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 to 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 NewburyportJ 

 It is simply a hook, round the shank of which has been cast a plummet of lead, pewter, or tiu, 

 somewhat globular at its upper end and tapering down toward the bend of the hook. At the upper 

 eiid 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 about 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 use. Before "jigs" were devised, the "gangings" of the 

 mackerel lines would frequently break when the fish was jerked or "slatted" ofi* 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 four-pence-ha'penny." 



According to Captains Daniel Cameron and John Grey, of Southport, Me., Edward Caiss, a fisherman of Hing- 

 hnni, Mass., invented the mackerel jig between the years 1810 and 1814, and by 1829 it had come into general use on 

 the coast of Maine. It was introduced into Maine some time before 1829, but by whom no one knows. [EABLL.] 



