing is about a week; if cloudy or rainy, a propor-
tionately longer time is needed. When properly dried and pressed these roes are from 2 to 4 inches
wide and half to two-thirds of an inch thick. They vary greatly in color from yellowish brown
to dark red, the shade depending largely upon the method of curing.

Some of the fishermen give special attention to the preparation of roes, and produce those that,
iu addition to being very palatable, are of excellent appearance. Others, on the contrary, bestow
little care upon them, and as a result they produce an article which is always inferior and in many
cases nearly worthless.

Mr. Stearns, after mentioning the excellent appearance of the roes seen by him at the Sarasota
fishery, says that those noticed at a Spanish fishery near by "were maggoty, but the fishermen
seemed to think they were all right, remarking that that condition was nothing unusual."

For many years the North Carolina fishermen have been accustomed to preserve the roes, either
dry or in pickle, and ship them to Charleston, from which place they have been largely exported
to the West Indies. At Saint Augustine, Fla., considerable numbers are dried for local consump-
tion, though few, if any, are shipped from the region. Along the Gulf coast the fishermen make a
regular business of saving and curing them. The majority are sun dried for the Cuban trade,
while a large percentage of those put up in kegs are shipped to the interior towns of Georgia and
Alabama.

Both the dried and salted roes are sold by count, the price varying somewhat iu the different
markets, usually ranging from 60 cents to $1 per dozen. The price paid to the fishermen averages
about 50 cents. When dried the roes are often sliced up and eaten raw, though they are occasion-
ally cooked in different ways. The salt roes are usually fried, and when well cooked are exceed-
ingly palatable.

8. EXTENT OF THE FISHERY.

Comparatively few mullet are taken north of Cape Henry, as they are not sufficiently abundant
to warrant any one in making a business of catching them. The first important fishery as we pro-
ceed southward, is in the North Carolina waters between Roanoke Island and New Berne, where
all of the local fishermen engage in their capture to a limited extent in the fall. The majority fish
only for home supply, but several parties fish more extensively, selling their surplus catch to the
farmers of the locality. The quantity taken iu this region, if we exclude the 1,500 barrels taken by
the "bank" fishermen south of Cape Hatteras, is 700 barrels of salt fish, valued at $2,500, and 20,000
bunches of fresh fish, having an equal value.

In the waters of Core and Bogue Sounds the largest fisheries on the Atlantic coast are found.
The number of seines between Ocracoke Inlet and New River in 1880 was 37; 20 were fished in
the sounds and 17 along the outer beach. In addition to these, a large number of drag-nets and up-
wards of 200 gill-nets were used; nearly all of the fishermen being extensively engaged iu the cap-
ture of the species for two or three months, some of them continuing for a much longer period.

576 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The catch for 1880 in this region amounted to 13,000 barrels of salt mullet and 40,000 bunches
of fresh ones, having a value to the fishermen of about $45,000. In the Wilmington district, in-
cluding the coast between New and Little Eivers, 48 seines, with 100 additional gill-nets, were em-
ployed, the catch amounting to 2,800 barrels of salt mullet, in addition to the large quantity sold
fresh in the Wilmington market. The statistics for the whole of North Carolina show 1,500 men,
with 450 seines and 700 gill-nets, employed in the fisheries; the total catch being 3,368,000 pounds
of mullet and 2,000 dozen mullet roes, having a total value of $80,500.

At Charleston 12 mullet seines, manned by 72 men, are fished regularly for a couple of months
in the fall, these landing during the season an average of 2^500 bunches each, or a total of 30,000
strings, equal to 135,000 mullet. In addition, the seiners that fish along the numerous tide-creeks
during the winter mouths catch about 4,000 bunches, or 35,000 mullet in number, in addition to
their other fish, making the total mullet yield for Charleston 34,000 bunches, or 170,000 fish, which,
at an average value of 12 cents a bunch, would pay the fishermen nearly $4,000, while the retail
value is nearly double that amount. In addition, not less than 5,000 bunches were secured by the
fishermen of Winyah Bay, a large percentage of them being sent to Charleston. The statistics for
the South Carolina waters show 80 men, with 15 seines and 10 gill-nets, regularly employed during
the height of the season, marketing 232,000 pounds of mullet and 20 dozen roes, with a total value
of $7,210.

The mullet fisheries of Georgia are quite unimportant, only 30 men, with 5 seines and 20 gill-
nets, fishing extensively. The value of the catch was about $4,500.

At the mouth of the Saint John's River, and in the sounds further south, quite a quantity of
mullet are taken, 181 men being engaged to a greater or less extent in this fishery. The total yield
for Eastern Florida is 663,000 pounds, valued at, including the 500 dozen roes, $20,787. At Saint
Mark's a large number of men are engaged in the capture of mullet for shipment to Savannah. Fully
90,000 pounds are sent fresh each season, and a quarter as many more are salted for local use and
shipment. The fisheries of Cedar Keys and Apalachicola are perhaps more extensive than those of
any other towns on the Gulf of Mexico, while those of Sarasota and Tampa Bays are also important.
Mr. Stearns, who has collected the statistics for the Gulf coast, says that seven hundred and thirty-
six men, with 85 seines and 125 gill-nets, are employed in the fishery for a number of months. The
total catch for Western Florida he places at 2,831,333 pounds of mullet, with 13,325 dozen mullet
roes, the total value to the fishermen being $102,721.

In Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana the catch is quite small, the men devoting only a few
weeks to the capture of this particular species, though the mullet are present during the entire
year, and are taken in greater or less numbers by the fishermen while seining for other species.
The values of the products for these States, as given by Mr. Stearns, are $3,750, $60, and $1,650,
respectively.

In Texas there are no regular mullet fisheries. The fish are present in small numbers, and,
though not regarded with much favor for food, & few are taken by parties fishing for other species.

Professor Jordan, in his account of the California fisheries, says that 600 pounds of mullet (M.
mexicana) are taken by the fishermen of San Diego during the average season.

The following table gives a condensed summary of the mullet fisheries of the United States,
showing the number of persons and amount of apparatus employed, and the quantity and value of
the products;

THE MULLET FISHERY.

Table showing the extent and value of the mullet fisheries of the United States for the year 1879.

577

Number of
fishermen.

Fishing apparatus.

Number of
seines.

Number of
gill-nets.

Number of
cast-nets.

Value of | Number of
netting, j boats.

Value of
boats.

Total

value of

apparatus.

Total.

3,101

658

285

$52, 656

539

$57, 108

$109, 764

Long Island Sound to North Carolina.

North Carolina

South Carolina

Georgia

Eastern Florida

Western Florida

Alabama

Mississippi ,

Louisiana ,

Texas

California...

•120

1,500

80

30

181

736

100

22

332

50

450

15

5
16
85
15

4
18

TOO
10
20
57

125

20

7

27

20
10
35

220

900

31,000

1,200

900
4,125
9,351
1,620

410
3,150

45

775

20

25

273

311

35

10

45

1,450

36,500

1,000

750
4,780
9,078
1,000

760
1,800

2,350

67,500

2,200

1,650

8,905

18, 429

2,620

1,160

4,950

Total 2,966,883

Products of the fisheries.

Pounds of

ranllet
Hold fresh.

Long Island Sonnd to North Carolina.

North Carolina

South Carolina

Georgia

Eastern Florida

Western Florida

Alabama

Mississippi

Louisiana

Texas

California . . .

82, 700

683, 000

220, 000

100, 000

633, 000

1,058,083

125, 000

1,500

55, OOC

8,000

600

Value of

fish sold

fresh.

$87, 168

2,480
19, 500

7,000

4.000
19, 837
28, 891

3,750
60

1,650

Pounds of ,

fresh mullet

used for

salting.

5, 270, 422

33, 000
2, 685, 000

12,000
6,000

30, 000
2, 504, 422

Pounds of
salt mullet
produced.

3, 872, 250

22, 000

1, 790, 000

8,000

4,000

20,000

2, 028, 250

Value of
salted
mullet.

$134, 833

770

60, 000

200

100

700

73, 063

Total

number of

pounds

of mullet

taken from

the water.

8, 237, 305

115, 700

3, 368, 000

232, 000

106, 000

663, 000

3, 562, 505

125,000

1,500

55,000

t8, 000

600

Number

of dozen

roes

saved.

15,845

2,000
20

500
13, 325

Value of
roes.

$7, 127

1,000
10

250
5,867

Total value

of the
products.

$224,292

3,250

80,500

7,210

4,100

20, 787

102, 721

3,750

60

1,650
240
24

* These fish only occasionally for mullet, and hence cannot be regarded as professional mullet fishermen.

9. MAEKETS.

t Estimated.

A good deal has been said from time to time about the food qualities of the mullet. In all of
the principal seaport towns between North Carolina and Louisiana it is an important article of
food, and in many places a third, or even a larger percentage, of all the fresh fish consumed are of
this species. When perfectly fresh, mullet are considered of excellent flavor and find a ready sale,
but owing to their fatness they soon deteriorate in warm weather, and when stale have a rank
flavor which is not at all pleasant. In cool weather, however, or in seasons when they are not
particularly oily, they keep equally well with the other grades of fish. Many contend that salt
mullet are of an inferior quality, and will never come into general favor. These insist that the fish
are soft and of a rank and muddy flavor. Others, on the contrary, hold that they compare very
favorably with the mackerel and with other pickled fish so frequently met with in the principal
markets. Professor Goode, in referring to the subject, says: "I had an opportunity of tasting
some salted by a negro at Mill Cove, and can bear testimony to their excellence. Their flavor is
more like that of a salted salmon than of a mackerel, and they are hard, toothsome, and not at all
muddy in taste." An examination of the evidence on both sides leads to the belief that where
inferior grades of mullet are found the difficulty is to be attributed to the defective methods of
SEC. v 37

578 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

curing rather than to any inherent qualities of the fish. In many localities little care is bestowed
upon them, and the fish are often allowed to become stale before they are salted. Again, they are
frequently put upon the market in a half-cured and dirty state, so that their appearance will
prejudice one against them, even though their flavor may not have been seriously impaired. When
properly cured they are undoubtedly of excellent flavor, and we see no reason why they will not
compare favorably with the Northern mackerel, of which several hundred thousand barrels are
consumed annually.

Up to 1870 no fresh mullet were shipped from Beaufort, N. C., all of those taken, with the excep-
tion of the quantity used in the locality, being salted for sale among the farmers in the northeastern
portion of the State. It seems that for many years the mullet fishermen of this region, after
catching and salting their fish, have been in the habit of hiring vessel-owners to market them. As
soon as the fishing season was over, the mullet were loaded upon these vessels, in charge of the
captain, who was to exchange them for corn with the farmers living along the banks of the navigable
streams tributary to the Carolina sounds. The captain was at liberty to make the exchange upon
any basis that he might think proper, but as he was given a percentage — usually one-fifth of the corn
received— for his services, he was apt to drive the best possible bargain. Five bushels of shelled
corn for one barrel of mullet was considered a fair exchange, though the price varied somewhat
from year to year. Having secured his cargo of fish, he usually set sail for some small town on
one of the larger rivers, where he remained until all of the mullet were sold. The arrival of a
"mullet- trader" soon becomes known among the residents of any locality, and the farmers of the
region at once load their wagons with corn and start for the landing to secure their fish. This
practice has continued to the present time, and even now a large percentage of the mullet salted
by the fishermen of Core and Bogue Sounds are marketed in this way, only a small part of the
catch being sold for cash at Beaufort and Morehead City, though the merchants and others are
anxious to purchase at fair prices. Those marketed in Beaufort are usually shipped by rail to the
larger cities of Eastern North Carolina or to Norfolk, from which points they are redistributed to
the farming districts. Probably nine-tenths of the mullet taken in North Carolina waters aie
consumed in the eastern half of that State. When money is received, the price paid to the
fisherman is $2.75 to $3.50 per barrel of regulation size, which is supposed to contain 100 pounds
of fish.

In the spring of 1870 a small trade in fresh fish began. This business increased slowly at first,
but of late it has grown with remarkable rapidity, and during the year ending with June, 1880, fully
40,000 bunches, equal to about 150,000 pounds, of mullet, in addition to large quantities of other
fish, were shipped fresh to the larger cities of the Carolinas and Georgia. The price paid to the
fishermen at Beaufort ranges from 2 to 4 cents per pound.

At Wilmington, as at Beaufort, nearly all of the mullet taken in former years were salted.
The farmers of this region made a practice of driving down to the fishing shores each season to
obtain their supply for family use. Many of them came a distance of 30 to 40 miles. Some brought
corn and other produce to exchange for the fish, while others brought the money with which to
purchase them. The price paid averaged about $3 per barrel, less the value of the package, which
the farmer usually did not care to purchase. Of late years, owing to the large demand for fresh
fish, few mullet are salted in this locality, and it is stated on good authority that during 1879 not
over 50 barrels were put up for shipment within a radius of 15 miles of Wilmington, though at
distances more remote, owing to a difficulty of marketing the fish fresh, many were salted. The
"roe mullet" usually find ready sale at an average of 12J cents each. The "fat mullet" are
strung in bunches of from 2 to 4 each, according to size, and sold at from 15 to 20 cents. A bunch

THE MULLET FISHERY. 579

of "finger-mullet," containing 5 to 10 fish, brings 7 or 8 cents, though at times of over-supply the
dealers can often purchase them for half that amount.

Though so few mullet are now salted in the immediate vicinity of Wilmington, the city has
long been, and still is, an important market for salt fish, the supply coming from various portions
of the coast between Bear Inlet and Little Eiver, the majority being received from the fishermen
at New River, who divide their catch about equally between Wilmington and Beaufort. Ac-
cording to Messrs. Hall & Pearsall, the largest salt-fish dealers in Wilmington, the height of the
business was in 1871, when about 6,000 barrels were-handled. Since that time the trade has fallen
off greatly, until in 1879, according to the same authority, only about 2,800 barrels were gent to
the city. The average annual quantity handled during the last ten years is about 4,000 barrels.
Two-thirds of those received are sold in the eastern half of North Carolina, the remainder being
divided between the western portion of the State and South Carolina, where they are consumed
largely by the farmers and laboring classes. The price paid to the fishermen at Wilmington has
varied from $1.50 to $4.50 per barrel, the average being from $2.50 to $3.25; 50 to 75 cents more
being paid for roe mullet, on account of their size, than for the other grades.

At Charleston the entire catch of mullet is sold fresh, at 6 to 15 cents per bunch. Owing to
this demand for fresh fish the city dealers are obliged to send to North Carolina for their supply of
salt mullet.

A large majority of the fish taken in the Saint John's river are sent fresh by rail or steamer to
Savannah, from which point they are distributed to the larger cities of Georgia and the Carolinas.
Almost no mullet are salted in this region.

On the Gulf coast, owing to a lack of shipping facilities, a majority of the mullet are salted ;
but where opportunities for shipment are found, as at Cedar Keys and Saint Mark's, nearly all of
the fish are sold fresh. In some cases they are kept alive in smacks until the shipping time arrives,
that they may reach the market in better condition. At Cedar Keys the demand for fresh fish is
good, and the price is usually such that the fishermen are not warranted in salting them, though they
frequently resort to this practice to keep their catch from spoiling when for any reason they cannot
be shipped. Those sent fresh are first washed in ice-water, after which they are packed with ice in
hogsheads, tierces, or barrels. After they have been thoroughly iced they are shipped by express to
Savannah or to some of the larger towns of Florida and Georgia. The price at Cedar Keys has in-
creased about 25 per cent within the last four or five years. At present the fisherman receives 2
cents apiece for fresh roe mullet and 2 to 2J cents for salted fish of equal size. The prices charged
by the dealers are 4 cents for fresh mullet and 3 to 3£ cents for those salted. All other kinds of fish
are sold by the pound. In some localities where the fish are salted, as at Ocklokony Bay, they are
bought by the farmers, who drive down to the shore to secure them. In other localities they are
often peddled through the country by the fishermen after the fishing season is over. Mr. Stearns,
in speaking of the Ocklokony region, says : " When the gill-netters begin fishing none of the planters
have arrived, and all fish caught in October are dry-salted and carelessly packed dry in boxes for
home consumption, or to be held until the customers arrive. The roe in these fish is undeveloped,
and is therefore not often saved. A little later the farmers begin to arrive at the fishing station with
their teams, and sometimes their families. Some of them bring 25 or 50 sacks of salt, to exchange
for the fish or to use in preparing any fresh fish which they may purchase. Others bring country
produce, and a few bring money. All have their favorite trading stations, at the most popular of
which, it is said, 100 to 150 are often seen waiting their turn. When a seine is landed or when a
gill-net crew comes in, all of these people flock down to the shore and buy the fish at so much apiece
fresh, or make some arrangement for a certain number salted."

580 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

Iii referring to a locality where some of the fish are peddled, Mr. Stearns says that some of
the fishermen prefer to carry their catch to market, though a majority sell at their own doors.
Those who adopt the former plan load up their ox carts and start for the interior, stopping at every
small town and plantation along the road until all of their mullet have been sold. In case
they have been preceded by other carts, they find it necessary to travel a good many miles,
some of them going as far as Columbus before they have disposed of their entire load. This
practice was more prevalent in ante bellum days than at present, and at that time the planters,
who fed their slaves largely on fish and bacon, were the principal buyers.

For many years Cuba has been an important market for salted mullet. Thirty years ago the
fishermen at the mouth of the Saint John's were extensively engaged in salting fish for shipment
to Havana, and though the business has been discontinued in that locality, it is still kept up by
the fishermen of the Gulf coast. A large percentage of the mullet taken in Southern Florida are
dry-salted and sent to Cuba, many of the fisheries being provided with vessels that devote their
entire attention to marketing the catch. These vessels make regular trips during the fishing
season between Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas, and other ports, selling the salted mullet at 3.J to 4
cents per pound and the dried roes at 50 to 75 cents per dozen. The duty on fish imported into
the West Indies amounts to $1.40 per quintal. Probably a majority of all the mullet roes put up
along the Gulf coast, as well as many of those prepared on the Atlantic seaboard, find their way
to the Cuban markets.

POSSIBILITIES FOE THE FUTTJEE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MULLET FISHERIES. — Questions are
often asked by fishermen and capitalists in different parts of the country concerning the abundance
of the mullet along the Southern coast and the possibilities of a further development of the mullet
fisheries. There seems to have been a wide difference of opinion on the subject, and the answers
to the questions have been very conflicting. Some maintain that the species is now taken in as
large numbers as practicable, and that as many fish are now placed upon the market as can be sold
to advantage. Parties holding these views think the mullet not sufficiently abundant to warrant
any extended commercial fisheries, and they further claim that the fish, owing to their inferior fla-
vor, are not destined to be generally introduced. Others, on the contrary, insist that the prospects
for an extended development of the fishery are very encouraging. They state that the fish occur
in such numbers as to practically do away with the question of extermination from overfishing,
and that the mullet when properly prepared compare favorably with any other species, and further
that by a little effort they can be readily introduced into almost any portion of the country.

During our visit to the South we were unfortunate in that we did not see the fishery at its
height, though in many localities considerable quantities were taken daily, thus enabling us to
get a pretty definite idea of their relative importance as compared with other species. In addition
to our own observations, we improved every opportunity for gathering, from the most reliable
sources, such information on all points connected with the abundance of the species and the prose-
cution of the fishery as would lead to a better understanding of the subject.

After comparing these notes with our own observations, we are led to believe that the pros-
pects for an extended development of the mullet fisheries are very favorable. The reasons for this
view may be briefly stated as follows:

(1) Abundance and extended distribution of the mullet. — One or more species of mullet may
be found in the waters of seventeen of our twenty one sea-bordering States and Territories In
thirteen of these it is taken in greater or less quantities for food, and in seven States, covering a
coast line of hundreds of miles, it is more abundant than any other species during six months of
the year, while in some localities it is never entirely absent.

THE MULLET FISHERY. 581

(2) Peculiar abundance in the in-shore waters. — The peculiar instincts of the mullet which
draw them toward the shore are greatly in the fisherman's favor, for while the cod, mackerel, red-
snapper, grouper, and many other important food-fishes remain in the deep water at a considerable
distance from the shore, the mullet enter the shoal water in enormous quantities, and continue
their migrations along the outer beach within a few rods of the land; and, indeed, they as frequently
enter the inner bays and sounds, where they are readily taken by the fishermen, who are not obliged
to endure the hardships and perils of the open ocean in the prosecution of the fishery.

(3) Readiness with which the mullet can be secured^— The gregarious instincts of the mullet bring
them together in schools, which are often of large size and great density. Instances are on record
where 600 barrels have been taken at a single haul of the drag-seine, and schools containing 200 to
300 barrels are not uncommonly seen. Again, in their migrations the mullet swim near the surface,
where their presence is easily recognized by their continual jumping and splashing, and the fisher-
man is thus directed as 'to when and where to set and haul his nets. With bottom-swimming fish
the conditions are much less favorable, for he is obliged to make " blind sets," trusting to chance
to surround a school, much time and labor being lost in making "water hauls."

(4) Its merits as afresh fish. — The fresh mullet is rapidly growing in favor among the fresh-fish
dealers in the districts where it is known, and though somewhat inferior to several of the more
highly prized species, such as the Spanish mackerel and the whiting, it is of firm flesh and excellent
flavor. Formerly it was sold only in the markets of the seaboard towns, but of late it has been
introduced into many of the interior cities, where it has met with a ready sale and is regarded with
considerable favor. Its distribution, however, is still confined to a comparatively small area, though
there seems little doubt that it will soon be much more widely known. The improved shipping
facilities along the southern coast will aid greatly in the distribution of the fresh fish, and the
demand, as well as the price, will undoubtedly be increased in proportion, and the time seems not
far distant when the market will take much greater quantities than at present.

(5) Its value for salting. — The fishermen of many localities have little idea of the value of the
mullet, and in many counties almost none are salted, as the residents do not know that they could
find a market for them even though they might be able to catch and cure them. The business is
thus confined within narrow limits, and there are stretches of coast 50 to 75 miles in extent where
not a single barrel of mullet is put up for shipment, though the fish are present in immense numbers
and would yield remunerative employment to the fishermen of the locality. Even in places not now
accessible by rail or steamer the fisheries could be carried on with profit, as the products could be
carted overland or boated through the inner tide-channels and lagoons to the nearest shipping
point. In fact, we see no reason why the entire coast from Carolina to Texas should not be one
continuous mullet fishing ground.

At present a large percentage of the Southern fishermen, even where salting is practiced, are
unacquainted with the best methods of curing, and many of them are putting up mullet in so crude
a manner as to greatly impair their flavor and to render them of little value. Such fish greatly
injure the reputation of the species and do much to destroy the demand, for when a person in
testing the mullet gets fish of an inferior quality he at once infers that all mullet have a similar
flavor, and seldom cares to give them another trial. Some, however, are giving careful attention
to the preparation of these fish, and are putting them up in a neat and attractive manner. When
thus cured the mullet are held in much favor even by the epicures. It only remains for the fish-
ermen to become familiar with the proper methods of curing, and to give more attention to cleanli-
ness in the preparation of 'their fish, to have them meet with a ready sale.

(6) The growing demand for fishing products. — For many years prior to the rebellion the fishery

582 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEE1ES.

remained almost stationary, it being carried on largely by the planters for the purpose of supply-
ing food for their slaves. During the war, and, indeed, for six or eight years thereafter, the fishery
was greatly reduced, many stations being entirely abandoned. Of late, however, owing perhaps
to the changed social condition of the people, there has been a growing demand for both fresh and
salt fish in all portions of the South. In the Northern States, also, the demand for fishery products
has greatly increased, and to day larger quantities of fish are consumed than ever before, while
twice as many could be readily disposed of in case they could be obtained at reasonable rates.
This growing demand is chiefly supplied in the spring and early summer by the large catch of
shad and alewives in the larger rivers, and by the mackerel vessels fishing off the New England
coast. In the winter the cod and haddock are peculiarly abundant off the northern coast, and
many persons are engaged in catching them to supply this trade. During the fall, however, when
the great run of mullet occurs, comparatively few other species are taken ill any considerable
numbers, and the market is quite bare of fresh fish. This gives an excellent opportunity for the
development of the mullet fisheries, for it provides a sufficient outfit for almost unlimited quanti-
ties of mullet at a handsome figure. The salt-fish trade is also greatly increasing, and the supply
of mackerel, though larger than for many years, does not equal the demand, and the prices are
rapidly advancing, the figures in 1882 being several dollars more per barrel than for the same
quality of fish in 1881, while those of the last-named season were considerably in advance of those
of the year previous.

No systematic effort has yet been made to introduce salt mullet into the markets of the North
or West, and they are little eaten outside of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Even in this
region, owing to the poor quality of the fish, the demand is often limited. With well-cured fish it
seems that little trouble would be experienced in extending indefinitely the territory over which
they are eaten , and the better grades of mullet might be brought into competition with the mackerel
and lake whitefish, when their relative merits would at once be recognized.

(7) The profits to be derived by the residents from the mullet fisheries. — Many of the residents of
the sea-bordering counties of the Southern States own small tracts of land, on which they raise
limited quantities of the various products commonly cultivated in those regions. From these they
derive a moderate revenue, which is often quite insufficient to supply the wants of their families,
and they are obliged to devote a portion of their time to other work. In the fall and early winter,
when the mullet are most abundant, these men have little to occupy their attention, and they could,
therefore, engage in the prosecution of the fishery with great profit to themselves and at the same
time be increasing the food supply of the country, thus greatly benefiting the manufacturing
classes. The present methods are fairly adapted to the capture of the species, though they could,
perhaps, be somewhat improved upon by the exercise of a little thought and ingenuity. The purse-
seine, now so commonly employed by the Northern fishermen in the capture of mackerel, might be
introduced with advantage for use along the outer shore, where the fish are running too far from
the beach to come within reach of the drag-seines. Other Northern apparatus might, perhaps, be
introduced with advantage. Even with the apparatus now in use, however, we see nothing that
offers greater inducements to active and energetic men during the mouths of September, October,
and November than the mullet fisheries.

x.

THE RED-SNAPPER FISHERY AND THE HAVANA MARKET FISHERY OF KEY

WEST, FLORIDA.

By SILAS STEARNS.

1.— THE RED-SNAPPER FISHERY.

1. The red snapper fishery of Pensacola and the | 2. The red-snapper fishery of East Florida.

Gulf of Mexico. I

2.— THE HAVANA MARKET FISHERY OF KEY WEST, FLORIDA.

Origin, present condition, and methods of the fishery.

683

X.

THE RED SNAPPER FISHERY AND THR HAVANA MARKET FISHERY OF KEY

WEST, FLORIDA.

BY SILAS STEAKNS.
1.— THE RED-SNAPPER FISHERY.

1.— THE RED-SNAPPEB FISHEEY OF PENSACOLA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO.

In the natural-history section of this report the distribution and habits of the red snapper
have been so thoroughly described that it is unnecessary to advert to them here.

This fishery is located almost entirely in the Gulf of Mexico, and in Florida it ranks next in
importance to the sponge fishery. The vessels engaged in it are smacks and smaller vessels that
preserve their catch in ice, and also the small open boats that fish near the harbor mouth, using no
preservative of any kind. Peusacola is the greatest distributing point in the country for red
snappers. All vessels belonging in Mobile, New Orleans, and other western ports land their fish
here, to be shipped to their home ports. Outside of this, those cities depend largely on Pensacola
for their supply of deep-water fish, as do all the inland towns and cities from the Gulf to .the Cana-
dian boundary.

THE FISHING GROUNDS AND METHODS OF FISHING.— The grounds where the red snapper are
taken lie along the coast from off Mobile Bar to the latitude of Tampa Bay, in depths of water
ranging from 10 to 40 fathoms. Between Mobile Bar and Cape San Bias they seem to be gullies in
level sand-flats, where all sorts of animal life have found shelter from the strong currents, provid-
ing food for each other. These gullies are of all lengths and widths, some not much larger than
a small vessel, while others are several miles long and quite wide. One harmonious feature
about them is the way in which they lie, being parallel to one another, and running in nearly every
case southeast and northwest. The farther to sea they extend the more life there is in them and
the more coral and lime-rock is present, until a depth of 40 or 50 fathoms is reached. Beyond 50
or 60 fathoms the bottom becomes sandy.

Eastward and southward of Cape San Bias the snapper is found mainly living upon ridges
and points of calcareous rock which protrude at more or less frequent intervals from the vast
sand deserts of the Gulf bottom. In the shoaler water, rock shows itself in rather even ridges, or
perhaps in almost level tracts that rise but little above the surrounding sands; while in the deeper
water, as from 19 to 35 fathoms, there are sharp uneven hills and valleys that often make a differ
ence of 3 or 4 fathoms in the depth of water within a distance of 200 feet. The latter region is
the more thickly populated with fishes, but as on all grounds south of Cape San Bias, the red-
snapper yields supremacy of power, in numbers, to the groupers (Epinephelus). They being here
more abundant, more easily taken than the snapper and of not much value and in limited
demand in the United States, these southern grounds are not as valuable to the red-snapper
fishermen as those west of Cape San Bias where the groupers are not so troublesome. Still there

585

586 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHEEIES.

are colonies of red-snappers living by themselves in the southern region, which yield most excellent
fishing on account of their having been but little disturbed by man. They are, however, small, and
lying, as they do, far from land in broad areas of unproductive bottom, they are difficult to find.

The fishing grounds south of Mobile Bar in 37, 39, and 40 fathoms are called "The Southwest
Ground" or "Gampeche;" southeast from the same point in 19 fathoms, is the "Trysail Ground;"
a small spot in-shore of that is known as the "Dutch Bank." Then from Pensacola Bar, is the
" Old Southwest Ground," a small shoal-water spot but a few miles from land; the "Middle Ground"
is another small bank, situated 5 or 6 miles from the bar ; the " Old Deep-water," a 40-fathom
ground S. and S. by E. off-shore; and the "Charles Henry Ground," and the "Henry Holes," at
the edge of deep-water southeasterly from the bar. Between Peusacola and (Jape San Bias there
are numerous small spots for fishing which have each several names given according to the fancy
of the fishermen, and often referring to some object on land that may be used as a range or bear-
ing; as for instance the "Eoger's Hill Bank," the "First Yellow Bluff," and the "Second Yellow
Bluff" banks, the "Fifteen off Bald Hill," &c. Off-shore there are other grounds, designated by
the depth of water on them, and some conspicuous land-marks that the fishermen use to lay
their course from, as "The Twenty-one Off The Pass," "The Second Seventeen Off The Inlet,"
the "Saint Andrews Ground," the "Old Cape Ground," and the "New Cape Ground." South of
Cape San Bias the grounds are not so well known, and also being mostly far from land are not so
easily distinguished from each other. There are a few names applied to large areas of ground, as
the "Dog Island Grounds," and the "Middle Ground," one including at least 25 miles square and
the other being twice as large.

The fishing grounds are found by sounding, the sudden change in the depth of water showing
that a gulch is reached, whereupon the vessel is hove to until the lines are tried for a bite. If the
fish bite freely, a buoy is placed to mark the spot and the vessel is allowed to drift, with sails slacked
off sidewise from the wind, until the fish cease to bite, when the sails are trimmed in to work the
vessel up to the buoy again.

In smooth water, when a first-rate "bank" is found, the vessel is anchored near the buoy, but
on small and thinly populated "banks" anchoring is unnecessary, for two or three drifts suffice to
catch up all the fish that will bite. Some "banks" are so infested with foul fish, sharks, large
jew-fish, leather-jackets (Balistes capriscus), and porgies (Sparus pagrus) that they give the snappers
but little chance to bite, and the fishermen are obliged to leave them for others.

The gear used in this fishery consists of cotton lines 60 fathoms long, arranged with two cod-
fish hooks at the end, on different sno6ds, and a piece of lead for sinker, weighing 2 pounds or
more, fastened to the line 5 or 6 feet above the hooks. Eed-snappers, and in fact all the large
bottom fish caught on these grounds have their swimming-bladders very much distended with air
by being relieved of the great pressure to which they are accustomed, and unless the air is removed
at once the fish will not live in the vessel's well, nor will it keep so fresh in ice. To provide for this,
when the fish are to be kept alive, the fishermen have little metal tubes, called "prickers," fitted
in wooden handles and sharpened at the end, which they thrust through the side of the fish into
the bladder, when the air escapes, and the fish is thrown into the well as lively as ever. The
coarse scales of the side seem to cover the opening made by the pricker, keeping water from
filling the cavity of the stomach. When fish are to be stored in ice, the air is let out by means
of an old file or a one tined fork that the fishermen sometimes use for handling fish. The deeper
the water is that fish are taken from, the more distended they are with air. Those caught in 35 or
40 fathoms are puffed out in an almost round form, and the scales along the sides are started and
turned up on end, giving the fish a peculiarly distressed appearance.

THE EED-SNAPPER F1SHEEY. 587

As a rule groupers do not become much distorted, but instead have their stomach protruded
from their mouths. In such cases the stomach, when pricked, collapses and goes back to its proper
place.

(Some of the fishermen have finger "stalls " to prevent the hard lines from wearing and cutting
their fingers, but they are not in general use. They are knitted woolen coverings for each separate
finger. The Connecticut fishermen have a leather thumb " stall" to use in their business, so that
they can hold the fish, while unhooking and pricking them, by the under jaw, with the thumb in
their mouths, and not suffer from the snapper's Iong7 sharp teeth.

Both fresh and salt baits are used in snapper fishing. The former is undoubtedly the best,
and of the different kinds of shore fish, bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) and lady-fish (Mops saurus)
are the best, either fresh or salted.

In the spring, summer, and fall the fishermen get sufficient bait of the kinds just mentioned
on the beaches by seining, but in winter they have to depend on that which they have laid by in
salt in the fall, and "bank bait" is fish caught on the "banks" and used fresh. Snappers are
very capricious at times, especially in regard to their food. One hour they will readily accept salt
bait, and the next nothing but fresh baits will do.

In such cases, when no fresh bluefish or lady-fish can be had, sharks, leather-jackets, porgies,
and like fish are cut up and substituted. In this kind of fishing the lines are not dropped quite to
the bottom, for there the large fish and groupers remain, and as the fishing goes on it often hap-
pens that the fish are tolled near the surface, when much labor is saved.

Unlike the custom on Key West smacks, these fishermen prick their own fish as they are
caught, and much more care is exercised that the fish shall not touch the deck or anything that
would injure them. When the well is so full of fish that holes in the bottom cannot be seen, no
more are put in, for if too much crowded there is risk of losing the whole fare. Eight thousand
pounds is a good load, and these smacks do not average more than 5,000 pounds.*

In winter it is necessary to go 50 or 75 miles eastward from Pensacola Harbor for snappers,
while in summer they can be caught within 20 miles of it. The smacks belonging on the coast fish
all the year, but are limited in summer as to the amount they shall bring to market. The Con-
necticut smacks come to Pensacola in November and remain until May, when they go home to
engage in fishing for the New York market. All the vessels in this business average one trip per
week.

Vessels employed by the Pensacola dealers deliver their cargoes as they arrive in port, hand-
ling them in bulk, and selling by the pound for fish weighing under 1 pounds, and so much
apiece for all over that size. Large fish of any kind are not as salable as small ones, and but a
comparatively small amount is taken at any price.

Those vessels fishing for the Pensacola Ice Company have ice-houses in them and carry ice,
so that if they have heavy weather, and the fish will be damaged, they are taken from the well
and placed in ice. All fish, both from the well and from ice, are packed away in the dealers' ice-
boxes as soon as landed and weighed. The Mobile and New Orleans smacks bring most of their
fares to Pensacola, to be shipped to home ports by rail or by steamboats. By doing this they
avoid all risks of losing their cargoes by fresh water in Mobile Bay and about New Orleans, and
also save much time. The additional expense of shipping in this way is more than balanced by
the greater amount of fish that can be landed at Pensacola.

HISTORY OF THE EED-SNAPPER FISHERY. — About 1845 the red-snapper fishery was pursued
in a small way from Mobile and New Orleans, and for a long time the only red-snappers landed

'The well-smacks are now being superseded by tight-bottom vessels and the fish are preserved iii ice.

588 HISTORY AXD METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

anywhere were brought to those ports by two or three small sloop-smacks which were the greater
part of the time engaged in seining shore fish, and sold there at high prices in the public markets

About the year 1874 attempts were made at Pensacola to catch and handle red-snappers in a
more economical and business-like manner. Staunch, well-equipped schooner-smacks were chartered
in Connecticut to fish off Pensacola during the winter, and on shore arrangements were made for
the storage, shipment, and sale of a large catch. On account of the poor facilities for transports
tion of such goods, the high prices at which the fish must be sold, and their strangeness to inland
people, there was but small demand for several years, and the prospect was not encouraging to the
men who had interested themselves in the enterprise. At last, however, the red-snapper became
introduced throughout the country, and most other conditions were favorable for its sale in large
quantities.

The pioneer Pensacola firm introduced several new methoths and features into the business,
such as the buying of fish by the pound instead of by the bunch, as had before been the custom,
the shipping of fish to the interior, using ice for the preservation of fish on the vessels, and the
wages system of payment to the fishermen.

In 1880-'8l another fishing firm was established and new impetus given to the trade.

This season witnessed the most decided changes from mauy of the old customs of the business,
ashore and afloat, to the latest ideas and newest methods. The fleet of vessels was considerably
enlarged, and the whole improved in equipment and in the plans for catching and preserving fish.
Hen of experience from the deep-water fisheries of the northern countries were employed, some
receiving shares of the voyages, while the majority were paid monthly Wages. The crews were
enlarged in number from five to seven or eight men, the extra men being required to fish from
dories at different parts of the ground. Before this all of the fish that swallowed the hook or had
their stomachs forced out of their mouths were thrown away, as they would not live in the well,
but good ice-houses or pens were built into the vessels and all the " gulleters " saved, amounting to
several hundred fish on some trips.

It was also found profitable to have a supply of ice at hand so that in stormy weather all of
the fish may be removed from the well, to prevent their being chafed or killed. At first each
vessel would take one or two tons of ice, but within five months the same vessels carried five or
six tons, and they brought very few of their catch in wells. Consequently since that time nearly
all the additions to the fleet have been vessels without wells, but with large and convenient
storage-room for ice. The question of having a regular supply of fresh bait has received much
attention for six years, and still is unsolved. A small pound was kept down one fall during a run
of young menhaden, and as long as the fish were present it kept a supply of good bait. The part
of the year when red snappers are dainty about their food is early spring when, generally, no
good bait fish can be caught anywhere within 400 miles of the fishery. Ibe northern salt-bait,
excepting squid, have been tried and proved of no value for snappers.

Another year a small freezing-room was filled with lady fish (Elops saurus), which kept in
excellent condition, and answered the purpose well when carried to the fishing-grounds in ice water,
but it was too expensive to become generally used. For the preservation of small or soft fishes
there is no better way than to keep them in ice water.

The fishing- grounds lately resorted to by the fleet are so far from land and so small in area
that very often the good weather would be spent in finding them by the old plan of steering a
certain course and then blindly searching with sounding line. Therefore to lessen such difficulties
the vessels were provided with patent taffrail logs, and the captains in some cases instructed in the
simple methods of finding their position at sea by the sun.

THE RED-SNAPPER FISHERY. 589

Other methods of fishing such as are nsed in other waters, as for instance, trawl-lines and the
cod gill-nets, have been tried by the fishing firms at a considerable outlay of money and time, but
without success. One of the schooners the same year had a full crew of Gloucester or Portland
trawlers, and a good outfit of trawls and dories, but it was soon decided that more fish could be
caught with hand-lines than on trawls. A fishing steamer of about 85 tons was thoroughly tried
in the business, and while she was quite successful and at times had great advantage over sailing
vessels, the running expenses were too heavy to make it a profitable investment. The value of
the steamer, invested in schooners, would give-much larger returns of money, as well as of fish.

The necessity for going so much farther from Pensacola to catch red-snappers in winter has
brought a larger and better class of vessels into the business than was formerly required. The
most of them have been brought from the north, where they were engaged in the cod, mackerel,
or New York market fisheries.

During the winter the larger vessels go 210 to 250 miles eastward from Pensacola to the
' Middle Ground," consuming 10 to 15 days on a trip, and bringing home on an average 1,500 fish,
and as many as 4,000 fish.

Such vessels carry from 6 to 10 tons of ice and about three weeks' outfit of stores, wood, and
water. The smaller vessels fish between Pensacola and Cape San Bias, mainly southerly from
Pensacola Bar, and make weekly trips. For this fishing-ground 1,000 fish is considered a good
fare. During the spring, summer, and early fall, the whole fleet is fishing westward of Cape San
Bias, and is quite successful on grounds that are barren in winter. Some of the vessels are
either laid up at Pensacola or are engaged in northern fisheries during the months of June, July,
August, and September, when it is too warm to send large quantities of fish to the interior. The
fishermen are of all nationalities, and are taken largely from the merchant ships that visit Pensa-
fola. The captains are paid by a one-fifth share of the net proceeds of the catch and 8 per cent,
for skipperage; the mate receives $40 per month as wages, the cook $30 per month; and each of
(.he crew $25 per month. The vessel pays the mate and cook from her share. The other bills are
all put in together and deducted from the gross stock before there is any division between captain
and owners. Some vessels still sail on the old share plan, which gives the vessel 40 per cent, of
the gross earnings, less 40 per cent, of the ice bill, and the crew the remainder, less their share of
the ice bill and all of the store, wood, and bait bills, which is divided equally among them. The
captain receives, in addition to his share, 15 per cent, of the vessel's share.

In winter this red-snapper fishery is very rough, and even those accustomed to George's and
Xantucket Shoals complain of the hardships to be endured in it. The large fishing schooners
from Portland and Boston always meet with more accidents to spars and sails in one season of the
choppy seas and sharp squalls of the Gulf than they do in a long time at home.

The buying price of red-snappers has remained nearly stationary for several years. At the
beginning of the business at Pensacola all sizes were bought at the rate of 4 cents per pound.
Then for several years there was very little demand for large size fish, during which time the
prices were 4 cents per pound for small sizes under 7 pounds, and 37£ cents apiece for all fish over
that weight. About 1879 the prices became 3J cents per pound for small and 25 cents apiece for
large, or "counts," at which point it has remained the most of the time, with occasional fluctua-
tions to outside vessels of 3 cents per pound for small and 20 cents apiece for counts. Groupers
have never been readily salable, and are a nuisance to the trade, as they are becoming more
abundant every year, and seem to be in less demand. The fishermen bring in but a small propor-
tion of the number caught. The grouper is a good food fish, but cannot be sold at all as long as
a snapper can be had, even though the price of it is but one-half that of the other. Formerly

590

HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

a few groupers were taken with snappers at the same price, but for the past two years they have
been separated and sold for one or two cents per pound.*

2. THE BED-SNA PPEE FISHERY OF EAST FLORIDA.

In East Florida snapper fishing is carried on chiefly by amateur fishermen and with the same kind
of bait as in the Gulf.t It is stated that the fish will sometimes bite at a white rag. I am inclined
to doubt the statement of Norris, the only angling authority who has written understandingly
about this species, who says that they bite readily at the silver or pearl squid. They are similar
in habits to the sheepshead and sea-bass, and it is well known that these fish seldom rise to the
surface.

A trip to the snapper banks is a favorite summer recreation for the gentlemen at Jacksonville.
A tug is chartered for the day, and always returns to the city with flags flying, whistles triumph-
antly sounding, and gorgeous festoons of redfish hanging over the bows.

Dr. J. Kenworthy, of Jacksonville, describes one of these excursions as follows :

"Eighteen of us left Jacksonville at 2 o'clock in the morning, reaching Mayport before day-
light. Before the sun rose we were 12 miles from the shore and near the banks. The second
cast of the lead furnished unmistakable evidence of rocks, and overboard went the lines. They
scarcely touched bottom before the cry of ' Snapper!' ' Snapper!' was heard, and a crimson beauty
graced our deck. All were soon engaged, forward, aft, starboard, and port. To feel the bite of
a 25-pound snapper at a depth of 12 fathoms causes a sensation never to be forgotten. As
the line is pulled in, and the fish is first seen at a depth of several fathoms, he looks like silver,
and not larger than one's hand. As he comes nearer his tints deepen; as he struggles at the surface
to escape, all his rich, brilliant colors are displayed; and when he reaches the deck every one ex-
claims 'What a beauty!' For a few minutes the shouts resounded from all sides; but a change soon
occurred. Each man labored as if the number to be captured depended upon his individual exer-
tions, and no breath or time could be spared to cry ' Snapper!' or indulge in fisherman's chaff. In
less than two hours the whistles sounded ' Up lines ! ' for we must cross the bar at a particular stage
of the tide. The fish were biting rapidly, but our tired arms and blistered fingers induced us all
quickly to obey the warning.

"Since the above account was -written Mr. Stearns has obtained the following additional information about
the extent of the Pensacola fishery :

Statistics of red-snapper fleet, 1874 to 1886.

Season of—

Number of
vessels.

Tonnage.

Number of
men.

1874-'75

11

328. 22

60

1875-'76

13

376 95

71

1876-'77

11

323 47

57

1877-78

10

297. 10

54

1878-'79

11

282. 12

60

1879-'80 .

14

302 11

71

1880 '81

21

458. 03

108

M81-'82

26

732. 39

150

1882-'Kt

24

662.91

133

1883-'84

25

577 96

140

1884-'85

27

751 56

163

1885-'86

33

1, 149. 10

231

In the season of 1885-'86 Mr. Stearns states that the fishery has been a financial failure, probably on account of
the severe cold having driven the fish int« deeper water. — A. H. Clark.

t Since 1882 there have been three or four schooners from Noank, Conn., fishing for rod snappers off the east coast
of Florida in winter, marketing the catch at Savannah. They ship part of their catch to New York.

THE BED-SNAPPER FISHERY. 591

" On the home trip our captures were counted — not sea-bass, porgies, and small fry, but fish
worth counting — and it was found that the party had captured one grouper weighing 35 pounds,
two of 18 pounds, and 208 snappers, averaging 25 pounds each, the entire catch weighing 2£ tons."

Dr. J. Kenworthy's description gives a vivid idea of the abundance and voracity of red snap-
pers on their feeding grounds.

"In April, 1877," says Mr. Goode, "the pilot-boat Nina, of Mayport, went out at noon and
returned at noon on the following day. She carried six fishermen who brought back with them 90
red snappers, weighing from 20 to 30 pounds eaehyOr about 2,300 pounds in all, besides 40 black-
fish. The snappers were sold to a Savannah dealer for $1 each, and he forwarded them to New
York. I saw 35 of them on the steamer Gazelle on the way to Jacksonville. I also had an oppor-
tunity of tasting one of them. The delicate flavor was destroyed by the vile process of frying, by
which Floridians make their good food indigestible."

"G. W.," a correspondent of Forest and Stream, details in the issue of that paper for May 25,
1876, the history of a trip to the snapper banks, which is here abridged in order to present it as a
contribution to the history of this splendid species:

"The snapper is a large, chunky-built fish, of bright-red color, weighing from 20 to 60
pounds. Its home is on a reef extending parallel with the coast, directly out to sea, from the
mouth of the Saint John's. It bites greedily; when hooked fights nobly; and last, but not least,
'eats' splendidly. The steamer Mabey was to leave Jacksonville at 2 a. m.; so half an hour before
that time I wended my way through the deserted streets, armed with a rope, which by courtesy they
called a snapper-line, and a hook about 6 inches long. Most of the excursionists were present
and the remainder were speedily collected, and then, with about fifty impatient fishermen, the
Mabey steamed rapidly down the Saint John's, and about daylight arrived at Mayport, which .is
near the bar. It consists of some twenty houses, built upon the white sand, without a trace of
vegetation. It is a summer resort for the people of Jacksonville, who go there for the sea-breeze
and the fishing. Having obtained our bait, we left this place and crossed the river, where a very
pretty collection of cottages marks the site of Pilot Town, so named from its being the home of the
pilots of the Saint John's Bar. Having obtained our pilot, we stood directly out to sea. Many
of the party were seasick, and while I myself was in a deplorable state, lying flat on my back, we
reached the banks. After throwing out a buoy to mark the place, the fishermen baited their hooks
and cast them out, and it was at this stage of the proceedings that I, who had not stirred from the
cabin, heard a frantic yell of ' Snapper ! ' ' Snapper ! ' accompanied by a scampering upon deck, which
sounded as if bedlam had broken loose. The noise continued, the yells grew more frequent and
were of a different character, for, mingled with the cries of ' Snapper 1' I now heard 'Blackfish!'
'Shark!' My sporting instinct was aroused, and, in spite of myself, I staggered to my feet, and,
grasping my line, frantically gained the deck. Such a sight ! The deck was strewn with black-
fish and five or six large snappers, while over the side leaned four and thirty frantic men, some
pulling in, some throwing out, and all yelling like madmen. I forgot that 1 was sick. It was a
triumph of mind over matter. Baiting my hook, I quietly lowered my line. It hardly touched the
bottom before I felt a pull that nearly pulled me over. I responded with a right good will. I
pulled; the fish pulled. Sometimes he gained, and then, with a mighty effort, I would bring him
in. The deck resounded with encouraging shouts. Finally he appeared in sight, 4 or 5 fathoms
deep in the clear, blue water. He soon reached the surface, and, grasping my line, I hauled him
on board. What a beauty ! I never had experienced such a feeling of triumph as when, out of
sight of land, I landed that snapper. Congratulations poured- in, for he was the largest caught
that day, and weighed full 40 pounds. I returned to the sport, and though I hooked another snap-

592 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

per, I did not land him; but I caught a noble string of blackfish, sometimes two at a time. We
could stay on the bank only forty-five minutes, for we had to get back in order to cross the bar at
high tide. But in that time were caught 20 snappers, weighing in the aggregate 600 pounds, and
over 250 blackfish, which weighed from three-fourths to 1J pounds each. If we had struck the reef
a little sooner we might have staid two hours, and I assure the reader that two hours of such fish-
ing is as much as he will want.

'' We strung all our fish forward, and, forgetting our sickness, sat down to a chowder of snapper,
such as might make an epicure's eyes water. We arrived at Jacksonville with bell ringing, whistle
blowing, and all our flags flying, and were greeted by a large and enthusiastic crowd."

2.— THE HAVANA MARKET FISHERY OF KEY WEST.

ORIGIN, PRESENT CONDITION, AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY.

A trade in fish has been carried on between the Key West fishermen and the Cubans for over
fifty years, having been first started by Connecticut fishermen who spent their winters in the Gulf.
At first the smacks were small and chiefly sloops, carrying 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000 pounds of groupers
in their wells. As schooners came into general use in the fisheries they were sent here. These
were larger, with greater well room. In 1860 there were eight or ten smacks engaged in the
trade. At that time there was great demand for fresh fish in Havana, and good prices were paid
for them. A smack would make eight or nine trips a year if she fished summer and winter, and it
was considered that she was doing very well at that. Some few contracted with the Cubans to
furnish groupers at 50 cents apiece for all fish over 5 pounds; those weighing loss were counted
two for one. This rate was finally broken up by competing parties, who would meet the vessels at
sea, offering large prices, such as 15 or 20 cents per pound for all sizes of fish. The result was
that more smacks were brought out after our civil war was ended, and the fishermen crowded them
so with large deep-water fish that would not live long in the "cars" that they failed in business.
Since then, or for the past ten years, the trade has assumed larger proportions, and is carried on
by more reliable parties.

The smacks now make twelve or fourteen trips per year, or more than a trip per month, unless
they fall in with a wrecked vessel, when they perhaps miss a trip while attending to it. (All
smacks, and spongers have licenses for wrecking.) The fishing grounds are located all along the
West Florida coast from Charlotte Harbor to Cedar Keys in water that is deeper than 7 or 8 fathoms.
Fish are found ouly about the " patches " of rocks that occur on the bottom off that coast. Some of
the best fishing places are in gullies where there is living coral and an abundance of other animal
life; other places (not so productive generally) are on ridges of calcareous rock, that seem to be
surrounded by no amount of animal life, except, perhaps, minute animals that live in the scanty
growth of marine plants. When the fishermen reach the " grounds," or the vicinity of localities
where they have previously caught fish, they use the lead-line continually until rocky bottom or fish
are found. The sounding-lead itself has an " arming" of tallow or wax to show the character of the
bottom, while on the lead line is attached a baited hook, which is generally taken by the fish if
there are any near. When rocky bottom is found, but no fish, the vessel is allowed to drift or
move slowly, while the crew try their fishing-lines, and very often good fishing grounds are found
in that way. As soon as it is ascertained that there are plenty of fish below, the schooner's jib is
hauled half-way down, the mainsail slacked off to the fullest extent, and the schooner allowed to
drift sidewise over the spot. Finally they drift away from the fish; then the lines are taken in,
jib hoisted, mainsail hauled flat (foresail is seldom used at all), and the smack is worked up to

THE HAVANA MARKET FISHERY OF KEY WEST. 593

windward of the fishing ground, in order to make another drift across it. Those well acquainted
know of places where they can drift several miles and catch fish nearly the whole time. They
never anchor on these rocky banks, for there is every chance to lose an anchor. Fishing-lines
are hard-laid cotton lines, with hooks and leads of about the same size as those used in codflshing.
On these lines the lead is at the end, with the two hooks attached to it above by snoods that are
2 or 3 feet long. Groupers are strictly bottom fish, and the idea is to have the hooks as near the
bottom as possible.

Baits for grouper fishing from the smacks engaged in the Havana market fishery are obtained
on the fishing grounds or in the bays. Usually the grouper will take any kind of meat or fish,
and then salt pork, beef, or salt fish is used to catch enough fresh bait — groupers, snappers, or
sharks — to serve in catching the whole load ; but there are times, winter and spring generally,
when the groupers cannot be induced to take any but the choicest baits. Then the fishermen go
into some bay and catch a quantity of mullet, which they put up in barrels with brine, to be kept
in reserve for such times as the groupers do not bite freely. Several other kinds of fish, such as
the bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), the lady-fish (EUps saurus), and the jackfish (Garanx
pisquetus) are equally as good, or perhaps better, than the mullet, but are not usually found in suffi-
cient quantities to be much sought for. This salted bait is not soaked out before being used, and
seems to be as readily taken by the fish as if it were fresh. Pieces of about 2 inches square are
used on each hook.

The men have to be very expert to hook the fish while drifting, and it is necessary to work
fast, for the vessel moves rapidly and the spots are small. The deck is kept wet, so that the fish
will not be " burned," as the fishermen call it, or injured by the hot deck, and the fish are thrown
on to it as fast as caught. One of the crew, the captain usually, stands by and pricks each fish
before placing it in the well. The air-bladder, or swimming-bladder, is so distended with air on
being relieved from the pressure of water that the fish would not live in the well, but would float
belly up ; so the fishermen have a small metallic cylinder which they thrust into the bladder from
the side, just above and a little back of the pectoral fin, whereupon the air rushes out with a hiss
and the relieved fish flaps into the well and swims downward. Every fish must be "pricked," as
this operation is called, and one of the crew does nothing else.

No fish are put into the well that are caught in over 10 fathoms of water, as they would not
live until the smack reached Havana. Fish caught in over 20 fathoms of water appear at the
surface swollen all over, eyes pushed nearly out of the head, and even the scales on the sides
started and standing erect, presenting a distressing appearance, to say the least. Such fish will
live a day or two after being pricked, but must be handled very carefully. Those from shoal water
are quite hardy, and will live for mouths in a smack's well.

The big schooners that are now in the business carry 12,000 pounds or more, and it takes a
week or two of fishing to fill them up. When the well is so crowded that the holes in the bottom
cannot be seen, it is calculated that they have enough. Sometimes when it becomes calm, and the
fish are not getting sufficient circulation, they have to take out a great many fish and place them in
live cars alongside. This does not often happen at sea, but is of frequent occurrence in Key West
and Havana Harbors. For that purpose each smack carries three or four cars, which are 8 feet long,
4 feet deep, and 4 feet wide, and made so that they can be taken apart and stowed below deck. As
soon as loaded the smacks come to Key West and clear for Havana. Their cargoes are all esti-
mated as being the same, and appear on all the manifests alike.

Arriving in Havana the smacks are assigned a place to lie in, and have to undergo many strict
formulas. Their first wish is to have the fish placed in live-cars, so that they will not die. A few
SEO v 38

594

H1STOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

days after their arrival the purchaser comes aboard with scales and proceeds to weigh the cargo
alive, changing them from one car to another across the scales. The expenses per smack in Havana
amount to nearly $100, and the other expenses per trip from $50 to $100.

The manifests are made out by the party who clears the smack, generally the owners or agents,
then taken to the custom-house to be recorded and signed by the officials there. It is made out
in the following form :

CLEARED BY FOGAETY & JOHNSON.

Report and manifest of the cargo laden at the port of Key West, Fla., on board the American schooner Mary Matilda, whereof

H. Taylor is master (or conductor), bound for Havana, Cuba,

Shippers.

Consignee.

Num-
ber.

Description (marks, &c.).

Weight.

Kilos.

2262

2,262 kilograms of live fish (estimated),

2,262

Ship-stores: 4 bbl.

valuedat$500, orl.OOOescudos. NootUer

beef; i bbl. floor,

merchandise on board. Vessel and cargo

J bbl. pork, cof-

consigned to Manuel Snarez.

fee, and small

stores.

Signature of

Collector of Customs.

XI.

THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES.

By FREDERICK W. TRUE.

1. Importance and location of the fisheries.

2. The fisheries of Maine.

3. The fisheries of Cape Ann.

4. Trap fishing on the north side of Cape Cod.

5. Trap fishing on the south side of Cape Cod and in

Vineyard Sound and vicinity.

(i. Statistics of the pound- net fisheries of Massachu-
setts.

7. The fisheries of Rhode Island.

8. The fisheries of Connecticut.

9. The fisheries of New York.

10. The fisheries of New Jersey and of Delaware

Bay.

11. The fisheries of Chesapeake Bay.

12. The fisheries of Albemarle Sound.

695

PA.RT XI.

THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES.

BY FREDERICK W. TKUE.
1. IMPORTANCE AND LOCATION OP THE FISHERIES.

The pound-net fishery is an important one, both in view of the great quantities of fish taken
and on account of the powerful influence it is supposed to exert in reducing the supply of shore-
haunting species. Few forms of fishery apparatus are more effective in gathering in all kinds of
fish, both large and small, whether swimming at the surface or along the bottom, than the great
pound-nets of Massachusetts. Hook-and-line fisheries, and even the majority of seine fisheries, do
not compare with the pound fisheries in the magnitude of their results. Again, while most forms
of apparatus imply very considerable skill in the fisherman, the pound-net requires none. It oper-
ates by certain constant peculiarities of tides and fishes, which remain in force whether the fisher-
man be awake or asleep.

The distribution of pound-net fisheries along the sea-shore, as well as of the varieties of appa-
ratus used, is modified largely by the configuration of the coast. Where it presents high cliffs
looking directly seaward, the deep waters at whose base are lashed to foam in every storm, we
shall look in vain for pound nets. It would be folly to set them in such places. Those most stoutly
built can scarcely withstand the violence of the open sea even on a sandy and gradually sloping
shore. AU other things being equal, the more sheltered a situation is the more suitable it is for
the erection of these nets. For this reason we find them grouped together in bays and inlets and
in the mouths of rivers. It is not to be supposed, however, that a soft, sandy, or muddy bottom
is necessary for the establishment of nets. The ingenuity of the fishermen is sufficient to enable
them to erect pounds on a bottom of solid rock, and in fact those in use in Maine are so built almost
without exception.

The present distribution of pouud-net fisheries on our Atlantic coast is in some respects a
peculiar one, and will doubtless suffer many changes in coming years. Hundreds of miles of coast,
especially southward, have never been appropriated for this fishery, although apparently eminently
suitable for it. At present the most important pound- fisheries are those of Cape Cod, Massachu-
setts, and the adjacent islands. Nets are extensively in use both on the northern and southern
shores of the cape, but, as I shall presently show, the fisheries of the two regions are quite dis-
tinct. Many nets are in use on the north shore of Martha's Vineyard, and a few about Nantucket
and the Elizabeth Islands and in Buzzard's Bay. North of Cape Cod we find no pound-nets, if
we except the very few employed at Cape Ann, until we reach Portland Bay, on the coast of Maine.

South of Cape Cod we find fisheries in Narragausett Bay, along the eastern half of the Con-
necticut shore, and at the eastern extremity of Long Island. A few nets are in use in New York

597

598 . HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Harbor. From thence southward a long stretch of unemployed coast intervenes, the next fishery
being in Delaware Bay. Albemarle Sound is the most southerly region in which pound nets are
in use. In importance the fisheries of Vineyard Sound and Massachusetts Bay rank first; those of
Cape Ann are the least developed. Each of the more important fisheries has peculiarities as regards
apparatus, methods, and ends, which I shall now briefly notice.*

2. THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF MAINE.t

A discussion of the pound-net or weir fisheries on the coast of this State is given by Mr. Earll
in the chapter on the herring fishery, and need not be repeated here. The fishery is quite dif
ferent from that of any other portion of the coast.

The catch consists almost exclusively of herring. The high-flowing tides, numerous and irreg-
ular inlets, and prevailing rocky bottoms of the region have induced the use of a kind of brush
weir, very simple in construction and readily adaptable to different situations. The quality, and
consequently the cost, of these weirs has varied much within the last quarter-century, following the
many new departures which have taken place in the fishery industry of the State within that period.
A few years prior to the war of the rebellion the demand for smoked herring had become a very
considerable one, and the weirs, particularly east of Penobscot Bay, were largely taxed to furnish
the supply, from which it naturally resulted that they were built more substantially than before.
With the close of the war the demand for smoked herring declined, and the products not being in
request the weirs were suffered to deteriorate. This condition of aifairs prevailed to such an extent
that in 1875 less than one-fourth the number of weirs were in sound condition than had been
employed in 1860. In the former year, however, the sardine industry began to assume importance,
and since that time the demand for herring, especially for small herring, has been constantly on the
increase. Well-built weirs have therefore been once more brought into operation, while at the
same time the fishing season, which formerly extended from August to November, has been much
protracted, and lasts from March to December. This last change will be looked upon with dis-
favor by those who believe that the pound-net fishery leads to the extermination of certain species
of fishes.

In addition to these larger weirs, others, smaller and much inferior, have been constantly in
use in supplying herring for bait, especially for the great lobster fishery of the State and other
local fisheries, and sometimes, too, for the offshore fisheries. These have never varied much in
quality or size.

Two or three heart-pounds have also been in use in Maine, a little to the eastward of the en-
trance to Portland Harbor, for a few years. They have practically formed the material of an ex-
periment, and one which has been fairly successful. They resemble the brush weirs in nothing,
but are closely allied to the pound-nets of Cape Cod. They cost at least $1,000 apiece, and serve
in the capture of a variety of fish which are sent fresh to market. It is very doubtful whether
any more of these nets will be introduced into Maine.

The financial arrangements of the weir-fishery, like the weirs themselves, are quite simple.
Each of the smaller weirs costing not more than $50, and frequently much less, is usually owned
by a single fisherman. Quite commonly it is necessary to replace them annually, for the crush of

* The pound-net fishery of the Great Lakes is considered in the chapter on the Great Lakes. In this chapter
pound-nets include the several kinds of fish traps locally known as brush weirs, weirs, traps, or pounds, the construc-
tion of which is described in another part of this report.

t The pound-net fisheries in the rivers of Maiue are described by Mr. Atkins in the next chapter.

THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 599

the winter's ice " leaves not a rack behind." Even in connection with the larger weirs there is no
elaborate financial organization. Usually about four men contribute to buy the weir, and are them-
selves fishermen for themselves.

The results of Mr. Earll's investigations show that there were in Maine, in 1880, 132 weirs,
valued at $27,500.

3. THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF CAPE ANN.

Until the year 1874 no attempt had been niacTe In the vicinity of Gloucester to capture fish by
the use of traps, pounds, or weirs. In that year a floating trap was set at Milk Island, on the
outside of the cape, aud a successful trap fishery has beeu carried on there since that time. In
1880 there were fourteen traps along the shores of Cape Ann, from Manchester to Anuisquain.
Most of them were made of old seine-netting, and they were therefore of little value. The fish
taken in 1880 were chiefly herring and mackerel, valued at $18,000. A description of the trap in
use here is given in another part of this report.

4. TEAP FISHING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF CAPE COD.

LOCATION OP THE TRAPS. — The fisheries of Cape Cod aud the adjacent islands are of much
greater moment than those of Maine. As I have already implied, the pounds located in Massachu-
setts Bay are quite different from those in Vineyard Sound, and the fishing is differently prosecuted.

The restless waters of Massachusetts Bay have caused many changes in the configuration of
the northern shore of Cape Cod. Moved by their power, the sand has spread itself in an even
plain, extending from high- water mark a half mile seaward, and but little inclined to the plane of
the horizon. Relentlessly it has filled the old-time harbors, and thereby stifled the activity of the
north-shore fishing-towns of former days. But while the vessel fishery has forever disappeared
from many of the towns, the weir fishery has taken its place to a considerable extent. We may,
however, with the old fishermen, look somewhat regretfully upon a change which has taken the
profits of labor from the many and bestowed them upon the few.

The north-shore weirs,* as I saw them in 1880, were set at intervals along the shore from
Truro to Sandwich. With but two or three exceptions they are "shoal-water" weirs, built accord-
ing to a single model, and varying only in dimensions or occasionally in the absence of one " wing."
The leaders run out to the edge of the great shore-shoal, being in several cases not less than half
a mile long.

The manner of working the weirs is somewhat peculiar, though very simple. As one passes
along the north shore roads, running parallel to and a mile or more distant from the beach, one
sees narrow trails leading off at right angles through the unfenced, pine-covered, and sandy fields.

If the curious traveler, desirous of kuowing how these by-ways were made and whither they
lead, turns into one of them when the tide in the bay be a little past the ebb, he will not long be
in ignorance. At a sudden turn in the narrow lane he will come upon the fishermen, in their single
horse, two-wheeled carts, returning from the weirs with loads of fish. Twice between sunsets,
during the height of the season, they drive from their houses through these lanes down to the
shore, across the great wet beach and into the weirs. The fish are shoveled into the carts and
carried back to the fishermen's houses, where they are packed for transportation by rail. In the
upper part of the cape the towns lie near the shore, the pine barrens give place to extensive salt
marshes, the water offshore is deeper, and one sees little of the odd lanes and two- wheeled carts.

* For description of these weirs »eo section on APPARATUS.

600 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Boats are now generally employed iu removing the fish. In pleasant weather and when the tides
ebb very dry the use of carts does not involve unusual labor, but at the opening and closing of the
fishing season, in May and November, when the chilly water is high in the outer part of the weirs
even at lowest ebb, the work of removing the fish is most arduous. The fishermen must often-
times wade to their waists or above in the cold water, the carts float and knock against the walls
of the weirs, and the horses, half standing and half swimming, become restive and troublesome.
The hearts of many men would doubtless be gladdened if the tides would henceforth ebb and flow
at the same hours every day, and of none more than of the weir fishermen. At present they are
forced to be at their posts at all hours, now in broad day, now in the darkness of midnight.

SPECIES CAPTURED. — The weir fishery of the north shore of Cape Cod is practically a bluefish
fishery; at least it is principally upon this species that the owners depend for profits. In spring
and fall great quantities of mackerel, alewives, and sea-herring are taken. Many pounds of
flounders and eels are also caught, and in some seasons tautog, shad, and striped bass. Menhaden
were formerly an important factor of the catch. An occasional salmon is taken. Sometimes a
"delicate monster," in the form of a loggerhead, or leather turtle, or a white whale, strays into a
weir, and is offered at the shrine of science by the not ungenerous fisherman. An important article
on the products of the weir fishery of the north shore was published in the Yarmouth Register in
June, 1870. It is so entertaining that I may be pardoned for quoting it in full :

"We have noticed many cart-loads of that not very inviting-looking fish known as the 'skate'
passing our office during the past week, and understand that the entire catch of this fish in the
Independent Weir has been purchased by Mr. Wilson Reyder, of Barnstable, who uses them for
manure. That of the Yarmouth Weir has been purchased by Mr. Enoch F. Reyder, who finds it
remunerative to boil them down and convert them into 'fish guano,' while the livers yield consid-
erable oil. The catch is large at this season of the year, as many as 7 or 8 tons being sometimes
taken in a single weir at a tide. More than 30 tons were taken from the Yarmouth Weir last
month. A visit to the interior of a fish-weir, when the ebbing of the tide has left it nearly or quite
dry, is interesting. More varieties of fish find their way into these 'traps' than most people
imagine are found so near inshore — codfish, mackerel, squid (sometimes in immense numbers),
porgies, herring, dogfish, salmon (occasionally), bluefish, bass (generally the striped bass), skate,
lobster, flatfish, shad, now and then a shark, and a great variety of smaller fry, horseshoe crabs,
&c. Bass and bluefish are the staple catch iu the weirs off Yarmouth, though all the above
varieties are taken.

"For some years past the first bluefish of the season in the Yarmouth Weir has been taken on
the 2d day ot June, so that now the skirmishers of this finny army are regularly looked for and
confidently expected at that date. From that time until the season closes this voracious fish is a
regular visitant, the catch varying from a dozen or two to several hundred at a tide. A 'pound,' as
the interior trap of a weir is called, filled with these fish, presents an exciting and animated spec-
tacle when the tide has ebbed so far that they are only partially covered with water. The ferocity
and strength of the species is then shown by their frantic efforts to avoid their certain fate, their
darting and snapping and fighting; and the looker-on is impressed with the idea that a company
of sharks would not fight more desperately than they if occasion offered.

" Porgies are generally taken, if taken at all, in immense numbers, though their visits are not
frequent in our weirs. Until within a few years the weirmeu have not cared to find their pounds
filled with these fish, but now the case is different, as the very fact of their coming in such num-
bers makes them a more valuable catch, and they are used for their oil and the manufacture of
guano.

THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 601

"All the edible varieties of fish taken iu our weirs find a ready market in New York, where
they are sent, packed in ice, every day. The weirs are visited every tide, and all of value brought
to the shore, while the 'trash' is thrown outside, to be carried off by the next tide."

DISTRIBUTION OP THE CATCH.— Most of the pounds on the north shore are in direct commu-
nication with the markets by rail. The Cape Cod branch of the Old Colony line threads its way
along the entire cape from Sandwich to Provincetown, and during the height of the fishing season
special trains are frequently run in the interests of the fisheries. The favorite market is Boston,
as being nearest, but great quantities of fish are seiit to New York and Philadelphia, and occasion-
ally as far south as Baltimore.

The mass of the products is shipped fresh, packed in ice. Almost all the weir companies are
in the habit of buying boards cut in suitable lengths for shipping-boxes, the latter being put
together as fast as they are needed. The weight of a full box ready for shipment is about 300
pounds. About the packing-houses of the more important weir companies, such as Philip Smith's,
at Eastham, one sees great piles of these boards, which give the premises the appearance of small
lumber-yards.

THE WEIR COMPANIES. — The business organization of the north-shorn weir companies is not
complicated. Usually four or five men own the weir, two or three of whom act as fishermen and
one as bookkeeper. In the larger companies, however, the number of stockholders is often not
less than ten or twelve, and the majority do not take an active part in the real work of the com-'
pany, but simply invest their money here as they would in any other enterprise. The stock fre-
quently amounts to several thousand dollars, and covers the cost of the weir, ice-houses, horses
and carts, boats, tools, boxes, and other necessary apparatus and accessories of the business. In
favorable years the investment is a profitable one. The more impecunious fishermen look with
envy upon the wealthy weir-owners, and many regard them as at once the destroyers of their
financial prosperity and of the fishes from which it might bo derived. The Nobscussett Weir
Company of Dennis, in 1872, declared a dividend of 20 per cent.* The interest on the capital is
usually not less than 10 per cent.

Nearly every company has an agent at the markets, who sells the fish and forwards the money
obtained to the bookkeeper, after deducting his commission. The agents have almost unlimited
powers iu many cases, and seem to be implicitly trusted by the fishermen.

The running expenses of the companies are made up of items for packing-boxes, ice, trans-
portation, commission fees, and for repairs on the weirs. The last is an important item, for it
frequently happens that the weirs are kept in the water too late in the fall, and, encountering the
violence of an autumnal gale, are torn to pieces and thrown upon the shore.

(> TRAP FISBING ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CAPE COD AND IN VINEYARD SOUND.

LOCATION OF THE POUNDS. — On the shores of Vineyard Sound we find quite a different
pound fishery from that existing on the north side of the cape. The pound-nets here employed
are "pounds," properly so called, being constructed entirely of netting. The huge seas which roll
through the sound in stormy weather would make quick work of the destruction of lath pound-
nets if the fishermen were foolish enough to attempt to employ them. The ordinary form of
"heart-seine" is the net most employed,! but at Waquoit and some other places "square pounds,"

'See Provincetown Advertiser, January 10, 1872.

tSee section on APPARATUS for description of these pounds.

602 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

or pounds without curved Hues, are successfully operated. The Mouomoy pounds are double — that
is, they have two leaders and two hearts and bowls, the second leader extending outward from the
first bowl.

The most important fisheries are at Chatham, off Monomoy Point, and along the western
portion of the north shore of Martha's Vineyard. Other stations exist, however, at intervals from
Chatham to Wood's Holl, on the south shore of Cape Cod, among the Elizabeth Islands, about
Nantucket, and the eastern portion of the north shore of Martha's Vineyard. The fishery seems
most completely organized at Monomoy. The nets are set westward from the shore on the great
flats that extend off the point in that direction, and at but short distances from one another. Along
the south shore of the cape they are placed in the shallow bays and inlets; westward, about Fal-
mouth, at the outlets of the curious fiords of that region. The nets about the Elizabeth Islands
are not of great importance, if I may exclude the Rhode Island traps which have been introduced
there, to which I shall allude when treating of the fisheries of that state. Along the Vineyard
shore the pounds are placed in the inlets, such as Lombard's Cove, Men*msha Bight, and others.

Unlike the fisheries of the north shore, the stations in Vineyard Sound are remote from the
villages. This is notably the case at Monomoy. The fishermen establish a colony there at the
opening of the fishing season, and remain until it is past. Each party, consisting of about ten or
twelve men, is accompanied by two cooks, that there may be no lack of digestible and strength-
giving food, and a bookkeeper, that the accounts may be in order. One or more fish-houses, in
which the fishermen live, stand opposite each pound-net. The arrangements are not so elaborate
on Vineyard Sound, and at the west end of the cape the pound nets lie comparatively near the
dwellings of the fishermen.

The season at Monomoy extends from the 10th or middle of April to the last of May or 1st
of June. It extends over a much longer period on the Vineyard, but the pounds are usually up
during the heated term in the summer.

CAEE AND DISPOSITION OF THE CATCH. — The catch of the Vineyard Sound pounds includes
a great variety of species of fish, the number and size of each kind varying, of course, greatly
in different parts of the season. The most important factors in the product of the fishery are mack-
erel, sea-herring, menhaden, alewives, flounders, and shad. Scup are not usually taken to any
considerable extent. Some of the pounds ou the north shore of Martha's Vineyard catch great
quantities of squid, which are sold to the vessel fishermen for bait, as is also the major portion of
the menhaden and alewives taken in all the pounds.

It is not unusual for the Martha's Vineyard companies to secure considerable quantities of
bonito and Spanish mackerel. I remember that while at Menemsha Bight in 1879, at the fish-house
of one of the pounds a flag was flying in order to signal to the smacks, which were lying at a dis-
tance, that the pockets of the net were full of bonito. This fish and Spanish mackerel seem to
vary greatly in abundance from day to day, the hauls of the pounds for a week at a time perhaps
containing not a single specimen of either species. The arrangements for disposing of the products
of the weir are quite different from those employed by the north-shore companies. From the
pounds of Mouomoy Point the products are conveyed to market by way of Dennispoi t. They are
carried from the nets to that place in small sloops, which are pressed into service at the beginning
of the season and are kept constantly employed. The fish are, of course, taken from the pounds
fresh, and are simply stowed in the boats. When they arrive at Dennisport they are taken out and
packed with ice in barrels and other receptacles. Thence they go directly by rail to Boston and
New York. Along the western portion of the south shore of the cape, as I have already stated,

THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 603

the nets are located near the villages and in close proximity to the railroad stations, so that the
fish can be immediately transferred to the cars. On the north shore of Martha's Vineyard it is
customary, to a certain extent, to send the fish by smacks to New York. Several of the pound
companies have, however, made an agreement with certain parties at Wood's Holl — the terminus
of one of the branches of the Old Colony Railroad — for the shipment of the products through their
agency to the markets. They are taken by boat from the Vineyard to Wood's Holl, and, as in the
case of Mouomoy, the fish are then packed in ice and shipped by rail. The nse of pockets in con-
nection with pounds enables the fishermen to hold tEe catch until the smacks can arrive from New
York ; nevertheless, those who are able to do so seem much to prefer sending by the more direct
route by rail. The latter arrangement, of course, produces much more regularity in the hours of
work in connection with the nets — a matter of very considerable interest to the fishermen. The
practice of shipping fish in boxes, so prevalent on the north shore of the cape, is not so extensively
in force here. Many fish are sent in barrels, the majority of which are sugar and flour barrels pur-
chased from the local grocers.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. — The financial arrangements differ but little from those already
described as existing on the north shore of Cape Cod. The net pounds are quite expensive, and
it is therefore necessary either that a few men invest a considerable sum or that many invest
small sums. It is difficult to obtain a notion of the profits of the companies. The fishermen are
quite reticent on this topic, and it would hardly be just to publish what information was actually
gathered. It is well known, however, that the profits vary considerably in different years; some-
times they are so great as to make the fishermen feel wealthy at the end of a single season ; but,
unfortunately, at the close of a succeeding year they may feel correspondingly impecunious. In
each company there are many silent partners. Usually only four or five men are actually engaged
in fishing the nets. As on the north shore of the cape, one man directs the work, and is styled
"captain of the pound." At the Mouomoy pounds, as I have already stated, two cooks and a
bookkeeper are joined to the force. The wages of the fishermen are about $50 per month.

WEIRS IN BUZZARD'S BAY. — At Fairhaven and at some other points near the head of Buzzard's
Bay there are from 25 to 30 pound-nets for the capture of alewives, tautog, scup, squeteague, blue-
fish, and eels, also menhaden and other species used for oil or manure. The pounds, locally called
weirs, are made of twine fastened to poles, and cost from $400 to $500 each. They have leaders
400 to 500 feet long. The average depth of bowl is 18 feet, with a diameter of 50 feet. They are
fished from March 15 to July 15, and again from August 15 to November or December. The fish-
ermen pay a laud-lease for their weirs of from $5 to $75 a season, according to the location. The
catch is marketed at New Bedford and the nearer cities, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

Mr. D. W. Deane, who for more than twenty-five years has been engaged in fishing with weirs
in Buzzard's Bay, gives the following dates of the first appearance of each species of fish in 1880:

"March 24, caught the first menhaden, alewife, smelt, tomcod, flatfish; April 1, tautog, skate,
perch; April 6, sea-herring, eel; April 14, shad; April 15, striped bass; April 17, scup; April 24,
dogfish, mackerel; April 26, rock bass; April 27, sea-robin; April 28, squid; May 8, butterfish,
kingfish; May 11, squeteague; May 12, flounder; May 13, bluefish; June 8, stinging ray; June 7,
sand shark; June 10, shark; June 25, bonito. On July 10 the weirs were taken up, and put down
agaiu August 26, on which day the first seres was taken. This is a gold-colored fish about the
size of the scup, a very palatable fish. It is quite common some seasons during August and Sep-
tember. August 30, first Spanish mackerel; September C, first razor-fish; September 6, first
goose-fish."

604

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

6. STATISTICS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS POUND-NET FISHERIES.

The statistics gathered by the special agents in Massachusetts in the census year show that
the number and value of pound-nets in the State in 1880 were as follows:

Pounds, i

veirs, &o.

Number.

Value.

0

2

14

$6,600

3

Salem

2

600

I

0

5

1

500

0

7
8
g

Barnatable
Nantncket

44

1
9

53,650
200
4,000

10
11

New Bedford
Fall River

29
6

11,100
325

Total

106

76,875

The amount of the products of the fishery in 1880 must be set down as not less than 9,275,000
pounds as taken from the water, the first valuation of which was not less than $210,000.

7. THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF RHODE ISLAND.

The pound-net fisheries of Rhode Island have certain peculiarities which are not possessed by
those of any other region on our coast. We find no weirs here corresponding to those of Maine
or Cape Cod. The coast is too much exposed to permit the use of such a frail apparatus.
Pounds similar to those employed in Vineyard Sound are quite extensively in use, and very suc-
cessfully. The characteristic form of net, however, one which seems to have originated in Rhode
Island and has never been extensively employed elsewhere, is the trap.* It is a very simple
apparatus, but one which demands the constant care of the fisherman.

As even the tyro in geography and fishery lore would at once suspect, the principal fishing-
grounds are in and about Narragansett Bay. A favorite locality is at the mouth of the Saugh-
konnet River. As I have already stated in another place, a few traps have been introduced by
the Rhode Island and Connecticut fishermen among the Elizabeth Islands, but of late years they
have not been very profitable.

THE FISHING SEASON. — The fishing season for pounds extends from April to October, although
but few fish are taken during the warmest days in summer; a great many pounds, however,
are taken up at the end of spring. Traps are not generally in use except in spriug, usually from the
latter part of April to the middle or last of June. According to Mr. D. T. Church, of Tivertou,
the majority of the fishermen of that place go to Seaconnet in spring and fish with their traps for
about a month. At the end of that time they dry their nets and use them no more till spring
again returns.

THE SPECIES TAKEN. — The principal species of fish taken are scup, bluefish, squeteague, sea-
bass, flounders, striped bass, and herring. The herring are usually the fish earliest caught, and
are followed by menhaden and squeteague.

* See section oil Apparatus for description of this net and the manner of working it.

THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 605

In the remarks of Mr. E. W. Whalley, of Narragansett Pier, before Professor Baird, in 1871,
we find a statement of the usual sequence of fish at Point Judith, and are presented at the same
time with a most charming fragment of folk lore. In reply to the inquiry as to whether fish were
not earlier arrived at that point than usual, he replied : "About the same. They expected them in
February and got the seines ready. They had them in the water in March. I always judge by the
dandelions. When I see the first dandelion, scup come in; I watch the buds, and when the buds
are swelled full then our traps go in; when the dandelion goes out of bloom and goes to seed, the
scup are gone. That is true one year with another, though they vary with the season. I am
guided by the blossoms of other kinds of plants for other fish. When high blackberries are in
bloom we catch striped bass that weigh from 12 to 20 pounds. When the blue violets are in blos-
som— they come early — you can catch the small scoot-bass. That has always been my rule ; that
has been handed down by my forefathers." *

The fish appear to be moving eastward when taken in Narragansett Bay. This is particularly
the case with scup.

DISPOSITION OP THE CATCH. — The facilities for shipping fish from Narragansett Bay by rail
are excellent. No difficulty is found in getting the catch safely to market in a very fresh state.
They are usually packed, as in other places, with ice in barrels. Good prices are generally obtained.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. — The financial organization of most of the trap companies in
Rhode Island does not differ from that of the pound-net companies in other regions already de-
scribed. At Little Cornpton, according to Mr. Knmlien, the shore suitable for the pound fishery is
divided into twenty-one " sets" or sections, of 65 fathoms each As some sets are better than others,
all are drawn for by lot. No one can draw unless he has all the gear required for fishing. A man
may have nearly all the necessary apparatus and yet be excluded from the lottery. That the poor
man, however, may not be unfairly pushed aside, he is allowed to ally himself with some man richer
than himself, thereby forming a firm. A rich fitter often enters into partnership with a poor fish-
erman, the former furnishing the lacking apparatus, while the latter does the fishing. The nets
must be 65 fathoms apart. When three sets exist in one bay the parties occupying the middle one
are allowed to use leaders of sufficient length to bring their net in a line with the remaining two.
In this same locality, before the Sunday close-time was enforced, the fishermen had the rule that
those who were not at their posts on that day got nothing of the profits from the fish taken.

The fishing is usually carried on on shares, the fitter receiving one-third of the gross receipts
and the fishermen the remainder, after the expenses of board are subtracted. Usually a fishing-
gang consists of six men and a cook. Frequently it occurs, however, that one cook is able to pre-
pare food for two or three gangs of fishermen.

An average trap is worth $350. This amount includes the cost of boats, extra twine, and
all other minor appurtenances incidental to the active prosecution of the industry. These traps
are seldom owned by a single man, but usually by three or four, the majority of whom are part
owners. Many pound-nets are made of condemned menhaden-seine netting, and have therefore no
great value.

According to the data collected in Rhode Island in 1880, the number and value of pound nets
in use in the State were as follows:

Traps.

Number.

Value.

Pounds and weirs .....

166

$58,838

* Report U. S. Fish Commission, I, 1873, pp. 24-25.

606

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

This is a marked increase over the number existing in 1877, which has been set down by Pro-
fessor Goode as thirty.

No difficulty is usually found in securing good prices for the fish in New York and Philadelphia.
The markets of Providence and Newport also absorb a very considerable proportion of the products
of the fishery.

STATISTICS FOE 1880. — The amount of the catch in 1880, according to the information obtained
by Messrs. Kumlien, Wilcox, and others, was about 8,300,000 pounds.

In 1877 the yield of three traps was as follows :

Founds.

17,225

15, 675

112, 750

"Weakflsh

29, 325

10,500

Blnefish

23,625

Total

209, 100

69, 700

Estimated yield of the 30 traps In use in 1877 . .

2, 091, 000

In 1876 the three traps of Messrs. Edward Gladding & Co. and Mr. H. M. Merritt yielded
248,400 pounds of fish, or about 82,800 pounds to the trap.

In 1867 Mr. Benjamin Tallman, of Portsmouth, caught in six traps in nine days $18,000 worth
of fish. Estimating the value of the fish at $5 per box, which is not too great a sum, the number
of boxes secured was about 3,600, representing 1,260,000 pounds of fish. The average catch to a
trap each day was about 23,300 pounds.

8. THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF CONNECTICUT.

CONNECTICUT EIVER SHAD-POUNDS. — The pound-net fishery in Connecticut for the capture of
shad is carried on chiefly at the mouth of the Connecticut River and to the westward. The nets
are in every respect similar to those fished on Vineyard Sound, and it is therefore unnecessary for
me to do more than allude to them. Full information on this topic will be found in the chapter on
the river fisheries of the Atlantic States.

9. THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF NEW YORK.

LOCATION AND IMPORTANCE OF THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF LONG ISLAND. — In New
York the pound fisheries are confined to Long Island, and are not so extensively carried on as
formerly. The height of the prosperity of the fishery seems to have been reached in 1875. The
investigations of Mr. Fred. Mather show that there are nets scattered along both shores of Long
Island at considerable intervals. They are moved quite frequently, to the end that more fish may
be taken.

The nets employed correspond to those in use in Vineyard Sound. Some, however, have no
" heart," but merely a funnel leading into the bowl, which may be circular or square. Such nets
are known in common parlance as "traps." All the nets have leaders.

The fish most sought for are shad and striped bass. Some of the traps are employed for the
capture of the latter species alone. A few Spanish mackerel are taken in many of the nets.

THE POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES.

607

According to the information obtained by Mr. Goode from Captain Ashby in 1877, it appears
that certain pounds at Napeague in 1876 caught nothing but squid. Each pound took an average
of 15 tons every morning during six weeks. This was during the last of May and through the
month of June.

Between Orient and Oyster Bay, on the sound shore, the fishermen are mostly the farmers of
that district. To the eastward, however, many nets are owned by non-resident citizens, who pur-
chase the fishing privileges from the resident owners.

About Orient and some other regions the season lasts from May to October, but in Flushing
Bay and elsewhere, where the nets are only employed for shad and menhaden, the fishing times
occur only in spring.

New York market absorbs the greater portion of the products of the Long Island pound-nets.
The fish are commonly sent by rail in ice. Many menhaden are used for manure.

The total catch of the pounds in 1880 was not less than 1,566,000 pounds.

Mr. Mather gives the following interesting statistics of two pounds owned by Capt. Henry
Ballort at East Marion, and regularly in use for nine years. The owner shipped his fish to New
York market in boxes containing 225 pounds. His shipments for nine years were the following:

Tear.

Boxes.

Pounds.

1871

272

61 000

1872

321

72,225

1873

363

81 675

1874

320

72 000

1875

251

66 475

1876

146

3° 850

1877

236

59 175

1878

241

54 225

1879

113

25 4'5

Total

515 050

Captain Ballort had kept no record of the separate amounts of various species taken, but
recollected the annual catch of Spanish mackerel to be about as follows: 1871, 6,000; 1872, 2,500;
1873, 1,000; 1874-'78, 500; 1879, 10 fish. He says that in 1871 Spanish mackerel were plenty.

The number of pound-nets in use in New York State in 1880 was 87, valued at $43,500.

10. POUND-NET FISHERIES OF NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE BAY.

We find the main body of the fisheries occupying but two localities, namely, the west shore of
New York Harbor to Sandy Hook, and Delaware Bay between Cape May and Dyer's Creek. Some
nets are also set about Barnegat Inlet. Pound nets were introduced into New Jersey in 1855, but
did not come into general use till 1873. In 1879 there were six pound-nets between Long Branch
and Sandy Hook, stocking an average of $10,000 each, and clearing fully $7,000 apiece on fish
taken during the season. In 1880 there were eleven pound-nets in the same section and two
smaller ones in Sandy Hook Bay. These outer pounds averaged about $8,000 each, and cleared
$5,500. The best one stocked about $12,000.

The nets employed in Delaware Bay are peculiar in having two compartments in the bowl, one
for fish, and one for king-crabs. The king-crab compartment has stakes at the bottom, netting not
being suited to hold these animals. The other pounds are of the ordinary type. These pounds are

608 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

much inferior to those at Sandy Hook, being valued at only about $90 each. They were intro-
duced here about 1870. On account of the difficulty of finding a market for their catch they stock
on an average only about $400 a season.

The fishing season about Sandy Hook extends from May to November if the weather permits,
and in Delaware Bay from March 1 to the middle of June.

The chief varieties of fish taken are weakfish, or squeteague, Spanish mackerel, butterfish,
bluefish, sheepshead, bonitos, and shad. In Delaware Bay, as I have just stated, great quantities
of king-crabs are caught.

The financial arrangements present no especial peculiarities. The products of the nets go
mainly to New York and Philadelphia. The prices are frequently so low that the fishermen cannot
dispose of the fish to any advantage, and often let them loose in the water. This is more espe-
cially the case southward.

The number of nets in use in the State in 1880 was twenty-seven, valued at $19,800.

Regarding the introduction of pound-fisheries into New Jersey, Mr. Earll says that the first
pounds fished there were very small, and were placed along the inner shore of Sandy Hook. The
same style of pounds were fished until about 1873, when larger ones were placed along the ocean
shore, and their importance in connection with the Spanish mackerel fishery was then discovered.
The majority of the mackerel secured about Sandy Hook are now taken in this way. One hundred
fish in number was considered an average daily catch for the fishing season of 1879, and 100 to
140 for 1880, though much larger catches were occasionally secured. The best day's fishing for
a pound-net in that locality occurred in the summer of 1879 when Mr. Robert Potter took 3,500
pounds, valued at $700, at a single lift.

11. POUND NET FISHERIES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY.

Between New Jersey and Chesapeake Bay there are no pound-net fisheries. In the latter
locality the fishery has been engaged in since 1858, having been introduced from New Jersey in
that year. Mr. Earll, in his account of the Spanish mackerel fisheries on a preceding page, says
that the pound-net was introduced into the Chesapeake against the prejudice of the fishermen, but
has revolutionized the fisheries of Virginia. Prior to 1870 the fisheries of the region were of little
importance, being carried on with hand-lines and drag-seines for a few weeks in the spring and fall,
while to-day the Chesapeake is the center of one of the most important shore fisheries in the United
States. The pound-net has not only more than doubled the catch of ordinary fishes, but it has
brought to the notice of the fishermen many valuable species that were previously almost unknown
to them. In 1880, 162 pounds were fished in Virginia waters, with two others located at Crisfield,
Maryland, just above the Virginia line.

In general make-up the net employed in Chesapeake Bay corresponds closely to that in use in
Vineyard Sound. Each costs about $1,000, a second set of netting being used when the first is taken
out to be dried and repaired. In the warm waters of this region the netting cannot remain down
more than two or three weeks without being seriously injured.

The hauling of the pounds is carried on by three or four men from a boat. When there is a
large run of " scrap fish," or when the catch is large, a signal is given and a flat boat or scow is
sent out from the shore to receive the surplus. It is taken to the point on the outside of the net,
and the worthless fish are thrown into it as fast as the marketable ones are sorted out. Frequently
both boats are loaded and the fish are culled after reaching the shore.

THE POUND-NET FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES. 609

The average stock for marketable fish during the season for this locality is about $4,200 per
net, the marine species named in order of value being Spanish mackerel, taylors, trout, sheepshead,
porgies, and mixed fish. If the value be neglected, and the number of individuals be considered,
the order should be changed so as to read: Trout, taylors, mackerel, mixed fish, porgies, and sheeps-
head, with the addition of refuse fish, which are either thrown away or used for fertilizing purposes.

According to the best-informed fishermen, 100,000 trout, 40,000 bluefish, locally known as
" taylors," 30,000 Spanish mackerel, 10,000 mixed fish, 3,000 porgies, and 1,000 sheepshead repre-
sent the catch of the average pound for 1879. The money value of the catch is divided among the
species as follows: Mackerel, 36 per cent.; taylors, 24 per cent.; tront, 21 per cent; sheepshead,
6 per cent.; porgies, 5 per cent.; mixed fish, 8 per cent.

On the west shore of the Chesapeake the pounds are much smaller and the catch is propor-
tionally less, while the fishing season is also different. Here the pounds are put out in time for the
run of shad, which begins early in March and continues until the last of May. After the shad
season is over many of the nets are taken up. Almost none remain down through the summer,
though a number are fished in the fall for trout and other species. On the eastern shore the law
allows pounds to be fished only between the 25th of June and the 1st of October, during which time
they are lifted regularly every day when the weather will permit.

12. POUND-NET FISHERIES OF ALBEMARLE SOUND.

In Albeinarle Sound, the southern limit of the pound-net fishery, this branch of the industry
is not so important as some others which are prosecuted there. Col. Marshall McDonald, who
visited this region in behalf of the census, gathered information on pound fisheries, and has given
me a summary of his observations.

It appears that pound-nets were introduced here in 1870 by a German, Mr. Hettrick, who
still controls some of the more important stations. The nets employed are similar to the Rhode
Island traps, but are so constructed as to prevent the escape of the fish. They are located almost
without exception at the head of the sound, on the north side.

The fishing season lasts from the middle of March to June. The principal fish taken are white
perch, rockfish, herring, and alewives. Considerable numbers of shad are also taken.

The business arrangements of the fishermen are somewhat different from those of other
regions. Usually several nets are owned by a single man, who furnishes the netting and buys the
fish. The products are shipped to commission agents in the principal cities to which they are
sent.

At least half the products supply the local demand, the remainder being sent to Norfolk, Rich-
mond, and Baltimore, from which points, of course, they are again distributed. The fish are
taken from the nets to Edenton in six or seven small schooners and sloops of 11 to 15 tons burden;
thence they arer shipped to the centers, fresh, in ice, in boxes of about 300 pounds each. The majority
of the herring, however, are smoked or "struck," and sold to the farmers in the immediate vicinity
of the fisheries. It is only in spring that the fishermen find it profitable to send their herring fresh
to the larger markets, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 1880 about 104 nets were in use, worth at
an average $400.

A small number of brush weirs are also in use in the sound, but the fishery is not important

In 1880 pound-nets were introduced into the Ogeechee River. Their use is at present expert
mental. Two or three nets are also in use in the Neuse River.
SEO T 39

XII.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES.

FLORIDA TO LONG ISLAND SOUND BY MARSHALL McDONALD ; MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW HAMP-
SHIRE, BY W. A. WILCOX AND FREDERICK W. TRUE; MAINE, BY C. G. ATKINS.

1.— THE RIVERS OF EASTERN FLORIDA, GEORGIA, AND SOUTH CAROLINA.

6. The Savannah River.

7. The sturgeon trade of Savannah.

Saint John's River, Florida.

Saint Mary's River.

Altamaha River.

Tin' Satillas.

Tin1 ( >j?i'«'i'hec River.

8. The Edisto River.

9. The Sautee River.

10. The Peedee, Sanipit, Black, and Wacamab Rivers.

2.— THE RIVERS AND SOUNDS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

The Cape Fear River.

The Ncuse River.

The Pamlico and Tar Rivers.

4. Fisheries of Pamlico Sound.

5. Albemarle Sound and its tributaries.

3.— THE FISHERIES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

(iencral Review.

The James River.

York River and its tributaries.

The Rappahannock River.

5. The Potomac River.

G. The Susquehanua River.

7. Minor tributaries of Chesapeake Bay.

4.— THE FISHERIES OF THE DELAWARE RIVER.

History and present condition of the fisheries.

5.— THE FISHERIES OF THE HUDSON RIVER.

The shad, sturgeon, and herring fisheries of the Hudson River.

i.— THE CONNECTICUT AND HOUSATON1C RIVERS AND MINOR TRIBUTARIES OF

The Connecticut River.
The Housatouic River.

LONG ISLAND SOUND.

•

3. Minor tributaries of Long Island Sound.

7.— RIVERS OF MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The Taunton and Cole's Rivers.
Buzzard's Bay and its tributaries.
The alowife fisheries of Cape Cod.

8.— THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE.

Geographical and climatic relations. 4. Descriptive and historical notes on local fisheries.

Characteristics of the rivers.

Natural and economic history of the river fishes.

4. The Merrimae River.

5. The Exeter River, New Hampshire.

5. Laws relating to the river fisheries.

611

P.ART XII.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF THE ATLANTIC STATES.

1.— THE RIVERS OF EASTERN FLORIDA, GEORGIA, AND SOUTH

CAROLINA.

BY MARSHALL MCDONALD.
1. SAINT JOHN'S EIVER, FLOEIDA.

DESCRIPTION OP THE RIYER. — The extreme sources of the Saint John's Kiverlie south of the
twenty-eighth degree of north latitude. It trends north and south, and, gathering accessions from
a hundred lakes, finally discharges its waters into the Atlantic Ocean under latitude 30° 30'. Its
general course is from south to north. Like the Gulf Stream, therefore, it carries the warmth of
the south to colder latitudes, in which respect it differs entirely from the other principal streams
of the Atlantic slope, all of which run south and east, having their sources north, among the mount-
ains, and carrying down to their lower reaches water of a lower temperature than that of the sur-
rounding locality. This is especially true in the spring and early summer, when we find the tem-
perature of these streams progressively diminishing as we ascend to their headwaters. The data
are not at hand to furnish a tabular statement in proof of this progressive rise of temperature as
the headwaters of the Saint John's are approached, because records are only kept at one point — Jack-
sonville ; but the course of the river from south to norlh clearly shows that such must be the case.
From the records of the signal office at Jacksonville we have obtained a connected series of ob-
servations* of the temperature of the river for the years 1873-'74, 1877->78, 1878-'79, and 1879-'80.

An examination of these tables shows that the river temperature passes below 60° about the
1st of December, not again rising above that degree until the middle or end of February.! Coin-
cident with this period of low temperature the shad run begins, the fishing season being at its
height in February, when the temperature reaches 60°. A comparison of these observations with
those for other rivers shows that though the shad season on the Saiut John's differs widely in time
from that on more northern streams, yet it occurs under similar conditions of water temperature;
in other words, the time of the occurrence of shad in any river appears to depend solely upon the

* For tables see Section I, Natural History of Aquatic Animals, pp. 600, 601.

tin 1871 William Dempsey bought shad at New Berlin, on the Saint John's. He found that the average monthly
catch per net was, in December, 82.6; in January, 413 ; in February, 619 ; and in March, 207. This indicates that from
the latter part of January to the end of February is the period of the greatest abundance of shad in this river.

613

614 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

relative temperature of the water. The shad ascend to the very sources of the Saint John's, there
being no obstructions, and spawn in Lake Monroe, distant several hundred miles from the
Atlantic.

METHODS EMPLOYED IN THE SHAD FISHERY. — In this river the shad is the only fresh-water
species which is the object of organized fisheries. The principal salt-water fisheries are discussed
by Mr. R. E. Earll in his account of the salt-water fisheries of the Florida coast. From Palatka
down the shad fisheries are prosecuted entirely with gill-nets. On Lake Monroe are three small
hand-seines.

The shad caught in the Saint John's are either sold fresh to supply local demand, or are packed
in ice and sent to Northern markets. Savannah is the principal point to which shipmenis are
made. There the fish are rehaudled and reiced, and then sent by steamer and rail to the interior
towns of the South Atlantic States or to the Northern cities. Probably three-fourths of the entire
catch is so distributed. No definite number of shad makes a package, which usually consists of a
rice or other convenient barrel or box, the largest being selected when possible, in order to save
freight.

ME. EARLL'S ACCOUNT OF THE FISHERY. — Mr. Earll gives the following historical data in re-
gard to the fisheries of the Saint John's :

"Shad were first caught at Mayport by Charles Waterhouse, of Connecticut, in 1858. He
had previously fished in the Savannah, but abandoned it on account of poor results. At Jackson-
ville gill-nets were first used In the shad fisheries in 1868. At Palatka, C. B. Smith, of Connect-
icut, was the first to establish a shad fishery. He began the work in 1872, and it was not until
1877 that a second fishery was started. In the year 1873, 94,000 shad were caught at New Berlin
with thirty nets (an average of 3,133 to the net). From 1865 to 1875 the average catch was 25,000
to the net. The year 1876 was the most prolific season of all, when each net averaged a catch of
5,000. In 1875, at Palatka, one net caught 11,000 shad, and in the same year it is said six nets
took 55,000."

Dr. Charles Kock, in a letter from Jacksonville dated January, 1874, says: "From the bar at
the mouth of the Saint John's Eiver up to Palatka seventy-five to eighty nets are fished during
the shad season. These nets are about 200 yards long and 10 feet deep (the mesh 1£ inches square),
and are set in from 10 to 12 feet of water. In 1874 the product of the shad fisheries amounted to
250,000 shipped or consumed. The average price at Jacksonville, season of 1872-'73, was 15 cents
apiece."

MR. GOODE'S ACCOUNT OF THE FISHERY. — The following interesting description of the shad
fisheries of the Saint John's River, from the pen of Mr. G. Brown Goode, is inserted entire:

"The shad is next to the mullet the most important fish of East Florida, The Saint John's
seems to mark its southern limit, of distribution, though within the past few years it has been
acclimated by the efforts of the United States Commissioner of Fisheries in trans-Mississippi and
several other waters emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. It has been claimed by many persons that
the shad has not inhabited the Saint John's River until within a few years past. This has been
clearly shown to be a mistake, arising from the fact that during the war no fishing was carried on,
and that before the war local enterprise was not sufficient to develop the industry. Col. H. S.
Sammis, of Arlington, and other early settlers remember the capture of shad in the Saint John's
as early as the year 1840. Mr. Waterhouse had one or two nets at Mayport about 1861, and is said
to have met with good success. About 1865 and 1866 Mr. Remps and others began fishing, and
since 1870 the fisheries have been constantly on the increase. There are shad also in the Saint
Mary's River, though no effort is made to capture them. The Saint John's River shad are not so

THE SAINT JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 615

large as those of the Connecticut, the average weight being 3 or 3J pounds. In 1874 I was told
that they sometimes neighed 6 pounds, in 1878 that they never exceeded 5. Has there been
a falling off in size ? They are rather higher in body than the Northern shad, but are in no wise less
plump and delicate in flavor. Like most Southern shad, they have black-tipped caudal fins. I
ate shad caught at Jacksonville April 15, 1878, and in spite of the warmth they were fully as
hard and sapid as the best May fish from the Connecticut, just from the seine.

" The season of 1877-'78 was unusually long in the Saint John's. The first shad was taken
November 20, 1877, and they were in market iri~some numbers at Thanksgiving. December 15
shad fishing was at its height. April 15 shad were still in fine condition, though the nets were
taken out about this time. In 1874 the first was taken November 10, in 1876 December 1. In
1874 the fishing continued till June 1.

"The spawning time is apparently from the middle of March to the latter part of April. March
20, 1875, and April 15, 1878, showed mother fish in fine full roe, almost ready to spawn. I am told
that the fishing continues a week or two later farther up the river at Lake Monroe. The fishermen
say that the shad spawn at the very head of the river, but I have no doubt that many deposit their
eggs on convenient grounds nearer the sea. The fishermen also have a notion that shad that have
\\cll ascended the river never return, for they say that they have never known a spent fish. This
they account for by the theory that they are devoured by alligators and catfish, the shad being
weak and helpless after spawning. The young fish, they tell me, are seen in large schools along
the banks in summer and autumn, descending to the sea.

"The shad fishery is carried on entirely with gill-nets. These nets are 4J to 5 inch mesh,
usually scant 5 inches, 45 to 50 meshes deep and 300 to 500 fathoms in length. They are made in
Boston and cost from $100 to $125 each, fitted for use. The boats are 'center- board sail-boats,
about 15 feet long, with movable mast and sprit sail. They are built at the mouth of the Con-
necticut River, and cost about $CO each.

"The nets are heavily leaded; the leads weigh 2 ounces each, and are placed 2£ feet apart.
Formerly they were placed 6 feet apart.

"The fishermen are principally Northern men from Cape Ann, Connecticut, and Delaware Bay,
who come south expressly for this shad-fishing. From sixty to one hundred of these men come
down every winter. They camp out in tents or shanties conveniently situated to the various reaches
along the river.

"The nets are allowed to drift with the current; they are set directly across the riverj and
drift broadside to, one end being buoyed, the other retained in the boat.

" There were about eighty shad-nets operated on tt|£ Saint John's at the date of my last visit, in
April, 1878. Of these Kemps, Mead & Smith, of Jacksonville, owned twenty-five, receiving also the
proceeds of four independently owned. John Buckle, of New Berlin, owned seven, and received
the fish from eight fishermen who owned their own nets and boats. The Mayport Fish Company,
Mr. L. S. Buroughs agent, runs four nets, and there are also eight or nine independent fishermen
at the bar who own their own gear. There are said to be one or two nets at Lake Monroe. Kemps,
Mead & Smith work their nets in all the reaches from Mayport to Palatka; Melton & Co. from May-
port to Jacksonville ; Mr. Buckle and the other New Berlin fishermen from Mayport to New Berlin ;
and the Mayport fishermen from Mayport almost to New Berlin.

"Between Mayport and Jacksonville are seven reaches or long stretches of river suitable for
drifting with the shad-nets. They are (1) the Mayport Reach, about a mile long; (2) the Sisters
Reach, 2 miles long; (3) Saint John's Reach, under Saint John's Bluff, half a mile long; (4)

616 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Shipyard Reach, three-fourths of a mile long; (5) Clapboard Reach, 1 mile long; (6) Yellow
Bluff Reach, half a mile long; and (7) Baxter's Reach, 7 miles long, from Reddy's Bluff to
Jacksonville.

" The nets are worked both on the ebb and flood tide, though the latter is preferable, from the
fact that the fish Ascending the stream 'gill' easily in the net drifting in the opposite direction,
while the net floating behind them with the flood overtakes them with difficulty. Sometimes the
boats make two drifts on one tide, sailing back a second time to the head of the reach. Often
there are many nets on one reach. In this case they take turns, the first set belonging to the
boat which first gains the head of the reach.

"Averaging the eighty nets at 2,500 shad each, which seems to be a fair estimate in the opinion
of Mr. Kemps, Mr. Buckle, Mr. Balsam, and Mr. Kelly, of New Berlin, we have the estimated yield
of 200,000 shad for the Saint John's for the season of 1877-'78. The results of the previous season,
1876-'77, obtained by a similar method, probably did not fall much below 280,000, while 1875-'7G,
1874->75, and 1873-'74 the yield was about 160,000 or less.

"Mr. Yate estimated independently that the catch of 1877-'78 amounted to 200,000, and that
of 1876-'77 100,000 additional.

" Melton & Co. handled about 80,000 shad in 1877-'78, of which about 20,000 were sent north.
In 1876-'77 they handled about 120,000. In 1875, at the time of my second visit to Florida, Mr.
Melton estimated the quantity handled by him in the season just past, that of 1874-'75, at 125,000.

" Kemps, Mead & Smith handled, in 1877-'78, 35,000 to 40,000 shad ; in 1876-'77 about 60,000,
of which 40,000 were sent north. In my own judgment, the shipments to Northern markets in
1876-'77 cannot have fallen far short of 100,000 fish, and in 1877-'78 probably approximated 60,000.

"The fishermen who work the shad-nets are employed on shares, the boat and net being
furnished by the fish dealers, the fishermen receiving from 8 to 12 cents for each shad they catch.
Ten cents is perhaps a fair average rate. The most successful net at New Berlin in 1878 took
4,000 shad ; the least successful, an old net worked by two negroes, took 900. The two fishermen
netted in the first instance $200 each, in the last $45 each. The average profit in the last instance
was probably $150, in 1878 not more than $100, a very meager return for four months' labor, after
board bills, cost of fishing-clothes, and passage money are deducted.

"The cost of the fish to the dealers is rather hard to determine. The boats cost $60 and the
nets $125. The boats last five or six years, the nets hardly more than one season. Allowing $15
for wear of boat and interest on its price, and $100 for the net, we find that, independent of their
own subsisting and the cost of maintaining their establishments throughout the year, the actual
cost of catching the fish, which falls to the share of the fishery capitalist, amounts to 4J cents on
each fish. Thus, at the very lowest estimate, the cost of bringing the fish Irom the water into the
boats cannot fall much below 15 cents. These fish retail in the local markets for 25 cents each,
small ones sometimes selling for 20. The cost of shipping to a Northern market is considerable.
Let us take the extreme example of New York City. When shad are iced for the Northern
markets they are packed in tierces which contain about 140 fish. To pack a tierce of fish
properly requires 250 or 300 pounds of ice. Ice costs, perhaps, $12 per ton, bought from the
Northern schooners. Allowing for waste, we will estimate the cost of ice for a tierce of fish at
$2. The tierce is worth at least $1. Expressage to Savannah costs $3 on each tierce, and freight
by steamer to New York $2. Thus, making no allowance for cartage or labor of packing, at the
end of the route we must add $8 to the cost of a tierce full of shad, or 5 cents and 7 mills
each. The cost of fish delivered in New York is 21 cents, and perhaps more. But then we must
take into account the severe losses necessarily sustained by dealers in such perishable wares as

THE SAINT MABY'S AND ALTAMAHA RIVEES. 617

fresh fish. Thousands are often lost in a week, and the loss of one tierce materially lowers the
profit on many others. In. my own judgment, 40 cents would be a very small return, and
perhaps 50 or 60 would be. more equitable. Before the shad reaches the table of its final
purchaser it must pass through the hands of two additional agents — the wholesale fishmonger and
the retail dealer. It appears evident, then, that Florida shad must always be a luxury in the
North. If the proposed improvements in the navigation of the Saint John's are ever effected,
through lines of steamships to New Tork, with refrigerators built especially for transporting fish,
would doubtless be sustained. In this event tbH cost of transportation would be much diminished,
the cost of icing somewhat diminished, and the risk of loss entirely done away with. The fish
would then reach their destination in excellent condition, and we may anticipate a very great
reduction in their price. Forty or even 35 cents ought to remunerate the dealers, as well as
doable that price at the present time."

STATISTICS OP THE FISHERY. — The amount of capital invested in the shad fishery on the
Saint John's in 1877 may be roughly estimated as follows:

Value.

$4,000

Gill-nets (80 at $100 each) . ...

8,000

Shanties, platforms, reels, fish-houses, &c

3,000

Total

15, 000

The number of fishermen and shore hands does not probably exceed one hundred and seventy-
five.

The total value of the shad fisheries for the four months and a half beginning December and
ending April 15 may be fairly estimated at $50,000, allowing 25 cents to be the price at retail
in Jacksonville. The actual cost of catching the fish has been shown to be 15 cents, allowing no
profit and no risk-margin to the capitalists. The cost of taking the fish out of the water, then, is
about $30,000.

Statistical summary* of the fishmes of the Saiitt John's, Florida, for the season of 1880.

Number of men employed 182

Amount of capital employed $13,830

Product of the fisheries, in pounds (shad) 251,700

Value of product $20,136

2. SAINT MAET'S EIVEE.

Saint Mary's Eiver lies between Florida and Georgia, and has its source in Okefenokee Swamp.
From its size and character we would expect to find it abounding in extensive and valuable fish-
eries. Shad fishing, however, has met with only doubtful success, and no organized fresh-water
fisheries have ever been prosecuted on the river. A considerable number of sturgeon are taken
in the estuary, and find a market in Savannah. The statistics of capture and value are given
in the discussion of the sturgeon trade of Savannah.

3. ALTAMAHA EIVEE.

The shad fisheries of the Altahama seem to have been formerly much more productive than
they are now. The migrations of the shad before there were any obstructions extended on the
Oconee to some distance above Milledgeville. At the present day, although there is nothing to
prevent their passage up to that place, they are rarely or never seen there.

* For details see Census Volume on Fisheries.

618 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The organized fisheries are prosecuted exclusively with gill nets, winch are either floated with
the tide or staked across where the fish run. Skim-nets and dip nets are used at various points
along the river, but the product thus obtained is insignificant, and we.have no returns of it.

No regular fisheries exist above Doctor Town, at which point four men, fishing five gill-nets,
take annually about 1,200 shad and 4,000 pounds of other fish. Parties from Brunswick, fishing
for shad to supply the local market, take 3,000 shad and 6,000 pounds of other fish. At Darien,
Ga., eleven men fish eleven nets. The product is 4,400 shad and 8,000 pounds of other fish, all of
which goes to supply the local market.

The following summary will show how disproportionate to the magnitude of the river is the
importance of its fisheries :

Number of men employed in the fisheries 49

Arn-jimt of capital employed |^( 990

Product of 1880, in pounds:

Shad 30,100

Sturgeon 8-*, 500

Mixed fish 3g> ooo

Value of product §10,123

Fully one-half of the fish taken and sold as shad are hickory-shad (Clupea mediocris).
The statistics of the important sturgeon fisheries at the mouth of the river are given in the
chapter on the sturgeon trade of Savannah.

4. THE SATILLAS.

The Satillas traverse in their lower reaches an extensive region of alluvial swamp, which, by
levees, has been converted into productive rice-fields. Both these rivers, like the Ogeechee, take
their rise in the sandy belt which lies between tide-water and the Piedmont section of the South
Atlantic States, the result being that they are never muddy, as are the Savannah or the Peedee,
There are no obstructions to the ascent of fish. No organized fresh- water fisheries, however, exist
except for sturgeon, which are taken immediately at the mouth and a short distance up the river.
The product and value of the sturgeon fisheries will be given when treating of the sturgeon trade
of Savannah.

5. THE OGEECHEE EIVEE.

The Ogeechee Eiver rises in the sandy belt of Georgia. Its waters, which drain through
extensive swamps, are never muddy like those of the Savannah or Altamaha, nor, like them, is the
stream subject to sudden floods and changes of temperature, which in the Ogeechee is higher than
for the corresponding dates in the Savannah. This is to be explained by the fact that the former
rises in the tide-water belt, instead of having its sources in the mountains.

As a result the run of shad and herring commences very early in the Ogeechee, and the fish
mature their spawn at an earlier period than in the Savannah. So true is this that any one at a'l
familiar uith shad can, on seeing them exposed in the Savannah markets, tell at a glance, judging
only by the degree of development, from which of these rivers they came. The run of shad be-
gins in the early part of January and ends about the last of March.

The run of alewives, according to local report, begins about the 1st of March.

Although no permanent obstructions to the ascent of fish exist in the Ogeechee, only a small
proportion of the fish Avhich enter the river reach spawning-grounds, being excluded by the gill-
nets, which are sufficient in number to almost totally block the way. To their agency must doubt-
less be attributed the very decided decline which has occurred in the last few years.

THE OGEECHEE AND SAVANNAH RIVERS. 619

The principal object of the fisheries of this river are the shad and sturgeon. There seems to
be a considerable run of Chtpea wstivalis (locally known as English herring), but no organized
fisheries exist for their capture. Most of the shad are caught in gill- nets, operated by gangs of
men from Savannah, to which place the fish are shipped by carts or rail.

The following is a statistical summary of the fisheries of this river for 1880:*

Number of men employed Ill

Amount of capital employed $5,790

Product, in pounds:

Shad ~.~ 90,650

Sturgeon 88,500

Mixed fish 285,000

Value of product $2;>,690

At some distance up the river quite a number of skim-nets, stake-nets, and dip-nets are used,
but all the fish so caught go to supply the local demand, and we have no statistics of the product.

In the last two or three years pound-nets have been introduced into the river. The fish prin-
cipally caught in them are rock and catfish, and, in their season, herring'iu large quantities, to-
gether with a few shad.

Extensive sturgeon fisheries exist in the estuary of the river, operated almost exclusively by
fishermen from the Delaware. These fish are captured with gill-nets, and kept penned up until a
sufficient number are taken, when they are slaughtered and sent by schooner to Savannah.

From local tradition we glean the following facts bearing on the shad fisheries of the Ogeechee.
The run of shad is later than it used to be, and the fish have decreased materially in size. At the
present day it is not worth while to put nets in the water until some time in February, while in
former years, according to the fishermen, some fish were taken before Christinas. Formerly the
catch per net in a night was from 200 to 280; now a net averages 15 or 20. On the other hand,
fish which formerly sold for from 5 to 8 cents apiece now bring 25 cents and 30 cents apiece.

6. THE SAVANNAH RIVER.

DECREASE OF SHAD IN THE SAVANNAH. — The extreme sources of the Savannah are in West-
ern North Caioliua.

The records of the United States Signal Office show that the temperature of the river is higher
at Savannah than at Augusta from August to May, but that during June, July, and August it is
higher at Augusta. The winter temperature is usually about 45°, but it sometimes runs down
to 40°. The data we possess, though not as accurate or as extended as we could desire, are
sufficient to prove that there is a connection between the temperature of the water and the move-
ment of the shad in the river. Thus much, at least, is certain, that shad do not enter the river till
about the 1st of January, when the temperature is rising and is about 50° Fahr.

From the best available information on the subject the conclusion is reached that the Sa-
vannah shad fisheries do not now yield one-third the product they did eight years ago, and this
decrease may be ascribed to the following causes:

First. The narrowness of the river. One familiar with the broad estuaries of the streams
which flow into the Chesapeake remarks at once the extreme narrowness of these Southern rivers.
Thirty miles from its mouth the Savannah River is not more than 400 or 450 yards wide, and as a
result an amount of gill-net fishing that would have no effect in retarding the run of shad up the
Potomac or Rappahannock is sufficient to almost completely obstruct the Savannah.

Second. The vast volume of muddy water which is always moving down, especially in the
shad season. As a consequence no suitable spawning grounds exist on the lower portiou of the

* For detailed slalislics srr ( 'c IISHS Volume on Fisheries.

(520 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

river, and the shad must ascend above Augusta to deposit their eggs. Seven miles above Augusta
is the water- works dam, which prevents any further ascent; and the spawning grounds of this
river are therefore practically confined to the 7-mile stretch from Augusta to the dam. Cooped
up, as it were, in this area, the shad are entirely at the mercy of the innumerable traps and cast-
nets that abound there.

In a word, the gill-nets permit but a small proportion of the shad which enter the river to
reach their spawning grounds, and the appliances of capture in the vicinity of the dam take the
rest. Instead of being surprised, therefore, that the shad fisheries have fallen off so greatly, we
should rather wonder that the whole breed of fish has not been utterly extirpated.

Many years ago the shad pushed their annual migrations as far up as the Falls of the Talulah,
a mountain tributary of the Savannah, where they were taken in some numbers. The height of
the falls prevented further progress. Thence down to Augusta they were taken in very consid-
erable quantities, and formed a very important food resource, being consumed fresh or salted
away for winter use. The unrestrained and destructive modes of fishing pursued made their im-
pression year by year upon the supply, which became greatly reduced, until the erection of the
water- works dam, 7 miles above Augusta, cut off the run altogether.

Under the law authorizing the erection of this dam, sluices for the passage of fish were
required to be left and kept open during the running season of the fish. Some shad were taken in
1879, 80 miles above. These necessarily passed through the openings in the dam. The calculated
velocity of discharge through the sluices being upwards of 13 miles per hour, this fact furnishes
a surprising exhibition of strength and boldness on the part of this fish.

THE SHAD SEASON. — The shad season begins at Savannah in the first half of January and
ends about the last of March. It begins at Augusta in the middle of February and ends about the
10th of May, though shad are sometimes taken as late as July. This difference of more than a
month between the season at Savannah and Augusta — 180 miles above — shows an average rate of
progress up the river of 6 miles a day. At this rate shad would reach Tallulah Falls about the
1st of April, and the season there would extend into July.

FISHING WITH TRAPS. — Between the water- works dam and Augusta, where the river descends
by a series of falls or rapids a vertical distance of 45 or 50 feet, every favorable location is the site
of a trap fishery — a mode of fishing which was formerly very productive, but is now considered no
longer profitable. The traps are of three kinds: (1) the "fall" trap, or "slide," such as is in use
in all our streams; (2) the "hack" trap, and (3) the square trap. The last two are essentially
the same in principle, the only difference in construction being that the "hack" trap, instead of
being square, has a V-shaped frame with its apex pointing upstream.

These traps are placed in strings or rows — from six to fifteen in a row — the intervals between
them being occupied by a rough cribbing of logs filled in with stones. In 1879 there were about
one hundred and ten of these traps between the dam and a point three miles below, and at several
places they almost completely obstructed the channel of the river, so that it seemed impossible for
a shad to run the gauntlet and reach the dam in safety. Fortunately, with a full river, which
is frequent in the shad season, the traps are submerged, and tish may pass over them without much
risk of capture.

FISHING WITH CAST-NETS. — Besides the traps in the rapids, a number of cast-nets are fished
immediately under the dam. * With clear water, so that the fish may be seen lying in the pools,
this proves a very effective mode of fishing. I have seen six or eight shad taken at a single cast
of the net. There Was in 1880 an average of twelve cast-nets fished in the vicinity of the dam,

THE SAYANNAH EIVEE, GEOEGIA. 621

the catch varying from six to fifty in a day, according to the condition of the water and the good
luck or skill of the fishermen.*

FISHING WITH HATJL-SEINES AND GILL-NETS. — The use of floating gill-nets is not practicable
at any point above Augusta on account of the shoals and rapids of the river. Below that city the
river is navigable for steamboats, and no traps are used. Haul-seines were formerly used at favor-
able locations all aloug the river for some 60 miles below Augusta. At Sand Bar Ferry, 5 miles
below the city, was a noted fishery where the product each season bore no insignificant proportion
to the entire catch of the river at the presentrtime. These seine-shores are now abandoned, and
the gillers gam a precarious subsistence by drifting in the empty seine berths.

Some short seines, gill-nets, and scoop-nets are fished all along the river in an irregular way
for local supply, but the fishing for market is altogether with (float-seines) gill-nets. From Au-
gusta to Johnston's Landing, 60 miles below, there were engaged in gill-net fishing, during the
season of 1879, fifty nets and boats and one hundred men. The men are all native, about one-
half being white. In most cases they own boats and outfit; but some receive their outfit from the
dealers, to whom they agree to deliver their whole catch at a stipulated price ; then from the net
returns of sales the dealers deduct the cost of boat and nets, paying the fishermen the balance.

The average catch to the boat during 1879 was 300, making the total catch of the gillers in
the upper river 15,000 for the season.

From Johnston's Landing down there is no fishing for market until we reach the vicinity of
Savannah, where we find twenty-five nets and boats and fifty men fishing to supply the Savannah
market.

The fishing grounds of the Lower Savannah are the straight reaches of the river for some
miles above and below the city. The nets are about 100 fathoms long and from forty to fifty meshes
deep. They are laid out across the channel, and from the extreme narrowness of the river they
occupy and obstruct a considerable portion of the entire breadth. With twenty -five of these nets
in the water at once, in tehelon, and at no great distances apart, a very effectual obstruction to
the upward movement of fish is established.

STURGEON FISHERY. — The sturgeon fisheries of the Savannah are of considerable commercial
importance. In the lower part of the river, in the vicinity of Savannah, and for some 40 miles
above, this fish is pursued by professional fishermen from the Northern States, especially Conned icut,
New Jersey, and Delaware, who later in the season carry on the same work in the Delaware. The
same nets are earlier in the season kept busy in the Saint Mary's, the Satillas, and the Altamaha.
The product of all these fisheries centers at Savannah, and the details are given in full in the sec-
tion on the subject of the sturgeon trade of that place.

STATISTICS FOB 1880. — The following is a summary of the fisheries of the Savannah Eiver
for 1880:

No of men employed in the fisheries . 331

Amount of capital employed $9,395

Product of the fisheries :

Shad pounds.. 138,250

Sturgeon do 88,500

Mixed fish do 361,500

Value of products do $36,754

• Cast-nets are used in the Savannah Eiver in fishing for shad, trout, red-horse, &c., and all along the southern
coast for taking shrimp, mullets, &c. They are likewise in use in all the lakes and small streams of the interior.
Their use is only possible in comparatively shallow waters with a clear bottom, for if there be rocks or snags the net
•will hang and the fish escape. The cast-net is used to great advantage in the mouths of the rice trunks. When the
tide runs down, trout, silversides, and suckers collect in the pools, and are sometimes taken a half bushel at a throw.

622

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

7. THE STURGEON TRADE OF SAVANNAH.

From the different inlets of the Georgia coast and from the Satilla River, the Altamaha, the
Ogeechee, the Savannah, and the Cohambec rivers a considerable number of sturgeon find their
way to the Savannah market. Here they ate dressed, packed in ice, and shipped by steamer to
New York. The roe, also, after some preliminary process here, is shipped to New York to be con-
verted into caviare.

The sturgeon are taken iu drift nets of 12-inch mesh, No. 40 cotton twine. The length of net
varies from 80 to 150 fathoms, and is from IS to 26 meshes deep. The length and depth vary with
the width and depth of the river in which they are to be used. Two men and boats are necessary
for each net. The cost of a fishing outfit is on an average $130. Where the fishing is done by
hired crews the men receive from $25 to $40 per month. Where the fishing is on shares the party
furnishing outfit receives one-third of the proceeds, and the outfit is returned, but the nets are not
serviceable more than one season.

The fishing begins first on the Satilla. In 1880 the camps were established on the 6th of
February, but the season did not fairly open until the 18th.

The sturgeon as taken are either penned or tied out in the water and kept alive until a ship-
ment is made up, when they are killed, disemboweled, heads and tails cut off, and shipped to Sa-
vannah. Here they are skinned, the backbones taken out, packed in ice, and forwarded to New
York, and sold at a price of 6 or 8 cents per pound.

The species of sturgeon which is the object of this fishery is the Acipenser oxyrhyncus, or
sharp-nose sturgeon.

The average weight, gross, of the sturgeons brought to Savannah is about 150 pounds. The
average weight, net, is 65 pounds. The largest size seen by Mr. Hudson, one of the principal
dealers here, weighed 250 pounds.

The fishing equipments in use during the season of 1880 were as follows:

Locality.

Nets.

Hen.

On the Satilla Itivcr

4

10

30

60

10

22

2

5

On the Combahec River

2

5

Total

48

109

These nets are not confined to one river or locality ; these now being fished in the Satilla, later
in the season will be transferred to the Savannah or rivers farther east and north.

According to the best estimates which I can make, the average catch per net may be put at
one hundred, which gives 15,000 pounds gross and 6,500 pounds net weight to each fishing outfit.

Of the roe, we have an average of fifteen sturgeon to the keg of 125 pounds, which gives seven
kegs of roe to each fishing outfit. I have not learned that there is any use made of the offal. It
could, of course, be used in the preparation of oil.

We have the following statistical summary of the product and value of the sturgeon trade of
Savannah and of the men and capital engaged in it:

Number of fishing equipments engaged 48

Value of same $6, 240

Number of men employed 709

Average number of sturgeon to net 100

THE EDISTO RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA. 623

Total number taken 4.8CO

Gross weight of sturgeon to uet .pounds . . 15, COO

Net weight «f sturgeon to net pounds.. 6,500

Weight of roe to net pounds.. 875

Number of pounds of dressed stnrjjron inarketrd 312,000

Value of same, at 7 cents per pound $21 840

Number of pounds of roe (33G kegs, each 125 pounds) 42 000

Total value of roe $2 940

Total value of the sturgeon trade, of Savannah $24, 780

8. FISHERIES OF THE EDISW RIVER, SOUTH CAROLINA.

The Eclisto Biver lies wholly within the limits of South Carolina, having its sources chiefly in
the sandy belt. Its waters, being filtered through extensive tracts of swamp and low ground, are
usually clear, even in seasons of high water, but always with a transparent brown tint from the
in fusion of vegetable matter. The tide ebbs and flows as high as the crossing of the railroad
about 40 miles above its mouth. There are no obstructions, natural or artificial, in this river
or in either of the main tributaries. At Orangeburg there are several "hack" and "fall" traps,
which take some shad every season for local supply, but these do not invade the river channel.
Rafting of timber is carried on extensively on the Edisto and its tributaries, and the active prose-
cution of this industry upon this and other Southern rivers has exerted a conservative influence
upon the fisheries by maintaining an open channel for the passage of fish. The shad fishery — the
first in importance — has fallen off very much of late years, for reasons not clearly understood. The
second and only remaining fishery of importance is that for the capture of sturgeon, which is prose-
cuted in the mouth of the river, where the depth of the water and the width of the channel permit
"drifting," i. e., '-floating of the net." On March 6, 1880, we found quantities of sturgeon moving
up the river 40 miles above the mouth. Indeed, they almost caused a close season for the shad
fishermen by running in their nets and tearing them to pieces.

Fishing for shad is prosecuted almost entirely with gill-nets. There are no fykes or pounds
and only a single haul-seine, which is dragged 9 miles below the railroad crossing. This seine is
worked by a crew of six negro men in the most improvident and careless way and to very little
profit.

The gill-nets have a 5 inch mesh and are made of No. 40 twine. They reach to the bottom of
the river and are stretched from bank to bank. Whilst in the river they form as effective an ob-
struction to the passage of the grown fish as if they were so many impassable dams. Fortunately
for the fish, the waters of the Edisto are so clear that the nets are not set during the day, because
the fish will not enter them. The nets are put out when the flood tide is three-fourths run, and
stand until the ebb tide begins to run strong, when they must be taken up, lest the strength of the
current should break the anchoring ropes. Consequently there is but one "laying out" or setting
of the net in twenty-four hours, unless the ebb tide makes about sundown, when there is ebb again
before sunrise.

The height and length of the net is made to correspond with the breadth and depth of the
river. On each bank is a round pole, to which the end of the net is fastened. These poles are
weighted with lead or other heavy material in order to keep them upright. To each pole is attached
a " rope bridle." The ropes are brought together and the ends securely fastened to stakes or
trunks of trees on the shore. In no case are the nets set at a less distance than 300 yards apart.
A State law prohibits their beiug placed nearer.

624 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

There was but a single camp for sturgeon fishing on the Edisto during the season of 1880.
The fish taken here are shipped to Charleston by schooner, where they are packed in ice and sent
to New York by steamer. The nets do not differ in any respect from those employed all along
the Atlantic coast in the same fishery. The number of fish taken to the net was 125.

The statistics of the fisheries of the Edisto for 1880 are given in the following summary:

Number of men employed 156

Amount of capital employed $3, CIO

Product of the fisheries:

Shad pounds.. 90,000

Sturgeon do 37,250

Mixed fish do.... 125,000

Value of the product $12,285

9. THE SANTEE EIVEE.

The Santee Eiver has no organized fisheries for shad or alewives. While undoubtedly a con-
siderable number of fish must be taken in so large a river, with its numerous tributaries draining
so extensive and diversified a section of country, yet the information that was obtained was so
indefinite as not to warrant the expenditure of the time which would have been necessarily con-
sumed in arriving at an approximation of the products of this river.

Shad in considerable numbers were formerly taken at Columbia, situated at the junction of the
Saluda and the Broad. Indeed, in the early history of the country important shad fisheries existed
on the main tributaries of the rivers as far up as 150 or 200 miles above Columbia. At the present
time only stragglers occasionally ascend the river as high as the dam, just above Columbia. It is
probable that productive fisheries, both for shad and sturgeon, could be established at the mouth
of the Santee Eiver were it not for the fact that the markets are so inaccessible as to have deterred
private enterprise from attempting to develop them.

10. THE PEDEE, SAMPIT, BLACK, AND WACCAMA EIVEES.

All these rivers are tributaries of Winyah Bay, and their product of fish is included under the
statistics of Winyah Bay and its tributaries. The only fisheries prosecuted are for shad, chiefly in
the Waccama Eiver, and for sturgeon in that river and in Winyah Bay. The product of these
fisheries is concentrated at Georgetown, because the tri-weekly steamer from that point to Charles-
ton furnishes the only means of transportation to market.

Fishing for shad gives employment to about sixty men, including those engaged in supplying
the local demand for fish, the catch of which is only estimated, as no definite imformation in regard
to the quantities taken could be gained.

The sturgeon fisheries of Winyah Bay are extensive and valuable, and are prosecuted chiefly
by professional fishermen from the Delaware, who, later in the season, pursue the same avocation
on that river. On March 11, 1880, when these fisheries were visited by the agent of the U. S. Fish
Commission, two parties or camps were engaged in the sturgeon fishery on this bay.

The fishing outfit for each "camp" consisted of huts for the men, a long scow with a cabin at
each end, one of them being used as quarters by a portion of the men ; the other, devoted to the
preparation of the caviare for market. The middle portion is decked over and used as a platform
for slaughtering and dressing the sturgeon for market. A scow was used for carrying away the
offal, and a 15-ton schooner transported the dressed fish from the "camps" to Georgetown. There

THE CAPE FEAE RIVER, NORTH CAROLINA. 625

it was packed in ice and shipped by steamer to Charleston, thence to New York. The boats em-
ployed for "gilling" were the ordinary Whitehall boats. Two men fish a net. These average
about one hundred fathoms in length. The sturgeon which are taken at each drift are transferred
to floating pens made with slatted sides and bottom, so as to permit a free circulation of water.
The pens, or live-boxes, containing the male sturgeon, or "bucks," are kept tied close up to the
scow. It is, however, necessary to anchor the pens containing the female or "roe," sturgeon out
in the bay, remote from shore; otherwise the eels, which are abundant in the creeks and along
shore, would enter their vents and eat out the roes, and thus destroy the most valuable part of
the fish, which is prepared as caviare for market.

Twice a week the fish that have been taken in the interval are slaughtered on the scow, the
heads and tails being first cut off. While the fish are still alive their belly is ripped open and the
roe taken out, placed in buckets, and handed over to the expert who is charged with the prepara-
tion of the caviare. The fish are then skinned and split down the backbone, divided longitudinally
into two halves, and stacked up until the slaughtering is completed, when they are transported to
the schooner and shipped to Georgetown.

A great deal of mystery enshrouds the preparation of the caviare. In fact, however, it seems
to consist simply in passing the roe through sieves, in order to separate the fibrous matter which
adheres to it, and then salting it down in barrels capable of holding 100 pounds each. The quan-
tity and kind of salt used could not be ascertained.

Statistical summary of the fisheries of Winyah Bay and its tributaries for 1880.

Number of men employed 97

Amount of capital employed $4,050

Product of the fisheries:

Shad pounds.. 78,400

Sturgeon do 224,000

Mixed fish do 300,000

Value of the products $23,028

2.— THE RIVERS AND SOUNDS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

BY MARSHALL MCDONALD.
1. CAPE FEAR RIVER.

The basiu of this river and its tributaries lies wholly within the State of North Carolina. It
is navigable for steamers up to Fayetteville, N. C. ; a short distance above this point are the first
falls of the river. Here a dam has been erected in connection with the slack-water navigation of
Deep River, the main tributary of the Cape Fear. This obstruction, of course, prevents the fur-
ther upward migration of the shad. From Fayetteville to the mouth of the Cape Fear River
organized fisheries are prosecuted for the capture of shad. In 1880, when the examination of the
river was made, the importance of these fisheries had decreased very much, the product at that
time not exceeding 45,500 in number for the whole river. This entire quantity of fish found a
local market on the river at good prices, the average being about 30 cents apiece.

Drift-nets, skim-nets, and haul-seines are operated on this river, the different kinds of appa-
ratus for capture being adapted to the locality. In the viciuty of Fayetteville several haul-seines
are in use; there is also another at the mouth of the river in the vicinity of New Inlet.
SEC. v 40

026 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Skim-nets for the supply of fish for local requirements are fished all along the river from
Wilmington to Fayetteville. Drift-net fisliing is confined to a stretch of about 40 miles of river
extending above and below Wilmington.

The season for shad fishing extends from January 20 to May 1. Eipe fish are found in the
river about March 1.

Herrings (Clupea) are taken in limited numbers in the vicinity of Wilmington in drift-nets.
The run of this fish into the Cape Fear River and all rivers south of it is very insignificant com-
pared with the vast schools which annually pass into the Albemarle and its tributaries. The
most important fisheries of the Cape Fear are those for the capture of sturgeon. The methods
and apparatus used do not differ from those which have been already described as in use on the
more southern rivers of the Atlantic coast. The nets and boats are furnished by dealers at
Wilmington, who in some cases receive a stated portion of the catch, and in others a rental for
the use of the nets, &c., the dealers buying and receiving all the sturgeon at prices mutually
agreed upon. If a dealer owns the boats and nets, the catch is divided equally between himself
and each of the two men.

This fishery gives employment to 20 nets and boats, which are usually skiffs, and 40 men.

The value of a fishing outfit, including net and boat, averages about $40.

The sturgeon fishing season for the New York market lasts from March 10 to the end of
April and from September 10 to November 1. To some extent, however, this fishery is prose-
cuted all the summer in order to meet local demands and supply the interior towns of the State.
The average catch of a net for the fall fishing is about 200 fish and for the summer fishery
about 50, making a total average of 250 per boat for the entire season.

The fish intended for shipment to New York are dressed and packed in ice. Those for State
consumption are shipped whole. No use is made of the roe.

The product of these sturgeon fisheries is concentrated chiefly in the hands of two dealers,
Messrs. John Carroll and William Davis. The average weight of a dressed sturgeon, according to
Mr. Carroll, is 60 pounds. Ripe and spent sturgeon are take n both in the spring and fall fish-
eries.

The following are the statistics of the Cape Fear River for the season of 1880:

Number of men employed 270

Amount of capital employed $6,238

Product :

Shad pounds.. 182,000

Sturgeon do 262,000

Mixed fish do.... 537,000

Value of product $40,210

In addition to the above-named species, about 1,200 pounds of rock and 25,000 pounds of
red-horse and other varieties are annually taken as an incidental product of the shad fisheries.
Catfish are found in large numbers in the river, and at one time, as an experiment, a number
were shipped to market, but objection was made to the color of the meat, and the enterprise
therefore proved to be unprofitable and was abandoned.

2. FISHERIES OF THE NEUSE RIVER.

DESCEIPTON OP THE EIVEE — IMPOETANCE OF THE FISHEEIES.

While the headwaters of this river are in a clay section of the State, viz, Orange, Granville,
and Pearson Counties, the principal area of its basin lies in the Sandy and Poquosin belts, and con-
sequently the water at ordinary stages is clear and dark colored. Continued rains about the sources

THE NEUSE RIVEE, NORTH CAROLINA. 627

bring down floods which frequently prevent the seine-haulers from fishing for several days at a
time. The same result is produced at ordinary stages of water by easterly winds, which retard
the current and produce the effect of heavy rains. As is elsewhere stated, the skim-netters carry
on their operations when seine hauling is impossible for reasons above given. The fish during
these times of swollen waters pursue their upward migrations comparatively unobstructed and
unmolested ; indeed, it is doubtful whether but for such opportunities there would at the present
time be any fisheries in the Neuse River worthy of mention.

The product of the fisheries on the Neuse RiveiHbears a favorable comparison with that of other
streams in the South Atlantic States; but of late years the supply has materially decreased in all
the rivers owing to overfishing and the erection of obstructions. In former years the shad
ascended the Neuse in great numbers iuto Western North Carolina, and profitable shad fisheries
were operated as high as Raleigh. At the present time shad fishing for market does not extend
farther up the river than Kinston, which is at the head of steamboat navigation on the Neuse ;
several thousand shad are, however, annually taken above that point in skim-nets, fish-slides,
and hack-traps, but are used for local trade only. All the shad taken by the pound-nets, stake-
nets, and seines are sent to New Berne, whence they are shipped by steamer and rail to Northern
cities during the early part of the season. The principal firms in New Berne thus engaged are
those of C. T. Watson, B. B. Lane, T. Daniels, G. N. Ivis, D. Bell & Co., C. L. Dickinson, F. M.
Augostine, and A. W. Nelson. As the season advances, however, and the cities in the North
receive fish from more northerly points on the Atlantic, the price of Southern fish becomes depre-
ciated, and it is no longer profitable for the New Berne and other shippers to send their fish North.
Thenceforward to the close of the season the majority of the fish taken are shipped to the interior
of the South Atlantic States.

In former times the fishing below Kinston was mainly prosecuted with haul-seines, skim-nets
being used in the upper part of the river, i. e., above Kinston. In later years stake-nets have begun
to take the place of haul-seines, and the fishermen have ascertained that stake-nets planted in the
lower regions of the river below New Berne cut off the run of the fish in the river to such an extent
as to render haul-seining no longer profitable. Within the last few years, however, pound-nets have
been introduced into the river below New Berne, and it is more than probable that before the lapse
of many years they will be substituted for the stake-nets. Judging, however, by the tone of the
present legislature of North Carolina, and in view of the fact that the majority of the fishermen
can better advance their interests by employing other modes of fishing than by the use of pound-
nets, it is quite probable that the employment of these nets will be largely restricted, if not actually
prohibited by legislation.

APPARATUS.

Seven kinds of nets are used on the Neuse for the capture of fish, chiefly shad ; of these the
haul-seines, skim-nets, and gill-nets are mainly employed between New Berne and Kinston, and
the stake, drag, and po und nets between New Berne and the mouth of the river.

STAKE, OR SET NETS. — There are 3,750 of these nets used below New Berne, handled by 150
rn'en, each of whom tends 25 nets. Above New Berne 160 set-nets are fished by 16 men. The
majority of the set-nets are owned and worked by fishermen from Carteret and other coast
counties. These men, except during the shad season, are engaged in salt-water fisheries. Proba-
bly 1,200 set-nets are owned by the fish dealers of New Berne. The set-net averages 20 yards in
length, the depth differing with the depth of water. The size of the mesh is from 5£ inches to 6
inches. The nets are stretched by staffs or poles at each end, and are set down-stream. Were

628

HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

these nets set at right angles with the current, its force would tear them to pieces, and passing
vessels would run them down. Above Kinston the nets are smaller and are used by the farmers
chiefly to supply their own tables. The set-net fishing in the season of 1879-'80 was very un-
profitable, owing to the continuous state of low water in the river, and its consequent clearness
and brackishness.

The following summary shows in detail the facts concerning the set-net fishing on the Neuse,
for the season of 1879-'80 :

Number of
men.

Number of

set-nets.

Value.

Number of
boats.

Value.

150

3,750

$7, 500

75 at $10

$3,000

16

160

480

8 at 10

80

Total

166

3,910

7,980

83

3,080

DRAG-NETS. — About 25 of these nets are fished below, and are owned in New Berne. The
crew consists of three men, the captain, who receives one and a half shares, and two men who
receive a share each, the remaining one and a half shares (making five shares in all) being the
property of the net and boat. These drag fishermen have no settled fishing grounds, making
their hauls at a venture, and rarely twice in the same place. Being prohibited by law from laud-
ing their seines on the beaches or shores, they are compelled to work in the water waist deep.
To one end of the net is fastened a pole which at the moment of making the haul, is thrust into
the bottom ; the free end is then drawn toward and past the pole end (the lead-line being kept
down with the foot) until the fish are bunted in the end of the seine next to the staff, which is
then drawn up. The seine is now " footed up " and the fish are emptied into the boat.

The following table shows the number of men, boats, and nets engaged in the drag-net fish-
ing, and the amount of capital employed. The boats and nets are usually furnished by New Berne
dealers :

Number of men 75

Number of nets 25

Value of nets $1,250

Number of boats 25

Value of boats $1,250

Total amount of capital employed $2,500

THE POUND, DUTCH, POT, OE TKAP NET. — This net has only come into use, as above stated,
of late years. Four are fished in the Neuse River below New Berne, one at the mouth of Trent
River, and one in Upper Broad Creek ; all are owned by New Berne fish-dealers.

Below is a summary of the men, nets, and boats engaged in this fishery :

Number of men employed 12

Number of nets 6

Value of nets $1,500

Number of boats 6

Value of boats $240

HAUL-SEINES. — Below New Berne are four beaches where the haul-seine is used. These
seines average from 500 to 800 yards in length, and require crews of 10 men each, one seine being
hauled by horse-power. Between New Berae and Pitch Kettle 23 haul-seines are in operation,
and between Pitch Kettle and Kinston are 6 or 8 small seines, which supply local markets, rarely
shipping to any great distance.

THE NEUSE EIVEE, NOETH CAEOLINA.

629

Below is a statistical summary showing the number and value of the haul-seines and boats
tending the same in operation on this river, and the number of men employed :

Designation of fishery.

Number and description of seines.

Value.

Number
of men.

Boats, number and
description.

Value.

$1 000

40

4 flats

$160

75

4

75

do

75

4

do

73

75

4

do

75

do

50

4

. do

50

2 seines 120 yards

75

6

100

2 seines 100 yards

100

8

2 fiats

75

Parish's Beach

do

100

6

do

50

120

o

do

55

100

5

70

90

5

do

70

100

8

do

60

do

90

a

1 flat

60

Dolly Gut Fishery

do .

ICO

8

do

60

80

4

do

30

90

4

do

35

75

4

. do

25

do

75

4

do

25

75

4

do

25

65

4

do

25

do

65

4

do

35

70

4

do

30

75

4

do

25

IMtch Kettle

75

4

. do

25

240

30

10 flats

100

Total

3 135

186

41

1,415

SKIM OR BOW NETS. — On the Neuse, and many other southern rivers, " skimming" is a common
and very effective mode of fishing, especially in the upper reaches of the river where on account
of the contraction of the banks the fish are compelled to ascend in almost single file. The frame of
the skim-net is a bow of tough, light wood, bent and secured.

The shape of the bow is a long oval, the longest diameter of which is 10 to 12 feet. The mesh
is of hemp twine, about No. GO. The cost of the net complete is from $2 to $2.25, and the canoe
costs about $5, making a fishing outfit complete, $7.

Two men are required to fish each net ; one sits in the stern of the boat and guides its motion ;
the other stands in the bow holding the net in a vertical position, the shoulder-block resting
on the thwarts of the boat. A trip-string, attached to the bag of the net and held in the hand,
signals to the bow-man the slightest touch of any foreign object in the net. A dexterous twisting
motion secures the fish (if it be a fish) and delivers it in reach of the free hand. At dusk the boat,
equipped for fishing, paddles out into the current and drifts noiselessly with the bow down-stream.
The man in the stern uses the paddles only to guide the boat. When several boats fish in the
same reach they follow each other in single file. Sometimes as many as five or six may be seen
in a line.

Skim-nets are used to the best advantage when the river is running high, at which stage the
seiners are driven from their beaches, and the fish, by reason of the turbid waters, are easily netted.
During the season 1878-'79 one boat and skim-net at Cowpens took eight hundred shad, and
catches of three hundred and four hundred to the net for a season were by no means uncommon.
In the estimates, however, one hundred has been used as the average catch for each net. Skim-

630

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

nets are in use all along the river from 9 miles above New Berne to the vicinity of Raleigh. Above
Kinston this operation is carried on for the most part by farm hands in the early morning and

in the evening.

Below is a tabular statement showing the number of men, with boats, nets, and their value, en-
gaged in skimming, and the amount of fish taken. Between Kinston and Raleigh the average
catch is estimated at only fifty shad per net during the season :

Location.

Number
of men.

Number
of boats.

Number
of nets.

Value of
boats and
nets.

Average
catch.

Total
catch.

From 9 miles above New Berne to Cowpens . .

40
32

20
16

20
16

$140
112

100

100

2,000
1,600

30

15

15

105

100

1,500

20

10

10

70

100

1,000

50

25

.25

175

100

2,500

Kinston to Raleigh

100

50

50

350

50

2,500

136

952

11,100

GILL-NETS. — The use of these nets on the Neuse River is prohibited by law, but six or eight are
nevertheless fished during the night between New Berne and Pitch Kettle.

PROPORTIONS OP BUCK AND ROE SHAD.

The following table will show the proportion existing between the number of buck and roe shad
taken in several seines on the Neuse River during the season of 1879 :

1879.

Season.

Catch of shad.

Total.

Per cent
of bucks.

Percent,
of roes.

Began.

Ended.

Buck.

Roe.

Dollygut (1 mile below Cowpens) . .
Swell's Upper Beach (Cowpeai) . ..
Swell's Lower Beach (Cowpens) . . .

Mar. 10
Mar. 8
Mar. 8

Apr. 15
Ma; 18
May 4

1,153
1,398
1,399

945
995
960

2,098
2,393
2,359

54
58
59

46

42
41

3,950

2,900

6,840

During the same season also the firm of 0. T. Watson handled as follows :

Month.

Buck shad.

Roe shad.

Per cent,
of bucks.

Per cent,
of roes.

543

271

March

3 219

3 093

April

o 404

1 135

Vav

548

590

Total

6 714

5,049

57

43

An analysis of the above tables shows, first, that the number of male shad is considerably in
excess of the number of female shad for the season; second that the preponderance of males over
females is very great at two periods during the season. This inequality in the run of males and
females, and the capture of so large a proportion of males in advance of the maturation of the
females, would indicate that the loss of fruitful eggs in the spawning season from lack of fecunda-
tion must be enormous.

THE PAMLICO AND TAB E1VEES.

631

SHAD "RUNS." — The great preponderance of buck shad at the beginning of the season, and
again in April, would indicate that in the Neuse Eiver, at east, there are two distinct runs of
shad, viz, in January and in May. This conclusion agrees with the general belief of the fishermen
on all the rivers of Carolina. Although the first run commences in January, shad fishing does
not begin until the month following. The average duration of the entire fishing season is sixty
days.

STATISTICAL REVIEW OP NEUSE RIVER FISHERIES.

The following tables show the number oF men, with nets and boats, and value of the same,
employed in the Neuse Eiver fisheries during the season of 1879-'80, also the quantity and value
of the products and dispostion of the same :

Description of fishery.

Number
of men
employed.

Nets.

Boats.

Tot»l
capital in-
Tested.

Number.

Value.

Number.

Value.

Stake-net .

166
75
186
12
272

3,910
25
41
6
136

$7,980
1,230
3,135
1,500
476

83
25
41
6
136

$3,080
1,250
1,415
240
476

$11,060
2,500
4,550
1,740
952

Skim-net

Total

711

4,118

14,341

291

6,461

20, 802

Disposition.

Shad.

Herring.*

Mixed fish

Total.

Number.

Value.

Number.

Value.

Number.

Value.

Number.

Value.

Shipped to interior markets

49, 698
15,624
5,000
8,000

$12, 424
4,687
1,250
2,000

442,000

$2,652

2, 106, 882
t49, 230
300, 000
300, 000

$17, 557
1,641
2,500
2,500

2, 598, 580
64,854
405, 000
408, 000

$32,633
6,328
4,350
5,100

100, 000
100, 000

600
600

Total

78,322

20, 361

642,000

3,852

2, 756, 112

24,198

3, 476, 434

48,411

* Clnpea aostivalis and C. yemalis.

t Of this number 15,660 are rock and 28,890 bass.

3. FISHERIES OF PAMLIOO AKD TAE EIVEES.

Pamlico Eiver as designated on the charts is only the estuary of Tar Eiver. The physical and
hydrographic features of Pamlico Eiver are in general similar to those of the Neuse below New
Berne.

The methods of fishing pursued in Pamlico and Tar Eivers are the same as on the Neuse
Eiver with this exception, that near Washington, N. 0., a large seine, like those used on the
Albemarle Eiver, is operated.

As on the Neuse Eiver, the principal fisheries are those for the capture of shad and herring,
the former being by far the more important.

All the fish taken from this river, with the exception of those retained for local consumption,
are sent to Washington, N. C., whence, after having been packed in ice, they are transported by
rail to a point on the Eoanoke Eiver. Here they are placed on board a steamer and shipped to
Norfolk, from which point they are distributed, as consigned, to the various Northern cities. The
product of the Pamlico Eiver fisheries, as also the number of men employed, is about the same as
that estimated for the Neuse Eiver. But in the absence of detailed information on the subject,
no statistical summary is given.

632 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

•

4. FISHERIES OF PAMLICO SOUND.

PHYSICAL AND HYDROGRAPHIC FEATURES. — At some distance from and stretching along
the coast of North Carolina is a narrow chain of low sand reefs and islands, between which and
the mainland lies a broad sheet of water, called Pamlico Sound. Communication between this
water and the ocean is possible only through certain narrow openings between the reefs and
islands. The three principal passages are known as Oregon, Ocracoke, and Hatteras Inlets.
Through these openings is discharged the entire volume of water pouring into the sound from
those sections of North Carolina and Virginia which are drained by the Neuse and Tar Rivers, and
also those streams, such as the Roanoke and Chowan, which empty directly into Albemarle River
or Sound, * and thence into the Pamlico. The result of this continual influx of fresh water into
Pamlico Sound is to counteract the effect of the natural ebb and flow of the ocean tide. For this
reason there are no tides in Pamlico Sound except such as are produced by heavy winds. During
certain seasons of the year, therefore, the water in these sonnds is at most brackish, and after the
rivers have been swollen by rains sometimes quite fresh.

MOVEMENTS OF THE FISH. — By reference to the statistics of the fisheries of the Neuse and
Tar Rivers, and of the tributaries of the Albemarle, it will be seen that immense numbers of shad
and herring ascend those streams annually, and it is equally manifest th it these fish enter those
rivers from Albemarle or Pamlico Sound. A question here arises, and it is of the highest moment
to the fisheries that a positive solution be arrived at, as to whether these fish winter in one or
both of these sounds or pass into the ocean through the inlets already referred to, returning in
the spring for the purpose of making their annual ascent of the rivers. If the former be the case,
it is only necessary to find out their winter quarters in order to establish valuable winter fisheries
for the shad and herring. If the latter theory be true, then at the time of their passage through
these exceedingly narrow inlets, millions of fish might with ease be captured. To this end seine
fisheries have repeatedly been established at these passage-ways, but the results, so far at least
as shad and herring are concerned, have in no case been such as to make the theory tenable. In
the discussion of the relations of the migrations of the fish to water temperatures in general,
arguments will be advanced in support of the theory that these fish winter in waters between the
reefs and the mainland, be it in Pamlico or in Albemarle Sound.

FISHING GROUNDS. — The only important fisheries for shad and herring conducted on the
waters of Pamlico Sound are at its upper end, or, more strictly, in that narrow sheet of water con-
necting Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and named, as already stated, Croatan Sound. At this
point large numbers of stake-nets and several haul-seines are in operation. The statistics relative
to these fisheries will be given in the summation of the fisheries of the Albemarle and its tribu-
taries.

5. ALBEMARLE SOUND AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

The magnificent sheet of inland water known as Albemarle Sound stretches east and
west from the coast to a distance of about 40 miles into the interior. Through Croatan Sound it
discharges all of its waters into the Pamlico Sound. At its head it receives the waters of the
Roauoke and the Chowan Rivers, two of the principal streams on the Atlantic slope. The head-
waters of the Roanoke drain a considerable portion of Western North Carolina and Southwestern
Virginia, the extreme sources of both of its principal tributaries being in the Appalachian range.

"* Albemarle Sound is formed by tho confluence of the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers, audits waters are discharged
into the upper end of Pamlico Sound through Croatan .Sound.

ALBEMARLE SOUND AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

633

The principal tributaries of the Chowau are the Nottoway and the Meherrin. The sources
of these rivers do not penetrate to the mountains, and this difference in the physical features of
the two river basins entails corresponding variations in the character of the rivers themselves.
The muddy waters which pour down the Roanoke during the seasons of high water bear a marked
contrast to the dark and clear waters of the Chowan.

A number of minor tributaries of the Albemarle are North, Pasquotank, Little, Perquimans,
and Alligator Rivers. These do not penetrate far into the interior, but all of them formerly re-
ceived each season vast schools of herring and~5had. At the present time, however, the fish-
eries on these rivers have become unproductive in consequence of the diminution of the supply.
The main fisheries of the Albemarle are found about the head of the. sound and for a short dis-
tance up the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers.

The waters of the Albemarle Sound are always fresh ; indeed, it is only in dry seasons that
the waters of the sound become at all brackish. In the season of 1880, during the whole of
which extreme drought prevailed, the water was somewhat brackish as high up as Palens fishery,
where several salt-water species were captured in considerable numbers.

The fishing season for the large haul seines on the Albemarle begins between March 1 and 15,
although shad are sometimes taken in gill-nets in the Sound some weeks earlier. The following
summary of fishing records for Willow Branch Fishery from 1835 to 1874, which was compiled by
the late Professor Milner from the books kept at the fishing shore, gives a number of interesting
data in regard to these fisheries. The duration of the fishing season and the date of maximum
run, both for shad and herring, is found to vary widely from year to year. These fluctuations are
due to corresponding changes in the meteorological conditions, which are of course impressed upon
the waters.

Summary of fishing records for shad and alewives kept at Willow Branch Fishery," North Carolina, from 1835 to 1874.

Tears and
months.

Beginning of
season.

Ending of season.

Num-
ber of
days.

Total of
shad.

Total of
alewives.

Average
per diem
of shad.

Average
per diem
of alewivea.

Date of maximum.

Shad.

Alewives.

1835

March 15

Mav 9

51
12
30
9
53
16
30
7
52
16
30
6
52
14
30
8
57
18
30
9

33, 259
5,441
26,645
1,173
13, 231
3,160
9,619
1,462
34, 169
7,453
24, 566
2,060
32, 204
9,480
19, 739
2,985
73, 130
27, 946
43, 351
1.833

484, 600
57, 600
344, 500
82, 500
1,236,700
28, 100
939, 600
269, 000
1,982,300
76, 700
1,635,600
270, 000
1,093,100
56,100
785, 000
252, 000
1, 595, 900
90, 500
1,205,000
3liO. 000

652
453
888
130
249
197
320
208
657
465
818
341
619
677
657
373
1,282
1,552
1,445
203

9,502
4,800
11, 483
9,166
23, 333
1,756
31, 320
38, 428
38, 121
4,793
54,520
45, 000
21, 021
4,007
26,166
31, 500
27, 991
5,027
40,166
33. 333

April 6-14.
April 16-19.
April 9-21.
March 30- April 6.
April 4-6.

April 13-19.
April 17-26.
AprU 23 and 24.
April 17-19.
April 26-May 2.

Mav

1836

March 16

Mav 7'

March

April

May

1837

March 16

May 6

March

April

May

1838

March 18

May8

March

M»v

1839

March 14

May 9

Mav . . -

...1

* Willow Branch Fishery, North Carolina, situated just witkin the month of the Chowan River, was one of the
most valuable of the extensive seine fisheries lying around the head of the Albemarle. Its records, running almost
continuously from 1835 to 1874, present most interesting material for study; and, when taken in connection with
other records of the Albemarlo fisheries which are extant, and cotemporaneous meteorological observations will prob-
:iMy furnish valuable conclusions in regard to the laws or influences determining the great seasonal fluctuations in
tho i-iver fisheries.

634

HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

Summary of faking records for shad and aleiclves kept at Willow Branch Fishery, North Carolina, 4"C. — Continued.

Years and
months.

Beginning of
season.

Ending of season.

Nnm-
berof
days.

Total of
shad.

Total of
alewives.

Average
per diem
of shad.

Average
per diem
of alewiyes.

Date of maximum.

Shad.

Alewives.

1840

March 12

MayS

55
20
30
5
68
21
30
7
58
26
30
2
55
17
30
8
47
1C
30
1
51
19
30
2
48
17
30
1
45
16
29
53
18
30
5
53
13
30
10
57
20
30
7
53
21
30
2
68
24
30
14
61
25
30
6
63
23
30
10
61
20
30
11

51, 674
28, 115
22,736
823
29,348
12, 806
16, 014
428
55,784
44,353
11, 373
58
31,615
3,941
25,894
1,780
60,205
21, 701
38,414
90
53,179
31,832
21, 287
60
33, 117
10, 931
22, 112
74
21, 157
11, 722
9,435
16, 912
6,821
9,732
359
47, 017
16,999
27,933
2,085
25,882
14, 417
11,045
420
12,963
7,664
5,196
103
34,896
17, 877
13, 820
3,199
37, 880
20, 416
16, 273
1,191
28, 087
10, 996
13, 370
3,721
32, 112
10, 132
18, 300
3,680

3, 313, 900
164,900
2, 985, 000
164, 000
2, 148, 775
102,775
1, 665. 000
281, 000
1, 367, 075
244,500
1, 105, 575
17,000
1, 680, 100
83,000
1, 293, 100
304, 000
1, 402, 600
84,100
1, 314, 500
4,000
1, 556, 000

939
1,405
757
164
504
609
533
61
961
1,705
379
29
574
231
863
221
1,280
1,356
1,280
90
1,042
1,675
709
30
689
643
737
74
470
732
325
319
378
324
71
887
1,307
931
208
454
720
368
60
244
364
173
51
513
744
460
228
620
816
542
198
445
478
445
372
526
506
610
334

60, 252
8,245
99,500
32, 800
37,047
4,894
55,500
40, 142
23, 570
9,403
36,852
8,500
30,547
4,882
43,103
3,800
29,842
5,256
43, 816
4,000
30,509

March 12-16.
March 22-27.
March 8-13.
April 6-12.
March 22-28.
March 31-April 3.
April 3-6.

March 15-19.
March 31, April 10.

March 24-April 3.
March 15-21.
March 12.
March 21-29.
March 25-31.
April 4-6.
March 28- April 20.

April 16-23.
April 16 and 23.
April 21-24.
April 21-28.
April 16-22.
April 16-20.
April 18-23.

April 13-18.
April 28-May 24

April 10-13.
April 27- May 3.
April 28.
April 6-24.
April 25-27.
April 22-May 2.
April 23-May 3.

March .. ..

April

May

1841

March 11

Mav 7

March

April

May

1842

March*

May2

March

April

May

1843

March 15

May 8

March

April

May

1844

March 16

May 1

March

April

May. .

1846

March 18

HAT 2

March

April

1, 527, 000
29,000
718, 650
65,350
642,300
11,000
567, 140
100, 000
467, 140
688, 400
40,200
540,700
107,500
389. 816
25, 676
314, 180
49,980
451, 103
15, 436
275, 967
159, 700
428,650
18,990
390, 160
19,500
744, 428
59, 728
454,200
230, 500
559, 800
53,300
434, 500
72, 000
965, 500
34. 500
664, 000
267, 000
1, 105, 100
47,200
592, 900
465,000

50,900
14,500
14,971
3,843
21, 410
11, 000
12,603
6,250
16, 109
12,988
2,233
18,023
21,500
7,355
1,975
10, 472
4,998
7,944
771
9,198
22, 814
8,087
904
13,005
9,750
10,947
2,488
15, 140
16, 460
9,177
2,132
14,483
12, 000
15, 325
1, 500
22, 133
26, 700
18, 116
2,360
19,763
42,272

May

1846

March 15

Marl

March

April

M»y

1847

MarchlS

April 29

March

April

1848

MarchU

May 5

March

April

May

1849

i*»r«hi9 JUJJt

May 10

March

April

May

1850

March 12

MAT?

March

April

'Mfty

1851

March 11

May 2

March

April

May

1852

Maroh8

Mar 14

March

April

May

1853

March 7

May 8

March

April

May

1854

March 9

May 10

March

April

May

1855

March 12

May 11

March

April

May

ALBEMARLE SOUND AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 635

Summary of fishing records for shad and aleunves kept at Willow Branch Fishery, North Carolina, $c. — Continued.

Tears and
months.

Beginning of

season.

Ending of season

Num-
ber of
days.

Total of

Total of
alewives.

Average
per diem
of shad.

Average
per diem
of alewives

Date of maximum.

shad.

Shad.

Alewives.

1858 . . .

Marchl7

May9

54
15
30
9
65
20
30
15
59
17
30
12
48
18
SO
63
21
30
12
67
21
30
16
36
24
12

22,524
4,381
16,669
1,474
28,053
8,123
17,007
2,923
16,242
5,744
9,238
1,260
12,002
7,692
4,310
17,125
8,809
6,586
1,730
21, 101
7,782
17,468
1,851
33,286
34, 534
3,752

419, 700
23, 200
~303, 500
93,000
569, 200
28, 400
338, 800
202, 000
245, 280
12,950
206, 200
26,130
120, 700
30,000
96,700
144, 100
20, 700
83,400
40,000
915,450
85,200
549,500
280, 750
567,583
301, 135
266,441

417
292
555
163
431
406
566
194
275
337
307
105
250
427
143
271
419
219
144
314
370
382
115
1,063
1,438
312

7,772
1,546
10, 116
10,333
8,756
1,420
11, 293
13, 466
4,157
761
6,873
2,177
2,514
668
3,223
2,287
985
2,446
3,333
13,663
4,057
14,983
17,546
15,768
12,547
22,204

April 10-16.
March 25- April 9.
April 3-10.

March 14-17.
March 22.

April 2-8.
April 7-11.

April 10-12.

April 13-28.
April 5-9.
April 7-14.

April 7-J5.
April 1-8.

April 21-28.
April 28-May 2.
April 15-24.

April 11-27.
April 25-27.

April 22-May 3.
May 5-7.

April 20-28.

April 23-May 5.
April 21-27.
April 14.

April 28-May 3.
April 22-May 6.

April

Mav

1857

Marohl2

Mav 15 .

April

May

1858

March 15

Mav 12

April

Mav

1859

March H

April 30

March

April

1880

March 12

Mar 12

March

April ..

May .

1881

March 11

ir»Ti«

March

April

May

1862

April 7

May 12

April

May

1863

No record kept.
No record kept.
No record kept.
Ma™), i?

No record kept.
No record kept.
No record kept.
Mav 5

1864

1865

1866 ..

55
20
30
5

36,599
14, 315
21,605
679

1,589,000
217,500
1, 019, 500
352,000

665
715
780
113

28,890
10, (75

33,983
58,668

March

April

May

1867...:

No record kept.

Marn}, 1?

No record kept.
MavlS

1868

61
16
30
15
62
17
30
15
80
18
30
12

31, 551
5,095
21, 774
4,682
17,647
4,041
11, 612
1,994
15,009
3,657
9,739
1,613

1, 144, 700
84,700
674,000
436,000
583,950
33,950
426,600
123,400
620,530
11,530
421,000
188,000

517
318
725
312
284
237
387
132
250
203
324
134

14,765
2,168
22,466
29,066
9,418
1,997
14,220
8,226
10,342
640
14, 033
15,668

April

May

1869

March 19

Mavl5

March

April

May

1870

March u

May 12

April

May

1871

No record kept.
No record kept.
March 17

No record kept.
No record kept.
May 10

1372

1873

55
15
30
10
13
22
SO
11

50,195
2,797
41, 501
5,897
30,893
12,086
17,049
1,758

1, 650, 330
30, 670
976, 360
843,300
923, 372
24,672
572,300
326,400

912
188
1,383
589
490
549
568
159

30,008
2,440
32,545
64,330
14,656
1,120
19,076
29,672

\farrth ....

April

May

1874

March 10

Mav 11

March .

April

May

636 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CAPTURE.

Until a comparatively recent period haul-seines have been the principal means of capture
employed in the prosecution of the Albeinarle fisheries. These were at first confined to the rivers,
but gradually fishing shores were established on the sound. The effect of this bas been to dimin-
ish the catch of the river seines to such an extent as to render them unprofitable, unless operated
with small seines and crews involving correspondingly decreased expenditure of capital.

By degrees stake-nets have been introduced and operated by men of small means; these, how-
ever, are principally confined to the lower parts of the sound and to its minor tributaries. About
1870 pot-nets or Dutch-nets, as they are termed, were iutroduced. These have steadily increased
in number each year, much to the detriment of the seine fisheries, since, as in the case of stake
nets, but little capital is needed for their operation.

At the time when the investigation of these fisheries was made these nets exceeded one hun-
dred in number, and a considerable proportion of the catch of shad was taken in them and the
stake-nets.

One of the most striking features connected with the Albemarle fisheries is the vast size of
the seines operated. The largest of these has a length of 2,600 yards, and each sweep of the
seine garners the crop from 1,200 acres. The hauling of the seine is usually effected by steam
engines placed on the shore, these having been substituted for horse-power. In 1879 steamboats
were first used for laying out the seine and are now in quite general use. In this operation two
boats are used ; one carries the shore end, the other the sea end of the seine. The center of the
fishing-berth is marked by a stake with a bush tied to it, in order that it may be easily seen
from the shore. In laying out the seine the boats pull together for the center stake, whence they
separate, rowing in opposite directions and paying out the seine. The introduction of steam for
this purpose has added greatly to the promptness and facility of this operation, and has rendered
comparatively easy its accomplishment in all kinds of weather. The row-boat which carries the
shore end is towed to the center stake by the steamer.

The magnitude of the work connected with the operation of one of these large seines is best
shown by the following statistics : * The length of the seine is 2,600 yards, the depth 12 yards ;
size of mesh in breast of seine J inch, in the wings 1£ inches. The value of the seine is $5,220; of
shore buildings, $2,500; of boats, $1,200 ; of engines, $1,800 ; of horses, $1,500. Total expenses for
this one seine during the season, $8,500. The number of tons of ice consumed in packing 300, and
of the bushels of salt used in the preparation of fish for market 2,000. The number of men em-
ployed is 61, of women 15. In 1879 this fishery took 52,700 shad, 900,000 herring, 13,000 pounds of
rock, and 12,000 pounds of white perch.

During the season of 1880 there were in operation at the head of the sound, and immediately
within the mouths of the Roauoke and Oho wan Rivers, eleven large seines. In addition, a number
of smaller seines were operated, the seine fisheries on the Chowan extending a short distance
above the junction of the Notaway and the Meherrin.

DISPOSITION OP THE OATOH.

The fisheries of the Albemarle Sound reached their present importance through the exten-
sion of railroad and water routes south from Norfolk, whereby an easy and rapid communication
with Northern markets was effected. The entire catch of shad, rock, and perch is shipped to

"The fishing shore hero referred to is that known as " Sutton Beach," at the head of the Albemarle, owned and
operated by Dr. Capehart, of Avoca.

THE FISHEKIES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY AND ITS TREBUTAEIES.

637

market in a fresh condition, the greater portion being packed with ice in boxes, each containing
about 225 ponnds of fish. From Edouton and other landings the fish are transported by steam-
boat up the Chowan and BlackwaterEivers to the intersection of the Seaboard and Eoanoke Bail-
road, or by the Dismal Swamp Canal, or yet again by the Chesapeake and Albemaile Canal to
Norfolk. The fish are usually consigned directly from the shore to their point of destination.
Agents are employed by the owners of the shores to attend to the packing and handling of the fish
at Norfolk. Early in the season considerable numbers of herring also are shipped fresh, mainly
to Philadelphia and Baltimore. The great bttlk^ however, is either sold fresh on the shore to the
farmers, who carry them to the interior in carts and wagons, or is salted down in barrels and
shipped, usually in sailing vessels, to Norfolk. The salt fish are prepared for market in three
ways, being known, respectively, as "gross herring," the entire fish being salted down, as "split
herring," the head andentrals being removed before salting, or as "roe herring," the head alone
being removed, the main gut drawn, and the roe left in the fish. The manipulations connected
with this preparation do not differ from those in common use all along the coast.

STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES OF ALBEMARLE SOUND.

The following statistics show the extent and value of the fisheries of Albemarle Sound and
its tributaries for the season of 1880:

Number.

Value.

Men employed*

1,225

295

$42 950

Apparatus

92 280

Shore property

55 800

Products.

Shad

Pounds.
2 255 8°3

172 969

14 479 ooo

125 080

114 400

1 144

313, 200

30, 620

* Fishermen and shoresmen.

3.— THE FISHERIES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY AND ITS TRIBU-
TARIES.

BY MARSHALL MCDONALD.

1. GENERAL EEVIEW.

The Chesapeake is a great highway for the commerce of the world. In contemplating its
possibilities in this direction we are apt to lose sight of the fact that it is itself an area of vast
and profitable production.

The fresh waters brought down by its grand system of tributary rivers, commingling with
the salt waters of the bay, produce those peculiar conditions of salinity which are most favorable
to the growth of the oyster. Consequently we find the shores of the bay itself, the mouths of all
its rivers, and the bottoms of the tributary sounds — such as the Pocomoke and Tangier — thickly
occupied by natural beds of oysters, the dredging of which furnishes profitable occupation for vast

638 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE' FISHERIES.

numbers of the citizens of Virginia, Maryland, and other States. Many salt-water varieties of
fish occur in the bay in countless myriads at their peculiar seasons, and furnish profitable and
extensive fisheries. The most important species are the Spanish mackerel, two species of cyn-
oscion, and the tailor or bluefish. In smaller quantities, also, are taken the sheepshead, drum,
and porgy, and many other species of minor importance. Vast schools of menhaden frequent the
bay from May to November, and, though not edible, are eagerly pursued and captured for con-
version into oil and guano. Extensive manufactories for these purposes are in operation all along
the bay, being more particularly abundant, however, on its western shore from the Rappahan-
nock to the month of the Potomac. Northumberland County, Virginia, is the center of this
industry. In the fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay are included those of Maryland and Virginia,
and therefore the statistics of the commercial fisheries of those States, given in Census Bulletin
No. 298, should be added together in order to show the aggregate production and value of the
fisheries prosecuted in this important water area.

By this collation of figures we arrive at the following facts : Fishermen, 31,924 ; shoresmen,
1,884; factory hands, 11,064. This gives a grand total of 44,872 for persons employed in the
Chesapeake fisheries.

The value of the apparatus, plus the capital otherwise invested, is $8,256,662.

The product amounts in pounds to 254,587,179, the value of which is estimated at $8,346,159.

2. THE JAMES RIVER.

PRESENT CONDITION OP THE FISHERIES. — The most southerly tributary of the Chesapeake
is the James River, which rises in the heart of the Alleghanies and flows in a generally southeast
direction, traversing more than 200 miles, through the mountains and the Piedmont section of
Virginia, before reaching tide-water at Richmond, Va.

Prior to the establishment of obstructions in this river, caused by the construction of the
James River and Kanawha Canal, large numbers of shad ascended the river as high as Clifton
Forge and were taken in considerable quantities in fall-traps or " slides," in Jackson's and Cow-
pasture Rivers.

In the valley of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge seine fisheries were operated with profit, and
the number of shad taken annually between Lynchburg and Richmond was at one time far in
excess of the now entire catch for the whole river. The shad at the present time do not ascend
higher than Bosher's Dam, about 9 miles above Richmond.

In the tide-water section of this river are received its two main tributaries, the Appomatox
and the Chickahominy, which latter was, up to the time of the war, famous for its fine shad. The
migrations of the fish into this river have not been limited to any appreciable extent by artificial
obstructions. The erection of dams on the Appomatox at Petersburg has prevented the further
ascent of fish, and consequently no organized fisheries are now prosecuted on that river.

During and long after colonial times large seine fisheries were operated all along the lower
James. These have ceased to exist, only one small haul-seine — that at Harrison's Landing —
being now in operation, gill-nets having almost entirely taken their place. A few pounds have
been occasionally worked near the mouth of the river, but, being in defiance of law and unpro-
ductive in their results, have been discontinued.

THE JAMES EIVEE, VIRGINA. 639

The following is a summary of the statistics of the fisheries of the James River in 1880 :

Number.

Value.

445

Beats

264

*6 090

11 040

Product*.

357 000

14 280

850 000

10 200

108 900

1 089

60 000

2 400

EABLY HISTORY OF JAMES RIVER FISHERIES. — The following historical data are here repro-
duced through the kindness of Mr. Alexander Brown, of Norwood, Va.

In 1743 old Dr. William Cabell bought a seine to catch fish, 6 feet deep in the middle, 4 feet
deep at the staves or ends, well leaded and corked, about 15 fathoms long, and 100 weight of f-inch
white cord.

[From the diary of Col. William Cabell, of "Union Hill," Nelson County, Virginia.]

1769.

October 3 : Made up our fish dam, Bet trap, and caught several rocktish, tho' Mr. Hughes caught rooks a fort-
night sooner. October 24 : For several nights past caught 100 and large odd rockfish each night in OUT traps. October

25: Caught 2 fine carp in our traps.

1TTO.

April 10: Caught the first shad for this season.

November 23: Rented Jos. Cabell Ray's fishing place for £4 the next season.
December 18 : By Jos. Cabell £5 for the rent of Ray's fishing place for 1770.

1771.

April 10: Begun to catch shad.

May 6: Humphrey to fish Thursday night. Mr. Nightingale to fish to-morrow fortnight.

1773.

June 7: By Abram Warwick a half Joe, which weighed 45 shillings, out of which I am to apply 10 shillings to his
credit fcr a night fishing.

October 7: Rented John Depriest Ray's fishery as long as I have a right to it; so that it does not exceed nine
years, to commence from the 25th Dec. next at £10 12«. 6<J. a year, the first payment to he made the 10th of June

next and the like sum annually.

1774.

July 19: By Col. Nevil 7s. Gd. for a night's fishing.
September 13 : Caught a rockfish in one of my traps which was 2} feet long and weighed 10J pounds.

1775.

March 11: Caught 17 white shad, 11 of which at one haul.

April 16: Caught a shad which weighed 7} pounds good weight.

May 15: Let Mrs. Prichard have 25 shad for her husband's mending my scein.

July 15: By Capt. Dawson, 14«. 2d. in full for 85 shad, at 2<J. and 2«. 6d. for Elliot Roberts for the Bostonians.

1776.

July 15 : Sent by Mrs. Prichard 16} Ibs. of twine to begin to knit me a seine.

1777.

March 30 : At night caught shad for the first, being the first night that we began to fish. The river very low,
scarcely a six hh'd tide, and has been so chiefly since Christmas. The dryest winter and spring, I believe, ever known.

March 21 : Caught the first shad this season.

1778.

640 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

1779.

March 3 : Eented my fishery on Wood's Island to James Matthews for theseason to find hima sceine and canoe, for
100£, to be paid at the end of the season, and to have the use of the sceine and fishery ten nights in the month of April,
when I shall choose them. And he. the said Mathews, is to return the sceino and canoe at the end of the season, or
others of equal valne in lieu thereof. Present, James Nevil and Nathaniel Watkins. March 31 : Began to hall the
sceine, and caught ten shad, and delivered the sceine and fishing canoe to James Mathews all in good order.
Present, Robert Hughes, Chas. Stewart, and many others.

April 2 : At night there were 200 and odd shad caught at my fishery. April 10 : Paid Mrs. Ealy 2f> shad, for which
she paid me 4 dollars last Dec. April 18: In the morning finished fishing, and in 10 nights caught about 2,200
shad. April 28: By Chas. Stewart, $6 for 12 shad.

June 15 : Charles Stewart, with one of my fellows and one of Landrnm's, brought home my sceine, with many
lead lost and much impaired by the cattle getting to it.

October 3 : Caught 24 rocks in our traps, one of which weighed nearly 10 Ibs., and had caught a few of a morning
some time ago.

March 27 : Begun to catch fish, 8 shad.

May 10: Sent Major Reid 47 shad in full of 65 which he paid me for some time ago (by negro Bob).

October 8 : Caught a rockfish -which weighed 12 Ibs., and Hughes kept one that was much larger.

1781.

April 3 : John Mays, James Mays, James Edmonds, John Layne, and Elijah Mays to have my seeine and fishing
place on Wood's Island every Tuesday night during the present season for catching fish, for which they are to
deliver me one-half they catch at my landing opposite the fishing place, to be careful of the sceine and keep it in good
order ; and if they fail to fish when the weather and river will permit, they are to be answerable to me for their
neglect by paying me for one-half the fish, at the customary price, which are usually caught. At the end of the season
to deliver up the sceine in good order. April 4 : Moses Campbell, Ambros Campbell, Kellis Wright, Menos Wright,
and John Alfred, same terms, every Wednesday night. April 5 : J. Wright, C. Lavender, T. Largen, G. Wright, and
J. Hollandsworth, every Thursday night caught in the course of the night 408 shad and fore some time past caught
them very considerably. April G : S. Edmunds and his company, same terms, every Friday night. Caught 473 shad
in the course of the night. April 7: Sent Col. Sam'l Merideth, by Watt, his barrel with 200 pickled shad. April 8:
James Mathews, with Col. Nevil's hands, to fish every Sunday or Monday night as shall be agreed between him and
Capt. John Loving, on the same terms as the companies befor mentioned ; at night caught 558 shad. April 13 : At
night the most severe frost I ever knew for the season. It has carried off all the fruit, killed most of our tobacco
plants and those of all other kinds, destroyed our turnip and colewart seed in a great measure, and in short did eveiy
injury that frost could do. We caught at my fishery 64 shad, but when ever the sceine was a moment out of water
it was frozen, and the water constantly froze to the poles while carrying the sceine out.

May 3 : Caught 608 shad last night. May 4 : Caught 508 shad last night. May 5 : Caught about 400 shad last
night. May 23 : Declined fishing on account of the river rising ; the fish tolerable good we caught the preceding night.

1784.

March 1 : Wm. Ray (my tenant) to fish every Sunday night during the season and to deliver me one-half the fish
that's caught, and am to find a sceine and canoe, and if he neglects to fish when the river and weather admit it, is
to be answerable to me for each neglect; and Sam'l Edmunds & Co. same terms every Monday night, Jas. Edmunds
&Co. every Tuesday night, Wm. Bibb & Co. Wednesday night, Killis Wright every Thursday night, Wm. Walton
every Friday night.

April 13: At night caught 40 odd shad for the first, the winter being very severe and the spring very backward.

1785.

March 10 : James Edmunds & Co. to fish every Monday night at my fishery, on Wood's Island, during the season,
for one-half the fish he catches. Sam'l Edmunds & Co. Tuesday night, with Wm. Bibb & Co. Wednesday, do. :
Killis Wright, do. Thursday, do. ; Wm. Walton & Co. Friday, do. ; Rich'd Murrow Saturday, do. ; Young Landram
Sunday, ditto.

April 15 : Caugh 76 shad, for the first this season.

May 9 : Monday night John Ball failed to haul my seine at the Swift Island, and the weather very good ; to be
answerable for the same.. May 16: Paid Rich'd Murrow, jr., £3 for netting a seine in the presence of his father,
J. Cabell, and others.

THE JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 641

1786.

February 11 : James Brown, Win. Key, Win. Singleton, John Gregory, and Chas. Taylor to lish at Wood's Island
every Sunday night (same terms as above) ; Sam'l Edmunds & Co., Monday do. ; Jas. Edmunds & Co., Tuesday do. ;
Thos. Jopling & Co., Wednesday do. ; Killis Wright, Thursday do. ; Wru. Walton, Friday do. ; James Mathews, Moses
Ray, John Bibb, &e., &c., on same terms, &c., &c., at Swift Island fishery.

March 29 : At night hauled the seine but caught no fish ; Wood's Island. March 30 : Caught 3 shad ; the first.
March 31 : Caught 9 shad ; the evening very Vet and windy.

April 14 : Caught 180 shad at the Swift Island ; the first this season. April 15 : Caught 177 shad at the Wood's
Island fishery. April 16: Caught 930 shad at the Swift Islaml fishery. April IT: Caught £00 shad at the Wood's
Island fishery. April 13: James Mathews caught 1,262 shad at my Swift Island fishery; James Edmunds caught
680 shad at my upper fishery (Wood's I.). April 19 : Thos. Jopling, jr., John Ball & Co., 1,203 shad at my upper
fishery (Wood's Island) ; Wm. Johnsou & Co., 1,304 shad at my fishery (Swift Island).

May 4 : Paid Nathan Ward 30 shillings pr. order of Rich'd Murrow jr. for netting one- half the seine at the Swift

Islands.

1787.

March 25 : Yesterday and to-day about 300 shad were caught at my Swift Island fishery.
April 8 : Caught a shad at my fishery on Wood's Island which weighed 8J Ibs. good weight.

May 14 : Declined hauling the seine ; having from the 25th of March been engaged in that business with out ever
being interrupted by rain or high water. A most excellent season for fishing.
August 14 : Sent Dr. Geo. Gilmer a bbl. of pickle shad (150) by his man John.
October 6 : In the morning took a rockfish out of our traps that weighed 12 Ibs.

1788.

February 14 : John Bibb to fish at my Swift Island fishery every eighth night during the season, with a good gang,
&c. (other contracts as above).

April 4 : Caught 18 shad at the Swift I. ; the first this season.

May 16 : John Boush failed to fish at night, the river and weather favorable, and fish plenty. James Mathewa

failed at Swift Island, do.

1789.

Marcli 29 : At night caught 12 shad at Wood's I. ; the first this season. March 30 : At night caught 52 shad at
Wood's I. ; at night caught 330 shad at Swift Island.
April 2 : At night caught 709 shad at Swift Island.
September 29 : Let out fish-traps and caught a few small fish in the night.

170O, 1791.

March 27, 1790 : Begun to catch shad.

May 15, 1791 : Declined fishing, very few being caught, tho' very good. A very unfavorable season for fishing,

the river having been very low.

1798.

April 2: Caught the first shad this season. April 28: Just beginning to catch fish, having been prevented by
high water, except two nights, in tho course of the season.

May 3 : Caught at Wood's I. 1,016 shad last evening. May 16 : Edward Harding and his co. failed to fish at
Swift Island ; the fish very good, and upward of 100 caught by the proceeding company. May 20: Declined haul-
ing the seine at Wood's I. When we caught upwards of 100 a night, and some of them tolerable good. May 25: At
night, old Mr. Smith hauled his seine at Wood's I. and caught upward of 100 shad, which were mostly tolerably good.

September 29 : Set our fish-trap, but the dam not secure.

1793.

March 2-1 : At night caught 70 or 80 shad at Woods I. ; might, have caught several days sooner had the river not
liccu loo high.

November 5: Caught a rockush in the Swift Island trap which weighed 16 Ibs.

1794.

March 21 : Began to catch fish.

May 15: Declined hauling my seine, having caught none of any consequence for some days past; it has been a
very bad season for fishing altogether.

SEC V— 41

642 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

1795.

April 2: At night caught a few shad ; the first this season.

May 18: Declined hauling my seine, altho' what few are caught are tolerable good. There have been the
fewest and smallest shad caught this season of any within my remembrance.

Swift Islands are about 1 mile above Midway Mills and 102 miles above Richmond, via James
Kiver as it meanders.

Wood's Island, now known as Norwood Island, 10 miles above Richmond, via James River as
it meanders, the largest and uppermost of the Swift Islands, containing 9 acres, where there was
a most excellent fishery, was granted to Moses Ray, by patent bearing date December 15, 1749.
Moses Ray died in 1766, and Col.. William Cabell, sr., administered on his estate, and bought the
said fishery from the heirs in October, 1784.

Buffalo Island, containing 40 acres, was patented by Dr. William Cabell in 1738, and deeded to
his oldest sou Col. William Cabell, of Union Hill, in 1763, first called Buffalo Island, then Wood'*
Island then Upper Fishery, then Hughes Island, and now Norwood Island.

From a memorandum of Col. William Cabell, jr. (the son of Col. William Cabell, sr., of Union
Hill), who had recently married and had just begun to keep house :

1T87.

March 24: 40 white shad were taken at one haul at the Swift 'Islands. March 28: Received 20 white shad from
Swift Island fishery. March 30: Received 26 white shad from Swift Island fishery.

April 1 : Received 51 white shad from S-wift Island fishery. April 5 : Received 32 white shad from Swift Island
fishery. April 9 : Received 37 white shad from Swift Island fishery. April 10 : Received 30 white shad from Swift
Island fishery. April 13 : Received 15 white shad of my father. April 1 4 : Received 50 shad, 39 of which I sent up to
my quarter. April 24 : Received 20 white shad of my father. April 25 : Received 19 white shad of my father. April
28 : Received 49 white shad of my father.

May 9 : Received 20 white shad of my father.

1788.

April 4 : Began to catch white shad.

From Col. William Cabell sr's. account books I find that fresh shad sold at 2 to 4 pence each,
before and after the revolution. During the war prices varied with the currency.

Pickled shad in barrels, containing from 150 to 200 shad, sold for about $6 to $9 a barrel.
Very few shad, fresh or pickled, were sold, but very many were given away.

3. YORK RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

The York River is the common estuary of the Pamunkey and Mattapony Rivers, which have
their confluence at West Point, about 20 miles west of Yorktown and Gloucester Point.

The area of the hydrographic basin drained by the tributaries of the Mattapony and Pa-
munkey is small compared with that of any of the principal rivers of the State ; yet, in conse-
quence of not being obstructed for some distance above the head of tide, the actual spawning area
for shad and herring is greater than in the James, the Rappahannock, or even in the Potomac.
The fact that these waters have been able to maintain a respectable shad fishery, in spite of the
excessive drafts made upon them, clearly illustrates the disastrous influences exerted upon the
fisheries of our principal rivers by the obstructions which restrict the migrations of the shad and
herring (alewife) to the tidal areas.

Even in these rivers there has been a steady decrease in the value and the production of these
fisheries. The herring fishery no longer exists. Probably 250,000 to 300.000 are taken in gill-
nets for local consumption. Formerly with a haul-seine, upou a single tide, over 100,000 have

THE TORK AND RAPPAHANNOCK RIVERS.

643

been taken. Now, the haul-seines are abandoned, there being but four in the two rivers, and the
fishing is mainly with float-seines. The fish reach the market through West Point, Sweet Hall,
Lester Mauor, Cahoke, and White House, all stations on the York River Railroad, and thence
are sent chiefly to Richmond, and some to Baltimore and Philadelphia. Sturgeon go to Rich-
mond almost exclusively, and are known there as Charles City "bacon".

Summary of the fisheries of the Mattapony and Pamunkey Rivers for 1880:

Pamunkey and Mattapony liivers.

Product of

the fisheries.

Number.

vested.

Pounds of
fish.

Value.

425

Boats

212

$2, 920 00

4, 020 00

425 00

Products.
Shad .

238 950

$11 947 50

250 000

2 500 00

51 661

1 549 83

25 000

2 000 00

Total

7 365 00

565 611

17 997 33

The fish for market are taken almost exclusively in float-nets and stake-nets; formerly there
were a number of profitable seine hauls in both rivers, which are now abandoned. Four of the
old shores are sometimes hauled, but they hardly pay expenses. TJpon the two rivers one hundred
and seventy-five boats are occupied in fishing float-nets and twenty-five boats in stake-net fishing.
To each boat there is usually a man and a boy, and the cost of the outfits will average about $30.

Besides the float and stake-nets, there are three weirs in the vicinity of West Point and e.'ght
fyke-nets. They are principally valuable for the fall and winter fishing.

At the narrows of the rivers what are termed " hedgings" are numerous. They effectually
impede the further ascent of the fish, and as nearly all the shad that reach them are ripe they
must exert a very injurious influence upon the fisheries.

A "hedging" is made by driving down forks at intervals of 6 to 8 feet across the stream from
one bank to the other. These support a continuous log or ridge-pole some 6 or 8 inches in diameter ;
resting upon this and pointing up the stream are poles 3 or 4 inches in diameter driven into the
mud and spaced at intervals of an inch. An opening about 3 feet in diameter is left at one point.
By the accumulation of leaves a tolerably tight dam is soon formed; the water is dammed back,
and a strong current discharged through the opening, presenting the only possible passage for the
ascent of the fish. At this opening stands a worthless, lazy contraband, or more worthless white,
"skim-net" in hand, and when he feels a fish strike the net lifts it out. Such devices as these
should be prohibited under the severest penalties.

4. THE RAPPAUANNOGK RIVER.

The sources of the Eiippahannock are on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. Its mountain
tributaries formerly abounded in trout, which have, however, almost entirely disappeared from
most of the streams, being occasionally found in those above where the fishing laws have been
strictly observed. The readiness with which these fish have been restored to their streams by

644

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

artificial planting proves that their disappearance was due not to any change in the character of
the water, but merely to over- fishing. Before obstructions existed in the Rappahannock the shad
ascended its main tributaries almost to the base of the Bine Ridge. Contests relative to the
obstruction of the stream by dams began in colonial times, and petition after petition for arresting
the encroachments of mill owners and manufacturers upon the general right was filed in the
House of Burgesses. As is, however, usual, the march of progress triumphed, and the " annually
recurring bounty of Providence," L e., the fish, was entirely cut off from the upper waters of the
river. At the present day the upward movement of shad is limited to Falrnonth— a short distance
above tide water— where a stone dam 20 feet high prevents further ascent. Here, as on most of
the rivers, we hear the same well-grounded complaint of impoverished fisheries, due, however, as
a rule, first to the diminished spawning and breeding area of the shad, and, secondly, to too
excessive fishing by illegitimate appliances, such as traps and slides, the use of which above high
water should in all cases be absolutely prohibited by law.

Organized fisheries are prosecuted in this river as high as Fredericksburg— about 140 miles
from its mouth— where tide-water ceases. From the bay up to Bowler's wharf fishing is carried
on almost exclusively by pound-nets. Thence to Leaton's stake-nets prevail. Each staker fishes
from twenty -five to fifty nets, each about 9 yards long, with a stretched mesh of 4£ to 5 inches,
'the depth of the net varying with the depth of water. Three haul-seines are fished between
Bowler's and Leaton's. From Leatou's to Fredericksburg the haul-seines and the gillers hold
disputed sovereignty. During the season of 1879 nine seines in all were fished on this river.
These were operated by horse power, and averaged about thirteen men to a crew.

The statistics of the personnel of these fisheries for the season of 1879, the capital invested, the
products and their value, are given in the following table :

The Rappahannock River.

Number.

Value.

416

180

$5, 335

33,538

Products*
Shad

.-pounds..
do

469, 073
732, 797

18, 762
8,793

... do

17, 700

177

Miscellaneous fresh-water flsh

....do....
.bushels..

107, 850
5,100

7,549
765

* Used for manure.

5. THE POTOMAC RIVER.

The Potomac River has its sources upon the eastern front of the main chain of the Appalachi-
ans; flowing south and east, it breaks through the Blue Ridge at Harper's Ferry and reaches tide-
water five miles above Washington, by descending in rapids over a granite ledge about GO
feet high, known as the Great Falls. By its main tributary, the Shenandoah, which joins the
Potomac at Harper's Ferry, it drains the rich valley of Virginia as far up as Stauuton, which is on
the divide between the waters flowing into the James and the Potomac.

The Potomac has always been celebrated for the excellency and value of its shad and herring
fisheries. Reports of their magnitude have come to us from early days, and from them we gather
that the production must then, as compared with our own day, have been simply fabulous. While

THE POTOMAC AND SUSQUEHANNA RIVERS.

645

the Potomac and its tributaries above tide-water present all the conditions suitable for the spawn-
ing and breeding grounds of the shad, yet the Great Falls have always stood as an insuperable
barrier to the further upward migrations of not only the shad and herring, but also of the more
enterprising species, the rock-fish or striped bass. The fisheries of this river annually decreased in
value and production up to the time of the war ; the intermission which then ensued in the fishing
operations on account of those of a martial character allowed the fisheries to recuperate, so that
in the years immediately succeeding the war it was found that they had in a measure recovered
from their former depletion. In 1878 the minimum of production was attained, during which
season less than 200,000 shad were taken in the entire river. In 1879 the results of previous
artificial propagation first manifested themselves, and there was a considerable increase in the run
of shad, from which time the shad fisheries steadily increased, until in the season of 1880 nearly
600,000 were taken.

The early fisheries on the Potomac were prosecuted entirely by means of haul seines. About
the year 1835 gill-nets were introduced from the North. These have steadily grown in favor and
for the last few years have been the principal instrument employed for the capture of shad.

In 1880, only eleven large haul-seines were in use where fifty had been fished in early days.
Within the last five years pound-nets have been introduced. They are increasing in numbers rap-
idly, and are by degrees displacing the gill-nets, which, as above stated, displaced the haul-seines.

The following statistics show the extent and value of the Potomac fisheries for 1880 :

The Potomac Biter.

Number.

Value.

1 208

Boats

230

$30 750

209 550

Products.

2 040 052

60 201

6 291 252

62 912

288 000

9 880

Miscellaneous do

1, 317, 030

39, 510

6. THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER.

The sources of this river are in the highlands of Pennsylvania and Western New York. Flow-
ing in a general southerly direction, it breaks through the entire Appalachian system, and dis-
charges into the head of Chesapeake Bay. Its principal tributaries are the Juniata, the North
Branch, and the West Branch. The extreme sources of the North Branch are in the Catskill
Mountains, while the western branch interdigitates with the headwaters of the Ohio. In the
early settlement of the country the abundant run of shad into all these streams at the proper
season was a matter of prime importance to the people, a very considerable proportion of their
income being derived from this source. Profitable shad-fisheries existed at a number of points
on the Juniata and on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, and vast numbers ascended the
West Branch also up into the Chenango River in the State of New York, and were taken at a
distance of several hundred miles above their present limit. The accounts in regard to abund-
ance of shad, given by the early settlers on all the rivers of the Atlantic slope, seem almost
fabulous to us in these days. If tradition has invented exaggerated stories concerning all the
other rivers, those accounts touching the Snsquehanna at least are undoubtedly established by
authentic data. At the request of Prof. S. F. Baird, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, a

646 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

committee of the Wyoming Historical aiul Geological Society, of which Mr. Harrison Wright was
chairman, has prepared and submitted the following very interesting report on the early shad-
fisheries of the North Branch of the Susquehanna Eiver.

REPORT OF A COMMITTEE OP THE WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ON TUT.
EARLY SHAD-FISHERIES OF THE NORTH BRANCH OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER.

Prof. SPENCER F. BAIRD,

United States Commissioner of Fisheries :

SIR: The committee of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, to whom your in-
quiries touching the old shad-fisheries on the North Branch of the Susquehanna were referred for
investigation, would respectfully report that they have interviewed, by letter or in person, a large
number of the old settlers, who either now live or formerly did live near the banks of the river,
and were calculated to be able to give the requisite information, and who were pleased to report.
These persons have, in nearly every instance, most cheerfully and at no little trouble furnished us
with the information asked. We make this acknowledgment for the reason that the parties to
whom application was made are necessarily far advanced in age, all with but one or two excep-
tions having seen their " three score years and ten," and to them it was no little labor to write out
their reminiscences of the early shad-fisheries.

Besides these interviews, the records of the county, files of old newspapers, the numerous
printed histories of this section of country, have been consulted, and from these various sources
the data upon which this report is based have been gleaned. With these preliminary remarks let
us proceed to our report.

HISTORY. — There can be no doubt but that the Indians, for years before the white people
thought of settling at Wyoming, caught their shad there in large quantities ; their net-sinkers,
though they have for years been collected by archaeologists, are still very plenty, and can be found
anywhere on the flats along the river in quantities, and the fragments of pottery show unmistak-
able markings with the vertebrae of the shad ; these, together with the fact that the early settlers
saw the Indians catching shad in a seine made of bushes (called a bush-net), point to the fact that
shad on the North Branch were taken in quantities by the Indians.

The Connecticut people who settled here over a hundred years ago had, in the very start, their
seines, and took the shad in numbers ; as near as we can learn they were the first white people
who seined the shad in the North Branch.

During the thirty years' war which the Connecticut settlers had with the Pennsylvania Gov-
ernment for the possession of this valley of Wyoming, the shad supply was a great element of sub-
sistence ; for this, unlike the fields, barns, and granaries, could not be burned by the Peunamites.
An old settler says : " When we came back to the valley we found everything destroyed, and the
only thing we could find to eat were two dead shad picked up on the river shore ; these we cooked,
and a more delicious meal was never partaken of by either of us." One of the most bitter complaints
made against the Penukmites, in 1784, was that they had destroyed the seines.

After the Revolutionary war had ended, and the troubles between the Pennsylvania claimants
and the Connecticut settlers had been quieted, the shad fisheries increased in numbers and value
yearly, until about the year 1830, when the dams and canal were finished and an end put to the
shad fisheries.

RUN. — It would appear, from the papers hereto attached, that the male fish preceded the
female fish by some eight to ten days in their ascent of the river, and between the ascent of the
former and that of the latter there was generally a perceptible rise in the river, and immediately
following it came the large roe-weighted females in great schools.

THE FISHERIES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER. 647

FISHERIES. — Accompanying this report is a map of the Susquehanna River from the junction
of the West Branch at Northumberland to Towanda, near the New Torh State line ; upon this is
noted the localities of the fisheries with as much accuracy as was attainable from the accounts
received by us. Some have probably been omitted, especially in the stretch of river from Dan-
ville to a point 4 miles above Bloomsburg, where we were unsuccessful in our inquiries, but with-
out doubt the most important on the river have been recorded by us.

At Northumberland, or just below, was Hummel's fishery; between Northumberland and
Danville there were eight fisheries in order from Northumberland up, as follows: (1) Line's Island
lower fishery; (2) Line's Island middle fishery; (3) Smith's fishery; (4) Line's Island upper fish-
ery; (5) Scott's fishery; (6) Grant's fishery; (7) Carr's Island fishery; (8) Rockafeller's. The
next fishery of which we have a record was the fishery of Samuel Webb, located about 4 miles
above Bloomsburg. Above this point about 4 miles, and 6 miles below Berwick, was the fishery
of Benjamin Boon; the next was located just above the town of Berwick, and about a mile and a
half above Berwick was the Tuckahoe fishery (this last is the same as the Nescopeck fishery men-
tioned in Pearce's history) ; the next was at Beach Haven. Between this latter place and Nanti-
coke Dam there were three, viz, one at Shickshiuny, one just below the mouth of Hunlock's Creek,
and one called the " Dutch" fishery, on Croup's farm. Above Nanticoke there was one belonging
to James Stewart, about opposite Jameson Harvey's place ; one at Fish Island, and one at Steel's
Ferry, called the Mud fishery. The next was on Fish's Island, three-quarters of a mile below the
Wilkes-Barre bridge; the next was Bowman's fishery. Tinmediately below the Wilkes-Barre bridge;
the next was the Butler fishery, a little above the bridge ; the next was at Mill Creek, a mile
above the bridge; the next was the Monocacy Island fishery; the next Carey's; the next was on
Wintermoot Island, this last landing on the left bauk above the ferry at Beauchard's; the next was
at Scovel's Island, opposite Lackawanna Creek ; this and the Falling Spring fishery next above be-
longed to parties living in Providence, away up the Lackawanua. The next above was at Harding's,
in Exeter township ; the next above was at Keeler's, in Wyoming County ; the next was at Taylor's
(or Three Brother's) Island. This latter fishery was no doubt the one referred to by P. M. Osterhout
as being opposite McKune's Station on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The next was at Hunt's ferry
circa, 5 miles above Tuukhannock; the next was Grist's Bar, about a mile above Meshoppen;
the uext was at Whitcomb's Island, a mile below Black Walnut bottom ; a half a mile above this
fishery was the Sterling Island fishery ; and the next above was Black Walnut, and half a mile
further up was the Chapin Island fishery ; the next was at the bend at Skinner's Eddy ; the next
was at Browntown, in Bradford County; the next was at Inghain's Island; the next was at the
mouth of Wyalusing Creek ; 2 miles farther up was one at Terrytown ; the next and last that we
have any record of was at Standing Stone, about 6 miles below Towanda.

Thus it will be seen that between Northumberland and Towanda there were about forty per-
manent fisheries.

MONEY VALUE. — Our country records only go back to 1787. We spent a whole day in search-
ing the first volumes, in hopes that we might find some entries of transfers of fishing rights, but
our search was fruitless ; we have, however, found among the papers of Caleb Wright a bill of
sale of a half interest in a fishery between Shickshinny and Nanticoke, called the "Dutch fish-
ery;" the price paid was £20 "lawful money of Pennsylvania," equivalent to $53.33.*

Jameson Harvey says that Jonathan Hunlock's interest in the Hunlock fishery was worth
from $500 to $600 per annum ; it was a half interest. Henry Roberts says a right in a fishery
was worth from $10 to $25.

"Caleb Wright's son received 1,900 shad as his share of one night's fishing at this fishery.

648 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Major Fassett's father was one of eleven owners in the Sterling Island fishery, and his inter-
est was valued at $100.

Mr. Hollenback's information on the money value of the different fisheries is by far the most
valuable; he says the Standing Stone fishery was worth from $300 to $400 per annum ; the Ter-
rytown fishery was worth about the same ; the Wyalusing Creek fishery was worth about $250
per annum ; the Ingham Island fishery, $50 less ; the Browntown and Skinner's Eddy fisheries,
about $150 per annum each.

Jameson Harvey say : " The widow Stewart, at the Stewart fishery, used often to take from
$30 to $40 of a night for her share of the haul."

The data bearing upon this point are decidedly unsatisfactory, as they would only give to the
forty fisheries an annual value of about $12,000, a large amount for those days, yet one we believe
to be too small ; the next item, the " catch," should be taken with this one to form a basis for cal-
culation.

CATCH. — At the eight fisheries near Northumberland large numbers of shad were taken ; th ree
hundred was a common haul ; some hauls ran from three to five thousand. The Rockafeller fish-
ery, just below Danville (about the year 1820), gave an annual yield of from three to four thousand,
worth from 12£ cents to 25 cents apiece.

Mr. Fowler says that the fishery just above Berwick was one of the most productive, and that
he has assisted there in catching " thousands upon thousands," but does not give the average an-
nual yield ; he also says, that at the Tuckahoe fishery " many thousands were caught night and
day in early spring ; " and at the Webb and Boon fisheries the hauls were immense ; at the latter
they got so many at a haul that they couldn't dispose of them, and they were actually hauled on
Boon's farm for manure.

At Hnnlock's fishery the annual catch must have been about ten thousand.

At the Dutch fishery in one night thirty-eight hundred were taken.

At the Fish Island fishery, at a single haul, nearly ten thousand shad were taken.

Mr. Jenkins recollects of seeing a haul at Monocacy Island— just before the dam was put in —
of twenty-eight hundred.

At Scovel's Island the catch was from twenty to sixty per night; at Falling Spring fifty to
three hundred per night ; at Taylor's Island from two hundred to four hundred per night.

At Wyalusing the annual catch was between two and three thousand; and at Standing Stone
between three and four thousand.

The daily catch at the Terrytown fishery was about one hundred and fifty.

Major Fassett says that at the Sterling Island fishery "over two thousand were caught in one
day in five hauls."

It is a plain deduction from the above facts that the fisheries down the river were much more
valuable than those above. Above Monocacy we hear of no catch over two thousand, while below
that point they were much larger, and while from $300 to $400 seems to be the general annual
value above, we find the fishery at Hunlock's, 12 miles below, was worth from $1,000 to $1,200 per
annum. The shad farther up the river appear to have decreased in numbers yet to have increased
in size, and that brings us to the next head.

SIZE. — The opinion seems to be general that the great size attained by the Susquehanna shad
was attributed to the long run up the fresh-water stream (carrying the idea of the survival of the
fittest) ; that they were of great size is beyond doubt ; nearly every one who recollects them in-
sists on putting their weight at almost double that of the average Delaware shad of to-day.

THE FISHERIES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER. 649

Mr. Van Kirk gives from 3 to 9 pouuds as the weight of the shad caught at the fisheries in
Northumberland and Moutour Counties.

Mr. Fowler says he has assisted in catching thousands weighing 8 and 9 pounds at the fish-
eries in Columbia County.

Mr. Harvey, speaking of the Luzerne County shad, says: "Some used to weigh 8 and 9
pounds, and I saw one weighed on a wager which turned the scales at 13 pounds."

Major Fassett, speaking of those caught in Wyoming County, says : " The average weight
was 8 pounds, the largest 12 pounds."

Dr. Horton says of the shad caught in Bradford County, that he has seen them weighing 9
pounds ; ordinarily the weight was from 4 to 7 pounds.

PRICE. — The price of shad varied, according to their size, from 4& to 25 cents, depending of
course upon their scarcity or abundance, and as some of our correspondents remember the price
in years when it was high, and others in those when there was a great plenty of fish, there arise
what appear to be conflicting statements in their letters.

At the town meeting held at Wilkes-Barre, April 21, 1778, prices were set ou articles of sale,
inter alia, as follows: Winter-fed beef, per pound, Id. ; tobacco, per pound, Qd. ; eggs, per dozen,
Sd. ; shad apiece, 6d. At one time they brought but 4<Z. apiece. A bushel of salt would at any
time bring a hundred shad.

At the time the dam was built they brought from 10 to 12 cents. On the day of the big haul
Mr. Harvey says they sold for a cent apiece (Mr. Dana says 3 coppers).

Mr. Isaac S. Osterhout remembers a Mr. Walter Green who gave twenty barrels of shad for
a good Durham cow. ,

Mr. Roberts says that in exchanging for maple sugar one good shad was worth a pound or
sugar ; when sold for cash shad were worth 12£ cents apiece.

Major Fassett says the market price of the shad was $6 per hundred.

Dr. Horton says the shad, according to size, were worth from 10 to 25 cents.

Mr. Hollenback, in calculating the value of fisheries near Wyalusing, has put the value of
the shad at 10 cents apiece. In 1820 they were held in Wilkes-Barre at $ 18.75 per hundred. Mr.
Fowler says they were worth 3 cents or 4 cents apiece.

COUNTRY SUPPLY AND TRADE. — Every family along the river having some means had its half
barrel, barrel, or more of shad salted away each season, and some smoked shad hanging in their
kitchen chimneys ; not only those living immediately along the river were the beneficiaries, but
the testimony shows that the country folk came from 50 miles away to get their winter supply,
camping along the river's bank, and bringing, in payment, whatever they had of a marketable
nature. They came from the New York State line, and from as far east as Easton, bringing maple
sugar and salt, and from as far west as Milton, bringing cider, whisky, and the two mixed together
as cider royal, and from down the river, and away to the south towards Philadelphia, bringing
leather, iron, &c.

Mr. Isaac S. Osterhout says when quite a boy (1822-'23) he went with a neighbor to Salina,
N. Y., after salt, he taking shad and his neighbor whetstones, which they traded for salt. The
teams hauling grain to Easton brought back salt; in good seasons the supply of this latter im-
portant item always seems to have been short of the demand.

The shad, as far as we can learn, appear never to have gone up the West Branch in such
quantities as they did up the North Branch, and the same may be said of the Delaware, or else
the fish were of inferior quality, for the dwellers from the banks of both of these streams came to
Wyoming for their supply of shad.

650 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Mr. P. M. OsterLout tells of a firm (Miller & McCord) living at Tunkhanuock which did quite
an extensive business in shad, sending the cured ones up the river into New York State, and far
down the river.

Mr. Fowler says : "No farmer, or man with a family, was without his barrel, or barrels, of shad
the whole year round. Besides furnishing food for the immediate inhabitants, people from Mahan-
tango, Blue Mountains, and, in fact, for 50 miles around, would bring salt in tight barrels, and trade
it for shad."

Mr. Harvey says: "Boats coming up the river used to bring leather, cider, whisky, cider
royal, salt, iron, &c., and would take back shad."

OTHER FISH. — We do not find that any other deep-sea fish (with the exception of eels) ever
came up the river above Northumberland. Tbe "Oswego bass," "Susquehanua salmon," "Yellow
bass," "Striped bass," "Susquehauua bass" spoken of by the different correspondents appear to
be the same fish, which is also sometimes called the wall-eyed pike ; an excellent fish introduced
into the river many years ago from Oswego Lake; they are not now as plenty as formerly, though
within the past few years they have been increasing perceptibly. The other fish mentioned are
nothing but the common river fish.

EFFECT OF DAMS. — There is no question that the building of the dams necessary to feed the
canals put a stop at once to shad fishing; all our correspondents agree that after the Nanticoke
dam was finished, in 1830, no shad were ever caught above it. As to the effect of the dams on the
shad fishing, the following extracts from Hazard's Register are of interest :

1829. May 9, page 30 1. "Lewiston, Pa., May 2. It is stated that shad are caught in much
greater abundance below the dam at North Island, in the Juniata, than has ever been known at
any previous time. It is supposed that the dam in the Susquehauna, immediately above the mouth
of the Juniata, has the effect of directing their course up the Juniata. The dam at North Island
retards their passage farther, and the consequence is that the people farther up the Juniata are
deprived of the luxury of fresh shad, which so abundantly falls to the lot of their neighbors a few
miles lower down. But we must be content with these little deprivations by the promise of the
immense advantages which are to accrue to the country from the canal."

1830. May 8, page 304. The Suubury Beacon of Monday the 26th of April, says: " Not less
than from 4,000 to 5,000 shad were caught on Saturday last within a quarter of a mile below the
dam. Upwards of 500 were taken by one dip-net, and several others averaged 200 and 300 each.
We understand that several hundred were caught with dip-nets yesterday."

1831. May 14, page 318. From the Wyoming Herald: " Wilkes-Barre, May G, 1831. While
the raftsmen complain of the Nanticoke dam, the boys find in it a source of amusement. The
bass which ascend at this season in great numbers, stopped by the dam, offered fine sport. In-
deed, hooks, half a dozen at a time without bait, are let down and suddenly drawn up often with
two or three bass hooked by the side."

And on the same page, from the Susquehanua Democrat: " A short time since great quanti-
ties of bass were caught in a small eddy formed in the river directly below the abutment of the
Nanticoke dam. The fish apparently lay there in schools, and by drawing hooks through the
eddy numbers were caught. On Thursday and Friday last a number of fine shad were caught in
the same way. One man drew out 9 in one day, and sold them for 50 cents each. This is the
first instance within our knowledge of shad being caught with a hook. We mention the fact as
one altogether new, as well as to say to the down-river folks, our market has not been altogether
destitute of shad, though many a gentleman's table has."

THE FISHERIES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER. 651

We are informed tbat to-day the shad manage to get over the Columbia darn, only to be
received in nets spread for them at the head of the sluice-way by a pack of scoundrels, among
whom, if we hear correctly, are parties connected with our State fish commission ; if it were not
for this we would have shad in small quantities as far up as the next dam at all events. The
cutting off of this staple of food from tens of thousands of people in this section of country could
not but be a great loss, and it has been questioned if it was not greater than the benefits derived
from the great internal improvements. Some slight improvements in the sluice-way of the lower
dams and a regular ladder-way in tbat of the Nauticoke dam, good protective laws, well enforced
(with a double-barreled shot-gun for Columbia dam), certain days set for fishing along the river,
and one good stocking with young shad, would, we believe, give us shad in fair quantities all the
way up the river.

We do not believe the expense would be very great, whereas the benefits would be incalculable.
There is no doubt that the experiment is well worth trying.

Luzerne County will contribute her share towards the necessary improvements.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

HARRISON WRIGHT,

Chairman of Committee.
WiLKES-BARRE, May 27, 1881.

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE FISHERIES.

LIMITS OF THE FISHERIES. — The present limit of the upward movement of shad in this river
is Columbia, situated about 40 miles above tide-water. The dam at this place, about 6 or 7 feet high,
constitutes an effectual barrier to the passage of the fish. To this point shad still ascend in large
numbers, from 30,000 to 40,000 being annually taken at the dam or in its immediate vicinity.

Herring now ascend the Susquehanna only as far as Bald Friar, a few miles above tide- water,
nor have we any information of their ever having pushed their migrations beyond this point.

SEINE-FISHING. — Rock and perch are taken in large numbers in haul-seines during the spring
mouths. In summer and fall these fish are taken exclusively with gill-uets and small drag-nets.

Catfish are taken in great quantities for the Philadelphia market, where, dressed, they com-
mand a price per pound not much below that for perch and rock.

The most important fishing industry on the Susquehanna is the gill-net fishing, though twenty
large haul seines are operated at various points, in what is termed the " head of the bay," the North-
east River, and in the Susquehanna itself, a short distance above Havre de Grace. In consequence
of the peculiar natural characteristics of the fishing grounds of this river, the landing of the seines
is provided for by special constructions. In some places large floats are used on which to land
the seines. These are fully described in the section relating to the apparatus used in the capture
of fish. In other cases, instead of floats, a " battery " is built of logs ; this is filled in with earth
and stones, and upon it the seine is landed.

GILL-NET FISHING. — In the gill-net fisheries, which are frequently conducted in very rough
water, boats larger and far more seaworthy than those used on other rivers are here employed. A
complete outfit for.a giller is one round-bottom boat, costing, when new, $140 ; one scow with house
and reel, $40 ; and four or five 100-fathom nets, costing about $25 each, making a total value of
about $300.

The following graphical description of the mode of fishing these nets is from the pen of the
late Professor Milner :

"The 'gilling ground' extends from Havre de Grace, Md., eastward and southward, to
the mouth of the Chester River. Between Havre de Grace and Spesutie Island a shoal extends
with the navigable channel to the westward, and to the eastward an old partially filled up chan-

G52 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

nel known as Swash. Near the center of the shoal a light house has been built, called Battery
Light. When the shad have reached this point in the bay, they come up on the shoal in the night,
at slack water of ebb and flood of tide. From the Battery Light to head of the island is known to
be the center of their congregation, and a great strife for good berths prevails, so much so that
enterprising fishermen will lie in their boats for half a day, anchored to the spot where they desire
to cast the nets after dark. These drift-nets are made of fine twine and entangle the fishes by the
gill-flaps as they swim against them. The cork-line floats at the surface, and the lightly weighted
lead line at low tide trails along the bottom. At each end of the nets, which have ordinarily a
length of 300 yards, a float is tied, upon which rides a lantern. These lanterns are required to
distinguish the different nets as they are cast along the shoal parallel to each other, often with
not more than 50 or 60 feet intervening. They drift with the tide, and one floating too slowly or
snagged at the bottom becomes fouled with its neighbor as soon as it is overtaken. It is essen-
tial that all are put out simultaneously, or the dividing spaces soon become irregular, and many of
them too narrow, resulting in. the nets becoming entangled with each other. A still night on the
bay, in the height of season, is a pleasant experience. The anchored boats, scarcely discernible in
the dusk, become deep shadowy masses at intervals or disappear in the darkness. Suddenly a
muffled, quiet movement of oars is heard, and in quick succession lights appear on the water in a
long line, and the rapid movement of a hundred pairs of oars is heard as they click in the rowlocks.
Each rower vies with his rival to run out the 300 yards of net, his comrade in the stern rapidly
and skillfully throwing the corks and leads. Some impatient fellow usually pulls up his anchor
silently, but the light on the water telegraphs the fact to the rest and he rarely gets half a dozen
strokes ahead. One hundred boats often pull abreast across the line of the shoal. The second
lantern floating on the water announces the net all out.

" Standing in the night on an elevated point of the island, with many hundred lights strewn
thickly over the wide expanse of water, the observer is impressed with the similarity of the view
above him and below, as if the stars overhead were reflected on the surface of the bay with double
brilliancy.

"The boatman either turns directly back and ' runs the net,' passing the cork line through the
hands, readily detecting the presence of fish, or he rows back to the starting point, and it is run
from that end, the net all the time drifting with the tide. The shad, whenever found, are ' ungilled '
and thrown into the boat, and the net drops away again.

" The necessity for instantly going over the net relates to the presence of great quantities of
eels, which soon spoil the shod for the market or for the table. Sitting in my boat while the
oarsman was quietly rowing behind a ' giller' we were attracted by a continual splashing in a net
nearby. We thought it to be a sturgeon rolling and entanglin g himself in the twine as they
sometimes do. Heading the boat in the direction of the sound and corning near, it seemed at first
to be a number of 'herring' meshed in a singularly close huddle, and in their struggles flashing
their white sides in the dim starlight. As we came nearer I turned the light of the lantern full
upon them and discovered a swarm of eels tearing and stripping the flesh from the bones of a shad
which had gilled itself near the cork line. Gathered in a writhing mass, with their heads centered
upon the fragment of the fish, we had before us the living model of a drowning Medusa. There
was at least a bushel of them, greedily crowding each other, fastening their teeth in the flesh of
the shad, and by a quick, muscular torsion snatching pieces from the dying fish. It is not uncom-
mon to see a dozen heads of Bhad> each with a long, slender backbone attached, taken one after
the other out of the net, when a fisherman has delayed a little too long. Six good eels have been
thrown into the boat by a dexterous jerk of the net where a mutilated shad was hanging. I have

THE FISHERIES OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER.

653

seen four eels fall out of the abdominal cavity of a shad, when no eels were visible, when the fish
came over the gunnel. They had devoured the viscera, which always seems to be the first portion
sought by them.

"The habit is to run the net as soon as it is all out, and take the fish out immediately, before
they can be injured by the eels. The eels never mesh ; they are too slippery to get entangled. In
the shoal fishing, when the weather becomes warm, the 'eel-cuts,' as these are called, often out-
number the marketable shad. The fishermen salt down the better ones for their winter food."

••The net is run twice or three times and is then taken up. Little else than shad is taken ; a few
striped bass and a few suckers are occasionally found. The captures, to each boat with two men,
number from 'water hauls' to several hundred shad.

" After the first tide's fishing the boats anchor. Often several tie fast to another anchored one,
and the men while away the hours to the next tide in gossip and yarn spinning, or go to sleep iu
the bottom of the boat. It often happens when anchored apart from the rest, they find themselves,
in the small hours of the morning, chilly and solitary iu the middle of the bay.

" Quiet and harmony is the ordinary state of their communion, although the strife for good
berths sometimes arouses a dissension. An attempt to anticipate the line of boats.in laying out the
nets at too early a stage of the tide calls forth sudden and certain penalty. Not only the boats on
each side, but some of those from a distance, crowd around and unite their protests, and when these
are unavailing the offender is hemmed in by the boatmen, who, in a half jocose manner, yet with a
fully in earnest purpose, set their nets across the line of direction he has started in ' surrounding
him ,' If he is still obstinate enough to persist or to attempt to cut the nets which are in his way, a
melee ensues, and some sturdy boatman is apt to belabor him into reason with an oar, public
opinion favoring a certain amount of this kind of punishment.

" The boats used in the head of the bay are small, and the mutton-leg sails have no provision
for reefing. The foresail is much larger, and sail is shortened by unstopping the foremast and put-
ting the mainsail in its place. At the approach of a squall they hurriedly pull in the nets and scat-
ter like a shoal of mullets when a porpoise appears among them. They get caught out occasionally,
:"id getting to the lee of the shoal or the island, they sometimes lie with the killock out all day."

FYKES AND POUND-NETS. — A large number of fykes are in use from Havre de Grace to Co-
lumbia in summer for the capture of perch, rock, and catfish. Under the Maryland law the use
of pound-nets is prohibited, and their absence from the Susquehanna is a striking feature to one
accustomed to seeing them in such general use in other parts of the bay.

STATISTICS. — The history of the impoverishment of the Susquehanna fisheries is the same as
for the Potomac.

The minimum of production was reached in 1878, from which time there has been a gradual
and steady increase.

The Swquehanna River.

Number.

Valne.

Men employed

1 643

Nets

*3 342

$97 450

Boats

334

43 510

Productt.
Shad

pounds. .
do

2, 149, 000 •
3 483 333

96,705

62 700

Catfish

do

°00 000

12 000

do

60 000

6 000

* Four ponnds ; 36 liaul-Bcmi'S ; 302 gill-nets; 3,000 fyke-nets.

654

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

7. MINOR TRIBUTARIES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY.

The minor tributaries, such as the Patuxent, Chester, Choptank, Wicomico, Patapsco, and
the numerous creeks which indent the shores of the Chesapeake, contribute no insignificant portion
of the total product of the Chesapeake area. We have not, however, the data enabling us to
specify the exact amounts taken in each. Their aggregate is, however, included in the summaries
for Maryland and Virginia, given in another section of this report.

4.— FISHERIES OF THE DELAWARE RIVER.

By MABSHALL MCDONALD.

The present condition of the fisheries of Delaware Bay is discussed on a preceding page of
this volume under the head of Fisheries of Southern Delaware.

The following is a statistical summary of the Delaware River fisheries in 1880, based upon
general estimates:

Species.

Pounds.

Value.

01,800,000

$26, 000

Shad

1, 050, 000

52, 500

0450,000

22, 500

6995,250

46, 118

Total .

4, 295, 250

147, 116

a In addition, 506,700 pounds of alewives and 120,000 ponnds of sturgeon were taken by the sea-fishermen.

6 Includes 196,200 pounds of catfish, 150,000 pounds of perch, 100,000 ponnds of striped bass, 15,300 pounds of turtle, and 533,750 pounds
of mixed fish.

The following facts concerning the condition of the fisheries of Delaware River in 1837 are
compiled from an article by Dr. Samuel Howell, in the American Journal of Science and Arts,
Volume XXXII, 1837, page 134, entitled " Notice of the Shad and Shad Fisheries of the Delaware" :

" The shad usually make their first appearance in the Delaware about the middle of March.
In early seasons, however, they are occasionally taken in February.

"It is a singular fact that they are caught within a few days as early above the rapids, 1GO
miles from the ocean, as at the lowest fisheries on the river; but, although their advance guard
would thus seem to move on with such celerity towards their place of destination, the main body
evidently pursue their course more deliberately, and it is obvious from the operation of the
successive fisheries that their progress upwards is slow, and that they do not move as fast as the
tide would carry them, even admitting that they remain quiescent during the ebb. While they
work their way slowly against the ebb-tide, it would seem that they head about and rather stem
the upward drift of the flood. This is proved by the fact that the drift nets or gilling seines, which
catch them me.shed on their lower sides during their ebb drift, have them entangled on the
opposite side when drifting upwards with the flood tide.

" While their general movement is upwards, for their final destination seems to be the clc;ir
shallow waters above the tide, their instinct instructs them to loiter by the way to employ their
appropriate food, with which the turbid fresh waters of the river seem to abound ; what this food i.s
is conjectural.

"They certainly are not a fish of prey, and their alimentary canal on dissection discloses noth-
ing but a greenish earthy slime, which is probably strained through their fringed throats as they
iu the water,

THE FISHERIES OF DELAWARE RIVER IN 1837. 655

" We may fairly infer that their nutriment consists of the mucilage or matters held in solution
by the waters. That they find congenial aliment in these waters is obvious from the fact that
they increase in fat and flavor the longer they remain in the rivers.

" Whether all the myriads of shad which enter the Delaware annually would proceed to its
head-waters if unobstructed is quite doubtful.

"There is some reason for believing that, like some of the migratory birds, they return annually
to the parts of the river in which they were bred. How else are we to account for the marked
difference observed in the shad taken iu the different parts of the Delaware and its tributary
streams ? Those, for example, which are caught in the creek are so small and so inferior in flavor
to those caught high up the river as almost to form a distinct variety of fish.

"The Trenton shad, or those caught at the falls, have from time immemorial been proverbial
for their superiority iu quality as well as size to those taken in the waters below.

"It would seem that these fish enter the Delaware in successive 'runs' or shoals, and the
experience of all observant fishermen goes to prove that these runs make their appearance in
ordinary seasons at definite periods. For example, there is a scattering run from the middle of
March to the middle of April. These are for the most part small in size and not remarkable for
flavor.

"From this period to the 25th of April occurs the great run, and this is felt at each successive
fishery for nearly a week if no storm occurs to drive them into deep water, for it is a fact well
ascertained that while in pleasant weather these fish swim near the surface, yet the moment a
cold easterly wind commences blowing they sink so near the bottom that the deepest nets will
sweep over their usual grounds in vain. This run generally continues until the beginning of May,
after which period the successive shoals which enter the river are small and scattered until the
termination of the season, which is usually about the 20th of June, though by an existing legisla-
tive restriction it [the fishing ?] is limited to the 1st of that month in the lower waters of the river
and to the 10th in the upper.

" The distinctness of these different runs is proved by the appearance of the fish, by their
quality, and by the state of roe in the female, those of the late runs being for the most part less
forward than those of the great run in April.

" The final cause of their annual visit is doubtless to seek a suitable place for the deposit of
their eggs, which probably require a temperature higher than that of the ocean for their de-
velopment, and a safe and appropriate nursery for their young during the early period of their
existence, when they are of all others the most delicate.

"After having spawned the old fish soon disappear. They are occasionally caught, indeed,
in the nets, but they are thin and worthless, and, from their attenuated condition, are called by
the fishermen " racers."

"The young fish remain in the river until towards autumn, by which time they have attained
the size of small herrings, when they in their turn disappear. They are caught in immense num-
bers in the weirs and racks and baskets which are constructed in the shallow waters above the
falls for the purpose of taking the common river fish, and they are so tender as to be destroyed
by the least violence. These contrivances, so destructive to the young fish, have consequently
become objects of legislative prohibition.

"The destination of these fish after they quit the fresh water is unknown. I have never yet
met with an authentic account of their being caught or even observed at sea, nor have naturalists
attempted to trace their route through the oceau, as iu the case of the herrings,

656 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

" Their term of life cannot be ascertained, but it is fair to infer tbat they attain their growth in
a year, from the size to which the young attain during their short sojourn in our waters, as well
as from the general uniformity of size observed in each of several runs.

"Their average weight may be about 7 pounds, but individuals are occasionally caught which
weigh as high as 12 and even 13 pounds.

"The numbers of shad taken in the Delaware vary in different seasons. Perhaps it would not
be far from the truth to estimate them at 30,000 at each shore fishery. Formerly, when fisheries
were fewer, the number far exceeded this amount.

"I have no data by which to estimate the number caught by the gillitig seines, but from the
rapid multiplication of these destructive contrivances it must be very great.

"The aggregate amount taken annually by the shore-seines and the drift-nets is probably not
far short of 1,500,000, which, at $7 per 100, would be worth upwards of $100,000.

"The principal market is Philadelphia, but immense numbers are vended at the fisheries, to
which people flock from all quarters in wagons and boats.

"The writer has known sixty and seventy wagons supplied in a day (each, perhaps, taking at
least 100) at the Fancy Hill fisheries, 6 miles below Philadelphia. The great mass are salted like
mackerel, and chiefly for domestic use. In the fresh state they are, in the height of their season,
one of the most delicious of any of the finny race, and decidedly the best mode of cooking is that
called 'planking,' which consists in nailing the fish to a clean oaken plank, previously heated,
and setting it before a brisk fire. By this method the juices of the fish are all preserved.

"They are sometimes treated like hams, viz, by rubbing them with fine salt, saltpeter, and
molasses, and smoked for a few days, and in this way are very superior to those cured with salt
alone.

" The usual and most efficient method of taking the shad is by means of seines. [The description
of the construction of the seine, the laying out, and hauling is similar to the methods now in use,
and is not therefore reproduced.] The regular shore-nets vary in length from 150 to 500 fathoms.
Formerly they were drawn in by manual labor alone. Of late years, however, capstans have
been employed to aid in this laborious operation.

"The number of men required to manage a net varies from fifteen to twenty-five. The whole
number employed at the Fancy Hill fisheries, including foremen, clerk, marketmen, tide- watchers,
&c., is nearly one hundred.

"Besides the production of such an amount of healthful and delicious food in quantity generally
sufficient to supply the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the fisheries give profitable em-
ployment to a great number of men at a season when their services are not particularly required
in agricultural labor.

"The fisheries therefore constitute an important interest to the States bordering on the river
and one that merits the fostering care of their respective legislatures.

"The importance of this species of property was recognized at au early period of our history,
when fisheries were comparatively few, and numerous salutary provisions were enacted from time
to time in relation to them, whose object was to perpetuate their benefits and secure them to their
rightful possessors.

"Amongst others were those protecting the fisheries from unnecessary interruption by vessels
and rafts, which are expressly required to avoid the seines while fishing, and prohibited under
severe penalties from anchoring within the fishing range of any of the fisheries.

"But of late years the legislatures of these States have been so occupied with political
maneuvering and management, that they seem to have lost sight of many of the best interests

THE FISHERIES OF DELAWARE EIVEE IN 1837. 657

of their respective States, and amongst others of the fisheries. For while they are compelled to
pay heavy taxes into the State treasury, in common with other real property, and are subjected to
several onerous restrictions, which have been artfully imposed upon them upon the ground of
preserving the breed of fish, they have been so far neglected by their legal guardians that the
river has of late been virtually thrown open to common right, and a class of outlaws — men without
a local habitation or a name — are now enjoying privileges and rights, without the shadow of
benefit to the respective States, which laws and usages from time immemorial had secured to the
riparian proprietor.

"I allude to the gill-net fishermen, who have literally taken forcible possession of the river
Delaware under the plea of its being a common highway, and have virtually dispossessed the
lawful owners of the fisheries of property which they considered as secure and as much their
own as their farms.

"The several rights of fishery had been the fruitful source of litigation in this country from an
early period of its history, but it had been so long recognized by legislative enactments and con-
firmed by the decisions of the highest judicial tribunals that the question seemed to be finally and
incontrovertibly settled. This right, too, seemed to be effectually secured to the ripariau pro-
prietor, by the circumstance that it was necessary in order to its enjoyment that a foothold should
be had on shore, whereon to manage the seine and secure its contents. This, of course, would
subject any person who attempted to encroach on the fishing rights of another to an action of
trespass, and consequently operated as an effectual protection.

"But the ingenuity of man, ever ready to evade restrictions that clash with his interest, has
devised a mode of fishing by which all connection with the shore is rendered unnecessary, and
which, although prohibited by statutory enactments, he is able to practice in utter disregard of
law or authority. By this method the net is so constructed as to enlarge or to ' mesh,' as it is
technically said, and not to inclose the shad, as is the case with the regular shore nets already
described.

"The seine used by these freebooters is formed with meshes so large that fish are permitted to
pass their heads through, and on attempting to retreat they become entangled by the gills.

"The twine, too, of which the nets are made, is so fine that it is not perceived by the fish until
his head is in the toil and it is too late to escape. The nets are kept extended by means of a
small boat at each end across the main channels, and thus extended they are permitted to drift
for miles until they have become loaded, when they are taken into the boats, the fish secured, and
they are again stretched oft' in the river as before.

"These contrivances are hence denominated drift-nets, or gilling-seines, and although pro-
hibited by law, yet so lame are its provisions that it is morally impossible to enforce it, except in
cases where the name of the offender can be obtained.

"These marauders, therefore, emboldened by the impunity with which they are enabled to
carry on their predatory operations, have increased to such an extent as already greatly to
depreciate the shore fisheries, and if not checked they must ere long render them worthless."
SEC. v i2

658 HISTOKY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

5.— THE FISHERIES OF THE HUDSON RIVER.

By MARSHALL MCDONALD.

The sources of the Hudsou are in the Adirondack Mountains. Its main tributary, the Mohawk,
rises in the table-land which forms the divide between the waters that flow into Lake Ontario on
the one side and into the Hudson Eiver on the other; and flows southeast; but, breaking through
the Catskills, precipitates itself at Cohoes to the level of the river valley of the Hudson by falls
which are about 40 feet in height. These falls, while forming a magnificent water-power for the
many factories along the river's banks present an insuperable barrier to the ascent of fish. An
obstruction of this kind exists at Glens Falls, on the main river. Indeed, all the tributaries are
characterized by similar impediments, and thus may explain the fact that the Hudson is not, and,
as far as we can learn from historical data, has never been a salmon river, and yet, strange to .»ay
the Connecticut Eiver, similar in physical features to the Hudson, in olden times had important
and productive salmon fisheries.

The sturgeon fisheries of the Hudson were formerly of great importance, but now are of com-
parative insignificance. The shad fisheries have, however, maintained considerable importance,
and in annual value are hardly inferior to those on the Albeinarle, Potomac, or Susquehauna.

As explanatory of the decrease of certain fisheries on many rivers, it has been frequently
alleged that the same is due to such deleterious influences as the disturbance of the waters by pass-
ing steamers, the pollution by sewage, and the refuse of the paper, calico, and other factories in
operation along their banks. Were these valid-reasons for the decrease of the river fisheries, then
certainly would the fisheries of the Hudson be reduced to a minimum. Statistics, however, show
that on this river, in spite of all these supposed baleful influences, the shad fisheries have fallen
off less than in any other river on the Atlantic seaboard. It is manifest, then, that in accounting
for the impaired shad fisheries of the Potomac and other rivers, we must adduce arguments more
tenable than the disturbance and pollution of the waters. In New York Harbor alone, which
is in an incessant state of turmoil, caused by the thousands of vessels daily plowing its waters,
over 250,000 shad are annually taken.

The shad appear first in the lower bay, between Sandy Hook and Fort Washington, about
March 20. They are taken at the Narrows, below Fort Washington, by gillers from Fort Lee,
Hastings, and other points on the river. These men come down to meet the shad, and fish as
long as their operations are profitable. The duration of the fishing season here is, however,
very short, as the shad soon commence their upward movement. From Jersey City to Fort
Lee fishing is carried on entirely by means of stake-nets. These are set in 40 to 60 feet of
water. Such deep fishing necessitates very expensive preliminaries. The stakes or poles are
cut from 60 to 80 feet long, and cost $7 to $10 apiece. They run out in long rows from the
shore and are placed at intervals of 27 to 30 feet, often numbering thirty in a row. The nets
are 5J-inch stretch mesh, and are made in squares of one hundred meshes. The nets are
lashed to poles, which are fastened to the stakes by rings and ropes. In netting these nets it
is necessary that the upper line should be 7 or 8 feet below the surface, so as to prevent being
torn by passing vessels. If the fish are running deep the nets must be lowered on the poles,
and vice versa.

THE FISHERIES OF THE HUDSON RIVER,

659

The boats employed in fishing these stake-nets are superior to those usually found in attend-
ance upon shad nets. They cost, according to Mr. John Ludlow, about $150 apiece. The fish are
transported to the New York market by sloops and schooners, being vessels of from 12 to 18
tons burden, and costing from $700 to $1,000 apiece.

Between Fort Lee and Troy, as far as could be ascertained, drift-nets are exclusively used,
with the exception of four haul seines, one of which is operated at Troy, and three in the
vicinity of Tivoli.

Shad are taken as high up the river as the danrat Troy, about 40 miles below Glens Falls.
At that point, however, but few are captured at the present time. This dam is the only artificial
obstruction on -the river.

Sturgeon fishing on the Hudson is, at the present day, of very secondary importance, and the
number of pounds taken annually would not materially increase the aggregate river production.
No reliable data, however, were obtained, and therefore statistics of this fishery are not included
in the summation for the river given below. The annual catch of sturgeon amounts probably
to several hundred thousand pounds. Tbe fish are used for local consumption, or are shipped to
Albany and New York. When sturgeon fishing was of great importance on this river Albany was
the chief mart, and hence the name "Albany beef." On the James River, Virginia, the meat of
this fish is known as "Charles City bacon."

Undoubtedly large quantities of rock, or striped bass, perch, and other species are taken on
this river in the summer and fall fisheries. No reliable figures were obtained, as the product of
these irregular fisheries is always sent to New York and no accessible record kept of the quan-
tities received.

Summation for Hudson River.

.Number.

Pounds.

Valne.

711

Boats

328

$10 830

6

4 800

Nets

1 516

*23 320

Products.
Shad

639 000

2,556 000

143, 040

225 000

75 000

2,250

* This includes cost of poles nsed in connection with the stake-net fisheries.

6.— THE CONNECTICUT AND HOUSATONIC RIVERS AND MINOR
TRIBUTARIES OF LONG ISLAND SOUND.

By MARSHALL MCDONALD.
1. THE FISHERIES OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER.

FOKMEI; ABUNDANCE OF FISH. — The Connecticut River rises in Lake Connecticut, in the
extreme northern part of New Hampshire, flows southward, forming the boundary line between
that State and Vermont, crosses the entire States of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and empties
into Long Island Sound. The tributaries of the Connecticut are small, flowing down from
elevated regions. They are all natural trout streams, and those which have been preserved still
afford good sport to the angler. In early days salmon were caught in these streams. In one,
especially, the Farmiugtou, which is au important tributary, shad and salmon were abundant, but

g60 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

have disappeared since the erection of numerous dams along its course. At Bellow's Falls the
Connecticut River descends about CO feet by precipitous slopes. These falls, though effectually
obstructing the further ascent of the shad, did riot prevent the upward passage of the salmon,
many of which ascended above this point to suitable spawning ground. An interesting account
of these early fisheries is given in Judd's History of Hadley, Mass., which is here reproduced:

" When the English established themselves on the banks of the Connecticut there was in the
river and tributary streams, in the proper seasons, a great abundance of shad, salmon, bass, and
other fish, such as the Indians had long used for food. The shad, which were very numerous,
were despised and rejected by a large portion of the English for near one hundred years in the old
towns of Connecticut, and for about seventy-five years in those Hampshire towns above the falls.
It was discreditable for those who had a competency to eat shad; and it was disreputable to be
destitute of salt pork, and the eating of shad implies a deficiency of pork. The story which has
been handed down that in former days the fishermen took the salmon from the net and often
restored the shad to the stream is not a fable. Poor families ate shad, and doubtless some that
were not poor, and they were sometimes put in barrels for exportation. Connecticut shad in
barrels were advertised in Boston in 1736. The first purchase of shad found in any account book
in those tQwns was made by Joseph Hawley, of Northampton, in 1733 ; he gave for thirty shad 1
penny each, which was not equal to half a penny in lawful money. Ebeuezer Hunt gave 1 J pence
for shad in 1736, 2 pence for 'good fat shad' in 1737, and 2 and 3 pence in 1742 and 1743.
Ebenezer Hunt bought bass, suckers, pickerels, and common eels. No trout are mentioned. He
says of shad in 1743, ' shad ar3 very good, whether one has pork or not.' These prices were all
less than a penny in lawful money.

"The early settlers of Pelham bought many shad. After the specie currency in 1750 shad were
usually 1 penny each. Josiah Pierce, of Hadley, bought one hundred shad at a penny each in
1762, ninety shad at a penny in 1763, and shad at a penny in 1764, 1765, and 1766. Oliver Smith,
of Hailey, gave a penny each for thirty shad in 1767. For forty years after 1733 the price did
not exceed a lawful penny. From 1773 to 1776 the price was 2 coppers each, or 1£ pence; from
1781 to 1784, from 2 to 3 coppers; in 1788, 2£ and 3 pence; in 1796, 3£ and 4 pence ; and in 1797
and 1800, 4 pence half penny. The dams across the river and other impediments diminished the
number of shad, and they gradually advanced in value to 6 pence, 9 pence, 1 shilling, and higher
prices, and men ceased to buy shad to barrel for family use.

"Field's account of the county of Middlesex, Conn., 1819 (Middletown, Haddam, &c.), says there
was such prejudice against shad and some other fish, because they were so generally used by the
Indians, or from some other cause, that little effort was made to take them for more than a century
after the county was settled. Within the memory of persons living (1863) there was very little
demand for salmon, and as for shad it was disreputable to eat them. A story is told in Hadley of
a family in that place who were about to dine on shad when it was not reputable to eat them,
hearing a knock at the door, the platter of shad was immediately hid under a bed. There is a
minute in John Pynchon's account book which shows that shad were not slighted by all those who
were in good circumstances in the seventeenth century. In 1083 he sold a fish-net and agreed to
receive for pay some shad packed for market, and 'fifty shad for my family spending at times.'

''Shad-eating became reputable thirty years before the Revolution. Shad were caught plenti-
fully in many places in Connecticut before 1760, and were sold at 1 penny and 1£ pence each some
years later. They were carried away on horses. Some thousands of barrels of shad were put up in
Connecticut for the troops from 1778 to 1781. Shad never ascended Bellows Falls at Walpole, nor

THE FISHERIES OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER. 661

could they ascend the falls of Chicopee River. Salmon passed up both. In 1739 Brookfield peti-
tioned the general court for liberty to make a passage for shad through the bars of rocks across
Chickopee River in Springfield, so that they might come up the river into the ponds. Springfield
opposed, and liberty was not granted.

" Salmon were used, but were seldom noticed in records in the seventeenth century. Salmon-
nets began to appear before 1700, and some salmon were salted in casks by families before and
after 1700. They were seldom sold, and the price in Hartford, in 1700, was less than 1 penny per
pound. Fish were so plenty in the Connecticut and its branches that laws were not necessary to
regulate fishing for a long time. There was a law in Massachusetts against erecting wears or
fish-dams in rivers without permission from the court of sessions. Petitions for liberty to erect
wears to catch fish in the Hampshire streams began in 1729, and there were several after 1760.
These wears were chiefly for the purpose of catching salmon. In Northampton salmon were sold
from 1730 to 1740 at a price equal to 1 penny per pound, in lawful money, and some at 1 £ pence.
The price in 1742 was 1J pence, aud from 1750 to 1775 it was commonly 2 pence per pound.
Josiah Pierce, of Hadley, bought salmon from 1762 to 1765 at 2 pence, and some at Is. 6d., old
tenor, or 2f pence. He bought some years about 70 pouuds of salmou. Oliver Smith bought 27
pounds of salmon in 1773 at 2 pence, and Enos Smith 57 pounds in 1776 at 2£ pence. The price
was from 2 to 3 pence from 1781 to 1787, 4 pence in 1794, and it advanced to 7 or 8 pence in 1798.
The first dam at South Hadley, about 1795, impeded the salmon, and the dam at Montague was a
much greater obstruction, and salmon soon ceased to ascend the river. Few were caught after
1800. Some of the prices of shad and salmon noted were retail barter prices.

" There were at least three [fishing places] in Hadley. One was below the mouth of Mill
River, on Forty Acre Meadow. A more important one was a little east of the lower end of the
street, where the river flowed near the street. There was another in Hockauum Meadows. Op-
posite to the two last, Northampton men had fishing places. (The Northampton and Hadley men
were often near each other, and they bantered and joked abundantly, and sometimes played tricks
and encroached upon each other. These things proceeded not from ill-nature, but from love of fun.)

" The late Elihn Warner remembered when forty salmon were caught in a day, near the lower
end of the street, about 1773, the largest of which weighed between 30 and 40 pounds. (Mr. Pierce
and six others owned a seine in Hadley in 1766. The whole income of the seine for the fish season
was £22 17s., and the expenses were £14 12s. 10<i., leaving for gain £8 4s. 2d. Shad were then
1 penny each.)

" In South Hadley there was a noted fishing place near the mouth of Stony Brook, and
another above Bachelor's Brook against Cook's Hill. Many salmou were taken at those places ;
24 are said to have been caught at one haul near Stony Brook, weighing from 6 or 8 to 40
pounds. There were other fishing places in South Hadley above the falls.

" The falls of rivers were great fishing places in New England for the Indians and the English.
The falls at South Hadley, called Patucket by the Indians, were one of the most favorable places
on the Connecticut for taking fish. Though there is no intimation in any old writing that the
Indians resorted to that place for fishing, and very little is found recorded which indicates that
the English frequented it for that purpose before 1740, yet it cannot be doubted that the Indians
caught fish there in early days and the English before 1700. (In 1685, when Northampton and
Springfield settled the line between them, west of the river, it was agreed that Northampton might
catch fish at the lower falls, below the line. The fishery was then thought to be of some
importance.)

662 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

" The following account of the fishery at the falls, after the Revolution, was derived from two
aged meu in 1848, Joseph Ely, in his ninety-second year, and Justin A Ivord, iu his eighty-fifth year,
who had often caught fish at the falls, and from others since 1848:

" Fishing generally began between April 15 and May 1, very seldom as early as April 15. The
best fishing season was in May. Shad were caught iu seines below the falls, and in scoop-nets on
the falls. Boats were drawn to places on the rocky falls, fastened, and filled with shad by scoop-
nets, then taken ashore, emptied and returned. A man in this manner could take from 2,000 to
3,000 shad iu a day, and sometimes more with the aid of a boatman. These movements required
men of some dexterity. There were some large hauls offish at the wharves below the falls. The
greatest haul known was 3,500, according to Ely, and 3,300, according to Alvord. (One man, of
South Hadley, gives 3,000 as the largest haul. Connecticut archives contain an account of 3,000
shad taken at a haul in the cove at East Haddam before 1766. The number in these great
hauls is probably exaggerated.) It was not often that 1,500 or even 1,200 shad were taken by one
sweep of the net. (Morse's Geography, fifth edition, says there were as many as fourteen fishing
wharves at the foot of the falls in 1801, and that they sometimes caught 1,200 fish at one haul ;
it was reported that one company cleared $4,800 in one season.)

" Salmon were taken on the falls in dip-nets, and below, in seines, with shad. Before their
day salmon had been taken at the foot of the falls, in places called pens. Ely had never known
a salmon taken at the falls that weighed over 30 pounds ; some weighed 130, and many from 6 to
10 pounds. They were always few in number compared with shad. The river seemed to be full
of shad at times in some places, and in crossing it the oars often struck shad. Ely and Alvord,
like other old men, related that fishermen formerly took salmon from the net and let the shad go
into the river again, but not in their time, and that people in former days were ashamed to have
jt known that they ate shad, owing, in part, to the disgrace of being without pork. Alvord sold
thousands of shad after the Revolution for 3 coppers each, and salmon were sold from 2 to 3 pence
per pound. It was much more difficult to sell salmon than shad. Some bass were caught \\ith
hooks after shad time. Sturgeon were taken at the falls with spears. Lampreys, (tailed lauiprey-
eels, had long been plenty on the falls, and many were taken at night by hand by the- aid of
torch-lights. Some were eaten in a few towns in Old Hampshire, but most were carried to Granby,
Simsbury, and other towns in Connecticut. (Lampreys came above the falls in great numbers,
and entered the streams that run into the Connecticut, until the Holyoke dam was built in 1849.
They were very numerous in Fort River, in Hadley, below Smith's Mills, and were caught l>y the
light of torches, sometimes several hundred in a night. Meu waded into the streams and grasped
them with a mittened hand and placed them in a bag. Sometimes the lampreys in the night
crawled into and about the flutter-wheel of the mill and into the throat of the gate in such great
numbers that the wheel could not be turned in the morning until they were cleared away. In
Northampton Mill River, below the lower mills, lampreys were caught in the same manner as
in Hadley, and in other ways. In a dark night men might be seen in the river, clasping now
and then with one hand a squirming lamprey, and holding in the other a, birch bark torch, which
threw light on the river and on all objects on its borders. Very few were cooked in Northampton
and Hadley; many were given to hogs. Some were conveyed to other towns in Massachusetts,
but most to Connecticut. None are now caught above Holyoke dam.)

"Shad seasons brought to the falls, on both sides of the river, multitudes of people from various
quarters. Some came from Berkshire County. All came on horses with bags to carry shad, except
a very few who had carts. Some, intending to purchase two loads of shad, led a horse. For

THE FISHERIES OF THE CONNECTICUT EIVER. 663

some years there were only two licensed inn-keepers at the falls — Daniel Lamb and widow Mary
Pomeroy, but every house on both sides of the river was full of men, and some lodged in ^shelters
and out-houses. Horses filled the stables and many other places. It was estimated one day that
there were 1,500 horses on both sides of the river; this estimate is not reliable. A great number
of the men brought victuals with them ; many cooked shad, and others bought food at the houses.
Many were detained one day or longer. They indulged in plays and trials of skill. Where there
were so many men, and rum was plenty, there was_of course much noise, bustle, and confusion. The
greater part were industrious farmers, and after leaving the falls they wound over the hills and
plains with bags of shad, in every direction. They were plainly dressed, according to their busi-
ness. There was another class at these gatherings, composed of the idle, the intemperate, and the
dissipated. They came to drink and frolic, and some to buy shad if their money held out. (There
were great gatherings at Arnoskeag Falls, on the Merrimac, in the fishing season, more than a
century since. In 1742 Rev. Joseph Lecotnbe gave them a discourse, which was published. Judg-
ing from the title, it must have suited the merry-makers). Many thousands of shad are still taken
annually at South Hadley Falls, though none can ascend the river above Holyoke dam. Instead
of a penny each, which was paid one hundred years ago, men now pay at retail for shad brought
from these falls and from Saybrook from 25 to 40 cents, and sometimes 50 cents."*

THE CHICOPEE RIVER.— The Chicopee, though one of the principal tributaries of the Con-
necticut, reaches the level of that river by falls, which have always proved an insurmountable
barrier to the ascent of fish, and has never, therefore, been a salmon stream.

EFFORTS TO INCREASE THE SUPPLY. — The fisheries of the Connecticut have always been
important, although the annual production is steadily diminishing, owing to the restrictions alluded
to and the consequently impaired spawning-grounds. The shad, salmon, and alewife have been
the species most eagerly sought after. The salmon-fishery is now practically extinct. New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, and perhaps Connecticut, have, however, co-operated in their efforts to
restore this fishery by planting salmon fry in the sources of the river. As a result of these experi-
ments, some salmon have now returned to the river, and specimens have been taken in gill-nets at
the mouth, at the first obstruction on the Farmington River, and at Holyoke Dam, near Hadley
Falls, on the main river. It is not probable that such measures will result in any permanent
restoration, since no suitable spawning- grounds are accessible to these fish upon their return from
the sea. It was hoped that the very costly fishway erected over the dam at Hadley Falls would
open a passageway for both shad and salmon into the Upper Connecticut, and in this way provide
for the permanent restoration of the salmon -fishery under natural conditions. There is no evi-
dence, however, that such results have been brought about. Certainly no shad have ascended it,
and no salmon, if their capture above that point is to serve as a criterion. This dam being the
only obstruction of consequence, it would appear that the importance of the result to be looked for
would justify the States interested in the fisheries of this river in making a large expenditure of
money in order to secure an open river.

At the present time the alewife-fisheries are insignificant, although their numbers seem to
have been increasing since the enactment of a law prohibiting the placing of pound-nets in the river
a d fixing the minimum size for the mesh of haul-seines; the number of haul-seines fished has been
greatly diminished by the restrictions imposed.

"History of Hadley, Mass., by Sylvester Judd, pp. 313 to 318.

664

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

THE SHAD-FISHEEY. — The shad-fisheries of the Connecticut are still of great importance,
though the number annually captured on this river by no means equals that taken on any of the
other principal rivers of the Atlantic coast, from which latter, however, we would expect no larger
yield than from the Connecticut River.

The following tables, from the report for 1870 of the Connecticut commissioners, giving
statistics showing the annual catch of the fishery for a series of years at Griswold's Pier, at Lyme,
and of the fishery formerly known as the Parsonage Pier, are interesting, as they show the material
diminution which has gradually taken place at these fisheries.

Grifwold's Pier, Lyme.

Tear.

Number
of
shad.

Tear.

Number
of
shad.

Tear.

Number
of
shad.

Tear.

Number
of

shad.

1845

10 043

1855

10 125

1860

1 470

1865

3 974

1848

7 850

1856

10; 200

1861

6,000

1866

4,445

1847

6 540

1857

3 357

1862

7,000

1867

1,730

1851

10 246

1858

11 646

1863

5 000

1868

830

1854

8,500

1859

10, 200

1864

1,943

1869

1,500

The books of this pier are lost from 1847 to 1851 ; also from 1851 to 1854.
For one or two years previous to 1845 the average catch was 12,000 per year.
Mr. Griswold writes that for the last three years he lost money, and was obliged to abandon
this fishery.

Fishery Jmown at the Parsonage Pier.

Tear.

Number
of

Kbiid.

Tear.

Number
of
shad.

Tear.

Number
of
shad.

Tear.

Number
of
shad.

1827

3 091

1838

8 734

1849

19 410

I860

2 045

1828

10 716

1839

9 029

1850

20 401

1861

10 654

1829

7 138

1840

7 236

1851

25 227

1862

6,449

1830

3 917

1841

8 727

1852

14 257

1863

5 675

1831

9 064

1842

7 °30

1853

18 138

1864

5,491

1832

11 713

1843

3 415

1854

10 148

1865

10 672

1833

8,670

1844

11 038

1855

8 236

1866

2,100

1834

14 934

1845

16 091

1856

13 940

1867 .. ..

4,864

1835

23 370

1846

12 798

1857

8 826

1868

1,970

1836

11 050

1847

13 690

1858

9 826

1869

1,790

1837

9 096

1848

13 468

1859

7 846

No account of the number of shad taken in the pounds is given, as no satisfactory information
concerning them could be obtained. It is reported that on the 14th of May, 1870, the pounds
yielded from 300 to 1,100 shad each, which is probably above the average.

In this connection also the following statement by R. B. Chalker, of Saybrook, Conn.,
regarding the yearly catch of a pound-net, located 4£ miles west of the mouth of the Connecticut
River, in the town of Westbrook, Conn., furnishes additional information of the same tenor :

THE FISHERIES OF THE CONNECTICUT EIVEE.

665

Catch of a pound-net at mouth of Connecticut Hirer.

Tear.

Number
ofsbad.

Remarks.

1850
1857
1858

3,643
5,183
6,111

The location of the pound was not
changed during the period for which
the records are given.

1859

3,000

1860

6,000

1861

6,180

1862

6,853

1863

10, 730

1864

12,265

1865

9,410

1866

10,594

1867

12,500

1S68

13,000

1869

11,000

1870

16,558

1871

13,508

1872
1873
1874

8,271
7,343
9,290

JLaws permitted fishing bnt thn*
days in each week.

1875

20,037

1876

11, 041

1877

10,465

1878

1879
1880

4,550
19, 175
13, 275

1878. Nets destroyed by jellyfish. A
good run of shad, but impossible to
continue pound fishing after the 5th
of May, for ho reason stated.

Aggregate catch for the ten years from 1856 to 1865, inclusive 09,375

Average catch per season 6, 937

Aggregate catch for the ten years from 1868 to 1875, inclusive 122,101

Average catch per season 12,210

Abrogate catch for the five years from 1878 to 1880 58, 506

Average catch per season 11.701

The above table shows the average increase of catch in pound-nets since their introduction
in place of hauling seines. The first pound-net set for shad in Westbrook was in the year 1849.

In the early shad fisheries of the Connecticut River haul-seines were mainly employed.
This mode of fishing involved a considerable outlay of capital for their equipment and operation.
Gradually gill-nets supplanted haul-seines, and, on account of the unproductiveness of the latte»,
came into more general use. These again were supplanted to a great extent by the introduction
of pound-nets, which, as the law prohibited their being set in the river itself, occupied every
available position along the shores of the sound from the mouth of the river to a distance of some
G or 8 miles west. Practically, however, these nets are in the river itself, being so placed as to
intercept the run of the shad. It is curious to note that these pound-nets are exclusively set on
the west side of the mouth of the river ; and in response to inquiry as to why this was so, the
information was given that shad could not be taken in any large numbers on the east side of the
river's mouth. This would indicate that the shad run up the shore line from west to east, which
conclusion has led to the inferences that the fish enter Long Island Sound at its extreme western
end, and also that the shad of the Connecticut, the Hudson, and, of course, of the minor streams
lying between these two rivers, are detachments of the same schools of fish.

* THE ALEWIFE FISHERY. — The alewife fisheries are insignificant, and are operated only in
several coves along the river's banks, the law prohibiting nets from being fished in the main
stream. Conspicuous among these fisheries is that conducted at Weathersfleld Cove, by Mr.

066

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Winthrop Buck, by whom a small haul-seine is employed. The following statistics of the fishery
at this point will be interesting, as they serve to show the extent of equipment necessary to make
the operation profitable. The seine (nine-thread) is 75 fathoms long, and is hauled by windlass.
The crew consists of four men. About one-twentieth of the fish taken are consumed fresh, the
remainder being salted, and packed in barrels, each capable of holding five hundred fish, and
shipped to New York. The highest point at which alewives are taken on this river is at Windsor
Locks, and all these fisheries lie between there and Middletown. The season commences about
the second week in April. In 1880, however, it was earlier than usual, the run beginning in the
last week of March.

STATISTICS OP CONNECTICUT RIVER FISHERIES IN 1880. — The following statistics of the
fisheries of the Connecticut River for 1880 have been prepared by Mr. R. B. Chalker, of Say brook,
who is extensively engaged not only in fishing but also in buying and marketing the product of
the river, and who is therefore eminently fitted to give exact data on this subject:

Nets.

Number
of men.

Boats.

Value of
shore
property.

Product

Shad.

Alewives.

Number.

Value.

Number.

Value.

Pounds.

Value.

Barrels.

Value.

Gill-net fishery

57
24
30

if 4, 275
6,450
29, 732

114

137
75

57
61
30

$(, 275
2,344
4,500

225,980
176, 224
703, 138

$11, 299 00
8, 811 20
35, 156 80

$1, 305
1,500

2,700

$10, 800

tit

40, 457

326

148

11, 119

2,805

1, 105, 340

55, 207 00

2,700

10, 800

The larger proportion of the shad product of the Connecticut River is sent to packers in
Lyine, Essex, and Saybrook. Thence they are shipped in ice to various points, but chiefly to New
York City. There are 10,420,000 pounds of menhaden taken in the pounds. These are composted
for conversion into manure.

From the statistical returns made by the pound-net fishermen, in response to a circular
issued by the U. S. Fish Commission, has been selected that of Mr. S. A. Chalker, who operated a
single pound at Cornfield Point, in Long Island Sound, and 5 miles west of the mouth of the Con-
necticut. These figures represent a fair average of the necessary pound-net equipment, of the
product of the fishery, and of the cost of operating the same during one season.

Number.

Pounds.

Value.

3

1

$400 00

Boats

2

75 00

497 00

Product.
Shad:

632

37 92

Shipped in ice

22, 936

1, 376 16

Salted

360

21 60

2. THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

*

Formerly valuable fisheries for the capture of both shad and salmon were operated on this
river. Those for the latter, however, no longer exist, the species having been exterminated by
the erection of dams, and the upward movement of shad is now limited to a reach of about 30

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 667

miles of water extending from the uiouth of the river to the dam at Derby. Within these limits
11 haul-seines are fished. The following statistics show the extent of the fisheries of this river in
1880:

Haul-seines :

Number 11

Value $1,650

Number of men employed 47

Boats :

Number 11

Value $220

PRODUCTS.

Shad:

Pounds 28,600

Value $1,430

Miscellaneous fish :

Pounds 165,000

Value $6,600

3. MINOR TRIBUTARIES OF LONG ISLAND SOUND.

While some shad and a considerable number of alewives are taken in all these streams, it is
not possible to present accurate statistics of the catch for each. In the general summary of the
fisheries of Massachusetts and Long Island Sound, however, are included these figures, those
for Massachussetts being included in the statistics of the Massachusetts fisheries given by Mr. A.
Howard Clark in another section of this report.

7, THE RIVERS OF MASSACHUSETTS* AND NEW HAMPSHIRE.

t

1. THE TAUNTON AND COLE'S RIVERS.
BY W. A. WILCOX.

•

The shad and alewife fisheries of the Taunton River are carried on by 108 men, who use 29
boats, 15 seines, and 1 weir, worth, with their fixtures, about $7,500. The catch in 1879 was
1,718,000 alewives, equal to about 4,000 barrels, and 6,615 shad, weighing 21,498 pounds. The
value of these products was $12,090. A portion of the alewives were sold fresh, the rest pickled
or smoked. The shad were sold fresh in Boston and other markets.

In Cole's River, in the town of Swansea, 4 miles west of Fall River, at the northern end of
Mount Hope Bay, there is a small fishing station. The northern and northwestern ends of the
bay are valuable for their scallop and clam beds, which extend from Kickamuit River on the west
to Taunton River on the east, a distance of 5 miles.

* In the Connecticut River at Iladley, Mass., discussed in the preceding chapter, there are annually captured about
3,500 shad. The total catch of pound-nets, seines, and gill nets set in the Taunton, Merrimac, and other rivers, and
along the shores of the State, during the year 1882 is reported by the State Commissioners of Inland Fisheries to have
been as f'ullows (in numbers): Shad, 44,734; sea herring, 1,512,060; alewives, 4,446,280; menhaden, 8,735; mackerel,
3,876,599; Spanish mackerel, 397; bluefish, 325,473; striped bass, 5,929; scnp, 2,090,526; squeteague, 71,471; tautog,
46,757; flounders and flatfish, 148,330; eels, 7,041).

In the Mystic River, near Boston, in the Chebacco and Essex Kivers, and in some other streams of the State, ale-
wives -were formerly taken in abundance, but these fisheries ,irn now of very little importance.

668 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Eels are plenty in this river, and are taken in a conical basket-work trap, 2 feet long. The
catch is sent to New York. A few fyke-nets are used in the winter, and the catch of flounders is
used at and near home.

The fisheries of Cole's Eiver in 1879 gave employment to 19 men. The capital, invested in 6
small sail-boats, 40 scallop dredges, and 100 dories, amounted to $960. The products, worth $5,332,
included 19,200 pounds of eels, and 3,000 pounds of flounders.

2. BUZZARD'S BAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
By W. A. WDLOOX.

The Acushnet, Mattapoisett, and Wareham Rivers, and the minor tributaries of Buzzard's
Bay, have always abounded in alewives, eels, and other river species, while the bay itself has been
an important fishing ground for menhaden, tautog, oysters, and scallops. About thirty pound-
nets are set at various points near the head of the bay. They are worth from $400 to $500 each,
their principal catch being menhaden, alewives, tautog, scup, squeteague, bluefish, and eels. A
number of unregistered sail-boats, owned at Fairhaven and New Bedford, fish from June 1 to No-
vember 1 with hand-lines in the Acushnet River and in the bay, their catch being chiefly tautog,
eels, and scup. The oyster and scallop fisheries are discussed in another chapter.

THE ACUSHNET RIVER. — This river is really an arm of Buzzard's Bay for the three miles
from its mouth along the Fairhaven and New Bedford fronts. Above New Bedford it decreases
in size to a small stream, no larger than a brook, and takes its rise near the south shores of Long
Pond and Aquitticaset Pond, in the town of Middleborough, 10 miles distant. There are several
islands in the stream ; the largest is named Palmer, and is at the entrance to the harbor. The
next to the north are Crow, Pope's, and Fish. This last is united to the long draw-bridge connect-
ing Fairhaven and New Bedford. Several other smaller islands, not named, add to the beauty of
the river scenery.

Although the bay and river have always been noted as having an abundance and great
variety of scale and shell fish, and the flats and near shores for miles have long been known to
abound with quahaugs and clams, until lately there appears to have been but little attention paid
to.them, except in a small way for home use. Within the past twenty years, as the whale fishery
has declined, more attention has been paid to the abundance of fish near home.

Eels are abundant in the Acushnet, and are mostly caught in a box-trap of simple and cheap
construction. This is four feet long, 10 inches wide, with slatted sides. There is a bole in each
end 4 inches square. In the aperture are placed two small wooden slats. The eels slide in with
ease, the slats opening as they glide in and immediately closing. The box is weighted with stones
and baited with clams. At Sconticut Neck within late years the business has steadily grown, the
catcli being made with gill-nets, purse and shore seines.

THE MATTAPOISETT RIVER. — Alewives are taken in the Mattapoisett River. One weir is
located 4 miles from the river's mouth, and two more at Rochester, 4 miles beyond. For the
past 10 years the catch has averaged 900 barrels a year. The catch of 1880, the smallest for
twenty years, was 500 barrels, taken at the lower station, and 200 at the upper. The greater por-
tion of them are sold fresh through the neighboring towns. A local law fixes the price for a
limited supply to the citizens of Mattapoisett, Marion, and Rochester, at 25 cents for a hundred
fish. At the northeast entrance to the harbor, on Pine Island, are two weirs. These are fished
by four men for six months in the year. At the fishing stations of Mattapoisett, Pine Island, and

THE EIVER FISHERIES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 669

Rochester, iu 1880, eleven men were employed for a part of the year. The capital invested in
apparatus was $2,130. The catch, valued at $2,275, included 1,000 barrels of alewives and menha-
den, 2,000 lobsters, 1,000 squeteague, 8,000 tautog, 9,000 scnp, 500 blueflsh, and 25 Spanish mackerel.

WAREHAM AND HALF-WAY-POND RIVERS. — At Agawam station, in East Wareham, 3 miles
inland from the northern end of Buzzard's Bay, is Half-way-pond River. This empties into the
Wareham River, and the latter into the bay. Large bodies of alewives annually pass from the
bay up these rivers to spawn, a considerable number being taken at East Wareham. The State
law determines the time when they may be tak¥uf this period is between April 1 and June 1.
The exact time when they may be caught, the price at which they may be sold to citizens, and
other regulations are left to a committee of three from each of the towns of Wareham and Ply-
mouth. This committee sells the exclusive privilege of the catch at auction, and $400 to $500 a
season is generally realized by the sale. The price which the citizens must pay is fixed by the
committee at 16 cents a hundred fish, or fit cents a barrel ; one barrel is allowed to each inhabitant
who may desire it. No fish may be sold to any except citizens for the space of two hours after the
fish are caught, but after that time they may be sold to any person at such price as can be agreed
upon. Provision is made that citizens shall always be able to obtain a limited supply at the price
already mentioned, namely, 16 cents a hundred. The bulk of the catch is sold by peddlers through
the neighboring towns. At the present time the catch is not more than two-thirds as large as it
was a number of years ago. In 1880 the fisheries of this place gave employment to six men for 2
months. The catch was 700 barrels of alewives, worth $1,050.

THE ALEWIFE FISHERIES OF, WAREHAM IN 1815. — The following statement of the condition
of the alewife fisheries of Wareham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, in 1815, is quoted from
the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. IV, 2d series : ,

"Of the alewife, there are evidently two kinds, not only in size but habit, which annually
visit the brooks passing to the sea at Wareham. The larger, which set in some days earlier, inva-
riably seek ihe Weweautic sources. These, it is said, are preferred for the present use, perhaps
because they are earliest. The second, less in size, and usually called ' black backs,' equally true
to instinct, as invariably seek the Agawaam. These are generally barrelled for exportation. In
the sea, at the outlet of these streams, not far asunder, these fish must for weeks swim in common,
yet each selects its own and peculiar stream. Hence an opinion prevails on the spot that these
fish seek the particular lake where they were spawned.

"Another popular anecdote is as follows : Alewives had ceased to visit a pond in Weymouth,
which they had formerly frequented. The municipal authorities took the usual measures, by
opening the sluice-ways in the spring at mill-dams, and also procured live alewives from other
ponds, placing them in this, where they spawned and sought the sea. No alewives, however, ap-
peared here until the third year ; hence three years has been assumed by some as the period of
growth of this fish.

" The popular opinions at either place may or may not agree with the laws of the natural
history of migratory fish. The young alewives we have noticed to descend about the 20th of June
and before, continuing so to do some time, when they are about 2 inches long, their full growth
being from 12 to 15 inches. We have imbibed an opinion that this fish attains its size in a
year ; but if asked for proof, we cannot produce it. These fish, it is said, do not visit our brooks
in such numbers as in former days. The complaint is of old date. Thus, in 1753, Douglass
remarks on migratory fishes : ' The people living upon the banks of Merrimack observe that sev-
eral species of fish, such as salmon, shad, and alewives, are uotso plenty in their seasons as formerly ;
perhaps from disturbance, or some other disgust, as it happens with herrings in the several friths

670 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

of Scotland.' Again, speaking of herrr.igs, he says : ' They seein to be variable or whimsical as to
their ground.' It is a fact, too, that where they most abound, on the coast of Norway and Sweden
their occasional disappearance is a sul ject of remark, also of early date, in a comparative view.
'Previous to the year 1752 the herrings had entirely disappeared seventy-two years on the coast
of Sweden; and yet, in 1782, 139,000 barrels were cured by salt at the mouth of the Gothela, near
Gotten bnrg.' — Studies of Nature.

" The herring is essentially different from the alewife in size (much smaller) and in habit. It
continues, we believe, in the open sea, and does not seek pond heads. Attempts are sometimes"
made, by artificial cuts, to induce them to visit ponds which had not before a natural outlet. These
little cuts, flowing in the morning become intermittent at noon, as the spring and summer advances.
Evaporation, therefore, which is very great from the surface of the pond should probably be
considered in the experiment, making the canal as low as the midsummer level of the pond, other-
wise it may be that the fish perish in the passage. This may, in other respects, have its incon
veniences at seasons when the ponds are full.

"The town of Plymouth for a series of years annually voted from 1,000 to 500 and 200
barrels of alewives to be taken at all their brooks in former years.

" In the year 1730 the inhabitants were ordered not to take more than 4 barrels each ; a
large individual supply, indeed, compared with the present period (1815), when it is difficult for an
householder to obtain 200 alewives, seldom so many.

"In 1762, at a vendue, the surplus appears to have been sold in 25-barrel lots, which sold at
3s. Id. and is. the barrel. In 1763 Plymouth and Wareham took 150 barrels at the Agawaam brook.*
Two hundred barrels was the usual vote, down to a modern date, perhaps 1776. Menhaden were
also taken in quantity at Wareham, and barrelled for exportation in former years. Agawaam
appears to have been a name for several places where migratory fishes resorted. Thus at
Ipswich and Westfleld River as well as this place. Wood, in his ' New England Prospect,' writes
the word Igowam. At the season of fishing the whole population of the country was, doubtless,
in motion, resorting to these places. Hence we incline to the opinion that this expression became
in several places a fixed and permanent name, and was in some way typical of it. We think
' abundance of food' is understood."

3.— THE ALEWIFE FISHERY OF CAPE COD.
BY FBEDERICK W. TRUE.

THE ALEWIFE STEEAMS. — The alewife fishery has been prosecuted by the people of South-
eastern Massachusetts from the earliest colonuial days. The regularity with which the ale wives
visited the coast, and the abundance of the supply, soon caused them to rely upon the products of
the fishery for sustenance to a considerable degree, especially in those years when other fisheries
suffered decline. The statute-books of the Commonwealth contain many laws and regulations
relating to the alewife fishery, whose object is its extension or preservation.

The fishery proper consists in the capture of alewives while ascending the streams to spawn,
but large quantities are also taken in the weirs and pounds which are in use at many points along
the coast, and likewise in gilljiets and seines.

The interior and higher portions of the territory of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard are
dotted with numerous fresh-water ponds, from which small streams run down to the sea. In

* Plymouth retains a fishing privilege in this brook within Wareham. The alewives, we are told, were moio
numerous in 1815 than for some years.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 671

spring large schools of alewives run up these streams and pass into the ponds above to spawn,
and it is at this time that the fishery takes place. The fish are taken either while passing up the
stream, or while in the pond, but the former is the more usual method. "When it is observed that
the schools are in motion a piece of fine-mesh net is stretched across the stream, which in many
instances is not more than 2 or 3 feet wide, and when a sufficient number of alewives have
crowded against it dip-nets are brought into use and the fish are transferred to barrels or other
receptacles. Uu the banks of some of the more profitable streams small fish-houses have been
erected, and the portion of the bed of the stream- adjacent encased in boards, forming a narrow
sluice-way.

In the rivers whose width may be many rods, the fishery is prosecuted by means of seines,
strongly made, and having rather fine meshes. These are hauled at certain hours, day by day,
until the schools cease to come, or the supply obtained is sufficient. The amount taken by these
means is, of course, greater than that obtained in the small streams.

It sometimes occurs that the stream, instead of flowing from a single pond, issues from a chain
of ponds lying near each other, and closely connected. Occasionally the number is only two, as,
for example, at the head of Bass River; but sometimes it swells to seven or eight, as is the case at
the head of the Wellfleet alewife stream. Under these circumstances it is usual to fish in one of
the lower ponds rather than in the stream itself. This is done notably at Bass River, where the
fishery is prosecuted in the second or lower pond. The method here employed is naturally that
of seining. The seines used vary in length and depth according to the dimensions of the ponds.
Those employed in Bass River are 100 or 175 yards long, with meshes 2 inches in diameter.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS.— The laws and limitations by which the fishery in the numerous
public streams is regulated, vary somewhat in different tawns. One rule, however, apparently
holds good for all, namely, that the citizens of the town through which any given alewife stream
flows shall have the privilege of obtaining a certain quantity of fish gratis, or at a nominal price.
The arrangements at Sandwich, which may be regarded as typical of those affecting all the
smaller fisheries on the cape and the islands, are somewhat as follows : A "catcher" is elected by
the selectmen, whose duty it is to catch the fish,. and who receives in compensation the small
amount paid by the citizens. Each citizen of Sandwich is allowed to buy one barrel of alewives,
by paying from 35 to 70 cents, according as the supply is large or small. Those who are at the
river at a certain time in the morning draw lots for their turn in being served, and if the supply
comes to an end before all have been served those who are unfortunate enough to stand at the
end of the list are forced to go away without receiving any fish. The fishery is prosecuted only
for four days each week.

At West Brewster a committee of three manages the affairs of the alewife fishery, and the
citizens receive only one-eighth of a barrel each, for which they pay at the rate of 3 cents per
dozen fisih.

The days on which the fishery may be carried on, and their number, vary in different towns.
At West Brewster, until 1S79, alewives were taken every day except Sunday, but since then only
three days each week. At Wellfleet, too, the number of days is three, namely, Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday. At Bass River and at Sandwich, as already stated, fishing is allowed on four days
each week.

A number of the more profitable fisheries are sold by the towns to private parties annually
at public auction, but in most cases with the agreement that a certain fixed quantity shall be sold
to the citizens at a very low or nominal price. At Buss River each citizen of Dennis and Yarmouth
may buy four hundred herring, at the rate of 40 cents per hundred, and at Wellfleet the lessees of

672 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

the stream pledge themselves to sell fish to citizens of the town at one-half a cent apiece. Citizens
of Harwich may purchase fish at a low price at the stream, which flows between that town and
Dennis, every evening except Saturday, when the people of the latter town have the sole right.

PRIVATE FISHERIES. — In addition to the public streams there are a number of others, owned
and controlled by private parties. They are 'usually artificially formed, and connect ponds near
the shore with the salt water. Such an one was opened at Waquoit about sixteen years ago, and
more recently another at West Dennis. The fishery in these artificial brooks is quite as successful
as that in the natural streams.

METHODS OF CAPTURE. — At South Yarmouth a number of sweep-seines are employed exclu-
sively for alewives. In 1877 four were used, but in 1878 only one. The men fish off Bass River,
but are restrained by law from approaching within one-half mile from its mouth, because they
would then affect the success of the fishery in the river.

Large quantities of alewives, together with other species, are taken in the weirs and pounds,
especially those located on the south shore of Cape Cod and north shore of Martha's Vineyard.
In the weirs of Chatham, and in certain others at Waquoit and Falmouth, in use only in spring,
a very large proportion of the total catch consists of alewives, the remainder being principally
menhaden and sea-herring. At Harwich and Falmouth a number of gill-nets are employed, in
which considerable numbers of alewives are taken, together with two other species, sea-herring
and menhaden.

DISPOSITON OF CATCH. — The alewives taken in the streams are almost universally smoked or
salted, while those taken in weirs and pounds are generally sold fresh to fishing vessels, to be used
for bait. At Wellfleet they are salted and dried and sold in bulk, and the same is the case at
West Dennis. About one-half the yield of the Bass River fisheries is pickled, and the remainder
smoked. There are three smoke-houses near the pond, together worth about $100. Prior to 1879
the alewives taken in the Ceutreville stream, in the town of Bainstable, were all pickled, but in
1879 a considerable portion was sold to fishing vessels, and a few were smoked. The "catcher" at
Sandwich usually smokes a few fish and sells them to the citizens. In Tisbury, one-tenth of the
catch is reserved by the town and sold to pay for keeping the stream free from weeds. This tenth
part of the catch is annually purchased by a certain dealer at Holmes Hole, who in turn sells the
fish to fishing vessels for bait. At the Harwich River fisheries four men and five women are
employed in salting the alewives.

VALUE OF FISHERIES. — The fisheries of Wellfleet and Harwich and Bass River, which are
leased at auction, bring different prices in different years, according to the competition among the
bidders, and the apparent prospect of a large or small catch. Harwich River fishery was leased
in the spring of 1879 for five years, at the rate of $600 per year. The average price paid for the
Bass River fishery is $700, but large quantities of white perch are taken in this stream, the value
of which is considerable.

The price paid for alewives by fishing vessels is about 1 cent apiece, and of smoked alewives
about the same.

The total quantity of alewives taken in Barnstable County in 1879 was 1,150,295 pounds,
valued at $7,048.

4. FISHERIES OF THE MERRIMAC RIVER.

Of the two principal tributaries of the Merrimac, one — the western branch — rises in the
White Mountains and forms a junction with the other — the eastern branch, which flows from Lake
Wiimipiseogee — at the town of Plymouth. Prior to the erection of obstructions on the Merrimac

THE EIVEE FISHEEIES OF MAINE. 673

and its tributaries there was an abundant run of shad, salmon, and alewives into the river, which
furnished profitable fisheries to the inhabitants. Curiously enough, at the junction of the two
rivers, the salmon and the shad separated, the former, entering the colder waters of the western
branch, penetrated as far up as its sources in the White Mountains, while the vast schools of shad
and alewives turned into the warmer waters of the eastern branch, which they ascended each
spring for the purpose of spawning.

The fisheries of the Merrimac are at the present time insignificant, the entire product, accord-
ing to the reports of the State fish commission, being only 2,139 shad, 32,400 alewives, and 3
salmon. Subsequent to the erection of the Lawrence dam the run of salmon into this stream was
entirely destroyed. Energetic efforts for the restoration of this fishery have, however, been made
by the New Hampshire and Massachusetts State commissioners, with some prospect of success.
The fish-way at Lawrence, over a dam some 27 feet high, has proved available for the ascent of
salmon, which, in small numbers, have passed up it each season since its erection, and have thus
been enabled to reach their spawning-grounds. It is probable that protective legislation in conjunc-
tion with the measures above alluded to, and the erection of an efficient fish-way over the dams at
Lawrence, Lowell, and Amoskeag will finally result in the restoration of these valuable fisheries.

5. THE EXETEE EIVEE, NEW HAMPSHIEE.

During May and June ten weirs are employed in securing the alewives that come up the
Piscataqua into the Exeter Eiver. The average yearly catch is 2,500 barrels, but has fallen short
the past two years. In 1879 it was about 2,000 barrels, and was disposed of at Portsmouth. There
are forty men employed and $3,000 capital invested in the fisheries of those two towns. The fish-
eries of the Piscataqua are discussed at the end of the next chapter.

8.— THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE.

BY C. G. ATKINS.
1. GEOGRAPHICAL AND CLIMATIC EELATIONS.

The State of Maine, occupying the extreme northeast corner of the United States, lies between
the parallels of 43° and 48° north latitude and the meridians of 67° and 71° 10' longitude west
from Greenwich. Its climate is variable, the thermometer moving sometimes through forty
degrees of Fahrenheit's scale within twenty four hours, changes of wind occurring frequently
and suddenly, and the distribution of rainfall through the year being frequently irregular.

The mean annual temperature averages 42°.36 F. The mean of January, the coldest month,
is 15°.79, and of July, the warmest month, is 67°.85. As extremes there occur almost every year
maximums of over 90° and ininimums of — 15° to — 35°.

The precipitation at Orono* has averaged 43.6 inches annually, including the snowfall, which
had a mean annual depth of 92.90 inches and constituted about 44 per cent, of the total precipi-
tation. Near the coast there is less snow and farther in the interior considerably more. The
distribution through the year (deduced from the mean of sixteen years) is pretty even, the dryest
month being June, with a mean of 3.06 inches, and the wettest, October, with a mean of 4.87

* The generalizations of air, temperature, and rainfall are drawn from observations by President M. C. Fernald
tvt the State College, Orono. This station is near the geographical center of the State.

SEC. v 43

674 HISTOET AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

inches. The fluctuations of the same month from year to year are illustrated as an extreme case
by the record of October, which shows a fall of 1.14 inches in 1874 and 9.57 inches in 18G9. As
compared with other regions, it appears that Maine has a rainfall a little in excess of that of the
other Northern and Middle States, less than that of Oregon and the Gulf States, and greatly
exceeding that of England, France, or Germany. The evaporation has been estimated at 60 to 65
per cent, of the rainfall, and the remaining 35 or 40 per cent, is discharged through the rivers.

The area of woodland in Maine has probably changed but little since 1869, when Mr. Wells
estimated it at 21,200 square miles, or 67 per cent, of the entire surface of the State, of which
61 per cent., is primeval forest.* The latter lies in two principal bodies, which are also contiguous,
the first by far the greater, occupying the northwestern part of the State, and comprising the
northern portions of Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, Piscataquis, Penobscot, and part of Aroostook
Counties; the second in the southern part of the State, in Hancock and Washington Counties, and
extending at several points quite to the sea. The head waters of all the large rivers and many of
the small ones are in the wooded districts. These forests consist largely of coniferous trees, spruce,
hemlock, pine, and arborvit®. They contribute in several ways to a constancy in the flow of the
rivers. The ground is carpeted with moss and leaves, which check the surface flow of water dur-
ing and after rains, and in the spring the trees shield the vast masses of snow covering the ground
from the sun and winds, and cause it to melt gradually. The woodland streams are also free from
the mud and other pollutions that are washed in from cultivated fields and drains of cities and
villages. Amid these forests, moreover, lie the natural breeding-grounds of the salmon, which are
doubtless safer there from pursuit than they would be in populous districts.

The extreme head waters of the largest rivers, the Androscoggin, Keunebec, Penobscot, and
Saint John, are within 75 miles of each other along the western border of the State in the high-
lands forming the water-shed between the Gulf of Maine and the Saint Lawrence Eiver. From
this elevated region, of which the valleys are from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the sea, and the
mountain peaks from 1,000 to 2,000 feet higher, streams radiate in all directions, those of Maine
flowing towards the northeast, east, southeast, and south.

A secondary water-divide stretches across the State from west to east in latitude 46° 10' and
separating the Penobscot from the Saint John basin. This is not coincident with the Appalachian
hills, which lie mostly to the south. The elevations of this divide are from 1,500 feet in the west
to about 500 feet in the east. The surface of the State is thus divided into a northern slope of
7,500 square miles, and a southern slope 25,000 square miles, The former has a gentle inclination
to the north and east, and is wholly drained into the Saint John. Tlie latter embraces that
portion drained by rivers emptying into the Gulf of Maine within the limits of the State, and has
in the western portion a southeasterly and in the eastern portion a southerly inclination, with
many local irregularities. The southern slope is for the most part accessible naturally to the
anadrornous fishes, but the greater part of the northern slope, about 5,000 square miles, is cut off
from the sea by the intervention of the impassable Grand Falls of the Saint John Eiver, in
New Brunswick.

2. CHAEACTEEISTlCS OF MAINE EIVEES.

DECLIVITY. — The rivers of Maine are characterized in the first place by a considerable yet
moderate descent. The surface of the main slope rises very gradually from the sea to the head-
waters, and the river beds are sunk very little beneath the general plane. A fall of 1,085 feet in
140 miles, or 7.8 feet per mile, may be taken as representing the mean declivity .t Some of the

* Wells, Water-power of Maine, page 24. t Well*, Water-power of Maine.

THE KIVEK F1SHEK1ES OF MAINE. G75

river beds iu the western part have a slightly steeper incline, and some in the eastern a more
moderate one. The declivity is in general well distributed through the course of the river, but is
in nearly all cases greater at a distance from the sea, and its uniformity is much broken by the
occurrence of abrupt falls and lakes. The falls are not often precipitous or sufficient to prevent
the ascent of fish, though this sometimes occurs, as at Hiram on the Saco, East Rumford on the
Androscoggin, and on several tributaries of the Keunebec.

LAKES. — The great number of lakes that dot the surface of the State forms a striking feature
in its topography. On the published maps there are represented 1,620, varying in size from 100
acres to 120 square miles, and it is probable that several hundred more above the minimum in
size are unrepresented. Their depths are in no known case very great, but few of them exceed
100 feet, and many with an area of several square miles have in no place a greater depth than
50 feet. One of the deepest is Lake Sebago, which has in one spot 410 feet of water. The
lakes exert a favorable influence on the rivers as homes of migratory fishes in various ways. They
serve as regulators of volume, preserving from extreme low stages, and as clarifying basins in
which the sediment borne by the tributary streams is deposited. They afford breeding grounds
for alewives and possibly retreats for salmon during the summer preceding and the winter follow-
ing their spawning season.

RIVER BEDS. — The stony character of most of the soil of Maine and the rapid flow of the
rivers combine to give the latter in general a clear hard bed of rock in situ, or of bowlders and
gravel, with, however, occasional stretches of muddy bottoms and banks.

In the western part of the State the lowland adjoining the rivers is often composed of sand,
which in that case forms the banks and sometimes part of the river bed. As a whole these rivers
abound in the gravelly rapids to which salmon resort for spawning purposes.

PUEITY OF WATER. — There is in the soil of the State comparatively little material that is
readily taken up and held long in suspension by the streams and rivers. The occasional turbidity
following a sudden and excessive fall of rain in the disforested districts soon disappears through
the precipitation of the earth in suspension. The lakes also are immense clarifying basins, and
discharge waters of great purity. The waters are, in most cases, strongly tinged with brown from
peaty or earthen solutions, and the general color of the water, both of rivers and lakes, when seen
in great depth, is an inky blackness, though when examined in a small receptacle, as iu a goblet
or pail, they appear of crystal purity.

VOLUME. — Of the total rainfall it may be assumed that 65 per cent, is evaporated and the re-
maining 35 per cent, is discharged by the rivers into the ocean. This calls for a mean delivery of
67.44 cubic feet of water per minute (35,452,000 cubic feet per annum) for each square mile of area
drained. Applied to the Penobscot, this ratio indicates a mean discharge of 498,000 cubic feet per
minute.

The fluctuations in the volume of a river are governed by several circumstances, of which we
may mention, first, the irregularities of precipitation ; second, the variation of the evaporation with
the changes of weather and the season ; third, the area of storage basins in the shape of lakes, and
the extent to which they are brought into use. Many rivers of the second class have such exten-
sive storage basins that the volume is very constant, the variations of level rarely exceeding 2 or 3
feet. But on the Kennebec and Penobscot a variation of 8 feet within four months is not very
rare, and a difference of 6 or 7 feet between flood and drought is the rule. For instance,* on the

'These data are furnished me by Mr. W. W. Fellows, eiigineer in charge of the water works, from p«r»on»l
observations.

676 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

first day of April, 1877, the Penobscot stood 7.25 feet above the dam at Bangor ; through April it
ranged from 7.25.to 4.75 feet; through May from 4.8 feet to 1.9 feet; through June from 1.9 to 1.4 feet;
through July from 1.5 to .08; and in August it stood for a few days at the minimum of one-half
foot. On the 29th of the following November it had risen to 6.25 feet; in December it fell from 5.9
to 1.5 feet ; but through the whole of the following February (1878) it stood at 6 and 7 inches (.5
and .6 foot). The highest stage for the spring of 1878 (6.46 feet) was attained in April; the lowest
stage for the summer was 15 feet, in August; the lowest for the year was 6 inches, October 1
(with flush boards on the dam); and the highest for the year was 9.2 feet, December 14. In 1879
the maximum (8.85 feet) was attained May 3, and during that month the water averaged higher
than in April; it was low (15 inches) July 17, and still lower (1.3 inches) October 19. In 1880 the
highest water was in May and the lowest between August 17 and October 24, during all of which
time an extreme drought prevailed, the water standing just at the crest of the dam or an inch or
two above or below it. Thus in four years we have seen the water at its highest stages twice in
April, once in May, and once in December, and the lowest stages once in February and October
(the same year), once in October alone, once in August alone, and once extending from August to
October. The data existing on the subject are scanty, and the best generalization to be made must
be founded partly on general observation, and would be as follows : The Penobscot is at its high-
est stages generally, but not invariably, in April or May ; it is fairly full from March to July,
inclusive, and never experiences a drought during those months. The lowest stages occur in
August and September, often extending into October. In the winter there is generally a depres-
sion, which in some instances reaches the stage of a drought. The discharge of the Penobscot has
been estimated by an expert* at 117,000 cubic feet per minute in a severe summer drought, and at
5,760,000 cubic feet per minute in a heavy freshet.

WATER TEMPERATURE. — Ice from 15 to 24 inches thick covers all the fresh water during the
winter. On the lakes it forms about November 15 or 20, and melts out in April, commonly near
the close of the month, in the southern part of the State. In the more northerly or elevated lakes
it does not melt until May 10 or 15. The larger rivers, the Keunebec and Penobscot, are closed to
navigation (at the ports of Gardner and Bangor, respectively) about four months or four and a half.
The melting of the snow in the spring produces a flood which clears the rivers of ice in April two
or three weeks before the melting of the lake ice.

During the winter the temperature of the rivers is generally within one degree of the freezing
point, but after the breaking up of the ice it rises rapidly, and through the summer generally
ranges from 60° to 70° or higher, in those parts above the influence of the sea.

TIDAL PARTS OF RIVERS. — The tidal portions of the Maine rivers are for the most part of
considerable extent. In the Kennebec the rise and fall of the tide is felt as far as Augusta, 44
miles from the sea, and before the erection of a dam at that point it was perceptible some 10 miles
farther. In the Penobscot the influence of the tide extended originally to Eddiugton, 30 miles
above the mouth of the river, or, including Penobscot Bay, 60 miles from the sea. In the other
rivers the tidal portions are less extensive absolutely, and in many of them likewise relatively, to
the size of the river. The Androscoggin is not affected by the tide above Brunswick 25 miles,
and the Saco only to Biddeford, 5 miles from the sea. The actual penetration of the sea-water
is confined within narrow limits. On the Kennebec the water does not contain salt enough to
support a growth of marine algse above Bath, 12 miles from the sea, though in seasons of great

*H. F. Mills, C. E., quoted in Wells's Water-power of Maine, p. 105.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 677

drought the water becomes brackish above Richmond, 14 miles farther up, and the flood-tide is
strong enough to reverse the current some 10 miles farther still. On the Penobscot marine algae
are not found above Winterport, 18 miles below the natural head of the tide.

The brackish portions of a river have a lower temperature than the fresh portions, varying
with the proportions of sea water present. The oceau water on the coast of Maine has a lower
temperature than the fresh rivers all the summer season, from May to October, inclusive. When
the salt and fresh water meet they do not immediately commingle, but the fresh water, being
lighter, flows out on the surface and the salt water siuks to the depths. On the flood tide a
strong inflowing current of salt water exists at the bottom often while the surface current is still
flowing seaward. The salt water in the lower stratum, exposed over its entire upper surface to
the fresh water, slowly commingles with it and rises, to be replaced by the constantly renewed
flood from the sea.

The most of the rivers empty into broad estuaries before reaching the open sea. The most
notable example is the Penobscot, whose estuary is 30 miles long and 20 wide at its mouth. The
most notable exceptions are the Kennebec and the Saco, whose lower courses are confined in
narrow channels quite to their entrance into the open sea.

The river fisheries are mainly carried on in the tidal portions, where strong flood and ebb
currents alternate. Weir fishing is never attempted above the flow of the tide, and the most
common form of weir depends for its working upon the retreat of the tide, which leaves the fish
stranded upon a floor.

The tide averages about 11 feet rise and fall, varying from 8J feet at Saco to 18 feet at
Eastport.

ARTIFICIAL CONDITIONS. — The artificial alterations in the condition of the rivers are very
considerable. They arise in part from the cultivation of the soil, but mainly from the erection of
dams and the throwing of refuse from the saw-mills into the water. The exposure of the bare
earth to the action of rains, as in all cultivated fields, especially in hilly districts, results in the
washing of great quantities of soil into the rivers, where it settles in all places not swept by strong
currents, but more especially near the mouths of the rivers. From the first occupation of the
country* until very recent times it has been the general custom to throw into the river all refuse
from the saw-mills, including not only sawdust but shavings, edgings, and in many cases even slabs.

''The aborignal population of Maine does iiot appear to have been at any time very dense. It has been estimated at
37,000 in 1615, but the data are exceedingly meager and this may be erroneous. About that time they were greatly reduced
by intertribal war, and still more by a destructive pestilence, by which it is believed that whole tribes were nearly ex-
terminated. Between 1675 and 1758 they were involved in repeated destructive wars with the whites, by which many
perished and many more were driven to emigrate to Canada. By the close of the eighteenth century but a few hundred
remained. The coast was much frequented by European fishermen at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and
the first settlements were mere fishing stations, located at points convenient for the capture and curing of cod and
other marine species. The trade in furs early attracted attention, and many posts were established at accessible points
on the coast and larger rivers, mainly with an eye to trade. After the fishermen came the lumbermen, attracted by the
magnificent forests of timber which covered the whole laud with the exception of the corn fields of a few thousand
aborigines ; and after all there came the white tillers of the soil. The earlier settlements experienced many vicissitudes;
some of them were abandoned after a few years existence, and many were swept out of existence by their savage
foes ; but there are some settlements that have been continuously occupied from as early a date as 102:!, and many
others that can claim almost as long an existence, with the exception of a temporary suspension in consequence of
Indian hostilities. Yet so slow was the increase in population that in 1675 (just before the beginning of the Indian
wars) there were but 6,000 people in the whole State, there being at that time from 120,000 to 150,000 in all New
England. In 1G75 a desolating Indian war broke out, and the progress of settlement was arrested for about forty
years. In 1735 the white population is estimated to haw been !i,000; in 1743 there were eleven towns and 12,000
people. Wars with the Indians finally closed in 1758, and a year later fear of their renewal was allayed by the con-
quest of Canada from France. Immediately alter this began an extensive immigration from Massachusetts, which
continued uninterruptedly for more than half a century, and brought the population from 24,000 in 1763 to 96,540 in
1789, 298,269 in 1820, and 399,455 in 1830. The population in 1880 was 648,936.

678 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Some of these materials were sufficiently water-soaked to sink at once to the bottom ; others floated
many miles, some of the coarser sorts even to the open sea; but sooner or later all of the sawdust
and a great part of the other refuse sank to the bottom. The coarse and heavy portions resisted
the action of the currents much more than the sawdust alone could have done, and the interstices
being filled with sawdust and mud, deposits were thus formed that after the lapse of years came
even to obstruct navigation.

The degree to which the fisheries are affected by this refuse is not easily determined. So long
as it remains in suspension it does not seem to deter fish from ascending a river, though swimming
thickly in all the strata of the water from the surface to the bottom. Where it settles to the bot-
tom, however, it undoubtedly destroys all those animals that find their home in the sand and gravel
and mud of the natural bottom, and to that extent deprives young fishes of their natural food. It
is not unlikely that this may have had much to do with the disappearance of shad and bass from
some localities.

Of a more serious character are the changes resulting from the erection of dams. Almost
every stream in the populated parts of the State large enough to turn a saw-mill has been thus
obstructed at from one to a dozen points in its course. The dams were with scarcely an exception
built in utter disregard of their effect upon the fish, and in the majority of cases no adequate fish-
ways were provided. The breeding grounds of salmon, shad, and alewives were therefore greatly
curtailed in all the rivers, while in others they were entirely cut off. For example, in the Kennebec
River the building of the dam at Augusta in 1837 completed a chain of obstructions that reduced
the range of shad in that river and its tributaries from 150 to 50 miles, and that of salmon from
about 300 to 50 miles. These figures do not, however, represent the injury done to those fisheries,
which is measured rather by the reduction of the area of spawning-ground. This, in the case of the
salmon, was from perhaps 50 miles of rapids to less than half a mile, and in the case of shad from
100 miles of gently flowing water to about 25 miles. It would be difficult to arrive at an exact
estimate of the amount of the injury thus .done, but I deem it safely within bounds to estimate the
diminution of the productive capacity of the rivers at 90 per cent, from this cause alone.

The revival of interest in the river fisheries, which began in Maine in 1867, has given rise to
renewed efforts to facilitate the passage of fish up the rivers. Improved forms of fish- ways have
been devised and constructed in many places, yet but a small proportion of the waters affected
have been as yet reopened.

3. NATURAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE RIVER FISHES.

LIST OP SPECIES. — The river fisheries of Maine aim at the capture of the following species :
Salmon (Salmo salar), shad (Glupea sapidissima), alewife (Clupea vernalis), smelt (Osmerus mordax),
striped bass (Boccus lineatus), eel (Anguilla rostrata), torn-cod (Microgadus tomcod), and sturgeon
(Acipenser sturio). The blueback alewife (Clupea astivalis) is also caught to some extent in the
weirs that are built for the true alewife, and in some cases the two are confounded. White perch
(Roccus americanm) are rarely taken, this species being in Maine mostly confined to the non-tidal
fresh waters. As a neglected species may be mentioned the lamprey, which occurs in nearly or
quite every river, but is rarely utilized in any way.

THE SALMON (SALMO SAL AH).

NATURAL HISTOBY. — The salmon of Maine (Salmo salar) is identical with the salmon of all
the rivers of Eastern North America and Europe. A brief statement of the principal points
in its natural history will suffice. It outers tlio rivers in the spring and summer, beginning and

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAESTE. 679

completing its run earlier in the central and western part of the State than in the eastern. In
the Penobscot it is sometimes taken near Bangor in the month of March, and always early in
April. It is more abundant in June, and the catch practically ceases early in July. Those indi-
viduals that succeed in escaping capture, reach the upper waters early in the summer and lie there
quiet until their spawning season, which is the last of October and the first of November. They
lay their eggs at night on gravelly shallows, covering them loosely with gravel. The old fish
return to the sea mainly in the spring, spend oue entire year in recuperation and further growth,
and the second year agaiu visit the rivers for spawning. The eggs lie under the gravel, slowly
developing, from November till May, when they hatch. The young salmon feed in fresh water
one or two years, then descend to sea, and after the lapse of a period not definitely ascertained,
but probably two or three years, revisit the rivers as adults, weighing from 9 to 14 pounds. The
general average of adults taken is about 13 pounds, but it varies from year to year, being some-
times less than 12, and sometimes (rarely) as high as 18 pounds. Salmon eat nothing while in
fresh water, constantly falling away in weight and deteriorating in quality. They swim mainly
by day and near the surface.

It is well ascertained that salmon originally frequented the following rivers, viz : The Pisca-
tauqua, Mausam, Saco, Presumpscot, Royals, Androscoggiu, Kennebec, Sheepscot, Medomak, Saint
George, Penobscot, Union, Narraguagus, Wescongus (Pleasant River), Machias, East Machias,
Orange, Denny's, and Saint Croix. At the present day they are found only in the Androscoggin,
Kennebec, Sheepscot, Penobscot, Machias, East Machias, Denny's, and Saint Croix.* In the
Androscoggin only a few are found, seeking to ascend the river ; in the Sheepscot only occasional
specimens are observed ; of the Machias about the same may be said ; in East Machias the
yield is unimportant (only 35 in 1880) ; the Denny's has of late yielded from 200 to 1,000 yearly,
the Kennebec about the same, the Saint Croix from 100 to 500, and the Penobscot from 5,000 to
15,000.

•MODES OF CAPTURE.— Salmon are captured with spears, dip-nets, drift-nets, set-nets, weirs
and traps, or pound-nets. The spears have only been used by the Indians, and appear to have been
their ordinary, if not exclusive, implement for the capture of this fish. An Indian spear of the
present day consists of a wooden handle, a straight, plain terminal spike of steel, and a pair of
wooden jaws on opposite sides of the spike. When a fish is struck the spike pierces the body, the
jaws spring apart, and then close upon the body of the fish and hold it securely. They are plied
at night, by torchlight, from a canoe. Dip-nets have been in use since the occupation of the
country by Europeans to capture salmon in difficult places about falls ; but on nearly all rivers it
is now unlawful to take anadromous fishes in such places, and therefore dip-nets are not much
used for salmon-fishing.

Drift-nets and set-nets. — Drift-nets and set-nets take salmon (and other fish) by enmeshing
them. They have a large mesh, from 6 to 7 inches, and are essentially alike, being simple straight
nets, buoyed at the top and leaded at the bottom. The same net may be used in either way, and
in early times such was a very common practice. Previous to the present century the salmon of
the Maine rivers were taken almost wholly by meshing nets, either stationary or drifting. At
points where the .shore was bold a net would be set directly from it, the shore end being made
fast to a stake and the outer end kept in place by killocks anchored off at proper distance. On a
gently-sloping shore the fisherman would build a brush hedge to a suitable distance from shore
and set the net at the end of that. The size of these nets was not uniform, but a common length

* Single specimens are indeed sometimes taken in other smaller streams, as the Harrington River, but these are
considered strays.

680 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

was 40 feet, for use on a bold shore ; the prevailing inesh was 7 inches, stretch measure, and the
common depth twenty meshes, or about 8 or 9 feet ; they were knit at home, of hemp twine of
medium weight. In 1814 the length of nets set in the Peuobscot River, including any other
contrivance to which they might be attached, was limited by statute to one-third the width of the
stream where used. The use of set-nets for salmon has been generally abandoned on the Penob-
scot and Kennebec since the erection of weirs became common, but is continued in Denny's River
to a small extent.

Drifting for salmon was formerly practiced in all the salmon rivers. In the Kennebec and
Penobscot the driftiug-ground was the whole length of the river, though of course the best
spots were just below obstructions, on the Kennebec at Waterville and on the Penobscot between
Bangor and Oldtowu. After the building of dams these grounds were changed, and were always
below the lowest obstruction. As the salmon became scarcer drifting on the lower courses of the
rivers was gradually abandoned. It is now practiced more or less on the Saint Croix, Peuobscot,
and Kennebec, but the recent laws forbidding fishing within 500 yards of a dam or flshway have
greatly discouraged it.

Angling for salmon has been successfully practiced for many years in Denny's River, and
it is probable that the lack of success that has thus far attended its trial on the Penobscot is
attributable to transient causes.

The salmon weir. — The most radical difference in the river weirs concerns the mode in which
the captured fish are removed. In the most common forms the fish are finally entrapped in an
inclosure of rather small size, provided with a board floor, upon which they are left by the
retreating tide, and upon which the fisherman comes and picks up his catch. Upon the Kenuebec
River there is in use a weir of which the " fish-pound" is a large iuclosure, with no floor but tho
bottom of the river, from which the fish are removed by means of a small seine operated from a
boat, which is pushed into the iuclosure. This is known as a " deep-water " weir, and as its use
is mostly or wholly confined to the Kenuebec River, where the shad is the main object of pursuit,
it will be described in connection with the remarks on shad. The kind first mentioned, which
may be called a " floored weir," will first receive description.

For an example of a typical floored weir we may take the Penobscot salmon weir. This
generally consists of a " leader " and three " pounds." The leader is a straight fence running out
from shore, generally at right angles with it, constructed of stakes driven firmly into the ground
2 or 3 feet apart, and woven with brush or, rarely, hung with nets. Its length varies according
to the natural features of the locality. It is always sought to place the pound in the channel, or,
in case that is not attainable, in as deep water as can practicably be i cached, generally from 10 to
20 feet at low water. In some cases broad " flats " intervene between the shore and the chosen
site for the pounds. In other cases the bottom slopes off steeply into the deep water and powerful
currents of the channel. The former may require a leader a third of a mile in length ; the latter
less than 50 feet. The outer end of the leader stands in the middle of the entrance to the outer
pound, dividing it into two parts, which occupy the base of the large, symmetrical, heart-shaped
figure formed by the walls of the iuclosure. The entrance (embracing both sides of the leader) is
about 22 feet wide ; the pound is about GO feet in extreme width and 60 feet in length. It is
generally built of brush, not rarely in whole or part of netting. It has no floor. At its apex it
opens by a narrow entrance into a smaller inclosure, the " second " pound, which has a floor above
low-water mark. The second pound is also heart-shaped, is 18 feet wide, is always made of
netting, or, as termed on the Penobscot. " inarliu." It leads by an entrance but 12 iuches wide
into an oval " fish-pound." This is also floored and built of the best and strongest netting.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAESTB. 681

Around the edge of the floor runs a single upright board, the "ribbon board," to which is attached
the lower edge of the " marlin," which is thus relieved from the force of the struggles of the fish
when they find themselves about to be stranded on the floor. The floor is of rough boards, and
the cracks between them are sufficient to allow the water to drain out freely. The entrances of
the second and fish pounds are tunnel-form, the sides standing to each other at an angle of about
80 or 90 degrees, and the outer entrance approaches the same form. The stakes employed in weir-
building are commonly of black spruce, an abundant tree in the fishing districts, which grows
straight, slender, and smooth, and affords strong" and elastic wood. The brush is oftenest alder
or white birch, but other kinds are also used. The netting is always of cotton, from the twine
described as " 18-thread, JNo. 20," with meshes 1J inches square, or what is known as a two-iuch-
and-a-half mesh," and tarred before being put to use. It is woven to accommodate the entire
height from the floor to extreme high-water mark. When a new piece is bought it is placed upon
the fish-pound, and the older pieces are used on the outer and second pounds, where they last
several years.

The ordinary sites selected for salmon weirs are on muddy bottoms, and the entire structure
even to the floors, is supported by stakes or posts thrust or driven into the ground by workmen
operating from a scow. The brush is woven in with the stakes above water and then pushed
down, one piece at a time, by a crotched pole or an iron implement made for the purpose. The
closeness of the work varies much, but it is not thought advisable to make a very close matting,
as that would hinder too much the passage of the currents through it and would render some
parts, especially of the outer pound, too dark. Where netting is applied, it is rarely put below
low- water mark, the lower parts being of brush. The substitution of net for brush appears to
have operated favorably by facilitating the passage of currents. The old-fashioned fish-pound,
woven of brush so close that fish could not escape, was a comparatively dark, stagnant inclosure,
and a very inefficient arrangement compared with the modern netted pound.

There are many variations from the typical weir above described, most of them of slight im-
portance. In some cases there are but two pounds; in others there are four. In ordinary sites
the pounds project, one beyond the other, into the river; but where the bottom slopes off too
steeply lor such an arrangement the series is produced parallel with the shore. In some districts
the entire bottom is too hard for staking, and the weirs are built in sections with timbered bottoms
in which the stakes are fixed, and which are towed to the proper place, sunk, and ballasted with
stone. On exposed shores it is sometimes necessary to support the principal parts against the
force of wind and waves by guy-ropes attached to heavy moorings. Instead of the shore the
outer extremity of a weir is sometimes made the base from which to start the leader of another
weir. On the Kennebec floored weirs are for the most part confined to shoal water, another form,
to be described below, being employed in deep water, and a slightly different nomenclature
prevails.

The cost of building a salmon weir with a long leader, all new, may be put at from $80 to
$100, including pay for the labor, which, however, is mostly performed by the proprietor. To keep
up the same weir, including necessary repairs, would cost from $50 to $80 per year.

The received theory of the operation of these weirs is that the migratory fishes, moving up or
down the river along the shore, are intercepted by the leader, and, in striving to pass it, fall into
the outer pound, which is of such form that, once within it, the fish rarely succeed in finding the
path by which they came, the curved sides, which they follow, leading them constantly past the
outer entrance and directly toward the second pound, which in turn conducts them to the fish
pound, the whole arrangement being based upon the propensity of fishes to move in straight lines

682 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

until turned aside by some obstruction. Its practical working proves the theory to be well
founded ; but some uncertainty exists as to the degree of perfection attained by the device and
the ratio of fish caught to those encountering the weir and escaping. The testimony of some close
observers indicates that a very considerable proportion of the salmon that are enticed into the
outer pond, and some even of those that reach the fish pound, find their way out again. Whether
there is utility in the two entrances, on the upper and lower sides of the leader, is also a matter
of doubt, as it is not known whether as a rule the fish enter the weir on the lower or the upper
side, whether with the flood or ebb tide.

The precise location of a weir for most effective work appears to receive less attention than
the importance of the subject demands; yet it would not be correct to say that the fishermen are
heedless in the matter. In nearly all the fishing districts since weir-fishing first began there have
been many experiments tried in the location of weirs, and those sites that paid best have been
selected and continuously occupied. The locations that have thus stood the test of experience are
strictly regarded by their owners, and many of the best weirs have been built in the same position,
with scarce the variation of a fathom, for a generation ; for all this, it is probable that a careful study
of the tides and currents and the influence upon their movements of the fish would lead to a change
of location for the better in many cases. The observations of some intelligent fishermen have led
them to the conclusion that the line of contact between a tidal current and an eddy is the place
where fish (especially salmon) are most likely to congregate, and that the nearer the entrance of
a weir can be brought to this line the greater will be its success, other things being equal. This
is not so easy a thing to do as might at first appear. The position of an eddy line varies with
the strength of the tides, the volume of the river, and the force and direction of the wind ; so that a
weir which is to-day in just the most favorable position may not be so again for a month. Sometimes
for a whole season the mean position of an eddy line may be some rods away from its normal
position. More generally recognized are the direct influences of the winds. Almost any fisherman
will say " such a wind is favorable for me, but with such another I catch nothing." In general,
it appears that a lee shore is better than a sheltered shore. Perhaps the wind influences solely by
roughening the surface of the water, which in nearly all kinds of fishing is a favorable circumstance.
Calms are universally unfavorable.

The pound net, or trap. — The pound net or " trap" (the ordinary term) in use on the Penobscot
consists of the " run," the " inner pound," and the " outer pound." The run is a straight net running
out into the water at right angles to the shore. It is 11 or 12 feet deep, and its length depends
somewhat on the character of the site; 25 fathoms is the common length, but in very "bold" water
18 or 20 fathoms will answer. At the extremity of the run is the inner pound, which is shaped like an
obtuse arrow-head, the two barbs being styled "hooks." The entrance of this inner pound, 6 feet
wide, is between the barbs or " hooks," and at its tip is an opening 1 foot wide, which leads into
the outer pound, an inclosure about 18 feet square. Both pounds have bottoms and are of the
same depth as the run, 11 or 12 feet. The whole is supported by^wooden floats, so that it rises and
falls with the tide, and is held in place by anchors planted at the extremities of long " warps."
The mesh employed is 6 or 6£ inches long, being 3 or 3£ inches square. This mesh is too small
to enmesh a 22-pound salmon and too large to catch one of 6 pounds. It is supposed that if small
salmon ever enter these nets they pass out through the meshes. The majority of the medium-sized
and large salmon do not mesh, but remain free in the pound, being too wary to strike the meshes.
The bottom of the net is commonly several fathoms above the ground ; and were not the salmon
that encounter its run persistent surface swimmers, they would dive under it and escape without
entering the pounds. The three parts first described constitute what the fishermen call a " hook

THE EIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 683

of nets." Sometimes from the outer extremity another rim is set with pounds at the end of it,
constituting another " hook of nets," ami this combination is called a " gang of nets." Sometimes
as many as four hooks are set in a single gang. The invention of this style of net is ascribed by the
fishermen to one "Halliday, an Englishman," with reference, doubtless, to the same Halliday who
introduced the use of netting or "marlin" on the weirs in the Peuobscot Eiver. The net in use
before the introduction of the present form of trap had only one pound, corresponding to the inner
pound. It was much inferior, as a great many salmon escaped by the entrance, which had to be
wide to induce them to enter at all, and in this way the very largest salmon were always lost, being
too large to mesh. Still farther back the pound was represented by a mere bend of the net at its
outer end, and this was also preceded by the simple straight gill-net which was in common use for
the capture of salmon in Penobscot River and Bay in the eighteenth and early part of the nine
teenth centuries. The improvements were very gradually made, and as late as 1850 fishing witL
nets with only the bend at the extremity was common. The trap is used only in Penobscot Bay,
and with the exception of a single net set in 1880 at Searsport, it is confined to the west side of
the bay below Belfast, and to Long Island.

CUBING AND MARKETING. — In the early days of the Maine salmon-fishery the bulk of the
catch was either salted down in barrels or smoked. For smoking, the salmon were prepared by
first splitting, removing the backbone, but leaving the head on, and salting for two or three days,
according to the size of the fish. When sufficiently salted they were washed off, spread by
applying thin braces of cedar or spruce across the back, and then hung up in the highest part of
a little domestic smoke house. Constant exposure to the smoke for two or three days completed
the process.

Salt salmon were to some extent consumed in local markets, but it appears that the greater
portion was sent out of the State.. Smoked salmon became early in the present century an article
of traffic with the larger sea-ports of other States. Many were shipped on vessels laden with lum-
ber and miscellaneous produce. Small vessels belonging in Southern New England used to visit
several of the larger rivers annually and load with pickled shad and smoked salmon, buying a
part of their salmon already smoked and smoking part themselves. This trade died out before
1850.

With the growth of the modern demand and the modern facilities for preservation and trans-
portation, the practice of marketing fresh increased, and for many years it has beeu exclusively
employed. For this purpose each fisherman has an ice-house and puts up a supply of ice every
winter. As soon as caught the salmon are placed on ice. The dealers have like facilities, and
in transportation the salmon are always packed in ice. There is a considerable local demand for
salmon in the cities and villages of Maine, but this is partly supplied from the rivers of New
Brunswick, and much the greater portion of those caught in Maine is shipped to Boston, where
most of them are retailed.

THE SHAD (OLTJPEA SAPIDISSEWA).

NATURAL HISTORY. — This is the common shad of the Atlantic rivers from the Saint Lawrence
to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the finest in quality of all those members of the herring family that
frequent fresh water, as it is of all the Clupeidae of North America. In Maine it attains a size of
12 pounds, but this is extremely rare, the average being not far from 3 pounds, and the ordinary
range from 2 to 5 pounds.

The shad is mainly a marine feeder, but it reproduces its kind exclusively in fresh water,
spending several weeks in the rivers for that purpose in May, June, and July. The earliest shad

684 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

are taken in the Kenuebec or tributaries during the last days of April, but the main run is in May
and June. Before the erection of mill-dams the shad ascended the Kennebec and tributaries to a
distance of 100 miles, and the Penobscot to a distance of 170 miles from the sea ; and it is probable
that their spawning grounds in those days were largely in the quiet stretches of river above the
influence of the tide. But in recent times their migrations have been restricted to the tidal por-
tions of both those rivers, as also of nearly all the rivers in the State, and their eggs are all laid
in water subject to the action of the tides, yet entirely free from salt. The earliest ripe spawn is
observed the last week in May. Spawning doubtless begins before June 1, but is mostly performed
in June, while the latest shad are not ready till July — possibly a few individuals not until August.
The poor and shrunken shad that have completed the work of spawning are first seen on their
return to the sea about June 20, and they are constantly met with through July. They begin to
feed before reaching the open sea, and recover a good deal of fat and flavor before disappearing.

The eggs of shad have a slightly greater specific gravity than water. Extruded into the open
waters, protected by their transparency, swayed hither and thither by the currents, they develop
with great rapidity, and in three or four days, according to the temperature of the water, give
birth to living fish. The young shad descend very shortly to sea.

Shad are believed to attain maturity in three or four years. A portion of the males have
active sexual functions when a little larger than an ale wife, and probably a year old. A more
numerous class of immature individuals feed about the bays and in the mouths of the rivers dur-
ing the summer later than the ascent of the main body of breeders. They are of smaller size,
tatter, more numerous, with sexual functions dormant. The fishermen call these •• sea shad," and
consider them quite distinct from the "river shad" or "spring shad," but there is abundant reason
to believe them merely the common shad at a particular stage of growth. They never ascend the
rivers so far as the spawning shad, rarely showing themselves in any great numbers above the
reach of brackish water. They frequent some salt bays entirely removed from fresh rivers; for
instance, the northeast branch of Oasco Bay, where fisheries for them have existed for many years,
and have sometimes been quite productive. But these localities are in the vicinity of the Ken-
nebec River, and I know of no instance of their occurrence at any great distance from a shad
river.

The original range of shad iu Maine included almost if not quite every river in the State; but
in the smaller rivers it does not appear from the scanty evidence attainable that they were ever
very plenty. From nearly the whole extent of some of the larger rivers they were excluded by
impassable falls, and from many of second size they were shut out by mill-dams at so early a date
that their former presence is attested only by a dim tradition. In short, there are only three
rivers in the State in which it is quite certain that there ever existed an important shad-fishery.
These are the Saint Croix, Penobscot, and Kennebec, and in the Kennebec alone has the fishery
continued to be of considerable importance to the present time, while in but three other rivers and
a few salt bays is there now any attempt to fish for shad.

MODES OF CAPTURE.— Shad are caught iu weirs, seines, drift-nets, and dip-nets.

Weirs. — The weir mainly employed at the present day for the capture of spring and summer
fish in the Kennebec River, in which shad are the most important fish taken, differs from the sal-
mon weir already described, in that the fish are not left by the retreating tide on a board floor,
but in a deep and spacious inclosure, from wnich they are taken with a seine. They have been
generally termed " deep-water " weirs, but, from the mode of operation, may be better styled
"seine-weirs." The seine-weir commonly consists of three pounds, denominated, " first pound" or
"pasture," " second " or " middle " pound, and "third" or "fish pound." The latter is an inclosnre

THE RIVBE FISHERIES OF MAINE. 685

of about 120 feet circumference, surrounded by a strong net running quite to bottom, its lower
edge being weighted down with a heavy chain. When the tide is out the water in this inclosure
is from 2 to 15 feet deep. It is " fished " about low water by sweeping it with a small seine,* and
hauling the fish into a boat. The method of construction is similar to the floored weir above
described, but more net and less brush is used. The net is of cotton twine from sixteen to.
twenty-four thread, meshes 2 to 2£ inches in extenso, is kept tarred (pine tar being preferred for
fresh water), and lasts several years. These weirs were introduced on the Kennebec about
1852, and have proved far more effective than the floored or "pocket" weirs that preceded them.
The most important advantages possessed by them appear to be the following : First, the fish can
enter the fish pound readily at all stages of tide and on a level with the bottom of the river;
second, the fish pound is more capacious; third, if fishing is omitted for a tide or two, the fish do
not die, but have plenty of water to swim in until next tide.

The floored weir, already described as a salmon-weir, was, early in the century, the instrument
of the capture of immense numbers of shad, along with alewives and salmon, in both the Kennebec
and Penobscot. At the present time they furnish all of the few shad taken on the Penobscot, and
many of them are still built for the mixed fishery of the lower Kennebec. Half-tide weirs, such
as are described in connection with the alewives, were also formerly much employed for the capture
of shad and alewives, especially on the Peuobscot, but with the diminution of the supply have
almost wholly gone out of use.

Seines. — A seine, in the common parlance, is a movable net by which fish are surrounded and
captured either by pursing up the bottom or drawing both seine and fish ashore. All the seines
employed in the river fisheries of Maine are of the latter class, and of a size requiring four men to
each seine. The ordinary method of operating is to coil the net on the stern of a large seine-boat,
from which it is "paid out" or "shot," as the boat is rowed out and back in a semi-circular
course. From each end of the seine lines run ashore by which it is "hauled." All fish within the
inclosed area are brought ashore except those small enough to slip through the meshes. Salmon,
shad, alewives, bass, perch, and sturgeon may all come in together. It is necessary to have a
smooth bottom and smooth shore, and be in close proximity to the channel where the fish run.
Nature has fitted but few seining grounds on Maine rivers, and most of the grounds that have
been used have been cleared up for the purpose, with a more or less considerable expenditure of
labor. In consequence of this lack of facilities seines have never been extensively used. On the
Kennebi'o and tributaries fourteen seining berths are enumerated as having been occupied in
former times, but nearly all of them are now abandoned. On other rivers seines have been still
less employed.

Drift-nets. — Drift nets were formerly largely employed for the capture of shad in all the rivers
frequented by them, especially the Penobscot and Kennebec. This was an important industry
down to 1840, or a little later, since which date it has entirely ceased in the Penobscot, and lost
nearly all its importance in the Kennebec. At the present time 50 drift nets are plied in Eastern
River, a branch of the Kennebec, and 66 more in the Kennebec and its other tributaries. In
Casco Bay there are 90 drift-nets in use, but only for a few nights each season. The shad drift-
nets of the present day are of about 4^-inch mesh, varying slightly in different localities. This
size is adapted to sea shad. In Casco Bay they are knit of fine linen twine, from thirty-five to
forty-five meshes deep and of various lengths, from 100 to 300 feet. When fishing in a broad

"The seine is a net fixed on two poles or "staves" at either end, with corks ;i1 top anil leads at bottom. By
means of a line running through rings around the bottom it is "pursed" or "tucked" after the ends are brought
together, and the fish are thus bagged.

686 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

channel a single boat will sometimes put out 3 of these nets joined together. At Georgetown, on
the lower Kennebec, they are 30 fathoms (180 feet) long and fifty -five meshes deep. In early times,
when the large river shad were alone taken, a much larger mesh was used, 5J inches being the rule
on the Penobscot. Drifting for shad is done only at night. In the rivers the ebb-tide is chosen,
but in Casco Bay the state of tide is considered a matter of indifference.

Dip-nets. — Before the original abundance of shad had been much affected by the operations of
man, productive dip-net fisheries for them existed at many points on the rivers where natural
obstructions existed, which were nevertheless not impassable. Among these stations may be
mentioned Waterville and Skowhegan Falls, on the Kennebec, and Salmon Falls, on the Saint
Croix. At the latter point there was in use, in 1825, " a large dip-net attached to a long swinging
pole like a well-pole. It was heavily leaded to make it sink in the swift water; it was then swung
round, and it was not at all uncommon to take two or three barrels of shad at a single dip
of the net."*

The only instance of a dip-net fishery for shad in recent times is in Nonsuch River, a very
small stream, not over 20 miles in extreme length, in the town of Scarborough. The nets here
used are about 9 feet deep and hung on wooden bows, 3 to 5 feet in diameter, with a long and
heavy pole. When in use the bow rests on the bottom of the stream in the middle of the channel,
which is very narrow, and the pole is supported by a crotched stake planted on the bank. The
stake serves as a fulcrum on which to lift the net out of the water when the striking of a
fish is felt.

METHODS OF CUEING- SHAD. — Three-quarters of all the shad now caught in Maine are
marketed fresh. The rest are pickled. The proportion pickled has been constantly diminishing
since about 1840 or 1845, at which date it embraced substantially the entire catch of the Kennebec
and other shad rivers beyond those used in the local markets.

PROCESS OF PICKLING. — The inspection laws of Maine require pickled shad to be assorted in
three grades, denominated " mess," " No. 1," and " No. 2." For the highest grade the fish is opened
along the belly, the entrails removed, the body split so as to lay it out flat on its back, and the
anterior two-thirds of the backbone cut out. As fast as dressed the fish are thrown into a tub
with water, from which they are shortly removed to another tub of clean water (either fresh or sea
water) in which they are laid, flesh side down, to facilitate the escape of blood. After lying here
about two hours and being swashed about to wash off the blood and gurry, they are salted down
in a hogshead tub to " strike." They are first thrown upon salt in a shallow box, rubbed in it, and,
with the salt sticking to them, are placed in the tub flesh side up. If the crew is working fast and
there is any danger of not getting on salt enough, more is thrown on as the filling progresses.
There is no danger of getting too much salt. The " striking" takes one bushel to a hundred fish.
The length of time required for this process depends upon the weather. If warm, three days is
enough ; if cool, four to six days may be necessary. If necessary the shad may be left in the
striking-tub a month without harm. They are packed 4 inches above the top of the tub, but as
the pickle makes they settle down to 1 inch below the top. As soon as they reach a certain
point in the process of striking, commonly in two or three days, the fish rise in the pickle. The
upper layer is then turned flesh side down, two or three quarts of salt spread on top and a mod-
erate weight put on, just enough to keep them under the pickle. When the striking is completed
the salt is rinsed off in the pickle, and 200 pounds of fish are weighed off for a barrel. As they are
placed in the barrel salt is thrown on occasionally, half a bushel being thus employed for a barrel.

•Perley'B Report on Sea and River Fisheries of New Brans wick, 1852, p. 125.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 687

A convenient quantity of pickle is now poured in, the barrel is headed up, and then completely
filled with pickle through the buughole. The pickle used is the same in which the fish were
struck.*

No. 1 differ from the mess shad merely in having the backbone in and the tails on. The third
grade, No. 2, embraces thin and poor fish, but these, as well as the two higher grades, must be
well preserved. An inspector must attend as the fish are packed and see that it is properly done.
His brand is placed upon the head of the barrel, and if any purchaser finds the fish of inferior
quality or in bad condition he can recover damages of the inspector.

It takes nowadays from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty Kennebec Eiver
shad to make a barrel of mess. Previous to 1820 it took but ninety shad to the barrel. From
1820 to 1840 one could rely upon one hundred shad filling a barrel. After that there was a decline
in size until one hundred and thirty were required to the barrel, which was the rate for some years
previous to 1880. In the latter year, however, there has been an improvement in size, and one
hundred and twenty are now sufficient.! The sea shad are much smaller. Of those caught in
Casco Bay a barrel will hold one hundred and seventy-five. One informant estimated the number
in a barrel in 1853 at one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty, showing that these fish as
well as the river shad have deteriorated in size.

The barrels now in use are almost wholly of spruce staves and pine heads, bound with twelve
hoops, which are commonly of white ash. The law allows the use of white oak, white ash, pine,
chestnut, and poplar for staves, and prior to 1850 pine was generally employed. Both Cadiz and
Liverpool salt are in use. One experienced packer prefers to strike shad in Liverpool salt and use
Cadiz in the barrel, considering the latter of superior strength, but the former better adapted to
striking because finer.

The price obtained for salt shad varies ordinarily from $9 to $11, but as extremes may be
mentioned $6 and $16.33 per barrel. The latter price was obtained for some lots at Richmond in
1867 or about that time. The high price combines with other circumstances to forbid the consump
tion of many salt shad at home. They are cousequeutly nearly all shipped out of the State. For
about twenty-five years previous to 1867 almost the entire catch went into the hands of a single
firm in Boston, but since that date a considerable portion is shipped direct to Philadelphia,
which market is reputed to ultimately absorb most of those sent to Boston and other points. At
present this business is of little importance, but 384 barrels of shad haviug been packed in Maine
in 1880. As an illustration of the decline in recent years may be adduced the statement that at
Dresden as late as 1860 to 1865 there were packed from 200 to 400 barrels yearly, against 75
barrels in 1880.

THE ALEWIFE (CLUPEA VEENALIS).

NATURAL HISTORY. — The range of this species is from Florida to Newfoundland. In Maine
it has a more gregarious character than any other river fish. It pushes up the rivers in dense
bodies, which appear to seek unerringly each their native lakes, and the young descend to sea in
solid columns. Before the obstruction of the streams by far the greater part of the alewives
deposited their spawn in lakes and ponds. No stream seems to be too small for them if its
waters are derived from a pond, and there can have been hardly an accessible pond in the whole
State they did not visit. The inaccessible waters were those rendered so by the interposition of
insurmountable falls or too great a distance from the sea. They are known to have ascended the

* Statement of \V. W. Walker of Dresden. In other districts there may be some difference in the details.
t Statement of John Brown, W. W. Walker, and others.

688 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

SebastLook, a branch of the Kennebec, to Newport, 100 miles from the sea, in great numbers,
and on another branch, the Sandy River, tradition says that they bred in Temple Pond, about
120 miles from the sea. It is not probable that their migrations were more extensive than this in
any part of the State, except on the east branch of the Penobscot, where tradition says they
reached a point nearly 200 miles from the sea.

The main body of the alewives enter the rivers late in May ; some rivers not until June.
They move almost exclusively by daylight and especially in bright sunny weather. An unusual
flow of water deters them from entering a stream. They are very courageous in the passage of
falls, venturing into very small channels that promise to lead them past obstructions, and often
forcing their way up inclined planes where the depth of water is not enough to cover their bodies.
After spawning, the old fish soon return to sea, and the young follow them between July and
September, when from 2 to 4 inches in length. The time that they require to attain maturity is
estimated at three or four years. They do not appear to ascend the rivers more than once in a
lifetime for any other purpose than to spawn.

The alewives frequenting the same breeding place are remarkably uniform in size and appear-
ance, but between those of different streams there are remarkable differences, mainly in the matter
of size. Among the largest are those of the Kennebec, of which three hundred and fifty will fill a
barrel, while of the Damariscotta alewives a barrel holds four hundred and twenty five, aud of the
Brooksville alewives seven hundred and fifty. The latter are the smallest known, but are very
good fish.

There is another species (Clupea (sstivalis) that is sometimes confounded with the alewife,
though nearly all fishermen recognize it as distinct. It enters the mouths of the rivers several
weeks later than the true alewife, does not appear to breed in fresh water, is of slightly different
shape, smaller, of finer quality, but on account of excessive fatness is cured with difficulty aud
generally treated as refuse, to be employed as bait or as a fertilizer for the soil.

The ovaries of a Maine alewife contain about 165,000 eggs. With this high degree of fertility
they combine a considerable degree of hardiness in both adult and young compared with other
members of their family, and to these characteristics we may attribute the fact that they increase
with remarkable certainty and at a rapid rate when afforded even ordinary facilities. The placing
of a few hundred adults in a pond at the season of their ascent is surely followed by the descent
of a throng of young a few weeks later, and the return of a considerable body of mature fish
after the lapse of three or four years. It is doubtful whether there is another among our whole
list of fish that will so well repay efforts at cultivation.

MODES OF CAPTURE. — Alewives are caught in weirs, seines, drift-nets, set-nets, and dip-nets.
The weirs do not differ essentially from those already described as built for the capture of salmon
and shad, along with which the alewives are taken in such waters as are frequented by those
species. This method is in use in the tidal part of every river where alewives abound. The seines
are the same as the shad-seines already described. They have recently almost wholly gone out
of use, but are plied in a few localities, among which may be mentioned the lower part of Darn-
ariscotta River. Drift-nets, with a mesh of 2£ inches, have been employed for catching alewives
down to recent times in the Kennebec River, but have now been abandoned. They were cast
from a boat at night, the banks of the channel just outside of the weirs being considered the best
ground. There has never been a time when many alewives were taken in this way, aud they
are not known to have been so taken in any other river. Set-nets have been used only in a few
localities and to a verv limited extent.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 689

The dip-iiet fisheries for alewives are next iu importance to the weir fisheries. It is by this
method that the alewives are taken at Damariscotta Mills, Warren, East Machias, and Dennys-
ville. The dip-net is a very economical piece of apparatus, and requires no very expensive fixtures,
but for its effective use it is essential that all the alewives shall be compelled to pass a narrow or
difficult place within reach of the nets. This only happens in rivers where their spawning grounds
lie above tide-water, aud where obstructions, natural or artificial, exist.

The form and construction of the dip-net vary considerably in different localities. Those found
of late in use at Damariscotta and Warren have~wo~oden bows bent into an oval form 2 feet wide
aud seized on to wooden handles, the bag being knit of coarse cotton twine aud hung about 3 feet
deep; they are plied in narrow basins or artificial iuclosures which the fish are allowed to enter.
At East Machias, where the fish are dipped directly from the open river, they use larger nets 5
feet deep, hung on a steel bow 3£ feet in diameter, at the end of a pole from 10 to 17 feet long.
Platforms are erected at points most convenient for dipping; generally along-side a pool just
below an obstruction, where the fish congregate. It is necessary that the water be swift and
somewhat broken, otherwise the fish will dodge the net. Upon the platform are also the tubs or bins
into which the fish are thrown as they are dipped. These fisheries are operated almost wholly
in the afternoons of pleasant days. In cloudy weather the alewives are very backward about
attempting the ascent past difficult places, and at night they invariably fall back into quiet pools,
where they lie uutil the next day is well advanced. The run of fish lasts about a month, but the
most of the catch is often effected during a single week at the height of the season.

The alewife fisheries have in numerous instances been from an early day held as municipal
property by the towns in which they are located. They have been generally, if not always,
appropriated in accordance with an enabling act of the legislature, which describes in detail the
way in which they shall be managed. In some cases, the towns are to choose "fish committees,"
who shall capture the fish, personally or by proxy; in other cases the privilege of taking them is
to be sold at auction to the highest bidder, but in either case it is generally provided that citizens
of the town shall be allowed to buy limited quantities of fish at a fixed price, and certain poor
people are supplied gratis. If there is a surplus the committee or the lessee can dispose of them
as they see fit. These .town fisheries in most cases nominally include also salmon and shad, but
on the small rivers both of those species have long since been practically exterminated.

UTILIZATION. — Alewives are used as bait for deep-sea fisheries to a small extent, but by far
the greater part are used as food for man. The prevailing methods of curing, are, first to salt
and smoke them, second, to pickle and afterwards pack them in" barrels. The former method is
generally regarded as more profitable for fishermen who are able to retail the products of their
fisheries, and is therefore most employed by them, each man having a little smoke house of his
own. Where great quantities are taken by one party, as by the lessees of the Damariscotta fish-
eries, they are barreled and sent to the wholesale markets. On the Keuuebec, about seven-eighths
of the alewives caught are smoked and consumed locally, and smoking has been the prevalent
mode of curing for many years. On the Peuobscot, at Bucksport, previous to 1830, the most of
the alewives were pickled, but the practice of smoking came into general use shortly after that
date and has for many years entirely supplanted pickling.

For smoking, alewives are first prepared by salting lightly in a large tub, without scaling or
any other dressing ; they are treated with about 8 quarts of salt to a barrel of fish. Some add 2
ounces of saltpeter. In three days the fish are sufficiently "struck," and they are then, after
rinsing in clean water, impaled on straight sticks of split cedar or spruce, which are thrust through
the gills, ten on a stick (formerly twelve), and hung up in the smoke house. On the ground beneath
SEC. v 44

690 DISTORT AND METHODS OF THE1 FISHERIES.

them a fire is made, generally of hard wood and smothered with saw-dust. After four to six days
in the smoke-house, during which they may be actually exposed to smoke less than half the time,
they are ready for sale. This is an outline of the practice of a Keimebec fisherman. The practice
of individuals varies not a little, and the finished product is of many grades of excellence or inferi-
ority. They are most palatable when lightly salted and smoked, but in that condition caniiot be
kept long. Selling at 40 to 80 cents per 100 and retailing at a cent apiece, they form a cheap and
toothsome article of food, much sought for in all parts of the State.

For barreling, ale wives are " struck" with 1£ bushels of salt to the barrel, without dressing or
scaling, and after lying from four to six days they are packed closely in barrels with half a bushel
or more of new salt per barrel, and filled up with sweet and strong pickle. Alewives keep better
in pickle than other fish, and are therefore exceptionally well fitted for exportation to warm cli-
mates. Great quantities of them are exported to the West Indies and other warm countries.
The practice of packing them without pickle has prevailed at times in some localities.

THE SMELT (OSMEEtIS MORDAX).

NATURAL HISTORY. — The smelt ascends the rivers for the double purpose of feeding and of
depositing its spawu. On the eastern part of the coast it may be caught with hook and line in
the harbors all through the summer season ; farther west it is not to be caught until September
or October, being probably a short distance off shore. In October it begins its advance all along
the line, and as soon as the law permits (now October 1} the fishermen begin to set their fykes and
bag-nets and ply their seines in the mouths of the rivers. With the first strong ice in December
the fish are found already present in the fresh tidal parts of the rivers, and during the whole of
the winter there are smelts to be found everywhere from the mouths of the rivers to the head <>!'
the tide. The smelt is a ravenous feeder at all times of the year except about the spawning time.
At Robbinston it begins to take the hook about May 1, and continues to bite through the summer,
autumn, and winter.

The spawning time is in April and May; a week or two after the ice leaves the river. 1'lie
nomcqa observed indicate that it is extended through the greater part of both months. In several
brooks in Bucksport the smelt spawns from May 20 to 25, but in certain brooks in Dear Isle just
a month earlier. The eggs are adhesive, and stones, sticks, weeds, and any rubbish furnish recep-
tacles. Sometimes they are deposited on the stony or weedy bottom of a tidal river, either in fresh
or brackish water, and sometimes in the pure, fresh water of small brooks.

Owing probably to over-fishing, the smelts now caught are in most rivers much smaller than
formerly. Those of the Saco are nearly or quite the largest in the State ; they are said to weigh
from 2 pounds to 2| pounds per dozen (five or six fish to the pound). Those taken in New Meadows
River in weirs and seines count fourteen to the pound ; those taken by hook in the Keuuebec at
Gardiner sixteen to the pound. The smallest marketed (but not the smallest caught) from Bucks-
port are adults 6 inches long and weigh about 1 ounce ; among the larger specimens are some
weighing 4 ounces and measuring 8 to 9 inches in length.

MODES OF CAPTURE. — The modes of catching smelts now or formerly employed in Maine
comprehend the use of weirs, seines, bag-nets, gill-nets, dip-nets, and hook and line. All of these
modes are in use at the present time except gill-nets.

Weirs. — The weirs used for smelts are generally " half-tide" weirs. They are built sometimes
in a narrow cove, which they completely span, and sometimes at the head of a broad and shallow
bay, where they receive the form of a tunnel with the apex pointing outward. At high water the
smelts pass freely over them into the bay or river, but on the ebb-tide are intercepted by the spread-

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 691

ing wings of the tunnel and fall into the pounds at the apex. Such weirs are employed in the
Kennebec, Sheepscot, Piscataqua, and Casco Bay. They are generally erected in early autumn and
kept in operation until broken down by the ice of winter.

Seines. — Seines are but little used, and only in the vicinity of Brunswick and Harpswell.
They are small affairs, 15 to 20 fathoms long, and of 1-iuch mesh, and are used in narrow creeks
and coves from October to December, and occasionally in the spring.

Bag-nets. — The bag-net fishery for smelts is- of considerable importance, a larger aggregate
quantity being caught this way than by any other method except hook and line. Its principal
seats are the Keunebec and Penobscot Rivers, but it is also carried on in the Wescongus, Har-
rington, and Tunk Rivers to a small extent.

The bag-nets used in different localities vary some, but those of the Penobscot may be taken
as the type, and will be described in detail. These nets are plain bags, knit of strong cotton twine,
of 1^-inch mesh. The mouth of the net is rectangular, 25 or 30 feet wide and from 12 to 18 feet
deep. The "trail" or length of the bag is 30 or 35 feet. The bottom and top commonly taper
toward the trail to half their width at the mouth, and the sides taper to a point. The fixtures to
which this net is attached and the mode of attachment vary according to circumstances, the fishing
being pursued sometimes in the open water, sometimes in the spaces between the piers of a bridge,
and sometimes beneath the ice.

For an open-water fishery the bag-net is hung upon a rectangular wooden frame a little larger
than the mouth of the net, to the corners of which are attached four guys, running to a slightly
buoyant log of wood, which, in its turn, is chained to a heavy stone, dropped to the bottom of the
river. Thus anchored the net swings freely in the tide, but with a current of moderate strength
it is pressed down until the bottom of the frame rests on the bed of the river. The attachment of
the net to the frame is by means of large rings, which slide freely up and down on the upright
sides of the frame. Ropes passing over pulleys at the top and bottom serve to open the net and
draw it down to its place in the frame, or to close its mouth and draw it up, while the same lines
running to the surface and suspended by small buoys mark the place of the net, and enable the
fisherman, working from his boat, to draw it up. In some districts this frame is called a
" wrinkle."

If ice covers the fishing grounds a very different arrangement must be resorted to. A narrow
hole, as long as the net is wide, is cut in the ice at right angles with the current, and at either end
of it is planted, upright, a stout pole something over 40 feet in length, running down 35 feet, more
or less, into the water, and secured in position by guys attached to both top and bottom, and
anchored in the ice. Ropes running through blocks draw the net down to its place at the bottom •
of the poles, or draw it up through the ice to be emptied of its fish. The whole arrangement rises
and falls with the tide. The net is therefore, when set, at a constant depth beneath the ice, and
at a varying height above the bottom of the river. Nearly the same arrangement is employed at
a bridge as at Bucksport, but in this case the fixtures are attached to the bridge, and the net is
at: all times, when fishing, close to the bottom.

The bag-net, whether used on a frame in open water, beneath the ice, or at a bridge, is drawn
entirely out of the water to secure the fish. It is made fast to the standing fixtures securely, but
so as to be easily cast off and taken ashore. The fishing is done both by day and night, but, in
general, the night tides are by far the most productive. Flood tide is at Verona bridge much
more productive than ebb-tide, but at Sparks's Point, 3 miles below, a frame fishery finds the
opposite to be true. Spring tides are more favorable than neap tides.

692 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Fykes.— Fykes are double bag-nets, the large open-mouthed net in front leading by a narrow
opening at its apex into a smaller one, termed the "pocket," from which, as from a weir, fish
escape with difficulty. The fish are taken out by drawing up the " pocket," through a separate
hole in the ice, and unlacing an opening at the bottom, the main part of the fyke remaining under
water for weeks or mouths. The fyke has beeu used in various parts of the State, but does not
appear to have given entire satisfaction. There is complaint of its being more difficult to clear ot
rubbish, anchor ice, &c., than the plain bag-net, which has in some cases superseded it.

The various forms of bag-nets have been iu use on the Kenuebec since 1852, and in the
Penobscot for a shorter period.

Gill-nets. — The only form of gill-net known to have been used for the capture of smelts iu
Maine was in use iu the Kennebec before the introduction of bag-nets. It was a smal! affair,
stretched on a frame about C feet square, and set through a hole in the ice. A great many of
these were used in su^all tributaries of Merrymeetiug Bay, and were quite effective while smelts
were plenty and large.

Dip-nets.— Dip-nets are only used iu the spring, in brooks where the smelts spawn, or at points
\v here their ascent of the rivers is obstructed. The product of this fishery is of small amount, and
contributes very little to the supply of the markets.

Hook and lint. — The hook and line fishery has always been the most important mode of taking
smelts, whether we regard the gross product or the number of persons employed, though when
it is brought into direct competition with bag-net fishing on the same ground, it is found less
productive. Smelts can be taken with hook and line during the autumn months, but it is not
until winter that any considerable numbers are thus taken. As soon as the ice forms on brackish
and fresh tidal waters the line fishermen begin to ply their vocation. Through December and
January the work is generally brisk, but in February the catch begins to slacken, and very few
fishermen continue their efforts in March. Smelts can be caught through the ice as far up the
fresh rivers as they ascend, but the most productive fisheries are located on brackish estuaries
and bays, as Nequasset Bay in Woolwich, Damariscotta Bay, theMedomak River in Waldoborough,
and Bagaduce River in Brooksville.

The outfit of a hook fisherman for smelts formerly embraced only a hook and line, an ax or
ice-chisel for cutting holes, and perhaps a pail for bait and a few boughs to stand on. A thrifty
fisherman would, after finding a good location, protect himself from the cold winds by means of a
clump of evergreen bushes, and a progressive development iu the direction of comfort produced
finally the present smelt fisher's house with its dry board floor and stove.

In the Damariscotta fishery (which has been selected for description as representing the
prevailing style), the smelt houses were at first built of heavy boards, then with wooden frames
and walls of clapboards, and finally a few years ago other coverings gave place generally to cloth.
They are commonly 5 feet long and 4 wide, cost about $5 all complete, with stove, and can be
easily moved about on a hand-sled. Each house is occupied by one man, who uses two lines with
one hook, or sometimes two, on each line. The lines are of cotton, either plain or laid in oil, and
Kinsey hooks, Nos. 13 to 16 are used. For bait they employ generally pieces of marsh minnows,
which are caught in the fall and kept alive until used. When minnows cannot be had they cut up
smelts for bait. In old times the fishing was always in shoal water, but it is now found that the
smelts can be taken in water of any depth from 2 to 20 feet and on either ebb or flood tide. The
fishermen do not agree as to what part of the bay is best nor do the smelts appear to be constant
in frequenting any particular spots ; in searching for them the houses move about a great deal,
ofteu changing location several times a day.

THE EIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 093

In other localities experience and practice vary a little from those of Damariscotta. At
Woolwich they use clam-worms for bait; at Waldoborough, clam- worms, smelts, eels, fresh beef,
and minnows. • At Saco there are more ambitious houses, 6 feet long and nearly as wide, with
walls, 5 feet 9 inches high, and costing $17 to $20; in such a house a man uses six lines made
fast to a bar overhead and dropping through a hole G feet long ; fishing mainly at night, he places
a kerosene lamp with a white paper shade, at each end of the hole to attract the smelts, and in
one corner stands a coal stove.

The hook fishery is pursued by people of many-digereut callings, who find a lack of employment
in the winter — farmers, laborers, and mechanics of various trades, comparatively few of whom are
engaged in fishing at other seasons. Some of them are strictly amateurs and catch merely for
their own tables; many others dispose of their surplus in the local markets, but a very large
number follow the occupation steadily and send their fish to distant markets, mainly Boston and
New York. Altogether there is no branch of the river fisheries that contributes so much to the
comfort and well-being of the local population as thi.s.

MARKETING SMELTS. — Smelts are all marketed and consumed fresh. It is the common
practice to freeze them, and then forward to market in boxes and barrels. It has been recently
discovered that a partial freezing, leaving the fish flexible, is a better preparation for transportation
than freezing them stiff; besides, a much larger quantity of the flexible smelts can l:e put into a
barrel or a box of given dimensions. It is also a recent discovery that without freezing smelts can
IK- shipped to Boston or New York in a tight fish barrel filled with iced water, a large lump of ice
being placed in the middle. This is a very satisfactory method to the dealers, the fish opening in
fine condition with a very fresh appearance and meeting with a ready sale ; but it involves the
transport of a great deal of water and ice, and for that reason is not much employed except in
time of warm weather when freezing cannot be effected, and dry j.acking is not safe.

Probably the quantity of smelts consumed in Maine does not exceed 10 per cent, of the total
catch. Of the remainder nearly all find a market in Boston and New York, the latter taking
more than half. Thus, of 254,000 pounds shipped to those two points from Bath, Woolwich,
Waldoborough, Warren, and Thomaston, 138,000 pounds went to New York, and 116,000 pounds
to Boston.

STRIPED BASS (ROCCUS LINEATUS.)

NATURAL HISTORY. — The data for a complete account of the natural history of this species
do not exist, and as there is a special lack of knowledge of its life in Maine rivers, the present
notice will properly be very brief. The bass is found in substantially all the brackish waters of
the State, and ascend the rivers a short distance at various seasons of the year. On the Keunebec
it used to ascend the main river as far as Waterville, and the Sebasticook a short distance above
its mouth ; but since the building of the dam at Augusta that place has been the limit of its migra-
tion. The principal run is in the month of June, at which time it feeds greedily, apparently
ascending the rivers for'that purpose. It continues to feed in weedy coves and bays till Novem-
ber. In the winter great numbers of young, 2 or 3 inches long, are found in the rivers, and many
of them fall into the bag nets and are captured along with smelts and torn-cods. Larger indi-
viduals appear in many cases to retreat to quiet bays and coves of fresh water in the lower parts
of the rivers, and pass the winter in a state of semi-hibernation.

There are some facts that favor the view that bass spawn in' the rivers. For instance, a male
with ripe milt has been, observed on the Kenuebec as far up as Augusta about the 1st of July. The
fishermen of Merrymeetiug Bay think that tbe.y spawn in the summer, because they are to be found

694 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

t here in June full of spawn, which is not, however, found ripe during the shad-fishing season, which
extends sometimes into July ; while in the fall they contain no spawn unless in the very first stages
of growth. Bass sometimes attain a great si/e in Maine, though they do not appear to average so
large as farther south. The largest reported, weighing 100£ pounds, is said to have been taken
some years ago in Middle Bay, an arm of Casco Bay, and specimens of over 50 pounds in weight are
not very rare, * yet the average weight of all caught is probably less than 5 pounds. Those caught
in the weirs will hardly exceed 2 pounds. Those taken in gill-nets under the ice at Sheepscot
Bridge weigh from 3 to 12 pounds, rarely 30 to 40.

MODES OF CAPTURE.— Bass of marketable size are caught in the spring weirs, but to no great
extent at the present time. The fishermen say that they are difficult to catch, being cunning
enough to find their way out of the weirs. Four methods appear to have been specially employed
for their capture : (1) Dip-nets, set under the ice. (2) Stop-nets, set in summerand autumn across
the mouths of coves. (3) Gill-nets. (4) Hook and line.

Dip-nets. — These were used many years ago in the mouth of Eastern River, Dresden, specially
for bass. They were plain bags, 7 or 8 feet wide at the mouth, hung on a semicircular bow
at the end of a large pole which was held in the hand, and were operated by pushing down
through holes in the ice and resting on the bottom. As soon as a bass struck the net it was im-
mediately pulled out. This fishing was done in the edge of the evening on the "dark" of the moon.
As many as sixty nets were counted at one time fishing at that place. This fishery was discon-
tinued in consequence of scarcity of bass, about 1850. in Winuegance Creek, just below the city
of Bath, one winter a man who was spearing eels in the mud took, by accident, a bass. Nets were
immediately brought into use and ''tons and tons" of bass taken out.t

Stop-nets. — The " stopping" of coves is a modern method. At high water a stout net, generally
12 feet deep and of 2^ to 3 inches mesh is stretched at high-water directly across the mouth of a
cove, and kept in place until low water. Bass doubtless frequent such places for the purpose of
feeding. They move very quietly and close to the bottom, and their presence is not easily ascer-
tained till the tide has left them. This method of fishing, therefore, proceeds entirely at random
as to the presence of the prey. Sometimes it is entirely unsuccessful, and at other times great
hauls are made. It was first practiced f by Thomas Spinney and John Marr, of Georgetown, who
made their first attempt with salmon nets at Treble's flats, opposite Bath, somewhere between
1844 and 1848. On that occasion they took out 11,000 pounds of bass, and during that year
shipped 52,000 pounds to New York. Another instance of a successful haul occurred at Butler's
Cove, an arm of Merrymeeting Bay, one autumn about 1850, on which occasion fifteen cart-loads
of bass were secured. Eighty-five barrels of them were sent to New Orleans and sold for $8 per
barrel. This method of fishing is employed irregularly, and no one appears to have been engaged
in it in 1880.

Gill-nets. — These are used, among other places, in Sheepscot and Dyer's Rivers, above Sheep
scot Bridge, in the winter, under the ice. The nets used at this place are commonly 35 feet long,
12 to 15 feet deep, and of a 4 inch mesh, furnished with ordinary floats and very heavy sinkers,
costing, complete, about $4. In operating, a narrow opening is cut through the ice across the
channel (whose width is about equal to the length of the nets, though quite deep), and the nets

"Mr. M. B. Spinney, of Georgetown, who has made a business of fishing for bass with stop-nets, says that ho once
took a bass of S'J pounds, and another, which, after dressing, weighed 6&J- pounds, equivalent, ho thinks to over 90
pounds live weight, and of specimens that exceeded 50 pounds he has taken hundreds. Mr. S. is also the authority for
the capture of the bass weighing 100^ pounds.

t Statement, of John Brown.

l.Sliiti-im'iit cil'M. ]{. Spinney.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 695

set iii without any frame. The tide is so strong that the nets can only be drawn out when it is
rather slack ; so they are drawn only at high and low water, and kept in place all the rest of the
time. This method has also been in use at some points 011 the Kenuebec River, and indeed is
probably a very ancient method.

Hook and line. — The hook and line fishing for bass is practiced as a pastime at a few points,
especially near obstructions at the head of the tide, as at Augusta, on the Kennebec.

MODES OF CUEING. — The only mode of curing bass employed in Maioe is salting in barrels.
Some parties once dried a large lot of them in Oaseo-Bay, but they are said to have been too fat to
keep, and all were lost. With the exception of an occasional large haul all the bass are now
marketed fresh.

HISTORICAL NOTES. — Bass were undoubtedly quite plenty in early times in most of the rivers
west of the Peuobscot. In the latter river the old fishermen speak of them as having been
" plenty," but the degree of abundance was by no means equal to that existing in the Kenuebec,
and at no time has this species been marketed in any considerable numbers from the Penobscot or
any river farther east. In the west they were early subjects of legislation, indicating not only
that they were plenty enough to be thought worthy of attention, but also that there was an
actual or apprehended diminution of their numbers. The preamble to au act of the New Hamp-
shire legislature " to preserve the fish in Piscataqua River," recites that the fishing for bass and
bluetish* iu winter " hath almost destroyed the bass and bluefish in said river." In 1800 the
legislature of Massachusetts passed au act " for the preservation of fish called bass iu Dunstan
River in Scarborough, iu the county of Cumberland." On the Kennebec at Abagadasset Point, as
late as 1830, bass were so plenty that the fishermen were troubled to dispose of those taken in the
weirs. A single weir has been known to take 1,000 pounds at one tide. There was no demand
for them. Sometimes hired men would take them in pay. When plentiest they were given away.
Mr. John Brown says that about the time of their first diminution he obtained a contract with
General Millay, the keeper of the Bowdoinham town poor, to furnish 1,600 pounds of bass at
three-quarters of a cent per pound, but the fish were not plenty that year and he caught only 800
pounds. The extent of the diminution is illustrated by comparing the above statement with the
statistics representing the present condition of the bass fishery. The total catch of twenty-two
weirs on and about Abagadasset Point in 1880 was but 3,510 pounds ; the Keunebec River yielded
a total of 12,760 pounds, and the entire State 26,760 pounds.

THE EEL (ANGUILLA EOSTRATA).

NATURAL HISTORY. — The common eel is found all along the coast of Maine and in all the
rivers accessible from the sea, as well as in some fresh waters which would appear to be absolutely
inaccessible in their present condition.! In waters communicating with the sea the young eels
move up-stream iu early summer to the fresh water of lakes and streams, where they feed and
grow. At the beginning of this migration the young eels are very small. In the month of July
they can be found 4 or 5 inches long climbing dams at the head of tide waters. They are able to
crawl many feet up a perpendicular wall down which the thinnest sheet of water is trickling, and
it is probable that they pass many dams that are insuperable to all other fishes, and thus reach
some waters very remote from the sea. The adult females, or a portion of them, are found

* The term " bluefish" must refer to some other than the marine species now known by that name.
tThis is still debatable ground, some observers maintaining that all eels, however remote from the sea they may
bo found, reached their abode by ascending the rivers.

696 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

descending the rivers to the sea iii the autumn very large and full of spawn. In winter eels are
found bedded in mud at the bottoms of rivers and bays in fresh, brackish, or wholly salt water.
In some cases they leave the saltwater in autumn and push up into fresh-water streams, even
into very small brooks, and there pass the winter in the mud.

Observations made in other countries indicate the probability of these conclusions : that the
female eel alone ascends the rivers, the males staying behind in the salt water; that the females
when mature always go down to sea and pass out beyond the reach of observation, where they
are joined by the males, and lay their eggs early in winter ; that after spawning once the females
die. Unlike the salmon, shad, and alewife, the eel is a predatory fish while in fresh water, greedily
devouring all animal substances. At the beginning of their seaward migration, however, the
females cease to eat.

METHODS OF CAPTURE. — Eels are taken with spears, in traps and pots set for the most part
in tidal rivers, and in weirs built across the streams that they descend in the autumn.

Weirs. — An eel-weir has much the form of a smelt-weir, two wings running out from the
opposite shores of the stream obliquely downward and converging to form a tunnel; at the apex
is a long narrow spout leading into a box from which the eels cannot escape. Rough weirs are
occasionally made of brush and stakes, but the most efficient have the wings constructed of sawed
slats combined in racks, which, when in place, rest on a close piling, affording the eels not the
slightest opening for escape, and effectually preventing their undermining the structure. The
best specimen of an eel weir, and indeed the only systematically conducted fishery of the sort that
has come under the writer's observation, is found ou the Cobbosseccontee stream, at Gardiner, on
the Kennebec. Mr. T. 3. Spear, the proprietor, has extended his operations to the collection of
young eels as they enter the river iii summer and their transfer to the waters above.

Ilel-traps. — An f el trap, known only among the fishermen of the lower Kennebec, is a dimin-
utive eel-weir, planted ou the flats in a favorable position to intercept eels in their movements
along the shores. They are generally set so as to make captures on the ebb tide. When the trap
was first invented, about the year 1875, it was set with a view to taking eels as they descend in
the spring, from their winter bedding places in the mud of fresh -water marshes on the small brooks
near tide water, and the most of the traps are still constructed so as to take eels descending with
the ebbtide; but experiment has demonstrated that they can be successfully caught with the
arrangement reversed so as to take only those that are ascending the river; and it is probable
that the fish that fall into the traps are merely working their way along the shore, either up or
down, in search of food. A good eel-trap costs' about $25.

Eel-pots and baskets. — Pots and baskets of various forms are much used in some districts.
The most approved form of late is made from a barrel by substituting funnel-formed screens for
the heads. Baited with fresh fish, free from taint, these are sunk to the bottom in favorable posi-
tions often alongside fish-weirs. The eels, probably scenting the bait, push their way in by the
tunnel-formed entrance, but are unable to escape. This is a very old method of fishing.

Pots and traps are often used in conjunction by the same fishermen, as they are available at
the same season. On the Keniiebec they are used from May 10 to the last of September.

The spear. — The implement most widely known and used for the capture of eels is the spear.
The form in common use in Maine consists of a spatula formed center piece with three teeth on
either side, each tooth having a single barb on the inner side. The teeth are of steel, about 8
inches long, slender, elastic, spreading at the tips about 8 inches. With this implement at the
head of a long wooden pole the fisherman industriously prods the soft muddy bottom through a

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 097

hole in the ice, or sometimes from a boat. Each several thrust is made entirely at random,
but experience guides to a choice of the proper kiud of bottom aud the topographical location
and extent of the beds.

At Dresden, in the mouth of Eastern River, are some beds much resorted to now and for the
last eighteen years. The water there is entirely fresh. The fishing is, as a rule, done on the
channel banks, but sometimes quite out in the channel, so that at low tide the depth of water over
the different parts of the beds may vary from 5 to 25 feet. Some observers are led to the conclu-
sion that mud meeting in all respects the reqnin*nn>nts of the eels occurs only in patches, and
wheu they find one of these patches they will bed in it to whatever depth it may carry them So
the fishermen come armed with two spear poles, one of which is often 23 or 30 feet long.*

Another locality for eel-spearing is in Quohog Bay, in the town of Harpswell. Here in 187G an
eel-bed was discovered which is famous as being the most productive one ever known in that region.
It lies in 13 feet of water at low tide, just outside the eel-grass zone, and extends over about 10
acres. When first discovered it was so densely inhabited by eels that a spear often brought up
four or five at a time. This still continues to be more productive than any other bed in the
vicinity, aud yields about three-quarters of all the eels taken in Harpswell.t The time when the
fishing can well be carried on is limited to about six hours at each low tide, and is practically
confined to the tide occurring in the daytime aud to the first two months after the ice forms.
Later the labor of cutting through the thick ice becomes too great.t

There are doubtless many such beds yet to be discovered. The more thinly inhabited beds
are well distributed all along the coast.

Marketing eels. — The eels taken in summer with pots and traps are for the most part packed
whole ("round") with ice in barrels aud shipped to New York. The demand is very lively during
the first part of the season, and shippers receive about G cents a pound, free of freights and commis-
sions. The product of the spear fisheries aud of the fall weirs is, on the other hand, dressed
before marketing, and brings about 7 cents per pound in New York. As the shipper has to pay
freight and charges, aud as 200 pounds live weight will not dress more than 140 pounds, it will
be seen that the round eels, the product of pots and traps, give the best profits.

STURGEON (ACIPENSEB STTJRIO).

NATURAL HISTORY. — The common sturgeon of the Atlantic rivers is the only species known
to visit the rivers of Maine. It ascends the larger of them for the purpose of depositing its spawn,
which it does in midsummer. Some intelligent observers think their natural spawning grounds
are almost wholly above the flow of the tide. On the Kennebec it is believed that they were
mainly between Augusta aud Waterville, a view which is supported by the fact that the closing
of the river by a dam at Augusta was followed by a great decrease in the number of sturgeon.
Very little is known about the growth of the sturgeon in Maine. The earlier stages are rarely
seen, except that a considerable number about 18 inches in length are caught iu the smelt-nets of
the Kennebec in winter ; they are very slender aud sharp-nosed, and are termed by the fishermen
" pegging awls." The adults caught iu the Kenuebec average not far from 120 pounds in weight.

METHODS OF CATCHING. — Sturgeon ascending the rivers in company with shad, alewives,
and salmon fall often into the weirs built for those species, and to fishermen who have not made
arrangements for utilizing them they prove sometimes a very great nuisance. But the only
means specially or regularly employed for taking them is the drift-net. Those now in use on the

* Statement, of W. W. Walker.

t Statement of Stephen Kemp, of Harpswell.

698 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

Keunebec are of cotton (sometimes beinp) twine of 12-inch mesh (occasionally varied, but always
between 10 and 13 inch), 25 to 30 meshes deep, 80 to 100 fathoms long, coiked and leaded like any
drift-net. These are set by night on the ebb tide from a large punt worked commonly by two
men. The ordinary fishing grounds on the Kennebec extend from Bath to Richmond, but sturgeon
can be and sometimes are caught as far up as Augusta.

UTILIZATION. — At the present time no portion of the sturgeon is saved but the clear flesh,
which is cut from the trunk, packed in ice and sent to New York, where it is smoked for use.
About half the fish is refuse, including the entrails, head, skin, and vertebral column. The pre^
servation of the roe for the making of caviar, and the trying out of the oil with which the refuse
abounds have been sometimes practiced in former years, but at present all but the clear flesh is
thrown into the refuse heap and employed only for fertilizing the land.

HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE STUBGHEON FISHERY. — Sturgeon were apparently more highly
esteemed in the early days of American history than now. They were specially mentioned in
the original grant of the King of England to Ferdinando Gorges, conveying a large territory in
the southwestern part of the State inclusive of the Kennebec River. In the early part of the
eighteenth century there existed a flourishing sturgeon fishery in the province of Maine,
which employed some years over twenty vessels, and was esteemed an important branch of industry.
It does not appear, however, to have been prosecuted continuously. Very early in the present
century a company of men came to the Kennebec, and, locating themselves on a small island near
the outlet of MerryufSeting Bay, since known as " Sturgeon Island," engaged in the catching of
sturgoon, which they soused, packed in kegs, and shipped to the West Indies, where they sold at
$1 a keg.* This business was, however, suspended, for what reason is unknown, and though
sturgeon were very abundant in the Keunebec during the early part of the present century, at
least until about 1840, no attempt was made to utilize them except, occasionally for home use,
until 1849.

In 1849 a Mr. N. K. Lombard, representing a Boston firm, came down to the Kenuebec, estab-
lished himself at " Burnt Jacket," in the town of Woolwich, between Bath and Merrymeetiug Bay,
and undertook to put up the roe of sturgeon for caviar, and at the same time boil down the bodies
for oil. A large number of fishermen engaged in the capture of sturgeon to sell to Lombard. The
price paid was 25 to 50 cents apiece. The first year there were obtained 160 tons of sturgeon.t
They yielded oil of fine quality, superior to sperm oil for illuminating purposes, in the opinion of
the inhabitants of that vicinity, who have been accustomed to use it when attainable. The attempt
to utilize the roe was at first unsuccessful. It was put into hogsheads, very lightly salted, and all
spoiled. The next two years the roe was cured by salting heavier, drying, and laying it down
with a little sturgeon oil, and was pronounced satisfactory. However, the business was discon-
tinued after 1851. That year the sturgeon were quite scarce.

From this time there was a suspension of the sturgeon fishery until 1872, when some of the
local fishermen of the Kennebec took it up again. In 1874 a crew of fishermen, headed by one
John Mier, of New York, went into the business, catching and buying all they could, and shipping
them to New York, where they proposed to smoke the flesh and utilize the roe for caviar and the
sounds for glue. They aimed to catch the sturgeon early in the season, while the roe was yet
black and hard, and to keep the fish alive until the proper time arrived for opening them. For
the latter purpose they constructed a great pen, in which they at one time had seven hundred live
sturgeon. After five years the sturgeon again became scarce, and the business was relinquished

* Statement of John Brown.

t Statement of Jos. Partridge, of Woolwich.

THE HIV UK FISHERIES OF MAINE. C99

to local fishermen, who still coutiuue to ship the, flesh to New York, but throw away all other
parts. In 1880, the least successful season in recent times, 12 fishermen were engaged iu the busi-
ness on the Kenuebec, and the total catch was about 250 sturgeon, producing about 12.500 pounds
of flesh, which sold iu New York at 7 cents and returned the fishermen about 5 cents per pound.

4. DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL NOTES ON LOCAL FISHERIES.

SAINT CROIX RIVER. — The Saint Croix is reniarkable, even among the rivers of Maine, for the
great extent of the lake surface among its tributaries. On the best maps are represented 61 lakes,
of which the smallest has an area of three-quarters of a square mile and the largest of 27 square
miles. Their aggregate area is about 150 square miles, which is about 15 per cent, of the entire basin
of the river. These lakes afforded breeding ground for great numbers of ale wives, and, iu the main
river and its branches, here the salmon and there the shad found their favorite haunts. The
exact limit of the upward migration of all these fishes is very naturally unknown with any degree
of exactness, the entire upper portions of the basin being a wilderness till long after the occupa-
tion of the lower banks and the erection of artificial obstructions ; but the fact of their existence
in great numbers in the river shows that they must all have passed the only serious obstacle to
their ascent, the natural fall at Salmon Falls near the head of the tide, and found their breeding
grounds in the upper waters.

The best accessible testimony as to the former condition of these fisheries is found in Perley's
"Report on the Fisheries of the Bay of Fundy."* The testimony there adduced may be thus
summarized : From the first settlement of the country till 1825 there was annually a great abund-
ance of salmon, shad, and alewives. Vessels from Rhode Island, of 100 to 150 tons burthen, fol-
lowed the fishing business on the river and were never known to leave without full cargoes. There
were also several seines belonging to the inhabitants, which were worked in the tideway of the
river, the owners of which put up annually from 1,500 to 2,000 barrels of alewives for exportation,
besides a sufficiency for country use. At the same time shad were caught in great numbers, often
more than a hundred of them being caught in a small net in a single night. Salmon were so plenty
that, according to testimony, a boy of fifteen has been known to take 500 in a single season with
a dip-net, and a man has been known to take 118 salmon with a dip-net in a single day. The dip-
ping place, both for salmon and shad, was at Salmon Falls The prevailing price for salmon was
4 or 5 cents per pound. About 1825 the building of dams had reached such a stage as to seriously
interfere with the ascent of fish, and they began rapidly to decline in numbers. In 1850 it was es-
timated that not over 200 salmon were taken. The decline in the alewife fishery had been equally
great, and in the shad fishery still greater.

At the present time the condition of things is not much better than in 1850. The three dams
at Calais and Baring, notwithstanding the construction of fishways, are very serious impediments,
partly because they facilitate the work of poachers, and but few fish reach their spawning-grounds.
Salmon are now taken in sufficient numbers to encourage the continuance of the fishery, and as
incidental items there are taken a low alewives, a very few shad and bass, and small quantities of
smelts and eels. The implements of capture are five weirs in the tidal portions and an uncertain
number of drift and dip nets at Calais and Saint Stephen.

The weirs are similar to those in use on the Penobscot and Kennebec; two of them, those
farthest up river, are half-tide weirs, and the others are " high weirs,'' with two pounds each, built
of netting and stakes. They are all built in the spring and removed in the autumn. The half-

*M;icle. l>.v M. II. JVrley, <-»i|., to ilic < :<>vn miii-nt Km i.uin lion Oilier. S:iint John, New Brunswick, Mnrch 1'J, 1851.

700 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

tide weirs take smelts, alewives, a very few bass, sometimes a shad or a salujou, and miscellaneous
fish, such as herring, bluebacks, &c., which are utilized to fertilize the laud, but no shad or salmon
were taken in them in 1880.

The high weirs, three in number, are built mainly for the capture of salmon, but take also
alewives, smelts, shad, bass, herring, and a few cod and other sea fish. These weirs are all built
in Calais; one of them just above Devil's Head, the other two near Red Beach. Farther down the
river are weirs for the capture of herring, and in these, too, a very few salmon are taken.

The drift-nets are used solely for the capture of salmon, just below the lower dam in Calais
and Saint Stephen. They are generally 75 feet long and 8 feet deep, with a 6-iuch mesh. There
are known to have been as many as seven of these nets in existence in 1880, but as they are often
used covertly and illegally in immediate proximity to the dam, there is no means of ascertaining
how many were in actual use at any time.

The dip nets are used for the capture of smelts and alewives about the falls, but all this fish-
ing is exceedingly irregular, no one pursuing it as a regular industry, and all the product being
consumed locally.

The salmon fishery has been in a low condition for many years, and the yield for the year 1880
ranks among the poorest of the last decade. The total number taken by all modes appears to
have been 300, averaging in weight 12 pounds, and aggregating in value about $750.

The shad taken are mostly of the small size, termed ''sea shad," but these are not taken in any
considerable numbers. Sometimes a weir will take 500 of them in a season, and market them fresh
along with alewives in Calais. Of the adults, to which the term "shad" is restricted among the
fishermen, merely a few specimens are taken. The best weir sometimes takes twenty or thirty in
a season, but in 1880 did not get half a dozen.

Of alewives about 115 barrels were taken in 1880, of which about 10 barrels were sold fresh,
30 barrels smoked, and 75 barrels salted. There are considerable quantities of bluebacks taken ;
they are not distinguished by the fishermen from alewives, but the above figures are believed to
represent the numbers of true alewives.

Of bass (Roccus lineatus) very few are taken, about as many as of the river shad. One weigh-
ing '27 pounds was taken in one of the weirs in 1880.

Smelts are caught in the weirs in small numbers and in dip nets at the Union dams in Calais.
They are consumed locally, and the total quantity marketed probably does not exceed in value $150
yearly. The dip-net fishery is limited to two or three weeks in the spring. Smelts in plenty can
be taken with the hook all through the summer in the lower part of the river.

Messrs. Lewis Wilson & Son have been engaged since 1853 in fishing in Calais just above
Devil's Head, with a weir, always in the same spot and of the same form, without an.v perceptible
interference from other weirs. Their experience may fairly be taken as indicating the relative abund-
ance of the fishes that they catch. Their record of salmon has been very carefully kept, and shows
that the years of the greatest abundance of that species were, in order, as follows : 18C2, 1871, 1877,
I860, 1867, 18G3, 18G8; and the years of least abundance, in order, were 1859, 1874, 1869, 1853.
1805, 1864, 1857. Perhaps the most noteworthy fact disclosed by Mr. Wilson's record is that sal-
mon run much later in the season on the Saint Croix than in the central and western rivers of the
State. Fifty-two per cent, of the catch for the entire period was obtained later than the month
of June, 21 per cent, was taken in August, and 3 per cent, in September. Similar generalizations
can be made from the recent record of a weir at Red Beach, farther down the river, and the
salmon are also known to run late in the Marinas and East Machias Rivers. These are all in

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 701

marked contrast with the Penobscot River, where the principal catch is in the month of June, and
where tbe number of salmon to be taken after the first ten days of July is rarely enough to
warrant *Jie fishermen in keeping their weirs in working condition.

PENMAQXTAN RIVER. — This little tributary of Cobscook Bay drains a small territory in the
towns of Charlotte and Baring, not exceeding 50 square miles iu area, and affords an outlet to
Peninaquan Lake and several smaller bodies of water. It is naturally well adapted to the growth
of alewives, which formerly abounded in it, andjradition also says that there were once a good
many salmon here. But very far back in the history of the country dams were built without suit-
able provision for the ascent of migratory fish, and the usual result followed. The salmon have
entirely disappeared and very few alewives remain.

DENNY'S RIVER. — This is the first considerable stream west of the Peuuiaquan, and is the
principal tributary of Cobscook Bay. It drains a basin of about 150 square miles, including two
considerable lakes, Meddybeinps and Cathauce. The character of both the Denny's and its prin-
cipal branch, the Cathance, is favorable for the breeding of salmon, and alewives find a breeding
ground of great extent in Meddybeinps Lake. Both of these species are known to have abounded
in the river anciently, and tradition says that shad, too, frequented it. The shad disappeared
early, but the salmon and alewives continued to ascend the river until 1843. Since the first
settlement of the country there has been a dam at Dennysville, near the mouth of the river, but
fish were able to pass it. In 1846 another dam. quite impassable, was built a mile farther up the
river. The effect of this was to nearly exterminate the alewives, and the salmon, though they
continued to breed in the river below this dam, were reduced to very small numbers. In 1858
this dam was destroyed by a fire which consumed the mil!, and fish were again admitted to the
upper waters. The alewives were still shut out from Meddybeinps Lake, but in 1863 a fishway
was constructed there which admitted them to the lake.

After the reopening of the river the salmon increased but slowly, owing to their persistent
persecution at the dams and the setting of gill-nets at the mouth of the river. The alewives,
however, increased very satisfactorily; iu 1865 the number taken was estimated at 2 barrels; iu
IsiHi at 15 barrels, and in 1867 at 240 barrels (about 125,000 fish). Since then the passage of the
river has been a second time obstructed by a difficult dam, and a falling off iu the number of fish
resulted. At present the alewives are increasing, and it is estimated that in 1880 there were
taken about 75,000, of which 30,000 were pickled and shipped to New York, and the remainder
mostly smoked and consumed at home. The only mode of fishing for alewives emploj ed here is
with the dip net.

Salmon are taken occasionally by spear and dip-net at the dams, now and then with the hook,
but mainly in set-nets at the mouth of the river in tide-water. In 1880 there were four of these
nets in use, and the total number of salmon taken is estimated at 200.

Denny's River is noted as the only river iu the United States where fly-fishing for salmon has
been practiced. In 1867, and for some years previous, it was the resort of several gentlemen
from Portland, who succeeded fairly well, and the sport has been continued down to the present
time by residents of Dennysville.

COBSCOOK OR ORANGE RIVER. — This is a very small river, lying almost wholly in the town
of Whiting. It was in primitive times inhabited by many salmon and alewives, and according to
tradition by shad also. Near the head of the tide three insurmountable dams were built many
years ago, utterly exterminating the salmon, and reducing the alewives so that the catch was
barely a dozen a year. In 1861, and subsequent years, an effort was made to restore both ale-
wives and salmon, but it was only partially successful and at present the river is entirely unpro-
ductive.

702 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

EAST MACHIAS RIVER.— Naturally well adapted to the growth of alewives, this river con-
tinues to produce more of them than any other river in Maine east of the Penobscot. A few sal-
mon are taken and scattering specimens of shad. In the winter smelts and torn-cods are caught
in small numbers.

The spring and summer fisheries are carried on mainly by means of dip-nets at the falls in
East Machias village, a few are caught in the same manner at a point 2 miles farther up the river,
and a very small catch is secured by a few weirs in the tide-way. In 1880 but two of these weirs
were built.

The dip-net fishery employed regularly, the whole or part of the time during the fishing season,
about forty persons, besides an indefinite number of men and boys who took part in it occasionally.
The site of this fishery is between the two dams that here cross the river, and just below the lower
one. The fishermen build platforms at convenient points along the river's edge, and swing their
nets in the foaming rapids. The nets in use are very well made and efficient. The best of them
have steel bows 3£ feet in diameter, poles 10 to 17 feet long, and nets of fine twine 5 i'eet deep.
The East Machias alewives are of good size, 400 of them filling a barrel when salted and packed
for market. Of the 399 barrels caught in 1880, there were salted, 234 barrels ; smoked, 135 bar-
rels ; and used fresh, 30 barrels.

Salmon are not known to have ever been very abundant in this river, and at the present time
but very few are taken. For many years past there has been no decided increase nor decrease,
though many fluctuations. In 1880 just 35 were caught, all of them in dip-nets by the alewife fish-
ermen. This was much below the average catch.

Smelts are taken by night in April and May for home use and local market in dip-nets,
differing from the alewife nets only in having a smaller mesh. They rarely ascend as far as the
dams, but are caught along shore farther down. The smelt fishing commonly lasts ten or fifteen
days. The yield in 1885 was but 15 barrels, and they appear to be decreasing. Tom-cods are
taken in the winter with dip-nets to the extent of 55 barrels a year. Shad yield only occasional
specimens now, though within twenty-five years they have been plenty enough to be of some
importance. Some are now taken in the herring weirs of Holmes Bay.

MACHIAS RIVER. — In its original condition the Machias abounded in salmpn. It yielded
also shad and alewives, though in less numbers than the East Machias, owing, perhaps, in part to
a very difficult natural fall at the head of the tide, and in part, so far as alewives are concerned,
to the comparatively smaller area of lakes on this river. The difficulties of the falls at the head of
the tide were further increased by the erection of a dam by the earliest white occupants, probably
not later than 1784, the date of the incorporation of the town of Machias. Shad and alewives
could no longer ascend the river, but the alewives were maintained in the river for many years by
transferring a large number from the lower to the upper side of the falls each year. Salmon con-
tinued to breed and be caught in the river, until other and impassable dams were built, when
they too disappeared along with the shad and alewives. At the present time the river is almost
utterly unproductive of fish, the entire catch not exceeding 2 barrels of alewives and 5 barrels
of torn-cods.

CHANDLER'S RIVER. — This little river, draining about 50 square miles of territory, once
yielded, tradition says, salmon, shad, alewives, smelts, &c. Alewives and smelts are still taken
in small numbers, as are also torn-cods, but salmon and shad have long since disappeared. Of
alewives but five barrels yearly are taken by means of dip-nets. One bag-net is set for smelts in
early winter, and some few dip-nets plied for them in spring, with an aggregate product of about
40 barrels yearly. A dip-net fishery Tor torn-cods in December yields about 200 bushels yearly.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 703

WESCONGUS OK PLEASANT RIVEK. — The drainage basin of tbe Wescongus measures about
110 square miles, the greater part of which is, like the basins of all the rivers thus far mentioned,
covered with forest. The country about its mouth has been occupied by civilized people for more
than a century, and is at present organized in two towns, Addison and Columbia Falls. The
latter contains the most important village, which is located at the head of the tide, and was
founded as early as 17G5. At this village were found facilities for the building of mills for the
sawing of lumber, which engaged the attention of the first settlers.

Salmon, tradition says, were once very abundant in this river, and notwithstanding the serious
impediments placed in their way by tbe dams, continued to struggle up to their breeding grounds
for many years after the settlement, and even at the present day are not utterly exterminated, a
very lew being yearly taken. About 1820 it was possible for a man to take a dozen in a day with
a dip-net, which was the ordinary mode of capture, though gill-nets were sometimes used. In
1880 but a single one is known to have been caught. Salmon used to appear at Columbia Falls
rarely earlier than June 1, but from that date they continued to ascend the river till January.*
They ranged in weight from 6 to 18 pounds, the latter size being more common than the former;
7 and 8 pound fish were common. Their ascent of the main river is believed to have been stopped
by an insurmountable natural fall 6 miles above Columbia Falls, and they are said to have
spawned in a fine, gravelly tributary called "Lower Little River."

Alewives were pretty plenty sixty years ago, and were then of good size, whereas they are
now small. Though they have not been able to surmount the dams at Columbia Falls for many
years, they still come there yearly, about the middle or last of June (say two weeks later than at
East Machias), and about 30 barrels yearly are dipped and smoked.

Shad are taken to a very limited extent in the three weirs built in the river and occasionally
in drift-nets, of which several are owned in Addison, but none regularly used. They do not appear
to have been plenty in the river within the memory of old inhabitants.

A very few eels are taken with spears. Tom-cods are caught with the smelts in very small
n umbers, but rarely sent to market. No sturgeon or bass are caught.

The most important place among the fishes of this river is now held by the smelt. About 15
tons of them are taken in weirs and bag-nets in Addison, 25 bushels are dipped at Columbia Falls
in the spring, and perhaps an equal quantity in the brooks all up and down the river.

The weirs, which were introduced about 1872 or 1873, are all built of stakes and brush, stand-
ing with their tops 3 or 4 feet below high-water mark, the tide flowing over them. They are in
the form of the letter L, the long arm running straight ashore and the short arm pointing up river;
at the angle is a small pound constructed of wooden pickets. There were 3 of these built in the
census year, all below Addison village.

The smelt-nets are in part plain bags, such as are used farther west, but most of them are
fykes. They are set by attaching them to poles, which are planted through the ice into the mud
in a location where the water is 8 feet deep at low tide. The nets are set both on the flood and
ebb tide, and hauled at both high and low water. Fishing begins as soon as the ice will bear,
which is generally about December 10 or 15, and continues till near April 1, the limit fixed by law.
The first attempt at bag-net fishing was made by H. E. Willard, of Portland, in 18G8. For the
last eight years it has been carried on continuously. In the early years of the fishery smelts were
plentier than now, prices were higher, and great returns were sometimes realized; in one instance,
$58 for a single barrel of smelts. They are now marketed in Boston and New York, about two-

* Statement of Goweu Wilson, of Columbia Falls.

704 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

thirds of them in the latter city. They are uncommonly large. Some of the fishermen say they
will average 6 or 7 to the pound, and that the largest will weigh 7 to 9 ounces; but it will not do
to accept these figures without question.

HARRINGTON RIVER.— This is a tidal estuary lying wholly in the town of Harrington, and
fed by a single fresh- water stream, a mere brook. The fisheries followed are: 1st, a summer
fishery, with weirs for miscellaneous fish, in which a few alewives and shad are taken; 2d, a win-
ter fishery for smelts, with bag- nets and weirs; 3d, a winter fishery for eels, with spears.

The summer fishery employed in 1880 but one man, who built a single weir.

The smelt fishery employed sixteen men, who set 18 bag-nets and built 4 weirs. They took
Hi tons of smelts, which were marketed, one-half in New York, three eighths in Boston, and one-
eighth in Philadelphia. The weir fishery for smelts has been carried on here for thirteen years,
and the net fishery for ten years.

The eel fishery is not pursued persistently. The spears took about half a ton and a ton was
obtained from the weirs. Some of them are salted, but most of them are sold fresh. They aver-
age, alive, half a pound in weight. The largest known weighed 4 pounds.

NARRAGUAGUS RIVER. — This river is larger than the three last mentioned, draining a terri-
tory of 215 square miles. In early times great numbers of salmon, shad, and alewives were taken
here, but the dams at Cherryfield long ago destroyed them. Smelts have been taken in bag-nets
in recent years, but this fishery also has been suspended, and the weir is this year quite unpro-
ductive.

TUNK RIVER.— Another very small stream, draining only 60 square miles of territory. There
are some alewives, eels, and torn-cods caught and now and then a salmon, but the only fishes taken
in numbers enough to be of any importance are smelts, which are fished for with weirs and bag-nets.
There was but one weir built in 1879-'80, but 10 nets were in use, giving employment to nine men.
The nets are plain bags, and are set in a line up and down the narrow channel, but, in obedience
to local custom, never across it. The total catch was 4| tons of smelts.

WEST BAY (Gouldsborough). — This is not an established fishing ground, but in the winter of
1S79-'SO two men fished here with a bag-net for smelts, and caught 3,000 pounds.

WEST GOULDSBOROUGH. — Here is a fishery for alewives in the stream, which forms the outlet
of Jones Pond, which is held as private property and claimed to be originally and always an arti-
ficial fishery. One Colonel Jones, one of the early settlers and proprietor of the mills at this place,
about 1794 got some alewives from Mount Desert and put them into the mill-pond, thus estab-
lishing the brood in the stream. From that time down to the present it has been maintained
wholly by carrying up and turning into the pond a few of the alewives caught. It has been the
ordinary practice to carry up a basketful (one third of a bushel) for each barrel killed. When the
father of the present proprietors was in possession, they once caught a great quantity, estimated
at over 200 barrels, but during the past twenty years the catch has ranged from 40 to 100 barrels,
and in 1880 was as low as 30 barrels. They are all smoked and marketed locally.

SULLIVAN RIVER. — Some of the tributaries of this river have in former times supported
' alewife fisheries, as attested by tradition and by the record of legislation. In 1831 the legislature
passed an act to regulate the alewife fishery in the town of Franklin, and in 1833 it passed another
with reference to the town of Sullivan ; but all these fisheries suffered the common fate — extinction
by dams. In the expansion of the river known as Hog B.!iy smelt fisheries on a small scale have
been carried on occasionally, but not regularly, and eel fisheries of some local importance exist at
the east end of the bay in Donnel's Stream. The entire yield for the census year amounted to but
4,000 pounds of smelts and 5,000 pounds of eels.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE.

MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. — Several ponds on this island formerly afforded breeding ground
for alewives, but they are now almost extinct and afford no statistics. In 1821, and again in 1828,
these fisheries were thought worthy of legislative protection.

UNION RIVEE. — No river fisheries now exist here, though formerly salmon, shad, and alewives
abounded. Especially good facilities are found at Ellsworth for the erection of dams, and they
were improved at a very .early date. A settlement was made here before the close of the last
century and the corporate existence of the town of Ellsworth dates from the year 1800. In 1815,
1816, and 1823 the legislature passed acts regulating the fishery, but they were not sufficient to
keep it alive mauy years.

In Patten's Stream, a tributary of the lower part of Union River, alewives have continued
until the present time, but, owing to the obstructions offered by the dams, in numbers too small to
n fiord statistics. Smelts, too, are caught, but in very small numbers.

BLUEHILL. — Here was formerly an alewife fishery, which was the subject of legislation in
1816, but it has long since been extinct.

PENOBSCOT RIVER. — The Penobscot is the largest river of Maine; its basin has an area of
8,200 square miles, extending almost entirely across the central portion of the State, a distance of
130 miles, and thence narrowing up rapidly as it approaches the sea-coast, where it is limited to
the bed of its estuary. Thus it happens that though in its lower course it traverses a well-popu-
lated country, yet about half its basin, its entire upper portion, is covered by the original forest,
where are neither tilled fields nor manufactories to foul its waters, nor lofty dams to limit the
range of the salmon. In its western and southern portions the Penobscot Valley embraces several
hilly and even mountainous districts, but, taken as a whole, it is much flatter than any of the
river valleys to the westward of it. The elevations are very inconsiderable, and the rivers for the
most part rather sluggish. The headwaters of the main branch are in the highlands on the
western border of the State, from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea, and about 300 miles from it
by the river's course. But the river-bed falls off rapidly, and three-quarters of the descent to the
sea is accomplished in half the distance. At Mattawamkeag, about 80 miles from the sea, the
elevation of the river is but 190 feet. A descent of 98 feet is distributed over the 45 miles enter-
v« ning between Mattawamkeag and Oldtown, and the remaining 92 feet fall is accomplished in
the short distance of 15 miles between .Qldtowii and Bangor, where the river attains tide-level,
though still 30 miles above the mouth of the river as fixed by the charts, but near 60 miles from
the open sea. At the head of the tido and for some distance above, the river is 800 feet wide.
At Mattawamkeag it is 500 feet wide after receiving the waters of the Mattawamkeag River,
which has a width of 300 feet at its mouth.

The annual discharge of the Penobscot, exclusive of the tributaries below Bangor, is esti-
mated at 278,800,000,000 cubic feet of water. The discharge at different seasons of the year is
however, very unequal. In a heavy freshet 5,760,000 cubic feet of water pass Bangor per minute,
while in time of drought the discharge at that point is but 146,000 cubic feet per minute, or about
one-fortieth as great.*

The principal branches of the Penobscot are : on the east side, the Passadumkeag, 35 miles
long; the Mattawamkeag, 85 miles; the Mattagatnon or East Branch, 63 miles; on the west side,
the Piscataquis. 71 miles long. The smaller tributaries are very numerous, but, while nearly all of
them contributed in olden times to production of fish, few remain open to them now except on the
headwaters, which are beyond the reach of any but salmon. Of the lower tributaries there are

* For the most of the facts as to the elevations and volume of the Peuobscot I am indebted to Wells's Water
Power of Maine.

SEC. v 45

706 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

but two which are now accessible to anadroinous fishes, the Bagaduce in Castine and Brooksville
and the Eastern River in Orland, and even in these, especially in the former, there are serious
hindrances to the ascent of the alewife, the only species that visits them.

Taken as a whole, the upper waters are well fitted for the propagation of salmon, as they
abound in gravelly rapids, alternating with quiet stretches and deep pools, in which the salmon
may bide their time, and to which they may retreat after spawning. The quiet waters of the main
river and its principal branches are well adapted to the breeding of shad, and of the numerous
lakes, whose number is 467 and aggregate area about 585 square miles, a sufficient number were
naturally accessible to alewives to afford them very extensive breeding grounds. There are
no insurmountable natural obstacles to the ascent of shad and alewives on the main river for 120
miles from the sea, and in some of the tributaries the way was open for nearly as great a distance,
while salmon were able to push many miles farther up. At the present time both the main river
and nearly all its branches are greatly obstructed by dams, which prevent the ascent of shad
beyond tide-waters, which have extinguished the ancient broods of alewives that bred in the
main river or tributaries above Baugor, and still shut them out from nearly all tributaries, and
which have greatly hindered salmon in their ascent. All the principal dams on the main river are
provided with fishways, which serve to keep the way open for salmon to their natural breeding
grounds on the headwaters, but of neither alewives nor shad have new broods yet been established.

Present condition of the Penobscot fisheries.— The river fisheries of the Penobscot are now con-
ducted for the capture of salmon, alewives, eels, and smelts. The few shad and bass taken are
merely incidental to the salmon and alewife fishery, and the torn-cods to the smelt fishery.

Salmon. — Salmon are fished for with pound-nets or "traps" in the bay, with weirs in the
upper bay and river as far up as Orriugton, and with drift-nets at Bangor. The pound-net
fishing is limited to the east shore of the island of Isleborough, and to the towns of Camden,
Lincolnville, and Xorthport, on the western side of the bay. Nets of similar but simpler con-
struction were formerly used on the eastern shore of the bay in the town of Brooksville, but since
1850 they have been abandoned.

The Isleborough salmon fishery is confined to the upper part of the eastern shore of the
island, centering about Sabbath day Harbor; some berths formerly occupied with nets toward the
south end have been abandoned as unprofitable. The entire western shore of the island is bare
of nets, no profitable "berth" having been discovered. In 1880 there were 14 gangs of nets set
on the island, comprising a total of 17 traps, and the aggregate catch that year was 900 salmon.
As compared with 1873, this is a slight falling off in the catch, the number of gangs and traps
remaining the same.

In Camden, Lincolnville, and Northport, salmon nets are scattered along the coast a distance
of about 12 miles, but they are plentiest and most productive on the north side of Duck Trap
Harbor, in the town of Lincolnville, where on a single mile of shore are nine gangs, of which one
has four traps and four others have three traps each. In all there were in this district 27 gangs
of nets, embracing 45 traps. The catch in 1884 was 1,398 salmon, being 163 less than in 1873.

Above Duck Trap Harbor there are no fisheries for a distance of 12 miles along the shore.
At Moose Point, near Searsport, and at Castine, on the east shore of the bay, begin the weir fish-
eries, which extend, with occasional interruptions, as far up the river as Orringtou. These weirs
are built all on essentially the same plan, that of the ordinary floored weir, in some places exclu-
sively for salmon and in others exclusively for alewives, but in most cases both species are taken
in numbers enough to divide the interest of the fishermen between them.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 707

In the district stretching from Moose Point eastward to Fort Point, including Searsport Har-
bor, Brigadier's Island, and Gape Gellison, the fishing is mainly for salmon. The shore of Cape
Gellisou trends about east-northeast, and is exposed to the full violence of southerly storms, which,
together with the hard character of the bottom, necessitate greater care in building than in most
districts. The use of frame foundations is common. The fishing is wholly with weirs, except two
traps that were used in Searsport in 1880, but not regularly. The natural features of the district
are favorable to the capture of salmon, and some of the most productive berths on the river are
found here. Ninety per cent, of the money yield of- these fisheries is derived from the salmon. In
1880 there were 20 weirs and 2 nets in this district, and their aggregate catch was 1,398 salmon.

From Fort Point north to Fort Knox, opposite Bucksport, weirs only are used, and 20 of
them were built in 1880. The incline of the bottom being mostly steep, they are with one excep-
tion, built on separate hedges. Salmon are here also the most important fish caught, constituting
in value 88 per cent, of the catch. The aggregate product of these 20 weirs in 1880 was 1,000
salmon.

On the eastern side of the bay salmon fishing now begins at Castine, where there has been a
fairly productive fishery since early times near the light-house on Dice's Head. Between this point
and Morse's Cove a few weirs are built, but they are not very productive. From Morse's Cove to
the mouth of Eastern River the shore is thickly studded with long-hedged weirs, which are fairly
productive of salmon, and take nearly twice as many alewives as the weirs on the opposite side 01
the bay. Within the mouth of Eastern River few salmon are taken, the yield falling off rapidly,
while that of alewives increases as we ascend this river. The yield of 31 weirs and one net in the
towns of Castine and Penobscot (the latter extending a mile up Eastern River) was 1,000
salmon.

Directly in the mouth of the Peuobscot (or according to the pilot books, 8 miles above the
mouth) is the island of Verona, formerly known as Orphan's Island or Whitmore's Island. This
is one of the best salmon districts, but the salmon fishing is mainly confined to the south end, and
to the west side, which is washed by the main channel. Weirs alone are employed. In 1880
there were thirty-four of them built, including one on Odom's ledge, and their aggregate yield of
salmon was 2,053.

The town of Orlaud, including all of Easton River above the town of Penobscot, and all that
part of Bucksport lying on the "Thoroughfare" (or channel that separates Verona from the main-
land on its northeast side), make up a district little interested in salmon, 37 weirs taking but 420.

Above Fort Knox, on the west side, and Indian Point (formerly known as Mack's Point), on
the east, are built 30 weirs, which are, however, far less productive than those below, thair total
catch being 1,044 salmon. The most of these weirs are located in the towns of Bucksport, on the
east side, and Winterport, on the west. Above Winterport Village the yield rapidly diminishes,
and 2 miles below Hatnpden Village we find the last weir.

Above Hampden there is no fishing done except by gill-nets, which are commonly employed in
drifting, but are sometimes " set." Their operations in recent years are much limited by protective
laws, which have driven them from their former grounds near the Treat's Falls dam. In 1880
there were eight fishermen thus employed in Bangor aud Ilampden, using 16 set-nets, but not con-
stantly. At Veazie and Eddiugtou there were six men, with 10 drift-nets, aud their catch was 100
salmon. On the east branch of the Peuobscot there were 10 set-nets used, and 686 salmon taken.
This was an illegal fishery, was never followed to such an extent or so successfully before, and is
not likely to be permitted in the future.

708

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The totals of the Penobscot salmon-fishery are as follows : Number of weirs built 1 72, including
the alewive weirs, of which all but 7 take some salmon, though 20 of them take so few that they
are not considered of importance; traps (or pound-nets) set, 05; gill-nets in use, 36; -number of
salmon caught, 10,016.

Alewives. — The alewife fishery extends on the west side of the bay and river, from Moose
Point to Hampden, and on the east shore from Castine to Orrington, but centers at Orlaud on
Eastern River above the ordinary range of salmon. From early times the alewife fishery was far
better on the east than on the west side of the bay and river, a fact which may be taken to indicate
that the. eastern tributaries originally contained more extensive or more favorable breeding
grounds than those on the west. However this may have been when all the tributaries of the
west side were accessible, it is certain that for a half a century the best and nearly all the
breeding grounds have been on the east side. For nearly that length of time the lakes and ponds
in Orlaud have been the principal breeding places of the alewife. At the present time the only
other accessible pond is Walker's pond in Brooksville, which, however, has no appreciable effect on
the fishery except in Castine Harbor and in Bagaduce River, where it is quite insignificant. Of
the total of 730,000 ale wives taken in 1880, only 93,900 (equal 13 per cent.) were taken on the
west side.

The implements of the alewife fishery are the weirs, mainly the same engaged in the salmon
fishery. Those built especially for alewives in Eastern River have no important peculiarities.
There is also at Orland a small dip-net fishery, in which about thirty persons engage irregularly
duriug the few days occupied by the alewives in ascending the dams.

The alewife fishery of the Penobscot may be summarized as follows :

District

Number
of weirs.

Number
of dip-

pcrs.

Number of
alowivoa
caught.

31

65 000

37

20

391> 000

34

177 700

20

37 900

Fort Point to Fort Knox

20

•

37, 000

30

21,000

Total

172

20

730, 600

A few of the alewives are consumed fresh and a very small number salted (in 1880 only 17
barrels), 95 per cent, are smoked, and the most of these are disposed of in local markets.

Shad. — Nearly everything that can be said about shad in the Penobscot is of a historical
character, and will be found on another page. At the present time the catch of shad is an inci-
dent, and a very unimportant one, of the weir-fishery for salmon and alewives. Only 800 were taken
in 1880, as ascertained by careful inquiry.

Smelts. — The fishery for smelts ranks in importance next to that for salmon, the aggregate
product being 266,875 pounds, valued at $14,579. It is carried on by means of weirs, bag-nets,
and hook and line.

The weir fishery for smelts is confined to 4 small weirs, built in Eastern River and the Thor-
oughfare.

The bag-net fishery is the branch by which by far the greater part of the smelts are taken.
It is confined to a few localities, mainly Eastern River and the Thoroughfare, the main river from
Winterport to Mill Creek (South Orrington), and Marsh River, in Frankfort. The style of *he

THE EIVEE FISHERIES OF MAINE. 709

nets and the mode of setting them vary a little, to adapt them to the presence or absence of ice.
lu open water the nets are attached to frames which swing at heavy moorings. When the ice is
strong enough to bear, the net is attached to a pair of long poles pushed down through a hole in
the ice, with which the whole fixture rises and falls with the tide. In the Thoroughfare, and in
the main river at Wiuterport, though the ice sometimes forms, it is too uncertain and unstable to
be made use of to support the fixtures. But farther up the river, above Mill Creek, the ice-
fixtures are in exclusive use. From Mill Creek down to Kurd's Brook fishing begins before the
ice forms, and when it does form the nets are removed from the open-water fixtures and the ice-
fixtures brought into use.

At the Bucksport and Verona bridge is a fishery of nets which are set between the piers of
the bridge, substantially in the manner of the ice-nets of Orrington, but with the poles resting on
the bottom.

In the winter of 1879-'SO there were 15 bag-nets in use in Orland ; 31 in the Thoroughfare
(including 8 at the bridge); 10 at Frankfort; 20 at Winterport Village; 13 at the "Bolan" ground
some 2 miles above Winterport Village; 25 in Orrington.

The only dip-net fishing for smelts now existing on the Penobscot is at Orland, and that has
long ago ceased to be of any importance.

Fishing for smelts with hook and line is occasiouably tried in the main river near Mill Creek
and at some other points, but is regularly employed only in Belfast Harbor and in Bagaduce River.
In the latter locality it is followed by nearly one hundred persons. The fishing ground extends
from Johnson's Narrows upward about 5 miles. The smelts are at hand in the fall, and in No-
vember the fishermen sometimes fish for them from rafts. But it is not until December that the
river freezes up and the regular fishing begins, in little cloth huts on the ice. The first of the sea-
son only the ice above the toll-bridge at North Brooksville is strong enough to bear, but later
operations extend down to the vicinity of the narrows. The fishing is followed at any time of tide
but only by day. The catch in 1880 amounted to about 61,000 pounds.

The total yield of all branches of the fishery for the year is estimated at 366,875 pounds of
smelts.

Historical notes on the fisheries of Penobscot River.— Of the great immigration into Maine that
set in from the other colonies, especially from Massachusetts, shortly after the middle of the
eighteenth century, the Lower Penobscot Valley received its fair share. The early settlers found
salmon, shad, and alewives very abundant, and engaged in their capture on a limited scale with
such implements as they could command. Across the mouths of a few shallow coves they built,
with stakes and brush, half tide weirs to catch alewives, and with them took many shad. They
knit nets with which they caught salmon, either by drifting in mid-stream or by setting the nets
out from shore, secured by stakes and killocks. In the small streams and at convenient points in
the larger ones they plied the dip-net. Notwithstanding the primitive character of their methods
and apparatus, they took great quantities offish. The local consumption was small ; there were no
good facilities for sending fish to the larger markets. The surplus salmon were mostly smoked,
the shad pickled, and the alewives dry-salted and p.icked in barrels. These cured fish were
forwarded to market by schooners bound for Boston, New York, or more southern ports. The
demand for shad was limited, and they were less objects of pursuit than salmon and alewives; at
first they were only taken in the cove- weirs built foi alewives, and as accidental captures in the
salmon nets, but after a while a better demand arose, and nets were knit and plied especially for
them.

710 HISTOET AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

In the village stores salmon, shad, and alewives were bought and sold, and the merchants'
books give us some information about prices. * The storekeeper paid for fresh salmon 2d. per
pound, for salt salmon 2$d. and sold salt salmon at all seasons of the year for id. per pound.
A half barrel of salmon is charged at £1 is. Shad were bought in May and June at from li to
3d. each, and sold in March at Gd. each. The selling price of a barrel of shad was from 30s.
to 36s. Alewives are bought in May at 3s. per barrel, and retailed in December and February
at £1 is. The same merchant was retailing dry codfish at id. to 6d. per pound; salt pork at
Wd. ; salt beef at id. ; flour at 6d. ; corn at 8s. per bushel ; sugar at Is. per pound : sheeting at 2s.
6d. per yard. Thus the fisherman bartering his salmon for store goods would give 2 or 3 pounds
of salmon for a pound of codfish ; 5 pounds of salmon for a pound of pork ; 2 pounds of salmon for
a pound of beef; 3 pounds of salmon for a pound of flour ; 48 pounds of salmon for a bushel of corn ;
6 pounds of salmon for a pound of tea, and 15 pounds of salmon for a yard of sheeting. A com-
parison with the modern prices for these articles shows us that when salmon are sold by the
fisherman at 12 cents per pound (and the price rarely goes lower) their purchasing power has
increased, in exchange for codfish about 6 times ; for pork, 5 times ; for beef, 2 times ; for Hour, 10
times; for corn, 8 times; for sugar? 6 times; for sheeting, 22 times.

Shortly after the year 1800 weirs with three pounds, substantially of the modern form, were
introduced. They were constructed wholly of stakes and brush, or in some cases partly of woven
cedar mats. They had no floor but the bottom of the river, and were not extended beyond low-
water mark because the fisherman must take his catch out with a dip net. Such a weir in latter
days would be a total failure, but in those times took a great abund-ince of fish. Their introduc-
tion is attributed by several authorities to one Hawley (or " Hollis ") Emerson, of I'hippsburg, in
1811 or 1815. The latter year he appears to have built such a weir at Treat's Point, on the west
side of Marsh Bay, and it inclosed at one time such a mass of fish that its sides burst open and let
them out. This form of weir came into immediate use, and in the river from Castine and Sears-
port to Orrington supplanted set-nets generally, though these have never passed wholly out of
use. About the same time, or a few years later, floors were made for the fish-pounds, and one
Halliday, said to be a Scotchman, and to have come from New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, intro-
duced the use of netting for the walls of the fish-pound. To him is also by some attributed the
introduction of floors. He built a weir on the west side of Orphan's Island (now Yerona), and that
was the first weir with "marlin" (netting), or with a floor, that was built in that neighborhood
The use of netting was, however, only gradually adopted, and we know that as late as 1829 some
productive weirs were built at Bucksport without it. In Peuobscot Bay, below Castine and
Searsport, weirs were never adopted, but set-nets continued in use until comparatively recent times,
when they were gradually transformed into the " traps " or pound-nets of the present day.

About the date of the introduction of three-pound weirs there sprung up a better demand for
shad, which now became the leading fish for sale. Small vessels from Southern New England^
some also from Portland, came and passed the fishing season in the Penobscot, buying salmon and
shad to smoke and salt, and also buying the cured fish, not only of these species, but of alewives,
salted or smoked. A considerable part of the catch found its way to market through their
hands.

Fish were not continuously plenty; 1820 was a year of great scarcity, which continued several
years after that date. In 1822 fish were scarce in Marsh Bay, but about the 1st of July, there
was an extraordinary run of salmon which gave good fishing in Penobscot Bay, and as far up the

" Data from the books of Mr. Robert Treat, who kept a store in Bungor from 1780 to 1790.

THE EIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 711

river as the north end of Orphan's Island. The year 1820 is also noted as having been a year of
complete failure of the shad fishery of the Kennebec. The recovery of the fisheries from this
depression was, however, rapid and complete.

From 1823 to 1832 may be considered the palmy days of the Penobscot River fisheries
Not that the fish were more plenty, for it is quite likely, especially in the case of alewives, that
the closing of the tributaries was already beginning to tell on their numbers, but the gross quantity
of fish taken and utilized and the profit received from them were probably greater than at any
other time. Weirs were built through all the districts where they are now built, in some cases
in greater and in others in less numbers than "now, and there were flourishing drift-fisheries
for both salmon and shad all up and down the river, 200 of them fishing between Mill Creek
and Odom's Ledge, and a more extensive net-fishery for salmon on the shores and islands of
the bay than now.

Bucksport became the most important center of the fish business. Dram Point flats, on the
eastern side of Marsh Bay, became the site of a productive weir-fishery for alewives and shad.
Weirs were built in imitation of Emerson's weir on the opposite side of the bay. In 1832 there
were 17 weirs on these flats where in 1812 there was but 1 weir, and in 1873 but 3 weirs. Five
firms were engaged in the capture and packing of the fish caught. Alewives were in less demand
than shad, and it was sometimes necessary to get rid of them by giving them away or by turning
them back into the river. When the number of fish exceeded the capacity of the packing houses, it
was sometimes the rule to throw the alewives into the river direct from the weir. Dipping shad
and alewives together from the pound, if the fisherman found that he had in his net mostly shad
he would throw them into his boat, but if alewives predominated he would throw them overboard.
The greater part of the fish caught were cured and packed, and sold to the small vessels engaged
in the fish trade. The salmon were largely smoked, the shad all salted, the alewives dry-salted or
smoked, the latter method having come into general favor. The following are quoted as prevail-
ing prices: 5 to 7 cents per pound for salmon, $6 to $7 per barrel for shad, and $2.50 per barrel
for salted alewives.

In 1832, however, this period of prosperity was rapidly approaching a disastrous end.
Spurred on by the increasing demand for lumber and the profit to be derived from it, the operators
were no longer contented with the mill-power derived from the tributary streams, but sought to
bring the main Penobscot itself into their service. Up to 1830 there was no fixed impediment in the
way of fish ascending the main river, but in that year a dam was built at Oldtown which seems to
have seriously hindered the passage of shad and alewives, and in 1834 or 1835 there was another
dam built at Veazie which for several years constituted an impassable barrier. By the gradual
washing away of the left bank of the river there was uncovered a crevice in the ledge which
enabled salmon to ascend, and they were thus preserved from complete destruction, but shad and
alewives never recovered, though there is evidence that shad have sometimes, in small numbers,
passed both of the above dams. Very soon after the building of these dams a rapid decline in the
fisheries began. The shad fishery was in a few years utterly extinguished. The alewife fishery
above Bucksport was also destroyed, no breeding ground now remaining but in Eastou River
which alone did not even suffice to prevent deterioration of the fisheries in its immediate vicinity.
The salmon continued to decline till about I860, when their lowest point was reached.

The town records of Orriugton afford some data which indicate in a general way the relative
productiveness of the fisheries for a long series of years. In 1807 the legislature of Massachusetts
passed an act authorizing the town to exercise exclusive control of the river fisheries, and it was

712

HISTOEY AND METHODS OP THE FISHEEIES.

the practice to sell the right to fish annually at auction. There were three sites for weirs, which
were all sold when fish were plenty, but in times of scarcity some of them occasionally stood idle.
The blanks are understood to indicate, in most cases, a failure to effect any sale. As a record of
special interest it is presented entire.

Tear.

Kental.

Tear.

Rental.

Tear.

Kental.

1814

$48 50

1837

$361 37

1859

1815 t

63 50

1838

124 00

1860

$1 00

18L7

138 00

1839

13 70

1861

9 65

1818

1840 .

37 22

1862

4 50

1819

85 25

1841 .. . -

42 70

1863

1820 ..

150 50

1842

54 85

1864

1821

68 25

1843

22 25

1865

1822

12 53

1844

7 69

1866

18°3

15 00'

1845

2 47

1867

18°4

157 05

1846

9 61

1868

1805 .

219 95

1847

6 30

18(59 ;

1826

359 00

1848

33 15

1870

1827

410 00

1849

32 72

1871 ...

1828 . ...

492 00

1850 -. .

4 04

1872

IS'^

440 60

1851

15 25

1873

1830

445 60

1852

50 50

1874

27 75

1831

530 75

1853 ...

14 C2

1875

1832

481 00

1854

15 00

1876

1833

171 25

185.5

22 62

1877

2 00

1834

40 70

1856

31 38

1878

1835

144 83

1857

1879

1836

335 88

1858

7 00

1880

5 00

In 1814 it is probable that the implements employed in fishing were of a very primitive char-
acter, and that the same incentives to effort, a brisk demand and the remunerative prices of ten or
fifteen years later, did not yet exist. The price obtained in 1820 indicates that the result of the
fishery of 1819 was encouraging, but the scanty catch of 1820 and 1821 (which rests on satisfac-
tory direct evidence from other sources) finds its natural result in the sudden dropping off in the
bids in 1821 and 1822. The rapid recovery of the fishery is shown by the rise of the rental after
1823. Prosperity continued to attend the fishery till 1832. The result of the fishery that year
was evidently disappointing, and the next year the rental fell off 62 per cent., and in 1834 there
was a further drop of 66 per cent, from 1833. In this we see the result of the decline of the
alewife and shad fishery. The revival of 1835, 1836, and 1837 was, it is fair to presume, the result
of the excellent condition of the salmon fishery, which, according t o another authority,* was at
this time showing an increase, which culminated in 1836. The general decline of the salmon
fishery is shown by the falling off of the rental from 1837 to 1845.

Since 1860 there have been various fluctuations in the numbers of salmon and alewives, but
the shad have remained steadily at low- water mark. The years 1867 and 1868 were good years for
salmon ; so also were 1872 and 1873. In 1867 the State commissioner of fisheries estimated the
catch, from imperfect data, at 8,000 salmon and 1,000,000 alewives. In 1873, after careful inquiry,
the number of salmon caught was estimated at 15,000.t The latter year was beyond question
the best since 1860, and probably the best since 1850.

SAINT GEORGE EIVEK. — The Saint George is a small river, draining only 210 square miles of
territory. Its water surface, however, embraces seventy-two lakes and lakelets, of which the

1 Mr. Arnos Treat, of Fraokfort.

- t Kept. U. 8. Fish Coin. 187d-'73, p. 313.

THE PtIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 713

sixteen largest have an aggregate area of 14.35 square miles. All or nearly all of these were
naturally accessible to alewives, and, as may be inferred, the river produced this species in great
abundance. Shad and salmon were also found there, and tradition says in plenty, but it does not
appear how plenty. At any rate, since the beginning of the present century, salmon have been
rare and shad not abundant.

Alewives, smelts, and eels are now caught in this river in sufficient numbers for market pur-
poses; the alewives in weirs in Thornaston and Gushing, and in dip-nets in Warren; the smelts in
weirs in Thomaston, in bag-nets under the Gushing Bridge, and by hook in Warren; the eels are
taken with weirs, pots, and spears.

The alewife fishery at Warren is controlled by the town; The weir fishery is free. There is
also a free fishery with drift-nets, which is believed to be mainly illegal.

The town fishery at Warren dates as far back as 1802, when it was established by act of the
legislature of Massachusetts. It was the practice until 1879 for the town to appoint an agent, who,
with his deputies, captured the fish and dealt them out according to law. Tickets were issued to
heads of families, each ticket entitling the holder to 300 alewives on payment of the fixed price,
which was generally 20 cents per hundred. The order of precedence of the tickets was determined
by lot. Certain poor were supplied gratis. After all the tickets were supplied, the remainder
were sold for the town to any buyer. From these sales large sums were formerly realized, and
one year it amounted to $2,300, which paid the town tax for that year, the minister's salary, and
left something over. The gradual curtailment of the area of their breeding grounds by the closing
of tributary lakes and the difficulty of passing the dams at Warren caused a decline in the num-
ber of the alewives. From 1849 to 1858, inclusive, the average amount received from sales was
$511 yearly; the best returns being $1,146.16 in 1854, and the poorest $144.25 in 1850. During
eight years, from 1859 to 1867, inclusive (excepting 1865, when no sales were made), the average
of receipts was. $219.87. The lowest ebb appears to have been reached in 1864, when but $65
were received. For some years the fishery continued to yield very little, and in 1873 was almost
a total failure. Since then, however, there has been a great improvement, the sales in 1875
amounting to $526.28, and subsequent years having been quite productive. The improvement
may be reasonably ascribed in the main to the construction of improved fishways.

The total catch of alewives in 1880 in the river by all methods was 515,000. There were
400,000 smoked and 134 barrels salted.

The smelt fishery of the Saint George is of greater pecuniary importance than the alewife
fishery, though its origin dates from no further back than about 1870 or 1868, when several weirs were
built for them in the river just below Thomaston. At present there are 8 weirs built on the river,
and nearly all the smelts are caught in them. There are, however, 3. bag-nets used at the Gush-
ing Bridge, and a few men fish with hook at Warren. The product is shipped by rail to Boston
and New York, the latter taking commonly 80 to 90 per cent of the total. The census year was
the best year in the history of the fishery, 95,000 pounds of smelts having been sent to market.
The next best year was 1875-'76, when the shipments amounted to a little over 60,000 pounds. In
other years since 1872 they have amounted to from 25,000 to 42,000 pounds.

No torn-cods of consequence are caught in this river, and the eel-fishery, followed with pots
and a few spears, produces but about 8,000 pounds a year.

MEDOJIAK RIVER. — A small river, draining but 62 square miles of territory and less than 3
square miles of lake surface, the Medomak has never been a very important producer of fish. It

714 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

was closed to the anadromous fishes by legislative sanction in 1800. At present it has only a few
smelts. There is a prospective alewife fishery, the result of the encouragement given this species
through the construction of fishways and restricted fishing, but in 1880 the capture of alewives
was still forbidden.

The smelt fishery is limited to the operations of 3 weirs built in Broad Cove, and a large num-
ber of hook fishermen, of whom about 80 are estimated to have fished for them for sale in cloth
huts similar to those used in other places. The total catch in 1879-'80 was 33,910 pounds. The
smelt fishery of the Medomak dates from the year 1871, when one George Preble came from the
Kennebec and built a weir about 1J miles below the village on the east side of the river. He met
with good success, and the next year two weirs were built. From this the weir fishery suddenly
developed itself until the hedges were forbidden by law as impediments to navigation. About
1877 it was discovered that smelts could be taken here with hook, and there was an immediate
development of that fishery. The fishing grounds are at various points within 2 miles of Waldo-'
borough village.

PEMAQTJID RIVER. — This is a very small stream, having a drainage basin of only some 10 or 15
square miles. An alewife fishery of some local importance once existed here, but it was destroyed
by impassable dams and improvident management.

DAMARISCOTTA RIVER. — This is also a small river, having a drainage basin of little more than
50 square miles, and a lake surface of 10 square miles. In the matter of fisheries it is, however,
the most important river in the State after the Penobscot and Kennebec. The river has its source
in a lake of 10 miles area, known as "Damariscotta Pond," which is fed by many small brooks.
From the outlet of this lake to the sea is about 19 miles, of which less than a quarter of a mile is
fresh water, the rest being a tidal brackish estuary. From the lake the river plunges at Damaris-
cotta Mills down over a steep rocky descent, at the foot of which it enters Damariscotta Bay, a
sheet of slightly brackish water about 2 miles long, which is connected with the lower and salter
part of the river by a narrow and rather shallow passage. This bay appears to be especially well
fitted for a winter home for smelts and eels, and here all the fisheries for those species are
plied.

The alewife fishery is claimed and generally believed to have been in its origin wholly artifi-
cial, but there is some evidence to the contrary, and it must be regarded as an unsettled question
whether alewives ever succeeded in ascending to the lake before they were assisted by man. This
much, however, seems to be established, that if such was the fact the extermination of the original
brood (doubtless by dams which were very early erected here) was effected so long ago that its ex-
istence was unknown to those living in the vicinity seventy-five years ago. The tradition is that
up to 1803 no alewives had ever ascended the falls. A few stragglers came yearly to the foot of
the falls and by plying the dip net industriously a man might get a mess of them, but as they
were unable to reach any breeding ground, they did not increase. In 1803, however, some of the
citizens got a lot of alewives from Pemaquid River (some say from Warren) and put them into the
lake, and when their descendants in due course of time came back from the sea a rude fish way was
constructed of loose stones for them to ascend. The result was the establishment of a flourishing
fishery. In 1810 the towns of Nobleborough and Newcastle, whose boundary is formed by the
river at the falls, assumed control, under legislative sanction, of this fishery, and have continued to
manage it down' to the present time after the manner of town fisheries in other parts. Until 1865
the fish were taken by the fish committee and sold to the citizens and the public at 25 cents per

THE K1VEB FISHERIES OP MAINE.

715

hundred. From 18(55 to 1880, inclusive, the committee has sold the privilege of taking fish at auc-
tion, and the price was in 1866 raised to 50 cents per hundred. Eeceipts from the auction sales,
and the estimated number of fish taken each year, have been as follows:

Tear.

Proceeds of

auction sales.

Number of
alewivea
taken.

1866

$1,200

700 000

1867

1 300

1 300 000

1868 . .^_^.

1 800

800 000

1869 ..

2 040

750 000

1870

2 945

1 000 000

1871

1 875

350 000

1872

1 340

400 000

1873

1 840

600 000

1874

2 040

800 000

1875

2 055

800 000

1876

2 050

600 000

1877

1 845

600 000

1878

2 040

850 000

1879

2 100

737 000

1880

2 100

1 700 000

From this it appears that the best catch since 1865 was that of 1880. But this was sometimes
exceeded in the first half of the century. The year 1843 is remarkable as the most productive ever
known. The spring of that year was a season of exceptionally large rainfall, and the water in the
river was very high. The product of the sales at 25 cents per hundred was about $3,000, and a
greo.t many were taken by private parties who did not pay for them.

The above statements refer only to the fishery at Damariscotta Mills, which is managed by the
towns, and the implements of which are dip-nets exclusively. There, however, exists a weir fishery
of early origin and now embracing 13 weirs on the lower part of the river in Bristol and Edgecomb,
a gill-net fishery with about 20 nets in the same vicinity, and a seine fishery at Eutherford's Island.
By all these methods there were taken in 1880 about 2,300,000 alewives, or about 5,400 barrels,
of which 2,950 barrels were salted, and 2,400 barrels smoked.

The earliest alewives make their appearance in the vicinity of Damariscotta Mills at the end of
April or the first of May, and they continue to ascend the stream for five or six weeks." The first
captures are generally made from May 5 to 10, and the principal run is expected about May 20 to
25. Of the early runs 400 fill a barrel, but at the close of the season it takes 500.

The smelt fishery of the Damariscotta has sprung up within the last twenty years. It has
always been exclusively a hook-and-line fishery through the ice of Damariscotta Bay. In its
earliest stages the fishermen stood by their holes without shelter. Then they resorted to clumps
of brush to break off the cold winds. The next step was the building of a heavy wooden sha.uty,
and these have finally given place to neat, comfortable, and easily-movable cloth huts, of which in
the winter of 1S79-'80 there were in use 154— the greatest number ever known. Each house is
occupied by one man with 3 lines, and each line generally carries a single hook. The favorite
and ordinary bait is the marsh minnow, which is collected in the fall and kept in springs or in pits
in house cellars. The smelts bite on either tide, and their movements about the bay are so irregu-
lar that the fishermen are unable to agree as to best location for fishing, and the huts are often
moved about to find better ground. The catch of 1879-'80 aggregated 70,500 pounds, of which
about one-third was sent by sleds into the country in various directions, and the remainder for-
warded by rail to Boston and Kew York. The prices obtained averaged to the fisherman 4£ to 5
cents per pound.

716 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The eel fishery of this river is also located in Damariscotta Bay, and employs no implement but
the spear. The product has fallen off some in recent times in spite of a protective law which
limits the fishery in point of time to the four months of December, January, February, and March.
In 1879-'80 the yield was 18,200 pound.

SHEEPSCOT RIVER. - The Sheepscot drains about 200 square miles. Its tributary lakes are
few and small, and it seems to have been, as tradition asserts, frequented by salmon and shad to a
greater extent than any other river between the Kennebec and Penobscot, while alewives were
relatively less abundant. Impassable dams at Alua, at the head of the tide, have for many years
shut the migratory fishes out from nearly its entire course. The main river was exempted from
the operation of the fish law by act of legislature in 1800. This exemption did not extend to Dyer's
Eiver.

At the present day the fisheries of the Sheepscot are of little importance, the total value of
the product being but $2,540, which is about the ninth part of the product of the Damariscotta.
About 1,000 shad are taken in traps arranged for them in the river near Alna. One or two salmon
are commonly taken in these shad-nets, but none in 1880. No alewives of consequence are caught,
there being no fishing specially for them, and no summer weirs built. Bass, smelts, and eels are
the species taken for market.

The implements employed in the smelt fishery are 11 weirs, 3 bag-nets, and the gear of
about thirty-five hook fishermen. The weirs are built at various points both above and below
Wiscasset, and operate in the fall and winter. The bag-nets were set at three bridges, on the
tributary known as Back River. The hook fishery is located near Sheepscot Bridge, from half a
mile above to 2 miles below, varying from year to year, according to favorable or unfavorable con
dition and extent of the ice. This fishery dates from the winter of 187G-'77. About $1,000 worth
of smelts Lave been taken out yearly, except in 1879-'80, when, on account of the unstable con-
dition of the ice, there was little fishing done at this point, and the total catch of smelts in the
whole river was but about 22,000 pounds, valued at $1,100.

Bass are taken in summer with hook and line at Flying Point, in Wiscasset, and in winter in
gill-nets, above Sheepscot Bridge, in both the main river and its principal tributary, Dyer's
River — mostly in the latter. This fishery began about 1873, some men from the Keimebec being
the first to engage in it. In the channel of Dyer's River, which is here uniformly very narrow and
of even depth, they set gill-nets about 35 feet long, 12 to 15 feet deep, and with a 4 inch mesh,
through the ice across the channel, which they in general completely span. The bass taken are
ordinarily from 3 to 12 pounds in weight, but some of 30 to 40 pounds are now and then caught.
The catch of the gill-nets is estimated at 5,000 pounds and of other methods at 3,000 pounds.

Eels are plenty in Dyer's River. They are taken with spears to the extent of about 4,000
pounds yearly.

KENNEBEC RIVER. — The Keunebec is the second river in the State in size, and second in tht
importance of its fisheries. It drains 5,800 square miles, of which 450 square miles is lake surface
About two-thirds of the basin is covered by forest, and nearly the whole of it is hilly or mountain-
ous. Far the greater part of its volume is contributed by its western tributaries, several of which,
the Sandy, Carrabasset, Dead, and Moose Rivers, take their rise in the mountainous district on the
western border of the State. The Kenuebec proper takes its rise in Moosehead Lake, 155 miles
from the sea. This lake is the largest in the State, having an area of about 120 square miles. The
sources of some of the tributaries are from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea, but the main river
issues from Moosehead Lake at an elevation of about 1,023 feet. As the descent thence to the sea-
level is accomplished in the 112 miles between the lake and Augusta, the Kennebec is a very

THE EIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 717

rapid river. There is very little dead water, the current averaging near 3 miles per hour. Kapids
abound, and at several points there are important falls, as at Waterville, Skowhegan, Carritunk,
and several points near the lake. Below Augusta there is a 20-miles stretch of water affected
by the tides, but which is nevertheless in ordinary summers entirely fresh, ending in Merrymeet-
ing Bay, where the Kennebec is joined by the Androscoggin arid by several smaller rivers.
From Merrymeeting Bay to the sea the river flows in a narrow channel, and, unlike the Penob-
scot and most of the other rivers of the State, it discharges into the ocean by a narrow mouth.

The tributaries of the Kennebec are of various character. Some of them are characterized by
extensive chains of lakes, and others by long stretches of gravelly rapids. They are nearly
all free from serious natural impediments, the most important exceptions being the Mussalunskee
(Emerson Stream), draining the Belgrade lakes, which has a perpendicular fall of 38 feet at West
Waterville, 8 miles from its mouth, and Dead River, or the West Branch, which has a similar fall
of 28 feet, 15 miles from its mouth.

The artificial obstructions to the ascent of the Kennebec and its branches by migratory fishes
are numerous and formidable. On the main river there are dams at Augusta, Waterville, Fair-
field, Somerset Mills, Skowhegan, and Madison. All of the tributaries are dammed at frequent
intervals. On the Gobbosseecontee there are 8 dams within 1 mile of its mouth. On the Sandy
there are 3 dams within the natural range of fish, the same number on the Carrabasset; on
the Sebasticook and branches 15 or more. The damming of the tributaries dates from the
last century. The main river remained open till 1838, when the completion of the Augusta dam
shut them out from all waters above that point. Previous to 1838 fisbways were maintained on
the Sebasticook and some of the lesser tributaries, but no adequate provision for the ascent of fish
was made at Augusta until 1879, and meanwhile all the other fishways had been neglected.

In other respects the Kennebec has been less unfavorably affected by the influence of civiliza
tion than the Penobscot. Neither river has been polluted with sewage nor the waste of manu
factures, and the discharge of sawdust and other mill refuse has been on a smaller scale on the
Keuuebec, and has not, so far as can be seen, exerted any unfavorable influence.

Salmon. — The original limit of .the range of salmon in the Kennebec was probably about 12
miles above the "Forks," or junction of the West Branch, or Dead River, with the main Kennebec,
aud 144 miles from the sea. On Dead River it was at Grand Falls, 147 miles from the sea.
Owing, however, to early sparsity of population very little information on this point has come
clown to us. The most serious natural obstruction in their way was Carritunk Falls, where they
were obliged to surmount a perpendicular fall of 16 feet, and although it is certain that many
succeeded in doing so, it may well be doubted whether they constituted a majority. In the Carra-
basset and Sandy they ascended many miles from their mouths, and i* is supposed that these two
rivers afforded their principal spawning grounds. They are known to have ascended the Sebas-
ticook, though only in small numbers, and they are said to have been sometimes found in the
Wesseruusett and Cobbosseecontee.

The aborigines doubtless pursued the salmon, but very few facts about it are known. In
1754 a military force ascending the river found a few "Indians at Norridgewock, and fresh salmon
in their possession. Records of the year 1773 show that salmon in barrels were sent as articles of
merchandise from Fort Halifax (near the present town of Waterville) to Fort Western (now
Augusta).* It was probably not many years after the latter date that drift-net and dip-net
fisheries sprang up at Showhegan and Carritunk. The latter continued to be the best fishing

* North's History of Augusta, page 115.

718 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES.

ground above Waterville as long as salmon were able to pass Augusta. There was at the
same time a drift-net fishery of less importance at Augusta, several seine-fisheries, in which some
salmon were taken at various points up and down the river, and a weir fishery near its mouth.
An eye witness* estimated the number of canoes fishing with drift-nets at Ticouic Falls since the
beginning of the present century at about forty yearly, each canoe employing two men and one
net. On one occasion as many as eighty-two canoes were counted at work at the same time.
These canoes were all log dug-outs. Their ordinary catch was estimated at one hundred and
twenty salmon for each canoe for the season, which would give a total of forty -eight hundred.
Another witnesst estimated the number of drift-nets fishing at Augusta in 1820 at twelve, and
their catch at four thousand salmon. These are, however, off-hand estimates, and are liable
to be far out of the way. In 1837 and 1838 the dam at Augusta was built, completely block-
ing the way of migratory fishes, and extinguishing all the fisheries of the upper waters. Of the
salmon fishing below Augusta, we know that it was in a nourishing condition as late as 1814,
when an old-fashioned shoal-water weir at Abagadasset Point, in Merrymeeting Bay, took one
hundred salmon in a single season,! whereas in recent years a far more efficient weir on the same
spot rarely or never takes as many as half a dozen in a season. From 1826 to 1835 the yield of
salmon continued good, though by no means averaging so well as in 1814, which may have been
an exceptional year. From 1837 to 1842 there was a decidedly higher yield, which was especially
noticeable at Augusta. After this there was a sharp decline, which continued till 1855 or 1860,
when the lowest point was reached, just short of utter extinction. The only breeding ground
remaining accessible to the salmon was on the gravel beds within the first half-mile below the
Augusta dam, and to this opportunity is the continuance of the brood in the river doubtless due.
Since 1860 there have been several fluctuations, 1868 having been the best year then known since
1850, and 1873 having been still better. The number taken in 1867 was estimated by the state
commission at twelve hundred, but this is regarded by some as too high an estimate. The data
obtained by a careful inquiry (but not a thorough canvass) in 1873 led me to estimate the number
taken in that year at fifteen hundred, of which nine hundred were taken below Bath and six
hundred above that point. In latter years there has been a gradual decline, with some minor
fluctuations. The total catch in 1880 was two hundred and sixty-nine salmon.

For the past twenty-five years the fishery for salmon has been little more than an adjunct of the
shad and alewife fishery. It is probable that not a single weir would be built or seine operated on
the river were it not for the shad and alewives, and the drift-nets at Augusta, the only implements
.used expressly for salmon, have rarely numbered more than two in a season, and have sometimes
been suspended for a whole summer.

* Mr. William Getchell, who owned an island at Ticonio Falls, and carried on a dip-net fishery there, mainly for
shad, from 1804 to 1837, and who was in 1867 still living in Benton.
t Mr. William Kennedy, of Angusta.

t The authority for this statement is Mr. John Brown, of Bowdoinham, who was at that time a boy living on the
point. Mr. Brown has a daily record of his own fishing, extending, almost without, interruption, from 1826 to 1861.
With his free permission I draw the following facts therefrom ; Mr. Brown's location was not favorable for salmon ;
no more, indeed, was any part of Merrymeeting Bay. The shad and alewives were the principal fish taken. The
average number of salmon taken in his weir during the ten yearb ending in 1835 was 21.6 yearly. In 1837 there was an
increase to 41, a greater number than any previous year since the record began. In 1838 there was a still greater
number, 65. The fonr following years the catch was 46, 27, 49, and 27, respectively, and the average for the six years
ending with 1845 was 42.5. This is hold by Mr. Brown to show very plainly the effect of the Augusta dam in detain-
ing the salmon, aud even impelling them to retrace their course from Augusta toward the sea, at least as far as
Merrymeetiug Bay. From this time there was a sudden falling off, the average catch for the next five years being
but 14. In 1850 it was but 5, the lowest point yet, and in 1855, 1857, and 1858, but one each year, notwithstanding that
u more efficient weir had taken the place of the old one.

THE EIVEli FISHERIES OF MAINE. 719

In early times the salting and smoking of salmon were common, and probably the greater part of
the catch was disposed of in this way. Small vessels from Connecticut visited the Kennebec, as
well as the Penobscot, to buy salmon. This was practiced as late as 1814 or later. But since
1825 it has been almost or quite the universal practice to market salmon fresh. The average price
received in Bowdoiuham in 1826 was about 9 cents per pound; in 1827, 15 cents per pound; and
between these extremes it remained until 1845, with the exception of 1834 and 1840. Since 1845
there has been a considerable augmentation.

Shad. — The shad is the most important of fche-f*roducts of the spring fishery, yielding a pecun-
iary return sixteen times as great as salmon and nearly twice as great as the alewife. It is taken
in weirs and drift-nets. Nearly every weir on the river depends more on shad than any other
fish, but the most productive shad weirs are those of Merryrneeting Bay and vicinity, which are
of the form already described as "shad weirs," whose distinguishing characteristic is the capture
of the fish in a large pound of deep water, from which they are taken with a seine. This form of
weir is exclusively used in this vicinily, as on the lower part of the river the weir with a board
floor is almost the only form in use. The principal reason for the difference in practice of the two
sections is the difference in the condition of the river and the currents, a seine-weir requiring a
gentle current for its successful operation. The form of weir has doubtless something to do with
the fact that four-fifths of all the shad are taken in the Merryrneeting Bay district, including the
Androscoggin arm of the bay and its tributaries, but it seems that while in the cooler and salter
water of the Georgetown district they are more inclined to avoid the shores and pass up the river.
Of the 140,000 shad taken in the Kenuebec in 1880, 108,000 were taken in the Merryineeting Bay
district, 5,800 above Richmond, 16,744 between the bay and Bath, and only 10,000 below Bath, in-
cluding the Sasanoa or eastward arm, between Woolwich and Arrowsic. The approximate averages
are as follows : In the bay district, 44 weirs averaged 2,048 shad ; below Bath, 29 weirs averaged
345 shad. All included in the above statements are the breeding shad, called by the fishermen
" river shad," or " spawn shad." The sea shad are mostly taken with drift-nets in the lower reaches
of the river, but to some extent in the weirs. In 1880 the catch of sea shad was exceedingly small,
and only about 80 barrels were cured. The drifting below Bath is wholly for sea shad; above
Bath, for river shad.

In early times shad appear to have ascended the main river to Norridgewock Falls, Sandy
Eiver, a few miles from its mouth, and the Sebasticook in small numbers to Newport. Tradition
also assigns the shad a place in the fauna of the Cobbosseecontee. There were productive shad
fisheries at several points above the flow of the tide, among which we may mention Ticonic Falls
(Waterville) and the Lower Sandy Eiver. At Ticonic Falls there is an island in mid-stream, where
great facilities existed for catching shad with dip-nets. This island was private property. The
proprietor, from 1804 down to the extinction of the fishery, has stated that in the early days of his
fishing he used to take $500 to $600 worth of shad yearly. As remarkable feats he mentioned
that with the assistance of his three boys he had taken 1,100 shad and 20 salmon in an afternoon,
and that one day four men dipped out and boated ashore 6,400 large shad. There was a similar
but less productive dip-net fishery on the falls at Skowhegan.

The drift net, seine, and weir fisheries in the tidal waters were very productive. It is in
evidence that in 1822 a seine at Augusta was known to take 700 shad in a day ; that about 1837
there were about 100,000 shad taken in Eastern Eiver (Dresden) alone. It is known that the shad-
fishery was by no means uniformly productive. A period of scarcity occurred about 1820. That
year the weir at Abagadassett Point took but 150 shad (its catch in after years ranged from 3,000

720 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

to 10,000 yearly), and another weir, on the eastern side of the bay, took but a half-hogshead tub
full. A drift-net fisherman took but 20 shad. It was thought that shad-fishing was at an end ;
but the next year the shad were found to be increasing in numbers, and in a few years they were
again plenty. The year 1831 was one of the best years ever known in Merrymeeting Bay ; a seine
at Beef Rock, on the east side of Swan Island, took 30,000 shad.* To what causes to attribute these
fluctuations we are unable to say, but they must of necessity have been natural causes. From 1S;)0
to 183G there were inspected in the three towns of Bowdoinham, Dresden and Woolwich 6,079 bar-
rels of shad, an average of 868 barrels yearly. Inspection of packed and exported shad was
compulsory, and it is safe to say that these figures represent seven-eighths of the shad caught.
We may therefore estimate the catch in those towns at about 1,000 barrels, or 100,000 shad, yearly.
There were at that time only 2 weirs in Merrymeeting Bay, and a few in Eastern River, all
shoal-water weirs. The most of the fishing was done with drift-nets in the small rivers, like the
Cat-nance and Eastern, and with 4 or 5 seines. In 1867 in the same district the catch of 40
deep-water weirs, several seines, and an unknown number of drift-nets was about 180,000. In
1880, 44 weirs, 2 seines, and some 60 drift-nets, covering nearly the same district, took about
105,000 shad. It appears, then, that the product of the Merrymeeting Bay shad fisheries is as great
now as in 1830-1836 ; but this catch has been accomplished by the use of a great number of far
more efficient implements, t The seine- weirs were introduced in 1851 and 1852, and soon almost
entirely replaced the shoal-water weirs. In other parts of the river, where their construction
was impossible, the catch of shad has fallen off remarkably since 1830, and the entire fishery of the
districts above Augusta was of course extinguished in 1841, when the Augusta dam was finally
closed.

Alewives. — All the weirs take alewives along with shad and salmon, and at the present day
none of consequence are taken in any other way, the use of drift-nets having been discontinued
since 1867, and the fish no longer ascending to places where they can be taken with dip-nets.
As with shad, the most productive weirs are those of the Merrymeeting Bay district, especially in
Eastern River and the main river on the east of Swan Island, where 7 weirs took, in 1880, 147,820
alewives, an average of over 20,000 per weir. In the bay, north of Abagadassett Point, 15 weirs
averaged 12,500 ; south of Abagadassett Point, including the Androscoggin, Cathance, &c., 22
weirs averaged but little more than 5,300 alewives ; between the bay and the city of Bath, 14
weirs averaged about 7,500; below Bath, in the main river and branches, 29 weirs averaged but
1,862 alewives. Thus the catch of alewives increased with distance from the sea in the main river,
but fell off in the Androscoggin arm of the bay. The total catch in 1880 is estimated at 675,000.
Only 20 barrels (part of the catch of Eastern River) were salted, and 600,000 were smoked.

Perhaps the earliest mention to be found of the alewives of the Kennebec is in a letter of the
French priest Rasle, writing from the village of Norridgewock in 1723 : "At a particular season
of the year," says he, referring to the customs of the natives, " they repair to a river not far dis-
tant, where during one month the fish ascend in such numbers that a person could fill 50,000 bar-
rels in a day, if he could endure the labor. They are a kind of large hen-ing, very agreeable to
the taste when fresh. Crowding one upon another to the depth of a foot, they are drawn out as
if they were water. The Indians dry them for eight or ten days, and live on them during all the
time that they are planting their fields."

* Statement of Mr. John Brown.

* Mr. Brown's weir produced in the ten years ending in 1835 an average of 5,961 shad yearly ; in the twelve years
from 1837 to 1843 (1844 being omitted from the record) the average was 3,120 per year, iv little more than half the
former yield.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 721

Fifty years later than this the whites had taken posession of the country and began to build
saw-mills. They found the ale wives ascending the river in immense numbers, extending their
migrations to Norridgewock Falls, 91 miles from the sea, and up the Sandy River some 20 miles
farther. Their principal breeding places were, however, in the lakes and ponds of tributaries
nearer the sea, especially Cobbosseecoutee stream (at Gardiner), Seven-mile Brook (in Vassal-
borough), aud the Sebasticook River. The first of these afforded an extensive breeding ground
in its 21 square miles of lakes and ponds, and must have contributed an important quota to the
population of the river, but it was early closed. In 1787 we find the town of Wales (then includ-
ing Moumouth) appointing a fish, committee, which the next year was designated a "committee
to see that the flshways are kept open according to law." The dams at Gardiner, however, were
impassable, fishways were not maintained, and very early in the present century this brood of
ale wives was extinguished. A similar fate overtook the alewives of Nehuinkeag and Worromon-
togus streams, two small tributaries on the east side of the river. At Seven-mile Brook and in
the Sabasticook the alewives continued to breed until 1837, when the dam at Augusta finally cut
them off.

The Sebasticook was probably the principal nursery of alewives for the Keimebec. It has a
lake surface of 48 square miles, nearly every mile of which was accessible. After suffering great
diminution while running the gauntlet of the tidal fisheries, there still remained a vast throng of
fish to attempt the ascent of the Sebasticook. Fishing in this river was at first entirely free to
the public, but after some years it was found that there was a diminution in the numbers of
alewives, aud protective legislation was then obtained for the most important points, which were
at the falls, natural aud artificial. The fisheries at such places were generally put into the hands
of the towns. It does not seem that these measures were entirely effective, but that there was a
gradual decline from obstructions and excessive fishing. There was a dam at the upper falls in
Clinton previous to 1775, but it was provided with a fishway aud the alewives continued to ascend
in great numbers as far as Newport, on the main Sebasticook, and to the principal lakes on the
tributaries. In 1809 a more formidable dam was put across the river at Benton. A serious fall-
ing off of the fish was soon perceptible and the dam was cut away to allow them again to ascend.
In 1814 the town of Benton took charge of the fishery under legislative authority, and by a more
careful management effected a substantial improvement. The right to take the fish was sold at
auction yearly and brought from $500 to $1,500, though under the condition that the poor should
be supplied gratis aud all townsmen at a set price. The last year of the fishery (about 1837) it
sold for $225; one or two years earlier, for $500.

Thus one by one the feeders of the river were cut off, with only one exception, that of Ne-
quasset stream, in Woolwich, which remained open until very recent times, and, indeed, is not re-
garded now as permanently closed. The breeding ground in the main Kennebec was also largely
curtailed, aud is now limited to the tidal portions of the river in and above Merrymeeting Bay,
and of the small tributaries centering in Merrymeeting Bay. So far as they go, however, these
waters are very good nurseries, and in its yield of alewives the Kennebec now stands third among
the rivers of Maine, only the Damariscotta and Penobscot surpassing it.

Of the number of alewives caught yearly in early times we are no better able to form an
estimate than in the case of salmon and snail. There can, however, be no reasonable doubt that
tradition is right in assigning them numbers far greater than has been known to any one now
living. There must have been a great decline in their numbers consequent upon the erection of
impassable dams across the streams by which they were wont to reach some of their best spawning
SEC. v 4C

722 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

grounds. Yet measured by the standard of receut years they were still abundant in 1830. Dur-
ing the ten years ending with 1835 Mr. Brown's single shoal- water weir in Merrymeeting Bay took
on the average nearly three times as many alewives as two deep-water weirs in the same vicinity
took in the year 1880. The average catch of the same weir for the twelve years ending with 1848
shows a decline of about 40 per cent. In 1867 the State commissioners of fisheries estimated the
aggregate catch of the river to have averaged about 1,200,000 alewives for some years previous,
there being then eighty-sis weirs, eight seines, and a few drift-nets in operation. In 1880, with
eighty-seven weirs and two seines in operation, there were taken about 675,000 alewives. The
latter estimate does not include bluebacks, of which some 400,000 were taken in 1880, an unpre-
cedented number. The estimate made in 1867 is supposed to include few if any bluebacks.

Smelts. — The capture of smelts in the Kennebec was carried on on a small scale with hook
and line and also with small gill-nets as early as 1814, Both these methods were in vogue in
Eastern River at that time, and the hook and line fishing was probably common in other parts of
the river, especially farther up, but it does not seem that the use of gill-nets was known elsewhere.
The use of nets extended to other parts of the Kennebec, and this continued to be the most productive
mode of taking smelts until the introduction of bag-nets, about 1852. The most of the smelts taken
fifty years ago were for home consumption, but even then there was a small trade in them for the
supply of local and inland markets. One cent per dozen is quoted as the price received by a
fisherman for his entire winter's catch. About 1850 there sprang up a brisk demand for smelts
to supply the large cities, especially New York, which has always taken the greater part of the
catch of the Kennebec since that time. The introduction of fykes and bag-nets dates from 1851
and 1852. Both these nets were used in the Kennebec for many years, but the fykes have gradually
gone out of use and plain bag-nets taken their places.

With the exception of two nets on tributaries in Georgetown and Arrowsic, the bag-net fishery
is confined to the district between Bath and Richmond. There were one hundred and fourteen nets
employed in the winter of 1879-'80, and their catch was about one-third of all the smelts taken in
the Kennebec.

Weirs for smelts are employed only below Bath, mainly in the mouth of Back River, between
Georgetown and Arrowsic. They are half-tide weirs, built and put in operation in autumn, and if
not earlier broken down by ice they fish until the smelts are all gone past up the river, which
varies from year to year, but averages about the middle of January. The total product of the
fishery in Georgetown and Arrowsic in 1879-'80 was about 52,000 pounds.

The hook fishery is carried on in two districts : first, in the Sasanoa, at Treble's Point (the
northern extremity of Arrowsic); second, in Gardiner and Hallowell. The latter locality is an old
one, having been occupied with little or no interruption, though with all degrees of success, from
very early times. About 1850 it was very productive, but, according to local testimony at Gardi-
ner, it has fallen off greatly since the introduction of bag-nets in the Bay district. In 1879-'80
there were about a hundred persons who fished for sale, but not more than a dozen followed it
persistently ; the aggregate catch was about 19,650 pounds, all of which were disposed of in local
markets. The fishery at Treble's Point has just sprung into existence, the discovery that smelts
could be caught here having been first made in the winter of 1878-'79. The next winter there
were one hundred and fifty men, with 50 cloth-houses and 350 lines, at work most of the fishing
season, and their catch is estimated at 45,514 pounds of smelts.

Eels. — This fishery in the Kennebec, as in most other rivers, has been carried on very irregu-
larly, and little can be said of its history. Eels have been marketed from the Kennebec from very
early tintes. About 1840 a fishing smack from New London, Conn., followed for several years the

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 723

business of buying eels in the Keunebec at one cent per pound and carrying them alive to New
York. At present, though followed by a few persons at other points, it is mostly confined to Phipps-
burg, Georgetown, and Dresden. In Phippsburg and Georgetown there is a summer fishery, with
traps and pots, employing a portion of the time some fourteen men and yielding 28,000 pounds of
eels, of which about half were shipped "round" (packed alive iu barrels with ice), and the rest
dressed, nearly all to New York. The fishery at Dresden is a winter fishery, conducted on the ice
with spears by some twenty men, whose catch, however, is only about 4,000 pounds. The only
other eel fishery worthy of mention is an autiunu_weir fishery at Gardiner, in the Cobbosseecontee

•

stream. The catch here consists solely of gravid female eels on their way to the sea. The pro-
prietor, Mr. W. H. Spear, has sometimes practiced transferring the young eels found so plenti-
fully in early summer iu the Kennebec to the lakes above, hoping thereby to increase his catch.

Sturgeon. — All essential facts with reference to the sturgeon fishery of the Kennebec are
stated above in connection with the description of the natural history of the sturgeon and modes
of catching it. The catch of 1880 is estimated at 250 sturgeon, weighing 12,500 pounds.

Striped Boss. — The principal points in the bass fishery of the Keunebec have already been stated
(see p. 693). The only modes of fishing expressly for bass that have been employed on the Kenne-
bec are the stop-net above described, and a floored weir, of which latter method only a single
example has come to our knowledge, a weir having been built expressly for bass in 1880, just
below Merrymeeting Bay. Bass were once plenty in the Keunebec, but there was at that time
little demand for them. Now they are in demand, but are unfortunately scarce. The catch of
1880 is estimated at 12,760 pounds.

Tomcod. — This fish is little prized in the Kennebec, and is now taken only as an incidental
product of the smelt fishery, except those captured with dip-nets and grapples at Augusta in mid-
winter, which are estimated for the winter of 1879-'80 at 40,000 pounds. The quantity taken in
the smelt fishery is estimated at 60,000 pounds. The greater portion of these are fed to animals,
but the best of them are selected and sold for human food.

Blueback. — The fishermen of the Kennebec almost without exception distinguish the blueback
(Clupea cBstivalis) from the true alewife (C. vernalis). As a rule the former is not cured or mar-
keted in any way, but is sold for bait to passing fishing vessels or thrown into the refuse heap.
Occasionally, however, some of them are smoked and sold as alewives. The number taken in the
Kennebec in 1880, estimated at 400,000, was much larger than ever known there before.

ANDROSCOGGIN RIVEE. — The Androscoggin ranks in size as the third river of Maine,
draining 3,600 square miles, of which 2,750 are within the State limits. Its aggregate lake surface
is 213 square miles, but very little of this was ever accessible to migratory fishes. Its sources are
in the mountainous region of Western Maine and Northern New Hampshire. Its upper waters are
more elevated than those of any other river, and its descent to the sea steeper. It abounds in
gravelly rapids and so far as accessible afforded in early time excellent breeding ground for
salmon. The highest point reached by salmon appears to have been Rumford Falls, a little more
than 100 miles from the sea, where a natural fall prevented their further progress. It is matter
of direct testimony that a few salmon were taken hereabout 1815, and of tradition that they were
abundant here and in Swift River, a near-by tributary, at an earlier date. Probably, however,
the falls at Lewiston was always a serious impediment to salmon, being quite impassable to shad
and alewives. Salmon are known to have been caught at Lewistou as late as 1815. They were
finally shut out by a dam at Brunswick. Alewives used to breed in Sebattus pond, and shad in
the main river below Lewistou. Neither of these species has ascended farther than Brunswick
for many years; consequently they are reduced to exceedingly small numbers.

724 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The recent fishery of the river is confined to the tidal portions, within 6 miles of its junction
with the Keunebec, in Merry meeting Bay, where a few shad, ale wives, and sturgeon are taken.
For convenience these fisheries are regarded as part of those of the Kennebec River, and have
therefore been included in the remarks on that river.

CASCO BAY AND TRIBUTARIES.— This district possesses no river fisheries of great value, the
aggregate product being estimated at $5,609. The species caught, arranged in order of their pe-
cuniary importance, are as follows : Smelts, shad, eels, salmon, torn-cods, alewives.

The smelts are mainly taken in weirs, of which there are 25; located in New Meadows River,
4; iu Harpswell Sound, 2; in Middle Bay, 2; in Maquoit Bay, 3; in Freeport, 1; in Yarmouth, 6; in
the Presumpscot River, 2; in Portland Back Cove, 3 ; and in Portland Harbor, 2. In this district
(in New Meadows River and Freeport) there are also four smelt seines iu use, the only ones in
the State. The smelt fishery of this district is of very recent origin, none of the weirs dating
back more than twelve years.

The shad taken here are nearly all sea-shad, and are probably immature fish belonging to the
brood of the Keunebec. They are mostly taken iu drift-nets, which are plied in New Meadows
River, Quohog Bay, Harpswell Sound. Middle Bay, Maquoit Bay, an'd some other localities. Mid-
dle Bay has been the best ground. This fishery has been carried on for nearly thirty years and pos-
sibly longer. During the past twenty years it has greatly declined. The product is salted and
marketed as mess-shad.

The principal eel fishery of this district is in Quohog Bay, where there was discovered iu 1876 a
most remarkable eel-bed, the most productive ever known iu the State. It extends over abont 10
acres, on a mnddy bottom, without grass, at a mean depth of 13 feet at low tide. The eels are
taken out by spears worked through holes in the ice, which commonly forms here in December.
The first and second winter from its discovery this bed yielded 2 tons of eels a day for the first five
or six days of fishing. Eels are taken in many other localities around the bay with spears, and iu
the Presumpscot River and around Portland with pots or baskets.

The salmon taken in Casco Bay are believed to belong to the Kenuebec River, with few
exceptions.

The only tributaries of Casco Bay large enough to demand notice are Royal's River (Yarmouth)
and the Presumpscot. Royal's, though a very small river, was frequented by salmon regularly
and iu considerable numbers at the beginning of the present century ; but they have long been
shut out by dams, and the last seen were caught in a weir .more than twenty -five years ago.

The Presumpscot drains about 520 square miles of territory, and among its tributaries are
lakes with an aggregate area of 90 square miles. Lake Sebago, the second lake iu the State in
size, lies but 22 miles from the sea, but has an elevation of 247 feet. The Presumpscot is therefore
a rapid river. It has remarkably clear water, and abounded naturally in gravelly rapids. It was
frequented by salmon, shad, and alewives, but seems to have been best adapted to salmon. All
fisheries were practically extinguished early in the present century by a dam at the head of the
tide. That dam was afterwards abandoned, and alewives have since found a limited breeding
ground, and though unable to ascend the river far, both shad and salmon have occasionally bi'cn
found in it in recent years. All the dams now on the river, some seven in number, have been
recently provided with fishways, through which alewives do, and salmon may, ascend to Lake
Sebago.

SAGO RIVER. — The Saco drain s an area of 1,400 square miles, of which 600 square miles lie
in the State of New Hampshire, including the greater part of the White Mountain region. Its
sources are therefore more elevated than those of any other Maine river. Probably half of the

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 725

entire basin is covered with forest. Its lake snrface measures 46.8 square miles. A much larger
proportion of its basin is occupied by sandy and gravelly land than any of the larger rivers of
the State, a circumstance that doubtless contributes largely to the constancy of its flow. The
main river is deep, not a single ford existing within 100 miles of the sea. The tributaries, how-
ever, afford many gravelly shallows adapted to the requirements of salmon as spawning ground.
Several natural falls of considerable height oppose the ascent of anadromous fishes. The first,
at the head of the tide, seems to have prevented the ascent of any but salmon, which were able
to surmount all obstacles as far as Hiram, 45 miles from the sea, where they encountered an
insurmountable obstacle in Great Falls, about "80 "feet in height. Below this point they had
access to the Great and Little (Jssipee Rivers, tributary to the Saco ou'tbe west side, in which
they are believed to have found their best breeding ground. Tradition asserts their ancient
abundance, but that had passed away more than ninety years ago, and at no time within seventy-
five years have they been so abundant that a man could take more than five or six in a day
with a dip-net at Saco Falls, the principal fishing place known to Saco tradition. The latest
date of the capture at Salmon Falls, 1G miles from the sea, was in 1843, and since 1850 they have
been practically extinct, but in recent years occasional specimens are taken with dip-nets in an
illegal and surreptitious way at the Saco and Biddeford Falls.

Shad and bass have been taken iu the tidal portion of the river in recent times, and both
were much fished for in 1860. In 1867 gill nets were in use for shad and several men found occu-
pation in the fishery, but it has since beeu abandoned. Several nets are still in existence and
occasionally set, but not regularly. Alewives are sometimes dipped, but not regularly, nor in
any considerable numbers.

The smelt fishery is the only one regularly followed. The only method employed is that of
hook and line, plied under the shelter of a movable house on the ice. The favorite location is
about 2 miles below the falls, and the fishing is done mostly by night, the houses being lighted by
kerosene lamps and heated by small coal stoves. The largest and best houses use six lines each.
Some twenty-five men engage in the business. Their aggregate catch is estimated at 6,250 pounds
of smelts in the winter of 1879-'80, and they received better prices than the fishermen of any
other locality, owing to the superior size and quality of the smelts.

MOUSAM RIVEK. — This small river, about 24 miles long and draining about 120 square miles
of territory, runs for nearly its whole length through a sandy country, and its water is very pure.
At its head is Mousain Pond, a body of water covering about 3 square miles. The Mousam was
anciently frequented by salmon, shad, and alewives, and salmon were at one time very plenty.
The salmon were exterminated many years ago, and though a few alewives and shad yearly enter
the river, there is no fishery for them nor for any other river fish at present existing.

YORK RIVER. — The extreme length of York River is about 12 miles, and its basin has an
area not exceeding 50 square miles. Of its early history no facts have been learned. At present
it is the site of a small smelt fishery employing two bag-nets and prod ucing 3,000 pounds of smelts
in a year.

PISCATAQTJA RIVER. — The drainage basin of the Piscataqua, which forms the boundary
between Maine and New Hampshire, has an area of 550 square miles, of which 240 square miles ia
in the State of Maine. Its lakes, having an area of 16 square miles, are thoroughly utilized as
reservoirs for extensive mills at Great Falls and Salmon Falls. At the latter point the main river
(here called Salmon Falls River) is hopelessly obstructed against the ascent of anadromous fishes,
and the principal tributaries are in nearly the same condition. The main upper waters are believed

726 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

to have been inaccessible for nearly two hundred years, so that the very tradition of their presence
has become dim. It is, however, beyond question that before the obstruction of the river the
principal anadromous fishes, especially salmon, were very plenty. Salmon have continued to
show themselves occasionally in the river to within forty years. Shad and alewives held on much
better, and considerable numbers of both were taken twenty years ago, but since then have greatly
declined, and at the present time the attempt to catch them is almost wholly abandoned. Two or
three small weirs yielding a very small number of shad and alewives are still maintained on the
New Hampshire side of the river. The fishery on the Main shore in 1880 was reduced to a half
dozen smelt weirs, whose united product of smelts, tomcods, bass, eels, and porch was valued at
$965.

5. LAWS RELATING TO THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE.

THE COMMON LAW. — The common law, as interpreted and applied by the Maine courts, makes
a broad distinction between navigable and unnavigable rivers. In the former category are placed
all rivers and parts of rivers in which the tide ebbs and flows; in the latter all in which the" tide
does not ebb and flow.

In navigable rivers, as thus defined, the riparian proprietors own the soil from high-water to
low-water mark, excepting cases in which the distance between the two marks is greater than 100
rods, and in these cases they own to the 100-rod limit and no farther.* This title to the soil car-
ries with it the exclusive right to erect fixtures for fishing or other purposes, or even to make a
net fast to the shore or bottom within the 100-rod limit; but does not include any exclusive owner-
ship in the water covering the flats, nor in the fish that may swim in it, nor any exclusive right
to use a movable net or other apparatus for catching fish, nor does it include any title whatever
beyond the 100-rod limit. The public, on the other hand, have not only a right, on equal terms
with the riparian owner, to fish in the deep water and on the flats beyond the 100-rod limit, but
also the right to take fish with movable apparatus in the water over the soil of the proprietor even
up to high- water mark, t*

In uunavigable rivers the title of the riparian owner is held to extend to the land under the
water from each shore as far as the middle of the stream, carrying wirh it the exclusive right to
fish by any mode in the water covering this land, the public rights being limited to the privilege
of passing with boats and other craft, and to float timber up and down streams of suitable size.
In the case of fresh-water lakes and natural ponds of greater area than 10 acres, the law of Maine
is founded upon that of Massachusetts, J and the exclusive rights of the riparian owner extend
only to high-water mark.

Thus we have in fresh water ponds and lakes a fishery with movable apparatus in the hands of
the public, in non-tidal rivers an exclusive fishery with movable apparatus in the hands of the
riparian owners, and in tidal waters both the same free fishery with movable apparatus and a
fishery with fixed apparatus in the hands of laud-holders. The law on these points is suffi-
ciently clear, but custom does not in all points agree with the law. Neither have the riparian
owners on the non-tidal rivers enforced their rights against the public, nor the public against the
riparian owners on tidal waters. In the former case the public has always enjoyed, and now
enjoys, the privilege of free fishing with movable apparatus, which is alone allowed by law in those
waters; and in the latter the riparian proprietors have maintained au exclusive fishery with fixed
apparatus in the waters in front of their respective estates, not merely on the shores laid bare by

" This modification of the common law springs from Massachusetts colonial ordinances passed in 1641 and 1647.
t According to decision of the courts even the digging of clams ou flats which are private property is held to be
a public right.

t An ordinance of Ki-tl decreed free fowling anil lisliing in all such great ponds.

THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE 727

the retreating tide, but beyond low-water mark as far as it is found practicable to extend their
structures from the shore, in many cases to the maximum depth of 20 feet at low water.

STATUTE LAWS. — All of these fishing rights are held subject to the regulation of the legisla-
ture, which has not been backward in exercising its power. During the sixty j ears of the separate
existence of the Shite of Maine, the legislature has passed 433 acts relating to fisheries, of which
11 were of a general character, 51 related to the sea-fisheries, 161 to the auadromous fishes, 159 to
fresh-water fishes, 7 to shell-fish, 2'2 to the inspection of fish products, 7 to fish culture, and of 5
the precise bearing was not ascertained. In addition to this mass of legislation, we are able to cite
at least 48 acts of the legislature of Massachusetts-having special reference to the river fisheries of
Maine, besides other acts of a more general character which were also in force in the "district of
Maine." Of the 433 acts passed by the Maine legislature, there were 114 passed between 1821
and 1840, inclusive; 74 from 1840 to 1860; 245 from 1861 to 1880. Of the 161 acts relating to the
anadroinous fishes, 71 were passed in the first period of twenty years, 29 in the second period,
and 61 in the third period. Of the acts relating to the inspection of fish products, 14 were passed
in the first period, 3 in the second, and 5 in the third.

The aims of legislation on the river fisheries have been : first, the preservation of the supply
of fish ; second, the harmonizing of conflicting interests ; third, the prevention of fraud in the sale
of fish products. The first object was attained by provisions compelling the removal or abatement
of obstructions, especially by the construction of fishways, and by a great variety of provisions
touching the time, mode, and extent of fishing. The second purpose was prominently in view in
the framing of many of the special laws instituting town fisheries in which all the citizens should
have an interest, and was often influential in provisions that restrict certain methods for the benefit
of others. And to the prevention of fraud in sale of products was devoted a long list of enactments
relative to the inspection of dried and pickled fish.

In the matter of the construction of fishways it has been the uniform policy of the State to re-
quire the owners of dams to construct and maintain them. The courts have rendered repeated
decisions affirming the principle that " every owner of a mill or dam built it under the condition
that a sufficient passageway be allowed for the fish, and the limitation, being for the public
benefit, is not extinguished by any neglect to compel compliance." Provision for the enforcement
of this rule of law has constituted a considerable part of the legislation on the fisheries for sal-
mon, shad, and alewives. A heavy penalty has been attached to a breach of the law. At times
the dam-owners have been left to devise .for themselves such contrivances as they might, and at
other times officers have been appointed, and charged with the duty of deciding the plan and loca-
tion. Sometimes, as in a general act passed in 1741, there was provision for the appointment by
a court of justice of committees to inspect dams and decide all questions as to fishways. In 1786
it was left to committees chosen by the towns. Early in the present century the county commis-
sioners were assigned this duty in cases not governed'by special acts, of which, however, there
were very many, covering the majority of the rivers and giving fishway questions into the hands
of the local officers. Since 1868 the State commissioners of fisheries have had jurisdiction in such
matters, with power to order fishways built or repairs made at their discretion, in all cases serving
formal plans and specifications.

The prominent provisions of legislation relative to time and modes of fishing are : the main-
tenance of yearly and weekly close-times ; the limitation of length of nets and other apparatus ;
the prohibition of fishing near fishways.

The yearly close-time for salmon, shad, and alewives has generally begun from the first
to the last of July (sometimes as early as June 16 for shad) and extended to December. At the

728 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

present time the close-time for S'llrnon, shad, and alewives begins July 15 and extends to the
first of the next April, rod-fishing being, however, allowed from July 15 to September 15. The
weekly close-time that has been generally maintained has been from sunrise on Saturday to
sunrise on Monday.

Nets and other apparatus were early limited in length to one-third of the width of the stream
or water where used. At present they may not, except in the Penobscot River, occupy more than
one-eighth the width of the channel, nor shall fixed apparatus extend more than 100 feet beyond
the line where there is a depth of 2 feet at low water.

Early laws exempted but a very small area, 3 or 4 rods from a fishway, from fishing, but since
1868 the limit has been removed farther and farther until now it is fixed at 500 yards ; but there
are many exceptions in small rivers.

The foregoing remarks have reference especially to the fisheries for salmon, shad, and alewives.
About other anadromous species there has been little legislation. Smelts are protected by a
yearly close time, from April 1 to October 1, dip-nets being, however, allowed from April 1.

The earliest provisions relative to the inspection of fish products applicable to Maine appear to
be contained in a colonial ordinance of Massachusetts of the year 1652, which, after rehearsing the
injurious effects on colonial trade resulting from the fraudulent practices of some dealers, provided
for the appointment of "viewers," who should scrutinize fish at the time of their delivery by the
seller to the buyer, and decide whether they were merchantable or not. Only dry salted fish
appear to have been included, lu 1692 a much more comprehensive ordinance was passed, in
which provision was made for the size of casks, the appointment of " gaugei s and packers " in
every town where necessay ; the inspection of goods packed to see that they are of good quality ;
the marking of the cask with the brand of the " ganger and packer " ; the infliction of penalties for
the infraction of the laws, &c. Similar provisions have remained upon the statute book until the
present time. Inspection is compulsory, and penalties attached to its omission, or to the exporta-
tion of unpacked fish. If the goods are found by the purchaser or consumer to be otherwise than
as represented by the brand, damages can be recovered of the inspector.

IPA.HT XIII.

By DAVID STARE JORDAN and CHARLES H. GILBERT.

1.— THE SALMON FISHERIES OF CALIFORNIA AND OF OREGON SOUTH OF THE

COLUMBIA RIVER.

1. The Sacramento River.

•2. The Eel and Smith Rivers, California, the Rogue River,
Oregon, and the adjoining seaboard counties.

2.— THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA.

1. The Salmon ; its habits and movements.

2. The fishermen.

3. The canneries and outfit.

4. Process of canning.

T>. Labor at the canneries.

6. Profits and losses of the canneries.

7. History of the canning industry.

8. Future of the Salmon Fisheries.

9. Salmon oil.

10. Statistics of Salmon Fisheries of the Columbia.

3.— STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION.

Statistics of Pacific Coast Salmon industry for 1880.

729

:PARTJXIII.

THE SALMON FISHING AND CANNING INTERESTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST.

By DAVID STARR JORDAN AND CHARLES H. GILBERT.

1.— THE SALMON FISHERIES OF CALIFORNIA AND OF ORE-
GON SOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER.

1. THE SACRAMENTO RIVER.

FISHIN& TOWNS.

VALLEJO. — The regular salmon fishermen rarely come down the Sacramento as far as Vallejo,
but there are three salmon-traps in the river at this point. There are also one or two fishermen
catching sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanm) with hook and line,.

The traps do not pay at present, the salmon in the river having decreased in number since
they were first introduced.

A fisherman at Vallejo, Mr. A. Fiirst, claims to have introduced the first trap pound-net in
San Francisco Bay in 1861. It was of the same shape as those in use at present, and was, he says,
modeled after one formerly used for catching whitefish in Lake Erie.

A long " leader" runs from the shore to the opening in a heart-shaped inclosure, which, in turn,
leads into the trap proper. Pound-nets in the Sacramento never paid, even when fishing was at
its best. The expense of keeping them up is too great. In the fall, when water is low in the river,
the water becomes salt at Vallejo and barnacles entirely cover the meshes of the nets.

Mr. Fiirst has been on the Sacramento since 1852, and thinks that salmon are not nearly so
abundant in the river as formerly. He thinks that all kinds of fish are becoming scarcer in the
neighborhood of San Francisco, and that even out at the Farallones, fishermen have to put out
five times as many lines to load a boat as they formerly did. He states that prior to 1866 the fish-
ing in the bay and on the river used to be very good. Men used to go out and make sometimes as
high as $100 a night in herring fishing. Since 1866, fishing has fallen off very fast. Pound-nets
now cannot catch one-tenth of what they used to do. He is greatly impressed with the destruct-
iveness of seals and sea-lions. They run up the river and take the salmon from the gill-nets, leav-
ing nothing but the heads. He has even seen seals go into a trap and take fish out.

The incoming run of salmon is first met by the fishermen near the mouth of the river. Dur-
ing the last of the season they can be caught as high up the river as nets can be worked.

SAN PABLO. — No fishermen work in the vicinity of San Pablo, but there are six or seven Chinese
companies on the bay southwest of San Pablo engaged in the shrimp business, the methods being

precisely like (hose employed by the Chinese colonies about San Francisco.

731

732 . HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

COLLINSVILLE AND BLACK DIAMOND. — In the year 1880 tbere were about 225 boats eu gaged
in salmon fishing oil the Lower Sacramento, each boat with a crew of two men. Most of the men
are Italian, some are from the southern part of Austria, and a few are Greeks. On account of
the nature of their work, most of them live on scows, which they tow from one part of the river to
another, following the salmon in their migrations. The majority of the fishermen are unmarried.
Those who have families generally live on shore; a few, however have large scows of two or more
rooms and take their families with them up and down the river. During the season when few
salmon are caught and the canneries are not running, many of the fishermen go down the river to
Martinez and Benicia, but when the open season comes on, the most of them cluster around Black
Diamond and Colliusville, where the canneries are.

OUTFIT.

A good outfit for salmon fishing is worth from $700 to $1,000. It consists of a scow, a sail
boat, and a gill-net. These, of course, vary in price, but on an average the scow is worth $250,
the boat $250, and the net $300. The men make their own nets. They are single thickness gill-
nets, which drift down stream, catching the salmon as they run up. They are from 200 to 300
fathoms long, from 6 to 9 fathoms deep, and with an average mesh of 8f inches (measured mesh
is diagonally across when stretched).

Nearly all the boats are made in San Francisco. They are sharp at bow and stern, sloop-rigged,
with a center-board, and probably average from two to three tons.

The scows are variable in shape and appearance. They are flat-bottomed, with vertical par-
allel sides narrowed and slanting somewhat towards each end. They are boarded over above and
are nearly covered by the house, only a narrow margin being left around the sides. The house
generally has but one room, with a door at one end and two windows on each side. It is flat-
roofed. Probably an average sized scow would be 20 feet long and 12 feet wide, the house about
7 feet high and occupying all of the scow but a strip about 18 inches wide on each side and 2
feet wide at each end. Some of the fishermen, on account of poverty or other reasons, own no
scows, but live on shore and fish always in the same locality. Of course these are placed at a dis-
advantage by not being able to follow the run of salmon.

METHODS OF FISHING.

Fishing is always done on the ebb tide, whether it be day or night. Two men always work-
together. They go out to their fishing-grounds, which are chosen chiefly by a clear channel, and
the net is placed in the water, one man working the boat and the other paying out the net. Every-
thing is governed by laws which the fishermen have made for themselves. Each of the two men
has his own part in the work. It is always the same one who rows while the other manages the
net. The two then rest in their boat, boat and net floating down together until they have gone
far enough, when the net is taken out, and the fish removed. The distance they float of course
varies with the grounds and the season.

According to a law among the fishermen, a second net is not to be placed in the water until the
first one has floated down a certain distance, and although the fish are all caught running up stream
the second, third, and even fourth net frequently catches more than the first. They generally
begin fishing at about half ebb tide.

DISPOSITION OF FISH.

The salmon caught are either shipped to the San Francisco markets, sold to the canneries, or
salted and smoked.

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 733

There are two great "rims" of salmon daring the year. The first one begins about the middle
of April, the second about the middle of August, and they last about forty days each. The can-
neries usually begin about the 15th of April and run until the 1st of August, when the "close
season" begins. They begin again September 15, when the fishermen are allowed to commence
fishing, wheu they run as long as the supply of fish will warrant, which is generally from three to
four weeks. During the canning season each boat is expected to catch from tweuty to one
hundred fish daily, and sometimes they exceed this. From the end of the canning season the
salmon continually grow scarcer through the winter, until, in January and February, the boats
scarcely average one fish a day. The salmon average 15 to 20 pounds each.

While the canneries are not running all the salmon caught are shipped to the San Francisco
markets. They are shipped exclusively oo the river steamers. Each regular shipping place has
a small building on the wharf for the reception of the fish. They are each marked with the owner's
private mark, usually an eye gouged out, the snout cut off, or a cut of some particular shape
on the gill covers. From 1 to 2 cents per salmon is charged for wharfage, and from 5 to 8 cents
each for transportation.

During the canning season each boat is allowed to ship only 40 fish a week to the San Francisco
markets. This is to prevent the market from being overstocked and is a law the fishermen have
imposed on themselves. The remainder of the fish caught are sold, at a price fixed during the
season, to the canneries, providing that the canneries and fisherman can agree on a price and that
more fish are not caught than the canneries can put up.

When the canneries refuse to accept all the salmon caught, the fishermen preserve the surplus
by salting or by salting and smoking. It is also asserted that much fishing is done during the
"close season," and the fish cured. This curing is done exclusively by the fishermen themselves.

The fish are salted in metal tanks about 8 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep. One of these
will hold about 500 salmon at a time. The process of salting and preparing for shipment takes
about two weeks. They are usually packed in half-barrels for shipment, but Mr. William Hosking,
of Colliusville, states that he has shipped them in tierces to London, and that after having twice
crossed the tropics they arrived at their destination in good order. Salted salmon are extremely
\ a liable in price, but probably average 20 cents each.

In smoking salmon the salted fish are carefully washed and scrubbed, then dried for a day
and hung up in a smoke-house in which is kept up a slow fire, usually of oak wood. It takes
about a week to smoke salmon, and they find a ready sale at 40 cents per head.

SALMON CANNING ON THE LOWER SACRAMENTO IN 1880.

The salmon pack has been heavy on the Sacramento this year. There have been ten canneries
at work'* four in San Francisco, one at Beuicia, three in the vicinity of Collinsville, one at Court-
laud, and one at Sacramento. Those in San Francisco and the one at Benicia pack other goods as
well as fish.

Those packing in San Francisco had their fish shipped down the river by steamer or schooner,
and the salmon were often old and unfit for canning before they were delivered. This was partic-
ularly true towards the last of the season, wheu the fish could only be caught well up the river.
At this time the salmon brought in to be canned were in such condition that I think they could
hardly be wholesome food, and with such an article placed on the market it is no wonder that the
Sacramento fish bear an indifferent reputation.

The spring run was fairly good, and was remarkable for its uneveuness and the length of
time it lasted. The fish seemed to come up in a succession of schools, and while usually the run

734

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

becomes so slack in July that tbe canneries do not run at all, this year some of them ran along
until the commencement of the close season. Much dissatisfaction is expressed concerning the
time chosen for close season. It is claimed: (1) That it is at the time of the heaviest run, which
is almost over by the time the river is again open ; (2) that it is not at all observed, because, al-
though the fishermen cannot sell to the canneries, they can and. do salt a great quantity.

Usually for the first week or ten days after September 15, the fish run well, and the canneries
can readily get all they can put up. At the first of this year's fall season, so many were caught
and shipped to San Francisco in one day that the market was completely flooded. Part of them
was sold by the steamboat company to pay freight charges, and the remainder, amounting to
several thousand fish, was thrown into the bay. The fall run soou becomes light, and all the
canneries had stopped work this year by October 15; those on the river stopping about October 1.

There were no difficulties between the fishermen and canners this year. The catch was good
and the market more extensive than usual, owing to increased number of canneries at work. Dur-
ing the spring season all the fish caught found a ready sale at 30 cents and 35 cents each. In the
fall the price fell to 25 cents. At Collins ville, October 10, most of the boats had stopped work.
A boat then averaged about five salmon in one drift (one night), and the fish sold at the wharf for
about 45 cents each. The fall salmon average larger than the spring fish, and are lighter in
color.

The exact figures for this year's canning cannot be ascertained before the stock is disposed
of. A£ there is a considerable amount yet on the market, it is with reluctance that the firms will
give any figures, and it is possible that in some cases the amount canned is over or under esti-
mated.

The Sacramento River salmon average four to each case, being one-fourth smaller than the
same species in the Columbia River.

Estimated pack of the Sacramento Siver canneries during ieason of 1880.*
[As reported by the canneries to C. H. Gilbert ; some of the estimates probably too high.]

Cases.

12 600

7 300

9,950

12,500

18 686

Bradford & Co

8 585

5 512

Taylor & McDowell

1 665

3 689

Total

80 387

SALMON SALTED ON SACRAMENTO RIVER FOR 1880.

The amount of salmon salted during the fishing season is small. It is only when the run is
very heavy and more fish are caught than are needed to supply the market, that the surplus is
salted down. Most of the fish salted on the Sacramento River are put up by the fishermen during
the close season. They then have their tanks hidden in the tules and put up great quantities.

"The estimate mailo by the fish commissioners of California is 62,000 cases canned on the Sacramento in 1880.
The number of salmon sent fresh to the markt-ts of S;m Fnmcisco is estimated by the California fish commission as
188,296 or about 2,000,000 pounds. (Kept. Cal. Fish Comm., 1880.)

THE SALMON FISHERIES OP THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 735

Of course when the work is done in this secret manner, no very close estimate can be made.
The estimate given here is furnished by Mr. Silvestri, who has, to that end, corresponded with
the principal sailers on the river. The quantity of salmon salted during the fall of 1880 was
33,000 fish, averaging 12 pounds each.

STATISTICS OF SALMON INDUSTRY FOE CONTRA COSTA AND MARIN COUNTIES.

Fishermen :

American 5

Chinese ~.'..—.r. 25

Italian 345

Greek 25

German 4 100

Total.. 500

Number of boats 230

Amount of capital invested in boats $60,000

Number of pounds of fish taken, including those canned and salted 10, 000, 000

Value of fish taken $170,000

STATISTICS OF TOTAL CATCH OF SALMON FROM 1875 TO 1880.

The following figures have been obtained by the State commission of California, as the total
number of pounds of salmon taken in the Sacramento River for the six years ending August 1,
1880:

1875 (August 1, 1874, to August 1, 1875) 5,098,781

1876 5,331,423

1877 1 6,493,563

1878 6,520,768

1879 4,432,250

1880 10,837,400

The increase in the run of 1880 over that of previous years is ascribed by the commissioners
to the planting of young salmon in the river.

SALMON FISHING IN THE SACRAMENTO RIVER IN 1872-'73.

The following description of the salmon fisheries of the Sacramento River was prepared by
Mr. Livingstone Stone in 1872 :

"The fishing on the Sacramento is done in three ways: (1) By drift-nets ; (2) by fyke-nets ;
(3) by swoop-seines.

" DRIFT-NET FISHING. — The drift-nets are used exclusively for catching salmon. They have an
8J-inch mesh, are usually 40 meshes deep, and from 150 to 200 fathoms long. As nearly as I could
learn, there were not far from a hundred salmon nets in operation on the Sacramento River in""
1872. At the meeting of the salmon fishermen of the Sacramento that year, there were 95 boats
represented.

" These nets are worked by simply drifting them with the tide. The salmon, which of course
are heading against the tide, are gilled in the meshes. The turn of the tide is the most favorable
time for this sort of fishing.

"The nets are frequently drifted a mile before being hauled in. The salmon-fishing is con-
ducted entirely by white men, no Chinamen being allowed to participate in it. There is no law

736

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

regulating the matter, but public opinion is so strong in relation to it, and there is such a preju-
dice against the Chinamen, that auy attempt on their part to engage in salmon fishing would meet
with a summary and probably fatal retaliation.

" The number of fresh salmon shipped from Rio Vista to San Francisco in the year 1872 is as
follows :

January 792

February 1,581

March 1,945

April i 3,354

May 4,408

June 1,201

July '. t 1,145

August 1,496

September 2,335

October 583

November * 441

December . . 390

Total 19,671

" On one day in February, when I came down the river, there were put on board the steamer,
at Courtland, 7 fresh salmon ; at Rio Vista, 32 fresh salmon ; at Sherman Island, 32 fresh salmon ;
at Oollinsville, 123 fresh salmon.

"The daily number of fresh fish (salmon and sturgeon) brought down the Sacramento River to
San Francisco in 1872 by the steamers of the Central Pacific Railroad Company is as follows :

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

87

326

March 1 . . .

247

April 1

243

May 1

1 485

53fi

2

97

2 .

174

2

199

2

57

2

1,758

2 ...

3

105

3...

287

3

402

3 ..

198

3

1, 342

3

403

4

182

4...

157

4

402

4

439

4

560

4

207

5
6
7

111
115
133

5...
6...

7 .

324

250
337

5
6

7

404
401
1 030

5
6

7

4,711
114

5
8

7

998
1 487

5
6

7

229
174

157

8
9

125
113

8...
9...

393
334

8
9

344
139

8
9

428
372

8
9

1,298
1 361

8
9

75

10
11
12

199
211

224

10..
11...
12...

282
415
296

10
11
12

334
272
356

10
11 ... .
12

418
599
578

10

11

12

1,046
482

10
11
12

175
21'0
300

13
14

243
112

13...
14...

280
228

13
14

316

135

13
14

310

13

14

431
578

13
14

357
348

15 ....
16..

166
234

15...
16...

253
432

15 ....
16

447
283

15
16

589
960

15
16

689
1 216

15
16

210

17...
18 ...
19

308
214
172

17...
18...
19. .

247
259
348

17
18
19. .

41»
255
501

17
18....
19

863
879
643

17
18
19

1,668
712

17
18 ....
19

564
307
30ii

20 ....
21
22....
23

302
73
294
210

20...
21...
22...
23 ...

408
285
389
249

20
21
22
23

425
452
100
516

20
21
22
23

581

693
905

20
21
22

23

694
929
899
859

20
21
22 ...
23

158
41
38

24....
25 ...
26. ..

221
210
287

24...
25...
28...

223
334
276

24
25
26

396
192
253

24
25
26 .. .

827
1,123

835

24
25
26

950
637

24
25
26

89
157
139

27
28

112
46

27...
28...

•292
395

27

28

244
242

27

28 .. .

435

27

28

980
1 193

27
28

162

100

29 ...
30....
31 ....

76
301
14]

29...

272

29
30 ...
31

384
344

378

29
30

1,014
990

29
30
31

1,297
1,242
603

29

109

Total . . .

6,514

Total . .

5,779

Total .

11,394

Total . .

15,613

Total . .

27, 395

Total.

5,561

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE SACRAMENTO RIVER.

787

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Fish.

Date.

Figh.

Date.

Fish.

July 1

260

August 1 . . . .

554

September 1

October 1...

189

November 1 .

40

December 1 .

2

43

2

177

2..

836

2...

251

2.

33

a

136

3

134

3

72

3..

831

3...

462

3.

;i

66

4

61

4 ....

4..

1,269

4..

136

4

82

4

246

5

73

5

560

6..

1,170

5...

67

6.

69

5.

2!3

g

38

6

747

6

512

6...

6

111

6

128

7

7 ...

632

7..

as

7...

143

7.

122

7.

113

8

249

8

558

8..

8...

160

8

167

8

9

9 ..

573

9..

9...

148

9

43

9

234

10

214

10

159

10

10...

218

10

10

248

u

266

11

11

412

11...

85

11

'.II

11

234

12

177

12

105

12..

512

12...

74

12.

67

12.

283

13

75

13

661

13

331

13..

13

123

13

123

14

14

297

14..

258

14...

05

J4.

147

14.

151

15

103

15

1 014

15

15

81

15

81

15

16

140

16

798

16.

890

16...

112

16.

98

18

116

17

281

17

186

17

786

17

118

17

17

164

18

"276

18 ...

18

1,112

18...

22

18.

87

18

226

.19

181

19

1,041

19 .

1,042

19...

70

19

112

19.

204

20

175

20 .. .

1,205

20.

461

20...

20.

167

20

74

21

21 ..

1,567

21

261

21...

75

21

157

21

64

22

363

22 . .

1 499

22

22...

87

22

70

22

23 ...

24

330
337

23

24.

1,061
165

23..

24

567
563

23..

24

122
114

23.
24

50

23
24

88
62

25

323

25 ..

25

385

25

52

25

53

25

93

26

353

26

427

26

303

26

50

26

58

26

127

27

270

27 .

243

27

395

27

27

118

27

100

28

28

341

28

154

28

62

28

78

28

75

29

520

29

591

29

29

18

29

51

29

30

2'8

30

304

30

263

30

2

30

92

30

100

31

345

31 . . . .

240

31..

69

31.

70

Total ...

5.043

Total....

15,677

Total....

14,706

Total..

3,082

Total..

2,367

Total..

3,716

" The proportion of sturgeon and salmon in the shipments of the various months is estimated
by the San Francisco market-men as follows :

"January, 10 per cent, salmon, 90 per cent, sturgeon. February, 10 per cent, salmon, 90 per
cent, sturgeon. March, 50 per cent, salmon, 50 per cent, sturgeon. April, mostly salmon. May,
all salmon. June, all salmon. July, all salmon. August, all salmon. September, all salmon.
October, 50 per cent, salmon, 50 per cent, sturgeon. November, 50 per cent, salmon, 50 per cent,
sturgeon. December, 10 per cent, salmon, 90 per cent, sturgeon.

" Besides the salmon above mentioned, a large number are taken by sailing vessels and by
the opposition line of steamers and other conveyances to San Francisco and the larger towns.

" The points from which salmon are shipped on the river steamers are Sacramento City,
Courtland, Emmatowu, Rio Vista, Collinsville, Antioch, Benicia, Martinez.

" In the spring of. 1872 about 25,000 salted salmon came from the Sacramento River to San
Francisco, and in the fall of the same year about 9,000. The Rio Vista salmon fishermen recom-
mend the prohibition of fishing from June 1 to October 1, or from June 15 to October 15.

" FYKE-NET FISHING. — The fyke-nets have a inesh of 2£ inches. There were in the winter of
1872-'73 eighty-five fyke-nets on the Sacramento at Rio Vista. They are stationary, of course,
and are examined every twenty-four hours. All the kinds of fish that are found in the river are
caught in these nets. Mr. John D. Ingersoll, a prominent fyke fisherman of Rio Vista, informed
me that the daily catch for twenty nets is now about 75 pounds of fish.

"They include cliubs, herring, perch, viviparous perch, sturgeons, hardheads, split-tails, Sac-
ramento pike, suckers, crabs. Of these the porch, pike, and sturgeon are the best food-fishes,

though all of the spiM'ics named are sold in the market.
SEC V — 47

738 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

" There has been a vast decrease in the returns of the fyke-nets during the last twenty years.
In 1852 and 1853 they used to catch 700 or 800 pounds a day in one fyke-net. An average of 250
pounds a day for one net at Sacramento City was usually expected in those times. The present
catch of 75 pounds a day in twenty nets certainly presents an alarming contrast. The fyke-net
fishing is conducted wholly by white men, I believe, the Chinese fishermen being ruled out by
force of public sentiment. The fyke-nets are usually visited early in the morning of each day,
and the catch is sent down to San Francisco by the noon boat. The fyke-net fishing begins in
November and is continued till May. The best fishing is when a rise in the water drives the fish
inshore, where the fyke-nets are placed. During the summer months the water is warmer, the
fish are poor, and the fishing is discontinued.

" On the 27th of February, 1873, I went the rounds of Mr. Ingersoll's set of fyke-nets with
him. We visited twenty nets, but as some of them had not been examined for over twenty-four
hours, the yield was supposed to be equivalent to one day's fishing for thirty nets. The nets had
four hoops each and 14-foot wings. We took out about 120 pounds of fish in all. Hardheads were
the most numerous, and the Sacramento pike next. Mr. Ingersoll said that perch used to rank
second in abundance in fyke-net fishing, the average for thirty nets being 200 or 300 pounds a day,
but the perch were quite insignificant in numbers on this day. We found in the nets seven small
viviparous perch and two small sturgeon. I learned also that mink, beaver, and otters are some-
times caught in the nets. In 1872 Mr. Ingersoll caught 8 minks, 2 beavers, and 1 otter in his
fyke-nets.

f " SWEEP-SEINE PISHING. — The sweep-seine fishing is given over to the Chinese, who are not
allowed by public sentiment to engage in either of the other two kinds of fishing just described,
but what they are not permitted to do by the prohibited methods they make ample amends for by
their own methods. They are, I should say, the most industrious and persistent fishermen on the
river. They fish all the year round. They use fine mesh-nets, with which they sweep every part
of the river, especially the partially-stagnant fresh-water lagoons, or sloughs, as they are called
in California, where the fish collect in myriads to spawn. With these nets they catch vast quan-
tities of fish of all sizes, and so destructive has their fishing been on the Sacramento, that all the
fish of that river except salmon are disappearing with unexampled rapidity.

" It is owing to this kind of fishing that the returns of the fyke-nets have diminished so alarm-
ingly the last few years. The Chinese have been at it for seven or eight years, and if they keep
on three or four years more at this rate, the small fish of the Sacramento will be practically
exterminated.*- I had no means of ascertaining with any exactness how many Chinese fishermen
there were on the river, but there are a large number, and Mr. Ingersoll said that they were
increasing every year. The most of their fresh fish they send to the San Francisco Chinese
markets as soon as caught, but they also dry a great quantity of them on bars and floors prepared
for the purpose. These are both eaten by themselves and sent packed in barrels to the Chinese
quarter in San Francisco. While at Rio Nita in February, 1873, 1 visited a Chinese fishing-station
on the Sacramento River. It was located about 80 rods above the Rio Nita steamboat-lauding^
and consisted of a nest of Chinese fishing-boats numbering seven small boats and three large ones.
There was also on the shore, just across the road, two old tumble-down buildings with drying-bars
and floors near by in the open air, where some of the fishermen lived and attended to the drying
of the fish. The small boats were small, flat bottomed dories, square at the stern, sharp at the
bow, about 15 feet long, and strongly built.

" The large boats were also strongly built, but narrow and pointed at both ends, and con-
structed in the Chinese fashion. Two of the three large boats had one mast, and the other one

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF CALIFORNIA AND OREGON. 739

had two inasts, considerably raking, with Chinese sails, which were not like anything used in this
country for sails. Nearly amidships, but a little nearer one end than the other, was a tent in
which the Chinamen lived. There was also considerable space in the hold of this really Chinese
junk, which added a good d< al to the house-room.

"The whole air and look of these crafts was decidedly foreign, and I might say oriental.

"If I understand their method rightly, the small boats are to visit the sloughs and various
fishing points when they go out to draw the seine, and the larger boats are really only movable
dwellings and store-houses, where they live and receive the fish that are brought in by the small
boats, and which, of course, they move from place to place on the river as the exigencies of the
changing fishing seasons may require."*

2. THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE EEL AND SMITH RIVERS, CALIFORNIA, THE
ROGUE RIVER, OREGON, AND THE ADJOINING SEA-BOARD COUNTIES.

In Eel River there is a fall run of salmon only, composed of 0. chouicha] and 0. Msutch. The
cannery usually runs till the last of November. About 6,000 cases were put up in 1880, 1,400
in 1878, and 8,500 in 1877. About $3,400 worth of salted salmon in half -barrels were shipped to
San Francisco in 1878. The salmon are not counted at the canneries, but sold by weight, at $20
per ton. The cannery was built in 1877, and belongs to the Cutting Packing Company in San
Francisco.

Mr. V. S. Treat, in a letter to Professor Baird, dated Ferndale, CaJ., March 3, 1880, refers to
the salmon-canning interests of Eel River in the following language :

" Eel River is about 225 miles north of San Francisco, and is a barred river ; steamers make
the trip from San Francisco in about twenty-four hours ; a round trip in seven or eight days.

"A good harbor inside the bar. The river is about 150 miles long and subject to heavy freshets
in fall and winter. There is but one cannery on the river, put up in 1877. In 1878, 1,400 cases
were put up against 3,500 in 1877, which, at $6 per case, amounted to $6,600. Other shipments
of salmon in half-barrels, amounting in all to $100,000. About one hundred and sixty men are
employed. The salmon are taken in seines and fine gill-nets of 7-inch mesh. There are two or
three kinds of salmon here; several kinds of trout; sturgeon are plenty; perch and smelts are
plenty ; quahang, clams, and crabs are found here, though shell-fish are very scarce. Parties here
talk of putting in lobsters and shad from Sacramento River this season. Salmon are not counted
here, but are sold by the ton, live weight, at $20 per ton."

At Ellensburg, on Rogue River, Oregon, near its mouth, is a salmon cannery, belonging to
Mr. R. D. Hume.

In Del Norte County, California, there is no sea-fishing of any importance. The salmon
run in considerable numbers- in Smith River in the fall, and at the town of Smith River there is
a salmon cannery. Its product for 1880 was 7,000 cases. About 500 barrels have also been
salted down. The total annual catch outside of salmon probably does not exceed 3,000 pounds.

Rogue River is fed in spring by melting snows from the mountains, and has consequently
both a spring and a fall run of salmon. In spring, when the river is high, the water is fresh for
a considerable distance beyond the bar.

The fish do their playing outside, and as soon as they reach the mouth ot the river, run straight
up. At this season they are therefore caught with gill-nets. In fall the water is salt or brackish

* Report U. S. Fish Commission, III, 1874, pp. 382-5. t We now (1886) prefer the name O. ttchawytscha.

740 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

for a considerable distance up-streain. The fish then enter the river and run up and down with
the tides, usually starting up-stream when the first fall rain comes. During the fall, they have to
be caught with seines. The spring run this year was good, but the fall run promises to be light.
Nine thousand three hundred cases have been put up during the present year.

A hatchery is in operation on Rogue River, and it is the intention of Mr. Hume, who controls
the river, to use every effort to keep it stocked in case the expected falling off in the product of
the Columbia River comes to pass.

Canneries have been in operation at Siuslaw and Umpqua Rivers, in Douglas County, but
both are now closed. More or less of salmon are salted on the Umpqua, Siuslaw, and Yaquina
Rivers.

The total catch of the entire coast, outside of fish taken by the Indians, will not vary far from

1,000,000 pounds.

2.— THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA.

1. THE SALMON.

The fishing interests of the Lower Columbia River are entirely concentrated in the canning of
salmon. Their importance far exceeds that of all other fishing interests on the Pacific coast com-
bined.

The species making up almost the entire catch on the Columbia Itiver is the quinnat, or king
salmon, Oncorhynchus chouicha, the chinnook salmon of the Columbia River canners.

This species usually begins running in the Columbia late in March, the principal run being
from May to July. The laws of Oregon and Washington forbid the capture of salmon in March,
August, and September, and from 6 p. m. on Saturday to 6 p. m. on Sunday.

As taken at the canneries early in the season, the average weight is 22 pounds, or 16 pounds
when " dressed." Larger individuals, weighing as high as 70 pounds, are sometimes taken. The
largest one seen by the writers weighed 58 pounds. Later in the season many smaller ones are
taken, so that the average weight is then much less.

The following pages give in brief all that is known of the life history of the different species
of salmon :

There are five species of salmon (Oncorhynchus) in the waters of the North Pacific. All of
these are widely distributed and all are now known to occur in the waters of Kamchatka as well as
in those of Alaska and Oregon. There is at present no trustworthy evidence of the existence of
any other species on either the American or the Asiatic side of the ocean.

These species are (1) Oncorhynchus chouicha, the quinuat, chinnook or king salmon ; (2) 0.
nerka, the blue-back salmon or redfish; (3) 0. kfeutch, the silver salmon; (4) 0. keta, the dog
salmon ; (5) 0. gorbuscha, the humpback salmon.

The different species, non migratory or imperfectly migratory, properly called trout, are ex-
cluded from this discussion.

Of these species, the blue-back predominates in Frazer's River, the silver salmon in Puget
Sound, the quinuat in the Columbia and the Sacramento, and the silver salmon in most of the small
streams along the coast. All the species have been seen by us in the Columbia and in Frazer's
River ; all but the blue-back in the Sacramento, and all but the blue-back in waters tributary to
Puget Sound. Only the quinnat has been noticed south of San Francisco. The blue-back has
not yet been noticed from any stream south of the Columbia.

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA. 741

Of tbese species, the quinnat and blue-back salmon habitually "run" in the spring, the others
in the fall. The usual order of running in the rivers is as follows: nerJca, chouicha, Jcisutch, gor-
buscha, Jceta.

The economic value of the spring running salmon is far greater than that of the other species,
because they can be captured in numbers when at their best, while the others are usually taken
only after deterioration.

The habits of the salmon in the ocean are very imperfectly known. Quinnat and silver salmon
of every size are taken with the seine at almost any_season in Puget Sound. The quinnat takes
the hook freely in Monterey Bay, both near the shore and at a distance of 6 or 8 miles out. We
have reason to believe that these two species do riot necessarily seek great depths, but probably
remain not very far from the mouth of the rivers in which they were spawned.

The blue-back and the dog salmon probably seek deeper water, as the former is seldom or
never taken with the seine in the ocean, and the latter is known to enter the Straits of Fuca at

i

the spawning season.

The great majority of the quinnat salmon and nearly all the blue-back salmon enter the rivers
in the spring. The run of both begins generally the last of March ; it lasts, with various modifi-
cations and interruptions, until the actual spawning season in November; the time of running and
the proportionate amount of each of the subordinate runs, vary with each different river. In
general, the runs are slack in the summer and increase with the first high water of autumn. By
the last of August only straggling blue-backs can be found in the lower course of any stream, but
both in the Columbia and the Sacramento the quinnat runs in considerable numbers till October
at least. In the Sacramento the run is greatest in the fall, and more run in the summer than in
spring. In the Sacramento and the smaller rivers southward, there is a winter run, beginning in
December. ,

The spring salmon ascend only those rivers which are fed by the melting snows from the
mountains, and which have sufficient volume to send their waters well out to sea. Such rivers
are the Sacramento, Rogue, Klamath, Columbia, and Frazer's Rivers.

Those salmon which run in the spring are chiefly adults (supposed to be at least three years
old). Their milt and spawn are no more developed than at the same time in others of the same
species, which will not enter the rivers until fall. It.would appear that the contact with cold
fresh water, when in the ocean, in some way caused them to turn toward it and to " run," before
there is any special influence to that end exerted by the development of the organs of generation.

High water on any of these rivers in the spring is always followed by an increased run of
salmon. The canners think, and this is probably true, that salmon which would not have run till
later, are brought up by the contact with the cold water. The cause of this effect of cold fresh
water is not understood. We may call it an instinct of the salmon, which is another way of
expressing our ignorance. In general, it seems to be true that in those rivers, and during those
years when the spring run is greatest, the fall run is least to be depended on.

As the season advances, smaller and younger salmon of these two species (quinnat and blue-
back) enter the rivers to spawn, and in the fall these young specimens are very numerous. We
have thus far failed to notice any gradations in size or appearance of tbese young fish by which
their ages could be ascertained. It is, however, probable that some of both sexes reproduce at
the age of one year. In Frazer's River, in the fall, quinnat male grilse of every size, from 8 inches
upwards, were running, the milt fully developed, but. usually not showing the hooked jaws and
dark colors of the older males. Females less than 18 inches in length were rare. All large and
small, then in the river, of either sex, had the ovaries or milt well developed.

742 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

.Little blue-backs of every size down to 6 inches are also found in the Upper Columbia in
the fall, with their organs of generation fully developed. Nineteen-twentieths of these young fish
are males, and some of them have the hooked jaws and red color of the old males ; others do not.
Some of them apparently have never been to the sea.

The average weight of the quinnat in the Columbia, in the spring, is 22 pounds; in the Sac-
ramento about 16. Individuals weighing from 40 to 60 pounds are frequently found in both rivers,
and some as high as 80 pounds are reported. . It is questioned whether these large fishes are : (a)
Those which, of the same age, have grown more rapidly; (b) those which are older, but have, for
some reason, failed to spawn ; or (c) those which have survived one or more spawning seasons.
All of these origins may be possible in individual cases ; we are, however, of the opinion, that the
majority of these large fish are those which have hitherto run in the fall and so may have survived
the spawning season previous.

Those fish which enter the rivers in the spring continue their ascent until death or the spawn
ing season overtakes them. Probably none of them ever return to the ocean, and a large propor-
tion fail to spawn. They are known to ascend the Sacramento as far as the base of Mount Shasta,
or to its extreme headwaters, about 400 miles. In the Columbia they are known to ascend as far
as the Bitter Root Mountains, Spokan Falls, and the Falls of Snake River, and their extreme
limit is not known. This is a distance of 600 to 1,000 miles.

At these great distances, when the fish have reached the spawning-grounds, besides the usual
changes of the breeding season, their bodies are covered with bruises, on which patches of white
fungus develop. The fins become mutilated, their eyes are often injured or destroyed, parasitic
worms gather in their gills, they become extremely emaciated, their flesh becomes white from the
loss of the oil, and as soon as the spawning act is accomplished, and sometimes before, all of them
die. The ascent of the Cascades and the Dalles probably causes the injury or death of a great
many salmon.

When the salmon enter the river they refuse bait, and their stomachs are always found empty
and contracted. In the rivers they do not feed, and when they reach the spawning-grounds their
stomachs, pyloric coaca and all, are said to be no larger than one's finger. They will sometimes
take the fly, or a hook baited with salmon roe, in the clear waters of the upper tributaries, but
there is no other evidence known to us that they feed when there. Only the quinnat and blue-
back (then called redfish) have been found in the fall at any great distance from the sea.

The spawning season is probably about the same for all the species. It varies for all in dif-
ferent parts of the same river, and doubtless extends from July to December.

The manner of spawning is probably similar for all the species, but we have no data for any
except the quinnat. In this species the fish pair off, the male, with tail and snout, excavates a
broad shallow « nest" in the gravelly bed of the stream, in rapid water, at a depth of 1 to 4 feet;
the female deposits her eggs in it and after the exclusion of the milt they cover them with stones
and gravel. They then float down the stream tail foremost. A great majority of them die. In
the headwaters of the large streams unquestionably all die. In the small streams, and near the
sea, an unknown percentage probably survive. The young hatch in about sixty days, and most of
them return to the ocean during the high water of the spring.

The salmon of all kinds in the spring are silvery, spotted or not according to the species, and
with the mouth about equally symmetirical in both sexes.

As the spawning season approaches the female loses her silvery color, becomes more slimy, the
scales on the back partly sink into the skin, and the flesh changes from salmon red and becomes
variously paler, from the loss of the oil; the degree of paleness varying much with individuals
and with inhabitants of different rivers.

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA. 743

In the Low IT Sacraim-nto the flesh of the qninuat in either spring or fall is rarely pale. In the
• 'olumbia, a few with pale flesh are sometimes taken in spring, and a good many in the fall. In
[•'razor's River the fall ran of the quinuat is nearly worthless for canning purposes, because so
many are white meated. In the spring very few are white mealed, but the number increases
towards fall, when there is every variation, some having red streaks running through them, others
being red toward the head and pale toward the tail. The red and pale ones cannot be distin-
guished externally, and the color is dependent neither on age nor sex. There is said to be no
difference in the taste, but there is no market for canned salmon not of the conventional orange
color.

As the season advances, the differences between the males and females become more and more
marked, and keep pace with the development of the milt, as is shown by dissection.

The males have (a) the premaxillaries and the tip of the lower jaw more and more pro-
longed, both of them becoming finally strongly and often extravagantly hooked, so that either
they shut by the side of each other like shears, or else the mouth cannot be closed; (&) the front
teeth become very long and canine-like, their growth proceeding very rapidly, until they are often
half an inch long; (c) the teeth on the vomerand tongue often disappear; (d)the body grows more
compressed and deeper at the shoulders, so that a very distinct hump is formed ; this is more
developed in 0. gorbuscha, but is found in all; (e) the scales disappear, especially on the back,
by the growth of spongy skin ; (/) the color changes from silvery to various shades of black and
red or blotchy, according to the species. The blue-back turns rosy-red, the dog salmon a dull,
blotchy red, and the quinnat generally blackish. In the case of the blue-back, the flesh grows
pale in direct proportion to the external redness.

These distorted males are commonly considered worthless, rejected by the canners and salmon
salters, but preserved by the Indians. These changes are due solely to influences connected with
the growth of the testes. They are not in any way due to the action of fresh water. They take
place at aboitt the same time in the adult males of all species, whether in the ocean or in the
rivers. At the time of the spring runs, all are symmetrical. In the fall all males of whatever
species are more or less distorted. Among the dog salmon, which run only in the fall, the males
are hook-jawed and red-blotched when they first enter the Straits of Fuca from the outside. The
hump-back, taken in salt water about Seattle, shows the same peculiarities. The male is slab-
sided, hook-billed, and distorted, and is rejected by the cauners. No hook -jawed females of any
species have been seen.

It is not positively known that any hook-jawed male survives the reproductive act. If any
do, their jaws must resume the normal form.

On first entering a stream the salmon swim about as if playing; they always head towards
the current, and this " playing " may be simply due to facing the flood tide. Afterwards they
enter the deepest parts of the stream and swim straight up, with few interruptions. Their rate
of travel in the Sacramento is estimated by Mr. Stone at about 2 miles per day; in the Columbia
at about 3 miles per day.

As already stated, the economic value of any species depends in great part on its being a
" spring salmon." It is not generally possible to capture salmon of any species in large numbers
until they have entered the rivers, and the spring salmon enter the rivers long before the growth
of the organs of reproduction has reduced the richness of the flesh. The fall salmon cannot be
taken in quantity until I heir flesh has deteriorated ; hence the " dog salmon" is practically almost
worthless, except to the Indians, and the hump-back salmon is little better. The silver salmon,
with the same breeding habits as the dog salmon, is more valuable, as it is found in Puget Sound

744 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

for a considerable time before the fall rains cause the fall runs, and it may be taken in large
numbers with seines before the season for entering the rivers. Tlie quinnat salmon, from its great
size and abundance, is more valuable than all other fishes on our Pacific coast together. The blue-
back, similar in flesh but much smaller and less abundant, is worth much more than the combined
value of the three remaining species.

The fall salmon of all species, but especially the dog salmon, ascend streams but a short distance
before spawning. They seem to be in great anxiety to find fresh water, and many of them work
their way up little brooks only a. few inches deep, where they soon perish miserably, floundering
about on the stones. Every stream, of whatever kind, has more or less of these fall salmon.

It is the prevailing impression that the salmon have some special instinct which leads them
to return to spawn in the same spawning-grounds where they were originally hatched. We fail to
find any evidence of this in the case of the Pacific coast salmon, and we do not believe it to be
true. It seems more probable that the young salmon, hatched in any river, mostly remain in the
ocean within a radius of 20, 30, or 40 miles of its mouth. These, in their movements about in the
ocean, may come into contact with the cold waters of their parent rivers, or perhaps of any other
river, at a considerable distance from the shore. In the case of the quinnat and the blue-back,
their "instinct" leads them to ascend these fresh waters, and in a majority of cases these waters
will be those in which the fishes in question were originally spawned. Later in the season the
growth of the reproductive organs leads them to approach the shore, and to search for fresh waters,
and still the chances are that they may find the original stream. But undoubtedly many fall
salmon ascend, or try to ascend, streams in which no salmon was ever hatched.

It is said of the Russian River, and other California rivers, that their mouths in the time of
low water in summer generally become entirely closed by sand bars, and that the salmon, in their
eagerness to ascend them, frequently fling themselves entirely out of water on the beach. But
this does not prove that the salmon are guided by a marvelous geographical instinct which leads
them to their parent river. The waters of these rivers soak through these sand "bars, and the
salmon " instinct," we think, leads them merely to search for fresh waters.

This matter is much in need of further investigation ; at present, however, we find no reason
to believe that the salmon enter the Rogue River simply because they were spawned there, or that
a salmon hatched in the Clackamas River is any the more likely on that account to return to the
Clackainas than to go up the Cowlitz or the Des Chutes.

"At the hatchery on Rogue River the fish are stripped, marked, and set free, and every year
since the hatchery has been in operation some of the marked fish have been recaught. The young
fry are also marked, but none of them have been recaught."

This year the run of silver salmon in Frazer's River was very light, while on Puget Sound the
run was- said by the Indians to be greater than ever known before. Both these cases may be due.
to the same cause, the dry summer, low water, and consequent failure of the salmon to find the
rivers. The run in the sound is much more irregular than in the large rivers. One year they will
abound in one bay and its tributary stream, and hardly be seen in another, "while the next year
the condition will be reversed. It is evident that often the salmon are swimming about in search
of fresh water, and that they will enter the first river they find.

There has been much discussion pro and con among canners as to whether the hooked jawed
fall fish are really different species from the spring salmon, or whether they are merely different
states of the same fish. Both views are in a measure true. Two additional species (keta, kisutch),
not found in the spring, make up a large part of the fall run. On the other hand, the same species
that form the spring run are also found in the fall, but so transformed that it is not strange that.

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA. 745

they are not at once recognized. The idea that each river ou any coast has its own peculiar species
of salmon is grossly erroneous. The impression, prevalent for a time, that some twenty different
species occurred in the Columbia, each with a peculiar time to rim and to spawn, is also incorrect.
The ability to tell a trout from a young salmon, or to recognize the same fish through all its pro-
tean changes, lias been vouchsafed to few of those who have written on them. It is fair to say
that the account written in 1740 by Steller, the first discoverer of these species,'is to this day tho
most accurate notice of the different species.

The blue-back salmon, as above noticed, runs ia_ the spring with the qniunat. It is a hand
somer and more gracefully-formed fish, but much smaller, its average weight being 5 or 6 pounds
and rarely exceeding 10. At the canneries four blue-backs are usually counted as one quinnal
salmon.

With the salmon, in spring, a large trout is taken (Salmo gairdneri Rich), Known as the steel-
head or steel-head salmon. Its usual weight is about 16 pounds. It has no value to the canner,
as its flesh is pale and its bones are not soft when boiled. Most of those seen in spring are spent
fish, not yet recuperated from the last spawning season.

2. THE FISHERMEN.

There are about twenty-five hundred men employed in the salmon fishery of the Lower Co-
lumbia River, about half of them living in Astoria, the rest in the other canning towns. A discus-
sion of their characteristics and nationality will be found in the chapters on fishermen, in Section
IV. Their rate of wages and profits will also be discussed in another section of this report.

3. THE CANNERIES AND THEIR OUTFIT.

The canneries in operation in 1880 are the following :

OREGON.

Astoria. — Astoria Packing Company, Astoria Fishery (A. C. Kinuey), John A. Devlin & Co.,
William Hume, George W. Hume.

Upper Astoria. — Anglo-American Packing Company, Badollet & Co., A. Booth & Co., Fisher
man's Packing Company, J. O. Hauthorn & Co., WTatson & Bannan, West Coast Packing Com-
pany, S. D. Adair & Co., James Williams & Co. (Tanzy Point).

Clifton. — Oregon Packing Company (J. W. & V. Cook).

Quinrfit. — James Quinn.

Wcstport.— John West & Co.

Rainier. — Jackson & Myers.

WASHINGTON.

Unity. — Aberdeen Packing Company.

Knappton. — Joseph Hume.

Pillar Rock. — Pillar Rock Packing Company.

Fisherton. — Columbia Canning Company.

Eagle Cliff. — William Hume, Cutting Packing Company.

Eurelca. — Eureka Packing Company.

Hapgood's. — Hapgood & Co.

BrooJcfield.—J. G. Megler & Co.

Cathlamet. — F. M. Warren.

JlayView. — R. D. Hume.

746

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The average running outfit of each cannery is rather more than $30,000. The total amount
of capital invested in the canneries is therefore from $900,000 to $1.000,000.

APPARATUS AND METHODS OF CAPTURE. — Each cannery is provided with some forty to fifty
boats, which they rent to the fishermen. Very few fishermen— not fifty in all — have their own
boats.

These boats are mostly made in San Francisco, but as they can be made in Astoria somewhat
more cheaply than they can be bought in San Francisco, some of the canneries are having them
made in their own establishments. They can be built in Astoria for $175, without paint or rigging ;
painted and rigged they are worth about $225. The boats are sloop-rigged, with flat bottom and
center-board, and usually without deck. The chief danger which the Columbia Eiver fishermen
run is getting into the rough water on the bar. The breakers then turn the boats end over end
and a deck would not prevent it.

The salmon are caught chiefly by means of gill-nets, although seines are used by some fish-
ermen in the latter part of the season, when young fish of from 8 to 10 pounds are in the river.
The young salmon count the same as the blue-back at the canneries, i. e., four and a half count as
one quinnat.

The gill-nets used are mostly made for the canneries by the fishermen. Some of the canneries
employ a few fishermen to work for them during the winter, and repair their old nets and knit new
ones. The nets average from 200 to 300 fathoms long and from 40 to 45 feet deep ; mesh, 8J inches.
It takes about 170 pounds of twine to make a net, the twine worth about $1.10 per pound. Fish-
ermen are paid 20 cents a fathom for knitting nets. The nets are worth about $300 to $400. There
are two men and one net to each boat.

As competition between the canneries becomes more close the nets are being yearly increased
in length. Formerly the nets were furnished by the fishermen, but now very rarely. The chief
reason for this is that the custom of home canneries of taking fish and asking no questions as to
how they were obtained led to the stealing of nets, and no fisherman could afford to run the risk
of having his net stolen. When a net is cut loose from the buoys and ropes it cannot be identified.

When a fisherman has his own net he seldom "catches a steamboat in it." Fishermen working
cannery nets often have them run into by steamers.

Most of the cauueries keep an extra supply of nets constantly on hand, so that in the height
of the season no boat need lie idle when a net is lost.

The number of boats on the river has been much increased in the last three years. Some firms
thought that by doubling the number of boats the profits would be correspondingly doubled.
Other firms had to increase their number similarly, and the result is that the average of fish per
boat is greatly decreased. There is hardly room on the river for so many to fish at once. A hun-
dred salmon boats may be counted at almost any time in sight at Astoria. No one cannery can,
however, afford to reduce unless all the others should do so. The following record of the catch of
Badollet & Co. will show the decrease in the average per boat with the increase of boats :

1876
(18 boats).

1877
(40 boats).

1878
(45 boats).

1879
(45 boats).

April

1 015

1 830

5 216

9 407

May

19 165

17 825

27 723

31 668

80, 661

I !), 474

22,781

20 119

July

33 yoo

21 081

31 7:!5

31 904

Total

84 741

60 210

8T 455

•; : OH

Average per boat.

4,652

1,605

1,943

2,179

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA. 747

One boat now carries three times as much netting as was formerly carried. The gill-nets,
at first 125 fathoms, are now 350 fathoms long, and they are now made 45 feet deep.

The sea-lions and seals destroy immense numbers of salmon in the mouth of the Columbia.
They watch the gill-nets, and take the caught salmon by the throat, devouring that choice morsel
as it comes through the net, for a salmon is " gilled" just in front of the middle of the body.
From a fishery point of view, the seal is an egregious nuisance.

4. PEOCESS OF-CANNING.

The salmon are brought to the wharf usually in the morning, counted and thrown* in a heap.
A Chinaman then takes each, cuts off its head, tail, and fins, and removes the viscera, throwing
them into a large tub. Some of the cutters become very expert and will clean 1,700 fish per day.

Next the fish are washed and sometimes scraped with a knife, though the scales are not
removed. Then they are placed in a trough in which several kuives acting like a feed-cutter cut
the salmon into sections as long as the height of a can. These sections are set on end and split
by a Chinaman into about three pieces, one large enough to fill a can, the others smaller.

These fragments are placed on tables and Chinamen there fit them into the cans. Other China-
men put on the covers, and still others solder them. In some canneries the soldering is done by
machinery. In this case the cans are rolled along by an iron chain belt and the end rolls in the
melted solder. Most of the cauners think hand-soldering safer, although much more labor is
required.

After soldering, the cans are placed in hot water and carefully watched to see if any bubbles
rise from them indicating a leak in the can. If perfect the can is placed in an iron tank and boiled
in salt water, it being possible to raise salt water to a higher temperature than fresh. After being
boiled about one and one-fourth hours the can is taken out and vented, the pressure within
driving out all the air through the aperture made. The hole is immediately soldered up, and the
cooking completed by again boiling (one and one-half hours) in salt-water kettles. If the
process of cooking were completed before the cans were vented, the pressure would be sufficient
to burst the cans.

The cans are afterwards tested by being tapped on the head with a large nail. If the cau is
leaky it gives back a " tinny " sound easily recognized. This is a very important process, as some
canneries lose largely by careless testing, the leaky cans afterwards bursting and damaging more
or less the entire box. The cans are usually tested three or four times, and by different workmen.
A leaky can is simply sent back to be soldered.

The cans are all made on the premises from sheet-tin imported for that purpose. The cost
of the tin can is estimated at one-ninth of the cost of the can of salmon.

On an average three salmon fill one case of forty-eight 1-pound cans.

5. LABOR AT THE CANNERIES.

In the canneries a white foreman, book-keepers, and a few subordinate overseers are employed,
and sometimes a few white boys or girls. The bulk of the work is done by Chinese.

Some of the Chinese, as the fish-cutter, the Chinese foreman, and other very capable persons,
receive $40 to $45 per month. The most of them receive $1 per day of eleven hours and work
as wanted, i. e., leaving when told and coming at any hour set, only the time in which they are
actually engaged being counted.

748 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

It is certain, in brief, that no white laborers could live and work on these terms, and that no
cannery could be run in the present state of things with any profit with other than Chinese labor.

The Chinese come in April and go in August, and comparatively few return. Each man is
employed directly without the intervention of agents of the Six Companies or any other person.

As a rule, the Chinese work very faithfully. They are neyer engaged in drunken riots, and
their work is very uniform. On the other hand, they are not, as a rule, devoted to their employers.
If dissatisfied, " they are the hardest class in the world to manage." They would " use a knife for
2 cents." There are not half a dozen Chinamen that " I would dare let their pay run over a
day after due." They are inveterate gamblers, and their wages go from one to another as earned,
to pay gaming debts. Some of the canners take pains to continue employment for such Chinese
as show themselves tractable, in order to have leaven for next year's lump.

The white fishermen tolerate the Chinamen in the canneries because they know that the can-
neries must close were it not for them. It is, however, the unwritten law of the Columbia that
any Chinaman daring to fish for salmon is to be killed on sight. So they do not fish.

The canneries employ from 100 to 200 Chinamen each. Badollet & Co. paid last year $13,000
to Chinamen. The entire amount paid by all canneries yearly to Chinamen is nearly $300,000.

6. PROFITS AND LOSSES OF THE CANNERIES; RECLAMATIONS.

PROFITS. — The business of canning salmon partakes more of the nature of a speculation than
of a legitimate manufacturing business. That it shall not be run at a loss demands, of course,
that the profits for the time being shall be very great. The season is only three and one-half
months long, and the buildings, machinery, and outfit must lie idle for the rest of the year. The
rate of interest is extremely high (12 per cent, or more), and the danger of loss through strikes in
the active season is great. Finally, most canners are not strong enough to resist the necessity of
forced sales through the action of speculative combinations. These men depress the market when
the year's " put-up " is ready for sale. The bankers who furnish the money furnish it for " manu-
facturing and not for speculating purposes," and the canner is forced to sell for what he can get,
unless strong enough to hold over, in which case the profits are reduced by loss of interest, or
unless strong enough to ship directly to England.

Outside of losses through strikes and speculative combinations arc several minor leaks, which
may destroy all the profits.

RECLAMATIONS. — All cases exported are guaranteed, and security is given for the return of the
money paid for all cases proving faulty. Whenever, through any means, a can is not perfectly
sealed the salmon in it decays, pushing up the top. The can is then called a "swell-head."
Sometimes such a can bursts and often the whole case is ruined by it. Great losses are thus often
sustained, especially by those new in the business, from want of foremen and others fully competent
to supervise the business. Two large canneries (at least) have been driven into bankruptcy
through the great number of "swell-heads." One firm lost 35 per cent, of its shipment to Liver-
pool. The average reclamation amounts to 2 to 3 per cent. With some of the best established
firms it is less than 1 per cent.

OTHER LOSSES. — Besides faulty canning one source of swell-heads is this: Some salmon are
often left over from one day to the next and in the morning more are brought in. If these are
piled on the first, the latter are left still another day, during which time they spoil, and if canned
are still rotten salmon. If not canned they are a dead loss. Much inonetf has been lost from not
attending to the salmon in the order in which they are received.

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA. 749

Others lose through packing cans in green boxes, through economy. In the ship's hold the
boxes sweat, the labels come off, and the saleableness of the salmon is depreciated if not the fish
itself.

Some lose from leaving the canneries untenanted for the idle season, leaving boats to shrink,
boards to be stolen, and things generally to go to ruin.

Some lose through not having a stock of nets, &c., sufficient to make up losses without delay.

There are also numerous minor leaks, which are known only to those thoroughly conversant
with the business.

7. HISTORY OF THE "CAT^NING INDUSTRY.

The Humes first began canning salmon on the Columbia, in a small way, about 1870, at Eagle
Cliff. At first the salmon were obtained at about 10 cents each and sold at $8 per case. The first
years were very profitable, except 1873, when loss was occasioned through the failure of numerous
banks.

Since then improved methods have come in. Competition and strikes have raised the price
of iish, and from 1870 to 1880 the river has become a perfect web of nets. In 1876, the river was
first fished "for all that it was worth." The canneries on the lower river or "bay" are gradually
•'cutting out" those above, and to get fish enough now a fisherman must operate very near the
mouth of the river. Some of the canneries 20 miles up the river now send their boats to As-
toria and take up the fish on steam-tngs. The canneries above Astoria must, therefore, in the
nature of things, be forced to suspend in time unless a change takes place.

It became evident three or four years ago to the canners that the supply of salmon would not
last forever, and a contribution was first made to form a joint-stock company for the purpose of
building a hatchery which should keep up the supply.

A fishery law was passed in Washington and in Oregon, to take effect in each district, if
ratified by the other, substantially as follows:

(1) Fishing was prohibited in March, August, and September.

(2) Fishing was prohibited from 6 p. tn. Saturday to 6 p. in. Sunday.

(3) Gill-net mesh should notvbe less than 4J inches square, seines not less than 3, and traps
should not have their slats less than 2£ inches apart.

(4) Licenses were charged as follows :

Each boat flO 00

Each man with gill-net 5 00

Each dip-net 2 00

E.-irh trap 50 00

Each snine 10 00

(5) The proceeds of these licenses should be applied to the propagation of salmon under the
direction of a "fish commissioner of the Columbia."

A point on a tributary of the Columbia River was selected as being the most available for
the purpose, and a hatchery was built. The support of the State and Territory has now been
withdrawn, as the law under which it was given has been for some reason declared unconstitutional.
Its future depends on the re-enactment of some similar law, as the hatchery cannot be kept up by
voluntary contributions.

8. FUTURE OF THE SALMON FISHERIES.

As to the; question of the diminution of salmon in the Columbia River the evidence appears
somewhat conflicting; the catch during the present year (1880) has been considerably greater than
ever before (nearly 540,000 cases), although the fishing since 1870 has been very extensive. On

750 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

the other hand, the high water of the present spring has undoubtedly caused many fish to become
spring salmon which would otherwise have run in the fall. Moreover, it is urged that a few years
ago, when the number caught was about half as great as now, the amount of netting used was per
haps one-eighth as much. With a comparatively small outfit the canners caught half the fish; now,
with nets much larger and more numerous, they catch them all, scarcely any escaping during the fish-
ing season (April 1 to August 1). Whether an actual reduction in the number offish running can
be proven or not, there can be no question that the present rate of destruction of the salmon will
deplete the river before many years. A considerable number of quinuat salmon run in August
and September, and some stragglers even later; these now are all which keep up the supply of
fish in the river. The non-molestation of this fall run, therefore, does something to atone for the
almost total destruction of the spring ran.

This, however, is insufficient. A well-ordered salmon hatchery is the only means by which
the destruction of the salmon in the river can be prevented. This hatchery should be under the
control of Oregon and Washington, and should be supported by a tax levied on the canned fish.
It should be placed on a stream where the quinnat salmon actually come to spawn.

It has been questioned whether the present hatchery on the Clackamas River actually receives
the quinuat salmon in any numbers. It is asserted, in fact, that the eggs of the silver salmon and
dog salmon, with scattering quinnat, are hatched there. We have no exact information as to the
truth of these reports, but the matter should be taken into serious consideration.

9. SALMON OIL.

A factory for making oil from salmon-heads is in operation at Astoria, Mr. T. 0. George being
the proprietor. It was established last year, when 18,000 gallons were made, and sold at about 24
cents. The salmon-heads are bought from the canneries at the rate of 1,000 heads for $1. On an
average, a thousand heads make 30 to 35 gallons of oil. The factory is only run during the can-
ning season. The heads are cooked by steam, and the oil is run off from the top. The process is
here rather crude, the factory not having yet ventured on improved machinery. After the salmon
season this year Mr. George proposes to make oil from seals and bears. Many of the fishermen
propose to use their gill-nets for catching seals and sea-lions after the salmon run. An oil factory
in Upper Astoria has been leased by Mr. George, but is not now running. Another belongs to
Watson, but is (probably) now silent. There is scarcely any oil in the viscera of Oncorhynchus
chouicha. Salmon oil is usually mixed with other and dearer oils, and not thrown separately on
the market.

The following is the record of a salmon oil factory at Astoria :

Capital invested $2,000

Men employed number.. 6

One boiler, one engine horse-power.. 35

Average wages per day of ten hours , $2

Total paid in wages $1,000

Length of season , months.. 3

Value of material $2,500

Valne of product $7,000

THE SALMON FISHERIES OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA.

i

10. STATISTICS OF SALMON-FISHERIES OF THE COLUMBIA,

Estimates of amount of salmon canned on the Columbia, 1869 to 1880.
[Mostly from printed circulars of salmon dealers.]

751

Year.

Number of
cases of 48
pounds each.

Tear.

Number of
cases of 48
pounds each.

1869 ..

20, 729

1875

244 203

1870

29, 736

1876

428 730

1871

34, 805

1877

468 804

1872

43 606

1878 . >

417 637

1873

102,733-

MTO

448 000

1874

291 021

1880

539 587

Total capital iuvested in canneries
Total number of hands employed . . .

Total paid in wages

Total wages paid to Chinese

Value of material consumed

Value of product

Estimates for whole river in 1880.

$1, 100, 100

4,000

$600, 000

$500,000

$1,200,000

$2,097,930

Pack of salmon on the Columbia River, 1675 to 1880.
[Tabulated by canneries.]

1875.*

1876.*

1877.*

1880.1

S. D. Adair & Co

Gates.

Cases.

Oases.

Cases.
11 000

12 500

Anglo- American Packing Company

13, 247

16 000

Astoria fishery

29 700

Astoria Packing Company

35 000

A. Booth A- Co

34,000

37 000

23 160

28, 000

Badollet & Co...;

25 693

20 001

09 OOQ

Bradley, Davis & Co

9 OG6

Columbia Canning Company

72 996

20 000

24 081

16 8C6

Clackamas Packing Company

858

J. W. & V. Cook

Bodge, Sweeny & Co

12,500

16,000

10 249

Eureka Packing Company

18 487

Fisherman's Packing Company

14 955

28 009

Fitzpatrick, Davia & Co

20 375

19 540

George W. Hume

11 277

25 500

Joseph Hume

25 000

21 800

22 058

William Hume

16 000

17 500

8 861

99 000

Do

9 500

R. D. Home

20 000

48 000

Hstnthom & Co ,

14 002

28 000

Hepburn & Co

3 320

Leverklge & Prindle

10 015

J. G-. Metier &. Co .

16 000

28 000

19 246

Oregon Packing Company

22,000

36 966

24 553

Pillar Rock Company

6 645

16 000

James Qninn

2 977

5 400

Sternberger &, Co

84 029

John "West

15 000

13 870

F. M. Warren

10 000

Weat Coast Packing Company

14 300

13 000

17 500

Watson Bros

fl 144

Hapgood & Co

18,000

21 425

11 718

16 335

.Tan. Williams

10 633

John A. Devlin

Jackson & Myers

12 000

8 311

6 000

Kinnfty Rrna

38 500

51 **91

221,500

428, 730

1 ,.-. 904

539,587

•Oregon Immigration Company.

tFrom statements made to the Census Oflice by (be different canners

752

HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

STATISTICS OF CAPITAL, ETC.

We bave full statistics of the capital, number of men employed, wages paid, &c., of all but
two of the canneries located in Oregon. The two not included are the canneries at Rauier and
Quinn's.

The averages of these are given in the table below. Most of the remaining canneries are
smaller than these here enumerated.

The total capital of the sixteen canneries in Olatsop County, above referred to, is $733,500, or,
on an average, $45,844 each. An approximate estimate of the amount of capital invested in the
remaining thirteen canneries, or those of Washington Territory and of Columbia County, Oregon,
may be made by comparing their pack of salmon with that of the sixteen canneries in Clatsop
County.

The average number of cases packed by the sixteen canneries is 22,256 each ; by the thirteen
14,115 each. Assuming that the pack of salmon is in proportion to the capital invested, which
is generally true, we have $29,096 for each of the thirteen canneries, or $349,248 for the total. The
total amount of capital invested in the canneries on the Columbia may therefore be set down as
not far from $1,081,748, or say $1,100,000.

Other statistics for the sixteen Clatsop canneries are the following, to which an addition of
about one-half more to each total will give an approximate total for the whole river.

Statistics for canneries in Clatsop County, Oregon.

Average for
each cannery.

Total for 16
canneries.

$45 844

$733 500

Greatest number of hands employed (at any one time)

379
89

2,862

j 4 og

"Women (above 15 years) ,

11

174

Children.

9

JO to 11

$2 55

Wages of ordinary laltuivrn (Chinese)

$1 26J

Total paid ill wa^es

$*5 831 50

$413 3()1

$54 625 00

$874 000

Value of product

$68 295 00

$1 092 400

PRICES OF SAXMON.

The business of canning salmon was first begun in 1863, on the Sacramento River, by William
Hume, G. W. Hume, and A. S. Hapgood as Hapgood, Hume & Co.

The general price, wholesale, has usually ranged from $1.50 to $2; the lowest price before
1878 having been $1.L'5.

In 1878 the stock on hand was very large, and weak holders began to cut prices in order to
realize. The price finally fell to $1 per dozen. Nearly all the salmon in the market was bought up by
speculators, and the price rose to $1.40. The prices since have ranged generally from $1.10 to $1.20

Most of the salmon canned on the Columbia is shipped directly to England. The number of
cases packed in 1880 (539,587) represents on an average three salmon to the case or 1,618,761 salmon.
Each salmon when fresh weighs about 22 pounds, a total of 35,612,742 pounds. Adding an estimate
for the salmon salted or consumed fresh, and we have a total of 38,500,000 pounds as an estimate of
the total product of the Lower Columbia for the year 1880. Not half a million pounds of this is
made of species other than the quinnat salmon (Oncorhynchvs chouieha).

STATISTICS OF SALMON FISHERIES.

753

The total sum paid by the earners to fishermen iti 1880 for salmon is about $809,380, or 50
cents each.

The total value of the pack, estimated at $5 per case, would be $2,097,930.

3.— STATISTICAL RECAPITULATION.

STATISTICS OF PACIFIC SALMON FISHERXLAND CANNING INDUSTRY FOR 1880.

Number of persons i-mploycd ?, 310

Capital invested $1,381,900

Value of product 3, 399, 574

The total catch was 2,887,900 salmon, weighing 53,844,000 pounds. Of this amount 1,585,500
pounds were salted, 200,000 pounds smoked, 2,000,000 pounds sold fresh at San Francisco,
43,379,542 pounds canned, and the rest consumed locally or unaccounted for.

The extent of the canning industry was as follows :

Canneries.

Number
of factory
bands.

Sold to the canneries.

Product of the canneries.

Number.

Capital.

PoundT of

fresh salmon.

Value.

Cases.

Pounds in 1-
pound cans.

Value.

10

3

29
1
2

$100, 000

25, 000
1, 100, 000
4,000
10, 000

800

95
4,000
15
30

5, 305, 000

1, 591, 800
35,612,742
198, 000
672, 000

$79, 600

15,918
809, 380
1,560
3,360

80, 387

22, 300
539, 587
3,000
10, 000

3, 858, 576

1, 070, 400
25, 900, 176
144, 000
480, 000

$400, 935

111,500
2, 697, 930
15, 000
30, 000

Smith and Ki-1 liivura, California, Konnr

45

1, 239, 000

4,940

43, 379, 542

909, 818

655, 274

31,453,152

3,255,365

SALMON CANNING AT POET BLAKELY.

The salmon cannery of Jackson & Myers, formerly at Muchilteo, has now been removed to
Port Blakely, on the west side of Admiralty Inlet opposite Seattle. Here salmon are abundant in
summer and fall in the salt water and are taken with seines. During the past year (1880) the run
has been very good, and 3,000 cases have been packed. The species chiefly taken is the silver
salmon or "coho" (0. fc'sutch), with an occasional quinnat salmon. On alternate years (1877, 1879)
there is a considerable run of the humpback salmon or "hatldo" (0. gorbusclia),tbe female of which
species is canned, the male thrown away or given to the Indians to be salted. These small salmon
usually sell at the canneries at 3 to 5 cents each, twelve to fifteen of them filling a case.

The details of the Alaska salmon fishery, are fullj discussed by Dr. Bean in another sec-
tion of this report in connection with the fishing-grounds and fishery resources of Alaska. (See
Section II, FISHING GROUNDS, pp. 81-115.)
SEC v 48

PA.RT XIV.

THE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES.

BY LUDWIG KUMLIEN.

1.— THE POUND-NET FISHERY.

1. Fishing-grounds.

3. Apparatus and methods of the fishery.

2. Fishermen.

2.— THE GILL-NET FISHERY.

1. Fishing-grounds.

2. Fishermen.

4. Preparation of the fish.

5. Financial arrangements.

3. Apparatus and methods of the fishery.

3.— THE SEINE FISHERY; MINOR FISHERIES.

1. The methods aad extent of the seine fishery.

2. Spearing and hook-and-line fishing.

4.— STATISTICS OF THE FISHERIES.

Statistics of the fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1880.

3. Fishing with grapplings, fyke-nets, and dip-nets.

755

PART

THE FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES.

BY LTJDWIG KUMLIEN.

1.— THE POUND-NET FISHERY.

1. FISHING-GROUNDS.

The pound-net fishery is the most important carried on in the Great Lakes. It absorbs a
greater amount of capital; employs more men, and yields larger returns than any other fishery,
and its importance is annually increasing.

The position of the pounds is constantly being changed, some grounds which a few years ago
were very productive being now almost abandoned, and others just coming into prominence, so
that we can hardly do more than to point out the location of the more important grounds as they
existed in 1879.

The most important stations iu Lake Superior are located among the Apostle Islands. The
majority of the nets are set from the shores of the islands nearest land. To the westward the
stations occupied in 1879 were at the entrance to Superior City, Wis., at Bark Bay, and Siscowet
Bay ; eastward, in Chaquamegou and Bete Grise Bays, at Portage Entry, in Keweenaw, Huron,
and Marquette Bays, the channel between Grand Island and the mainland, at Whitefish Point, and
in Whitefish Bay.

In Lake Michigan, the most productive grounds are about the Beaver Islands and on the north
shore east of Scott Point, on the west shore of Green Bay, and among the islands at its entrance.
On the west shore of the lake there are numerous stations, the most important being near Jack-
sonport; at Whitefish Bay, between Two Creeks and Manitowoc ; at Amsterdam, Port Washing-
ton, and Waukegan. At the head of the lake the principal stations are located between Michigan
City. Ind., and New Buffalo. On the east shore pound-net fishing is not prosecuted to any con-
siderable extent except in Little and Grand Traverse Bays. The only stations southward are at
Good Harbor Bay, Big Point Sable, and near Ludington. The principal fisheries in Grand Tra-
verse Bay are near Hog Island and in Northport Bay. There are others also on the north shore
of Little Traverse Bay and near its entrance. Several nets are usually set at Point Waugoschance.

The Lake Huron pound fisheries are comparatively not of great moment. The principal
grounds are located on the north and south shores of Thunder Bay and at the head of Saginaw
Bay.

757

758 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Among the most remarkable grounds iu the lakes are those situated at the west end of Lake
Erie. The whole shore from the mouth of the Detroit River to Lorain, several miles east of Ver-
million, is occupied at short intervals by pounds. Kelley's Island and the Bass Islands are also
favorite localities. There are other important stations at Dover Bay and between Willoughby and
Painesville.

The pound-net fisheries of Lake Ontario are of minor importance. The few stations occupied
are situated at the east end of the lake, near Sackett's Harbor and Cape Vincent.

The nets, with few exceptions, are set comparatively near shore. When a very large number
are set in a line, however, as is the practice at the west end of Lake Erie and some other localities,
the outer net, of course, is situated in quite deep water. The station for single nets most distant
from land is probably that situated at the north end of Green Bay, midway between Point Penin-
sula and Summer Island. The nets set here are about 7£ miles from the nearest shore.

The kind of bottom most sought for is fairly hard clay covered with sand. If the bottom is
too hard the great labor involved in driving stakes becomes a serious obstacle, while if too soft
the stakes will not bear the weight of the net without becoming loose and unstable.

Pounds are seldom set in more than 75 feet of water, the average depth being about 35 feet.
The deepest net in the lakes is situated off the north shore of Saint Martin's Island, at the entrance
of Green Bay. The bowl stands in 97 feet of water. The stakes, which are three times spliced,
are 125 feet in length.

2. FISHERMEN.

There is nothing peculiar characterizing the pound-net fishermen not shared by others. The
owners are generally men having considerable capital and possessed of the ability to carry on a
large business.

3. APPARATUS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY.

NETS. — The pound-nets of the Great Lakes are of simple construction. Each consists of a
leader, a heart-shaped pound, and a square bowl or pot. The length of the leader varies according
to the situation of the net, from 30 to 85 rods, or from 500 to 1,400 feet, the average being about
50 rods. The size of the mesh is usually 6 inches, but in some localities is reduced to 4£ inches, and
in others increased to 8 inches. At the east end of Lake Ontario, the size of mesh in leader, heart,
and bowl is uniformly only 2 inches. The mesh of the heart is usually 5 inches, but varies from 3
to 7 inches in a few instances. The bowl or pot is generally about 30 feet square. In the largest
nets, however, it is occasionally 40 feet square, while in the smaller ones 28 feet is a very common
size. In Lake Ontario the pounds are smaller and the bowl is only 20 feet square. The mesh
varies in size from 2 to 4 inches, the average being about 3 inches. In depth the nets vary very
greatly, making it difficult to form an average. The widest differences are found among the nets
in Green Bay. Some are set in a single fathom of water, while others are from 40 to 65 feet deep.
The great Saint Martin's Island pound, already noted, which is 97 feet deep, may also be mentioned
in this connection. The average value of the nets is about $350.

Besides the ordinary pound-nets there are others, known as " baby " pounds, employed in
some localities.

BOATS. — Many different shapes and sizes of boats, from small skiffs to steam-tugs, are
employed in the pound fishery. There is one, however, universally known as the "pound-net"
boat, which is in use in greater numbers than any other. Those employed on the west shore of
Green Bay may be regarded as typical, and we will therefore describe one of them.

POUND-NET FISHERY OF GEEAT LAKES. 759

The Green Bay " pound-net " boats are large, flat-bottomed, and broad of beam. Their
average length is about 28 feet, their breadth of beam 9 feet, and their depth about 42 inches.
They will carry from 60 to 80 half-barrels offish, a safe load being 70 half-barrels, or about 10,500
pounds. They are usually sloop rigged and carry long, heavy masts. They are constructed of
rough boards, and commonly built by the fishermen. On each side of the center-board there is
usually a covered bin.

These boats are moderately fast sailers, are very safe, and can run in 6 inches of water.
When the nets are to be lifted they are taken into the bowl.

Various modifications are made in the shape and rigging of the pound-net boats in other
localities. On the east shore of Green Bay they have no masts, being propelled entirely by oars.
On the west shore of Lake Michigan, in the vicinity of Two Rivers, some have but one mast and
a gafl'-sail, while others have two masts. They are also somewhat better built than those in use
in Green Bay, and are employed only in lifting the nets or when driving the stakes. Between
Two Rivers and Port Washington again the boats are without masts. In the vicinity of Grand
and Little Traverse Bays, on the east shore of Lake Michigan, some have masts and are rigged
like Mackinaw boats, while others, particularly in Grand Traverse Bay, are without masts. The
same obtains in the Straits of Mackinaw. In Lake Huron most of the boats are schooner rigged.
At the west end of Lake Erie they are commonly used in transporting the fish. At Port Clinton,
Sandusky, and Huron the boats are of fine model and large, and generally carry two mast?.
Many of them are 30 feet long and have a breadth of 10 feet, and will carry from 7 to 10 tons.
The masts are from 35 to 40 feet high. At Bronhelm Bay the boats have two masts and are
furnished with a gaff-topsail, but in the same sheet as the main sails. No jibs are employed.
The Painesville and Willoughby boats are among the best on the lakes. They vary in length
from 28 to 34 feet, and are 4 feet deep. They carry two masts.

The average value of the " pound-net" boats, at least those having masts and sails, is about
$200.

Many Mackinaw boats are also employed in the pound-net fishery, particularly at Marquette,
Lake Superior, and at Two Rivers, on the west shore of Lake Michigan. They are better adapted
for cruising than the " pound-net " boats. Regarding the model and peculiarities of this boat,
Milner says: * " The famous 'Mackinaw' of the lakes has bow and stern sharp, a great deal of sheer,
the greatest beam forward of amidships, and tapers with little curve to the stern. She is either
schooner rig, or with a lug-sail forward, is fairly fast, the greatest surf-boat known, and with an
experienced boatman will ride out any storm, or, if necessary, beach with greater safety than any
other boat. She is comparatively dry, and her sharp stern prevents the shipment of water aft
when running with the sea. They have been longer and more extensively used on the upper
lakes than any other boats, and with less loss of life or accident. The objection to the more gen-
eral use of the Mackinaw is that her narrowness aft affords too little room for storage."

At Waukegan scows about 22 feet in length and 8 feet in breadth are employed. They carry
6 tons and are worth only about $GO. A small boat, known as the "anchor" boat, is also used
here in drawing the stakes and removing the fish.

Steam tugs are employed in the vicinity of the Straits of Mackinaw, at Escanaba, Green Bay,
and in several fisheries on the west shore of Lake Michigan and the Beaver Islands, in connection
with the off-shore nets.

* MILNER : The Fisheries of the Great Lakes. Report U. S. Commissioner Fish and Fisheries, Part II, 1874 ; Appen-
dix A, pp. 13-14.

760 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The firm of Grosse Brothers, of Little Suamico, Green Bay, employ two steam yachts late
in the season in connection with their off-shore fisheries.

In the Lake Erie fisheries row-boats are employed in calm weather in place o :the larger
" pound-net" boats.

"Hay ward" and '-Huron" boats are also used in the pound-net fishery in some localities.

PILE-DEIVERS AND STAKE-LIFTERS. — In setting the pound-net stakes, pile-drivers, worked
by steam or by hand, are employed in all the larger fisheries. The driver commonly used consists
of a strongly-built raft carrying two uprights, from 10 to 25 feet in height, at one end, between
which a block of wood, faced with iron and weighing about 150 pounds, works upward and down-
ward. This weight or hammer is attached to a rope and suspended by means of a patent double
block. When in operation the pile-driver is anchored at the four corners.

Driving stakes is considered the hardest work connected with the pound fishery. Under the
most favorable circumstances, the weather being calm and the bottom clayey, four men can drive
about twenty stakes in a single day. The stakes are driven into the bottom from 3 to 10 feet,
according to their length and the character of the bottom.

On the west shore of Lake Michigan, in the vicinity of Two Rivers, the pile-drivers are built
more substantially than in some other localities. On account of the frequent storms and heavy
seas, they are not mounted on rafts, but on two pound-boats lashed together.

In removing the nets a sort of scow, about 30 feet long and 12 feet wide, is sometimes em-
ployed. It has a slit, about 2 feet wide and from 4 to 6 feet long, cut in the bow. When in opera-
tion the scow is run on to the stake, the latter passing to the end of the slit, where, by means of a
low, stationary windlass, it is easily removed. Such scows are owned only by the wealthier firms,
and are borrowed or hired by their neighbors.

METHOD OP FISHING. — The length of the fishing season varies largely in different parts of
the lakes. In the upper lakes the season opens about the middle of May or the first of June, and
closes ordinarily about the middle of September. At the west end of Lake Superior, however,
some nets are removed in August, from the more exposed points, while at the Magdalen Islands
they are allowed to remain until ice forms. In Green Bay some nets are removed in July and
reset in October.

In Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, and also to a greater extent in the river, pounds are allowed to
freeze into the ice in fall, and are not removed until it breaks up in spring. A channel 2 fct-t
wide is cut over the sides of the bowl, and the large cake of ice loosened is moved to one side
when the fish are to be removed.

The season in Lake Erie opens about the middle of March or the first of April and closes in
June. The nets are reset in fall for about two or three weeks during the latter part of September
and the first of October, or until the weather becomes too stormy for fishing. In Lake Ontario
the ordinary season is from June to October.

At the Green Bay fisheries, and indeed in nearly all localities, the nets are visited daily during
the height of the season, if the weather permits. During summer, however, the fish are removed
only once in three days. The fishermen go out early in the morning as soon as it is light. In the
vicinity of Bronhelm Bay, Lake Erie, the nets are usually visited in the afternoon.

Three men arc generally employed to work the nets, except in very heavy weather or when
fish become unusually abundant, when the number is increased to four or five or even to seven.

In transporting the catch to market from the more remote fisheries, schooners are commonly
employed. The boats of the dealers at Green Bay City and other towns on the bay cruise along
the north shore and among the islands, and collect whatever supplies of fish the pound fishermen

GILL-NET FISHERY OF GREAT LAKES. 761

may Lave for sale, and iu return furnish them with the supplies of which they stand in need.
Near the larger towns, both in Green Bay and elsewhere, the fish are brought in directly from the
pounds in the pound-boats, and are generally shipped inland or to other distributing points by
rail. At one fishery at Lake Erie, however, a steam tug is employed to tow the pound boats to
and from the nets; this, however, is unusual.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. — The nature of the apparatus used in pound-fishing and the
outlay which it involves make it impossible for men of limited means to engage in it. The indus-
try is therefore largely carried on by_ men who possess considerable capital and capacity for prose-
cuting a business of some magnitude. Fishermen are "ordinarily hired, and the owners, especially
of the larger fisheries, such as those on Lake Erie, although they may have a complete knowledge
of the methods employed, rarely engage personally in fishing.

2.— THE GILL-NET FISHERY.

1. FISHING-GROUNDS.

The gill-net fishery is second only to the pound fishery iu importance. It is carried on exten-
sively, moreover, in some localities where pound-fishing is impossible on account of the nature of
the coast, and during the winter season, when the pounds are not in operation, and becomes, there-
fore, in these places and at this time, of paramount concern.

The gill net grounds have already been described at length in the chapter devoted to fishing-
grounds in general, and only their location will be given here.

The principal gill- net grounds of Lake Superior extend from the national boundary on the
northwest shore to Grand Island, Michigan, on the south shore. East of Grand Island the only
important grounds are located at Whitefish Point, and these are but a few miles in extent.

In the vicinity of the Straits of Mackinaw we find many grounds of greater or less extent and
productiveness. The most easterly extends 16 or 17 miles southeast of Strong Island to Spectacle
Rief. Stations of minor importance are located between Mackinac and Bound Islands, west of
Hound Island, and north of Point Saint Iguace. Extensive grounds occupy the shore west of the
Straits as far as Seul Choix Point.

Gull Island is surrounded by gill-net grounds, but it is owned by private parties and the
fisheries are prosecuted only by them.

The only additional fishery on the north shore of Lake Michigan is at Point aux Basques.

The entire entrance of Gfeen Bay, north of Washington Island, is occupied by gill net grounds.
There are four principal ones, known as the ''Sag Bay," "Saint Martin's Island," ''Summer
Island," -and " Washington Island" grounds. The two former extend into Lake Michigan, the last
two westward into Green Bay. The "Washington Island" ground far exceeds the others in size,
but all are important and productive.

On the west shore of Green Bay we find but two localities where summer gill-netting is carried
on. These are beyond the pound stations opposite Indian Village and Bark River. In winter,
however, fishing is prosecuted all along the shore, but not extensively north of Menominee.

Limited grounds are situated in the vicinity of Green Bay City.

On the east shore of the bay a small amount of fishing is done in the vicinity of Chambers
Island and at Sturgeon Bay.

762 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

Ou the west shore of Lake Michigan there are numerous grounds of varying importance. The
most northerly is at the Cana Islands, a little to the north of Jacksonport. The next lies off Clay
Banks, and a small one 4 miles farther south. None of these grounds are of great extent. South-
ward, however, stretching from Two Creeks to Manitowoc, is a largo and much-frequented ground,
and one of the most important on the west side of the lake. Other grounds occur farther south,
beginning at Sheboygan and extending with occasional interruptions to within a few miles of the
boundary line between Wisconsin and Illinois. The principal fishing is in the vicinity of Sheboy-
gan, Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha.

Gill-nets are employed along almost the entire eastern shore of Lake Michigan, north of
Michigan City, as far as Manistee, in Grand Traverse Bay, and from its entrance northward to the
Straits of Mackinaw.

In Lake Huron the most noteworthy grounds extend northward from the entrance of Thunder
Bay, and southward from the entrance of Saginaw Bay.

At the west end of Lake Erie there are two grounds of considerable importance, one opposite
the village of Toussaint, and the other around Gull Island Shoal, east of the Bass Islands.

Eastward we find grounds of very great size, extending several miles in either direction from
Erie, and far out into tbe lake. Others of nearly as great proportions lie off Ashtabula and
Conneaut.

The gill-net fishery in Lake Ontario is of less importance than that carried on in the other
lakes. Grounds of limited extent exist in the vicinity of Poultney ville, Fair Haven, Oak Orchard,
Wilson, Braddock's Bay, Charlotte, and Colise Landing, at the east end of the lake.

2. FISHERMEN.

On account of the number of steam-tugs employed in the gill-net fishery, many men, such as
engineers, pilots, and firemen, who are not strictly fishermen, are connected with it. Furthermore,
participation in the gill-net fishery does not imply the possession of any considerable amount of
capital, as in the pound fishery, and hence we find all classes of fishermen employed. Some own
hundreds of nets and employ steam-tugs and other large craft ; others possess only a small boat or
two, and fish with scarcely more than a score of nets. As a class, the gill-net fishermen are, per-
haps, the most venturesome men, and at the same time the most skillful seamen, of the lakes. In
certain regions they set their nets near the shore, but in other localities they invariably fish at a
distance of 20 or 30 miles from land, and frequently encounter storms, which, were it not for their
skill in managing their boats, would inevitably overwhelm them. As we have already stated,
however, disasters are comparatively rare.

3. APPAEATCTS AND METHODS OF THE FISHERY.

BOATS. — A great variety of boats are employed by gill net fishermen, most important among
which are the steam-tugs, and the boats known as the Mackinaw, the Huron or "square stern,"
the Hayward, the Carver, the Wheeler, and one called the Clinker, the name being descriptive of
the manner in which it is built. Norwegian sloops are also used in some localities.

The Mackinaw boat has already been described in the chapter on the pound-net fishery.

The steam-tugs used in the fisheries are from 5 to 30 tons burden, modeled after the ordinary
towing tug. They cost from $2,000 to $10,000 each. In the forward hold bins for storing fish and
ice-boxes are built. The after third of the boat is housed over and used as a place of storage for
the net-boxes. Boilers are arranged at the bow, over which the nets are hauled in. Tugs are used
only with "heavy rigs," that is, with a large number of nets, and principally in off-shore fisheries.

GILL NET FISHERY OF GREAT LAKES. 763

The Huron or "square-stern" boat is employed principally in Lake Michigan. A few are also
to be found at the east end of Lake Ontario. "It is the ordinary model of a schooner-rigged sail-
boat, with less sheer than the Mackinaw, but with plenty of room for net, fish, or half barrels.
The better models are faster than than the Mackinaws. They are generally from 30 to 40 feet in
length. In most of the regions where they are employed the fishing is done much farther from
shore than in the 'light-rig' localities. An inquiry into the history of the loss of life and acci-
dents among the fishermen of Lake Michigan indicates that these boats had suffered the most,
partly, no doubt, because of their longer runs out from shore."*

The Huron is used in preference to the Mackinaw" when it is desirable to carry a heavy load,
the sharp stern of the latter not affording sufficient space for storage.

The Hay ward boat, named after the maker, is a schooner-rigged craft, usually capable of car-
rying a five ton load. Its average length is 32 feet, and its breadth of beam 8 or 9 feet. They are
used principally on the east shore of Lake Michigan. A number were formerly owned at Thunder
Bay, Lake Huron, but they have been superseded, with one exception, by Mackinaw boats.

The Carver boat, used exclusively at the east end of Lake Erie, is similar to the last described
in shape and rig. They are from 24 to 30 feet in length, with from 6 to 9 feet breadth of beam.
They carry two masts, and are schooner-rigged, generally with gaff top-sail, and some with jibs.
The latter, however, are going out of use. The boats are worth from $200 to $225.

The Wheeler boat, used only in the vicinity of the head of Lake Huron, does not differ mate-
rially from the last two, except that it is clinker-built. It is usually larger and more valuable
than the Carver, being generally 32 feet in length and costing $375.

" The Norwegian is a huge unwieldy thing, with flaring bows, great sheer, high sides, and is
sloop-rigged. She is absolutely dry in all weathers, and though perfectly safe, and with ample
room, is only used by the Scandinavian fishermen, most other fishermen objecting to her slow-
ness and the great labor of rowing in time of a calm. These boats are in use in but very few
localities. They are from 35 to 40 feet in length."* They carry about 200 yards of canvas. Some
owners, perhaps rather rashly, claim that they are the fastest as well as the dryest boats. They
assert that they can easily pass the lake schooners. They are worth about $300. Grand Haven
is the principal place where they are employed. One was used at Racine, Lake Michigan, in 1878,
but none in 1879.

NETS. — The gill-net of the lakes is usually about 40 to 45 fathoms in length, and from 13 to 18
meshes deep, the size of the mesh being from 4£ to 5J inches, stretch measurement. The average
length is exceeded in some localities, however, being 65 fathoms at Bayfield, Lake Superior; about
75 fathoms in certain stations at the east end of Lake Erie; 90 fathoms at Two Rivers, Lake Michi-
gan, and 100 fathoms in the Beaver Island region. At Saint Joseph and South Haven, the length
is usually but 30 fathoms. Nets carried by the tugs are generally longer than those set from boats.

At many of the Lake Superior fisheries the nets are counted by the " box," each box contain-
ing from 450 to 500 yards in one piece. At certain fishing stations on Lake Michigan also the
box is taken as the unit of measure, but the number of nets in a box varies somewhat with the
locality.

The size of the mesh does not vary very much in the upper lakes, where the catch consists
almost entirely of whitefish and trout, and the extremes of size employed there are about 3J and
G inches. In most localities different sizes are employed at different seasons — the smaller in the
spring and summer, the larger in fall. In Lake Erie the mesh of the whitefish nets varies from

* MILNKR : Report U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Pt. II, 1874 ; Appendix A, p. 14.

Y64 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

4J to 4£ inches, while in the pike-nets it is smaller, varying from £ to 3g. At Sackett's Harbor,
Lake Ontario, the size of mesh employed for different species is as follows: For ciscoes, 2 inches ;
pike and bass, 3 to 4 inches ; whitefish, 4i to 5 inches ; trout, 6 inches ; sturgeon, 8 to 10 inches.

Some nets employed in Green Bay are only 4£ feet deep, and some in Thunder Bay, Lake
Huron, 5 feet.

In certain localities the nets are buoyed by wooden floats and weighted with stones, while in
other cork floats and lead weights are used.

Many nets were formerly knit by the fishermen's wives and daughters, but now they are
usually made by machinery and purchased from dealers in the larger cities. At Two Rivers, Wis.,
however, a majority of the women and children spend most of the winter in making nets for local
supply and for shipment to other fishing towns on Lake Michigan. Nets made of cotton twine are
worth about $5.50, but linen nets are valued at $2 more apiece. Cotton nets are generally em-
ployed.

METHODS OP THE FISHERY. — There is no season of the year in which gill-nets are not in use
in some part of the lakes. Summer is the least profitable season, and in some localities fishing is
suspended altogether during the warmest weather, which occurs usually in July. With this excep-
tion the regular season lasts during "open-water" time, that is, while there is no ice in the lakes.
Of course, the length of this season varies very considerably in different years and in different parts
of the lakes in the same year. In the upper lakes it opens usually in April and closes in Novem-
ber, while in the lower lakes fishing begins in March and ends in December. Winter fishing lasts
while the ice is firm.

"Open-water" fishing is prosecuted on all the grounds mentioned in the early part of this
chapter, while winter fishing is confined principally to Lake Michigan, and is usually carried on
at the outer limit of the warm-weather grounds, or even farther from shore.

Gill-net fishing with steam-tugs is essentially different from boat fishing. The tugs, like the
large sailboats, carry " heavy rigs " or many nets in contradistinction to the "light rigs" or
smaller number of nets carried by small boats. Tugs usually carry from two hundred and fifty to
four hundred nets, disposed in gangs of about forty nets each. They are set from the stern of the
boat while it steams slowly along, and are taken in over the bows, where rollers are arranged to
lessen the hardship. Nets are invariably anchored, but are frequently moved about considerably
by the currents.

Some of the larger boats, as already stated, carry " heavy rigs," or from seventy five to one
hundred and eighty nets, but some of the smaller ones use but a score or two. The latter carry
two or three men. The Lake Erie tugs carry about one hundred and twenty-five nets and keep
three gangs of twenty-five nets each in the water at onetime. The fishermen of Grand Haven
always own four gangs of nets. When they go out to remove the fish, they carry a dry gang with
them, which they set in place of the one "lifted ;" another is left to dry in the fish-house, and the
fourth does service when it is impossible to dry that recently " lifted."

The methods of the winter fishery are quite different. In Green Bay each fisherman owns
from twenty five to one hundred nets, which are set in gangs usually across the bay, and in deep
water, 60 fathoms being a favorite depth. The men have little shanties with about 7 by 12 feet
floor space and 6 feet high, built light and covered with canvas and mounted on iron-shod rimers.

In working the nets holes are cut in the ice at intervals of 100 feet. A pole, with a line at-
tached and long enough to reach from one aperture to the next, is thrust under the ice. A net is
fastened to the line and the latter is then hauled in at the second hole until all the net has passed
under water at the first hole. This maneuvre is repeated until all the nets are set. In « lifting" the

SEINE FISHERY OF GREAT LAKES. 765

nets the shanty is drawn over a hole and the fish removed from the nets on either side. Two men
can manage about thirty nets. Similar methods are employed at the Saginaw Bay fisheries in
Lake Huron, which are, perhaps, the most extensive winter gill-net fisheries on the lakes.

While the water is cold fish are removed from the nets about once in three days, but in
wanner weather, wheu there is danger of their spoiling, they are removed every other day , or even
daily. Fish caught in gill-nets do not ordinarily bring as high a price as those which are takeu
in pounds, for the reason that the former, if allowed to remain in the gill-nets for any considerable
length of time, die, and are liable to decay, while the latter are sure to reach market in better con-
dition,

4. PREPARATION OF THE FISH.

There are no peculiarities in the methods of preparing gill-net fish for market. A large propor-
tion, however, are sold fresh, because in the more important gill-net fisheries, especially those car-
ried on in the vicinity of, or in close communication with, the markets, only large fish are taken,
which are too valuable to salt. Schooners are employed to a considerable extent by dealers to
cruise among the Beaver Islands and along isolated portions of the shore to collect the products
of the fisheries.

5. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS.

In Section IV, devoted to fishermen, we have already alluded to the arrangements which
hitherto existed extensively everywhere on the lakes, but which brought disaster to so many fish-
ermen. It was usual for dealers to advance full outfits, including provisions, to the fishermen, and
to look for pay in the fish which were to be caught. Although this system proved fairly successful
in years of abundance offish, it proved utterly ruinous to both fishermen and outfitters in years of
scarcity. It found its most complete development in Green Bay, where the financial condition be-
came at length critical. In 1876 one dealer alone at Green Bay supplied the fishermen, many of
whom came from a longdistance, with provisions to the amount of $25,000, the greater part of which
amount remains still unpaid. At present, however, only a few reliable and well-known men are
allowed credit, and others are obliged to pay at once for the nets and other necessaries which they
receive.

In the large fisheries, in which steam-tugs are employed, the capitalists keep the apparatus
under their own control and hire a sufficient number of fishermen to carry on the industry.

3.— THE SEINE FISHERY; MINOR FISHERIES.

1. THE METHODS AND EXTENT OF THE SEINE FISHERY.

The seine fishery of the Great Lakes has probably altered more iu its general character than
any other branch prosecuted. In the early days, when the fisheries were carried on in this region to
but a limited extent, seine fishing was of the highest importance, but with the introduction of
gill-nets and pounds, which enabled the fishermen to take much larger quantities offish than it
was possible to do by meaus of seines, the latter gradually disappeared ; in fact, in a number of
localities the seines were cut to pieces and used iu the manufacture of pound-nets. At the present
time the principal seine fishery of the lakes is that carried oil iu the Detroit River, This is very

766 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

extensive and important. The seines used here are large and are hauled ashore by means of
horse-power, so that a large amount of capital is necessary to carry on the fishery. Seining, how-
ever, is also prosecuted to a greater or less extent at Marquette, Mich. ; Whitefish Point, Lake
Superior ; Escanaba and Oconto, Green Bay ; Milwaukee, Racine, and at several points at the
east end of Lake Ontario.

As has been intimated, the seines used in the Detroit River are large, averaging not less than
CO fathoms in length and 30 feet in depth, with a mesh varying from lg to 2 inches. In most of
the other localities mentioned the seines are small affairs, worth usually not more than $20, and
but few fish are taken in them. The ones in use at Escanaba, however, are about 70 rods in length,
and are valued at $200 each. At Racine the seines are 100 fathoms long, the mesh being about 3
inches. About Port Ontario, at the east end of Lake Ontario, there are several seines in use,
which are 200 rods long, and from 5 to 7 feet deep, the mesh varying from 3 to 3£ inches in dif-
ferent parts of the same net. All the seines are set from land, and, so far as could be ascertained,
except at Detroit River, are drawn in by hand. The larger ones which are managed in this manner
require at least eight men.

The principal season in which seine-fishing is carried on is the early summer, usually from
June to the middle of July. In some localities, however, the seines are used both at this time and
also in the fall.

As might be expected, a great variety of fish is taken in these seines, different fish being
more or less abundant in different localities. The principal marketable species which are taken
at Escanaba are pike, sturgeon, herring, and bass. In the Detroit River the catch consists
mainly of whitefish and pike, known in this locality as "yellow pickerel." Large runs of herring
appear frequently in the spring before the arrival of the whitefish, and some of the managers use
seines with small meshes for taking quantities of this fish. At Port Ontario the catch is almost
entirely of whitefish ; a few sturgeon, suckers, and mullet, together with other varieties of minor
value, are also taken.

There are no peculiarities in the manner of working the seines which it is necessary to men-
tion, except, perhaps, some which obtain in the Detroit River. The seine-fishery is by far the most;
important branch prosecuted in the river, and the seines, with the exception of a few fykes and
"baby-pounds," are the only form of apparatus employed. At each of the fishing stations is es-
tablished a building for the accommodation of the men engaged in fishing and also for the storage
of the fish, and near-by is a pen in which the fish may be kept until such time as they may be sent
to market. These pens are constructed of planks and vary in size from a few feet to several acres.
The boats employed in connection with this fishery are simple row-boats, 25 or 30 feet long, carrying
eight men. In hauling in the seine two windlasses, moved by horses, are employed, to each of
which is attached one end of the leading-line of the seine. The net and the windlass are so dis-
posed that when the former is hauled in it reaches a spot near the opening of the pen, and the fish
are very-easily transferred from it to the pound in which they are to be kept. Usually about six-
teen hauls are made in each twenty-four hours, two gangs of men being employed.

No peculiarities exist in the method of preparing seine-fish for market, except, perhaps, that a
large proportion of them are sold fresh. They do not, as a rule, bring a higher price than fish
taken by other means.

MINOR FISHERIES OF GREAT LAKES. 767

2. SPEARING AND HOOK-AND-LINE FISHING.

Besides the three principal modes of fishing — pound-netting, gill-netting, and seining — which
have been treated of somewhat at length in the previous parts of this chapter, there are several
other methods, which, although not of great importance, are prosecuted to a considerable extent
in certain localities. Among them we may mention spearing, hook-aud-line fishing, grappling,
fyke-net fishing, and dip-net or "scap"-net fishing.

SPEAKING. — The principal locality at which spear- fishing is carried on is Saginaw Bay, where
it is prosecuted by the ordinary fishermen.

In Sagiiiaw Bay spearing is carried on only in winter. The grounds vary in proportion with
the advance of the season and the thickness of the ice. Usually, however, few fishermen fish out-
side an imaginary line drawn from Shebewaing, on the east shore of the bay, to Point Aux Gres, on
the west shore.

During a favorable winter a village of considerable size springs up on the ice, and all manner
of supplies are brought out to the fishermen by the traders from the neighboring shore. So many
fishermen congregate in the course of the season that it has been found profitable to carry out
billiard tables for their amusement during the long winter evenings.

A writer in the Provincetown Advocate of February 28, 1877, gives the following account
of the appearance of this singular village at that date:

"The fishermen on Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, have erected a good sized town of shanties far
out on the ice. The dwellings are of thin wood, lined with thick building paper, and are placed
on runners so as to be moved from place to place. The slab city also boasts a hotel. The shanties
dot the surface of the bay in all directions. The number is now over 300 and about 30 are being
put up daily. The average number of occupants in each shanty is three men or boys, making not
less than 1,000 persons already living on the ice. There probably will be twice that number
during February, and they can remain there in safety until the middle of March."

The number of men engaged during the season of 1879 was about 400, a much smaller number
than formerly.

The apparatus employed, in addition to the shanties already described, which stand in the
same relation to the fisheries as the boats used in summer, consists of spears and lure-fishes. The
spears are of the ordinary pattern, size, and weight. The lure-fishes are small blocks of wood,
shaped like a fish, weighted on the under side by a small piece of metal, and furnished with metal
fins and eyes. A cord is fastened to them and they are let down into the water, but not to a great
depth, so that they may be watched readily by the fisherman. The fish mistake the decoy for
their natural prey and attempt to seize it, bringing themselves within range of the fatal spear of
the fisherman. The value of all the apparatus employed in 1879, including shanties, spears, lure-
fishes, &c., was estimated at $4,500.

The daily catch of each fisherman is not less than 25 pounds. This amount, however, is
small, compared with the yield of other years. Instances were given by the fishermen of the cap-
ture of from 400 to 600 pounds of fish by one man in a day. The fishery has declined very much
within the last half-decade.

HAND-LINE AND TRAWL FISHING. — Angling for pleasure is carried on to a large extent with
hand-lines in all the lakes during summer, but as the supply of fish obtained in this way varies
extremely in amount and rarely enters into commerce, no account of it can be taken in the statis-
tical tables. The trawl, however, is employed in many localities as a means of capture, for purely
commercial ends. It is so employed to a greater or less extent at Racine, Chicago, Michigan City,
Sangatuck, Toledo, Port Clinton, Toussaint, Sandusky, Vermillion, and a few smaller places.

7(58 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES.

The trawl, ordinarily called a "trot-line," " ground-line," "long-line," or "Look-rig," is very
similar to the trawl-line used on the Atlantic coast. The form employed at Vermillion consists of
a ninety-thread line, about 3 miles long, to which hooks attached to gaugings 2 feet long are
fastened at intervals of 1C or 18 feet. About 20 pounds of line are required for each mile. The
line is anchored to the bottom, and has its position marked by a buoy at each end. Each trot-
line is worth from $L'0 to $35.

At Saiulnsky and Vermillion the product of the trawl-fishery consists of catfish exclusively,
but at most of the other places mentioned a variety of kinds are taken, among which trout and
sturgeon are the most important. For the capture of catfish a variety of baits are used. At
Sandusky all kinds of offal are employed, but at Vermillion herring is the principal bait, although
large quantities of grasshoppers are used in summer, and oftentimes blackbirds. At Racine and
at Chicago, however, where several species of fish are taken, minnows and "shiners" furnish the
principal bait.

The depth at which the fishery is carried on varies very considerably. The cat-fishermen
usually fish in shallow water from 35 to 50 feet deep, although in many cases at a considerable
distance from shore. At Chicago, where a number of species are taken, the boats "run out 15
or 20 miles and sometimes farther. Setting their lines, which contain from five hundred to a
thousand hooks each, baited with minnows before leaving shore, they continue on and run into
Michigan City, and remain overnight. Starting early the next morning they take up their lines
and arrive in Chicago during the day."*

The season for trawl-fishing usually lasts from March to October, but at Racine and one or two
other localities fishing is prosecuted during the winter. The cat-fishermen expect to take about
$3 worth of that fish in a day. The season of 1879 was an unusually profitable one for them in
many localities, and the business is rapidly increasing in importance.

At Toledo, and probably at some other points, when quantities of catfish are taken too great
to be disposed of profitably at once, they are kept in live-boxes until the demand increases.
Of late years the fishermen have salted a large part of their catch and have disposed of it in the
city to wholesale dealers and grocers, or have shipped them to various neighboring inland towns.
This custom prevails also in other localities. The majority of the fish taken at Saugatuck by
hook-fishermen are consumed in the immediate vicinity.

Ordinary hooks and lines are used at Buffalo in winter for the capture of pike and sturgeon.
The fishermen are mainly sailors. In some winters as many as three hundred and fifty people
are engaged in this fishery, but no ice formed in 1879, and consequently it proved a failure.

3. FISHING WITH GRAPPLINGS, FYKE-NETS, AND DIP-NETS.

GRAPPLING. — At Buffalo and in one or two other localities considerable quantities of stur-
geon are taken by means of a three-pronged grappling-hook. The hook is dragged over the bot-
tom by fishermen in boats, and the fish are impaled on its sharp prongs. All nets are prohibited
at Buffalo, and consequently a large proportion of the sturgeon captured here are taken with these
hooks.

FYKE-NET FISHING. — Fykes are used in many localities. Many of them are of small size and
are not worth more than from $1.50 to $5.

At Green Bay City more fykes are used than elsewhere on Lake Michigan, at least one hun-
dred and fifty of them being employed. At Huron the fykes in use are about 4 feet in diameter,
with wings 0 rods in length. The catch here consists of bull-heads, perch, grass-pike, and black bass.

: Kept. U. S. Visit Commissimi, J'l.. 2, pp. 7«ir>,7tiC.

STATISTICS FISEK1UKS OF GREAT LAKES. 769

The most valuable fykes, however, are those used in Saginaw Bay. About one hundred are
employed here, worth $10 each.

A considerable uumber of these nets are employed at the east end of Lake Ontario, but no
particulars regarding them were obtained.

DIP-NET FISHING. — Besides the dip-nets used in taking fish out of pounds and for other simi-
lar purposes, there are some which are used as means of capture. At De Pere, near Green Bay
City, about one hundred large dip-nets, from 5 to 7 feet square, and having a mesh of 3 inches,
are employed. They are used by the farmers and_others who live along the river for catching
suckers, moon-eyes, and other non-commercial species, which they use as manure and as bait for
catfish.

At Saultde Ste. Marie dip-nets are employed by the Indians in catching fish in the rapids.
One Indian sits at the stern of the canoe to steer while another stands on the alert at the bow,
dip-net in hand, and scoops in any fish which may be seen in the vicinity of the boat. Frequently
several hundred pounds are taken in this way by one canoe in a day.

4. STATISTICS OF FISHERIES OF GREAT LAKES.

The fisheries of the Great Lakes in 1880 employed 5,050 fishermen and an invested capital
amounting to $1,345,975. Included in the apparatus were 1,500 pound-nets, 44,544 gill-nets, 148
seines, and 1,656 vessels and boats. The fishery product was valued at $1,784,050, and aggregated
08,742,000 pounds of whitefish, trout, herring, sturgeon, and other species.

The fall details of the extent of these fisheries in the several lakes will be found in another
section of this report, and also in the Census volume on the Fisheries of the United States.

INDEX.

Page.

Abagadassett Point, Maine 719, 720

Aberdeen Packing Company 745

Acelic acid for preserving bait

Acipeuser oxyrhyucus - - 622

sturio. 678,697

Acnshnet River, fisheries of 668

Ahmodoc, name for cod 202

Aillik. Labrador 134,135

Akutau Pass, Alaska, cod bank at 213

Alabama, mill let fishery of 577

Alaska, abundance of cod at 207

cod fishery of 121,198,209

fishiug-gronnds of 212

memorial concerning 211

native fishermen of 220

salmon industry, statistics of 753

Albemarle Sound, fisheries of 632

mulletin , 560

Aleutian Islands, cod at 212

Ale wife, blueback 688

dip-nets 671,688,702

drift-nets 688

fecundity of 688

Kill-nets 042

fishery in Connecticut Ei ver 663

Kennebec River 720

Maine. . 687-390, 701, 702, 703, 704, 705,
708, 712, 714, 715, 720, 724

Mattapoisett River 668

Penobscofc River 708

Taunton Eiver 667

Wareham 669

York River 642

laws relating to . . . .669, 670, Wl, 689, 727

ofCapoCod 670

regulations of 713

menhaden called 329

natural history of 687

season in Maine 688

seines 688

set-nets 688

weirs 708

Ale wi ves called blackbacks 669

catch of 700, 708, 712, 713, 715, 720,722

in Chowan River 633-635

Delaware River 654

Massachusetts , . . 667

Merrimao River 673

Neuse River 631

Potomac River 605

Page.

Alewives, catch of, in Rappahannock River .. 644

close-time for 727

dried 720

dry-salted 709

for cod bait 193,436

manure 720

former abundance of 699

habits of 669

in Buzzard's Bay 602

Cape Fear River 626

Maine 678

Merrimao River 673

Monomoy weirs 602

Pamlico Sound 632

pound-nets 609

Santee River 624

methods of capturing 672, 688

curing 689

packing 637

pickling 689,690

smoking 689

pickled 434

price of 670,672,702,710

season for, in Ogeechee River 618

smoked . .474,481, 672, 689, 702, 704, 708, 713, 715

taken in mackerel nets. 296

weirs 600

utilization of 689

varieties of, in Maine 688

Aliaska, young cod at 208

Allright Island, Magdalens 460

Altamaha River, shad fishery of 617

sturgeon fishery of 618, 622

Amchitka, Alaska, cod bank at 214

American Sardine Company 491,495,496,520

American sardines, menhaden 330

Amherst Island, Magdalens 460

Aininodytes personatus 205, 220

Amsterdam, Lake Michigan 757

Anchors for cod dory 151

cod gill-nets 228,229,230

cod trawls 176

haddock trawls 236

halibnt trawl 10,11

on halibut vessels 6

Anchovies, herring as 519

imports of 522

statistics of 521

Androscoggin River, fisheries of 717, 723

headwaters of 674

771

772

INDEX.

Page.

Anglo-American Packing Company 745

Augnilla rost rat a <>78, 695

Auticosti, halibut fishery at 4,17,46,47,60

herriny grounds at - 461

statistics of 439

trade with 459,460

Apalachicola, mullet fishermen of 561

fishery of 576

Apostle Islands, Lake Superior 757

Apparatus of alewife fishery 689

bass fishery 694

cod fishery 126, 151, 175, 191, 220, 227

eel fishery 696

Great Lakes fisheries 758, 762, 767

halibut fishery 9,110

herring fishery 428, 450, 475, 499

mackerel fishery 250, 278, 294

menhaden fishery 335

red-snapper fishery 587

salmon fishery 680,732,745

shad fishery 685

smelt fishery 690

sturgeon fishery 698

swordfish fishery 318

Applies, J., menhaden factory of 374-409

Appomattox River 638

Arctic Current at Labrador 136

Arctic Ocean, polar cod in 201

Ashby, Capt. Benjamin, on swordfish 317, 324

Aspee Bay, mackerel in 276

Assizes Harbor, herring fishery at 142

Astoria Packing Company 745

Astoria, Oreg., salmon canneries at 735

Atheresthes stomias 216

Atka, Aleutian Islands, cod at 201

Atkins, C. G 598,611,673

Atwater, Prof. W. O., on guano 363

Atwood, Capt. N. E 140, 158, 282, 290, 297, 299

Atwood, Samuel, trawls used by, in 1849 39

Augusta, Me 718

Auk, paroquet, at Alaska 215

Babson, Capt. F. J 281,347

Babson, D. C. & H 471,472

Badollet &Co 745

Bag-nets, construction of 691

mullet 569

smelt 691,703,709,716

Baird, Prof. 8. F ... 199, 227, 350, 369, 507, 551, 555, 605, 645

Bait, alewivesfor cod 193,436

birds for cod 127,152

bluefish for grouper 593

boxes in mackerel fishery 278

capelin for cod 127, 139, 146, 151, 183, 436, 437

catfish, moon-eyes for 769

clams for cod 141,203

mackerel 281,293,346

cod and halibut for 112

for halibut 79

comparison of stilted and iced 350

cutters for H, 282

cuttlefish for cod 216

delays in securing 193

difficulties of keeping 152

obtaining 152,11*6

Page.

Bait, fish-eggs for herring ."117

sardine 507

fishery for 431

menhaden 347

for cod-fishing 127

grouper 99:!

halibut, method of preparing 12

smelt 715

Saint Pierre fisheries 450

swordfish . :«;f

fresh squid for cod 127

versus salt 168

from British provinces 1 27, 152

frozen 351

herring for 440, 455

cod 151,184,193

halibut 65

lady-fish for .' 588

furnished by fitters 132

giant squid for cod . . : 185

groupers for 593

haddock for halibut 18,35

hagdon for cod 131

halibut for cod 216

menhaden, for 349

herring and lant for cod 13o,

for 426,435

catfish , ...'... 768

cod 160,168

haddock 237

hake 242

halibut 18,34,432

statistics of 438

iced 351

herring for cod 183

in fresh-halibut fishery 12

haddock fishery 236

trawl-line cod fishery 151

jackfish for grouper 593

lady-fish for 587,588,593

leather-jackets for 587

mackerel 254, 293

for 280,306

cod 131,142,151,160,193

hake 242

ground 287

preparation of 279

menhaden, consumption of 348

for. 282,330, 342, 345, 347, 349, 353, 362, 376

cod 193,345,436

haddock 236

hake 242

mackerel '..255,280,281

in Grand Bank fleet 348

slivers for cod , 133

method of catching 193

icing 152,183,193,349,350,439

mill 160,255,282,283,346

mullet for grouper 593

on Pacific cod fleet 220

pens on cod schooner 1">0

pickled menhaden for halibut 112

porgies for halibut 42

porgy slivers for haddock 237

INDEX.

773

Page.

Unit, preservation of 185, 186

by chemicals 350

cold air 351

with acetic acid 350

quantity of herring used for 432

meiihadeu used for , 282

used 151

red-snapper 587,590,593

refrigerators for 186

room OD haddock vessel 235

salmon for cod 216

salt beef for grouper 593

salted clams for cod 127,133,151,168,220,436

for red-snapper 587

herriug for cod 220

squid for cod 127

salt fish for 593

in cod fishery 167

pork for grouper , 593

scnlpius for cod 216

seines for capture of 146

sharks for 587,593

shrimp for Spanish mackerel 545

spurling for 499

squid for cod 151,184,199,436,437

red-snapper 588

supply ou the Banks 440

toll, method of using 284

used on Grand Bank 152

Western Bank 152

yellow-fish for cod 208

Baiting cod hand-lines 127

hooks 193

trawls 154, 185

haddock trawls 237

halibut trawls 12,112

station in Maine 423

stations 437

at Newfoundland 102,454

Ba ker, Marcus 205

Balistes capriscus 586

Ballast in George's Bank schooner 191

Baltimore, fish shipped to 609

Spanish mackerel at 551

Bank Bradley, cod fishery on 142

mackerel on 276

method of fishing on 138

trawling on 100

Bank cod fishery with hand-lines 123, 125

Bank Orphan, mackerel on 276

Bank trawl-lino cod fishery 148

Banquereau, abundance of halibut on 59

cod fishery on 124, 148

gear for fishing on 127

halibut fishery on 4, 55, 64

Baranoff Island, Alaska 212

Bark Bay, pound-net fishery at 757

Barnegat Inlet, pound-nets in 607

Barnstable district, pound-nets in 604

Barnstable, Mass. , mackerel fleet of 307

Barometer, aneroid 171

variation of, at Greenland 96

Barrels, fish, size and quality of 434

for packing mullet 573

Page.

Barrels for packing shad 687

Barren Island Menhaden Works 383

Bar weir 500

Bass, black 768

catch of, in Neuse River 631

fishery of Great Lakes 766

Maine 716,723,725

laws regulating 665

former abundance of 695

in Connecticut Eiver 662

Oswego 650

sea 590,604

striped, catch of 700

in Maine 693-C95

modes of capture of 694

mode of curing 695

taken in weirs 600

size of, in Maine 694

Susquehanna 650

yellow 650

Bass Islands 758

Bass Eiver 671

Bath, Me., smoked herring at 488

smeltshipped from.... 693

Bathymaster signatus 214,216

Bay, in herring smoke-house 476

Bay of Bulls, Newfoundland 163

Bay of Chaleur, mackerel in 276

Bay of Fundy, baiting at 183

hake in 241

mackerel in 276

menhaden in 329

Bay of Islands, Newfoundland 145, 461

cod fishery at 141

herring, value of 472

Bay of Saint Lawrence, halibut fishery in 4

Bay of Saint George, mackerel in 276

Bay the North, Newfoundland 442

Bay View, Wash 745

Bean, Tarleton H., 753

on Alaska cod fishery 121, 198

Bear Island, Maine 438

Beaufort, N. C., fishermen of 561

fishing-camp at 563

mullet at 578

Beaver Harbor, herring at 443

Beaver Islands, Lake Michigan 757

Becket-lines on halibut trawls 11

Belfast, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel fleet of 306

smoked herring at 488

BelkoiFsky, Alaska, cod at 212

native fishermen of 220

Bollesiinore Bank, Labrador 147

Bering Sea, cod in 201,214

salmon in 215

Bertram, J. G., on herring fishermen 427

Scotch herring cure 433

Bertram's ' ' Harvest of the Sea," quoted 420

Bete Grise Bay 757

Beverly, Mass., cod fishery of 141t, 150

Beverly vessels at Cape North 138

Biddeford, Me., herring fleet of 438

Big Point Sable, Lake Michigan 757

774

INDEX.

Page.

Bilbuu, >S|i:iin, fish exports to 130, 146

Bird Rocks, halibut fishery at 4,43

Birds at Shnmagiii Islands 215

eaten by cod fishermen 132

for cod bait 127,152

Bluck Diamond, Cal., salmon fishery at 732

Blackford, E. G., on swordfish 317,325

Black River, fisheries of 624

Bloater herring 473,486

methods of curing 487

Block Island, mackerel drailing at 298

off 247

menhaden at 331

swordiish at 317

Blouut's Creek, mullet in 560

Blueback alewife 688

salmon 740, 744, 745

Bluefish bait, menhaden for 347

catch of, i n pound-nets 550

Khode Island 606

destructive to nets 375

fishery 600

for grouper bait 593

red-snapper bait 587

gill-nets 530

in Buzzard's Bay 603

Chesapeake Bay 638

Maine 695

Massachusetts 667

pound-nets 608

Rhode Island pound-nets 604

mnmmichogs 555

taken with menhaden 375

Blue Hill Bay, herring fishery in 423

Blue Hill, Me 306,438,705

Buiirdman, S. L., on menhaden 355

Boats, Albemarle Sound 637

carver 763

Chinese 738

Connecticut River 666

gill-net, of Great Lakes 762

Great Lakes, number of 769

Hayward 760,763

Huron 760,763

in halibut fishery 10

Hudson River fisheries. 659

mullet fishery 577

Neuse River fisheries 631

Pamunky River 643

rock and perch fishery 539

salmon fishery 732,746

spot fishery 535

gqueteague fishery 529

Mackinaw 759

menhaden, statistics of 301

Norwegian 7G3

on cod vessels 126,137

Potomac River 645

Saint. John's River 615

Sns(|iiehanna River , 653

f pound-net, of Great Lakes 758

salmon 746

seine, mackerel 250

menhaden 336

Page.

Boats, seine, mullet 566

shad 636

stake-not 659

steam, in Great Lakes fisheries 762

used in Labrador fishery 138

Wheeler 763

yawl 10

Bob-line for mackerel 300

Bogue Sound, mullet fishery in 575

in 556,560

Boisbubert Island, herring spawning at '. 422

Boneless cod 225

inAlaska 222

hake -243

sardines 516

Bonito 602,608

Bonne Bay, halibut fishery near 4

herring fishery at 461

Newfoundland 145

Bony-fish, menhaden called 329

Booue Island, mackerel off 247

Booth, A., &Co ....745,751

Booth Bay Harbor, halibut fishery from 39

Booth Bay, Me., cod fishery from 123

herring fleet of 425,438

smoking at 474

Labrador fishery from 146

mackerel catch of 310,311

fishery from 297

fleetof 306

trawling from 160

Boreogadus saida in Arctic Ocean 201

Pacific 200

Boston as a herring market 435

haddock fishery from 234, 2'.'7>

herring fishery at 425

fleetof 438

mackerel catch of 309, 310, 31 1

fleetof 307

market fleet 3

pound-nets at iHll

smoked-herring trade of I - !

Boston Fish Bureau, reports of 2(>S, 30!), 310, 31 1

Bounty in Scotch herring fishery -127

to cod fishermen Ill

vessels 130, 131

Boweu, Capt. D. C., on Pacific cod 203

Bowers Beach, Delaware 528

Bowers, W. W., on Pacific cod 200

Bow-nets, shad 629

Boxes for smoked herring 480

liruddock's Bay, gill-net fishery at 762

Bradley Bank, cod fishery on 137

Bradore, Labrador, herring at 142

Brail-net 570

Bremen, Me., herring fleet of. - ... 438

mackerel fishery at 297

fleetof.., 306

Brevoortia tyraunna 329,490

Brier Island, halibut, fishery near 4

Brightman, B. F., on menhaden oil 36(i

Bristol Bay, Alaska, cod :it 201,212

Bristol, Me., herring fleet of 425,438

mackerel fleet of.. , 306

INDEX.

775

Page.

Brit, herring called 420,421

British Columbia, cod fleet of 200

herring statistics for 439

British fishermen in American waters 355

British provinces, hait from 127,152

British provincials in fresh halibut fishery 6

George's Bank fishery 189

on mackerel fleet 248

Broadkiln Creek, Delaware 528

Brookfield, Wash 745

Brooklin, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Brook trout 521

canned 515

Brosuiins, none in Pacific 200

Brown, Alexander. ..." 639

Brown, John 687,694,695,718

Brown's Bank, abundance of halibut on 58

cod fishery on 124, 149,187,189

haddock on 234

halibut fishery on 4, 32, 42, 44

herring on 431

Brush weirs, advantages of • 506

construction of '. 500

for herring 429,499

in Albemarle Sound 609

Maine 598

introduction of 475

Bryon Island, Magdaleus 460

Buck,J.F 486

Bucksport, Me 306,438,707,709,711

Buffalo Island, James River 642

Buffalo, sturgeon grappling at 768

Bngfish, menhaden called 329

Bnghead, menhaden called 329

Bull-heads, fyke- net fishery for 768

Bunker, menhaden called 329,340

Bunt of purse-seine 253

Buoy-liuo on halibut trawl. 10, 11, 111

Buoys for cod gill-nets 228,229,230

halibut trawl 10

herring nets 430

used ou cod trawls 176

Bnrnham, D. A. , schooner, loss of 58

Burnham, George, on sardine industry 489

Burnham & Morrill 489,495

Bush-net, Indian 646

Butterfish caught in weirs 342

in pound-nets 608

Buzzard's Bay, fisheries of 668

pound-net fisheries in 597,603

Byron Island, halibut fishery at 43

Cabell, Col. William 642

Cabell, Dr. William, diary of 639

Cables ou cod schooners 150

George's schooners 190

halibut vessels 6

hand-line cod vessels 125

Cadiz salt for mackerel curing 288

California, mullet fishery of 560,576

salmon industry of 731-740

Camden, Me 706

herring cannery at 498

fleet of.. 438

Page.

Camden, Me., mackerel canning at 496

catch of 310,31]

fleet of 306

sardine packers at 520

Cameron, Daniel 159, 188

Caiupobello Island 500

herring at 422,443

Camp of mullet fishermen 564

Canada benefited by American fisheries 291

— menhaden bait exports to 353

statistics of herring fishery of 438, 439

mackerel catch in 308, 313

Canadian fishery on Banqnereau 148

officers on menhaden bait 345

Cana Islands, gill-net fishery at 762

Canned brook trout .. 515

eels 496

fish, oil used on 515

halibut 42

herring 432,438,489

mackerel 306,308,309,496

menhaden 330,490

salmon industry 729-753

method of preparing 733, 747

statistics of 755

testingof 748

salt mackerel 496

sea trout : 515

smoked herring 483

Spanish mackerel 550

Canneries, salmon 733

labor at 747

sardine 497,508

number of 520

Canners, sardine, number of 520

wages of 523

Canning menhaden, method of 490

Cans, sardine, size of 515

Cape Amalia, Greenland 95

Cape Ann fishermen in Florida 615

pound-net fisheries of 597, 599

Cape Bauld, Newfoundland. 135

Cape Bona vista, Newfoundland 135

Cape Breton, cod-fishing grounds at 137

halibut fishery at 4,5

herring spawning at 420

mackerel off 276

Cape Cod, alewife fishery of 670

halibut fishery off 5

pound-net fisheries of 597, 599, 601

trap-fishing at 597,599,601

Cape Elizabeth, mackerel off 247

Cape Farewell, Greenland 95

Cape Fear Eiver, fisheries of. 625

Cape Flattery, cod at 200

Cape Harrison, Labrador 134

Capehart's fishing-shore 636

Cape Henlopen, squeteague fishery at 527

Capeliii as cod food 208

for cod bait .... 127, 139, 141, 146, 151, 183, 436, 437

in Bering Sea 201

pursued by halibut 44

school of cod 205

seines for capture of 139

776

INDEX.

Page.

Cape Mngford, Labrador 134

Capo North, cod fishery at 138, 149

halibut fishery at 4, 5, 46

Cape Race, Newfoundland 135

Cape Ray, Newfoundland 135

Cape Saint John, Newfoundland 135

^.arbonear, Newfoundland 162

Cardenas, mullet exported to 580

Carp in James River in 1769 639

Carritunk Falls, Maine 717

Carver boat 763

Casco Bay, fisheries of 724

herring fishery at 425

Cashe's Ledge, halibut on 37

Castine, Me 488,707

herring fishery at 423

Cast-nets, mullet 559,561,569,577

shad 620,621

Catfish abundant in Cape Fear River _ 626

bait, herring for 768

catch of, in Delaware River 654

Susquehanna River 653

Ogeechee River 619

trawl fishing for 768

Cathance River 701

Cathlamet, Wash 745

Caton, Capt. J. C., on Pacific cod : 203,210

Caviar, sturgeon : 698

Caviare, sturgeon, method of preparing 625

Cedar Keys, Fla 545

fishermen of 561

mullet fishermen of 561

fishery of 569,576

Chalker, R. B 547,664

Chalker, S. A 666

Chandler's River, fisheries* of 702

Chaquamegon Bay 757

Charleston, S. C., fishermen of 561

menhaden factory at 3:i2

mnllet fishery at 561, 57(5

Charlotte, Lake Ontario 762

Chatham, Mass., mackeral fleet of 307,310,311

pound nets at 602

Chatham Strait, cod in 201

Chebacco boats, fishing vessels called 29

Chebacco River, Massachusetts 6(i7

Cheboy, menhaden called .'.. 329

Chenaugo River 045

Chernoffsky Bay, Alaska, cod at 202, 205

Chesapeake Buy, description of .. C37

fisheries of 637

fishermen of 638

mackerel oif 27.1

menhaden in 329, 331, 3C'J

minor tributaries of 054

pound-nets in 548

Span ish mackerel in 545

statistics of fisheries of G38

Chester River 654

Chcticamp, mackerel at 276

Chicago, catfish fishery at :<;,-;

trawling at 707

ChickaLoniiuy River 038

Chicopee River (i<;3

Page

Chinese in salmon canneries 74V

on the Sacramento River 735

prohibited to fish 748

sweep-seine fishing by 738

Choptauk River 654

Choctawb.atcb.tee Bay 559

Chowan River, North Carolina 632

Chubs in California 737

Chugach Gulf, Alaska, cod at 212

Church, James, menhaden steamer first used by.. 368

Church, Joseph, &Co 343

Clackamas River, salmon hatchery on 750

in 744

Clams for cod bait 141,203

mackerel bait 281, 21»3, :Mli

salted, for cod bait 127, 133, 151, 168, 220, 436

Clark, A. Ho ward .243, 260, 312, 470, 472,497, 551, 559, 590, (ii 17

on mackerel fishery 275

menhaden fishery 327

Clark's Bauk, on George's 189

Clark & Somes, halibut fleet of 25

Cleghorn's theory of herring movements 419

Clifton, Oreg 745

Climate of Greenland „• 95

Maine 073

Clothing of cod fisherman 131

Clupeaaestivalis 296,619,631,688

harengus 420

mediocris 618

mirabilis 208,220

sapidissima 678, 683

vernalis 631,678,687

Cobbosseecontee River 717,721

Cobscook Bay 701

herring iu 421

Cobscook River, fisheries of 701

Cod, abundance of, at Alaska 206

Alaska, value of 216

average size of 166

bait 182

alewives for 193, 436

capeliu and squid for 151

for 146,183,436,437

clams for 141

cuttlefish for 216

frozen herring for 151,193

giant squid for 185

halibut for 2H>

herring for 183,432,4:55

mackerel for 142, 151, 193

menhaden for 193,345,436

slivers for 133

salmon for 216

salted clams for 133, 151, 220, 4:i(i

herring for 220

sculpins for 216

squid for 1W4, 436, 437

yellow-fish for. 208,

bellies, smoked 225

boneless 222

calledahmodoc 202

hadatl 202

kelpbangnx 202

sacht .. 202

INDEX.

777

Page.

Cod, called treska by Russians 202

capelin bait for 139

capeliii school of 199, 203, 205

care of, iu the vessel 129, 131

catch of, at Shumagin Islands 216

iu Pacific 210

on George's Bauk •. 188

caught on hake trawls 243

cost of producing cured 226

cruise, calendar of 164

cured, price of 226

day and night fishing for 153, 154

diseases of, at Alaska 208

dried 144,220,225

enemies of, at Alaska 208

fishermen, profits of 224

fishery, apparatus'for 151

at Greenland 93

Iceland 94

Labrador 121, 134, 139, 142, 143, 145, 459

Magdalen Islands 460

Newfoundland 145

baiting stations for 454

bank hand-line 121,123

trawl-line 121,148

bounty in 144

by French at Newfoundland 135

care of the catch ....... 129, 156, 179, 195, 221

condition of, in 1731 125

fishermen in 149

from Marblehead 125

gill-net 121

iu Gulf of Saint Lawrence.. 121, 133, 149, 459

Pacific Ocean 210

menhaden bait in 348

methods of 151

fitting for 130

method of settling trip 157

of Alaska 121,198,209

Cape North 149

Marblehead 130

on Banquereau 146

Brown's Bank 124,141), 181>

George's Bank 121, 123, 124, 187

Grand Bank 123, 124, 148, 459

Green Bank 149

La Have Bank 149,189

La Have Ridges 149

Rose way Bauk 149

Sable Islaud Bank 124

Saint Peter's Bank ' 148

Seal Island Ground 124,189

Virgin Rocks 148

Western Bank ....124,148

outfit for vessel in 1X2, 169

Pacific, capital in 223

methods of 220

products of 225

routine of 162

seasou at Alaska 205, 206

for 130,187

on Grand Bank 148, 152, l(i(i

Western Bank 152

vessels iu I'M, 149

Page.

Cod fishery with hand-lines 148

fishing, gear for, at Shumagm Islands 220

grounds 1134, 148

in the Pacific 212

on George's 189

for halibut bait 12, 79, 112

fleet of San Francisco 217,218

the Pacific 217

food of, at Alaska 206

capelin for 208

crabs for 207

hake for 208

halibut for 208

holothurians for 207

lantfor 208

marine worms for 207

on Grand Bank 168

sculpins for 207

shrimp for 208

squid for _. 208

whiting for 207

yellow-fish for 208

gill-net fishery 231

at Newfoundland 230

gill-nets, American 229

at Newfoundland 229

for red-snappers 589

Norwegian 227

golden, in Alaska 199

handling of, on Pacific cod vessels 219

hand-lining for, methods of. ; 128

herring and lant, bait for 139

school of 199,203,205

history of trawling for 158

in Bering Sea 214

brackish water at Alaska 202

Cape Cod weirs 600

school of menhaden 391

Okhotsk Sea 203

kench-cured 225

kenchiug of 221

lant-school of 199,203,205

large size in Gulf of Saint Lawrence 138,139

liver oil of 157

livers, care of 181

forfood 216

methods of catching 194

curing 132, 137, 140, 154, 15.i, 181

dressing 131, 154, 156, 178, 180, 195

pickling 222

salting 221

migrations of 166

natural history of 166

oil of 131,225

Pacific, distribution of 200

food of 207

migrations of 204

natural history of 198

reproduction of 20H

shape and color of 204

size of 202

parasites of, at Alaska 20fe

pickle-cured 225

polar, iu Arctic Ocean 20]

778

INDEX.

Page.

Cod, polar, in Pacific Ocean 200

preparation of 222

process of splitting - 180

red, in Alaska - 199

roe of 157

school and gurry fish 167

schooling of, affected by sharks 206

at Alaska 205

schools of large-sized 139

schooner, deck plan of 150

interior plan of 150

seines 144

in Labrador fishery 142

small, for exportation 145

sounds 157

care of 182

spawning habits of 167

season of 124,199,208

splitter 180

splitting of 156

squid-school of 199,203,205

throater 180

torn, in Pacific 200

tongues and sounds of 225,435

trawling trip for, report on 161

vessels at Shumagin Islands 217

construction of 129

- washing of 129,222

winter school of 199

young, movements of 206

Coffin's Island, Magdalens 460

Cohambee River, sturgeon fishery of 622

Cohasset, Mass., mackerel catch of 309,310,311

fleetof 307

Colding, on ocean currents 134

Coles River, fisheries of 677

Colise Landing, Lake Ontario 762

Collins, Capt. D. E 153, 154, 156, 437, 452, 454

Collins, Capt.J.W 57,423,424,507,525

journal of halibut trips by 65

on cod-fishery 121,123,148,187

haddock fishery 234

hake fishery 241

halibut fishery 3,43

mackerel fishery 247

Collinsville, Cal., salmon fishery at 732

Columbia Packing Company 745

Columbia River salmon, fisheryfor 740

statistics of 751,753

Compass for dory 151

Concepcion Bay, baiting at 454

Coi.klin, B. F., on menhaden fishery 370

Con uecticnt, catch of mackerel in 306, 308

Spanish mackerel in 552

swordfish in 3<>5

fishermen in Florida f>92, 614, 61f>

Pennsylvania 646

on Savannah River 621

halibut vessels of 3,4,5,9

history of menhaden industry in 368

mackerel fleet of 247, 307

menhaden fishermen of 332

statistics of 361

method of icing bait 3SO

Page.

Connecticut, mullet in 555

pound-net fisheries of 597, 606

smacks, bait used on 349

vessels in Florida 592

Maine 719

Connecticut River, early history of 660

fisheries of 659,664,606

pound-nets in 606

Cook, duties of 174,293

on cod vessel 132

mackerel vessel 258

Cook's Inlet, Alaska, cod at 201,212

Core Sound, mullet in 556,560,575

pound-nets in 570

Corks on purse-seine 336

Cottus poly acanthocephalas 208, 214 , 216

Crabs as food for cod 207

cushion 535

horseshoe, in Cape Cod weirs 600

injurious to nets 535

in pound-nets 607

Sacramento River 737

Cranberry Islands, Maine, herring fishery at 423

fleetof 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Cran of herring, size of 427

Creole fishermen 562

Crews in trawl-line cod fishery 149

Crisfield, Md 547

Croatan Sound, fisheries in 632

Cuba, fish exports to f92

market for salted mullet 580

mullet roes exported to 575

Cuban mullet fishermen 562

Cultivator Shoal, George's Bank 37

Curing cod on shipboard 132, 137, 140, 154, 156, 181

Current, Arctic, at Labrador 136

Currents and tides at Greenland 104

Cmri tuck Sound, mullet in 560

Gushing, Hon. Caleb, on trawling 15SI

dishing, Me 297,306,438,713

disk at Shumagin Islands 216

caught on hake trawls 243

none in the Pacific 200

Cutting Packing Company 745

Cuttlefish as cod parasites 209

for cod bait 216

of the Pacific 199

Cuttyhunk swordfish fleet 318

Cynoscion maculatum 527,567

regale *. 527

species of 638

Dall, W.H., cited 215

on cod banks of Alaska 213

Damariscotta, ice fishing for smelts at 693

Damariscotta River, fisheries of 714

Dams, effect of, in the Susquehanna 650

Danes in Pacific cod fleet 218, 219

Dangers of cod fishery 155

George's cod fishery 188

haddock fishery 238

halibut fishery 20, 53, 56, 71

red-snapper fishery 589

Dart mouth, Mass. , swordfish fleet of 318

INDEX.

779

Page.

Davidson, quoted ". 214

Davis Strait fishery, vessels in 110

fishing-grounds in 95

halibut fishery 90

methods of fishery in 93

route to 108

Day, Sir Francis, ou codfish 199

Dead River, Maine 717

Deane, Samuel, on mackerel fishery 299

Deaue's History of Scituate, quoted 301

Dearborn, H.A. S 37

Deblois, Capt. E. T., on purse-seining 269

Deck plan of cod schooner 150, 171, 190

haddock vessel 235

mackerel schooner 248

Deer Island, New Brunswick, herring at .. 422, 443,505, 654

Deer Lslo, Me., herring fleet of 438, 459

smoking at 474

mackerel fishery of 306,310,311

Delaware Bay 654

boats in 529

fishing-grounds in 527

menhaden in 331

pound-nets in 607

squeteague fishery in 527

sturgeon fishery in 543

Delaware, fishermen of 528

on Savannah River 621

menhaden statistics of 361

perch fishery of Soul hern 038

rock fishery of Southern 538

shore fisheries of Southern 527-541

spot fishery of 533

Delaware River, fisheries of 654

Dennis, Mass., mackerel catch ot 310,311

fleetof 307

Dennisport, Mass., fish-packing at 602

Dcney's River, fisheries of 701

De Pere, dip-net fishing at 769

Destitution among Newfoundland fishermen 445

Detroit River, fisheries of 766

seine fishery of 765

seines used in 766

Digby chickens (herring) 474

Dip-net fishery on Great Lakes 767, 76'J

Dip-nets 619

alewife 671,688,689,700,702

salmon 662,679

shad 686

smelt 692,702,709

striped bass 694

torn -cod , 702

Disaster to vessels at Magdalen Islands 468

Diseases of cod at Alaska 208

Disco Bay, Greenland 95

Dismal Swamp Canal (i:57

Dodd, Capt. A. W 36

Dog-bodies, fishing vessels called 29

Dogfish, cod eaten by 209

destruction to nets 265,295

in Cape Cod weirs 600

Pacific 206

Kuril's, equipment of cod 151

in Alaska cod fishery 220

Page.

Dories in haddock fishery 236

halibnt fishery 10

method of fishing from 128

on hand-line cod vessels 126

Pacific cod vessels 218

Dory, description of 173

equipment for cod hand-lining 126

halibut, outfit of 10

in gill-net cod fishery 232

method of unloading 178

Douglass, Dr. William, on George's fishery in 1747. 187

mackerel fishery 299

Dover Bay, pound- net fishery of 758

Dover, Del 538

Drag-net mackerel fishery 295

mullet fishery 567

shad fishery, methods of 628

Drag-nets for shad 628

on He use River 631

Drag-seines in mackerel fishery 298, 299

Drailing for mackerel 298, 299

Dresden, Me 697

Dress of cod fisherman 131

Dried alewives 720

cod 225

method of packing 144

mullet 560,572

roes 575

Drift-net mackerel fishery 296

shad fishery 626

Drift-nets, alewife 688

salmon 679,700,707,718,735

shad 625, 657, 685

sturgeon 622,697

Dnimfish taken in menhaden seine 373

in Chesapeake Bay 638

Dry fish prepared by Chinese 738

Drying sardine-herrings 511

Dry-salted alewives 709

mullet 579

Dutch nets in Albemarle Sound 636

Neuse River 628

Duxbury, Mass., mackerel fleet of 307

Dyer's River, Maine 716

Eagle Cliff, Wash 745

Eagle Preserved Fish Company 491, 493, 520

Earll, R. E 38, 123, 188, 332, 543, 553, 598, 599, 608, 6 1 4

on herring fishery 417

Labrador fishery 146

mackerel fleet 247

menhaden fishery .... 331, 332, 333, 337, 366

purse-seine *. . . 271

swordfish 317,324,326

East Lamoine, Me 498, 520

East Machias River, alewife fishery of 702

East port, Me., herring market at 435

fleet of 438, 459

smoking at 474

spawning at 421

torching at 429

mackerel fleet of 306

sardine canneries at 497

packers at 520

small herring at 490

780

INDEX.

Page.

Eastport, Me., smoked-herring statistics of 488

Eastern River, Maine 708,719

Ebencook Harbor, herring fishery at 424

Edeuton, N. C., fish shipped from 037

Edgartown district, pound-nets in 604

Edisto River, fisheries of 623

Eel fishery, methods of 696

of Maine 695-697,704,712,716,722,724

season for 696

pots and baskets 696

spears 696,703

traps, construction of 696

weirs, construction of 696

Eel River salmon fishery 739

Eels, canned 498

catch of 704,716

destructive to shad 652

sturgeon roe 625

foodof 696

in Buzzard's Bay 603

Connecticut River 662

Maine 678

Southern Delaware 539

marketing of 696

methods of capturing 696

spawning habits of 690

taken in weirs 600

trap for 66S

Eggs, fish for bait 507

Electric lights in herringfishery 508

Elizabeth Islands, pound-net fisheries of 597, 602

Elopssanrus 587,588,593

Ellsworth, Me , 48 -i

Ell wife, menhaden called 329

Euemies of cod at Alaska ; . 208

England hake at Alaska 206

English mackerel fishery 296, 298

Englishmen in Pacific cod fleet 218,219

mackerel fleet 248

Entry Island, Magdalens 460

Escanaba, seine fishery at 7(56

Escumenac Point, cod fishery oft' 142

l'.sc|nimaux Bay, Labrador 143

Essex, Mass., mackerel fleet of 307

Essex River, Massachusetts 667

Eureka, Wash 74.r>

Kviirts, Secretary William M 448,449

Exeter River, New Hampshire 67!!

Ex port atiou of cod 145

Exports of cod to Bilboa, Spain 130,144

West Indies 144

herring from Newfoundland 470

menhaden for bait 353

mullet roes to West Indies 575

to West Indies 560,580

pickled herring 471,472

salmon 752

Export trade in groupers 594

mullet 580

pickled herring 470

smoked herring 482

sturgeon 698

I'.m. Cupt.R ' 466

Fair Haven, Conn., gill-net fishery at 762

Page.

Fairhaveu, Mass 307,311,603,668

Fall River district, pound-nets in . . 604

Fall River, Mass., swordfish fleet of 318

Fall-traps, shad 620,623,638

Farmington River 659

Farallones, cod at 200

Futback, menhaden called 329

Fayetteville, N. C. , fisheries at 625

Fellows, W.W 675

Fertilizer, herring for 432,438

menhaden as 335

Financial arrangements in halibut fishery 106

of fishermen 533

pound-net fisheries 605, 761

weir fishery 603

profits of cod fishery 157

halibut fishery 23

mackerel seining 268

shad fishermen 616

Finger-stalls 587

Finland, herring-smoking in 483

Finnan baddies 473

Fins, halibut 36

Fish-curing in Alaska 221

Fishermen, bait conflicts between 352

cod 137, 144, 149, 189, 217, -JH)

profits of 129,219/224

Connecticut River 666

Creole 56*2

Cuban 562

dress of 131

duties of 108

foodof 132,174

fresh halibut 5

gill-net of Great Lakes 762

Great Lakes 758

haddock 235

herring 427,462,475

layof 506

number of 438

profits of 464

Hudson River 6511

huts and camps of 564

in Pacific cod fishery 217,219

salt-halibut fishery 106

mackerel 247, 277, 289, 306, 307

menhaden 332, 333, 334, 345

mullet 561

lay of 570

native, in Alaska 220

New Brunswick 450

number of, on Chesapeake Bay ' 638

cod vessel 132

of Albemarle Sound 637

Newfoundland 445, 454

Potomac River 645

Saint John's River 615

Susqnehauna River 653

on swordfish vessels 318

profits of . .130,216,533, 5-37,562,616 J122

red-snapper 590

wages of 589

relations of, to fishery 333

rock and perch .'>:!'.'

INDEX.

781

Pago.

Fishermen, salmon, of Columbia River 745

shad, profits of 616

Spanish 562

sports of 163

spot 534

squeteague 528

sturgeon, profits of 622

superstitious of 107,109

training-school for 149

Fisherton, Wash 745

Fibber, William J., on cod schooling 205

Fish-glue 363

Fishing-gear, cod, at Shumagin Islands 220

for dory hand-lining 127

of GeorgeVmeii • 191

Fishing-grounds at Newfoundland 135

for cod... 121,124,134,137,148

frozen -herring trade 442

groupers 592

haddock 121,234

hake 121,241,242

halibut 4,37,44

herring 419, 421-426, 461

mackerel 273, 276

menhaden 331

mullet 560

Pacific cod 212

perch 539

red-snapper 585,588

rockfish 539

seining mackerel 247

Spanish mackerel 545

spot 534

squeteagne 527

swordflsh 317

in Croatau Sound 632

Davis Strait 95

nature of 168

on George's Bank 189

Fishing-lines of kelp and hark 220

Fish way at Lawrence. Mass 673

Flaking herring-sardines 511

Flatfish in Cape Cod weirs 600

weirs 342

Flemish Cap, fishery on 93

halibut fishery on 5

Flint Island, halibut fishery at 4

Flitrhed halibut.. ". 109

Flitching halibut, method of 114

Floating factories, menhaden 345,378-409

Float-nets 643

Floats for cod gill-nets ^8, 229, 230

herring nets 430

Florida, catch of mackerel in 552

grouper fishery of 593

mullet cast-nets in 569

fishery of 576,577

red-snapper fishery of 585-592

river fisheries of 613

Flounder, arrow-toothed 216

fishery 349

Flounders, i-atch of, in Rhode Island (iOC

in M:issac Imselt.H 667

Rhode Island pound-net* 604

Pago.

Flounders, menhaden, bait for 349

taken in weirs 600

Floyd, David G 369

Fly-hook, mackerel 279

Fog, dangers from 155

on Grand Bank 165

signals used in 171

Folk-lore regarding fish season 605

Food of cod on Grand Bank 168

- fishermen 75,109,132,174,563

halibut 36,118

mullet fishermen 563

Pacific cod 207

supplied by fishermen 132

Foreign fishermen • 562

trade in pickled herring 471

Forest and Stream, quoted 321 , 591

Fort Pond Bay, menhaden fishing in 375-409

Fortune Bay, baiting at 183

halibut fishing in 5,44

herring fishery in 445,461

value of 472

international difficulty at 146, 188

methods of fishing at 450

natural dangers at 444

Newfoundland 442

France, fish-oil manufacture in 368

sardine industry in 489,513

Franklinville, N. Y., menhaden at 373

Frazer's River, salmon in 740, 744

Frederica, Del 588

Fredericksburg, Va., shad-fishing at 644

Freeman's History of Cape Cod, quoted 301

Freezing herring, methods of 452

French cod fishery, bait for 450

on Saint Peter's Bank 148

fishery limited by convention of 1818 148

Frenchman's Bay hake fishery 242

Frenchmen in fresh-halibut fishery 6

George's fishery 189

on mackerel fleet 248

French method of trawling 158, 160

Friend, Capt. Israel 37

Friendship, Me 295,306,425,438

Frozen bait 588

herring fishery at New Brunswick 452

methods of 450

fishing-grounds for 442

for bait, first use of 440

cod bait, 183

food 456

industry 439-458

markets for 455

method of packing 455

methods of preparing 453

price of 456

statistics of '. .456, 457

trade, crews in 443

origin of 456

statistics of 457

used for smoking 485

vessels 443

meats 351

smelts .. 693

782

INDEX.

Page.

Frying sardines 514

Fyke-net fishery of Great Lakes 767

fishing for salmon 737

on Great Lakes 768

Fyke-nets 623,668

in Detroit Eiver 7ti(i

Pamuuky River 643

Susqnehanna Eiver 653

Fykes, smelt ....693,703,722

Gadus auratus, in Pacific 198

macrocephalus, in Pacific 198

morrhua, in Pacific 198,200

Gaff, mackerel 279

Gale, definition of 67

Galeorhinus galeus 206

Gardiner's Bay, menhaden fishery in 371-409

George's Bank, abundance of halibut on 36

cod fishery on.. .121, 123, 124, 187, 191, 196

baitin 436

care of the catch 195

history of 30. 187, 197

menhaden bait in 348

methods of 191

profits of 196

season for 189

dangers of fishing on 38

deep-water halibut gronnds on ... 60

first halibut trips to 30

fishing fleet on 188

grounds on 189

fleet, fitting out of 196

haddock on 234

halibut fishery 3, 4, 5, 26, 27, 29,

34,37,40,44

methods of 18, 19

flitches from .... 91

herring on 421,431

mackerel on 247,274,276

strong tides on 194

schooner, outfit of 190

Georgetown, Me 39,272

Georgia, mullet fishery of 576,577

river fisheries of 613

Germans, consumption of herring by 435

on Pacific cod fleet 218,219

Germany, herring imports from 493

sardine industry in 489

Gib-keelers, mackerel 207

Gigging, mackerel ;J02

Gilbert, Charles II.. on salmon fishery 729,731

Gilling-seines, shad 657

Gill-net cod fishery 121,231

fishermen of Lake Ontario 7<;2

fishery for mackerel 2!)4

methods of 754

of Great Lakes 701

Lake Erie 762

Lake Huron 762

Lake Michigan 762

Lake Superior 761

shad statistics of 666

steam-tugs in /(;•>, 7^4

fisliing for bait 4;51

menhaden ;t41

Page.

Gill-net fishing grounds on Great Lakes 761

Gill-nets, alewife 642

cod, American 229

at Newfoundland 229

Norwegian 227

construction of Great Lakes 763

for capture of bait 193

rock and perch 540

spot 535

herring. . .427, 429, 430, 450, 451, 462, 404, 47(i, 642

in Susquehanna Eiver 651

menhaden, construction of 341

methods of setting 547

mullet 568,575-577

number of, on Great Lakes 769

salmon 707, 732, 739, 746

shad 615, 618, 619, 621, 623, 630, 645, 665

smelt 692

Spanish mackerel 546

squeteague 530

striped bass 694

sturgeon 619,622

tried in red-snapper fishery 589

Gladding, Edward, & Co 606

Gloucester, Mass., as herring market 435

cod-trawlers 150

exports of herring from 472

foreign trade in herring 471

frozen herri ng at 440, 456

George's cod fishery 188, 197

haddock fishery 234, 235

halibut fishery 3

herring fishery 425

fleet 425, 438

Labrador fishery company at .. 138

m ackerel cannery at 497

catch of 309, 310, 311

fleet of 307

net fishery 295

menhaden bait at 347

baiting fleet of 335

method of icing bait at 350

mullet fishery 559

pound-nets at 604

swordfish fleet 318

trawl-line cod fishery 149

Glue from fish... 363

Gob-stick on cod-fishing vessels 127

Goodale's extract of menhaden 330

Goode, G. Brown. . .472, 490, 545, 555, 570, 577, 606, 607, 614

on cod fisheries 121 , 123, 148, 187

haddock fishery 234

hake fishery 241

halibut fishery 3

mackerel fishery 247

menhaden fishery 327

swordfish fishery 315

Good Harbor Bay, Lake Michigan 757

Gordy, J.P 255,267

Gottenborg, herring exported to 471

Gouldsborough, Me., herring fleet of 438

Gouldsborongh, West, Me., fisheries at 704

Grand Bank, cod bait on 151

fishery 123, 14B, 152,459

INDEX.

783

Page.

Grand Bank cod fishery, bait in 436

fishing-grounds on 124

natural history of 166

season for 152

fishing-grounds on 1(52, 163

flitched halibut from 91

French method of trawling on 160

halibut fishery on . . .4, 5, 27, 28, 29, 45, 47, 51

from 64

on eastern slope of 61

fleet, menhaden bait on 348

night fishing on 153

weather on .-. . . 162. 164, 165

Grand Manau, frozen herring from 441

herring fishery at 505

fishing-grounds at 442

spawning at 421

mackerel off 276

weirs at 500

Grand Traverse Bay, gill-net fishery in 762

pound-nets in 757

Grappling for fish on Great Lakes 768

hook of Great Lakes 768

Grass-pike, fishery for 768

Great Britain, fishery difficulties with 448

herring at 419

Great Lakes, dip-net fishery on 767, 769

fisheries of 755-769

fyke-net fishing on 768

gill-net fishermen of 762

fishery on 761

grappling for fish on 767

hand-line fishing on 767

hook-auil-liuo fishing on 767

pound- net fishery, methods of 760

scap-net fishery on 767

seine fishery of 765

spearing fish on 767

statistics of fisheries of 769

trawl fishing on 767

Green Bank 54

cod fishery on 149

halibut fishery on 4, 54, 65

on 63,64,89

Green, Benjamin 504

Green Bay City, fyke-net fishery at 768

Green Bay, gill-net fishery at 761

Lake Michigan 757

pound-net boats 759

fishery 7(jO

seine fishery at 766

Grrentish at Alaska 216

Greenland, abundance of halibut at 91

climate of 90-105

cod at 93

halibut fishery 90,91,110

harbors at 105

route to 108

salmon fishery at 93

Greenport, N. Y., halibut fleet of 9

menhaden works at 373-409

swordfish fleet of 318

( i ire n, R. C 458

Greenf ail, menhaden called.. 329

Page.

Griffin Brothers 492

Grilse salmon 741

Grindstone Island, Magdalens 460

Grosse Island, Magdalens 460

Grosswater Bay, Labrador 140

Ground-line of halibut trawl 10. 11

Grouper i;)i

abundance of 595

bait, bluefish for 593

jackfish for .',93

lady-fish for .',93

mullet for 593

fishery 593

apparatus of 593

care of catch 593

methods of 592

Groupers, export trade in 594

fishing-giounds for 592

forbait — 593

method of pricking 587,593

value of 589,592

Guano, French manufacture of 3(53

from skate goo

menhaden 342,638

statistics of 330,360,361

Peruvian 362

porgy 600

Gulf of Maine, mackerel in 247,276,305

menhaden in 331

Gulf of Mexico, catch of Spanish mackerel in 552

menhaden in 329

mullet fishery in 568

in 558,561

red-snapper grounds in 585

Spanish mackerel in 545

Gnlf of Saint Lawrence cod fishery. . 121, 133, 139, 145, 148,

149,459

cod grounds in 137

halibut movements to 63

itinerary of trip to 292

mackerel fishery in ..34, 141,275,
276,284,291,309,310,311

mackerel fleet 310, 311

grounds in 276

purse-seines in 247

Gull Island, gill-net fishery at 761

Gully, halibut fishery at the 4, 29, 46

Gurry, throwing overboard the 168

Gymnacanthusgaleatus 214

Hack-trap 620,623

Haddam, Conn 662

Haddock bait, herring for 237,435

menhaden for 23(i

caught on hake trawls 243

fishermen 235

fishery 158

Captain Atwood on 159

care of the catch 239

dangers of 238

fifty years ago 241

methods of 236, 237

of New England 121, 234

outfit for 240

productiveness of 239

784

INDEX.

Pago.

Haddock lisliery, profits of 240

season for 188

fishing-grounds for 234

for halibut bait 12, 18, :!5, 193

great abundance of 159

icing of 239

large fares of 240

method of dressing 2:!9

none in the Pacific 200

on Grand Bauk 178

roe of 239

smoked 473

trawls 236

vessels.. 235

Hadley, Mass., shad fishery at 660

Ilagdons for cod bait 127, 131

Hags eaten by cod-fishermen 132

Hake as cod food 208

at Shtimagiu Islands 216

bait, herring and mackerel for 242

menhaden for 242

bouelesB. 243

England, at Alaska 206

fishery for 121,241

apparatus of 242

methods of 242

products of 242

vessels in 242

fishing-grounds 241,242

for halibut bait 12

method of splitting 242

none in the Pacific , 200

oil of 242

size of 242

sounds, isinglass from 242

method of drying 243

saved by halibut fishermen 24

total catch of 243

trawls 242

Halibut, abundance of, on Brown's Bank 58

George's 35

Grand Bank 58

GreenBank 63

La Have Ridges 58

Western Bank 58

activity of 18

as cod food 208

at San Francisco 42

Shumagin Islands 216

bait, cod and halibut for 113

haddock for \Q

herring for 18,34,432,435

menhaden for 112,349

porgies for 42

bleeding of 19

breeding-ground of 60

called little bulls 58

canned 43

care of, on vessels 20, 35, 41

live 33

causes of decrease of 44, 1 18

chicken 178

culling 23

decrease of 43

Halibut, deep-water fishery for f>

grounds for 60

difficulties of catching 17

fins of 132

pickled :«>, 106, 114,435

fishery, apparatus of 10

at Cape Amalia 95

Greenland 90

Iceland 94

baits used in 12

dangers of 20, 53, 56, 7 1

disposition of catch 21

effects of gurry on 117

financial arrangements in 24, 106

fresh, review of 3

from Maine ports 38

history of 29,34

in Davis Strait 90

deep water 49, 51

introduction of trawls in 39

journal of voyages in 65

large fares in 25,38

men in 5,6,106

methods of 10

off Canadian shore 91

on George's Bank 3,26,34

profits of 23

routine of 65—89

run for the market 20

salt 32,36,90

methods of 110,115

season for 34,36,37,115

unloading the dories 17

vessels in 6,110

fishing-grounds for 4, 37, 44

in Davis Strait 95

flitched 36,91,109

food of 36,37,118

for cod bait 216

former abundance of 35, 37

on George's 30

found in small areas 59

fresh, quantity landed at Gloucester 24

statistics of catch 3

from Grand Bauk 64

Green Bank 64

geographical distribution of 90

Gloucester method of icing 19

grades of 22

gray 22

hand-lining for 19

iced 8,19,22,34,41,42

in the Pacific 200

well-smacks 20

killer 113

live 33,34

method of catching 18

cleaning 19

clubbing.. 17

Hitching 114

handling 18

icing 8,22,41

marking 18

salting 114

INDEX.

785

Page.

Halibut, method of unloading fare of 21

migrations of 62,63

movements of 62

napes pickled 435

new fishing-ground for 61

New London method of icing l9

on spawning-ground 59

pricoof 28

in California 42

receipts at Gloucester 29

salted 36,37,131

scarcity of 34,90

smoked 90,131,473

taken by George's men 193

trade in 36

trawls 10,62,159

methods of hauling 16

setting 13,81

using 112,113

unheading 22

unusual season for 61

vessel, deck plan of 9

large fares of 28

method of unloading 21

profits of 24

well-smacks 34,36

white 22

Halifax commission 346,350,448

bait question at 354

Halifax liivrr, mullet in 561

Hallock, Charles, ou Labrador fishery 139

Hall, W. D., patent for oil-making 343,369

Hall & Pearsall 574. 579

Hamilton Inlet, Labrador 135

Hampton boat in Labrador fishery 138

Hancock, Me., mackerel fleet of 306

Hand-line cod fishery 123,148

fishery of Great Lakes 767

George's cod 191

Hand-lines at Shumagin Islands 216

Hand-lining from dories 127

Hausen & Dicckmann 493,520

Hapgood's, Wash 745

Hardheads in Sacramento River 737

Harper's Magazine, quotation from 140,338

Harpoon, nwordlish 318

Harpswell, Me., Labrador fishery of : . . . 146

Harpsweil Sound, Maine 724

Harrington Eiver 704

Harwich, Mass 672

mackerel fleet of 307, :UO, 311

Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina 635J

Haul-seine fishing in the Snsquchauna 651

for squeteague 529

Haul-seines at Newfoundland 450

liiTriug 462

in Neuse River (528,631

shad 621, 623, 625, C33, 636, 645, 665

fflethol of laying out (136

Havana market fishery of Key West 502-594

for groupers at 593

mullet exported to 580

Havre de Grace, Md 651

Hawkins Brothers' menhaden works 382

Page.

Hawsers, to prevent chafing of 125

Hay ward boat 763

Heart-pounds in Maiue 598

Hearc-seine 601

Hedging, fish, construction of 643

Heniilepidotus Jordaui 208,214,216

trachurns 216

Herreshoff, John, menhaden works of 366

Herring, abundance of, at Alaska 220

Newfoundland 451

as anchovies 519

food for cod 208

at Alaska 206

bait, fish-eggs for 507

bloater 473,485

brush weirs 428,429

canned 489, 493

in oil 1 491

statistics of 432,438

captured by torches 499

care of, on the vessels 432

catch of, in Albemarle Sound 637

Hudson River 659

James River 639

Massachusetts 667

Neuse River 631

Pamunky River 643

Potomac River 645

Rappahannock River 644

Susqnehauna River 653

cran of 427

cure, laws regulating 434

curing, American method 433

on shore 433

Scotch method 433

decrease of 505,633

dip-nets for capturing 499

draining, methods of 478

English 619

exports from Newfoundland 470

fires for smoking 479

fishermen 427,438,462,475

of New Brunswick 450

Newfoundland 445

fishery 419-524

apparatus of 427

at Labrador 142

Magdalen Islands 460

Norway 473

economy of 428

affected by moon 503

tides 503

hindered by ice 469

in Capo Fear River 626

Great Lakes 766

international difficulties 446

laws regulating 441

methods at Magdalcns 463

New Brunswick 451

of Albemarle Sound 632-637

Pamlico Sound 632

Potomac River 644

York River 642

profits of 464

786

INDEX.

Page.

Herring fishery, Scotch, economy of 427

statistics of 437,631

fishing-grounds for 419, 421-426, 460

fleet at Magdalen Islands 469

New Brunswick 444

of New England 438

for bait 423, 426, 431, 432, 435, 438, 499

catfish bait 768

cod bait 139,160,168,183

fertilizer 432,438

food, statistics of 438

haddock bait 237

hake bait 242

halibut bait 12,18,34,35

frozen 439-458

cured by smoking 485

fishing-grounds for 442

for bait 151,455

cod bait 193

food 456

halibut bait 65

market for 435,455

statistics of 457

gibbed 433

gill-net fishery 430

gill-nets 427, 429, 430, 450, 451, 462, 464, 476,

485,637,642

hard (smoked) 473,485

haul-seines 462

at Newfoundland 446

iced, for bait 183

industry, smoked 473-488

inBeringSea 201

Gulf of Alaska 206

Ogeeohee River 618

pound-nets 609

Prince Frederick Sound 206

Ehode Island pound-nets 604

Sacramento River 737

Susquehanna River 651

weirs 602

Magdalen 482

methods of capturing 428,499

cleaning 433

curing ...i 432

forsmoking 465

freezing 452

hanging 478

packing 434

preparing 508

salting 465

smoking 479

migrations of 419

movements of 419,632

net boats % ' 451

nets at Newfoundland 446

of the Pacific „ 199

on the New England coast 421

packed as sardines 489

in upices 489,519

pickled ." 434,456

statistics of 432, 438, 439

trade in 459

pound-nets for 429

Page.

Herring, price of, for bait 436

purse-seines 463,464

quantity taken in weirs 504

red or hard. 473

roe of 637

round 433,465

salted 432,435,465

for cod bait 220

salting, methods of 477

sardines, cutting and dressing 510

drying process 511

flaking 511

frying 514

salting 511

sealed 482

sea-packed 433

seines 432,507

at Newfoundland 450

seining-weirs 503

smoked 456,466,492,506,609

boneless 484

canned in oil 483

curersof 475

grades of 480

laws relating to 480

markets for 482

packing of 480

price of 482

statistics of 432, 438, 439

smoke-houses 476

smoking, American methods 483

European methods 483

methods of 477, 487

spawning grounds of 425,426

habits of 420,426

season of 420

species of 420

Southern methods of packing 637

split 433,637

statistics of catch of 432, 438

stringing, methods of 478

sweeping 432

taken in purse-seines 432

weirs 600

torching 428,503,475

Indian method of 429

trade, men in 248

with Newfoundland 464

traps 429

tucktail .- 482

vessels and outfit 426

at New Brunswick 451

method of fitting 428

weirs 429,475,503

in Maine 598

New Brunswick 485

Hexagratnmus 200,216

Hickory shad 618

Higgius & Gifford, seine-boats built by 250

Hind, H. Y., on herring fishery 467

Labrador fishery 142

mackerel bait 346

qnoted 134

Hingham, Mass., cod fishery of. 149

INDEX.

787

Paige.

lliugham, Mass., mackerel fleet of 307

Hippoglossoides elassodon 214

Hippoglossus vulgaris 200, 208, 216

Holder, C. F., on swordfishing 321

Holmes, Thomas L 458

Holotliurians as food for cod 207

Holsteiuborg, Greenland 93

halibut near 95

Hoochenoo Bank, Alaska 201,206,207,212

Hook fishery for mackerel 275

Hooks and lines in cod fishery 139

on haddock trawls 236

used in cod- trawling 175

George's fishery 192,193

Horseshoe crabs in Cape Cod weirs 600

Housatouic River, fisheries of 666

Houses of mullet fishermen 563, 564

Howell, Dr. Samuel, on Delaware fisheries 654

Hudson Bay Company 134, 137

Hudson River, fisheries of 658

Hull, Mass., early mackerel fishery at 298,299

herring fleet of 438

Hume, George W 745

Hume, R. D 745

Huutington Bay, New York 380

Hurdy-gurdy used in hauling trawls 10, 16

Huron Bay 757

Huron boat 763

Hyannis, Mass., mackerel catch of 310,311

Icebergs, dangers from 62

on halibut grounds 96

Ice carried on George's cod vessel 195

cost of 616

drifting, halibut vessels driven by 5

drift, on the Banks 48

fishing through, at Saginaw Bay 767

for smelt 691,692

on Great Lakes 764

for fish-preserving 221

packing fish 636

preserving bait 351

haddock 239

mackerel 249

halibut fishery hindered by 50

house on fishing vessels 41

halibut vessels 7

mackerel schooner 249

red-snapper vessels 587

on halibut grounds 106

red-snapper vessels 589

pens on haddock vessels 236

halibut vessels 8,9

quantity carried by halibut vessels 8

rigging frozen with 66

supply for fishing vessels 423

used on haddock vessels 239

in red -snapper fishery 588

on cod schooner 173

water for preserving mackerel 267

fish 588

smelts 693

Iced bait in George's fishery 193

eels 697

fish 001, COt)

Page.

Iced bait in boxes 637

halibut, price of. 34

mackerel 267

red-snapper 586

salmon 683

shad 614,631,666

squeteague 532

sturgeon 622,626

Icing bait, method of 12,349,350,437

_haddock 239

halibut, method of 9, 19,2*4

of bait on cod vessels 152

Iceland, halibut fishery at 94

herring at 419

Iliuliuk, Alaska, cod at 205,214

Imports of herring from Newfoundland 470

sardines and anchovies 522

Indian bush-net 648

dip-net fishery 769

fishing-place 661

Indian Harbor, Labrador 141

Indian River, Delaware 534,538,539

Indian River, Florida 561

Indian salmon fisheries on the Kennebec 717

Ingersoll, Ernest, on menhaden fishing 338

Inspection laws, fish 727, 728

of fish in Maine 686

mackerel, statistics of 312

pickled fish 434

Insurance, mutual, on vessels 188,189

International difficulties about bait 187

at Fortune Bay 446

Ipswich Bay, gill -net cod fishery in 231

hake in 241

herring in 498

torching in 429

Ireland, exports of herring to 471,472

Irish boats at Boston 158

Irishmen in fresh -halibut fishery 6

on mackerel fleet 248

Pacific codfleet 218

Iseborough salmon fishery 706

Isinglass from hake sounds 242,243

Isle au H aut, Me. , herring fishery at 423

fleetof 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Isle of Sable, cod fishery at 187

Isle of Wight Bay, Delaware 534,539

Italy, sardine industry in 489

Jackfish for grouper bait 593

Jacksonport, Lake Michigan 757

Jacksonville, Fla., mullet fishermen at 561

shad fishery at 614

Jacobs, Capt. Solomon 447

Jamesport, N. Y., menhaden at 371-409

James River, early history of 639

fisheries of 638

fishery statistics of 639

former abundance of shad in 638

Jeffries Ledge, haddock on 234

Jewett, B. F., on George's fishery 188

Jew-fish on red-snapper grounds 586

Jig-fishing for mackerel j... 287

Jigger used for capture of cod 142, 143, 147

788

INDEX.

Page.

Jigger, hook and line called 139

Jiggers, fishing vessels called

Jigging mackerel, method of 284

Jigs, mackerel 278,293,300

Johnston, Professor. , 352

Johnston & Veasey -• -- 223

Jones Creek, Delaware 528

Jones, J. Matthew, on mackerel fishery 297

Jonesport, He., herring cannery at 498

fishery at 422,438

sardine packers at 520

Jordan, Prof. D. S 203, 223, 561, 576, 729, 731

Journal of menhaden fishery 371-416

JuniataEivcr 645.650

Kadatl, name for cod 202

Kegs for packing fish 492

Kellogg & Ives 492

Kelpbangi'i-s, name for cod 202

Kelly's Island pound-net fishery 758

Kemps, Mead & Smith 615

Kemp, Stephen 697

Kench- cured mullet 572

Kennehec River, abundance of bass in 695

alewife fishery of 720

hag- nets in 691

fisheries of 716

headwaters of 674

natural features of 716

salmon fishery of 717

shad fishery of 719

season in 684

weirs in 684

smelt fishery of 722

Kennelmnkport, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Kennedy, William 717

Kenosha, gill-net fishery at 762

Kenworthy, Dr. J., on red-snapper fishery 590,592

Ketch, fishing vessel called 124

Keweenaw Bay 757

Key West, fishermen of 561

Havana market fishery of 592-594

Kihlings for bait 160

King-crabs in pound-nets 607

Kiuston, N. C., fisheries at 627

Kittery, Me., herring fleet of 438

Kitt's Hammock, Delaware 528

Klamath Kiver, spring salmon in 741

Knappton, Wash 745

Knives for mackerel dressing 290

used in dressing cod 180

Knowles, Capt. C. G. F 346

Kock, Dr. Charles 614

Kodiak, Alaska, cod at 201,207,212

codbanksnear 213

native fishermen of 220

Kumlien, Ludwig 605, 606, 755, 757

Kypokok Bay, Labrador 135

Labrad jr, climate of i;!6

cod fishery of 121,133,45!)

from Newbnryport 144

origin of 143,147

vessels in 138

fishing-grounds at 134

Page.

Labrador, fish-curing at 146

fishery, causes of decline of 145

from Maine 146

Northern New York 145

Hallockon 139

rights at 459

halibut fishery at 46,47

herring fishery at 142, 420, 459, 464

gill-nets at 4G4

grounds at 462

trade with 459

mackerel off 276

movements of halibut toward 63

Northern 134

physical outline of coasts of 135

season for fishing at 136

Southern, halibut fishery at 4,15,17

Lady-fish for grouper bait 593

red-snapper bait 587

Laflin, James 223

La Have Bank, cod fishery on 149, 189

haddock on..., 234

halibut fishery at 4, 42, 43, 44

swordfishon 317,323

La Have Eidges, abundance of halibut on 58

cod fishery on 149

halibut fishery on 4

Lake Erie, gill-net fishery of 762

gill-nets 763

pound-net fishery of. 758

season on 760

Lake Huron, gill-net fishery of 7G2

ice fishing on 767

pound-net fisheries of 757

Lake Michi0an, gill-net fishery of 761,762

pound-net fishery on 757

Lake Monroe, mullet in 561

shad spa wuing in 614

Lake Ontario, gill-net fishery of 762

pound- net fishery of 758

seine fishery of 766

Lake Superior, gill-net fishery of 761,763

pound-nets in 757

Lamoiue, Me., herring fleet of 468

smoking at 474

Labrador fishery from 147

Lamprey eels 662,678

Lance, swordlish 319

Lant as cod food 208

food for halibut 37

for cod bait 220

Lantern used in night seining 262

La voie, N., report on cruise 469

Laws, fishery, of Maine 726-728

fish inspection 727

for packing smoked herring 480

protection of menhaden 353

menhaden fishery 370, 379

Newfoundland fishery 448

of fishermen regarding salmon nets 732

relating to alewife fishery 669, 670, 671, 689, 727

bass fishery 695

close-lime 605

fisheries C57

INDEX.

789

Page.

Laws relating to fish- weirs 661

herring cure 434,481

fishery 441

mackerel fishery 301,302

pound-nets 609

river dams 620

fishery 712

fisheries of Maine 726

salmon fishery 727,749

shad fishery 623.7-J7

smoking of herring 481

Lay of halibut fishermen 23

hemng fishermen 427,464,506

mackerel fishermen 289

mullet fishermen 570

spot fishermen 537

Lent her-juckets 586

for bait 587

Leather turtle at Cape Cod *. 600

Lebanon, Del 528

I ,rr- bow ing mackerel vessels 287

Legislation for menhaden fishery 353,370

protection of mackerel 301

Leighton, Capt. Andrew 440

Lepiclopsetta bilineata 214

Lewes, Del 531,533

Lincoluville, Me 306,706

Liostomns xauthurns 533

Liparis sp. from cod's stomach 208

Liscomb Harbor, Nova Scotia 4

Little Compton, R. I., pound-nets at 605

Little River, N. C 560,633

Lituya Bay, Alaska, cod at 212

Live cars for groupers 593

sturgeon 698

pens for sturgeon 625

Liver butts on cod schooner 150

Liverpool salt for mackerel curing 288

mullet curing 573

Livers, cod, care of 181

of cod, as food 216

Lobster fishery at Magdalen Islands 460

l.nlisters iu Cape Cod weirs 600

Loggerhead turtle in vcirs 600

Lombard's Cove, Massachusetts 602

Long Island, mackerel off 247

menhaden at 331

fishery at 370,371-416

pound-net fishery 606

Long Island Sound, menhaden in 380-409

Long Island Tickle, Labrador 143

Lordfish 199

Louisiana, mullet fishery of 577

Low, Col. D. W., on bait mills 283

mackerel fishery 311

voyage 292

Lubt-c, Me., herring at 422

cannery at 498

fishery at 505

fleet of 438,459

smoking at 474

sardine packers at 520

weirs at 500

Luco Brothers' menhaden factory 374

Page.

Lyman, Col. Theodore, on menhaden 34

Lyme, Conn., shad fishery at 664

Lynde & Hough 223

MacDonald, Sir John 354

Machias, Me., smoked herring, statistics of 488

Machiasport, herring fleet of 438

Machias River, fisheries of.; 702

Mackerel, aboriginal name of 298

apparatus of capture of 305

as a fertilizer 304, 306

bait 254,279

clams for 281,293,346

ground 287

menhaden for 255, 280, 281, 345, 346

pogies for '. 293,355

preparation of 278,282

bob 279

bob-line 300

canned 306, 308, 309, 496, 521

care of, on seiners 266

cart-wheeling of 255

catch in 1880 306, 308

of, in Canada 1 309

Gulf of Saint Lawrence .... 309, 310

311

seine 258

cleaning and salting 287

curing, kinds of salt used 288

demand for 582

draggers 294

drag-seines 299

drailing 299

drift-net fishery 296

early catches of 273

fishermen 247,293

activity of 286

enterprise of 262, 263

expert 286

layof 289

nationality of 247

number of 305,308

fishery ...247-313

at Magdalen Islands 460

Nova Scotia 297

care of the catch 267, 287

early methods of 298

English methods of 296,298

history of 298,304

in British provinces 299

fall of 1881 263

Gnlf of Saint Lawrence. .34, 141,275,
276,291,311

Norway 272

landing the cargoes 268

large fares in. 292

running for the market 268

schools supported by 298

season for , 276

seining at night 259

spring southern 273

statistics of 304, 306, 307, 308

vessels in 248

with drag-seines 298

purse-seines 247-275

790

INDEX.

Page.

Mackerel-fishing by moonlight 298

grounds for 276,2/7

fleet, capture of swordfish by 325

distribution of 307

of New England 247

size of 275,305,306

value of 305,306

fly-hook 279

for bait 306,308

cod bait 131,142,151,160,193

hake bait 242

halibut bait 12

mackerel bait 280,293

swordfishbait 323

gaffs 279,300

gigging, protests against 302

gill-net fishery 294

gill-nets, construction of 296

gill-netting, history of 296

grades of ,-.-. 290

grounds in Gulf of Saint Lawrence 276

habits of ., 271

at night 260

handling of cargo of 268

hookers, success of 286

hook fishermen 277

fishery 275

methods of 277, 286, 293

profits of 291,292

vessels in 277

hooking, method of 283,285

iced 267

in Gulf of Maine 247,276

Massachusetts Bay 247

pound-nets 305,667

weirs 600,602

injured by plowing 290

inspection, statistics of 312

jigging for 284,287,299

jigs 275,278,280,293,300

knives for rimming 290

large catches of 292

late catches of 295

laws in Massachusetts 302

legislation for protection of 301

lines, vessels using 308

method of canning 496

culling 294

cutting 290

icing 249

salting 267,288,293

migrations of 274

movements of 247

at Norway 272

mutilation of 290

nets, vessels using 308

off Block Island . 247

Boone Island — 247

Cape Elizabeth 247

Chesapeake Bay 247,274

Delaware Bay 247

Long Island 247

Matinicus Rock 247

Middle States 277

Page.

Mackerel off Monhegan Island 247

Mount Desert Kock., 247'

New Jersey coast 247

Sandy Hook 274

on George's Bank 247,274,276

packing 293,294

pickled 308,309,312

plowing 266,288

plows 289

pocket or spiller 249,265

preserved in ice-water 267

price of 274

purse-seine, vessels using 308

quantity of, salted 308,309

rimming 290

rubbing 290

rusty 289

salted in butts 289

salting 288,293

schools, movements of 255

schooner, deck plan of 248

outfit of 249,250

speed of 268

three-masted 272

seine fishery, apparatus of 250

methods of 250

fishing-grounds 247

history of 269

method of using 256

seining by night 259

in deep water 270

methods of 255

profits of 268

prohibited 301

season for 247

seines, protests against 303

set around a vessel 264

Spanish 545

spiller or pocket 266

statistics of Canada 308, 309

New England 308, 309, 310

Newfoundland 309

toll bait 280,282,283

trailing 300

used fresh for food 308

versus menhaden fishery 303

vessel, evolutions of 258

vessels and outfit 273

number of 306

voyage, itinerary of 292

Mackinaw boats.... 759

Maddocks, W. I., on herring 424

Magdalen herring, method of smoking 479, 482

smoked 475

Magdalen Islands , 141

cod fishery at 459

grounds at 137

fishery rights at .' 459

halibut fishery at 4, 43, 46

herring at 468

fishery at 440, 466, 467

fleet 469

grounds at 460

spawning at 420

INDEX.

791

Page.

Magdalen Islands, herring statistics for 439

trade with 4.V.)

value of 472

hurricane at 468

mackerel off 276

trawling at 160

Magnolia, Del 528

Maine, alewife fishery of 687, 701, 702, 703, 704, 705,

708,71-2,714,715,720,724

artificial conditions of rivers in 677

bass fishery of 716,723,725

catch of mackerel in 306,308

swordflsh in 325

declivity of rivers of 674

description of rivers of 673

early history of 677

eel fishery of 695-697, 704, 712, 716, 722, 724

fish-inspection laws in 434, 686

halibut fishery from 38

vessels of 3

herring catch of 432,438

fleet of 438

inspection laws in 481

spawning at 421

history of trawling in 159

Labrador fishery from 146

lakes in 675

mackerel catch of 310,311

fleet of 247,306,307

menhaden industry in 329, 361, 365, 369, 370

pound- net fisheries of 597, 598

purity of river water in 675

quantity of herring smoked in 485, 488

river beds of 675

fisheries of 673

fishery laws of 726

species of fish 678

salmon fishery of .. .679,700,701,703,704,706,710,

716,717,719,724

shad fishery of 683-687, 701, 702, 703, 704,'

708,710,716,724,725

smelt fishery of 690-693, 702, 703, 704, 708,

712, 714, 715, 716, 722, 724, 725

smoked-herring industry in 473-488

statistics of mackerel inspection in 312

striped-bass fishery of 693

sturgeon fishery of 697-699,723

temperature of rivers of 676

tides in rivers of 676

tomcod fishery of 703, 704, 723, 724

volume of rivers of 675

Maine Oil and Guano Association 281

Mallotus villosus 205, 208, 236

Mammoth, frozen 351

Manure, fish used for 644

Maquoite Bay, Maine 724

Marblehead, Mass., cod fishery from 125, 130, 132

George's fishery from, in 1747. 187

mackerel fishery of 303, 307

menhaden bait at 347

salt halibut at 91

vessels at Cape North 138

Margaree Island, mackerel at 276

Markuson, Capt. Knud 42,272

Page.

Marqnetlo Bay 757

Mnrquetto, Mich., seine fishery at 766

Marr, Capt. Chester 34,37,91,197,289

Marsh Kiver, Maine 708

Martha's Vineyard, menhaden at 347

pound-net fisheries of 597, 601

Martin, Capt. George H 231,317,322

Martin, Capt. S.J 234,239,262,263,265

Martin & Balkam 495

Maryland, catch of Spanish mackerel in 552

menhaden, statistics of 361

Massachusetts Bay, halibut fishery in 533

mackerel in -.. 247

pound-net fisheries in 598

Massachusetts, catch of mackerel in 306, 308

swordfishin 325

cod fishery 125

Connecticut River in 659, 660

fishery laws of 301

herring catch of 432,438

fleetof 438

inspection laws in 435

mackerel catch of 309,310,311

fleetof 247,307

menhaden laws in 370

river fisheries of 667

smoked-herring in 482

Spanish mackerel in 552

statistics of mackerel inspection in. 312
menhaden industry in. 361

Matanzas, mullet exported to 580

Matanzas River, mullet in 561

Mather, Fred ,. 552,606,607

Matinicus Island 498

herring fishery at. 423,424

fleetof 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Matinicus Rock, mackerel off 247,276

Mattapxrisett River 668

Mattapony River 642

Mattawatnskeag River - 705

Maxwell's chart of Labrador 134

Mayport, Fla „ 561,614

McCollam, Thomas W., & Co 212,216,223

McDonald, J. L., on Pacific cod 200,210,211

McDonald, Col. Marshall . . 551, 609, 611, 613, 625, 637, 658,

659

McGregor, Jacob 474,499

Meals of fishermen on shipboard 107

Mcdomak River, fisheries of 713

Meeker, S. T., on herring 424

Meherrin River ., 633

Megler, J. G.,&Co 745

Melanogrammus »glefinns 234

none in Pacific 200

Melton & Co 615,616

Menemsha Bight, Massachusetts 602

Menhaden, absence of, off Maine coast 331

as a fertilizer 335,371

sardines 330

Association 333

bait, consumption of 347, 348

exports of. 353

fishery 347

792

INDEX.

Page.

Meuliaden bait, method of iciug 349

on Graud Bank fleet 343

value of 347

baiting fleet 335

canned 330

inoil 490

carry-away boat ^ 374

catch of 409-416

in Massachusetts 667

near Connecticut River 666

caught in weirs 342

codfish in school of 391

commercial i mportance of 329

dip-nets 340,374

disappearance of, in Maine 423

early uses of 371

emptying seine of 339

factories -. 331,365,367,373

capacity of 335

cost of 365

in Maine 331

on Chesapeake Bay 638

statistics of 361

first used for mackerel bai t 346

fishermen 332,333,345,361

fishery 327-416

apparatus of 335

atLonglslandfrom 17'.l3tol880. 370

economy of 333,334

methods of . . 335, 338, 366, 367, 371-409

organization of 345

season for 409-416

settlement with crew 333,334

statistics of 360, 361, 362

fishing at night 259

grounds for 331

on a Long Island steamer 338

fleet, value of 334

floating factories 345

for bait 342,345,376

capture of 341

lack of 435

priceof 282

quantity used 282, 362

bluefish bait 347

cod bait 193,345,436

food 330,342

hake bait 24-2

halibut bait 12,42,112,349

mackerel bait 205,280,281,330,345

manufacturing purposes 356

manure * 607

former abundance of 335,376,377,380

geographical distribution of 329

gill-net fishing for 341

gill-nets 341,530

great haul of 335

grounds, area of 331

gnano 638

ammonia in 362

patent for making 3G9

statistics of 330,361

habits of 341

in Buzzard's Bay (503

Page.

Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay 638

Gulf of Mexico 329,588

Long Island Sound 3»0-409

mackerel fishery 353

Rhode Island pound-nets (104

weirs 000,602

industry in Chesapeake Bay 369

statistics of 354,361

large hauls of 372,378-409

laws for protection of 353, 379

legislation for protection of 370

methods of canning 490

seining 337

movements of 329,331,377

names of 329

natural history of 329

number taken 330

Oil and Guano Association 362

oil of, adnlterat ion of 363

early manufacture of. 364, 30r>, 360, 36*, 3(19

exports of 363

factory, capacity of 344

cost of 344

for tanning 355

grades of 344, 363

industry, history of 364

manufacture of 343

markets 364

patent for steaming..., 369

prices of 363, 364

refining of , 343

statistics of 330,361

uses of 362

yield of 357,358,359,638

packed as sardines '. 490

pot works .- 373

pound-nets 341

press, first nseof 366

priceof 332,333,347,374-409

protective legislation for 370

purse-boat 374

purse-seine 26S>, 335

salted for food 347

scrap :i(i:i

seasons for 329

seine-boat 250, 251, 336

seines, size of 347

seining, best time for 341

methods of 337,338

size of 329,356

slivering 346

slivered 348,353

slivers for cod bait ; 133

haddock bait 236

value of 347

statistics of catch of 330, 354, 362

steamers, crew of 332

description of 334

first used 368

in mackerel fishery 304

unloading cargo of 337

used by farmers 330,371-409

value of 350,357

vessels, description of 334

INDEX.

793

Page.

Menhaden vessels, statistics of 360, 361

•weirs 341

Merchant, Capt. Epos W 37, 197, 288, 324

Merchant, Capt. George 36, 200, 253, 259, 266, 271

Merriinac River 347,370,667,672

Merritt, H. M 606

Merry meeting Bay 719

Miamogne, menhaden fishing at 371-40'J

Michigan City, trawl ashing at 767

Microgadns proxiiuus in Pacific 200

toin-cod 678

Middle Bank, halibut fishery on 33

Middlf liny, Maine 724

Middlesex, Conn., shad at C60

Middletown, Conn 660

Migrations of cod 166,167

Miles, -George W 344

Milford, Del 533

Millbridge, Me 474,520

Milner, Professor 633,651,759,768

Milk Island, floating traps at 599

Milton, Del 528,533

Milwaukee, gill- net fishery at 762

seine fishery at 766

Miqnelou Beach, halibut fishery at 4,44

Miqnelou, halibut fishery at 17

Miramichi, cod fishery at 137

Miscou Flat, cod fishery on 137

large cod on 139

Mispillion Creek, Delaware 528

Mississippi, mullet fishery of 577

Mitchell, J. M., on herring 420

Mobile Bar, red-snapper fishery at 585

Mobile, red-snapper fishery from 585,587

Mohawk River 658

Molloy, John 223

Monhegan Fall Ground 234

Monhegan Island, herring fleet of 438

mackerel off 247,276

fishery at 647

Mouomoy Point, pound-nets at 602

Moon-eyes, dip-net fishery for 769

Moon, herring fishery affected by 503

Moosehead Lake, Maine 716

Morey, George, on herring 4ii4

Mossbunkers, canned.... 490

menhaden called :i->9

Mount Desert Island 705

Mount Desert, Me. , herring fishery of 423, 438, 459

Labrador fishery from 147

Mount Desert Bock, mackerel off 247,276

Mousam River, Maine 725

Mugil albula 555

braziliensis 555

mexicana 560

Mullet, abundance of 556,580

bag-net 569

bull 555,560

camp 563

catch of, in seines. 567

cast-net fishery 569

cast-nets, statistics of 577

development of fishery for 530

distribution of 555

Tage.

Mullet, drag-nets 567

dressing of 572

dried 500

dry-salted 572,579

ease with which secured 581

exports of 580

feeding-grounds of 556, 5fiO

fishermen 561,570

fishery 553

apparatus of 562

care of catch 572

methods of 562

of Great Lakes 766

origin of 559

profits of 582

statistics of 575

fisting-grounds for 560

food qualities of 577, 581

for grouper bait 593

fresh 572,575-577

gill-nets .' 568,575-577

habits of 555

hook- and-line fishery for 570

in Florida 614

markets for 577

market value of 578

merits of fresh 581

methods of packing 573

preserving 572

movements of 556

names for 555

pound-nets 570

roes •. 573

dried 575

fresh 574

method of curing 573

salted 575

statistics of 576-577

salted 560, 572, 575. 576, 577, 578, 582

seine fishery , 565

seines 563,576,577

size of 557

spawning grounds of 560

habits of 556

stake-nets 568

stop -fishing 5G9

sweep-nets 568

trade in fresh 578

Murderkill Creek, Delaware 528

Mu rres at Shumagin Islands 215

Mutual Fishing Insurance Company 189

My a arenaria 127

Mystic, Conn., flounder fishing from 349

Mystic River, Massachusetts 667

Nantes, France, sardine canneries at 490

Nanticoke shad fishery 647

Nantucket, pound-net fisheries of 597,602

pound-nets at 604

Nantucket Shoals, halibut fishery on 4

on 34,37

Napeague, N. Y., menhaden at 374-409

pound-nets at 607

Narragansett Bay, herring in 426

pound-net fisheries of 597, 604

794

INDEX.

Page.

Narragansett Bay, Spanish mackerel at 545

Naraguagus River, herring weir in 422

fisheries of 704

Nationality of halibut fishermen 6

mackerelmen 248

menhaden fishermen 333

Nautical instruments on halibut vessels 9

Nautilus, schooner, early trip to George's 30, 34

Navigation of schooner 172

Negroes, consumption of herring by 435

Nets, capelin 139

cast 559,561,569,577,620,621

drag., mackerel 295

mullet 567

shad 628

gill, for capelin ^ 139

rock and perch 539

sqneteague 529

Neuse River, description of 626

fisheries of C26

fishing-beaches on 629

mullet in 560

pound-nets in 570,609

statistics of fisheries of 631

New Bedford, Mass 660

pound-nets in 654

swordfish fleet of 317

New Berlin, Fla 561

shad fishery at 614

New Berne, fisheries at 627

New Brunswick, bait from 436

brush weirs in 500

catch of mackerel in 309

frozen-herring fishery at 444, 451

statistics of 458

trade 441,457

herring fishermen 450

fishing-grounds at 442

industry in 485

spawningat 421

statistics for 4:i9

quantity of herring from 457

smoked herring from 485

in 474

Newburyport, Mass., herring fleet of . 468

Labrador cod fishery from.. 133,
142, 143, 144

mackerel catch of 309. 310, 311

fleetof 307

New England Fish Company, halibut bought by.. 25

Newfoundland, bait from 436

baiting at 183,185

stations at 162, 454

catch of mackerel at 309

cod fishery at 135, 145

cod-fishing grounds of 134

cod gill-net fishery 230

gill-netsat 229

destitution at 445

fishermen of 183, 445, 454

fishermen's sports at 163

fishing-grounds 135

frozen-herring fleet 443

from .. 193

Pago.

Newfoundland, frozen-herring trade with 4H9

halibut fishery at 4, 17, 44, 47

herring exports from 470

fishery at 4ti2

methods of 464

fishing grounds at 442, 461

spawning at 420

statistics of 458

trade 470

ice supply from 173

international difficulties ut 187,447

mackerel off 276

methods of herring fishery at 450

pickled-herring trade with 469,460

squid fishery '. 184

New Hampshire, catch of mackerel in 306, 308

swordfish in . 325

fish-inspection laws of 434

herring catch of 432,438

fleet of 438

mackerel catch of 310,311

fleetof 247,306

smoked-herring laws in 481

statistics of mackerel inspection

in 312

New Jersey, eaten of Spanish mackerel in 552

fishermen on Savannah River .. .. 621

herring at 420

mackerel off 247

menhaden grounds off 331

off coast of 329,383

statistics of 361

mullet at 555,573

grounds of 560

protective laws in 370

Spanish mackerel at 545

New London, Conn., early halibut fishery of 34

flounder fishery of 349

halibut fishery of 3

fleetof 9

vessels of 33

mackerel fleet of 307

swordfish fleet of 318

New Meadows River, Maine 724

New Orleans, red-snapper fishery from 587

Newport, R. I., fish marketed at 606

swordfish fleet 318

New York, catch of mackerel in 308

Spanish mackerel in 552

early menhaden manufacture in 368

Fishmonger's Association of. 551

frozen herring at 456

halibut fleet of 3,4,9,349

Labrador cod fishery from 145

menhaden industry in 361,368

pound-net fisheries of 597, 606

sardine industry in 491

shad fishery at 658

Spanish mackerel at 551

Night fishing for alewives 688

mackerel 261,298

shad 052,686

spot 536

on the Edisto River... 632

INDEX.

795

Page.

Night fishing on the James River 640

Night seining for mackerel 259

Nippers for protecting hands 131

Noank, Conn., flounder fishery at 349

halibut vessels of 9

red-snapper vessels frotn 590

s wordfish vessels of 318

Nobscusset Weir Company 601

Nootka, Alaska, cod at 212

Norfolk, Va., fish packed at 637

shipped to 609

Spanish mackerel 551

Norris, Thaddeus 545,590

Norton Sound, Alaska, cod at 201

North Boothbay, Me., cod fishery from 123

North Cape, cod fishery off 142

North Carolina, catch of Spanish mackerel iu 552

menhaden at 332

statistics of 361

mullet at 555

river fisheries of 625

Spanish mackerel in 545

North Haven, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel catch of 310, 311

fleetof 306

North Pacific Canning Company 42

Northport, Me 706

North Ei ver, North Carolina 633

North's History of Augusta, Me 717

Northumberland, shad fishery at 647

Norway, herring fishery of. 473

sardine industry in 489

smoked codfish in 473

use of purse-seine at 272

Norwegian cod gill-nets 227

Norwegians in fresh-halibut fishery 6

Pacific cod fleet 219

Norwood Islands, James River 642

Notre Dame Bay, Labrador 135,143

Nottoway River 633

Nova Scotia, bait from " 436

baiting at 183, 193

brush weirs in 499

catch of mackerel in , 309

fishery rights in 459

frozen herring from 441,458

halibut fishery off 4, 40

herring statistics of 439

ice supply from 173

mackerel fishing at 277,297,298

smoked herriug in 474

Noyack Bay, menhaden fishery in 379-409

Oakes, Capt. W. H 35, 36, 198,270

Oak Orchard, gill-net fishery at 762

Oar-rests in seine-boat 252

Obstructions in Capo Fear River •. 625

James River 63?

Potomac River. 645

Savannah Itiver 620

York River 642

Occohaunock Creek 547

Ocean tront, canned 515

menhaden as 491

Ocean View, Del 533

Ocklockonee Bay, Florida 562

Oconee River, shad in 617

Oconto, seine fishery at 766

Ocracoke Inlet, cannery at 550

mullet in 560

Octopus punctatns 199,216

Odell, D. J 499,457

Ogeechee River, fisheries of 618

pound-nets in 609

sturgeon fishery in 622

Oil and guano factories 342

cod 225

cod-liver 131,157

factory, cost of 344

hake 242

manufacture of, in France 368

menhaden 357,638

grades of 363

manufacture of 343

statistics of 330, 360, 361 , 3C2

uses of 362

porgy 600

refining of menhaden 343

salmon, manufacture of 750

skate 600

sturgeon 698

used for canned fish 515

in sardine packing 523

yield of, in menhaden 357

Okhotsk cod fishery 203,219

Oldwife, menhaden called 329

Olive oil in canning fish 515

Ommastrephes illeeobrosa 436

Oncorhynchus chouicha 216, 739, 740, 740, 752

gorbuscha 740,753

keta 740,741

kisutch 739, 740, 740, 741, 753

nerka 740

On tario, Canada, catch of mackerel in 309

herring statistics for 439

Oregon, cod at 200

Oregon Inlet, North Carol! na 555, 632

mullet in 560

Oregon Packing Company 745

Oregon, sal mon canneries of 745

Orient, N. Y., pound-nets at 607

Orland, Me 709

Orleans, Mass. , mackerel fleet of 307

Orphan Bank, cod fishery on 137

Orriugton, Mo 709

rental of fisheries at 712

Osborne, Henry L ...121,161

Osmerus inordax 678

Ossipee River 725

Osterhout, Isaac C 649

Outfit of dory hand-liner 125

Ovens for drying sardines 512

Owens, G. T. , menhaden works of 369

Oysters in Chesapeake Bay 637

preserved 350

Pacific cod fishery, capital in 223

origin of.... 210

productsof 225

natural history of 198

790

INDEX.

Page.

Pacific salmon industry, statistics of 753

Pagrus argenteus 586

Palatka, Fla., shad fishery at 614

Pamlico Eiver, fisheries of 631

Pamlico Sound, fisheries of. 632

movements of fish in 632

mullet in 560

Pamunkey River 642

Parasites of cod at Alaska 208

Paratractus pisquetus 593

Partridge Harbor, fishery at 146

Pasqnotank River, North Carolina 633

Passadumkeag River 705

Pass Island, halibut fishery at 4,5,44

Patapsco River 0,")4

Patent for canning menhaden 491

Patuxi'nt River 654

Peconic Bay, menhaden fishery in 372-409

1'edeo River, fisheries of 624

Pembroke, Me., herring fleet of 438

Pemaquid River, Maine 714

Penniaquan River, fisheries of 701

Pennsylvania, shad fishery of 640

Penobscot Bay, herring fishery of 423

weirs in 598

Penobscot River, alewife fishery of 708

bag-nets 691

dam built in 711

early history of 709

fisheries of 705-712

natural features of 705

salmon fishery of 706

smelt fishery of 709

salmon weir of 680

Pensacola, mullet fishermen of 561

red-suapper fishery of 585-590

Pens forkeepiug sturgeon alive 619,625,698

live fish 538

Perch, apparatus for capturing 5;!9

catch of. in Delaware 538

Delaware River 654

the Susqnehanna 653

fishery of Southern. Delaware 538

season for 539

fyke-net fishery for 768

gill-nets for 530

in Albemarle Sound 636

Hudson River 659

Sacramento River 737

Susquehanna River 651

Perley, M. H., cited .441,500,699

on mackerel fishery 298

New Brunswick fisheries 686

smoked herring 480

Perquimans River, North Carolina 633

Peters, George T 434

PetrofFs census report on Alaska 220

Pettingell, Capt. Moses '. 347

Pew, Capt. Harry 34

Philadelphia, frozen herring at 456

Spanish mackerel at 551

Phillips, E. B., on menhaden oil 365

Phycis, none in Pacific 200

Pickled alewives 689

Papa

Pickled halibut fins 100

herring 456

methods of curing 465

origin of 473

statistics of 432,438,439

trade, methods of 462

\vilh Canada 459

mackerel 309

statistics of 312

shad 640,641,686,709

value of 642

sturgeon 098

Pigeon Hill Ground, cod linliery on 137

Pike, called yellow pickerel 766

grass 768

seine fishery for 766

Pile-drivers and stake-lifters 760

Pillar Rock, Washington Territory 745

Pinkies, fishing vessels called 29

Piuwire, fish-curing at 141

Piscataqua River 673, 725

Planked shad 656

Pleasant Bay, Magdalen Islands 460

Pleasant River, Maine 703

Plenrogramnms monopterygius 205, 206, 208, 216

Plowing, mackerel 2(50,288

Plows, mackerel 289

Plimimer, John G 144

Plymouth Colony, mackerel fishery by 298

Plymouth, Mass., alewives at 670

cod vessels of 150

Pocket, mackerel 249,265,266

Pocomoke Sound 637

Fogies, early methods of capturing 367

for mackerel bait 293

Pogy bait for George's men 331

menhaden called 32.)

slivers for haddock bait 237

Point aux Basques, gill net fishery at 761

Polar cod in Pacific 200

Pollachius chalcogrammus 200.200,208,216

Pollock at Alaska 203

Shumagiu Islands 216

caught on hake trawls 243

in Bering Sea 201

the Pacific 199,200

Pomatomns saltatrix 587,593

Popoff Island, Alaska, fishing station at 216

Porgies, catch of 550

for red-snapper bait 587

in Cape Cod weirs COO

Chesapeake Bay 638

pound-nets 009

on red-snapper grounds 586

Portage entry 7,~>7

Port Blakeley, saUnou cannery at .. 753

Port Chatham, Alaska, cod at.. 202

Port Clinton, trawl fishery at 767

Portland Harbor, Maine, pound-nets in 598

Portland, Me., as herring market '. 435

fresh-halibut fishery of 3

haddock fishery of 234

flcetof 235

halibut fishery from 38

INL>EX.

797

Page.

Porttaud, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel catch of 310,311

fleetof 306

net-fishery of 295

smoked herring at 488

supply of bait from 127

Portlock Baiik, Alaska 201,212

cod ou 207

Port Momuouth, N. J., canning factory at 491

Port Ontario, seines ustd at 766

Portsmouth, N. 11., haddock fishery of. 234

herring fleet of 438

mackerel catch of 310,311

Portugal, sardine industry in 489

Portuguese in fresh-halibut fishery 6

George's fishery 1^9

on mackerel fleet 248

Pacific cod fleet 218, 219

Port Washington, Lake Michigan 757

Pot-nets, shi.il <;:!(>

Potomac Elver, fisheries of 044

natural obstructions in 045

Poultneyville, gill-net fishery at 762

Pouud-uet fishciics, location of 5JJ7

of Albemarle Sound C09

Atlantic States 095-609

CapeAnn 599

Cape Cod 599,601

Chesapeake Bay 608

Connecticut 606

Delaware Bay 607

Great Lakes 598

Maine 598

Massachusetts 599-604

New Jersey 607

New York 606

Ehode Island 604

fishery for mullet 570

in Vineyard Sound 601

methods of 605, 760

of Great Lakes 757-761

methods of 758

season for 604,609

on Great Lakes 760

statistics of 607

Pound-net stake-lifters 760

Pound-nets 607

catch of 609

construction of 549, 598, 758

cost of 603

in Buzzard's Bay 668

Chesapeake Bay, catch of 550

Connecticut River 665

James River 638

Neuso River 631

Ogeechee River 619

Potomac River 645

San Francisco Bay 731

Tampa Bay 570

the Susqueiianna 653

introduction of 547

lath 601

laws relating to 609

mackerel in 305

Pago.

Pound-nets, menhaden 341, 342

method of fishing 549, 608, 760

number of, in New Jersey 608

on Great Lakes 769

of Cape Cod, markets for catch of 601

patent 501

pile-drivers for 760

salmon 679,682,706

size of 603

Spanish mackerel 546

statistics of 599,605

stock of 607,609

value of i 605,608

Pounds, baby, iu Detroit River 766

herring 439

shad 628

square 601

Poverty among Newfoundland fishermen 445

Preservation of sails with lime 377

seines 373

Preservative for gill-nets 229

Preservatives for fish 350

Presurnpscot River, Maine 724

Pribyloff Islands, cod at 212

Prickers, red-snapper 586

Prince Edward Island, hake at 241

herring statistics for 439

mackerel catch of 309

off 276

Prince's Bay, menhaden fishing in 383-409

Procter, George II 32, 155

Proctor, Joseph O 281,348

Profits, division of, in cod fishery 132

in cod fishery 157

of cod-curers 224

cod fishermen 130, 224

George's cod fishery 1%

haddock fishery 240

halibut fishermen 18

fishery 23

herring fishermen 427

mackerel hook fishery 291

seining 268

menhaden fishermen 332, 334

mullet fishermen 562,571

Pacific cod fishermen 219

pound-net fishery 605, 607

red-snapper fishery 589

shad fishermen 616

squeteaguo fishermen 533

sturgeon fishery 622

swordfishermen 323

weir fishery 601

Propagation of shad, results of 645

Protective legislation for menhaden fishery 370

Providence, R. I., fish marketed at 606

Provincetown, Mass., cod fishery from 133, 149

vessels of l:>8, 150

mackerel catch of 310,311

fleetof 307

gill-nets at 294

Provincials on mackerel fleet 248

Provisions on cod schooner 174

Ptilichthys Goodei 214

798

INDEX.

Page.

Pugot Sound salmon 741,753

Pulcifer, Capt, William 41

Pungo River, mullet in 560

Parse-davit, first use of 250

Purse-seine, appliances for using..... 250

care of 254

clearing the 374

construction of 253,254

dipping out the 258

drying up the 257

fishery, growth of 271

hemp for 377

herring 463,464

in Norwegian waters 272

introduction of 269

laws regulating use of 370

mackerel, description of 252

.fishery with 247

in general use 247

Gulf Saint Lawrence ..247, 275

vessels using 308

method of pursing 256

setting 255

menhaden 335,337,361,368

origin of 269,270

protests against 303

roller for 249

salt for preserving 254

school of menhaden in 339

• set around a vessel 264

size of 253,254,374

meshof 393

Purse-seining at night 259,261

requirements of 340-

Purse-weight for seine 257

Quebec, Canada, catch of mackerel in 309

herring statistics of 439

Quill-fish at Alaska 214

Qninnipiac Fertilizer Company 369

Quinn's, Oregon 745

Quohog Bay, Maine 697,724

Racine, gill-net fishery at 762

seine fishery at 766

trawling at 767

Eaia parmifera 214

Rainfall in Maine 674

Rainier, Oreg 745

Rappahannock River, fisheries of 643

Recontre, Newfoundland 442

Redfishin Tampa Bay 570

Red herring 473

Redhorse in Cape Fear River 626

Savannah River 621

Red Island, halibut fishery at 4

Red-snapper, bait for 587,588,590

sharks for 587

care of 567

description of 591

feeding-grounds of. 585

fishermen 589,590

fishery for 583-592

apparatus of 586

dangers of 589

history of 587

Page.

Red-Snapper fishery of East Florida 590

methods of 588, 590, 591

profits of 589

vessels in 587, 588, 589

fishing-grounds for 585. 587

fishing-lines for 586

fleet, statistics of 590

food qualities of 592

for bait 593

large size of 592

method of icing 587

pricking 586

price of 589

season for 589

value of 592

Reed, E.W., menhaden worksof 369

Refrigeration of bait 186,351

Rehoboth Bay, Delaware 534,539

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware 537

Reproduction of Pacific cod 208

Rhode Island, catch of mackerel in 308

Spanish mackerel in 552

swordQsh in 325

menhaden boats of 376

fishermen of 332

industry in 361,366

pound-net fisheries of 604

Richmond, fish shipped to 609

River fisheries of Florida 613

Maine 673

laws relating to 726

the Atlantic States (ill

Rivers of Atlantic States, temperature of 613

Roanoke River, North Carolina 632

Robbinston, Me., herring cannery at 498

sardine packers at 520

Roccus americauus 678

lineatns ' 678,693

Rochester, N. Y., cod fisliery from 145

Rockfish, apparatus for capturing 539

catch of, in Delaware 538

Nense River 631

in Albemarle Sound 636

Cape Fear River 626

Hudson River 659

James River 639,640,641

Ogeechee River 619

Susquehanna River 651,653

pound- nets 609

methods of capturing 539

handling 540

Rock fishery of Southern Delaware 538

season for 539

Rockland, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Rockport, Mass., mackerel catch of 309, 310, 31 1

fleetof 307

Roe, cod 157

mullet 573,574

statistics of 576,577

haddock 239

sturgeon 622,623,698

Rogue River salmon fishery 739,741,744

Romeo, pinkey schooner 30,34

INDEX.

799

Page.

Rose Blanche, Newfoundland 442

Rosenstein Brothers 495,520

Roseway Bank, cod fishery on 149

Royal's River, Maine 724

Russian River, salmon in 744

Russian sardines 491,497

preparation of 518, 519

statistics of 521

Russians in Pacific cod fleet 218,219

S.%biue, Lorenzo 466

on Labrador fishery 143

Sable Island Bank, cod fishery on 124

halibut fishery on 4

swordfish on 317,323

Sable Island, halibut fishery off 55

mackerel at 277

Sacht, a name for cod 202

Saco River, Maine 724

Sacramento pike 737

Sacramento River, ponnd-nets in 731

salmon canning on 733

fishery 731,735

statistics of 753

species of salmon in 740

Saghalien, cod from 209

Sag Harbor, N. Y., menhaden at 375-409

Sagiuaw Bay, fish-spearing at 767

gill-net fishery at 762

Lake Huron 757,760

Saint Andrew's Bay, herring at 443

Saint Croix River, fisheries of 699

Saint George Bay, halibut fishery in 4, 46

Saint George, Me., herring fleet of 438

mackerel fleet of 306

Saint George River, fisheries of 712

Saint Jacques Bay, Newfoundland 442

Saint John's River, Florida, description of 613

mullet in 558

fishery of ...576,577

Saint T.awrenco Island, Bering Sea 201

Saint Lewis Sound, Labrador 135

Saint Mark's, mullet fishermen of 561

Saint Mary's River 614,617

Saint Paul, Alaska, cod at 201

Saint Peter's Bank, cod fishery on 148

French fishery on 148

halibut fishery on 4, 42, 43

near 63

Salem, Mass., mackerel fleet of 307

menhaden at 347

pound-nets at • 604

Salmo gairdneri 745

salar 678

Salmon, angling for 680

blueback 744,745

orredfish 740

boats and scows 732

catch of 700,706,712,718,735

in Merrimao River 673

Pacific 753

canned, Pacific 729-753

testing of 748

canneries, capital in 752

labor at 747

Page.

Salmon canneries, profits and losses of 748

canning, history of 749

season for 734

chinnook 740

close- time for. . 727

coho 753

colors of 742

destroyed by seals 731,747

dip-nets 679

diminution of 749

distribution of, in Maine rivers 679

speciesof 740

dog 740,743,744

drift-nets 679,700,718,735

early abundance of 699, 717

exports of 752

fall 743

fishermen of Columbia River 745

fishery, Columbia River 740

Connecticut River 659

Eel River 739

future of 749

Greenland 93

Maine . . . .679, 700, 701, 703, 704, 706, 710,
716,717,719,724

Kennebec River 717

laws regulating 727, 749

methods of 679,732,746

Pacific 729-753

Penobscot River 706

Rogue River 739

Sacramento River 731

seasons for 733

Smith River 739

statistics of 708

outfit for 732

fishing-grounds for 732

food of 742

flesh color of 743

fly-fishing for 701

for cod bait 216

fresh 683

fyke-nets 737

gill-nets 732,746

grilse 741

growth of 742

habits of 679,740,741

haddo 753

hatchery on Rogue River 740

high ascent of rivers by 742

hook-jawed 743,744

humpback 740

iced 683

in Bering Sea 215

Cape Cod weirs 600

dip-nets 662

Housatonic River 666

Maine 678

Merrimac River 673

Penobscot River 705

industry of California 731-740

statistics of 753

king 740

male, habits of 741

800

INDEX.

Salmon, manner of spawning 742

methods of canning 733

smoking 683,733

natural history of Maine 678

Pacific 740

nets in Connecticut River 660

ocean habits of 741

oil factory at Astoria 750

manufacture of 750

Pacific, total quantity of canned 753

peculiarities of male 743

|M'iis in Connecticut Kivor Wi~

pound-nets 6711, 6.-y

priresof 699,710,752

process of canning 747

quantity of, to case 752

quiuuat 740,744,752

return to»uative rivers 744

salted 683,734,737,739,753

seines 662

set-nets 679

silver 216,740,743,753

size of 679,734,740,752

smoked 473. 683, 709, 71'J, 732, 733, 753

spawning habits of 741

spears 679

species of 739,740

spring runs of 733,741

Susquehauna 650

taken with hook 741

tin used in canning 747

traps in California 731

value of spring run of 741

weirs 061,699

of Penobscot River 679,660

Salmon Falls River, Maine 725

Salt bait in cod fishery 167,168

Cadiz, for mackerel curing 288

for curing fish 132,636

preserving purse-seines 254

halibut fishery 90

Lt-verpool, for mackerel curing 288

mullet curing 573

pens on cod schooner 151

quality of, carried on cod vessel 126

used in Alaska fisheries 221

Ssli-cnring 216

Labrador fishery 141

Pacific cod fishery 222

on cod schooner 130,152,173

Salted bait 350

for red-snapper 587

clams for cod bait 168

halibut, method of curing 114

mullet 560,572,577,578,580,581,582

salmon 683,734,737,739,753

shad 6J'J,(i50

Spanish mackerel ^ 550

Salting codfish 150,181

cod in Alaska 221

Sammis, Col. H. S 614

Sampit River, fisheries of 624

Sanak, Alaska, cod bunk off 213

San Diego, Cal., mullet at 560

Page.

Sand-launce in Bering Sea 201

Sandusky, trawling at 767

Sandwich Bay, Labrador 134

Sandy Hook, mackerel off. 274

pound-nets at 547, 607

Spanish mackerel at 545

Saudy River, Maine 719

San Frar.cisco, cod fleet of 217, 218

decrease of fish at 731

firstcodin 209

quantity of salmon canned at 7:!4

iSaii Pablo, Cal., salmon fishery at 7:il

San tec River, fisheries of (ixM

Sarasota Bay, Florida 5G4, ~A>7

mullet fishery of 57(1

Sardine bait, fish -eggs for 507

canneries 497, 520

canners, number of 520

wages of 523

canning, bathing the cans 517

oil used in 523

venting the cans 517

cans, sizes of '. 515

herring, decrease of 505

drying process 511

flaking 511

frying 514

method of preparing 510

salting 511

industry , 489-524

in France 489

Germany 489

Norway 4ti9

Portugal 489

Spain 489

Sweden 489

United States 489-524

origin of 492

statistics of 520

packers, names of 520

Sardines, boneless !">!<>

canning 494

cooking 494

foreign trade in 523

French method of preparing 494

herring packed as 489

imports of 522

in mustard, statistics of , 521

oil 495,515,521

spices 51fi, 521

tomato sauce 521

vinegar 516

marinees • 516

method of boiling 514

canning menhaden as 490

origin of 489

preparation of 494, 508

pressed 489

Russian 489,491,497,516,518,521

salting ,-. 494

sorting and packing 515

statistics of 438,521

Satilla River, sturgeon in <>~'2

Satillas, fisheries of iho 618

INDEX.

801

Sangatnok, trawl fishing at 767

Saughkonnet River, pound-nets at 604

Sanlt de Sainte Marie, dip-net fishing at 769

Savannah, red-snapper at 590

shad fishery at 621

sturgeon trade of 622

Savannah River, shad fishery of 619

sturgeon fishery of 621, 622

temperature of 619

Saybrook, Conn 666

Sayward, Daniel, on topsail schooners 141

Scaled herring 480

Scaling herring, methods of 477

Scandinavian fishermen 6,248,763

Scap-net fishery on Great Lakes 767

Scatari, halibut fishery at - 4,44

Sclmotherus nnttallii 220

Schooling of cod at Alaska 205

Schools supported by mackerel fishery 298

Schooner, cod, deck plan of 150

interior arrangements of 150, 170

outfit of 169,217

rigging of 172

George's cod, outfit of 190

mackerel hook 277

origin of 124

seaworthiness and speed of 172

three-masted 149,272

Schooners for collecting fish 765

in grouper fishery 592,593

hake fishery _ 242

red-snapper fishery 588

mackerel 248

topsail, in Labrador fishery 141

Scituate, Mass. , Deane's history of 301

mackerel fishery at 299

Scoop-nets, shad 621,662

Scotch herring cure 434

methods of herring fishery 427

Scotland, consumption of herring in 471

exports of herring to 472

fish commissioners of 420

herring fishery at 427

Scott, Capt. P. A., on mackerel bait , 346

Scrawl-body or halibut trawl 33

Scudder, N. P. , on salt-halibut fishery 90

Sculpins as cod food 208

at Shumagin Islands 216

forced bait 216

Scnp in Massachusetts 602,603,667

Rhode Island 604,606

Sea bass, bait for 349

catch of, in Rhode Island 606

fishery for 318,349,590

Seabrook, N. H., boats built at 138

Seal fishery at Magdalen Islands 460

of Newfoundland 445

Sea lions, cod eaten by «.. 209

Seal Island Ground ; 189

cod fishery on 124

halibut fishery on 4, 32, 40, 42, 44

Seals, cod eaten by .... 209

destructive to salmon.... 747

fish destroyed by 731

SEO V 51

Page.

Sea trout, canned 515

Sebastiohthys at Sitka 200

Sebasticook River, Maine 719,721

Sedgwick, Me., fisheries of 306,310,311,438

Seguin Island, Maine 498

Seine boat and fittings 250

Seine-boats, construction of menhaden Slid

costof 252

description of 250

equipment of 250

increase of length of 250

menhaden 250,251,336

mullet 566

Seine, clearing the 374

fishery for mullets 563

of GreatLakes 765

Lake Ontario 766

fishing intheSusquehanna 651

Seines, alewife 671,680

cod 142,144

construction of Great Lakes 766

haul 347,462

herring 432,507

mullet 563,575,576,577

purse, for mackerel 252

rock and perch 539

salmon 662

shad 639,657,685

smelt , 691

spot 535

sqneteagne 529

tarring 373

varnishing ...... 373

wade ....529,531,534

Seining, purse, methods by day 255

the herring weirs 503

Seine-roller on mackerel schooner 249

Sellman, Henry 491,492,496,520,521

Seminoflsky, Alaska 201,205

Seminoffsky Bank, Alaska 207,213

Set-nets, alewife 688

salmon 679

shad 627

Setting a seine around a vessel 264

Shack fishing forced 152

. Shad, abundance of, in Connecticut River ; 660

alice or twaite 419

batteryin the Susquehanna 651

bush-net 646

cast-nets 620

catch of 708,719

in Albemarle Sound 637

Altamaha River 618

Chowan River 633-635

Connecticut River 664-666

Delaware River 654

Florida 614-617

Honsatonio River 667

Hudson River 659

James River 639

Massachusetts 667

Merrimac River 673

Nense River *.... 631

Pamunky River 643

802

INDEX.

Page

Shad, catch of, in Potomac River

Eappahannock River 664

Susquehanna River 653

caught in weirs

with hook 650

close-time for 727

cost of, to fishermen 616

country supply of 663

decrease of 627,633,638

destroyed by eels 652

dip-nets 686

drag-nets 628

drift-nets ..625,685

Dutch net 628,636

early held in disrepute 660

trade in 649

eggs of 684

family supply of 649

fishermen 615,616

fishery, in Alhemarle Sound 632-637

Altamaha River 617

Chatham, Mass 297

Cape Fear River 625

Connecticut River 659

Delaware River 654

EdistoRiver 623

Housatonic River 666

Hudson River 658

James River 638

Maine 683-687, 701,702, 703,704, 708

710,716,724,725

Merrimac River 673

New York Harbor ' 658

Ogeechee River 618

Pamlico River 631

Pamlico Sound 632

Potomac River 644

Rappahannock River 644

Saint John's River 614-617

Saint Mary's River 617

SanteeRiver 624

Savannah Hirer 619

Snsqnehanna River 645

Tannton River 667

WinyahBay 624

York River 642

laying out gill-nets 623

laws relating to C57, ~-27

methods of 614, 615, 616, 627, 645,

651,657,658

rent of 639

statistics of 618, 619, 621, 624, 625, 626,

631,664-666,719

withtrapsm 620

food of 654

qualities of Florida 615

for domestic supply 656

former abundance of 644, 648, 656, 699

value of 647

gilling-geines 657

gill-net fishery 052,666

gill-nets 615, 618, 619, 621, 623, 630, 645, 665

grades of pickled 686

growth of 655

Page.

Shad, haul-seine fishery, statistics of 666

haul-seines 621,625,628,636,645,665

hickory 618

iced 614,666

increase of, in Connecticut River 663

in pound-nets 606, 608, 609

life of 656,684

low price of 660

mess 687,724

methods of capturing 684

curing 686

migrations of 655

movements of - •-- 632, 654

natural history of •- 683

nets in Saint John's River 614

night fishing for 640,652,686

number of, to barrel 687

obstructed by dams 650

pickled 640,641,642,709

planked 656

pound-nets 628, 645, 665, 666

price of 614,649,687,710

proportions of buck to roe 630

reaches on Saint John's River 615

results of propagation of 645

return to place of spawning 655

river 684,719

runs of, in Delaware River 655

Neuse River 631

Susquehanna River 646

salted 649,656

scoop-nets 621,662

sea 634,700,719,724

seasons for 613, 615, 620, 626, 633, 639, 642, 655,

662,683

geines 636,639,656,685

vast size of 636

size of 615,619,648,683

skim-nets 625,629,643

smoked 656

spav.-ned, called racers 655

spawning grounds of 614,620

habits of 684

season in Florida 615

spring 684

stake-nets 627,636,644,658

traded for salt 619

trap-net 628

traps on James Ri ver 639

Trenton 655

twaite 419

value of, in last century 642

weirs .-. 684,719

weight of 656

• white 639,642

Shadine, menhaden as 491

Share, halibut fishermen's 18

Shares in mackerel fishery 289

Shark, Alaska 206

in Cape Cod weirs 600

thresher 388

Sharks, destroy menhaden nets 332

destructive to trawls 179

schooling of codfish 206

IKDBX.

803

Sharks for bait 593

red-snapper bait 587

in menhaden weir 342

menhaden nets injured by 375

on red-snapper grounds . — 586

Sheboygan, gill-net fishery at 762

Sheepscot River, fisheries of 716

Sheepshead 550,590

in Chesapeake Bay 638

pound-nets 608,609

Tampa Bay 570

Shell-fish, laws against taking 450

Shelter Island, menhaden works at 373-409

Shetland Islands, herring at 419

Ship-chandlery i-n cod schooner 173

Shippegan Island, cod fishery near 137

Shore fisheries of Southern Delaware 527-541

Shrimp as food for cod 207

bait for Spanish mackerel 545

cast-nets 681

Shumagin cod fishery 210,225

Shumagin Islands, birds at 215

cod at 201,205,207,215

discovery of 215

vessels at 217

Siberia, East, cod at 201

Siberia, frozen mammoth in 351

Signal Office, temperature records of 613,619

Simoonoff Bank, Alaska 213

Sinclair, Capt. Peter, on use of trawls 39,159

Sinkers for cod gill-ueta 228,229,230

purse-seine 253,336

Siscowet Bay, pound -net fishery at 757

Sisson, Capt. B.H 344

Sitka, Alaska, cod at 200,212

Skate in Cape Cod weirs 600

of halibut trawl 11,111

oil from liver of 600

on Grand Bank 178

Skim-nets, shad 619, 625, 626, 629, 631, 643

Skowhegan, Me 717

Slaughter Beach, Delaware 528

Sling-ding gear 192

Slivering menhaden 346

Smelt bag-nets 691,709,715

bait 715

catch of 700,704,708,709,722

dip-nets 692,702

fishery, Kennebec River 722

Maine . . .690-693, 702, 703, 704, 708, 712, 714,
715,716,722,724,725

methods of 690

with hook and line 692

on the ice 692

frozen 693

fykes 692,703

gill-nets 692

in Bering Sea 201

Maine 678

markets for 693

methods of capturing 690

natural history of 690

preserved in ice- water 693

seines 691

Page.

Sinolt, size of, in Maine 690

spawning habits of 690

weirs 690,716,722

Smiley, C.W 551

Smith, Capt. Henry O >, 440,455

Smith, Capt, Joseph 1 249,253,261,298

Smith, Capt. Sylvanus 349,456

Smith River, salmon fishery 739

Smith's Island Menhaden Works 378

Su)O_kethouBe8, construction of 476

number of 488

Smoked alewi ves 474, 481 , 672, 689, 702, 704, 713, 715

codfish bellies 473

haddock 473

halibut 90,473

herring 456,466,473-488,506,609

artificial 483

boneless 484

export trade 482

gradesof 482

hard 472

in oil 483

laws relating to 482

markets for ' 482

methods of curing 477,487

packing of 480

statistics of 432, 438, 439, 484, 488

woods for curing 479

mullet 574

salmon 473,683,709,719,732,733,753

shad 656

whiteflsh 473

Smoking fish, methods of 473

herring, European methods 483

methods of 477

salmon, methods of 683

Soldering sardine cans 516

Sounds, cod 132,157,182

pickled 435

hake 24,242,243

for isinglass 243

South Carolina, catch of Spanish mackerel in 552

menhaden at 332,369

mullet fishery of 577

river fisheries of 613, 653

South Channel, cod fishery in 189

Southern mackerel fishery, methods of 273, 310, 311

South Hadley Falls, Mass 663

Sonthold, N. Y. , menhaden factory at 373-409

Sonthport, Me 38, 39, 123, 188, 306, 310, 311, 474

Spain, cod exports to 144

sardine industry in 489

Spanish mackerel 607

apparatus for capturing 546

bait for 545

canned 550

catch of 550,552

fishery for 545-552

fishing-grounds for 545

in Chesapeake Bay 638

Massachusetts 667

pound-nets 606,608,609

markets for 551

method of handling 550

804

INDEX.

Page.

Spanish mackerel, prej udioe against .. — 545

salted 550

season for...... — 550

weirs 602

Spanish mullet fishermen ..- 562

Spawn, cod, for herring bait 507

haddock - 239

Spawning grounds for shad 620

habits of cod on Grand Bank 167

eels 769

herring 420,426

salmon _ . . .. ...... ...... 741

smelt 690

season ofcod 206

at Alaska 199

shad in Florida 615

Spears, eel 696,703

salmon 679

Spiller, mackerel - 266

Spinney, M. B 694

Spirting for cod bait 231

Split-tails in Sacramento River 737

Splitting-keelers, mackerel 267

Sports of fishermen 163

Spot, apparatus for capturing 535

best time for catching 536

fishermen ..... 534

fishery of Southern Delaware 533

gill-nets 530

methods of capturing 535

handling 537

price of 537

Spotted Island, Labrador 135

Spring Southern mackerel fishery 273

Spurliug, small herring called 420

torching 499

Squalus acanthias 206,209

Squeteague 567

disposition of catch of 532

fishermen 528

fishery 527533

fishing -grounds for 527

in Buzzard's Bay 603

Massachusetts 667

pound-nets 608

Rhode Island pound-nets 604

method of shipping 532

methods of capturing 529, 530

nets 529

season for 527

seines 529

Squid as- food for cod 207

fishery at Newfoundland 184

for cod bait 127,151,184,185,199,436,437

red-snapper bait 588

giant, for cod bait 185

habits of 184

in Cape Cod weirs 600

pound-nets 607

jigging at Newfoundland 184

of the Pacific 199

lines and jigs 127

salted, forced bait 127

Squids, Spanish mackerel 546

Pag*.

Stake-lifters for pound-nets 760

Stake-nets - 619,643

mullet .. - • - - . — 568

shad 627,631,636,644,658

Statistics of Albemarle Sound fisheries 636,637

canned-salmon industry 734

Connecticut River fisheries £66

Delaware Ri ver fisheries •-. 654

frozen-herring trade 457

Great Lakes fisheries 769

hake fishery 243

halibut fishery 3

herring catch 432,437

Housatouic River fisheries 667

Hudson Eiver fisheries 658

James River fisheries 639

Long Island pound-nets 607

mackerel fishery 304

inspection 312

Massachusetts pound-net fisheries. . . 604

Mattapony River fisheries 643

menhaden fishery 360

mullet fishery 575

Neuse River fisheries 631

Pamunkey River fisheries 643

pickled-herring trade 466

Potomac River fisheries 645

pound-net fishery 606, 607, 609

pound-nets 605,608,609

Rappahannock River fisheries 644

salmon industry 734, 735, 736, 739, 740,

751, 753

sardines 520,521

shad fishery 614-617, 618, 619, 621, 624,

625, 626

skim-net shad fishery 630

smoked-herring industry 488

sturgeon fishery .. .621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 626

Snsquehanna fisheries 653

swordfishery 325

Willow Branch fishery 633-635

Steamer in red-snapper fishery 589

menhaden, crew of 332

description of 334

first used 368

Steam-tugs in gill-net fishery 762

Great Lakes fisheries 759

Steindachner, on cod 198

Steuben, Me., herring fleet of 438

Stearns, Silas. .545, 552, 555, 558, 561, 562, 564, 569, 571, 574,
575, 57(i, 579, 580, 583, 584, 590

Stone, Livingstone, on Sacramento salmon 735

Stony Island, Labrador 135

Stop-fishing for mullet 569

Stop-nets, striped bass 694, 723

Saint Pierre, bait carried to 450

Straits of Belle Isle, fish-curing at 141

fisheryin 146

Straits of Canso, mackerel fishery at 297, 298

landed at 291

Striped bass 650

catch of, in Delaware River 654

dip-nets 694

fishery of Kennebeo River 723

INDEX.

805

Page.

Striped bass fishery of Maine 693-69

in Hudson River 659

Maine 678

Massachusetts ; 667

pound-nets 606

Rhode Island 604

modes of capturing .. 694

natural history of. ..... 693

salted 695

size of, inMaine 694

spawning habits of.. 693

stop-nets 694

taken in weirs 600

Sturgeon Bay, frill-not fishery at 761

Sturgeon camp on Winyah Bay 624

caviar ,.. 698

drift-nets 697,698

export of 698

fishery, early history of 698

methods of ,. 624,697

of Altamaha River 618

Cape Fear River 626

Delaware Bay 540

Edisto River 624

Hudson River 658,959

Kennebec River , 723

Maine 697-699,723

Ogeechee River 619

PortOntario 766

Saint Mary's River 618

Savannah River 621

theSatillas 618

Winyah Bay... 624

York River 643

outfit for 622

statistics of . . .621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 626

gill-nets 619,622

grappling in Great Lakes 768

in Connecticut River 662

Great Falls 76

Maine 678

Sacramento River 737

San Francisco market 737

the Susquehauca 652

kept in pens 619

meat called Albany beef 659

Charles City bacon 659

method of dressing 622, 625, 698

natural history 697

pen for keeping 698

oilof 698

roe of 622,623,025

season for 622,626

size of 022

soused 698

statistics of catch of 619, 637, 639, 643, 644,

645,654

trade of Savannah in 622

Suckers, fishery for, in Great Lakes 766, 769

in Sacramento River 737

Sukkertoppen, Greenland 104

Sullivan, Me., herring fleet of 438

Sullivan River, fisheries of .'. 704

Stunner, Hon. Charles, on Alaska 209

Pago.

Sunday fishing, laws against 448

Superior City, Wis 757

Superstitions of fishermen 107,109

Susquehauna bass 650

salmon 650

Snsqnehanna River, dams in 650

description of 645

drift-net fishery in 653

fisheries of 645

__ former abundance of shad .in . 648

statistics of 653

Swamscott, first use of trawls at 158

haddock fishery of 234,235

mackerel fleet of 307

Swan, James G., on Pacific cod 200

Swansea, Mass 667

Swan's Island, Me 306,310,311,438

Sweden, herring exports to 471

sardine industry in 489

Swedes in fresh-halibut fishery 6

George's fishery 189

Pacific cod fleet 218,219

Sweep-nets, mullet 568

Sweep-seine fishing 738

Swift Islands, James River 642

Swivels on George's fishing-gear 192

Swordfish, apparatus for capture of 318

average weight of 325

bait 323

fishery 317-326

historyof 323

landsman's description of 321

perils of 321,322

products of. 324

statistics of 325

vessels in 318

habits of 320

harpoon 318

lily-iron 319

lance '.. 319

markets and prices ' 325

method of capturing 319, 320 322

movements of 317

pickled 435

pulpit 320

statistics of catch of 325

Sydney, Cape Breton, mackerel at 276

Tailor or bluefish 638

Tallman, Benjamin, on menhaden 606

Tampa Bay, mullet fishery of 576

pound-net in 570

Tangier Island, Chesapeake Bay 547

Tangier Sound '. 637

Tar River, fisheries of 631

mullet in 560

Tannton River, fisheries of 667

Tautog, catch of, in Rhode Island 606

in Buzzard's Bay (iOli

Massachusetts

taken in weirs 600

Taylors in jiouud-uets 609

Temperature at Greenland 96

of air and water on Grand Bank . . . 162, 165

Maine rivers 676

806

INDEX.

P«ge.

Temperature of Ogeechee River 618

river waters 613

Saint John's River 613

Savannah River 619

tables of, at Greenland 97

water, at Greenland 105

Terry, G., menhaden works of 369

Terry, Jesse, menhaden works of 373

Thomas, Capt. Henry B 458

Thomaston, Me 713

smelt trade of 693

Thompson, John H., on swordfish 325

Thumbing the hat for watches 75,108

Thunder Bay, Lake Huron 757,764

Ticonic Falls, Maine 719

Tides and currents at Greenland 104

Tides, herring fishery affected by 503

in Maine rivers 676

on George's Bank 194

Tilesia gracilis in Pacific 200

Toledo, catfish fishery of 768

trawl fishery at 767

Toll bait, method of using 284

Tollman, Benjamin, purse-seine introduced by 368

Tollman, John, menhaden works of 366

Tom-cod 703

in the Kennebec 723

caught with grapples 723

dip-net 702

fishery of Maine 703,704,723,724

in Maine 678

Pacific 200

Tongues, cod 132,182,225

pickled 435

Topsail schooners in Labrador fishery 141

Tor Bay, Newfoundland 162

Torching for herring 428,499,503

Toussaint, trawl fishery at 767

Trailing for mackerel „ 300

Trap fishery at Long Island 606

south side of Cape Cod 601

net, shad 628

Traps, eel 696

fall 620

floating 599

hack 620

and fall 623

herring _ 439

shad, on James River.. .} 639

Trawl, baiting the 154

called bull-tow 79

cod 151

accidents to 179

fishery, history of 158

of Great Lakes 767

fish, inferiority of K;0

haddock 236

method of using 337

hake 242

halibut 11,110

first use of ;t!)

methods of hauling 16,112

setting 13

repairing 75

Page.

Trawl, method of baiting 112

hauling 153

setting 111,176

underrunning 154

using 153

rigging of 108,160

roller, halibut 10

used in cod fishery 138

Trawl-line cod fishery 148

halibut, construction of 10

method of hauling 177

rigging 175

underrunning 177

opposition to use of 158

tried in red-snapper fishery 589

Trawling, apparatus for 175

decline of, in Maine 160

French method of 158,160

history of, in Maine.. 159

Treat, Amos 712

Treaties, convention of 1818 148

Treaty of 1783, fishery rights under 459

1818, fishery rights under 450, 459

Washington 275, 346, 446, 449, 450

rights granted Americans 450

Tremont, Me., herring fleet of 438

Labrador fishery from 147

mackerel fleet of 306

Treska, Russian name forced 202

Tripland, Charles P 9

Troll line for Spanish mackerel 546

Trout, brook , 521

canned : 515

in pound-nets 609

Rappahannock River 643

Savannah River 621

ocean 491

canned 515

or squeteague 527

salt-water 570

sea 567

canned 515

Trout-line of Great Lakes 768

True, Frederick W 595,597,611,670

ou herring 426

traps 429

Truro, Mass., mackerel fleet of 307

Tunkhannock fishery 1 647

Tunk River, fisheries of 704

Turbot, American 37

Turner, Capt. J;imes, on mackerel druiling 300

Turtle, catch of, in Delaware River 654

leather, at Cape Cod 600

logge.rhi-ad, at Cape Cod 600

Tuthill & Co., C. H., menhaden factory of 378-409

Umnak, Alaska, cod bank at 214

Unalashka, cod banks near 201

native fishermen of 220

Underrunning cod gill-nets 23'2

trawls 154

herring nets 431

the trawl t 177

Unimak Pass, Alaska, cod bank at 214

Union Pacific Salt Company 222

INDEX.

807

Page.

Union River 705

Unity, Washington Territory 745

U.S. Fish Commission 370,614

Vallejo, Cal., salmon fishery of 731

Van Burkalow, M. S 529,532

Veniaminoff, Ivan, on cod fishery 205

Venting sardine cans 517

Vermillion, trawl fishery at 767

Vessels, cod, at Shumagin Islands 217

construction of 129

deck plan of 171

rigging of 172

Great Lakes, number of • 769

Greenland halibut 110

haddock

halibut 3

profit of 24

herring 420

statistics of 438

in cod fleet 137

fresh-halibut fishery 6

frozen-herring trade 443

George's cod fishery 188, 190.

grouper fishery 592,593

hake fishery 242

hand-line cod fishery 124,125

Hudson River fisheries 659

Labrador herring fishery 462

mackerel hook fishery 277

fishery 218

Magdalen herring fishery 462

Pacific cod fleet 217

red-snapper fishery 589

salt-halibut fishery 110

swordfish fishery 318

trawl-line cod fishery 149

mackerel, number of 306

menhaden 332

description of 334

statistics of 360, 361

mnllet 566

outfit for hand-lining 125

of cod 169

routine life on cod 152

Victor! Ground, halibut on 95

Vinal Haven, Me., herring fleet of 438

Labrador fishery from 147

mackerel fleet of 306

Vineyard Sound, methods of weir fisheries in 602

pound-net fisheries in 598,601

Virginia, catch of Spanish mackerel in 552

menhaden statistics of 361

pound-nets in 608

river fisheries in 638

Virgin Rocks, cod fishery on " 148

fishing season on 167

gear for fishing on 127

halibut fishery on _ 46

Waccama River, fisheries of 624

Wachna, in Pacific 200

Wade seines 530,534,535

Wajjes of fishermen 533

menhaden fishermen 332,334

Pacific cod fishermen . 22^

Page.

Wages of sardine canners 523

Waldoborough, Me. , herring fleet of 438

mackerel fishery at 297

fleet of 306

smelt trade of ..-. 693

Walker, W. W 687,697

Wallem, F.W 483,487,489,513

Waqnoit, Mass., square pounds at 601

Wareham, Mass., fishery at 669

-Warren, Mo 713

smelt trade of 693

Washington Territory, salmon canneries of 745

Washington treaty 346, 446, 449, 450

Waukegan, pound-net fishery at 757

Watches, arrangements of, on fishing vessels 107

Water carried on cod schooner 151, 174

Water, quantity of, carried on voyage 126

Wcakfish, catch of, in Rhode Island 606

in pound-nets 608

Webeck, Labrador 134

Weir and net fisheries 436

Weir companies of Cape Cod 601

Weir fishery, expenses of 601

financial arrangements of. 598

in Maine, season for 598

methods of 600,602

species captured 600

Weirs, alewife 708

at Cape Cod 599

bar 500

brush 475,499

advantages of 506

construction of 500

cost of 502

in Albemarle Sound 609

channel 501

early construction of 710

eel 696

floored, for shad 685

half-tide 685,690

herring 428,429

in New Brunswick 485

near Lubec 422

in Maine 593

Pamunky River 643

land lease for 603

manner of working 599

menhaden 341,342

method of fishing 503

number of, in Rhode Island 605

patent 501

pocket, for shad 685

quantity of herring taken in 504

salmon 661,679,699,700,707

season for fishing 502

shad 719

in the Kennebec River 684

shoal-water , 599

shore 501

smelt 690,716,722

Welch Point Menhaden Works 380

Wellfleet, Mass 672

mackerel catch of 309,310,311

fleetof 307

808

INDEX.

Well-smacks 36

at Martha's Vineyard 603

construction of 41

for red-snapper 587

halibut 20,34

in grouper fishery 593

halibut fishery 9, 35

Havana market fishery 592

red-snapper fishery 588

\Vclls for red-snapper 586

\Vi-lls' "Water-Power of Maine" cited 674,705

\\YIsh, Mr., American minister 448

Wescongus River, fisheries of 703

West Coast Packing Company - 745

Westbrook, Conn 547,664

Western Bank, abundance of halibut on 58

bait used on 151, 152

beginning of hal ibut fishery on — 40

cod fishery, bait in 436

on 124,148

season on 152

halibut fishery on . .3, 4, 27, 32, 44, 47, 55, 64

Western Fur and Trading Company 225

Western Ground haddock fishery 234

West Indies, cod exports to 144

herring exported to 471

mullet exports to 580

roes exported to 580

shipments to „ 560

Westport, Mass., swordfish fleet 318

Westport, Me., herring smoking at 474

Labrador fishery from 146

Westport, Oreg 745

Whale boats i n Labrador fishery 138

menhaden fishery 367

Whale Deep 148

Whale fishery, yield of 361

Whale oil, adulterations of 363

Whale, white, in Cape Cod weirs 600

Whalley, E. W 605

Wheeler boat 763

Whitefish Bay 757

Whitefish gill-net 763

Great Lakes 769

menhaden called 329,368

smoked 766

seine fishery for 473

Whitefish Point, gill-not fishery at 761

Lake Superior 766

White perch , 678

P»ge.

White perch in pound-nets 609

White whale in weirs 600

Whiting as cod food 208

in Bering Sea 201

Wicomico River 654

Widows and orphans' fund 157

Wife, menhaden called 329

Wilcox, W. A 142, 426, 484, 551, 606, 611, 667, 668

Willard, H. E 7015

Willow Branch fishery, record of 633

Wilmington, N. C., mullet at 578

Wilson, Lake Ontario 762

Wilson, Lewis, & Son . 700

Windlass, patent, first use of 38

Windsor Locks, Connecticut River 666

Wind, velocity and direction of, at Greenland 96, 99

Winter fishery at Green Bay 764

Wiuyah Bay, fisheries of 624

Wiscasset, Me. , Labrador fishery from 147

mackerel fleet of 306

Wolff, Julius 491

Wolff & Reessing 493,495,520

Wonson, John F 34

on early halibut fishery 35

Wonson, William H., on early halibut fishery 35

Woodlsland, Me 498

herring at 421,425

Wood's Holl, fish shipments from 603

Wood's Island, James River 642

Woolwich, Me., smelt tradeof 693

Worms, marine, as food for cod 207

Wrecking vessels 592

Wright, Harrison 646

Wyoming, early shad fisheries of 646

Wyoming Historical and Geological Society 646

YakutatBay, Alaska, cod at 201,212

Yarmouth bloaters 486

Yarmouth, Mass., register quoted 600

weir fishery 600

Yarmouth, Me 724

Yarrell, on English mackerel fishery 296

Yawl-boats on halibut vessels 10

Yellow-fish as cod food 208

at Alaska 205,206

Shumagiu Islands 216

Yellow pickerel 766

Yellow-tail shad, menhaden called 329

York, Me., herring fleet of 438

York River, Maine 642,725

UHI7ERSITT

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