FRESH-HALIBUT FISHERY. 15 



the first dory, who are towing asteru, "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 <>i' <>r 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 oft' and the men begin to 

 set, while the men in the next dory get the order to " Heave out your buoy," and their 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 G 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 watch 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, and 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 large 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 



