300 GEOGEAPHICAL EEVIEW OP THE FISHERIES. 



visit these grounds iu spring and fall. The best grounds are Coxswain's Ledge, The Bank, and 

 Coggeshall's Ledge, all of them from 12 to 30 miles south and southeast of the island. Thither 

 numerous open, two-masted sail-boats plow their ways when the cod-fishing season is at hand. 

 The daily routine of a fisherman visiting these ledges for cod was graphically described as follows 

 iu the Providence Bulletin, April 20, 1873: 



"A fisherman's life is a hard life, and cod fishing iu open boats taxes physical vitality to a 

 degree which is hardly realized by those unacquainted with its hardships. The fisherman leaves 

 home at from 12 to 3 a. in., goes to the harbor and starts for the fishing ground. It is well if he 

 has a breeze of wind, better if it be fair, but if perchance, as often happens in spring, during the 

 latter part of the night there be no wind, he must get out his oar and help row the boat to the 

 fishing grounds 10 or 12 miles away, and there is a vast difference between rowing a wherry for 

 pleasure and rowing a heavy fish-boat capable of carrying from 2 to 20 tons. He arrives at the 

 fishing ledges, and, if there are plenty of fish, stands up and hauls fish with a 30-fathom line and 

 heavy lead (for there is a strong tide here) for three or four hours, and there is no harder work than 

 hauling heavy fish. It would puzzle a novice to stand up iu one of these boats in good weather, 

 but when the wind blows and there is a bad swell running, the boat ends up and down and rolls her 

 gunwales under iu a manner that would be apt to try not only the muscles but the nerves and even 

 the stomachs of those who were not experienced fishermen. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon be gets 

 under way and comes home. Then his boat is to tie up, his fish to be brought ashore iu a skiff or 

 small boat, then they are thrown out on the beach, divided, dressed, washed, carried up a steep 

 bank in hand-barrows known as 'kids' and salted. This usually takes about two hours, and he 

 seldom gets home before sunset. Then, if he thinks he has sufficient bait, he eats his supper and 

 goes immediately to bed. If he has but little bait he must look up some that is fresh, sometimes 

 traveling two or three miles to catch some alewives for the next day's fishing. In rough weather 

 his work is increased and intensified, and the uninitiated know but little of the labor and exposure 

 endured iu 'beating in from the edge of the bank in a norther.' When the captain says 'Start,' 

 the first thing to be done is to reef the sails and get the anchor, and iu rough weather the crew of 

 the larger boats have enough to do before the anchor is at the bow. It is not an uncommon cir- 

 cumstance for three or four good men to be from half an hour to an hour in getting the anchor on 

 board of one of the larger boats. Then sail must be hoisted before the boat falls off in the trough 

 of the sea, and by the time the sails are up and the sheets trimmed aft the crew are ready to drop 

 down with exhaustion ; but now the pumps must be manned and one man stationed at the fore- 

 sheet (the helmsman attends to the main-sheet), while the captain, his eyes almost blinded with 

 spray, watches the seas and eases the boat over them as best he can. 



"I have only described the modus operandi of beating a boat to windward in what would be 

 termed, in fishermen's parlance, a ' three-reef breeze,' but the boats are occasionally caught down 

 to leeward in some terrible periodical storm, aud then they get home somehow, though no seafaring 

 man not acquainted with their sea-going qualities would suppose the boats could live a minute- 

 It would be difficult for any one to attempt to say how rough a sea would have to be or how hard 

 the wind would have to blow to prevent a large Block Island boat, with a good crew, from going 

 to windward under close-reefed sails. I know of no case on record where one of the large boats, 

 in good working condition, with good spars and sails, has been absolutely compelled to keep off 

 and run to leeward. In fact, some of them would probably live as long, if not longer, on the wind 

 than they would before it." 



From October 15 to November 1, dogfish are caught for their oil and for fertilizing purposes, 

 after which date, and extending to January 1, cod again become abundant; this time about half a 



