248 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



Americans; 322 Provincials ; 24 British, most of whcm were Irish; 39 Scandinavians; 6 French; and 

 13 Portuguese. The mackerelmen belonging to other 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 uot start before June or July. A large number of these, the best fishing vessels of New Eng. 

 laud, iu 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, a.re seldom employed in the winter, except in the herring trade to New Brunswick, on 

 account of 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 21i 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 

 cousequence, 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 out, the 

 foretopmast (if the vessel carries one) is scut 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 the 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. 



