THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 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 kenches, 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 keuches 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 oft 1 

 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 tiipgpd that are saved and preserved for sale at home 

 the livers are perhaps the most important. Thes^tJye 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 



